Reflections by Jill - A Weekly Commentary for OLTL

Well, it was a short week, but an eventful one nonetheless. Believe it or not, I actually felt a little something for Dorian when she was so upset over Kelly moving to London. That’s right, I usually think Dorian is more despicable than dirt, but she’s the kind of villain I don’t mind having around because every now and then we get to see her vulnerable side. She has lost Adriana (at least for now) and David (I hope not forever) and now with Kelly leaving she feels like she’s losing everyone who is important to her. At first she was typical Dorian when she overheard Kelly talking to Clint about moving to London with Kevin and the baby. Of course her first impulse is to think that another Buchanan has pulled the wool over the eyes of one of her girls. But I was really proud of the old girl when she listened to Kelly talking about how happy she was and how Zane has given her a new outlook on life and made her feel so much peace. I love seeing Dorian being selfless (which is almost never) and she gave up her “I hate the Buchanans” campaign when she looked at Kelly and told her that she’s never seen her look more beautiful and confident. It was nice to hear Dorian’s say to Kelly, “If you ever need me, I will be there with a net to catch you.”

And now we are waiting for a showdown between Marty Saybrook, Todd and Blair. It wasn’t a very good meeting for any of them, was it? First there was Marty in total denial that her precious son Cole could be involved with drugs. She had to feel humiliated that she was so adamant that no drugs would be found in Cole’s blood and then she finds out he’s been pumping himself with steroids. Then we have Blair who was the most ridiculous of all. It figures that she would go on the offensive and accuse Marty of setting up the whole scenario so that Cole could hurt Starr to get back at Todd. Sometimes I think Blair needs to just shut up and think before she starts hacking away at people. I was glad that Marty reminded her that she came back to town a while ago to testify on Todd’s behalf. Marty has come a long way in forgiving Todd but of course, she will never forget what he did to her. And in the current situation, Marty will not take Todd’s bull sitting down.

And Todd. What can we say? It took having to face his daughter with what he’s done in the past to wipe some of that arrogance off his face that he carries around all the time. It was bound to happen one day; that his children would suffer for the way he has conducted his life. It’s very moving to watch Todd so full of shame over what he’s done in the past and the fact that his daughter, whom he loves more than anything else, has to look at him knowing what a horrible thing he did in his past. He says he needs Starr to listen to him and believe in him and then maybe he’ll be able to be okay. He needs to look around him and examine what the people in his life need from him, like Blair, who wants and so desperately needs him to forgive her and take her back; and Evangeline, who gave him a true friendship that he trampled all over. Nothing hurts Todd more than hurting Starr and wouldn’t it be nice if he learned a real life lesson from this?

Something tells me that Todd won’t learn his lesson too quickly. I’m not so sure that running to the school principal and demanding that Cole be expelled was the smartest thing to do. Todd isn’t willing to let things take their course and the first thing he did was threaten the principal with derogatory coverage in his newspaper. Obviously, Marty is not going to take Todd’s antics lying down and I’m sure she meant every word when she told him that if he went after her son, she’d go after him. Todd was really stupid threatening to kill Cole if he went near Starr. And I have to say that Todd had no business putting his hands on Marty. I cringed when he put his hand on her shoulder and she jumped away. It was pretty disgusting for him to do that.

And once again, Starr is the smart one in that family. I applauded her when she looked Blair in the eye and asked her why she hated Marty. Blair could take a few lessons from Starr, that’s for sure.

I thought it was admirable of Marty to be honest with Cole and tell him that he had to ask Starr for forgiveness if he wanted to be able to live with himself. And I did feel sorry for Cole, feeling the pressure as so many young people do today, to be the best and compete with their peers. And on top of all the pressure from his team (and that obnoxious coach), he thought he was making himself better so that his mother would be proud of him, especially since his father, Patrick, is gone. All that being said, in addition to dealing with Cole, Starr has to deal with her father wanting to rip Cole apart. Knowing what he himself was capable of, Todd can’t think anything other than Cole wanting to do to Starr what he did to Cole’s mother. I think Starr said it all when she asked Todd how he could be so mad at Cole after what he did to his mother. That sure shut Todd up.