Friday, March 17, 2006
AS THE WORLD TURNS will be preempted on Thursday, March 16 and Friday, March 17 for the NCAA tournament. ATWT will resume on Monday.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Paul and Meg were lounging in their adjoining jail cells, sharing some more cryptic pillow talk about what they both may or may not have done (but how Meg should probably get away with whatever it is anyway) when Emily showed up to bring the nasty: "Word to the wise — I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you." In the crackling scenes that followed, Paul noted that it's unlike Emily to gloat (Really?), but Em just wants to see justice served. Just then a guard arrived to take Meg upstairs. "Moment of truth, Meg," called out Emily in a delicious singsong, as Paul advised his cell neighbor not to say anything without a lawyer. The guard helpfully gave Meg a chance to get in some last words ("It's not over yet"), before she was led away and Paul asked why Em is gunning for Meg. "I've made plenty of mistakes this year, but trust me, this ain't one of them," she said, and guessed that he's protecting his nurse because she's the "new love of [his] life." Paul was typically vague with his answers, but when she wondered how he could trust Meg more than he trusted her, he did point out, "Meg saved my life; you tried to take my life away from me. You do the math." She concluded that she moved from Rosanna's shadow to Meg's, and was soon in tears. He softened, and gently urged her to stop caring about him. "I have nothing to offer you.... This is the end of my line. For God's sake, jump off." She was still sobbing when Meg came back, and announced that she's being released on a technicality because Emily compromised the evidence by breaking into her hotel room. Having lost this round, Em took off, while Meg and Paul said a loaded farewell, with some of their patented meaningful hand-grasping.

Margo had moved on to tough love with a meekly contrite Maddie and a toolishly unapologetic Casey, who kept defending his decision to help the young Munson marriage and announced that his new girlfriend isn't moving out, because he's "bent over backwards to make up for what he did with Gwen." While Margo and Casey continued their argument (in which she admitted she hasn't been the best role model, but that the randy teens bring out the worst in each other), Maddie packed up her suitcase. Margo was gone when she came downstairs, and she and Casey said their good-byes, in which he acted like he might want to get married himself so he could defy his parents, and she wisely noted that they haven't been forbidden to date. Next, we got a close-up of a martini — which always means Henry. He was on the phone dealing with a gambling debt, but eventually put his concerns aside to hear his kid sister tearfully recount the story about the teen wedding that led to her eviction. He'll take her in at his Lakeview suite, but he's clearly stretched thin, so when Emily dangled his money in front of him again, he was listening. Too bad she wants him to kill someone.

Lucinda showed up at Lily's and instantly complained about being worried sick about her. Jade overheard them chatting about what Lily uncovered on her trip to New Jersey (that Rose's daughter is named Theresa, and Jade is a fellow orphan who stole her back story, along with cash from nuns), which clearly delighted La Walsh. The news that she's busted sent Jade running to confess to Luke, who was shocked by her betrayal. She's not above psychologically manipulative blackmail, either: she subtly hinted that if he doesn't help her stay with the Snyders, she'll tell them he's gay. Backed into a corner, the closeted teen had no choice but to comply ... and by the end of the day, Lily (who had assured Lucinda she'd take care of the Jade problem) found the "cousins" naked, in bed together. Wait, this isn't GUIDING LIGHT!

It's pretty much official: Gwen has now been seen spending more time with Johnny post-baby switch reveal than Jennifer. Gwen couldn't take her eyes off of the baby as she and Will looked after little ex-Billy when the sitter had to split, until Jen came rushing in from her latest crisis and learned about their marriage. She was hesitant to congratulate the teens until they confirmed that they are indeed in love forever, which naturally brought her focus back to her own problem, that being the death of her own forever love, Dusty. She and Gwen later had a heart-to-heart in which Jen admitted that deep down, she doesn't feel like Dusty is dead. Gwen urged her new sister-in-law to trust her instincts. Indeed, Jennifer should: by the end of the day, we saw a gagged and chained Dusty, passed out next to a dog's water dish (!) on a dirty floor somewhere.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006
It was a day for cool — or at least understanding — parents, as both Hal and Margo took their children's petulance in somewhat amused stride. Hal's reaction to hearing that his son is a newlywed was spot-on: with shock, irritation, resignation ... but no matter what, love. "You're high school drop-outs with no jobs, that's what's real," Hal was yelling, when Jennifer rushed in to steal Hal away with her much more important problems regarding Meg's complicity in Paul's murder of Dusty. In her frenzy, she inadvertently revealed to a clueless Will that Paul is in fact alive (Surprise!), proving to him that when it comes to his family, he's still out of the loop. "We just got married. In my family, that's not even a headline for one hour," he complained to Gwen later. "Everyone's always on the brink of doing something terrible. And then they suck you in and beg for your help and take you for everything you've got. And you're still invisible in the end, until they need to prove to you that they're such a great parent or brother or whatever." Yep, that kind of sums it up.

Meanwhile, in an awesomely awkward, hilarious and realistic mom/reluctant-teen scene, Margo gave Casey a lecture about how he and Maddie are going to be alone a lot so he'd better keep his pants on. He was mortified to hear that out of his mother's mouth, but nevertheless began making out with Maddie the second Margo was out the door. She went to Hal's, where she was also shocked, but slightly amused to learn about the new Mr. and Mrs. Munson. The cops realized that the kids must have pulled some strings to get married when they're not 18. After briefly (hilariously) worrying that on top of everything else, they'd hitchhiked to Springfield, Hal wanted answers. Though Will and Gwen weren't saying, Margo realized that Casey must have had a hand in this. She got home and was exasperated to find the teens making out on the couch, but she was more upset about the fact that her son lied to his father to help Will and Gwen. "That's it," sighed Margo, admitting that while they're good kids, they tend to bring out the most reckless impulses in each other, so Maddie has to move out. Hal was making the opposite plea: he doesn't want Will and Gwen out on the streets, so they can stay as long as they like — and Gwen should call him Hal, not Mr. Munson. Though Gwen seemed ready to take care of Hal's every domestic need, Will was hoping to get them out of his dad's house as soon as possible. But Hal ended up realizing that his son is happy, and offering his heartfelt congratulations. Aww!

