As Cass went through the door, his wig was captured by a decoration and so he spoke to Tony with his own hair. Tony refused to dance with him. Felicia: (averting her eyes) Is he dead yet? Wallingford: He doesn't know. He just keeps on talking.
Mac dashed out of the studio without examining the body. Most of him was askew. The detachable portions and his hair, at any rate.
Kevin asked to be allowed to stay up to see the New Year come in. Liz thought they should leave Sally and Catlin alone but Catlin was willing to let Kevin stay. And Kevin very graciously said that Catlin could hug her first. Liz waxed terribly eloquent on the subject of romantic cabins and evenings and love in general.
Tony let Cass know he knew. Wallingford showed Cass the wig. Tony was grim. Cass was "peachy." Kathleen was worried. Wallingford was frantic. Rocco was eager to pound Cass into jelly.
Thomasina arrived at Smiley's in response to an URGENT phone call from Marley. Marley and Ben dragged Carter over to the table and promptly left on a fabricated errand for Maisie. Thomasina and Carter had a brief discussion and made it up. HOLDING OF HANDS. I am so sick. Where is Hunt?
Cass: I really appreciate that the both of you CARE so much but quite frankly I don't any more. Kathleen: You did it for me. Cass: Just the $5,000. The rest was for good old what's-her-name. Wallingford: Miss de Pollac. Cass: Was that it? I forget. Kathleen: I'm sorry I brought it up, all right? It doesn't matter how you got into it. What matters is -- is -- is how to get out of it. Cass: All I want to get out of right now is this dress. Kathleen: I'm going with you. Cass: No you're not. Kathleen: Why not? Cass: Because I want to be alone. Wallingford: Cass, there is safety in numbers. Cass: Only temporarily. Look, I'll be fine. I really don't think they'll try anything tonight. Kathleen: Cass, Tony has blood in his eyes. Cass: Yes, but I think he'd rather strike when I least expect it. Wallingford suggested they call the police but Cass vetoed that. Cass left (refusing all accompaniment. Non-musical.)
Clarice: Larry, is that bartender a cop? Larry: Yeah. Clarice: He looks just like a bartender! (I put this in not because it has any bearing on the plot but because I kept thinking "bachelor" where "bartender" was the appropriate word. I thought I should get it straight.)
Mac burst in and said he'd killed Carl, much to Carl's "astonishment." Mac was also surprised and promptly fainted. Mac (revived) raved about the events of the evening. Carl denied all. He called Mac sick. Mac pleaded with Larry. Larry said they'd check the studio out and Carl would come with them but Carl refused to go. MJ, Jamie, Larry and Mac left. Clarice told Carl off. "If you'd killed me my kids might not have had a mother."
Kathleen wants to go to Cass. Wallingford wants to make use of his noisemaker. Felicia wants to prevent Wallingford from making noise. Kathleen left.
Tony: Surprise. Cass: Not really. Tony: Well if you were expecting us how come you were skulking through the back alley? Cass: I wasn't skulking. Anyway I figured I'd be running into you sooner or later. Tony: And you preferred later. Meanwhile Rocco is simply itching to "work Cass over." He doesn't like Cass' attitude. Cass pointed out that with a little more time he could pay back the money but dead NEVER. Tony told him he'd suspected from the very first that Krystle was Cass. He gave him two weeks and allowed Rocco to smash Cass up a bit.
Kevin's out. Quite unconscious. Liz is raving about it being KISMET of all things and Catlin and Sally will be alone for New Year's Eve after all. (The crowd proposes to cart the child away and then proceed to Tallboys, or something of that nature.) Catlin said they didn't have to leave and Mark promptly plumped himself down on that bed next to Kevin and made himself at home. Alice made him get up and carry Kevin out. (Catlin made quite certain the door was shut.) They said the new year would be the best ever.
Kathleen found Cass all crumpled up behind Smiley's. She was all womanly concern. He told her of his extension. She raved about MJ being able to give them new identities and they could go away but Cass is resigned to his inevitable death in 2 weeks.
The studio was utterly sane. The consensus is Carl fixed it up. Mac says Carl is certifiable.
Quinn somehow knows that Lily is the funds behind Perry's Tallboys venture. She advised her to tell him. Him Grant.
Kathleen refuses to let Cass resign himself. Cass blames Cecile. He's decided he hates the word love. (Disgusting word. Disgusting concept.)
Perry took Nancy home. She's upset that he's upset. (He saw Mac raving and lunging at his father.) He left. She cried like mad (out the window, the accepted spot for female Cory crying).
New Year at Smiley's. Yelling and screaming. Carter and Thomasina kissed rather more than was necessary. Auld Lang Syne.
I knew there had to be a reason for the sudden expansion of THAT BED. (I'm surprised at Alice. Leaving her daughter alone with a man with a bed of newfound dimensions. Irresponsible, she is, like all mothers.) Sally is pulling Catlin to bits, by which statement I mean she is attempting to help him out of his clo'es. Unbuttoning his shirt. It's not the same effect as Emily undoing Peter at the neck though. One of the major features of Peter is his tie, whereas Catlin is most emphatically untied (and unbuttoned at this stage) although still within his shirt. They eventually (I'm not sure how) wound up on the bed "at all angles." Sort of crookedy across the bottom.
Lily looking at Quinn and Grant and being absolutely sick about it.
Cass asked Kathleen to turn out the light. He's not in the holiday spirit, I'm afraid. Cass: Rocco probably detached a retina. Kathleen: D'you think? Cass: Oh, sure, I'll probably go blind. But it doesn't matter, because I'll be dead in two weeks anyway. You know as I was lying out there in that alley, I thought to myself -- what an ignominious end, y'know -- Cass Winthrop, lawyer, publisher extraordinaire, found lying in a dress with makeup on. Kathleen laughed rather a good deal. He did too. She asked where it hurt because she wanted to help. He pointed out a spot on his cheek, which she kissed. He found various parts of his face in pain after that. HAPPY NEW YEAR, CASS.
Jamie is mad at Carl. Mac is unperturbed. He says he was never taken in by the studio mess and was just acting at Tallboys to make Carl think he'd been taken in.
Perry confronted Carl (for the umpteenth time) to no satisfactory explanation. Perry accused him of having no feelings and being selfish. He said he didn't know his own father. He wished he didn't care but he did. He [Perry] said he [Carl] doesn't have a son any more and told him [Carl] he [Carl] is alone in the world.
Catlin and Sally are now at the accepted angle for sleeping (heads at the top, feet presumably at the bottom or on the way there) although not asleep but talking. The most arresting thing about this situation (for me) was that their heads were pretty much level and all I could think of to begin with was the fact that due to the disparity in their heights Sally's feet must occur a good deal sooner. And I noticed that when Sally is sheeted it is not quite so much a sheeting as it is with Hope. (With Hope one says My God she's sheeted but with Sally it seems much less of a My God thing to say.) They seem to be lacking that bag back there. Neither is wearing anything that can be seen. (I don't suppose Kevin will be too thrilled. They said he could stay up but what did they do? And now Sally staying out until all hours of the morning. I'm surprised he hasn't suggested he can marry her himself.) The gist of the conversation was that they'd still love each other just as much if not more when old. And Sally considered this a wonderful way to bring in the New Year.
Felicia and Wallingford reminisced about Caroline, their mutual gorilla. Wallingford said she [Felicia, not Caroline] was the best friend he's got. Felicia responded in kind, the fickle thing. ON Christmas Cass was her best friend. They danced.
Kathleen left Cass, who was in a highly unconscious state.