| "Reflections by Jill" - A Weekly Commentary on One Life to Live | |
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REFLECTIONS BY JILL….I am going to go out on a limb here and say that so far I am happy with the new writing we’re getting from our new Head Writer, Dena Higley. It’s interesting and it appears that we’re starting to get more focus on relationships and less on the murderous plots we’ve had to endure for so long. Of course, nothing is ever exactly the way I’d like it to be, but it wouldn’t be any fun if I never had anything to complain about, would it?
So, although I don’t have many, I will start with my main complaint. I am very unhappy about the direction in which Jessica is going. After last Friday’s show I was sorry to see that Jessica seems to indeed be following in her mother’s former footsteps as far as her mental health goes. I was hoping that Jessica could get some therapy and be on her own for a while before she got herself back together and took Antonio back…but it seems like she’s going in a direction I’m not going to like. She seemed like a classier version of Nikki Smith the other day. I hope I’m wrong. It probably really was Jessica who left the cigarette butt in the library and drank that entire bottle of liquor that Viki found empty. And could we be far from figuring out that she was the one who pulled the plug on dear Tico’s life? I hated when Viki’s alters resurfaced and I don’t want Jessica in any way following in that direction.
I was very sad to see the state of Jessica and Antonio’s relationship last week. I didn’t expect them to fall back into each other’s arms, but I did at least expect her to tell him she needed some time and give the guy a little bit of hope. They did say some harsh things to each other and neither one was off the mark at all. Like she said…she’s got a wall up and he put it there. At first I was on Jessica’s side when Antonio blamed her for marrying Tico without a second thought just to spite him. I thought he had a lot of nerve criticizing her actions when he was the one who abandoned her as well as his whole family…but I quickly started seeing both sides when Jessica slapped him with the reality that she may have married Tico but didn’t sleep with him whereas Antonio mindlessly slept with Sonia. Jessica scored some points there for sure. In the end, I had to give more points to Antonio because no matter what he did, I could never accept any explanation for Jessica marrying Tico the way she did…and Antonio really hit a home run when he told her how much it hurt him that she refused to set a date to marry him for so long and then just turned around and took vows with Tico. Of course, this is not a game with a scoreboard, but both sides made great arguments and I felt nothing but sadness when Antonio just asked for another chance and Jessica couldn’t even give him an ounce of encouragement. My fingers remain crossed for this couple and I hope that if Antonio has to battle with RJ for Jamie, that he has Jessica standing behind him.
That was not a nice tease when the police found a suspect in Paul’s murder on the videotape of Dorian’s office. They left us hanging thinking we’d finally know who killed that worthless creep and first the tape is too dark and then it mysteriously gets erased. Give me a break. Then Bo miraculously has a copy….so????? Tell us already so we can move on!
It sure doesn’t look like Bo and Nora are moving any closer to a reunion, does it? I was shocked to hear the other day that after some prodding from Bo, Nora will accept Daniel’s marriage proposal and they will indeed get married. Hmmm…not too smart on Nora’s part to marry someone she doesn’t really love when she has such an impressionable and sensitive little boy like Matthew to consider.
I enjoyed the scene where Bo was gazing at Gabrielle’s picture and remembering what she meant to him. With all the junk that’s been going on between Bo, Nora, Daniel and Paige, it was nice to see Bo really look inside himself and realize that he has closed off his heart for a long time and it just might be time to open it up again. My only problem with this is that he’s moving on with Paige and she still doesn’t quite cut it for me as a love interest for Bo. Maybe it won’t be Nora for Bo, but I’m not too keen on it being Paige at this point.
And what about Marcie and Michael? This is what I mean about the writing getting better. I was at a point where I didn’t give a darn what happened to this couple and the other day they wrenched some tears out of me. I felt so bad for Marcie when Bo fired her one minute and Michael broke up with her the next. No one deserves a day like that except Tico or Paul, right? But later on I really felt sad when Michael tried to make up with Marcie and she realized that he was right about their relationship. I was quite surprised to hear that from her. I was surprised at this point that she is coming to the realization that she never quite got over Al. They sure are making mention of Al a lot these days. Maybe he’ll be zapped back out of Michael’s body and resurface. LOL…just kidding! I think.
