REVENGE Recap: Grief

Tell me, was there even a single person out there that watched last night’s Revenge without tearing up? By the end of the episode, “Grief,” my poor heart could not handle any more emotions. Between the sadness, happiness/love, and then fear that the episode made me go through in just a matter of minutes, I was never more appreciative of my healthy heart. (You know, because I was *thisclose* to having a heart attack.)

The episode began with Emily breaking down and sobbing while digging a hole and listing the 5 stages of grief in the narration: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Flashback to 36 hours earlier…

Inside of Conrad’s office, Daniel and him are discussing using the Emily-Daniel wedding to repair Grayson Global’s public image and trying to find a way to silence Jack and his knowledge of how the Grayson’s framed Lee. As Daniel exits the office, while Emily and Nolan watch through their surveillance cameras, the white-haired man that murdered David Clarke enters. The white-haired man tells Conrad that he’s become a “bad asset” to “The Initiative” (oh, intrigue!). Now we know that there’s something bigger playing at hand, that Conrad and the white-haired man are not the big bad ones and they’re working as a part (or as pawns?) of the The Initiative.

Victoria's Grin of Determination.

Meanwhile, Victoria is still trying to bring down Conrad and Grayson Global. During a secret meeting with an FCC agent Victoria asks why Conrad isn’t imprisoned yet. Turns out the FCC can’t find any physical evidence that David Clarke was framed. Victoria reassures the agent that the evidence is there and then, in classic and fabulous Victoria style, she states: “You and your team are obviously incapable of finding the proof that you need, but I assure you that I’m more than capable. I’m determined.” /evil grin.

Daniel’s plan to silence Jack turns out to be to hand him a million dollar check (!!! these people and their habit of throwing around all sorts of money – I get that they’re rich but a million dollars?!?). Jack isn’t stupid and sees right through the plot, so he declines to accept the money (is he insane?!?!). Daniel uses the love that Jack clearly still harbors for Emily and brings up her name telling Jack that he’s giving him the money because Emily has told him about Jack’s passion for helping Haiti. Jack listens while taking care of what seems to be a sick Sammy (*tear*).

Victoria pays Conrad a visit in NYC where Conrad, right after calling her a “demonic succubus,” warns her that he’s aware that she’s the one that turned him in to the FCC. Victoria plays coy: “I’ve done no such thing. If you go down, you’ll bring me down with you. You already told me that a thousand times.” Victoria, I heart your villainous ways. Lydia then promptly pops up to surprise us all.

Conrad to Victoria: "You look like a demonic succubus."

Emily hands a video that she recorded of Daniel and her sleeping to Nolan (to which he responds with “this is getting kinkier and creepier by the moment”). She asks him to send an anonymous copy to Conrad so that he’ll see it as a threat from the white-haired man and ask to set up a meeting (where she then will follow the white-haired man to his home). Nolan, always good with the one-liners, says “You may be a lot of things, black belt in karate, impeccable dresser, and certified sociopath but you’re not a killer.” Cue Emily’s glare of the week.

(Glare of the week) Emily to Nolan: "You don't know what I am or am not capable of."

Emily’s plan works to perfection and Conrad sets up a meeting with the white-haired son of a bitch (his words!) which makes Emily spring up into action. As Emily is heading out the door, Daniel and Ashley arrive for the wedding planning meeting. Emily, in a very frantic and un-Emily-like fashion, gets very frustrated and asks Nolan to follow the white-haired man for her. Nolan receives the call while advising Jack to accept the money Daniel gave him because if he doesn’t the Graysons will find a more “permanent” way of silencing him. Jack admits that he’s considering using the money to set up a charity to run with Emily. Nolan happily asks, “You still care about her, don’t you?” He’s so clearly excited that there still seems to be hope for a Jack and Emily pairing. I like Nolan.

Victoria, meanwhile, storms back into the apartment that Conrad has Lydia staying at. Victoria warns Lydia that the government is building a case against Conrad, and Lydia stands to get into a lot of trouble for her part in the whole thing. Victoria lets Lydia know that she’s cooperating with the government in exchange for immunity and has asked for them to do the same for Lydia. Victoria, ever the clever villain, then turns to the painting hanging on the wall. She takes a knife, rips a hole, and uncovers a secret pile of money and other hidden gems. When Conrad gets to the apartment Lydia lies to him and says that Victoria was tearing up the painting before Lydia arrived. She leaves out the part where Victoria offered her immunity.

