Friday, June 10, 2005
Craig assured Rosanna that everything was cool with Emily because he spoke to Paul, though he did have some snark for Ro's most recent hubby. "Look, I know Paul chafes you in very sensitive areas, but he is the guy that I'm in love with so a little restraint, please?" she snapped. Well, speaking of, things heated up fast between Emily and Paul, who were swapping sloppy kisses and rolling around naked and breathless on the floor in minutes. Afterward, they snuggled on the couch, Carjack-style, and reminisced about their first (and only) time together, 16 years ago, and the regrets they've had since then. "Can you imagine how much happier we'd all be if I had just killed my father when I had the chance?" Actually, you did kill your father when you had the chance, Paul. A new writing regime brought him back years later with some questionable backstory. He continued by promising Emily that he wanted to be there with her, and this wasn't about Rosanna, who was busy being given false hope by Carly. She thinks that Paul still wants Rosanna because he convinced Emily to drop the charges. ( Way to show loyalty to your good spa friend, Carly. Though they don't say blood is thicker than water for nothing.) This convinced Ro to go see Paul again, but she ran right into Emily, who was back in her necktie-bedazzled shirt. Back at the farm, Psychic Parker showed up to tell Carly he had a sad dream about Cabot and Aunt Rosanna — which is a bad sign, considering his significant powers. Maybe he could conjure up J.J.'s whereabouts while he's at it, though.

Dude, Tom took Casey for some additional tests at the hospital, and Celia joined him. Apparently, Tom reminds Celia of her dead "Papi" back in Montega, and he urged her to consider herself part of the family. Casey then sent his dad off to the cafeteria so he could be alone with his girl. Tom took the hint and left, but not before admonishing his son to "act normal." He's trying, Tom, really! Celia tried not think of Will when Casey kissed her, but got all weird when he brought up next year's prom, saying he doesn't know that they'll be together. (Life is filled with uncertainty in Montega!) He pledged his devotion by presenting her with his Livestrong bracelet. "What does this mean?" she asked, to which she replied "Us." Actually dude, doesn't it mean "support cancer research"?

At the same time, Will was at Burt's Garage ordering mom-to-be Gwen to stop smoking while getting some important info about her, namely: no, she's not telling Casey about her pregnancy because it would be too heartbreaking to hear him ask if she's sure he's the father, her parents are out of the picture, and she's on scholarship at Oakdale Latin (good to know). We also learn that Will lives with Uncle Bob and Aunt Kim. Is Emily still mad at him? Because maybe Hal would like to see him. But we digress. Will worried that Gwen wouldn't be able to handle things on her own, and urged her to call him if she needs support. She yelled that she doesn't need anybody, but after he left, she crumpled onto the bed with her stuffed animal. Isn't it odd that psycho/"murderer"/Barbara-spawn Will, and not Tom and Margo's son, is coming off as the upstanding one here?

Jennifer basically told Katie that if she's not with her, she's against her. And though he agrees that Craig has legal rights to the child and therefore won't just go away, Mike backed Jennifer, who loved him even more for it... but still couldn't let it go. She wanted to know what Mike would have said had she not been there and then accused him of purposely not telling her that Katie and Henry split up. How're you liking married life so far, Mike?

Meanwhile, Craig met with Katie at the Lakeview, where he tried to weasel more information about Jennifer from her. She assured him that Jen and the baby seemed to be in good condition, and he questioned her motives again, but let her down gently. Then they discussed her loneliness and he offered to take her to dinner later in the week. He assured her he wasn't leaving to go stalk Jen, which is of course exactly where he was headed. If Craig's so worried about Jen's health, maybe the best thing wouldn't be to show up and freak her out at the doctor's? Also freaking a bit was Mike, who got called to the Lakeview for some busted pipe problems, but when he saw Katie there, he assumed she'd tricked him. (She is kind of the girl who cried wolf.) "Why don't you stop worrying about everyone else and get a life of your own," he harshed. "Why don't you go to hell?" she snapped back. Oh yeah, there's no unfinished business between those two anymore, no sir.

Thursday, June 9, 2005
Carly was at the farm with Jack, who was urging her to get some rest after her harrowing ordeal. "It's over. It's finally over," he assured her, alerting us to the fact that it most certainly was not. That's when the internal affairs guys called to talk to Jack, and Carly stepped outside for some fresh air. Cue the flashback to the trauma and then, delightfully, Figment Of Imagination Cowboy Les! He haunted Carly about how she can't run away from her past. She lied to Jack about her visitation with the figment cowboy, and assured him that she's a tough cookie.

