Reflections by Jill - A Weekly Commentary for OLTL for May 29, 2007

So the fallout begins. The story of the week of course, was Jessica’s big reveal to Antonio that she is in love with Nash. Although I do think that Kamar’s replacement is doing a good job as Antonio, I think the timing of Kamar’s leave from the show (although it could not be helped) was really a detriment to this storyline. The replacement is doing a good job stepping into the role of Antonio, but I think it would have been more upsetting for me to have watched as Kamar’s Antonio went through the awful pain of losing Jessica and the life he thought he and Jamie would always have.

I will admit that the replacement actor does “angry Antonio” very well. There is no shortage of temper that we have come to expect from Antonio and if Antonio was ever entitled to his anger, now is the time. There was nothing Jessica could say that would make him understand and at first he didn’t even want to believe her and tried to blame her behavior on anything else but the truth. He would like to believe that the fault is all Tess’s, but that’s just not the case, as Jess told him when she said she just couldn’t fight the fact that she and Nash were meant to be together. The saddest part for me in all of this is that Jamie is going to be hurt and I wonder how much of her reaction to Jessica leaving her behind we are going to see.

Since I have always wanted Nash and Jessica together I have to say that I am not sad at all that Jessica and Nash can finally be open about their relationship, but I was really disappointed that Jessica told Antonio the specifics about when she and Nash first made love. I know he pushed her into admitting that it happened, but she could have just admitted that it happened and insisted that the details about their first kiss and what happened at the quarry were not something that needed to be discussed. And Heaven forbid he should find out about what happened in Todd’s office. I don’t think full disclosure was necessary and it only made things worse because then Antonio could put the puzzle together and remember that Jamie mentioned the kissing to him. It only made him more furious that Jessica and Nash were kissing in their home and Jamie saw them. I think it made the hurt even worse for Antonio once he had the details and he had enough hurt already just imagining it.

It was also painful to watch Jessica in these scenes. I totally agreed with her assessment of the situation when she told Nash that she didn’t know how things were going to work out and that she feels so guilty for what she did to Antonio and Jamie. I know that some of Nash’s reactions made it seem like he didn’t care about Antonio being hurt, but I don’t believe he feels that way. He’s been through just as much as everyone else in this emotional upheaval and there is not a lot he can say about the current situation. There are really no winners in all of this, even though Jess and Nash get to be together.

I guess we all knew what was going to happen when Antonio and Nash came face to face, didn’t we? I was just counting the seconds until Antonio finally lost it enough to deck Nash. I’m sure Nash knew it was coming, too. I will say that it was hard to watch Antonio facing Nash when he felt so betrayed and humiliated. I’m sure that’s why Antonio told him that he could have Jessica because he didn’t want anything to do with a woman who lies and cheats. How could Nash answer him when Antonio asked him how it felt to be the one who destroyed his marriage and stole his wife? I think Nash was somewhat justified in going back at Antonio, but it was a little hard to watch him kind of gloating over his victory. In Nash’s defense, it has been a roller coaster of emotions for the past two years since he first met Tess and his journey has not been easy, especially with everyone in Llanview wanting to see him gone. I really can’t blame him too much for finally letting loose when he asked Antonio how it felt to now be on the outside looking in like he has been since he got involved with Jessica. He needed to say some things and Antonio needed to hear them, like the fact that he tried to get Jessica not to marry Antonio because when she married him she didn’t even know who she was. Antonio knows this in his heart but he is just now realizing that things were never really right with their marriage and that even before that she was hesitant to agree to marry him.

They were both right. Antonio feels that Nash destroyed his family with Jessica and Jamie and Nash was right to toss it right back and remind him that he, Jessica and Bree were a family and that he deprived of being with his family all this time. Antonio physically attacking Nash was inevitable and it was a good thing that Cristian came along when he did our Antonio could have done serious damage to Nash.

You just knew that Cristian was going to be the next in line to incur Antonio’s wrath. We’ve all known that Cristian was on borrowed time as far as Antonio finding out he knew about Jessica and Nash and keeping it to himself. It was no surprise that Antonio would use the “you’re not my brother” card and disown Cristian. Right now Antonio only feels that Cristian betrayed him and let him be humiliated while his wife carried on behind his back with another man. Cristian’s explanation didn’t carry any weight when he tried to explain that he knew Nash and Jessica had feelings for one another but that Jessica promised him that nothing would happen between them. Cristian was trying to protect the feelings of the brother he loves and I can understand how torn he was when he had the chance to tell Antonio the truth and chose not to. Antonio could only call Cristian stupid for believing Jessica.