Written by Dan Dworkin And Jay Beattie
Directed by John Scott
Conrad: “And how do you intend to do that?”
Victoria: “Sabotage.”
Sabotage – which I would imagine that lying, manipulating and blackmailing is something that comes to Victoria Grayson as naturally as breathing and unsurprisingly enough, this episode nicely proved that it did. Step forward Jason Prosser because Victoria certainly saw you coming a mile off tonight.
Nicely played by Dylan Walsh turned out to be one of the easily manipulated characters I think this show has ever managed to bring on. He allowed his ego to blindside him several times in this episode and in painfully obvious ways as he couldn’t help needling both Conrad and Daniel and losing out to the latter during a wine auction of Emily’s as well.
Of course, the biggest fall for Jason was his stupidity in falling for Victoria’s little slip of the tongue. Victoria definitely took advantage of Jason’s lust for her in quite a way and soon enough, he went and bought Stonehaven Solutions from under both Daniel and Helen Crowley’s noses. Now that was a bold move on Victoria’s part and judging from the trailer of next week’s episode, one she could end up regretting as well.
However, Victoria wasn’t the only person out to get Helen Crowley this week either. Emily and Aiden banded together to try and come up with a way of extracting information from her with a fake kidnapping. However, unlike Victoria, I’m not entirely sure their plan was altogether successful though.
Helen seemed suspicious of Emily when they met at the wine auction and she was certainly playing her cards close to her chest with Aiden as well. Perhaps Emily and Aiden shouldn’t get too ahead with themselves when it comes to Helen and the Initiative. For all Aiden knows, Helen might actually know a lot more about him that she’s letting on and for that matter perhaps Emily too.
One person she does however know happens to be Nolan and it’s all thanks to Padma that she’s aware of that Carion project as well. I have to admit that while it’s not entirely a shock that Padma has turned out to be a spy for the Initiative, it is something of a disappointment though. I was actually warming to her and Nolan as a couple but I’m guessing her betrayal will pave a way for Marco to get back into Nolan’s good books as well.
That is, if Padma doesn’t have Marco taken out if he deduces that she framed him for supplying Daniel with the information about Carion in the first place. I guess now I really do have to sympathise with Marco. Even in this episode alone, it did seem like he was desperate to make amends with Nolan and perhaps if he doesn’t end up as a casualty he’ll get the chance to in the end. On the other hand – poor Nolan! He really doesn’t seem to have luck with romantic partners or employees, does he?
Speaking of luck, it’s amazing how Ashley managed to turn hers around in this episode as well. I have to admit that I had something of a grudging admiration for the way she managed to get herself a new job for Conrad as he (predictably) decided to head into politics and let’s be blunt, these two stepping into the Porter plotline has managed to make the storyline a little more interesting that before.
Granted, Amanda was going to do viewers a favour and kill Nate but it seems that by colluding with Conrad and Ashley, she managed to get Jack out of the slammer for a bit and now the Porters have a stronger force against the Ryan brothers and their tedious little schemes. With any luck, they’ll soon be gone as well.
Also in “Sabotage”
This episode did that thing of showing us the outcome of the kidnapping before revealing that Nolan and Emily were playing the kidnappers themselves.
Emily: “They say the best laid plans often go awry because no matter how detailed the preparation, the plan will always have a weak point and there will always be those looking to exploit it.”
Perhaps, I’ve watched The Dark Knight Rises a little too much over the Christmas period but Emily’s charity for kids ageing out of the system reminded me of John Blake a bit. Then again, Emily’s more of a Selina Kyle at times on this show, except way sneakier.
Padma (re Daniel): “What was that all about it?”
Nolan: “My guess, extreme daddy issues.”
Ashley (to Conrad): “We can look at it two ways. I know where the bodies are buried – both proverbially and otherwise.”
Aiden’s jealousy towards Emily’s renewed relationship with Daniel seems to be intensifying a lot. It was stupid of him to come over to her place and interrupt them, wasn’t it?
Emily: “Aiden, are you ready for this? You seem distracted.”
Aiden: “Anything but. On with the show.”
Aiden: “I just wanted to see my sister.”
Helen: “Then we’ll talk later.”
Standout music: Amanda decided to have Motorhead’s “Ace Of Spades” playing before trying to kill Nate was an interesting choice.
Nolan: “Bravo.”
Emily (re Helen): “Let’s see if she buys it.”
Chronology: Not long from where “Power” left off.
Another solid episode but “Sabotage” wasn’t as impressive as it could’ve been and we didn’t really learn anything new about the Initiative (aside from Padma working for them) and the ground with Emily and Aiden does seem to be shaking at the moment.
Rating: 7 out of 10
