The Tides – Living Room
Curtis drops in and finds Stacey babysitting. She tells him that Trucker has gone away and that she needs someone to help her fix one of Christopher’s toys. Curtis completely ignores what Stacey just said, remarking that he stopped by the shop on the way over and didn’t find Trucker there, either, and that he was looking for Dinah Lee, too, but she’s not around. She tells him to stop doing this to himself.
Trucker’s Cabin
Trucker gets ready to play host, tidying things up around the cabin, which Dinah Lee seems to find touching when she arrives. Some intense gazing follows.
Tout le Monde – Small Dining Room
Charles comes to meet Angie, who has just had a check up. She asks him to sit down so she can tell him her news.
Across the dining room, Alex and Ava are talking about moving back into the penthouse. She ventures that “since things are sort of back to normal” she’d also like to go back to work. He doesn’t like the sound of that, but she’s ready. As they’re talking, she gets a strange look on her face and stands up, telling Alex that she sees her uncle, Harry, across the room.
Tout le Monde- Small Dining Room
Though Alex tries to stop her, Ava goes across the dining room to greet Harry, who turns out to be a waiter who looks absolutely nothing like Harry. Ava is disappointed and embarrassed and Alex takes her back to their table. “I thought we agreed on dropping this Harry business,” he chastises. “No, we didn’t agree. You listen to me. How can I drop it when his message keeps going around and around in my head? It’s as if someone has planted a bomb that’s ticking and is about to go off.” She reminds him that someone is going to die, but he is very much entrenched in his position that this was all just a dream.
Angie tells Charles that she had to cancel her check up because she’s so busy getting ready to go to the conference. He wonders why, in that case, she has time to have lunch with him and she points out that he’s her ride to the airport. He offers to reschedule the appointment and she says she’ll do it herself when she gets back. “You can’t just ignore the problem,” he tells her, pointing out the various symptoms she’s been displaying. “You need to take care of yourself,” he says. She agrees and then sarcastically checks her own pulse. “Why do you choose to ignore something that could be serious?” he wonders. She says she’s not doing that and tells him that if she thought something was wrong, she wouldn’t be going out of town.
The Tides – Living Room
Stacey tries to have a come to Jesus talk with Curtis. “I’ve known Trucker for a really long time now and I really can’t see him with anybody with Trisha,” Stacey says. Curtis agrees and says this feels like Trucker “is betraying Trisha. Like he’s just pushed the memories aside.” She wonders if Curtis himself feels betrayed by Trucker. “I miss Trisha,” he says. So does she. “How can he just forget about her so quickly?” he wonders.
Stacey goes over to the table and picks up the acorn, telling the story about how Trucker carved it for Trisha, setting up the flashback that will occur later. “It seemed like whenever Trucker needed to express his love, he would create something with his hands and that seemed to say everything.” “Well, now he’s talking about getting on with his life.” “Yeah. Trisha was a special lady, and I know what it’s like to lose your soulmate,” she replies.
Trucker’s Cabin
Trucker asks Dinah Lee if she found the place okay, as if she hasn’t been there a bunch of times previously. They have a bit of awkward small talk before finally just getting to it and starting to kiss.
The Tides – Living Room
Curtis tells Stacey that he’s accepted that his relationship with Dinah Lee is over. She’s dubious. “I know you,” she says, “And I’ve always admired your fearlessness. And I also know that when you fall in love, you really fall and it’s for keeps. Not many men have that kind of courage.” He remarks that he’s had “terrible luck” with women and wonders if he should have remained “a love ‘em and leave ‘em type.” She tells him to take some time, assuring him that “before you know it, when you least expect it, somebody’s going to walk into your life and take your breath away.”
I cannot articulate how much I wish that those were prophetic words that would kick off a Curtis/Stacey relationship which would steer Curtis away from being sacrificed at the altar of Trucker and Dinah Lee and which would give Stacey a storyline so that she isn’t just left to languish on the sidelines for another seven months, waiting around for Buck. In case you’re wondering, that’s not hyperbolic. Stacey really is going to be without a storyline until the end of December.
Trucker’s Cabin
Trucker and Dinah Lee’s song plays as the two have their love scene. And I’m going to take this opportunity to reiterate that this song is a bizarre, out of touch choice and it only seems more so when it’s playing as the show’s (arguably) most attractive people are getting it on.
