Daily Updates

From: rika1@mindspring.com (Rika)
Subject: PC: Update, Thursday, 3/26/98
Date: Wed, 01 Apr 1998 01:52:42 GMT
X-Server-Date: 1 Apr 1998 01:53:17 GMT

                       PORT CHARLES UPDATE
                     Thursday, March 26, 1998

My congratulations to T'n'T for their "Lark Report" update.  I wish I
had thought of convincing Lark to do this update as part of her
community service.

TODAY'S STORYLINES:
------------------
* LAB RATS, LATIN, AND LUNCH DATES
* THE MANCUSI FAMILY REUNION

LAB RATS, LATIN, AND LUNCH DATES
--------------------------------
Lark is in the Scanlon kitchen, reading Cliff Notes (about Oedipus,
she says; I couldn't read the title).  Her sweater, as usual, displays
physical assets that are no doubt the envy of every girl in her high
school.  Frank is on his way to Lark's parent/teacher conferences; she
assures him that reports will be better this time:  "Except English,
of course.  Like, Mrs. Bauer is a total geek."  Frank:  "Like, how
could she possibly fault your command of the English language?"  Mrs.
Bauer doesn't make literature "come alive" for Lark (translation:  she
lacks Frank's square jaw and intense blue eyes).  He warns Lark that
he will be calling to check up on her, and then he leaves.

The Larkster calls the phone company to verify that the Scanlon phone
has call forwarding, and then forwards calls to her cell phone (Lark
has a cell phone, eh?  Is this the same kid who couldn't afford a new
sweater when she was going to visit her mom?).

Meanwhile, over at GH, the interns have received the evaluations from
their pediatric rotation; this time they are delivered in writing
instead of in person.  They tear the envelopes open and report the
results:

Julie:  Thumbs up
Karen:  "Adequate"
Jake:  Another "Adequate"
Chris:  Major thumbs up
Joe:  "On track"
Eve:  "I did okay" (with a huge smile suggesting much, much more)

Matt, who is busy in another storyline and who missed most of this
rotation anyway, is not present to receive his evaluation.

Chris assures them that the Q residency is his, since Dr. May is
rooting for him.  Karen reminds him that Eve hasn't had a bad
evaluation yet.  Joe figures Jake and Karen will skip the Q residency
and get the Nobel Prize instead for their research (and your updater
snorts Caffeine-Free Pepsi all over her keyboard at this idea; the
Pepsi Syndrome strikes again).  Our devoted researchers update the
gang on their progress while Chris looks thoughtful.

Frank arrives and asks if people have noticed the new billboard near
the hospital (NEW STORYLINE ALERT!!!!).  It says, "When Hospitals
Kill."  The gang speculates on the meaning, and Jake wins the gold
star:  "Maybe its purpose is so that we ask these questions right
now."  A nurse informs Jake that he has a phone call; the assembled
gang teases him that it might be Chloe.  Jake finds a phone in a more
private corner and discovers that it is, indeed, "Chloe."  She
arranges to meet him at his apartment that afternoon.  He returns to
the nurses' station and is the target of a bunch more teasing.  Jake
does a "Burgess imitation" (not a good one, though - Chris could have
done much better), suggesting that the gang ought to have better
things to do than to stand around.  (He's right; I'm sure a sick
ferret or two are lined up outside the lab).

Frank calls home and Lark perkily answers the forwarded call on her
cell phone.  The English conference went well; the Latin one is coming
up.  Lark evidently tells Frank to "go hang himself" in Latin (I'll
have to take his word for it), and he points out the value of taking
Latin:  now she can curse in two languages.

Lark of the bilingual cursing abilities arrives at Jake's apartment.
Jake has a full afternoon planned - lunch at the Outback and an
impressionist exhibit at the museum.  She claims to have already seen
the museum exhibit; besides, why paint the world when you can go out
and be in it?  Jake tries to explain the exhiliration he feels when he
works in the lab, somehow relating this to painting.  Lark walks up,
pushes his coat off his shoulders, and moves in for a kiss.  She
promises:  "You want art; I'll give you art."  Much more kissing
ensues.

Later, Lark and Jake are on the couch in various states of undress
(Lark is in Jake's shirt; he is in nothing but black silk boxers),
kissing.  Chinese take-out is on the coffee table.  Her cell phone
rings and she dives for it.  It's Frank, giving her the thrilling news
that the Latin conference went well.  She tells Jake it was her
roommate on the phone, and that they don't get along.  Jake suggests
that maybe she could get a new roommate; Lark remarks that then maybe
her old one would appreciate her.  She has a fantasy about marrying
Jake, and having Frank come to her to beg her to leave Jake and go
with him.  In the fantasy, Lark kicks him out.

