Episode 4: "One for the Money"
First Aired 10/15/99

A serenading Dr. Theo awakens Michael from a pleasant dream about Lisa.

Meanwhile, Heather has woken Lisa to ask for a check for $158 for the junior class trip to Washington. Heather is very upset to learn that they don’t have $158 in their checking account. As she complains, Lisa tries to calm her down and gets increasingly frustrated at her teenager daughter's whining.

Later that day, Michael and Dr. Theo go to look at some commercial space for rent, wearing expensive suits. It’s a ruse, because Dr. Theo wants place to meet that wouldn’t be bugged. Michael meets a mysterious Murphy, who’s known Dr. Theo for a long time. After reminiscing, Dr. Theo brings them to business.

Several agents had been killed in the last few months in Abu Dhabi and the Hague because someone sold a list of agents' covers. Dr. Theo suspects a former agent named JJ Lucik, who left the business 3 years ago and now resides a penthouse in Hong Kong. He has also been diagnosed with Lupus, which means that he can't tolerate the sun and has live with the shades drawn, at all times.

Dr. Theo wants Murphy to handle this as a training mission – for Michael. Michael is not very happy about having to kill someone, but Dr. Theo states in no uncertain terms that Michael has to do and he will do it. "Oh, yes, you can. Any man can, if he has to. And Mr. Wiseman, you have to. You made a deal just like I made a deal. Now my marker's being called in so that means your marker's being called in. So you will go and do this little job for king, country and Dr. Morris and you will do it swiftly and you will do it skillfully and in return, you will be allowed to live another day."

That night, Michael’s dreams have become a little bizarre, when his current situation is interjected into his nightly pleasant dreams.

The next morning, Lisa begins her job search, reading through the want ads and making calls. She hasn’t worked in over a decade. Her spotty work history and lack of knowledge of the current job market lead to several strike-outs. Frustrated, she realizes how difficult it is to look for a job.

Meanwhile, in another abandoned commercial real estate property for sale, Dr. Theo goes over the plan with Murphy and the still resistant Michael.

Later, Heather finds Lisa on her computer putting together her resume. Heather, noticing that her mother seems upset, asks what the problem is. An even more frustrated Lisa responds, "The problem is [my resume] only takes up a third of a page. No matter what I do to the margins there's no font big enough to make up for the fact that my life only fills a third of a page." Heather gets down to business and helps her mom "fill" her resume with half-truths and lies.

In a helicopter, Michael, Dr. Theo and Murphy are on their way. Murphy has a heart-to-heart with an unconvinced Michael about the need to complete the assignment. They exit the helicopter and board a jet, with windows that are blocked.

Lisa is on her first interview with Ms. Masters. Ms. Masters sees through Lisa’s resume and asks Lisa to tell her Lisa’s situation. After listen to Lisa, Ms. Masters tells Lisa about how her husband left her and she had to find a way to support her children. Taking a hobby, she turned it into a profitable business. She turns Lisa down for the job. Then, Ms. Masters gives Lisa some advice: "You're a smart woman. It oozes out of every pore. So stop pretending you don't know anything. You can't have lived the life you've lived for 17 years -- made a home, raised a family -- and not have learned something, not be interested in something. Find out what that is and then find a way to make a living at it. That's what the boys do."

On board the plane, Michael dreams about his former home again. In his dreams, which reflect his feelings about his current situation, Lisa leads him to bed – which is filled with guns. Heather, sporting combat fatigues compliments his presentation at Career Day and ends with, "And bringing in that dead guy as a visual aid? That was classic!"

He awakens, visibly upset, by a silent Dr. Theo. The Doctor whispers into Michael’s ear, as Murphy sleeps on. The plane lands and Murphy also awakens. Dr. Theo tells them that he has a plan for getting the boys through customs. In coffins.

Michael and Murphy, still inside the coffins, are transported into a building. Michael breaks through the roof of the coffin and then helps Murphy out by ripping the lid of Murphy’s coffin clear off. At a locked door, Michael twists the huge padlock off and they enter an elevator shaft. Michael attaches himself to the elevator cable. Then Murphy hangs on to Michael’s feet. They elevator starts to come down and the cable goes up, with Michael attached to it and Murphy clinging to him.

Halfway up, the elevator stops and Michael, upon noticing a shaken Murphy, lifts Murphy by his legs and puts him on a beam. Murphy promises that if Michael helps him get through this, he would take care of the "other" thing.

In JJ’s penthouse, Michael and Murphy, both armed, begin to look for JJ. They find him on the toilet, reading a newspaper. JJ slowly stands and pulls up his pants, all the while, trying to talk Murphy out of shooting him. Murphy than takes out cryptographic code book, with nuclear launch codes and asks JJ how much it would be worth.

Michael begins to protest that Murphy is selling government secrets. Murphy justifies it by saying, "What do you mean, you can't do this? Which part of this is making you uncomfortable? Having a million dollars to live on or you no longer being an indentured slave to the United States government?" Michael still doesn’t agree to it and, when Murphy refuses to listen and JJ offers money for it, Michael shoots JJ.

Murphy turns his gun Michael, but realizing that wouldn’t do anything, Murphy takes the code book out of JJ’s dead hands. Michael gets Murphy to confess that he was the agent that sold the agents’ covers in the Hague and Abu Dhabi.

Dr. Theo shows up suddenly and then JJ gets up, covered in fake blood. When Murphy realizes it’s a set-up, he tries to shoot Dr. Theo, but Murphy’s gun only has blanks. Murphy runs, saying, "But we're not in America and you have no jurisdiction here."

Running up to the roof, Murphy finally understands that the whole flight had been rigged and that Michael, Dr. Theo and Murphy had never left New York City.

In another part of the city, Lisa is starting a new chapter of her life: selling real estate.

Episode Description for "The Insurance Man Always Rings Twice" »