Friday, April 29, 2005
Roman and Marlena explain to John and Kate how they were "rescued" by a Japanese trawler and taken to a castle in Europe were they were held prisoner by Tony for months. John thinks it's impossible: he killed Tony. Roman explains that Tony survived, but that he took Tony out for REAL this time. John swears that he and Roman have had this conversation before, like three or four times. Marlena questions John about her kids. Did Sami make amends with Lucas after their wedding was canceled? When John wonders how Doc knew that, Roman says that Tony "tortured" them with bad news tidbits from Salem, but neglects to mention that Roman and Marlena SAW John and Kate's sexcapades on live video feed. John questions if Tony is really dead. Even though the castle was on fire and exploded, if Roman didn't SEE Tony's dead body, John isn't buying it. The foursome decide to head back to the penthouse. Roman grabs Kate's hand and realizes she's not wearing the ring he gave her, but a big, honking diamond, instead. John admits he gave Kate that ring. They're engaged.

Shawn, Brady, Lucas and Rex are en route to the desert to rescue Philip, but instead of discussing strategy, they talk about their love lives. (Strange, but true.) The pilot announces that their plane can't land on their designated target, so the quartet will have to parachute down behind enemy lines. While Shawn, Brady and Lucas are all for the idea, Rex, who IS the brainiest of the bunch, says, "Are you crazy?" Brady leads a prayer before they all jump; then, down they go. Rex admits it was fun, "in a funny FEAR FACTOR sort of way." Super Brady takes off, first, while Shawn, Lucas and Rex load their guns and prepare for their mission.

Philip begs for water, but his captor refuses to give him a drop. Sami/Stan arrives at the bunker where Philip is being held. Although she doesn't understand her assignment, she realizes it's the price she must pay to exact her revenge on everyone in Salem. The guards, who hadn't a clue Sami/Stan was coming, "welcome" him by pointing a gun in his face. Sami/Stan tries to explain, to no avail. Assuming Sami/Stan is a spy, the guards take him prisoner with Philip. Sami/Stan remembers happy times with Lucas fearing the end is near, and Philip offers little comfort. It's just a matter of time before they're both killed

Jack erupts when he sees Patrick near Jennifer and attacks him. Hope and Jennifer break up the fight. Tony tells Jennifer he can't believe she let "that snake" back into her life. Jack accuses Patrick of working for Tony, who's still alive and had been holding him captive. Jack explains about his earlier escape, faux Jennifer and being re-captured by Tony and Bart. Jack is convinced Patrick had to be part of the set-up. Patrick denies it, and Hope and Jennifer buy it. Hope turns the conversation towards Bo. She has to find him and asks Jennifer where's he's gone. Jennifer tells Hope about Georgia's bloody sweater and that Bo and Billie have taken off to find her. Hope's reaction: Can you spell L-I-V-I-D? Hope vows to find Bo and promises to make that "manipulative, selfish witch" Billie pay if anything happens to him.

Bo and Billie are taunted by a doll calling out, "Mama." Billie's sure it means Georgia is in trouble, but it's actually her. Suddenly, Billie falls through a trap door and into a pit. After Bo squabbles with Billie about getting him into another fine mess and ignoring his warnings to be careful, Bo attempts to rescue Billie with a makeshift rope. But as Bo is pulling Billie up to safety, another trap door opens — Holy Cow, Batman! — and he falls into the pit, too. As Bo lies unconscious, the trap door closes and Billie realizes that Bo was right. They WERE set up.

Thursday, April 28, 2005
Jack, Jennifer, and Abby bonded at the hospital sans sleepy Jack Junior. Over at the loft, Belle and Mimi were wringing their hands over Shawn and Rex's predicament again and Belle took a break to complain about her dad's choice in live-in girlfriends. Meanwhile, at the snazzy airport lounge, John-boy and Katie-girl were making out as Roman and Marlena approached their mystery couple...an elderly pair (What's next, seeing their milkman and hairstylist instead of their spouses?). Roman ordered some tequila for himself...and the audience...with John still a few feet away. Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Patrick and Hope were coming back from a crucial Starbucks run and wondering where Bo and Billie were. That would be in some bushes outside the Mysterious Address that had accompanied Georgia's Bloody Sweater (our prop of the week). Back at the loft, Belle and Meems seemed to have differing opinions on having Kate as a monster-in-law...until Mimi had her "I lied to Rex" angst for the day and realized Kate would make her life Hell for it. Belle got in a good shot about Kate's multiple marriages and parenting skills, asking, "Who is she to judge anyone?" Meow! Claws in! At the Lounge of Near Misses, Roman kissed Doc for old times sake and freaked her out. He apologized as, very nearby, John thoroughly checked out Kate's tonsils. Meanwhile, Hope and the sadly-not-shirtless-for-once Patrick were still looking for Bo and Billie. They had a Days recap of their own after Pat made a hokey comment about the fame of "Salem's Great Couples" and Hope listed them all, even giving him the abridged version of John/Marlena/Roman. Bo and Billie were still in the bushes arguing about what to do and how to do it and Billie got huffy about Georgia being in danger...which would be easier to take if we hadn't seen her bury a stillborn baby in the bayou a few years back. The duo busted into the house guns-a-blazin'...and found lots of drop cloths. Meanwhile, Jack produced Abby's birthday cake and the Deveraux clan (minus Junior) blew out the candles.

