I’m up to July 8, 1996.
Aww, we just lost Ed Bauer in late June. He left to go on assignment in Africa. I don’t know if this was the actor’s decision or the show’s, but it’s sad to see a long-time vet go like this. Granted, he hasn’t really had a storyline in a year, since Eve died, but sad nonetheless that he won’t be floating around the hospital or reprimanding Michelle for dressing too provocatively. At least they held a nice going away party for him, with most of the cast there in attendance. It was a nice sendoff. Oh they also had the HIV/AIDS program coordinator from the hospital, who got to dance with Lucy. That was a nice homage and followup to the story from last year.
There were some strong scenes between Rick and Michelle during the 4th of July, reminiscing about their past Bauer BBQs they had and how sad it is without Ed this year. Also with Michelle and Abby, where she told her about her grandma and their wonderful traditions. I do love Abby, she’s very sweet and way easier to watch outside of her Amish storyline. Rick is very kind to her and it really makes me like him.
Ugh, what a sad day. Rick Hearst has left, unceremoniously. His last scene was at Ed’s going away party, and had nothing to do with him, sadly. Also, a new J just showed up. A much more handsome guy and a little more grown up, it feels. We’ll see how I like him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a double voice-over in a row like this, where one scene ends with nuA-M showing up and making a statement, then voice over man says the “The role of A-M…” and then immediately a new scene with J starts and he back to back says “And the role of J…”. Wild! We’re losing so many actors and characters this year, again.
Vivian has got to be the worst character right now for me. She is so weak. We’ve had so many repetitive scenes with Vivian and Holly, where Holly tells her to just tell the damn truth so everything can end, and she just whines about how she can’t do it. Meanwhile, she’s cheating on her husband, pissing off her daughter, and now she just told Charles that Griffin is hitting on her. Also, they just brought her into the Alan Spaulding and his Advantage Systems storyline, to bring down the 5th Street restoration, and it’s because the Grants made some bad investments so they wanted to make money. The writers are really driving this family into the ground, but especially Vivian. Prior to this, I rarely saw her, but when she popped in a few times, she always seemed like a fun, stylish yet snooty character who struggled over supporting David and his life decisions, but wow has she really been turned into a horribly weak person.
Dahlia is now dressing up like a prostitute, while a high schooler (what??), and almost got raped (blah). Marcus saved her, but yeah, I’m not feeling this story anymore. And now they’re testing J with Dahlia and having them flirt a lot on the beach, which isn’t making Marcus happy.
I can’t believe A-M announced on TV to all of Springfield the news about Amanda being the Malibu Madame. I know this was probably more of a scandal in the 90s, but today it seems sort of minor in the grand scheme of things haha. I was way more invested in this story in the beginning, when Matt was involved, but it finalized as a big dud.
The “Save our Streets” 5th Street storyline is really, really boring after all these months. At this point, I don’t care who wins - Alan/Amanda or the town of Springfield. All the chanting is laughable and Alan screaming at Buzz/Reva every episode is tiring. 5th Street has been under construction and trying to be ‘saved’ for 18 months now, let’s move on.
Vanessa has now passed out twice, curious to see what’s wrong with her and where this goes (finally something to showcase her!). Also, this is where Zachary finally makes an appearance, to help an alone Vanessa come to. She doesn’t know him, but he knows her name and knows to call Matt. Someone else mentioned this, but I too feel like this was meant to be someone else at first - perhaps Marian (or my wishful thinking haha)? For a month or so, they never show his face, just a hand with a gold (very unisex, at least) bracelet. But then, not showing his face again, has an encounter with Phillip where his voice is very deep, and then again with Ed at Ed’s going away party. Based on their very short conversation, it almost seems like Ed sold him the lighthouse (we’ll see). But now he’s made an appearance in Lucy’s dream where we finally see his face, and then again now with Vanessa. He also showed face to Marah/Shayne and they recognized him, so curious to see who this person finally is and how people know of him or how he seems to know everyone. But, it was odd in the beginning - either he was supposed to be Marian, or they just didn’t have an actor cast yet. Oh and now the recent cliffhanger, Lucy is walking the beach alone, post-fight with A-M, and he’s there to say hello to her. He feels like a God-like being haha. He’s a very pretty, young man, maybe a little too young looking. I haven’t been spoiled at all on who this is and where his story goes, so it’s interesting and one of the few things keeping me going right now.
Finally, the Hart/Dinah/Roger story is so draining and ridiculous. They think we’re going to root for Dinah and Hart, as they carry out this plan to make Roger go insane and become a couple in the process, but they’re really an unlikeable duo now. I used to really ‘love to hate’ Dinah, but now she’s just malicious and unlikeable. There was a really weird campy scene where Roger sees a shirtless man wearing this weird mask after he chugged the vial of Lanatrat. Now Roger is in the hospital and they keep allowing Hart to evade all cops and hospital staff, showing up to haunt Roger at every corner. Now they got Blake, Matt and Vanessa to go along with their plan in making him think he’s crazy. It’s just too much, but I will say Zaslow is giving a great performance with this ridiculous story.
Oh, Quint did return home on an excavating assignment, post-breakup with his 20-something girlfriend. But they stuck him in this stupid story with Roger/Hart/Dinah, and the Native American grounds that he plans to dig up just happened to be exactly where Hart was “buried” LOL - so dumb.
Annie is finally starting to take more pills and make things more interesting, which Phillip is catching onto. They keep having these two run into each other and are building a nice rapport.
The only things keeping me going are the promise of Annie’s pill popping/downward spiral (since I know she’s not Josh’s endgame), Ross/Blake/Rick and the babies, Rick/Abby’s budding relationship, mystery Zachary, and maybe Michelle/J. Everything else is pretty bad and I’m looking forward to getting to the ends of their storylines.
