Melrose Place - Season 2, Episode 20

"If it looks like blow and tastes like blow.."

"Parting Glances"
Original airdate: 2/9/1994

Episode summary: Jo finally gets a clue that Reed is up to no good. Alison travels to New York to visit Billy and gets miffed when she finds him entertaining a new woman friend. Sydney leads Michael to believe that she has proof he was drunk the night of his car accident.

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Recap: Jo wakes up aboard Reed's boat...and after making some coffee, she stumbles across Reed's keyring that has a button which, when pressed, opens the trap door to a secret cargo hold in the living room. As she curiously peers into the cargo hold, Reed appears out of nowhere and startles Jo when he slams the door shut with his foot and tells her it's a storage space for valuables and that there's nothing more to see here. A few seconds later, Jake arrives with cleaning supplies and reminds Reed that they need to get the boat scrubbed down for the upcoming charter - but Reed tells him it's been cancelled 'cause the owner needs the boat that day. Jake's all, "Wha-a-a?" and asks why he didn't tell him this sooner, admonishes him for not taking his charter business seriously enough, and storms off down the pier. 

Sydney has fallen asleep in the chair beside Michael's hospital bed...and when a nurse enters the room and discovers her, she tells her she can only stay another five minutes. After the nurse steps out, Sydney hovers over Michael as he subconsciously babbles about his drinking and blood alcohol levels, and relives the conversation during which he begged Matt to alter the hospital records so he doesn't go to jail. Sydney looks perplexed for a few seconds, then intrigued as she grins devilishly.

Amanda runs into Alison in the courtyard and asks her if she's heard from Billy yet, and Alison says they haven't spoken since his move 'cause he doesn't yet have his phone connected. Amanda says it might be awhile longer before she talks to him 'cause Billy probably doesn't feel comfortable making a lot of long distance calls from his office phone, and that he's no doubt very very busy with his new job. 

In New York, some guy named Greg shows Billy to his spacious new office and gives him the low-down on all of the [implausible sounding] perks that come along with being a junior editor at Escapade Magazine. He mentions that someone named Alison has been trying to reach him - but that he has no time to call her back 'cause they have an emergency art department meeting to get to.

At Shooters, Jeffrey tells Matt that it's been awkward for him pretending not to be gay with his military pals, who are always wanting to set him up on blind dates. He tells Matt he's soooo lucky to be out of the closet...and when Matt asks him how long he's going to be able to keep up this double life, he admits he probably won't be able to do it too much longer. 

Alison listens to an answering machine message from Billy, who tells her he'll try calling her again later. Jane then pops by her apartment to invite her out to hang with the gals at Shooters...and a few seconds after she leaves, she misses yet another call from Billy, who's trying to reach her from a pay phone.

Michael is sitting up, eating, when Sydney stops by his hospital room. She tells him she's taking full credit for saving his life from an overdose, but he argues that his pill-popping wasn't technically an overdose and that he likely would have woken up once the meds wore off. A skeptical Sydney's like, "If you say so, Michael", then tells him she heard from Matt that he's on some kind of administrative probation...which, she points out, is a whole lot better than losing his medical license. Michael's all, "Huh?" - just as the nurse from earlier enters the room and orders Sydney out 'cause she doesn't want her falling asleep in Michael's room again.

"Just be grateful you're not on probation in the criminal law sense of the word."

"I'm choosing to not get alarmed at what you might be insinuating."

Out in the hall, Sydney peppers the nurse with questions about who has access to the hospital's patient records, and the nurse tells her that only hospital personnel can log into the database...and by hospital personnel, she means that, yes, this specifically includes Matt Fielding. Sydney grins and chirps, "That's all I needed to know."

Jake tells Amanda that Reed cancelled the only charter cruise that was booked, and that he's not buying the excuse. He then complains about how he feels as though he's carrying the entire operation, and that Reed is doing fuck all to promote the business. Amanda says that this news is definitely alarming and that action needs to be taken asap...and by action, she means that the two of them need to head over to the marina asap and ask Reed 'what in the fuck?'

