Friday, September 1, 2006
Tom and Margo, soaps' most realistic parental unit, determined that cell phones weren't working at Raven Lake which is why they hadn't heard from Casey. Margo didn't think that was much of an excuse because she's suffering from premature "empty nest" syndrome, and she's still worried about Louis being out there. (She had hilariously gone up to his room to "excavate" and found some moldy old plates under his bed and also some overdue college paperwork that her son had ignored.) "If he wasn't up at Raven Lake right now, I'd chase him around the house with a stick," said Mom, clearly missing her son. At least she'll get to tell him that "Maddie is off the hook," she reasoned. Tom promised to remind her how much she missed Casey tomorrow, when he's already driving her nuts again. Cut to Casey, still presumably dead in the woods. Elsewhere at the camp, a screaming Gwen was dragged off by the slasher. She managed to fight off him/her, but ended up getting stabbed in the thigh. Will tracked her down by following the trail of flip-flops and shrieks, then saved her life by chasing off the slasher. "Please don't leave me," she begged, when it looked like he might continue his pursuit. "I could never leave you — don't you know that?" he said, taking her into his arms. They made it to the relative safety of a gardener's shed and Gwen noted that Maddie wouldn't have attacked them, and besides, the slasher seemed bigger and stronger than their friend. "If it is Maddie, and I'm not saying it is, then she's gone completely insane," noted Will, somewhat unnecessarily. Gwen guessed that the killer was the guy with binoculars that Geneva saw (who we know was Louis). Will sweetly tended to his wife's wounds and she said that she trusted him. "I never thought I'd hear that from you again," he said, assuring her that he'd carry her all the way home if he needed to. All of his heroics prompted her to apologize for not defending him when he was the slasher suspect. Forgiveness was a given from Will, who declared his love and leaned in to kiss his wife.

The "in crowd" teens — now including third INTURN finalist Ian — took off on the bus, leaving a screaming Maddie behind with Ann's body. But in the bus, they all argued about what to do next. Ian, who seems to be a bit of a vigilante, wanted to turn around and deal with psycho Maddie so that she couldn't evade the cops. One of the other girls — Ada? — actually wondered whether Maddie's even guilty, and pointed out that they were all too terrified to turn back. "I'm not scared of Maddie Coleman," he creepily intoned. Maddie was a the lake by Alex's body, reflecting in sepia-tones on Casey's loving and supportive words from earlier in the day. Soon, she was sobbing. That's when Ian, having been dropped off, showed up. He started by weirdly introducing himself, as she held up an oar to protect herself. He picked up his own oar and fingered it creepily as he talked about how close he was with Alex (Ironic! If you've been watching INTURN, that is). Finally, Ian announced his intention to avenge his friends' deaths. She fled through the darkness and hid in a boathouse, while Louis lurked behind a tree nearby, still using his binoculars.

At the station, Henry, Jack and Dallas discussed Louis's whereabouts. Henry sincerely thanked Dallas for his efforts to help Maddie. "I just wish I could have figured the whole thing out a little sooner," said the cop, but Henry assured him that Louis would be found. Jack then asked about Maddie; Henry responded that Eve had taken their sister to stay with their other sister, Bernadette. Jack and Dallas wanted to track down the Coleman sisters in case they needed protection from Louis, so they asked Henry to call Maddie. He managed to get Eve on the phone, but there was a lot of static on the line. The siblings quickly determined that Maddie — who had told each of them that she was with the other — was missing; Jack quickly deduced that Maddie was wherever Casey is. At the Hughes house, Tom and Margo filled in Jessica on the whole Louis/Maddie situation, but Margo was still distracted by concerns about Casey and Maddie, who she called "the daughter I never had." The women then discussed how it's possible to suffer a sexual assault and "come out stronger on the other side." Jessica then went to the station, where she assured a guilty Dallas that there was nothing more he could have done and called him her "favorite nephew. But don't tell your brother." So is he her sister Fiona's kid or her brother Lamar's? (Because Fiona has two boys, neither of whom was named Dallas.) Meanwhile, Tom and Margo told Jack and Henry where all the kids went. They were trying to figure out what to do when Dallas rushed in to say he'd just gotten a call that someone was killing kids at Raven Lake.

