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We return to Casey and Ally’s wedding, with just about the whole cast in attendance.
In the audience, Cooper tells Steffi that it looks like Clay isn’t going to show up for her. She insists that he’s just late, but Cooper knows better.
Justice of the Peace’s Office
Meanwhile, Clay and Deborah are being pronounced husband and wife. When Clay declines to kiss the bride, Deborah takes the initiative and plants one on him. He immediately wipes his mouth.
“We’re going to be so happy, aren’t we, darling?” Deborah says. Clay tells the Justice of the Peace that he’d like a moment alone with his wife and once they are alone, he tells Deborah that he wants them to get to the part where they have their marriage annulled. I hope Clay has some kind of punch card for this since he remarried Gwyneth and had that annulled in 1992 and then married Stacey later that year and it was annulled in 1993 – he’s probably got a freebie coming up.
Deborah is, of course, not interested in ending their union and tells him that she intends for them to be together until death do them part. Don’t tempt him, Deborah.
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John and Bonnie walk Ally down the aisle and then take their seats and the ceremony starts – but first, Casey wants to skip ahead a little and gives Ally a very long kiss.
Justice of the Peace’s Office
Clay lays out what he thinks this is: a way for Deborah to get alimony. He tells her to name her price so that they can go their separate ways. But he’s misread things rather badly because Deborah isn’t just in it for money, nor is she in it “because of [her] daughter.” She’s in this for the prestige of being an Alden, which is why she’ll cling to Clay like a barnacle no matter how horrible he is to her.
They start to argue about Steffi and she claims that, by marrying Clay, she’s just balanced the scales and made up for all the terrible things she did to Steffi by saving her from being stuck in a relationship with Clay. “You’re really twisted,” he declares. She presses him about whether he actually loves Steffi and he can’t say the words, which she thinks proves her point. “The fact is, if you really cared about my daughter, you wouldn’t be standing here right now with me.”
He has no retort for that, so she keeps going, telling him that eventually he would get bored of Steffi and throw her away. “So you really think this is how to secure her future?” he wonders. She reiterates that with what she’s holding over his head, he can’t get rid of her, and she can use that to create a good life for both herself and Steffi. “You’re not doing this for Steffi, you’re using her to get what you want. And now that you’ve got it, you can finally cut her loose,” he accuses. She denies that that’s her plan and tells him that if doesn’t play the part of the “loving husband,” she’s going to expose his secret to the AE board.
Knowing she has him where she wants him, she suggests that they go home, break the news to Steffi, and then “start the honeymoon.”
I’m sure Clay has never wished to be struck down by lightning more than in this moment.
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Casey and Ally are finally persuaded to stop kissing so that the ceremony can start – but first, Casey wants to say a few words. “I love this girl a lot and all the incredible relatives and friends that come along with her. You know, standing here, I’m reminded of another wedding: Trucker’s and Trisha’s. I remember how happy they were and how much I wanted that, too. It was snowing on that day and – I don’t think it’s going to snow today, at least not the last time I checked the weather channel – and I can still see you, walking towards me on that day and your hair was covered with snow – you know, snow is a funny thing. There are millions, billions, zillions of snowflakes, but every single one has its own unique design. I’m really lucky because I found that unique affection right here from you,” he tells Ally, promising to never let the feeling “melt away.”
They start kissing again.
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Father Matchett takes over the ceremony, prophetically talking about conflict and imploring them to work through their disagreements. “No problem, no matter how great, will be too much for you to handle,” he says, before passing things over to a band for a musical interlude.
As the band plays, Trucker and Dinah Lee, sitting on opposite sides, gaze at each other while Curtis, seated a few chairs down from Dinah Lee, gazes at her.
Meanwhile, Stacey very pointedly tries not to look at Buck and Steffi looks for Clay while Cooper looks at her. Finally, Steffi decides to leave and Cooper takes off after her as Tess watches. Incidentally, Tess is sitting right beside Christopher and Trucker, which kind of seems like something Trucker would not let happen, given their history.
Cooper runs after Steffi and asks what’s wrong. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she says. He presses and she admits that the wedding is upsetting her. “I just hate these things. It’s just so contrived and so forced and everybody thinks that everything is just going to turn out perfect. You heard Casey. But it never does, after the honeymoon, it’s over.” She goes on to point out the people who are there, saying that “half of those couples, they don’t even talk to each other anymore. The other half, they’re just taking in all of the garbage. The guys have their arms around their girlfriends. People are getting all teary eyed. It’s all just a bunch of bull.”
She declares that she’s never going to another wedding as long as she lives and starts crying. He gives her a hug and asks if this is about Clay. She admits that she really thought he was going to show up for her. He offers to take her home.
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Father Matchett guides Casey and Ally through their vows, which Ally stumbles slightly through. Before rings are exchanged, Ally decides that she’d like to go off script a little: “When I look at you, I see my life and everything that’s good in it. And when I touch you, I just feel so much love, it makes me want to cry. And when I hear you speak, the only word that I hear is ‘forever.’”
The rings are exchanged and Casey and Ally are pronounced husband and wife. They start kissing again and then a shower of flower petals comes down around the gazebo, as if it’s snow.
Alden Mansion – Front Step/Foyer
Even though the previous scene takes place in broad daylight, it’s now dark out when Clay and Deborah come home. As they’re walking in, she tells him that she wants him to carry her across the threshold. “Forget it,” he says. She insists so he picks her up and then, holding her aloft, asks if she trusts him. She warns him not to even think about dropping her so instead he smashes her shoulder into the door frame as they go through. They walk in just ahead of Steffi and Cooper, who quite naturally have a few questions about finding Clay carrying Deborah, both of them in wedding attire.
Episode Cast:
- Deborah Brewster – Nancy Addison Altman
- Buck Huston – Philip Brown
- Leo Burnell – James Carroll
- Dinah Lee Mayberry – Jessica Collins
- Steffi Brewster – Amelia Heinle
- Tess Wilder – Catherine Hickland
- Shana Vochek – Susan Keith
- Jeremy Hunter – Jean LeClerc
- Alex Masters – Randolph Mantooth
- Curtis Alden – Christopher Marcantel
- Clay Alden – Dennis Parlato
- Ava Rescott Masters – Lisa Peluso
- Kate Slavinsky – Nada Rowand
- Casey Bowman – Paul Anthony Stewart
- Stacey Donovan Forbes – Lauren-Marie Taylor
- Gwyneth Alden – Christine Tudor
- Trucker McKenzie – Robert Tyler
- Cooper Alden – Michael Weatherly
- Ally Rescott – Laura Wright
- Alexis Masters – Krista Bonura
- John Rescott – Michael Cullen
- Hassan – Ronald Davidson
- Heather Forbes – Hallee Hirsh
- Bonnie Rescott – Lisby Larsen
- Christopher McKenzie – Gaven Leib
- Father Matchett – David Andrew MacDonald
- Sandy Masters – Jacob Zelik Penn
- JJ Forbes – Geoffrey Wigdor
- Justice of the Peace – Unknown
Loving (1983-1995) 