Sydney tracks down Matt and nonsensically babbles about accessing hospital records that document things like blood alcohol testing, and that she suspects Michael of being drunk the night of the accident. Matt forces himself to chuckle at her blathering, but can't keep from staring back at her with an unmistakably stricken look on his face.

Amanda and Jake arrive at the marina to tell Reed they no longer want to be part of his faux charter boat business and demand their money back. Reed pissily says he'll have it for them tomorrow...and the two storm off just as Jo arrives to hang out some more with the shady a-hole despite all the red flags flapping around her.

Greg shows Billy some photos of hot women and says he has the perfect lady to set him up with. Billy tells him he's already involved with someone, but Greg is somehow skeptical that that could possibly be a long term thing.

Over at D&D, Amanda and Alison are working together in the conference room, and Alison steps out to get a file at the exact moment Billy calls. Amanda answers the phone and briefly chats with him and assures him she'll pass along the message that he called...and when Alison reenters the room, she gets bummed that she missed a call from Billy for the third time in a row. It's really too bad for them that cell phones and/or texting wasn't a mainstream thing in 1994.

Jeffrey drops by Matt's apartment to tell him he just blurted out 'Guess what? I'm gay!' to his boss, and that he did not take it so well. Matt points out that some people are going to need extra time to adjust to his sexual orientation, but Jeffrey now regrets his actions and wrings his hands about how humiliated his sainted father is going to be when he hears the news. Matt asks him why he'd want to be part of an institution that's so close-minded, and Jeffrey chides him for criticizing the military and reminds him that the Navy defends this country and that he's damn proud of what he does. 

Alison is finally able to reach Billy on his newly hooked up phone, and the two agree they miss each other sooooo much. When Billy asks Alison what she's wearing, she clucks disapprovingly and asks him if they've really been reduced to phone sex, and Billy's like, "Um, yeah..?" and says it's only practical, given that they're so far away...and pissily complains about shitty it's been to be in a long distance relationship for the last day and a half. Alison snarls back that she suggested keeping their hook-up limping along this way 'cause she was being supportive of his career, and when he snarls back, "Don't do me any favors", she tells him she's going out on the town with Jane and abruptly ends the call.

"Describe the sexy number you're wearing, ending with the heels and panties."

"How dare you reduce what used to be a shitty in-person relationship to demoralizing over-the-phone sex."

Reed tells Jo he's about to cruise to Catalina Island and asks her if she wants to come along, and she decides 'why not ditch a day of work to sail around on the douchebag's floating drug den?' 

Matt drops by Jeffrey's place with two tickets for a hockey game, then apologizes for acting like such a judgey bitchy-pants about his life choices. Jeffrey admits that he panicked after outing himself and is scared about what might happen next...but then explains that he's never had a long term relationship 'cause most gay men can't get their brains around his deep love of the military. He says that for the first time he's found someone he wants to explain himself to, then clutches Matt's hand.

Amanda tells Alison she doesn't have to pretend that everything is fine now that she's living apart from Billy, and that it's natural to feel isolated and worried that the relationship is dying a slow death. She urges her to give Billy time and space and to just enjoy being on her own...and Alison reacts to that sage advice by picking up the phone and booking a flight to New York.

Greg introduces Billy to his girlfriend and his girlfriend's friend, a gorgeous brunette named Andrea - who, incidentally, is also from L.A. Andrea gushes about how much she'd looooove to chat Billy's ear off about L.A., and he agrees to get together with her tomorrow night. 

Reed is sipping a glass of wine and marveling to Jo about how his life has changed for the better. He recalls that six months ago he was rotting away in a prison cell, and now look at him...sailing on a cool boat with a pretty [gullible] lady. He coos, "I love you", and Jo says she's glad he said it first, then returns the I love you before the two get into some heavy smooching action.

