Friday Update
December 22, 2000

PREVIOUSLY ON AMC

At the Valley Inn, Jack asks Erica: "What, exactly, did Hayward say?" Erica: "He actually said something really OBSCENE about Bianca and her roommate, Sarah!"

Bianca opens the front door to go meet Erica at the Valley Inn, but sees Sarah on the doorstep: "Sarah!"

Warning: This update is extra long because it contains a lot of direct quotes from some very powerful scenes involving Bianca.

VALLEY INN LOBBY

Brooke walks up to Jack and says hello. He jokingly asks if she's cover Erica's hoopla for Tempo, but she says she's just there for lunch. Brooke asks what Erica is up to and he says she's about to introduce Bianca as part of their mother-daughter campaign. Brooke gets angry and says Erica SHOULD be introducing her daughter to a THERAPIST! She needs help, considering SHE'S the one who pushed Laura overboard! Jack gives his patented upper-body sway/head-tilt 1/2 twist and asks if Erica knows this. She says yes, but Erica is in her usual denial and Bianca is suffering as a result. Erica walks up: "How DARE you!"

Jack steps in before any real damage can be done and tells Brooke that he has a hard time believing the story. She says it's all over the news that Libidozone had been given to almost everyone one the yacht. Bianca saw Leo and Laura kissing, got jealous and pushed Laura overboard. Erica protests that there was NOTHING between Leo and Bianca, so there was no jealousy, thus no motive. Jack pulls Erica to the side to have a "private" chat. Jack tells her that he HAS read the news reports AND he was there and was affected himself, if she will recall. Erica: "Affected so much that you would push somebody overboard?" He tells her to hear him out. He says maybe Bianca was affected by the drug and saw Leo and Bianca kissing. He stumbles over his words a little before finding his stride: "I think that maybe Bianca doesn't have feelings for Leo. I think maybe she has feelings for Laura." Erica: "Are you out of your MIND?" This catches the attention of a reporter, who starts scribbling, and both Erica and Jack clam up temporarily. They start up again, albeit more quietly. Jack: "I am not saying that I believe Brooke's story about Bianca pushing her into the water. What I'm saying is we have been seeing certain signs from your daughter and from other people. Now, your daughter is obviously struggling, honey. Bianca is struggling with something. It's clear. Now, I'll tell you what I think she's struggling with. Her sexuality." Erica blinks at him in consternation, then puncheslaps him. She glares at him, then totters unsteadily through the crowd of reporters, rubbing her hand. [As I watched the odd way she trotted out, especially in that dress with that hairstyle, I couldn't help but think of Sally Field in Soap Dish :-)] Brooke stares at Jack, who appears to be trying to realign his jaw.

ERICA'S HOUSE

Bianca wants to know how she can possibly help. Sarah whines: "I can't believe this is happening to me!" Bianca: "Sarah, nothing is happening to you that you can't stop!" Did Ian try to do something to her? No, he wouldn't hurt her or anybody else. Bianca: "Well, then what do you want from me? You BROKE UP with me. I told you what I want, what I would do to make it happen, and you're marrying Ian tomorrow!" Sarah protests that she doesn't WANT that. Bianca tells her SHE has to change it, but Sarah says she can't do that -- she's not as strong as Bianca. Sarah: "My mother keeps telling me that everything is going to be fine, that my wedding day will be the happiest day of my life. Except -- that's already happened -- with you." Bianca looks at Sarah with angry hurt and her voice trembles as she says: "So what? Do you want me to make up your mind for you?" Sarah: "I want YOU! I want what we had! I want that with YOU. And I'll never be what my mom wants me to be! Maybe you can pull that off with your mom, but _I_ can't!" Bianca: "Whoa! You think I'm who my mom wants me to be?" Sara points out that Bianca is even starting to dress like Erica [heh, heh, heh]. Bianca says that she wouldn't be there if Sarah had come with her that afternoon in New York -- she's here doing this now because she doesn't have Sarah. Sarah tearfully says: "I'm here now." Bianca is stunned, but hopeful. She asks what Sarah is REALLY saying, because she couldn't take it if Sarah didn't REALLY mean it! Sarah says she can't marry Ian tomorrow. Bianca shakes her head and steps toward Sarah as Sarah says: "Not unless you help me through it! [I'm beginning to see why Erica doesn't like this girl] Help me to be strong, like you are!" Bianca, let down once again, resignedly says: "Sarah, what are you trying to do to me?" [Yeah, what she said!] Sarah says that Bianca can pull this off -- she can stay in Erica's house and be anything her mom wants her to be for as long as she needs to do it. Then she can move on and be herself. Sarah says that Bianca gave her an out that day -- she would have run away with her. Obviously Bianca is strong and can survive ANYTHING! Sarah: "I CAN'T!" If Sarah had said yes that day, Bianca would have gone with her. Bianca explodes: "But you DIDN'T -- NOW LOOK AT ME!!!" Bianca turns away. Sarah says they both know it's not going to stay this way forever, but she doesn't have it in her to be who she is -- she has to be somebody else. Bianca grits her teeth and says she doesn't know what Sarah wants from her. Sarah: "I want you to say it's going to be ok. I want you to tell me that I'm not going to be unhappy for the rest of my life! I want you to let me go." [Huh? I don't know about Bianca, but I think _I'm_ getting whiplash] Bianca: "Sarah -- I can't do that. I love you and that has never changed, not for one minute!" Sarah says that's why she knows Bianca is going to be ok. She can say what she feels and OWN it! She'll be able to tell her mother the truth one day because she believes what's in her own heart -- Sarah CAN'T! Bianca turns on her and darts her tear-filled eyes, saying that Sarah is SO WRONG about her! Sarah came there for her help, but she can't even help herself!

