Wow. Two good episodes in a row. So what do they do? They call time out and pre-empt the show next week. When it comes back on in two weeks, it would have lost its momentum and will probably suck.

The show started off with Lexi going to see Dr. Visconti. When did she become his regular patient? She told him that her totally subjective survey determined that Ryan was Mr. Right. And since he is her Mr. Right, he can't possibly be Megan's. That's flawed logic. More than one woman can believe the same man is Mr. Right. Take me for example.

She then explained her plan to get Megan to propose to Ryan. That would drive him away. And when he came back, she would pounce. But she would not propose to him. Which led to the line of the week. She said to Visconti, "When a woman has Mr. Right in her bed, she doesn't need a ring on her finger." If more women thought this way, the diamond industry would collapse. And men would have more money for beer.

Amanda and Kyle were getting intimate in bed when Amanda was unexpectedly dripped on. No, it wasn't premature ejaculation. It was raining and the roof leaked. She blamed it on Michael. Remember when he came crashing through the ceiling with Megan?

Michael then knocked on the door to complan about his shower nozzle and his kitchen outlets. Then Megan announced her pipes burst. Then Peter complained that his heat was out. Boy, Michael did more damage than originally meets the eye. And it all happened at the same time.

A plumber told Megan that the pipes are from the Stone Age. That the landlord should have them all replaced. So does this mean that the original pipes survived Kimberly's bomb while the rest of The Place was devastated?

In trying to convince Ryan and Megan to tie the knot, Lexi told them not to worry. That commitment was not a four-letter word. Well, most guys believe it is. And there are many words that are appropriate; like crap, hell and deth.

Wilshire Memorial's ER was flooded with injured, many of them uninsured. Dr. Shulman ordered them to be transferred. Sad but true. In LA, if you have no insurance, you'd be taken to County/USC, known as General Hospital because its exterior is used for the soap.

Anyway, Michael refused to obey Shulman. For once in his life, he remembered his Hippocratic oath and treated the patients. Much to Shulman's chagrin, Peter concurred.

Kyle and Amanda went to the site where their house was being built. The contractor told them it would take about a year before it would be done. They wanted to move in sooner. Kyle should have thought of that before he torched the place. Amanda wanted to look at the plans to see what could be done to speed things up. She must have gotten her contractor's license while Kyle was in rehab.

Back at The Place, a different contractor wouldn't sign off on the roof. He said that since the big earthquake, the roof had to be brought up to code, citing LA Municipal Code 91.101. LAMC 91.101 is the Building Code, but they could have been more specific. Division 15 covers roofs.

Anyway, the Northridge quake occurred before Kimberly blew The Place up. So when Amanda rebuilt it, why wasn't it brought up to code then?

At The Club, a drunken Michael lamented to Megan about his love life. Now that Kyle has overcome his substance abuse, it's Michael's turn to be the drunk du jour.

The next day, Michael learned that the entire hospital's finances were being audited. He was worried that it would be discovered that he stole from the Children's Fund. In another nine months, he could have blamed the missing funds on Y2K. But lucky for him, Peter repaid the money.

Another good line came when Michael expressed how happy he was with Peter's kindly deed. He said he "envisioned himself on a chain gang, being wife to some Bubba." Peter said he didn't do it for Michael. He did it so that Shulman, who was intent on ousting Peter as Chief of Staff, wouldn't have anything to use against him.

Jackie, Eve's former cellmate, was beaten up. It was never explained how why she was beat. But Shulman just happened to be walking by her room when she overheard a conversation between Jackie and Eve. Shulman learned that Peter married a murderer. She hinted to Eve that she now has information she could use against Peter.

Jane had a house warming party at the beach house she just rebought. She said that the previous owner had added an extra bedroom. Strange that someone would add a bedroom then sell the place after just a few months.

Jane announced she wanted some work of her own done. She asked the gang whether they knew of a cheap handyman who could build stairs from the beach to the deck. I know one. Jake. But he moved to Ojai. Not to fear. Kyle suddenly developed woodworking skills, not to be confused with Woodwarding skills, and volunteered for the job.

In an attempt to silence Shulman, Jackie pulled a gun on her. Peter saw this and rushed over and convinced Jackie to spare her. Jackie didn't kill her. She just took off in her BMW. Peter had just saved her life, but Shulman was pissed that she was carjacked. She vowed to bury Peter. Talk about gratitude.

While walking on the beach, Megan heeded Lexi's advice and started to ask Ryan to marry her. Ryan stopped her. He wanted to be the one to pop the question. He said, "I'd love to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" How trite and unromantic was that? She said yes anyway.

Megan phoned Lexi to tell her she was engaged to Ryan. Lexi smiled smugly, believing that her plan was coming to fruition. She had a bigger smile when she heard that Ryan was leaving for NY on some personal business.

Amanda was not too happy with Ryan going to NY. She wanted his analysis on how she could find the money to retrofit The Place and speed up the construction of her house. He said she's already got a second mortgage so she can't take out a third one. And the stock market was pretty volatile so it was not a good time to sell her stocks. If she can get the money she needs, why not sell, volatile market or not?

While building the steps, Jane told Kyle about the advances made by her neighbor, Brad. She said she was never hassled when she was there with Michael. In fact, when she was there with Michael, they never had any neighbors. Nobody ever visited them. Kyle pretended to be her boyfriend to discourage Brad.

Jackie showed up at The Place to tell Eve that she was turning herself in. She couldn't survive out of prison. I can understand why. A roof over your head. Three square meals a day. Sounds like an easy life to me. If it weren't for the anal rape, that is.

What was Ryan's business in NY? He went to see someone named Sarah. Turned out Sarah's his daughter.

Amanda flashbacked to the moment she bought The Place. We saw her announcing to Billy and Alison that she's the new owner. Andrew Shue is just as bad an actor in black and white as he is in color. Boy, do I miss laughing at him.

Amanda told Kyle that she only has bad memories of The Place. They decide to sell the building.

That's it for this episode. The show isn't on next week. But when it returns on the 22nd, Chris "Wicked Game" Isaak will be the musical guest.

Check out my site for the latest news.

Did you ever wonder what compelled you to watch The Place? The Wall Street Journal gave a good explanation.

Jack Wagner told Soap Opera Digest that directing has brought him added respect.

Then SOD recapped Peter's bout with rage epilepsy.

SOD likened Eve's storyline to that of the Oscar nominated L.V.'s of Little Voice.

And SOD announced that Heather's co-star from T.J. Hooker, James Darren, will be joing her beginning April 12th.

Soap Opera Update speculated that Jack Wagner will return to General Hospital once The Place is over.

Then they guessed that Jennifer Love Hewitt's Party of Five spinoff, Time of Your Life, will replace The Place on Fox's schedule.

Read 'em all at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4616/.

'Til next week...