Recap by Kaydee

One Life to Live Recap for Wednesday, July 17, 2002

LOONVIEW ER: TALES FROM THE COMA:

After her sketchy performance as the relieved wife, Niki scurries out of the
room in a panic. She realizes that time is running out on her little murder attempt, and she has to do all that she can to keep her role in Ben's condition from being exposed. She runs into the host of well-meaning family and friends once again out in the hall, and just as she catches a glimpse of an approaching Bo from the corner of her eye, she immediately attacks Natalie.

"How could you do this to my Ben?" she screams, "Do you have to take away everything I love? What kind of a person are you? Why did you do this?"

Poor Natalie, stinging from Niki's cruel verbal attacks combined with her own confusion as to whether or not she really did push Ben, manages to keep her wits about her and humbly replies,

"We don't know what really happened, Viki."

"What's there to know?" Niki says quickly, attempting to keep the fire going with a whole lot of suspicion fuel, "I know that both Jessica and Rex saw you standing in my bedroom window before and after Ben was pushed. That's all I need to know!"

(Hey, did anyone catch Niki looking to see if Bo was buying her suspect deflection act??)

Natalie bit her tongue and took all of Niki's abuse..

(Yes, that's exactly what it is..ABUSE!! Get the hint, writers??)

...then waited for a moment to arrive that she and Rex could be alone. She nabs Rex and pulls him into a corner. She wants to know if he and Jess truly saw her in the master bedroom before Ben was pushed. Rex sadly admits that although he and Jess were pretty far away at the time, they unmistakably saw her red hair. What was she doing there? Rex wants to know.
Natalie fumbles for an answer, but Rex confirming that she was in the window before Ben's fall was too much for her. She dashes toward the elevator, but she bumps into Cris. He asks her what was the commotion between her and Niki was about, and she barks:

"Isn't it obvious??" before slipping into the elevator. Cris looks accusingly at Rex, and demands to know what he said to Natalie. Rex tells Cris that Natalie was upset about what he and Jessica saw. Cris rushes out after Natalie. He finds her outside the hospital, trying desperately to figure the whole mess out. Cris again tries to reassure her that she is not this split person she thinks she is.
Natalie is not in the mood to be reassured at this point. She angrily brushes aside Cris' consolation hug, and tells him sharply that he can't deny the inevitable..she's going to prison.

Back in the ER, Larry emerges from the room and tells Niki that she might want to come into the room because Ben's starting to remember things.

(A lot YOU know, Doc!)

Niki is hesitant, and Bo says that he'll join her in speaking to Ben. He is totally thrown from a loop when his psycho sister-in-law rudely stops him in his tracks with a harsh, "NO!"
She covers by telling Bo that Ben has been through enough. He didn't look so well when he regained consciousness, and Bo's questions are sure to cause a relapse. Can't Bo's questions wait until tomorrow? Bo tells her that they can't, and promises to go easy on Ben. Niki, once again stripped of an escape, is forced to allow Bo to follow her. Niki approaches Ben as if she were walking on Death Row..(Hee-hee), and braces herself for the worst.

Once again, by the grace of our alien writers and a rather nerve-grating storyline, Niki gets to weasel her way off of the Guillotine chopping block.
Ben says he remembers the sound of glass breaking, and...red hair.

(There goes that red-head again! A little parody of the Eyewitness News Van commercial. This storyline is just that comical-NOT!)

Niki can't believe her luck! Unknowingly, Benjy boy just gave her plot to frame Natalie some additional ammunition. She realizes that she risks making herself look guilty if she rags on Natalie anymore today, especially after being warned by Bo that she has no right to question Natalie during the course of an official LPD investigation, so she chills out.

Later, Bo runs into Hank, and they discuss what little bit of progress that was made, and Bo tells Hank that although Natalie keeps coming up the implicated one, her being the culprit, (or is it "perpetrator"?) doesn't add up.

(Could it be folks, that Commissioner Buchanan is FINALLY seeing a light at the end of those dark police skills, or lack thereof?? We viewers can only hope. I personally can't wait to see the episode when Jessica eats that hearty helping of Crow a la Natalie, and her side of her own foot in her mouth! Let me not forget that I will dance on my sofas when Niki is returned to the pod from whence she came!)

