Revenge is a dish that's best served cold, so perhaps it's appropriate that the show has skipped three months into the future, to the beginning of Daniel's trial. It's the middle of a brutal winter in the Hamptons and everyone's skin looks better in grayscale.
Though the trial is in full swing, there's someone missing from all of the courtroom action: Jack Porter. He's sleepless in Boston searching for Amanda. However, he's not having a lot of luck, so he decides to put Operation Find Amada on hold so that he can head back to Montauk to be there for Declan, who's the prosecution's first witness.
With Declan aiding the prosecution, the Graysons' defense lawyer suggests that Emily take the stand to make the jurors have an emotional connection to Daniel. Naturally, Victoria is wary of Emily's intentions, so she takes matters into her own hands to make sure the trial goes in Daniel's favor -- by jury tampering.
After one juror falls victim in a violent car jacking, Emily is ready turn the Graysons in and let them all rot in Rikers together. However, instead of going straight to the police with her evidence (like that would ever happen), she has to make sure that Jack's off the hook first.
Speaking of Jack, he goes to unload all of his #AmandaProblems on Emily, much to Daniel's dismay. Jack just doesn't know what to do. He's confused about everything, and he just needs Emily to tell him that everything is going to be OK. Jack, I think you have bigger things to worry about, like that incriminating bloody hoodie you have hidden in your bedroom.
Meanwhile, 20 feet away -- lurking on the Graysons' porch -- Daniel thinks that Emily is having an affair with Jack. He then tells his mommy. I think we can all agree that Daniel was one-step away from throwing a temper tantrum.
Did these guys take an extra dose of whiny pills before this episode? One of the things that I've always enjoyed about "Revenge" is that the woman seem to hold all of the power. Emily and Victoria are exceptionally strong female characters. However, we're 18 episodes in now, and the only man that I find remotely interesting is Nolan -- and he's a three Kinsey scale. I just don't feel anything toward Jack or Daniel. They're just nice eye candy. (Well, sometimes.)
But Jack and Daniel aren't the only characters that annoyed me in this episode. Charlotte needs to be smacked upside her head with that pill bottle.
The pretty, troubled princess is once again sharing her screen time with her trusty pill bottle. On her mother's orders, Charlotte ambushes Declan at The Stowaway, wearing one of her mother's Herve Leger bandage dresses, in order to convince him to tell the truth on the stand. Unfortunately, the little Grayson doesn't have her mother's power of seduction because when Declan was put on the stand, he stood by his brother and told jury that he didn't see anyone else on the beach the night Tyler was found dead.
Victoria is not so proud of her "Fancy," so it's probably not that surprising that now Charlotte is trading sex for her Oxycodone. Although, I have to be honest: She is no Marissa Cooper. I know I should feel something for Charlotte, but I don't. I just don't care about her and her pills and her whisky.
Amidst Daniel's trial drama, Victoria has some time to hook up with her British lover -- and say things like, "I walked around in emptiness until I met him ... David Clarke." It wasn't long, however, until Conrad forced him out of the Hamptons. He ruins all of Victoria's fun.
Meanwhile, Daniel is pretty much drinking himself into a paranoid stupor on that porch.
With a little help from Nolan (the true "Revenge" MVP), Emily manages to steal Jack's bloody hoodie from his apartment and plant it in Lee's -- the guy Victoria used to do all of her dirty work -- car. Of course, this explains why Emily took an imprint of his keys last week.
With the evidence in hand, Emily heads back to her place where she finds Daniel sitting on her staircase, hysterically drunk. He's violated house arrest, and sooner than you can say "poor life decisions," he's headed back to Rikers in cuffs.
Realizing that she might be at the top in Victoria's burn book, Emily goes to Queen V to do damage control. Daniel thinks she's having an affair with Jack, but according to Emily, she's getting closer to Jack to find Amanda Clarke. Sneaky sneaky, Emily.
So now, Emily has saved Jack, found a way to exonerate Daniel and let Lee sell-out the Graysons for a plea deal. It looks like Emily has finally won, but we all know that revenge isn't that easy.
Back in Rikers, Daniel pens another sorrowful prison love letter to Emily, and he basically tells Emily that with Tyler's blood on his hands, he's just going to "end it."
As the Graysons' lawyer walks passes all of the Rikers Island prison cells (in slow motion), he comes across a shocking discovery: Lee has hung himself. Well played, "Revenge" writers, well played. For a second, I totally thought that was going to be Daniel's body hanging from the ceiling.
But why would Lee kill himself and confess to killing Tyler in his suicide note? Because he didn't. Conrad orchestrated the entire thing, leading Emily to a shocking conclusion: Her father didn't die in a prison knife fight; Conrad had David Clarke murdered.
However, I just don't believe that David is actually dead. I can't be the only one, right?
Notable Quotables:
Nolan: "Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled plotting."
Daniel: "Jack Porter's back. He's in her house right now making a fire and God knows what else."
Nolan: "Poor little Matthew."
Emily: "He might be willing to sacrifice himself for Amanda, but I'm not willing to let him."
Daniel: "How do you prepare to tell 12 strangers that you're in love with me when I'm not even sure myself?"
Nolan: "We're DEFCON 1, Em."
Victoria: "So go home, Emily, and tomorrow, deliver the performance of your life."
"Revenge" airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.