Weekly Hamptons Revenge Recap — Season 3, Episode 22: “Execution”

Here we are, Hamptonites — the Revenge Season 3 finale. Put the children to bed, grab a glass of red wine (make it a bottle) and get ready for the most disturbing hour of television this season.

Revenge, Season 3 Episode 22: “Execution”…

We open with a flashback to Emily’s childhood. David explains to Emily that he got the “DC” ring from his dad. He reminisces about his father building a cabin in the mountains. Hmm.

In the present, Emily and Aiden (clad in a sexy wife beater tee) contemplate the ring and relish in seeing Conrad’s takedown on the front page of the newspaper. They make love. So not going to end well.

Victoria, Daniel and Margaux are at the airport with Pascal’s coffin. Daniel comforts them both; Victoria reminds the audience that she’s going after Emily. She kisses Pascal’s coffin, places down the flower he gave her a few episodes ago and sees him off.

At his bail hearing, Conrad rants about the “Rube Goldbergian” sequence of events that led to his arrest. He claims that he was just reciting the same speech he’d have made at the forced press conference he was going to have to save Charlotte, but the judge doesn’t want to hear it — he just got a large packet of new evidence. As Conrad’s bail is denied, the judge makes a final statement: The David Clarke case is being reopened, and justice will be swift. In the courthouse, Emily grins.

Team Revenge (which now includes Jack, so we can’t call them Nemilaiden anymore… #Nemilaidack?) watches the news. Nolan informs Emily that the cabin Jack and Charlotte found belonged to her grandfather (shocker), so she leaves to get to the bottom of it.

In Montauk, Margaux signs some paperwork, making Daniel her second-in-command. They celebrate…until they’re interrupted her brother, Gideon! He assures them he doesn’t want control of the company and he’s only there to mourn their father, but Margaux looks skeptical.

Nolan enjoys his breakfast when Javier appears at the door. The two basically call a truce, and Javier bids Nolan farewell — until Nolan cryptically tells him to stay close — MyClone will be theirs again.

Conrad meets with his lawyer, who informs him he is being charged with murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and a whole host of other things. He is advised to take a plea bargain for life in prison.

Victoria calls her guy from the past few episodes, whose name is apparently Kurt Renner, and tells him to be on the lookout for Emily, confident that she’ll take the bait and come to the cabin. Sure enough, Emily finds the cabin and gets into a brawl with Kurt, who ambushes her. She pwns him with a combination of Takeda chops and SHIELD training moves, but before Kurt goes down he sticks her with a needle!

Back to Southampton, Aiden is concerned, but Emily realizes Kurt poked her because Victoria was after a DNA sample. She decides the next step in their plot involves the shamed therapist from Season 1, Michelle Banks.

Did you believe Gideon when he said he wasn’t interested in taking over LeMarchal? Me neither. Turns out Nolan called him. Gideon’s angry at Margaux, and he wants to know Nolan’s plan.

Charlotte confronts Victoria about what she learned about her during her abduction. Unlike Conrad, Victoria actually tries to make amends with her daughter, but Charlotte doesn’t want to hear it. Meanwhile, at the prison, Conrad is beaten by one of the guards.

Aiden goes to visit Michelle Banks and implores her to come clean about Victoria’s involvement. She gives Aiden some tea and he continues asking her to do the right thing. Michelle agrees to help him and excuses herself to get “records.” She walks out and sees Victoria. “He’s all yours,” Michelle says as she bolts. Victoria goes into Michelle’s office and greets Aiden, who realizes that the tea was spiked with a paralytic! Victoria tells him he’s got to pay for his involvement in helping Emily. “You’ll never win,” he gasps as he falls to the ground. Victoria praises him for his loyalty to Emily and proceeds to smother him to death with a pillow. In this agonizingly long scene, Victoria’s veins begin to pop out of her head and we hear Aiden’s muffled final sounds. When he stops breathing, we see a final tear run down his cheek. (Okay, I didn’t like Aiden, but I would have been satisfied with a gunshot or explosion. This was CRAZY!)

In Montauk, Emily rushes into the Stowaway to watch the news on the TV: David Clarke has been cleared of all charges! She and Jack are overjoyed.

Back in Southampton, Emily gets home and sees Aiden sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace (how romantic). She starts chatting away, but realizes something is wrong (was it the empty stare or the open mouth that gave it away?). After trying in vain to wake him, Emily is devastated and horrified and begins to wail in agony. Victoria looks on from her balcony next door.

The next morning, Nolan tries to comfort Emily, who feels responsible for Aiden being part of her pathological need for revenge. He notes that Aiden loved her so much that Emily wouldn’t have been able to stop him from helping her. Later, Nolan explains to Jack that Emily told the police Aiden killed himself so she can take Victoria on herself. He says Aiden was his friend, too, and proclaims that Victoria deserves to die. Jack convinces him that they need to stop Emily from going too far.

But Emily’s got to take care of something first. She ambushes Michelle at her office and shows the therapist footage of her basically indoctrinating Amanda Clarke as a little girl. Michelle looks up at Emily. “I’m sorry,” she cries. Emily retorts, “Sorry’s not enough.”

