Summer may be over in the real world, but in the Hamptons it’s still in full swing. Revenge has decamped to the far reaches of Long Island for yet another season of soapy high-society sabotage, as Emily Thorne (née Amanda Clarke) searches for the truth about her family and rains vengeance on those who betrayed them. This year, we’re keeping track of her quest — and the schemes of her friends, allies, and sworn enemies — by declaring winners and losers for each episode. Discover who came out on top in last night’s episode, which found Emily far more interested in preventing than committing murder, after the jump.
WINNERS
Emily: Talk about Pyrrhic victories! Everything’s coming up Emily this week: She heads off Amanda before her double can kill Mason. Then, she effectively frames Mason for Gordon Murphy’s murder, leaving her with leverage to keep him in prison until he writes the book that vindicates David Clarke and tells the story of the daughter who avenged him. As a bonus, she also manages to get her mother out of town unscathed. But boy, does she come out of this episode looking more demented than ever.
Kara: She didn’t get to kill Conrad and Victoria Grayson, who she now knows framed her husband, but Kara is luckier than she knows. With Aiden and Emily’s help, and after a dramatic, unexpected fake-out, she’s on her way out of the Hamptons. Here’s hoping she’ll be safe in Colorado Springs.
Aiden: So far, this guy is doing everything right. He’s orchestrating Daniel’s Grayson Global takeover, he’s talking Nolan into losing his livelihood to save Emily, he’s chloroforming Kara before she can kill Conrad and Victoria. And, by the end of the episode, he’s got what we figure he’s wanted this whole time: Emily in his arms.
Daniel: Thanks almost entirely to the efforts of others — and regardless of the fact that he can’t even pull Kara aside for a covert conversation without Victoria listening in — Daniel is poised to oust his father as head of Grayson Global. He is, of course, playing right into Emily and Aiden’s hands. But for now, at least, he’s the only Grayson having a halfway decent week.
LOSERS
Victoria: Yes, Aiden saves the Graysons at the last minute and Victoria plants some doubts in Kara’s mind about Gordon’s loyalties, but this matriarch has still got to be shaking in her Louboutins. And who knows what will become of her when Daniel takes over the company?
Conrad: Things are even worse for Conrad. For him, the confrontation at gunpoint came after he was forced to endure a painful Q&A about his arrest and the company’s future. He may be vindicated for now — and with Mason’s arrest, this seems even more likely — but there’s a lot going on that Conrad doesn’t understand. There’s Daniel’s secret takeover of Grayson Global, his erroneous assumption that the Initiative has Kara, and, perhaps most dangerous of all, his creepy and undying love for Victoria.
Nolan: He proved his loyalty to Emily, once and for all, by surrendering to Aiden the check that confirms Grayson Global’s controlling interest in Nolcorp. This could very well be financial suicide for Nolan, and it pains him, but there’s clearly no question in his mind that he’s got to do whatever’s necessary to save what he calls the only family he’s ever known. We still don’t know as much as we should about his connection to David Clarke, but we wouldn’t rule out the suspicion that when he says “family,” he means it literally.
Amanda: Every week, it becomes clearer that poor Amanda — now a mother and a bride-to-be — just wants out of this mess. But Emily foils her attempt to take matters into her own hands and end the threat that is Mason Treadwell, in favor of continuing with her long and sordid revenge plan. It’s going to be a long time — if ever — before Amanda can just relax with her family.
Jack: Nothing’s necessarily going wrong for Jack this week, but it’s getting pretty pathetic how entirely in the dark he is about Amanda’s and Emily’s secret schemes.
Mason: The good news is, he’s about to write the book of a lifetime. The bad news? He’ll be in jail on a murder rap until he finishes it.