Episode 5: "The Insurance Man Always Rings Twice"
First Aired 10/22/99

In a restaurant, Lisa is waiting at a table for Craig Spence to appear. He walks in late, with a feeble excuse. Lisa asks for a loan from Grand Empire Insurance, but Craig turns her down. Finally, after some circling, Lisa asks why Craig hates the Wisemans so much. Craig tells her about the incident where Michael was to testify that the bad steel in a lawsuit was an "act of God" . Because he refused to do that, Grand Empire Insurance had to pay out $400 million in an insurance claim, which is why Grand Empire Insurance and most especially, Craig Spence, hates the Wisemans. Lisa throws her drink in his face, gets up and walks out.

Meanwhile, Michael smashes through a wooden door as Dr. Theo looks on. Dr. Theo then indicates the next door. Michael walks up to the next door and taps on it. He looks dubiously at Dr. Theo, who assures Michael that he can do it. Michael attempts to go through the door and is unsuccessful, painfully. Michael walks away, a little annoyed at Dr. Theo.

Later that night, Michael is sitting by the pool, eating a meal for one, while the cleaner works in the background. Michael tries to engage Sanchez in small talk, but to no avail. In Sanchez' s cleaning basket, Michael spots some newspapers Sanchez is using to clean the windows with. Michael surreptitiously steals one of the papers. Alone, at night, Michael hides in the closet to read his paper, which he enjoys with relish, until he spots an ad in the "home for sale" section and realizes with dismay that it's his house-- his and Lisa's.

Meanwhile, at Lisa's, Heather is on the swings in the backyard, when Lisa comes out to talk to her. Lisa apologizes for the troubles and explains that they have no choice but to sell their home. Heather throws a snit, which Lisa is unable to deal with -- through her own pain -- and the two sit in uncomfortable silence together.

That night, in bed, Michael starts to wonder why Lisa would sell their home. Thinking Lisa has met someone else, whom she may move in with, Michael gets worked up. Leaping from his bed, he breaks down the door to his apartment and runs out, while the alarms in the apartment blares.

At Roger's house later that night, Roger has gone into his study to smoke a cigarette. Michael sneaks into his house through an open window and demands to know why Lisa Wiseman has put her house up for sale. A little befuddled, Roger explains that Lisa is broke. Michael is bewildered, since he knows he left a million dollar life insurance policy. Roger tells Michael about Craig Spence (Michael's former protege and later boss), hated Michael so much that he wants to make Lisa "crawl before she gets a dime of that money".

Stunned, as Michael turns to leave, he warns Roger not to tell anyone anything about their meeting. After Michael leaves, a helicopter lands in Roger's yard and Dr. Theo appears at Roger's window. He demands to know what Michael said, how long he was here and where he went, to which Roger answers in a daze, "He just left, he didn't say where and he wanted to know about Lisa Wiseman's house." Dr. Theo disappears and as Roger is shakily attempting to re-light his cigarette, his wife calls from upstairs, "Roger, are you smoking down there?"

Even later that night, Michael is back in his bed, when he is rudely awakened by a room surrounded by men with guns and a visibly upset Dr. Theo. Once the armed men have left, an agitated Dr. Theo is astonished when Michael asks for his help. Dr. Theo feels that since Michael escaped, went to see people he has been forbidden to see and basically put lives in jeopardy, then he should not be rewarded. Michael pleads for his home, but Dr. Theo is unrelenting. They go head to head and finally Michael threatens to escape and before he can be caught, will kill himself.

After this, they both back off, but Dr. Theo does relent and offers Michael 3 days of freedom -- supervised. In exchange, Michael promises that once these three days are over, Michael will do whatever Dr. Theo wants.

At Lisa's house the next day, Lisa is impressed with the cleaning effort Heather has made for the realtor, until she starts to close the door of Heather's room and all of Heather's stuff falls out from behind the door. They both leave, but not until they see the realtor and a perspective couple walk up the pathway to their house. Lisa tries to put on a happy face, but Heather is too despondent to be consoled.

