| "Reflections by Jill" - A Weekly Commentary on One Life to Live | |
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REFLECTIONS BY JILL….Well, there certainly isn’t any question this week about what is on everyone’s mind. The only thing left to figure out is what people hate more…Jen being murdered or every single despicable thing Daniel has done to cover it up.
It’s very difficult to express how much disdain I have for the character of Daniel this week. Just when you think you’ve seen the worst in someone, he goes and tops it yet again. I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to talking about all the horrible things he did last week…so let’s see if we can list them all before he adds even more to the list. There was of course the murder, horrible as it was…there was Daniel showing up at the garage nearly gloating about his case being solved…there was his confrontation with Mark at the motel where he pulled that “If you love me you will keep our affair quiet and let me have two lives” routine…there was Daniel putting the moves on Nora hours after Jen died to take her mind of things (oh, it nauseated me!)...there was Daniel pretending he didn’t know Mark…there was his acceptance of the governor’s congratulations on a case well wrapped up…there was his phony consolation of Riley…there was his accusation to Bo that if Bo had arrested Jen when he should have she’d still be alive…and of course…there was Daniel coercing that stupid Medical Examiner to falsify the autopsy report to show Jen committee suicide. WHEW…I’m out of breath…did I miss anything?
I was thrilled when the evidence from the crime scene showed that Jen had to be murdered because there were no fingerprints on the hose used on the car. Hmmm…didn’t quite get all your ducks in a row, did you Daniel?
BUT LISTEN UP…Someone told me something last night that made me smile so wide my face almost cracked. Daniel is about to be arrested for his dirty deeds. He is going to be discovered in a gay bar…and even better than that…Bo is going to arrest him at the very moment he is sworn in as Lieutenant Governor. OH J OY! I don’t think I’ve looked forward to anything so much on One Life To Live since Ben and Viki’s wedding. I hear that Nora is going to be mad at Bo, probably because he didn’t tell her about Daniel when he found out, but who cares? I feel sorry for Nora, but she did a really stupid thing by marrying that pig when her feet were so cold her toes nearly cracked off her feet. I think I’ll even like this better than the demise of Mitch Laurance and you know how that guy gave me nightmares.
I wonder how much Marcie will play into the big reveal about Daniel now that Mark has slipped and told her who his lover is. I felt terrible for poor Marcie when she found out about Jen. I was remembering the whole evolution of the friendship of these two very different young women and how much they wound up learning from and empathizing with each other over the years. Marcie has surely lost enough, don’t you think? I’d like to see this finally bring her back to Michael for good. They really do belong together now as far as I’m concerned and they need each other.
I also want to say something about the events on the show. Did Jen really have to be murdered on Mother’s Day when Lindsay was waiting for her to have lunch? That was awful. Poor Lindsay. She has definitely had her share of heartache and most of it was of her own doing, but she’s left with next to nothing now and it was just sad to watch her lying over Jen’s body and breaking down in front of Nora. All she can think of is how she took Jen’s father away by killing Sam and further damaged her relationship with Jen by sleeping with Rex.
And speaking of Rex…my hat is off to John Paul Lavoisier for doing a great job as the grief stricken Rex. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if his working with Bo turned him into a really new young man? Maybe he has a future in law enforcement. LOL…am I pushing it a bit?
I wasn’t too happy to see Viki collapse in her kids’ arms on Mother’s Day either. I’m not happy to see Viki sick at any time, but that was just not right. Thanks goodness they added a bit of humor to the day to balance out all the sadness when Viki lied down on the couch to relax and David showed up with junk food and a Marx Brothers movie. Viki is such a good sport…calling Dorian over to Llanfair and trying to get David and Dorian back together. Of course her motives were purely selfish…good for her…she wants their headache out of her life…can you blame her? I loved seeing her finally throw in the towel and sit down to watch the movie with David. David, poor thing, doesn’t know what to do with himself and I died laughing when he walked in and said, “I heard you keeled over so I brought you some things to cheer you up.” Bless his adorable heart!
And Todd…we have to talk about Todd. I am so glad that Blair finally knows what happened to him at the cabin with Margaret. Todd really had some nerve barging into Kevin’s office and trying to beat him to a pulp when Blair found out the truth. I mean, come on Todd, you planted the bug yourself and left all the equipment on the desk for anyone to sit down and listen to. What if Starr had come by and put on those headphones and heard Kevin and Kelly’s conversation? He finally realized he only had himself to blame, but it was pretty disgusting to make it look like Kelly planted the bug to get information out of Kevin for Blair. Todd certainly had a rude awakening from his confrontation with his drunken image of Marty Saybrook. Those scenes were very powerful. It was great to see her back, even for a little while.
