Now that Cameron, cleansed of the chalky dust and fake blood, has strolled out of the twilight zone-like land of the living dead, it shouldn't be long before he and his sultry sidekick are chased from the city, their long, swishy tails tucked between their galloping legs. Because at last it appears Sharon is finally on the verge of doing what Michael advised her to do all those months ago - tell the truth. It's been a particularly long, and, at times, utterly unbelievable ride on the Cameron Kirsten roller coaster and I, along with scores of steadfast soap fans, am thrilled that we may finally be allowed to climb from this creaky car of incredulity, to see if there might be more interesting things afoot in the amusement park known as Genoa City Wonder World.
The twisted tall tale took an anticlimactic turn as we finally learned the real reason for what we've all been forced to endure since December 31. Which basically boiled down to the jealous fury of a wicked woman scorned several times over. For Gracie, the wounds from Nick's repeated rejections of her party favors, even after accepting multiple samples, have apparently never healed, and to her warped way of thinking, it's all Sharon's fault. Never a bride nor even desired as a bridesmaid, how galling it must be for Grace to always be found lacking when measured back to back with her once best friend. Unfortunately, Nick isn't the only man who perhaps prefers Sharon's elusive charms to Grace's too easily gotten gifts. While Grace for now might be stubbornly shutting her eyes to the reality, it's clear to most of us that Cameron, too, has been bitten by the Sharon obsession bug and likely cares no more for Grace than Nick does. In my opinion, this Cameron caper has slammed into the proverbial brick wall and is now so mortally wounded it should immediately be put out of its misery before it further embarrasses itself. Cameron's job offer to Nick was only a painful, pointless postponement to the inevitable end, because if, as it appears, Sharon is indeed about to spill all the sordid secrets she's been hiding from her husband, obviously Nick won't be running anything for Cameron. So even though that well rounded lady hasn't yet crooned the final tune, for all intents and purposes, this one has hopefully come to an uneventful end, an end, in my opinion, that is long past due.
It seems the white flag of defeat could also be gently fluttering over the long-playing and equally tiresome war of wills between the Newman men. Can you feel the floor shuddering as I jump joyously about my living room, my pom poms shaking enthusiastically in the air? Finally, after what has seemed like years, a truce seems imminent between stern-faced father and surly son. At one time, Nick used to be one of my favorite players on the board game of Genoa City Life, and watching him metamorphose unattractively into a backstabbing, vinegar-tongued villain hasn't been pretty, enjoyable or very believable, considering the oft-repeated Newman motto of all for one and one for all, especially against all non-Newman comers. While it's possible we may have to endure months of Nick's unforgiving attitude re-directed toward his forever in crisis wife (immediate forgiveness has never seemed to be Nick's forte), I'm looking forward to he and Victor working harmoniously together on Victor's vindication venture. I expect both men to be somewhat guarded with one another in the beginning, but don't doubt there will be plenty of "awww" moments for us fans to dab surreptitiously at our eyes over, as we watch them march determinedly toward a better, stronger relationship. I say, it's about time.
Something else I'm definitely looking forward to with much anticipation is the coming tug of war where Phyllis holds territorially to one of Daniel's dangling arms, while Danny and Chris tug terrifically on the other. Phyllis is a devious diva who never seems to reach the bottom in her bag of dirty tricks (and she played plenty of them in her desire to own a Danny Romalotti rock doll of her very own). But I still prefer her as Mommy Devious over the Pristine Princess who was always too self-absorbed to tie herself down with a child of her own, but seems to feel righteously justified in directing what's best for other people's. It was bad enough when she announced little Ricky's best interest would be served by being abandoned by his fickle father and left indefinitely in the care of aging grandparents. But she topped her silly self-righteous self recently with her idiotic statement to Daniel that his mother got exactly what she deserved and presumably, so did Daniel. If she had the slightest bit of common horse sense she might have considered how closely children identify with their parents, missing or not, and known how stupid her self-serving statement sounded. And just how did Daniel deserve to be snatched from his mother's loving, if somewhat smothering and manipulative arms, only to be cradled in his false father's only until a suitable place could be found to dump him for all of his formative years. As for the wishy-washy cowardly ex-crooner, who has never bothered to come clean with the truth, including the fact that he isn't even Daniel's bio father, someone ought to retrieve his backbone from wherever he left it and use it to bolster someone else's since he has no apparent use for it. The ingratiating, gushing Christine worshipper tramples all over my very last nerve and deserves a slap with a soggy lasagna noodle for agreeing to allow Pristine to avoid his son's persistent questions.
Speaking of performing adroit avoidance maneuvers, Damon certainly seemed to get his linen trousers all in a wrinkled twist over Phyllis' curious inquiries into the kinds of things that might have made him into the man she belatedly realized she doesn't really know. Unfortunately for Phyllis, she was unpleasantly surprised to discover allowing Damon free and uninhibited access to all the nooks and crannies along her personal pathways didn't necessarily grant her the same freedom to poke into the sealed boxes along his. While he was quick to deny it, I'm sure I wasn't the only one nodding my head in emphatic agreement, eyebrows raised ridiculously as I giggled uncontrollably over Phyllis's question as to whether what they had was only about sex. Since she readily admitted she has no clue as to who he is, and he, by the way, is essentially in the dark as to her own murky nature, what else could they be about it? But fine, if those with the pens want us to believe this is a rich, multi-layered relationship based on trust, knowledge and the deepest of fond and lasting feelings, for the moment we'll play along. Since, up to this point, Damon has proven to be a rather bland and uninteresting addition to the City (just my opinion fans, you don't have to agree), anything would be an improvement. Obviously the reticent horse raiser has a rattling skeleton or two hidden in the very back of his secret closet. And I can't wait to find out what they are.
