Recap: A murderer and all-around bad guy named Tony Davenport is on a beach, frantically digging for the lost treasure he buried seven years ago - a tan colored briefcase filled with a $100,000 ransom fee - when he's interrupted by Carl Davis, who snaps several Polaroids of him digging for the cash. Carl menacingly tells Tony that if he does find the briefcase, he wants his cut (50%), and Tony assures him he'll get his cut, then reminds him he's been in prison for the last several years. Carl gets all in Tony's face and warns that he'll be watching him...and that if he doesn't get his cut soon, he's going to circulate the Polaroid photos he just took to the entire town so that everyone will know to watch out for him and cut off any possible chance of escape. The next morning, the Riptide trio is enjoying a day away from King Harbor, floating around on their boat in the middle of nowhere, fishing. Nick sourly complains that Murray is somehow catching fish after fish, while his pole keeps coming up empty...so Murray explains that the fish are attracted to the new lure he just invented, which sends out low frequency impulses. Nick snarks that that's really not a sporting way to catch fish, and Murray concurs that, yeah, it is pretty unfair to entrap the fish with an electronic gizmo, so he empties the bucket containing all the fish he caught back into the ocean. A few seconds later, the two hear an alarming sounding popping noise...and Cody pokes his head above deck to report that the Riptide just blew an armature, and that they're going to have to rig up a raft and row to shore to see about getting the defective part replaced. The trio docks their raft on the shore of a creepy looking island...and as they amble towards the nearest house to use the phone, Murray jokes about how their arrival in this spooky place is the stuff of horror movie plots. When they ring the doorbell, a demented old lady named Florence answers and waves a machete at them as she demands to know what they want. She's promptly hushed by a nicer looking old lady, who chides Florence for scaring her guests, then introduces herself to the trio as Ruth Davis. When her friend appears beside her in the doorway, she introduces her/him(?) to the trio as Eleanor Grant...and there's no way "Eleanor" isn't a man in drag who's donning an unsightly grey wig and has caked a horrendous amount of makeup on his face in a half-hearted attempt to pass himself off as an elderly female. Eleanor asks Cody if he's Jake Tyler, and he's all, "Uh, no..?", and Ruth somehow already knows their names and introduces each of them to Eleanor before inviting them inside so that she can offer them the use of her rotary phone. Ruth advises the trio to call Wally Parke to get their boat repaired..and Cody's like, "Uh, thanks..?" and asks her how in blazes she knows their names and why they stumbled upon this island. Ruth explains that she's somewhat of a clairvoyant and saw them and their broken boat in a vision. She adds that she didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night, 'cause her mind kept replaying a vision of the imminent murder of her douchebag nephew Carl, and how the sheriff is going to assume she shot him and subsequently charge her for the murder. When she describes his death - the bullet being fired into Carl's heart, and him dropping to one knee as blood spurts out of his chest and mouth as he gasps his last breaths - she matter-of-factly adds, "It's not going to be pretty." LOL. Nick's like, "Er, OK" and suggests they head over to Wally Parke's shop so they can see about getting the Riptide fixed and get outa this weird fuckin' place asap. Ruth offers the trio the use of her old car Nellie to drive over to Wally's shop...and so they drive off - just as Carl Davis squeals over to his aunt's house, crashes his car through her white picket fence, and flattens a bed of flowers. When Ruth cries that he just ruined her front garden, he snaps, "Shut up! You give me a headache" ... and Ruth suddenly stops fiddling with the broken fence to stare into space and look as though she just had another troubling vision. Carl is in the process of looting Ruth's jewelry collection when she rushes upstairs to confront him, then tries to warn him about the terrible vision she had about his impending murder. When she notices him stealing his uncle's wedding band, she implores him not to take the valuable heirloom and tries to grab it away from him...and he reacts by smacking her across the face and snarling that if she touches him again he'll break her arm. After he storms out, locking the door behind him, Ruth mutters, "Not going to put up with this.." and grabs a pistol out of a drawer and shoots the doorknob. The trio is at Wally's Complete Auto Repair shop, marvelling over the ancient looking gas pumps. Wally makes a sudden appearance, pointing a rifle at Cody and referring to him as Jake Tyler, barking that he still owes him $55. Cody tries to explain that 1) owing anyone $55 doesn't warrant having a gun shoved in one's face, and 2) he's not actually Jake Tyler...but when Wally responds by firing his rifle a few inches from his feet, Cody quickly gathers together $55 (with the help of Nick and Murray ) and hands it over. As the trio drives over to a nearby diner, Cody boasts that he and Wally are tight, now that his "debt" has been repaid, and that the curmudgeonly mechanic even agreed to help tow the Riptide to shore so that he can do all of the necessary repairs. The three then enter the diner, seat themselves at a table, and are bewildered when a waitress (Pauline, I'll presume) silently hovers over Cody and warily shoots him the stink-eye. A few seconds later, an oafish yokel named Larry storms into the diner and rails at Jake Tyler for what he did to his Pauline, so Cody again tries to explain that he's not Jake Tyler...and that he's been