Ty: I guess we should probably start with the illustration we're using. Nolan (Gabriel Mann) and Emily (Emily VanCamp) are chained to a wall. [Click on the illustration above if you don't see Emily -- in some browser the right side of the photo is cut off.] That's on the episode airing Wednesday. Anyone want to take a guess?
Ann: The man who killed Emily's father, the white-haired man, was found. Nolan went into his home and planted a camera. And, as Rebecca pointed out, that episode ended very Rear Window-like with Nolan discovering too late that the stream was on some sort of loop and the white-haired man was in Nolan's house behind him and choking him until Nolan passed out. Nolan had been on the phone with Emily and apparently the white-haired man then goes after her. Or that's one guess.
Rebecca: And I'd guess different just because I'm wondering if the white-haired man found out Emily was involved, wouldn't he go to Conrad? And especially with Emily being Amanda Clark and especially with Emily being engaged to Daniel Grayson, Conrad's son, wouldn't the white-haired man go to Conrad and say something like, "Look how you've screwed up?"
Ann: That's a good point.
Ty: Yeah because Conrad is going to be back next season. So obvioulsy, he can't find out anything about Emily -- either that she's David Clarke's daughter or that she's anything less than an innocent. So maybe Emily goes to Nolan's house to find out what's going on and that's when she gets nabbed.
Dona: So we've seen five new episodes in a row as the lead up to this Wednesday. What stands out the most? I'll toss out my choice: How little I care for Daniel. Anyone else feeling that?
Rebecca: Well he's so bland. And Jack's so much more interesting. Daniel's Emily's fiancee, Jack's who she loves. She sometimes loves Daniel but then he shows his ass and she remembers she's come back for revenge.
Ann: Meeting Daniel at the start of the season wasn't an accident. As we've seen in flashbacks, she visited the Hamptons to see what was going on and where she stood. She'd just gotten out of juvie. Her father was killed in prison. She'd believed he was innocent when she was a little girl but that had vanished over the years. So she went back to the Hamptons for the first time as an adult and discovered just how evil the Graysons were. So that's when she decided she wanted revenge. And that she'd become Emily Thorne, created that identity and eventually moved to the Hamptons into the beach house across from the Graysons. So I actually get bothered when Emily's off her game because she's feeling romantic love towards Daniel. He's a spoiled bastard. I don't see how anyone could like him. The accident and all.
Ty: Right. Ann's referring to his causing a woman's spinal injury. This season was about mainly one summer at the Hamptons. And the summer before, Daniel was drunk and had a car accident. He walked away fine but the woman he was dating, she ended up with a spinal injury. You'd hope he'd learn from that and mature. Instead, he's becoming his father's bitch-boy.
Rebecca: Right? Last week, when he threatened Victoria, his mother, with having nothing to do with her, what was that? Victoria's a mess and a trouble maker but Daniel's the one person that she always tries to do the best for. And Conrad? He'd cut Daniel in a minute.
Ty: You really believe that? Isn't Daniel his golden boy?
Rebecca: I believe he'd cut Daniel in a minute to save his own life. Don't forget, what we know of Victoria betraying David Clarke and helping Conrad frame him for terrorism, it was Conrad threatening not just harm to her, but suffering for Daniel. But Conrad has always acted for himself.
Ty: Do you agree with that, Ann?
Ann: Yeah, I think Rebecca's on to something there. I mean, remember what happened when he found out Charlotte was actually David Clarke's daughter and not his own, he kicked her out, he cut her off, he wanted nothing to do with her. For whatever reasons, probably because his father got involved, remember, suddenly he's decided he'll have a little to do with her. But, yeah, Conrad would cut Daniel in a minute. Imagine if he discovered Daniel was actually that painter's son and not his? He'd dump him in a minute.
Dona: And while Conrad's bad and evil, he's an interesting character. He's not like Daniel. Daniel's a Ken doll. Two episodes back there was a flashback episode and it had a lot of revelations including Emily about to learn the truth from her father's friend Roger until Conrad ordered Roger killed. But what I found interesting was what stood out to Rebecca. She blogged about it at her site and noted how it soured her on Lydia.
Rebecca: Lydia was Victoria's best friend. Lydia was also Emily's first victim. Emily knew Lydia and Conrad were sleeping together and arranged for Conrad to have a reaction at a hotel that he would mistake for a heart attack. She 'happened' to be outside as the ambulance arrived and pretended to Lydia that she thought the man was Lydia's husband. Later, at Victoria's boat party, Emily would fill Victoria in on what happened to Lydia's 'husband.' Since Victoria had met Conrad at the hospital that day, she knew what was going on. She immediately ended her friendship with Lydia and tossed Lydia to the wolves. Now watching that, I had no harsh feelings for Lydia. I assumed that an affair resulted from chemisty and being tossed together and that Lydia and Conrad had both fought the urge. But what we discovered in the flashback was that Victoria's best friend actually went after Conrad. Lydia was married as well and that didn't bother her either. And I felt no sympathy for her at all. Instead, I felt very sorry for Victoria that one of the few people she trusted cared so little about her she would knowingly try to hurt her. I loathe Lydia now.
Ty: For me, the character who most benefitted in the last six episodes was Mason Treadwell. I really enjoyed his downfall that Emily created. But when we came back from the long break, we got to see him the flashback episode as well as in one non-flashback.and he was about sticking it to the Graysons. He also had a really good line after he used Daniel's criminal trial to advance himself by butchering him in writing, Victoria told him there would be hell to pay and he responded something like, "How? By not inviting me to one of your parties that people are no longer coming to?"
Dona: I don't know that I liked anyone better in the last five episodes. I think my opinions were pretty much fixed by the sixth episode of the show. Ann, anything change for you?
Ann: Just how Daniel was a minor irritation and has now turned into someone I hate. I can't stand to see that spoiled brat playing at being a man. He just gets on my last damn nerve. If your opinions of the characters didn't change, Dona, did anything from the last five episodes change?
Dona: I think I just get more and more Ava and C.I.'s "TV: Why Revenge resonates."
Ty: Okay, what are your hopes for this last episode? Since Revenge isn't coming back on until January 2013, my hope is minor in that, having seen the photo, I hope the end of the episode isn't Nolan and Emily still chained to the wall.
[*** CORRECTION 5-20-2012: Lauren e-mailed to say she didn't think that was right about the show returning in January 2013. I (Ty) checked with Ava and C.I. Lauren's correct. Revenge comes back this fall but on Sunday nights. My apologies for my mistake.]
Rebecca: I loathe Daniel as much as Ann. But what I would like this episode to do, in a perfect world, is clarify what Daniel feels about Emily. She's gone from love of his life to courtroom accessory. He's a total dick but I would like to know how much of a dick. Does he really love her at all? I have no idea. Especially with Ashley having seen Jack and Emily kiss this last episode.
Ann: Ashley's gone over to the dark side but she really turned against Emily -- or got honest about it -- when she was dating Ty. The minute Ty started trashing Emily, Ashley didn't stick up for her 'good friend,' she rushed to agree with him. Ashely resents Emily. For me, I'm more interested in what Victoria's going to do? I think she's the one to watch this coming episode to determine where next season is headed. Dona?
Dona: I won't get what I want. I want clarity on what exactly David Clarke was framed for. Terrorism? A plane went down? How did Conrad share responsibility for that, how did he push it off on David? It's still not clear to me. But we're clear that we've got to wind down. Ty?
Ty: So remember, last hour of prime time Wednesday night, season finale of Revenge. Last new episode until 2013. Don't miss it. And this was a rush transcript.