Revenge is back with the last new episode of the year, and before we pick back up, let’s look at where we’re kicking off following a week’s break.
Emily can’t get rid of Amanda, and it’s a surprising power play to watch the girls sort of tangle with each other. At the direction of Mama Bear Warden, Emily learned how to tame Amanda, and then talk her into the ID swap (for $500K), and all these years later, she still lets her push her buttons. Now, Amanda has outed herself to Jack, who responds favorably (while I screamed at my TV) and Emily has to sort that hot mess out while still seeming to be genuinely falling for Daniel. On the upside, she got Nolan to tweak the photo Lydia had found so she’s no longer part of Lydia’s evidence. We also learn that after Emily secured her new identity, she went to Japan for a one-on-one tutorial in the art of revenge.
Jack meets “Amanda” and has a few mysterious flirty scenes with her where she won’t tell him her name before she supposedly skips town except that she doesn’t. She comes back to Emily’s after dark and spies Emily and Daniel all comfy with each other and decides to make a play for Jack as a her own little “so there.” He’s thrilled that she didn’t leave, and despite Nolan’s semi-subtle direction to avoid her like the plague, he instead takes her out on his boat, where they end up kissing, and she confesses who she is (not) and then he takes her to Emily’s house to show Amanda her childhood swing. Boo! P.S. Where is Sam? He’s been missing for several episodes now and I hope they didn’t edit him out after people started fixating on his age.
Declan and Charlotte get one over on Victoria when she tries to pay Declan to leave Charlotte alone, and Declan loops Charlotte on it and they laugh about how easy it was to take Victoria’s money before falling into bed in the loft above the bar. That’s so not going to end well, but it’s nice to see the kids steal a few moments of happiness along with the cash.
Ashley finds herself sort of in cahoots with Tyler about being treated as “less than” and finally mans up and asks Victoria why she’s keeping her around when she’ s not having so many parties and has reduced her to a glorified P.A. Victoria comes clean that her proximity to Emily makes her a compelling ally so they agree to have a formal friendly launch and some girl talk.
Nolan frets when Amanda doesn’t leave and when she targets his BFF. He gets drawn into Tyler’s web when Tyler uses his stolen credit card to buy Ashley a dress and they work out a client deal as a return of the favor (at Emily’s direction so Nolan can keep tabs on him). Nolan gets the semi last laugh when he orchestrates a thank you kiss from Tyler timed exactly so that Ashley walks in to see them macking.
Tyler wins a wager from Conrad when he gets Nolan’s business and manages to talk Ashley off the ledge after she witnesses the kiss. He’s also rebuilt Lydia’s shredded speech about the Graysons, which Nolan sees when he videotapes Tyler using the computer in his house.
Amanda plays the urchin card hard with Jack and at just the right moment confesses “her” past, which he’s downright swoony about (again, screaming at the TV and really wanted to see that scene played with Emily). I say bring in Sam to do the sniff test. He’d call her out in a heartbeat. Also, what is with the child’s lack of clothing? I wondered if the actress was freezing her butt off when she was in a bikini on the boat and EVC was wearing a sweater and jeans. Come on, producers, let’s not give the poor girl consumption to make the point she’s a tartlet.
Daniel has moved in with Emily after breaking up with Victoria (not like that!) and going to work for his dad. He finds out from Emily and the police about her criminal past – and we learn she was locked up for hurting a molesting foster dad, but we don’t know whether she killed him, and whether that’s her story or Amanda’s. He seems OK with all of that, but he takes notice when Emily doesn’t always sleep through the night and is a little more watchful of what she’s doing.
Victoria loses her hold on Lydia when Conrad ferrets her out of the house during a party. The police find Frank’s phone in the garden, which complicates things, and then she has the misdirected attempted payoff with Declan, alienation from Daniel, and Ashley’s forthright confrontation to deal with. As if that’s not enough to keep her busy, she also pays Emily a visit and agrees to bury the hatchet (for now). Emily turns the knife ever so slightly before Victoria leaves, dangling the idea that they could be family some day.
That’s the doozy of a setup for tonight’s episode, “Loyalty”, which is episode 10. Get ready for a cliffhanger. Then we’re on a break for four weeks, but the good news is there are 12 episodes coming up!
If you’ve missed any episodes so far, ABC has them all online for a limited window (in the U.S.), or CityTV has the past two episodes online (in Canada) at this time.
Photo Courtesy of ABC