Melrose Place
Episode #173 / Season #6
Title:  "A Shot in the Dark"
Original Air Date:  Monday, November 10, 1997

Episode Summary

[Upstairs Jazz Club]
Amanda wanders into the club and plops herself down on at the bar, home
of the free drink. Jennifer quickly serves her a martini, notes how down
she looks and asks, "Someone late with the rent check?" Kyle meanders
over, tells Amanda the club's never been busier, then asks Amanda what's
wrong. He pulls her away from the bar and takes her to his office,
wanting to know if there's something bothering her other than her
ridiculous wardrobe designed to hide her pregnancy. Amanda informs Kyle
that Eric did indeed buy Kyle's Boston restaurant, and is now trying to
get both Kyle's the Restaurant and the Upstairs Jazz Club. Kyle grins
and shakes his head, thinking, "At least Eric has good taste in food!"
But Amanda turns the focus back on herself, saying Eric really wants
her, reinforcing the thought that's still lingering in Kyle's head...
"Yup, Eric has good taste in what he eats, all right!" Amanda informs
Kyle that if Eric doesn't get Amanda, everything in her life, as well as
Kyle's is scorched earth. Kyle comforts her, saying, "Don't worry. I
know a little about scorched earth myself," obviously referring to the
carpet burns he shared with Jennifer during their horizontal period
years ago. Kyle gets on the phone with his lawyer. Then Amanda glances
in the mirror catching Taylor eavesdropping on their conversation.
Taylor flees but Amanda catches up with her, grabbing her by the arm to
swing her around. Taylor accuses Amanda of being in cahoots with Eric,
adding "Fact is, you only love yourself." Since Amanda can't throw
Taylor down the stairs a second time, she tries to slap Taylor instead.
But Taylor is ready this time and she blocks Amanda, saying, "God,
you're so predictable." So Amanda decides to try to drown Taylor,
tossing a glass of wine in Taylor's face. Taylor's wax lips serve their
purpose and the wine simply beads up and rolls off. Still, Jennifer runs
over and tosses Taylor a towel to get any remaining moisture off her
pair of Sandra Bernhard's.

 

[Peter's Condo]
Coop knocks on Peter's door, paying him yet another early morning visit.
All I can say is, I'm sure glad Coop's not a friend of mine. He only
stops by to make sure their personal life won't interfere with their
professional. That would be a first for this show. Peter assures him
everything is cool and Coop leaves and runs into Lexi, arriving with her
suitcase. Apparently, she's turned into a morning person since last
week. Coop can't believe how after only a couple of weeks, she's already
got such a kung-fu grip on Peter. Coop chuckles, and adds, "He doesn't
know all about you yet, does he?" Lexi squints her baby blues and says,
"You aw an incwedably virile human being, you know dat?" Coop, thinking
she said vile, not virile, smiles and answers "Maybe."

 

[MP, Billy and Sam's Apt]
Billy and Sam are sitting at the breakfast table. Sam is happy as a
clam, er, Maryland crab, about the wedding. She drones on about what
sort of chapel they should get, the wedding party, even about flying her
mother out. Billy rolls his eyes, thinking "Oh God, a shotgun wedding."
Billy's starting to worry, especially when he sees the piece of bread
Sam's eating and he realizes, this woman doesn't even know how to make
toast! Billy finally speaks, saying he's worried because they don't have
any money. After all, he's only an overly-paid ad exec living in a
rundown, rent-controlled West Hollywood apartment. Sam apologizes for
making it sound like Billy was going to have to pay for everything. They
hug and Billy treats us with one more eye roll.

