I’m up to July 20, 1998.
Reva comes up with a plan for the clone and surprises Josh, Cassie, Sean and the kids (Shane/Tammy, Marah is strangely missing) with a visit from her long-lost cousin ‘Dolly’. It’s the clone donning a short red wig, swinging her purse and smacking her chewing gum. Oh brother. When the kids leave, in front of Josh, Dolly presses Reva and Sean if they got romantic and why it took them so long to get off the island, which upsets them both. Dolly continues to press Sean alone about their kiss on the island (and of course they have Sean shirtless throughout these episodes, even when not on the island haha). Later, Dolly takes off the wig and pretends to be Reva and tries to seduce Sean, but he realizes it’s not the real Reva and tells her off. That night, in retaliation, she calls the cops and reports seeing Sean, the runaway fugitive. Later, Sean prepares to leave town but privately admits to Reva he wishes they could be together, but he knows she’s in love with Josh and he respects that. Reva says in another life, maybe they would be together, but she wishes him the best and they say goodbye. How sweet. But, he runs into Dolly, and then the cops show up and she admits she called the police on him. Reva returns and they convince the officer that she was mistaken and the cop leaves. Sean runs off to Cassie’s to hide and takes a shower. After a night drinking with Harley, Cassie returns home, thinks it’s Hart, and gets in the shower. They’re both shocked of course, but I knew this show should go here! I think Cassie/Sean have potential. He explains why he’s there and they bond a little and she lets him stay there overnight.
Josh/Michael have breakfast and see Vicky/Alan together, which makes them suspicious. Alan tells Vicky he’s ready to get going with cloning and provides her with a lock of Annie’s hair, which surprises her because he’s pushing too quickly with her first clone attempt. Alan mentions that the only thing Annie had when she escaped was the wedding ring he gave her, and then OMG we have a very quick clip of a woman in all black, face unseen, pawning a wedding ring. Is this Annie??? Anyway, at the next table, Vivian and David are having breakfast and Vivian talks to Alan and asks if he could get David a job at Spaulding. David gets upset and says no, and Vivian says some things never change with David (they don’t get along because they don’t see eye to eye about his career goals, which was a theme years before). Later, David runs into Josh in the hallway and calls Alan scum, and Josh says he has a proposition for David. He wants him to take the job at Spaulding and spy on Vicky and Alan, since David used to work with Frank long ago at his PI firm. David goes to Alan, apologizes, and asks for a job in his security department, which Alan agrees to.
Michael catches Vicky in his apartment and threatens to call the police, but she says she has the cloning formula that she stole from him earlier and gave it to Alan. She needs the growing agent formula, but he said it’s destroyed and he’ll never give it to them. Vicky voices her concerns that Alan will do anything to get Annie back now and he needs to help. He kicks her out of his apartment. He later goes to Spaulding Mansion and confronts Alan. They argue, but Michael ultimately leaves and then Alan has flashbacks to good, loving times with Annie. We then see the mysterious woman in black rip up a newspaper annoucement of Josh/Reva getting remarried!
Phillip/Harley host Buzz/Jenna for dinner and it’s quite comical, as Buzz keeps making digs at Phillip by joking he’ll be back with Beth by next week with all his flip flopping, etc. Phillip finally convinces him that he’s committed to Harley, and Buzz finally gives his blessing for their marriage.
Rob shows up at Dinah’s before he leaves town and finds prenatal vitamins, but she blows it off by saying they’re Vanessa’s. She finally gets Rob to leave, and he later calls Cassie from the airport. He tells her he landed a job in Alaska, but that he and Dinah slept together a couple months ago and she was all over him. Cassie rushes to the hospital, where Dinah and Hart are having their first sonogram. She takes the sonogram picture and taunts Dinah about how much the baby looks like Rob LOL. Dinah says she’s lying and knows she can’t prove it since Rob will be in Alaska and unreachable for months. Hart then demands a paternity test to set the record straight. He takes a blood sample and they should know the results in a week. Dinah secretly tries to bribe the technician to fix the results to show Hart is the father.
With the new Bill actor, they’re revisiting the Michelle/Bill relationship. Bill is single, he’s moved back to SF full-time to attend college there, and they’re reminiscing about being kids, supporting each other during Maureen’s death, and their one kiss. I really wish they took the time to do this long ago with Buffington in the role. Elsewhere, Jesse is babysitting Cooper and Drew comes over and admits she was behind the drawings. She says she wanted him to draw her and feel the same way about her as he does with Michelle, but Jesse tells her to find someone else because he’s not interested. They’re watching Cooper and playing with him as Michelle/Bill come in, which upsets Bill (who doesn’t trust Jesse now), and he walks out.
Holly gets another telegram from her brother Ken, and tells Ross/Blake that he’s being released from the psychiatric hospital he’s been in for years and plans to see her soon.
Ross tells Ben about Blake’s past and how she’s worked hard to find her partner and be happy, which surprisingly gets to Ben emotionally. Ben decides to leave town and move to LA if Ross drops charges against his disbarment, and tells Blake and Beth he’s leaving. Blake seems torn, but ultimately says good riddance and she and Ross make up and have sex, but while they’re in the act, she envisions Ben on top of her instead LOL. Blake just can’t get over this man. Ben and Beth have a nice conversation and decide to take a mini-vacation to Hawaii to get away from their feelings over Blake and Phillip (Lizzie is at camp, so good time for Beth). The next day, Vanessa tells Ross about Ben buying back the pin from the Second Chances charity (from the BBQ auction), and he gets upset because he knows he’ll do something wrong with it. Before she leaves, Vanessa tells him she’s going back to work at Spaulding part-time (hmm). Before leaving, Ben goes to Blake to tell her goodbye. He gives her the pin, which makes her crumble a little. He ends up telling her he loves her and pressures her into telling him that she watched their tape and can’t get her mind off him. He then pulls her into a kiss, which she sort of tries to push off, but he says he loves her and pushes her to admit she wants him and she finally does. She wants him, kisses him back and they seemingly have sex on the couch. After, a shirtless Ben is about to leave and an emotional Blake is still so unsure of what to do, but he kisses her just as Ross walks in! OMG, Ross has a gun and assuming Ben was trying to rape Blake, he shoots at Ben but he hits Blake’s stomach instead! Both men are distraught and call 911, thinking Blake is dead. Blake is rushed to the hospital and treated on. Holly arrives and Ross tells her what happened and she breaks down thinking she’s lost both Meg and Blake now. Beth calls Lillian about going to Hawaii, but Lillian being at the hospital, tells her what happened and Beth rushes to the hospital. Hart also arrives, upset, and Ross tells him that Ben had just raped her, but Ben and Beth both tell him he’s wrong. Ben tells the truth that they both wanted each other, and Ben says if Blake dies, he’ll spend the rest of his life getting revenge.
I find Blake to be SO self-destructive, so far. Ross gives her so many opportunities to tell the truth and come clean, consequence free, and she just doesn't. Sparring with Dinah, testifying against Roger, sleeping with Rick, the Ben situation, etc... that's one thing about Blake that drives me crazy LOL. I do love how during this Ben storyline, there are parallels to Holly/Roger... with Holly pleading with Blake not to make the same mistakes she did (even though I wanted her with Roger).