- When Allison becomes a lawyer and Joe starts a new job, the Dubois family is forever changed.
- On his way home home from a business trip to Hawaii, Joe calls Allison to let her know what time he's arriving. He never makes it however. Flash-forward to seven years in the future, Allison is a successful Assistant District Attorney working as second chair prosecuting a major drug dealer, Luis Amenabar. She's raised the girls on her own and has done a good job. Ariel is now married and will soon have a baby; Bridgette is going to college; and Marie is now a teenager. It all begins to change when she dreams that Joe survived the plane crash and has suffered memory loss. He's tied into Amenabar somehow and she sets out to find him. Not everything is as it first seems however.—garykmcd
- In the series finale, Allison has to delve through her dreams one final time after Joe dies in an airplane crash. She's actually woken up by the phone ringing, Joe should be arriving earlier than planned, he tells her. Then, turbulences occur, and Allison witnesses the plane's going down, and Joe's death over the phone, with a dramatic final 'I love you Allison, with all my heart' as the plane plunges. Seven years later and at last a successful lawyer, and the DA's first assistant, Allison must confront a drug smuggler who seemingly orders the death of the new DA during his prosecution, forcing Mayor Manuel Devalos to keep Allison from destroying her own career when her dreams and the criminal suggest that Joe has been alive all along. But Allison's dream is in fact false, or to be precise, all the flashforward 7 years into the future is actually a dream of what can happen, given to Allison by Joe himself. She wakes up in the present, when the dream within a dream finally awakens her, by the voice of Joe, instead of the phone ringing. We are left to believe that the final call from Joe was part of the whole dream, too, though nothing is completely ascertained in that regard. Allison turns around in her bed, imagining she'll find Joe by her side, but only to find Joe's ghost talking to her. He tells her that he in fact did die in the plane crash. He tells her that he wanted to make her dream of how things could be without him, but that even in the dream, she wanted so bad that he'd still be alive, that she in fact 'took back the control' over the dream, and invented the case about the drug smuggler, and the beach in Mexico, and Joe surviving the crash. He tells her to accept his absence, that she has to let go. Then he moves back, and disappears, leaving Allison crying and pleading. We then jump 41 years into the future, in the year 2052, where an elderly Allison is living in a retirement home and is listening to her great granddaughter leave her a message on her answering machine. Minutes later, Allison passes away. She is then shown to be reuniting with Joe in the way she looked 41 years prior.
- The episode begins with Bridgette and Marie staring at the big pile of books Allison will have to read, now that she went back to Law School. As Allison tells them to go to bed, the phone rings. It's Joe, who's been on a business trip to Hawaii and has just boarded the plane to come home. He doesn't want Allison to pick him up at the airport in the morning, since it's also her first school day, but she insists on doing it, because she already misses him.
That night, at 4:33 AM, Allison is woken up by the phone. It's Joe again, calling from the plane. They picked up a tailwind and will land sooner than expected, so he asks Allison not to come to the airport after all. However, while they talk, the plane hits some strong turbulences. Joe tries to stay calm, but when it looks like the plane is about to crash, he barely has time to tell Allison that he loves her, before static takes over. A panicked Allison starts crying.
Seven years later, Allison works as an ADA. She and District Attorney Dennis Caruso (Roger Bart) instrument the case of Luis Amenabar (Enrique Murciano), the leader of a Mexican drug cartel. The trial is supposed to begin the next day, at 1 PM. Caruso specifically asked the judge for a continuance, knowing it is a special day for Allison.
Indeed, as Allison gets home to a now teenager Marie, we learn that the next day is the anniversary of Joe's death, following that plane crash in the Pacific. Allison wants to go to the cemetery in the morning, but, to her dismay, Marie refuses to join her. She thinks it's ridiculous to visit an empty grave (since Joe's body was never recovered) and, besides, she resents her father for not using their gift and never showing up to say good-bye to them.
The next morning, Allison goes to the cemetery alone. While she puts flowers on Joe's grave, she tells him about the girls. Apparently, Ariel went to Law School and is now happily married to a certain Dave. Bridgette is in college and has changed majors yet again, this time it's Creative Writing. Marie is a teenager who deeply misses her dad. Allison misses Joe too and is still heart-broken about his death.
In the afternoon, the trial begins. DA Caruso's opening statement, written by Allison, makes a great impression on the jury. That evening, when they leave court, Caruso and Allison are very confident about the case. Caruso even says that Amenabar's lawyers have already offered to make a deal. They wanted Amenabar extradited to Mexico, but Caruso didn't think twice before refusing it. Unfortunately, in the parking lot, Caruso's car explodes, killing him on the spot, right under Allison's eyes.
