First, though, Mark is booking three flights. Yep. It's the traditional "trip back home episode". Only this time, Mark will make one more cut before the final two battle it out for the million. How open and honest have the players been in the house? The answer lies in the home setting with the family and friends, of course.

First trip: Boston, to visit Linda and her family. Mark recalls that Linda, one of his favorites, said that she needed the money because she comes from a poor part of Boston and a family stricken with uphill battles. Meeting Mark for the first time is Dan, Linda's fiancé. From there, they pick up the mom (Teresa), whom Mark calls a spitfire with her Velvet Elvis collection. Hmm.. Velvet Elvis... spitfire. By the way, Teresa has only one leg, and Linda is said to be playing the game for another leg.

Next stop, Linda & Dan's house, out of the city, a contradiction of sorts... and what a contradiction indeed. Instead of the gray dankness that is Boston (well, it's in a sea of Red now, baby, yeah!), we go to Portsmouth, where we find some of the nicest houses that reality-based gaming has to offer. Including Linda's. I said right. Linda's. Looking at the house and its obvious affluence, you can't help but wonder, as Mark did, did Linda KNOW about the home visits before she made up the poverty story or after?

Mark's thoughts: "Linda was playing the game. She tried to play me. She knew she'd blown it." Wall-mounted high-definition. Yep, that'll be the death knell right there. Hey, Linda, why don't you sell the TV and get your mom a leg. In fact, stay on the screen for a bit while the GSNN staffers get you my address.

That night in the van, it's "long-ass talk." One of Linda's friends just said that "Linda was an internet geek." If you remember the challenge to do something constructive with $1000, you remember that Linda professed NO tech-savvy whatsoever. Can you say "BUSTED"? Cuban life lesson #18 (or Chicoism #1): If you're going to cheat, don't get caught.

No need to go see Dominic and Femia, who are exactly what they said they were, because Mark's mind is already made up, and we have to compress three episodes worth of game into one. So we're heading back to Dallas for the next cut. No surprise, Linda's deception blows her shot at a million. But you figure she was getting exactly what she deserved. So we're now down to just two, Dominic the rock star, and Femia the designer. Luck versus thought. One final test. One last scene. And here it is: tomorrow at the AA Center, Mark will ask the $1 million question (no lifelines), "Why should I give you $1 million?" One final minute, one final answer.

Femia hopes to let it flow, and hopes Dominic doesn't win out of pity. Dominic had a dream where he opened his mouth and nothing came out.

So now comes "Why should I win the million in 60 seconds". Femia is first. After Femia said that her biggest test would come at the hands of situations that she couldn't control and adapting to a competition with not only 15 others but also herself... Mark informs her that she didn't win the money. "I gave it my best shot. Didn't work out for me."

Dominic is next. After saying that he rocked the house, rocked Mark, and just plain rocked, hoping that he and Mark can stay in touch.... Mark informs HIM that HE didn't win the money. "That's it, dude. Game over."

But the game is never over unless the Cuban decrees it so. You see, both Dominic and Femia were told that they lost. In truth, the decision will lie within two factors: a) an initial response (which, judging from the answer, looks like Femia's game to lose) and b) a mock interview with ABC News correspondent. "It's the winner's to lose, and the loser's to win."

Both are heartbroken that they didn't "win", but it looked as if Dominic was blaming it all on Femia's presence (he thinks her family already has money). The final Cuban life lesson, #19: "The most painful thing on the road to success is losing. But you have to take failure and turn it into a positive. At T-6 hours to the reveal, Both Dominic and Femia head into a studio, but for Femia, there's a slight detour to read a note that she had previously forgotten. It was a card from her boyfriend Cedric, reminding her that this is not an end.

After being called losers and being forced to take loser shots (which up until now we've never really seen on a series of this nature), we're at the interviews with T-3 to go. The final part of the test: ABC interviewer George Pennacchio. He's an expert on getting the truth out of people. Dominic tells him that the loss is hard to swallow. He says he's made a couple of lifelong friends, but Femia wasn't one of them. "She was quite overbearing, quite controlling. She's the type of person with whom if she can't speak with you, she'll speak over you." But he offers some solace in the fact that with every grey cloud there's a silver lining.

As for Femia, she thinks she lost because "there's more in store for (her)." "The winner, this was his." She thinks that Dominic, a sincere person, needed help, while she was self-serving. "I didn't win. I did everything that I knew how. It just wasn't for me. This isn't over. I'll be back."

Mark's initial decision stands. From there, both Dominic and Femia were driven back to the house for what they believed was a reunion show. There wasn't. And both may have lost, but we still need a winner. Femia and Dominic begin to congratulate each other on the win... but they're short-lived as each other begins to tell how they lost. Wonder how long it'll take for the light to come on... And there it is. Y'all just got punk'd.

Mark enters with a cheery grin... and the final decision. Dominic would pass out if he found out he won. Femia would jump in the pool. Before she gets wet, Mark lets her open the envelope. He gives it over, and Femia opens the envelope to find... HER OWN NAME. Femia just about hit the floor. But before she can go find the nearest pool to jump in, Mark stops her to inform her that she had just won $1 million. He was impressed with the way Femia answered her question, and said that the mill was Femia's to lose, that she played the game with her whole heart, always coming through in the clutch. She had every opportunity to go off on him, but she didn't, opting for the high road.

Back to Mark: "The first thing I wanted to do when I made my first million was to share it with the people who were closest to me." With that, Mark brings in Femia's family and Cedric, who in essence saved her butt. Dominic, though, believes that Femia won because she deserved it, and Mark believes that he has won in meeting a new friend like Dominic. "One thing I don't do is that I don't let my friends down. Dominic is going to college. Dominic is going to have some of those financial worries taken off his plate." That would be Mark's FINAL final life lesson, #20. Dominic to Mark: "You've opened my eyes to a lot of things. YOU'RE the rock star."

And finally, to make it official, Mark comes out with a check made to Femia in the amount of $1,000,000. Congrats, Femia. NOW you can jump in the pool.

Well, we hope that you learned a lot about the hard road of success from this series and these recaps. And more than that, we hope that you can apply them to your lives, because if you do take the high road, be proactive, and rely on ability, knowledge, planning, following through, and a little bit of luck, you'll win every time. Even when you lose. Okay, nothing left to see here. Peace and blessings to all... I'm OUTTA HERE!