Maddie hid from a justice-minded, oar-swinging Ian, who got caught by the slasher before he could kill her. Maddie found his body seconds after running away from him. The dazed girl had gone back to apologize and pledge her love to Casey's body when Louis finally decided to show his face. Though she tried to run, he caught up with Maddie, who accused him of being the slasher, but he insisted he didn't kill anyone. But before he could name the real killer, Louis was stabbed in the back.

Thursday, August 31, 2006
At Raven Lake, Maddie was crouching over Casey's presumed-dead body when the slasher showed up. After first begging him/her to stop the madness, she took off in hysterics. Meanwhile, Will found a screaming Gwen and sweetly held her tight while comforting and staring at Geneva's corpse. Gwen fretted that she'd given Gen her sweatshirt, so Will worried that maybe the slasher had mixed them up. They ran back to the other teens, who teased them about all the screaming, before listening to the news that Geneva "the marshmallow goddess" had been stabbed. "Do we look like we're joking?" asked Gwen, when they didn't believe it. "You better be — my dad's gonna kill me," responded the OLTL's Riley-lookalike. Will coolly took charge of the group and they were trying to figure out how to escape when Maddie ran up, covered in blood. She swore she hadn't killed anyone, then started babbling about how Casey is dead and it's her fault before going creepily silent as Gwen and Will tried unsuccessfully to get through to her. They then went off to call for help, leaving Maddie to her impromptu teenaged jury. Moving as a unified mass, the teens instantly tried and convicted her based on the admittedly mounting evidence (plus she was never part of the "in" crowd anyway) and debated what to do about it as they slowly, ominously circled the totally zombied-out girl, who kneeled in the center and sort of swayed, her bloody hands hanging limply by her side. It looked like something out of Lord Of the Flies. Especially when — we swear! — one of them grabbed a forked branch, poked Maddie until she got up and then guided her along with it like a prisoner being led to some sort of primitive Ewok penitentiary. And just like that, this whole wacky slasher story arc went all awesomely dark and trippy. As night fell, the paranoid procession really lost it when they found poor dead INTURN Alex (last seen falling out of a closet by poor dead Zak and Ann) tied to a keg that was floating in the lake. The roving pack finally decided to leave Maddie as she hugged her knees next to Alex's corpse — and promising that they would hurt her if she tried to follow. (Herd mentality at its best!) By the time they got to the school bus, where they found and gathered around Ann's body, they looked like they might start chanting. Instead, they climbed into the bus to flee. Maddie, having apparently snapped out of her catatonia, chased after them, begging to be allowed onto the escape vehicle. So, for an update on the massacre: poor Casey still looked dead; No sign of Jade; Gwen and Will made their way through the darkness and, after a scare in which Will was briefly knocked out, Gwen was attacked from behind by the slasher.

As Tom and Margo enjoyed a romantic night, he was ironically content in the knowledge that Casey was "safe" at Raven Lake, but Margo was worried, since Louis is still on the loose. Kim showed up to drop off a graduation/pre-college gift for Casey; she was disappointed to hear the he was out, and then realized she was horning in on the Hughes's child-free evening. Before she took off, she asked for an update on the slasher story, but Margo had no news. When Kim heard that Casey was at Raven Lake, she worried that there might be conflict with Will.

At the Raven Lake-vicinity hospital, Luke and Liv got an update on Kevin's condition. Kev was actually doing okay, and civilly thanked Luke for saving his life, even apologizing for his homophobic rant (though he made it clear he's not exactly cool with Luke being gay). Liv returned to report that her parents totally "freaked out" upon hearing of Kevin's accident, but they should be pleased that she's still breathing. She took off again to make more calls, and by the end of the day, Kev and Luke were actually joking around like old times.

Barbara met Dusty for drinks and a chat at the Lakeview. After she self-pitied about Will and Gwen's separation, he filled her in on the latest news about Paul and Craig. Babs defended her eldest son, noting that they should really be worried about Lucy, especially because she let Jennifer die, so Dusty defended Lucy. Barbara wasn't convinced.

