| "Reflections by Jill" - A Weekly Commentary on One Life to Live | |
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REFLECTIONS BY JILL….What is wrong with Todd? I nearly choked on my Diet Coke the other day when he was in the middle of one of his “family devotion” speeches and said, “I just hate keeping secrets from the people I love.” If ever someone could be struck by a higher power for lying, Todd would have been out of everyone’s life forever that day. I am totally fed up with his act already. The lying is getting to be the biggest and most predictable bore and I hate the fact that Blair is being made a total fool of by the one person she trust most in this world. Blair is very sharp and if she would just allow herself to believe that Todd has not really changed his lying ways, she’d put two and two together and think…Margaret had sex with Todd…Blair wondered if Margaret could be pregnant….Todd now swears that Margaret is out of their lives and calls off the bodyguards…and now a pregnant woman floats up in the lake while Todd has tons of private, secretive phone calls, has no more worries about Margaret…and won’t even discuss Margaret with her. I think everyone who is thinking that Natalie will explode when she finds out about the secret John is keeping better duck because if Blair finds out about Todd’s secret first, everyone will be too busy picking up pieces of Todd around Llanview to worry about a little thing like Cris coming back from the dead…again!!! LOL! Just the fact that Todd has Starr lying to her own mother is going to be enough for Blair to throw him off the terrace of that penthouse….if there is one!
Poor Viki looked so distraught, didn’t she? It was almost like she knew that Todd was capable of killing Margaret but she had to convince herself that he would never do it with a baby involved. I found it very interesting when she got Todd alone and asked him, “Do you think the body they found is Margaret, or do you KNOW it’s Margaret? I don’t think anyone knows Todd better than Viki…not even Blair…so since we don’t even know yet that the body is Margaret’s, I have to think that there will be some ridiculous twist that will exonerate Todd.
Just a word about Todd’s super sleuth reporter…I don’t even know his name. He’s more than obnoxious, the slimy little guy. How come he’s the only reporter who is allowed to be hanging around the police station eavesdropping on everything that goes on? He reminds me of a used car salesman…slimy!
And speaking of Natalie and John…and of course Evangeline and Cristian…I understand Natalie’s annoyance at Evangeline interrupting every free minute she has alone with John, but at the same time, I have to laugh because even if she’s not trying to, Evangeline is getting back at Natalie for the zillions of times that Natalie infringed on her time with John when it was totally deliberate on Natalie’s part to try get her hands on him. I do see little signs of Natalie having shed some of the immaturity she exhibited before. Natalie has a long way to go, but I think she feels confident enough in the way John feels about her to not let herself get too crazy. Of course, she’s going to blow up sometimes…otherwise she wouldn’t be Natalie. Sometimes I think she should just walk away when she gets annoyed at Evangeline. And then there are times when the fact that she is being kept in the dark and knows it makes me feel she’s justified in being totally furious.
I think if I were Evangeline, I’d be upset because when she takes John away from Natalie for their private discussions these days, she knows that John’s feelings are totally with Natalie even though he leaves her to discuss Cris…but when he was with Evangeline and Natalie pulled him away from her with every untimely phone call, Evangeline knew that John had feelings for Natalie even though he wouldn’t admit it and that’s why he always ran to Natalie’s rescue.
You have to admit that when Natalie discovered that file in Evangeline’s possession proving that Evangeline was working on John Doe’s case, she had a right to be furious and terrified at the same time. I sure would be. And I also applauded John when he got tired of Evangeline saying that he’d risk Cristian’s safety so he could keep Natalie for himself and told her, “Don’t ever say that to me again!” Go John! I really think it’s time he told Natalie the truth…he’s had more than enough chances…and obviously, he just digging a deeper hole every day that goes by and he keeps her in the dark.
I feel lucky that last week I think we, here in the Northeast, missed a few Spencer scenes because of all the news coverage about the tons of rain we’ve had. Spencer is just one of those characters that is impossible for me to tolerate because he’s one of those villains who has no redeeming qualities at all. When that is the case, I have no patience for those characters. If he did postpone Kelly’s surgery because he was taking Dorian’s threat seriously to reveal his plotting to the Buchanans, then I am impressed where Dorian is concerned, but I think she’s definitely going to suffer for that threat. Right now she’s living under a false sense of security, but Spencer didn’t get to be the creature he is by being threatened by the likes of people like Dorian. He’s obviously got something huge on Paige and David…enough of a secret to keep them both hopping at his request. And wasn’t it interesting last week when, before Dorian threatened him with the disk, he said, “Who said Kelly would be having Kevin’s baby?
On to the Jess/Tess mess. Finally Antonio found Jessica…not that I necessarily want her with Antonio since I really like what Nash has brought to the table, but at least now we can get on with the storyline. We now know that Nash has some dirty little secrets in his past and it’s good that he now knows a lot more about Jessica Buchanan.
I didn’t think it was too nice of Nash to have Antonio arrested, but I guess he was just trying to protect what he thinks is his. I think they should have had it out with each other instead of Nash calling the cops….but I’m just a somewhat sensible fan…what do I know?
Of course I was glad Tess didn’t go through with the abortion. I had to laugh, though, at least after I got through being totally frustrated. I hate those scenes where someone is half crocked on sedatives and they’re trying to get a point across and nobody understands them. What was most frustrating was that more than once, Jessica was able to get the words out that she wanted her baby and the lame doctor and nurse kept saying they didn’t understand her. Hey, she sounded like she was speaking English to me! I was hoping to see Jessica and Antonio on the next day’s show, but we had to be satisfied with hearing from Viki that Antonio called, that he had Jess and she was ok. Now this storyline is getting good.