The white-haired man and Conrad meet up in a restaurant as Nolan keeps Emily updated via text messages of their every move. During the meeting, Conrad warns the white-haired man that if he threatens Daniel again Conrad will release to the police all the evidence of all the crimes that both have been involved in over the last 20 years. The general lack of interest in the wedding that Emily showcases during the meeting and her continuous rude texting upsets Daniel and they then start fighting before Daniel storms off.

The white-haired man. He remains nameless.

Nolan follows the white-haired man and then sends Emily the address to his home. Emily heads out to kill the man but arrives at the address to find that Nolan purposely gave her the wrong information.

The white-haired man is on the phone warning someone (The Initiative?) “they’re on to us” when Nolan knocks on his door dressed as a cable man. After getting access to the house, Nolan secretly installs some cameras while the white haired man creepily watches over his shoulder. (By the way, what’s up with the white-haired man’s ~50 wind up clocks in the living room?!).

When Emily gets back home she finds Sammy laying on her porch clearly very sick. She calls Jack and the two sit by Sammy in Emily’s living room as the dog slowly dies. Jack breaks down while saying goodbye to Sammy: “thank you for being such a good friend, such a good listener. Thank you for making me smile, everyday even on the worst of them. Thank you for teaching me about loyalty and friendship. Thank you for teaching me how to love.” At this point both Emily and Jack are sobbing (Emily has a childhood flashback of playing with Sammy, Jack, and her dad at the beach) and holding hands. Emily hugs Jack and then starts kissing him (YAY!!!). We then see that Ashley has been spying from outside the window. Too bad it wasn’t Nolan (aka Team Jack and Emily’s #1 fan) spying instead, I imagine he would’ve been as happy and giddy as I was.

Jack and Emily kissing.

During a confrontation in front of Charlotte and Daniel, Conrad lets Victoria know that he’s aware of what she stole. Later, Daniel tells Victoria: “You go through with destroying Dad and you’re dead to me.” Daniel, I didn’t think I could dislike you any more than I already did.

Jack and Emily dig up a hole in the sand to bury Sammy into. They start talking and Jack says that Sammy was probably leading him to Emily the whole time. That that’s why the dog jumped on Emily the first day they met and why he kept running to Emily’s beach house. Jack tenderly grabs Emily’s face and asks her what they’re going to do next. She responds with a saddened “I don’t know” (which, at least for me, is better than her usual emotionally reserved responses) before he walks away.

Victoria’s love for Daniel outweighs her hatred of Conrad and she enters into his office to hand him the evidence she stole from Conrad. Emily watches through her surveillance cameras as Daniel then calls Conrad to inform him that Victoria buckled and handed over the evidence. Victoria happened to be standing outside the door during the phone call and walks off crying.

Nolan calls Emily up and she tells him that she wanted to thank him:

Emily: “I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, if I had gone through with it tonight…”
Nolan: “There’d be no light. Ever.”

Nolan informs Emily about the surveillance cameras he installed in the white-haired man’s home, she tells him that she’s proud and thanks him for being a good friend. They then hang up when Daniel arrives. Emily greets Daniel and places his briefcase (which holds the evidence) on the kitchen table and hastily leads him up to their bedroom.

The episode concludes with Nolan watching the surveillance camera but realizing that he’s actually watching a previously recorded portion of the day. Suddenly the white-haired man appears behind him, puts him in a choke-hold, and Nolan falls unconscious.

Next week’s season finale cannot get here fast enough!

(Also, I left out Charlotte and Declan’s storyline because this recap was long enough. Basically, Charlotte is undergoing therapy and seems to be doing well until she goes to Declan’s house and finds another girl with Declan. The two were just studying but Charlotte jumps to conclusions and at the end of the episode she’s on the side of the road buying, what I assume to be, pain killers from some guy in a car.)

Revenge airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.