I’m not going to mince words. Getting shirtless Daniel (aka Joshua Bowman) playing beach volleyball within the first five minutes of an episode of REVENGE wins my vote every time. With Daniel playing for the shirtless team and suspicious Tyler playing for the clothed side, you can guess which team I was cheering for.

Revenge ‘Suspicion’ Recap

REVENGE season 1 episode 9
Air date: 23 November 2011

While Emily’s romance with Daniel continues to blossom against Victoria’s wishes, Amanda (now going by her new name of Kara after Emily bestowed her with the honor of taking over her late mother’s name) is busy cosying up to Jack Porter on the Amanda – the boat Jack named after his childhood friend.

Always looking out for Emily, Nolan is quick to report the breaking news to her and she rushes over to the dock faster than the speed of light to speak to Amanda, politely insisting that she leave: “It’s not safe for you here.” Amanda admits she just wants a home and friends, and right now, that means the Hamptons.

Looks like the Hamptons isn’t safe for anyone. The police track the late Frank’s cell-phone to the Graysons’ garden (where Emily planted it the night before) and bring Victoria in for questioning. When will they question Conrad? Isn’t it more likely that he’d be capable of over-powering his former head of security than a high-heeled society queen?

Grayson Manor is certainly not safe for Lydia, who is still recuperating under Victoria’s care. I can only assume that the concussion Lydia suffered from being pushed off her balcony caused her to be foolish enough to tell her frenemy that she remembers their last conversation at the Open Arms Benefit, one in which the Queen declared she would never forgive Lydia and they could never be friends again. Perhaps not such a smart move to make when said frenemy is giving you pills and has you trapped in her home.

Now, on to my favorite new Hamptons couple. No, not Emily and Daniel. It’s not even Charlotte and Declan (who, by the way, is being bribed by Queen Victoria to stop seeing her daughter, but she has apparently forgotten what young love is: that which cannot be bought! Thanks for the twenty-five G mamma!). Of course, I am talking about Nolan and Tyler; or as I like to call them, “Team Nyler”. During a recent radio interview, Gabriel Mann (who plays the stylishly handsome gazillionaire Nolan Ross) promised us lots more action for Team Nyler – he had better not be messing with me!

Nolan gets a call from his credit card company to say his card has been stolen. Turns out Tyler (or as Nolan affectionately calls him, Ty) “borrowed” Nolan’s card to suit himself up and buy a new dress for Ashley for Conrad’s “investor recruitment drive” party. Nolan has more money than he knows what to do with so this scene is fairly redundant but what makes this one of my favorite scenes of the week?

Tyler, sidling up closer to Nolan: “I have every intention of repaying you.”

Nolan, moving away from Tyler: “Transaction denied. Cash only.”

Oh, the juiciness of who’s conning who in Team Nyler is just too good to resist!

As always, Nolan has his spy-cam hard at work and he discovers that Tyler has found the copy of Lydia’s Open Arms speech that Victoria shredded. As everyone knows, a secret is only a secret if you are the only person who knows what it is. At this point in the game Tyler doesn’t know exactly what he’s stumbled on to but nevertheless, he has made himself into a major target in “Emily’s Grand Revenge Plan”.

With all the guilty and suspicious people lurking around the Hamptons, it is easy to forget there are still a few innocent players in this game of revenge. When the show first began, you almost expect to see Daniel as the rich kid without a heart, morals or feelings. It turns out that was just his father, Conrad – who, after all, is determined to pit his own son against a two-bit conman in a race to reel in the biggest whale at his investor recruitment party. I suppose when you have as many enemies to watch out for behind you as Conrad has, it is easy to miss the big one who is sitting right in front of you.

There is no doubt that Victoria loves her son and is naturally suspicious of any woman coming close to him. Now that she knows Emily’s juvenile record, her suspicions just take another step up. She pays a visit to Emily’s house, where she flashes back to a romantic rendezvous with David Clarke just before her big betrayal, then warns Emily not to hurt her son. “I would never hurt Daniel,” Emily replies. “Especially if there’s a chance we might be family some day,” she adds. Oh the cunning smiles we get from Victoria and Emily in this exchange are priceless.

The maternal meddling does not end there. Victoria turns up at The Stowaway Tavern, walking in on a half-naked Declan and offering him money to stop seeing her daughter. “Everyone’s got a price, so what’s your number?”

Daniel, in an attempt to reconcile with his father, does his level best to work in the family business. He studies up on the high rollers attending the investor party and while he’s speaking to a Japanese businessman, regaling him with stories of his visit to Tokyo Disney, Emily joins in and surprised us all in more ways than one. Not only does she speak Japanese fluently, but the businessman turns out to be a trusted friend, who reminds her “inside a viper’s nest, you must be a viper too”.

A Grayson party is not complete without Nolan and certainly not when it’s a room full of rich people. Standing out in the crowd with his cool bow-tie, Nolan commits to investing $20million with Tyler, in exchange for spending some quality time together. In another big tease for Team Nyler fans like me, just as Ty moves in for a kiss, Ashley walks in to find her boyfriend locking lips with Nolan. She flees and he runs after her, giving Nolan the opportunity to rummage through Tyler’s bag to find the shredded speech he had been trying to piece together.

Speaking of locking lips, Kara is having some fun of her own with Jack on the boat. She finally “confesses” to him that Nolan is not a friend of hers but of her father’s. Jack finally figures out that Kara is Amanda and takes her to her old house, with Emily’s permission, of course, to sit on the porch swing to reminisce over their childhood days. I bet Emily is regretting telling stories about her childhood friend to the real Amanda right about now!
At the end of the party, we find Conrad has moved Lydia out of the Grayson Manor and refuses to tell Victoria where she is; Ashley finds out Victoria’s reason for hiring her (haven’t we all been wondering about that as well?) is mainly because she is friends with Emily; and the Japanese businessman, Satoshi, has been “training” Emily for years in preparation for this stony path of revenge – though we are not quite sure what this training is.

Is anyone else curious (or should we be suspicious) of Warden Stiles from Emily’s juvie days and why she has been helping and protecting her all these years?

Stay tuned…

Revenge airs Wednesdays on ABC and stars Emily VanCamp.

Written by Valerie Leung. Read her blog LibraGirl Rules and follow her on twitter to talk about great TV-  @ValShopaholic

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