S03.E17: Addiction

[Tara Ariano]

Emily uses her new relationship status to work out a mystery from the past; Pascal tries to make up for lost time with Victoria.

[vb68]

I found this episode incredibly boring.  It didn't feel like anything happened.

I was stumped on why Emily needed the Graysons to think they won by kicking her to the curb.  That wasn't even really touched on here for the most part.

It was nice to see Morgan Fairchild, the star of almost every '80s era soap, for about a minute and a half.

But yeah, it was lulling me into a deep sleep.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I knew it was Morgan Fairchild as soon as I heard her voice! She and Gail O'Grady look pretty damn good (especially compared to Victoria's overly botoxed face).

Daniel is such a shit stirrer. He keeps insisting on making his problems into Charlotte's problems. First he has her spy on Conrad and now he's telling her that Emily did this not to him, but "to us." Ugh. He is like the kid with no friends trying to draw other people into his drama. At least Charlotte had enough of a conscience to tell Daniel to leave Jack alone. I wish she had ripped into him after seeing him deliberately sabotage Jack's relationship with Margaux.

As soon as Stevie told Jack, "You've never seen me drunk and thank God, you never will," I was waiting for Victoria to spike her drink.

Emily looked gorgeous tonight. Between the red dress, the shorter curly hair, and the fascinator, she looked really beautiful. I'm glad some of the costumes are getting back to the level of S1.

So did Stevie give Conrad the deed to the house? Or did he steal it from her?

Edited March 31, 2014 by ElectricBoogaloo

[LakeGal]

I recognized Morgan Fairchild's voice.  But that face was not the one I remembered.  Her face did not move at all.

Why can't Aidan stay away?

[FineWashables]

Yeah, I'm confused about the deed to the house too.  I thought Stevie gave it to Conrad.  Then, at the end, I thought I saw Pascal give it to Victoria.  I can't figure out what's going on with the deed, and I don't understand why Emily seems to be destroying herself via the Greysons.  Why did she leak that hospital report?  Does she really think Pascal is on her side and not Victoria's?  And is he double-agenting Victoria?  They could finally have some new and interesting story lines here.

Also: Morgan Fairchild.  Same 80's hair, same 60's nose.  The rest of it, not so much.

[Tara Ariano]

Matt wrote this about the episode (and the season)!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Yeah, I'm confused about the deed to the house too. I thought Stevie gave it to Conrad. Then, at the end, I thought I saw Pascal give it to Victoria. I can't figure out what's going on with the deed, and I don't understand why Emily seems to be destroying herself via the Greysons.

Yes, Conrad got the deed from Stevie. Then he gave it to Pascal. Pascal then gave it to Victoria. Conrad promised Pascal that he would help Pascal win Victoria over and he knew the house was the way to go.

Why did she leak that hospital report?

Last week she told Nolan she leaked the info because she needed a way to publicly break from the Graysons.

Does she really think Pascal is on her side and not Victoria's?

Emily knew that Pascal was playing her once she realized he was recording their conversation so she knows that he is a dead end now. She told Nolan as much right before Aidan reappeared.

[Teemania]

I wish I could care about Pascal, his daughter and his relationship with Victoria. Has the show writers hit a stump because so far I have no idea what Stevie and Pascal add to the show.

[FineWashables]

Thank you, ElectricBoogaloo.  I don't understand how I can watch avidly yet miss so many plot points.  

[LucyEth]

Still don't understand why Stevie would give Conrad the deed to the house.

[RachelKM]

 

Emily knew that Pascal was playing her once she realized he was recording their conversation so she knows that he is a dead end now. She told Nolan as much right before Aidan reappeared.

What I don't get is how Emily ever thought she could use Pascal against Victoria.  S1 Emily would have known his interest in Victoria and use that to her advantage in the first place.  It seems she may intend to do that now, but I really don't get how she was surprised Pascal was trying to help Vic in the first place.  I so miss that Emily.

I'm just confused by what this show is trying to be.  If wants to be just a soap, ok.  But what made this show fun was watching a highly competent person who, though not overly likable herself, was systematically taking down despicable people who truly deserved it.  The competence has essentially vanished.  I never understood the point of her convoluted plot to get Victoria arrested in the first half of the season. Now she's refocused (for like the 7th or 8th time in the last 30 or so episodes) but I still don't see the skill or laser like efficiency of season one, especially episodes 1-13. And I still haven't forgiven her for not using the damn computer with video evidence that proved everything she needed last year.

And the plot induced stupidity seems to be universal. I'm not nearly as invested in Margaux as I am (was) in Emanda, but I couldn't help notice her sudden lack of sense in this episode.  She never seemed blind to Daniel's fault before.  But now she not only defends him to Jack, but he bought into his totally transparent BS he fed her about Jack and Emily despite having called him out on his attempt to manipulate her.  What the hell was that?  

I kinda hope this is the last season so I can stop watching.  I believe I tune in at this point solely due to my near OCD completionist nature.

