Credit: ABC/ Colleen Hayes

Masquerade! Masquerade! Anyone else singing the “Phantom of the Opera” theme song along tonight’s festivities? Just me? OK, moving on…

Well tonight was a rough one for Nolan, right? At the start of the episode, he’s calling the detective for any leads on Padma, but nothing’s come up yet. Also, he’s a disheveled mess. I kind of like the scruffy Nolan though. Anyone else? He tells Amanda he’s got to believe she’s still out there, and Amanda says she has an idea on how to find her.

Victoria is counting her RSVPs to her annual Halloween masquerade (we skipped a few months here, I guess, but nothing makes sense in this “Revenge” world, you may recall). Too bad one invitee can’t make it because she has a destination divorce to attend to. Aah, rich people! Anyways, one RSVP catches her eye—it’s postmarked 1973, and inside is a “Yes! I will attend with pleasure,” note, signed “from your loving son.” Victoria has a flashback about when she was a teen and found out she was pregnant by her mother’s boyfriend. She didn’t live with her parents at the time.

Amanda wants to move ahead and drain Trask’s money from Grayson Global. She needs Aidan to do it. Elsewhere, Conrad is doing some media training at the Stowaway, with Jack offering his counsel as the “every man” (tip #1: Don’t use the words “working class.” No one likes it.). Ashley tells Conrad about the strange RSVP Victoria got and they decide it’s probably from his political opponents. To make sure they’re answering questions properly, they decide Jack will coach Conrad throughout his speech through an ear bud. Jack’s got his own idea though: He’ll have Nolan rig the earpiece to broadcast the taped convo between Conrad and the Ryan brother. That’ll get voter attention!

Aidan drains the money out of Trask’s account, much to Daniel’s fury. Trask shows at the office. This was all part of Aidan’s plan, so he calls Amanda to tell her everything worked. Amanda intrudes on Victoria (in her vanity room…seriously, how does she keep getting in this house uninvited?) and asks for an invite to the Masquerade, but Victoria says no can do, you weren’t invited, sorry! Amanda accepts this and leaves.

Trask confronts Daniel about the missing funds, and he tries to pin it on Aidan and says he’ll get it back. But he warns him that he knows Trask is threatening him. He thinks he sent the picture of him dining with Amanda. But Trask says he wouldn’t do threats “in two dimensions” for “we act in three dimensions.” Yowza! Trask tells Daniel a lot has changed since they worked with his dad and says the real money is now in rebuilding after a big crime. And yes, he will take the Initiative’s funds out of GG. As Trask gets in his car to leave, Aidan pulls a gun on him from the backseat and forces him to take them to Padma.

Daniel invites Amanda as his date to the ball—suck on that, Vicky—and back in the Hamptons, Victoria gets another ominous delivery: a beautiful bouquet of black roses. There’s only 11, but the note from her adopted son says that he’ll be wearing the 12^th.

At Conrad’s press conference, a friend of Amanda Clarke’s asks if the David Clarke case will be reopened. Then, to everyone’s horror, the taped conversation plays. But Conrad handles it all extremely well: He says if there’s an opportunity he will secure a presidential pardon for David Clarke. Back at home, Conrad finds the mysterious RSVP—did Victoria really never tell him she had another kid? Wow, way to keep secrets, girl. She makes her hubby believe she had an abortion.

Oh no, this part was sad. Trask and Aidan get to some warehouse and lying on what appears to be a cold metal table is the body of Padma. We’re asked to believe she’s dead—“she’s with her father,” Trask tells Aidan—but being that this is “Revenge” I wouldn’t be surprised if she makes a surprise return (maybe for ratings later).

Ah, and it’s time for the Grayson obligatory party of the evening: Tonight, it’s the Masquerade ball! Everyone looks all shiny in their dresses and masks. Victoria presumably doesn’t care; she’s just on the hunt for that 12^th black rose. Jack, Amanda and Daniel have an awkward reunion, but Daniel does manage to thank Jack for all his help on the campaign. Conrad, who looks ridiculous in his outfit, is busy fielding phone calls from reporters (Note to Conrad: Don’t hate. They’re just doing their job.) when Ashley appears and surmises that Conrad’s campaign manager was behind the tapes being played earlier that day. Conrad doesn’t want to hear any of it and goes off on her, all with Jack listening in the wings.

Sloane, Daniel’s ex, is at the ball and shows a recent Page 6 clipping of Amanda and Daniel at their secret hideaway dinner to Victoria, who freaks out. Also upset is Aidan, to see that Daniel and Amanda are back together. Victoria and Daniel spar over his freedom to make his own choices, and he gives her her bullets back. Based on his little chat with Trask earlier, he knows they weren’t from the Initiative.

Oh no, sad part redux. We have to break the news to Nolan about Padma. He’s pretty crushed, but vows to Amanda that he’ll be OK and just has to deal with it his own way, alone. Amanda is once again shown the collateral damage all this revenge business is causing her.

