Weekly Hamptons Revenge Recap – Season 4, Episode 14: “Kindred”

Now that the monotony of the Malcolm Black saga is over, will our favorite faux-Hamptonites have anything left to do? Just wait.

Revenge, Season 4, Episode 14: “Kindred”

Grayson Manor. Nolan is grateful to Emily for throwing a big wedding bash for him and Louise. “The Hamptons–if you don’t pretend to forgive everyone you hate, you never get anywhere,” Nolan shrugs after telling a surprised Emily that Margaux will be attending the reception. Emily gets a text from David and heads out.

At the precinct, Beat Cop Ben is mugging for the camera, retelling the heroic tale of last week’s craziness. Jack rushes past Ben and the reporter, but the two are then congratulated by the rest of the cops. They’re even going to be given a Medal of Honor! Unfortunately, Jack wants nothing to do with it and heads to the locker room.

Victoria tells Margaux about her new endeavor, the Daniel Grayson Foundation, for children in need. Margaux scoffs–the public still thinks Daniel died assaulting Emily, so why would they warm to a foundation in his name?

The beach club. Louise meets with Lyman (Lame-man or Lie-man, if you ask me), who is in town for the wedding reception. Lyman tries to reason with Louise and get her to give conservatorship back to Penelope, but Louise refuses, giving Ly no choice but to show her a police report revealing that she did in fact kill her father. “Read the report, save us a lot of embarrassment,” Lyman says after warning his kid sister that Penelope is planning on exposing the truth about Louise at the party.

“Which tie should I wear to the first party I’ve been to in 20 years?” a showered and not-so-crazy-looking David asks Emily. She asks David to dance at the party later, but David wants to talk about something else. He reminds her that her real birthday was a few days ago and gives her a gift: Amanda Clarke’s birth certificate. David asks Emily to consider resuming her true identity. She clearly doesn’t like the idea, but hugs her dad anyway…as photos are taken from outside.

A short while later, Nolan emails Emily with a photo of Emily and David hugging: “David Clarke’s new boo?” says the tabloid headline (wow, that sure was a fast photo-to-print turnaround!). Obviously this small-time attempt at cattiness was Margaux’s doing. Nolan offers to rescind the bitch’s invitation to the reception, but Ems says she’ll deal with it herself.

Victoria meets with her ladies who lunch…for lunch. She apologizes for her lateness, but immediately senses dissention among her peons. Getting down to business, Victoria thanks her gal pals for participating in the foundation, but one, Heather, frowns and asks what they should say to potential donors who think the foundation is “unseemly.” Victoria is about to answer when she’s interrupted by an unfamiliar face (played by Gina Torres). “You’re in my seat,” says the beautiful new woman. “I’m Natalie Waters. I’m new here,” she says, extending a hand. “You most certainly are,” Victoria responds happily. She sends Natalie to get another chair and to ask the waiter to send over some Hackleback. Natalie looks at her blankly. “That’s caviar, dear,” Victoria smiles. As Natalie walks off uncomfortably, Victoria reminds her friends that anyone who finds Daniel “unseemly” is no friend of hers. They all agree, nervously.

In the locker room, Ben tells Jack that he absolutely must accept his medal, but Jack tells Ben to back off. Blah blah blah, nobody loses a shirt so I lose interest.

Louise tells the party planner to cancel everything and send everything back…except the bubbly, which she needs for her nerves. Nolan defuses the situation, but is shocked when Louise tells him that Penelope says she killed her daddy and that there’s a police report. “You may be a little crazy, but this doesn’t add up,” Nolan says.

Emily visits Margaux at her office (Montauk?) and confronts her about the tabloid. Margaux feigns ignorance, reminding Emily she runs the fifth largest media conglomerate in the world (behind Dan’s Papers, obviously) and that she can’t monitor every story. Ems tries to reason with Margaux, but when she doesn’t respond, Emily reminds her that she knows terrible things about Pascal that could take her and her company down. Marge agrees to back off and Emily leaves. Her mystery associate from last week comes in and Margaux demands better results.

Later, Ben meets Emily at the dive bar for some bonding. He brings up Jack being all weird about the media coverage, but Emily wants advice about changing her identity. Ben mentions that he was undercover for six months, but Emily reminds him that she’s been Emily for 11 years. When she says her plan was to run away and start anew once her revenging was over, Ben grins. “Don’t make me imagine a world without Emily Thorne,” he says. Eww. Emily gets a text from Nolan and has to go.

