In a Word: Amanda takes over at Melrose Place and winds up her ambitions at D&D Advertising too. She also keeps right on making Alison's life miserable, while messing things up between Jake and Jo. But even Amanda is no match for crazy Kimberly.

The Action: We're not saying Amanda doesn't have problems. She accidentally burns down Jake's repair shop, although Jake thinks it's his fault for leaving a blowtorch on. Then her dad, Palmer, gets into trouble with the FBI, and the feds force Jake -- who starts sleeping with Amanda — to help with their investigation. For a while Palmer snows Amanda into thinking Jake's the problem, and Amanda wants to evict Jake. But who'll fix the plumbing? Then Palmer confesses and leaves town, so everything's Jake again. Amanda also doesn't get along with mom Hillary, who runs a modeling agency. The two cross paths when D&D hires some of Hillary's models. Sparks fly after Amanda hooks up with Hillary's fiance in a conference room and he tries to make it look like she sexually harassed him.

Speaking of sexual harassment, Keith keeps stalking Alison and making it look like someone else. Billy is on to him, but Alison doesn't see how twisted Keith is until he tries to rape her. She gets away from him, and Billy follows Keith back to Seattle and assaults him. After Alison tells Keith she hates him, he does the world a favor and kills himself while on the phone with her. But this drives Alison to drink, putting her job at risk. Billy helps her deal with her guilt over Keith's suicide. They're basically made for each other, and, after much drama, including Billy's one-night stand with Amanda, they make wedding plans.

Just about everybody's tying the knot this season -- even Matt. He gets an administrative job at the hospital and ends up marrying Russian doctor Katya, so that she and her adorable daughter can stay in the country. (This puts a damper on Matt bringing guys back to his place, of course. But that's OK, because he can't be shown kissing on camera anyway.) Eventually, Katya and her kid go back to Russia, though. Michael and Jane divorce, and, although he flies into a jealous rage whenever Jane seems interested in another man, he and Kimberly move into a cozy beach house. Michael has a fling with Jane's sis Sydney, and Kimberly breaks up with him -- but he turns on the charm and proposes. Right after she accepts, a drunken Michael crashes their car. He's paralyzed, and Kimberly's in a coma. Kimberly's mom takes her back to Ohio and later says her daughter has died. Somehow, Michael (who recovers from his paralysis) convinces Matt to change the record of his blood alcohol level, so he won't be charged with manslaughter. But scheming Syd finds out about the switch and blackmails Michael into marrying HER.

This turn of events leads to a truly stunning catfight in the MP pool when Syd takes Jane's wedding dress (a family heirloom). Naturally, Amanda gives Syd a lease of her own in the complex. Syd starts working as a waitress at Shooters, but pretty soon she's on to more honorable professions like prostitution and stripping. She does get to marry Michael, although he plots to kill her on their honeymoon. But he can't go through with it. Michael decides Syd's not so bad after she tells him his boss at the hospital is a client of her escort service, and Michael blackmails the hapless doc into making him chief resident. But Syd's triumph is short-lived, because Kimberly comes back from the dead! Turns out Kimberly didn't die; her mother just didn't want Michael in her daughter's life (smart mom!), so she lied about Kimberly's demise. But brain surgery has taken its toll on Kimberly -- and we're not just talking about the gnarly scar hidden by her wig. There are a few screws loose under that rug. Kimberly doesn't really want Michael back -- she just wants to get her revenge by killing him and framing Jane for the crime. (Along the way, she also snares Syd in her tangled web of vengeance.) Wearing a blonde wig, Kimberly runs over Michael with Jane's car, and Jane is arrested.

Jo reconnects with an old flame, Reed Carter, who turns out to be a drug smuggler. At first he seems legit, and Jake and Amanda invest in his business, but they pull back when Reed's story doesn't check out. Jo just thinks Jake is jealous, but then she goes out on the boat with Reed and finds his stash. He attacks her, and she's forced to kill him. The Coast Guard arrests Jo when they raid the boat, but after much legal wrangling (and some surprise help from Amanda), Jo goes free. Then she finds out she's pregnant with Reed's baby, and things get way more complicated. But it brings her closer to Jake again -- for a while.

Billy and Alison decide to get married in the apartment courtyard. Billy invites his college pal Rob to be best man, and finds out Rob's gay when he sees him kissing Matt. Just as Alison is about to walk down the aisle, she recalls a repressed memory of being molested by her father. When he realizes she knows, he threatens her. So Alison bails on the wedding, escaping out a window. Alison runs to her sister Meredith's home in San Francisco, not knowing that daddy's hot on her trail.

Our Take: With all the crazy twists and turns this season, we barely had time to catch our breath between gasps. Keith and Reed sure turned out to be bad news. But we have to say that, as far as cracked-out hijinks go, the women on this show rule.

Your Take: Did Kimberly's mother do the right thing by lying about her daughter's death?