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Date: 03 Jan 1999 18:45:42 -0500
From: pitman@anotherwayout.com (Kent M Pitman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.soaps.cbs
Subject: Y&R: AWO#120: "Frosty Relations"
Message-ID: <sfwvhindiop.fsf@world.std.com>
INSIDE...
* Might Victor respond favorably to a cold call from Alice?
* Does Michael continue to give Phyllis the cold shoulder?
* Should Sharon show Nick an ice time?
* If Grace's cool plan to save Cassie fails, has she met her match?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANOTHER WAY OUT, Episode 120, 03-Jan-99
by Kent Pitman (pitman@anotherwayout.com)
"Frosty Relations"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connie enters Victor's office. "I'm sorry to intrude, Mr. Newman, but there's
a Miss Haggart here to see you," she explains. Victor looks up thoughtfully.
"I don't think I know anyone by that name," he says. Alice walks in and
shoves Connie out of the way. "Well, you do now," she says pushily. "Thanks,
Connie--you been a big help," she says, shooing her back out the door. Connie
shrugs sheepishly at Victor who nods to her that it'll be ok, and Connie ducks
out leaving the two of them alone. "Now then," Victor says, "what was it
you--" "I'll come straight to the point, Vic," Alice says, "Someone's
kidnapped my daughter and I need your help."
Victor stares at Alice. "Your daughter has been kidnapped? So why have you
come to me? Do you think perhaps I had something to do with it?" "No, not
really. But I think you're rich and powerful, and I figure that's just what I
need to get my daughter back." "Oh you do, do you?" he asks, laughing. She
isn't amused. "Well, let's put it this way. I ain't rich and I ain't
powerful, and so far getting her back isn't going so smooth, ya know? So I
figure you're just the ticket to putting my family back together, you know
what I mean? Or maybe you don't. I dunno--from your picture in the paper, I
somehow figured you for a family man. But, then, maybe I just pegged you
wrong. Story of my life." "No, no, in fact family is very important to me."
"Great! Then you'll help me?" "Well, no, actually--I'm much too busy."
"Busy? Busy with what? I heard you resigned." "I did. But only
temporarily, and only because I had other matters to attend to. I must now
attend to those other matters. But meanwhile, I tell you what: I like your
style, Miss Haggart, so I'm going to assign my most competent legal advisor, a
certain Ms. Christine Williams, to work with you on this case." He hands her
a business card, presumably containing contact information for Cricket. "Now
give me all your money," he says. She is taken aback. "Money? Do you think
I'd be coming to you if I had money?" "Oh," Victor says with a slight amount
of surprise. "I wasn't going to take it permanently--it's just a game we play
around here. One doesn't qualify for Legal Aid, where Ms. Williams works,
unless one has no money. So we always remove the money from our pockets
before we drop by to see her. But if you're destitute, you can just dispense
with that step and head right over to see her," he says with a smile.
* * *
It's evening a few days after and Paul and Cricket are in bed watching Columbo
on TV. "I just have one more question," Paul says to Cricket. "Shoot," she
says. He takes a breath, then says, "Well, you've switched sides and are now
representing Alice Johnson in her attempt to take Cassie back from her natural
mother." Cricket nods. "That's about the size of it." "Can you do that?"
"Well, Paul, it's not like I wanted to--I had no choice." "Couldn't you have
said you were already representing Cassie's side?" "Well, when I took Alice's
case I didn't know Cassie was involved." "But when you found out, couldn't
you have backed out?" "I could, but not without exposing that I already knew
about Cassie and her whereabouts." "But don't you have to reveal those
whereabouts now?" "Nope, it's privileged information about another client--I
don't have to reveal that. Don't you see, Paul? Once I was working for both
of them, I had to resolve it in Alice's favor." "For Cassie's sake, you had
to take the side against Cassie? Chris, at times like this, I'm really glad
I'm just a detective. I don't think I'm cut out to be a lawyer." "Well,
fortunately, there are always other lawyers around. I'm sure Grace and Sharon
will find someone." Just then, her phone buzzes. Cricket looks at the clock
and sighs, then picks up the phone. "Gail?" she says, surprised.
"What's--you're kidding! You're not kidding. Uh, huh. OK. Well, thanks for
the warning. Yes, you, too--sleep well." She hangs up. "What was that
about?" Paul asks. "Grace got a new lawyer." "And she called to tell you?"