Bianca asks Sarah if she's BLIND! What is it that Bianca is able to do that Sarah is not? Bianca can't tell her mother she is gay -- not now, not ever, because her mother would fall apart. She knows because she's tried! Bianca: "I have tried to say, 'Mom, I want you to know who I am. I want you to know Sarah because I know that if you could see how special she is, there is no way that you couldn't love her, too.' My mom can't accept who I am, Sarah, and you won't accept us, so where does that leave us?" Sarah: "You'll be able to tell her. You're strong enough to do it. I know you are!" Bianca: "Sarah, would you just shut up? I'm not strong! You're not strong! The only thing that is strong here is our FEAR, and it's winning, Sarah! We're letting it win!" Bianca spins and walks across the room.

Sarah brings up a memory of them breaking out of the school to play on the swingsets at the school next door, and Bianca saying she was trying to kick the stars. Bianca: "Yeah. And you said I couldn't." Sarah: "And you said you could do anything. That's the difference between you and me [...] I still love you." Bianca: "I know. I know you do." They both gulp and stare painfully at each other. Sarah steps toward Bianca and they desperately hug each other, crying. Bianca closes her eyes and caresses the back of Sarah's head, cherishing Sarah and the moment as if it were their last. When she opens her eyes, she sees Erica standing in the doorway. Erica's face falls and she looks like she's going to hurl as she gives Bianca a questioning head tilt.

As a horrified Erica watches, Bianca suddenly breaks the embrace and steps back in terror like a kid caught playing doctor. Sarah turns around and Erica gathers her wits and slams the door. Erica demands to know what Sarah is doing there -- hasn't she caused them all enough pain? Sarah stutters that she was just bringing Bianca a gift from Boston. Erica says maybe she didn't make herself clear in NY -- Sarah is NOT welcome in her home, even WITH a gift! Bianca finds her voice again and steps forward, begging Erica not to do this. Erica blazes ahead, castigating Sarah for detaining Bianca while a dozen reporters wait for her debut at the Valley Inn. Bianca pleads with Erica not to do this right now. Erica asks if she has to call her personal security guards to make SURE that she leaves? [Erica has security guards? They aren't very effective, considering anyone at all can come to her door and people routinely let themselves in to lie in wait for her] Bianca yells at Erica to STOP! Sarah dives for her purse/backpack and says it's okay, she's leaving. Sarah says to Bianca: "I'm sorry I came here." Erica: "You should be!" Sarah shakes her head beseachingly at Bianca: "I never meant to hurt you. I never did, not for a minute!" Bianca stares as Sarah turns to walk out, then calls to her: "No, Sarah, WAIT! We have to talk!" Erica desperately tosses in: "We have to get to the Valley Inn, honey!" "NOOO!!!" Bianca shrieks! She looks quickly back and forth between Sarah and Erica and seems to make a decision. She walks over to Sarah and whispers: "Sarah, THIS IS IT. This is it. We can DO this! We can -- we can do this NOW, Sarah. You don't HAVE to get married! You don't have to --" Sarah frantically looks between Bianca and Erica and bolts out the door. Bianca screams: "Sarah!" She stares, devastated, at the closed front door.

