beebs

Nah, you're not the only one. Especially all because Sam was addicted to pills that impaired her judgment? Sam ain't THAT smart. It made Don look even dumber than he usually does. And yeah, they made up within a year. It was honestly stupid to me, because it felt like Ann Marcus refused to give that story any long-term fallout, and AFAIC, the breakdown of Sam and Marlena's relationship could've been GREAT, especially since AM introduced Marlena's parents and all. Marlena's tension between knowing that Sam only did what she did because her drug abuse, and the deep mistrust and trauma of being locked away falsely, could've been a GREAT story, but instead, we got....Donna.😬

Exactly how I felt reading through the monthly recaps during the Sam locks Marlena away story. I can just see how absolutely put off viewers would've been after years of Bell and PFS' brilliance to see that mess play out. Not to mention the fact that not only do they NOT look identical, but Sam's voice was markedly lower than even Deidre Hall's voice TODAY. How they expected us to believe that not only her colleagues of over a year, but her intimate partner wouldn't notice the difference beggars belief!

Yep! And Neil wouldn't let up, as he is wont to do. Basically just drove her over the edge (and into the lake?) One of her first episodes after her return in 1979 was the same 3-19-79 episode where Stephanie's in the hospital after trying to pan-fry her hands. But that's the only episode I've seen of hers. She comes off as quite likeable, from what little I see.

And I think at one point, she was so depressed by Neil's philandering, she walked herself into the sea to die by suicide. The hysterectomy was due to cancer so she had to terminate her pregnancy that was a WTD between Chris and Greg, as well. Yikes!

Oh that's been a pet peeve of mine for ages. Mitch Longley being the anomaly that he is in the soap world is yet another damning indictment of the rampant ableism in the industry.

I could see it. I probably also would have not made Paul a retcon secret child of John's from a period when he was front burner in story, but that's for another thread. I also think that they could have found a more organic way to make Will a bit more of a b!tch, almost as a reaction to Sonny. That volatility could have been exciting, and rebelling against Sonny's desire for domestication by sleeping around a bit would have kept things fresh. Hell, tie it to Titan, and bring on one of Sonny's brothers, and have Will hook up with him in an attempt to move up the ladder at work, while claiming he wants to "do it on his own without family help". Almost to justify his desire to sleep around in his own mind. He's Sami and Lucas's son, for God's sake. It's okay to give him SOME edges.

Realistically, the stories I would want to see some of these characters in do play on some of these things, but I think if you commit to fleshing them out in terms of character and family, you can still be compelling beyond just the optics of the story at hand. Having Will have an affair with Paul on DAYS came too soon and the character changed too quickly, but it could have been done much smoother if they had played up Sonny's domineering side, trying to control Will's career (not wanting him working for a Titan company, fearing Will would get sucked into the family mess etc), and Will resenting the interference so much, and resenting Sonny's time he spent living "the gay life" before they met, while Sonny is the only man Will's ever been with. And that led to an eventual affair, and a messy divorce, and saw Will decide to party it up, largely to spite Sonny, who still wants to be with Will, but only on his terms, effectively trying to shove the genie back in the bottle. If you use the domesticated qualities in some of the characters as a means to conflict with the needs of others, it can be used organically without devolving into PSA or stereotype. But it requires gradual movement that daytime is completely disinterested in now. I'll go one further: Terry on GH. I sorta tossed an idea out there to a friend that I wished the show hadn't killed AJ off again, because I'd be down to see him and Terry get together, but not realize she was trans at first, and once he did, he attacked her, but Terry either killed him or severely wounded him. This could lead to a great story of Terry and Liz taking on the great Q money and power, and lawyers, in court. The trial could highlight the class disparity as well as flipping the queer issue of trans women being killed by partners on its head, and giving them something of a voice. Daytime has the room to do something like that, of course. If there was the interest.

Yeaaaah, we were discussing her DAYS run in the DAYS behind-the-scenes thread, and reading through the Daytime Serial Newsletter recaps from her run...it was one show she just did NOT get, and, while it may have played better onscreen, she messed up a LOT of what Pat Falken Smith had set up, and her pacing was...too quick. I'll let you judge for yourself, but the general consensus was that she was a bad bad fit. But yes, everywhere else, particularly in prime time, her work has largely been nothing but praised, and especially her turnaround of KL, so I still have to give her props for that.