Upstairs, Charlotte punches a girl who was talking smack about Amanda Clarke (Emily, the dead one), and Declan comes in to save the day. Jack is icy to Victoria after she makes some blue collar statement to him, and Victoria has another flashback. Back in the present, she sees someone wearing a black rose, so she follows him, but it eventually turns out to be Aidan. She passes out.

The next day, Conrad’s numbers are up, thanks to the whole David Clarke promise (must be the liberals, he supposes). He wants to know what happened to Victoria last night, and he calls her out on the aborted first kid story. She says she’s got proof and will show him if he vows to drop it after that.

Aidan is “disgusted” with Amanda, who tells him that Trask is going to look into his past based on his convo with Daniel earlier. Aidan wants to be alone, so he heads to the city.

Jack recruits someone else for his bring-down-the-Graysons-team: Ashley. He knows they’ve never treated her well. She knows it too. She’s in.

Poor Nolan goes beserk in his office, smashing things and crying, when the detective comes in. Padma’s only been dead for a day. What did you do after we spoke, he wants to know? He thinks Nolan killed her. But Nolan won’t talk. I’m confused about this also. I guess he doesn’t want to say because that would mean unleashing all the info about the Initiative?

Victoria pays a visit to the nun who took her baby in when she showed up with him many years ago. In a flashback, we see that the nun made her promise not to ask of what became of her son once she gave him up. But here’s Victoria, looking for info. All the nun will tell her is that he came by a few years ago, looking for information. Victoria asks if he looked happy, but the nun will only reply that he was on a hopeful quest. She leaves, the nun prays, and then Amanda pulls up to the bench and takes a seat next to the nun. She says she’s pregnant and has nowhere to turn. What is this about? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out. Til then, Happy Easter if you’re celebrating, and thanks for taking time out of your chocolate bunnies to read along!

The post ‘Revenge’ recap: Episode 18, ‘Masquerade’ appeared first on Metro.us.

Credit: ABC

I am mad, for two reasons. First, the whole “Eli started the fire, but not really, he just relit Amanda’s, which I guess counts?” thing that happened. Second, last week “Revenge” promised that the last five minutes of tonight’s episode would be explosive. And while yeah, it was I guess a revelation, but was it explosive? No. Am I peeved? Yeah.

OK, to the recap. Tonight, we meet Meredith Hayward (shoutout to another Meredith), who was Eli and Amanda’s foster mom. Apparently she was a bitch who took government money for herself and locked her foster kids in a Hansel and Gretel-style metal cupboard. Tonight, we take her down.

Aidan tells Amanda that Daniel’s gotten quiet since promoting him. It won’t last forever, Amanda says. Daniel will need someone to confide in about all his problems. Aidan knows that someone will be Amanda. So, Daniel books a table at a small restaurant where no one will recognize them, and even refers to her as “Mr. Taylor” so that his assistant Grace doesn’t catch on.

Elsewhere, Conrad’s political polling numbers are terrible, and Eli has a way of both raising money for the Amanda foundation and restoring Conrad’s good name: donating to Meredith Hayward’s house for foster kids. Amanda, who Eli hired to help out on the committee (much to the chagrin of Victoria), will join Eli to give Meredith the good news.

Padma gets an order that she must drop off the Carrion program in three days. Nolan swears he won’t let her or her dad get hurt, and adds that they’re gonna need backup in the name of Aidan. And huzzah, an animal flashdrive returns! This time as a turtle USB with a removable head that serves as a tracking device. Aidan plans to kill the terrorists going after Padma and her father, but he’s got some bad news: In order to keep Padma safe, she’ll have to take on a new identity, possibly keeping her forever separated from her one true love, Nolan!

Elsewhere, Amanda wants to know Eli’s endgame. Meredith was horrible to him, why do they want to help her? Turns out she saved letters that David Clarke wrote to Amanda, and Eli wants to get them back for her. Eli made a promise to look out for Amanda, you guys! Meredith deserves to be punished, too. OK, Amanda’s down for the mission, but being the control-freak she is, she wants to do things her way.

Speaking of freak, Amanda freaks out to Nolan about the letters. Had she known about them, she would have written back, and maybe her whole life would be different.

Declan walks in on a snoozing Jack, who can’t get any answers about the Ryan brothers and the night Emily died. Declan’s got an idea. He’ll swipe the Nolans’ nephew’s cell phone (remember, Declan “robbed” their house with him over the summer) and text Kenny to meet somewhere — only when he shows, it’ll be Jack meeting him, not his nephew.

Nolan tells Padma about the new identities plan, and they’re both very sad about it. Then they both say “I love you”! How cute. I hope these two stay safe.

At the Hayward House, Amanda sneaks off downstairs to the basement and finds the metal cupboard hidden behind a bookshelf. Cut to Meredith at the Graysons, going over the details of how she’ll get her money the next day. It’ll pay off her mortgage and ensure that future generations of foster kids are taken care of.

