alwaysAMC

LOL really?? Yikes, yeah that's bad. I'm into August now and there's quite a bit of Harley feeling uncomfortable becoming a Spaulding and Phillip giving her money to get ahead in life. She keeps talking about being Buzz's daughter, coming from nothing, and wanting to work hard on her own accord to get ahead in life. She won't let Phillip pay for a new, bigger office, so he actually does it by becoming a fake client, giving her $25K for random tasks, just to get her money... and she then gets poisoned by the apple in the fruit basket, which they think is the fake client until he comes clean about what he did... and then they think Beth did it....and I know it's the start of the Nursery Rhyme storyline haha. More recaps to come this week.

I’m up to July 31, 1998. Vanessa tells Matt she’s taken a part-time role back at Spaulding which upsets him because she didn’t consult him first. He’s concerned about Maureen’s care and Vanessa’ health, but she’s determined to make it work. Phillip proposes to Harley over breakfast in bed with a ring worth over a million dollars. She’s very happy, but nervous to wear it. She later confides in Jenna that she isn’t confident living the Spaulding lifestyle when she came from nothing, but Jenna reassures her. Later at the diner, the ring falls down the garbage disposal and gets messed up. Phillip asks where her ring is and Selena helps cover for her by saying she’s getting it resized. Later, Selena gets the ring fixed for Harley. Through her connections, Drew introduces Jesse to a big art dealer in hopes to kickstart a career. The guy is impressed and offers him a one-night show. Michelle digs into Drew for having ulterior motives and thinks she paid the art dealer off. Michelle voices her concerns to Jesse, who gets miffed by the accusation. Drew tries to convince Jesse the art dealer is serious (even though she did actually pay him to get his attention). Drew is so desperate, she starts to beg Jesse to give her a chance because she claims she’s really good in bed. This girl is embarrassing. A frantic Michael tells Josh that Alan wants to clone Annie, but Josh thinks he’s overreacting. Josh then meets with David and finally tells him about the cloning project and why he wants him to spy on Vicky. At Spaulding, Vicky and Alan talk about cloning Annie and Vanessa appears to overhear when walking in and asks why they’re talking about Annie. She refuses to leave until they give her an answer, but Dolly barges in and interrupts. Alan and Vanessa think it’s Reva, but she introduces herself as her cousin and they’re very confused. When Dolly gets Alan alone, she happily tells him she’s Reva’s clone along with how it all happened. She then says she stole some aging formula, which is what Alan/Vicky were needing. She also tells Alan about Annie/Reva and the plane crash. After Dolly leaves, Josh storms in and Alan tells him he knows everything and wants to have Dolly be the spokesperson for the cloning division of Spaulding LOL, so dumb. Josh warns him against it all. In the lobby, Vicky questions Vanessa about Brandon and Vanessa laters looks into Vicky’s resume because she’s suspicious. Vicky then runs into David and they flirt a bit. David tries to get Vicky to give him a tour of the lab, which Michael just tried to get into but the codes were changed. Vicky tells David no, so he leaves, and she enters the lab. Before the door shuts, Michael comes in and reveals he’s going to blow the place up! This man has really gone off the deep end haha. As they argue, David overhears from the hall and calls Josh to warn him about Michael having a bomb. Josh and David arrive at the lab and try to convince Michael to stop. Alan and security then show up and Michael sets the detonator! He starts to destroy the lab and pushes Josh out the door just as the lab explodes. In true Alan fashion, he is more worried about finding the research while Vicky and Josh are concerned for a dying Michael. Vanessa shows up and is distraught and they tell her about the cloning project (I’m glad they didn’t forget about this friendship!). As Michael is dying, Vanessa tells him he’s a great man and Josh tells him everything was destroyed like he wanted. Vanessa lashes out at Vicky and makes her face the destruction she’s caused. Michael is then pronounced dead. Later, Dolly takes his death hard because he was like her father in a way, and she’s never experienced death before. I thought that was a nice character-driven moment. Vanessa has a vendetta against Vicky now and she does some digging into her past. She confronts Alan and Vicky with information and Vicky pleads her not to say anything, but she finally reveals to Alan that Vicky is his niece. She’s Brandon’s granddaughter (via Sharina and then Victoria), which is part of the Barbados group of the Spaulding family. Alan doesn’t believe it, but Vicky confirms. Alan refuses to give anything to Vicky, and they seem to set up the next Spaulding family feud here. Dinah convinces her nurse to compromise and tell Hart/Cassie that it’s in her best interest to wait for a paternity test to keep her and the baby safe, which Cassie doesn’t buy. Sean is still hiding out at Cassie’s and still remains shirtless, which I don’t mind, but LOL when Cassie asks him if he ever wears a shirt, and then introduces him to her t-shirt collection to use. Blake survived surgery, but they found that the bullet grazed her spinal cord and they’re not sure if she’ll be paralyzed or not. Ross then pulls the gun on Ben again in the hospital. Beth and Hart convince him to finally put the gun down and Hart gives Ben a stern warning. Holly goes outside and takes a sip from her flask (more Holly drinking!). Ross goes to the hospital chapel and prays. Frank then shows up and both men want the other arrested. They give their sides of the story, but it all comes down to Blake’s version to corroborate the correct story. Blake wakes up and wonders why Frank is there, but then screams out that she can’t feel her legs. She also doesn’t remember being shot and then Frank privately asks Lillian to order a rape test. Blake starts to have flashbacks of everything, but can’t remember exactly. She gets to see Ben and tells Frank Ben couldn’t have raped her. Frank then finds Ross and arrests him. He tells Ross the rape tests were inconclusive. Dinah sees Blake and tells her Ross is in jail and she knows she had sex with Ben, calling her a slut. Sean shows up to the hospital after Cassie gets the call about Blake, and come to find out, Ben is the one who helped set him up for murder. Sean then reveals he knows Ben raped a woman in his past. He later tells Cassie about Ben, and Dinah sees them together. Later at the police station, she sees the wanted posted for Sean and realizes who he is. She goes to Cassie’s and finds him there, pretending to be a friend, but he is on to her. She goes to Hart/Cassie and reveals Cassie has a man at her place, but when they go back to look, Sean is gone and Cassie laughs at her. Sean then confronts Dinah alone. He realizes she’s Ross’ daughter and they realize they have a common enemy in Ben. Rick talks to Holly about how much stress she’s under and how he and Abby would be happy to babysit the kids more often. Hart overhears and randomly shows concern about Rick and his motives. He tells Holly that Rick may want full custody of his son and he’ll fight against Rick taking the kid away from Blake. The July 29th episode has wonderful flashbacks of Holly and Roger, one in particular when he raped her long ago. They are drawing a lot of comparisons to Blake’s infatuation with Ben to Holly’s infatuation with Roger, and Holly keeps pressing Blake not to make the same mistake she did and needs to go back to Ross. She even suggests that Blake tells people she was raped just to get Ben out of their lives so they can move on. I don’t really like this idea, but I get her motivation. On the July 31st episode, a new character Teresa (Teri) DeMarco shows up to the hospital to remove Ben from Blake’s room. Frank introduces her as a new detective that transferred to SF from Detroit. She’s tasked to figure out what really happened between Ross/Ben/Blake. *The actress playing Teri is Signy Coleman, who was once married to Vincent Irizarry! Small world. We also have a new actress playing Marah on the July 31st episode - Lauren Mayhew, replacing the long-standing Kimberly J. Brown. I wonder why they switched. Kimberly was in that role so long and this new actress isn’t much older, so they didn’t age/SORAS Marah. Weird timing too, right in the middle of the clone storyline. Oh I just Googled it, Halloweentown came out in 1998, so I guess she went on to bigger and better things, good for her!