 

[Century City]
Craig, Jennifer, and Michael are at the office of their new business
venture. Michael doesn't like anything about the new place, from the
size of Jennifer's office to the original name of the company (I know
you were expecting Field/Mancini/Mancini, but the writers put in
overtime and came up with "Field/Mancini Enterprises" instead). Jennifer
presents Michael with a glass hand wearing a Mancini Glove, the little
pinkie sticking out the same way Matt's used to whenever he drank his
morning cup of tea. Michael informs Craig what he really wants is some
orders for the thing. Craig mentions the Medical Supplies Sales
Convention is coming up and wants Michael to go with them to market the
glove, but Michael claims he's got too much to do as Chief-of-Staff, and
orders Craig and Jennifer to do the huckstering.

 

[Eric Baine's Hotel Suite]
Megan and Eric are working, Megan spewing some mumbo-jumbo about
slumping orders and when to jump in, etc. Whatever she's mumbling about
impresses Eric. Then Taylor knocks at the door. "Whore are you today?"
she asks Megan. "I'm fine," Megan answers, cordially asking "And whore
are you?" But Taylor fails to answer Megan, her attention turning to
Eric, She makes a beeline towards him instead, demanding he keep his
mitts off her restaurant. Considering the ball's in Eric's court, Taylor
makes the mistake of calling him a "New York Nobody." Eric informs
Taylor he's taking the property and has Megan escort Taylor out.

 

[Wilshire Memorial, Chief-of-Staff's Office]
Peter drops in on Michael unexpectedly. Peter reminds Michael about his
agreement to relinquish the chief-of-staff position to Peter. But
Michael, his paws up against his chest as if suffering a severe case of
gerbilitis, tells Peter his fingers are still too sensitive. Peter grabs
the glass hand w/glove and tosses it towards Michael. But instead of
trying to catch the thing, Michael lets it crash to the ground, proving
that his hands are still too frail to allow him to perform his duties.
Peter promises to kick Michael's butt out of there as well as make his
life unpleasant, then storms out. Michael goes to the coat rack to put
on his smock so he can do rounds. But when he slips his arm through, the
sleeve rips. He tries to put the other arm through and finds the smock
is much too small. He looks at the name tag on it which reads, "Dr.
Kimberly Shaw." Michael freaks and he yanks the coat off.

 

[Medical Supplies Sales Convention]
Craig is trying, rather unsuccessfully, to sell the idea of the Mancini
Glove to a couple of medicine men. Craig promises them if they order the
glove for everyone at their hospital, the surgeons there would thank
them forever. One of the doctors states that he's a surgeon and he
doesn't really see the need for such an instrument. They start to leave
but Jennifer stops them the only way she knows how... by purring. She
coos, "Doctors, wait. If I was your patient, my life in your hands, I
would want you to be as comfortable as possible, and to be able to move
quickly and be able to react to anything that was going on in my body."
She looks to the doctor who said he was a surgeon and instructs him to
put on the glove. By now, the horny little bastard is starting to drool,
and he anxiously reaches into his wallet for a Trojan, but she stops him
and tells him wrong glove, she meant the Mancini Glove. "Now, say you
were doing an operation on my shoulder," she continues. "And you needed
to cauterize something." Wearing her easy-off elasticized blouse, she
yanks it down, exposing her shoulder, and places the doctor's hand on
her, saying, "Here. All you would need to do is touch there, leaving
your fingers free to do whatever they need to do." Then the other doctor
raises his hand and exclaims, "I know how to spell surgeon!" Jennifer
tells him that's good enough for her, and to get in line and join the
train. Meanwhile, Craig dangles an order form in front of their faces
and has each of them fill out before getting to feel out.

