Ryan and Greenlee wasted a perfectly good location shoot this week, complaining about their respective love lives at sea, marking the first time I've ever wished for a hurricane on a soap opera. I could really care less about what Greenlee does, so long as it doesn't impact negatively on characters I care about, namely Zach and Kendall (yes, I do still care about Zach, despite opinion to the contrary). If Greens wants to pretend to be friends with Aidan or counsel Ryan on his marriage or shack up with Jake or bed my poor disillusioned Josh, then more power to her. As long as she stops batting her eyelashes at Zach and torturing Kendall, I'm cool.
Mind you, Greenlee's leisure cruise did affect Kendall, who had to deal with the screeching, lucky-to-have-a-job Fusion 'women' when she insisted on Greens' input on a business decision. Gee, imagine a businesswoman wanting to consult her partner before making an important move. Of course, Babe, Annie and, to a lesser extent, Amanda, slammed Kendall, who was also snapped at and insulted when she tried to help her ungrateful employees. And all of this in front of a reporter, no less. Kendall honey, it's called direct insubordination - you should have fired the lot of them on the spot. Better yet, you should have walked your pretty little self out of there. Fusion is so 2002.
At first, I thought Annie's diatribe on Greenlee was a highlight, but I soon realized it was a hollow victory. Let's ignore for a moment how ludicrous it is for anyone at Fusion to talk about people missing work (they each put in about, what, 15 minutes a week?) Mrs. Lavery was 100 per cent right, but does it really matter?
[i] Do you not remember that she kidnapped your son, Kendall? Or since she didn't actually make Spike deaf, now that's all OK. And I'm sorry, I think it's a miracle that she made it out of that hole alive, but it doesn't make her a saint, does it? I mean, innocent of all blame? ... What about the fact that she was gone for a year and a half? The women at Fusion were dying, and she didn't come back. Her company, her baby was going under, and she didn't care enough to come back and save it.[/i]
Great job, writers. You take the most accurate assessment of Greenlee anyone's uttered in months and put in the mouth of the woman frantically plotting with her psycho brother and desperate to conceive Ryan Lavery Jr., thus robbing it of all meaning. At first, I was thrilled to finally hear some truth amidst the Greenlee-loving lunacy. Perhaps AMC is finally throwing us non-amnesiacs a bone, actually acknowledging what that witch did to Kendall and her family. Considering the source, though, it might as well been left unsaid. Those words will only matter when they fall from Kendall's lips, not in anger or vengeance, but as a simple admission that this so-called friendship never really existed in the first place. It's a pipe dream, of course, but it's one I can cling to.
Revenging Richie
If they're going to go all out with Annie as a psycho-in-training, why wouldn't they have her team up with Richie, just as Novak suggested before leaving to terrorize Fusion? I have to agree with Richie - the Novak siblings, united and wreaking havoc on Pine Valley, would be pretty darn entertaining. His arraignment alone made tuning in this week worth my while. With Billy Miller on his way out, I'll take all the Richie I can get. I guess it would be too much to hope for a Richie look-alike to pop up later on. Maybe he can pull a Jonathan Lavery and get the bad cut out? I'll even settle for a good long haunting.
Of course, the question now becomes, who sends Richie shuffling off this mortal coil? With a potential murder in the works, usual suspect Zach is clearly being set up as the culprit, which means he won't have done it after all. Of course, I'm sure he'll do something short of murder, not tell Kendall about it and then get furious when she asks him if he did it. He wouldn't even admit beating the pulp out of Richie when his wife asked. "Why didn't you tell me?" she said. "Why would I?" he replied. Um, because that your WIFE, whom you lectured on the evils of secret-keeping! Zach kept all of his other nefarious plans close to the vest, too, despite Kendall's pleas. I assume some would argue he's doing that to protect her - the exact same reason Kendall kept her secrets. Double standard, anyone?
