“In its purest form, an act of retribution provides symmetry, the rendering of payment for crimes against the innocent. but the danger of retaliation lies in furthering the cycle of violence. Still, it’s a risk that must be met when the greater offense is to allow the guilty to go unpunished.”

Amanda and Nolan have made it back to her house in the aftermath of the explosion aboard the Amanda and the two of them are nearing a breakdown but for different reasons.  Nolan wants Amanda to stop what she’s doing, all of the revenge stuff, before any more people she loves are seriously hurt or killed.  She, on the other hand, wants the blood of the Graysons even more now.  They argue back and forth and Amanda tells Nolan that she doesn’t need him but he tells her “As far as me sticking by your side, I think you know by now I’m not going anywhere.”  Amanda says,  “Then don’t ever tell me to let go, or to ease up, or to forgive. Not when I’m standing here covered in the blood of one of the only people that I ever loved.”  Amanda gets a gun from a table and Aiden comes in.  When she goes upstairs, Nolan tries to reason with Aiden, but Aiden tells him that, without her need for revenge, she has nothing.  Amanda is sitting on her bad, with the necklace that Emily gave back to her and opens the locket, revealing a picture of both of the young women from years ago.  When she comes back down the stairs, she asks Nolan to go the hospital with her to see Jack.  Aiden is off to make nice-nice with Daniel.

When they arrive at Jack’s room, they find out that  Victoria just happened to pop into The Stowaway right after Helen Crowley disappeared, under the premise of offering a place for little Carl to stay while the air-conditioning at The Stowaway was broken.  Nolan and Amanda come to the conclusion that the Graysons, with Victoria at the helm, have set (real) Emily up as Helen Crowley’s killer.

At Grayson Manor, Daniel is beginning to realize that there’s really nothing about his family or their money that wasn’t gotten by anything other than lying, stealing and even getting people killed.  Yes, it took him this long to figure it out.   I still think his parents should have let him pursue his dream of writing poetry.   On the heels of finding out about Jack and the boat incident, he announces to his parents that he’s going to stop The Initiative.  I wish him all the luck in the world with that one.    After Daniel stomps out the door, Conrad gets a call from Trask to talk about (real) Emily.   When Trask abruptly hangs up, Conrad tells Victoria that he and Nate Ryan put some terrible things in motion.   Trask does meet with Lord and Lady Grayson in a very public setting to talk about the events of the past day and night.  Victoria and Conrad are spinning their story that (fake) Amanda and Nate Ryan are the bad guys in the whole thing, but Trask isn’t buying it and suspects that there be more to this than what they’re telling him.  When Conrad mentions the missing laptop, chock full of the Graysons’ greatest hits, Trask seems a little more interested.

Aiden, following Amanda’s plans, meets with Daniel and tells him that he would like to fill Conrad’s seat on Grayson Global’s Board of Directors, something which Conrad will have to vacate should he become governor.  To sweeten the deal, he tells Daniel that he helped him with the Stonehaven deal by spoiling it for Jason Prosser.   Now Daniel is starting to think that someone finally has his back.  Aiden closes his spiel with the promise that if he’s made part of the team, the sky’s the limit.  Victoria isn’t quite so quick to buy Aiden’s line and tells Daniel to test his loyalty.  She tells her son that he should ask Aiden to make some business trades that Trask wants.  If he doesn’t make the deal, then Aiden is part of The Initiative. If he does make the deal, then that means you can trust him.   The Victoria Grayson loyalty and trust test – priceless.

Amanda is at the Stowaway, looking for the laptop when Trask walks in.  Flashing some badge he bought at Wal-Mart or stole from a real federal agent, he tells her that he’s investigating the boat explosion and is searching for clues about (real)Emily.  His phone rings and it’s someone telling him that the Coast Guard has recovered a second body, and it’s a female.   He tells Amanda that they’re notifying her sister.

In the meantime, Ashley is sitting in Conrad’s study and she’s become quite feisty.  She tells Conrad that she knows he killed (fake)Amanda.  Conrad scoffs at her and tells her to prepare a press conference/photo op so that he can make a public display of his grief over the loss that the Porters have suffered.  I think he’s got a real career in politics ahead of him.  Ashley, who really has nothing better to do and nowhere else to go, complies.  Padma meets up with Nolan at the hospital and asks him if he’s got any information about her father.  He tells her that he’ll run the fingerprint and see if he can verify that the severed digit belongs to her dad.   Victoria is at the hospital with Charlotte, who’s in the morgue, identifying her sister’s body.

Daniel has stopped by Nolan’s office to demand the Carrion program and Nolan has had enough for one day.  When he snaps back at Daniel telling him that he should just fire him, Daniel tells him that he either turns the thing over or he’ll sue the pants off of him.  Nolan says  “Ctrl – Alt- Delete – got it.”

