Episode 2: "Dream Girl"
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In this episode, my personal favorite, we see that blend of suspense and whimsy that make this show so appealing (if only it had been given a chance!) The show opens with a disturbing scene: a doctor poisoning a woman through her IV and killing her, then collecting money for it. We find out later the significance of this man and what he's doing.

Meanwhile, Cody gets woken up by a call from his mom who travels across the country in a mobile home. She's sending an old friend of his dad's, Lou Neopolitano, to Cody for help. As he talks to her, he spots his beautiful new neighbor (thanks for the favor - she's a very sexy girl) and becomes rather tongue-tied. His mom does finagle a promise from him to help Lou. (Note: Cody now lives in a house as opposed to the hotel he lived in during the pilot episode.)

After Cody gets to the office and meets Lou, we discover that what Lou wants is pretty bizarre. A girl has appeared to him in a dream, and he's fallen in love with her. He wants Cody to find her. Cody is reluctant - "I can't take this man's money for something this crazy" - but Lou is the "porcelain prince" with the biggest chain of bathroom appliances in Queens, and he can afford to throw money at Cody until he consents. When the figure reaches $10,000, Cody finally agrees.

Gina soon leaves to go to an audition, and brings Ziggy along. While he pants after all the starlets in the waiting room, she auditions. The male lead, Rick, is focused on her from the start. We realize to our horror that the director auditioning them is the murderous doctor! Uh-oh, something's up. Afterwards, Rick chases Gina down and gives her his number. We see a mysterious woman watching them, then driving away.

As all this is going on, Cody is taking Lou to a sketch artist to get an idea of what this "dream girl" looks like. As they leave the office, his neighbor the fortune teller waylays them. She does a tarot reading for Lou and flips over "the lover" card, promising him great sex is on the way while batting her eyelashes at him. Hmm! (Funny moment: when she turns over the fool card and Lou asks if that means he's a fool, Cody says "No comment.")

Back at the office, Gina gets called and told she got the part. She runs to tell Rick and give him a nice hug. We see the evil doctor and the blond lady once again watching them. He talks about how she's the perfect weight, height, etc. The woman, who looks just like Gina, agrees. "It's perfect casting, doctor," she says in a sinister voice.

After her little "moment" with Rick, Gina returns to the office and admits to Cody and Ziggy that she's dating an actor. She then says that she'll be leaving for three months to go the Caribbean with this guy to film the movie. Cody is aghast that she would date an actor, then suspicious of this trip to the Caribbean. He asks what Rick's done before, where he's from, what the studio is, etc., and when Gina doesn't know the details, his suspicions increase. This angers Gina, who accuses him of spoiling the joy of her first big part. She storms off and Cody and Ziggy decide to check Rick and the production company out.

When Gina and Rick go out to dinner that evening, Ziggy is on their tail. As Gina and Rick talk, Gina opens her purse and spots a wire! She's onto Ziggy. She finds him and yells at him.

Back at his own home, Cody's gone casual in a denim sleeveless top with a white undershirt. He's with his computer geek friend Merlin, who's doing an electronic check on Rick and the studio. He discovers the studio is real, but is a subsidiary of this company that's in chapter 7. They've also found out that he's married. Before they have too long to ponder this, Gina runs up with an abashed Ziggy and yells at Cody for interfering. She makes him promise to leave them alone. He does, but as soon as she's left, he's back at it with Merlin. He's not ready to give this up just yet.

Regarding Lou, the sketch artist is able to produce a nice portrait of the "dream girl." They visit all the casting and modeling agencies and find nada. Cody advises Lou to give up the fantasy and find a reality.

Meanwhile, Gina is giggling with Rick and finally asks him if he's married. He says yes, but assures Gina he doesn't love his wife anymore - she was controlling and insanely jealous of any other woman, even his sister! He insists they're separated and as far as the marriage goes, he whispers that it's only for a while. He swears that soon he'll be comin' back with divorce papers. He pulls away and leaves Gina with a smile.

That night, Cody throws a goodbye party for Gina, resigned that she's going to go. They say a touching goodbye. Then, Glenn spots his sexy neighbor below and invites her up, after futilely trying to convince her that he and Gina are not a couple. She walks away, to his dismay. After Gina leaves, Ziggy arrives and tells Cody that their suspicions are well-founded. He shows Cody a newspaper photo of Rick and his wife - it's the woman who was with the doctor, the one who looks like Gina. Uh-oh. After getting a drunken Lou off of his couch, Cody asks Merlin to see if Rick's taken out an insurance policy on his wife. Cody's guessing he has....

The evil doctor, Rick, and his wife prepare to go, first disposing of their accomplice, the casting agent. Rick picks up Gina, drugs her, then gives her papers to his wife. She's going to pose as Gina on the flight to the Caribbean.

Merlin reports back to Cody that the life insurance has indeed been taken out. Cody and Ziggy rush to find Gina... but it's too late. She's gone. They go to to Rick's house, break in, and are shot at by his wife. They disarm her, find her with Gina's papers, then force her to tell them where Rick took Gina.

Oh no! She's at the hospital in the clutches of the doctor! He injects her IV with an overdose of morphine before Cody and Ziggy can get there, and she flatlines. An emergency team rushes to the hospital room, as do Cody and Ziggy. Before they get there, Ziggy sees Rick and tackles him. Cody runs ahead to the room and stops the doctor as he's about to finish Gina off. He threatens the doctor, who is scared into confessing what he did to Gina. With this new knowledge, the team is able to revive her.

That night, Cody's lying on the couch, shirt open, watching TV, when he sees the Dream Girl - on an infomercial for hair replacement! Apparently Lou had fallen asleep in front of the TV before his dream. But when he goes to tell Lou, Lou's no longer interested. He's found a new love - the fortune teller!

The next morning Gina's already back on the job. A handsome delivery boy/ actor comes up to drop off a package and, when Gina shows interest, Cody threatens his life if he ever comes back. The guy hurries away. Cody grabs his package and stalks off with orders that if his mother calls, he's not there!

 

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