At the Stowaway, Conrad asks Jack to be his “Joe the Plumber” — a poor guy asking others to vote for the rich guy. Outside of Montauk, Amanda and Daniel meet, and he confides in her (as expected) that Aidan is set up to take the fall for the Graysons. Yikes! This is bad news to Amanda, though Daniel ensures it’s not about jealousy. Just then, her phone rings: It’s Aidan, and the meet time for Padma has been moved up — they need to drop off Carrion in a half hour, but oh no, there’s no way Amanda will be able to make it because she’s so far away. Nolan and Aidan will have to do this one themselves.

Nolan is panting heavily as they load their guns from the rooftop above Padma, to the annoyance of Aidan. Then comes my favorite line of the night, no surprise it’s from Nolan: “I’m sorry to bother you, Lee Harvey, I guess I get nervous when I’m about kill people.” Their main goal is to keep Padma safe, but that’s not what happens. Trask comes and gets Carrion from her, but when she asks to see her father, they kidnap her in the back of their van. They take her to a warehouse, where she can hear that her dad is still alive, but they put her in front of a video camera instead of reuniting them.

So Jack confronts Kenny at the park about the night Emily died, but of course Kenny has no idea what’s going on, because he wasn’t really the one who saved him. Instead, I think he’s going to help Jack. Jack tells him this is his chance to prove that he’s different from his brother. Kenny tells Jack that Nate taped all of his conversations with the Graysons, and Jack wants to get a hold on those tapes.

At the presser for Hayward House, instead of toasting to Meredith, Eli exposes her wicked ways, and even has other past Hayward kids in the crowd to attest to her criminal behavior. But Meredith turns the tables on him: She’s like, why don’t you tell everyone that you started the fire that burned down the house, not Amanda Clarke?

Well, this is (somehow) news to Amanda? That she didn’t start the fire that she actually did? OK… hmm… a little bit of a stretch here, “Revenge.” Well, anyways, Amanda is beyond pissed (somehow) to learn the truth — again, her whole life could have been different! Eli’s just trying to make things right between the two of them, he says. She wants him to go.

Aw nuts, Aidan and Nolan track the device, but the Initiative is one step ahead of them — they’ve left the turtle head for the two guys, just to show they knew the whole time what they were up to.

Jack and Declan listen to the Grayson/Ryan tapes and yup, it’s pretty clear that Grayson practically ordered a hit on Jack. But what’s the leverage, Declan’s wondering? Jack starts to explain that Amanda was collecting evidence against Conrad for something, and she used it to blackmail him so that she could get the Stowaway back for them. Declan wants to go the police, but Jack says they can’t trust the cops, just each other. Now he knows Conrad was behind Nate being on the boat, and wants some paper proof of a contract. Declan wonders how Jack will get a hold of a contract, but Jack’s got an idea — accept Conrad’s offer to join the political campaign.

Eli gets some alone time with Meredith. They took her kids away from her and are gonna open an investigation. Eli says he owes Amanda, and that’s in fact why he’s here.

Nolan catches up with Amanda, and she expresses remorse for not helping them earlier that day. Nolan assures her it wouldn’t have mattered, that they were ahead of them the whole way, and Amanda says he can’t give up on Padma, and that he’s the only one who can save her, even if it takes weeks of coding. She vows to help him. Eli calls and Nolan insists she take it—he’s got some coding to start.

On the phone, Eli tells Amanda he’s gonna get her letters back. We can hear Meredith howling from the metal cupboard in the background. Revenge! Amanda goes through her revenge box and x’s out Meredith’s picture. When Eli gets to her house, he says he won’t be able to bring the letters after all, because Meredith sold them years ago. He wonders if she will forgive him, and she replies (wearing a serious power suit) that what’s done is done. But she does thank him?

While coding, Nolan comes across the Falcon’s signature. The Initiative must have hired him off the Graysons. Meanwhile, at Daniel’s office, someone mails Daniel a picture of he and Amanda at their clandestine lunch meeting, plus two bullets. Ominous! Who is this note from? Cut to Victoria’s bullet stash (hidden in her jewelry box, because she is a lady) conveniently boasting two open spaces.

Our final scene of the night has Amanda visiting Mason in jail. She wants the letters he bought off of Meredith, but no can do, he says, for they burnt to the ground when she burned down his house last season. Potential roadblock, but Amanda’s sure Mason must remember the content of the letters. But what’s in it for him, Mason wonders, if he shares this juicy info? She reminds him that she’s the only one in charge of whether he stays in jail or gets freed. Well, OK, he complies. He says that David was worried that Amanda was at “some Dickensian foster home,” because he saw someone else give up their kid to a gross foster home — a 16-year-old girl who would eventually become very close to David. Victoria, of course! Yes, that’s right: The big revelation is that Victoria has another son. Another tiny plot twist, I suppose. But where’s the real drama here? Maybe we’ll find out next week (but probably not).

The post ‘Revenge’ recap: Episode 17, ‘Victory’ appeared first on Metro.us.

Credit: ABC

Tonight we see more of Eli James, Amanda’s foster brother, but it only raises more questions. What does he want? Why is he here now? Amanda and Aidan talk this over as they relax in Aidan’s secluded “safe haven.” He’s the last thing she needs right now, she says. Eli was her protector, and she promised to never separate us, and nothing did until she set the fire that burned their house down.

