- Ellen visits the woman in her dreams to learn if she is her birth mother but actually learns something far different about her family. Just as Patty decides to move against Tessa, the DA arrests the young woman. Ellen convinces her to turn to Patty for help but finds herself suspended when her boss finds out what she has been up to. Patty however thinks she now knows what was going on with Tessa's regular visits to Antigua and convinces the DA to let Tessa make one more trip to the island. Leonard Winstone has to deal with his own problems when his father shows up at his office unexpectedly, threatening to reveal his secrets.—garykmcd
- Ellen pulls up outside what we presume is the house of Ann Connell, the woman in her mystery photo. She rings the bell of the modest home and introduces herself to the woman who answers the door.
At the office, Tom breaks Patty the news that Curtis Gates arrested Tessa Marchetti.
Gates tells Tessa she's under arrest because her Antiguan boyfriend is living with her on an expired visa. She wants a lawyer. Gates tells Nick, Ellen's smarmy coworker who ratted her out to Gates, that Tessa asked for Patty. He's pleased with himself for bringing her in.
Ann and Ellen catch up. Ann says "I was very sorry when I had to let you go." Ellen asks her point blank if she was adopted.
Ann's not her mother, but she lived with her when she was four or five. Things in Ellen's home were bad, her dad was unhappy. So her mom sent Ellen to Ann - for six months.
One day Ellen's mom asked Ann to adopt her. But she changed her mind and didn't want Ellen to see Ann any more.
Patty tells Gates he has no reason to hold Tessa, and she's the key to her case. Gates knows she's been working with Ellen on Danielle's murder. Patty says she's not ready to make a deal, and leaves.
Ellen leaves Ann's house and listens to a message from Tom, warning her the Patty's on the warpath.
Ellen arrives at Patty's door. Patty's been ignoring her call, she's in a special state, drinking bourbon and glaring with a vengeance.
She asks Ellen how Gates knew Ellen was helping her.
Ellen says she approached Tessa and it backfired. She says it was a mistake. "A mistake? Was it? Or have you been trying to humiliate me this whole time?" Patty says.
She accuses Ellen of using her to impress Gates, that it's always been about ambition with her. She calls her a "climber, a parasite." Patty throws her out. "I want you out of my life," Patty says.
Ellen leaves.
Terry the actor and a few other actors do a table reading of the story of Arthur's life, from a variation on a deposition scene in season one. (One actor even does a woeful butchering of the Ray Fiske role that won Zeljko Ivanek an Emmy for that part.)
Patty Hewes is read by a woman in her 20s. Arthur loves listening to Terry read his words. But he's concerned with the Patty actress. He coaches her to be "pure, unadulterated evil." He compliments the Fiske actor, and mentions that he was gay.
Joe Tobin visits Stuart Zeddeck, panicked that Tessa is in custody. He wonders why his dad used her. Zeddeck said they had to improvise.
Thanksgiving Night Zeddeck comes in with Louis' boots (the ones we know Lenny Winstone later puts in a Dumpster to be found by Barry the homeless guy and, later, Tom Shayes). Louis is holding Danielle's hand as she cries. He knows the government is closing in on his fraud.
Louis tells Zeddeck he's going to tell his family, then turn himself in. He takes one of his heart pills and puts the bottle on the table. Zeddeck says "everything's set with the charity." Louis wants to start making the transfers. He says there's someone we can trust.
Zeddeck tells Joe that Tessa only knew she was depositing paychecks. Zeddeck tells Joe his father was careful. Zeddeck assures him Tessa knows nothing and is on his side, "so calm down and don't get paranoid."
Arthur comes by Terry's dressing room to see him. Terry has shaved and is wearing a gray wig a la Arthur. Terry says "it's not working," his portrayal feels too on the surface. Terry tells him he read the actual deposition, and Arthur didn't wax philosophical, he went ballistic. He wants to get in touch with Arthur's dark side.
Patty brings Curtis Gates an envelope, saying it's what he needs to get Carol Tobin for Danielle Marchetti's murder. He says he'll release Tessa, but she doesn't want him to; she wants the Tobins to think Tessa's still in custody.
Joe panics in his hotel room to Lenny, who tries to reassure him that Tessa will be loyal. "She's not family, why should she be loyal to us?" Joe says, calling her "a problem." "There have to be options, Lenny," he says.
