‘Revenge’ Review: ‘Hatred’ leaves Emily wondering what’s happening to her

The winter finale of Revenge went out on a major high note last night. “Hatred” brought the return of the unstoppable Emily Thorne we all know and love and it also made it crystal clear that our favorite vindictive mastermind is nowhere near okay after her not-so-loving husband shot her and let her fall into the ocean.

Emily remained determined to stay at Grayson Manor and in Daniel’s life and she was not going to take ‘no’ for an answer, even when Daniel paraded his affair in front of her without an ounce of shame or remorse. On the one hand, I can understand why Daniel hates Emily. She straight up ruined his life. But then he shot her, destroyed her dreams of having a normal life when all of this is over and has not for one second displayed a hint of guilt over that.

And that’s not okay so I more than enjoyed Emily railroading Sara at every turn. Emily VanCamp often wins episodes, but her facial expressions throughout this one were priceless. Half the time, she didn’t bother with a snappy retort, just a simple look, like when she made it clear that trash was exactly what she thought Sara was, no matter how classy the drink she ordered by the pool was.

Despite his best efforts (firing the staff, planning to whisk Sara away to Italy), Daniel was outmatched by Ms. Thorne (something Victoria tried to warn him about) and when Emily brought in Sara’s mother to shame her daughter, his fantasy life started to fall apart. Sara realized that this wasn’t who she was and she walked away (it’s probably too much to hope that she’s gone for good). Daniel cemented his role as a complete a-hole when he mocked Emily and said he’d done the universe a favor by sterilizing her.

But once again, I have to give major props to Josh Bowman. He has been so good this season as Daniel went from happy fiancé, to slowly unraveling and then descending into the hardened man that doesn’t feel bad that he shot a woman he once loved. And something tells me that these two are not completely over. After Daniel declared he was dead inside and Emily reminded him that he was too, her remark about them being the same was completely accurate.

Unfortunately, Emily has even bigger problems that a deranged husband. After she had Niko cauterize her wound with a fireplace poker (BAMF), Emily ignored the nurse’s warning and pushed herself too hard when she was swimming in the pool. She lost some time after that and ended up at Nolan’s, where she argued with Aiden about his new relationship (more on that later). Aiden knew right away that something was off with his lady love, but we didn’t learn the extent of Emily’s issues until she woke up in Conrad’s hotel room bed after her fight with Daniel.

WTF was that? Conrad seemed pretty chipper as he thanked ‘Mrs. Grayson’ for a marvelous night and then went about his day. Poor Emily was understandably horrified and the audience was left to wonder whether she actually slept with Conrad or he just wants her to think he did. My guess is that it’s the latter. When Conrad left Grayson Manor, he told Emily to join him in his Wartime Operations Center when she was ready. I’m guessing he picked up on her blackouts and has decided to use them to his advantage, which is just such a Conrad thing to do (and it’s way less gross than those two sleeping together).

This was not Conrad’s only revenge plot in the episode. Remember last week when he was messing with Margaux’s magazine? It turns out that he changed part of the article that she wrote and then he turned around and threatened to sue the magazine because of the false accusations. Daniel was onto him right away and that was fine with Conrad. He wanted them to know because he wanted Margaux to fire his son and put him in charge of the magazine. The lady didn’t even bat an eye before she sided with Conrad and Daniel was tossed out.

I like that Margaux chose the winning team and did what was best for her, but this isn’t going to bode well for her relationship with Jack in the long run. The two said ‘I love you’ and agreed to move in together and be a family with baby Carl, but Margaux failed to mention that Jack’s enemy is now embedded in her magazine. This will blow up in her face and I’m not looking forward to that because Margaux has grown on me a lot over the past few episodes.

The other big story of the episode began when Nolan showed up at the art gallery to visit Patrick. But this was not going to be one of those times they swept their issues under the rug. Instead, Nolan gave Patrick the information he’d dug up for Victoria last year that proved that Patrick’s father had gone looking for him at the orphanage, been turned away and Patrick had been placed with a family the next day. He was understandably furious with Victoria for keeping it from him and set out to find his father himself.

Patrick tracked him down pretty fast and sat in his car with Victoria at his side and told her what his childhood was like. His adoptive mother had died when he was four and then his adoptive father remarried someone who didn’t care about him so his father stopped caring about him too. Patrick grew up believing that he was unlovable. Poor Victoria was heartbroken as she listened to her son explain why he still felt that way. Justin Hartley and Madeleine Stowe were incredible in this scene, but it was only the beginning.

After Patrick once again sought out his father at a bar, Victoria came face to face with Jimmy and she visibly freaked out. Patrick got her out of the situation and took her home and that was when Victoria finally told him the entire truth: her mother had kicked her out after her stepfather had abused her. At 15, she’d gotten an apartment and tried to remake herself. Jimmy befriended her and he was nice to her until the day he turned on her when she wouldn’t give in to his advances. He raped her and that was how Patrick was conceived.

The scene was beyond heartbreaking and Stowe was basically teaching a master acting class every step of the way. In an episode with some great performances, hers is the one that people will not forget. It was gut-wrenching and raw and there are not enough words to describe it. Once Patrick learned the truth, he had a breakdown of his own and set his art on fire. Something tells me that this is not going end well for him and that makes me nervous (Dear Writers: Please don’t kill him or make him irredeemable).

While we’re on the subject of characters that I’m worried about, let’s circle back to Aiden. Has he lost his mind? What would possess him to bring Nico into Nolan’s house and not even try to hide the fact that they’re hooking up all the time? I know Emily dumped him, but at least have some respect for the relationship. Emily’s post-blackout visit made Aiden realize that he still had a chance with her and that meant he had to get rid of Niko. Luckily, Nolan was onboard for that and he framed the man responsible for the bomb that killed Declan for Takeda’s murder.

Aiden was almost in the clear. Niko accepted that Aiden wasn’t going to leave Emily and she was packing her stuff to go after her father’s killer, but that was when she discovered his sword under Aiden’s bed. First, really? Aiden, a man schooled in revenge, couldn’t think of a better hiding place than under the bed that he was sharing with the woman he was hiding his guilt from? This development is shameful. But second, what are they doing to Aiden? I’m worried that he’s not going to make it out of the season alive and I’m not okay with that.

If all of that was not enough to send viewers into a tizzy that we have to wait seven weeks until the next episode, Conrad’s first wife arrived in the Hamptons. Earlier in the episode, Victoria pointed out to Daniel that she’d been the one to drive her away because she’d been a ‘soft target’ like Sara. Something tells me that description no longer applies. But what is she doing there? Did Conrad call her or is she working on her own revenge scheme? Inquiring minds want to know…

What did you guys think? Did you love the midseason finale or were you expecting something else? Do you think Emily slept with Conrad? Does Daniel have any redeeming qualities left? Can we just hand Madeleine Stowe all the awards now? Hit the comments and share your thoughts with us!