At the Graysons, Charlotte is so proud that Mommie Dearest is starting a charity in Emily’s (“Amanda’s) honor. Daniel is trying to figure out the Initiative and what they want, and Victoria and Conrad warn him to watch out for Aidan.

Elsewhere, at the Stowaway, Jack decides to set up an insurance policy for baby Carl, in case another tragedy strikes. Declan informs Jack that the night Emily died, someone told him that they had safely made it to their hotel in Nantucket.

Emily gets wind of the foundation and offers her services as co-chair. She also donates $250,000. Just then Eli shows up at the Graysons. He tells Victoria about his past in London working in the rare books industry (a lie) and that he went to Columbia (another lie). Victoria introduces him to Amanda and he’s suspicious of her. Victoria invites him to be an honored guest at the foundation’s kick-off. Nolan calls and Amanda uses it as an excuse to leave. She hightails it to his house and tells him about Eli. Could this be another Tyler? Nolan will check him out. Amanda wants to get to Jack before Eli does.

Conrad visits Daniel in his office and says that everything they do is “for something beyond ourselves,” for the Graysons and all future Graysons. Just then Aidian interrupts.

Eli has already beaten Amanda to the Stowaway. Emily asks Jack for forgiveness but he’s suspicious of her—Eli has told him that Amanda hated her dad, and if that’s the case why would she risk everything to prove that the Graysons were after him? Uh-oh, someone smells trouble. And Eli does too: Jack steps out, and Eli confronts Amanda. He knows her real identity, telling her she looks pretty good for a dead girl.

After a quick commercial break, Eli tells Amanda that he had spent years searching for her but that he could only find the stripper. When Amanda explains the whole switching-identities thing, Eli says it’s a bum deal: Emily got a broke boyfriend and ended up dead, and Amanda got a ton of money. Speaking of which, Amanda wants Eli to have her money if it means he’ll leave her alone. She can’t have him staying here and screwing up her plan. Her incentive: He’s got a criminal past—if she can have his record wiped clean (by Nolan, who can do anything), maybe he’ll leave her alone.

Some smartass starts a fight with Daniel at a bar and Aidan breaks up the fight, much to the disappointment of Daniel. He doesn’t want Aidan to defend him. They’re officially in a fight, I guess, which makes Aidan all the more likely to be receptive to Conrad’s call just a few moments later.

Jack asks someone at the dock about the night his wife died. He knows somebody pulled him out of the wreckage and saved him. The man says someone—he didn’t catch his name—paid him money to keep quiet about that night. When the man describes him as a tall, sandy-haired guy with blue eyes, Jack figures out it’s Nolan.

At the party for Amanda’s charity, Amanda brings Nolan (who looks spiffy in a gold tux). Victoria says Amanda can’t be co-chair because all her other philanthropic duties mean she doesn’t have the time needed to the devote to this. Burn! But fine, whatever, no problem for Amanda. She gets right down to business, introducing Nolan to Eli and having him wipe his record clean, plus giving him $100,000 to start over. But Eli’s not going without a fight.

Declan gets jealous when he realized Charlotte took the day off to hang with Eli. Amanda has a plan to kick Eli out—she tells Ashley that he and Amanda were not close and that he was in trouble and needed money. Ashley will do her part to dispose of Eli, except when Victoria hears this from Ashley, she’s all the more inclined to keep him around because the damaging words came from “Emily Thorne.”

In another corner of the sprawling Grayson mansion, Daniel and Aidan argue. Aidan, like it or not, has a stake in Daniel’s wellbeing. He says he’s moved on from Emily but that Emily hasn’t moved on from Jack. He tells him that Conrad was actually the one who sent him back to Daniel, which sends Daniel through the roof.

Friends, give it up for Henry Czerny in tonight’s episode. Homeboy had some serious angry face going tonight, and it was mighty convincing. That whole scene when he told Daniel that the charity was a front to keep their assets out of government reach? Kudos. They’re gonna make it look like Aidan ran off with their money, and the next move is in Daniel’s court.

Back at the party, Eli donates his check from Amanda to the foundation. Jack makes a special appearance at the party and takes the mic, thanking the Graysons for everything (lying through his teeth). He hands the mic over to Victoria, who names Eli the co-chair of the foundation, to the anger of Amanda. Nolan corners Jack—what are you doing? Jack tells him he knows that he was there the night Amanda died and is done listening to him. Nolan makes up a story that the boat was registered to Kenny Ryan and Jack buys it.

In a rather bold move, Daniel confides in Amanda about the Initiative and their plan to have Daniel take part in their next plot. He says he’s trapped, and he tells her that the charity is a front for his parents’ assets, much to the surprise of Amanda. Elsewhere, Conrad counts his charity money to the tune of just about $5 million. Daniel tells Conrad that it’s a lock that Aidan will be named to the board, and then gives a check of his own to the foundation (it’d look weird if he wasn’t helping his parents’ cause). Victoria thinks he got the money from Amanda (“Emily”).