Near the Salem Air ticket counter, Roman went off to call Shane and Kate left for strategic purposes, too. John raged at his eight-ball topped cane and then...yes...wait for it...he finally saw Marlena! No tricks! No fake-outs! She rose, tears streaming down her face, and he lurched toward her. They embraced, sobbing. "Hold me, hold me, hold me," Marlena pleaded. And John did, did, did. Kate's strategic exit time over, she returned and reeled as she saw the very-alive Doc embracing John. But, wait, the surprises kept on coming! There was Roman. Kate almost passed out but Roman assured her he was real, urging, "You just come here and kiss me." So, she did. Passionately. And John and Marlena did that, too. Passionately (technically, all four of them have now shared saliva. Ewwww). Jack savored cake, digging into it with his fingers, as Jen encountered Hope and still-not-shirtless Patrick while on a search for forks. Jen gave them the good news and the cousins hugged while Patrick looked less than thrilled about Jack's return. Hope joined the less-than-happy train herself when she realized that Bo and Billie had gone off to look for Georgia. Again. Which meant more couch time for Bo. Again. Over at the Mysterious Address, Bo and Billie continued to search and just when they were about to leave empty-handed, a cry of "mama" made Billie run back in and plow through a closed door. She gaped at a creepy doll hanging from the ceiling and when she went to get a better look, fell through a trap door and hit the floor at a very broken angle. Ow. Also "ow"-ing was Patrick because while Jack and Abby ate frosting and chatted, she let slip that Jen and Patrick had gotten kind of close. So, when Jack spotted Pat in Jen's general vicinity outside the room, he attacked him! The two went down to the floor as Hope and Jen stood by, helpless to stop the blatant territorial male display. The foursome at the airport was having somewhat better luck...or were they? "We have so much to explain," Marlena murmured in the face of John and Kate's bewildered questions. And a passive-aggressive Roman intoned that he was sure John-boy and Katie-girl had things to tell them, too. He stared at them in an almost hostile fashion as they looked Very Guilty...

Wednesday, April 27, 2005
At Ghoul Girl's Cut-o-rama Clinic, Nicole was all set to foil Chloe's operation. "Oops," she giggled, playing with a scalpel as Chloe mooned over a posed Glamour Shot of Brady and Nancy warned her of the risks for the 1,245th time. Nancy pointed out that Brady had loved her when she had leukemia and was bald and Chloe flashed back to herself in a snappy wig and Brady promising his love. Over at the nurses' desk, the Naughty Nurse grew alarmed at the prospect of being taken off the next day's surgery and did a quick tap dance to keep the assisting gig and avoid Nancy's notice (again!). But when the legit nurse talked about facial reconstruction surgery, Nicole got a bit green around the gills. In her room, sedated (and scarred!) Chloe was having a nightmare where her scars were even more spectacularly nasty after her surgery (someone borrowed Freddie Krueger's prosthetics!). Dream Brady assured her that she would always be beautiful to him. He kissed her and her scars disappeared. Awww. Nicole lurked outside as Chloe mumbled ecstatically and strengthened her resolve to screw up the surgery.

Jack arrived at the hospital with cake as Jen prayed at Abby's bedside. Tragically headband-aged Abby stirred and saw her dad over Jen's shoulder. Jen assumed Abby was loopy from the crash but Jack spoke and Jen realized it really was him in the flesh. Cake left out in the rain, the two embraced. "I didn't die, I'm here," he soothed. The trio cried and bonded and Jack tried to shake off thoughts of the evil fake Jennifer from his prior escape. "You are a young lady, aren't you?" Jack noticed of 17-year-old Abby, wistfully. Then, he remembered the birthday cake — which had mysteriously disappeared when he hugged Jen (possibly hitting the floor in the doorway). That ways okay, though, because Abby already had her wish: her father back. After some prodding from his two best girls, Jack gave them the short short version of his adventures at Castle Doom, telling them that Roman, Marlena, and Cassie had lived but Tony, Bart, Caroline, and Victor couldn't possibly have survived. Never mind that, by now, Salem residents were cornering the market on back-from-the-dead sales at Saks. Maggie joined Jack, Jen, and Abby and enthused that there would be much celebrating in Salem. Shortly thereafter, uncle Mickey brought in the criminally adorable Jack Jr. to see his daddy. Jack took the bouncing boy into his arms and the happy Deveraux family snuggled together as the seriously cute Junior stared up at Jack and even smiled...

