| "Reflections by Jill" - A Weekly Commentary on One Life to Live | |
|
REFLECTIONS BY JILL….Wow….where to begin! John McBain…boy, this guy is in a world of hurt. I thought it was amazing watching him totally melt down last week. He went from beginning the week quietly supporting Evangeline and trying to get by, to totally losing his mind. I may be biased because I am a big fan of Michael Easton’s John McBain, but I don’t think anyone can say that Michael’s performance wasn’t great as the emotionally tortured John.
For John, of course several things led up to his meltdown that day. First there was his talk with Bo where Bo told him that he was not the same and was not doing well since he lost Natalie…then he had a conversation with Evangeline where they discuss why they break up and she reminds him that they broke up because he couldn’t tell her he loves her…and then she told him that now that she’s seen him with Natalie, she wonders if he’s capable of loving anyone. What kind of thing was that to say? Then, although she wants to lean on him so badly, she tells him that friendship is not working for her any more where he is concerned. I don’t blame her a bit for saying that, but I think everything combined made John feel totally lost and alone. Those things combined with John’s inability to think about his father and reconcile the past have all come to a head and when he saw that junkie harassing Natalie after having gotten away with shooting another woman, he just lost his mind. The church scene was a culmination of everything for John…the things he can’t face and the things he doesn’t want to face.
It was just a matter of time before the powder keg that is John McBain finally exploded and boy, did it ever? I couldn’t believe that scene where John just marched into the church and without flinching once just advanced on a crazed junkie who could have very easily killed both he and his brother. Michael was right about one thing…it seemed like John had a death wish and nothing was going to get in his way. I thought he was going to explode when Bo took away his gun, but that was nothing compared to what I thought he’d do at the police station when he got back from the shooting and the guys from Internal Affairs took his badge away. It was painful to watch how hard he fought it keep it and to see how important it was to him.
I didn’t really like the fact that Evangeline had to be witness to John’s confrontation with the I.A. guys. And then I thought it was totally inappropriate when John finally relinquished his badge and the psychiatrist asked Evangeline why she wasn’t going after him. John may need a lot of help, but that shrink doesn’t seem to be the one to help him.
And Michael…poor Michael…I felt so sorry for him. There he was wondering if he was going to be killed in a shootout between a crazed junkie and his equally crazed brother and wondering if his brother would be killed, too. I was glad he totally came clean with Bo about how worried he is about John, even though he thinks he might be betraying his brother.
I wonder how long it is going to take John to give up his impenetrable façade and admit that he needs help and can’t keep functioning the way he has been. For him to say that his therapy is getting the creeps off the street was not quite the answer he needed to give when Michael told him he needed help.
Ok…I wish we could move on to more pleasant things, but we have to deal with Todd. Call me crazy…that guy is a lunatic with no sense of right and wrong 99% of the time, but I felt so bad for him after his guilty verdict came through. I mean, come one, wasn’t it bad enough that he had to be disappointed when he first thought Blair was not coming to court to hear the verdict? Did he have to see Blair walk into the courtroom on Spencer’s arm with Spencer gloating every step of the way? I wasn’t surprised at all that he lost it and threw over the defense table, then screamed for Blair as she walked out of the courtroom. Boy, I can’t wait to see what a fool she feels like when the truth comes out and she learns that Todd is innocent and Spencer has been making a horse’s ass out of her all this time.
I suppose that Blair is somewhat justified in feeling the way she does about Todd, but I think it’s pretty stupid for her to let what she overheard from that little creep, Denton, finally turn her against Todd. I can’t wait until she finds out Denton is on Spencer’s payroll.
I thought I would choke when Starr ran away and Spencer found her in church. I almost missed the dialog because I was choking on my laughter when Starr asked Spencer, “What are you doing here”…and he said, “I came to pray, just like you.” Oh my goodness, I would have liked to tell Starr to run for cover because there was a good chance that the roof of the church was going to cave in on Spencer when he made that ridiculous comment. What do you think Spencer prays for? And what about when Blair was condemning Todd to Spencer and Spencer said, “Well, sociopaths usually don’t have a concept of other people’s feelings.” Oh yeah, Spencer, you should know!
And Dorian…could she have been any happier to be in court to hear Todd get convicted? She acted like she was at a party celebrating some fun occasion. I couldn’t believe she thought Viki was openly flirting with David in the courtroom and then turned around to flirt with Hugh to try to make David jealous. That was pretty stupid, even for Dorian. And hey, was that Dorian wearing a denim jacket? Have we ever seen the fancy shmancy Dorian Lord wearing denim? I love it.
And I also love Rex….joining the Private Investigator’s Academy. Is there such a thing? Well, it’s the next best thing to being a cop and we know that Rex is probably better off as a P.I. He’d never get away with his shenanigans in the Police Academy…but I think it’s great that he’s going in this direction.
Oh my…poor Lindsay. How sad for her when she came by the hospital and overheard RJ telling Nora that he was going to propose to her. Now, who didn’t know that he was doing that just to get Nora to start choking on that tube and wake up screaming at him? I guess Lindsay didn’t figure it out and boy, did she run with her misunderstanding?
I have to say that although I was never a fan of Cristian and Natalie, I do see more chemistry this time around between them than I ever saw before. That is not to say that I want them together…it just makes it all the more interesting for me to watch. I can’t wait to see what happens when Natalie finds out what happened to John in the church and that he lost his gun and badge and was suspended.
