From: Marni Centor <marni@panix.com>

            GUIDING LIGHT UPDATE: THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1998

HIGHLIGHTS:

* Beth urges Phillip & Harley to stop trying to prove her innocent, 
convincing Harley that Beth is indeed innocent.
* Reva tells Sean what she thinks is happening at home & prepares to 
deal with it.
* The clone makes a spectacle of herself, first in the ballroom & 
then in the fountain.
* Ben offers Beth a deal if she'll tell him the whole truth.
* Buzz hounds Michael about the clone.

COUNTRY CLUB PATIO: Harley gives Phillip grief for twirling Beth 
around the dance floor, while claiming that she doesn't care. Phillip 
says he's just trying to get her to admit that she didn't kill Carl. 
Harley thinks maybe Phillip just doesn't want to accept the truth. He 
thinks the truth is that Beth is covering for Lillian. Harley reminds 
Phillip about Beth's muddy shoes. Phillip says there's an explanation 
& it's Harley's job to find it. They have to get Beth through this 
crisis, because they have no future otherwise.

Beth joins them, apparently having overheard the tail end of their 
conversation. "How could you?" she asks. She is incensed that Phillip 
is trying to prove her innocent when she swore that she was the 
killer & Lillian was not involved. Phillip says he'll do whatever he 
has to. Beth says he has to stop it now.

FLORIDA JAIL: Reva tells Sean about the strange reactions she got 
when she called home. Everyone was acting as if she hadn't been gone 
at all. Sean says maybe there's some kind of misunderstanding or 
other explanation. Reva tells Sean how the doctor at the hospital 
thought she was nuts. But she knows she has all her marbles & she 
wants to help Sean get out of jail. He urges her to go back to her 
family, but she wants to help him. Sean wants Reva to go back to Josh 
so he'll know he took a risk for a good reason. He asks what Reva 
thinks is going on at home. Reva thinks someone stepped into her life 
while she was gone, and has everyone believing that she's Reva.

COUNTRY CLUB BALLROOM: The pianist announces that "Reva Shayne" will 
be singing a song. Everyone applauds, but Josh looks worried. The 
clone dedicates her song to "Bud, my reason for living." Cassie asks 
Josh if he's going to let the clone make an ass out of herself. Billy 
asks what's going on. The clone apologizes & says there's something 
personal she needs to say.

Buzz comments to Michael that Reva's never been shy, but she usually 
leaves the entertainment to the professionals. Michael is 
noncommittal. Buzz thinks Michael ought to know everything about her, 
since she claims he created her & aged her at an amazing speed. 
Michael asks Buzz how much he's had to drink. Buzz says the only 
problem is how to get Josh to love the clone as much as the original.

The clone says tonight is a very special night. She's been away for 
awhile & tonight is the first night she's been out with her family. 
She just wants to let them all know how special this night is to her. 
She feels like things will finally work out after all. Billy chimes 
in that they certainly will, and they all love her. The clone is 
finally ready to sing. She launches into a torchy song. 

Billy leans toward Josh & says he knows there's a problem with Reva & 
it's about time they started working it out. Cassie asks Billy to get 
her another drink, then tells Josh she doesn't like this. Josh says 
the clone isn't doing anything wrong. Cassie thinks she's a wild card 
& she could do anything. The clone, watching them, decides to stop in 
mid-song & start over. She pulls off her jacket, revealing a rather 
revealing dress, plops her butt atop the piano, & starts belting out 
"Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered." 

PATIO: Harley hangs back while Phillip argues with Beth. He knows she 
didn't shoot Carl & will do whatever he has to to prove it. Beth 
tells him to back off, but Phillip won't. She says he has no idea 
what is going on. Carl beat her & Phillip has no clue what that was 
like. Phillip wishes he had been there for her. Beth insists that she 
killed Carl. "So stop asking questions and stop acting like you give 
a damn because you know & I know that this is about guilt." Harley 
asks what Beth means.

Beth says she asked Phillip what would happen if she didn't have to 
serve jail time, because she wanted to know if they could be a family 
again. Phillip shakes his head. Beth says Phillip promised to always 
be there for Lizzie, which is his way of refusing to make a 
commitment. Phillip says it's Beth's way of trying to avoid the real 
issue. Beth says the real issue is that Phillip needs an excuse to 
spend more time with Harley. If he wants to be with Harley, fine, but 
he needs to find another reason, because his crusade on Beth's behalf 
is insulting. She urges Harley to back her up on this.