At the airport, John flashed some major bling at Kate to seal his proposal. "Everything is gonna be fine," he told Katie-girl. "You're the only man for me now," Kate whispered. Unbeknownst to them but knownst to us, Roman and Marlena were just a few feet away. John slipped the engagement ring on Kate's finger and she obligingly took off Roman's ring so he could do it right. Kate hoped that Belle would accept her and the newly engaged duo digressed for a moment about getting the Infant Army back from the desert safely. Just as Roman and Marlena decided to get themselves home despite their lack of spending money, a guard came up and told them that "The" Shane Donovan of the ISA needed them to wait for his call. Roman and Doc decided to go up to the surprisingly posh airport lounge and knock back a round waiting for Shane to ring. Except they didn't have any cash for drinks. But, hey, they would improvise! Naturally, Kate and John were already at the lounge. John mentioned that he used to come there with Marlena and she loved the French fries. Cue a flashback to John groping Doc inappropriately near some potted plants. As Doc and Roman arrived, she had the same exact Meaningful Flashback with the '80s hairdo and tush-touching, picking up exactly where John's had left off. Now, that's love! After faking out the audience and seeing an old friend/waiter who could comp their meal instead of John and Kate, Roman and Marlena were seated. Roman and Marlena ended up ordering their own Flashback Fries — tragically lacking in 80s hair (and Wayne Northrup). Roman pointed out that Marlena had done a lot of things with him first that she did with John later. Across the room, a waiter thoroughly embarrassed John and Katie-girl by making them stand up and applauding their engagement. Of course, people were blocking Roman and Doc's view. Still, Roman couldn't shake the feeling that the couple he could barely see was familiar. Doc urged him to go congratulate the pair and find out why. And he moved toward the table, pointing intensely...

Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Nancy catches Nicole, who's disguised as a nurse, red handed with Chloe's medical file. Nancy barks at Nicole like a pit bull, demands an explanation, or threatens to report her to her superiors. Crafty Nicole talks her way out of it, and Nancy leaves. Desperate to come up with a plan to botch Chloe's reconstructive surgery, so she'll never tell Brady she's alive, Nicole gets idea. She holds a surgical instrument in her hand and vows to do what she has to do.

Tony's hostages are on a plane and minutes away from Salem. Jack tells Cassie he "thinks" it's his daughter's 17th birthday, today. No Father Of The Year award for him. Marlena tells Roman she's worried that their families lives have changed too much since they've been gone and that they won't be able to fit into them. Then, there's the little problem that John and Kate are now lovers, while Marlena and Roman have done the deed, too. The plane lands and Roman tells Jack and Cassie to head straight home, he'll handle immigration. (So much for Homeland Security!)

While John and Kate wait for the mystery jet to arrive at the airport, they discuss their feelings. John tells Kate he loves her, again, and Kate's eyes fill with tears as she admits she's fallen head over heels for him, too. When they learn the plane that landed isn't carrying Rex, Brady, Lucas and Shawn, John and Kate prepare to leave, but John collapses. John recovers with record speed and decides he has to ask Kate to marry him, then and there. John pulls out a major rock of an engagement ring, and Kate accepts his proposal. As they kiss, Roman and Marlena, who are walking by watch them from a distance. Marlena comments on the happy couple that's so much in love, they have to kiss at the airport. "I love that," she squeals.

Abby wakes up in her hospital room and tells her mom how much she loves her and apologies for the brat she's been. Abby recounts a dream she just had about celebrating her birthday with her mom, baby brother and dearly departed dad. At that moment, Jack arrives home and shocks the daylights out of Mickey, who sends him to the hospital to see Jennifer and Abby. Soon, Jack shows up where an equally shocked Maggie hands him Abby's birthday cake and tells him to carry it into his daughter's room; it will be the best surprise ever.

Bo and Billie take off on another wild goose chase to find Georgia and, yet again, Bo worries how Hope is going to react. (You'd think the guy would have a clue by now!) Billie thinks it's worth keeping Hope in the dark if it means saving Georgia, but she's tired of competing for his time with Hope. Billie tells Bo to turn the car around and head home, so she can drop him off and search for Georgia alone. Bo relents and says, "No. Georgia needs me." Billie and Bo pull up to the house they've been looking for and Bo wonders if it's a trap.

