Vee

Episode 13 (Witness): Again: Spoiling two big reveals (Val's pregnancy, Cathy in league with Abby) in the teaser on this episode was unconscionable. I don't know why they'd do that. I legit did not see the reveal that Cathy was working for Abby coming, until the teaser screwed me. Abby tells Cathy she can't make Diana leave Westfork because "I need her as a witness," which is also the title of the episode - what the hell does that mean? Abby spends much of this ep riding herd on a bunch of "Gary Ewing Enterprises" investors and assets at a gigantic meeting at her offices with Laura and Westmont. These assets and investors are puzzled as to the notable lack of Gary Ewing at Gary Ewing Enterprises, unaware that (AFAIK) they are actually at a meeting for Apolune and Abby Ewing. Gary of course arrives too late to get in on the gag, just as Abby planned it, and just in time for her to shrug him off to go fūck Greg Sumner. While newly actualized as a businessman and power broker over the last year in his own mold and towards his own interests (environmentalism, conservation, clean energy, etc.), Gary is clearly still naive about the kind of corporate machinations that Abby lives for. As long as he's got his ranch, his horses, is putting his money towards good projects and has a cute blonde by his side on horseback, his wife reasons that he can be handled. Per this episode and some discussion in the next one (where Abby makes it clear Cathy can do anything she has to to keep Gary occupied short of sleeping with him) I assume that is the reason Abby hired Cathy, to keep him off her back in the boardroom. Which means she did so before the whirlwind wedding. How long has she been planning this? I know there's some fog of war BTS as to when they decided Cathy was not a wholly villainous character who would gaslight Gary as was allegedly the original plan, and I believe there's some talk of how they didn't know Abby would be behind Cathy initially when they started the story. I am very curious as to how this is going to unfold. Ben and Val are now officially 'falling in love' per the script, which of course means she is knocked up by Garrehhh. Again, would've probably been more shocking for the audience without the damn teaser. Val and Mack commiserate about Karen late in this episode, and there's a sweet scene where Val confides in him about her pregnancy instead. Mack is fulsome and overjoyed, even after she explains the situation; non-judgmental despite his inherent machismo, he's a good friend, understanding her mixed emotions but helping her hold onto the happiness first and foremost. That's a unique take in Who's the Daddy (or rather, The Wrong Daddy) stories like these on most soaps, where often people simply burst into tears of shame first and find the positive side later. Doesn't happen here. Lilimae is now meditating and doing yoga in the living room, because of course she is. There's still clear tension with Val over Ben, and the recurring co-dependency and passive aggression that lines the edges of their mother-daughter bond even after all these years is still very real. But so is their love and devotion, however codependent - Val’s new book Nashville Junction being dedicated to Lilimae and her life was genuinely touching. You melt with Julie Harris just from the look on her face. She starts to soften up to Ben after this and invites him over, but stiffens up when she realizes Ben read the new book before she did. Here, Lilimae remains fragile; her trauma and recurring emotional vulnerability did not die with Chip (who I think is still the primary source, and who she continues to identify Ben with), it's lasting. Karen is still drifting through space as the family struggles to cope with the elephant in the room, her drug habit. Karen goes through the motions of domestic minutiae, cooking and doing chores but she's lost in a fog of depression and confusion as her mind glazes and ices over. She forgets all about going to work at KL Motors, says and does things that are increasingly non sequiturs. Seeing Michele Lee like this is really frightening, because it's so far from who she's ever been on this show. Val tries to be the rock for Karen here, invoking her experience with Gary's alcoholism and JVA is amazing with this stuff, never the cornpone naïf again, using the same strength she showed with Gary in jail at the end of last season. "I love you," she tells Karen. "I love you as much as I've ever loved anyone." But Karen isn't ready. Here too is where Lee's performance is so brilliant - as I said last time, Karen's not simply vague and glassy and without emotion; the emotion is still there, but the sobbing and anguish is all locked behind those incredibly lost eyes. Her body quakes and shudders with pain as Val leaves, but nothing emerges and the melancholy dream she's lost in doesn't fade. It's exquisite physical modulation work. Mack's crooked assistant, the oldest living Confederate widow, is clearly in with Wolfbridge - she's fired! "Not even an argument," Mack grumbles as she walks out without a word. He's everywhere this week, poking into Wolfbridge-aligned construction sites (all built to sub-standard, all insured