BALLROOM: The clone continues to sing, strutting among the audience. 
She runs her hand over Josh's shoulder & moves on to a waiter. Ross & 
Ben enter. Ross looks a little embarrassed for the clone. Billy 
returns with Cassie's drink, worried because he thinks something must 
be wrong for Reva to be acting this way. Josh says it's all right 
this time & Billy shouldn't worry about it. Billy decides to leave. 
Cassie thinks that's a good idea & follows him out. Josh tries to 
stop her, saying the clone is only a kid, but Cassie says it's her 
fault she had to watch Dinah walk out on Hart's arm. She turns to go.

The clone finishes her song & the crowd goes wild. Josh just looks at 
her inscrutably. The clone thanks the crowd & says she wishes the man 
she loved enjoyed it as much as they did. She just wants to celebrate 
the beginning of their life together. She announces that she's not 
the Reva Shayne they all used to know. That Reva is dead. "Don't do 
this," whispers Josh. The clone barrels ahead. She makes a toast to 
"you & me & new beginnings." She says things have changed, but that's 
not a bad thing. She loves him more than the old Reva ever did & she 
wants him to tell everyone that he loves her more now too. Josh 
vaults across the table & says, "That's enough. You've gone too far."

PATIO: Beth, having no luck getting through to Phillip, tries Harley. 
She's sure it's no fun for Harley to spend all her time with Phillip 
worrying about Beth. She urges Harley to convince Phillip to let it 
go. Phillip interrupts, but Beth tells him to stay out of it & 
returns her attention to Harley. Beth knows that Harley thought she 
was guilty before, so now that she's confessed, Harley should be 
happy. Beth committed a crime & wants to pay the penalty. "Why is 
that so hard for you to understand?" she asks Phillip. 

Phillip harkens back to Beth's earlier discussion with Ben. What 
makes Beth think that Ben will just let her go without jail? Beth 
says she's trying to get the best deal she can & she doesn't want 
them messing things up for her. Harley doesn't see how they can, 
since Beth has already confessed to killing Carl. Beth just wants 
them to leave it alone & let her do it her own way. She will do 
anything she has to do to stay out of jail so she can be with Lizzie. 
She swears that she is not covering for Lillian. "I shot Carl." 
Lillian might have accidentally hired a hit man, but Beth got there 
first. She was alone at the pond. She repeats her story about Carl 
hitting her & how she kicked him & knocked him over. Harley figures 
it must have been one hell of a kick. Beth says the ground was 
slippery. Carl fell & dropped the gun. Beth picked it up, held it 
out, & shot him dead. 

"Not very dead," points out Harley, "because he showed up at the 
house a little while later." Beth says she thought he was dead. He 
wasn't moving, so she wiped off the gun, threw it in the pond & went 
back to the house. "Have you got that now?" she asks rhetorically, 
before stalking off. "I'm beginning to," says Harley, looking at 
Phillip with a new sense of interest in the case.

FLORIDA JAIL: Reva thinks the only explanation for what's happening 
is that someone is impersonating her. She relates the gist of several 
of her phone calls to Sean, adding that Cassie now seems to hate her 
& Billy just acted like it was normal to hear from her. But Josh 
refused to talk to her. The woman she spoke to sounded a little like 
her & when Josh finally got on the phone, he just yelled at her to 
stop bothering his wife. She didn't even get a chance to say anything 
to him. Sean says they'll have to think it through & figure it out. 
Reva says the only thing that makes sense is that it's Annie. She 
said she would come back for Josh. "I think she has. And I think 
she's come back as me."

BALLROOM: The clone asks Josh not to be mad at her. She blames it on 
Cassie, who replies that she was dragged into this evening. Josh 
pulls the clone away as she howls about why he didn't like it. After 
all, she's Reva Shayne. Buzz comments to Michael that Josh doesn't 
seem too comfortable with the new Reva. Michael is sure it's just 
something private between them. "Very private," observes Buzz 
facetiously, since the clone's voice can still be heard whining at 
Josh. Michael says all married couples have problems. "Especially 
husbands & clones," replies Buzz.

