| "Reflections by Jill" - A Weekly Commentary on One Life to Live | |
|
|
|
REFLECTIONS BY JILL….Romance? Romance? I am curious to know what the current definition of romance is in the soap world today. It certainly can’t be defined by anything I’ve seen lately on One Life To Live. It certainly can’t be defined by senselessly killing off half of a wonderful couple so that the other can survive…especially when the other half of that wonderful couple hasn’t had the life she’s wanted since her mate was taken from her anyway. One thing I am certain of is that in the eyes and minds of the powers that be at One Life To Live, the above is their exact description of romance. How sad.
Of course I am talking about Viki and Ben. Let me begin by saying that of course, as all readers of this column already know, you’d have to search far and wide to find a bigger fan of Viki and Ben…and although some people may believe that this colors my perception of the current heart transplant storyline (and in some ways how could it not), I believe that after analyzing this story to death (literally), I can honestly say that no matter which couple might have been involved in this mess, I would have felt the same way. The fact that it has happened to Viki and Ben, makes it all the more difficult to swallow.
For months I listened to rumors of this storyline and to be honest, most of the time I laughed. I thought the people who “invented” these wild rumors must really be pleased with themselves because they got such a rise out of the fans. I surely never believed that I would have spent the past week watching it materialize before my eyes…watching a beautifully laid out storyline that moved along so well for a few years derail and vanish into thin air. But, obviously, that’s what happened and I was witness to the worst excuse for romance I’ve ever seen or dreamed of in my entire life.
To go, in depth, into the way Ben just up and dropped dead to save Viki’s life would be a waste of time. All I will say about it is that this was the laziest and easiest way for our illustrious writers to get rid of Ben and to give Viki a storyline. The fact that Viki has to have a grave illness and be at death’s door every time they decide to write for her is beyond my comprehension. The fact that the writers don’t understand that we get enough sadness, murder and mayhem during our every day lives and don’t need to see it every day on soaps, is a fact that escapes them all the time.
I don’t think it’s a compliment to Erika’s talent that every time they feel the need to have her earn her salary they strip her down so that she looks like death warmed over and put her in a life and death crisis. What shocked me the most was watching the montage that was shown as Viki was trying to decide whether or not to accept Ben’s heart (as if she had any choice). Every single clip in that montage was a scene of Viki and Ben in love, having fun, being carefree and enjoying life…and that montage spoke louder than all the dialogue spoken all week. It should have been so obvious when they were putting it together that they were looking at pieces of wonderful soap opera history (history, sadly) that they were about to destroy. Instead, they obviously thought it would be an example of the love, romance and dedication that it would take for Ben to sacrifice his own life for Viki. It’s ABSURD!!! For anyone who is a fan of good soap opera romance (which is, after all, what soaps used to use as their claim to fame), I cannot see how this could be construed as romantic. I love watching Erika Slezak and have admired her wonderful talent as an actress more times than I can count…but I am at the point where I’ve had enough of watching her on death’s door, clinging to life…and I certainly don’t even have the patience to get into the stupidity of TPTB for their refusal to even try to recast the role of Ben. God knows I would have given a lot to have Mark Derwin back as Ben, but I’d have tolerated more than one attempt at a recast over a debacle like the one being forced on us right now.
The show never even dealt with the subject of Viki’s guilt over what happened to Ben in the first place that put him in the coma. After all, as much as I love Viki, you have to admit that this whole mess started because she kept the secret from Ben that Niki Smith had come out again. If not for her keeping that secret from him, none of the horrible events that followed would have occurred…and it’s unrealistic to think that she would not have a tough time dealing with her responsibility in what happened to him. It’s not realistic for Viki not to have dealt with that on screen…and it’s not realistic to ask her to decide whether or not to take Ben’s heart when she can’t even have the time to grieve over his death.
And why is it that for all the times we’ve seen Viki visiting Ben, he’s never spoken to her and all of a sudden she hears him loud and clear. Too silly for me.
Then we had to deal with all the side business going on around Viki…like Asa saying good-bye to Ben…calling him Ben Buchanan. Geez, I would have thought being called Ben Buchanan would be enough to bring the guy back to life and have him rising up swinging. Then we have Kelly…who always cared so much for Viki…running around like a chicken without a head trying to cover her butt from all her lies, instead of being at her husband’s side. Let’s not forget that the enjoyment of seeing Larry Wolek back in Llanview always has to be marred by the fact that he only comes back when someone is dying. And why haven’t we heard yet why he’s not Chief of Staff and creepy Dr. Long got the job? And to top it off…what about Clint? Did we really need him flying back to Llanview so we could watch him taking Asa’s flask and chugging from it in the middle of the hospital? What the heck was that all about? Was the grief too much for him that he had to have a pop to get by? Isn’t there a law against that kind of thing in public or is it okay because it’s in a fancy flask and not a brown paper bag? How ridiculous! Oh, and shame on the Surgeon General for not having a heart for Viki delivered to the hospital five minutes after Asa’s call. Pizza Hut delivers…why not the Surgeon General? Get real writers.