We had some powerful scenes between Kevin and Duke last week. I love the way Duke has his father pegged for exactly what he is…a selfish person. Kevin couldn’t have gotten a bigger smack in the face than when Duke told him that he hoped he didn’t find Ace because Ace deserves a better father than Kevin. And Kelly is sure laying her heart on the line letting Kevin know that she’d like to have back what they used to have. Of course he can’t even admit that he would consider such a thing, even though Jessica nearly had him admitting it. At least he finally admitted that everything started when he slept with Blair. No Kevin, everything started when you start relentlessly chasing Blair.
I loved the way Kelly faked that sprained ankle to delay Kevin from making his speech, giving Blair time to get on the air to try and reach Todd. Nice move Kelly…too bad Kevin figured it out…but ha, ha…too late.
Well, at least Todd got to a hospital. And is Margaret ever in a scene that doesn’t crack me up laughing? What a great line she had when she finally agreed to take him to the hospital and prepared her gun saying, “Never go to the hospital without insurance. They treat you so much better.” I’ll say they treat you better. That doctor was more than happy to take Margaret’s cash to keep quiet. How much of that money do you think will go to the clinic?
And I have to give huge credit to Starr. That girl is more devoted and loyal to her father than he deserves, but her loyalty is nevertheless unwavering. She made a great point to Blair when Blair tried to convince her that Todd was really gone and Starr kept telling her that Todd had not abandoned them. Blair really couldn’t say very much when Starr reminded her that nobody believed her about Dr. Troy being chained to that wheel…and who could argue with a 13-year old who asks, “What if Dad is chained to a wheel?” I love that kid.
OK…for all the John/Evangeline fans that think that the whole John/Natalie thing is one-sided and Natalie is the only one who can’t seem to let go…I don’t understand. Their attention to each other is so evenly divided that it’s ridiculously obvious. Natalie went to the police station and said she was there to see Bo. OK, maybe she did figure she’s run into John, but he was right there in her face with his arms around her to console her. And on New Year’s Eve, at the stroke of midnight, after each passionately kissed their respective mates, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that John glancing over at Natalie at the same time she was glancing over at him? Hmmm….one sided? I think not! I don’t need any more proof than to see how insecure and hostile Evangeline got towards Natalie at Roxy’s. Of course, Natalie was ready for a go with Evangeline as well, but if John didn’t give Evangeline good reason to feel insecure, she wouldn’t have bothered confronting Natalie. She is telling herself that Natalie won’t leave John alone, but she knows John is not innocent where Natalie is concerned.
And the most hysterical storyline of the week, of course, has to do with Dorian and David. As if it weren’t funny enough that Dorian thought she could make anyone believe that Viki would be indiscreet with a student…but when David took pictures of Mark instead of Riley with Viki and Dorian thought Mark would be just as good a boy toy as Riley…well, I just about choked on my laughter. I’m going to make sure to tape the episode when Dorian finds out that Mark is gay, because I’m going to enjoy watching her expression a whole lot.
And I love Dorian’s recollection of events, don’t you? How funny is it that she remembers saving Viki’s life last year in that plane crash when it was Viki who pulled her sorry stow-away butt out of that plane wreck and hauled her to shelter in the cave? And of course Dorian takes full credit for Viki getting a heart transplant and surviving her health problems. Yes, she can take credit for having that little chat with a comatose Ben, who proceeded to drop dead so Viki could have his heart. Thanks Dorian!!!! Don’t get me started on that fiasco again! And Blair really put Dorian in her place when Dorian criticized Starr’s behavior and bragged about how wonderful Adriana is…and Blair said that’s because someone else raise her. Go Blair!
And yes, the laugh of the week…or should I say the howl of the week…goes to none other than Margaret. Was anyone able to keep from doubling over with laughter when the doctor told her that Todd kept asking for Blair and she told him that Blair was Todd’s dog? When have we heard a better line that Margaret saying, “Oh yes, she’s his dog…he’s very devoted to the bitch.” Margaret, you are priceless. Don’t ever stop making me laugh!!!
See ya next week...
