Michael looked at a picture of Donna and I screamed "my God, is it Renée?" He told Nicole he'd do what she said if it would help Donna. She led him up to the house.
Peter assured Reginald that Donna was in good hands. Reginald asked how he knew. Peter said "I know where she is" just as Michael and Nicole walked in. Michael attacked him. Peter claimed that he had been talking about Mary. Michael didn't believe him but Reginald beamed and backed him up. Nicole threw herself into the fray and demanded that everyone call a truce the better to find Donna.
THE RÔLE OF DONNA LOVE HUDSON IS NOW BEING PLAYED BY PHILECE SAMPLER. [it is Renée. I can't believe this. She's got to be too young, for one thing.] Donna lay in a huge bed hearing Michael called her name. She doesn't know who he is.
Michael conceded that Peter loved Donna and apologized. Peter was civil. He suggested they have the phones tapped in case of a ransom note. Michael agreed. He agreed to cooperate with Reginald as long as Reginald cooperated back. He told him he would die for Donna and his daughters and he didn't give a rat's tail for him or Peter. Exit Michael and Nicole. Reginald asked Peter where Donna was.
Donna lay in that huge bed and dimly recalled the marriage ceremony. She touched her ring and whispered "I thee wed" in puzzlement. [I am resisting the temptation to call her unDonna.]
Peter told his father he'd had Donna shipped to the Rhinelander Castle out of Michael's reach. Reginald was appalled. "You cannot just shut your sister up in some dungeon. She's ill, she needs attention." [Who locked a pregnant daughter in the cellar for months on end? Some difference.] Peter assured him Donna had doctors and nurses and guards. He's enjoying himself hugely. That Old Carrot warned him that although he had been strict with Donna he loved her dearly and if anything happened to her he [Peter] would regret it for the rest of his life. [He claims that he wanted only to protect her from Michael.] He asked what had motivated him. [What motivates Peter to do anything?] Peter said he knew if Donna exhibited any improvement anywhere near Michael he would spirit her off to Europe and break her poor father's heart. [So the Rhinelander Castle at Peter's hands is supposed to make That Old Carrot feel better?] He thinks they can work on Donna and convince her that being married to Michael was a Bad Thing. That Old Carrot seems to think his measures a bit extreme. He sent him out to find Mary.
Mary scolded Vince for being strange about the body heat thing. She informed him that she had less than no intention of seducing him.
Linda massaged Chad while he tried to talk MJ into helping his girl who had been busted. When she started trying to contribute to the conversation he got rid of her. MJ refused to help Chad. He suggested she finish the massage. He told her she was better than Linda. She refused. He told her she'd come because she wanted to see him. She insisted she loved Adam. He said she could have refused to help him over the phone.
Mary forced tea on Vince. He begged her to promise that she would protect herself and tell the police he'd forced her to nurse him. She gave in. She phoned the Superintendent and threatened to organize a rent strike if he didn't come across with the heat. She lay down with Vince again. He was properly grateful.
Chad reminded MJ how much they've loved each other. He told her he helped his girls and she was His Girl. The others are just business. He loves her. He reminded her how it felt to be a busted hooker and begged her to help the girl and not to ruin his dreams.
Felicia did up a table for Maisie and Dave. She bugged Mitch about love. Nicole dragged Michael in. Michael told her he was going out to look for Donna. He ran into Mitch in the elevator. Michael: what are you doing here? Mitch: you have got no brains, do you know that? He warned him that if he scared Donna's kidnappers they might kill her. He offered his criminal mind. Dave and Maisie cruised past. Michael and Mitch went back up.
Peter brooded in his car in the car park at Tops.* Linda slithered up and was very unsubtle. She positively cooed. She told him he looked sad.
Mitch tried to puzzle out the Donna situation with Michael. He advised him to bug the ambulance drivers a little more. Michael agreed it might be profitable if he leaned on Sandra a little. Mitch offered to lean on Paul and snoop around the street a little.
