,

			Syd in Wonderland #222 ~ May 12, 2000 by PapaC The show begins with Syd reading Alice in Wonderland to Hannah. Her head begins to ache, and then she thinks she sees a 4' bunny running around the room. She puts Hannah in her crib, and chases the bunny around the upstairs of the house. Following the bunny, she opens a door, and her mother is there. Her mother points to the mirror and introduces Syd to a young girl. The girl is Syd. Her mother tells her young Syd is going to be filling in around here for Syd over the next few days, because she's not going to be functional. She asks what she's talking about, but Linda is pulled into the mirror. Downstairs at breakfast, a very cheerful Joannie has made blueberry pancakes. When Syd is given the plate, she thinks the blueberries have been arranged to say "Eat Me". She gets up and leaves. At the clinic, Syd has a terrible headache and asks Izzy for ibuprofen. Then Izzy fills Syd in on the patients waiting for her, but when she talks to a man with asthma, she pictures him as a character from Alice in Wonderland, and then Izzy becomes the queen, saying "Off with her head!". Syd comes back to reality and realizes Izzy is saying "She's off her meds". Syd is very distressed, and when Izzy asks if she's okay, she says she's not - she's not well, and she needs to lie down. Back at home, Joannie is planning a romantic get-away with Bert, who has been just a little too much of a gentleman on their dates so far. She's booked a room at the Chateau D'Amour, a bed and breakfast in the Berkshires that is so exclusive one actually has to apply. They're leaving right after lunch, she tells Jim, and Syd will be watching Hannah. Jim tells her she'll be missing Monica's exhibition, which includes the shots of him. Robbie can't make it, either - he's got his game show taping. Robbie is still winning. The director comes by O'Neills and congratulates him, and tells him she knew he was The One when she first saw him. He tells her how he always was good at trivia when it involved winning, and recalls how, as a child, he had memorized the payment for each Monopoly square. She asks him to have a drink with her, and she explains that no one can possibly win the $100,000... unless she tells them the answers. He accuses her again of slipping him the answers, and this time she doesn't deny it. She wants to rig the show and split his winnings. Robbie says that's embezzlement and it's illegal. She tells him no one could possibly find out, and her final deal is 60/40. He walks off, but she calls out another answer to him. Robbie talks to his dad about the situation, not telling him what's going on, but expressing his apprehension about his life suddenly changing, even though it's a change he's always dreamed of. Jim tells him it won't change who he is - every decision we make is about being true to ourselves. Robbie tells him it's easier for Jim, because he's always been comfortable with who he is. Monica will be going to Paris for the weekend on assignment, and wants Jim to come along. At the exhibition, Jim is introduced to Dan, who works with Monica on some assignments. Dan tells Jim that nothing would happen between himself and Monica with her seeing Jim, but he's a "port in the storm" for her. When Monica rejoins them and suggests they all have dinner, Jim tells her to go with Dan, and leaves. He later comes by her apartment and finds that she's packing for Paris - she and Dan will be there for a month. He doesn't look pleased, and she asks if he's come there to spy on her and make sure Dan didn't spend the night. She asks him to leave, and tells him to grow up. Meanwhile, Joannie and Bert are having a terrible time at the beautiful B&B. The owners, who are past retirement age, have tricked Joannie into cooking dinner and Bert into fixing things around the place. (We now know why they screened their guests: to find out their talents around the house!) They're both exhausted, and Bert falls asleep as soon as he sits down upstairs. Joannie lies awake, hearing the owners having a hot and heavy night in their own room! In the morning, Joannie is determined to put her foot down and not do any more work for them, but they aren't around, so Joannie cooks their breakfast; the owners come in just in time to help themselves to the food she cooked. They leave. Syd has had more hallucinations. While talking to the Chesire Cat (one of Jim's patients), her mother tells her she needs to see a doctor, and tells her "the truth is between the silences." She sees a neurologist, who tells her it's probably migraines and gives her a prescription. Afterwards, she asks her dad if they have any family history of mental illness, but they don't. She attends a luncheon with a committee from her alma mater, Brown University, and the hallucinations overcome her. Their luncheon becomes a mad hatter tea party, and she runs out of the room, leaving her purse behind. She finds a bench, where she is met by her younger self. Young Syd tells her what the Chesire cat back at Jim's office told her: "the truth is between the silences". Syd still doesn't know what that means and thinks she's going crazy. Young Syd tells her that's not the case: it's actually much worse. She tells Syd she needs sleep, and Syd goes to sleep there on the park bench. Next, she is being wheeled into the ER. She was found in a coma. Monica comes by the clinic to apologize to Jim, and he apologizes to her as well. She wants him to come to Paris, but he can't. She still wants to continue their relationship, but he can't do that either. Their lifestyles are too different. They hug, and the phone rings. It's the hospital, telling him about Syd. Robbie wins another round of the game show, finding that one of the final questions is about Monopoly, and he uses the answer the director gave him to the last question. His next step will be the $100,000 round. When the camera stops, he tells the director they need to talk right now, but she tells him it will have to wait: his sister is in the hospital. Back at the Hansen house, Joannie tells Bert she's sorry their weekend was a bust. But, she tells him, they have the house free right now. They start to embrace, when the phone rings. She lets the answering machine pick it up, and hears her Dad telling her to page him as soon as she gets in: Syd's in the hospital. When they all arrive, the neurologist tells them that he really doesn't know what's wrong with Syd. He'll run tests and then tell them what he learns, but he makes no guarantees. Syd and her mother watch the bedside scene. Syd tells her mom she feels different; her mother knows what she means, and tells her that when they first come there [death], it's like they're suddenly using all their brain for the first time. Syd tells her she doesn't want to die. Her mother knows that, she says. She looks at the family, and tells Syd they wouldn't know what to do without her. (to be continued next week, with the Season Finale: Providence, the Miracle.)
Please send your FEEDBACK, comments and suggestions~ click here. Make theCoffeerooms your Start Page Copyright © 1999 w3PG, inc. For sponsorship information, click here.
This site is in no way affiliated with Providence, or NBC Television. No profit is made and no infringement is intended. Providence, the characters, and locations, are copyrighted by NBC Television. the char