That explains why I never saw it. Our cable back then was MacLean-Hunter and we didn't get Bravo/Showcase/Etc. until about 1995? I'll keep my eyes peeled if any more content comes out. I feel like Ann Marcus was, beyond her disastrous DAYS run, considered a pretty solid writer.

That does sound like an interesting plan. It sounds like her return wasn't entirely designed to be so short. I have to wonder what forced her back out so soon.

Yeah, saw that, though going through Capitol's credits from that period, and there's no mention of him that I see (though they could omit writers who aren't writing that particular episode, so who knows?) Just working on a little project for YouTube, and am looking for whatever info I can find.

Random shift in subject, but can we confirm if Reilly's first writing gig in soaps was at RH? I find it fascinating that he worked for so long under PFS in his early years, given what came later, especially at DAYS. Info pre-RH is hard to come by.

There truly rarely is. Bob was an exception, where his death truly only could've led to more story than him staying alive. Stephanie allying with Linda and Alex against Chris and Mary would've been a great set up, especially if Stephanie waited to shock everyone with the news that she was, in fact, Brooke, and had a claim to the estate, throwing her support behind Linda, and screwing Mary out of control. The rivalry between the sisters could've lasted years!

Fair, though there are ways to work around that. I had written in my DAYS '79 blog the idea that Harley had tried to attack Marie perhaps threw him off her and he died falling off the balcony, with Alex showing up the same moment, and Marie having a mental block of the events, thinking Alex did it. But there are certainly other ways that it could have been played and kept Alex around. From the sound of the whole Jessica storyline, they were really looking to soften him into 1981. I don't really think I can buy him as a romantic lead at that point, so it's nice they didn't totally shift him that way and completely have him lose his edge. Love the idea of Linda with Bill, tbh. And I think keeping Linda jockeying for control of Anderson after Bob's death alongside Alex, Chris, and Mary would've been a lot of fun to watch.

Right. Which was silly as well. Why not just recast instead of retelling the story again, minus Alex trying to sleep with his own daughter. I still am baffled by the mysterious dropping of Alex murdering his brother, among other things on Harrower's run. It did reek of interference in some cases, though I think dropping David and Trish's divorce case was down to the fallout of SSH and KS' fistfight. I have to wonder what would've happened had Al Rabin not come in to clear house, because it does sound like the Valentine's Day Massacre was his doing, not Laemmle's, she just got the unenviable task of having to refocus the show in its aftermath. And failed miserably.

For sure. I honestly think that some of the departures were for the best (Nina Laemmle needed to go and FAST, Liz Harrower could've used a co-HW to give most of her stories some more direction, and Ann Marcus really needed someone to reign her in and SLOW her down), but in each case, they left as some interesting story directions were happening, and it's frustrating to see so many of their ideas get nixed midstream. Personally, I understand why they would redirect some of these Julie stories to Marlena, since there was already perfectly good conflict set up in Doug/Lee/Julie that you didn't really need to add another angle to it. Liz Harrower left so much of Lee's backstory dangling that she was pretty much a blank canvas until Laemmle finally gave her a backstory. I do have to wonder if the initial intention was to set up a quad with Kellam and Julie, and Lee and Doug, or if they were setting Lee up to be involved in Liz's story (remember Lee was sleeping with Liz's actor husband in Paris, a thread that, once again, was never revisited).

He just sorta...vanished back to France to hide from his shady underworld boss at the end of 1979, so his girlfriend Mimi came to Salem a couple times in early 1980 to harass Trish about some diamonds she'd taped to the bottom of her desk or something? And we never heard from him again. As for MF's Mary, yeah. It really made no sense. Tomlin/Lisanti did her SO dirty that I honestly think that, combined with the lousy recast, made PFS decide the character was too damaged to keep around. Unfortunate, really.