by Wolfbridge when they inevitably collapse and kill people - something again still relevant today after a rash of high-profile building collapses in the last few years). The mysterious limo meetings for Sumner and his Wolfbridge contacts continue, and I believe this is and has always been the great Joseph Chapman as Mark St. Claire (who becomes more prominent in the next episode) with Sumner in these meetings though I may be wrong on when he debuted. That same blandly anodyne line that he's been using for many episodes - "the feeling is very strong about this, Greg" - is straight out of something like The Parallax View, uniquely threatening and ominous when delivered by St. Claire c/o his shadowy overlords. Sumner now has to choose between his secret empire and Mack, and if you've already watched more (as I have) you know where that's going and boy is it a doozy. Sumner's absent wife Jane has finally arrived, played by Millie Perkins of The Diary of Anne Frank (yes, she was Anne Frank; yes, the one you saw in school) and Monte Hellman's The Shooting fame! Blast from the past. Breezing into Sumner campaign headquarters, Jane instantly sees through Abby Ewing even as Greg manfully feigns ignorance of who she is (prompting a hilarious death stare from Donna Mills - Abby can't handle being thrown over in public even for another man's wife, going so far as to pout to a strangely apologetic Mary Frances about it). It's clear there's few secrets between Greg and Jane, and the vague sadness over their broken marriage is not a going concern for either of them though Mary Frances remains an issue. But Jane clearly has his number: "Politics is not just a job to him," she tells their daughter. "It's the way he's able to give and receive love." There's a concept that takes some unpacking. Laura enjoys watching Abby squirm over Greg at work too; he's under her skin, perhaps permanently. Again, like Karen, this is a mode this season which we've never seen Abby in before. It's fitting and hilarious that Sumner then quotes Henry Kissinger to seduce the spurned woman - 'power is the ultimate aphrodisiac' - I mean, who else for her or for the kind of politician Sumner has become? Jane Sumner and Karen have an interesting moment at the MacKenzies' as Karen is crumbling inside, going blank into the fog for a moment while they talk mothers and daughters. Is it because of the narcotized haze or because the pain of the unspoken invocation of Diana is too much and she's curling inward to try to escape the parallel? Karen and Mack have some catharsis together as he tries to cut into her, invoking his parents' loveless marriage vs. their loving one and how he's committed to her even in the hard times - it's a great speech, but she's still not there. Sumner re-charms Abby with a rose in his teeth and 'bonsoir, baby.' I've heard suggestions that this was one of Devane's many improvisations, but I have no idea. Is Sumner the most exciting man Abby's ever known? It certainly seems like it. More on that later. At the close of this episode Val and Gary have their first run-in that I can recall since he stood her up, which isn't really mentioned. Instead there's some bittersweet small talk, even though everything's still there for them. The difference is Gary now knows when to pull away. Episode 14 (Secrets Cry Aloud): Well, the whole MacKenzie family is working on Sumner's campaign including a drugged-up Karen who can barely get through cold-calling voters. I was almost as terrified as she is when she realizes she has a speech to give at this upcoming event and praying for her not to bomb, but it goes even worse than I expected. There's a lovely scene after Lilimae discovers Val is pregnant (by snooping, naturally) where Lilimae finally reflects openly on abandoning her daughter in her time of need with baby Lucy. Val having kids (we all know it's plural) again seems surreal still to me, even if I know how integral the upcoming storyline is; so much of her character thus far is defined by the life, youth and family she lost long ago. Anyway, Lilimae owns her guilt over Val here and it's very strong stuff. That being said I give her keeping her mouth shut about the baby/babies about 45 minutes. I guess Abby really is using Cathy simply to distract Gary from Apolune. It is insane to realize how long she must have been planning this. The umbrella story is now flowing out to every end of the canvas in even more deft ways that seemed almost imperceptible initially; not only is the whole MacKenzie family working the campaign but Ben's beachside neighbors are all being pressured to sell to Lotus Point. And once he's home we have Mack eager to leak his side of the story to the press, while his office, car and later home are ransacked. It's strange to see Laura and Abby openly conspiring to buy out homeowners for shopping malls and office complexes - remember the cul-de-sac banding together in the name of community preservation in the first two seasons? But that was the last embers of the '70s, this is now. Laura, for her part, remembers on some level and feels the weight and guilt of it. Abby less so: "This is the way the game is played. If you don't have the