It certainly seems strange to me that after all that John has been through with the women he’s been with, he now seems to be able to relate to Marty and her son at least as well or better than he related to the women who devoted all of themselves to him. Even though I’m not her biggest fan, Evangeline sure gave John every chance to be the man she wanted and needed and as far as Natalie goes, there was nothing she wouldn’t give him or do for him. And it was so much worse for Natalie because John admitted he loved her and had planned to have a life with her and then waffled on the whole promise. All of a sudden John can talk to Marty about things it took him years to tell other women and he can relate to Cole almost as if he were a little brother.

I understand that John has that connection with Cole because the both lost their dads and strangely enough, the hurt seems as fresh for John as it is for Cole, even though Cole lost his dad a year ago and John has had 25 years to live with his loss. And they even have the Irish connection. Who’d have ever thought we’d hear John recite an Irish prayer? (I do love that prayer and never get tired of hearing it.) All of a sudden John has found his social skills.

Obviously, Cole sees a connection between his mother and John and even though John told Natalie that it’s way too early for him to even consider moving on in that direction, we can all see it happening. I, for one, was very touched by Natalie’s honestly when she ran into John at Rodi’s, looked him in the face and told him she was feeling jealous of the time he is spending with Marty. She wasn’t Natalie the brat, or Natalie the drama queen. I loved the way she held her head high and in spite of her disappointment and hurt, maintained her dignity. I also loved that she politely turned John down when he asked her if she wanted to shoot a game of pool. You’d think Natalie would jump at the chance to spend time with him and I applauded her for not grasping at any hint of kindness on John’s part and taking it as an opening to get back together. I’m just sad for what has happened to this couple. It seems like all that they’ve been through was a waste and now we’re left to watch John toasting Marty’s dead husband and mentoring her teenage son. There’s something wrong with this picture.

And Marty is in no shape for a relationship either. She has more than she can handle dealing with her son growing up and not needing her to coddle him any more and she is nowhere near over Patrick.

I had a good laugh when Asa ran into Lindsay and Nora at Rodi’s and of course, these two women are at their best when they are scratching each other’s eyes out. It is getting a bit old because who in their right mind would believe that Lindsay just wants to be friends with Bo? Asa put it well when he said to her, “Don’t even think about getting your hooks into Bo” and Nora said, “Oh, she’s hooking alright!” And the best was when Lindsay made a comment about Nora’s love life and Nora said, “Oh, don’t you worry your bottle blonde head about me.” I really like that Paige is in the mix here. It adds a new dimension to the old Lindsay/Nora feud and that can’t be a bad thing.

Gee, I wish I could give Todd some credit for coming up with a smart plan to get information about his son, but nope, he has to do things his own stupid way and break into the adoption agency office. And of course, his dumb cohort, Blair, is right by his side. I guess they’re not worried that they already have two kids in crisis and if they get locked up it would just about be the last straw for their family. But hey, Starr and Jack just might end up in a good home with their Aunt Viki. That would be a positive move for those kids. That cop was right on the money when he mentioned Todd and Blair’s arm-long rap sheets and called them Bonnie and Clyde. I’d say it was more like Dumb and Dumber.

So when is this whole horrible mess going to blow up in Rex’s face? It can’t be too much longer before he makes it to the top of Todd’s hit list for keeping the secret about Tommy all this time. And of course, while Rex is away trying to keep his butt out of an early grave, “The Tate” is back at home in Llanview working his way into Adriana’s life. Honestly, I understand that she’s trying to make her business work, but she’s making a mess of her personal life in the bargain and I wonder if she’s just too young and dumb to realize that Tate doesn’t consider her anything more than a notch he hasn’t been able to put on his belt yet. He sure played her like a fiddle in that limo when he told her he’d never been in love and got her to tell him how many good points he had and that he underestimated himself. ICK! Don’t you just love when the girl is too stupid to figure out what’s going on and even swears she put her cell phone in her purse when we all know she left it on the table and Tate pocketed it? If Tate listens to that message that Rex left about Todd and the adoption agency, he will have major blackmail material to hold over Rex’s head. Oh fun. Who needs to see this ridiculous storyline play out?

And now, on to the biggest mess of the week. Of course I am referring to the Jessica/Nash/Antonio disaster. I have so many mixed feelings about this mess of a triangle, but nothing was harder to watch that poor little Jamie’s face when she felt rejected by Jessica. I feel bad for all of the parties involved, but Jamie is the biggest victim because there’s no way for her to understand what’s going on. Just look at how confused and angry her father is. How is she supposed to assimilate what the grown-ups don’t even know how to handle?