Hope you enjoyed last night's episode. It'll be the last one for a couple of weeks because of baseball.

The episode started out with an alarm clock going off. It sounded just like how episodes of "The Tick" begin.

Michael and Jane wake up and begin a serious conversation. Jane asked whether he slept with Megan. He said no. She believed him. Jane is such an idiot. With Michael's track record, even though he didn't do anything, she still trusted him.

Then they agreed never to keep any secrets from each other. Like that's ever going to happen. Secrets are what drives the show.

For me, eight thirty in the morning (that was the time on the clock when the alarm went off) is a bit too early to discuss issues like trust and secrecy. I can't muster anything but a growl before my first cup of coffee.

And when do these people have to be at work? Michael might not have to be at work by 9, but working for Amanda, I'm sure Jane does. I doubt that she could get dressed and negotiate the LA traffic in half an hour.

Anyway, Jane then told Michael Amanda hired her and she landed a big client. Before she could tell him who the client was, the doorbell rings. And who it be? Surprise, surprise! It's the new client! Now what was so important that compelled Alex so show up there so early in the morning? The only reason I saw was to give Michael the opportunity to slug him. Which he did.

Lexi fired an employee at her newly formed ad agency because she couldn't land an account. She then hired Megan to replace her. I think these two should know that most new ad agencies are formed by people with experience in the industry and with clients they've worked with before.

That's how Craig and Sydney did it. They formed Sky High Advertising by stealing clients from D&D. Lexi should ask them for advice. Wait. She can't. He blew his brains out. She died impersonating a speed bump.

Jane went to see Amanda worried that Michael might have blown the deal with Alex. Amanda said Alex was staying. Jane was relieved. She said she can't believe that Michael was acting like a petty, jealous fool. Which leads to the line of the week. (I received a lot of e-mail last week because I didn't have one. I didn't feel there was one that stuck out.)

Amanda replied, "Then open your eyes, Jane. That's Michael in a nutshell. He IS a fool."

Lexi had been calling Peter and not saying anything. Peter was thoroughly annoyed. After hanging up, I would have dialed *57. That's Call Trace which would trace the harassing caller and store the information for the cops. But what does Peter know? He's only a doctor.

Michael was worried that Jane might succumb to Alex and jump in the sack with him again. So his master plan was to test her. To see if she would fall for Alex's charms after making her really horny by withholding sex from her. Michael refraining from sex? Yeah, right.

Peter went to Dr. Visconti to tell him about the phone calls. He said they just keep calling and calling and calling. Sounds just like telemarketers.

Peter was convinced the caller knows about his involvement in Amanda's kidnapping. How he knew this is beyond me.

Anyway, Visconti finally figured out that Lexi had duped him into revealing that Peter was behind the kidnapping. Which led to another good line. Peter said, "We've been had doc. By the biggest bitch of 'em all."

Speaking of bitches, Amanda had to fly up to San Francisco for some unknown reason. She told her assistant that no one can know about her trip. But we all know someone will.

The sign outside The Jazz Club said "Five Easy Pieces." I thought to myself Amanda, Jane, Lexi, Megan... Hmmm, who's the fifth piece? Then I realized that it was the name of the band performing. Silly me.

At dinner with Michael and Jane, Alex asked Michael why he hit him. Michael said he was a hothead and tended not to over think a situation. If you ask me, he doesn't think period.

Amanda arrived home from San Fran and surprise, surprise, Kyle found out she went. And he also knew that she's keeping a secret from him.

Ryan's first assignment for Amanda was to land the Skyler Soap account. He has no advertising experience yet Amanda sent him out to try to acquire new business simply because he has an MBA. And he's the only one in her agency with an MBA. I know that you don't get anywhere in the ad business without an MBA, so if Ryan is the only one at AWA with an MBA, it says a lot about what a lousy agency AWA is.

On his way to Arizona to meet with Skyler, Ryan ran into Megan on the freeway with a flat tire. What a coincidence! She was on her way to meet with Skyler, too. Surprise yet again!

Michael tracked Jane down in the sauna of a health club to apologize to her about his behavior at the dinner with Alex. They kissed and made up and got pretty intimate when Michael decided to implement his plan to deny Jane his manliness. He said someone could walk in.

So Jane got up and locked the door. A lock on a sauna door. What a marvelous safety feature!

Anyway, after locking the door, they proceeded to do the deed. So much for Michael's plan. But that's what I would expect from someone who gets a hard-on when the wind merely blows.

Ryan and Megan arrived at Skyler Soap to find the office empty save for Skyler himself. Megan didn't find it unusual that there was no one there. She assumed they were having a gang lunch.

Peter returned the ransom money to Amanda. He said that Beck got it back for him. He said that Beck's a very powerful man, so he put the word out on the alt.rec.hoodlum newsgroup that if the money wasn't returned, he'd put the megahertz on somebody. Whatever. Amanda didn't really seem too concerned about how he retrieved the money.

At dinner with Alex, Jane called Michael on his cell phone. He said he was at the health club getting ready for a swim. So he had his phone clipped to his Speedos. He was actually at the restaurant spying on her.

On the way back from Arizona, Ryan ran out of gas. He used the opportunity to take a squirt. He must have had to go really bad because he ignored the car that passed them by. He didn't seem really concerned that they were stranded in the middle of the desert with no gas. I would have flagged that car down for a lift to the nearest gas station. But what does Ryan know? He only has an MBA.

Lexi summoned Peter to her apartment. She threatened to reveal to Amanda his involvement in the kidnapping if he didn't sleep with her. I'm wondering why she would want to sleep with him again after he dumped on her.

Anyway, Peter turned her down. I can't for the life of me imagine a straight guy refusing sex from a horny, half-naked beautiful woman. What is wrong with these guys?!

So Lexi made good on her threat and went to The Jazz Club to spill the beans to Amanda.

Meanwhile, back in the desert, Megan spurned Ryan's advances. All she had to do to make him lose interest would be to tell him she was a hooker and had all sorts of sexually transmitted diseases.

Peter arrived at The Jazz Club just as Lexi approached Amanda. Dun dun duuuunnnnn...

That's it for this week. Tune in in three weeks to find out what happens.

There is no official spoiler yet, but I created my own from the shooting schedule I got a hold of. Read it at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4616/.

Also new there is a little interview that the local Fox news program conducted with Laura Leighton.

And Entertainment Weekly tells us where Laura, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Lisa Rinna and Kristin Davis walk their dogs.

Like I said earlier, The Place is pre-empted the next two weeks because of the baseball playoffs. To which I say, LET'S GO YANKEES!

Later...