I have to wrap up this rant and move on…you probably agree. All I will say finally is that there was no need to carry out this storyline in this way…it was unrealistic…unromantic…disturbing…and depressing. My anger at having to actually see this happen is only exceeded by my tremendous disappointment. In the recent Soap Opera Digest interview with Erika Slezak, it didn’t sound like she thought it was such a good idea either. She had already made her opinion known that she didn’t think it was appropriate for Ben and Viki to wind up together this way. She talks about being in favor of a recast for Ben, but obviously TPTB think that the chemistry between Erika and Mark could not be duplicated. I totally disagree. I can’t remember how many times I’ve thought a role could not be recast and was proven wrong. In any case, I have to be satisfied with having said what I have to say…and that’s it. It did please me that Erika commented about being aware of all the many, many fans that wrote in and voiced their displeasure with this storyline, even if it didn’t do any good.
Moving on….
Thank goodness for a little bit of levity last week. Roxy and Nigel are still good for a chuckle and that big hulk with the twitch that was chasing after Roxy for the $18,000 was pretty funny. Sweet Nigel, making a deal with Asa, the devil, to get the money Roxy needed so she didn’t have her kneecaps smashed. Can you see Roxy and Nigel in love?
Then, of course, we had the Bo/Nora/Matthew camping trip, which was much too short since I needed much more of a laugh on that day. Many comments that I’ve read are from people who think Nora is “over” and that she has lost her appeal. I think the opposite. I think she’s a riot and I love her sense of humor. I think she and Bo are great together. Better beware…if it looks like something wonderful is going to happen between them, I shudder to think what tragedy will befall them. I laughed at Nora trying to pitch her tent…at the extensive array of camping supplies she bought…and especially at her unfortunate coupling with the hill of fire ants. OUCH! I know from personal experience what those nasty little monsters can do to you. I’ve still got the scars from a run-in with a mob of them in Texas many years ago. Poor Nora. And Bo…Bob Woods’ humor is very subtle, which is what makes it so funny to me. I liked how he tried to explain that he wasn’t really fishing when he got that ticket from the ranger. The best part was that Matthew loved the whole thing.
Sorry to see that Kathryn Fitzgerald is back in town and throwing around her FBI weight. Why didn’t they keep her in Atlantic City to bust some crooked casino thugs? Now she’s back and I think she enjoyed raking Natalie over the coals just a bit too much. I’m glad Natalie told her off and that she told John she knows what Kathryn is up to. I read that Kathryn won’t be around for too long…I sure do hope that’s true. John is supposed to become suspicious of her for some reason…I hope she’s a crooked agent and Natalie figures it out first. That is, of course, if Natalie realizes she should steer clear of Paul…which, of course, she won’t. Did you catch Kathryn’s fine method of investigative protocol when they found the towel from Kelly’s hotel room at the landfill and she handled it nonchalantly without gloves? Oh yeah, she’s believable.
You do have to laugh at the latest trio of fools…Todd, Kelly and David. What a comedy of errors watching them search the landfill for Paul’s body. Did you catch Kelly’s hair? Was she searching for Paul’s body with her head? I died laughing at what she looked like and Lord knows I needed a good laugh that day, too.
And young Travis is back in Llanview. Yes, he’s cute…yes Starr is very cute. Does it strike anyone as bizarre that the biggest romance on the show is between a girl of 13 and a boy of 15? Cute is about as far as I’ll go with these two kids. Kristin is growing into a lovely young lady, but I still have trouble seeing Starr as any older than the day she filled Max’s bathtub with live piranhas and sent him that 20-pound bag of horse manure. I hope she’s still going to be crazy enough to rescue someone from a carnival wheel every now and then.
At least we finally got rid of Dr. Long. What will Marcie and Michael do with their time now that they don’t have to worry about freezing in locked rooms and hanging off the ledges of buildings?
