There was a range of highs and lows for Erica Kane this week. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the weepy scene of Erica telling Kendall how she can't live with the thought of Kendall going to jail. She needs her, she says. My thought is that if Kendall goes up the river on murder charges, it will free Erica to pursue Ryan without having to fight her daughter for his attention. Sure, she'll miss Kendall... but hey, that's just my train of thought. I've never been a big fan of sobbing scenes that involve Alicia Minshew or Susan Lucci. I think these actresses are much, much stronger in scenes where they have to show emotion more subtly.
A few scenes after the tears had dried, Erica and Jack had a brilliant confrontation. Erica blasted Jack for defending "that lunatic" Annie. Erica accused Jack of wanting Erica to lose her daughter, much the way that Jack had lost Greenlee. Not to be insensitive, but having a child in jail is a little different, I would think, than having one that is dead. Of course, you could also argue that Greenlee isn't really dead, but I am getting off track. I like the new pissy Jack. For so long, Jack has been the knight in shining armor, the good guy, Dudley Do-right. I like seeing him with an edge and Walt Willey -- who is a very affable man -- really pulls off the fed-up routine quite well.
My squeal moment of the week came when Kendall walked into the interrogation room at the police station to have a few words with Annie. "Hello, Annie," she said coldly as she peered deep into Annie's eyes. I was so excited to see exactly what would happen next that I couldn't wait for the commercials to end and the show to resume. Annie didn't back down. She rose from her chair and gave Kendall a what-for. "I hope you enjoy this time with your family," Annie snarled. "It's about to run out."
I have to admit that I am a little torn on how to react to Kendall's desire to run to the police and confess her "crime." In the real world, there are oodles of people who have gotten away with crimes who have never come forward to confess. I guess that these criminals figure that if the police didn't catch them, then they are allowed to get away with it. How many people come forward to confess to a crime that they are only sort of sure that they committed?
So every time that Kendall puts on her skipping record about going to the police to confess, I really want to throttle her. At one point, I am sure that I looked up from my keyboard towards the television and yelled, "You know what, chick? Go. Go and turn yourself in already. I am tired of hearing you squawk about it!"
On the flip side of that, you have Annie who has a skipping record of her own that pays homage to Bart Simpson with, "I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can't prove anything." Lady, you bashed in your brother's head with a tire iron, stabbed Erica, attempted to shoot Greenlee, were indirectly involved in the death of Di Henry... people are going to finger you for crimes. It's not like you've been Suzie Sunshine over the past few years. This is what happens when you cry wolf. I'm not even sure that's what Annie has done. Crying wolf implies that you're lying about something.
Even the local paper decided to throw out any risk of libel by running a front page story with the headline, "Whack Job: Mental Patient Attempts to Gun Down Adam Chandler."
Little Emma has finally started to talk about what happened the night that Stuart Chandler was shot. Okay, she is scribbling on chalkboards. I have to say that I was bit worried about what she might reveal (see the photo at the left). I've been so busy applauding her dirty deeds over the past few weeks that I was convinced she'd turn on me. It would seem to me that Annie is protecting herself in all of this. She's gone to such lengths to endear herself to Adam that she doesn't want to lose what she's worked so hard to get: Adam's money. If Emma confesses what happened that night -- and I have reverted back to my previous theory -- and Adam goes to jail for killing Stuart, it means that Annie will be left with nothing. Unless, of course, she and Adam tie the knot before he gets carted off to the hoosgow.
I am so glad that Jessica Fletcher of Murder, She Wrote fame has been reincarnated as a young, African American woman named Natalia, who relocated from Cabot Cove to Pine Valley. We can roll through how preposterous it might be that a cadet is at the Chandler Mansion recreating a shooting, but I am glad that someone has watched enough CSI to actually try to figure out who's shooting (at) whom in Pine Valley. No one ran any sort of gun powder trace on Annie, and aside from some yellow crime scene tape a few months back, I'm not entirely sure that any police have investigated anything since the night Stuart and Tad were shot! Did Internal Affairs put Jesse on desk duty until they investigated how he discharged his service revolver on poor Tad?
The recreation also allowed for Adam and Scott to interact with Natalia -- neither of the Chandlers has ever had reason to even be in the same scene as her. I laughed out loud when Natalia instructed Adam to go back into his house and stand where he'd been standing when Annie supposedly fired at him. Adam's face frowned up and he cut his eyes at her before grousing, "Ya bossy thing, aren't 'cha?"
Beth Ehlers is getting her wish and Taylor is being woven more and more into the show's storylines. Now, instead of having cursory relations with people, Taylor has definite bonds with Brot, Tad, Amanda, and Jake. I've liked the emotion that Ehlers has shown recently. It's so clear that she still has feelings for Brot. So the scene where Taylor had to pass on going with Brot to see Frankie and Randi was heartbreaking in its awkwardness. Then, Taylor nearly hit the roof when Tad walked out in a robe and implied that he and Taylor might have been having an intimate moment. Brot looked crushed and you could clearly see that Taylor was also hurt.
Tad and Taylor finally kissed, but it was baby Trevor that stole the scene. As the pair shared their first kiss, the little tyke sneezed. Rather than cut the scene and do a retake, the cameras kept rolling. Michael E. Knight said "bless you" while still kissing Ehlers. I'm sure after the scene ended, there was hysterical laughter.
What made me laugh, though, was a scene when Krystal was pressing Tad to tell her why he hadn't returned home the night before. "He was with the Army girl," Opal rattled off matter-of-factly as she appeared in the doorway with a laundry basket. Tad's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "I barely know... how could you?" Then, without missing a beat, Opal asked, "You got anything you want washed?"
This week on Soap Central, I'm asking fans what one thing could be changed on their favorite soap to make the show the most markedly improved. It is also the theme for my radio show this week (click here for more on that). Is there one thing that, if changed, would make you resume watching All My Children (if you've stopped) or make watching more enjoyable? So check out my blog to share your thoughts, send me email, and/or listen to my live Internet radio show on Mondays to let me know your thoughts.
For me, I'd like for there to be more balance in who has story. I don't always want to see the same characters day after day. I'd love for some "lesser characters" to get some play and for forgotten characters to be roped back into things.
More balance would also get more viewers invested because there would be more story possibilities on which to get hooked. And that's nothing to sneeze at.
dan
