Tonight’s episode of Revenge had Emily crossing off yet another face on the group photo of wealthy Hamptonites. She’s two for two, but as we learned tonight, those who are red-x’ed are not necessarily gone forever. What’s more (and worse for Emily), not everyone is buying her perfect girl act.
Bill Harmon
Bill Harmon was the second victim of Emily’s plot to repay her father’s old friends for betraying him. A financial wizard with a flare for using inside information to his (and his clients’) advantage, Bill’s the worst kind of friend. He’s the kind of guy who buys a friend’s daughter a puppy before stabbing said friend in the back. Bill was referred to as “Uncle Bill” in flashback, which suggests that this man was extremely close to the Clarkes, earning himself the unofficial uncle title to Amanda/Emily. But Bill was also the one to point the finger at David in trial, blaming him for laundering money with the initiative that blew up the plane.
Emily used her friendship with Nolan, and one brief public display of friendship to trick Bill into buying up a bunch of stock on behalf of his mega-fund, which would soon be rendered worthless once Nolan announced his plans for the company. In the words of one of the Dukes (Trading Places) “We’re ruined!” Just to ensure he really was ruined, Emily leaked the information to at least one of Bill’s clients after all was said and done. Word got out and Bill was officially ruined.
Buying friends
Speaking of Nolan, he proved tonight that he’s not above using his money to secure friendships. Not only did he manage to out-bid Victoria on the sale of Lydia’s house (when Victoria was attempting to out-bid Emily), but he also purchased Jack’s boat and offered to give it back to him at the end of the summer if Jack agreed to befriend him.
I have to question Nolan’s motives. Is he just a rich, socially awkward guy looking to get a leg-up on building actual friendships with people? Or is he trying to warm up to Emily and Jack to fulfill some other yet-to-be-revealed agenda. The show is called Revenge. Would it be too much of a stretch to theorize that there’s a flashback that will explain why Nolan might have reason to get revenge on Amanda and/or Jack? There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to believe that as Nolan has already proven to be really useful to Emily. But his resourcefulness and money (not to mention knowledge of Emily’s scheming) could backfire on Emily big-time if Nolan proves to be on his own path of revenge.
Porter Problems
Poor Declan. His attempts to win over Charlotte came back to bite him tonight. First, he invited her to hang out and she brought her rich friends, including her mostly-ex boyfriend, who took an immediate dislike toward Declan. Then Jack’s boat was gone, which meant they had no place to hang out, so that fell through. Finally, Declan texted Charlotte, but her boyfriend read it and, after RSVP’ing “Yes” on Charlotte’s behalf for a second-chance date, he and his friends showed up to beat the crap out of Declan.
To make matters worse, after Declan yelled at his father and essentially called him a loser, Papa-Porter had a heart attack and may be dead. The last we saw of him, Declan was calling an ambulance. If he dies, that’ll probably put Jack in charge of attempting to salvage the Stowaway Pub, which is on the verge of going under. Jack was able to pay off the lien with the money Nolan paid him for the boat, but something tells me this won’t be the end of the pub’s money troubles.
On a brighter note, Jack and Emily had a moment tonight, which has me wondering if Jack isn’t going to start to suspect that Emily is Amanda.
Who is Emily Thorne?
When she isn’t trying to buy Emily’s house out from under her, Victoria Grayson is snooping around the woman’s past, hoping to figure out whatever it is that’s preventing her from trusting her son’s new love interest. She had Frank-the-security guy do a little digging into Emily’s past. He came up with a bunch of information on Emily, but hit a road-block when he got to her teen years. We know Emily/Amanda was in some kind of detention center at one point, but given how much information there is available on Emily Thorne, I’m guessing there’s a real Emily Thorne out there. Perhaps it’s someone Amanda met while incarcerated, and whose identity she’s “borrowing.” Unless I missed something that explains how she set up her fake identity, that seems to fit best at this point and it would explain why Emily Thorne has sealed records from her teen years. If Amanda made Emily Thorne up completely, why leave a gap like that out there?
While Victoria might not trust Emily, Danny is certainly warming up to her. The two are taking walks on the beach and sharing moonlit kisses. The issue I have with this is that, so far, we’re on Amanda’s side because she’s targeting the people who wronged her. But how does Daniel Grayson fit into that other than that he’s the object of his mother’s affection? Manipulating him emotionally in an effort to get back at his parents seems exceptionally cold on Emily’s part. But there’s always the chance there’s more to Danny’s story, so who knows?
Other notable moments:
Lydia’s out of the Hamptons but not out of the picture. We saw her hitting Conrad up for some money after she revealed to him that the naughty photos taken of the two of them together nulled her pre-nup. She’s broke and uphappy and wants Conrad to pay.
The last flashback Emily had tonight revealed that her father was having an affair with Victoria Grayson and that Bill Harmon knew about it, so I’m guessing he’s not out of the picture either, assuming he hasn’t already told Conrad. Also, I haven’t even tried to do the math here but could this mean there’s a chance Charlotte is Emily’s half-sister?
Soapy Moment of the Night
Loved the corded land-line phone in Emily’s living room. A vibrating cell phone on an end-table just doesn’t have the same effect as the ringing bell of an old phone. The phone call between Victoria and Emily, which had Emily staring up at the big mansion, and Victoria looking down at the beach house as the ocean breeze played with her hair was deliciously cheesy.
Runner-up moment goes to every time we saw Bill fondling his dice.
