Episode 137, originally published 09-May-2001

Revivor

Will the board of Jabot be able to revive their marketing strategy?
Will Trisha or Ryan be revived in time to avoid dying from deadly gas?
Will Genoa City be the site of a 60's TV series revival?

Victor is at home pacing back and forth in the living room. Nikki sits nearby watching him as he does. "There must be something I can do," he mumbles. She just smiles, not having anything really to offer. A moment later, however, Miguel enters and with a feigned cough to get Victor's attention, says quietly, "Uh, Señor Newman...?" Victor turns toward Miguel, who hands him a small white piece of paper. Victor glances at the paper for a moment and then tosses it into a nearby shredder as he moves to the window. Outside, against an ominously cloudy sky, a yellow circle with a large "V" in the middle is projected against the sky. Victor nods knowingly to Miguel and heads out of the room.

In Trisha's apartment, Trisha has left but Ryan is still tied up in a closet. Carter races around, panicked, trying to figure out how to dispose of Ryan. Suddenly, he sees the still-open (but no longer fuming) oven and a good-bye notice from Trisha next to it. An idea occurs to him. First, he opens the closet door and checks that Ryan is there, quiet and unmoving. He leaves the door open. Finally, he glances around. There it is--a pen! He tests it on a nearby napkin. Not just a pen, but the pen--the one she wrote her suicide note with. "Perfect," he says aloud. He scratches out Trisha's name at the bottom of the note and signs Ryan's instead, with what must have been the same pen she'd used for the rest of the note. "Thanks for giving me the idea, Trisha," Carter says, referring to the note, which is the only lingering sign that Trisha might have wanted to commit suicide earlier. And he opens the door to leave. Trisha, meanwhile, had her head agains the door and is nearly bowled over by his exit. As she tumbles, we hear her squeal, "Did I just hear you mention my name?"

At Jabot, the board is convened to discuss their recent advertising fiascos and how to repair them. "Now that Raul had the bad taste to pull through," Jill explains, "Sean tells me that interest in our web site is waning again." "So what can we do?" Ashley asks. "I recommend we get some new faces in there. Perhaps even some that carry their own audience," Sean explains. "A celebrity, you mean?" Jack asks. "But we don't have any budget for that," Ash reminds them. "We need to make the budget," Jill insists, "taking it from other lines if necessary. Maybe we could get one of those guys from the CBS Survivor series. They seem to be making the rounds." "That's not a bad idea," Jack says. "Come on, Jackie," Ash protests, "we don't have the money for that." "Not for most of them," Jack says. "But isn't there one that no one likes, and that we wouldn't really have to pay? Maybe we could even charge her for being on the site..." "Oh, I know the one you mean," Ash says, "Jerri. But doesn't that kind of defeat the point? Even if she did pay us to let her appear, if no one likes her, why would they tune into our web site to see her?" Jack shrugs. "I guess you're right. We'd have to be pretty desperate to hire her." Jill says, "I can't believe the coldness of you two. Even an unwanted survivor has to eat..." "Let her eat rice cakes," Jack insists, "or tortillas. Anyway, she'll survive." "Besides," he adds, "it was CBS that ruined her reputation, so if anyone should be throwing her a bone, so to speak, it should be them, not us." "Ok, ok," Jill yells, throwing up her arms, "Let's move on."

"Your name?" Carter says. "Yes, I just mentioned your name." She is startled that he admits it. "Rilly?" she asks. "What about?" Instead of answering, he grabs her by her locks and drags her flailing form over his shoulder, tossing her into the closet with Ryan, grabbing some duct tape from a nearby table as he does. She struggles, but not for long. Soon she is tied up in the closet with Ryan. Carter sniffs at the gas. "Time for me to get out of here," he says. "I can barely breathe. Good night, you two, pleasant dreams." He starts out of the house and then stops at the counter again. He lines out Ryan's name on the previously amended suicide letter and writes "ok, from both of us" at the bottom. Then he leaves, coughing from the gas.

In the closet, Ryan regains consciousness. Trisha isn't stirring. Worriedly, he takes her pulse. "I can't feel a pulse," he says to himself. "I guess she couldn't take it." He kisses her on the forehead and gets up to leave, coughing heavily. She opens her eyes and looks up at him, apparently having no trouble breathing. "Ryan, where are you going?" "Can't breathe," he manages to choke out. "Untie me so I can go with you," she insists. He struggles to do it, coughing heavily. Finally, the two stumble out into the hall. She watches as he gets air back into his lungs. When he's feeling better, he looks at her, puzzled. "You're not having trouble breathing?" he asks. She shakes her head. "You know, Ryan, everyone's always calling me an airhead, like it's some kind of bad thing. But it's really handy when you're someplace that doesn't have any air..."

