There are signs that the soap opera starring Jeffrey Donaldson and the Ulster Unionist Party is nearing its last scene.
The last meeting of the party's executive called on Mr Donaldson to accept party policies and resume the parliamentary whip before the body sits again on January 9.
It is not unreasonable to expect an early definitive response from the Lagan Valley MP, who has been publicly agonising over his position within the party for almost six years.
Mr Donaldson famously walked out of the negotiations over the Good Friday Agreement at the 11th hour and has since regularly given the impression that he is on the brink of quitting his party as well.
He has never managed to take the final step, although matters reached a farcical stage during last month's election campaign.
Mr Donaldson harassed and contradicted David Trimble on every possible occasion, even contacting radio phone-ins to express his displeasure with his leader's performance.
When a bruised and divided Ulster Unionist Party was overtaken at the polls by the DUP, Mr Donaldson declined to accept any personal responsibility for the outcome.
As it happened, the UUP share of the vote increased and the party acquired one MLA more than it had in the outgoing assembly.
However, the DUP, as had been expected, became the largest grouping at Stormont by capturing almost all the seats previously held by the smaller anti-agreement parties.
While there is no doubt that Mr Donaldson is an able politician who gained a resounding endorsement from his own constituency, he must be aware that, on the wider stage, the stance he has taken is not sustainable.
He was involved in a series of challenges to the Trimble leadership and has always finished on the losing side among unionist activists.
The motion demanding that he should finally display his loyalty to his party was passed by 55 votes to 33, which, in Ulster Unionist terms, was something of a landslide.
Mr Donaldson's announcement last week that he intended to work closely with the DUP, a party dedicated to the destruction of Ulster Unionism, was probably the last straw for most of his colleagues.
His political mentor, James Molyneaux, also made the fatal mistake of cooperating with Ian Paisley in the past, only to eventually find himself condemned as a traitor by the latter. A similar fate probably awaits Mr Donaldson if he continues on his present course.
His most honourable option would be to resign from the Ulster Unionist Party.
The wider priority must now be for unionists and nationalists to reach a consensus swiftly on the basis for political progress.
It is hard to believe that any individual elected representative, regardless of his or her ability, would complicate this process by wavering between Sinn Féin and the SDLP.
Mr Donaldson, assuming that he does not intend to launch his own party, has had more than enough time to decide between the rival philosophies of Ulster Unionists and the DUP.
He must make up his mind once and for all.