OK…time for the cutest stuff of the week…and of course that was Nash in Viki’s kitchen, cooking an omelet for Jessica. Hmmm….seems to me that the last great looking, wonderful man who performed such a feat in Viki’s kitchen was Ben. And the best part of it all (here come the Antonio fans to kill me) was that it was one great scene where Antonio didn’t barge in and ruin it. I think the smartest person in the bunch is Nash because he is beginning to see Jessica and Tess as one and the same person and he can truly see himself being the one to be with Jessica when she is integrated. He knows he can’t have Tess alone and he is the one who sees that Jessica and Tess do have things in common, as well as so many differences. I loved it when Jessica got emotional and leaned on Nash. But Whoa….Viki sure didn’t like it. I thought she was going to explode. Naturally, her only concern is that she gets her Jessie back and the hardest thing for her to face is that she won’t be the same Jessie when she is finally whole again. That’s the only reason that Viki is so abrupt with Nash, because she’d never be so impolite and rude to him if she weren’t so conflicted emotionally. When she found him washing the dishes and told him to leave, I said to myself, “That is so un-Viki-like.” And when she told him that he should give up the dream of having something that will never be, I felt so bad for Nash. She’s in a lot of pain. She’s furious at Clint for putting Nash up at Asa’s mansion and she thinks that Clint taking Nash’s side will divide the family. There is way too much emotion at Llanfair these days…everyone needs to chill out a bit.
So, do we now think that Rex could be the son of Paige and the evil Dr. Spencer? Roxy sure had a volatile reaction to finding Rex with the birth records of a baby boy born 26 years ago. Interesting!
And I can never say enough about what it feels like to watch a montage of heart wrenching scenes with Kathy Brier singing in the background. Her voice is stunning, one of the purest voices I’ve ever heard and she wrenches every emotion out of you while you’re watching everyone in the scenes fall apart, like she did the other day when her voice led everyone in Llanview through a horrible day.
In closing, the laugh of the week goes to the folks who write the show who continue to make us scratch our heads and wonder about what we always thought was United States geography. I think they’ve gone just a bit over the top when they have Jessica go to Statesville, have a visit with Todd, and get back to Llanfair before Nash even has a chance to finish washing the breakfast dishes. Excuse me for a minute; I’m just going to pop down to the Bahamas for a quick tan before I write the next sentence!
See ya
next week….
Jill Berry
FAN
FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS
Debra writes: "I want Denton to stay and walk both sides of the fence. He could really stir things up everywhere. Rex used to do that only now he's behaving. Speaking of Rex, he's Paige's son, right?" When Jess and Tess integrate will she be "Mess"?
Dear Debra: Sorry, I could be very happy if we never saw Denton again. He's the most annoying little creature we've had to endure in a long time…except for Spencer, of course, who is more than an annoying BIG creature. I do hope he hangs around long enough for Todd to be released so Todd can give him what's coming to him...although that might just land Todd back in the clink, wouldn't it??? LOL! We don't know for sure who is Paige's son. We all thought it was Hugh...now we get hints that it's Rex. I guess we'll find out soon. Whoever the poor boy is who has Spencer for a daddy...I feel sorry for him. And as far as Jess and Tess becoming MESS, hmmm...isn't she a MESS already?
Kelly writes: "Marcia sang a song yesterday 01/25/06 in church. I would love to know the name of the song and the lyrics and would also love to know if it is one of her songs in real life."
Dear Kelly: That was a gorgeous song, wasn't it? Beautiful and haunting. It was called “Water’s Edge” and belongs to the one and only Cyndi Lauper.
Jill writes: "We have a lot of the same points of view...most of all about John and Natalie. I truly think these 2 are the real deal, and really have a shot at having a great love affair. If only for once in Llanview history, someone would be allowed happiness for more than 2 seconds. I don't get why we watch this show. Don't get me wrong, I love it and I never miss an episode. But really, what's with all the pain and unhappiness? No one in Llanview is happy, except for creepy, spiteful Spencer. Michael and Marcie seem to be happy for now, but they have a really dull romance - Michael was better and more interesting for Marcie as Al. But I love the dynamic between John and Michael, so I wouldn't trade him for anything. I was really hoping Hugh would turn out to be a nice guy and sweep Marcie off her feet. Someone needs to tell TPTB to get some love and happiness back on the show!"
Dear Jill: I couldn't agree with you more about the show needing some love and happiness that lasts for more than 2 seconds…and at least a bazillion other fans feel the same way. Sometimes I don't understand why we watch either, but we always do. Hey, if that's my worst addiction, I'm doing okay and so are you. Keep watching. I never used to like Michael and Marcie together. I always thought they were thrown together and just didn't fit, but after all this time and all that they've gone through, I love the fact that they are back together. Someone in Llanview has to be sane and stable, don't they? And now that we've seen a cocky side of Hugh (which I really don't care for), it's going to be interesting to see where he winds up on the canvas of the show in the future.
Judy writes: "I guess I'm the only person in the world who thinks Paige's son is Nash. That is still a possibility. And did anybody else catch the interesting chemistry between Cristian and Evangeline? I think it's time for the Vega boys to move away from the Buchanan girls. Jessica has much more chemistry with Nash than she ever had with Antonio. And that's a nice relationship Nash & Clint have. He never had that with Antonio.
Dear
Judy: No, you are not the only one who thinks Nash is Paige's son. Lots of
people think that. We're getting all kinds of red herrings thrown at us
regarding who the "lucky" boy might be and Nash is as good a possibility as
anyone. And YES, I think it was just last week that I mentioned seeing a spark
of chemistry between Cristian and Evangeline. I think that could work out and
wouldn't it be delicious to see what Natalie would do if Evangeline got together
with one of her men? LOL! Now THAT would be entertaining. I agree with you...it
wouldn't be a hardship for me if the Vega boys and the Buchanan girls parted
ways.
© Copyright by Katherine
Thurston, 2006