Katie admitted to Nick that she told Jack about Carly. He ordered her to tell Jack that she was wrong, but it was too late: the Snyders were having it out at home. "I did it for you, Jack. I know now that it was a mistake, but I can make it right," swore a tearful Carly, typically. Jack, typically, acted completely and utterly betrayed by his wife's shocking — shocking! — behavior, which was both emasculating and humiliating to him, especially because of Nick's involvement. But also typically, the fight itself was excellent, even if slightly over-reactionary. He finally said that their marriage would be dead if he find out that she did set Nick up, which she denied: "No, baby. Not even I could be that awful a person, not even for you," she seethed, earning a deserved apology from him. "I love you, Jack," she called, as he left. "I know," he responded curtly, before pausing at the door a moment later. "I love you, too." Carly thinks that will be enough, but he didn't look so sure. Once he was gone, Nick showed up to say it wasn't his idea to rat her out to Jack, but he also brought along the note she supposedly sent him. Carly was exhausted from the day and basically never wants to see Nick again. Jack headed straight to Hal's, and demanded to be put in charge of Nick's case — and to be given his desk back, while Hal's at it.

The guard brought Meg into the cell next to Paul's (explaining that the women's area was full) and ordered them not to speak to each other, then proceeded to pretty much ignore them for the rest of the day, during which Paul and Meg juggled visitors while skirting around the fact that they seem to have both done whatever they may or may not have done for each other, using cryptic phrases like "I made my choice ... I did what I had to do" (him) and "I took care of it for both of us" (her). Meg's visitors, meanwhile, included: her disappointed-but-supportive Mama Emma, who clearly blames Paul for everything that's gone wrong, and begged her to tell the truth; and a venomous Jennifer, who spewed the most hurtful things possible at her enemy, pushing all of Meg's Dusty buttons in hopes of at least recovering the body, while ignoring her brother's requests to leave Meg alone (though he did take notice when Meg announced that she'd never be over Dusty). "May God help you, Meg Snyder. I hope you don't have a minute's peace in this life.... You wanted him to have the vision of your face be the last thing that he saw on this Earth, but I was the only one that he saw in his heart," she finished. Chilling!

Monday, March 13, 2006
It was crazy random camera angle day in Oakdale (making us think the crew got a new toy recently), starting with a shot of Jack from above and to the side, making him tower weirdly over Parker, who showed up with a super-early Mother's Day gift that had arrived for Carly: a pink mug that said Best Wife And Mom. Jack then got a call from Katie, who defied Nick's request that she keep her mouth shut by summoning Snyder to the cottage to rat out Carly (in hopes of exonerating Nick). The incredulous cop's face grew pale as Katie detailed Carly's undercover work at the Galaxy Club and he recalled all the times he'd nearly caught his wife in her lies. She then implored him to help clear Nick's name. After Jack left, a gratuitously shirtless Nick came down to lament his terrible predicament, but Katie assured him everything would work out. Meanwhile, Carly was busy bugging Butch for Chardonnay's whereabouts and the truth about what really went down with Nick and the stripper — which she never meant to get so out of hand. He "don't know nothing about nothing" and roughly warned her to leave it alone, or she'd find herself dead. Defeated, she returned home with a wild, above-the-door angle, found Parker's mug and broke down. "No one ever has to know," she sobbed, clutching the mug with shaking hands as Jack came home, shutting the door on us like the end of The Godfather. Luckily, we were allowed a glimpse inside the Snyder home after a commercial break, as Jack reeled her in. Carly claimed her tears were out of joy for what her family did for her. "Let's not worry about what we did for you right now. Let's talk about what you did for me," he responded ominously.

Paul insisted to a frustrated Jennifer that he acted alone in killing Dusty, but claimed not to remember exactly where he'd buried the body. She didn't believe a word he said. "Why are you always underestimating me?" he asked, almost (but not quite) managing to keep a straight face while doing so. She quickly surmised that Meg had plenty of reason to want Dusty dead, but when Paul begged her not to blame Meg, Jen deduced that he's in love with the disgraced nurse. He sputtered something about caring for Meg before dismissing that line of questioning with "It's complicated." Not for a livid Jen, who stormed off after declaring that she will never forgive him ... now. At the Lakeview, Lisa fished for gossip from Hal when she let him into Meg's room to look for Dusty's personal items. Henry and Em were there, too (having implicated Meg as Paul's accomplice) and improbably stuck around to gloat when Meg arrived in time for Hal to find her bloody gloves. She was dragged in to jail, conveniently right past Paul's cell. At the same time, Emily once again denied Henry access to his money, claiming she was holding on to his cash until justice was served — and Meg and Paul are both in prison for good.

A vertigo-inducing shot of Gwen and Will from above brought us to Hal's townhouse, where Will complained about his father's unsupportive behavior of late. The newlyweds chatted about her grimy living conditions at Iris's house and his old BRADY BUNCH existence at the Munson house (nice little nod to Jesse Soffer's role as Bobby in the Brady Bunch movies) as they tidied up the messy house. Hal soon got home and thanked them, but insisted it wouldn't change his mind about the tough-love stance. That's when Will broke the news: "I've taken my life in my own hands ... Gwen is my wife."

2005 recaps