Back in prison, Conrad tries to negotiate with God (well, really he’s just praying, but we all know he’s got an angle). The guard from earlier (who must have moved prisons from his old job as a CO on FOX’s Prison Break) steps into the chapel.

Emily pays Charlotte a visit. Charlotte isn’t happy to see her, but Emily gives her the DC ring and explains that it was her father’s. She asks Charlotte to move David’s body from his grave so it isn’t desecrated. Disgusted, Charlotte says she won’t disturb her father’s final resting place and kicks Emily out. Emily shrugs, insisting that she’ll have to take care of the ugly business herself.

At a swank club in Manhattan, Gideon and David drink some absinthe and scope babes. Gideon tells Daniel he’s planning on opening his own firm. Back at the manse, Charlotte tells Victoria that Emily is planning on moving David’s grave.

Victoria heads to the cemetery, where Emily is waiting for her, shovel in hand, by the partial exhumed grave. After Emily accuses Victoria of murdering Aiden — and Victoria replies, “You received my gift” — they have the talk three seasons in the making… Victoria: “Amanda Clarke changes her identity and moves into the house next door to seek revenge. Well, the truth is, the man you knew as your father and the man I knew? Very different people.” Emily doesn’t believe Victoria, and Victoria points out that she’s if she’s so sure her dad was a saint, why is she digging up his grave? Emily corrects her; it’s not David’s grave she’s digging up. It’s Fauxmanda’s (which is right next to his). “Why?” Victoria asks. The answer? Emily whirls around and knocks Victoria out with the shovel!

Turns out the corrections officer in the prison is on Conrad’s payroll. He lets Conrad (who is disguised as a priest) out through the back.

Nolan talks to Jack on the phone — he agrees to stay at the beach house. Charlotte bursts into the Stowaway and demands to know why Jack hid the ring from her. When Jack won’t give her answers, she goes to leave and he grabs her shoulder. Because Charlotte’s, well, Charlotte, she suddenly realizes that Jack kidnapped her (are you kidding me right now?). She runs outside and knocks his car window in. She finds the mask. Oh, come on!

Daniel is awakened by a call from Margaux. He tells her Gideon isn’t a threat, and invites her over. As the camera pans back, we see a dead coke whore (courtesy of Gideon) in Daniel’s bed! Back in Southampton, Gideon shows a photo of his handiwork to Nolan, who is horrified he would go this far. Undeterred, Gideon tells him this is only the beginning.

At this point, we’d like to give readers the opportunity to watch the episode to see what happens next. If you want to know how this season ends, read on.

Jack is approached by a detective and brought in for questioning. As the detective escorts him to the car, Jack sees Charlotte through the window and puts it all together.

Conrad gleefully strolls down the darkened path. A van approaches from behind. He turns around and is horrified to see a very-much-alive David Clarke standing in front of him. David stabs Conrad and leaves him to die — all set to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “Softly As I Leave You.”

Victoria awakens in a brightly lit room. Emily stands over her. Victoria calls for help, but realizes she’s been restrained. Emily warmly tells her nemesis that she’s in a mental hospital where she can “get help.” A doctor comes in and explains that the authorities thought it a good idea to have Victoria committed when she went crazy and tried to dig up Amanda Clarke’s grave. Emily tells the doctor that Victoria has been accusing her of being Amanda for months. Victoria desperately reminds the doctor that he needs a second doctor to check her out before having her committed, and Michelle Banks walks in! After the (easily swayed, apparently) therapist corroborates Emily and the doctor’s story. Victoria starts freaking out. Emily looks down at her. “Get well soon,” she smiles. As Emily leaves, Victoria screams…

“She’s Amanda Clarke! She’s Amanda Clarke! SHE’S AMANDA CLARKE!”

The end?

Closing Thoughts
Well folks, that was a thoroughly satisfying ending to a season full of ups and downs. Aiden’s death was not unexpected (I CALLED IT—you all owe me ten bucks), but being stifled by Victoria and propped up in Emily’s living room? Super creepy. We’re not sure that Conrad is dead, but it would be cheap on the show’s part to have him survive that awesome final moment. And now that we have confirmation that David’s alive, and possibly not such a nice man, we have some great stories set up for Season 4. (Come back Thursday to read our predictions for next season.)

End Results:
Takedown of the week: Most of the cast.
Most gruesome moment: Victoria suffocates Aiden in a too-long scene.
Hopelessly clueless: CHARLOTTE.
Most Shocking Moment: Victoria wakes up in a mental hospital.
Saddest moment: Emily discovers Aiden’s creepily placed body in her house.
Most satisfying moment: “She’s Amanda Clarke!”

That’s all for now, Hamptonites. We’ll be back in the fall for Season 4, which was officially green-lighted last week. In the meantime, what did you like about this Season 3? What didn’t work? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter (you should be following us on both by now).

If you want to catch up on all the Dan’s Revengery, visit our Hamptons Weekly Revenge Recap page, our Revenge Top 5 page and our kooky Revenge photo album featuring a bunch of fun memes and manipulated pics!