Something like that. I appreciate Mary as a character in one regard, because she's so complex, and so many possibilities. I still kinda wish they'd gone further with pairing Mary to Steve Olson in an attempt for him to get at Anderson (a plot he cooks up with Linda, of course), it would've been a much more interesting story than Steve's antique canes filled with diamonds. Going back to what we were discussing with Melinda Fee's Mary, it's almost as though they wrote her Mary as an entirely different character, because it makes so little sense to me that she would fixate on a slime like Alex when Chris, who she patched things up with, and continued to care deeply for, was right there. You can say a lot of things about Mary, but she was never stupid. Until then, that is. But absolutely she could be a stick in the mud, yes LOL

LOL, not QUITE. They had a fight over his relationship with Amanda when he came to her place to pick up the rest of his stuff after their breakup, and as he drove away, Mary ran outside and threw a bunch of his clothes at the car in a rage. Chris lost control of the car and hit her.

I mean, he was pretty popular with Barbara Stanger's Mary (though that was never gonna work considering how much the two actors loathed each other), and I recall someone mentioning his pairing with Mary Frann's Amanda was beginning to take root when Mary Frann quit an they scuttled her back to Chicago and her tw@tty husband Greg. But...other than that...yeah, he never really did, did he?

I actually think that's not a bad idea, truly. Y&R's indifference is GH's gain, and Liz needs her father.

So apparently this episode was September 22, 1981 (according to Shawn Stevens's description), and from what I've gathered online, the strike ran from April until July? So this is a couple months post-strike, I think, so from the looks of it, Chastain is HW here.

Judging by the unbridled vitriol Jessica directs at Marie once she does find out the truth, I get the feeling that's precisely the case. Yeah, I really don't understand the whole surrogate business to come, but I'm sure we will get a clearer picture when those months start popping up. It absolutely seems that Jessica was meant to be Laemmle's big young ingenue, but she comes off to me as so prissy and unlikeable, it's hard to see her in that role. I'm sure Jean Bruce Scott was able to soften a lot of those edges we read about here, but the writing really does her no favors.