I don't begrudge Zach his revenge; he definitely deserves it. I didn't enjoy his Richie beatdown as much as I might have a month ago, but it didn't exactly bother me. It's just frustrating to watch him continue down that particular path even after everyone, including tried-and-true go-to Myrtle tried to convince him otherwise. For all his talk about loving his family so much (and I believe he does), he keeps taking risks, expecting Kendall not to question him. I can't get on board with that. The 'do as Zach says, not as he does' approach has worn thin. There's still a lot of good between Zach and Kendall, and I believe it can be salvaged, but big changes need to happen.
Keeping it real
Conversely, I loved Friday's scenes with Angie and Jesse. Now that all the Papel craziness is over, it's nice to see a couple experience and resolve a conflict without it being about an affair, a lie or some other over-the-top betrayal. Just two married people with different opinions, both of whom have a valid point, trying to come to a compromise. Imagine that.
Of course, even Angie had to realize that Jesse's a cop through and through and that being a professor at Pine Valley University would never be quite enough. There's an example of a strong woman. Despite her justifiable fears, she would rather have the man she loves be whole and risk losing him all over again, then ask him to be something he's not. I'm not sure a lot of women would be able to do that; I know I couldn't.
Their next conflict should be a little less life-or-death, probably involving Frankie's feelings for Randi, who's been liberated from her 'boyfriend' and a life of prostitution. I'm not really feeling that pairing yet. I'd rather they give Frankie and Colby a try first.
Another couple I'd like to see is Samuel and Erica. As charming as they can be in small doses, I don't want to see Erica and Jackson again, at least not in the near future. Have her hook up with Samuel and she and Jack can do reunion #75 in a year or two. I also got a little choked up when Carmen left her 'superstar' behind in prison. Watching Erica not-so-sweetly talk Adam into taking in her friend was an example of what's great about Erica Kane. The look on Adam's face as her left the prison visiting room said it all - she's infuriating, but you have to love her. And watching Carmen interact with Adam? That's going to be a riot.
Odds and ends
* Tad and Kathy are adorable. 'Nuff said.
* So, now Junior wants Chandler Enterprises again? Why am I supposed to care? I don't buy that bull about wanting to secure Little Adam's legacy, either. This is about JR seeking revenge (for Tad, so he says, but I don't buy it) and putting one over on his dad, yet again. I'll definitely be rooting for Adam Sr. to win this corporate battle.
* The summer teen storyline is set to start in full force. I would have preferred it take place with Ambyr Childers' Colby, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. As long as these kids act like kids, it could be decent.
Evaluating the Emmys
In closing, a few thoughts on the Daytime Emmys:
* Even though he couldn't attend the ceremony, I still wish David Canary's name would have been called for Outstanding Lead Actor. Unfortunately, until Tony Geary takes his name out of the running, no soap actor has a chance to win in this category. It's not that I fault the academy for choosing him -- he does great work. It's just that the die-hard AMC/One Life To Live fan in me would prefer if he took a little Emmy hiatus.
* Jeanne Cooper (Kay, Y&R) wins for best reaction and best acceptance speech, hands down. I don't even watch Y&R and I was happy for her.
* The opening montage - specifically, Sherri Sheppard running through Pine Valley looking for 'Cameron' - was pretty cute, too. I also enjoyed the new Golden Globes-style set up, except for the interviews at the table. Putting gesture-happy Cam so close to his interviewees is dangerous. The boy's liable to accidentally smack someone upside the head in his enthusiasm.
* Huge congrats to the team at OLTL, which managed to win best directing and writing honors, but not best show. If anyone can explain that to me, feel free. OLTL has long been the overlooked middle child of the ABC line-up, getting far less attention from Brian Frons and the powers-that-be. Despite this (or perhaps because of it), the show has improved in leaps in bounds with head writer Ron Carlivati at the helm. I used to watch OLTL because it happened to follow AMC. These days, it's the other way around. Give me more Todd Manning David Vickers and Marty Saybrooke (the reason I started watching One Life in the first place)! It sure beats The Greenlee is Love Hour.
Thanks for reading. See you again soon.
-- Kristine