stomach for it you can always get out." Meanwhile, she sends her husband off for more prize horses. I’m just putting this out there: Ben's beachhouse is insanely gorgeous and a considerable piece of beach property, almost as impressive as Gary and Abby's old place, and he'd be crazy to move into Val's house in the cul-de-sac which IMO is smaller than this. He must be independently wealthy or a very renowned journalist indeed. Lilimae thinks he's the daddy of course, and comes around with baked goods; Ben wisely plays along as Lilimae spills the beans in under 20 minutes, not 45 after all. Val tells him the truth straight out because that's who she is, and he walks out. The butcher Cathy with the blunt pixie cut seems a more interesting and equal match for Gary than Ciji as they cuddle up at the old horsewoman's place out of town (played by old Hollywood star Ann Doran, I believe). A candid conversation ensues as Cathy asks if he ever slept with Ciji. I wondered how Gary would answer this time and I'm glad they kept it as ambiguous as in the past: "I don’t think so." Cathy: Are you sorry that you were never lovers? Gary: Yeah. The two of them leave it there in the night, but almost succumb in the morning - and it's Gary who pulls back in another character re-defining moment. "All my life I've drifted into things. I've let things happen to me without thinking about the consequences ahead of time." Now that he's sober he tells Cathy he refuses to live a double life; he has to take his life in his own hands and 'make choices,' including committing to Abby. "I can’t choose this," he declares. "I have to choose my marriage." It's too bad he hasn't had his eyes fully opened about his business yet. Laura gets even guiltier talking with Ben's old neighbor couple, the Marcuses. I'm surprised and impressed they're playing this beat with her. I've heard people say Laura becomes more of a supporting player until she is written out, but I don't think her role is wholly supporting this season; I think it's still just integral enough so far, so deeply intertwined with (surprisingly) Abby, Gary and soon perhaps Greg. At this neighborhood event (I guess for Seaview Circle, as the first speaker claims her as 'one of their own'), Karen is out of happy pills and not doing so hot! Frazzled by withdrawal, she dissolves into incoherence and one of the most gruesome cringe sequences I can recall. Again, seeing Karen falter in an arena and a setting she usually excels in is just painful; I couldn't look directly at the screen. When she's carted out stuttering the words 'not only' over and over like a broken toy, utterly confused and frightened, there's no reaction the audience can have other than being simply aghast. This story was and continues to be going forward incredibly courageous and unselfish work from Michele Lee, including when she finally collapses in the shower at the end after her last desperate refill. Val tries to nurse Karen at her place, only for Karen to ransack her bathroom for more pills. The lighting, shadow and angles are amazing as Mack comes home to find the house torn apart. It's pretty telling that at first I didn't know if this was Wolfbridge or Karen looking for more pills. Sumner is unnerved by Laura having his number with Abby - "I've known women like that." A portent of things to come? Sumner: You're an expensive woman, you could be costing me too much. Abby: I'll get you more than I could ever cost you, you can count on that. Amazingly, Abby is already swearing fealty to Greg and support in 'not just this election but all the others' - she wants to be his First Lady, undercover or otherwise. WTF? I can only conclude that Abby is this down bad for Sumner this fast because Henry Kissinger was right: power is the ultimate aphrodisiac, and politico phenom Greg trumps late-in-life businessman Gary any time. He has her in the palm of his hand so far. Mack is heated with Greg about the pressure campaign against him, while Greg remains muted, politic and less than supportive. This only leads Mack to go directly to a gaggle of press. But here's where the show throws another curve: Greg's longtime contact, Mark St. Claire from Wolfbridge, hooks directly into Lotus Point. Abby and Lotus Point quickly become more pawns of the Wolfbridge Group as St. Claire high-pressures her; he knows everything about Apolune, wants in immediately despite his promises of full-service investment, and she instantly balks where I thought she might go for it. (She can obviously tell Wolfbridge is bad news and organized crime just from his pressure tactics; is obvious criminality Abby's limit after what happened to Sid?) "We remove obstacles," St. Claire explains mildly. "Consider the Marcuses neutralized." Oh no! This entire umbrella story has been put together meticulously from the first vague mentions of a property Karen's uncle owned on the beach, a poster for Greg Sumner, a handsome reporter who romanced Val and a job Mack was cajoled into taking. Now everyone's in it. Absolutely brilliant work building all this up separately and waiting this long - I have rarely seen anything like it, on daytime or certainly on primetime. Next up: Bill Duke Hours!