OKAY onto Part 2 of November 1980, and I gotta say I am seeing some improvements. Let's see what y'all think: PART 2 (November 5-ish – November 19-ish) Marlena is the queen of spite career moves, and accepts Kellam’s permanent position on his staff. Doing what, I have no idea because he DID NOT WIN the election, so I haven’t a clue what he needs a psychiatrist on staff for, particularly when he’s fully committed to being a complete sociopath, himself. Liz remarks that Marlena is being very loyal to Kellam, a statement so weighed down by innuendo, I’m amazed she was able to get it to sail right over Marlena’s head. Don is, as per usual, pissed off at Marlena for taking the job, and tells her that she needs to quit ASAP, as he’s calling a formal inquest into Cassie’s death, and he can’t do that if she’s working for the slimebucket father of the guy who probably killed her. Marlena responds like a bratty teenager on the Jenny Jones show, and says Don’s just jealous of her relationship with Kellam, and refuses to quit her pointless job working for a sociopath, instead demanding Don quit as DA. She tells him that she won’t readjust her entire life around Don’s wants just to appease a cheating husband. Don gets fed up by Marlena’s obstinance, packs a bag and moves into the Salem Inn. When asked by Johnny why the grumpy guy with the perm left in a huff, Marlena explains to Johnny that Don needed time alone to think. Johnny thinks he left because of him (I’m sure it didn’t help matters, but no, it isn’t all about you, Johnny). He then asks if Marlena’s leaving as well, and Marlena hugs him and promises she won’t (who’s gonna pay rent on this place if Marlena moves out as well??) Don, as well as the Salem PD, are certain that Cassie’s death was a result of foul play, and they’re certain Tod had something to do with it, citing inconsistencies between Tod’s accounting of events and eyewitness accounts that say that Cassie was drunkenly headed for Tod’s that night to crash his party. Incidentally, we finally get a consistent spelling on Tod’s name. It’s…one D. Which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. I shall pronounce his name “toad”. I may even start writing it as such, because I am a sh!t disturber like that. Anyway… Jessica is served with a restraining order. Not from anyone in particular, just from the bits of land that are not inside the Salem city limit. I did not know borders could issue restraining orders, but…hey, you learn something new every day. Jessica has another aneurysm, as Alice talks her down, telling her that if she tells the truth, everything will turn out fine. After Alice stops Jessica from freaking out, Jessica calls Toad over to try to convince him to stop lying so that maybe they can stop being suspects at some point. Toad insists they keep lying because if no one breaks rank, he won’t look like the prime suspect. I guess instead, he would rather they ALL be suspects together and the cops won’t be able to pinpoint just him! Yes, I believe he IS, in fact, sober when he visits Jessica, so we can’t blame the sauce for his complete lack of common sense. Alice tells Marie about Jessica’s restraining order, and Marie wants to go comfort Jessica. Alice suggests she don’t, because she may reveal that she’s Marie’s daughter, and you know how Jessica reacts to any and all adverse news. Marie agrees, against her better judgment. Mickey tells Alice and Marie that the police think Jessica is lying to protect Toad (you know, because she IS). Marie calls Alex to try to talk to Jess to get the truth out of her. He agrees. When Alex does visit Jessica, she tries to convince him that she’s telling the whole truth, but Alex knows better, and scolds her for protecting Toad. Jessica cracks, and admits she lied, that Cassie was with Toad the night of the party, but insists her drowning was an accident. Alex isn’t so sure, and tells Jessica as much. Big mistake, as Jessica instinctively stands up for Toad, and stubbornly announces she will keep lying to protect him from going to jail. Max suggests to Kellam that Toad might have actually killed Cassie and that it wasn’t an accident. But he and Kellam also thinks that the police are only suspecting Toad because of Don’s call for an inquest, and that Don only did THAT as revenge against Kellam for kissing Marlena. OOPS! Cassie was pregnant when she died! This’ll give Toad even more motive to kill her. It just gets worse and worse for the guy, doesn’t it? As Mickey and Don talk about this, Mickey asks about Marlena, and Don admits they’ve separated. Mickey suggests Don go see Marlena and have a talk to try to patch things up. Don decides to do just that. At the same time, Kellam is having a similar conversation with Marlena, and even suggests she quit her job working for him to try to relieve any tension between Marlena and Don. Marlena tells him it doesn’t matter, since she and Don have separated. Kellam pretends to be really sad about this, just as Don walks in, immediately misinterprets the scene before him, and huffily announces