Did you think that the arrival of Emily Thorne to the Hamptons started all the madness of
Nope. As the events of “Legacies” made very clear, things were pretty messed-up already back in 2006.
Emily meets Aiden (and Ashley)
As it turns out, Emily (Emily VanCamp) might have been able to take down the Graysons years ago. It was Takeda slowed her down. Instead of using Conrad’s infidelity to begin her mission of destruction, Emily was, in 2006, visiting clubs owned by Russian mafia types.
That’s where she met Aiden (Barry Sloane). He was a bartender at the Russian club, sporting a rather different accent (much more Irish) than the one we know now. And he mostly wanted Emily to get out — for her own good.
Why? This would be because Dmitri Bladov, the club owner, is a human-trafficking scumbag who buys and sells girls. Girls like Ashley (Ashley Madekwe), as a matter of fact. But Emily slips Ashley enough money to get her out, putting herself in the position of girl-toy instead.
All of this is so that Takeda can exact some revenge. Unfortunately, Aiden wants revenge too — his sister, Colleen, was kidnapped and disappeared by Dmitri years earlier. Multiple vengeances mean complications, but eventually Emily and Aiden both get away.
Then Aiden kills Dmitri. That wasn’t really the plan.
The killing isn’t important to us though, since we learn some rather important plot information through all of this — Aiden’s sister, Colleen, disappeared just before flight 197 was bombed. And Aiden’s father was the baggage handler at Heathrow who got the bomb on the plane.
Also, Emily can crawl through air vents while wearing short, skin-tight dresses.
Mommy and Daughter Dearest
A poetry-spewing, irresponsible, Harvard freshman Daniel (Josh Bowman) comes home for Thanksgiving with a big surprise — he invited Victoria’s mother Marian (guest star Adrienne Barbeau) for dinner, along with her new boyfriend, Ben.
Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) is not so pleased about this. Nor should she be — as we find out via flashbacks and storytelling, Marian threw Victoria out of her home at the age of 15. This was after the woman had Victoria shoot a man and after Marian’s new husband had his way with the teenager.
Ben is understandably disinterested in Marian after this display and dumps Marian on the spot. Will Victoria feel pity for her ruined, desperate mother?
No. On the contrary, we soon find out (while Conrad (Henry Czerny) is burning Daniel’s poems) that the Graysons actually set this whole thing up — Ben was an actor hired to give Victoria closure.
Stay ruthlessly vindictive, Graysons!
Nolan only dates CFOs
Things are going well at NolCorp in 2006. The company is ready to go public, and Nolan (Gabriel Mann) is happily dating his CFO, Marco Romero (E.J. Bonilla). They’re all cute, sharing sushi and robot toys and such.
Unfortunately, the honeymoon ends immediately. Marco has found out that $ 500 million has gone missing from one of Nolan’s accounts. When Nolan explains that the payoff to Amanda Clarke, it ends badly. We’re talking an immediate break-up, Nolan firing Marco, and the CFO referring to “blood money.”
Random times with the Porters
Because “Revenge” never misses an opportunity to bring back Carl Porter (Brian Goodman), even this family turns out to have bad stuff happening in 2006. This time, Carl is being all noble and refusing to pay “protection” money to a local thug.
Plans change when said thug — some random, middle-aged guy who likes Johnny Walker Blue Label scotch — threatens Declan. Jack (Nick Weschler) promises that the family will pay, and Carl follows through later.
That’s when Carl’s friend (who we’ve never seen before this) shows up to shoot and kill the thug using Carl’s gun. We don’t find out where things go after that.
More important than all of this — Sammy is there!!!
Back to the Present
The repercussions of 2006 are still felt in 2012. Namely:
- Daniel calls Marco to enlist his help in taking over NolCorp.
- Declan (Connor Paolo) and Kenny Ryan (JR Bourne) talk about discounted booze, leading to the revelation that Kenny uses the same term for Johnny Walker as the thug. He’s probably the thug’s brother or something.
- Victoria and Conrad drink on the balcony while talking about how they need to protect Daniel by destroying him. Conrad mentions that it would be easier if Daniel were a poet.
- Emily and Aiden spend quality time in bed, reminiscing about the good old days. Emily shares her double-infinity box o’ vengeance and explains a new meaning behind the odd symbol: “A journey with no end.”
So we can assume that things that were bad in the past and are bad in the present will continue to be bad for the indefinite future. And that’s good for us.
