Revenge 1.6: Intrigue

Spoilers and more spoilers.

Only on a show like Revenge would a woman fall several feet onto a taxi and SURVIVE.

Yes, you heard me. Lydia is not dead. She’s in a coma.

I’m as shocked as you are, believe me.

This week, luckily, we caught a reprieve after the constant action from the last episode. Yet again, Emily zeroing in on one person and surprising us with her super powers doesn’t happen. Instead, Emily is dealing with the aftermath of Lydia’s fall and what this could mean for her entire game plan. Nolan shows Emily the webcam, and they decide that Frank is the one they have to get rid of now. Nolan emails the video to Conrad who takes the bait, and immediately jumps into action.

After 20 years of service, Conrad fires Frank because he has shown Victoria loyalty over him. It doesn’t change things when Frank says: “You wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for me. You would be sitting in a federal prison. David Clarke would still be alive.” Instead Conrad does what he does best – gives Frank money to keep quiet.

But Frank will not be having that. He surprises Victoria in a dark kitchen (with some sort of string instrument clogging the background) and divulges everything he has done for her. She’s taken aback by his appearance and who wouldn’t be? Conrad showed her the tape of Frank attacking Lydia. The scene was still quite…sexy…and I’m wondering if we can expect something to happen between these two in the future.

In the meantime, Victoria is throwing her annual 4th of July bash, or rather, Ashley is. (They really party a lot in the Hamptons, huh? Apparently it’s the party of the year.) Tyler is still a creep but manages to lay on the charm and get Ashley to accept a date with him. He plays on Daniel’s feelings and gets himself a double date. Emily is not thrilled but acquiesces since Ashley seems to be taken with him (yuck). Needless to say, the dinner goes horribly wrong. Tyler loves to talk about himself and money, and Emily calls him out on it. Tyler leaves, Daniel follows and Ashley calls Emily a bitch. Awesome.

Tyler continues to be a thorn in Daniel’s side when he “accidentally” tells Victoria that Daniel will be working at Jack’s bar. She’s not too pleased, especially when Tyler makes it seem that Emily is controlling Daniel’s every move. She’s even more annoyed when she finds out Daniel won’t be making the big par-tay. Daniel goes off to work. Tyler becomes even more of a jerk, if that’s possible.

He shows up on Daniel’s first day, after Jack and Declan have decided to leave and go to the Grayson party. He convinces him to do one shot, which he spikes of course and Daniel is pretty much a mess from there, spilling drinks everywhere. The psycho isn’t done. He smashes his head into a steel column after he leaves Daniel passed out in the backroom of the bar. Later he confronts Victoria about it and tells her that Daniel is “out of control”. All I can think of is – wow, Tyler must have a really good reason for trying to bring Daniel down because who else knocks his head into a steel column? Except a zombie or something. This should be interesting.

Back at the party, Jack decides to tell Emily that he has feelings for her. Swoon. (I forgot to mention he shows up at the house and decides to fix the broken swing on her porch.) Except he uses a sailing analogy, which made it less poignant for me, I have to say. Adorable Jack is actually tearing up, and Emily is too. It’s probably the first pure, romantic moment we’ve had on the show yet. Emily tells Jack that she is with Daniel, and Jack takes it well. He even calls Daniel a nice guy. As he walks away, Emily is crying.

As a viewer, I’m in a predicament. I’m rooting for Jack and Emily/Amanda because of their history and because their feelings come from a place before her dad had died. It’s obvious she still feels something for him but she can’t blow her cover. On the other hand, we see Daniel breaking away from the constraints of his family. He seems to really care about Emily too, and I want to see him succeed. (In fact, when Tyler tampered with his drink, I was yelling at the TV.) I’m a sucker for a love story and I’m looking forward to see where each of these goes.

For the record, I have a crush on Jack Porter.

Oh, and if anyone cares, Declan and Charlotte kiss. Declan also continues to be a criminal and steals lobsters from their traps in order to make money to take Charlotte out on a fancy date. Scary fishermen come after him and he gives up the money. Charlotte is another Grayson I like. When Declan shows up at the party and admits he is broke and can’t give her all she is used to, her only response is, “who cares?” Good girl.

More Frank time. After he’s “let go” from his post, he travels to NYC and bribes the security guard in Lydia’s building to let him see the security tapes from the night of the attack. Nolan is caught red-handed.

Frank shows up at the 4th of July party and beats up Nolan in the boathouse, attempting to get more information. He thinks that Nolan is being set up by Conrad. Frank flees, but sticks around long enough to see Nolan make a beeline for Emily. Uh oh. I think Frank is starting to put a few of the pieces together.

The episode closes with Emily sitting on her front porch (Jack has moved it to where her dad had always wanted it to be) with Frank watching her at a close distance.

So now what? Lydia, who recognized Emily in that photo, may pull through. Frank is no moron and is about to crack the case on Emily. Is she destined to become a killer when it comes to this scheme of hers? What other surprises does Revenge have up its sleeve? The previews for next week suggest that this episode will change everything… we will have to wait and see.

* * *

Revenge is on Wednesday evenings at 10pm on ABC. Check out www.abc.com to view the full episodes you may have missed.

Estelle, a TV junkie with a jam-packed DVR, loves theatre, cupcakes, and all things Disney. Check out her blog at www.thishappyplaceblog.com and follow her on Twitter @thatsostelle.