Synopsis of The Kiss
Written by TK
Syd is having a pleasant Romeo and Juliet dream when her mother interrupts the kiss scene. Lynda argues that Romeo is too young, and a kiss is just a kiss, and he might have black plague, and... just about anything to get Syd not to kiss him. When she kisses him anyway, Lynda ruins it by blowing cigarette smoke all over them.
Joanie and Syd are in the kitchen in the morning talking about Syd's dream. They both realize that they're pining away for love and feel pathetic. Joanie admits that her friend Stephanie talked her into going to this singles costume party tonight: she's going as Little Bo Peep.
At the clinic, a girl rushes in and tells Izzy and Syd that she was getting her tarot read by this old Russian woman when the Russian woman collapsed. The woman didn't have a phone, so the girl ran to the clinic which was just a few blocks away. Izzy and Syd prepare to go to the Russian woman's house.
Robbie is unloading some boxes into his dad's office when Heather asks him for that dollar he borrowed the other day because she's saving money for a new apartment. Her roommate went back to India and now she can't afford her place so she has to find a new one. Robbie suggests that he move in with her. She's hesitant, but he turns on the ol' Robbie charm and convinces her.
Syd and Izzy are at the old Russian woman's house. They are trying hard to revive her, but she's not breathing and there's no pulse. The gril who came and got them is on Syd's cell phone with the hospital reporting their progress. Syd asks if the Russian woman gave the girl any kind of idea of what was happening, if she said anything. The girl says she was just mumbling about "taking care of him." She assumes the woman meant a cat or something. Syd and Izzy are not able to revive the woman. She's dead.
At the costume party, Joanie is dazed and hides out by the bar with the friendly bartender and a glass of mineral water. She is approached by an annoying man named Marty who is dressed as Superman.
Back at the clinic, Syd and Izzy are getting ready to go home. Izzy wonders who the woman wanted to take care of. Syd thinks the woman was probably delirious and thinking about a dead husband or something. Syd realizes she can't find her cell phone and it must have been left at the dead woman's house.
Joanie is still being harassed by Superman at the bar, and now he's trying to convince her to change long-distance service. She excuses herself to the ladies room and starts to struggle through the costumed crowd on the dance floor. A black leather hand is held out to her and she grabs it, but loses it. She fights her way through more of the crowd and grabs onto the hand again. A black-clad masked stranger pulls her into a side room and kisses her passionately. She is shocked, but kisses him back. All of a sudden the man pulls back, realizing that she's not his date, apologizes, and dramatically runs away.
Syd goes to the old woman's house to see if she can get her cell phone back and is disappointed to find it dark and locked, with a police ribbon over the front door. She looks under the door mat and finds a key, and uses it to let herself in. The lights don't work, so she lights a candle. Suddenly, she hears a noise from upstairs. She goes upstairs and sees a ladder up to the attic. Curiously, her cell phone is sitting on one of the rungs of the ladder. She puts her phone in her pocket and goes up the ladder. In the attic she discovers a man lying rather helplessly on the floor. As she bends over him to see if he's okay, he points to the ceiling and Syd holds the candle up to see an amazing religious painting on the ceiling.
At the hospital, Syd is talking to another doctor and looking at brain scans. The other doctor points out the man's brain tumor that would have caused the seizure which is what was happening to the man when Syd found him. The tumor would also be affecting his vision. It's not cancerous, but it's been there for awhile. The doctor recommends surgery to take it out. A woman named Rebecca Rosen arrives from social services and she and Syd go down to the man's hospital room. On the way, Ms. Rosen says she looked up the man's records. He's the old woman's grandson, Leonid Korshenko. The last medical records for him are at the age of 4, when he wasn't even talking yet and the doctors suspected he was Autistic. Syd says his incredible painting skills do suggest he could be an Autistic savant or something. Ms. Rosen goes on to say that Leonid and his parents were deported back to the USSR in 1985, but apparently he actually stayed in the country and was hidden by his grandmother. He has no medical records since the age of 4, no school records, no nothing. Ms. Rosen's not sure if he speaks at all, nevermind if he speaks English.
