The two-hour finale extravaganza begins with the power still out in New York, but for all of the 'terror' Carrion was supposed to bring about, it seems like the only terrible thing about this blackout is the inability of any of our favorite New Yorkers to reach each other by phone. Can you say plot device? At least nine months from now we can expect a bunch of Carrion babies. The blackout doesn't even last long, but the effects on cellular networks proves residual, leading to many missed connections throughout the episode. Amid this backdrop, there's a lot of double-crossing and questioned motives, starting with Victoria and Jack. Having gained Jack's trust (I've yet to understand how/why), Victoria relays Jack's plan to destroy the gubernatorial campaign to Conrad. She's also deduced that Jack and Ashley are in cahoots. With this information, Conrad sets a plan in motion to get rid of Jack for good while keeping the two unaware of what's in store.

Seeking some guidance, Ems goes in search of Takeda, only to find that he's been murdered. Just as Emanda's about to go off on a quest for the killer, Aiden comes clean about being responsible, which sets Ems off. She's ready to ditch him entirely, but Aiden reveals that Takeda's fiancé was on Flight 197 and they had been pawns in Takeda's own revenge plot. Emanda doesn't want to believe this, but Aiden's able to provide some pretty solid evidence, including photographs of the fiancé. Aiden's learned that sometimes (read: always) Ems just needs some time to gain some perspective, so he gives her a key to a villa he hopes they might share one day, and removes himself from the picture.

While waiting out the blackout and passing miserable hours together, Declan realizes that Regina is obsessed or in love with Charlotte. When he calls her out on it, she plants the money they withdrew for Charlotte's bail on him and runs off to tell Charlie that Dec attacked her and took the cash. The story doesn't really ring true to Charlotte, but she's just silly enough to keep Declan at a distance while she mulls the possibility of it being true. This goes on just long enough for Dec to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Conrad's plan for Jack involved detonating a bomb at Grayson Global during his last press conference leading up to the election so that he could be a first responder on the scene. Let me say that again. Conrad enacted a false flag attack to boost his poll numbers. And I'm just going to come out and say this: It was especially hard to watch the bombing right now, especially with how well done the scenes of the aftermath were. The attack was supposed to only take the life of Jack because Conrad had warned Daniel to send all staff home for the day, but in a weird twist of fate, Declan ended up being the only one at Grayson Global at the time of the blast. Charlotte had told him she was with Daniel when she was really with Regina, which sent Declan to the office in hopes of patching up their misunderstanding. He survives the blast... but then dies in surgery. It happens so unexpectedly and without mercy that even for a character as greasy and usually irrelevant as Declan, it's a gut punch. The universe is just dead-set on taking away everything Jack has.

Completely devastated and seeing red, Jack is out for Conrad's blood. And it would probably be a great service to the world if Jack could kill the man now because it turns out Conrad has been a part of the Initiative since David Clarke's framing. All of their terror is about profits —something Conrad has a fondness for. Now everything seems to be falling into place for Conrad. He wins the election outright, Aiden gets arrested in connection with the bombing and Conrad's going to be a grandfather. Also, the paper trail for the Initiative ends up getting pinned to Nolan. Before Padma's death, the Initiative recorded a video of her implicating Nolan as the mastermind of the organization. He gets detained by the FBI. Meanwhile, Daniel has a confrontation with Aiden that may have ended in the murder of our tedious Brit heart -- not throb — let's go with heart murmur. So Conrad has vanquished all his foes, or so he thinks.

Jack shows up at Conrad's acceptance speech after the election with the intention of assassinating the governor-elect. Emanda manages to intercept him just as he's about to the pull the trigger. He's pretty much running on autopilot at this point, so the only thing Ems can do to get his attention is come clean. She tells him the truth. She is Amanda Clarke. Shit just got honest.