Clearly it's no secret how Diane felt about coming in a distant second to Phyllis in the suitor sweepstakes yet again. Despite the clean kid gloves Damon donned to gently decline her passionate pursuit, unlike Vanessa Lerner, who slunk dejectedly into the shadows never to be heard from again, Diane is not a woman scorned who is willing to let her humiliation go unavenged. No way does she plan to have to cast her eyes downward in remembered shame every time she passes the chemist in the Jabot corridors. As we all saw in the end of week previews, the coming week will find her with two daggers at the ready, one to plunge deeply into the middle of Damon's unimpressed back, the other apparently reserved for Drucilla, perhaps for stoking the fire that set her up for the ego-burning scenario in the first place. For Jack, the person she seemed primed to spill the jumping beans to, and I'm guessing the beans will have to do with the duo's respective thefts of the hair dissolver, that's exactly the ammunition he needed to justify delivering Damon his parting package. While theft would seem to place Jack well within his legal rights for firing the successor to his ex's love, this is Genoa City, after all, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see the past re-written to include some kind of heretofore unknown clause in the laconic chemist's contract preventing Jabot from sending him unceremoniously packing.
With the teens on the precipice of their summer sabbatical, the romantic lines are already faintly visible if one looks very closely and, of course, listens carefully to all spoilers and whispered rumors. I expect the reserved space in J.T.'s heart that has always had Mac's named inscribed in gold leaf above it will enlarge as the summer limps lazily along. And since it wouldn't be a Genoa City romance unless it contained the requisite three's a crowd, I'm guessing Daniel will be J.T.'s rival for Mac's affection. Even though the transplanted Swiss student was making noises last week of shaking the dust of GC from his loafers, we all know he won't be going anywhere. If he's supposed to be a not all that sweet sixteen, I would think he would be a little young for Mac, but we know that in this topsy turvy town, age really is only an inconsequential number.
It's a good thing too, because there are certainly a lot of numbers marching majestically in place between Bobby and the object he's so obsessed over. About 20 of them to my guessing eyes. But that number means nothing to Brittany's new bosom buddy, Rose, who is encouraging Brittany to choose benevolent benefactor, Bobby, over her frugal roommate, the limiting Raul. I confess it doesn't matter to me whom the cabaret crooner eventually chooses. Because even though I think Bobby is practically robbing the cradle, whatever charismatic fire that once blazed brightly between Raul and Brittany has long since been extinguished. And speaking of the pampered princess, I was glad to see our lady of the manor magnanimously agreed to let the well-heeled homeless urchin reclaim her old room at Coed Central. Of course, if Mac and Daniel and Bobby and Brittany are to be the main events playing under the Big Teen Top, what will Raul and J.T. do for summer fun? I guess they'll be the chaperones.
Now that Esther has completed her correspondence course and will soon be a certified, card carrying substance abuse counselor, there should be no shortage of chaperones constantly monitoring the lowering levels in the alcohol bottles hidden all over the Mausoleum. I wish I could say I'm literally on the edge of my sofa waiting for the resolution of this particular storyline, but it would be an outright lie. I had hoped desperately for a sweet and touching romance between Kay and Arthur, whom, by the way, is reported to be sticking around for the foreseeable future, but, alas, I fear it is not to be. Instead, it looks to be just more of Jill's endless carping and complaints of everyone cutting her out of her precious Daddy time.
Another Daddy, Neil, his civic duty done, left the proof of Kevin's evidence with Weber and on his way home, stopped by Michael's, probably hoping to receive the approving pats on the back he expected Michael to put there. But Michael was less than impressed with both Neil and his daughter's belated decision to do the right thing. Weber, to no one's surprise, has so far done little to refute or confirm Neil's evidence, and while he was dragging his government issued shoes, Kevin, unaware of his possibly impending release, was taking Michael's retracted words to heart and playing crazy to the best of his ability, temporarily transforming himself into a human candle. Once the flickering flames had been successfully smothered, Kevin proved none the worse for wear, but continued to provide an amusing sideshow for Weber's skeptical eyes. Unfortunately for crazy like a fox Kevin he's likely about to discover it's much easier getting in then out when it comes to the locked ward of Genoa City Memorial's psychiatric wing.
Stumbling blindly about, Ashley is jerked abruptly back to the real world when her savvy six year old unexpectedly yanks the rose colored glasses from her mother's denying eyes. Blinking against the glaring reality, Ashley is amazed to hear her adorable daughter prove she has more sense than both her parents combined when she correctly identified a visiting Nikki as being married to her other daddy. Now that Ashley, who has up to now been telling all who would listen that her daughter is none the worse for wear for her inadvertent video viewing and well as oblivious and unaffected by all she's overheard, has been proven wrong, she will no longer be able to drag her reluctant feet in bringing in professional help. Of course, as in all things Genoa City, there is bound to be a whole lot more to this simple story. With at least one of the Carlton's adamantly against a Victor-Abby bonding, it will probably take a miracle or a medical emergency to bring all the parties in a compatible line.
The entrees on the table for the coming week look pretty appetizing. What might we expect? Diane's daggers in Damon and Dru's back could perhaps bring her closer to winning the coveted scruffy-faced Jack doll prize. A cantankerous confrontation between a sarcastic, cutting Jack and Damon, who can probably more than hold his own, should provide plenty of fun and fireworks. The gloves could come off and the curtain possibly pulled back on the many secrets enclosing Phyllis, Daniel, Danny and Christine. The jagged rifts in the relationship between Newman Dad and Lad can begin to be repaired. And, last but not least, Sharon's contrite confession. Sounds like a full course meal to me. Bon appetit!