Monday, April 25, 2005
At Nip/Tuck Central (a.k.a Chloe's clinic)...a worried Nancy looked for a wayward Chloe and she admitted she'd been lurking over at St. Luke's and listening to Brady wax poetic about the future they could have had. As they talked about her surgery and its magic cure for her romantic problems, a surgical scrubs-clad Nicole listened in and schemed. A friendly floor nurse offered to introduce "Nurse Baxter" to one of the patients on the next day's docket and Nicole coughed and hacked her way through a quick intro. to Chloe before vowing to herself that there was no way Brady was going to dump her, no matter what Nancy kept saying. Especially if she switched the x-rays that the doctor would use for proper imaging in the morning...and just as the crafty Nicole moved to do that, Nancy bustled in, shouting, "What do you think you're doing?" Meanwhile, at the Salem airport, an angry Belle lashed out at Kate, blaming her for the Band of Brothers-and-Cousins ill-advised rescue plan...and Mimi spoke for the audience, wondering exactly how the boys were going to pull off something that the ISA couldn't. John, distracted by the uncooperative airport security, came back over in time to catch both Belle and Meems unloading on Kate for sitting on the truth. "That's enough!" he snarled...and a grossed-out Belle realized that John and Kate were going steady. "We shared the same horrible pain," he told his little girl. "You're making a huge mistake," she warned before stalking off to the loft with Mimi in tow. While the girls checked out a questionably edited but very moving video Rex left on his laptop for Mimi and cried a lot, John reassured Kate that he didn't want to call things off, that he wanted her in his life because he'd fallen in love with her. Though Kate was pacified, she couldn't quite get her mind off of her sons and their peril. John agreed to table romantic discussions so they could get the boys "home in one piece." They hugged and the airport people told them that a private jet was radioing the tower. Could that be the Band, turning around because they'd gotten some sense?

No, in fact, the occupants of the plane were none other than Marlena, Roman, Cassie and Jack, finally away from Castle Doomera, where Tony was probably buried under a mountain of rubble and very dead (for at least a day or two). They were eager to return and Jack revealed that he thought it was Abby's 17th birthday (understandable confusion since she was 11 or so last year). While Jack had a bittersweet fantasy of returning home and surprising Jennifer and Abby, Roman and Marlena were preoccupied with their castle sexcapades and John and Kate's own Candid Camera romp. Would their spouses be happy to see them? Should they tell them about the hot castle lovin'? Marlena definitely wanted to spill, but Roman asked her to promise she wouldn't. During the equal parts sexy and sweet fantasy of Jack's and the icky parental sex discussion, a lucky Cassie was asleep in the back of the plane. She even missed the plane's descent towards Salem, as Roman, Marlena, and Jack stared out the windows, anticipating seeing all their loved ones again...

But at the hospital, some of those very loved ones had other things on their minds — and, in Abby's case, on their heads. The teen awoke with a gauze headband that clashed with her hospital gown, but thankfully Jennifer was there to offer moral support and to tell her that Chelsea's parents had died horribly while Chels herself was in critical condition. A stuffed animal from Jack soothed the mega-harsh news and mom and daughter wished Jack could be there. Also wishing for presumed-dead family were Billie and Bo, who clashed over Georgia's bloody sweater (taking over for Jan's Rock as Visual Aid of the Week). Bo sent the sweater off to be tested for Georgia's DNA and then a quick search of the bag it came in revealed a luggage tag with an address. Of course. And Billie wanted to go to it. Of course. Bo pointed out it could be a set up and that if she ran off half-cocked, he would have to follow her, and they'd probably almost get killed (again!). He told her they had to wait for the test results and think of a really good plan. The results came back positive for Georgia's DNA...but the really good plan part flew out the window as Billie was determined to get going ASAP. Despite Bo's fears of ticking off Hope and more couch time, a passionate Billie's plea of "I will not bury my daughter again!" got through to him, reminding him of how much their daughter had all ready been through. After a quick check on Chelsea and a failed attempt to find Hope, the erstwhile lovers were all set to leave. A wary Jen reminded them that Hope needed to know what was going on — despite having run off with Patrick to parts unknown. Billie scathingly pointed out that Hope's jealousy had cost Chelsea's parents their lives and reminded Jen that she, of all people, should understand how Billie felt about finding her child and keeping her safe. Bo and Billie took off to almost get killed (again!), as Jen intoned, ominously, "Hope's not going to like this one bit..."