Lucinda met Lucy at Java to wave a literal white flag (actually, it was a handkerchief) and apologize for being so pushy with her granddaughter and Dusty. Instead, Lucy thanked her — because her nosy matchmaking helped to break the ice — but told her not to expect too much. Grandma Walsh, who is oddly invested in this whole thing, was delighted to hear about Dusty's latest heroics. Lucy thought that it was too soon for the widower to get involved with someone else. Lucinda basically urged her to seize the day, because you never know what will happen tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006
At Raven Lake, Gwen happened upon Will and Jade admiring their praying mantis (which Will ID'd as female) and turned right around to walk away again. Jade and Will next tried to comfort a bummed Luke, who just wanted to be alone, still smarting from Kevin's homophobic tirade. He wanted to go find Gwen after that, but Jade made sure guilt him about making her feel like she's "not good enough" before huffing off down the trail alone. As the stalker lurked behind him, Luke sadly watched Kevin prove to Liv that he would never "switch teams" with a kiss. Soon, he fell in the water, and she poked at him with an oar. Liv accidentally knocked Kev in the head. He passed out and disappeared under water. Luke dove in to save him (thus missing death by slasher), then frantically performed CPR while Liv went to get the car. Kevin spat up some water and opened his eyes briefly, then passed out again.

Casey urged Maddie to leave before anyone else spotted her. Too late: Louis was watching through binoculars. INTURN finalist Geneva, a.k.a. "Bikini girl," had a creepy moment with Louis as he ran after Maddie. She reported the pervert to Gwen, who hobbled off with her to tell everyone. After that, Geneva went to the cabin to load up on bags of marshmallows. (Gwen almost went with her, but was stopped by another teen who wanted to compliment her singing, thus saving her life again). Gwen gave an impromptu concert at the campfire circle, and Will continued to make inroads towards a reconciliation with her. At the same time, poor Geneva was still juggling bags of marshmallows. The slasher appeared and helpfully picked up a dropped bag, then killed her. Gwen found her there. The first clue? A bloody marshmallow — dead Geneva was positively covered in the sticky treats. Gwen looked like she might heave.

When Maddie chased after Casey, a knife fell out of her bag. After she managed to convince him that she's being framed by Louis —who raped her and who she now believes to be the killer — she and Casey sweetly reconnected in one of the cabins as she (finally!) told him the truth about how she's been feeling this whole time as she's pushed him away: she didn't want to face the memories of her rape, she worried that she might be the killer and she wanted to protect him. When they found Zak's corpse outside, it was Casey's turn; he ordered her to run ahead so he could put himself between her and the killer. But when she turned around moments later, she couldn't see him. When she went looking for him with an ax, a bloody Casey fell down at her feet, seemingly dead.

Carly assured Jack that she doesn't mind him taking the kids to their first day of school and they amicably talked some more about parental minutia before a messenger dropped off a bottle of wine; Carly waited half a second before sneaking a peek at the card, learning that the present was a thank you from Eve. After Jack told her who it was from, Carly confessed that she'd read the note; he wasn't surprised. "Have the kids met her?" she asked. "We haven't gone to the drive-in, if that's what you mean," he responded coolly, before assuring her that there's nothing going on with Eve. He found it weird to be discussing another woman's attraction to him. (A woman whose name isn't Julia, he should have clarified.) She thought it was a sign that they should move forward with the divorce; he agreed and they casually and cordially discussed arrangements, even though it was clear that they were both hoping the other would object. After they settled their plans to call a lawyer, Carly headed to Java, where ran into Simon and confided in him. He pointed out that the divorce was inevitable, but she was uncomfortable with such a defeatist attitude. He offered to get her good and drunk to get over it, but she decided to stick with coffee and asked to be left alone. A bummed Jack shared a glass of his wine with Holden, then poured the rest down the sink.

Paul showed up at the Snyder Barn with flowers and Svengali-like declaration of love. "Okay, what's Emily done now?" she asked, seeing right through him. He admitted that he's trying to get Craig to sell The Intruder, and she wasn't thrilled that his reason is to save Emily from stress. He finally charmed her into agreeing that his helping Em via Craig is a good thing, and they finished the day with a literal roll in the hay. "It used to take you days to figure out that I was right about everything," he said, positively gleeful to have his Svengali charms so finely tuned. She took a peek under the sheet when he rolled over to get a ring box. He then proposed again, and this time she said yes. He slid the ring on her finger and she nearly pulled a Janet Jackson as her blanket slipped perilously low.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006
At Raven Lake, Will was frolicking with the football in the sunshine (shirtless, the better to work on at least a hint of a tan) as the poignant, we're-having-such-a-wholesome-carefree-time-that-there-can't-possibly-be-a-psycho-killer-lurking music played. On the sidelines, Casey tended to Gwen's twisted ankle while Maddie eavesdropped, seemingly annoyed by their closeness. Will continued to try to talk to Gwen, who seemed to be softening toward her husband. Meanwhile, Zak and Ann found poor dead Alex in the closet, and in their terror to run away from the corpse, ended up meeting their own bloody fates with the slasher. Casey and Gwen found Alex's inhaler and wondered where he, Zak and Ann went, but also discussed how the time spent camping has made their "friends" so unlikable. That's when the guy who looks like OLTL's Riley came in to recruit Casey for campfire duty. Walking alone on the trail outside, Gwen looked around nervously as someone watched her.

