REFLECTIONS BY JILL for October 16, 2006

Okay, let’s move on. I don’t think we need Vincent hanging around Natalie, do you? I know he’s miserable about what he did to Cristian, but right now he’s probably more upset that he was caught and embarrassed than he is remorseful over what he did. If they are trying to redeem Vincent’s character and make him a good guy, I think they have to try harder. I’m not buying it right now and I was very glad that Layla was smart enough to kick him to the curb. All of a sudden she’s the woman he loves and he is ready to bang he door down if she won’t listen to him. Give me a break!

The people of Llanview have certainly gotten free with their hands, haven’t they? And I don’t mean in a loving way. We have Jessica smashing Claudia in the face; we have Layla slapping Vincent (he really did deserve it) and now we have Cristian beating the living daylights out of Ted. I found the mail that I received from the fans very interesting this week because the majority of the people who wrote to me said that they thought Evangeline was overreacting in a very big way when she dumped Cristian after finding him in the alley nearly killing Ted with his bare hands. Cristian really scared the daylights out of her when she caught him beating on Ted and he even scared her when he broke away from Ted and moved in her direction in a violent way.

Evangeline didn’t feel that she could live with the violence in Cristian that she didn’t think she’d ever see again and I think that if she feels that way, whether or not we think the beating was a big deal or not, she was not overreacting when she said they couldn’t be together. And for the record, I, too, thought that Cris was over the top and out of control and I didn’t blame Evangeline at all. Whether or not she sticks to her decision remains to be seen. I’m sure she’ll try to make it work. That’s her way. Whether it works out, who knows? At least she’s going to find out that the scuffle between Cris and Nash that she walked in on was not Cris’s fault. The time of her entrance couldn’t have been worse, could it?

And what about the most predictable citizen in Llanview? Was anyone at all surprised when Blair tried to use sex to get Todd to let her live with him again? As she was dropping her dress I felt embarrassed for her and I was thinking, “Blair, this is what Todd hates most about the past year, that you used sex to get what you want.” When is she going to learn? And it was good that she got Todd to admit that he loves her, but it was what she needed to hear when he told her that it wasn’t enough because she didn’t stand by him when it counted and even after all the things he’s done in the past, it killed him that she turned her back on him and didn’t believe in him. I wonder what Todd is going to do now that Blair has taken it upon herself to actually move her things in. From what Todd said to Evangeline, who knows what he’ll do. Of course, eventually Todd and Blair will be reunited, but I’m sure it won’t be before he dallies a little with someone else and it’s everyone’s guess that it will be Evangeline. I think so, too.

There was still so much sadness over John’s death with everyone trying to find a way to cope. I enjoyed the scenes at Rodi’s where everyone got up and told a funny story about John. It was hard for Natalie to get into the spirit and I don’t blame her, but I hate that Vincent is going to be consoling her. Who needs that?

And poor Bo. I shed quite a few tears when he had Rex join him when he hung John’s picture on the wall of heroes at the police station, right next to Drew’s picture. It’s not often that we get to see Bo shed a tear, but it was touching to see it happen when Rex told him that he was glad that Bo let him back in his life because life is too short to let things go unsaid and unfinished. Leave it to Bo to kick Rex out of his office before he wiped away that tear.

Then there was Natalie at John’s grave just standing there telling him that she needed her best friend and he left her all alone. I think Natalie is very lost right now and despite what a lot of fans think, I think this is a very real portrayal by the actress. I applaud her as she takes Natalie through the unbearable torture of burying the love of her life a second time. How do you deal with that?

I loved Rex’s visit with Spencer. Spencer thought Rex was just another little flunky when he told him he was looking for Todd and Margaret’s son and I loved the look on Spencer’s face when he realized that Rex meant business. Spencer sure wasn’t expecting a comeback from Rex when he told him, “You’ll never find Todd’s son” and Rex said, “I found yours.” Surprise Spencer!