Recap by Kaydee B.

One Life to Live Recap for Tuesday, February 26, 2002

THE MANNINGS: “STARR”GATE: SG1:

If you’re a Playstation lover, then have I got the game for you!! Welcome to “Starrgate:SG1” a new live action video game created and initiated by Starr Manning. The object? Try and create the most imaginative scenarios to make your parents pay attention to you and ignore the new baby…

The senior Mannings set out to comfort their daughter after her terrible “ordeal” with the prowler in the window. Todd has an alarm system installed, and even exchanges words with the installation rep, threatening to pay a visit to the rep’s house and children if the alarm system failed to protect Starr and his family. The rep indignantly reiterates that the alarm system is airtight and super-safe, so there’s no need for threats. On the couch, Blair embraces a gloating Starr and promises her that she no longer has anything to fear now that the alarm system has been installed. Starr happily recovers from her “trauma” and immediately suggests that the three of them do something to help her take her mind off of what happened to her. Todd says, “Sure! Name it.” She suggests that they go to a reptile fest where the reptiles are given live prey to devour, (much to her mother’s disgust, I might add.) “Nah-ah”, Todd replies, “not tonight”. Angrily, Starr replies, why not? After all, Todd said “name it.” Much to her further jealousy, Todd informs her that tonight is a special night..Jack’s getting christened. Blair chimes in and says, that’s right, and they all have to be present for the event. She further tells her little “angel”..(NOT!), that she’s pretty sure that Starr wouldn’t want to ruin her brother’s special night.

You might want to re-evaluate that statement, Blair! Your little angel’s out for baby blood!

COLD WAR AT THE VEGA$’ DINER!!

DING!  Hold tight in your seats, folks! The Vega-Gannon match just took on a surprising twist. No more gloves. No more verbal punches. No more cheap shots. No, ladies and gentlemen, this is a match of pure emotional wit. The winner will be the lady who uses the best charm method. Who will win this bout? Will it be “MadMom”  Carlotta Vega, or will it be Keri “Fireball” Reynolds? Let’s go the ring…

Carlotta, still quite humiliated over finding her son and Keri in a compromising position, tries to brace herself for the inevitable conversation that she must have with Keri. She insists that Keri go first, (to save herself some face, perhaps?). Keri tells her that she would like to make up for the awkward situation over dinner. She’d like to invite the entire Vega family to sit down and enjoy a meal. Before Carlotta can decline the invitation, Antonio comes up from behind and accepts the invitation for her!

Carlotta tells Keri that tonight isn’t good for her because she has a catering function she needs to supervise. Antonio chimes in, telling his mom that she hired Camille, a catering manager, to take care of those things for her. Carlotta gives her son an encoded look, saying that he knows how much she hates to delegate. Keri pleads with Carlotta to come, it would mean a lot to her. Antonio says it would mean a lot to him, too. What’s a mom to do? She reluctantly accepts, and Keri, relieved, starts rambling about how RJ will be at his new club all night so they’ll have the place to themselves. Carlotta, appalled, says,

“You’re inviting me to dinner at RJ’s house?”

Realizing that she stepped in mud, Keri just as quickly assures her that RJ won’t be there. Antonio cuts in, telling Keri to leave him alone with his mom for a little while.

Alone, he speaks to his mother’s rigid back, telling her that he loves her dearly, but he also loves Keri. He pleads with her not to make him choose between them, and also pleads with her not to give RJ the power to come between them.

LOONVIEW TEEN BEAT:

Jessica, while working with Seth at the Break Bar, places a call to a restaurant and makes advance reservations for two for the following evening. Seth overhears the conversation and asks her what she was doing. She told him that it was a surprise. He told her that he doesn’t want her giving him expensive presents, because he’s working hard to get her things. She told him not to be silly, they do things for each other.