Yeah, he is a terrible hatchet man trying to stem the tide in the worst ways, but this problem is all of both companies' own making. Last week House Party was not going to be released at all; now it is, because they're desperate for a few more bucks. I'm willing to bet they do not have the funds to complete Aquaman at this stage.

We're so OT here, but yes - Aquaman 2 now allegedly coming out over a full year later and it's not finished (and I doubt they have the money to finish its VFX). Half their slate of movies now having no release date as of today. I've never seen anything like this in the modern era. The reason they're cutting so much content from HBO Max is because it's a desperate fire sale.

I think Holly's book said that was Kathy Glass (and presumably Ed and Carla's wedding). But I don't have it in front of me.

It's apparently because of all Discovery's added debt since the merger, not that WB was making brilliant choices beforehand. What a disaster.

Speaking of poor HBO Max which has been shat on by Discovery, it gets better/worse over there:

I don't think doing the thing with the Hayeses is a bad idea at all. It's a neat promotional opportunity, and the fact is there's a lot of older fans who are still slow to adapt if they don't have a service already, usually hooked in by younger relatives. I will never forget the days of Facebook women asking how to "log in to the Hula" for AMC and OLTL. The real problem is the way this is being done - at the last minute seemingly, with minimal PR rollout and promotion even now less than two weeks away, like they're shoving an unwanted relation off onto the equally struggling platform and telling them it's their job to keep Peacock alive or die.

This, the DAYS move and the just-announced Halloween Ends simultaneous streaming release with theaters are all moves to desperately shore up the service.

For a minute there I thought they were about to give Obrecht a tribute episode and was prepared to lose my mind. I should elaborate on the above: I have no beef with Kathleen Gati; she does a great job. I remember her first day onscreen and she did grab me, and I wasn't surprised they kept using her. Obrecht was and is a fun recurring character. What I objected to later was what Ron Carlivati in particular does with virtually all villainous characters in later years of his career; he doesn't just sand off their edges and lean into camp to try to make them more superficially 'fun' (we can point to many examples at DAYS); he refuses to properly rehabilitate them or make them pay for their crimes (again, all of his soaps), while often simply attempting to devalue other heroic characters to try to make them morally 'equal' instead. It was regularly suggested in those years that Anna and Obrecht were 'the same' because Anna had conspired to try to kill Faison and hide his murder. That doesn't make them the same at all - Faison was a mad dog who had destroyed Anna's life and terrorized her family for decades. Obrecht was a willing participant in international terrorism and unethical medical experiments on innocent people. And when Obrecht was finally caught and Robin was freed, they went straight to having Obrecht get off scot-free, get a job at GH and start performing high camp musical numbers for everyone. It's great that Gati can sing and dance, and I enjoy the chemistry she has with people like Kin Shriner. But I'll never accept Obrecht as a part of the everyday canvas who people just are okay with having around. I do not buy into her twisted relationship with her daughter or her dead plastic son. No matter how many times she sings torch songs, I won't buy it. I have no problem with Gati coming in and out as Obrecht to stir up trouble on a semi-regular basis; she should keep doing that in a different way from how she is on the canvas now. I enjoy her work. But I don't forget who she is, and part of that is because TPTB have simply failed to deliver on making Obrecht as nuanced or rehabilitated a character as they clearly want her to be. Gati does great work, but she can't outrun really facile writing.

