Robbing Hood - Recap

As a child, Ned played marbles by himself at the Longborough School for Boys. However, Eugene had difficult jaw structure, making him hard to understand. Ned agreed to let him play marbles with him, so that Eugene would have a friend besides his python and his rabbit. However, when Eugene broke his pets’ cages, the snake ate the rabbit and then choked to death. Eugene took the pets out to bury them but actually brought them back to life then lied about finding them alive, making Eugene happy.



In the present, Ned is stress-baking because of Dwight Dixon, who is dating Vivian and could see a picture of Chuck at any time and realize she’s still alive. Ned decides to act and find out who Dwight is, and Olive goes to see the aunts with a pie. Dixon is already there calling on Vivian. Dwight claims he appraises antiques and Lily is suspicious now that Vivian has told her that she’s dating Dwight. Vivian and Dwight go on a date and Lily confesses her suspicions to Olive.

Lawyer Daniel Hill hires Emerson to investigate the death of Gustav Hoffer, his one client now dead and who made his fortune in yarn-ball ballers. Daniel loved him and wants the best detective available to investigate Gustav’s death. Gustav died when he was robbed, and Hill believes that Gustav’s wife Elise didn’t love him. Someone fired at a chandelier above Gustav during the break-in and he was crushed to death.



Ned, Emerson, and Chuck go to the morgue and bring Gustav back to life. He tells them he had a second will and tells them to track it down. He directs them to his largest trophy and tells them how to open the secret compartment. He doesn’t want his money going to where it doesn’t belong, particularly his gold-digging wife. In his last second he tells them that the bellman killed him.



The trio goes to Gustav’s manor to talk to his wife Elise: Ned goes to find the trophy room. Elise greets them and calls in James-Andrew the bellman-porter. As she yells for James-Andrew to bring her drinks and explains that she’s planning for the wake, it’s clear she’s not particularly upset about her husband’s death. Ned finds the trophy room… filled with stuffed animals. He moves carefully through the room trying not to touch anything until he gets to the largest trophy and has to turn it. Meanwhile, James-Andrew arrives and says he’s not a bellman, he’s a porter. He says he was at a key party the night of Gustav’s murder.



After a brief encounter with a stuffed bear, Ned opens the secret safe to find it empty and the words “orbis pro vox” written on the back. He gets back to Emerson and Chuck and tells him what he found. Emerson explains that rich people are getting robbed by a burglar who leaves the same phrase at every crime scene. Emerson goes to the police department to check his contacts while Ned and Chuck return to the Pie Hole. They can’t find any record of Dwight’s existence before he arrived in town. Ned suggests they give Dwight the pocket watch but Chuck suggests that Ned bring her father back so they can ask him what the pocket watch signifies. Ned doesn’t want to make her suffer by watching her see her father die again. Emerson returns, having confirmed with the police that the robber always makes a donation to charity the day after he robs someone.

Emerson has a clue and goes to the Bellman Organization, where bellman ring bells to collect change for the needy. Rob Wright is in charge of the organization, and his motto is “Ring for Right”: “orbis pro vox.” Wright greets them and they explain that one of their bellman killed Gustav. Rob insists that all of his bellmen are carefully screened and have nothing to hide. He invites them to investigate and they notice one telemarketer, Tam Phong. He quickly hides his phone list and gets away. Emerson checks the phone numbers to see if anyone called Gustav.



Dwight is playing clarinet for Vivian on their date and begins to warm slightly toward her. Vivian tells Dwight about Lily’s suspicions and he asks if anyone saw Chuck as she was buried. Vivian admits she feels guilty for encouraging Chuck to go on the cruise that led to her death. Vivian begins to cry and Dwight tries to comfort her. She shows him a clipping of Chuck’s obituary and Dwight recognizes her from the Pie Hole.



Daniel meets with the team at the Pie Hole and they bring him up to speed. He has no idea who the Bellmen are and demands to find Tam Phong and dole out some justice. Emerson points out that Tam Phong may not be the killer but was just involved in the robbery. Daniel doesn’t know about a second will and wonders how they know about it, but they quickly gloss over how they found out. Daniel wants the will found and offers to double their fee. Ned suggests they put their name on Tam Phong’s phone list and Chuck suggests her aunts’ house. While they’re there, Chuck will check an old cigar box in her room with her father’s letters, letters that could provide a clue to Dwight’s real identity.