Emily tells Nolan about the Graysons’ charity front. She has a plan—if she gets a hold of Carrion, now that she knows where all the Graysons’ fortune lies, she can bankrupt the family. Intriguing! She needs Nolan’s help.

Cut to Emily at Aidan’s place. She’s not gonna do anything about Eli right now. She and Nolan get started on their bankruptcy mission, but Carrion’s got a bug. Nolan’s seen this bug before. In a flashback, we see him telling David about it. But David doesn’t want to hear it. He’s done fighting, he’s accepted his fate, and he just wants to make sure Amanda gets the revenge box he’s made for her (“It’s her future”). Back in the present, Nolan tells Amanda that whoever wrote the code protecting the account sealed her father’s fate, and that that hacker, dubbed “the Falcon,” is back on the Graysons’ payroll. What’s Amanda’s next move? “Let’s go hunting,” she tells Nolan.

The post ‘Revenge’ recap: Episode 16, ‘Illumination’ appeared first on Metro.us.

Credit: ABC

With every ending comes a new beginning, and tonight, in the wake of Emily’s death, we meet another character from Amanda’s past. More on that later.

So what did we think of Helen Hunt’s “Revenge” directorial debut? That’s right, your favorite 90s actress has a new obsession, just like the rest of us. Let’s play catch-up.

Amanda is still a wreck after Emily’s death aboard the boat last week. Nolan’s trying to be the voice of reason as she searches for her gun—she needs to slow down—but Amanda’s shaking and warns him not to tell her to let go of her plan for retribution. She finds the Emily’s locket, which has on one side a picture of baby Carl, and on the other Jack—it’s pasted over a photo of her and Amanda.

Conrad and Victoria are stressed about the computer on board that boat—it has all the evidence to implicate them. Daniel can’t believe all this is still going down and vows to “shut these barbarians down.” That creepy new Initiative leader Trask calls and Conrad tells him it’s not what they’ve done, but what Nate Ryan has done. They meet with Trask and blame Nate for this mess—he tricked them into confirming the computer existed and Emily used the evidence as ransom. That’s not really what happened, but Jack’s the only one who can refute this story; therefore, it’s important they place nice with him. And they also want Trask to leave Daniel alone.

Trask calls Daniel and introduces himself, since Helen Crowley has “moved on” (really, she’s lying in a ditch somewhere). Aidan comes into Daniel’s office asking for another chance to be part of his team.

Amanda is at the Stowaway looking around Emily’s room when who pops in with a fake search warrant but Trask. It’s about time they met. Trask gets a call that they’ve found a female’s body and that “Amanda’s” sister is going to identify the body. Poor Charlotte!

Ashley is getting a bit sassy—“did you kill Amanda Clarke?” she asks Conrad point-blank. But as much as she thinks she’s removed from this, Conrad reminds her that she’s been his architect through this whole mess.

Padma’s deadline to give Carrion to the Initiative is fast approaching. Nolan says he won’t hand it over until they prove her dad is still alive. He doesn’t know Helen is dead and says he’ll go through her phone records for information. She gives him a tender kiss on the cheek. While he’s investigating, Nolan realizes the Graysons killed Helen and tried to make it look like Amanda did it. Later, Daniel confronts Nolan at the office to make sure the Carrion program gets destroyed.

After IDing Emily’s body, Charlotte talks Victoria with baby Carl in the room. Victoria, menacing beast she is, is using this sad time as an opportunity to get close to Charlotte again. They’re chatting about Grandma Grayson’s funeral, and Charlotte is sad that she can’t think of anyone who will come to Emily’s (Amanda’s) service. Daniel texts Victoria that he needs to see her, and Charlotte uses the alone time to do some Googling on her half-sister.

Amanda’s looking for the computer while on the phone with Nolan, who, God bless him, refers to himself as “life’s pawn. Who’s moving me next?” Poor guy! Just then they get word that Jack’s coming out of his coma. Everyone heads to the hospital.

Jack wakes up and immediately asks about Amanda. Emily tells him. He’s understandably devastated, though I thought it was a little unrealistic he came to his senses and could fully grasp this situation so quickly. Conrad is at the hospital too, and although Amanda tells him now’s not the best time to be here, Jack is insistent on speaking with him alone.

Conrad says he’ll pay for Jack’s hospital bills (anyone else get a “Walk to Remember” flashback here? Just me? OK, moving on.) Going with his plan, Conrad is kissing Jack’s ass. But when Conrad leaves, Jack tells Amanda that he knows the real story, about them framing her father and having to murder her next. He needs the computer with the evidence against the Graysons. Amanda insists that he not tell anyone this and that he’s much safer in the hospital than running out and trying to exact revenge. After all, that’s her job.

Over drinks at a swanky bar, Daniel tells Victoria that he wants out. Everything they have is blood money. Victoria says that if he wants to rid himself of them, he has to do it strategically. Where to start: Seeing if Aidan is trustworthy, since he’s recently come back in the picture. Victoria suggests having him execute some trades that Trask ordered. If he does it, we’ll know he’s OK, because if he was evil, he wouldn’t want his hands all over those deals.