Jade excoriated Kevin for his piggishness on Luke's behalf. Luke sent her away so he could be alone with Kevin, who acted disgusted that Luke is gay and barely resisted punching him in the face before stomping off through the woods. (Which made us hope they brought along some bug spray, because they're all gonna end up with Lyme disease, but Gwen pleased us later by getting out the mosquito spray.) After his cruel rejection, Luke commiserated with a sympathetic Will, who was later walking down a path alone when Jade came breathlessly trotting down from the woods to find him. She claimed that she's worried about Luke's troubles. He pointed out that he'd heard the story from Luke himself while she was off looking for Will, "which kind of blows a hole in your whole, 'I'm only here for Luke' story," he noted, before telling her that Luke is stronger than Jade thinks, but agreed to help her look for him anyway. Gwen jealously spotted them admiring a bug together. Meanwhile, Casey was stacking wood when Maddie walked up, startling him, and said she has to tell him everything. Louis spied on them with binoculars.

When Emma talked about how Luke might meet a nice girl while he's at the lake, Holden finally told his mama that Luke is gay. Emma's initial, stunned reaction had him thinking the worst, but she was most annoyed that everyone in the family — even comatose Lily! — has known for awhile but her. So, in that way, she and Lily had something in common with their reactions. "You have this thing where boys are boys and girls are girls and we have to be careful around Luke now," argued Holden. "Was I okay at the hospital, when he asked if his mother was ever going to wake up? Was I okay then?" she asked, deeply offended that her son thinks she's so judgmental. Emma later tearfully confided to Meg that she worries that Luke won't be happy. Meg took the moment to bring up Emma's judgemental attitude about her relationship with Paul, and called her on her treatment of Holden. "He's my grandson. I love him, and it doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me" that Luke's gay, clarified Emma, before voicing her faith that Holden will help his son get through anything — as luck would have it, Holden overheard, and apologized to her. They were making up while Luke, at Raven Lake, was being called a "faggot" by a drunk Kevin.

At Java, Lucy met with Paul, who was trying to charm her into pressuring Craig about selling the paper. Dusty happened upon them and immediately went into protective mode, warning Lucy that Paul would only hurt her. She indignantly ordered Dusty to butt out, and Paul attempted to explain. All of this naturally made it more annoying for Dusty, who thinks it's his business "because I saved [her]" from guys like Craig and Paul. Lucy made a point of promising Paul she'd help in any way, then told Dusty she can take care of herself. There was even a nice (and frankly, expected) nod to Paul's help in bringing Lucy to Williams for the first time to check it out (back when she had long hair, tiny skirts and that little crush on him). Once they both cooled off a bit, she accepted that he's just worried about her, because he's seen what Paul can do. "But I like thinking I can take care of myself," she said. "That's delusional," he teased. Lucy later urged him not to dwell on Jennifer's pain, but on her happiness. She also admitted that it was nice to know he still cares. "Of course I do, Princess," he blurted.

Henry and Emily finally reconnected at the Lakeview, where they exchanged tender, funny ribbings of concern and friendship regarding their various problems. "You're not gonna believe this, but Paul and I are actually in a good place," she said. "He's dead?" he joked, before she reassured him that she's doesn't have any more "pangs" about what could have been with Paul. Henry thanked her for being kind to his family's plights in The Intruder; she offered to help go after Louis. "He's already hurt two gals that are very dear to me, and I don't want to go for the triple play," he said, burying a nice compliment while declining. Together, they worked on sullying Louis's name in the paper. "Nobody messes with the people I love and get away with it," she said, letting her own little compliment slip out.

