Weekly Hamptons Revenge Recap – Season 4, Episode 11: "Epitaph"

After a month off, Revenge‘s tangled web gets even more twisted, as you’ll see in our recap of Revenge Season 4, Episode 11: “Epitaph.”

The episode begins as Daniel gets shot and killed, as seen in Season 4, Episode 10: “Atonement.” Read the recap here.

David and Victoria hear gunshots ring out from Grayson Manor. When they arrive, Jack and Emily are standing over the dead bodies of Kate and Daniel. Victoria is understandably upset at seeing her dead son bleeding out on the floor and freaks out. While Victoria wails, David asks Emily what happened. “Hold my hand,” Emily says. David, touched, gives her his hand…which she grips his tightly and relocates her shoulder.

Kate’s phone receives a text from Malcolm Black (her dad) and David suddenly realizes that they’re all responsible for killing the man’s daughter. Afraid that Malcolm Black will want retribution if he finds out Kate’s dead, David comes up with a plot so convoluted we don’t even see it unfold.

Cut to Ben and the 5-0 (which at this point should have their own show—Hamptons PD, anyone?). Emily explains to the detective that she was home alone when Daniel came to the house, angry and looking for a fight. She tried to get him to go away, but he let himself in and threw her from the balcony. She then grabbed a gun and shot Daniel in self-defense.

Yes. Emily, David and Jack have covered up the incident by hiding Kate’s body and making it look like Daniel snapped and tried to kill Emily. Back at the beach house, Chief Alvarez wants to talk to Victoria but David stops it. Alvarez tells David he left his keys in the van and walks out.

Meanwhile in New York City, poor Margaux receives word of Daniel’s death.

The next morning, Jack and Nolan debrief on the phone. After they hang up, Louise shows up at Nolan’s house sporting crazier eyes than usual. She asks if she can stay over—she’s too upset about Daniel to be alone. Nolan tells her to make herself at home. Louise asks if she can use his kitchen to bake something for Victoria before her Xanax wears off, but Nolan has already bolted.

Victoria is angry with David and wants to leave. David has just gotten off the phone with Charlotte’s rehab center and told the doctor not to tell her about Daniel’s death. Victoria is disgusted and refuses to desecrate her son’s memory, saying she won’t be a prisoner to David’s lies. “I was a prisoner to your lies for two decades, you can hold out another day,” David says, before promptly receiving one of Victoria’s signature slaps. She grudgingly agrees to keep quiet, but Victoria refuses to stay at the beach house. David understands, so…

He brings her to Grayson Manor so Emily can babysit. Both women protest, but David tells them to play nice and leaves. Later, Margaux pays Vic a visit and breaks down in her arms. Margaux can’t believe Daniel tried to hurt Emily, but Victoria coldly sells the story and tells Margaux they need to accept it. Margaux, who thinks that Em lured Danny to the manse and killed him in cold blood, decides to go to the police and leaves. “You’re welcome,” Victoria says as Emily enters the room.

Jack and Nolan head to Kate’s hotel room and Jack flashes back to having sex with her. The two clear out the room, and Nolan finds the blue envelope Kate received with a picture of Emily. He doesn’t open it, but swipes it anyway.

Alvarez pulls David over and asks him to open the back of the van. David accuses Alvarez of having a thing for Victoria (if true, I clearly missed that subplot) before hesitantly opening the van. Luckily, there’s no body. Alvarez is pissed, but he lets David go.

Louise brings a pumpkin pie to Victoria, who thanks her and allows Louise to hug her. She tells Victoria she’s staying at Nolan’s, and Victoria suddenly wants Louise to stick around a bit. Louise then goes back to Nolan’s house and quietly steals the blue envelope!

Due to some kind of scheduling thing with the detective not being around, Ben conveniently gets to question Emily. She’s not at the top of her game, and Ben opens up all sorts of holes in the story—Daniel hadn’t been drinking and he didn’t have any bruises besides the gunshots, so Em’s story doesn’t make too much sense. Ben mentions that Daniel’s pregnant girlfriend came to the precinct, and Emily feels horrible. She then tells Ben that she didn’t fight back when he attacked her because she felt bad for ruining his life. “But you shot him,” Ben reminds her. Emily then says she shot Daniel because she didn’t want him to kill her, which he tried to do the night of their wedding. Ben is shocked to hear that Daniel shot Emily and puts his hand on hers. Emily looks sick to her stomach.

Team Revenge (which now consists of Jack, Nolan, David and Emily…Jolvily?) tracks Malcolm Black while Victoria sips some red wine in the background. David asks Emily how Victoria’s doing, and she responds with the first smart statement all night. “She lost her son, how do you think she’s doing?” Emily then tells Victoria she truly is sorry for what happened. Victoria shrugs: “I know.” Nolan and David confirm that David’s (off-screen) plot worked and Malcolm is in Miami dealing with arms dealers. Not following? Don’t worry about it—not important—keep reading!

Margaux arrives at the Manor to read Emily the riot act. She tells Emily that the police have decided not to name her as a suspect (thanks, Ben!). Emily promises she didn’t kill Daniel in cold blood, but Margaux states her new goal in life is to prove that Emily murdered Daniel. Emily tries to argue when Margaux tells her she’s banned from the funeral, but Victoria arrives and takes Margaux’s side. Margaux leaves. “Thank you for your hospitality,” Victoria says to Emily as she leaves.

The next morning, Victoria has a daydream about teaching Daniel the correct way to tie a tie. Meanwhile, David goes to the Manor and tells Emily he was planning on killing Victoria. “And now?” Emily asks. David doesn’t answer and leaves for the funeral.

At the precinct, Alvarez tells Ben he’s going to consider making him detective (why not, considering his excellent work interviewing Emily?). Ben meets up with a (clothed) Jack in the locker room and finds out that Jack was sleeping with Kate. Jack says she dumped him and skipped town.

Emily watches the funeral from afar and flashes back to all the good times she had with Daniel. As the funeral ends, Victoria asks Louise to destroy the envelope. Nolan tells David he heard that there was an arms dealer murdered in Florida, so they don’t have to worry about Malcolm coming to the Hamptons anytime soon.

A rainy evening. Alvarez is greeted by an FBI agent (played by the inestimable Tommy Flanagan of Sons of Anarchy fame) who wants to know where Kate Taylor is. Alvarez realizes the FBI agent has no government plates. “What did you say your name was?” he asks the agent, who pulls out a knife and stabs Alvarez and pushes into the back seat of his car. “Malcolm Black,” he says…

Closing Thoughts: Remember when everyone complained about the complicated Initiative saga during Season 2? Malcolm Black is the new Initiative. This story is bad for the show; rather than focusing on the characters, the convoluted, silly plot is taking over. On the other hand, the performers are doing fabulous work this year, and Tommy Flanagan is a true talent who is always enjoyable to watch.

Read all our Weekly Hamptons Revenge Recaps here! And tune in every Thursday for our weekly Revenge Top 5 list.