Later, in the Mayor's office, Mayor Devalos and Deputy-Mayor Lynn DiNovi talk to Allison about the incident. They are joined by Lee Scanlon, who is now Chief of Detectives. It is obvious to everyone that Amenabar is behind Caruso's murder. Devalos thinks that Amenabar did it because he feels threatened by the strong case they have against him. He asks Allison to take over for Caruso as lead prosecutor of the case.
When she gets home, Allison calls Ariel, who now lives in Boston with her husband and is expecting her first child. Allison wants to consult her on whether she should agree to take over the case or not. She also misses Joe and, like Marie, starts wondering why he never appeared to her. Ariel calms her down and tells her that Joe would want her to make them proud by taking that case.
That night, in a dream, Allison sees Joe, injured but alive, lying on a beach on what seems to be the Mexican coast. In the morning, driven by the sudden hope that Joe might still be alive, she convinces a very skeptical Devalos to have his contacts in Mexico check for reports of a man washed up on a beach seven years ago.
In court, Allison interrogates one of the cartel's paid assassins. However, he refuses to identify Amenabar as his contractor. Allison becomes very nervous when she looks at Amenabar and sees Joe's face, which leads her to believe the two are connected. Unfortunately, later that day, Devalos calls her at home to tell her that his contacts in Mexico came up with nothing.
Nevertheless, Allison then dreams about Joe lying in a Mexican hospital, suffering of a possibly permanent amnesia. She sees a Mexican cop promising to help him, but then virtually selling him to Amenabar. The next morning, she calls an urgent meeting with Amenabar, pretending there's a new kidnapping charge against him, which she is willing to drop in exchange for information on Joe, whom she claims is a wanted criminal. Amenabar calls her bluff and, realizing Joe means something to her, uses it as a leverage to ask for his extradition.
Devalos is shocked to learn that Allison actually considers giving in to the extradition request. Convinced that Amenabar is playing her, he urges Allison to refuse the deal. Later, in court, Allison's case seems to be getting stronger as she interrogates the cartel's accountant. But then Amenabar furtively shows her a picture of himself with Joe, which makes Allison lose her mind and start screaming at him. The judge calls a recess and, by the end of the day, Devalos decides to replace Allison as lead counsel, since her personal issues endanger the case.
That night, Allison dreams about Joe again. Apparently, still oblivious of his past, he now lives in Mexico and works for Amenabar. He often dreams that he used to be married to a blonde woman and that they had three daughters, but the crooked cop that sold him to Amenabar assures him that is not true.
In the morning, when Devalos comes to the City Hall, Allison is waiting for him in the parking lot. She says Amenabar finally confirmed to her that Joe is still alive, lives in Mexico and unknowingly works as a drug mule for the cartel. She thanks Devalos for everything and drives off, leaving him very puzzled as to how she got that information from Amenabar. He then answers a call from Lynn DiNovi, who clears the mystery: it turns out that Allison torpedoed the case by accepting the extradition.
Later that day, Allison and Marie are heading to Mexico. Marie is very upset that her mother threw away her career and their lives, but Allison is persuaded she did the right thing for their family.
The night is young when Allison gets to the village where Joe supposedly lives. She parks in front of his house, leaves Marie sleeping in the car, then she sees him: it's actually Joe! He doesn't recognize her at first, but when she tells him about their family, he seems to believe her. Allison euphorically hugs him and kisses him, until she hears an unexpected voice behind her: it's Joe's voice, telling her to wake up.
Allison wakes up in her bed. Joe is standing by the door, saying he's sorry for the confusion. Allison is relieved to see him back home, thinking everything was just an awful dream. But Joe reveals that the plane crash was not a dream. He actually didn't make it. He sent a dream to Allison, to show her that she and the girls could go on with their lives and find happiness even after his death; but Allison took over the dream and imagined Joe was still alive in Mexico. She now has to accept the fact that that only occurs in dreams. Allison is devastated, she cannot believe she can exist without him. But Joe says he knows she can.
Forty-one years later, Allison now lives in a nursing home. She is surrounded by photos of Joe and the girls, Ariel, her husband and their baby, Marie, her husband and their three daughters. On a shelf we can see several science-fiction books signed Bridgette Dubois. Allison is listening to a recording of a great-granddaughter inviting her to her birthday party, when she suddenly loses consciousness. A nurse checks her pulse: she is gone.
Allison's spirit leaves her body and looks around confusedly, when she hears a beloved voice: it's Joe, who has been waiting for her all along. They kiss. From now, they are together until the end of time.
THE END
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