It's down to the final straightaway for that pesky Stonehaven acquisition Daniel's trying to pull off for Grayson Global. He absconds with Ems to the west coast for his meeting with Stonehaven's CEO because he figures it's good to have Emanda in his back pocket for negotiations. Little does he know that his mother is working counter to him with Jason Prosser, who is fighting tooth and nail for Stonehaven just to impress Victoria. Lucky for Ems, Aiden follows everyone to California because he can't keep his jealousy in check, so she's able to have him run interference with Prosser. It stalls Jason a little bit, but it ultimately comes down to a dinner with the CEO in which both sides make their pitch. With a little remote help from Nolan, Ems and Daniel provide some dirt on Jason that sways Stonehaven to make a deal with Grayson Global. Yay?

Meanwhile, Aiden is continuing after the dangling carrot of his sister from Helen and the Initiative. They've sent him videos of his sister in their custody in what appears to be a crack house. They offer her up to Aiden under the condition he assassinate Victoria within 24 hours. This doesn't jive with Emanda's plans to try and prevent Jason Prosser from acquiring Stonehaven. Not one bit. Ems catches Aiden in mid-snipe, and convinces him to hold out, despite his sister hanging in the balance. She gets Aiden to agree that helping Daniel secure Stonehaven is their primary objective so they can ultimately have an in with the Initiative. It makes absolutely no sense to ask someone to call the bluff of a mysterious terrorist organization when they have your loved one in their clutches because you plan to eventually gain a semblance of access to them in the future. But Aiden's in love.

Now that she's back at Nolcorp, Padma's back to entrenching herself with Nolan. She finds him a new house that she tries to push him to buy, and has him starting to think commitment, but she makes a fatal error when she doesn't feign ignorance about Carrion in casual conversation. That's enough for Nolan to realize something's amiss. He sets her up to stumble upon a fake version of the program and informs Emanda of Padma's motive as well as the program's capability. Carrion can bring down Manhattan's power grid in less than a second. That aligns perfectly with the Initiative's push for Grayson Global to acquire Stonehaven because it is a disaster relief agency. So the Initiative's grand evil plan is to profit off of a blackout. Those diabolical...

There's a tiny bit of light at the end of the thuggish boardwalk blackmail storyline tunnel. The Porters have given in to Conrad's terms for using his power/money/influence to defeat the evil Ryan brothers. Those terms involve ratting out old family friend, Matt Duncan, for murdering Joe Ryan, but as Amily so shrewdly points out, honoring someone who ultimately is a murderer is something they can't afford. Kenny signs off on a deal with Conrad to relinquish the Stowaway for $50,000 and a promise to leave the docks for good. He does this without consulting Nate, prompting Nate to meet with Conrad at Grayson Manor to undo his brother's mistake. Conrad offers resistance to reneging on the deal, but then Nate shares his vision of a boardwalk developed with casinos and countless new jobs, the sort of thing that would look great on an aspiring politician's résumé. Just when Conrad is on the precipice of maybe doing something good, he's sucked back into the power game. Well played, thug. Well played.

So... about Aiden following along with Emanda's plan. Yeah, his sister died. Or at least the Initiative sent him a video message of her overdosing. Aiden blows up at Emanda for allowing this to be the collateral damage of her plan, and says he will blame her if it turns out his sister is indeed lost. This is why you should never date co-workers.

-- Pablo G. is some guy who lives in Austin, Texas. He used to co-host TWoP's original "Trailers Without Pity" with his brother Omar G. Check out their webcomic Space Monkeys! and follow Pablo's writing at Pablog. Follow him @PendejoJoe on Twitter.