Olive takes Pigby and visits the Bellmen and tells them not to call her with phone solicitations. He gets her number so he can (supposedly) take it off their list, and she gives them the aunts’ phone number. That night, Chuck and Ned slip into Chuck’s old room, now a cheese locker, and Chuck reveals a can-and-string that she hooked up to the aunts’ Victrola so she can listen in and hear if they’re coming. Ned goes back downstairs while Chuck gets out her hidden cigar box and goes over her childhood mementos. While Olive explains their plan, Ned and Emerson start closing the drapes. Lily is not thrilled about the plan and is further angry that Vivian is interested in a man. Vivian thinks that she’s jealous but Lily says she’s worried about her. Lily finally realizes what they’re up to, while Chuck goes through her father’s belongings. There’s no indication of Dwight’s intentions… but as she goes through the letters she’s unaware that someone is slipping into the room behind her.



The robber makes his entrance: Rob Wright. He assures her he means her no harm and thinks she hasn’t sent up a warning because she agrees with his principles of robbing from the rich to give to charity. She accuses him of killing Gustav but he denies it and says Tam Phong has no idea how his phone list is used. Rob explains that Gustav approached him to rob Gustav’s home. Gustav rewrote his will and wondered if his wife still loved him. Rob contacted him and offered to rob him: if his wife was truly in love with him and stayed with him after Gustav lost his money, Rob would have returned half the money. Elise arrived with a musket and Rob was forced to make his escape. He claims he never killed Gustav and says that he will be donating money to an animal shelter unless he gets them the money.

Back at the Pie Hole, Ned thinks Chuck made a mistake by letting Rob go. They wonder if James-Andrew knows anything and watch him from the street. Chuck wonders if it might be better for it to be known that she’s alive, and Ned admits he used to have nightmares of people cutting him up to figure out how his gift works. Chuck is warmed that Ned is willing to sacrifice himself for her benefit, which is what will happen if Dwight finds out she came back to life. They’re interrupted when they see James-Andrew and Elise in a passionate embrace.

Dwight breaks into Chuck’s apartment and takes her father’s watch. He goes downstairs to the Pie Hole and leaves the obituary notice with Olive. She sees the notice and realizes that Dwight knows. She proceeds to stress-binge on pies while waiting for the others to return. Meanwhile, Dwight returns to the aunts’ house to find Lily waiting for him. He talks about how he’s similar to Charles Charles and they had the same ambitions. Rob talks about Chuck’s death and how she was buried with Charles Charles’ watch. Lily pulls out a shotgun and tells him to get lost for good. She goes to Chuck’s grave only to find that it has been recently disturbed, and wonders what Dwight may have unearthed.



The trio confronts Elise and James-Andrew and they say they met at the same key party that was his alibi. Emerson thinks they conspired to kill Gustav but Elise says they only conspired to keep the affair from becoming knowledge, as it would hurt her in any divorce settlement. She points out that she couldn’t have pulled the trigger on a musket because of her manicure and all of her rings. She says she never saw Rob, meaning he lied to Chuck.

The trio goes to the Bellman offices and Rob draws a knife on Emerson. Rob apologizes for the situation and says Gustav died in an accident. He gives them the second will from the safe, and then tries to escape on a bell rope. Emerson shoots the rope apart, dropping Rob to the floor. As it turned out, Gustav realized that Elise was a gold-digger and made the arrangement with Rob to steal the will and test her fidelity. However, Daniel Hill discovered the affair and condemned them, and Gustav overheard him. Daniel tried to shield Gustav, but Gustav, impressed, wrote a new will leaving his estate to Daniel. Gustav tried to cancel his arrangement with Rob, they struggled with the musket, and it went off, dropping the chandelier on Gustav.



Emerson gives Daniel the will, revealing he inherited Gustav’s estate. Meanwhile, Lily goes to Dwight’s hotel room to find evidence to use against him to show to Vivien. She finds dozens of guns and the two pocket watches, and takes both of them. Lily hides out on the ledge when Dwight arrives and discovers the watches are gone. He figures that Chuck stole the watches and takes a gun to go off after her.

Ned and Chuck return to the Pie Hole and discover that Dwight left the obituary article. They go to Charles Charles’ grave and dig him up. Ned suggests they leave town and would rather take his chances with Dwight and the revelation of his ability then put Chuck through the pain of seeing her father die again. She says he’s a real hero and he hopes she’ll feel that way after they’re done with her father. They finish digging up the grave and start to open the coffin…




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