Jack asks Amanda to give his wife’s eulogy, since in the wake of everything he feels like he didn’t even know his wife. Amanda tries to coax him that the love she had for him was real. Jack gets really mad and smashes the jar of seaglass “Amanda” and he had collected when they were younger. Inside the broken pieces, Jack spots a key.

Charlotte continues Googling “Amanda”s history –she tells Amanda she’s sad that she never really got to know her, especially since she had this whole foster system past she never knew about. Amanda leaves and Charlotte gets an IM from someone named Eli James asking if she’s still looking for Amanda’s foster brother. The plot thickens! Elsewhere, Daniel asks Aidan to make those trades and he’s happy to go through with it.

Jack knows just where the code leads—a locker at a marina, where inside he finds the computer that everyone’s been looking for. Too bad he can’t figure out the password. Because he’s Nolan and has access to every technology ever, Nolan realizes that someone at the Stowaway turned on the computer. Oh no, not Jack! If Jack gets a hold of all the information, they’ll come after him next. And, he’ll figure out that his wife wasn’t really Amanda after all.

Sporting a seriously uneven sunburn, Amanda finds Jack as he’s getting ready for the funeral. He found “Amanda’s” old diaries, which reveal that she and Em were more like sisters than strangers. Jack’s furious that she lied to him and also that she could put her in danger like she did. He asks her to leave.

Enter Padma in a tantalizing red dress, as ominous music plays in the background. This doesn’t look good. It’s all very dramatic as Nolan hands over the finished Carrion (he was up all night the night before finishing it, and it shows on his haggard face and messy hair). He tells her that the fingerprint does indeed match her father’s, and that the Initiative doesn’t exactly have the best track record in holding up their end of the bargain, before he hands over the program. It’s all in Padma’s hands now.

This week’s big “Revenge” party is actually…womp womp, Emily’s funeral. She’s buried right next to David Clarke, her “dad.” Amanda is giving the eulogy as promised, even though Jack pretty much hates her right now, and Daniel tells Victoria that they can trust Aidan, who made the trades. Cut to Aidan breaking into the Stowaway (more on that in a minute). We continue to see Amanda show real emotion as she lays a flower down on the coffin. She’s afraid Jack will never forgive her. She wants to tell him the truth, he deserves that, but Nolan says something poignant: You can’t take Amanda away from him again. Also surprisingly upset at the funeral is Victoria. This is all taking place steps away from the grave of the man she loved. Before they all leave, Jack asks Nolan for computer help.

Upon returning to the Stowaway, Jack and Nolan discover that the place has been turned upside down (by Aidan). Of course, the computer is stolen. Jack blames the Graysons. Aidan brings the computer back to Amanda, “right in your hands as it belongs,” but Amanda pulls a total “Titanic” and heaves the laptop into the ocean. She’s doing it to protect Jack, she says, even though that evidence could have put the Graysons away for life. No more distractions now, she tells Aidan. This isn’t about prison. This is far worse.

In the show’s final moments, Daniel asks his assistant to have the clock from the office (the one with the camera in it) taken away, so the Initiative can no longer watch him, and yet not realize that they know he’s onto him. Amanda’s at the gravesite, it’s raining, it’s all very moody, and a strappingly handsome black man approaches her, asking if he knew the deceased. Yes, she did very well, she says. And so did he. She burned our house down, he says. Who is he? “I’m her brother.” Whoa!

The post ‘Revenge’ recap: Episode 15, ‘Retribution’ appeared first on Metro.us.

“Red Widow” airs Sundays on ABC.

Credit: Getty Images

Radha Mitchell comes to television with “Red Widow,” playing a woman forced to pick up her husband’s criminal activities after he’s killed. It’s juicy stuff, to be sure, and just what the Australian actress — known for film roles such as “Silent Hill,” “Finding Neverland” and “Man on Fire” — had been looking for. “Marta Walraven is pretty much my dream character to play,” Mitchell says. “Basically she’s a woman who has been avoiding her criminal upbringing by living the life of a soccer mom and is suddenly dragged into a world that she’s been trying to avoid pretty much her whole life when her husband is assassinated in relation to a drug incident. And in the process she discovers things about herself and talents that she didn’t know she had.”

Mitchell says she relates quite a bit to her character, though she’s wary to get into specifics. “Well, I guess the parts that I relate to I probably wouldn’t really want to share,” she says with a laugh. “But in terms of like being thrown into a situation, I think even just coming to America when I did initially was a very exciting adventure and was at times intimidating and scary. I came out when I was, like, 23 or something. I didn’t know anybody, and I was staying on my manager’s couch. But it was probably one of the most exciting junctures in my life because, you know, it was all about what could happen. I mean it wasn’t scary in the same way, but yeah.”

So with a move to television — something very common for film actors these days — does that mean Mitchell’s not looking for movies right now? “I’m over films,” she jokes. “I was actually sort of at this point in my life. And also, I feel like exciting characters are on television right now.” But there was something else about her “Red Widow” character that offered Mitchell something she’d wanted for quite some time. “Honestly, I’d always been very interested in Luc Besson’s character ‘La Femme Nikita,’ and I know this doesn’t directly relate, but that she was this character sort of under duress that discovers all these qualities in herself and all these strengths. That was pretty much the character that I’d always wanted to explore if there was one last question in my career. And then I read this pilot and I was like, wow, that’s the role I’ve always wanted to play.”

