Reflections by Jill - A Weekly Commentary for OLTL for June 23, 2008

Natalie definitely came up with a sure fire way to alienate her family last week, as if she hadn’t done that already. I guess in her currently twisted mind she figured what the heck, I’ll just blackmail my entire family into letting my boyfriend get out of jail free after he defrauded all of them (including me) and was (directly or indirectly) the reason my sister lost her husband and my niece lost her father. There is one thing about Natalie that never changes and that is that when she is serious about a man, she thinks with anything but her head. I think Jared is thinking a lot more rationally than Natalie these days. At least he realizes how serious his actions were and doesn’t want Natalie to abandon her family for him. But hey, Natalie has a one-track mind and she admits that she’d choose Jared over her family if it came to that. Bad move Nat! I like Natalie but sometimes she makes it very hard.

Here’s what I think about Natalie’s confrontation with her family, mostly her father. I have always said that Clint was a complete idiot for dating Dorian and staying involved with her no matter what she did just because his “nether region” told him to, but I thought Natalie was ridiculous to blame Clint’s jilting Dorian for the mess that ensued. Sure, Dorian jumps on any opportunity to mess with peoples’ lives and if their name happens to be Buchanan, all the more fun for her. But Natalie has conveniently let herself believe that Jared does not deserve everyone’s disdain. And the way Natalie made the deal with Clint was really disgusting when she refused to reveal the real Buchanan brother until Clint put it in writing that he would let Jared go with no repercussions. I have to say that I don’t think Clint was wrong when he told Natalie that she was betraying Jessica all over again. Whether or not Natalie believes that Jared is totally innocent of what happened to Nash, she need to show her family more allegiance right now. Her love life should be second to her family right now. I don’t care what anyone says; you can’t minimize the chain reaction of hurt that Jared and Charlie’s secret had on the whole Buchanan family.

So now the Bukes know that David is their beloved brother. How will they deal with David? Oh, and I don’t blame Bo for putting in his two cents where Jared was concerned by saying, “Nash is gone, the company is gone. Why shouldn’t Jared pay?” Why indeed?

Now Charlie wants forgiveness. I thought it was big of Viki to even show up to see him before he left the hospital. He wants a second chance and believes anything is possible because they love each other. He says he keeps trying to be a better man but keeps getting blindsided. Wow, that was a lame thing to say. Sorry Charlie, Viki is too devoted to her family to buy into that argument right now. Sure, Viki can understand that Charlie’s first loyalty was to Jared and that he kept his secret because he owed it to Jared for breaking so many promises to him in the past. Charlie needs to realize that it is for exactly that reason that Viki can’t be with him. Her family will always come first and let’s face it; Charlie hasn’t got any kind of clue about devotion to family compared to Viki. He never had those kinds of family ties over so many years and Viki sure has. Viki also can’t come to terms with why Charlie lied to Rex and hurt him so badly. And then, of course the other deal breaker for Viki is that SHE CAN’T TRUST HIM ANY MORE! She told him very plainly that she would never know when he was lying to her and I don’t blame her for that.

When it comes to family, Viki would never put someone in front of the people she loves most and as much as it broke her heart to walk away from Charlie, she was being very true to herself when she told him that Jessica has already kicked Natalie out of her life and if she forgave Charlie, Jessica would never accept it and she can’t let Jessica lose her mother, too. I also thought it was very fitting when she said, “You helped Jared perpetrate a fraud and because of that, my daughter and granddaughter are without Nash. Dorian has succeeded in ruining my family because of you and Jared.” Losing Nash was bad enough for Viki’s family, but when you throw Dorian into the mix, you can bet Viki is going to see red. I thought it was very inappropriate of Charlie to say, “I know that your daughter has been through a terrible time, but us being apart doesn’t make that better.” Is he kidding? Does he know Viki at all? She loves him (I’m not sure why at this point), but she has priorities that trump giving in to her feelings for Charlie.

I’ve had a lot of up and down feelings about Antonio over the last couple of years, but I have to say that I thought it was a beautiful gesture for him to visit Jessica because he thought she could use a friend. Antonio showed his true feelings for Jessica as a person he once loved (and probably always will to some extent) by putting aside the past bitterness that developed when Jessica left him for Nash. I loved Antonio’s words when he said to Jessica, “We had our time, no regrets.” Jessica was impressed and surprised that he could put the past aside and just be there for her as a friend who cares, but she knows in her heart that Antonio is a good man. I would like to see the writers put his temper aside and give him a storyline where he can be that good man and not the hothead we see so often.

Okay, Tina is back and is as obnoxious and self-serving as ever. If she is going to be as annoying as she was last week, I can safely say that I will just sit and shake my head when she’s on my screen. It’s too bad that Sarah is so needy when it comes to her mother. I don’t blame her since she spent so much of her life wanting Tina to be a real mother to her and a good part of it not even being able to find her. Do we need this? I didn’t even mind Cristian being a little tough when he chewed Tina out in defense of Sarah. Cristian has to tread lightly, trying to protect Sarah and not going against Tina so much, even though he is justified in thinking Sarah needs protection from her manipulative mother.