Darla interrupted a busy Sally with the announcement the hairdresser to the stars that Darla had told Sally about had arrived. Sally assumed the stylist would have purple hair and a nose ring; Sally wanted someone with experience who knew the meaning of the word "teasing." In walked Gladys, a septuagenarian sporting a wardrobe even busier than Sally's.
Gladys decided she loved Sally's hair color -- it reminded her of the burning bush in The Ten Commandments. Darla laughed, but Sally wanted celebrity references from Gladys. After Gladys botched Kevin Costner's name, Sally pronounced Gladys a flimflammer and a cheap huckster. Gladys retorted that she wasn't cheap. Sally instructed Darla to show Gladys out, but Sally's ears perked up when Gladys boasted that if she was good enough for Taylor Forrester, she was good enough for Sally.
Gladys hedged when Sally wanted her to repeat what she'd said about Taylor. Sally wanted to know when Gladys had last done Taylor's hair; Darla calculated that it had to have been at least a year before, because Taylor had died the previous spring. Sally snarked that Taylor, "the crown jewel in the Forrester crown," would never have entrusted her tresses to someone like Gladys, who wasn't refined. When Gladys maintained that she had been doing Taylor's hair and makeup for weeks, Sally joked that by that point, Taylor would have needed a lot of makeup. Gladys said she worked on Taylor at Taylor's father's place. When Sally dared Gladys to tell her the man's name, Gladys replied, "Jack Hamilton. I call him 'Hammy the Magnificent.'"
Sally argued that the only way Taylor could be living with Jack was if Taylor were in an urn on his mantelpiece. Gladys announced that she shouldn't be saying it, but her reputation was at stake -- Taylor was alive. Gladys recounted how Taylor hadn't been on the plane when it had crashed and how Taylor had spent weeks in a coma after being mugged in an airport restroom. Sally balked at Gladys' story, so Gladys picked up the phone and told Sally to call Jack herself.
Taylor waited by the phone at Jack's apartment, with Jack noting it could be days before Ridge called her. Taylor conceded that Ridge had been pretty upset when he'd left there, which led Jack to conclude that Ridge didn't really love Taylor. When Taylor insisted Ridge did, Jack figured that meant Ridge would, indeed, call.
Taylor told Jack that she needed to keep reminding herself that she and Ridge had a history. There had been a lot of emotional investment and trust between them. Jack admitted it bothered him that Ridge could have married Brooke so quickly after learning Taylor had been "dead." Taylor found it confusing, too, and surmised that the only explanation she could come up with was a frightening one.
Taylor couldn't deny that if Ridge were capable of loving another woman as much as her, it would be Brooke. When Jack asked what Taylor intended to do, Taylor professed that Ridge had still married her first, before Brooke. Until Ridge said otherwise, Taylor was his only wife.
Jack's phone rang, and Taylor decided to pick up. She said hello several times but only heard silence -- however, on the other end of the line was Sally, who was speechless at hearing Taylor's voice. Sally hung and up and declared Gladys was right -- Taylor was alive. Darla also looked stunned as Gladys meted out an "I told you so." Gladys said she was a lousy liar but a mean sculptor of hair. She asked what Sally thought.
Sheila held a gun on Eric, Stephanie, Brooke, Ridge, James, and Lauren, telling them it was the day they would die and that nothing was going to change her mind. When Ridge asked Sheila if she were going to kill her friend Brooke, as well, Sheila apologized that Brooke was an unfortunate victim. Lauren scoffed that they were all victims of Sheila's hatred. Stephanie mocked Sheila, assuming Sheila felt empowered by having a gun and stating that Sheila was obviously crazy.
Sheila spat that she hadn't gotten there alone. She had gone to Los Angeles for a new beginning and had found it with Eric -- but they had never had a chance because of Stephanie's slander and lies. Sheila had never thought she had it in her to kill anybody, but killing Stephanie was going to be sweet pleasure. Sheila ordered Stephanie to sit on the couch alone and warned the others to back off.
Stephanie stepped forward against Ridge's protestation. To her, the matter at hand was between her and Sheila, and she implored Sheila to let everyone else go. Eric's begging of Sheila only prompted Sheila to say maybe his dying with Stephanie was for the best. Sheila claimed they were all going to have closure -- one of therapist James's favorite words. Sheila would have her revenge. Ridge asserted that they would have the revenge when Sheila ended up in the gas chamber.
Brooke seemed to be getting through when she exhorted Sheila to put the gun down and show everyone she wasn't a coward. Sheila considered it but deemed it too late for that. James said Sheila had the defense of not being of sound mind, which sent Sheila into a rage again. Sheila yelled that it was going to end right then and there, beginning with Stephanie. Ridge moved in front of Stephanie, insisting Sheila would have to go through him. "And me," Brooke said, shocking everyone when she also shielded Stephanie.
A startled Sheila asked Ridge if he thought he could stop her bullets. Ridge confessed that he couldn't, but if Sheila were going to kill Stephanie, she'd have to kill him and Brooke first. Sheila was incredulous that Brooke would give up her life for Stephanie after everything Stephanie had done to her. Brooke stated that if Sheila was going to murder her family, Sheila could take her with them. Further unsettled, Sheila wondered how she could let any of them live after they'd all been so hateful. Lauren walked up to Sheila's gun and said it would be wrong for Sheila to do anything but let them live.
Lauren seethed that Sheila had blackmailed her, stolen her baby, slept with her husband...Lauren would have scars until she died from the pain Sheila had inflicted on her. So, Lauren almost expected Sheila to try to solve her problems with a gun. Anything else would mean Sheila had compassion and self-love, which Lauren determined one couldn't live without. Lauren knew Sheila had tried self-love and failed, and she asked if Sheila would love herself more after killing six people. Sheila might have a gun, Lauren observed, but she had very little power -- and Sheila would have less if she pulled the trigger. Lauren told Sheila to do what she had to do.
Sheila's hand shook, and she slowly lowered the gun, dropping it to the floor. Eric asked James to lead in the police, who were outside, but Sheila sadly reached into her purse and pulled out a vial of orange liquid, stating that police weren't necessary because she wouldn't be around much longer.
Eric asked what was in Sheila's bottle. Sheila said she wouldn't force it down Stephanie's throat. Lauren guessed it was poison. When Sheila described it as a fast-acting poison, Lauren told her not to use it. Sheila didn't think Lauren cared, but Brooke swore that she did, and pleaded with Sheila not to drink the poison. It would only take a minute, Sheila replied, and it would all be over.
James thought there was still hope, but Sheila stressed that she'd never be able to survive in prison. James said maybe Sheila would only have to go into a hospital. Looking over her victims, Sheila decided she'd been wrong about all of them. They were good people, which was why she shouldn't be there. Sheila gulped down the poison and collapsed into Eric and James's arms.
The police rushed in. Ridge ordered them to call an ambulance for Sheila. The poison taking effect, Sheila raspily asked Eric to forgive her. She needed to hear the words so she could die forgiven. Eric said of course he forgave Sheila and that she wasn't going to die. Choking up, Sheila cried that all she'd wanted had been to be loved -- and to love -- a declaration that even moved Lauren. Sheila reiterated that love was all she had wanted then slipped into unconsciousness.