But Mitchell isn’t actually done with films. “Oh, I have a few films that are getting released soon,” she says, including “Olympus Has Fallen,” out later this month. “But honestly, it was a little bit of a shock at first because I had never worked at that pace [of a TV show]. I’ve normally had a little bit of time to sort of marinate and sort of sit with a script and imagine, learn my lines basically. Whereas with this, you get the script and then you learn it and then next thing you know you’re shooting it like two days later. So the pace of that was somewhat liberating and a little bit frightening at first.”

Little white lies
After finding success in Australia, a 23-year-old Radha Mitchell came to Hollywood to try her hand at work stateside, and she quickly learned that sometimes you have to be willing to bend the truth a bit to get a gig. “It took me six months, and then I got a film called ‘High Art,’” she says. There was only one problem, though: While she was giving Los Angeles a shot, the film was actually getting set up in New York. “They needed to cast the movie out of New York, and I was, like, ‘Yeah, I’m from New York,’” she remembers. “I sent some video out there. So they cast me, and then I didn’t have anywhere to live.” Luckily writer-director Lisa Cholodenko was able to help her out in a bind. “At the time I was, like, staying on the director’s couch,” she says.

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Conrad announces his plans to run for governor on “Revenge.”

Credit: ABC

All this time, I figured it’d be a Ryan brother down there at the bottom of the ocean with the Amanda boat, but whoa, I never thought we’d see Emily go down with the boat too! First Helen, now Emily—I’m so glad this show is kind of getting good again.

OK, to backtrack: The episode opens with a back-and-forth between Emily and Jack getting it on, and the divers combing through the wreckage. We see the hand with a wedding ring, and then a few minutes later, when we see Connor Ryan on the boat, he’s got a wedding ring on too. So, all signs point to him being the casualty here.

Back the Graysons, Helen’s still dead: “The bitch had it coming,” according to resident sasspot Victoria. She’s got a plan: She’ll cover herself up and pretend to be Helen, getting back in the car with the driver, so the driver won’t suspect anything funny. They can’t let the Initiative know she’s dead, and besides, they’ve got other business to take care of—their annual Labor Day party, of course! This is where Conrad will announce his ridiculously foolish plan to become governor (seriously, with his history, why bother?). In a little family conference, Victoria tells Daniel that “Amanda Clarke” blackmailed the family and has the ability to bring down the whole campaign. It’ll be Ashley’s job to prevent further interference. Ashley goes to Amanda’s house to discuss her concern for Emily, and tells her about the blackmailing. You’ll recall that Amanda didn’t know Emily took her laptop to use against the Graysons. Now Amanda’s pissed. Elsewhere, Amanda, Aidan and Nolan come up with a plan to use Padma to get closer to the Initiative, which might help Padma get her dad back and get her out of the Initiative’s way.

Somewhere in the middle of the ocean, Connor pulls a gun on Emily. Jack wants to approach things very carefully and cooperatively, and they agree to get Conrad on the phone to sort everything out. At the Stowaway where Charlotte and Dec are watching Carl, Amanda’s checking out the wedding pictures and sees in one of the pictures that Connor is hiding on the boat. She and Nolan get on a boat of their own to save the day.

Daniel and Victoria have this a conversation in Daniel’s office because they know the Initiative is watching and they don’t want them to suspect that they know anything about Helen being dead. Padma goes to the Stowaway and meets Aidan for the first time.

Conrad tells Connor over the phone that it’s “Amanda” who’s really playing him and that he needs his laptop back. Amanda tells the whole “Revenge” story to Connor, about how she’s really only here to exact revenge on the Graysons and that she’s just using Jack. Poor Jack hears everything and understandably freaks out. He tells Connor the whereabouts of the laptop. Nolan, because he’s Nolan and can do anything, is able to hack into the laptop and see what’s transpiring on the boat.

Victoria gets Charlotte to come to the Grayson Labor Day party and then sneakily drops Helen’s shawl and cell phone under Emily’s bed.  Aidan bonds with Padma over their missing family members, and Aidan tells Padma that she needs to get proof from the Initiative that her father is still alive before she can help them.

When Connor gets a hold of the laptop, he sees that it’s really Charlotte’s laptop instead of the one he’s looking for. Then, oh no, Jack gets shot! It looks like a bad chest wound. Amanda sends him on a lifeboat to get him away from all the trouble on board. I think she gets knocked out by Connor, because next thing you know she’s awaking (we see that Jack’s out cold) and the Amanda boat is starting to fill with water.

At the Labor Day party, Victoria tells Conrad that she won’t leave him at the end of summer like they had previously arranged, because who’s going to vote for a politician going through a divorce? Also at the party we meet a creepy looking Mr. Trask, who wants to know the whereabouts of Helen — he thinks the Graysons are to blame. Meet the man above Helen, ladies and gents! Victoria, sassypants she is, says Amanda Clarke has something to do with it and advises Mr. Trask to get the hell out just like she told Amanda to.

