GL95

Zas is so good during this whole stretch I've been watching. I think sadly this might be one of the last arcs where they truly knew how to use/write Roger effectively. While I don't love RR as a recast, by the time he comes on as Alan they don't know how to do anything in between reformed characters and mustache-twirling villains.

I do think the show benefited from a reset and JFP’s instincts were right about that. As some have said, the Ed/Mo marriage blowing up would have worked just as well if not better. It would have been agonizing for characters like Bridget/Blake/AM for Ed to have a fall from grace and their model for stable family go away. But yes I’m liking this period-it’s the perfect balance of character and plot IMO.

What’s funny is I’d actually thought Frank Beaty would be a good AM replacement had he of course never been Brent. All the most violent villains haha

I just finished July 14, 1993 and a whole bunch has happened in the past 4-5 episodes. Things are really humming right now. The cliffside cabin attack by John Davis is resolved when Roger/Ed decide to work together. Ed hangs out on the roof to jump while Roger lures John Davis out with Holly/Michelle. Ed manages to jump in at the right time and Roger very briefly tussles with Davis before flipping him over the railing where they show him falling very, very far to his presumed death. Ed is hanging off the deck and eventually Roger saves him. In the dead of the night Ed drives Michelle home on a mountain road after having a near death experience, which is an interesting choice given how Maureen died. He and Michelle have a nice bonding moment. Roger and Holly decide to stay overnight and connect, talking about acting like it's the end of the world. They eventually have sex (twice, the second time when Holly is already showing doubt). In the light of day, Holly clearly has regrets and Roger is elated and keeps telling her how much he loves her and eventually proposes. She turns him down, saying that she just wants a calmer life and can't spend the rest of her life defending the shady things he does to the people around her. He gets angry and tells her it's really because she wants Ed, and that now he wishes he'd let Ed die. This sequence of Roger/Holly might be one of the best encapsulations I've seen. You completely understand why Holly was swept away by Roger's heroics (and she was already softening earlier when he was being sweet with Michelle and setting off fireworks gleefully) but also how his immediate leaping all in instantly scares her away. It gets ugly really fast and it really runs the whole gamut of emotions between these two. No one appears to call the cops about John Davis falling off the mountain, but Nick receives something off the wire reporting the whole situation as AM walks in. AM is worried about how Ed/Michelle are doing and rushes over to talk to Ed. There's a cute moment where AM tries to take care of Ed some by offering to make Ed scrambled eggs, which Ed strongly doubts AM is capable of doing (and then says he's not hungry anyhow). Michelle just misses AM but lights up when Ed tells her he was there and that he's coming back later for dinner when he gets off work-I love the moments with tween Michelle when she gets excited by the "cool" adults like Blake/AM/Bridget. It's striking how different stuff like this is just a couple years later when basically no one reacts to people being in danger unless they're directly in the plot. Roger goes immediately home to tell Blake the two of them are going to start their empire at WSPR and Blake gently turns him down saying Ross is her dream now. Roger lashes out and says what does she really have-no ring, no job, etc. Blake stands firm and says she's happy. Ed is worried about Holly when she doesn't come home until later, and Michelle tells him she believes Holly is interested in Roger. When Holly arrives she says Roger asked her to marry him and it was difficult, and Ed straight out asks if they slept together but Holly lies and says no. Hart gets into an altercation with Vinnie, one of the local hoodlums who used to work construction for Dylan but got fired. Hart is upset about Julie/Dylan and basically tries to commit suicide by hoodlum in the pool hall but Bridget talks David into intervening. when they are close to strangling Hart. The owner breaks it up and Hart/Bridget leave. Kat and David head out but are surrounded in the alley but the owner breaks it up again after Vinnie & Co make racist slurs, then say David will regret it. David is sure they're going to the diner because they've harassed Stavros and vandalized the diner before. Kat begs him not to go but he goes anyhow, and David arrives after Stavros has already been beaten with a baseball bat by Vinnie. Kat follows David and is held at knifepoint while Vinnie threatens to rape her and makes a series of grotesque racial slurs towards both David/Kat. This whole scene is pretty shockingly harrowing and brutal. Eventually, David manages to get the knife away and save Kat as Vinnie runs to the alley. David plans to let him go then sees what he did to Stavros, and grabs the knife and heads to the alley. They fight and Vinnie gets stabbed and dies. Kat is in complete shock and David says a prayer and leaves a crying Kat as he hears the police sirens. It turns out Vinnie is the nephew of a police officer. After striking out with Holly/Blake, Roger breaks into Hamp/Gilly's apartment and is sitting in the living room when Gilly arrives. He tells Gilly she has to return to WSPR and threatens to tell Hamp about David's arrest for murder where David took the fall for David when he was 15. Gilly keeps refusing but Hamp walks in. Roger tells Hamp that he can't believe Hamp let Kat date a murderer. Gilly keeps swearing that David isn't a murderer but can't spit out the truth. Hamp doesn't believe her and kicks her out. Roger goes full throttle on painting David as a serial killer. Bridget hides David in the garage apartment since Eve is gone. (I love their friendship and how she never hesitated to help him.) Of course, somehow the hospital has declared Eve well enough to rejoin society and she is ready to move back into the apartment. Bridget/David hide as Ed/Eve try to enter. Gilly tries to get a room as AM is there with a model he knew in NYC who is in town for one night only. Before AM gets to the elevator with her he spots the hotel clerk giving Gilly a hard time about getting a room. AM steps in and throws around the Spaulding name and the hotel clerk gives Gilly a free upgrade. The model has no patience for this and blows him off, which he shrugs off. They bond over how they were the ones responsible for their respective relationships' demise by breaking the trust. AM tries to persuade Gilly to work at the Journal. She's about to go to the room when she sees the news about the manhunt for David. She tells AM she doesn't want to just compete against Roger, she is out for revenge. Early 1993 was a bit slow moving, but they've really ratcheted things up without anything feeling rushed. The David/Kat plot is really gripping, and I am somewhat taken aback by just how overtly racist and brutal the attack was. It's not something I really expect from this show, but it makes it all very gripping.