threatened and fired upon as a result of the mistaken identity. When Larry grunts that he's not buyin' it and needlessly starts a skirmish that comes to blows, Murray says that their new friend Ruth Davis can vouch for them. The sheriff magically appears and announces that he just placed Ruth under arrest for killing her nephew Carl...and when Murray asks him if Carl died the exact way Ruth had described - the bullet being fired into his heart, and him dropping to one knee as blood spurts out of his chest and mouth as he gasps his last breaths - the sheriff glares at him and says that since 1) he thinks Cody is Jake Tyler, and 2) it's kinda suspicious that they know so much about the slaying, he's going to haul the three of them to the station. In the next scene, the Riptide trio is languishing in the jail cell adjacent to that of Ruth, who's staring contemplatively into space as she has another vision: a wide open field in which someone is chasing a black mailman. She abruptly stops talking and admits that it's too fuzzy a vision to make any real sense of. After that, the sheriff informs the trio that their fingerprints have been sent off to Sacramento, meaning that their IDs can be confirmed within a couple of days. When the topic of conversation turns back to Ruth's arrest for Carl's murder, she insists to the trio - who tells her it'd be totes understandable if she did kill her nephew in self defence - that she didn't kill him, and that she's miffed they'd think she was capable of such a heinous crime. She pouts in her cell and and sadly mutters, "I loaned you Nellie." The sheriff tells the trio he'll release them if they can come up with the bail money...and when they promptly pay the paltry amount, Murray laments to Nick and Cody about how visibly upset Ruth got when they made it clear they didn't believe in her innocence. The three agree to help the kindly old gal get her bail, so she happily tells them she has oodles of cash stashed around her house in various weird hiding places, and that there's a spare key under a giant rock in her front garden. While digging around the garden for Ruth's spare key, Nick stumbles across a film canister, along with a baggie containing several Polaroids that were recently taken of a guy digging. A few seconds later, Murray finds the spare key to the house...and the three happen to run into Florence just as she's storming off. They ask her if she happens to know anything about a black mailman, so she helpfully snarks back that the only black mailman in town is a man named Wilfred Tolley. Inside Ruth's house, Murray finds a pile of cash in the freezer, then glances out the window at the guest house, aka the place where Carl was shot to death earlier. The trio enters the guest house...and we see that Tony Davenport is sneakily skulking inside of it. In his rush to flee, he knocks Murray down, then races off too quickly for Nick and Cody to catch him. Nick wonders aloud if perhaps the intruder was searching for the film canister and the Polaroid pics he just found in the garden, then says they should develop the film asap and see what the photos reveal. The diner owner grumbles to the sheriff that it's going to cost at least $1,000 to fix up the place, and that he's annoyed at him for releasing Jake Tyler on bail. The sheriff says he didn't have anything solid to keep him locked up and points out that Larry was the dumbfuck who started the diner fight. He then shrugs and says he wouldn't be able to prevent anyone from attacking Jake Tyler on a public street...and says this as though he's not the most senior law enforcement officer in the town who should probably refrain from even subtly advocating any form of vigilante justice, particularly when the situation is this nonsensical. The Riptide trio heads over to the home of Wilfred Tolley, who they instantly dismiss as a murder suspect, not least 'cause he's a sweet 92 year old man who worked for the postal service for 70 years. They ask him if he knows anything about Carl Davis, and Wilfred makes a blech face and says, "Someone oughta take him outside and shoot him" ... and when Cody informs him that someone did, in fact, shoot Carl to death, Wilfred lets out a happy chuckle and says that that's the finest news he's heard all day. And even from the little I've seen of Carl this episode, I couldn't agree more. Wilfred's wife, Sarah, calls up a fellow local named David Miller to report that three strangers just dropped by unannounced and appear to be digging up a hornet's nest by asking Wilfred questions about Carl Davis. David thanks her for the heads up, then urges her to not to reveal anything to the trio and to be sure that Wilfred also keeps mum. The Riptide trio heads back to police headquarters to put up bail money for Ruth, who says she just had another fuzzy vision about someone being fired. As they all climb into Nellie, Cody remarks on how little the townspeople seem to care that Carl was just murdered, so Ruth tells the sad tale about a horrible crime that continues to traumatize the residents of this weird little town: seven years ago, a young girl (Terri Miller) was kidnapped by a local boy named Tony Davenport and murdered shortly thereafter. Tony managed to escape prosecution before he could be arrested, and most of the townspeople believed that since Carl Davis was good buddies with Tony, he too must have had something to do with the slaying. A few seconds later, the four realize they're being followed by a jeep filled with armed local yokels...and Murray tells Ruth that her premonition must have been that they're about to be fired upon (as opposed to just fired) before the yokels abruptly turn tail on their menacing attempt to intimidate Ruth and the trio and motor back from whence they came. When the trio returns to Ruth's place, they're aghast to see that her guest house has black smoke