 

[Upstairs Jazz Club]
Peter and Lexi are sitting at the club, enjoying the only drink the bar
knows how to make... martinis. I guess it's still a step up from the
only drink Jake knew how to make, if you can call pouring a beer "making
a drink!" Amanda is doing rounds ensuring the patrons are having a good
time, and she eventually stops by Peter and Lexi's. Peter introduces the
two women and then comments to Amanda that she wouldn't be in such a
financial mess had she borrowed the money from him instead. After Amanda
leaves, Lexi asks what that demonstration was all about. Peter explains
that Amanda is his ex-wife. Lexi tries to get up, but Peter tries to
keep her next to him. She just has to go to the little girls' room. Then
Eric and his two thugs show up, Eric presenting Kyle with paperwork
stating he's bought the property, and that Kyle has 30 days to vacate
the premises. Eric and his men hang around for a few moments, but when
they realize Kyle's not going to offer them free martinis, they turn to
leave. Kyle lunges at Eric, and we learn why they call those henchmen
thugs, because it's exactly the sound that's made when Kyle's body
collides with theirs as they stop him from reaching Eric.

 

[Peter's Condo]
It's the next morning, and Peter's offering Lexi some aspirin. Lexi
looks a little hung over, but she does remember the horizontal mambo
they danced last night. Peter apologizes for his behavior, then they
agree to be honest and open with each other, a novel idea for a
relationship, at least for Peter. Lexi asks, "Right now?" Peter nods.
Lexi agrees, saying she has nothing to hide. But before they start, she
needs to go to the bathroom. There, she takes out a bottle of Diazepam
from her purse. The label says, "As needed for anxiety" prescribed to
her by Brett Cooper of all people. Anticipating the upcoming
conversation might require her to act anxious, a very relaxed Lexi pops
a couple of pills to get in the mood.

 

[MP, Taylor's Apt]
Kyle pays Taylor a visit to inform her Eric bought everything outright
and they have 30 days to vacate. He says he's sorry, but that isn't good
enough for Taylor, who goes on a diatribe about how the whole thing is
Amanda's fault, and if it weren't for her, they wouldn't be in this
mess. Taylor suggests he cut off that line of dead weight and come back
to her. This makes Kyle even sicker than he already is, and he snaps
that if any good comes out of this, it's that he doesn't have to be in
business with Taylor anymore.

 

[Wilshire Memorial]
A doctor in the radiology dept. informs Michael that they feel it's
important that the Chief-of-Staff review the oncology patients weekly
since things can change so rapidly. As she says this, she puts up a set
of x-rays for Michael to review, showing a brain tumor patient. Michael
feels this x-ray looks familiar. I guess the big metal plate in her
head, along with the tumor, was a dead giveaway. Anyway, to verify his
suspicions, Michael looks at the paperwork and confirms it's that of
Kimberly. Michael storms out but not before blowing up at the doctor,
who swears she just picked up the envelope from oncology. Now I
understand this is supposed to be some eerie resurfacing of Kimberly's
past to haunt Michael, but I just can't help but think this is simply
business-as-usual at Wilshire Memorial...

 

[Amanda Woodward Advertising, aka AWA]
Sam, only one week into her job, is already wasting office supplies by
making watercolors of her dream-wedding gown rather than working on
cheese puff ads like she's supposed to. It looks like Sam got carried
away with her watercolors and started using them as eye shadow too.
While she rambles on about her wedding gown, Billy mumbles about some
luncheon date that he got stood up on, and how the client seems to be
avoiding him. That's the gist I got from the scene, the two of them
having such muffled voices I wasn't sure what they were talking about,
but being Sam and Billy, I wasn't too worried that I was missing
anything of importance.

 

[Burns-Mancini-Coop Medical Office]
Michael is busy talking on the phone with Wilshire Memorial Security
about the Kimberly Shaw paraphernalia that has been popping up around
the hospital lately. Just as he's hanging up, Megan walks in carrying a
box. Michael looks up and the sight of another one of his wives staring
him in the face causes him to jump out of his chair. She's just there to
pick up her last check. He tells Megan all about Kimberly's stuff
showing up. Megan starts to leave, and Michael reminds her to take her
box. She says she found it outside the office door. Michael opens it and
finds Kimberly's wedding dress. He doesn't know what to do with it.
Maybe he should pay a visit to Sam and Billy's. He and Megan decide to
go to the storage locker where all of Kimberly's stuff was stored after
her death.