Jill Berry
FAN
FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS
Keith
writes:
“Ever
since Matt Cavanaugh showed up on One Life To Live this past
summer, I've been Tivo'ing the show. I had never watched the show before and he
was the only reason why I ever started to watch it. After the Love Center kids
all vanished, I assumed Cavanaugh's Mark Solomon character had gone with them.
But surprise, he showed up this past week! Do you know if the new writers are
aiming to keep him around?”
Dear Keith: I, too, was very glad to see Matt back on the show last week. I’ve always liked the character of Mark and would have liked to see his storyline really go somewhere. I don’t know if he’s going to be around on any kind of regular basis. I thought he played a great part in teaching a little tolerance for gay people during the Love Center storyline and his friendship with Marcie was wonderful. And now we get to have a little fun with Dorian thinking he’d be a good candidate to tie to Viki.
Thomas writes: “I'm a huge fan of Mark Derwin. Do you know what he has been up to? I can't seem to find any info. Thanks.”
Dear Thomas: A huge Mark Derwin fan??? Join the club!!! A good friend of mine and another Derwin fan just had a chat and agreed that if Victor Lord can come back from the dead and Jessica can appear to be following in her mother’s footsteps in the mental health department, then there is not one good reason on this earth that Ben can’t find his heart and come back. Don’t you agree? After Life With Bonnie bit the dust we didn’t see Mark for a while and he still hasn’t settled into another permanent gig, but he has had some appearances on prime time shows. He did an episode of CSI this season, an episode of Medical Investigation and a good job as a way too funny gay fashion designer on an episode of Wild Card on Lifetime. The problem is that I never find out about these things until after they air and someone who regularly watches those shows tells me. Then I catch the reruns. Of course, I’d love to see him land somewhere so that I can watch him all the time again (like OLTL…lol), but so far, to my dismay, it hasn’t happened.
Sara writes: “I missed a lot of episodes while I was moving to a new town. Can you give me a short summary of what happen with Adriana and River and with her being pregnant? I was very intrigued and then missed the rest. On another note, I heard a rumor that perhaps Evangeline killed Paul because she has a seedy past and Paul found out. Have you heard anything along that line?”
Dear Sara: As it turned out, Adriana was never pregnant. She took a home pregnancy test that turned out negative…so all she had was a big scare. She and River could never get back on track after she found him at the quarry with Shannon. River tried very hard to get back together with her, but she was heartbroken and her family wouldn’t let him near her. To make matters worse, her dear, sweet, brother Tico got wind of the fact that she had a pregnancy scare and when he found out that River had an interest in studying music at Julliard in New York, he used some connections and assured River’s acceptance, thereby getting him out of Llanview and out of Adriana’s life. So River is in New York at school and we don’t know about his future in Llanview. As far as Evangeline goes, there are rumors that she had something unsavory to do with Paul, but these are JUST RUMORS and nothing more. I think the rumor came out of the war between the John/Natalie fans and the John/Evangeline fans…and silly as it is…I do mean WAR!
Lin writes: “Despite the busy holiday season, I just had to give a huge nod to Miss Margaret. Man, it has been a long time since anybody sucked me into their insanity the way she has. I have to say if I met this actress on the street, I'd have to fight the urge to run the other way. You've got to hand it to whoever recognized her talent and let her take this character to a very creepy new level. Despite the fairly worn story line of obsession-driven kidnapping, the scenes between Todd and Margaret have held my attention like nothing has lately. If there was an Emmy for best insane daytime villain, she'd get my vote.”
Dear Lin: Oh, I couldn’t agree more. Normally, the really mean character just creep me out and make my skin crawl, but the writers have done such a wonderful job of writing her as treacherous, yet insanely comical, that I can’t resist her. I also think the character works so well because so many fans, even those who adore Todd, can’t feel too sorry for him because in a way, he’s getting his due for all the horrible things he’s done to people over the years. And of course, we all know that he will be coming back, so nobody is too worried that he’ll meet his end in the hands of dear, sweet, insane Peggy. He’ll probably live to marry Blair at least as many times as Asa has been married.
© Copyright by Katherine Thurston, 2005
