Episode 89: Money Talks.

Episode 89 establishes a war that was set in motion essentially during the very first episode when Burke Devlin left the train onto the depot heading into Collins Port. So Devlin has his personal business associate Blair talk over the details about acquiring rival canneries/fishing fleet, Login's Port, gathering the Collins Port fishery's best managers as to offer them plenty of incentives (money, profit-sharing, etc) to leave their company for his. It would be lucrative and Devlin is sure not short of a confidence that at least one of the party will come on board. He doesn't even have Logan's Port properties yet, but, again, his feelings are that it is only a matter of time. Elizabeth has a major ally, Amos Fitch, who returns from the meeting furious, reporting to her Devlin's proposal. She calls him up and states that this is a fight Devlin will  not win; she is prepared to battle him with everything she's got and the deck is certainly stacked against her. He has all the money, the resources, but Liz has loyalty; she'll need it.

The show has always sort of considered Devlin a sympathetic figure. Sure perhaps his way of getting revenge is off-putting, but you can understand why he'd be so sore. But, he's really morphed into everything a victim would normally hate: he is underhanded, cutthroat, and sneaky. He admits, cheerfully, that he has gained members of the Collins family (he smiles about David's adoration for him, Carolyn's fixation towards him, knowing that they are just pawns in his game against Roger). Roger, let's not forget, is the reason for all of this hell Liz is going through. She will need Roger to gain a backbone and fight alongside her for the long haul. Blair is an interesting character in all of this because he's just a businessman with a clear head who can see that the hatred blinding Burke, and his swagger/overconfidence, could be a bit premature.