Lenny tries to talk him out of it, but Joe won't hear it and says he'll get someone else.
Patty tells her new associate Alex that she's going to be more involved.
Meanwhile, Gates chews out Ellen. She guesses Nick told him. Ellen says she wasn't trying to undermine him, she thought Patty would help the case. She asks if she's fired. She's on leave indefinitely.
Flash back to Patty, Tom and Alex meeting with Tessa. She tells them she was with her mother on Thanksgiving and made her first flight to Antigua.
Thanksgiving Night Danielle tells her daughter about the trips to Antigua she'll need to take weekly. As Louis calls for his pills, Danielle assures Tessa she'll just be signing documents to give money to a charity.
Danielle leaves with the pills, giving the boots to Tessa to give to Lenny.
Back in lock up, Tom and Patty try to figure out what Tessa was signing. When she says it was numbers and letters, Alex offers that it could be a routing code. Patty asks her if she'll go back to Antigua. "Whatever you need," Tessa says.
Lenny talks to Marilyn at his office. He's worried because Joe is only focused on the money. "Tessa isn't safe," Joe tells her. He wants Marilyn to intervene. "Tell Joe the truth," Lenny says, adding it wasn't his place to tell. "Joe needs to know Tessa is his daughter."
Tessa is ushered by security into the waiting car of Patty's security guy Malcolm. He says he'll be making sure she doesn't contact the Tobins. Patty thanks Gates for releasing Tessa. "See what can happen when we work together?" he says.
An SUV overlooks the river with moaning sounds inside, in a scene that recalls Arthur's several hooker and cocaine rendezvous. But it's Terry inside. He finishes up with a hooker and when she gets out of the car, Arthur gets in with the coke. "All of this releases me," Arthur says.
He tells him this spot is where he made the biggest decision of his life. "I find clarity in darkness," he says. Terry asks how dark he gets.
Arthur asks Terry how far he'd go to protect his money or his family. All you have to do is say the word. Arthur's talking about putting a hit on someone (as he did in season one). Terry doesn't exactly get it but is realizing Arthur might be darker than he knew.
At the office, Patty tells Tom to cut off communication with Ellen. She says Ellen was either sloppy or disobeyed her by approaching Tessa. Tom tells her Ellen was covering for him. "So the two of you were strategizing behind my back, and then you lied to me about it?" Patty says. He admits it, then asks if she's ever lied to him. "I made a judgment call and I took a risk," Tom says, "I'm done apologizing." Patty knocks on Alex's office door and asks her to start bringing her cases.
Marilyn Tobin drops by Lenny's. She says Joe will leave Tessa alone. She says Louis should have told Joe sooner, but Lenny says Joe couldn't have handled it. Well, now he knows, she says.
In Antigua, Malcolm checks with Tessa on the plan. She'll sign the three documents and keep the one for the charity. Malcolm will be waiting for her across the street.
Ellen walks down a snow-covered street. She walks up to David, her dead fiance. She tells him work's been a bit iffy and that she went to see her babysitter. David tells her she's always been trying to rewrite her family history. He says he's figured out Ellen and Patty - they both hate bullies. Ellen's father was a bully. He tells her if she wants to keep working for Patty, go back to her. If not, then really move on, stop talking to her. She says she's sorry for not thinking about him as much as she used to.
Tessa walks into the bank.
Patty tells Alex if Tessa comes through they'll need charities and banking codes to cross reference.
Patty suddenly thinks of Ellen's assessment of Alex: "She's smart, ambitious, very dedicated, she'll fit right in."
"I'm glad you like her," Patty says.
"I didn't say I liked her."
Patty smiles at the memory. Then she tells Alex it's not working out. It's not personal, Patty says, then tells her to clean out her office. Tessa comes back to her room and finds Malcolm, dead in a chair.
A man is waiting there. He raises a gun at Tessa - and shoots her right between the eyes.
Emmanuel the Antiguan banking guy calls Joe, telling him Tessa came back to the bank, but all is well. We see Emmanuel sitting next to the man who just killed Tessa. Joe says thank you and hangs up. "The money's safe," he says. Pan over to his mom nearby.
She tells him Danielle was his father's mistake and Joe did what he did for their future. "You had no choice," she tells him.
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