For a moment, it seemed like cowboy Les really was back, when we got a point-of-view shot of someone arriving at the charred remains of One Mile High Road. But it was just Holden, who sifted through the rubble while Lily kept vigil at Keith's hospital bedside. He's now been stabbed and shot defending her from Les even though she accused him of being the murderer, so it's the least she could do. Keith, wearing what looked more like a clown suit than a hospital gown, somehow managed to still sound guilty, even though we all saw cowboy Les completely lose it and confess just yesterday. Anyway, they discussed her sorrow, his love for her, their chances at starting over and his determination to come clean about the shady things he did to insure that Les would go to jail (and hey, here's to never having to hear the words "bee pollen" again). Meanwhile, Holden and Luke, who's taken to equating the house with his family (gutted; irreparably damaged) had another one of their talks about, well, their family. It seemed fitting when a grim Holden found the intact divorce papers while looking for the insurance policy in the lockbox. Jack showed up and pointed out that Lily didn't sign the papers, so that's a good sign! Poor hoped-up Holden rushed to the hospital — just in time to spy Lily kissing Keith. Aww, bummer. Although maybe he should have thought about that before sleeping with Julia.

Also at the hospital was Emily, wearing a weird shirt with neckties dangling from the wrists. Susan tried to talk her daughter out of pressing charges for the sake of her marriage and reminded her about how her reputation around town wasn't exactly sterling, but that only made Em more hurt and outraged. At the same time, over at the Lakeview, Craig assured Rosanna that he would have a talk with Paul, making it clear that it's in everyone's best interests to keep a leash on vengeful Emily. Rosanna then read about cowboy Les's final ride in the newspaper, and rushed over to Carly's. Her sister was more interested in knowing where the hell she'd run off to (finally!). They had a catch-up session, and Carly urged her not to give up on Paul.

Katie showed up at Jen's door yet again to try to convince her that she could help mediate with Craig, but Jennifer was still suspicious of her true motives. (Props to wardrobe for helping highlight Jen's insecurities by putting her in sweats, while Katie breezed in wearing a fresh spring dress.) Finally, Jen just ordered Katie to stay out of her life. But outside, Katie managed to persuade Mike (who had just gotten done telling Paul to butt out) to let her smooth things over with Craig. Upon finding them together, Jen was none too pleased, and while there are certainly two sides to this story, at some point, Jennifer's not going to be able to blame her attitude on hormones anymore.

Craig set about psychologically manipulating Paul into convincing Emily to drop the charges (As if that would work! Oh wait, it did) by bringing up his legal rights to Jennifer's baby. Advantage: Craig. A frazzled Emily arrived soon after, exasperated that everyone's supporting Rosanna and not her, only to have Paul gently ask her to give in, for Jen's sake. Em quickly flipped and lashed out physically at Paul, who tried to soothe her by saying he cares about her, and ...you know where this is going: suddenly, their tension melted over into a hot kiss!

Wednesday, June 8, 2005
The whole show was a whirlwind of gimmicks and odd angles, so hold on folks, and here goes: Lily was having a black-and-white nightmare about Keith, once again pledging his love (though basically confessing to murder). Some tricky camerawork brought us back and forth to Lily tossing and turning in full color on the bed. At one point, Lily even tried to warn herself (shades of Rose!) before struggling with Keith in her dream. Meanwhile, Carly struggled with the mystery man as Jack, getting no answers outside and becoming more worried every second, left. Lily finally woke up when she heard Carly's muffled screams but suddenly the lights went out, thanks to the mystery man, who kept himself coyly hidden for half the episode, but frankly, his arm hair gave him away: Cowboy Les has lived to menace another day! First, he tied and gagged a painfully moaning, crying, shrieking Carly, then threw her in a trunk in the attic, doused gasoline around and set the house on fire (very familiar for all you VERONICA MARS fans out there.) For good measure, he also locked Lily in her room. With the house going up in flames, she went into full panic mode again.