 

[Upstairs Jazz Club]
Amanda arrives to an empty club. She asks Kyle what's going on. He
simply closed early so he could have some quality time with her. The
band, meantime, hasn't realized the club has closed and keeps playing,
so Amanda and Kyle dance. They promise to stick by each other no matter
what.

 

[Storage Facility]
Michael and Megan drive to the storage facility where they had packed
all of Kimberly's belongings after she had died. They find the lock
jimmied. Michael fiddles with the light switch but the light's out.
Luckily, Michael just happens to be wielding a flashlight. He shines it
inside and they discover the entire locker empty, except for a picture
frame containing a photo of Kimberly and Michael. There's a Ginzu knife
stabbing Michael's face. Michael exclaims, "She's back. Kimberly's back
from the dead. She's done it before." Megan tries to convince him
something so ludicrous could never happen on a Spelling show. Once, an
entire season was simply a dream sequence, but that was a rival creator,
not Spelling, who was into more realistic shows such as "Fantasy Island"
at the time.

 

[Peter's Condo]
Peter and Lexi are enjoying another breakfast on the veranda, Lexi
commenting on getting a yacht with some of the money she has. Their
morning bliss is interrupted however, when Michael arrives, saying,
"Sorry to interrupt the lives of the rich and famous, but it's time you
copped to the sick creep you've turned into, Peter." He's there to
accuse Peter of trying to drive him crazy with the Kimberly stuff, but
Peter vehemently denies any part. Then Peter adds that Coop had an
affair with Kimberly during her time in Ohio. Lexi suggests they simply
go to the police, but both Peter and Michael know better than to get the
L.A.P.D. involved. After all, look what happened the last time the
police tried to serve and protect -- both Jim Reilly and Sydney ended up
dead.

 

[Wedding Gowns-R-Us]
Sam takes the watercolor painting of her dream dress to a local boutique
to find out how much it'll cost to make. Billy has a conniption when he
finds out the wedding dress Sam wants will cost upwards of $2500. He
repeats that they're having financial problems, and throws a tantrum,
crying that all he wants is to be taken seriously. Sam tells him to calm
down, that they can postpone the wedding until he feels more stable.
Then she leaves to cancel the invitations, saying she'll meet him at
home.

 

[Wilshire Memorial]
Michael chases down Coop, donning his green scrubs, apparently on his
way to surgery. Michael wants to know more about the affair Coop had
with a comatose Kimberly. Coop tells Michael it's none of his business
tries to leave but Michael grabs him, apparently with his good hand.
Coop says he has nothing to do with Kimberly's belongings mysteriously
appearing, but admits that he loved Kimberly and is angry at the way
Michael treated her, blaming him for her eventual death. In a fit of
rage, he morphs to Johnny Cage and slams Michael to the floor, then
turns back to Coop. Michael cries out for hospital security, who seem to
arrive faster than you could say "STAT!" As the rent-a-cops haul Coop
away, one can only feel sorry for the patient waiting "patiently" in the
OR for Coop to arrive.

 

[Upstairs Jazz Club Parking Lot]
Craig brings Jennifer outside to show her the gift he bought for her, in
appreciation for all the orders of the Mancini Glove her naked shoulder
brought in from the show. He presents her with a nice, new convertible.
To Jennifer, she views everything as "hunks," and this is no exception.
"What a hunk of metal," she screams. They jump in, and she says it's
time to break her in. Craig comments that he thought she had to get back
to work. "Not the car, silly" she says, then grabs at the stick shift...
Craig's that is, and they go for one wild ride without ever leaving the
parking lot, Craig sporting the other type of Mancini Glove.

