Emily Thorne just can't seem to catch a break in her plan to take down the Graysons. It seems that something, or someone, is always cropping up to thwart her Revengenda.

First, there was trying to lure Daniel back into her arms while still maintaining a covert relationship with Aiden. Then everything got bogged down in the Initiative-driven plot that put the focus of Revenge elsewhere for a while.

Now, Emily's foster brother has shown up with plans to stick around all because her half-sister has a heart, if not a brain. And? There's a new hacker in town - The Falcon - and he has Nolan stymied.

"Illumination" shed a great deal of light on many aspects of Revenge Season 2. Revelations were made regarding the true intentions of many of our major players and several characters made shocking discoveries.

For starters, Emily's identity isn't safe. As much as she's tried to isolate her past from her present, there will always be those who know and recognize her as the real Amanda Clarke. The moment her double infinity tattoo flashed in Grayson manor it was clear that Eli would put everything together. The question was only how quickly. As it turns out, very. One conversation with Jack was all it took for Eli to call Emily on her true identity.

Eli: Guy's got the weight of the world on his shoulders. Not at all the, uh, footloose dock boy you told me about, is he Amanda? | permalink

While it would have been out of character, a question I wrote in my episode notes was whether or not Emily would make Eli an ally. He's a con artist, so lying and deception is his game. While he's definitely out for money, he's out for the chase more, so paying him off like Emily and Nolan tried to do would have been too easy. Trying to sully his name with the Graysons only served to endear him to Victoria, much to Emily's chagrin.

Quite frankly, Emily should've seen that coming and used his presence to her advantage. I still think it's a possibility now that he's planning to stick around indefinitely in the Hamptons, what with being co-chair the Grayson's Amanda Clarke Foundation.

This foundation the Graysons have set up to honor Amanda Clarke's memory is a way for them to protect their assets in the event that they are linked to whatever disaster the Initiative is planning to...initiate. When whatever it is the Initiative is planning happens, the Graysons expect to be investigated and plan to use the foundation to hide their money so they won't be ruined.

Daniel, however, the Grayson with half a soul which he keeps trying to drown in the bottom of a bottle of scotch, spilled this secret, and many others, to Emily, providing Emily and Nolan the opportunity to ruin the Graysons anyway. Except Carrion didn't work.

The Falcon, a mysterious super-hacker, has protected the Swiss bank accounts hiding Victoria and Conrad's money. This same hacker was responsible for altering the documents necessary to make it look like David Clarke downed Flight 197 himself.

But he has an Achilles' heel - his ego. He signs his name into every program he writes, claiming credit for his work because he knows there is no one better than him.

At first I thought that Padma had broken Carrion somehow, or altered it. The possibility that she's playing Nolan is still a very viable one. When the program stopped running, I immediately feared for Nolan and Emily and was partly relieved when Nolan recognized the symbol appearing on the computer screen. 

What if Padma's father is the Falcon?

No matter what, my money's on Nolan in this battle. He only thought Carrion was his life's best, and worst, work. Because of the promises he made to David Clarke, he'll find the Falcon and then our merry band of revengers will take him, or her, or them, down. 

And after they take down the Falcon, Nolan and Emily will have Jack to deal with. 

Jack knows that Nolan was the one to save his life the night Amanda died. There's no part of Jack who believes that it was actually Kenny Ryan and a stroke of conscience. And Jack is going to prove to be a loose cannon now that he's also playing the revenge game with the Graysons. 

At some point, he has to be given a small piece of the truth, even if it's just that Emily is also trying to take down the Graysons because it's a promise she made to Amanda. He doesn't have to know that taking down the Graysons is a promise she made to herself. Knowing that the Graysons are the reason Amanda is dead actually makes that a true statement in more ways than one instead of another lie.

What did you think of "Illumination"? How worried should Emily be about Eli? What are your guesses on the Falcon's identity? Be sure to check out the Revenge quotes for nuggets of Nolan goodness and let's discuss it all in the comments.

Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.