Charlotte is back at home and she’s feeling bad about the fact that (fake)Amanda has so few people to attend her funeral.  When her mother leaves the room, Charlotte Googles, or searches on ABC’s version of Google, the name “Amanda Clarke”.  She finds an article about a fire at a foster home.  The article also has a picture of Amanda and another boy, Eli, who lived at the burned out house.   So, she sets about trying to locate the young man and he sends her an instant message in response to her search.

Jack has regained consciousness and Nolan and Amanda go to see him.  They tell him that his wife didn’t survive and he breaks down.  Conrad walks into the room and Amanda tells him that it really isn’t a good time for him to visit.   Jack says that it’s okay, he’d like to speak with Conrad alone.  Conrad has oh so graciously paid Jack’s hospital bill because all of the Graysons are like that, you know.    Conrad also tells Jack that crazy Nate Ryan is to blame for the whole thing.  Jack is crying that his wife shouldn’t have paid for the sins of his father and Conrad’s just eating it up.  When he leaves, Amanda and Nolan go back to the room and find Jack trying to get out of bed.  He wants to find the computer that everybody is after.  The two revengers tell him that they’ll help him find it.

Jack finally goes home and, as Amanda is bringing him something to eat, he starts talking about (fake)Amanda.  he tells the real deal that he doesn’t feel like he knew his wife at all, and that she didn’t even trust him with the truth about her past and her problems with the Graysons.   He asks Amanda to leave and starts staring at the jar of sea glass until he smashes it and sees a key on the floor.  The key is from a locker at the Noyack Marina.   I guess we know where he’s headed next.   Sure enough, he finds the locker, with a duffel bag inside and makes his way back to The Stowaway.

Conrad, with the help of Ashley, is making his statement about the dear departed Mrs. Porter.  Jack, meanwhile, has tried to access the laptop, which Nolan is made aware of and tells Amanda about.   Suddenly, Jack is on television, with Conrad, and after the two exchange pretend pleasantries, Jack tells Conrad that (fake)Amanda is watching and smiling.  (Real) Amanda is watching the TV and is scared to death that Jack is going to do something awful.  So was I.

The morning of the funeral, Amanda visits Jack at The Stowaway and he’s madder than a wet hen.  He may not have been able to unlock the password for the computer, but he’s found all kinds of things about Amanda Clarke.  He takes out his anger at (real)Amanda, accusing her of being a bad friend who let his wife become a target for the Graysons.   She tries to console him, telling him that (fake) Amanda’s love was real from day one and never changed, despite juvie and foster homes.

Nolan, who’s looking about as bad as anyone can look and still be breathing, is talking with Padma.  He tells her that the finger does belong to her father and then hands her the memory card with the Carrion program.  He also tells her that the people she’s dealing with aren’t very good at keeping up their part of a bargain so there may not be the kind of outcome she’s expecting, even after she hands them the card.

Amanda is giving the eulogy at (fake)Amanda’s funeral, which is being attended by the Graysons, the Porters and Nolan.  It sounded more like a eulogy for herself – maybe it was.

After the service, everyone  but Victoria places a calla lily on the casket.  She saves hers for David Clarke’s grave marker.   Jack walks over to Conrad to thank him for coming and tells him that he’d like to chat it up next week.  Conrad, feeling quite secure, tells him that his door is always open.  He might want to rethink that.   Amanda is beside herself knowing that Jack wants nothing to do with her and tells Nolan that she should just tell Jack the truth.  Nolan knows that Jack can’t handle the truth right now and tells her to just let him grieve and hang on to whatever good memories he has left of (fake)Amanda.  Seriously – I know that confession is good for the soul, but give the guy a little space before you crush all of the life out of him. 

Victoria slithers over to Amanda and starts getting all emotional about how hard it is to lose a child.  She says that it’s a good thing David never saw his daughter die this way and that she, herself, would never get over such a tragic thing.  That’s just what Amanda needed to hear to start working on her next plot.   She goes home to find Aiden, who’s managed to abscond with the laptop and trash Jack’s room in the process, hoping that Jack will blame the Graysons for the mess and the theft.  Amanda grabs the computer and tosses it off her deck into the ocean.    Aiden, who’s about as confused as I am, asks her why she did that – the evidence is all gone now.  Amanda tells him that this was never about prison.  Revenge has nothing to do with justice.  She’s getting back to basics and she’s bought a brand new set of red Sharpies to map out her plans, and X out her targets.  That’s it – no more distractions – she’s got all the evidence she needs and revenge is coursing through her veins.

Daniel is in his office when he notices that his clock, the one with the hidden camera, isn’t keeping time.  He tells his secretary to have it repaired and then she can keep it if she wants to.   Amanda is standing in the cemetery, in the dark and the pouring rain, when a man’s voice is heard.  He says that he knew (fake)Amanda from the foster home she burned down and that he’s her foster brother, Eli.  Looks like Charlotte’s little internet search uncovered a doozy.

I took a peek into the future and it looks like ABC is going to give us a few weeks worth of episodes without any breaks.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed.  Another little bit of trivia – this episode was directed by Helen Hunt (Mad About You) – not too shabby.

Empress