Over at a table across from the bar, al and Natalie are engaged in a secret face-off . The topic? Natalie’s knowledge of Al’s ability to walk. (Surprise, surprise). Al tells Natalie that all he wants is a chance with Jen. He’s certain that with time he can make things work with her, if he only had a chance. He then asks Natalie what she’s going to do, because the ball is in her court. He then pleads with her not to blow his life apart.

(Can we all have just a little break here? Puhleeze?) he tells her to name her price, he’ll do anything. “ANYTHING?” Natalie taunts. Al replies that Natalie knows how much Jen means to him…(Reality translation? “You know how much I’m obsessed with Jen.”)

At that moment, Cris walks in. Al immediately asks him where Jen is, and starts to panic when Cris replies that she’s in the hospital with Lindsay. Cris assures him that Jen and Lindsay are both just fine, but Lindsay had some problems that Jen wanted to uncover, and he left them to talk in private. He changes the subject by telling them that he suspects something is going on between Al and Natalie…what’s going on?

JEN RAPPAPORT: DETECTIVE IN TRAINING:

Jen tells Lindsay that she knows her mother is lying, (NOOO!, Lindsay, lying? Never!) about what happened between her and Troy. Lindsay was practically floating with joy over getting married only days ago, and first Cris found her at Troy’s loft, now Lindsay’s at the hospital. Jen tells Lindsay that she’s not buying the lost passport story, so she needs to come clean. Lindsay tries to avoid answering the challenge by telling Jen that she has to hurry to the airport. Jen quickly offers to drive her there, and Lindsay blurts out a quick, loud, and quite emphatic, “NO!” Jen’s suspicions are even more piqued. Her mother reacted just as Jen thought she would and Jen quickly pulls another card from her sleeve. “Fine. I’ll call Daddy.” Lindsay grabs Jen’s cell phone from her hand and tells her not to involve Sam. Why not? Jen probes, knowing that she has the upper hand.

(Ladies and gentlemen, could there be a light bulb finally starting to shine in Jen’s head? Could she finally be on to Lindsay? We can only hope.)

TROY: THE NO-FUNHOUSE:

Troy, delirious and hallucinatory in his struggle to survive the poisonous spider bite, begins to “see” Nora. He dreams that she call out to him and slowly approaches him to plant a kiss on his sweaty lips. A few seconds after he smiles in response to the hallucination, “Nora” disappears. (Kinda makes you wonder whether it’s the venom or the old MacIver Nora obsession, eh?) Colin, (oops, I mean TROY), realizes that he’s succumbing to the fatal results of the poison and tries to stay awake.

Flash to Nora, who rushes into a booth in the Vega diner and pulls out the file she lifted from Troy’s office, desperately attempting to discover his whereabouts. As she studies the contents of the file, she talks aloud to herself, and Hank enters just in time to hear her say, “Come on, give me something to find you!” Hank asks her whom she’s trying to find.

DETECTIVE JEN RAPPAPORT: PT. 2:

Lindsay successfully dissuades Jen from calling Sam, but not without a price. She’s forced to offer her daughter an explanation, and as Lindsay so predictably does, she offers Jen a mere outline of the whole story. She tells Jen that Troy turned out not to be the man she thought he was, and she was beginning to have doubts about him.

(Okay, folks, Jen’s light bulb has dimmed. So much for hoping..)

Jen accepts her mother’s sketchy explanation and softly assures her mother that she was right to hold off on marrying Troy. Jen asks her mother exactly what had transpired between she and Troy, and Lindsay wanders off into a flashback of the scene at the “fun”-house. She remembers Troy’s sneering words...How could I ever have loved you, Lindsay? I had to think of Nora every time I made love to you…

Too embarrassed and scared to tell Jen the truth, she again brushes her aside with a roundabout explanation.

 Holy Heavenly Blessings, Batman!

The Manning baby’s getting, christened!

