Entertainment

The 'Revenge' Plan Might Have Some Holes

by Christine DiStasio

Emily Thorne's red Sharpie is back and ready to murk up someone new's face. Sunday's victim was former Grayson Global employee and current clergyman, Paul Whitley (James LeGros), who turned to the church for forgiveness after the David Clarke scandal. Remarkably, besides Victoria and Aiden conspiring behind Emily's back to "destroy" her (Good luck, guys), which is practically old news considering their failure is imminent, there are others who could bring Emily's vengeance to an early end. Nolan, Jack, Charlotte, God, and David Clarke, from beyond the grave, could convince Emily to walk the path of forgiveness or just blow her cover altogether. Emily's own emotions could end up being her weakest link, as Takeda once so kindly pointed out many moons ago, and we saw flickers of them tonight.

Emily's entrusted her box of David Clarke's journals and other mementos to Nolan Ross (Gabriel Mann) because apparently his house is now the safest place. This should lead us to wonder whether or not she's in-the-know about Aiden being back in town (I can't say I can figure out where she hides her secrets — her hair's not that big and her dresses are so tight), considering he broke into her house looking for the box during tonight's episode. But anyway, Nolan, who's shocked and seems to think Emily's taking it a little far going after Whitley, suggests that perhaps it might be time for Emily to let go. Personally, I hope it's Nolan that saves Emily from herself — aside from being my favorite character on this show, he just spent six months in jail and got attacked by the psycho for her so he deserves that shining character moment. He reads her a passage from one of David's journals, prompting her to freak out and suggest that maybe she's better off working alone from now on. She also throws a dig at him about not loving her father which is so wrong. Rude, Emily — he's just trying to help you like he promised your father he would.

Meanwhile, Jack Porter (Nick Wechsler) is probably the last person Emily should've revealed the truth about being the real Amanda Clarke to. He did a really nice thing for Charlotte (Christa B. Allen) by exonerating her from blaming herself for Declan's death, but his loose lips could bring this entire operation to its knees. We also already know that he absolutely does not approve of Emily's behavior and her rationalization for it, so he's truly the weakest link (or rather, the weakest link with a HUGE ego). What's to keep him from telling Charlotte that Emily is the real Amanda and also her real sister? The answer is: nothing. Emily also approached Jack to help with Charlotte (there's that sisterly love) and Jack, true to form, fired back at her about being okay hurting innocent people like her half-sister.

Charlotte's still a mess from losing her baby, Declan, and her fake-real sister Amanda all at once. She also has it in for Emily now because she's seen through a little bit of her smoke and mirror. You can only blame Ashley for so much before it comes back to you, Emily. According to Charlotte, Emily is the only person she told about one of Victoria's many affairs and she spread the news. Emily tries to pin it on Ashley but Charlotte is not buying it — she tells Emily that she was one of the only people left that she thought she could trust and we see a flicker of some emotion in Emily's eye. She's been trying really hard to be sisterly towards Charlotte without her being suspicious. Maybe she's hurt and sad that she's getting shut out? Charlotte, armed with the knowledge that Declan could've been saved because her father, Conrad, knew about the bomb ahead of time, tells him that he "deserves to die alone." Ouch. Like I said last week: This girl is one surprise away from going off the deep end. (Well, maybe one or two more after this week.)

Last but not least, we have God. Yes, God. Emily spent a lot of time in church throughout this episode (and no, it didn't crumble or burn down when she crossed the threshold). She lit candles, she had a touching and meaningful conversation with Whitley and she learned something about him: He works tirelessly to help children (and the homeless) in circumstances like the one she was once in. God made Emily feel remorse for putting that envelope with incriminating photos of Whitley in the collection basket. Bad Emily. I'm really not trying to get religious with you people here, but she did ruin the life of a clergyman by getting him fired. The most important thing to notice here were the feelings in her eyes and on her face. She felt bad for what she did to Paul Whitley, unlike any other person she hurt before. She saw herself in the kids he was helping and believed that he felt bad for what happened to her father. This is big stuff, since we've never seen so much as a genuine smile from Emily Thorne in the past two seasons.

So there's a few ways this situation could go (after the shooting of course):

1) Emily could just give up. She could take her father's advice, light a few more candles, call upon God for forgiveness, and let go of it all. Forgive and forget in her father's memory and run off into the sunset with one of her many love interests.

2) Victoria and Aiden will get her. They already know she has the Grayson's millions and that she bought Nolan his new house. So either they'll be the ones to shoot her and make sure she stays dead or they'll blackmail her to the end of time.

3) Charlotte will get her. She may not kill her, but she might find the right words (whether they are informed or not by Jack's loose lips) to convince her to give up. She might catch her in a sisterly moment, looking for advice, and that'll be the warm and fuzzy ending to this all.

Aside from the many human-related ways this could all go down the tubes, does anyone else find it a little risky that she's slowly poisoning Conrad to death? What's in those little vials and how is it masquerading itself as Huntington's disease? Or at least make it clear that you've got a doctor on your team, Ems. It's just stressful thinking of how many ways this poison-thing could go wrong. Unless she can get Father Paul Whitley to convince Conrad to confess to his crimes because he's afraid of dying with his sins (which seems to be the next phase of her plan), I can't see the risks out-weighing the benefits of poison. Good luck, girl.

Image: ABC