Tout le Monde – Small Dining Room
Frankie joins Charles and Angie and then joins Charles in trying to press Angie into getting herself checked out. She becomes annoyed, especially when Frankie remarks that she “doesn’t look so great.” She reminds them that there will be other doctors at the conference and then decides to look on the bright side, which is that Frankie and Charles are agreeing about something. “You might actually even have a good time together while I’m gone.” Frankie thinks that depends, asking if she’s told Charles “about the home deal.” “The home deal?” “Like I can stay up ‘til 12:30 on Friday and Saturday nights, I get to do my homework in my own time, and I get to watch Letterman.” Charles says they can talk about that later, but Frankie would rather just have Angie tell Charles that it’s all okay.
Charles and Frankie start arguing and Angie pretends to pass out. When they both rush to her side, she reveals that she’s joking. She then asks Frankie and Charles to make a pact to get along.
As Charles goes to pay the bill, he sees Mrs. Quackenbush, the psychic last seen during the early days of the Dante ordeal, sitting at the bar. They share a smile of recognition.
Meanwhile, Ava continues to talk about Harry, but Alex doesn’t want to hear it. “Aren’t you just a little bit curious?” she wonders. “All I know, Alex, is that he didn’t come to Corinth just to give me some message I couldn’t use.” Alex wants Ava to say that she doesn’t really believe in this psychic/spiritual stuff and at just that moment, Charles walks over and points out Mrs. Quackenbush to Alex. “Just what we need…” Alex says. “She made some pretty insightful observations,” Charles says defensively. Ava is simply intrigued that the woman is a psychic. “No,” Alex says firmly when he catches Ava looking towards the bar. She tells him that she just wants to ask the woman a few questions, but he refuses to allow it.
Ava being Ava, she pretends to agree but then contrives a way to get rid of him so that she can do what she wants. She feigns being cold because of the air conditioning and asks him to go and get her sweater for her. He complies and she immediately gets up and goes over to the bar to introduce herself to Mrs. Quackenbush. “Oh my dear, sit down and tell me everything,” Mrs. Quackenbush says. “You’ve been to the other side, haven’t you?”
Tout le Monde – Small Dining Room
Frankie and Angie talk about Charles, with him reiterating that Charles’ “man in charge” attitude gets under his skin. “Charles is used to giving orders,” Angie says. “Will you give him a break? For your mom?” Frankie proposes an exchange: he’ll take it easy on Charles if Angie will make an appointment to get checked out by a doctor.
As they’re talking, Frankie notices a bruise on Angie’s wrist. She shrugs it off and sends Frankie to go meet Charles, promising to be right behind him. After he leaves, she looks at the bruise and looks worried about it.
Over at the bar, Ava is telling her story to Mrs. Quackenbush, revealing that all she remembers is the warning that someone will die. “Was there just the one visitation?” the psychic wonders. Ava admits that she can’t remember. “You were chosen, this is an honor.” Ava wonders if Mrs. Quackenbush would be able to help her remember more. “I’m afraid that I can only see that which is in the present. The future is not available to me.” Ava is disappointed but determined to get to the bottom of her experience and its meaning.
She quickly returns to the table just as Alex is coming back in, but he’s on to her. She tries to distract him with food and then tells him that she’s decided not to go back to work right away after all. He wonders why and she tells him that she’s going to busy herself with “productive, inventive activities.”
This should terrify him.
Trucker’s Cabin – Interior & Exterior
Dinah Lee wakes up from a post-sex nap just as Trucker is setting the table for a post-sex meal. “Do you think that – does this seem unfair?” she wonders. “To Curtis, you mean?” “It just seems so weird. I mean, I’m not thinking about him, I don’t miss him or anything, doesn’t that sound awful? I mean, this is where we started our relationship together, this is where I took care of him and this is where you and Trisha started…” “I want to make new memories now,” he tells her, “and I want to make them with you, alright? This is going to be our place.”
That seems kind of optimistic, given the extensive history of Trisha and Trucker had at the cabin. They start kissing and then he opens the shutters before they head back to the bed, all the better for Curtis to see them in the act, which he does, coming up to the window and staring in like a creeper.
Episode Cast:
- Frankie Hubbard – Alimi Ballard
- Dinah Lee Mayberry – Jessica Collins
- Charles Harrison – Geoffrey C. Ewing
- Alex Masters – Randolph Mantooth
- Curtis Alden – Christopher Marcantel
- Angie Hubbard – Debbi Morgan
- Ava Rescott Masters – Lisa Peluso
- Stacey Donovan Forbes – Lauren-Marie Taylor
- Trucker McKenzie – Robert Tyler
- Mrs. Quackenbush – Scottie Bloch
Loving (1983-1995) 