I agree with previous commenters that the finale was far better than this review implies: As others have said, it cleared up some excess plots and characters quite efficiently—Declan's death was particularly poignant—and sharply refocused the show with Conrad's confession about his insider play with "The Initiative." …

This episode had its highs and lows:  I thought it was promising that it came full circle to Emily marrying Daniel again, and I think her goal has always been what Aiden said:  Destroy the Graysons from the inside out, and after the family is a pile of smoking ruins, she'll walk away (supposedly) unscathed. It's…

One more thing that I hadn't seen much noted on here about Jack and Nolan's fact finding mission:

One more thing that I hadn't seen much noted on here about Jack and Nolan's fact finding mission:

Wasn't the smug schoolmate actually Kenny's son?  When the kid calls Kenny to tell him that the set up of the Porters is ready, didn't he call Kenny "Dad"?

Wasn't the smug schoolmate actually Kenny's son?  When the kid calls Kenny to tell him that the set up of the Porters is ready, didn't he call Kenny "Dad"?

Here's my take: If I remember the flashback correctly, Papa Ryan was pressuring Jack Porter's father, the friend/actual killer Matt, and other local Hampton businesses to sell to him or at least pay for "protection."  Jack's father refused to sell or pay anything, and Matt was about to pay Ryan until they mugged his…

Here's my take: If I remember the flashback correctly, Papa Ryan was pressuring Jack Porter's father, the friend/actual killer Matt, and other local Hampton businesses to sell to him or at least pay for "protection."  Jack's father refused to sell or pay anything, and Matt was about to pay Ryan until they mugged his…

I loved how this episode put Emily in an almost entirely new space:  I don't think we've ever seen her this derailed before, and I think she doesn't even know her goals at this point. The Graysons were always the persecutors of her family, but now was Victoria actually protecting Amanda per David's wishes by not…

I loved how this episode put Emily in an almost entirely new space:  I don't think we've ever seen her this derailed before, and I think she doesn't even know her goals at this point. The Graysons were always the persecutors of her family, but now was Victoria actually protecting Amanda per David's wishes by not…

I was wondering that too, but thanks to TWoP recaps for episode 9, it turns out that Conrad helped her escape: Victoria was "nursing"/holding Lydia hostage, but at the end of that episode, Victoria goes to Lydia's bedroom and finds her gone.  Conrad then tells her that he had Lydia moved to someplace away from…

Couple corrections and clarifications for the review and earlier comments:

I was pretty certain that there was a flashback coming for Amanda/Emily's actual first meeting with Daniel, but this flashback was different from others:

Yeah, that occurred to me too: they'd share a sister and be double related as sister-in-law and brother-in-law as well as husband and wife.  Not unheard of, but still has a slight taint of weirdness. . . .

The reviewer and others keep saying that Daniel is one of the few people that Emily genuinely cares about, but I'm not so sure myself:

I completely agree: earlier in the episode, Emily asks her Japanese mentor what she should do to deal with FauxAmanda, and he says something like, "let them create their own demise." Then when Daniel reveals to Victoria at the end that "Amanda Clarke" is in town, that's when it clicked.  Victoria will do whatever it…

if this
I thought that the episode was a weaker one: to me, the reunion plot seemed slightly disjointed and not quite as tightly plotted and acted as previous episode—or maybe it was the bf's soliloquy and song that veered a little too much into sappiness (and really, ABC, you're going to promote that?!).

meh at best
This episode was definitely a downgrade from the previous 2 or 3 and I thought it was slightly incoherent. The Rufus-Lily drama was given too much screen time and yet seemed to be incredibly rushed. I agree that there was no good reason given for Lily's either-or decision—I think it would have been more…

better than a B- to me
I actually really enjoyed this episode and I thought it laid solid groundwork for new/evolved plot threads: Blair & Chuck becoming more than random hook-ups (at least I thought that's what Gossip Girl's last line about Blair becoming a year older but no wiser implied); the reunited Humphreys…