In a nice contrast, Holden and Luke were taking turns spinning Faith around at the Snyder Farm while waiting for the cookies to finish baking (Natalie must have been napping). Faith ran upstairs after praising "Uncle Keith," and starting a bit of a squabble between Holden and Luke. Lucinda showed up to nag Holden about how Lily is ruining her life. "Respect Lily's decision? From what proper divorce etiquette did that phrase come?" demanded La Walsh, before urging him to "unsheath his sword and fight" instead of falling on it. Before there was time to truly analyze that metaphor, they got a call from Jack reporting Lily's accident. Lucinda stayed with Faith while Holden ran off to join Jack. At the same time, Luke found Keith's, er, Rose's, er, Cal's cabin in shambles, along with a key to his old camp trunk. He then spotted Lily running through the woods with two men, one of whom he thought might have been Keith. He met up with Jack and Holden, who chased after Lily. Jack still didn't know where Carly was, but put two and two hundred together (it was quite a leap in logic) when Luke showed him the key. Everyone was standing way too close to the burning house for safety, and it's somewhat unclear when anyone called the fire department.

In the trunk, Carly had a series of Carjacker's choice flashbacks which were like spinach to her inner Popeye (or Houdini, perhaps): within minutes, she had escaped the trunk ... leaving her stuck in a burning attic. Back to Faith, who was saying good-night to everyone she loves (including her house), as we saw Lily, Carly, Jack and even, yes, the house finding themselves in peril. Faith and Lucinda then realized the cookies were burning (that isn't all that's ruined tonight!) Luckily, Jack rescued Carly, and Keith burst in to save Lily, who was naturally terrified of him. He finally just carried her out, but they ran right into a grinning, preening Cowboy Les, who was back to entertain us one last day, and also definitively confess to the murder. And that's when things really got crazy! In the Snyder cellar, Les and Keith struggled for the gun, while Lily shrieked. Upstairs, Lucinda assured Faith that everything was fine —Êuntil they heard the fire engine sirens. That's when Holden arrived and jumped him, but somehow Les got away and took Lucinda hostage. Finally, just when Les was about to shoot Holden again, a gunshot rang out: Jack had finally taken him out. Happy trails, Cowboy Les. We'll miss you so!

Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Hal told Emily to end her vendetta against Rosanna before it destroys them. They proceeded to argue about the fact that he didn't believe in her (and Paul did). Hal also (wisely, we must say) pointed out that Rosanna's team of high-priced lawyers would kick her butt in any court battle. Hal didn't want to hear another word about Paul's reasoning, and ordered Em to walk away from his former stepson. He even point-blank asked her if she was involved with Paul, and mentioned that it's not out of the realm of possibility because of her almost-affair with Chris. She was so hurt by what he was implying that she left — but vowed to make Rosanna pay for her crimes.

Rosanna wanted to prove to Paul that she never stopped loving him, but he had built up a strong wall of defense. He also had a hard time believing her admittedly outrageous story of James's Bangkok hijinks involving the work camp and the casino and the brainwashing and the crazy coincidence of Craig's appearance there (it does sound weird when you put it all together). She countered that fate has played a part in everything, and that they're destined to be together. Yeah, that didn't work on him. However, her desperate kiss? That kind of got through to him. He wasn't showing any signs of pulling away until Emily showed up. Awkward! Ro tried to apologize, but Em wasted no time going for the jugular. Rosanna was awfully disappointed that Paul had told Em all of this, and she left. He (puppy dog love-style) even tried to follow her, but Em shut the door and told him about her fight with Hal, who was at home tucking in a red-headed Daniel. Maybe it's the water coming into Hal's house that makes all kids in his proximity redheads. (Remember, Parker went blonde after he moved out.)

Dude, Casey couldn't go to the after-prom party because of his bummer of a concussion, so Celia asked to stay with him, and Margo finally agreed to allow Will and Gwen to come as well. Will was dubious that Gwen was pregnant from some night when everyone was doing keg stands and she and Casey hooked up, but when he chased after her (and found her smoking), she had him feel her stomach as proof. He scolded her about smoking, but she did put out the cigarette, before insisting that Casey is the father, because he's the only guy she's ever been with. At the Hughes house, Gwen noted Celia and Will's awkward moment at the kitchen cabinet and seemed almost amused by his crush on Celia. He admitted that he wouldn't spill her pregnancy secret so as not to upset the luckiest little Montegan in the world, who was at that very moment, sadly remembering her dance with Will while professing her love for Casey.