[vb68]

 

I kinda hope this is the last season so I can stop watching.  I believe I tune in at this point solely due to my near OCD completionist nature.

 

I'm right there with you.  I really want to see the end game, but it's  becoming more and more apparent that there's  no plan other than going week to week.  The Stevie stuff this week really didn't seem very well thought out to me.

I also think  Evil Daniel should be more fun than he has been so far. 

Edited April 1, 2014 by vb68

[BaskingsharkGTX]

Still don't understand why Stevie would give Conrad the deed to the house.

Stevie gave Conrad the deed because after their heart-to-heart she was tired of all the lies, manipulation and fighting him and Victoria. She felt giving him the deed to do as he wished with it was a way to make amends and to absolve herself of the whole situation. 

Of course Conrad then turned round and used her selfless deed to manipulate Pascal and Victoria because Conrad is Conrad.

. I also think  Evil Daniel should be more fun than he has been so far.

 

Evil!Daniel is extremely boring and one-dimensional. He used to have layers, now he's like a cartoon character. I know Bowman was bored of playing him as an idiot who everyone walked all over, but I really can't see how THIS is more fun to play - especially since his acting has gotten worse since Daniel went over to the dark side. 

I'm just confused by what this show is trying to be.  If wants to be just a soap, ok.  But what made this show fun was watching a highly competent person who, though not overly likable herself, was systematically taking down despicable people who truly deserved it.  The competence has essentially vanished.  I never understood the point of her convoluted plot to get Victoria arrested in the first half of the season. Now she's refocused (for like the 7th or 8th time in the last 30 or so episodes) but I still don't see the skill or laser like efficiency of season one, especially episodes 1-13. And I still haven't forgiven her for not using the damn computer with video evidence that proved everything she needed last year.

 

I completely agree. As I see it, the problem is that there were only so many episodes they could get out of Emily doing takedowns before someone realised she was up to something. And she was so competent that they needed to come up with obstacles that would prevent her from accomplishing the full scope of her mission too quickly. They decided to do that by doing the whole "this is bigger than anything we could have imagined!!!" thing the Initiative, but that completely changed the dynamic of the show and made it a borderline spy series and the viewers hated it. So they decided to ditch that and go full soap. But either because the writers are lazy or they're under network pressure to make the show move faster than it ought to or they're just unable to think up ways for Emily to remain as competent as she was and face big enough obstacles to stop her from accomplishing her mission too quickly, they've dumbed her and the show down as a result.

I also can't help feeling that even though Sunil Nayar has managed to integrate Jack into the stories much better and get rid of extraneous character like Declan and Ashley much better than David Kelley did, the episodes he's overseen are a shade less... acid than the first (and even some of the second) season ones. 

Edited April 1, 2014 by BaskingsharkGTX

[ElectricBoogaloo]

 

I also think  Evil Daniel should be more fun than he has been so far.

ITA - evil Conrad is fun. Evil Victoria is fun. Evil Daniel. is just as boring and useless as puppy dog Daniel was.

[mac123x]

Didn’t Victoria, Morgan Fairchild, and her other Botoxed cronies vow to make Emily a social pariah at the beginning of the episode?  Why then were all the important socialites at this charity event instead of shunning it?  The writers can’t even maintain continuity within an episode.

In the Victoria vs. Emily poker showdown, Victoria out-bet Emily, and basically told her “you don’t have enough left to cover that bet, ha ha.”  I thought in Texas Hold’em, when one player can’t cover the pot he can go “all in”.  Emily tossing in Daniel’s engagement ring was needless soapy drama.

So did Stevie give Conrad the deed to the house? Or did he steal it from her?

I was laughing at how they’re treating the deed like a lottery ticket; whoever possesses it owns the house.  Real Estate does not work that way.

Emily knew that Pascal was playing her once she realized he was recording their conversation so she knows that he is a dead end now. She told Nolan as much right before Aidan reappeared.

I didn’t follow that at all.  Last week they discovered the TWM note, and realized that Pascal was involved with the whole David Clarke situation.  I thought that made him a target of her revenge; she even said that, in order to protect Jack, she’d “hit” him without him ever realizing he’d been hit.  Now this episode she seems to have given up on that.

[River]

I so want this to be as good as it used to.  Sadly, no matter how hard I wish it hasn't made them write Charlotte consistently, Daniel interestingly or Emily vengfully. 

Emily is mostly talk and Nolan, my favorite character, is being written as a doormat.  This new roommate of his sucks. Did they need a storyline for Charlotte that bad? 

[FineWashables]

 

Stevie gave Conrad the deed because after their heart-to-heart she was tired of all the lies, manipulation and fighting him and Victoria. She felt giving him the deed to do as he wished with it was a way to make amends and to absolve herself of the whole situation.

Not saying that your analysis is necessarily wrong here, just very very suspicious of anyone on this show getting tired of lies, manipulation, and fighting Victoria.  It's like there's nothing else to do in the Hamptons.  I think Stevie's got something up her sleeve.