I find Blake to be SO self-destructive, so far. Ross gives her so many opportunities to tell the truth and come clean, consequence free, and she just doesn't. Sparring with Dinah, testifying against Roger, sleeping with Rick, the Ben situation, etc... that's one thing about Blake that drives me crazy LOL. I do love how during this Ben storyline, there are parallels to Holly/Roger... with Holly pleading with Blake not to make the same mistakes she did (even though I wanted her with Roger).

Alex and Asa is what I remember as a kid, and I really loved it.

Oh yes we did! I'm so excited Vicky is the OG and what a way to celebrate 20 seasons! Personally I think so, but I also get it if you want to jump ahead because there are so many seasons and the first 4-5 seasons look older. It would be sad to miss out on Jeana and Laurie, but if you don't want to start from the beginning, maybe start with Season 5 when Alexis joins, and then Heather soon after. Otherwise Season 9 is pretty GOAT when Shannon joins, which is another good starting point.

Hallelujah! Hopefully the execs/writers/etc are listening.

I cannot wait for this!!! I love the two of them.

Such a terrifying story that lasted for too long. I can't wait to watch.

But wasn't that weird today how she called him her son, and then had to clarify... just left me feeling like she wants more from him... I think the kid playing Rocco is really good. His facial expressions and mannerisms are good and timely, if that makes sense. Better than the kid playing Danny.

Ohh, I didn't realize Sonny and Rick are half-brothers, interesting! So Britt really plans to make Rocco her real son huh, that's also interesting. Lulu will have a fight ahead of her.

Thanks for sharing! She did a great job, I love it. Very cozy and bright. I like the blue and green accents.