Victoria is holding an auction to raise money for the Daniel Grayson Foundation and Natalie shows up. Vicky tries to be friendly, but the passive aggressive Natalie mentions how much it felt like Victoria was acting like a 16th-century queen presiding over a court at lunch. Natalie assures Victoria she didn’t discourage her friends not to show up to the auction and walks off. It is ON.

At the beach house, David and Jack bond over beer. Jack feels guilty for killing Kate.

Nolan takes Louise to Emily, who is going to help jog her memory with a Takeda skill she once learned. Luckily it’s not the waterboarding trick; Emily simply moves a knife around Louise’s hand and tells her to focus. Louise has a flashback and realizes she didn’t kill her father.

The wedding reception. Nolan greets Penelope, Lyman and Penelope’s gentleman caller, Judge Miller (or “Millah,” as Penelope pronounces it). Nolan is concerned that Louise has gone missing and is able to track her phone to Claremont Psychiatric! Emily heads out to the rescue.

Jack accepts the Medal of Honor but tells the chief they need to talk.

Victoria meets with the ladies and admonishes them for not coming to her auction. She asks Heather if her absence had anything to do with her husband’s dalliance with the pool boy (!). Everyone’s shocked. Victoria then delivers a modern-day version of Dolly Parton’s Harper Valley PTA: “A friend is like business. Investing in the wrong one always proves costly. Like Heather, I’m sure you’d all want me to keep your secrets…secrets. Suppose one of my dear friends’ husbands was sleeping with someone else in this very circle. Or that another was using a controlled white powder as a weight loss supplement. But this real friend ensures that your indiscretions remain confidential…in support of the Daniel Grayson Foundation. So whatever you were planning on donating last night, double it. Anything else would seem ‘unseemly,’ don’t you think?” Ouch!

Emily walks into Claremont Psychiatric, disguised as an inspector. She finds Louise and presents her with Nolan’s wedding gift to her: the real police report, showing that she didn’t push her daddy down the stairs, she tried to catch him!

Back at the party, Jack sits at the bar, waiting for the bartender to return. Margaux sits down near him and the two smile awkwardly. Jack tells her that Daniel died a hero – and that he quit being a cop! There were just too many conflicts of interest. “I could’ve told you that,” Margaux giggles. Jack decides the bartender isn’t returning, so he takes over. He and Margaux share a (virgin) drink.

David runs into Victoria at the party. She asks him if he would have done what she did 20 years ago to protect his children. He nods, noting that he did commit such a betrayal by making Victoria lie about Daniel’s actions. Dave also deduces that Victoria already knew that but just wanted to make sure. He shrugs and walks off.

Louise comes down the stairs, cuts off her mother’s pleasantries and reveals the truth: Penelope killed their daddy and forged the police report thanks to Judge Miller, who Penelope been sleeping with behind daddy’s back. Nolan insinuates that the cane (why do southern men hold canes?) Judge Miller is using was used to kill Daddy Ellis and leaves. Louise tells Penelope to get lost and never come back. Penelope finishes her bubbly and storms off. Lyman tries to apologize to Louise, but she tells him that she is cutting him – and his campaign – off.

David and Emily dance happily. She tells David that she doesn’t want to be Amanda Clarke anymore. David says he only asked her to be Amanda Clarke so she’d be happy. “Look around. I have friends. I have you…I didn’t realize I was happy until you asked.”

At the bar area, where Jack is back in his element, Jack is asked by a pretty blonde to bartend a bar mitzvah, but he has to run after getting a text from Ben, who wants to talk about why Jack quit.

Victoria sees her old chair in the study and suddenly feels empowered. Natalie arrives to apologize for getting off the wrong foot, but Victoria tells her not to bother; she admires her boldness. A new rivalry is born. Natalie walks off and Victoria grins, but the happiness is short-lived. She gets a phone call from someone who tells her there’s been a death in the family!

Meanwhile, Margaux’s henchman has gotten video footage of Emily and Jack talking about covering up Kate’s death. He wants to let it loose, but Margaux is conflicted, since she still considers Jack a friend.

Emily goes to Ben’s house. They flirt and begin to make out…just as Jack approaches, witnessing the whole thing, devastated.

Closing Thoughts: Now, this is the Revenge I know and love. Between Victoria reclaiming her throne, Louise defeating her evil family and Emily and Ben getting together just as Jack approaches, this felt more like Revenge than any episode featuring Malcolm Black or Kate. But who in Victoria’s family died?! If Charlotte’s gone, both she and David would go insane, so I’m guessing it’s a fake-out.

Takedown(s) of the week (finally): Penelope Ellis, Lyman Ellis, Judge Millah (er, Miller)

Best newcomer: Gina Torres as Natalie Waters. And not just because she’s a black woman on a show dominated by white people.

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