Reflections by Jill - A Weekly Commentary for OLTL for October 1, 2007

FAN FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS

Jamie writes: “The thing that gets my goat about Jessica is that she seemed to remember exactly what went down between her and Jared yet did nothing to help the guy out, especially if Tess set him up. That is what I would be very angry about if I were Jared.”

Dear Jamie: Actually, Jessica did know how Tess set Jared up but she had no idea that he went to jail for two years. Of course that is no excuse for her to keep the secret, but it was very obvious that she was shocked to find him not only in Llanview but partners with Nash. Jessica is ashamed of everything Tess did and even though she knows it was Tess and not her committing those terrible deeds, it’s hard for her to see the fallout from them. It’s going to be interesting to see how things turn out for Jared in Llanview, especially if he gets involved with Natalie.

Bryna writes: “I am sooooo tired of Natalie! The actress is great, the character is horrible. She really has nothing to offer the show. She is like a guest on Jerry Springer! Nat is always on the wrong side of everything. She is the antithesis of a strong woman on that show, she is needy, acts trashy, hooks up with the first guy that pays attention to her and doesn’t add anything to BE! My husband and I are big fans of Langston. She is a breath of fresh air and I am glad Marty has finally stopped crying. I think she was crying for a month straight.”

Dear Bryna: I don’t think Natalie is horrible, but I do thing that the writers keep he from having a real chance at changing when they do stupid things like having Jared give her a massage in her office with the door wide open. I would love to see them have Natalie keep her distance until she knows Jared better, but it never takes much for her to show her attraction and be taken in. I hate that. I have always been a big fan of Natalie’s and I think Melissa Archer is getting a raw deal having to portray a Natalie who makes a little bit of mature progress only to fall back into her old ways whenever she has problems in her love life. I, too, am a big fan of Langston. I have been saying for months that I hope this bright young actress gets a chance to spread her wings because she will do a great job with whatever is given to her. And yes, Marty has stopped crying but I am not so sure about Christina Chambers since she has been given her walking papers by the show.

April writes: “I hope Rex and Adriana get arrested since they knew the truth all along about Tommy. Todd should receive custody of his child; after all he is the natural father and thought his son was deceased. I also believe that Todd has been a good father to his other two children. Perfect? No, but who is a PERFECT parent after all? Adriana, Rex, Michael & I hate to say this but also John should all have charges brought up because they knew all along that Tommy was Todd's.”

Dear April: You’re right that no one is perfect, but Todd is so far out of the realm of perfection that he’s like an alien. Sorry, I know that all the conspirators were wrong to keep the secret, but when it comes to Todd, everyone has had so many bad experiences with the way he deals with everything and everybody that I can’t really say I blame them for being torn when it comes to that baby’s future happiness. As I have said before, I don’t believe that Jack and Starr have had the benefit of a good father. Todd is lucky that they turned out as well as they did. Don’t forget that he gave Jack away at birth because he didn’t think he was his son. All the bad things Starr did and all the trouble she got into as a kid were a direct result of witnessing her father’s sociopathic behavior and her mother didn’t help much either. Starr knew how to scam people at the ripe old age of six or seven. Her mother wasn’t a model parent, but her father is basically a maniac. I don’t mean to say that he doesn’t love his kids because I know he does in his own strange way, but that doesn’t mean he’s good at what’s most important, which in my book is teaching them to be good human beings. They learned that elsewhere.

Judy writes: “I wish I knew why Starr always feel like she has to give her father so much loyalty. He has never even mentioned her name in weeks. The same goes for Jack. You would think just once he would ask anybody how they are. And has Jack ever really existed as far as he was concerned? What is going on between Dorian & Langston? I actually like how Dorian acts toward her. Is there something going on that we don't know about?”

Dear Judy: It’s not strange to me at all that Starr would feel the way she does about Todd. She loves him more than anyone on this earth. Starr grew up only knowing Todd’s behavior as a father figure. She doesn’t know what it’s like to grow up in a “normal” family. She’s used to her dad disappearing, being presumed dead, going to jail almost every time he walks out the door and laying down the law according to his way of seeing things, not necessarily the way they really are. Obviously her upbringing made Starr a very strong young woman who had taken a lot of hard knocks because of her father’s antics and I’m not surprised that she won’t let anyone say a bad word about her father. He’s all she knows. However, she is mature enough now to question what he does, like they way she had to find a way to deal with the fact that it was Cole’s mother that he raped. That was very hard for her to deal with but her love for Todd allowed her to finally learn to live with the truth. As far as Dorian and Langston go, we are going to find out that Langston’s parents died a while ago and she has been secretly on her own. She will be tied in some way to someone in Llanview so maybe she’s the next Cramer woman.