And Joker Starr is not happy about it! After having gone up to her room to change for the ceremony, she comes down to show off her outfit. Her parents are in the living room, Blair holding Jack, donned in his christening gown, and Todd engulfed in a business document. Starr asks her parents how she looks, and her mother offers her an obligatory “You look beautiful!” while she fusses over the baby. Annoyed, Starr accusingly tells her mother that she didn’t even look at her. Yes, she did, Blair replies, and tells the baby..”Doesn’t your beautiful sister look lovely?” Then she asks Starr how does Jack look in his christening gown, and Starr rudely replies that she thinks the baby looks like a sissy. Todd replies, “I’m with her. He’s wearing a dress!” (This guy is a riot!) Blair indignantly replies, in the baby’s defense, that he’s not wearing a dress, he’s wearing a christening gown, and she can bet that even Todd wore one at one point in his life. Todd flatly denies that possibility. Blair emotionally tells Todd that she’s very grateful he agreed to go through with the christening, and Todd tells her that since they went through so much to get Jack, he figured that they should make it official. Not just for the state, but for…(he points to the sky), everyone. Then Jack will really be their son, and no one can ever take him away. Blair says, “That’s so beautiful. Jack Manning, you have a very special daddy”, while Starr looks on with an Oh, brother! attitude. The doorbell rings as the baby begins to drool, and Blair delegates the fetching of baby wipes to her husband, and the answering of the door to her daughter. Starr rebels, asking her mother what happens if the “scary man” is at the door. Blair responds that she should ask who it is before opening the door. Starr comes back with: “Why can’t you do it?” (Does this kid need a trip over the old knee, or what?) Blair firmly replies that she asked Starr to do it and she’s busy with Jack. Now scoot, kid! She grumbles as she heads to the door, mimicking her mother’s words. She gets to the door, and asks who is on the other side.

Viki answers and she opens the door, immediately pouring out the details of her “ordeal” as a means of getting attention before Jack does. Just as she is telling about the imaginary prowler, Blair calls out to Viki and Ben to come and see their beautiful godson, and they do. Starr is angry, but she gets another chance to steal the spotlight as the doorbell rings a second time, and her grandmother Addie and Reverend Carpenter. Starr again pours out the tale of the prowler in her window with the stick, and this time she actually gets some listening time. Addie innocently tells her that she sees a man in her own window who carries a stick, too. Starr says, “Really, Grandma?’ Addie says, “Yeah! Do you know who he is?” Starr, grateful for the opportunity to be the girl of the minute, says she does. Addie responds, “He’s my guardian angel!” Starr sighs with boredom and disappointment. Clearly it was not the response she was seeking. Be careful what you wish for! She watches as her grandmother excitedly raves about wanting to see the baby, then scurries off into the living room.

She watches the scene of the circle of visitors ogling her little brother, and she tells herself that no one cares about her, but she bets if something bad happened to her they’d be very sorry.

LOONVIEW TEEN BEAT—PT. 2:

Al rips into Cris, telling him that he shouldn’t have left Jen alone. Cris, annoyed, tells Al that Jen told him she could handle it. Al counters that he should have stayed anyway. Natalie pipe sin and tells Al not to pick a fight with Cris, because they both knew that what was going on between Natalie and him had nothing to do with either the Rappaports or Cristian. Cris inquires as to what was going on. Natalie tells Al that she’s sorry, but Cris deserves to know the truth.

Back in Troy’s office, Lindsay tells Jen the “truth”…she suspects that Troy is involved with another woman. Jen, figuring that she now understands why Lindsay is snooping around the good doctor’s office, sympathizes with her mother and offers her advice. She tells Lindsay to just walk away; it makes no sense to spend her time investigating Troy’s actions. Does she really want to repeat the life she had when she was married to Sam? When she spent her whole marriage wondering whether or not Sam was still in love with Nora? Just walk away! Lindsay tells her that she can’t, not until she finds out the truth. Jen tells her that the fact that Lindsay can’t trust Troy should be enough for her. Then Jen says she’s confused. Troy was the one who pursued Lindsay. He went to a lot of trouble to get Lindsay to fall in love with him. Why would he turn on her? What does he want from Lindsay?

