Tout le Monde – Small Dining Room
Buck and Stacey have dinner and talk about how happy they are to be reconciled.
Belden Pond
Tess snarls at Alex about there being cops everywhere when Gilbert told her to come alone. He tries to reassure her, telling her that he’s not going to let Ava or her get hurt, but she doesn’t seem particularly comforted by that. Charles comes over and reports that everything is all set up, confidently declaring that Gilbert won’t be able to get away.
They’re interrupted by a pair of cops bringing Jeremy over. Naturally, Alex immediately assumes that he’s Gilbert and grabs him, demanding to know where Ava is.
Delaware – Abandoned Church
Ava screams for help as the fire grows, creeping closer to the place where she’s stuck.
Tout le Monde – Small Dining Room
Buck reminds Stacey of the recurring dream that he used to have where he was following a woman who turned out to be Stacey. “That’s when I knew that I was in love with you,” he says. She tells him that she’s had lots of dreams about him, even after they broke up, and that if feels “like I have everything that I’ll ever want.”
She decides to call home and check on the kids. After she goes, Gwyneth walks in to meet up with Jeremy. Buck tells her that he and Stacey are back together and she apologizes to him for Curtis having “made things difficult” for him, which is a masterpiece of understatement. Buck is amazingly gracious about that given that Curtis’ actions resulted in the death of Buck’s daughter, acknowledging that “Gilbert did quite a number on him” and that “it’s not all his fault.”
They talk about Gilbert and how he managed to fool everyone in town and Buck wonders if Jeremy “knows” and then says “it takes a big man to get over something like that” and looks at her sort of pointedly, which is pretty rich coming from the guy who walked out after sleeping with Stacey and then, a couple of hours later, slept with Tess without having a shower in between. They’re talking about Gwyneth having been deceived into sleeping with Gilbert, thinking he was Jeremy, which makes it, you know, rape, but soaps have never been great when it comes to dealing with rape so it should be no surprise that it’s framing this as Gwyneth having betrayed/cheated on Jeremy.
“He understands completely,” Gwyneth says uneasily. “I still feel like a fool, though, I mean how could I have not known the difference? It’ll never happen again – from now on the lights stay on,” she jokes. Incidentally, this marks the third time the show has had Gwyneth sleep with one man while thinking he was a different man (Jonathan pretending to be Keith and Alex pretending to be Clay are the others).
Belden Pond
Jeremy tells Alex that he’s not Gilbert and Charles has to pull Alex off of him. Jeremy reminds Alex that they talked about how Jeremy wanted to be there when he got Gilbert. Jeremy explains that he wants to make sure that Ava is alright and that Gilbert doesn’t get away, but apologizes for just showing up, saying that he understands why Alex assumed he was Gilbert.
Delaware – Abandoned Church
Ava coughs and prays. The fire grows.
Gilbert returns and starts smothering the fire with blankets and dousing it with water. “It’s okay,” he tells her, stamping out what remains of the fire while she cries and takes a chance at escaping. But Gilbert immediately catches her and holds her. “Good thing I came when I did,” he says, then asks what happened. Looking around, he puts the pieces together and realizes that she was poking in the fire. “Trying to get away?”
He tells her that he’s supposed to be meeting with Alex to follow through on a deal to exchange Ava for a ransom. She’s thrilled, but he tells her that he’s not actually going to exchange her. “I would never, never, never let you go.” He promises her that they’re going to have a “beautiful” Christmas together and shows off some of the things that he’s bought for her, wrapping her up in a new sweater. “I thought you’d look cute in it,” he says.
Watching this scene unfold, I can’t help but think that LeClerc took copious notes when he was working with David Canary on All My Children, because the childlike quality he gives to Gilbert as he excitedly shows off the gifts he’s brought is reminiscent of Stuart. Gilbert is like what Stuart might have been had Adam not already occupied the role of evil twin.
She asks when he’s meeting Alex and he says “actually I’m not – but he thinks I am.” He takes her back to where she was before and ties her up again. She asks where he’s going, but he won’t tell her.
Belden Pond
Alex is getting nervous, wondering where Gilbert is.