I'm glad they're revisiting the Ric thing today, because I've been confused as to why there was no follow-up from Ava/Alexis kidnapping/drugging him for that long.

It's so painfully obvious Vernon isn't the cheating type, so to make us think he may be is silly. Every other line and scene has an innuendo, it's overboard. We know what they're doing... I liked the Smitty/Kat scenes. I'm glad they haven't forgotten about Laura's accident and Leslie running her off the road. Dang, they have a new girl for Derek already - I wonder if she'll be recurring. So after ALL that, Dani and Andre are still going to LA? Just go do the photoshoot - it was Dani's dream and Andre is fine with it. I didn't really buy Dani's reasoning.

LOL - I really hated him in the beginning, but then I thought Ben/Blake got really hot and interesting because of their forbidden flirtation and strong chemistry. I also enjoyed getting to see his softer side with Beth... but I'm starting to really hate him again based on what I've recently been seeing (more recaps coming).

Oh that's cool! I always notice Roger Newman's name in the writing credits because I kept thinking in the beginning of my watch that it was Robert Newman haha. I look forward to seeing him on screen soon!

We don't know yet... Just after Dani texted Andre that she'll see him soon at the airport, she seemingly got another text with news we're unaware of, which she seemed surprised by. Then she rain to the airport and told him the trip is off. I'm hoping we know tomorrow.

Thank you, all - very helpful! LOL at that song too, so true.

Whoa, I didn't realize Daniel Cosgrove was on this show! He isn't in the opening like all other recurring characters (that opening is still seizure-inducing with how fast the faces fly by). Daniel has been on so many soaps. He's gained weight (which of course is fine), and he seems to have a little playful flair to his personality. Happy to see him. I like Laura and Martin's relationship, I hope it continues and he doesn't really backstab her on any occasion. Being new, I know I don't have experience with Willow's prior storylines and acting, but I still see a very young, too innocent looking actress playing this character in this storyline.

Second time in a month too! LOL - I remember Leslie saying it a few weeks or so ago.

Derek and Ashley's storyline really is uninteresting. I'm still trying to figure out if it's the writing, the actors (and their chemistry) or all of the above. I wish I felt differently. LOL at Leslie and her "Mr. Linguine". Much-needed scenes for Ted/Kat today.

