'Revenge' recap: 'Loss'

If you want to know what to expect going into a given episode of Revenge, just read the episode title. It will tell you everything you need to know—and tonight’s episode was no exception. “Loss” dealt with, you guessed it, loss. We spent most of the episode watching parents deal with losing time with their children and preventing this from happening to another character. All of this, however, is topped by an event that puts one of our characters through one of the most tragic losses anyone could ever experience.

But first—it’s all about Operation: Save Jack Porter. Things aren’t looking good for him. Because Carl was in the car with him, Jack is facing up to five years in prison. Emily knows what it’s like to lose a parent, so she is on Jack’s case and is determined to make whoever framed him pay—i.e. Margaux. Her first move is to call in Stevie Grayson (Conrad’s first wife and Jack’s mother) to represent him in court. For Stevie, this is a chance to make up for all the time with Jack that she lost. All of that will have to wait, however, because the police lab “lost” Jack’s blood sample—the blood sample that could’ve proven Jack was not drinking when he was pulled over. Time to get to work.

Judge Knowles, who is presiding over Jack’s case, takes pity on him and releases him on bail because she doesn’t want to separate him from Carl. Wishing to appear tough on crime because she’s up for election, however, Judge Knowles orders that a social worker assess Jack Porter’s living situation to determine whether or not Carl is in a safe environment. The social worker, whose name is Tony Hughes, is super judgmental when he first comes to assess Jack and takes issue with the fact that he works in a bar and leaves his child with David Clarke. Tony pays the club a visit and after an impassioned speech from Nolan about how great of a father Jack is compared to his own, Tony starts to reconsider his position on the whole situation.

Video footage taken from Nolan’s club on the night that Jack was arrested shows Margaux’s guy, whose name is James Allen (is this the first time we’re hearing this?), spiking Jack’s drink with something. Emily puts on her after-midnight best and breaks into James’ home to strong-arm him into confessing to working with Margaux at Jack’s trial. Unfortunately, James manages to escape, but not before handing over the blood sample he stole from the police lab.

Emily manages to convince her new boy-toy Ben to surreptitiously place the sample back in the lab. Later, Stevie tries to have the sample admitted into evidence, but Judge Knowles rejects her request. But, the Judge doesn’t stop there, she also locks Stevie up for contempt to silence her. After some digging, Emily and company realize Judge Knowles recently received endorsements from several LeMarchal media outlets and this is why she’s ruling against Jack’s case. (ASIDE: All of this is reminding me of a very recent segment on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on why electing judges is problematic.) It’s time to take the fight to the Judge.

Later that night, Judge Knowles is enjoying dinner and a glass of water at the club that’s spiked with the same drug that caused Jack to fail his breathalyzer test. After she leaves the club, Ben pulls her over and she blows a .15. That’s when she receives a call from Emily with some demands: either she test Jack’s blood sample or the Revenge Queen will expose her transgressions (accepting bribes) to the world. No surprise, the judge submits to Emily’s blackmail and Jack is declared innocent. Guys, Revenge makes getting away with bribing and/or blackmailing a judge look so easy—don’t try this at home!

NEXT: Victoria fights for Daniel’s legacy

Elsewhere in the episode, Victoria is still trying to get the hospital to name a wing after Daniel. She thinks she has it all tied up because she believes the Board will see reason and Margaux is one of its members. Unfortunately, this is not the case and one board member votes against the motion. Victoria’s first suspect, Emily. But, to her surprise, Margaux was the dissenting voice. Margaux voted against the motion because Victoria wanted her to announce her pregnancy to the world when it passed, but Margaux wasn’t ready to do this. She wants to protect her child from the shadow cast by Daniel’s ruined reputation. Their conversation provides the women with a nice moment to bond over their responsibilities to their shared maternal instinct—Margaux for her child and Victoria for Daniel, even though he’s gone—and for Daniel. Victoria decides that Margaux need not announce her pregnancy, so Margaux agrees to change her vote.

Throughout tonight’s episode David struggles with Emily seeming as though she no longer needs him. He keeps trying to talk her down from going to war with Margaux, but Emily refuses to listen. However, once Jack is clear, David finally get through to her and convinces her to call a truce with Margaux.

Emily heads to New York City to meet with Margaux. As a sign of peace, Emily hands over her real birth certificate—the one thing tying her to her real identity—for Margaux to do with as she pleases. This is not enough for the grieving mother, and she demands that Emily confess to the world what really happened to Daniel, but Emily can’t do that since it would destroy the lives of so many others. In their argument, Margaux goes to hail a cab and is hit by a car.

Margaux is rushed to the hospital and, upon arrival, finds out that she lost the baby. This loss lights a fire in her belly and she sees an opportunity when Victoria comes in later and asks what really happened with the accident because Emily told her she had nothing to do with it. Taking a page out of Emily’s book, Margaux lies and says that Emily pushed her. Margaux just got herself a new ally in her war against Emily Thorne.

Meanwhile, David finally feels needed again as Emily comes to him crying after everything that happens with Margaux. She tried doing the right thing, but people still ended up getting hurt.

EXTRAS:

• The police find Lyman’s body on the beach and pay Nolan and Louise a visit. Louise spins them a tale and they buy it. At the end of the episode, Louise confesses to Nolan her role in Lyman’s death and it seems like that’s the end of this. But, we know better. This is Revenge, this can’t be the last time this comes up. Or, maybe in its old age, Revenge has gotten soft and decides to just let this one slide.
• Inspired and aroused by Nolan’s defense of Jack, Tony returns to the Club to ask Nolan out. He’s about to give up after seeing Nolan’s ring, but Nolan explains that it’s not what it seems and convinces Tony to have a drink with him.
• Victoria spends so much time being duplicitous on this show that it always takes a second to realize that she’s being sincere in moments like when she explains to Margaux that her maternal instinct still compels her to protect Daniel even though he’s dead.