1989 (#12) - The burden of responsibility and the tragic death of Phillip Jr

Despite the magnificence of the ceremony, the marriage between Nina and Phillip Jr. encounters more than one difficulty. First of all, there is the burden of responsibility of Phillip Jr who, still a boy, is called to a task of great maturity and sense of duty as that of being a parent. Then there are the constant family tensions that one breathes at home Chancellor, with Jill and Katherine arguing animatedly about what is best for Phillip Jr, about Chance's future and above all about the adequacy of Nina in her double role as Phillip Jr's wife and Chance's mother. Phillip Jr. himself also feels the lack of his carefree and blissful life with his friends, a condition that leads him into a kind of depression. The result is what Katherine had always feared, that Phillip Jr. could return to the alcohol business. The call of the bottle, in fact, seems impossible to curb for a fragile boy like Phillip Jr, who soon neglects himself and literally lets himself go despite Nina's prayers and love. When things slowly seem to settle down, with the promise of reconciliation between Nina and Jill, and between Jill and Katherine, with the commitment of all to focus on Phillip Jr. and little Chance, tragedy happens. Returning home after drinking too much at an office party, Phillip Jr. is tragically involved in a car accident. Taken to the hospital, Phillip Jr., who suffered serious injuries, remains alive long enough for Nina, Jill and Katherine to rush to the hospital to see him alive one last time. In the end, in fact, despite the efforts of doctors and in particular Dr. Wesley Larkin, Phillip Jr. dies from the desperation and dismay of all, especially Nina and two inconsolable Jill and Katherine, who do not rest for the tragic end of the boy, joined to his father Phillip, who also died in a car accident, by a mocking fate.