"No, Gail did. She figured I'd want to know right away." "Right away? It's
the middle of the night." "Well, the new lawyer is Michael Baldwin."
* * *
Phyllis sits on Michael's couch, watching him wander back and forth aimlessly
behind his desk. "Michael, stand still," she says, "you're making me dizzy
walking in circles that way." He looks over at her, surprised. "Hmm?
Phyllis? What are you doing here?" he asks. "I've been here talking to you
for the last hour, don't you remember?" He thinks for a moment, and then
shakes his head and goes back to thinking. "You're in love with her, you
know," Phyllis says. He stops again and stares at her. "Grace is a client.
I don't get involved with clients," he insists. "Not Grace, that pathetically
pale little bleach-blonde, Christine." "Christine? Hmmm?" "Not Christine
HMMM, Christine WILLIAMS. You know, like Paul Williams. Her HUSBAND."
"Phyllis, what ARE you talking about? Why did you even come here today? Just
to harrass me?" "No, Michael, I didn't. I came here to have lunch with you.
Or to have you with lunch. I'm not fussy about the word order." Michael
rolls his eyes at her. "You're crazy," he says. "For wanting you for lunch?
You used to enjoy that," she says with a little sadness in her voice. "No,
for thinking I could be in love with Christine. We're mortal enemies. Now
and always."
Phyllis continues to rag on Michael. "You may be on opposing teams, but you
aren't acting like her enemy. Do you know what you do to your enemies,
Michael? You demolish them." Michael smiles with a certain pride. "I do,
don't I?" he says. "And what have you done to Christine?" she asks. "What do
you mean `what have I done to her?' I haven't done anything to her. How
could you ask such a question?" "Of course you haven't done anything to her.
You revere her. You want her--" "I want her respect." "THAT," Phyllis says,
"is NOT what you want from her. And let me tell you, Michael, what you DO
want from her--I can give you lots better." "You're imagining things."
"Maybe. Or maybe you're repressing things. But either way, it amounts to the
same. Because you're not going to go after her the way a REAL lawyer would.
You can't. You're Superman with X-Ray vision and she's a bar of lead. You're
the Green Lantern and she's the color yellow. She stops you cold, Michael.
And you've lost this case. Face it."
* * *
"I'm afraid we've lost," Michael explains to Grace. "Lost?" Michael nods.
"I'm sorry, Grace. But it's all but certain that the judge is going to order
Cassie back with Alice." Grace stares in disbelief. Then soberly she asks,
"How much time do we have?" "Not much. Closing arguments are tomorrow
morning. If he wants to, the judge could make a ruling tonight." "So
whatever is to be done has to be done tonight," she says. Michael looks at
her. "Grace," he says worriedly, "you're not going to do something stupid,
are you?" "Who said anything about being stupid?" she asks, trying to pretend
she doesn't know what he means.
In Noah's crib room, Sharon and Grace are straightening up. (He's growing, so
the crib has been enlarged. But for some reason, the kid still doesn't walk.
Don't ask me why. I don't write these things. I just parody them.) Grace is
fluffing the bed. "Grace, this is the stupidest plan I ever heard. First,
you and I don't even like each other any more. And now you're saying `trust
me'. That's bad enough. But what am I supposed to trust you about? That you
can trick a guy into sleeping with you?" "Really, Share--guys can be dumb
sometimes. Really dumb. Especially if you get enough alcohol into them. And
that's your job. Now do you understand your role?" "Of course I understand
it. It's just stupid. I don't want anything to do with him." "Pretend."
"But even if I do, he'll NEVER buy it. He'll know something is up." "Then
you might as well stop helping me and spend the time saying good-bye to that
precious little girl of yours right now. Because Michael says this case is
lost unless desperate action is taken. Now which is it?" Sharon shakes her
head. "Ok, ok. What do you want me to do?" "Just check that the camera is
pointed at the bed, and go check upstairs that the monitor is working and
there's a tape in the VCR."
* * *
Later in the evening, it's dark at Sharon's and a door opens. A shadowy
figure enters and stumbles around until he finds Noah's crib room. There is a
rustling of sheets and then a muffled voice, "Hey! What the--I thought you
were gonna be--" He stops and sees the camera on the wall. "I thought you
were gonna be Sharon--she promised me she'd be here." The lights come on and
Nick comes running in. Al Fenton is there with Grace. "What's going on
here?" Nick asks. Al rushes out of the house, while we hear Sharon come
rushing down the stairs. Meanwhile, Nick says to Grace, "I can't believe it.