he’s come to grab more of his things, instead. At the inquest, Kellam makes a point to threaten Don if he slanders Toad. Alex, meanwhile, informs Mickey about Jessica’s lie, and encourages him to get the truth out of her on the stand. On the stand, Don questions Toad about his relationship status with Cassie at the time of her death. Toad claims he saw Cassie a few days before the party, but not that night. Jessica is then asked the same questions, and lies through her teeth, insisting she didn’t see Cassie that night either. Too bad the police had questioned several of Cassie’s friends who testified that Cassie HAD gone to crash Toad’s party the night of her death. The testimony becomes even more inflammatory when the medical examiner reveals that Cassie was three months pregnant at the time of her death. Worse still for Toad, Don calls a passerby who was on his boat the night of the party, and distinctly remembers seeing and especially hearing Toad, Cassie, and Jessica on Toad’s boat that night. He recalled hearing them arguing on the shore, before continuing onto their boat, and remembered hearing Jessica’s and Cassie’s names that night, particularly. OOPS! Back at UH, Josh senses something is up, as Jessica hasn’t been to see him for a number of days. Marie simply tells him she’s in some trouble, but will be okay soon. And what trouble it is. Realizing how deep he’s in now that there are eyewitnesses, Toad asks to be put back on the stand. Once there, Toad admits he did actually see Cassie that night, and that after they dropped Jessica off at the shore, he and Cassie carried on arguing on the boat for a bit. Cassie admitted she was pregnant and insisted they get married. Toad refused, stating that he didn’t love her, then the wave hit, Cassie fell overboard, and Toad dove in to try to find her (unsuccessfully). Jess takes the stand immediately after and corroborates what she was present for that night. Don makes a point to the jury that Toad and Jessica had both lied under oath. Don is now certain that Toad and Jess are GUILTY!!!1 Cassie may have drowned, but was likely knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, so the trick is for the jury to decide if the blow was inflicted intentionally, or accidentally. The jury believes Cassie was knocked out by someone, and Don has Tod and Jessica arrested for Cassie’s murder. Alex goes to Marie to tell her of Jessica’s arrest, hoping Marie will go to Jessica’s side, as she was closer to the girl, but Marie is insistent that Alex do so. Alex presses to know why, thinking Marie’s once again pushing for Alex to play father figure to Jessica again. Marie instead blurts out that Alex IS Jessica’s father. Alex, shocked, asks how Marie knows, and Marie tells him the rest: because Marie is Jessica’s mother! SUDDENLY IT ALL MAKES SENSE! Marie admits she got pregnant by Alex in New York during an edition of “World’s Worst BDSM Sessions”. Marie ran off (presumably after seeing Alex throw his brother off a balcony), and had the baby in a convent. She knows Jessica is that baby because she gave the baby a medallion and Jess has that medallion etc. etc. Alex wonders why Marie gave up their baby, as he would’ve married her. Marie fires back that she wouldn’t have married HIM. Alex is BIG mad, and goes off to the jail to see his kid. Alex doesn’t reveal the truth to her at that moment, instead comforting her and telling Jessica that she’s very special to him. Jessica appreciates the comfort, not questioning his motivation like she constantly does with Marie. Josh is starting to remember some things about the night of his beating, but they’re patchy. He recalls wanting to kill Kellam (that’s more a general mood in Salem, though, so not hard to recall), and then planning to see it through (okay, that’s a little different). It’s only when Mickey tells him of Jessica and Toad’s arrest for Cassie’s murder that Josh’s memory is jogged in a dream: he saw Cassie fall off the boat, and saw Toad jump off the boat after her. Josh remembers going to jump in to follow suit, then wakes up in shock. He must see Marie immediately! Toad and Jessica are released on bail, and Alice and Tom offer her a place to stay until she’s acquitted. Toad, on the other hand, goes home to Kellam, but insists he’ll be moving out the second the trial is over, blaming Kellam for telling Toad to lie to the cops in the first place. When Liz finds out that Kellam is responsible for Toad lying to the cops and getting himself in this huge mess, Liz has ANOTHER go at her father, telling him that she’s moving out as well. Liz is frustrated by her father’s fixation on women he has to manipulate in order to get close to, and orders him to stop chasing after Marlena. She calls out his double standard of chasing after married women he works for when she can’t be with Neil because it might hurt his “image”. Trish actually has something to do for once, and makes an appointment with Neil at the hospital, not because she’s unwell, but because she overheard Neil’s conversation at Doug’s and is