| "Reflections by Jill" - A Weekly Commentary on One Life to Live | |
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REFLECTIONS BY JILL….By far, the biggest uproar on One Life To Live this week was centered on the death of Al Holden. Fans everywhere are furious and according to the e-mails that I received, I can’t even come up with one person who does not think it’s the worst decision the show has made in a very long time. People feel, myself included, that the story of Marcie and Al is one that had so many great possibilities…a chance after a long time for the show to do something realistic, believable, romantic, mature and loving. What a concept…after so long to finally have a couple we could cheer for. Finally, we had a couple that we haven’t seen the likes of since Ben and Viki…and this statement has nothing to do with the fact that I consider myself a relentless Ben and Viki fan. We finally had the hope of cheering for a couple who truly love each other…who had survived (almost) things in a mature way while all the while putting each other first…who cared about each other in a mature way without deception, cheating and lying…and who weren’t criminals, evil twins or closet killers. How refreshing! No wonder TPTB axed the storyline!
I have to say that there were so many rumors flying around that I foolishly held out some hope that we would be pleasantly shocked and that Al would not die. Of course, those hopes were dashed when I saw the scene where Gabrielle was walking towards the light and Al was coming from that direction. At that point I knew there was no other reason for Al to be in that position unless he was gone and was sending Gabrielle back. I will say that the scenes were done very well, especially the last scene where Marcie ran into Al’s room to tell him Gabrielle was all right and was stopped dead in her tracks at what she saw. That was a very powerful scene. Did anyone wonder why Al was flat lining when Marcie walked in and there were no nurses or doctors already there trying to bring him back? I think it’s unfair that Marcie will have to live with the fact that Al died from something he contracted from her…it’s too sad. Hasn’t she suffered enough? It took her so long to believe that someone could love her and now this. Now they’re saying that Marston may be hanging around in a “ghostly” capacity…sort of a “Heaven Can Wait” storyline. I can live without that and I will never understand the stupidity of TPTB. If in fact there was a problem with Nathaniel Marston (and we don’t know that to be true), then why not just recast the character of Al. Sure, a lot of people love Marston in the role, but it’s certainly not a role that couldn’t be recast without much trouble. They did it once when the first Al didn’t work out. Geez, we’ve had enough Kevins and Joeys to put together two baseball teams…one more little old Al wouldn’t even be noticed.
And if the network is so desperate to save money and cut costs, why not do away with some of the characters that are nothing but a nuisance…like Rex. In my opinion, this character has worn out his welcome…stayed too long at the fair…whatever you want to call it. To me, he’s useless and should have been disposed of when it was first exposed that he knew he wasn’t related to Jessica and was only after her money. And I’m sorry if there are any Jen fans out there…Rex can leave and take her along. She’s going to wind up ruining her life as well as Joey’s with Rex or some other partying idiot soon anyway. Rex is annoying, like a mosquito you can’t catch and swat. It’s ridiculous to me that Asa would actually succumb to his blackmail and give the kid cash. I guess it was ok for Asa to hire someone to kill Ben at his own wedding, but he’s willing to pay off a punk kid to save his hide…give me a break!
I guess I’ve said enough about Al’s demise…it’s like beating a dead horse when ABC doesn’t appear to be interested in what their fans want and what will save their show.
OK…on to the other big story of the week…Keri’s death. How predictable was it that the deck was being stacked against Antonio with all those people witnessing him fighting with Keri. Very original…NOT! Prior to Antonio being arrested at the end of the show…am I crazy or was it ridiculous that Evangeline told RJ that the letter from Keri wanting him to have custody of Jamie would be as good as gold in court? The last time I looked, no judge in his right mind would give a grandparent custody over a willing, able and loving parent. Actually, I wouldn’t want to be the judge to decide who should have custody of Jamie…a father with anger issues who was a former gang leader…or a grandfather who is Llanview’s Most Wanted…LOL! Of course now that Antonio has been arrested, I guess we could have a fight between RJ and Carlotta for Jamie…now that would be interesting.
Also, did anyone also think it was weird that after seeing her dear friend Al, Jessica just walked by the waiting room where Bo and Max were waiting frantically for word about Gabrielle and didn’t even stop in to see how her Uncle Bo was doing. That was totally out of character for Jessica, even if she was anxious to get back to Antonio.
I read that Evangeline is going to handle Antonio’s defense. I love that. RJ will probably have a fit and pull out his braids one by one…either that or cut the brakes on Evangeline’s car, too.