Ross had some financial issues after the takeover but then got hired on as the corporate lawyer when the Spauldings got it back. I can't remember what it was, but Ross had too much of being bossed around by Alexandra/felt he was being compromised increasingly and quit Spaulding sometime during the custody hearing time period IIRC. (I remember Ross taking a call that annoyed him from Alex while in court and quitting.). What's funny is it didn't seem like Spaulding even had a lawyer once AM was President-Sid was Alan's lawyer and defended Alan in the Brent corporate sabotage hearing that led to his breakup with Gilly. Though no way would Ross have come to work for AM. It actually would've made sense for Ross to be the attorney at Lewis Oil around that time and would've put Van/Ross into regular contact when Dinah got to town. Van being Ross's boss during that period would've created some friction. They had some point where Ross tells Blake she needs to get a job and she briefly was hired by Ed but I can't remember why that fell through.

Having Holly approach Vanessa on Blake's behalf about Dinah rather than Blake trying to get through to Vanessa could've been interesting. I feel like they had a pretty similar journey with their adult daughters. I could see them forging something of a bond out of that though they did a lot off erasure of Blake's past around that point. Barbara Crampton's Mindy did say there was no way Billy could've been Roger's shooter because no way Billy would've missed haha Barbara Crampton's Mindy is so weird because I actually think Barbara Crampton could do the more feisty/tough version of Mindy well given her other roles but instead seemed like she felt she needed to be a vapid version of Kimberly Simms or something, especially in those early days. I actually think once she wasn't saddled with Nick you could see her playing with that more, especially in the scenes with Rick.

In slight fairness to Nick, he doesn't strip naked. He just enters her apartment after she explicitly says she doesn't want him to come in then opens the shower curtain and surprises her while he's fully clothed. She kissed him and they make out in the shower with him fully clothed while getting soaking wet. Given that Mindy was still feeling anxious about Eve breaking into her home and drugging/assaulting her it seemed like a pretty crazy way to have them officially back together. (Nick is pretty lucky because I have a hard time Billy Lewis's daughter who recently had a home break-in is not a gun owner haha)

I actually think the writing doesn’t really completely fall off the cliff until Curlee leaves. Second half of 1994 is probably my least favorite stretch of what I’ve watched recently though 1996 gives it a run for its money. I can’t think of a single bright spot of second half 1994 off the top of my head-front half at least had the Peter custody battle.