concerned he’s slipping back into gambling again. Neil pretends nothing is wrong, which is so convincing that Trish immediately offers Neil money to cover his gambling debts he claims he doesn’t have. Neil thanks her and says he already took care of the debt he claimed he didn’t have five seconds ago. Trish is certain that Neil’s slipping back into gambling to fill the void that losing Liz left in his life, and urges Neil to go talk to Liz again. Neil actually takes Trish’s advice, and calls Liz. Liz agrees to see him, but when Neil tries to convince Liz to forgive him and resume their relationship (now that Kellam’s campaign is over, there really isn’t anything standing in their way), Liz refuses once again. Neil maintains he didn’t take Kellam’s bribe, and accepts responsibility for their breakup, but Liz still can’t get past the pain the breakup caused her. This changes once Liz discovers Kellam convinced her brother, Toad, to lie to the police about what happened the night of Cassie’s death. Suddenly the fog lifts, and she realizes that, OH YEAH, Thing 1 and Thing 2 probably were lying about Neil taking the bribe money, as well! So she goes to pay Neil a visit to try to smooth things over. Neil is thrilled by Liz’s change of heart, but as they’re about to kiss, the phone rings: the bank has refused his $20k loan to cover his gambling debts. Because Neil won’t tell Liz what’s wrong, she figures Neil is shutting her out again, and she leaves AGAIN. Sturm-and-Drang-o-rama. Mary and Leslie are having a screaming match over Mary’s ultimatum about telling Chris the truth: that Alex owns the land the marina is on. At this exact moment, Chris shows up, wondering why they’re using their outdoor voices indoors. Mary leaves, giving Leslie those threatening eyes, and Leslie breaks down and tells Chris that she’s been lying to him. Without even having to say it, Chris immediately guesses that Alex owns the land, and lashes out at her for dealing with the sleazeball, even announcing he’s giving up the project as a result. He notes that, without Mary’s pressure, Leslie would never have told Chris the truth, citing Leslie’s previous closeness with Alex. He feels he can no longer trust Leslie, and plans to go on the road alone to hawk his solar generator. Chris heads immediately over to Alex’s, where he announces he’s breaking his lease. Alex threatens to sue for breach of contract, but Chris suggests Alex sue Leslie instead, since she’s the one who made the deal in the first place. Alex thinks Leslie should keep to their agreement, since “two unemployed newlyweds is very sad”. Chris threatens that Alex will one day get what he deserves (you’re in for a long wait, Chris). Mary is next in line to visit Alex. She finalizes their divorce, while Alex informs her for Chris’ visit, and accuses Mary of trying to split up Chris and Leslie, something she doesn’t deny. However, Mary counters that Alex himself has plenty of cause to want Leslie and Chris apart. Before leaving for his solar panel sales tour, Chris asks Leslie what she’ll do while he’s gone. Leslie says she’ll wait for Chris, but when Chris has a tepid reaction to her desire to pick up where they left off, Leslie takes her engagement ring off, certain that she’s lost him for good. At first, Chris tells her to keep the ring, but Leslie tells him she won’t if it doesn’t mean anything to Chris. Mary’s next order of business is to visit Max, to try to scam a job at Anderson from Chandler Corp. Max is his usual sleazy self, and is sure they can find room for a “beautiful woman like her” in the company (GAG). Afterward, Max pays Leslie a visit to offer HER a position at the Anderson plant as well! Leslie is about to tell Max to shove it, but Maxwell leaves before she can. Lee and Kyle exist again, with Lee teasing Kyle about his attraction to Maggie. When Maggie comes to visit, Kyle immediately leaves, and Lee makes immediate mention of how close they seem to Maggie, and can’t understand why Kyle would bolt from the room like that. In the therapy room later on, Maggie tries to help Kyle, but is shouted down. Maggie leaves, hurt and confused. Oh Maggie, whenever in doubt, if Lee is involved, always assume Lee did something. Lee is delighted she’s wounded Kyle’s ego enough that he’s rejecting Maggie, because apparently Lee is only happy when everyone around her is miserable. Maggie admits to Mickey that she’d become too attached to Kyle, seeing so much of herself in him. She tells Mickey that she wanted to inspire him to live a full, active life with a disability, having her own experience to draw from. So...I have to say, things are moving at a CLIP. It's shocking for me to see so much movement, considering Tomlin's second run as HW was so much slower-paced than this. Yet somehow, I feel like they're hitting every beat? The stories are becoming a bit more interesting and complex than they were under Laemmle, so i will give them props for that, though I'm less than thrilled by the continued nonsense surrounding Kellam. At least his kids are wising up to him.

