Amanda creepily looks on as her pawn, Nolan, carries out her every wish.
Credit: ABC/Richard Cartwright
“Revenge” could have been over in a few episodes — Amanda could have kidnapped Charlotte from the get-go instead of now, three years later – and used her as leverage in getting the Graysons behind bars. Why didn’t Amanda think of this early on? Ugh, who knows, but here we are. Nolan and Aidan are in on the plan, naturally — Aidan is the one who kidnapped poor unsuspecting Charlotte on the beach last week. Amanda calls Conrad using a crazy ransom voice and shows him a video of Charlotte. Amanda orders him to confess with Victoria, and then they track Conrad calling a man named Mr. Marino, ordering him to meet him at a wharf on the pier. Shady.
A detective visits Margot to tell her that the pilot and Conrad have the same story about the events that transpired with Pasquale. But she’s not buying it. Her dad was wearing a wire, for chrissake. She tells the cop that he tapes conversations with people he doesn’t trust. The detective rapidly changes his story to side with Margot (because this is a TV show) and they determine there’s more to this than what’s in front of them.
Javier visits Jack, worried that he can’t find Charlotte. Jack has a hunch that he can figure it out. Meanwhile, Margot and Daniel surprisingly both think Conrad was behind her dad’s murder. They watch the security camera footage and see Amanda on the tape. Daniel’s got some ammo to go after Amanda again now.
Conrad hit the wharf and finds … er … Charlotte’s ear in a box?? Gross trick from the kidnappers. But it’s not really Charlotte’s ear, of course — Nolan rigged the MyClone thingy to give the impression that they were torturing Charlotte, but they really aren’t. Back at the control center, Nolan asks Amanda the first thing she’ll do when she’s really Amanda again, and Amanda’s like, I don’t even know who Amanda is anymore. So all of this is for nothing, I guess?
At a playground, Victoria swipes a bit of blood from baby Carl after he skims his knee (creepy). She gives that, and a little Charlotte DNA from the ear, to her PI to send off to the lab.
Poor Charlotte is tortured with videos of her dad’s guilt, the victims of the flight and even little clips of Declan (RIP). Aidan picks up on the fact that she’s having a panic attack, but Amanda isn’t too sympathetic. Elsewhere, Victoria storms Conrad when he walks through the door to their home, but he is able to get her to focus on something other than what a bastard he is when he tells her that their little girl has been kidnapped, and oh yeah, they sent her ear in a box. Conrad decides they must hold a press conference and come clean.
Jack tracked Nolan’s phone with the help of Javier to … the control room! Amanda’s surprised, to say the least. She finally agrees to pick up something from the pharmacy for Charlotte’s panic attack, but a detective stops her and calls her in for questioning, since she’s in the stairwell video. Amanda puts her phone on speaker so Nolan figures out that her plan’s gone askew. Daniel pays a visit to the station to further incriminate his ex-wife, and they get caught up in another war of words (as usual). Aidan heads into the city to back up Amanda, leaving … uh … just Jack to watch over Charlotte in the control room? Jack, who wants to set Charlotte free, I might add. How did that happen, and why is it a good idea? Jack doesn’t want to help Aidan with Operation Use Charlotte As Leverage, but Aidan convinces him that if the plan goes well, he’ll get his true love, Amanda Clarke, back. Well, if that’s not motivation for Jack, what is? But Jack can’t let Charlotte just hang there. He breaks and unties her, then sets her free on the beach (before stupidly taking off his mask and THEN running. Jack, what if she broke free of her blindfold and saw it was you? That could get you in a lot of trouble you don’t need right now. Oye.)
At the police station, Aidan topples jack, and Daniel and Margot are further convinced that Conrad and Pasquale had some kind of shady business going on when he died, but at odds about Amanda’s involvement. Amanda gets exonerated because her current prints don’t match her juvie prints (thanks, fake-Amanda Clarke!), and Daniel and Margot share a tender moment. Another new “Revenge” power couple in the works?
Ah, the things Aidan does for love.
Credit: ABC/Richard Cartwright
Conrad gets ready for his guilt-solidifying press conference when Charlotte makes a grand re-entrance. She’s not really happy to be home though. “The naïve deserve two things,” she tells him, “swindling and scorn.” Then she calls out her dad for being behind the plane crash, but he rips her a new one by getting as feisty as we’ve ever seen him. He goes on a power trip about how he’s the last of the terrorists standing because he’s the best, or something, before excusing himself to go cancel the press conference that he no longer wants to be a part of. But whoops, too late, Charlotte’s jacket had a secret camera in it that even she (it seems) didn’t know about, and their whole conversation was just broadcast on TV. Conrad, admitting his guilt — there you have it! I must admit, it was very satisfying seeing him pulled away (slow-motion, of course) by the cops, accepting his defeat. He vows to take Victoria down with him though, even though she’s found a way to prove her innocence (I assume it has something to do with this baby’s blood, but I don’t get the specifics here yet).
Oh, and can we talk about Emily Van Camp’s many facial expressions upon seeing Conrad get his comeuppance? I’ve never seen her show emotion other than scorn and fake-delight before. This was a new range for her. But too bad she can’t even enjoy the moment too much when Aidan pops by for a visit later. There’s still Victoria, she says. Girl, give it up. Anyway, he goes into his usual “we’re meant to be” speech and then they kiss, which Jack sees (poor guy). Amanda tells Jack how she knew that once Charlotte was free, she would call her dad out. And Victoria inadvertently helped by sticking the camera on Charlotte’s lapel, unbeknownst to everyone. Go team? Anyway, Jack tells Amanda about the letters Charlotte was receiving, and shows her the ring that he swiped from the house. Amanda freaks out a little because she knows it’s her dad.
Elsewhere, Victoria admits to Daniel that she refused the ransom the kidnappers offered for Charlotte (what a nice mom) for her confession. She wasn’t gonna confess because she knows there are more tricks up Amanda’s sleeve — that DNA test from earlier proves that Charlotte and baby Carl aren’t related after all. Ssince Charlotte is Amanda Clarke’s half-sister, this must mean that Amanda who perished isn’t the real Amanda. Victoria wins!
Amanda visits Conrad in jail and tells him that she was behind this whole thing, “in memory of David and Amanda Clarke,” which is stupid, if you ask me, because she totally just admitted her involvement. But she also tells him that she’s after Victoria now, and Conrad wishes her godspeed. Could this be the most unlikely revenge-seeking pair this show has seen? Maybe!
Friends, there is only one episode left of “Revenge” Season 3! We don’t even know if the show’s been picked up for a Season 4! Apparently next week Victoria is finally going to realize that Emily is Amanda, and all I can say is it’s about damn time.