I’ve actually really enjoyed much of 1993 especially once Buzz’s identity was revealed and Eve finally went fully crazy among other things they’d built up that dragged a bit to peak. Having seen basically all of 1994–mid 1997 in a fairly recent viewing, I actually found a lot of of second half 1992 hard to watch. Not because it was bad, but things like Holly’s breakdown over Ross/Blake and the Frank/Eleni/AM triangle were things where I knew where the drama led and it was just a lot of misery all around for a stretch. I'm not sure I've seen anyone build a web of lies like AM did where they didn't have the whole house of cards come down at once a la Nadine with the Buzz reveal/Peter paternity all at once. They really slow bled it out. With Marj I generally thought she was good up through the snake bite mess but that was when the writing was at perhaps its lowest point too. I also think Marj/RR sparring was just generally A LOT. That being said I do feel like when they were writing Alex as being vulnerable because she's feeling cast aside that I sympathized with her a lot more than at any point with RR's Alan, and Marj had some nice moments here and there of projecting actual warmth which softened her a bit. I feel like she did a decent job of projecting the sheer loneliness Alex felt sometimes but they just far too often had her on those monologues where she just sounds like a crazy shrew. The Amanda stuff really did her no favors.

I started watching random episodes on Youtube (I checked out the first Peapack episode and that was.....something), but got back to late June/early July 1993. Due to Lewises not named Billy (who appears to be the only one who thinks Nick believing terrible things about Mindy because of Eve seems like something you don't come back from romantically) pushing them together, Nick and Mindy went on a date. Mindy still isn't fully ready to jump back in and tells Nick so when he shows her to the door, and he is displeased when she calls it a night. Mindy goes to take a shower as montage music plays and is fully nude in the shower when Nick decides to just enter her place uninvited and walk into the shower with her. Instead of getting hit upside the head SINCE EVE HAD JUST BROKEN IN TO HURT HER WEEKS BEFORE, Mindy pulls him into the shower and they make out in the shower then have sex. Ed visits Eve at the psychiatric hospital again and says he's checking her out for dinner. She asks for how long and he says until 9 pm and she complains it's not long enough. He suggests they go to Clayton (without saying it would show she's clearly not sane again if she thinks going out in public in Springfield would be a good idea) but she says seeing new places would just be too upsetting so Ed relents and takes her to the country club. Of course Nick and Mindy are there as a couple and she runs into Mindy in the huge women's room lounge. Eve thanks Mindy for not pressing charges and that she really wants to thank her, and Mindy says it's really not necessary but Eve says no she feels she must in a crazy sounding voice. I find it very hard to believe the Lewis clan just shrugged off Eve's actions not only hurting Mindy but endangering Little Bill (inadvertently but still). AM takes a meeting with Blake/Glen Taggart (I sort of love Glenn Taggart just randomly popping up as a board member through the years played by the same actor) about ad space for Taggart's company in the Journal. (Nick apparently was supposed to go but goes to swim with Mindy instead.) AM is very excited about it because the Journal needs cash, then a little of the Old Blake crops up and she says that for this to happen she also wants them to run paid for pro-Spaulding press releases. AM flat out refuses at first, then Taggart spills that Spaulding is bleeding money and AM's ears perk up. Blake convinces him to take the deal by suggesting he might as well take the money Roger/Jenna are freely spending if he wants Spaulding to be vulnerable and she says he didn't hear it from her. The seed is planted for AM to plot to find a way to get Spaulding back. Blake/AM have some flirty old flame banter that a JVD stand-in Ross eavesdrops on. When Ross does approach them AM pulls him aside and says he thinks there's vulnerabilities at Spaulding and wants to know if Ross is in once AM launches an actual plan-Ross is skeptical AM can do it but doesn't say no. Jenna like every love interest of Roger's is beginning to suspect he's not over Holly. She fires him from Spaulding and Roger does a lot of smooth talking to try wiggle out of it. She tells him she's learned a lot (she's been getting tutored on Spaulding by Henry) and reminds him she is the one actually in charge. He says he's not in love with Holly but just is obsessed with making amends for the past-she sort of buys this and tells him that she thinks it's time for them to get married which will prove to Jenna he really is over Holly. Roger says no, it's not the time. He walks out of a board meeting and his promptly held at gunpoint by John Davis who is demanding his $10 million for taking the fall in the foundation embezzlement plot. Roger of course has nothing now after being ousted by Jenna. Holly takes Michelle to a cabin deep in the mountains with a giant cliff that I did not think would be possible in driving distance of Springfield, but the topography of the Springfield region is forever a mystery. They have a nice dinner after a red herring where Michelle climbs onto the cliff under the house to pick flowers and Holly can't find her at first. Eventually Roger shows up wishing them a happy fourth of July (no Bauer BBQ this year because it's the first July 4th after Maureen died and Ed didn't have it in him) and uses Michelle to persuade Holly into setting off a very elaborate fireworks display. The entire time John Davis is in the area under the deck where Michelle had picked flowers earlier. After Michelle has gone to bed (who weirdly got the bedroom while Holly got the sofa bed but it did fit the plot needs haha) John Davis holds her at gunpoint while Roger is sleeping in the car where Holly told him he had to go. (I loved Holly telling Michelle that decorum does not require inviting someone to spend the night who shows up uninvited-excellent life advice especially on a soap.). Ed calls to check in and Holly manages to tip off that something is wrong without giving it away to John Davis. Dylan announces his engagement to Julie at the country club after Hart tells Bridget he wants to go for a swim (knowing Julie/Dylan are going there for Dylan). Hart is incensed and Bridget is mad at him for using her. (Initially her plan was to stay in with Ed since it was his first post-Maureen 4th and Hart still was trying to talk her into taking him-Ed gave her the go ahead since he was planning to go the mountains). I am truly stunned when Mindy says something about Julie/Dylan dating for a year-it was a pretty monumentally uneventful year outside of her recent makeout session with Hart. Billy buys Vanessa the house where Vanessa remained for the bulk of the rest of the show. She's initially not pleased he did it without her, but then is won over by the house itself and Billy's excitement about it. She admonishes him as only Vanessa can then looks mostly bemused as Billy tries to justify himself but she eventually lets him off the hook and it's cute.