Okay, so I figure if I cut down my summaries to cover just each issue, maybe I'll be more likely to actually do them? November 1980 was 16 pages long, and my eyes were watering just thinking about it, so here's Part 1 of November 1980, which would be Gary Tomlin/Michelle Poteet-Lisanti's first full month as HWs. PART 1 (October 27 – November 4-ish) Marlena tries to convince Don to go to Kellam’s 21st birthday shindig for his kid who we can’t figure out the spelling of. Don won’t do it, so Marlena goes on her own. Kellam is thrilled, but Marlena explains the reason Don won’t come is because he caught Kellam kissing Marlena. At home Don is caring for Johnny who has exactly zero time for Don. After the party, Marlena tells Don that Kellam has offered Marlena a permanent position on his team after the election. Don is pissed off, yet again, bloviating about how the DA’s wife can’t work for the governor because it’s a conflict of interest. Apparently Don’s never heard of a soft touch. Rando dayplayer Mark brings Jessica to Tod’s party, as per Todd’s plan. Todd leads Jessica to greet Kellam, and Rando mark makes a beeline for the door so that Tod can have some alone time with Jess. Todd’s a big fibber and tells Jessica that Cassie’s been invited (she hasn’t). His fib comes out after about eight drinks, prompting Jessica to feel sorry for Cassie and put off by Tttodd. Dayplayer Mark flees to the disco, where he runs into Cassie. When another random dayplayer friend of theirs mentions the party to Cassie, Cassie realizes something is up and decides to crash the party and make a huge scene. Back at the Chandler mansion, Kellam makes a toast to the drunkard he bore, and the drunkard announces that he’s gonna marry Jessica. Jessica runs away in response, because, even in 1980, consent is still key. Outside the mansion, Jessica gets some more practice sobbing, when Tod comes out. Jess asks how he could embarrass her like that in front of everyone, to which Toddd tells her it was to get even with Kellam for making his 21st birthday into a society event for his campaign, but, like…also that he does want to marry her?? Because that’s supposed to make it alright. Jessica runs off again, and, by the lake, they run into a drunk Cassie. Cassie accuses Ttod of stringing her along when he really wants Jessica, and accuses Jessica of putting on a Little Miss Innocent act, shouting “all the nuns taught was was how to be a liar and a slut!” Tod then thinks it’s a good idea to put the two girls on a boat together? Then lets Jessica off the boat? Maybe he figured Cassie was drunk enough that Jessica would push her overboard?? I’m confused as to why SOD felt I needed to know this information, but anyway. Julie tells Mrs. Chisholm that she knows Joshua is Sunny’s son. Mrs. Chisholm nearly has a coronary, and begs Julie to stop Josh from seeking revenge against Kellam (even though Kellam absolutely deserves to be revenged against). Julie agrees. Mickey tells Josh that Mrs. Chisholm’s story isn’t enough to have Kellam arrested, so Josh does the most logical thing and goes and gets his gun. When Julie goes looking for Josh to stop him revenging at Kellam, she finds an empty room, and an empty gun holster. She panics and runs out into the street, looking for both. Julie manages to chase him all the way to the Chandler house, where she calls out to him before he reaches the door, and tells Josh she knows he’s Sunny’s son. Josh stops and tells Julie he must kill the man who killed his mother. Julie tells him that’s a terrible idea, that Sunny would think it was a terrible idea, and that his bestie/brother Todd would definitely think it’s a bad idea. Josh thinks Tod would probably think it was an a-ok idea, since Ttod doesn’t exactly LOVE Kellam, but he agrees not to kill the a$$h0le, regardless. After promising not to shoot Kellam, Josh asks Julie to go back to Flora. Julie thinks THAT’S a bad idea too, but goes along with what Josh asked of her, anyway. Josh, thankfully, doesn’t shoot up the party, instead taking a walk along the lake, where he sees Tod alone on his boat (guess he pushed Cassie overboard LOL). SOD says that as Josh watches Todd, two strangers watch Josh! From where, who or why, I have no idea, but anyway. They beat Josh up and throw his body in the lake to drown. Julie hunts for him when he doesn’t come home that night and finds him, sending him to UH in an ambulance, where Neil says he’s badly banged up, but he’ll be okay. Tod comes back from the boat and tells Max about Cassie and the boat. Mustache Twirler #2 tells Todd to pretend nothing is wrong and that there is no Cassie. Jessica later asks Ttod where Cassie is. Toodd tells Jess that he and Cassie broke up, and that he will “never see her again”. Ominous. Jessica cries to Alice, who tries to give advice to the mousy little whiner, but she won’t listen, so Alice goes to Marie and asks MARIE to talk to her kid, saying that if Marie had listened to her mother years ago, she’dve been spared a lot of miserable years. Marie agrees. Jessica tells Marie she’s worried about Cassie’s disappearance. When Marie tries to be comforting, her brat daughter snaps at her, wondering why Marie’s being so nice now. Marie apologizes for being distant, and that she can’t explain why she’s been that way, but tells Jessica she does love her. Jessica screams at Marie, wondering how Marie can treat someone she loves that way? After Jessica again asks Toddd where the hell Cassie is, he finally breaks