Syd and Ms. Rosen arrives at Leonid's room. He speaks English quite well, with a mild Russian accent, and says that his name is Leo. Leo asks where his grandmother is, and Syd tells him she had a heart attack and died. Leo says he wants to go home. Syd says he had a seizure. He says he has them all the time and it's not big deal. Syd tells him he has a tumor and needs surgery. He insists he just wants to go home. Ms. Rosen reminds Syd that they can't keep him against his will, so Syd says she'll discharge him. He starts to walk down the hall, but then turns back to the two women and admits that he doesn't know where he lives.
Joanie is on her dad's office computer sending a message to Zorro from Little Bo Peep, asking him to meet her at the club tonight. When Jim walks up and surprises Joanie, she tries to cover the computer screen and lies about who Zorro is and why she wants to meet him tonight. She's nervous and embarassed at Jim's natural curiosity.
Heather is helping Robbie unpack into her apartment. She suddenly says that since they've had some problems in the past, they should put all their cards on the table and clear the air since they're going to be roommates. Robbie says that's a great idea, and with totally honesty tells Heather how he sort of set her up with Charlie and then got jealous once she and Charlie were together and now he sort of has a little crush on her but is totally willing to put those feelings aside so that they can be roommates. Heather is totally shocked. Robbie asks her if she still has any feelings for him and she says absolutely not.
Syd brings Leo home. She asks him how he speaks English and he says that his grandmother taughts him because she knew she wouldn't always be around to take care of him. Syd mentions that his last medical reports said that he wasn't speaking at all. He said he just didn't speak because his parents told him not to because they were afraid he'd say something wrong and they'd get deported. So he never spoke at all, and they got deported anyway. Syd looks at his huge collection of amazing paintings in all different styles and asks him how he did them. He said he copied them out of books. He asks Syd to leave him alone. Syd urges him again to get the surgery to take out the brain tumor. She says he can't take care of himself while he's having those seizures, and he could die. He says no one would miss him. She gives him her number to call if he needs anything, and he reminds her that the house has no phone (or electricity for that matter). She hands him her cell phone and says to just press #2 if he needs help. He is surprised by her generosity.
Back at the club, now dressed in a pretty black dress, Joanie sits at the bar and waits for Zorro. The bartender asks her if she's looking for her sheep, and she asks him if he saw a guy last night dressed like Zorro. He says he only saw a Musketeer. He goes on to say that Zorro usually finds the woman on his own terms, and when she least expects it. Joanie doesn't really appreciate this news, and orders a mineral water and asks the bartender to leave her alone.
Syd is in the kitchen talking to Jim about Leo. She's trying to figure out how to convince the young man to have the surgery, and realizes that somehow his art must be the key to making him want to live. Jim suggests she talk to his friend Gordon at the RISD art department. Maybe Leo could take some classes there or something.
In the middle of the night, Robbie finds Heather rummaging around in the kitchen. He asks what she's doing up, and in a dazed voice she says that the cupboards need straightening. She finishes perfectly arranging the cups and saucers, walks over to Robbie, gives him a big kiss on the mouth, and then wanders off down the hall. Robbie is left in shock.
Syd answers the phone in her pajamas and it's Leo. She tells him to calm down and she'll be right there. When she arrives at his house she finds him crying uncontrollably. He is lamenting the loss of his grandmother and feels incredibly alone. Syd puts her arms around him to comfort him and he remarks that no one has touched him like that since his mother... and he can't even remember what his mother looks like. Syd cradles him as he cries.
Joanie is at the costume shop trying to track down renters of the Zorro costume. The guy who works there says the rented 12 Zorros this week, and he can't give her their personal info.
In the morning, Heather asks Robbie how his first night the apartment was. He says it was unexpectedly great. Robbie asks Heather if she'd like to go out to dinner tonight. She says she's going out with a friend. On her way out of the kitchen, she stops to tell Robbie that she thinks this roommate thing is going to work out, and that he makes her feel much safer than her last roommate. She also says that towards the end of her last roommate's tenure, he started hitting on her, and she can't figure out where he would have gotten the idea that she was interested in him.
On her way out of the costume shop, Joanie sees a man returning a Zorro costume. She looks him in the face, grabs him and passionately kisses him. She lets him go as she realizes it's the wrong guy. He immediately turns to his wife and kids in the minivan on the corner and loudly proclaims that he's never seen this girl before in his life. Joanie apologizes to the man and his family, mumbling that she thought he was someone else.
Syd takes some of Leo's paintings to Jim's friend Gordon. Gordon says that Leo is technically good, but he's not an artist. These are just good copies, but it doesn't show that Leo has anything to say.
Leo and Syd are leaving RISD. Syd is trying to tell Leo that Gordon liked his paintings. Leo tells Syd that he'll have the surgery. He'll do it for her.
Syd and Joanie are talking about her Zorro experience. Syd says it's incredibly romantic. Joanie says he was perfect and she can't wait to find him. Syd tells Joanie not to set herself up to be hurt. It was a perfect moment, but that doesn't necessarily mean he was the perfect man. Joanie is upset that Syd is cutting her down.
Robbie is channel surfing while sitting on the couch. He surfs over Zorro kissing a blonde to Loveline.
Loveline is also on the TV at the bar where Joanie is again sitting. The bartender comments that he can't believe people would rather pour their hearts out on TV than to their local bartender. He encourages Joanie to open up about why she's back here every night. She starts to talk to him, but then is too embarassed and stops. He says he'll still be there whenever she's ready.
Syd visits Leo in the hospital. She tells him he should be sleeping, getting his rest before the surgery. He says the window is so much more interesting than his window at home that he can't. He tells Syd that she's beautiful, like his mom, only he can't exactly remember what his mom looks like. When Syd goes to get him some more water he grabs her hand and thanks her for her kindness.
Robbie wakes up on the couch. The TV is still on and he is surprised to find Heather, in her night gown, sitting on the couch next to him watching it. Heather apologizes for surprising him and gets up to leave. He asks her not to leave, and she comes back, gives him an even more passionate kiss than the night before, and then says goodnight and heads back to her room. Robbie is left confused.
Leo's doctor tells Syd that the new MRI shows that Leo's tumor is bigger than he originally thought, and he's going to have to take out so much brain tissue that Leo will probably lose his sight entirely. Syd says she'll be the one to tell Leo, and when she does he takes the news hard.
Gordon comes to see Syd at the clinic and says that he just found a drawing the Leo left in his office. He thinks he totally misjudged Leo, and shows Syd the drawing of herself. He says the man that drew this definitely has something to say, and he's like to give Leo a grant to go to an artist community in the Berkshires where he'd be taken care of, and all he'd have to do is paint. Syd says Leo wouldn't be able to accept because of his brain surgery that will leave him blind. Izzy pokes her head into Syd's office and tells her that the hospital called and Leo has disappeared.
Heather comes into the kitchen with a bag of groceries and says she's going to cook them dinner tonight. Robbie says that's good, 'cause they need to talk. As Heather is asking what they need to talk about, she opens the cupboard and sees all of the cups and saucers stacked on top of each other. She exclaims that she's done it again, and explains to Robbie that she sleepwalks when she gets stressed. Her childhood shrink said she was acting out subsconscious desires, trying to make order out of a mixed-up confusing world. Suddenly Robbie realizes that she's been kissing him in her sleep. When she asks again what he wanted to talk about, he says it was nothing.
Syd finds Leo at home and tells him he has to go back for his surgery. He says he remembered what his mother looked like and he had to paint. He says he's going to risk it and not get the surgery, because the only thing that kept him hopeful when he was living in his grandmother's attic was looking out the window, and if he loses his window he can't live.
Joanie is back at the bar again, talking to the bartender (who she sees by his name tag is named Burt). She talks to him about love at first sight, and tells him the Zorro story. He says a perfect kiss is all about chemistry. As he's talking, he walks out from behind the bar and kisses her on the cheek. He then says he has to get back to work, and perhaps he'll see her again sometime. Joanie walks away smiling. Burt opens a drawer to put something away and we see that there is a Zorro mask in the drawer.
At the clinic, Syd is making sure that Leo has his medication before he takes off to the artist community. She says they can write letters to stay in touch, but Leo admits he doesn't know how to write. Leo asks her if she could ever love someone like him, and she says she couldn't because she is his doctor. He asks if she weren't his doctor. She says if he were a bit older, then yes, she could. She kisses him on the cheek and murmurs, "Parting is such sweet sorrow."
Back to episode info