Tess complains to Charles about how “jumpy” Alex is and Charles replies, “I hope he doesn’t blow this.” That’s maybe not the best thing to say to the civilian who’s putting herself out there to come face to face with a madman, Charles.
They argue about Alex, with Tess defending him and Charles continuing to worry that he won’t be able to control himself. But Tess understands why Alex is so nervy because of what she went through with Dante – which also happened at Christmas time. I guess Tess making exchanges for hostages is her holiday tradition.
After Charles walks away, Jeremy tells Tess that she’s brave for doing what she’s doing. “The Rescotts have been really good to me.” “Enough to risk your life for?” He tells her that things could go wrong and that everyone would understand if she walked away, but she’s determined to see things through. She tells him that when Gilbert called, it was obvious that he was desperate, and expresses that she knows what that’s like. “What desperate thing have you done, Tess?”
Tout le Monde – Small Dining Room
Things get a little awkward between Stacey and Buck when she starts talking about how expensive Tout le Monde is and then has to backtrack and say she wasn’t trying to imply anything. Buck acknowledges the mistakes he was making this time last year and expresses some actual insight into his past behavior.
“I’m just glad that we have this second chance together,” she says. “In other words: don’t mess up again, right?” he wonders.
The Agency – Reception/Jeremy’s Office
Gilbert walks in and the janitor mistakes him for Jeremy. Gilbert dismisses him and goes to Jeremy’s office. When he glances in a mirror, he realizes how unkempt he looks and gives himself a shave and then borrows a set of clothes hanging up on the back of Jeremy’s door.
He steals one of the agency’s checks, but as he’s about to leave, Gwyneth walks in. She asks what’s going on and why he’s at the office.
Tout le Monde – Small Dining Room
“Things are different now,” Buck tells Stacey. “I know what it’s like to lose you.” “And I won’t make the same mistakes either,” she says, even though I am at a loss to think of a single thing that Stacey did to contribute to the necessity of that break up.
They joke about how he’s not going to be showering her with diamonds and fancy dinners from now on. “I’d better just live it up while I can,” she says, grabbing the menu.
Delaware – Abandoned Church
Ava grabs one of the shopping bags Gilbert left behind, looking for something to eat. She finds strawberries, which makes her think of Alex.
Belden Pond
Charles tries to get Alex to calm down. “When I think about what he’s doing to her, I swear, I want to kill him!”
Meanwhile, Tess tells Jeremy that he should hear the news from her, revealing that Curtis told her that he sabotaged the AE jet. When Jeremy responds casually that he knows that, she clarifies that she knew about it before Curtis went into Dunellen. He wonders why she didn’t say anything as soon as she knew and she claims that she was waiting because of Dinah Lee. “She was having such a slow recovery, I thought it would devastate her if she found out that Curtis was responsible for that crash.” Jeremy looks at her in astonishment. “You always have a good excuse, don’t you?” he asks with disgust. She wonders if this is going to affect their partnership. “This is not the time or the place,” he spits, walking away.
“Gilbert’s not coming,” Alex says. Charles admits that it looks that way. “This is all a set up,” Alex goes on. “We put all of our men in one place, and here we are and he has the run of Corinth.”
The Agency – Jeremy’s Office
Gilbert talks his way out of the corner and Gwyneth starts telling him how “horrible” Gilbert is. “You are not the monster that Gilbert is,” she says. “I know that he lied to you and used you to get to me,” he replies. “I want you to know, when I kiss you, when I hold you, it’s by a man you can trust, a man who knows how to love you, a man who understands what you need and what you deserve.” He starts kissing her, but she suddenly pulls away, calling him Gilbert.
Episode Cast:
- Buck Huston – Philip Brown
- Charles Harrison – Geoffrey C. Ewing
- Tess Wilder – Catherine Hickland
- Jeremy Hunter/Gilbert Nostrand – Jean LeClerc
- Alex Masters – Randolph Mantooth
- Ava Rescott Masters – Lisa Peluso
- Stacey Donovan Forbes – Lauren-Marie Taylor
- Gwyneth Alden – Christine Tudor
- Bill (Agency janitor) – Robert Dolan
Loving (1983-1995) 