 

[Eric Baine's Hotel Suite]
Amanda shows up at Eric's, wearing the matching outfit that she must've
gotten free when she bought her leopard bedspread and bed sheets. Megan
answers the door and Amanda says, "Whore do you do?" "I'm fine, whore
are you?" But Amanda is too busy gawking at the party taking place to
answer, since the room is filled with execs from competing advertising
agencies. Eric takes Amanda into the bedroom, explaining they're all
interested in acquiring AWA as well as her clientele. She begs him to
stop all of this. He agrees, under one condition, and he makes Amanda an
indecent proposal. Not quite as elegant as Robert Redford, and maybe
that's why Amanda says no, calling Eric a "pathetic piece of garbage."
Funny, but I never really considered garbage . Just then, Megan walks
in. Amanda turns to her and says, "You seem like an intelligent woman. I
don't know what you're doing with this loser." Amanda enlightens Megan
as to Eric's plans and leaves. Megan can't believe what a scum Eric is.
Eric says to her, "In her shoes, you'd do it in a second." Megan slaps
him and quits. Didn't she know this was simply lesson number two?

 

[MP Courtyard]
It's still early in the morning, but Megan is on her way out. Where, you
might ask? Even she doesn't even know! But Taylor catches her in the
courtyard, and they exchange good-mornings: "Whore do you do?" "Fine,
thank you. Whore do you do?" Megan tells Taylor about Eric's indecent
proposal and how Amanda turned him down.

 

[MP, Amanda's Apt]
Kyle harps on how helpless they are against Eric, wondering if there's
anything they can do. Amanda keeps her encounter with Eric to herself,
saying there is nothing and that Eric won.

 

[L.A. County Central Jail]
Megan, with nowhere else to go, pays Coop a visit. He asks her to get
Michael to drop the charges and he promises to help figure out who's
behind the Kimberly stuff. He swears he's not the one. She says she'll
try, but can't promise anything and leaves. When the guard enters to
return Coop to his cell, he demands to make a phone call. The officer
drops a coin into the pay phone and says, "You got 10 minutes." Pretty
good for a dime. With the opportunity to call anyone, anywhere in the
world, who does Coop call but Mrs. Shaw, who's staying at the Palm West
Hotel. Unfortunately for Coop, the hotel clerk informs him that Mrs.
Shaw has checked out. Seeing Coop in jail reminds me, the rap sheet for
the staff at Wilshire Memorial is beginning to get awfully long.

 

[MP, Billy and Sam's Apt]
Billy returns home after wandering the streets all day, thinking. He
tells her he ended up putting a down payment on the dress she wanted. He
explains with his usual stutter, "I wa, wha, wa..." Well, that's good
enough for Sam who gives him a nookie and a kiss.

 

[Burns-Mancini-Coop Medical Office]
Megan tries to convince Michael into dropping the assault charges
against Cooper. She tells Michael she spoke with Coop this morning and
she believes him when he said he didn't do anything. Michael hears her
siding with Coop, then thinks about Peter not wanting to go to the cops,
leading him to ask, "What is this, the Coop Clux Clan?" He emphatically
says no, he will not drop the charges. Then he gets a phone call, a
mysterious voice on the other end whispering, "Michael, I'm at the beach
house. Do me." Something like that. He leaves to settle the matter once
and for all. Megan offers to come along, but Michael wants to do this by
himself.

 

[Kyle's the Restaurant]
Taylor, wearing her Wilma Flintstone original, orders Amanda to do Eric
so that the restaurant and club will be saved. If Amanda doesn't do it,
Taylor threatens to tell Kyle all about it. Amanda throws her against
the wall, promising to tear her to shreds if she mentions anything to
Kyle.

 

[Beach House]
Michael shows up at the beach house wielding a baseball bat. He flicks
the light switch, another one which doesn't work. He sees a silhouette
in the curtains by the glass door and asks, "Kimberly?" Suddenly, the
dark figure whips out a gun and shoots at Michael. But unlike the fate
of Larry Hagman, Michael ducks and the bullets hit some items on the
coffee table instead. The figure runs to her car and zooms away.

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