MJ refused to cover for Chad's girl. He dared her to look him in the eye and tell him she could send him to jail. She couldn't. He told her she wanted him. She said she wasn't going to let him get to her because things had changed. She said she loved Adam and he was the best person she had ever known. She said she was going to be everything Adam thought she was. Chad told her he loved her for what she really was. She said goodbye. He advised her not to think it was goodbye forever.
Maisie and Dave dined.
Felicia and Nicole were suspicious of the Mitch-Michael alliance. Michael and Nicole left.
Donna called to daddy and Peter. Feeling her ring she called to Michael and then asked herself who Michael was.
Peter and Linda went to a hotel room. He ordered room service. Pâté. Caviare. A magnum of their best champagne. He has a story. She demanded money first. He emptied his rather full wallet onto the bed.
Mary looked through the blinds to see if the police were watching the building. Vince laughed at her for being such the gangster's moll. She told him he she would call an ambulance if he didn't improve. He refused to believe she'd break her promise. He asked why she bothered about him at all. She admitted she'd heard him say he loved her in his delirium. She crawled in with him again.
Linda heard the room service guy called Peter Mr. Love. She said he couldn't be Reginald and asked if he were The Peter. [If Linda dies, won't he be a suspect?] He admitted it. She demanded identification. He hesitated but produced his driver's license and then couldn't believe he'd done it. She produced a little book in which to enter his coded name and preferences. [He'll be implicated, surely.] She decided his code name would be blue boy. [I prefer boy blue.] He began his sad little life story. She was properly sympathetic.
Michael left a message for Sandra Emerson to call. Nicole tried to get him to rest. He told her to go back up to the house. He thought about canoodling with Donna and smashed things.
* Speaking of car parks...
"But who," said Zaphod, "is the cat on the phone?"
"Whatever happened to Marvin?" said Trillian.
Zaphod clapped his hands to his heads. "The paranoid Android! I left him moping about on Frogstar B."
"When was this?"
"Well, er, five hundred and seventy-six thousand million years ago I suppose," said Zaphod. "Hey, er, hand me the rap-rod, Plate Captain."
The little waiter's eyebrows wandered about his forehead in confusion. "Pardon, Sir?" he said.
"The phone, waiter," said Zaphod, grabbing it off him. "Shee, you guys are so unhip it's a wonder your bums don't fall off."
"Indeed, sir."
"Hey, Marvin, is that you?" said Zaphod into the phone. "How you doing, kid?"
There was a long pause before a thin low voice came up the line. "I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed," it said.
Zaphod cupped his hand over the phone. "It's Marvin," he said. "Hey, Marvin," he said into the phone again, "We're having a great time. Food, wine, a little personal abuse, and the universe going foom. Where can we find you?"
Again the pause. "You don't have to pretend to be interested in me you know," said Marvin at last. "I know perfectly well I'm only a menial robot."
"Ok, ok," said Zaphod, "but, uh, where are you?"
"'Reverse primary thrust, Marvin,' that's all they say to me. 'Open airlock number three, Marvin.' 'Marvin, can you pick up that piece of paper?' Can I pick up that piece of paper! Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to ..."
"Yeah, yeah," sympathised Zaphod hardly at all.
"But I'm quite used to being humiliated," droned Marvin. "I can even go and stick my head in a bucket of water if you'd like. Would you like me to go and stick my head in a bucket of water? I've got one ready. Wait a minute."
"Er, hey, Marvin ..." interrupted Zaphod, but it was too late. Sad little clunks and gurgles came up the line.
"What's he saying?" asked Trillian.
"Nothing, said Zaphod. "He just phoned up to wash his head at us."
"There," said Marvin, coming back on the line and bubbling a bit, " I hope that gave satisfaction ..."
"Yeah, yeah," said Zaphod, "now will please tell us where you are?"
"I'm in the car park," said Marvin.
"The car park? Said Zaphod. "What are you doing there?"
"Parking cars, what else does one do in a car park?"
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams