| Isabel is worried by
Michael’s continuing strange behavior, and brings it to Max’s attention. When
Michael can’t hide a black eye, Max discovers that his friend is being physically
abused by his stepfather Hank. After healing the black eye, Max tells Isabel of
Michael’s situation, and though Isabel tries to conceal the fact that she knows about
the abuse, Michael immediately realizes Max has told her. Michael storms out, and he,
Isabel and Max have an intense confrontation. Isabel suggests that Michael get help, but
Michael insists he can’t do anything about the situation without bringing unwanted
attention on the three of them. Isabel then tells him that since her father is a lawyer,
he could possibly help Michael to get permission to live on his own as a minor, but
Michael is reluctant. Finally, she suggests that he come live with their family, to which
Michael reluctantly agrees. Max is skeptical, but Isabel is hopeful…until Michael
actually stays with them. At dinner with the
Evans family, it immediately becomes clear that Michael has no table manners, and though
Isabel tries to help him, the dinner is a disaster. Even worse is an attempt to play a
board game; Michael doesn’t understand the rules, to which Mr. Evans is very adamant
about adhering, and Michael storms off yet again. Isabel implores Michael once again to
ask her father for help, but Michael refuses and leaves. Max tells Isabel she can’t
make up to Michael for all that he has endured over the years.
Meanwhile, Maria is horrified to discover that her
mother is dating Jim Valenti, and they argue, with Maria trying to make her mother
understand that Valenti could hurt her. What Amy Deluca understands is that Maria is
comparing her own relationship with Michael to Amy’s. She assures Maria that Michael
will come around. Michael, however, goes back home to his stepfather, and they fight
heatedly until Isabel and Max burst in. Hank offers Isabel a drink, which she tosses in
his face, furiously informing him that she will kill him if he touches Michael again. When
Hank grabs a gun, Michael uses his powers to knock it out of his hand, and the three
aliens flee, with Hank screaming after them.
Isabel begs Michael yet again to get help, but
Michael leaves, and goes to Maria for comfort instead. Amy DeLuca is infuriated when she
finds Michael in Maria’s room the next morning, and chases him out. Meanwhile, Hank
has disappeared, and Michael is taken in for questioning. At the Crashdown, Isabel rushes
in to ask Maria and Liz if they’ve seen Michael; she hurriedly explains the
situation. Maria persuades her mother to tell the police that Michael was with them, and
Michael is released. He angrily tells Isabel and Max that they have become too comfortable
in their human lives to care anymore about finding their real home, so he’s going to
find Nasedo on his own. Isabel argues back that it’s time for him to put up or shut
up about searching for his real home, and he stalks away. She yells at him to "go
ahead and run," and Michael does. As Michael prepares to leave, Max shows up to give
him a package, which Michael later discovers contains the healing stones from River
Dog’s ritual. As he’s hitchhiking, he realizes he can’t leave…that Max
and Isabel are his family. He returns, and finally decides to take Isabel’s
suggestion to let her father help him; the court declares him an emancipated minor.
The supposedly missing Hank unexpectedly appears in
Valenti’s office, telling Valenti he got another job and is leaving town. Hank drives
his car to a clearing, where he stops and takes a body out of his trunk. The body is that
of the real Hank, who has been murdered. After he buries the body, the imposter gets back
in the car, and holding out his hand, a light flashes as the car begins to shake, and his
face morphs to that of a bearded stranger.
Judith Gerber |