Rather than a PI, they could've had Blake be a crisis manager/fixer. It's interesting to me that making her into a PI even had a lot of natural connection to her being in some sort of business with Ross, which I think actually would have helped them as a couple since Ross is a bit more pliable with the morals when it comes to lawyering. I hated that they made it like a cute little side thing for her to try being a PI when she used to be hyper competent and has a lot more natural PI/business traits than Frank. (There was this run circa 1992 or so where Frank would take a job then someone he is close was the person he found so he had to bow out-I swear he only successfully got paid when AM sent him on distraction missions to get him away from Eleni.)

I initially had started watching when Ross/Blake were firmly together and Dinah was their main point of conflict, and watching the older episodes I think gives it a bit more context. Sherry Stringfield's Blake had a vulnerability and was seeking love (and would do anything for it whether it was her partner's or Roger's love) but also was a chaos agent who similar to her father always had a mixed agenda. Once you see old Blake the Dinah situation is pretty funny because Dinah is really an amateur compared to OG Blake. I haven't watched Ben/Blake in awhile (I didn't love him and more remember Hunt Block as Craig on ATWT who I hated with the fire of a thousand suns) but I feel like two things are pretty constantly happening with Blake once she's with Ross. First, she will forever see Ross as too good for her and lives in terror of the day the other shoe will drop and I think has an inclination to make it a self-fulfilling prophesy. Second, Blake ultimately is too programmed to enjoy drama and chaos. I think to make her work with Ross as a stable couple they should have kept Blake in the corporate orbit where she could've done her scheming at work.

RR’s love interests as Alan served two purposes: 1) reinforcing that Alan is a one-note villain and 2) making Marj’s Alex go crazy with jealousy. Alex always had more passion about Alan’s women than he did.

Maureen must have kept ownership as I remember Ed giving Bridget the deed to Company for her birthday/to show he was proud of her at some point. Maybe Hawk/Sarah just ran it?

It was actually sad when Amanda immediately aligned with Alan in 1995/96 given that it was basically the one time AM chose to trust a new arrival family member though all that was such a cluster.

I felt a few times early 90s they were setting the stage for an AM addiction storyline and I feel like it could’ve been really interesting to explore this assumption that all his issues stem from the Spaulding side of him and he just needs to let his inner Bauer win out. They always hinted at Hope being pretty absent/unengaged with him. It seems he was cursed on both sides really starting with grandparents.

Been watching the Phillip/Blake wedding/Roger return episodes and it’s wild. Roger in the mask squaring off at gun point against Alan who’s faking needing a wheelchair. Phillip and Elizabeth Dennehy’s Blake looking really happy. For some reason Frank is in Phillip’s wedding party-is it because he’s AM’s family at that point? Harley/Sam’s bridesmaid dresses are insane. Alan threatens to blow up everyone at the wedding with a bomb if Roger doesn’t come into the open. Alan is convinced Roger/Blake have been scheming to take over Spaulding. Alan is convinced Phillip would be grateful to him for revealing the truth about Blake and claims to be willing to sacrifice Phillip if he must. Neither Roger or Alan mention Alan has a second son who would be blown up-poor AM is such an afterthought for Alan. Eventually Alan accidentally shoots Phillip intending to shoot Roger as Roger somehow swings from a garland in the mask. I believe this is what sends Alan to jail eventually.

