And six pages into the recap, a commercial.

Nikki charges through the newsroom with Brooke in tow, discussing her Zander Price feature that's slated for the front page. Bebe Neuwirth is clad in black leather, looking every inch the delicate dominatrix that her character appears to be. "If anything has happened that would compromise your objectivity, let me know," Nikki asks. Brooke bristles. Zander is a touchy subject for her, because she's living like a vegetarian but hungry for trouser beef.

Hobbs announces to Wallace that he's high-tailing it to Bermuda, taking an early retirement because Catherine's death caused him terrible stress. Wallace admits he's having trouble comprehending the marriage between Catherine and Zander. Hobbs says that he did too, but has since realized everything makes perfect sense. "She helped put his life back together after [the mental institution]," Hobbs, the soul of discretion, blabs to a surprised Benton. "He wasn't the first child prodigy to suffer a nervous breakdown." Wallace theorizes that Catherine elevated Zander to tortured genius status, then he filed for divorce and she resented -- and contested -- it. "Hostile feelings, night of the party she was nursing a broken heart, when she stepped in front of the bus she was so upset..." Wallace guesses. Hobbs claims that Catherine was completely stable, and that Zander was always the question mark in that relationship.

Brooke shows up at Zander's door to apologize for Wallace's general existence and spotty hygiene. Well, if she didn't, she should have. Someone has to answer for that. "He's why a lot of us distrust the press," Zander says woodenly, flirting that Brooke's trustworthy because she's prettier than Wallace and she smells wonderful. Entranced, Brooke licks Zander up and down and suggests they slide between the sheet music so she can sharpen his flat "c." At least, she did on my tape. Perhaps my VCR is perverted. "I showed you mine -- you show me yours?" Brooke asks even though she's already walking into Zander's lair. He sniffs her.

Zander has seven clocks on one wall alone, plus hordes of others decorating the living room. "Everything is a matter of timing, not just music," Zander says. What enduring truth! Socrates couldn't have done better. Brooke gently presses him about Catherine, and he resists talking about it until she reminds him it's his chance to tell the true story of their couplehood to someone guaranteed to be fair to him. "The press always tries to bring down the great men," Zander says. Oh, I disagree. No one's tried to slay Billy Blanks yet. Zander explains that his marriage and music aren't related: the wedding was Catherine's idea and only worked as a matter of convenience. "I don't care about her money," Zander shrugs. "It's gonna be gone soon enough anyway." Brooke lets that slide and steers discussion back to affairs of the heart, wondering why he married Catherine in the first place if it was loveless. Zander demands to go off the record and Brooke switches off her tape recorder. "How can I make sure I don't come off like a complete slimeball?" Zander asks. "Are you a slimeball?" Brooke quizzes him. He says no. "Then you have nothing to worry about," Brooke soothes, clicking on the dictaphone.