Erica nervously walks over to Bianca and picks all around the lower half of Bianca's dress, twittering about the stylist smoothing it all out. [I notice that Erica's dangling forelock is on the opposite side of the face from the one that Bianca wears.] Bianca just stands there, catatonic. Erica reaches out and caresses her face, turning it toward her, telling her that she doesn't have to worry about anything -- Mommy's here! She can't wait to show her to the world. The limo is waiting and Uncle Jack is waiting. She tells her how much she loves her. Erica: "You know what else? Your father would have been so proud of you! Oh, he would have loved to see you JUST this way!" Through it all, Bianca stares at her without uttering a sound, her pain palpable. Bianca slowly turns and walks across the room. She picks up the journal and stares at it, knowing it represents all her lost hopes and dreams of love with Sarah, and the end of something bigger. The silence is deafening [so much so that I keep backing it up to make sure I don't inadvertently have the TV on mute or that the speakers aren't suddenly broken]. Erica finally calls Bianca's name, tentatively, worry and dread written all over her face. Bianca puts the journal down and turns, staring for a long time at Erica. There's still complete and utter silence -- not even a swish of a matching dress. She turns back to Erica and slowly reaches up to her right hear. Her sorrowful eyes never leaving Erica's face. There's something new in her eyes now, though: determination. She pulls the earring off, then pulls the other one off. Erica, afraid to say anything, but knowing she must, asks Bianca what she's doing. Bianca seems to be trying to muster all her courage to say something.

ADAM'S HOUSE

They all move into the living room like they are being herded by a border collie. Adam admits it wasn't a social call -- he had tracked Arlene down to sign the divorce papers, she complied and he didn't look back. He certainly doesn't want to look back today, on the day he and Liza are starting over! Surely Derek can understand THAT! Derek says he understands that Adam still hasn't told him where Arlene is. Adam says she was in Amsterdam the last her heard. They met at a coffee house to sign the papers -- it was arranged by their attorneys, and he doesn't have her address. He knew it was the last 10 minutes he would ever have to think about her -- it IS the last time, right? Derek asks if he knows tht Stuart filed a missing person's report on Arlene. Adam and Marian are visibly stunned by this new piece of information. Derek informs them that Arlene left her stuff at the Pine Cone Motel, except for a valuable painting that Stuart had given her. Marian explains that she was very upset with Arlene after what she had done to Stuart last summer, so Stuart probably didn't tell them because he knew they wouldn't be sympathetic to Arlene's situation. Derek says Stuart called and dropped the missing person's report the night before because he had heard Arlene was in Amsterdam and assumed she was okay. Adam gets pissed off because that means Derek already knew the answer before he even came to the house and was just trying to test them!

Derek wants to know why and how she left the country with nothing but the clothes on her back. Do any of them find that out-of-character for Arlene? Hayley finds it VERY out-of-character because her mother hoards everything, especially because she never has anything for very long. Adam points out that Arlene hasn't been sober since Nixon was in office, so what would be so unusual about her leaving everything behind when she skips town? Derek watches him with puffed-out cheeks, but appears to be swallowing his lips as his eye twitches. Adam protests that all this insinuation and innuendo are demeaning, and they have a WEDDING to go to! He moves to leave. Derek ignores him, sits down in front of their white Xmas tree, and asks if anyone saw Arlene on the yacht the night of the fundraiser. Mateo rubs his face in his hands. Hayley opens her mouth and looks under and up at Mateo. Liza, Adam and Marian all give each other broad, worried, conspiratorial looks. No one says anything and Derek says it's not a rhetorical question. Derek tells them that a very expensive necklace was stolen that night and wants to know if any of them know anything about it. Hayley remembers choking Arlene and seeing that Arlene was wearing just such a necklace. Hayley chokes out a guttural sound and covers her face. Everybody stares at her.