Flash to Troy, still literally hanging from handcuffs on the spinning wheel, and still hanging by a thread for dear life.

LOONVIEW LAW: THE DA vs. THE DEFENSE:

Nora sidesteps Hank’s inquiry by asking him what he’s doing at the diner. He tells her that he left his appointment book there by mistake. Nora hooks her arm in his and steers him away from her table, offering to help him find it. He tells her to relax, because Carlotta already found it. He tells her that he knows that she’s dodging his question, and he repeats it. She tells him she’s looking for a client. Keri approaches and she and Hank engage in polite small talk about RJ’s opening. He and Nora both congratulate her on her reconciliation with Antonio.

Over at the counter, Carlotta tells her son, that considering everything that the Vega family had been through; she is worried about her son being involved with RJ’s daughter. Antonio remarks that he also told his mom that Keri is not RJ. He tells his mother to give Keri a chance; go to dinner with them. Carlotta gives in and accepts, much to her son’s happiness. 

THE MANNINGS: THREE-RING CIRCUS!!

Starr tells her father that Jack doesn’t have his rattle and offers to retrieve one from the kitchen. Todd absent-mindedly consents, then double-backs and asks her to repeat what she said, much to his daughter’s fury. She heads out the door just as Andrew decides to begin the ceremony. Viki summons Starr back, but she keeps going. Todd walks over to Viki and thanks her for watching over Jack’s “soul”. She replies with a thank you for his offer to her for the position. He told her that he feels Jack is going to need a soul guardian, and Viki concurs. They then discuss Starr’s “prowler” and Todd says it was just a bum who wandered up looking for a hand-out. Just like the bum who wandered up to Viki’s looking for a handout. Viki asks him who would that be? He says Natalie. Viki angrily defends Natalie’s position as her daughter, and Todd says that Jessica is Viki’s daughter. Viki says they’re both her daughters. Todd says:”Yeah, but you love Jessica. That’s why Natalie is being such a pain.”  Viki growls and tells him that sibling rivalry is difficult at any age. Just then the alarm goes off.

Blair wants Todd to stop the ringing, Todd doesn’t know how, Addie is holding her ears and screaming, “Make it stop!” Jack is bawling, and everyone is scrambling. The whole thing looked like the final clown act at the Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey circus! It would have been something that all of them would have laughed at except…WHERE'S STARR?

Okay, flash to the mischievous little imp in their garden. She’s watching the whole thing from behind a statue with binoculars, loving every minute of the chaos. Now that Step One was successful, she moves on to the next step. She pulls out a pair of scissors from one of shrubs and begins to cut up her dress….

LOONVIEW TEEN BEAT:--The conclusion:

Natalie surprisingly covers for Al, telling Cris that Al was upset because he wanted to be able to take Jen to see Lindsay but couldn’t drive. Cris accepts it and walks away, leaving Al at Natalie’s mercy. Natalie tells him that she saved his hide, but not without a price. She tells him that she wants him to use his friendship with Jessica to break up her and Seth, or she spills all.

THE DISCOVERY ZONE:

Hank returns to the diner, looking for something. As he looks around and turns to leave, he stumbles upon a document that has fallen on the floor beside the table that Nora had previously occupied. He picks it up and realizes it’s the deed to Troy’s loft.

Back at the Mannings, Starr returns, covered in smudges and a tattered dress. She starts to spin a tale about the prowler who returned to the grounds. She says that the man tried to grab her, but she..she…

And the EMMY goes to…Starr Manning, for the greatest faint in the history of television!

I would like to add a personal to today’s recap, folks. I would like to say to Roger Howarth that I, for one, am a die-hard fan and will miss you so much as Todd. I pray that ABC will be smart enough to leave your role open so that you may return periodically and keep Todd alive. No matter how infrequent you returns, only you can always reinvent him. Best wishes in your future ventures, Roger. We love you!

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Recap written by Kimberley Barnett, © Copyright by Katherine Thurston & 2002.