So, what do you all think of Jared Banks? Obviously he’s some sort of troublemaker but we don’t know yet exactly what his motives are? He sure seems intent on infiltrating the Buchanans’ life and either Natalie or Jessica is his target. We’ll find out a lot more about him as time goes by, so I’m not making any quick judgments about him. Remember that horribly bad call I made a few years ago when we saw Tico Santi chained to that wall and I thought he was a really adorable guy and felt sorry for him being held prisoner like that? I have learned my lesson since then (well, pretty much) about rushing to judgment, although some people think I have made the same mistake in falling for Nash. I don’t think so. (More on me wanting to smack Nash later.)

I do worry that Natalie is going to fall into her old habit of being ridiculously drawn to bad guys like Jared, if he is a bad guy, even though she did a good job of weeding out the fact that Jared was a big, fat phony when he showed up at her office with his full of bull resume telling her that he was the answer to her prayers. She definitely has an interest in him and I’m hoping she doesn’t fall prey to his charms (if he has any). It’s still so hard for me to take Natalie’s new career seriously when I see her sitting behind Kevin’s old desk.

And Jared has already proven himself to be one of soap operas biggest clichés. He’s an eavesdropper who profits from spying on others. So far it has served him well. He used his talents to garner information in the steam room about the high stakes poker game at Roxy’s salon and he also found out a most useful piece of information about Nash needing money to buy Antonio out of his business.

Obviously, Nash made more than one mistake by getting involved in that card game. First of all, is there anyone out there who thought Nash had a chance in Hell of walking away with the money to buy out Antonio? In true soap fashion, Nash wasn’t desperate enough before the game to get back control of his vineyard; now he doesn’t have that and he lost all he had to boot. How many times do we have to hear those lines before we can recite them ourselves? “Here’s my hand. Read ‘em and weep.” “Yeah, that’s a very good hand for sure, but this one is better.” I’m not happy about what Nash did. I guess the risk taking and the chance that he could lose everything comes from that part or Nash’s personality that gives him a lot of confidence in his ability to beat the odds, but it wasn’t a smart move for him to get into that game and he’s going to borrow money from Clint to pay off Antonio which I was hoping he wouldn’t need to do. Not good Nash. It’s too bad for him that sneaky Jared is one step ahead of him and Antonio is going to see his part of the vineyard to Jared. It’s too bad for Nash that Antonio has nothing but revenge on his mind and probably wouldn’t care if he sold his stake in the vineyard to mobsters. Hey, that might be just what Jared is anyway.

Is anyone softening yet when it comes to Miles? Not me. I still have trouble figuring out why, if he literally has his own completely stocked house, he is standing in Viki’s kitchen cooking himself breakfast and offering to cook some for Natalie as if it were his home. And I wanted to deck him myself when he said that he knew how Todd felt losing his son because he feels that way about losing the family he wanted so badly when he lost Marty and Cole. How dare he make that comparison?

And what the heck is wrong with that judge who threw out the charges of attempted murder against Miles? I thought it was totally ridiculous that the judge refused to hear witnesses such as Miles and Sarah, claiming that there was no physical proof that what they testify to would be the truth. Then Miles goes ahead and decides to plead guilty to stealing Marty’s confession tape from her shrink’s office and blackmailing her into marrying him. Well, bully for you Miles. I’m not impressed. Oh, boo hoo for poor Miles. He sees the error of his ways and wants to pay for what he did. I nearly died laughing when he said that at the time he was doing his dirty deeds, he wasn’t even thinking his actions were illegal. I hope the judge throws the book at him, but of course, she won’t. And now that Asa is gone, whose pocket will all of Llanview’s judges be living in?

Who could blame Todd for blowing up in court? Most of the time I can’t stand Todd, but I wouldn’t have minded him getting a good five minutes alone with Miles. Miles already knows that if he’s not sent to jail for his crimes, Todd won’t ever let him live peacefully anyway. Maybe jail is looking good to Miles. And nobody said it better than Nora when Todd was steaming and she said, “Not only are you my worst nightmare, but you’re your own worst enemy.” Starr was right on the mark also when she told Cole the same thing about her dad.

And yet again, a major disaster at the Woman of the Year awards. It certainly was ironic that Lindsay won the award, but of course, we hardly ever heard anything about all the good she was doing in Llanview since Jen died. Dorian’s reaction was priceless when she heard that Lindsay had won the award. Dorian just had to mention that she has done so much for the city of Llanview and alas; she has been passed over once again for that prestigious award. But by far, the best reaction and definitely the funniest was Nora’s reaction when she found out that she would be making the speech and presenting the award to her archenemy, Lindsay Rappaport. Did you get the feeling that Nora would rather be tied to a post with fire ants crawling all over her than make that speech?