Reflections by Jill - A Weekly Commentary for OLTL for August 14, 2007

So here’s the thing about Miles. Viki graciously (if not stupidly) gave him the use of the carriage house. To my recollection, everyone who has ever lived in the carriage house has enjoyed the fact that it has full facilities and is independent of the big mansion. So, with that being said, WHAT THE HECK WAS MILES DOING ALONE IN VIKI’S KITCHEN HELPING HIMSELF TO THE CONTENTS OF HER REFRIGERATOR? It was priceless when Todd walked in and found Miles making himself at home. There’s no way that it made sense for Miles to be there helping himself and making himself at home, especially when we found out later when Natalie came by to see how he was doing, that he had everything he needed at the carriage house including groceries. That scene was ridiculous and totally plot-driven rather than character driven. Even someone as socially inept as Miles who knows he’s not really welcome, would not have the nerve to waltz in and help himself. Viki shouldn’t have even bothered trying to explain to Todd why Miles was there. She was wasting her breath.

The more Natalie swears that she is just trying to give Miles a chance, the more I tend to believe her, even if it does reinforce the fact that her first impulse is to behave “outside the box.” But I still think that Viki and John are right to a great extent in believing that Natalie is doing this to provoke John. I would have hoped that Natalie had come further in her quest to change her life, but she doesn’t seem that much better at handling her feelings than she used to be. I don’t blame her for thinking like an individual, but with all the charges against Miles, she should realize that he could be very dangerous and keep some distance between them and I still wonder how much time she’d be putting into Miles if she didn’t harbor animosity against Marty. Even Miles can see that much in Natalie, even if she does continue to deny it.

I would like to give some recognition to the new young actress who is playing Sarah. I apologize; I can’t remember her last name but her first name is Justus (and I know I’m probably spelling it incorrectly). Although Sarah has been more than a bit of a pest since she came back to Llanview, I think this young actress is doing a wonderful job. She’s very talented and reminds me of Melissa Archer when Natalie first appeared in Llanview; not that the characters are the same, but this young woman does incredibly well holding her own in scenes with the most accomplished actors on the show just like Melissa did. I give her a lot of credit and since it appears that Sarah may be more deeply involved with Cristian down the line, I look forward to seeing great things from her. She was incredibly believable in the scenes where Hunter showed up and tried to get money out of her at knifepoint. And her breakdown when Cristian and Hunter battled over the knife and Hunter died was more than believable.

You just knew that the first chance he got, Todd would head over to see Evangeline. It was laughable to think that Layla and Vincent could keep Todd from seeing Evangeline, even though they told him that no one could see her except family. Right, like that ever stopped someone like Todd. I did have to laugh when Vincent told him that Evangeline was in a coma and probably wouldn’t know he was there and in true soap fashion Todd said, “Hey, I was in a coma. As a matter of fact, everyone I know has been in a coma.” That was so funny and so true and only on a soap opera could that line make sense. It was no surprise that Todd was able to make the nurse look the other way with a few bucks. I thought Vincent did a good job of keeping his cool when Todd tried to bribe him with a wad of cash to look the other way. That was a real insult to Vincent but hey, Todd doesn’t care what he says or does as long as he gets what he wants.

I thought it was nice to see Vincent and Layla finally together. I know, I know, I never used to have a kind word for this guy, but I guess that giving him a second chance was a good thing. Layla is a really good woman and right now he seems to deserve her. I hope it stays that way. Vincent has learned some hard lessons, especially through his interaction with Tate and he has been by Layla’s side through everything with Tate and Evangeline. Hopefully it has changed him for good.

Well, at least Marty finally got a brain in her head and decided to plead not guilty. I was getting tired of watching her trying to dig her own grave by insisting that she was guilty. In the next couple of weeks Spencer’s real killer will be revealed and finally we’ll be done with it. I read that John is going to suspect Marcie. What’s that about?