I thought Nick Stabile was terrible and embarrassing tbh. Just a random white dude playing the role seeming like a soccer dad. He was cute on Sunset Beach 25 years ago, but no. I'd give Coloma a chance with better writing.

For one thing, the lights were low. I am curious when the cancellation bell began ringing for GL as early as this, and what factors or circumstances led to it. I didn't know it was a going concern this early.

Reminds me of a terrible old commercial jingle: "$1.99, are you out of your mind?!"

The recast worked initially IMO, but the more they lean into conventional schmoopy romance with them the more embarrassing it gets and he seems like a trophy stud. Coloma's limits are also increasingly apparent, not that the writing is helping. It sounds like Tyler Christopher is doing much better these days and I'm glad, but from what he's candidly said about his illnesses and addiction I don't know that returning to GH would be good for his wellbeing any time soon. Nonetheless, he's probably the only Nikolas who can stand up against West unless MC improves or the writing does. I have said it before and I will say it again: I would have Victor force Laura into a marriage of convenience for a year or so over some Cassadine skullduggery. It would never turn romantic or sexual in any way but those two would a blast together to just clash nonstop, and you could play the drama with poor Kevin (who would ultimately go back to Lucy, while Laura would get a dashing new man at the end of it all).

Did Billy ever go to proper AA? Is he on the wagon? I can't even remember now.

It seems literally everyone at the show, from Ellen Holly to Erika Slezak and Bob Woods, hated him except for Joe Stuart. IIRC Morgan Freeman was also in the mix for the role, while I think Holly said she lobbied for her friend J.A. Preston (from Hill Street Blues, among other things) to get it.