down and tells her she’s dead. After letting Jess off the boat, the two drunks took off on Tod’s boat and argued, first about Cassie not being invited to Ttod’s party, then about who loved who. Cassie loved Todd, but Tod loved Jessica, and Jessica loves Josh (and the cycle continues). Cassie stood up, a wave hit, she fell overboard, and Tod hasn’t seen or heard from her since. Bye Cassie! Jessica tells Todd to call the cops, but Tod doesn’t want the publicity and worries he’ll go to jail for killing her. Jess is apparently about to have an aneurysm at the news, and orders Tood leave her apartment. Alex is next up to bat in this edition of “Let’s Harass Marie About Seeing Her Annoying Child”, telling Marie that he’s concerned for Jessica and hopes Marie can reach out to her. Marie won’t, instead asking Alex to be more of a surrogate father to Jessica instead, and still won’t tell Alex why. He knows she’s holding something back from him, and he’s determined to figure out what it could be. Alex then goes to Kellam and talks tough about keeping Kellam’s “punk kid” away from Jessica, which immediately arouses suspicion from Kellam, who wonders why Alex gives a $#!t. THE CAT’S OUT OF THE BAG! Someone actually gave enough of a $#!t about Cassie to ask where she went, and now the papers are reporting her death. Thing 1 and Thing 2 are annoyed to find out that the papers are reporting Cassie’s body being found in the lake (guess it wasn’t the body they wanted found there). They’re extra-annoyed because the paper mentions Cassie’s connection to Todd! OOPS! JUST in time for Election Day, too! The press hound Kellam for a statement about Cassie’s death, but Kellam deftly dodges the questions, saying only that his son is in mourning, and that he hasn’t see Cassie in three weeks leading up to her death (that will come back to bite ya, for sure!) Kellam’s also less-than-impressed to discover Josh’s rather grave condition, and scolds Max for ordering such an intense beating. Max accompanies Tood to the station for questioning, where he coaches Ttod on what to tell the police (the baloney about not having seen Cassie in three weeks, she wasn’t on my boat, etc.) When questioned, Todd recites his answers like a pro, and lies further, telling the police that Jessica was his date, so now they’ll be questioning Jessica as well. Alex helps Jessica work up the nerve to go to the police, who want Jess to make a statement about the night Cassie fell off the boat. Jessica debates telling them everything she knows. When Alex tells Marie about Jess being questioned, she suggests Mickey accompany Jessica to the police station. There, Tod pleads with Jessica to deny having seen Cassie that night. The dummy agrees, as Tod insists the police think Cassie’s death wasn’t an accident (well maybe if you’d said something in the last week or so???) Jessica says nothing. Julie tells Flora about Josh’s beating, and she’s shocked, but knows exactly who is responsible, but Josh cannot corroborate anything, because he got beat so bad, he ended up forgetting the entire night! Hooray! The Sleaze loses the election! Kellam blames Don! Marlena blames Don! Everybody blames Don! Liz visits Don to tell him that everybody blames him, and to ask why Don quit working for Kellam. Don tells her that he caught Kellam kissing Marlena. Liz sighs defeatedly, apologizes to Don, then goes home and tears a strip off Kellam for being a sleaze. Max berates Kellam, calling him a ‘loser’. Kellam fires Max and tells him to get out of his house, to which Max reminds Kellam that he has too much on Kellam to leave now, and that from now on MAX runs the show, and will not be taking orders from…his…boss??? What a weird pair. Liz still doesn’t believe Neil when he tries to tell her that he didn’t accept Kellam’s bribe. Kurt Randall tries to convince Neil to join the next poker game, which means you KNOW Neil will eventually fall right back into old habits. After about thirty seconds of hesitation, Neil immediately withdraws $15,000 from the bank and goes a-gamblin’! And loses every penny! And more! Kurt gives him a deadline to pay up, causing Neil to call the bank for a loan. Here we go again. Mary agrees to handle the PR for Chris’ marina project for free (until the marina turns a profit), pissing Leslie off because it’s yet another way Mary and Chris remain too close for her comfort. Chris agrees without consulting Leslie, making everything that much worse between them. Chris throws some platitudes at Leslie about her being the only woman for him, and all is forgiven. Mary, meanwhile, heads to Doug’s Casino, and announces to Neil that she’s ready to resume all her old relationships (all at once? How modern of her). Chris and Leslie walk in at that exact moment. This…leads nowhere. Later, at the marina, Leslie senses something is bothering Mary. Mary confesses she feels uncomfortable with Chris not knowing Alex bought the property. Leslie begs Mary not to tell Chris the truth, but Mary holds firm: either Leslie tells Chris the truth, or Mary will. Trish, now free from her whiner husband, learns she’s off to LA to record a demo. I see they're already cutting some of Laemmle's dead weight, as I'm fairly sure Leslie is on her way out soon as well. I'm pretty sure this is where temporary Mary steps in? It really does feel like there was plans to use Mary heavily under the new regime, possibly having her mix it up with Don and Neil from what I've been reading. I wonder why it didn't work out.