And what about poor little Matthew? Hasn’t this kid been through enough in his little life? It was no wonder that he lost his temper after Bo told him about Nora’s illness and started tossing things around the apartment. Who could blame him? He’s been the adult in almost every tragedy and scandal that has happened to his family. It’s time he acted like the little boy that he is. I felt so bad for the poor kid when he asked, “Is mom going to die like Sam did?” Somebody give this kid a break!
You just know that Rex is going to wind up being a cop, don’t you? He’s making a total fool out of the entire Llanview Police Department with his latest coup of finding the guy who saw Margaret and Todd at the lake. I died laughing when he wanted to get into Bo’s office to hear the guy’s story and Bo slammed the door, nearly taking poor Rexy’s nose off. And didn’t you think that Bo’s face would show some shock when he saw the sketch of the guy the witness described? I wonder if it looks like Todd the way we think it should. Too bad we didn’t get a look at it last week.
On a lighter and very delightful note, I loved the scenes where Marcie and Hugh were donating blood. How adorable is Hugh? This character is such a wonderful addition to the cast. It was so much fun to see the straight looking, buttoned up Hugh Hughes having anxiety over giving blood and Michael taking full advantage of it. Although I thought it was totally too mean of Michael to stick Hugh in the arm so many times (OUCH, WHO DOESN’T KNOW HOW THAT FEELS?) and it was totally inappropriate for a doctor to even think of doing that…the scenes were hysterical, especially when Hugh fainted and Michael leaned over him saying, “Why don’t you have some juice, or maybe a cookie sweetheart?” At the heart of it all, the jealousy between Michael and Marcie is palpable and for the life of me, I don’t know why they are apart. The longer they keep Hugh around and involved in Marcie’s life, the more I like them together, but I always like seeing how it affects Michael…and also the way Marcie reacts to every woman Michael pays attention to. This is a cute triangle.
I heard some news that is very disturbing to me…and that is that we are about to have another visit from Nikki Smith. I could hardly believe it when I heard it, but they say it’s true. I don’t see the need for it. I suppose Nikki will be used to somehow help Jessica, but I didn’t want Nikki back the last time and I surely don’t really want her back this time. I can’t think about Viki’s alters and not remember that it was their last emergence that actually took Ben away from us. I can’t ever think of Nikki or any of the others and feel anything but sadness about what their last visit did to Viki’s life. I hope Nikki won’t be used in a hurtful way. I guess now that Viki’s heart is miraculously doing so well, she can tolerate the next assault on her life.
And in closing, I am reminded of my favorite pair of chicks on the show…Viki and Dorian. They are never together in a scene where I am not shaking my head and laughing at the same time and last week was no exception. Dorian was her usual ridiculous self when they were talking about her wedding and she informed Viki that she had spoken with her doctor in London. Dorian’s response was priceless when Viki question her talking to her doctor when she said, “Well, I didn’t want you to go stumbling down the aisle blue in the face!” Dorian is funny, but Viki’s reactions to her in the faces that she makes are even funnier. I hope these two keep gracing our screens for a very long time. The show would never be the same without either of them!
See ya next week...
Jill Berry
FAN
FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS
Priscilla writes: “I am really enjoying the romance that is unfolding between John and Natalie. As in any romance there is the uncertainty of where it will lead but I hope the writers continue on with this storyline. It will be very interesting once Natalie finds out that Cristian is alive and that John has kept that information from her for whatever reason. Hmm, whom will Natalie choose? I'm hoping it’s with Mr. Tall, Dark and Serious.... he takes my breath away.”
Dear Priscilla: As on all soap operas, the uncertainty of where a storyline will lead is what drives us all to keep watching, even though most times the frustration makes us wonder why we continue to watch. Yes, it will be interesting to see what happens when Natalie finds out the truth. I wonder if she’ll react the way most people think she will and blow up at John…probably she will…but after she calms down I wonder if she will feel the same way she did when Cris came back to life the first time…when she still had feelings for John she couldn’t ignore even though her beloved Cris was back in her life. And as for Mr. Tall, Dark and Serious, no arguments here…he takes my breath away, too.
Joan writes: “Ok Jill,
just when I started to really like Nash this new thing comes up. Can’t one guy
be just nice? He seemed too good to be true! What do you think?
Dear Joan:
Well, let’s face it…there aren’t a lot of Mr. Nice Guys on One Life To Live
these days…I mean the ones who are always good and you can trust them never to
make you sorry you love them. One is Bo, of course, in my opinion….and I think
Michael and John are part of the “good guys” group also. If everyone were in
that group we’d be pretty bored I’m afraid and who knows…it might turn out that
Nash is one of those guys, even though his secrets are yet to be revealed. I
don’t mind if he’s a bad boy who is reforming…that’s my favorite kind…lol…so
we’ll see. I think it was too good to be true that Nash was just a plain old
nice guy….his association with that creep, Bruce, is enough to alert us that
he’s had some shady dealings.
Angela writes: “How can any of the actors love what's written at this time? The only people that are worth watching are Todd/Blair, Carlo, Cris, Van, Marcie and Hugh, when shown. This show is in a mess. Basically I don't see how any of the actors can be happy. Especially Easton!!!!”
Dear Angela: I could be
wrong, but I’d say from the large amount of actors who showed up at the OLTL
Fan Club Luncheon this year, it doesn’t appear that the majority of them are
disgruntled employees. I don’t agree that the show is a mess. On the contrary, I
think it has taken a turn for the better under the current head writer, Dena
Higley and aside from the fact that you can’t please all of the people all of
the time, I think the show is better than it has been in quite a while. As far
as Michael Easton goes, I was under the impression that he pretty much wrote his
own ticket to come to One Life To Live and if he’s unhappy…and I don’t
know why he would be with all his airtime…I wouldn’t spend too much time
worrying about him.
© Copyright by Katherine
Thurston, 2005
