'Revenge' Season 3 Premiere Recap: Emily And Daniel Set A Date, Victoria And Emily Get Rid Of Ashley

by UInterviewSeptember 30, 2013, 12:00 amNews >

Revenge returned for its third season with “Fear," an episode that saw Emily and Nolan reunited and Victoria returning to her plotting ways.

Revenge’s third season opened with a tease of Emily (Emily VanCamp) and Daniel’s (Joshua Bowman) Aug. 8 wedding night: Emily tearfully tells someone she is sorry and is shot twice, causing her to fall, apparently lifeless, in the water.

In the present, Emily and Daniel are making their Memorial Day party plans – it’s the start of a new summer season in the Hamptons and six months after the season two finale left off. Daniel wants to set a date for the wedding, but Emily doesn't seem too excited at the idea. It’s been six months since Emily told Jack (Nick Wechsler) her real identity as Amanda Clarke, and when he returns, she immediately goes to see him. The two kiss, but Jack says he doesn’t feel anything. He doesn’t want her, even if she really is his childhood sweetheart. Emily is crushed, but decides to stay focused on her plan: bringing down Governor Conrad Grayson (Henry Czerny).

Emily bails Nolan (Gabriel Mann) out of jail, and the two reaffirm their alliance before setting their sights on Conrad. With his help, Emily manipulates Conrad and his doctor into believing that he has Huntington’s disease. Not only does this diagnosis put a dent in Conrad’s plans to run for President, it also provides Emily with a way to get rid of frenemy Ashley (Ashley Madekwe).

Ashley tried to blackmail Emily for money and status, but she doesn’t stand a chance. When news of Conrad’s Huntington’s disease leaks to the press, Emily convinces the Grayson’s that it was Ashley who betrayed the family, and Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) teams up with Emily to send Ashley on a plane, back where she came from.

Victoria had a busy six months bonding with her eldest (illegitimate) son Patrick (Justin Hartley). When Charlotte (Christa B. Allen) returns from her European vacation, she mistakes him for her mother’s lover. Still grieving over the loss of Declan and their baby, Charlotte goes to Patrick and delivers him a warning: like it or not, Victoria will bring him misery if he sticks around. It works, and Justin leaves suddenly.

After the party, Jack pays Emily a visit: he knows she poisoned Conrad and he wants answers. Emily tells him that she believes the Grayson’s are getting what they deserve. Jack isn’t buying it, at least, not enough to give her free reign over the Hamptons. He gives her a ticking clock: finish up her revenge scheme and leave by the end of the summer, or he will expose her.

With this new timetable, Emily picks a wedding date, Aug. 8, and she swears that on that night, she will take Victoria down. Easier said then done. In the final moments of the episode, Aiden (Barry Sloane) appears on Victoria’s doorstep with a proposition: he wants to destroy Emily Thorne.