Weekly Hamptons Revenge Recap – Season 3, Episode 9: “Surrender”

Welcome back, Revengites! We’ve got one week to go before the Hamptons version of the Red Wedding. Let’s first recap last night’s Revenge Season 3, Episode 9 “Surrender”…

We open at the most sinister wedding photo shoot of all time. Daniel pushes Emily on a flowery swing. She looks positively gorgeous…and evil. The Voulez writer gushes over Em’s beauty, and Em sings a disinterested Daniel’s praises. She brings up the potential for them starting a family and Daniel says the wedding is the main focus and storms off. Daniel wants to keep the baby news quiet.

Margaux sets up Lydia in a nice new hotel room. Lydia starts making demands, but Margaux is all business and tells Lydia she needs proof that her stories are true.

Victoria and Conrad have a rare, peaceful moment looking at Daniel’s baby photos, until Victoria ruins it. “Now he’s marrying a Charlatan,” she sighs. “Let him be,” Conrad says. Victoria is confident that Daniel won’t go through with the wedding, thanks to his feelings for first love Sara.

Speaking of everyone’s favorite impoverished pastry chef, Sara surprises Daniel at Voulez and demands an explanation. Sara warns Daniel that she will not be the other woman. “Make up your damn mind, Daniel,” says the unrefined beauty. She storms out as Daniel looks on, frustrated.

Emily heads to Nolan’s manse to give him and a freshly worked-out, sweaty Aiden an update on her rift with Daniel. After she leaves, Aiden and Nolan have a secret exchange and Aiden opens a manila envelope to look at a mystery object (we don’t see it) and tells Nolan he needs his advice.

Emily and Victoria play a game of chess — oh, actually they’re just going over the seating chart. Victoria tells Emily she’s concerned for them, but they’re interrupted by Victoria’s clothes falling from the sky. They rush upstairs to find Lydia doing some spring cleaning! “You alright, dear? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she remarks to Emily, who pretends to not be stunned. Victoria asks Emily to give them some time. In some nice, soapy exposition, we learn that Victoria warned Lydia to get off the plane before it took off and the two made an agreement to disappear. Victoria decided to take her life back, so Lydia did, too (she’s been tending bar in Ecuador, apparently).

At Voulez, Jack and Margaux make out after he brings her some dinner. Jack notices Conrad’s file on her desk… Meanwhile at the Stowaway, Sara confides in Charlotte that she can’t work there anymore because she’s still in love with Daniel. Charlotte wants to help (which definitely WON’T go badly).

Back in Southampton, Emily tells a shocked Daniel about Lydia. Victoria enters with the lady in question, who tells Daniel she can’t believe he’s marrying Emily. Lydia goes to leave, but Emily goads her into pushing her down. Em does her best fall and Daniel freaks out, leading Emily to reveal, “Sorry, Victoria, I didn’t want you to find out this way, but…you’re going to be a grandmother!” Conrad summons Victoria to his bedroom to talk about the color tie he should wear for the wedding. Victoria breaks the baby news to an excited Conrad, who is going to be talking to Time magazine. “Must be a slow year,” Victoria rolls her eyes.

Emily and Nolan debrief Aiden on Lydia and explain that she once found a photo of Emily as a waitress at a Grayson party from years ago. Aiden agrees to get the goods on the back-from-the-dead blonde. Daniel, meanwhile, runs into Charlotte while jogging. Daniel admits he’s in love with Sara, and Charlotte tells him to follow his heart, but he stops short of telling her about the baby. Jack asks Nolan to track Margaux’s progress on her Conrad investigation by hacking into her computer. Nolan’s a little concerned for this new, sneaky side of Jack. Later, Emily feigns surprise when the paparazzi arrive for their doctor’s appointment. Daniel confronts Victoria, who he thinks leaked the information, and she tries to make him realize that Emily is manipulating him, but he explodes at mommy dearest: “This time tomorrow Emily and I will be married.” He storms out.

Conrad, arriving at a hotel for what he thinks is his Time interview, is surprised to find a sexy, red dress-clad Lydia (this is probably at their old love nest The South Fork Inn). Stunned, Conrad tries to sweet-talk his ex-mistress, who doesn’t want to hear it. She tries to get Conrad to admit his involvement in the plane crash, but he admits nothing and she kicks him out. But Conrad believes she’s still hot for him and tries to stay. “Trust me, Conrad. When I’m done with you, you’ll know it,” Lydia says, pulling out a recorder after he leaves.

Charlotte apologizes to Emily for being a bitch all season and surprises her with a mani-pedi. I sense an agenda…

Aiden calls Margaux as a hotel concierge to tip her off about Lydia’s meeting with Conrad. When Margaux confronts the blonde bitch, she says she couldn’t get anything damning out of Conrad. A livid Margaux accuses Lydia of still carrying a torch for her ex and terminates their agreement. Later, Aiden meets with Emily at a firing range to debrief her on the latest.

Margaux gets an unannounced visit from Nolan, who gives her a “lead.”

Conrad returns to Lydia and she asks him for forgiveness (feminism is dead, apparently). They begin to kiss.

Back in Montauk, Daniel meets with Sara and admits he loves her, but can’t leave Emily and the baby. Sara sadly understands. She says goodbye and leaves him with the expensive necklace he gave her last episode. Daniel drops it into the water. First world problems, I tell ya.

Charlotte meets Victoria on the balcony and says she thinks their schemes against Emily were wrong. The uncharacteristically wise Grayson gal tells her mother they need to back off and let Daniel be happy.

Aiden surprises Emily with a pretty candlelit scene. “Amanda Clarke, will you marry me?” he asks. She says yes and kisses him passionately (This also WON’T end badly). Later, after consummating their engagement, Ems contemplates her new life. Aiden slips the engagement ring on her finger before she heads out to, you know, get married.

Margaux meets Jack at the bar and tells him that Nolan insinuated that Jack knows more about Conrad than he’s letting on. Jack bites and explains that Conrad is responsible for Fauxmanda and Declan’s deaths. She’s shocked, having known Conrad her whole life. Jack begs Margaux not to pursue it — she’ll be in danger — and she agrees not to run the story. She doesn’t want to lose him.

Daniel comes clean with Emily about Sara. She “accepts his apology” after he promises he and Sara are over. They embrace unhappily (albeit for different reasons).

Conrad and Lydia enjoy some post-coital conversation as he shows her some old photos from the past. Lydia looks through the photos…and finds the photo of Emily as a waitress at a Grayson shindig from years ago!

As if Lydia’s discovery wasn’t enough to screw up Emily’s plans, Victoria surprises Emily with another revelation: She’s not coming to the wedding!

Closing Thoughts
One more week till the wedding! Who shot Emily? Looks like we’re about to find out. Lydia finding that photo was a great nod to the show’s history; we saw Emily as a waitress in a flashback episode during the first season. Of course, Lydia’s never been the smartest blonde, so I’m sure she’ll bungle her latest scheme somehow.

Best Moment: The one-two punch of Lydia finding the photo and Victoria “declining” the wedding invitation.
Worst Moment: Charlotte and Sara continue to be on a different show than everyone else.
Question of the Week: Who was murdered the night Emily waited tables at the Grayson mansion?