PATIO: Josh drags the clone outside, furious with her for 
"dismissing" the real Reva the way she just did. The clone says she 
just wanted to have some fun. Josh doesn't see it that way at all. He 
thinks she used a public stage to diminish what he had with Reva. She 
cries that it was supposed to be a gift for him, a surprise, to make 
him like her. He says that's not the way to do it. She asks him what 
is. He didn't teach her. She felt good in there. She felt like 
everyone understood her & enjoyed the performance. She thinks Reva 
would have enjoyed it. Josh yells at the clone not to even say Reva's 
name. "You spit on her memory!" The clone is aghast. Josh thinks that 
since the clone knows she can never be Reva, she's just trying to 
drag Reva down & turn her into a bad joke. The clone damns Josh & his 
Reva. She doesn't want to be Reva & she doesn't give a damn about 
Reva. She's sick of hearing how wonderful Reva was.

BALLROOM: Buzz thinks Josh is in over his head & that Michael is 
covering for him. Michael asks whether it's likely that he'd be 
sitting in the country club sipping a drink if he'd just succeeded at 
one of the world's greatest scientific breakthroughs. Buzz figures 
Michael is an honorable guy & is keeping his word to Josh. But it 
must be killing him to keep his mouth shut. Michael's date, Vicki, 
returns. She comments on how Josh's wife gave him quite the shock.

TELEPHONE AREA: Ross talks to Blake, telling her how much he misses 
her & that the refrigerator is empty & the kids haven't eaten since 
last week. He's kidding. They ate a couple of days ago. He's kidding! 
Ben walks in as Ross tells Blake he loves her. Ben tells Ross to send 
Blake his love as well. Ross tells Blake he'll call her later. 

Ben says he & Ross need to talk about Beth & her "very dead ex-
boyfriend." He's considering reducing or even suspending Beth's 
sentence. Ross is flabbergasted that Ben would give up another chance 
to beat him in court. "What gives?" he asks. Ben says he doesn't 
think the case can be won. He sees Beth & excuses himself.

Ben takes Beth by the arm & says he needs to talk to her. They walk 
out of the room together.

BALLROOM: Harley & Phillip return, but Beth is nowhere in sight. 
Phillip asks what Harley's thinking. She doesn't know yet. He asks if 
she bought what Beth said. Harley isn't sure. She hasn't seen Beth 
this upset since she swore that she couldn't have killed Carl. 
Phillip doesn't know what Harley is talking about. "Something else is 
going on here," Harley assures him.

FLORIDA JAIL: Reva surmises that Annie had plastic surgery to pass 
herself off as Reva. Sean says if that's true, Reva's dealing with a 
total madwoman. "So what else is new?" asks Reva. Sean says she has 
to be very careful. Reva is relieved that Sean believes her. She 
rationalizes that at least she has the element of surprise, since 
Annie thinks she's dead. Sean is frustrated that Reva has to go 
through this herself. He says it's his own fault, but Reva blames 
herself for being careless & getting hurt. Sean says it's probably 
for the best that he's facing the music. Reva knows his freedom meant 
everything to him. Sean admits that made himself a prisoner on the 
island, too. He wasn't living a real life & Reva made him see that & 
made him want to live again. Because of her, he's decided to clear 
his name & win back his true freedom. Just like Reva will fight to 
win back Josh, her true love.

PATIO: The clone is tired of trying to be someone she's not. She 
can't do everything the way Reva did & she intends to have her own 
life. "Reva, please..." starts Josh. The clone wants none of it. 
She's tired of hearing "Reva, please be good." Josh has to accept 
that his Reva is dead & she's not coming back. Josh says he gets the 
point. The clone doesn't think so. The people inside were looking at 
her, but he wasn't. When he looks at her, all he sees is DNA & cells 
& growth formula. He looks at her like she's a scientific curiosity--
Reva Shayne, the human lab rat, the freak, the clone.

HALLWAY: Harley remembers when Beth told her about a time when Carl 
hit her. Afterwards, he fell asleep. She stood over him with a weapon 
& considered killing him. She wanted to do it, but couldn't. Also, 
when Beth told them about shooting Carl, she demonstrated by holding 
her arms out at chest level. Harley tells Phillip to try that. He 
holds out his arms as if aiming a gun & Harley asks what he sees & if 
anything feels wrong about it. Phillip doesn't get it. Harley says if 
Carl was on the ground, Beth would have had to point the gun down, 
not out. The light goes on over Phillip's head. 

SIDE ROOM: Ben tells Beth he was talking to Ross about reducing her 
charges & he might be able to make it happen. Beth says that's great, 
but puts no feeling into it. She's grateful that she'll be able to be 
with her family, but she's not sure how much family she really has 
left. Phillip doesn't want to be with her. She doesn't expect Ben to 
understand. He says he does understand, but if he's going to reduce 
her sentence, she has to give him something more. He points out all 
the circumstances of the crime that make it look like anything but 
self-defense (the gun wiped clean, the amount of time she waited to 
come forward, etc.). He needs good reasons so he can help her. Beth 
wants to trust him; she needs someone she can trust.

