ABC(2)
Information Is Power: Ned (Wally Kurth) tries to get Nina (Cynthia Watros) to be his corporate spy.
A conversation with Tracy inspires Ned to use what he knows about Nina — specifically, that she was responsible for the SEC finding out about Carly and Drew’s insider trading — to his advantage.
Ned reunites with his mother for the first time since her return from Amsterdam, which is also their first interaction since he conquered his Eddie Maine-ness and is living as Ned again. “It’s a lovely reunion and she’s delighted to have Ned, her son back,” sets up Wally Kurth (Ned). “And then she gets right to work to make Ned realize that he has to [prioritize] ELQ. It’s quite the conversation! She says, ‘We’re going to lose the company if you don’t get it together.’ His mother reminds him that he’s a Quartermaine and that Drew and Michael are taking over and he’d better step up. She kind of kicks Ned in the ass [laughs]! He takes the challenge and I think he comes back badder than ever and ready to go! And this all sends Ned on his way over to talk to Nina.”
His surprise visit to Nina comes with a blackmail twist. “He walks into her office and uses the secret that he has, that she and Ned are both aware of, that she was the one who turned in Drew and Carly,” Kurth explains. “He uses that as leverage. He’s not going to say anything, but Ned thinks he needs some compensation for keeping quiet. ‘You want your marriage saved and you want a relationship with your daughter, don’t you? And so I think you can give me some kind of info on Michael and Drew over there at Aurora so I can use it against them.’ Ned just lays it all out there in their conversation, and it was really dun to do. I just love working with Cynthia [Watros, Nina]! Ned tells her, ‘See what you can find, but I’m gonna need some information on these guys to keep my mouth shut,’ and she has a retort and she fights back and she doesn’t take any guff from me.”
Ned makes it clear that if Nina doesn’t come through for him, he’ll run straight to Willow and expose her, leaving Nina with much to mull over. “She doesn’t say she’ll do it; he just gives her the offer and it’s a veiled threat that thinks would go south in her life very quickly if she doesn’t accept,” says Kurth. “So, for now, it’s a stalemate.”