"You seem gullible enough to believe that I could actually love you."

"And you seem to have me pegged just right."

Matt asks Michael if Sydney knows anything about his blood alcohol level after the accident, then explains that he ran into her the other day and that she hinted at knowing how much booze was in his system and that his blood alcohol levels on his medical record were altered to reflect something below the legal limit. Michael breezily tells him he's just being paranoid, and insists that as long as neither of them cracks there's nothing to worry about. 

Jo is awoken by a strange noise on the deck, which turns out to be another boat approaching to deliver a large drug stash to Reed. Jo goes above deck to ask Reed whassup with all the commotion, and he fibs that a cruiser just passed them and got a bit too close. He then urges her to go back to bed, and covertly hides the bags o' drugs in a storage compartment.

The next morning, Reed tells Jo he's too busy to have breakfast and tells her she really should get going now, and she takes the hint and heads off to work.

Jeffrey stops by the hospital to tell Matt he just got transferred to the east coast, and is bummed that he's probably going to be known at his new base as The Gay Sailor. Matt asks what this means for their budding romance, and Jeffrey just shrugs helplessly at the Melrose Place writers' desperation to dump this same-sex relationship storyline before it can even get off the ground, and thanks him for helping him live a more honest life. 

​Jake goes over to Jo's place to inform her that the serial numbers on Reed's boat are fake, meaning that the boat isn't registered with the state. Jo just shrugs at this additional red flag and suggests that maybe the boat is registered in a different state - but Jake argues that Reed had specifically told him it was registered in California. He says he can only deduce that the cretin is up to no good, but Jo remains stupidly skeptical about Jake's concerns and snarls that just 'cause Papa Woodward turned out to be a crook doesn't mean everyone is...and that if he's so worried about Reed's sketchiness, he never should have gotten involved in the charter business. Fair point, I guess. Jake says he's just looking out for her - but Jo crisply says that since they're not family (or hitting the sheets), there's really no reason he needs to continue doing that. 

Billy and Andrea are out to dinner, discussing the various differences between L.A. and New York. Billy tells her he's homesick 'cause he has a girlfriend back in L.A., and Andrea says she was once in that predicament, and that doing the long distance thing didn't work out for her. She then asks about the fabulous apartment he got as part of his junior editor job ['cause, yeah, that's really plausible] and tells him she'd looooove to see the view sometime.

Sydney stops by the hospital to bring Michael some soup and tell him that someone should have warned him on the night of the accident about the perils of drinking and driving. Michael just stares back at her inscrutably...but after she bids him good night and leaves, he stares after her looking deeply unsettled. 

Alison has arrived in New York, manages to find Billy's apartment building, and knocks on his door. Billy answers with the gorgeous Andrea standing beside him, holding a glass of wine, and Alison's all, "The fuck?!" and bitchily announces that she's leaving. As she storms off, Billy chases after her while Andrea stares after them looking sheepishly perplexed. He catches up to her at the elevator and tells her that Andrea just came over to admire his city view and insists that he's trying really really hard to make their long distance relationship work, but she snappishly tells him she doesn't believe him and gets into the elevator. 

"I'm leaving in a huff!"

"Was it something I said?"

That evening, Jo climbs aboard the boat while Reed is showering and decides it's a good time to start snooping around in earnest. She pulls out the keyring from his pants pocket and uses it to unlock the secret cargo hold area, which now contains several packages of a white powdery substance. She holds a fingerful of the cocaine up to her nose and is debating taking a snort of it when an angry looking Reed suddenly looms over her, his face contorted into a menacing expression. She asks him what the white stuff is, and he actually replies, "I don't know what you mean" (LOL) before admonishing her for snooping. Jo rails at him for lying to her, and he yells at her for ruining everything with her damned curiosity...and when she tries to make a run for it, he grabs and punches her, tosses her into the cargo hold, and locks the trap door. A few seconds later, he starts up the engine and sets sail for the open sea. Eeeeek!

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