YouTube pushed a 1988 episode-the fashion alone must be checked out. Harley is pure 80s. Frank is wearing high waisted white pants with a tight striped mime type shirt. Alex is wearing a wild red getup. The main plot is Alan seeking an annulment from Reva. Alex is claiming Alan is struggling because this is the first time he’s been in love. Reva is broke and Sarah suddenly starts suggesting Alan really loves Reva and she shouldn’t sign. Sarah tries to make it seem like it’s not about the money until she finally starts hinting at it.

AM isn't at all blameless, but Blake really created a no-win situation for him (and herself). She was consistently aggressively pursuing him both romantically and professionally, and he certainly took advantage of the situation. Almost everything is classic Blake from that period-she gets hurt but a lot is because she set things in motion. AM almost for sure doesn't end up marrying Eleni if she doesn't call immigration, for instance. By the time he marries Eleni, he basically is a jerk if he does anything to threaten their professional relationship but putting up the boundaries he needed to not lead her on were nearly impossible without doing that. But ultimately, as much as she blames AM or Holly, what is the death knell for her was her own deception of calling immigration. (And Eleni figuring out her other more subtle machinations to interfere in the AM/Eleni marriage.) But they have basically everyone in Blake's life not named Holly let Blake off the hook for her own part in things. I feel like having her go straight to Ross as a real couple when basically it was yet another relationship that began from her scheming had Blake learning the wrong lessons. Basically the lesson is the "good" ones don't leave and not that if you lie/manipulate constantly you can't ever be secure in a relationship. You can see it being a pretty consistent problem for the entire Bloss relationship. It also doesn't do Ross any favors because Blake feels she can just act vulnerable and get what she wants from Ross and most of the time she's right.

Blake really never paid much of any consequences for her scheming pre-Ross. Watching it in quick succession, Blake’s relationship with Ross is shown as her redemption arc but it’s pretty unearned. Even after starting to develop feelings for Ross her desire to hurt Holly never went away. While AM was stringing her along so she could help him at work, the only reason he was even speaking to her post fake pregnancy/Gary was sheer force of will on her end. AM in the end was the one who got the most villainized out of their relationship-she never really faced much consequence for what she did to AM (and to a lesser extent Phillip). They drew the lesson for her that she chose the wrong men to set up Ross as her salvation, but she did more than her fair share to destroy her other relationships.

Especially since I didn’t watch by then and likely never will, I’m pretty okay head cannon wise that the AM return is for some other mystery spawn of Alan’s since this one didn’t seem to live AM’s life from the 90s.

Marina never thought AM was her dad at any point in her life-but he was married to her aunt since she was young and would’ve only divorced Lucy maybe a year before. Now AM thought she was his until a couple months before she was born and mourned her not being his first awhile so on his end it’s super creepy. (Lucy and AM were both close to Eleni and living in Europe when Eleni went to Greece so hard to believe AM wouldn’t have known Marina.)

The other thing is a Blake/AM kid would have pulled Holly into the Spaulding orbit. It also would’ve created an interesting dynamic with Ed who in many ways would have been like an additional grandfather given his relationship to both Blake/AM. It actually would’ve been pretty great drama for Blake to have been pregnant with AM’s kid from their cabin tryst, as Blake definitely would’ve tried to hide things awhile so Roger wouldn’t have known when he first helped Jenna take over Spaulding. Inadvertently wiping out his future grandkid’s inheritance would have been an interesting twist.

Looking back, it was probably a long-term mistake to have Frank be Marina’s bio dad. They got their short-term “perfect couple” but they could have had more organic consistent tension if Frank is raising AM’s kid and you’d have a second Spaulding in Lizzie’s age range. (I’m also a bit surprised they never had a hunky Eleni brother move to SF.) That being said I would have preferred keeping Marina as Frank’s but have a little dramatic irony and have Blake/AM’s Bauer cabin tryst lead to a kid. Have Ross raise another bio-Spaulding if you want Bloss together. It feels like a missed opportunity to not have a Thorpe/Spaulding kid on the canvas. Reva’s run through the Lewises led to three kids at least and Blake had no kids after cycling through Spauldings.

I just read synopses but wasn’t Ava also a big part of the terrible AM return?