Monday, August 28, 2006
Raven Lake was positively teeming with all the "teen" extras, all of whose names were just three little letters (the better to keep the scripts neat and the call sheets short, we suspect). Liz and Ada were flirting with Kevin and discussing Luke being a loser when Luke showed up, hoping to talk to Kev, who was too busy with the bikini-clad girls. Meanwhile, Gwen was still livid over spotting Jade at the campground. Though Luke tried to intervene on Will's behalf (nice to see them all interacting again for one of the first times since their barn-burning days) by noting that Jade came with him, Gwen wouldn't hear of it and stomped off. Will asked Luke to keep Jade away from his wife, while he chased after her. At the beach, Zak tried to stir up trouble by implying that Gwen would be getting into her own skimpy bikini for Casey (who objected); Ann, of all people, defended Gwen, saying she's in love with her hubby. Seconds later, the boys tired of that discussion, told her the lake was haunted and tossed her in the water — as someone spied on them all. The spy's interest quickly turned to a nearby Gwen and Will, who were still arguing about their marriage (Will pleaded with her to give him another chance because he loves her so much and expressed jealousy about Casey), while from another perspective, the slasher suited up for slaying. Later, Casey stretched out on the beach and daydreamed about Maddie — literally beaming with light — kissing him when Ann woke him up, snootily told him her sarong was "couture" and engaged him in a watergun fight. The fight was interrupted by another dude, who seemed smitten with Ann, looked kind of like Jay Wilkison (ex-Riley, OLTL) and invited them to a touch football game. Luke managed to convince Kevin to break away long enough to talk to him about bailing on the double date. They snuck off to the cabin, where Luke nervously came out with it (as it were): "I'm gay." A speechless Kevin just pushed past him and walked out the door and didn't talk to him again, until surprising Luke by casually inviting him to the game. Unfortunately, Kev later called Luke a freak. Will was looking for Gwen when Jade ran into him; he ordered her to just turn around and walk away, but she urged him to support Luke. Will assured her he would, and Luke knows it. Before the football game, Casey and Gwen stopped by their bunk, which they were sharing with Zak, Ann and a geeky hypochondriac named Alex (played by INTURN finalist Alex). Hilariously, there was a lot of in-and-out action from the cabin (meaning studio to location shoot and back again), during which those who stepped out the door seemed to instantly show up about 20 feet from it on the outside.

Carly was toying with a naked Simon by hanging onto his clothes, but he tired of that game quickly and simply stepped out from behind the pile of equipment (where he'd been modestly shielding his bottom half) to take them from her, giving her an eyeful in the process. That's when Mike walked in, and Simon mischievously let him think the worst. Carly fell all over herself trying to explain things to an uninterested Mike, who got a call from Katie and took off with a casual "take care of yourself" to Carly. Once he was gone, Carly gave Simon the what-for for messing with her reputation, and accused him of using her to get to Katie (again). He denied all and begged forgiveness (again). At the cottage, Katie was waiting for her husband to come home and start making a baby when Carly showed up to over-clarify the scene that Mike walked in on. By the time she was done explaining, she'd really only piqued Katie's interest (a.k.a. jealousy), as Mike arrived and again didn't really care what Carly was up to with Simon. Katie clearly did, because suddenly she was out of the baby-making mood, and her husband called her on it. Meanwhile, Simon found Carly at Java and they made up (without kissing).

Margo came home to find Tom alone, taking advantage of the "empty house" to get some work done. She took the moment to confide in her husband about how Maddie's assault case is stirring up old memories about her rape, as well as her frustration about Louis's disappearance. Tom took the rest of the afternoon off to sweetly take care of his wife. Margo was just glad the kids were safe at Raven Lake.

Ah, irony! At Raven Lake, all the kids were heading off to the game when Alex mentioned that he felt like someone was watching him — and he wasn't wrong. The slasher snuck into the cabin as Gwen came back for better shoes, then changed her mind, thus escaping certain death. Alex wasn't so lucky: when he returned for his inhaler, he got his throat slit. A horrified Zak and Ann found him in the closet later. At the game, Will and Casey ended up being named team captains. Casey urged Gwen to give Will a chance; Will chose Gwen first for his team. An upset-looking Maddie spied on them all from behind a tree.

2005 recaps