Episode 12 (Denials): Chip is dead and I'm glad! They do a great job in this ep of dealing with the ensemble reactions and letting those beats play out. Starting with the response at the MacKenzie house vs. Westfork is a great touch, and Karen's very quiet, very numb drugged-up dismissal is really fascinating. The beauty of this performance, which I'll return to later, is that Michele Lee doesn't play it as though Karen is too doped up to have emotions or care. She very clearly is hit hard by the news about Chip and subsequent discussion of Diana - you can see it in her eyes and on her face - but she is drowning in a narcotic fugue which is the only way she can bear to process any of the things happening to her. So instead she just asks her son "would you set the table?" in response to the news, and it's heartwrenching. The ripple effect through the cast continues as Gary tells Abby he wants Diana out of Westfork (and rightly so), while Lilimae begins to process. Apparently her hearing over the hit and run was offscreen (whatever!) but she is still not at well, struggling to piece herself together, but we'll get to that too. Back at the ranch, Diana seems almost catatonic at first until she starts lashing out at everyone, telling Abby she wants to 'cherish the pain' of losing Chip - because of course she does, teenage drama is how she lives her entire life - and then having an absolutely repugnant conversation with Cathy, talking about how evil Ciji was and blaming the dead woman for everything. She seems perversely proud of how no one (and her mother most of all who she name-drops, because everything always goes back to Karen and family drama for Diana) could break her and her murderous man up. Please get her professional help and evict her from this ranch. I have just discovered Diana is apparently hanging around into early Season 6 and I am so ready to tap out on her. More All the President’s Men meetings in parking lots and construction sites for Mack and his mole in Wolfbridge. They've been made and the stool pigeon wants to bolt! Mack and Sumner clash over his targeting the bad guys and having a tail put on him - again, Sumner still seems to be getting played as an antagonist and troublemaker, albeit a nuanced, layered and charming one. I will have to dig into the KL interviews out there to see if I can find when they knew for certain he would stay beyond the season. I know it was supposedly an open-ended commitment but they thought he might only be there for the arc at first, until William Devane settled into how Knots did things. Karen responds to the current drama with continued lethargy, shellshock and dependency on her pills- the image of her staring at afternoon TV in her bathrobe was a lot. Chip/Tony's visiting sister Angie shows up and is all dollars and cents while Karen writhes at her very presence and the mention of Chip's name, with Angie wanting to know who'll pay for the funeral of her admittedly-worthless brother, and that seems to just about fit. There's a sliver of insight into the Fenice family's past, and how "Tony" was bad news even as a little boy, a creepy window into a shadowy before. "Tony always wanted the American dream," Angie says ruefully. That's not an entirely inaccurate take when you look at the worst of the American dream, especially in the '80s. When Cathy flees Westfork after Diana's screed, she heads to some dive with her old school buddies where improbably, the girl who 'can't sing' is in fact another incredible singer, courtesy of Lisa Hartman seizing the Stranger Things 4 spirit of summer 2022 and belting out Journey's 'Separate Ways" with inimitable power, infatuating a following Gary all over again. Are they really going to claim she just dabbled in singing before this? Come on. Laura and Ben have some surprising interaction in this episode in the cul-de-sac, first at Val's and then at Laura's, a house we haven't seen in ages, where we get a surprise glimpse of baby Jason who's gotten awfully big. Laura dummies up about Lotus Point when questioned; Ben is somehow already onto the property, apparently because Sumner has stuck his hand in re: Abby's variance. This is where we see the tentacles of an umbrella story unfurling into every aspect of the canvas in ways I hadn't expected. Not long after, we get our first meeting between Greg and Laura in his limo, where they joust about the variance and Lotus Point; Greg keeps her at bay, but he's already all smiles and charm, already flirting. Laura is clearly amused by him but doesn't want to be. Which begs another question: When did TPTB know they were going to try Greg and Laura? After this episode? Their chemistry is very intriguing here though not yet as incandescent as Mills and Devane (or McCashin and Shackelford, for that matter). Val finally admits that Lilimae is equating Ben with Chip, which I was waiting for. Julie Harris puts on a real clinic in this episode, with her amazing monologue at Chip's coffin where she talks about how even now she's searching for some human core of him, some 'private moment' where he could connect to the same kind of emotions - shame, guilt, love - that others feel about him. Later, her breakdown at a simple dinner at home is just brutal as the shame and horror of what she did to Chip (who deserved it!) finally overcomes her and she collapses in Val's arms. There's an ugly but real moment where Lilimae rejects Ben and orders him away when he tries to be of assistance. This is imperfect, flawed human behavior but it's completely real; you feel for Lilimae as Harris does some of her best work and also understand why she can't accept it from poor Ben, even when he's done nothing wrong. You understand both of them. The funeral and eulogy for Chip is from some poor long-suffering man of the cloth drafted for this mess, straining to find something positive to say. But his remarks are oddly apropos, saying Chip wanted to be 'something special and apart, yet part of the whole' and how he 'rewarded' people he cared for him with 'love, which made them feel better about themselves than they ever had before.' That is certainly one spin on his grifting for the sake of a public service! But it makes a sort of perverse sense. Sister Angie calls it a load of bull though, which it is, challenging Diana at the gravesite and calling her just another one of her awful brother's marks who he used. This is absolutely glorious to watch as Diana throws yet another gasping tantrum but for once no one can or will do anything about it to soothe her or bail her out. Diana can't handle someone with no ties or perceived responsibilities to her telling the truth without coddling her. Thank you, Angie, for your service to the state of California and the city of Los Angeles. After the service, Val is already seeing through Karen's alternately placid and icy narcotized facade. Mack sees it too but feels helpless - a man's man impotent in the face of an inner problem, at least for the moment. Eric and Mary Frances commiserate about their moms, and Eric is obviously wise to something being really wrong with his mother. We also get some confirmation Eric is still a high school senior as these two flirt and make out. They really are cute together. Abby and Laura have a great scene trading barbs about Sumner after he alerts Abby to Laura's suspicions re: the variance and Lotus Point, all of which apparently go against Gary's environmental interests. The women both threaten each other, but their threats amount to a scorched earth policy; if one goes down, the other does too. Abby, for her part, gives a shocking admission: She has gambled that even if Laura exposes her, Gary will simply forgive her again - "and if worse comes to worse, I have community property." My jaw dropped when I heard that line in the teaser, and it again makes me wonder if ultimately Gary Ewing was always about the chase for Abby. I really don't know at this point. But back in Garyland, there is a wonderful, insightful interlude where he tells Cathy a dark story about his Dallas childhood, and how he broke his back rodeo-riding on a dare from friends as a teenaged drunk. "Gary, people die from that!" Cathy exclaims. "Yeah, people do," he allows. "I didn't." That's Gary in a nutshell. The glimpses of his Dallas past still ring true and resonate deep at this point in KL history, always adding more layering to an already very shaded character - the moment where he admits Jock seemed 'almost proud' of him for nearly destroying himself seems all too Ewing. "We still don't," Gary admits when asked if they get along better these days. "He's dead." At which point Cathy takes him into her arms and kisses him. I think I'd kind of like to see these two have a real affair - Cathy is more worldly than Ciji. Mack's mole is ready to skip town over the omnipresent Wolfbridge, but Mack gets pulled away from it into a family klatch with Val and Eric over Karen and her pills. The genius of the show's long-standing suburban setup is that both family and friends are close enough, physically/proximity-wise and personally, that anyone can walk in, start these conversations and draw others into it; both Eric and Val worry over Karen, who of course wanders in and explodes opposite Mack when challenged. Seeing Michele Lee so fragile and pathetic in this storyline is consistently disturbing, but her worst moment for herself is clearly the final shot - startled to get a glimpse of herself in the mirror, knowing what she is. As for next time: Did they really have to spoil two big twists in the teaser? Come on, Knots!

