“Darkness scares us. We yearn for the comfort of light as it provides shape and form allowing us to recognize, to define what’s before us. But what is it we’re afraid of, really? Not the darkness itself, but the truth we know hides within.”

Part 1

New York’s still in the dark, thanks to Carrion, but it’s not just dark – there’s no electricity, no internet, no cell phones – everything that would drive any self-respecting teenager to the brink.  Nolan, Aiden, and Amanda are at NolCorp trying to figure out how to get around the situation when Nolan comes up with the idea to tap into a satellite that he happens to be on speaking terms with.

While he works on a connection with his orbiting BFF, Charlotte and Daniel, fresh on the heels of sharing the baby news,  are headed through the crowded streets on their way to Conrad’s campaign headquarters.   Victoria has spent the night at The Stowaway drinking up all the brandy that Jack has in stock.  Victoria isn’t so sure that the recording Jack has really implicates Conrad in (fake)Amanda’s death.   Jack figures that’s the Grayson side of her talking, or maybe it’s the brandy, and asks her if she was in love with David Clarke.  He also believes that everything they need is on Conrad’s computer which is locked in his home safe.

Conrad is at his campaign headquarters, sending volunteers home and telling Ashley to arrange for a helicopter to take him home in the morning.   Victoria and Jack have made their way to the Graysons’ to take a look at the contents of Conrad’s safe.  They find a gun, she spots a file with Jack’s name on it and hides it from him, but hands him the one bearing Amanda Clarke’s name.   Victoria suggests that they call Ashley and ask her about Conrad’s laptop but Jack blurts out that Ashley doesn’t know where it is.  Uh oh, he shouldn’t have let that slip out because now Victoria is giving him the side-eye.  He stumbles over some lame recovery attempt but it’s too late – the amateur Jack is no match for the experienced Lady Grayson.   He tells Victoria that he’ll just hand over his recording to the press in the middle of Conrad’s big speech the next day.

Nolan manages to hookup with the satellite and is trying to help Aiden.  He’s having a bit of a problem because The Falcon has programmed Carrion to ignore his prompts.  At the same time, Daniel and Charlotte have made it to Conrad’s headquarters and, after sending Charlotte to the suite upstairs, Conrad tells Daniel to steer clear of Grayson Global.  The Initiative has targeted a slew of critical infrastructure and the Wall Streeters will be charging down the street with torches and pitchforks.  The best they can do to deflect the whole thing is to pin it on Aiden.   After he gets home, Victoria tells Conrad that Jack knows about the laptop and that Ashley is in Jack’s corner.

Amanda and Nolan go looking for Takeda and find his body.  In a flashback, a much younger Amanda is seen meeting Takeda for the first time, at her Revenge school hazing by the headmaster.  He tells her that David Clarke is a bad man who killed a lot of people.   Just as he’d hoped, Amanda goes crazy and tries to fight with Takeda, but she hasn’t taken  any of his classes yet, so he just throws her to the ground.  She says that she wants people to pay for what they did and Takeda is the one to show her the way.   Back to the present and Amanda and Nolan find Takeda’s own Infinity box which has a picture of a man with one of those Red Sharpie circles on his head.  They wonder if he’s Takeda’s killer or the next one to be killed.  Nolan’s worried that she could be next.

Victoria is taking out the garbage – really? Lady Grayson actually knows where the garbage can is? – and finds a home pregnancy test.  Now she’s dumpster diving – priceless.

The power’s come back on and Declan and Regina leave the bank’s ATM area.  Regina has been a complete tool and, apparently loves Charlotte.  No wonder she can’t stand Declan – he’s the competition.  When they see Charlotte, Regina tells her how Declan roughed her up and stole her money.   Declan tries to explain what really happened but Charlotte doesn’t want to her it.  Then again, she doesn’t know about the video that Regina has of the two of them kissing.  Regina’s creepy, really creepy, a stalker kind of creepy.

Daniel is at Grayson Global and there’s some weird IT guy there who’s supposed to be getting their systems up and running, at least within the next 24 hours.  Victoria shows up at the office and shows Daniel the pregnancy test.  She assumes it’s Amanda’s because Amanda is just the kind of gal who would pee on a stick at Grayson Manor and leave it in the trash for Victoria to find.  Daniel says that it isn’t Amanda’s and Victoria realizes that it belongs to Charlotte.

