Episode #10,331
Taped 5/11
Director-Jim Baffico

A new day has dawned in Salem, (complete with the everpresent and overused flashbacks) as frustrated Salemites pour their hearts out to friends & family, while EJ tries to make a deal, and Kate apparently will be successful in making one of her own.

LUCAS & CARRIE visit the garage, yakking it with Shawn about the turbo engine. Lucas talks about how much money they all will make once the papers are signed. (A huge corporate conglomerate like Titan, and they have not yet drawn up & signed contracts……yet the info about this fabulous engine is supposedly already in magazines, and the racing world knows all about it???) Enter an excited Will, along with Max, just returning from a visit to the track. Max is a bit downhearted, as he did not have his best time today, and Shawn wants to know who beat him. Cue the entrance of EJ…….and the testosterone starts to float all over the place, as the guys try to out brag each other. Carrie decides to leave, and Lucas goes with her. EJ asks to see the new engine, Max is against it until the patent comes through. Shawn sees no harm in showing the drawings, and does so. He admires design, asking Shawn how he came up with it. Shawn tells him how he has worked with engines all his life, with his dad, boats, bikes, cars. EJ admires the relationship Shawn has with his dad, but Shawn says things between them are sort of messed up now. He asks EJ about HIS father, and EJ just says he never made his acquaintance…..and quickly changes the subject. EJ now offers to make a deal with Shawn about the engine, as Max comes in, protesting that EJ wants to steal their engine. EJ seems to know contracts are not yet signed with Titan, but Shawn explains how his grandfather owns the company, and his best friend, Philip, is going to underwrite Max’s racing team. EJ just smiles, and as he is leaving, lets them know he is working with Basic Black plus Austin Reed & Co. Shawn tells him he had better keep an eye on Sami, and EJ, smiling, says he intends to.

IN THEIR APT. Austin & Sami are having coffee, chatting about their new partnership with Kate. Austin thinks it will work out well, plus Sami & Kate may be able to work out their problems. Sami coyly asks him that “when hell freezes over, are you going to find me someplace warm to live”. LOL. Later, Sami is alone in the “office” (hey, for such an up & coming BIG business, should they not have offices by now – this is ridiculous) and there is a knock on the door. A delivery man with a big package for Miss Brady, asks Sami to sign for it. Out in the hall, as he is leaving, Lucas & Carrie arrive, and Carrie asks him if he had a package for Carrie Brady. Of course, and it got delivered to Sami by mistake. Ooopsy. Carrie goes to get it, opens Sami’s door, and sees her holding a wedding dress, and asking Carrie if this is hers. Carrie gets a flashback of Sami reciting vows to Austin years ago, and faints. When she comes to, she goes on and on about Kate having express delivered it over to her, Sami having opened the box, now Lucas has seen the dress, so she cannot wear it. Sami is all apologetic, but Lucas pulls her aside to scold her for getting Carrie upset. They argue, somehow get onto the subject of EJ, & Lucas learns that EJ will be working with her. He accuses her of having a crush on EJ, but Sami retaliates that she is a grown woman and doesn’t have crushes. They argue some more. Meanwhile, Carrie is telling Austin how the sight of Sami holding the dress up against her brought up the bad memories of the when Sami stole her dress design, and was marrying Austin. He is concerned about her fainting, and urges her to see a doctor, but she insists it was just stress, and she is fine.

KATE IS ACTUALLY AT WORK (sorry, I just had to remark on that), looking at pictures and brochures of EJ Wells, when Chelsea arrives. She tells her mom said Kate wanted to see her, and mentions today is her trial. (Egads, does this trial not start until 3 p.m.?) Kate tells her yes, she knows, that she has done all she can for her, and hands her a file to look at. Chelsea opens it, and lo & behold, inside is today’s newspaper. Just the place we all keep our morning newspaper. LOL. Big headline, “My Granddaughter is Not a Monster”, with the accompanying interview with Kate. Chelsea is touched that Kate still believes in her, but Kate assures her that her both her parents love her and support her, too. And Kate is sure now that when the jury sees what a sweet person (hand me the barf bag, please!) Chelsea really is, all will be well. The demon seed flashes back to changing the e-mail on the boat, and proceeds to tell Kate that she is not all that good. She then tells her all about making sure Hope heard her talking on her fake phone call, how her dad came off the boat and was talking to Hope, so she faked a text message to him for the cop shop so he would leave, and then went over to the boat to change his e-mail message to Hope, then deleted it after Hope read it and left. This all makes Kate very happy, as she comments that it is not their job to try and push Bo & Hope back together, and then goes on about how Bo & Billie will get back together. She mentions that the newspaper will have been read by the jury before they get their instructions in court and they will have a fresh picture of a sweet Chelsea in their minds. She goes on about how Chelsea is just like her, and then mentions how she intends to drive a wedge between Austin and Sami.

HOPE LOOKS AT A PICTURE OF ZACK, & remembers Bo telling her about the e-mail he had written, and then her reading it. She talks to Zack, vowing that Bo has used Zack for the last time. Bo calls, and Hope very coldly tells him to more or less, get lost, and don’t ever call her again. Jennifer arrives as Hope begins to break down. She brings Hope some hot tea, asking what happened. Hope tells her how Bo left all these messages last night, & how upset she is with him. Jen tries to make her realize how much Bo cares, talking of how he was when she was gone, but Hope will not budge. She reminds Jen of why she left Salem, of seeing Bo in the motel room with Billie, and how he slept with Billie the same day they had buried their son. They see the newspaper headline with the Kate interview, and that does not set well.

We see a female policewoman also reading the newspaper, and happily telling herself that Kate would do anything for her granddaughter. How interesting. Later, we see Kate driving Chelsea up to the police station (must be attached to the courthouse, huh?) and when Chelsea goes inside, out comes the female cop. She approaches the car window, telling Kate she recognized her from her picture in the newspaper article, and asks if she really would do anything for her granddaughter. Kate assures her she would, and asks how. The cop asks if she would be willing if it involved a large amount of cash.

BO THROWS THE PHONE across the room in disgust, startling Billie as she comes into the cop shop. A frustrated Bo tells Billie how he cannot understand Hope’s attitude, and tells her all about the previous night, taking Hope to dinner, all going well, and then Chelsea walked in. He goes on about going home, calling Marlena, how things were seemingly o.k. The boat, the e-mail, etc. Billie is appalled that he resorted to an e-mail, as no voice tone, emotion, etc. But Bo said the words were there. He continues about how Hope came to the boat, getting the text message to go to the police station, but that it was bogus, and that every time things seem to be going right, something happens and he does not know what it is. Billie does…..Chelsea! But she blames herself, then flashes back to crawling into bed with the passed out Bo at the motel, but does not tell him what she did. She is sympathetic, and they hug, just as Chelsea arrives. Bo pulls Chelsea into the hug, and we see him with one arm around Billie and the other around Chelsea.

Hope tells Jennifer she has to do this for Zack, she will face down anyone, and that includes Bo. Freeze frame on Hope’s face, with the shot of Bo with arms around Billie & Chelsea. And the previews show…

Frankie: Right now, our best option if for you to change your plea to guilty.
Chelsea: I am not going to jail, and I will never plead guilty

Sami: Kate, you have to be so careful about bribing those judges – you’ll end up in a cell next to your granddaughter

Hope to Shawn: Your dad & I should have done that with Zack. We should have protected him

Mimi to Belle: I have a confession to make. I don’t deserve to have Shawn’s baby.

BARB