STATESVILLE: THE SUPERBROOM MAY RIDE AGAIN!!

And there'll be a psycho on the passenger's side of the stick! Loonsey finally managed to find Allison's Achilles' heel and she was repeatedly grinding into it!

The two deranged women sit in their grungy cell finalizing their escape plan. Loonsey reminds Allison that as soon as she leads them to the outside, Allison will have Dave waiting for her on the outside. As they discuss all the wonders of what awaits them on the outside, enter a prison guard with a newspaper, telling Allie Cat that she saved the copy for her. Allison thanks the guard and immediately flips past pages one and two to find the article about Ben's hospitalization.

Her tormented gasp alerts Loonsey, who immediately asks Allison what's wrong. Allison shows her the article, then goes off on a babbling tangent about how she knows that Niki shoved Ben. Lindsay asks her if she's referring to Viki, and Allison says, (to quote this in Asa style),
"Viki, ain't Viki no more. She's a wacked-out she-devil named Niki Smith."

Lindsay uses Allison's revelation to further emphasize the importance of their escape. Since Allison is the only one who knows that "Dave's" wife is this other person, then that means that Allison is the only one who can save him. Allison jumps up and down with girlish delight as she accepts Loonsey's suggestion. With her hope newly restored, Lindsay places a call to RJ.

Speaking of RJ, let's hop on Lindsay's Superbroom and fly over to the Gannon penthouse and see what's a-stirrin' in his pot, shall we?

RJ/KERI/ANTONIO: HELLOOOO, DAD!

Heeey, this Superbroom thing is amaaaazing! To think, you can actually spy on everyone and not get caught! Wheeee! Hey, this thing's got a V6 turbo engine, and NO mileage! Go figure! Whoa! Hey, folks, check this out! It has a radar screen! I'm reading a feature called "Plots In Progress". Woo-Hoo!

Whew! What a rush! Okay, we're here. Keri and Antonio has just arrived from Hawaii, and she stopped off to see Papa Vincent Corleone-Gannon first. He welcomes her with a happy hug and a warm smile, later struggling hard to keep the smile going when Antonio sashays in right behind her.

"So tell me about Hawaii,' he chants. She is bubbling over with bliss, her sentences running on a mile a second.
(By the way, people, Keri made a boo-boo, or a BLOOPER today. It's coming up, tell me if you caught it.)

She tells RJ of all of the great things she and Antonio did on the island..
(Huh??  WHAT?! I must have not been watching that week!) And she told him that one sad thing happened, but then again, one wonderful thing happened. RJ presses her to do tell. She says she can show him better.
(Bling-bling! Whip out the rock, baby! Show your daddy to his first heart attack!)
RJ stifles his displeasure and hugs her, telling her that he's happy for her, all the while seething at the sight of Antonio's smug grin over Keri's shoulder. Keri senses Antonio's presence and turns to face him. She immediately joins him in a waist hug while she continues to beam about her engagement. Antonio, savoring the borrowed Max-Holden-Maalox look on his rival's face, digs the knife a little deeper by telling RJ how much he and Keri love each other, as well as how determined he is not to let anything or anyone come between them.
RJ seeks an escape by offering to fetch something cold and bubbly from his kitchen to celebrate the joyous news.

(Chilled Pepto-Bismol perhaps? Prilosec on the rocks? Hee-hee! Okay, okay. I'm done. And now, folks, Keri's blooper!)

Keri stops RJ from making the trip and asks Antonio to get the champagne instead. Then when Antonio was gone, she tells RJ...

"I asked Antonio to park the car because I wanted to talk to you in private.." (Hmm...is there a car in RJ's kitchen? Sounds like a Superbroom task to me! OKAY! OKAY! I'm done. For real this time. Snicker..)

She tells RJ that she knows the engagement comes as a shock, but she and Antonio didn't even talk about it. Antonio returns from parking the car in the kitchen where the champagne is, and gloatingly tells RJ,

"That's right. Keri was taken completely by surprise."

RJ smiles and proceeds to the kitchen to get some glasses to pour the champagne in..(Antonio didn't find any in the car in RJ's kitchen..).
When he returns, he'll propose a toast. Keri smiles and tells him that that's a great idea. Once RJ is gone, Keri tells Antonio that RJ is making an effort, and Antonio replies that he's certainly putting on a great act. Keri pleads with Antonio to cut RJ some slack. He's legit now, he's not into anything illegal anymore...(Ring!)