I do think Dobbs has made a big difference, and the media has not wanted to acknowledge that or has tried to downplay it as much as possible. There are a handful of articles and some TV punditry indicating it has changed the dynamic of the midterms, but a lot of them still need to believe in a GOP wave for the sake of excitement and keeping the more outspoken libs in their place.

I had no idea Lesley was dating a random Italian dude they brought her in with in the winter and they're still together offscreen. When Nikolas started going on about "Marcello" I had no clue what he was on about and had to google. Good for ol' Lesley I guess.

I don't have a problem with Ava having killed Connie. I do have a problem with the show trying to remake her into a sappy heroine off and on over the years since. That's not who she is. She is a killer, she is not Carly Snyder.

I don't think it's really going to hurt it tbh - those films are big for Blumhouse and it did well in theaters last time for Kills. There's a mild uproar of 'oh, how can they do this to the theatres again??' but Halloween Kills did major box office. This is most likely being done simply to try to shore up Peacock, like the sudden DAYS move. Halloween sells, Peacock doesn't.

Right - I could've sworn I remembered this very pointed interview, but I wasn't 100% sure.

I know she came close to going to AMC. I had heard something about someone (I don't recall who) intervening there before she could, but I may be wrong about that. I know Marcy Walker was allegedly very concerned about it after her GL stint went south, something she supposedly blamed Jill for.

I have a feeling she either thought it was too soon after the DID saga or that she didn't want Dorian and Viki fighting over a man.