Reflections by Jill - A Weekly Commentary for OLTL for January 7, 2008

So, Ms. Viki and Charlie have done the deed. Honestly, I say, “good for her”. It’s nice to see that she’s still got a lot of spunk left in her after all she’s been through in the last several years. Actually, she’s lived about ten lifetimes at this point but it’s nice to see her living for herself and having the fulfillment she needs to make her happy even if it does involve a polyester uniform. I was sorry to see Viki and Charlie go their separate ways for a while with her staying in Texas and him heading back to Llanview. I can’t wait for her to find out that his son is living at Asa’s house and for him to find out that she is the matriarch of Llanview. I do sincerely hope that dealing with Charlie and his problems is not going to be a constant source of trouble and conflict in Viki’s life. I’m sure when they are all back in Llanview there will be enough to deal with from Jared, Dorian and Viki’s kids. I’d like Charlie to be a safe haven for her. I know; fat chance that she’ll have some peace.

And speaking of Dorian, wouldn’t you just love to shout at Charlie and say, “Charlie, save yourself. Back right out of Dorian’s lair while you still have life left in you.” Too late. Dorian has already snooped in Charlie’s belongings (big surprise) and has found the picture of him with Viki at the diner. Dorian already knew too much about Charlie’s personal life and now she knows even more and can use it to do her favorite thing in life (torment Viki).

Now Viki is back working at the diner. I do enjoy her interaction with Moe and the other ladies who work there and I loved the scene where Noelle came in after she had been to the pie-baking contest. She is really so cute and the way she interacts with Moe is a total riot. How cute was she when she took off her coat, turned around and showed them the blue ribbon after finally winning first prize? I think it’s so adorable how Moe and Noelle have a thing for each other and possibly they’re just starting to realize it. I thought Big Moe was going to keel over and faint when Noelle gave him that big kiss on the mouth and then to top it off, Viki gave him a big one on the cheek for being such a good guy. This guy is too good a character to lose and I hope they find a way to bring him back to Llanview.

Obviously, Jared wasn’t too pleased to see his dear old dad show up on Asa’s doorstep again. As much as Jared annoys me, I don’t really blame him for the feelings he has towards Charlie. He spent his entire childhood being unimportant to his father and being ignored for a bottle of booze and he has no reason to trust that anything will be different now. And now he feels like the time has passed when he needs what Charlie can give him as a father. It only made matters worse when Charlie had to admit that this time around he’s only been sober for five days. The last time they saw each other he had been sober for ten months. That gave Jared more reason not to trust that he had changed. So now Charlie is determined to have a relationship with Jared at any cost and he’s willing to blackmail him, which might not be the best way to make friends and influence people, but it’s the only way he can get Jared to give him a chance. Knowing what’s at stake, Jared has no choice but to spend time with Charlie so he will keep his secret.

Jared is not stranger to schemes and blackmail himself. He did a good job of blackmailing his way into Buchanan Enterprises. Now he wants Nash to agree to sell the vineyard to B.E. I sure can’t blame Nash for wanting nothing to do with him or his business proposition. And Jessica is only going to make matters worse by trying to tempt Jared with her Tess act. She’s being just plain stupid, she’ is disrespecting Nash and she’s going to regret it when Jared tricks he into signing papers that commit her to St. Ann’s. Good move Jessica!

How embarrassing was it for Talia and Sarah when they were sitting in the diner openly talking about how hot the Vega brothers are and Carlotta came by and offered them a pitcher of ice water to cool them off? That was pretty funny. Obviously it’s no secret to Carlotta that her boys are very attractive to the opposite sex, but she’s just a mom who is worried about her boys’ happiness. She should have also admitted to Talia and Sarah that she knows sometimes her boys can be jerks like everyone else. I did think it was a bit nervy of Carlotta when she was curious about whether Sarah was serious about Cristian or just wanted him for his looks and asked her if she had slept with him the night before. Give me a break Carlotta. Cristian would have a canary if he knew she had asked that. Does a mom need to know these things?

I guess from some of the mail I get that a lot of Todd fans are having fun flaming me for my opinion of him. Well, just as many people think he’s as awful as I do but I like to give everyone a voice. What I don’t understand is why people are willing to accept his tiny bits of humanity when they are so overshadowed by his cruelty. Todd and Ramsey together made a very threatening and terrifying team when they got a hold of Gigi and held her son hostage until she could get Marcie to walk into their trap. I know people are going to try to tell me that Ramsey was the instigator and was much more heartless than Todd in this caper because Todd took care of the kid with video games and food. Don’t even try to tell me that, okay? I’ll even give you the fact that Ramsey probably came up with that whole hostage plot, but Todd went along with it and an innocent kid’s health could have been in danger.