Thar sounds the tellyphone, maties! Keri answers it to hear a woman say:

"RJ, it's me. We're all set to do this tomorrow. Just make sure you set things up on your end."

"I'm sorry," Keri says, "this is RJ's daughter, Keri. Who's calling?"
The resounding click from the other end puts Keri on alert.

LLANVIEW'S "FRIENDS":

Starr asks Troy if he's mad at her mommy. Troy softens up and tells Starr that he's not. Starr asks him then why was he yelling at her? Troy tells Starr that they were arguing over something stupid. Starr says tell her anyway.

Troy tells Starr that he and Blair were discussing politics, and they disagreed on something and began to yell at each other. Starr says:
"You're right. That is stupid!" Troy chuckles, then thanks Starr for the fantastic scaly gift she sent him. Starr brightly asks him:

"Isn't she terrific?" Troy is surprised to discover that the iguana is a female, but tells Starr that she is indeed terrific. She and Troy part ways, and Blair offers to walk him out. Outside, Troy angrily interrupts Blair's thank you for not telling Starr the truth. He sharply tells Blair that he did it for Starr, so keep her thank you to herself.

He rips into her, telling her that he can't believe that Blair plotted to break up him and Nora, and he's angry that she thinks so little of him. He tells her that he has a little piece of info for her...after tonight, the feeling is mutual. He walks away and Blair heads inside to face Sam.

Sam manages to convince Starr to go upstairs, promising to come and see her largest collection of headless dolls in the world if she hurries up to her room and sets them up for him. When Starr leaves, he asks Blair to tell him what she and Troy were really fighting about. Blair tells him the truth, and Sam blasts her for interfering. She had no right to do that, and she has no right to decide who belongs with whom. He values her friendship, but butt out. Little Wednesday Addams-Manning arrives to announce that her headless dolls are ready, and Sam disappears.

Blair slumps into a chair and tells herself that she'll have to butt out anyway, because once Troy tells Nora what happened, all bets are off.
The phone rings right then, it's Nora!
Nora apologizes for calling so late, but since Troy told her that he had just left her house, she called because her conversation can't wait. Nora tells her that she doesn't know where to begin.

Blair blurts out for Nora to tell her off and get it over with already! Nora says, alright, she will. She thinks that Blair's newspaper treated Rae Cummings unfairly with their exposure of her secret and the way it was publicized was rude and unkind.

Blair is shocked by Nora's revelation, and Nora is shocked by Blair's surprised reaction. Nora wants to know what Blair thought she was referring to. Blair covers, saying that she thought Nora was going to blast her about not showing up to the ceremony personally. What about Rae and her newspaper?

Nora relates the details of the fiasco, then asks Blair to tell her newspaper men to back off. Blair says she will. She hangs up the phone and salivates on the fact that Troy didn't tell Nora. That means there's still hope!

Back at the MacIver loft....

Nora and Emily are discussing Emily and Chad's failed date. Nora tries to make her feel better, and both women realize that they both came to unload on Troy. They both agree on how great a listener, and Emily slips up and says except when you tick him off. He would never get mad, he'd get even.

"So, get even, huh?" Nora says. Emily replies, "Yeah, that's what she always used to say."

"She?" Nora prods, noticing the instant terror in Emily's eyes.
"Are you referring to an old girlfriend of Troy's?"
"Yeah, sorta.." Emily says intermittently. Nora tells her that it's okay to talk about old girlfriends, Nora knows Troy must have had loads of them.
Emily ducks out with an, "Oh, my! Look at the time. Well, gotta run, see ya!"

Troy walks in just as Nora is telling Emily she didn't intend to scare her off. She and Troy briefly discuss Emily's failed date, then his visit to Blair's comes out. Nora discreetly presses for info about what transpired between him and Blair, but after having a flashback of the confrontation he had with Blair, he tells Nora that since Starr wasn't home when he arrived, he and Blair spent some time discussing her. Nora accepts that, and tells Troy how lucky a little girl Starr is for having such a wonderful man looking after her..

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