Recap: July 14, 1995

Corinth Towers – Steffi’s Room/Hallway

Steffi is packing and hears Tony getting into an argument with AE security in the hallway. She tells them that Tony is okay and they go into the room to talk. She basically just wants him to go away, but he thinks they should talk about the baby.

Rodeo Bar/Donovan House – Living Room & Front Step

Jacob plays on the bar’s occasionally existent piano and catches up with Buck. Jacob asks if Buck looks so happy because he won the lottery and Buck replies, “Let’s just say all my problems are solved.”

Double foreshadowing – the first way ironic because this will turn out to be one of the worst nights of Buck’s life, the second because the result of that is that he basically does win the lottery.

Angie walks in and tells Jacob to stop playing.

Meanwhile, Buck takes a call from Stacey and they talk about looking forward to seeing each other later. Stacey’s doorbell rings and she goes to answer it and finds a package on her doorstep.  From the bushes, the killer watches her collect it.

When she brings it inside and opens it, she finds the note that she assumes is from Buck. She goes back outside to see if he’s actually there, trying to surprise her, and the killer crouches back down and then stands up once Stacey turns and goes back inside.

Click. Click. Click.

Donovan House – Living Room

Stacey checks out the powder puff and calls Angie to tell her about the gift, but Angie’s not home because, of course, she’s at Rodeo. Stacey leaves a message and inadvertently incriminates Buck by stating that he gave her the body powder and will be coming over later.

Stacey thinks about her relationship with Buck in a montage set to “When I Feel This Way” by Beth Neilsen Chapman.

From outside the window, Stacey is being watched and the killer is clicking. The picture turns black and white and a child’s voice begins singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

Corinth Towers – Steffi’s Room

Steffi tells Tony that the baby isn’t his business. He asks if she knows where Tess is and she makes a joke about having her stashed in her closet, which is, of course, where Tess has been spending a lot of time lately. She tells him that she’s going away, but doesn’t want to give him any details and is surprised when he doesn’t lecture her on how she’s making a mistake and putting herself in danger.

After a bit of back and forth, however, he realizes that she must have taken Clay up on his offer to go to the Bahamas and asks if she’s “insane.” He tells her that she can’t go and picks up her suitcase, dumping the contents out.

Rodeo Bar

Jacob wonders what he’s done to earn her ire now and Angie tells him that it’s just the fact that he hasn’t left town. He tells her that he plans to stay away from her and that he meant it when he wished her the best at the wedding, but she thinks he’s up to something because he’s still going to be working with Frankie. She asks if he was the one who encouraged Frankie to apply to NYU, stating that he never even talked to her about it.

She then brings up that Jacob apparently sent Charles a bottle of scotch. He says it was to congratulate him on his promotion and thinks she’s overreacting by coming after him like this. Buck notices the tension and comes over, asking if everything’s okay and then wishing them both a goodnight before heading out.

Angie accuses Jacob of “trying to worm [his] way back into [her] life,” which he denies. She wants him to leave town, but he refuses to be run out.

Rodeo Bar

Jacob wonders why Angie thinks she can dictate his movements and calls her “plain old mean today.” She tells him that she’s tired of him and wants him out of her life, but he points out that he was minding his own business before she showed up and started a fight with him. “If I’m such a threat to you, why don’t you stay away from me?” he wonders.

She tells him that he’s “like some insidious virus intent on destroying me” which seems, objectively, a little much. He thinks she’s just mad because she’s fallen in love with him.

Corinth Towers – Steffi’s Room/AE – CEO’s Reception Area

Tony suggests that Steffi call “Campbell” and tell him about the baby, reasoning that Cooper would do the right thing and come back to Corinth if he knew. He urges her to think about what’s best for the baby and worries that her career could be bad for her once she becomes a mother. She tries to get him to leave and he warns her not to trust Clay. “Do you really think that Clay would take advantage of me?” she wonders.

Clay Alden? No, never.

He thinks she’s being naïve and bets that Clay will show up in the Bahamas to get some time alone with her. She accepts the bet and decides to call Clay and when she talks to Nadine, she learns that Clay is going to be working late so that he can get ahead of things before going away on a trip. Steffi asks where he’s going and, presumably because she’s pissed off about being made to work late, Nadine just goes right ahead and reveals that he’s going to the Bahamas.

Steffi hangs up and tells Tony that she hates him.

Donovan House – Master Bedroom/Buck’s Bathroom

Stacey’s just hanging out naked, putting powder all over her body.

Buck calls while giving himself a shave. I’m not really sure where Buck is staying these days – I’m assuming it’s not The Tides because I recall that later on in the murders story, Gwyneth remarks that the place was sold after Trucker and Dinah Lee left town.

Anyway, he asks what she’s wearing and tells her that he’ll be right over. She tells him that she’s been thinking about their relationship and that “I wouldn’t trade one minute of our time together for anything in the world.” As they’re getting off the phone, she thanks him for the body powder. She hangs up before he can ask what she’s talking about.

Corinth Towers – Steffi’s Room/Hallway

Steffi takes her anger out on Tony, who calls her on doing so. “If there’s one thing I hate, it’s trying to reason with an irrational woman,” Tony states. She challenges him on the idea that men are always cool and collected and then tries to ruffle his feathers by giving him a kiss.

He’s a little taken aback by that and so out of sorts that she actually manages to get him out of the room. “What’s the matter, Mr. Always In Control?” she asks before closing the door.

She goes back to the phone and calls Nadine back, telling her that she’s planning a surprise party for Clay in the Bahamas and wants to invite her and her husband, encouraging her to bring her kids and put it all on the corporate account.

Rodeo Bar

Angie calls Jacob “the most arrogant man [she’s] ever met” and adds that he’s “delusional.” He thinks she’s protesting just a little too much and should probably start admitting to herself how she feels. “I might have lied to the world, but I never lied to myself,” he tells her.

Donovan House – Master Bedroom/Front Step/Living Room

Stacey’s dead. How shitty is it that after 12 years on the show, Lauren-Marie Taylor had to spend her last episode as a living character (she’ll appear as a corpse in at least the next episode and later as a ghost) all alone, interacting directly with no one?

Buck rings the bell and then goes inside. He heads upstairs and finds Stacey, mistaking her for being asleep. When he comes closer and gives her a kiss, he realizes that something is wrong. He screams her name.

Episode Cast:

• Buck Huston – Philip Brown
• Steffi Brewster – Amelia Heinle
• Angie Hubbard – Debbi Morgan
• Tony Soleito – George Palermo
• Stacey Donovan Forbes – Lauren-Marie Taylor
• Jacob Foster – Darnell Williams

• Nadine – Amy Griggs