1992 Jake and Paulina reconciled and began working for local TV station KBAY. In madcap fashion, the dynamic duo tried to track down Madonna for a hot scoop. "I remember trying to play that to the hilt to make it work," laughs Eplin, "because they weren't fooling Judi and me -- we knew they had no story for us. I think we chased Madonna for six damn weeks. And that is one of those things ... if you are chasing some fourth-rate country-and-western person, you know that person is coming on the show. I don't think we were kidding anybody. Nobody thought they were going to tune in on Friday and see madonna on the show. It wasn't going to happen."
1993 Finally happy, McKinnon followed his typical m.o. -- he screwed up. Jake teamed with Spencer and plotted a hostile takeover of Cory Publishing. ("I remember driving the Harley into the Cory boardroom,"says Eplin.) Unfourtunately, Paulina exposed his scheme and called off their wedding in a unique fashion: She walked down the aisle and slugged him!
1994 It's not over till it's over: Jake and Paulina fought their attraction after they were kidnapped and dumped in the wilderness by Barry, a man who plotted with Iris to kill Carl. Jake took advantage of their truce and proposed marriage, but Paulina held him at bay. Later, she "kidnapped" Jake and gave him her answer: Yes! This time, their nuptials went off without a hitch. Well, actually one small hitch. Before the ceremony, Paulina found a baby in her car (Long story: It was Vicky's son, Kirkland) and decided to keep him.
1995 To finance a trip with Paulina to San Francisco, Jake hit up a loan shark. He didn't pay up, so hitwoman Bunny Eberhardt tracked him down. After months of playing cat and mouse, Jake borrowed some cash from Vicky (Jensen Buchanan) but it was too late. He was caught by Eberhardt's lackey, Svenson, and was declared dead after a fiery car crash. In truth, Jake had amnesia. "Personally, that was kind of weird," says Eplin of the scenes where Jake attended his won funeral. "I was leaving the show at the time and two things werre going on: I was deathly sick in real life and [the funeral] took place on the coldest day of the year. It was kind of a weird way to leave."
1995-1996 After a brief hiatus, amnesiac Jake wandered home in time to interrupt Paulina's wedding to Joe. Now filthy rich, Jake fought to win his former love -- he even dressed as a woman -- but that chapter was closed. "Jake thought money was the answer to everything," notes Eplin. "And I think we are still in the middle of finding out what that is doing to him. Jake has pretty much everything he wants right now, or everything he said he's always wanted, and now it's time to see who he really is."
1997 Talk about coming full circle: Jake realized the woman he really, truly loved was Vicky. Too bad she was smitten with Bobby Reno (a.k.a. Shane), who was on the lam from death row. With Jake's help, Vicky proved Reno's innocence. "Jake couldn't just let Bobby rot away and have Vicky pine over him, yet marry [Jake] because he was the next best thing," explains Eplin. "Jake had to do everything he could." At their old stomping grounds -- the swings in Lassiter, PA -- Jake asked for Vicky's hand in marriage. "[To get to Lassiter] you used to have to take two Greyhound buses and it took like four hours apiece," jokes Eplin, about the sudden proximity of his hometown. "Now you can throw a rock and hit it."
As Vicky and Jake plan their upcoming wedding (their first attempt was a complete disaster), Eplin reflects on Jake's happy state of affairs. "I just love working with Jensen," sighs Eplin. "It operates at such a high pitch for me that when I work with somebody else it feels like I have been cheated." Same goes for Jake: "When Jake is with Vicky, life is good." As for the future, "Obviously they are not going to be together forever," admits Eplin, "but I think Jake's got to make the mistake this time. I just don't know how big of a mistake."