I’m up to July 20, 1998. Reva comes up with a plan for the clone and surprises Josh, Cassie, Sean and the kids (Shane/Tammy, Marah is strangely missing) with a visit from her long-lost cousin ‘Dolly’. It’s the clone donning a short red wig, swinging her purse and smacking her chewing gum. Oh brother. When the kids leave, in front of Josh, Dolly presses Reva and Sean if they got romantic and why it took them so long to get off the island, which upsets them both. Dolly continues to press Sean alone about their kiss on the island (and of course they have Sean shirtless throughout these episodes, even when not on the island haha). Later, Dolly takes off the wig and pretends to be Reva and tries to seduce Sean, but he realizes it’s not the real Reva and tells her off. That night, in retaliation, she calls the cops and reports seeing Sean, the runaway fugitive. Later, Sean prepares to leave town but privately admits to Reva he wishes they could be together, but he knows she’s in love with Josh and he respects that. Reva says in another life, maybe they would be together, but she wishes him the best and they say goodbye. How sweet. But, he runs into Dolly, and then the cops show up and she admits she called the police on him. Reva returns and they convince the officer that she was mistaken and the cop leaves. Sean runs off to Cassie’s to hide and takes a shower. After a night drinking with Harley, Cassie returns home, thinks it’s Hart, and gets in the shower. They’re both shocked of course, but I knew this show should go here! I think Cassie/Sean have potential. He explains why he’s there and they bond a little and she lets him stay there overnight. Josh/Michael have breakfast and see Vicky/Alan together, which makes them suspicious. Alan tells Vicky he’s ready to get going with cloning and provides her with a lock of Annie’s hair, which surprises her because he’s pushing too quickly with her first clone attempt. Alan mentions that the only thing Annie had when she escaped was the wedding ring he gave her, and then OMG we have a very quick clip of a woman in all black, face unseen, pawning a wedding ring. Is this Annie??? Anyway, at the next table, Vivian and David are having breakfast and Vivian talks to Alan and asks if he could get David a job at Spaulding. David gets upset and says no, and Vivian says some things never change with David (they don’t get along because they don’t see eye to eye about his career goals, which was a theme years before). Later, David runs into Josh in the hallway and calls Alan scum, and Josh says he has a proposition for David. He wants him to take the job at Spaulding and spy on Vicky and Alan, since David used to work with Frank long ago at his PI firm. David goes to Alan, apologizes, and asks for a job in his security department, which Alan agrees to. Michael catches Vicky in his apartment and threatens to call the police, but she says she has the cloning formula that she stole from him earlier and gave it to Alan. She needs the growing agent formula, but he said it’s destroyed and he’ll never give it to them. Vicky voices her concerns that Alan will do anything to get Annie back now and he needs to help. He kicks her out of his apartment. He later goes to Spaulding Mansion and confronts Alan. They argue, but Michael ultimately leaves and then Alan has flashbacks to good, loving times with Annie. We then see the mysterious woman in black rip up a newspaper annoucement of Josh/Reva getting remarried! Phillip/Harley host Buzz/Jenna for dinner and it’s quite comical, as Buzz keeps making digs at Phillip by joking he’ll be back with Beth by next week with all his flip flopping, etc. Phillip finally convinces him that he’s committed to Harley, and Buzz finally gives his blessing for their marriage. Rob shows up at Dinah’s before he leaves town and finds prenatal vitamins, but she blows it off by saying they’re Vanessa’s. She finally gets Rob to leave, and he later calls Cassie from the airport. He tells her he landed a job in Alaska, but that he and Dinah slept together a couple months ago and she was all over him. Cassie rushes to the hospital, where Dinah and Hart are having their first sonogram. She takes the sonogram picture and taunts Dinah about how much the baby looks like Rob LOL. Dinah says she’s lying and knows she can’t prove it since Rob will be in Alaska and unreachable for months. Hart then demands a paternity test to set the record straight. He takes a blood sample and they should know the results in a week. Dinah secretly tries to bribe the technician to fix the results to show Hart is the father. With the new Bill actor, they’re revisiting the Michelle/Bill relationship. Bill is single, he’s moved back to SF full-time to attend college there, and they’re reminiscing about being kids, supporting each other during Maureen’s death, and their one kiss. I really wish they took the time to do this long ago with Buffington in the role. Elsewhere, Jesse is babysitting Cooper and Drew comes over and admits she was behind the drawings. She says she wanted him to draw her and feel the same way about her as he does with Michelle, but Jesse tells her to find someone else because he’s not interested. They’re watching Cooper and playing with him as Michelle/Bill come in, which upsets Bill (who doesn’t trust Jesse now), and he walks out. Holly gets another telegram from her brother Ken, and tells Ross/Blake that he’s being released from the psychiatric hospital he’s been in for years and plans to see her soon. Ross tells Ben about Blake’s past and how she’s worked hard to find her partner and be happy, which surprisingly gets to Ben emotionally. Ben decides to leave town and move to LA if Ross drops charges against his disbarment, and tells Blake and Beth he’s leaving. Blake seems torn, but ultimately says good riddance and she and Ross make up and have sex, but while they’re in the act, she envisions Ben on top of her instead LOL. Blake just can’t get over this man. Ben and Beth have a nice conversation and decide to take a mini-vacation to Hawaii to get away from their feelings over Blake and Phillip (Lizzie is at camp, so good time for Beth). The next day, Vanessa tells Ross about Ben buying back the pin from the Second Chances charity (from the BBQ auction), and he gets upset because he knows he’ll do something wrong with it. Before she leaves, Vanessa tells him she’s going back to work at Spaulding part-time (hmm). Before leaving, Ben goes to Blake to tell her goodbye. He gives her the pin, which makes her crumble a little. He ends up telling her he loves her and pressures her into telling him that she watched their tape and can’t get her mind off him. He then pulls her into a kiss, which she sort of tries to push off, but he says he loves her and pushes her to admit she wants him and she finally does. She wants him, kisses him back and they seemingly have sex on the couch. After, a shirtless Ben is about to leave and an emotional Blake is still so unsure of what to do, but he kisses her just as Ross walks in! OMG, Ross has a gun and assuming Ben was trying to rape Blake, he shoots at Ben but he hits Blake’s stomach instead! Both men are distraught and call 911, thinking Blake is dead. Blake is rushed to the hospital and treated on. Holly arrives and Ross tells her what happened and she breaks down thinking she’s lost both Meg and Blake now. Beth calls Lillian about going to Hawaii, but Lillian being at the hospital, tells her what happened and Beth rushes to the hospital. Hart also arrives, upset, and Ross tells him that Ben had just raped her, but Ben and Beth both tell him he’s wrong. Ben tells the truth that they both wanted each other, and Ben says if Blake dies, he’ll spend the rest of his life getting revenge.

You are the absolute best, thank you! Thank you again!!!

Oh that's very nice, thank you both!

Ugh, that's annoying then... good villains should have layers, and we should understand and feel for them from time to time.

Man, Drew really isn't likable at all! Do they ever give him redeeming qualities or reasons for us to side with him on anything, or is he just purely a villain? I can't believe he left Ned there having a heart attack, how awful.