You just can't resist tricking guys into sleeping with you here, can you?"
"Nick," Sharon says, "it was for a purpose. He was SUPPOSED to think he was
sleeping with Cassie. Then we could have proof he was a child molester and
they could--" "Lock him up?" Nick says. "No, not lock him up," Grace says.
"That would defeat the purpose. Then it would be like Cassie was returning to
a child-molester-free home. We would have left him out on the streets--well,
living with Alice anyway--so that we could claim she was an unfit mother."
"Ah," Nick says. "Very smart."
"Only something didn't go according to plan," Grace says. "I don't
understand," Nick says. "Neither do I, really," Sharon says. "You were
supposed to tell him Cassie was here in bed," Grace said. "I did tell him
that," Sharon says. "Then why did he say `Sharon'?" "Well, I don't know.
Maybe he saw the camera and decided to lie. The real question is, why did you
ever think a guy couldn't tell the difference who he was sleeping with?" "I
figured in the dark he just wouldn't notice." "Wouldn't notice?" Sharon asks.
"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard of. Nick, tell her how stupid that
is..." Nick looks embarrassed. "Uh," he says meekly, "that'd be pretty
stupid, I guess." He stands there blushing. "Look, the real question
is--what are we going to do now?" Grace says. Sharon starts to walk back up
the stairs. "I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm going to go say
good-bye to my daughter, who I'm apparently going to lose because of your
hare-brained scheme."
Grace looks to Nick. "So, it looks like you're getting back together with
your wife." He smiles and nods. "Family is very important to me." "You
could have fooled me with the way you behaved on that trip," she says. "Come
on, Grace. We just got caught up in the moment." "Caught up in the moment?"
she asks. "You came onto me." "But I knew you wanted it." "Like I wanted it
when you came onto me that night here in Noah's room?" Nick looks around to
make sure Sharon isn't watching. "Shhh!" he says. "Sharon doesn't know about
that." "Are you sure?" Grace asks. "Of course I'm sure--do you think I'd be
stupid enough to tell her?" Grace shrugs and grabs her coat from the
nightstand nearby. "Goodnight, Sharon," she says. Nick looks at her.
"Sharon?" he asks. Grace nods, and points to the camera, then walks out,
leaving Nick to his "reconciliation" with Sharon. In the background as she
leaves, we see Sharon clumping down the stairs carrying the video tape and
looking none too pleased.
* * *
At the Genoa City Diner, which is apparently open all night this week for New
Year's celebrations, Grace sits at a table sipping on a beer. She pours a
little into a glass and says to no one, "Happy New Year, Cassie. I'm sorry
you won't be around. But I did try..." Just then, she looks over at a
nearby booth, where she sees someone she assumes is Cassie. She gets up and
rushes toward her. "Cassie? What are you doing out at this hour? Did you run
away?" she asks hurriedly as she approaches her. The girl looks at her
quizzically. "Are you talking to me?" she asks. "Yes, Cassie, of course I'm
talking to you," Grace says, kneeling at her table. "But why do you keep
calling me Cassie?" she asks, confused. "Because that's your name: Cassie
Johnson." "But I'm not any Cassie. My name is Mary," the girl says. For a
moment, we're in Grace's mind. We see a fantasy of rushed images of this
little girl being swapped for Cassie just as Alice hauls her off, and then the
other Cassie rushing out safely to live with Nick and Sharon, who are so
grateful that Grace has saved Cassie that Sharon becomes Grace's best friend
and Nick hires her back to be his assistant. But the image is fleeting and
interrupted by the girl saying "Mother, thank goodness you're here. This
strange woman was talking to me and kept calling me Cassie." In a moment,
Grace's dream is snatched from her. But all that stands between her and that
dream is the girl's mother. She turns to look up at an unfamiliar face.
That of Sheila Carter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 1999 Kent M. Pitman. All Rights Reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Another Way Out" takes plotline state at time of publication and shows that
there are interesting places right around the corner. The goal, besides
having some fun with good-natured parody, is to challenge the notion that we
must be mired in certain tired plotlines for months just to have a good time.
There is always another way out...
Archives of this and older episodes of "Another Way Out"
as well as the more serious "morals" that underly them,
can be found at: http://world.std.com/~pitman/awo/index.html
Don't forget to try the "character index" and "ratings index"!