Meanwhile, at Grand Empire Insurance, Roger walks into the building, gets on the elevator and spots Craig Spence. He asks how the dinner with Spence and Lisa went. Spence says "Oh, it was very nice. She had a club soda, I had a drink. She asked for money, I said no." Still distraught at the goings-on the night before and then the encounter in the elevator with Spence, Roger is even more incensed to see Michael sitting at his chair behind his desk in his office.

Michael claims that the IRS (whom Roger believes Michael works for) is launching a special investigation against Craig Spence and Michael needs a job at Grand Empire Insurance to get close to him. Roger at first refuses, but with the encounter in the elevator fresh on his mind, Roger hesitantly gives in.

The interview goes well and Spence hires Michael to start right away. Spence thinks Michael seems familiar, but Michael says they haven't meet: "not in this life. Not that I know of." He tells Spence his name is Michael Newman.

That afternoon, on the street, Michael stops to buy a hotdog, but is intercepted by Dr. Theo, who takes the hotdog out of Michael's hand and gives him fruit. They chat about Michael's progress and Michael heads back to his "new job"

That night, a clearly intoxicated Spence talks to this Michael about the old Michael (ironically unaware of all that's happened in the last eight or nine months). He tells a shocked Michael that Grand Empire Insurance has declared Michael's death a suicide and are refusing to pay the grieving widow (Lisa) her insurance money. Spence admits that for every claim that's unpaid, it's more bonuses for him. When Spence falls into a drunken stupor, Michael contemplates killing him, but at the last minute, turns and leaves.

Downstairs, he gets into a waiting limo, with Dr. Theo already inside. He tells Dr. Theo everything, including his split-second need to kill Spence. Dr. Theo quietly tells Michael that Lisa received an offer that day on the house. Michael is not pleased to hear that. He then realizes that instead of taking him home, Dr. Theo has taken him to Lisa's. He tells Michael to take one last look. At first hesitant and a little scared, Michael knocks on Lisa's door at 10:15 pm.

Lisa's shocked to see Michael standing on her doorstep when she opens the door. He talks her into letting him inside. He savors the moments as she shows him around. He finds out that Lisa is studying real estate, hoping to get her license in three months. In the master bathroom, they hear water running in the toilet. Lisa tries to explain the situation, but is surprised to see Michael fix the problem the way her Michael used to.

He begs Lisa to let him peek into Heather's room and watches her sleeping. Downstairs again, Lisa doesn't know what to do, when Michael walks over to the piano and starts playing. She joins him in a duet. Suddenly, he stops and looks at her. He tells her not to sell; to give him one day. She is unsure, but agrees. Michael also tells her his name is Mr. Newman, but does not give her his first name.

The next day, Spence and Michael are in a hotel room, when Spence gives Michael his Swiss bank account number to record in the computer. Michael blows really hard and the letter flies out of the window. When he tells Spence that the numbers are gone, Spence runs to the window and sees the letter lying on a ledge outside. Spence offers Michael money to go out onto the ledge and get the letter, which Michael finally gives in to. On the ledge, Michael puts the letter in his pocket and tells Spence to come out also. While he waits for the cowardly Spence to climb out onto the ledge, he begins to write in a notebook.

With both out on the ledge, Spence asks what Michael is writing. When Michael tells Spence that he is writing Spence' s suicide note, Spence tries to grab Michael. But Michael grabs Spence's wrist and lets him dangle over the edge, while Spence screams. Michael threatens to let go unless he does something. Michael begins to talk about the Wiseman insurance policy.

Later, at Lisa's house, Lisa opens the door to find Dr. Theo on her doorstep. She's a little disappointed that it isn't "Mr. Newman". Inside Lisa's house, Dr. Theo tells her about getting the insurance money. Dr. Theo gets into the limo, where Michael is waiting . Michael is also disappointed at not being able to tell Lisa the good news, but Dr. Theo reminds Michael of his promise. As they drive away, Michael sees Lisa walk outside and take down the "For Sale" sign.

Episode Description for "Nothing to Fear, but Nothing to Fear" »