Because this is “Revenge” and nothing logical ever happens, Amanda and Nolan spot Jack’s lifeboat floating in the middle of the ocean. She tells Nolan to get Jack to the hospital — she’s got stuff to take care of. Namely, killing Connor. First, a quick aside to the mainland: Trask is at Declan’s house, black burglar gloves on and everything, and, naturally, finds the shawl and phone that Victoria left under Emily’s bed. On the phone are 14 messages, the first from Padma, who wants proof that her dad is alive. Go Padma! Unfortunately, when Padma finally gets on the phone with him, she gets her proof in the form of her father’s finger, mailed to her. Ew.

OK, so back on the boat, again, because this is a TV show, Amanda out of nowhere leaps onto the boat and kicks Connor Ryan’s ass. Emily’s the one who shoots him, but before jumping to safety with Amanda, she goes back for a special necklace. Bad move! Connor is somehow still alive, and he blows up the boat. Emily, watch out! Too late!

Conrad announces his run for governor to thunderous applause (how does he still have friends?) Daniel’s not really feeling it, but Victoria says they’ll continue on as if nothing has ever happened. Ha. Good luck, team.

How many “Titanic” references were there here? Poor Amanda and Emily have a beautiful final chat on a sinking lifeboat, with Emily thanking her for giving her the one thing she always wanted, a family. She makes Amanda swear she’ll take care of her baby, and oh my God, it really looks like she is going to die. This is actually kind of sad! Poor Amanda loses it: Her plan is leading to so much destruction. Now she’s losing her sister, her partner in crime. We get a glimpse of Emily and yup, she’s bleeding pretty hard. Amanda has a memory of her never telling Emily she loves her when they first switched lives, and now she finally says it back to her, as she lays there dying. Once she goes, cue the Celine Dion, Amanda pushes her body off the boat into the ocean. I’ll never let go!

You guys, this was a really sad episode tonight. This is the first time they’ve killed a major character, and while I loved to hate Emily, I do wonder how this will change things on the show. Poor Jack, I don’t want to be there when he realizes he’s gone. Or maybe soon he’ll really learn the truth? What do you think? “Revenge” doesn’t return until March 10, so we have plenty of time to contemplate what’s next for these folks. Let me know your thoughts!

The post ‘Revenge’ recap: Episode 14, ‘Sacrifice’ appeared first on Metro.us.

When “ER” went off the air in 2008, Anthony Edwards seemed satisfied to leave television behind. “Yeah, I said I would never do a one-hour television show again. I was done,” Edwards offers with a laugh. But the 50-year-old actor is back with “Zero Hour,” a globetrotting, conspiracy-filled adventure series. So what made Edwards want to come back?

“When ‘ER’ was done, I felt like I had really accomplished something. It had been an amazing eight years, and I was ready for a new adventure, which included my family and taking time and moving to New York. It really took a while to recover from that,” he explains. “I also knew that if I was going to come back to television, having done that, it would have to be something that was as exciting to me as what was going in there. “And I just said, ‘If these guys are crazy enough to tell this story, I want to do it with them.’”

Edwards stars as Hank Galliston, a lifelong skeptic who gets pulled into an elaborate conspiracy spanning the globe and centuries of history — all while trying to find is wife, who is mysteriously abducted in the first episode. “Hank Galliston, what’s great about him is that he gets to be you. He gets to be the audience in a lot of ways,” Edwards explains. “He gets to go on this journey without knowing at all what’s going on. He’s as bewildered at the beginning, I think, as the audience is. So, for me, that’s a great place to play because whatever these geniuses come up with in the scripts — which they have — and whatever these wonderful actors come up with to play with, I get to react to.”

But Edwards doesn’t think the fact that both Hank and audience are meant to feel out of their depths will be a turn-off for viewers. Quite the opposite, in fact. “I think television gets criticized for being condescending and telling stories too simply,” he says. “This is going to really challenge and excite people because they’re not laying it out simply. It’s a complicated story, and that’s a great commitment.”

“The Da Vinci Code” for TV?
The globetrotting and puzzle-solving at the heart of “Zero Hour” may have viewers getting a sense of “Da Vinci Code” deja vu, as much of the tone of the new mystery adventure series seems to have a Dan Brown hue to it. But the folks behind the show insist they weren’t just trying to do a “Da Vinci Code” for television.

“There were kind of two mandates going into it, one of which was to deliver something gigantic. We wanted to make a spectacle,” says the show’s creator, Paul Scheuring, noting that he didn’t want to make the mistake previous shows had made of not knowing where the core mystery of the series would be going. “Before I even put pen to paper in any kind of sense in this, I’m like, ‘What are the last frames of this series?’” he says. “So from that I then reverse-engineered this larger kind of construct and threw in all those delicious elements like the Nazis and church and such to get to that final place. That’s a very, very long-winded way of no, it’s not ‘the Da Vinci Code.’”

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