In a basement somewhere, Victor finishes sliding down fireman's pole. He is now attired in a black leather jacket with a large "V" embroidered neatly into the back of it. Thus "disguised", he proceeds to a computer terminal that displays a Porsche. Tapping the joystick next to the display causes the Porsche to change to a tank. Tapping again changes it to a Hum-V. Again, to a PT Cruiser. Now he taps back again to the Hum-V and presses a button conspicuously marked "Start". The TV screen flashes "Please insert 4 Quarters.", but apparently there is a voice override of some sort because he just shakes his head and says, "I am Victor Newman. I own you." and the machine starts churning for a moment before a life-sized Hum-V comes rolling out. He quickly enters the vehicle and drives it up onto ramp. Then, after a moments fooling with a coordinate grid on the dashboard, he presses another button and the Hum-V, with him it, is slung out of the building high into the air. Soon, the weight of the vehicle starts to take over and it plunges down, but not without first opening a parachute. The entire assembly then glides to the ground, stopping on a road amidst some trees, not far from Carter's cabin. He grinds his foot down and the vehicle burns rubber as it goes the final distance.

In the cabin, Sharon is with Carter. "Let me tell you this man who owns the cabin--Matt Clark," he says. "Matt? What could you know about him?" she asks. "Quiet a lot, as it turns out," he says enigmatically. "Do you believe eyes are the window into a man's soul?" he asks. She looks at him blankly. "What do these eyes tell you?" he asks. She still looks at him blankly. He sighs and pulls out the photo of Matt Clark. "How about a picture? Does that help?" he asks. "Help? Help what? how?" she asks. "Well, how about if I tell you a story, ok?" "Ok," she says, unconvinced that this will help. "It's about a guy named Matt Clark. And in this story, he gets a job near his nemesis." She looks frustrated and annoyed. "What does this have to do with--" "Trust me," he says, "I'm coming to it. You see, the job is at a coffee house. Ringing any bells?" "Should it?" she asks blankly. "Well, in the story, the owners are named Nick and Sharon." "Getting it?" he asks. She isn't. "So there's this guy Matt who works for some people named Sharon and Nick. What does this have to do with me?" "Sharon and Nick Newman are the names in the story. Getting it now?" he asks. "No." "They're you and Nick." "The people in the story are me and Nick? You said it was just a story." "Ok, ok, look, it's not a story. Well, it is but it's a true story." "But it can't be a true story. No one named Matt Clark works for us. You must be confused." "No, Sharon, dammit, I must be Matt Clark! You really aren't one for subtlety are you?" "Matt?" she says. "Matt Clark? I thought your voice sounded familiar." "Finally!" he says. She knees him to the groin and he doubles over, blacking out.

Just as Victor arrives at the cabin door and is about to kick it in, we hear Miguel's voice. "Mr. Newman?" The scene fades and we find that Victor has fallen asleep in the seat of an arcade race game. A Hum-V is pictured on the screen and the letters read "Out of Time. Please Insert More Quarters." "Hmm?" Victor says, confused. "Mr. Newman, it's time for your afternoon tea," Miguel says, handing him a tray. Just then, Victor's cell phone rings. "Victor?" Sharon says at the other end. "Sharon," Victor says with a tone of concern, "we've all been so worried about you." "I'm fine for now, Victor. I've knocked him out. But he might wake up, and..." "Say no more, Sharon. I'm on my way," he says. He hangs up. "Where shall I tell Mrs. Newman you've gone," Miguel asks uselessly. "There's no need for her to know," Victor explains. "Just tell her--no, I'll tell her later. You have a good day, Miguel." Then he reaches into the closet and pulls out his black leather rescue jacket, and heads out the door.

At the cabin, Victor tries to kick down the door but only hurts his foot. Fortunately, he goes to the window and throws a nearby chair through it. When the glass stops falling, he climbs carefully through. Unfortunately, by this time, Matt/Carter, we'll call him Martyr, is ready for him. He steps up behind Victor as he enters and hits him with cloroform, causing him to pass out. He quickly ties him up securely to the sturdy chair that Victor has conveniently made available, then goes back to Sharon. Apparently, in the meantime since Sharon's call, Martyr seems to have overpowered her as well. She is likewise drugged and looking woozy. Martyr focuses the camera on the bed and then starts it, and climbs atop Sharon, who in her drugged state accepts his advances with distressing willingness.

A while later, back at the cabin, Martyr has finished having his way with Sharon. He takes a diskette from the camera and inserts it into his computer, pulling up a video editing tool. We watch as he lifts a few stills of Victor's face and uses them to replace his own face on the video of himself raping Sharon. Finally, he plays back the result, which we see just enough of to let us know that it shows Victor getting down and dirty with his daughter-in-law. Just then, a federal express man knocks on the door. Martyr goes to the door and hands him the tape, marked for delivery to Nicholas Newman at the Genoa City Prison. Before Victor or Sharon have a chance to react to the deliveryman's presence, he is gone again.

In her car, outside Carter's house, Trisha sits in the dark wondering if she should go in. "Do I rilly want to spend the rest of my life with a guy who has that weird Tourets thing?" she asks herself aloud. [Author's Note: If you missed the part about Tourets, see AWO Episode 135 (Dry Humor).] She nibbles on a fingernail, trying to decide. Finally, she makes her decision. "I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it," she repeats to herself over and over. Then she moves the shift into reverse, and guns the accelerator as hard as she can. Unfortunately, or not, depending on who you're rooting for, she hasn't paid enough attention. Carter is running out of the cabin to join her in the car. Just as the car starts to move, Carter runs behind it and she runs him over. The car screeches to a halt and Trisha runs out. "Ohmigod," she squeals, "not again!"

That's all for this episode. Hope you learned something. Don't miss Episode 138!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.

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