So, in closing, let’s see what we have here…more evil on the way…Paul is alive…Kathryn is back in Salem…Carlotta is the sister of a major drug cartel leader…Kelly’s marriage is heading for the same landfill she just scoured for Paul’s body…and, oh yeah…Ben is dead and Viki will be able to go to bed every night knowing that Ben is right by her side. Do me a favor…remind me never to move to Llanview!
See ya next week...
Jill Berry
FAN
FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS
Cari
writes:
“Ben was great with Viki and also with Natalie! Loved when he fought
with Asa when he thought Sam was his bio-brother! I will miss Ben and Blondie
but at least Ben will live on inside Viki!”
Dear Cari: Well, we all know how I feel about Ben “living on inside Viki” so I won’t reiterate. As far as Asa goes…Asa was a disgusting beast in all his battles with Ben and Sam, but I will say that it was a great battle of good against evil and Asa did wind up having to eat every one of his nasty words and actions when he realized Ben was his son. I thoroughly enjoyed that. I loved all the interaction between Ben and Sam…Kale Brown’s Sam, that is. Nothing against Larry Lau, but he just didn’t fit into the role of Sam…and despite the biology, Sam and Ben were brothers in the most important sense of the word. It’s too bad TPTB didn’t explore the relationship between Ben and his brother Bo…but hey, that would have made sense for a good storyline…and as we all know….well, I don’t need to say it again.
CATEYE811 writes: “I don’t think that Todd and Blair have the chemistry they used to with the old Todd. Plus, I don't really see anything special with Kevin and Kelly. I would love to see Todd and Kelly develop into something special. That would be good for them both. He has been showing his good side to Kelly and it’s nice to see that chemistry between them. I still love John and Natalie. hey keep us viewers hoping and wanting them to be together.”
Dear Cateye811: I have to disagree with you about Todd and Blair and agree about Kevin and Kelly. I think that Trevor St. John has made Todd a much more believable and versatile character. I was never comfortable with Roger Howarth’s version of Todd. He was too hung up on his problems to be human most of the time, in my opinion. In the old days of Todd, he would run for the hills if someone touched him, let alone tried to kiss him…and Trevor has made Todd much more accessible in his relationships, while at the same time preserving the “disturbed” side of Todd. I think there is a lot of chemistry between Trevor and Kassie and I can definitely see them together. As far as Kevin and Kelly go…these two aren’t slated to be together for the long haul and it won’t bother me a bit. I don’t see anything between them as far as chemistry and there has been so much lying and cheating on both sides that it will be less painful all around to break them up. As for Kelly and Todd…that’s not a couple that I think I could get behind…no way.
Kimber writes: “I watch OLTL everyday and never miss an episode. The past couple of weeks, however, have made me wonder why OLTL is my favorite soap opera. Everything about the show has been absolutely ridiculous lately. Here are some of my most irritating moments: Dorian and David say they turned in early for the night. Why then does Dorian get up and go to work at the hospital in the middle of the night? Is Atlantic City a five-minute drive from Llanview? Todd was in Blair's living room welcoming her home, gets a phone call from Kelly and is seen in Atlantic City the next scene. Did Jessica say that she tried calling Natalie to tell her that Viki had another heart attack and that her cell phone was turned off? Why then did John McBain get through to her? Is a flight from London to Llanview only 1 hour? How did Clint and Joey get there so quickly? Why was Dr. Long called in for questioning at 11:20pm? Actually, the whole Dr. Long and the stolen organs storyline is a joke! These are just a few of the pitiful moments on "my favorite soap" OLTL lately. If they don't clean their act up quickly, they are going to lose another devoted viewer.”
Dear Kimber: LOL…I ask myself all the time why I still watch…and then in the midst of all the stupidity and ridiculous storylines, I find something I like…or something I figure I’ll hang out for…to see if I get the end result I’d like to see. Obviously, that doesn’t happen all that often…I agree with you. By the way, Kimber…don’t you have a map of the United States? Don’t you understand creative geography? Don’t you know that you can get from Llanview to Atlantic City in the time it takes to walk through a hospital door? If you understand that, then it just follows logically that Las Vegas is maybe another 15 minutes and crossing the ocean takes maybe a bit more than an hour. I had to learn this quickly and stop wondering why it took longer to get from my couch to the front door than it took to get from Llanview, PA to Central Park in New York. Once you learn these things you can figure it all out…LOL!!! Oh, and as for the pitiful moments, you did pick out many good ones…of course we could all add tons to your list, but then we’d be to busy to catch moments like the 5 minutes it took Blair to recover from brain surgery and grow all her hair back…or the 10 minutes it will probably take Viki to bounce back from her heart transplant.
© Copyright by Katherine Thurston, 2004
