Weekly Hamptons Revenge Recap – Season 4, Episode 18: “Clarity”

A fabulous assassin, a crisis of conscience and a life-changing announcement dominate this week’s very important episode of Revenge. Just wait till you see Courtney Love‘s character.

And now, Revenge, Season 4, Episode 18: “Clarity”…

Victoria finishes getting rid of the baby’s clothes with new assistant Brigitte. Margaux comes down the stairs and Victoria comforts her. They talk about the Daniel Grayson Memorial Wing, and Victoria brings up Emily, who she believes should be behind bars. Margaux almost tells Vicky the truth—that Emily didn’t really push her—but then tells Victoria about Lyman Ellis’s mysterious death.

The mansion. David brings Emily the newspaper as she eats breakfast. Emily, who clearly has no idea that Margaux accused her of killing the baby, hopes the Memorial Wing groundbreaking will bring everyone some solace. Ben comes in, getting dressed for his new gig as detective!

At Casa Ross, Nolan finds an increasingly erratic Louise trying to make breakfast. He’s surprised she’s back from Lyman’s funeral already. Nolan asks if there’s anything he can do…and Louise says she wants a baby! Nolan gets a bit nervous and Louise asks him to just consider adoption.

At the Southampton Medical Center board meeting, Victoria is informed that they will not be going forward with naming the new wing in Daniel’s honor because of bad publicity. Victoria argues that the circumstances surrounding Daniel’s death have been greatly exaggerated and glares at Emily, who looks extremely uncomfortable. Daniel shouldn’t be remembered solely for the last 15 minutes of his life, Emily says. The board doesn’t want to hear it and Victoria withdraws her $40 million donation. Afterward, Victoria reminds Emily that she has both Daniel and his unborn child’s blood on her hands. Emily is understandably confused by the statement.

At the Southampton Beach Club, Nolan and social worker Tony discuss the daycare center, which Tony is helping develop for its license. Tony invites Nolan out later that evening for a beach party, but Nolan isn’t sure. After Tony leaves, Jack— who has been watching behind the bar—tells Nolan to go for it. Unfortunately, Nolan is worried about Louise’s reaction.

Victoria strolls into the men’s locker room at the police precinct and tells Ben she needs to speak with him. “Bye boys!” she says as she exits. It turns out that Victoria just wants to see Lyman’s file. She’s surprised that only his personal items were found on the body and not the USB drive Margaux hired him to get.

At David’s boat, Emily tries to rationalize Margaux’s behavior. Later, in a suburb that is DEFINITELY not the Hamptons, Emily tells Jack she wants to change her story about Daniel’s death and peg Malcolm Black as his killer, so the world thinks Daniel saved Emily from him. She needs Jack to corroborate, and he’s about to consider it, but Stevie has heard everything and loses it, reaming into Emily for all the pain and suffering she’s caused, from luring Stevie to the Hamptons (actually, that was Conrad, honey—check the recaps), to nearly making Jack lose custody of Carl. Stevie tells Emily that Jack will be involved “over my dead body.” Oh, Stevie. I like you, but you just marked yourself.

Victoria goes to visit Louise with some homemade lemon bars. She offers to help Louise go through Lyman’s things and for once, Lou doesn’t take the bait. Louise asks Victoria to leave, but Victoria warns her that she’s helping the wrong people and challenges her to ask Nolan what really happened the night Daniel died.

Jack argues with Stevie about her flipping out on Emily, but she remains firm. “You come from two alcoholic parents. Make sure Emily’s not your glass of scotch,” she sighs. Wait…Jack and Declan’s dad was an alcoholic? Did I miss that plot point?

Nolan slums it on the beach with Tony at a big bonfire party. Tony gets up for a moment and Nolan calls Louise to tell her he’s “swamped” at the club. Tony returns, having heard the conversation, and tells Nolan he won’t be the other man.

Emily, Ben and his older brother, Kevin, barbecue at the manse. Kevin, a jovial, friendly fellow, asks Emily about her family, etc. and she tells the Emily Thorne story, not the Amanda Clarke one. Jack rings the doorbell and tells Ems he can’t help her with her Malcolm Black idea. “Let it go, Ems.” What is this, Frozen? Disney does own ABC…

The next morning, Louise continues to devolve into a needy wife and passive-aggressively asks Nolan what was so important to keep him at the beach club all night. Louise tells Nolan that Victoria dropped by, and Noles immediately freaks out. She suggests they install better security when they have the baby. Nolan buckles and leaves…and Louise sees a news article on her tablet showing Nolan hanging with some locals on the beach the night before.

Margaux meets with henchman James about the “White Gold situation.” Margaux tells James not to pursue it, but James already contacted White Gold and she’s waiting for instructions. An angry Margaux tells James never to make a decision like that without her permission. Intrigued? Keep reading.

Nolan confides in Jack about his marriage and tells him the truth about Lyman’s death. Nolan says he wants a family and a child…eventually. But not with someone he pities, Jack suggests. “It sounds awful…but yeah,” Nolan sighs. To nobody’s surprise, Louise was listening in from the next room.

Stevie visits David on his boat and tells him to keep Emily away from Jack. She’s clearly still in a judgmental mood and tells him to take responsibility, since it’s his fault that Emily is the way she is (huh?). David gets so angry he accidentally cuts himself on a sharp object on the boat.

Margaux meets up with the fabulous White Gold (played by Courtney Love!) at…a luxury car dealership? She tells White to cancel the job on Emily. White Gold is skeptical. Why back down now? Some part of Margaux clearly wanted Emily dead. Margaux says she’ll pay White Gold to back off, and White agrees, but tells Margaux they have another problem: Margaux knows White’s identity. Margaux warns White Gold not to harm her if she likes her secret identity. Then Margaux says something about not wanting to sacrifice her soul, a callback to last season when Daniel implored Margaux not to sacrifice it.

Nolan freaks out when he sees Louise floating in the pool…but she’s just relaxing. He finally tells her he wants to end the marriage, and Louise agrees. But something’s a little…off.

Ben confronts Emily about Jack and the fact that she’s planning on screwing up a case he helped close. She argues that it’s the right thing to do, even though it’s another lie, but Ben wants her to let go of all the drama and turmoil.

Stevie visits the beach house to apologize to David. He accepts, but reminds her their kids aren’t actually kids anymore. Stevie is just worried that Emily is Jack’s kryptonite, like Victoria is David’s. David says Emily’s no Victoria, and Stevie hopes to god he’s right.

Emily arrives at the hospital wing groundbreaking (that isn’t being named after Daniel) looking beautiful and demure. Jack is there, as well, and tells her to do what she thinks is right. As a board member, Emily asks if she can take the podium for a few minutes and begins to make a speech. As the entire cast watches on the TV—Ben, his brother and buddies from a local bar; Victoria and Margaux at Margaux’s place; David from the beach house; Louise from the bar; Stevie from Jack’s house; and Nolan from his house—Emily announces to the world that she lied about Daniel’s death. He was in fact trying to save her from Malcolm Black and she lied because she felt she had to keep another secret: that she’s David Clarke’s daughter, Amanda!

Cue Nolan’s reaction: “What the hell, Ems?!”

Closing Thoughts: Well, that was dramatic! So now that Emily has cleared Daniel’s name, is Margaux going to back the hell off? Or will the most stunningly dressed hitwoman in the world, White Gold, decide to go after our favorite Hamptonites? By the way, I know this show tends to go a little nuts, but Courtney Love as an assassin?!

Takedown of the week: The real Amanda Clarke takes down her alter ego, Emily Thorne.
Performer of the week: Baby Carl, who is brilliant in his well-timed absence from this episode.

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