Kevin…what can I say? I saw a glimmer of decency in him when he destroyed the video of Dawes and the hooker and refused to politically fight dirty…but now on this trip to Harrisburg where he ran into Blair…his brain has once again shut off and another body part has taken over. His fascination with Blair, especially since she’s his wife’s cousin, is creepy. Even just the flirting is creepy. What’s wrong with him? And Blair…I really like the character of Blair but there’s one thing about her…no matter how happy in love she may be, she’s never too content to flirt with any man who will give her a second look. She can’t survive without the attention.
On to Natalie. So far, Melissa Archer, who started off with a major bang on the show, has been wasted. I hope her upcoming storyline gives her something worthwhile to sink her teeth into. Her upcoming wedding (or non-wedding) is just not something exciting to look forward to…and since David Fumero is leaving the show, we don’t even know how they will handle the character of Cristian. I’ll bet David is glad he’s leaving…they have ruined his character as well.
Finally, I can’t wait to see Viki back on my screen. She has sorely been missed. Not that I’m looking forward to her upcoming storyline, but I can’t wait for her to deal with what’s going on in Llanview. Of course, she’ll be dealing with Jessica and her angst over Antonio’s situation. Hopefully she’ll get involved with Natalie a bit and make that storyline worth watching. Did you see Erika Slezak last week on “Living It Up With Ali and Jack?” She did tell us that in Viki’s upcoming scenes with Ben, they hired a body double to play Ben and the actor is a huge guy of 6’8” who is about 60 pounds heavier than Mark Derwin. She said we would only see his hand and the machines beeping, but at least she told us something. I’m hoping that having a visual image in my head of who is really playing Ben in that bed will help me not feel too bad when Viki says “goodbye” to Ben. I doubt it will make a difference. Knowing what kind of performances Erika turns in, I’m sure that if I knew Bubbles the Chimp was in that hospital bed I’d be crying a river.
See ya next week...
Jill Berry
FAN FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS
Charlotte writes: “Why in the world are Natalie and Christian scraping for money????? Isn't she a Buchanan and don't they sort of have more money than God?”
Dear Charlotte: I was just having this very conversation with some friends on line the other night. My opinion of Natalie’s financial situation is that she doesn’t want to be dependent on her family to support her. She did have a big chunk of the family’s money when she first wormed her way into the family, but Mitch got everything when he married her. Of course we would assume that when Viki got everything back Natalie would have gotten her share, especially since she spent her last dime renting that house for Viki and Jessica when they were tossed out of Llanfair, but I guess we can only assume that Natalie wants to make it on her own and not live off of Viki. Remember, Natalie was not raised with money and maybe she has decided not to take advantage of her family’s wealth now because she so greedily went after the money when she first arrived in Llanview. Maybe when Viki comes back and they discuss the wedding the subject will come up but that would be realistic so we probably won’t see it…lol.
Helen writes: “I can not believe what has been happening to my once favorite soap. They are now pandering to 16-year old boys as an audience. I thought that the influx of so-called teenagers was a summer thing, but it has lasted over a year. Killing off Al and Max when Jen has been around for two or so years is a crime against viewers. I am switching to All My Children where they have a great group of thirty/forty-somethings and a few senior citizens like Erica, Opal, Brooke, and Myrtle.”
Dear Helen: Like tons of others, your opinion…and mine…seem to be ignored. You’re right about killing off characters who have great possibilities for storylines while they keep others who seem destined for the same old boring dilemmas forever. Helen, I am hysterical laughing wondering what Susan Lucci would think about you categorizing her as a senior citizen…you are too much.
Lelando519 writes: “I have a question for TPTB: Why do all the young attractive male stars get involved with older women? Troy and Nora, Troy and Lindsay, Troy and Blair, Ben and Viki, Todd and Blair. And what happened to Hank? He and Evangeline would make a great pair. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.”
Dear Lelando519: From the list of people you mentioned, I really believe that only Ben and Viki were meant to portray the older woman/younger man storyline. I don’t think that the other couples you mentioned were meant to give the impression that there were major age differences. Of course we know that Nora and Lindsay have grown children, but I don’t think Troy was playing a younger man to their characters. Troy was an accomplished doctor who had been married for years. He and Lindsay even had an affair years ago when he was married to her sister, Melanie. I don’t really see an age gap between Blair and Todd either. I agree that Hank and Evangeline would have made a great pair…I was in favor of a Hank/Rae pairing before she took a detour, but TPTB didn’t give Hank a chance to get involved with anyone…that was their huge mistake.
Martin writes: “Hey, what song was it that was playing on the September 9th episode when Blair was talking about how she had to let Todd go and when Todd was looking at himself wondering how he could pull this off? The lyrics went something like "Don’t take me to the towers and take my child away..."
Dear Martin: Sorry, I have no idea what the name of that song was, so I’m printing your email so that if anyone knows what it was, they can write me and I’ll post it for you in a future column. Anybody know the song?
© Copyright by Katherine Thurston, 2003