Back in the lab, Karen, Joe, and Eve are watching Bennett going over
the lab books (the fake ones).  He is disappointed at the results (as
well he might be, since they're all lies).  They assure him that the
outlook will improve with additional trials.  Bennett wants them to
work faster and clean up their lab books - pointing out that "we" have
a chance to produce a valuable drug.  Joe bridles at the "we"; Bennett
reminds them that he is the head of research.  He can't keep the Board
off their backs forever.  Bennett explains the importance of being the
first one with a major discovery.  He leaves.

The idiot lab rats get angry that Bennett could take the credit for
their work.  Eve regales them with a tale of another innovation
Bennett took the credit for, which was actually invented by a
"brilliant but naive Ph.D. student."  Joe gets out the real lab books
to record some of their latest results.  Karen doesn't feel good about
keeping two sets of books (go with that feeling, Karen - it's
unprofessional and hugely unethical and you all deserve to be tossed
out of the medical profession on your butts for doing this).  Eve and
Joe insist that it's the only way to protect their work from Bennett.

Later, the gang comes back into the lab to find Bennett there, looking
into a microscope at the latest sample.  He has noted that the lab
books don't match what he sees.  Joe tries to pass it off as an error,
but Bennett is not fooled.  He tells them that the lab is "my turf,
and everything that grows here is mine."  (That's kind of icky if you
think about it - is he including the dust mites and the bacteria on
the floor in the corner?)  Joe challenges him - doesn't he mean that
the hospital owns the discoveries?  Bennett tells them that they are
off the project; Karen angrily objects, claiming ownership of the
idea.  Bennett kicks them out of the lab, assuring them that he will
change the locks.

THE MANCUSI FAMILY REUNION
--------------------------
Matt is in Grace's hospital room, apologizing to her for what Bobby
did to her.  Grace is glad, at least, that the danger is done for
Matt.  He disabuses her of this notion - his father is on his way to
town.  Since Matt's dad sent Bobby to kill Matt, it's likely that Papa
Mancusi is coming to town to finish the job.  Grace, whose
post-surgical lethargy completely vanishes during the opening credits,
anxiously begs Matt to leave town, and is angry when Matt refuses to
run any more.  Matt wants his father to look him in the eye if he's
going to kill him.  Grace can't believe Matt is so calm; Matt explains
that you achieve a certain clarity when you kill your brother (let's
hope he's not recommending this as a way to achieve greater clarity in
one's life).  Grace begs Matt to take someone with him; he doesn't
want to expose any of his other friends to danger.

Matt arrives at the funeral home and talks to Bobby's casket.  The way
things are supposed to work, your parents die when you're middle-aged
and your children outlive you.  But Matt was supposed to know his
brother for longer.  He remembers a model ship Bobby had but wouldn't
let Matt touch.  Matt admits he broke it on purpose - he wanted Bobby
to do things with him.  Both boys wanted their father's approval, but
Matt drew a line at how far he would go to get it.  Matt wishes Bobby
had drawn some lines.

Matt's mother walks in and calls out to him:  "Eric."  She never
expected to see him again.  She assures Matt that she never stopped
thinking of him in the ten years that have passed (and I'm going to
subscribe to the theory mentioned by someone on RATSA - sorry, I've
forgotten who - that the phone call to his mom we saw in the pilot
could have been to a foster mother who raised him after he entered the
Witness Protection Program).  Matt tells his mother that he missed her
too; it was hard not knowing how she was.  She approaches Bobby's
casket and begins to cry:  "A mother can't be happy without her
children."  Matt insists that he didn't want to shoot Bobby, but Bobby
wouldn't let it go.  She comforts Matt - she knows he had no choice.
She would have stopped Bobby if she had known.  Matt tells her nothing
could have stopped Bobby.  She offers to help Matt to disappear again.
He asks why she is so frightened:  "Pop came here to kill me, didn't
he?"

Matt's mother sometimes wishes she had taken Bobby and Eric/Matt away
when they were little boys.  Enter Salvatore Mancusi, who looks too
short for some reason.  He slaps Matt and barks, "You killed my son!"

-------------------
by Rika, Thursday updater