And what about Natalie? Did you get the feeling like I did that when she found out about Jen’s death she called John more for herself than to help her uncle Bo? It was very hard for me to buy her crying act when she was with John and was feeling bad for the way she treated Jen. I don’t buy it. And I don’t like the way she has been using Ron Walsh and then blowing him off when it’s not to her advantage to go out with him. I’m very disappointed in the way Natalie’s life is turning. What about her promising Viki in that Mother’s Day card that she was going to do everything she could to live a decent life and make Viki proud of her?
I’m glad that all of the events of last week distracted me from my annoyance over the whole Jess/Tess situation. Tess is really annoying and there’s no getting around that. Yes, Bree is doing a wonderful acting job…No, I don’t want to see this storyline go on much longer. Obviously Jessica is not going to tell Viki what’s going on now because she’s worried about her health (which I am sorry to say is supposed to get worse), but at least let Antonio figure out what’s going on so we can move ahead.
In closing, let me just say…Here’s to public humiliation and mortification! Daniel, you deserve every bit of it and I can’t wait to see it happen. Hey, if I can’t see a good romance on my soap, my second favorite thing is watching a really bad guy go down!
See ya next week...
Jill Berry
FAN
FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS
TWHEELER writes: “I am a HUGE fan of OLTL, however I didn't know that Jen Rappaport was leaving the show. Does she have other plans or did they end her contract? Please help me understand.”
Dear TWHEELER: I don’t know first hand, but am told that Jessica Morris was unhappy with only working a couple of days a week and wanted more airtime. She also decided it was time to move on and try other things in her career. She’s doing what lots of other young actors do. It’s tough to find work out there these days, so I wish her much luck and success. I was also told that she is happy with the way Jen met her end because she feels that she created the role and now feels that she won’t be replaced. Hmmm…since when was it etched in stone that any character in daytime is really ever dead and can’t return from the BEYOND?
Lorrie writes: “Even knowing what was coming this week for Jen, even looking at the pictures on this site of Rex finding her in the car and trying to revive her were very emotional. Surprisingly, I find that I feel more empathy for Rex than anyone in this situation. He has loved her, for better or worse, and stuck by her throughout all her problems, and come out on the other side of this a better person. I think his scenes lately with Bo and Viki have shown that even though this character has a "bad boy" image, there is a little boy in there that just wants to be accepted. Bravo to the actor in this role!”
Dear Lorrie: I certainly have to agree with you. I felt a tremendous amount of compassion for Rex, which is a huge tribute to the actor. I couldn’t stand the site of Rex from the beginning and for most of his time in Llanview, but he surely has grown up and found a balance between his “bad boy” ways and what’s really important. Too bad for him and for Riley that they wised up too late. John Paul Lavoisier, as Rex, has done a wonderful job of growing in this role and he deserves all the credit he is being given.
Amanda writes: “I just wondered, where was Jen's security guard when Daniel killed her? Weren't all of the Love Crew members given a bodyguard, and also if they were, where is Mark's? Just wondered!”
Dear Amanda: If you think back a couple of
weeks, you will remember that there was a discussion at the police station where
Bo unhappily said that the body guards had to be pulled because the mayor or
someone felt that it was too costly and not necessary to assign all those
officers to the case. Bad decision, wouldn’t you say?
George writes: “Hello and thank you for that
synopsis of OLTL. I’ve been watching this show for over 30years and I hate to
see when characters die off, especially when you fall in love with them. I would
have really liked to see Jen get away from Dan and go into hiding rather then
kill her off. So she had issues. Who doesn’t these days? I was quite shocked to
find out that Dan and Mark were an item, but it is the 21st century.
I would like to know if you know where I would be able to get pictures and
autographs from the stars of OLTL. Well any way keep up the good work and please
get back to me.”
Dear George: I know…it sure is hard when they kill off the characters you love. I still have the dagger sticking in my heart from the loss of my beloved Ben. What can you do? I was shocked about Daniel and Mark…not because they are gay, but because I thought Mark would hook up with someone decent, like he is. I guess love does weird things to the mind, huh? As for pictures and autographs, I don’t have any connections, but I have lots of friends who write letters to the actors at the studio and a lot of the actors or their publicists will send out photos or post cards with really nice photos to the fans that write to them. Even though the response might not come directly from the actors, who are usually too busy to answer every letter, you will often receive something nice anyway from whoever answers their mail for them. Give it a try.
© Copyright by Katherine Thurston, 2005