After some other scenes and commercials, we return to the Chandler living room where everyone but Mateo is inexplicably ignoring Hayley and staring at Derek while Hayley tries to compose herself and Mateo suggests he gets her out of there (she declines). Adam: "Although it makes me all warm inside knowing that Palmer Cortlandt is out half a million dollars, it doesn't really concern us." None of them saw Arlene on the yacht that night. They were in the midst of a major battle with Arlene then, and if any of them had seen her, they would have noticed -- she's hard to miss! Derek agrees, then asks why Marian told Vanessa she had seen Arlene on the yacht that night. Marian vehemently denies telling Vanessa any such thing! Vanessa is a liar and Marian has no idea what she's talking about.

Hayley leaves the room and Mateo follows. She takes deep breaths, then tells Mateo that she saw Arlene wearing the necklace that night -- that must be how she got the money to get out of the country. She has to tell Derek! Mateo says they have to be sure and she spits out that she IS sure. Hayley bursts back into the room and tells Derek there's more.

Hayley tells Derek that she DID see Arlene on the yacht that night and she WAS wearing the stolen necklace. Adam sputters that Hayley can't say that, she was DRUGGED and hallucinating! Mateo yells at Adam in a manner that clearly says: "It's over, shut up and let her talk!" Derek wants to hear what she has to say. Adam pulls his finger out of his pocket and points to Mateo, saying: "No, no! That's IT! Mateo, take your wife upstairs." MATEO, do as I say!" Mateo tells her to go ahead and speak. Adam orders LIZA to take her out of there. Hayley yells "No, no, NO!" She wants to tell Derek the truth about everything. Derek: "That would be refreshing." Adam puts the kiebosh on it, saying not in HIS house! If Derek wants to question his daughter or anyone else in his house, he'll need a court order! Derek ignores Adam and tells Hayley she can come down to the station now or she can come later when he gets a subpoena -- it's up to her. She stares. Adam completely loses his composure (you can tell because some hair has fallen into his face) and yells NO, until Derek gets a court order, it's up to HIM! He grabs Derek and yanks him around as he says this last part. He orders Derek to get the hell out of his house! Derek grins maniacally at him, then turns back to Hayley, making REALLY weird faces and simultaneous baring and sucking on his teeth [Mommy, that man is SCARING me!] Still with a twisted smile, he tells Hayley he'll be REALLY interested in what she has to say. He turns back to Adam, saying: "And I WILL hear it!" He walks out as everyone stands still as statues. Hayley: "What just happened here? What do you all know that _I_ don't know?" Amazingly, she is NOT whining OR being sarcastic as she says this. Adam shakes his head. She DID see Arlene wearing the necklace and they ALL know how she knows it -- because she was CHOKING her! Adam: "Is that what you were going to tell Det. Frye, that you were choking your mother to death?" Hayley: "No, I wasn't going to tell him that I was choking her to death because she didn't die ... Right?" They all look away. Hayley turns back to Mateo and demands to know what the hell is going on. Mateo hems and haws and finally says she should know the truth.

Hayley DEMANDS the truth, but before Mateo can continue, Adam spins Hayley around and says that the truth is that her mother came on to her husband and she lost control and choked her. That's only because she got there first -- anybody in the room would have GLADLY choked her FOR Hayley. Marian chimes in that it's true. Hayley says there's more to it. Adam keeps trying to control the situation and Liza urges him to stop. Hayley says she choked her mother, and she passed out. Then she got up and went to Amsterdam, right? Adam saw her there, right? Mateo says no, he DIDN'T see her there. He takes her hands and tells her he loves her. Adam tells him that if he loves his wife, DON'T say another word! Hayley stares at Adam, then back at Mateo. Mateo takes a breath to say--[oops, scene change ...]

VALLEY INN LOBBY

ERICA'S HOUSE

CHANDLER LIVING ROOM

ERICA'S HOUSE

ON THE NEXT AMC:

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Dixie walks into the Martin house as two unfamiliar boys [Max and Petey?] yell: "Merry Christmas!" and jump up on her like Dino on Fred Flintstone.

Bianca tells Erica's back: "Turn around. Face me. Face who I am."

Liza leans over and tells Hayley: "If you tell the police, we'll ALL go to jail. Now, is that REALLY what you want?" [Gosh, what a supportive step-mother!]

As candles burn [in the tower?] and Gillian leaps into his arms, Ryan whispers: "Merry Christmas, Princess."

Irreverently submitted,

Robin "Merry Christmas, everyone" Coutellier