Amanda and Aiden are at her house and she tells him that Takeda’s been murdered.  She shows him the picture of the guy from the Infinity box and asks him is he looks familiar.  Aiden says that he wants them to go away, just disappear and forget about all the revenge stuff.  He even has passports for the two of them with new names and all – he was going to be Noah Campbell and she would be Diane Miller.  She sees the cuts and bruises on him and jacks him up against the wall, knowing that he killed Takeda.  He tells her that Takeda’s fiancée was on Flight 197 but wasn’t listed among the dead because she was a flight attendant and the jump seat was never recovered.    He says that he couldn’t tell her about Takeda’s own revenge plans because her own was important to her.  Just then, Daniel calls, but Amanda’s cell phone keeps breaking up.  She tells Aiden that she has to stop Daniel from implicating him, then says that she isn’t running away but he should.   Amanda arrives at Grayson Global and Daniel says that all of the countries Aiden invested in are making huge amounts of money in the market.  Amanda then notices the IT guy and recognizes him as the man in Takeda’s photo.

Jack gets a text from Ashley’s phone, but it isn’t from Ashley.  It’s really from Conrad and it says that Jack should come to campaign headquarters to get Conrad’s computer.   Nolan walks into his office at NolCorp and sees Aiden sitting there.  Aiden wants to fix what he did and hands Nolan an envelope for Amanda.  Nolan tells him how Amanda walked away once before, for Jack.  Aiden’s surprised but tells Nolan that he’s become an unexpected friend.

Charlotte and Regina are arguing about Declan, and Charlotte isn’t quite convinced that Regina is telling her the truth.  Regina, desperate to keep Charlotte, tells her that they can raise the baby, without any help from Declan.  Anyone want to take bets on that one?  Declan calls and tells Charlotte to look at the video Regina’s been saving.  He also says that he knows about the pregnancy, thanks to Victoria.  Her phone breaks up, too and when she asks Regina about the video, Regina hesitates.  Charlotte says buh-bye, girlfriend.

Nolan is trying to find a match for the guy in the picture when Amanda walks in.  He tells her that Aiden just left and hands her the envelope.  Inside is a picture of Takeda’s fiancée.  Jack calls and tells her that he’s going after Conrad’s computer at his HQ, but when Amanda tries to stop him her phone breaks up.   Nolan finally hits on a match for the picture and it’s an assassin named Gregor Hoffman.  Not only does he have access to all of Grayson Global’s computers but Jack is walking into a trap.   Amanda and Nolan take off after him, but Jack’s already in an elevator on his way up to the offices.   Conrad’s giving his big pre-election day speech about the perseverance of New Yorkers with Victoria and Daniel by his side.  Hoffman is standing in the crowd and suddenly every cell phone in the room starts going off.  I guess service was restored.  Everyone has a text message – “LONG LIVE DAVID CLARKE”.    A second later, the offices of Grayson Global blow up.

Part 2

Nolan and Amanda are on the street with debris raining down on them.  She heads into the building while he calls Aiden and warns him not to come, sot that they can’t pin this on him.  Conrad is IN CHARGE – that required capital letters.  He’s announcing that he and his campaign staff are the first responders and will save the injured if they have to perform CPR and surgery right there in the middle of the street.  Amanda is stumbling around in the rubble that use to be Grayson Global and hears someone moaning.  Before she can get to him, the real first responders get her out of there.   Jack’s okay, though, and he’s sitting in Nolan’s office.   He says that he got Nolan’s message and wants to know how Nolan knew about the bomb.  He wants the truth and he wants it now.  Nolan says that it started when Victoria asked him to look for her first son, how she hired The Falcon to obliterate his records, but how the angry bird picked up a new gig with a bunch of terrorists and helped take down Flight 197.   Jack wants to go after Conrad, but Nolan says that Conrad will finish the job if he sees him. Smashing his cell phone, Jack says that he won’t if he thinks he already got it done.

Jack finds out from Ashley that Conrad sent the ext message and that he knew about the bomb, then dashes off.  Daniel spots Aiden on the street – Aiden chose to ignore Amanda’s advice to stay the hell out of there –  and starts yelling  “Hey, over here.  Police, police,  help, help!  This guy’s the bomber!  I’m a Grayson.   You have to believe me.”    The firefighters have found the victim inside the building and it’s Declan, who was looking for his brother.   Ashley calls Jack to let him know and Amanda walks in while he’s on the phone.  He gives her the cold shoulder but Nolan tells him that he trusts her with his life, (fake)Amanda did, and it’s about time you did.   Amanda takes Jack to the hospital and gives him some scrubs and a mask she stole – a talent she learned during her juvie days.  She says that she understands why he’s angry with her and he tells her that he wants her to keep on being Carl’s godmother.   Jack gets into Declan’s room and tells him that the bomb was meant for him.  Declan lets his older brother know that Charlotte is pregnant.