BALLROOM: Vicki gives Michael a kiss before getting up from the 
table. He watches her go with a smile on his face. Buzz returns. 
"Kinda makes you nervous when she's out of your sight, huh?" he asks. 
Michael thinks Buzz is talking about Vicki, but Buzz says he meant 
the clone. Michael tells Buzz to drop it. Buzz says they can never 
keep this secret; it's too big. "Doctor, you have lost control of 
this experiment."

PATIO: The clone climbs up on the ledge surrounding the fountain & 
teeters around it. Josh tells her to come down. He's worried she'll 
fall in. She thinks he'd be happy if something happened to her. He 
could just get some more cells & try again; maybe he'll get a better 
Reva next time. But he might miss her. She's his project; something 
to entertain him. Josh tells her to get down & come inside. She 
refuses & jumps into the fountain. "Isn't that what you want, Joshua? 
Don't you want to keep me in a little cage?"

Josh flashes back on the real Reva standing in the fountain in her 
underwear, baptizing herself "the slut of Springfield." 

The clone says Josh could put her on display & charge admission, 
coming by to touch her himself whenever he got the urge. 

Josh, his eyes glazed over, flashes back again to the real Reva 
screaming at him from the fountain & saying he looks at her like 
she's naked all the time.

The clone cries that all Josh ever sees is Reva. It's like she 
doesn't count, doesn't have thoughts & feelings of her own. But she 
does. She's somebody. She wants him to stop pretending that she's not 
there. She splashes him with water, still crying. She says he touched 
her & kissed her & made love to her. And then he looked at her like 
she was some kind of freak. She cries into her hands. All Josh can 
say is "No." She tells him to look at her. She pulls at the straps of 
her dress. She wants him to see her for what she is. She sits down in 
the water & cries hysterically. Josh climbs in with her, ruining a 
$200 pair of shoes, and holds her in his arms while she cries.

BALLROOM: Harley & Phillip sit at a table & continue their 
discussion. Harley says the sequence of events at a murder are burned 
into a killer's mind, especially if it's a person who's not used to 
violence. It's very traumatic. The person relives the event just as 
it happened. When Beth re-enacted the shooting for them, she would 
have pointed the gun down. "Unless she's lying," finishes Phillip. 
Yes, says Harley. She finally agrees with Phillip that Beth didn't 
kill Carl. Phillip smiles.

SIDE ROOM: Ben wants to help Beth, but she has to come clean. She 
asks why she should trust him. He says she has no other choice, and 
he promises that she can trust him. Beth wants to go somewhere 
private, and she'll tell him what really happened.

BALLROOM: Buzz follows Michael up the stairs. He says Michael's Reva 
is a loose cannon. She told him she's a clone; she could tell someone 
else. For argument's sake, says Michael, let's say he did clone Reva. 
Who's going to believe Buzz? "My god," says Buzz. "You did do this." 
He knows that wasn't Reva. "Prove it," challenges Michael.

FLORIDA JAIL: Sean says Reva has to connect with at least one person 
before Annie sees her. She has to get that person on her side so she 
doesn't have to deal with this on her own. Reva says she can handle 
it. Sean makes her promise that she'll be careful. She promises. Sean 
says it's very important that Annie doesn't see her before Reva 
exposes her. "I didn't come this far to lose," says Reva. Sean plays 
with her hair through the bars. He knows. Reva takes his hand & gets 
teary. She doesn't know what she would have done without him, & as 
soon as she gets her life back together, she's going to do whatever 
she can to get him out of jail. Sean says he might just take her up 
on that. He wishes her good luck. He has a feeling they'll see each 
other again. "So do I," cries Reva.

FOUNTAIN: Josh cradles the clone & vows that he'll never hurt her 
again. "I'm not Reva," she cries. Josh knows. "I never will be Reva," 
she cries. Josh says he knows. Until now, he didn't know what he felt 
for her. All he saw were the things she wasn't. Now he sees her for 
all the wonderful things that are uniquely her. "I'll never forget 
Reva & I'll always love her. She'll be in my heart until the day I 
die. But it's you I'm looking at now. It's you I'm seeing." He kisses 
the clone on the lips, deeply, as the screen fades to black.

--Marni (marni@panix.com)