Lily completely panicked when her brakes went out and drove off the road. Meanwhile, at the station, Carly tried again to convince Jack that Keith was bad news. In the interrogation room, Jessica got the news that Lily cancelled their appointment, and also mentioned her concerns about Keith to Jack. In the car, Lily was just coming to when a good samaritan stopped to help. She had a flashback of Burt (Burt!) reporting that her car was in good shape, followed by one of Jess being suspicious of Keith, which brought on a fainting spell. While Ben examined her at the hospital, she got to thinking: maybe it wasn't an accident. She immediately called to ask Carly (who was busy getting cancelled on by Jack) to take her kids to the farm and not let them out of her sight. At this point, Lily was really freaking out, possibly because she was so unconcerned for so long that she had a lot of pent-up panic. At the house, Carly was all too ready to believe theories of Keith's dark side, but also noted that Lily was totally losing it. She ordered her to take a sedative and get some sleep, then tried to call Jack. Too bad the phones were out. After spending a lot of time realizing that, she finally grabbed her cell. Luckily, Jack (apparently considering Jessica's concerns more warranted than Carly's) was just arriving. But before Carly could call out to him, someone clapped a hand over her mouth.

Monday, June 6, 2005
After some urgent severe thunderstorm updates, we joined Katie in the middle of telling Margo that she would like to do "one good thing this week. Maybe I can stop three people I care about from killing each other." She arrived just in time: Jennifer was in full wig-out mode, looking like she'd seen a ghost because Craig was standing at her door, pulling no punches about his baby. Katie lectured everyone on acting like adults (!) while dragging Craig away with a cute wink to a grateful Mike. But Jen wasn't done panicking and went into a snit about Mike siding with Craig, but Mike managed to soothe her back to relative sanity by promising to deal with Craig and protect her and the baby. In a really sweet sibling bonding scene, Katie made a similar arrangement with Craig, offering to run interference with Mike and Jen (because she's still slightly more welcome in their home than Craig). Also of note: a hyperventilating Henry, who was inordinately worried about Katie's well-being now that Craig is back in town,as Margo tried to convince him to patch up his marriage, since he still clearly loves his wife.

Dude, Casey was NOT looking good after his bloodbath at the prom, where Celia sobbed over his body like he'd been slain on the battlefield, ruining that pricey dream dress of hers. Will hesitated momentarily (mesmerized by the blood) before calling 911 for his friend, who was rushed to the hospital, where Dr. Bob saved the day with the best bedside manner ever. Also funny was everyone trying to remember what movie the blood bucket reminds them of instead of instantly ostracizing the Mean Girls for resorting to the dated cliché that is Carrie. "Something got through that hair?" joked Margo, though she was seriously worried when she saw all the (fake) blood and even invoked the late Bryant's name while voicing her motherly fears to Tom. Casey, though looking not unlike a psychotic clown, urged her to chill. Besides, he only had a mild concussion, and even knew what day it was: the sixth. Nice continuity, but the prom was on a Monday? As Casey was finally being released, Gwen, who had basically ordered Will to bring her to the hospital to be near Casey (and was subsequently not seen anywhere in his vicinity), went to throw up. Will demanded answers for her freakish behavior and he got more than he expected: she announced that she's pregnant with Casey's baby. Dude! Surprised? Anyone?

Paul stopped by with the late but urgent news that Emily now has his permission to throw the book at Rosanna (mostly because Ro turned to Craig, and not him, in her time of need). Poor Hal was so out-of-the-loop on the whole situation that he was basically forced to stand back and watch Emily and Paul's sexually-charged teamwork and intimate banter. They even had some pointed hand-touching while Hal was upstairs tending to Daniel like a chump. Luckily, Detective Munson got the last word: after Paul left, he forbade Em to press charges. Though we guess that's not really the best way to keep your wife content.

Keith's no dummy, so he immediately caught onto Lily's concerns when she declined his fancy drink. He proved her fears unfounded by sipping from both and acting all indignant that she suspected him. Then he confessed that he had, in fact, planted the bee pollen on cowboy Les, so uh, that kind of makes his indignance a little silly. His excuse was that he didn't want cowboy Les to get away with killing Julia like he used to get away with beating her. He once again declared his great love for Lily and then charmed Faith, thus confusing her further about whether to trust him or not. After telling her daughter more than once to ask "Marsha" to put her to bed, Lily called Jessica to set up a meeting to discuss "a very big decision." She took off as a mystery man spied on her. But as she drove to her meeting, her brakes gave out!