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Monday 21 April 2014

Revenge 3.16 "Disgrace" Review

Emily: "Grace is at the core of tragedy, for if there's no height at which to drop, no pride taken in a life lived, you have nothing to lose.  But once in the freefall of disgrace, the only way to change the momentum is to use it to your advantage."

As Emily (Emily VanCamp) runs down the stairs at the opera and miraculously she didn't trip in that dress and those heels, we find the story flashes back to 36 hours earlier.

Seems Margaux's (Karine Vanasse) plan to have Conrad (Henry Czerny) ousted by her father, Pascal (Olivier Martinez) backfires since the two of them head out for tennis again.  Conrad won him last time and so now they have a rematch.  In which Conrad beats him again.  Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) shows up thinking she could have the tennis court without Conrad around after their divorce but she bumps into Pascal too, being very convenient.  Of course we know they must have a thing for each other, even if he was the one who introduced her to Conrad.  Conrad also stating that he doesn't want that old house bricks and mortar, referring to Victoria too in the process.

Daniel (Josh Bowman) thinks he's hit the jackpot as far as getting his divorce from Emily since he's got leverage now with Emily's photos with Aiden  but Victoria tells him to hold his horses.  Daniel is impatient and wants nothing more than to be rid of Emily but she thinks Emily is more than just a grifter.  A grifter would have seen the amount of money in  the settlement and taken it, but Emily appears to be going after the family.  Victoria wants to know what she's really after and so she hires Daniel's PI to dig some more dirt. Daniel meanwhile is sympathetic over Patrick leaving her.  For a minute there, thought Daniel was going to get mad over Victoria playing favourites with Patrick over him.  Victoria also adding she wants the best seat in the house when Daniel confronts Emily with this.

There's plenty of opera talk, as it seems everyone's going to be at the spectacle, er,  big event I should say, even if it turns out to be a spectacle.  Since the best came when Emily put on a sad face and talked of how she protected Daniel after he shot her and forgave him for what he'd done.  That was going to be her testimony and as she walks off, Daniel is left seething.  What did he expect, she'd be all a quiver and leave.

Emily wanted to know what happened between Stevie (Gail O'Grady) and her father as she saw him in prison and Nolan (Gabriel Mann) wants to make sure she doesn't jump in without thinking about hurting Jack (Nick Wechsler) again or getting him involved to begin with.  She doesn't get a chance to speak with Stevie, but Jack sees her with Stevie after her AA meeting and confronts Emily.  Nolan also wanted to know if Emily would remove Stevie from the equation if she turned out to be the enemy.  But she couldn't since she is Jack's mother after all.  Jack warned her from interfering since they were both in a good place and he wanted the same for himself and his mother.  Emily instead talks with Conrad and he tells her he wanted to make amends with his first wife, perhaps at the expense of his second.

Jack appears to be getting on with his mother and she looks through his wedding album.  She wished if she had the courage to return sooner then things might have been different.  But she's proud of him for being so brave and moving on.  She then notices the photo with Amanda and Emily and knows something isn't quite right.  Stevie believes David was innocent but with the Grayson's involved there had to be something going on.  She speaks to Emily about this and realizes she wants to see justice done for David and is interested in clearing his name for Amanda.  Emily hated what the Grayson's did to her, even if she is a Grayson and Amanda was a Clarke and yet she was her maid of honour.  Stevie tells her how she was on her way to the prison and was stopped for a DUI, which means automatic disbarment, meaning she knows Conrad was behind it cos she didn't drink and drive.  Emily didn't want her help cos she was honouring what she said to Jack.

Stevie also tells Jack about this and how she was given a piece of information but she couldn't find the source of it and it was confiscated when she was dropped from the case by her old firm.  It's what Stevie does now, she became a lawyer to fight for the underdog and for justice, as she does this now in her divorce cases. Nolan has a new housemate, Javier (Henri Esteve) from prison and he needs a place to crash after being released.  Nolan promises him he can stay one day.  Jack and Nolan attempt to get into the firm's archives and find the disks for June 1997.  Nolan makes an appointment to get back into the game with his new inventions, whilst Jack got into the archives but Can't find the files, until Javier told him what numbers to look for. Jack leaves the disks for Emily but she's not happy he got involved.

Conrad has forensic accountants doing some digging and come up with Voulez being in the red, money is being taken from the magazine and he knows Pascal is behind it.  Conrad shows this to Margaux who can't believe it.  Conrad uses this to try and get a stake and a job at Pascal's Manhattan company.  Conrad adding she can bring back Daniel now if she wants.  Pascal brings over a dress for Victoria, a little Dolce and Gabana black number.  He knows the designers, as does Victoria and she can't resist accepting. Margaux is on cloud nine with Jack but don't think that'll last especially since she seems to begetting in bed with the enemy, Daniel.

At the opera, she tells Daniel they're going to put on a show for their fathers and he's all aboard with it. Charlotte (Christa B Allen) is writing gossip pieces for the magazine and she introduces Emily to Pascal, exchanging words in French.  He's more interested in Victoria though and she tells him she might have her dress on her skin but he won't be touching it.  "This dress may touch my body but you will never be so lucky."  We'll see about that since Conrad later promises Pascal he can help get the one thing he doesn't have, Victoria.  That made him stop and listen.

Also at the opera, Charlotte gets a text saying Emily's medical records are all over the news.  Victoria confronts her with it then and there and Emily really appears to be flustered, the mark of a good actress, ha.  Victoria exclaims at how she faked her pregnancy to nab Daniel and Emily leaves, running down the stairs to be greeted by the press. Later we find out she planned the entire thing so she could manipulate getting the divorce on her own terms.  Victoria and Daniel think they've been instrumental in seeing this as the perfect opportunity to rid her from their lives.

Emily signs the papers looking really despondent, and still thinks she can use Daniel being the one who shot her but Victoria reminds her of the press conference she gave announcing it was Lydia.  Victoria thinks if she still hangs around after that then she is targeting their family.  Emily tells Jack it was her behind the reveal and he wants to make sure she's okay.  She still doesn't want him involved since she will get revenge for Amanda and for Declan.   Emily shows  Nolan the note, written on American paper by Pascal since she got a handwritten note to compare it with when she wanted Voulez to cover the wedding, but they don't know what it means.  "Conrad  per your request, I handled TWM.  Your DC plan is safe."  Her next target is going to be Pascal.  Though she has to be careful considering Jack is seeing her.

Appears there's plenty for Emily to be dealing with here and they've added Pascal to the mix, but he's going to be in cahoots with Conrad so how easily will Emily take him down.  Though she's dealt with far tougher obstacles before, she now has Victoria one her back, looking to find what Emily's up to and it also looks more likely than not, that she will find out what Emily's game is.

Nolan's got a housemate for good now since Javier gave his parole officer this address as his permanent abode.  Nolan thinks he could help him as he notices the artwork he's done on the pizza box.  Emily and Jack still make a nice couple and no matter how much she wants him not involved, he finds some way to turn up.  Also now Stevie's in the game, he won't stay out of it.  Haven't made up my mind about Stevie yet, if she can be trusted or not, irrespective of being Jack's mother, which all seemed rather convenient.  At least Daniel and Victoria got their moment of smugness having played right into Emily's hands, but can't wait for Daniel to get his real just desserts.


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