Aiden is waiting for Amanda at her house.  He tells her that he’d like to apologize but she says that he should go and save himself.  He wants to save them both and take her away to a villa in Capri, that her life of revenge is an empty one.   She won’t go and he wishes her all the best, hoping that she gets what she’s looking for.  After he leaves, Nolan comes over and says that he walked away from you.  Amanda says that it’s partly because Nolan told him about her and Jack.  Nolan says that he deserved the truth.   When he wonders where Jack is, Amanda says that he probably went after Conrad, or all the Graysons.

Conrad and Daniel are just getting the news that all of the Amanda Clarke Foundation money is gone, leaving them penniless.  No, Daniel didn’t cash that check in time.  Conrad’s been smoking funny stuff and says that it doesn’t matter.  They have everything the need because they’re Graysons.  Daniel says that he’s still going to run off to Paris with Amanda and live happily ever after.  He’s been smoking the same thing his dad has.   Conrad is seeing things that aren’t there and says that what he did with the bomb was a way to mitigate damage – a triumph for The Initative.

Victoria and Amanda are having a chat about the future.  Victoria tells Amanda that they share more than she even realizes.  They’re both going to endure lives of regret, disappointment and misery – a charade and a sham of a life.  Amanda says that what Victoria won’t admit is that her children don’t want her.  On the television is news of Aiden’s arrest.   Daniel is packing for his getaway when Victoria walks in to tell him about Aiden.  Daniel says that Aiden didn’t blow up the building, The Initative did and Conrad knew about it, and maybe she did, too.

Conrad is home now and he’s prouder than a peacock about his jump on the polls.  Victoria says that he was in on the bombing with The Initiative and that’s why he opened his campaign headquarters where he did – so that he could he the first responder and look like a hero.   Conrad announces that there never was an “Initiative’, just a bunch of savvy businessmen who profited from people’s fears.  The plan was to create and control chaos, forcing people to spend money in an attempt to stop evil doers, and, by playing God, the ones who designed the mess could become very, very, filthy, filthy rich.   A flashback to Helen Crowley’s visit with Conrad while he was in jail showed that she offered him a deal.  The deal was that Conrad could join their exclusive club of greedy bastards if he was willing to create his own disastrous events.   Victoria is spitting mad, no kidding, she spits on him, but Conrad tells her to be a dutiful wife or he’ll send her back to the squalid life she came from.

Jack sneaks back to the hospital to see Declan, but his bed is empty.  Nolan is there and he’s crying.  Declan suffered a ruptured aorta and died.   He shows Jack a farewell video that Declan made, asking him to take care of his baby, Carl’s cousin.  Nolan tells him to take Carl and disappear but Jack wants payment from the Graysons for what they’ve done.  Get in line, Jack.  Get in line.  He heads over to Grayson Manor and gets Conrad’s gun from his desk.  Victoria walks in and practically begs him to kill her, right there.  He says that she should live a long and tortured life, unlike what he planned for her husband.

Aiden’s in jail and wants an attorney, but the FBI tells him that he’s not going to get one because their investigation has changed.   They raid NolCorp and arrest Nolan.   They take him in and start asking him about Carrion.  He tries to tell him about Edith, The Falcon, but they show him a video of Padma implicating Nolan in all of the events that the non-Initiative did – in fact, she names him as The Initiative.

Conrad is getting ready to make his acceptance speech as the newly elected governor when Ashley tells him that he shouldn’t go out to the podium.  He tells her that he’s going and nothing’s going to stop him.  Victoria is at home and wakes up a sleeping Charlotte, who’s been looking at a website called Teenage Mommies, but doesn’t tell her about Declan.  She goes back downstairs to watch Conrad’s speech on television when the doorbell rings.  It’s her son, Patrick.  He says “hi, Mom” and she drops her drink on the floor.  Jack is in another disguise, hiding at Conrad’s campaign offices and he has a gun trained on Conrad.  Amanda runs up the stairs and stops him before he can shoot.  He tells her that this has nothing to do with her.  Oh no, she says,  this have everything to do with me.  “I’m Amanda Clarke.”

So Jack knows the truth, but I’ve got more questions than answers.   That’s why they call them cliffhangers, and this finale gave us some good ones.

Empress