billowing from the windows...and as they rush over, Tony Davenport pops up and watches their harried reaction to the fire. After the commercial break, the trio quickly determines that someone must have ransacked the guest house before setting it ablaze. They (+ Ruth) then head over to the Riptide to show Ruth the photos they developed from the film Nick found in the canister...and she's aghast to see that they're photos of Tony Davenport hovering over the mutilated body of Terri Miller. The trio tells her they strongly suspect that Tony returned to town and was being blackmailed by Carl...hence Ruth's fuzzy vision of a black mailman running in an open field. Murray, meanwhile, logs onto his computer so that he can look up the license plate of the jeep that chased them earlier and figure out who might have been at the wheel. Over at the public library, Ruth and Cody tell the mannish Eleanor (who seems to be employed there) that they want to look at all of the newspaper articles that covered Terri Miller's murder. As Cody and Ruth pore over the articles, they learn that the kidnapper(s) had asked for a ransom of $100,000, and that that's probably enough money for Tony to risk returning to town for. Cody surmises that Tony and Carl were in cahoots in the kidnapping/murder, and that Tony likely stashed the money somewhere before he high-tailed it out of town...and then years later, Carl found Tony digging for the cash and took the Polaroids. Ruth gazes admiringly at Cody for his ability to summarize the crimes and lay out a plausible theory...then says that before they head out, she wants to go thank Eleanor for all of "her" help. Cody exits the library and is confronted by the same gang of yokels (Larry, Marty et. al.) who were in the jeep earlier. They're armed with rifles and bats, accuse him of being Jake Tyler - a man they seem to want to beat to death for whatever reason - and an exasperated Cody tells them he's a PI who's looking for Tony Davenport. When Larry flinches at the mention of Tony Davenport and says that he's the cretin who killed Marty's fiancé, Cody tries to calmly point out to the half-wit that it'd be a helluva lot more useful if they stopped trying to beat him up and instead help him look for Terri Miller's killer. Marty's like, "If I were the sharpest knife in the drawer, that'd make total sense" and proceeds to swing his bat at Cody, who ducks to avoid a serious head injury. A few seconds later, Nick pulls up in Nellie, fires his pistol into the air, and warns the idiot yokels to back the fuck off. The Riptide trio (+ Ruth) head over to the home of David Miller, and he greets them by pointing a rifle at them and ordering them to get lost. His wife Sheila emerges from the house and wails at them to let their daughter rest in peace, so Cody explains that their primary mission this episode has become to find the man who murdered Terri. In the next scene, the trio (+ Ruth) show the Millers the Polaroid photos Carl took of Tony digging to find the ransom money on the beach...and David studies them carefully and says he's pretty sure he can pinpoint the exact location. He then informs them that since new construction has been planned for the area, Tony is likely going to try to dig up the money again very soon. In the next scene, he supplies the trio with a tan colored briefcase that looks almost identical to the one he used for the ransom money seven years earlier...and Murray inserts a homing device inside of it so that they can track Tony's movements once he digs up the thing. As predicted, Tony returns to the scene of the crime later that day, digs up the suitcase that the trio planted, and races off with it. While the trio (+ Ruth) is staking out the area, Ruth has another of her visions: Tony is holding Eleanor against her will. Using Murray's homing device, they're able to track Tony, who (not shockingly) ends up at Eleanor's house. Murray, Nick, and Cody sneak into Eleanor's house while Ruth waits in the car...and look perplexed when they find a hamper full of men's clothing, along with a grey wig. It suddenly dawns on them that Tony and Eleanor are the same person - just as a grey-wigged Tony appears out of nowhere and attacks them with the tan colored briefcase. He then races out of the house towards Nellie, barks at a confused Ruth to slide over into the passenger seat, then takes the wheel and squeals off. Marty, Larry, and the rest of the local yokels show up at the house...and when they start attacking the trio, Cody explains that Tony Davenport just fled the scene seconds ago, and that he took Ruth as a hostage. The yokels scrunch their faces confusedly and tell him they just saw Ruth in Nellie and that it looked as though she were going for a drive with Eleanor, so Cody breaks the not astonishing news that Eleanor is really Tony. The yokels chuckle at the absurdity of a freakishly mannish woman who wears a horrible looking grey wig and wretched face makeup actually being a guy in disguise - but agree to keep an open mind. Tony races onto the dock and leaps aboard the Riptide - but since it hasn't been fixed yet, the motor won't start. In the meantime, Marty and Larry et. al. arrive on the scene with their rifles and baseball bats, and are visibly mind-blown to see that without the grey wig and the grisly makeup, Eleanor is, in fact, Tony Davenport. Back at the diner, David Miller thanks the trio for solving his daughter's murder and giving him and his wife a new start on life. A few seconds later, Marty enters the diner, stares bewilderedly at Cody, and says he just saw him at the bank a few minutes ago, collecting the reward money for helping capture Tony Davenport. Cody looks alarmed and cries, "Jake!" and the trio races out of the diner and towards the bank. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
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