Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

 

Yes. Eden and Cruz's first doomed attempt at a wedding aired in May 1985. Mary died in July 1986. Buzz's Beach Bar was destroyed in an explosion that also killed Amy Perkins Wallace in September 1986. Brick, her widower, later bought the property and rebuilt on the site. He named the new restaurant Johnny's. Johnny was Amy's son (whom she named after her father, a casualty of the 1984 earthquake) and Brick had helped raise him from the very beginning.

[j swift]

After posting in the recast thread it got me thinking about Kelly Capwell.

 

Robin Wright's Kelly was an unevolved ingenue just there to be saved by men.  Her Kelly had very little personality until she met Pearl.  She and Eden were like two princesses in a castle and neither was jealous or envious of the other.  I just re-watched the episodes after Joe dies, and Eden tags along while Marcello tries to therapize Kelly in the tropics.  Eden is much more concerned about the threat of Marcello than she is with Kelly's weakened emotional state.  In fact, I don't recall one scene of them alone together consoling each other. Then we get the first re-cast and during the Jeffrey/TJ period, Kelly is still just a pawn in a plot to be saved every few months from sure death.

 

Carrington plays the dynamic with Eden and in my opinion, really knocks it out of the park when playing with Roscoe Born.   Playing against Roscoe as Quinn pretending to be Robert, Carrington never seemed dumb.  In fact, she was the only one who could tell the difference between the two brothers.  Then, Eileen is cast and Kelly becomes oddly interested in Capwell Industries, Cruz, and a few murders before ending up with Conner.

 

It is weird that Kelly never had a kid or a career.  She never had a specialization.  She was never consulted on the family business.  I think CC valued Ted's advice more than Kelly.  It just seems like if they were going to lay the future of SB on Kelly after Eden left than they hadn't set her up independent enough to carry the mantle.  Besides Robert Barr's house, I can't think of a significant period of time when she didn't live in her father's mansion.  Eden was the apple of CC's eye, Mason was the runt, Ted was the fun-loving younger brother, and Kelly lacked a distinct personality. 

 

I would submit that Gina, CC, Ted, and Warren were redefined by their recasts, but Kelly remained ill-defined no matter who played her.

[Wendy]

I don't know. I think Carrington Garland's Kelly was defined. At least as far as a more fiery, passionate personality. Maybe she was still stuck with having to be saved, but to me, she didn't play Kelly as the sheltered princess. As a matter of fact, I think one of the biggest mistakes the Dobsons made during Round #2 was firing Garland, who seemed to have chemistry with EVERYONE, family, friends, lovers...for a "name" in Eileen Davidson.

 

And I think the Dobsons knew they goofed, hence bringing on drippy Katrina to be the "new Kelly" to ED's Kelly suddenly trying to be wise and "Eden-ish". It was a mess.

[j swift]

I don't pretend to know what the Dobson's motives were, but I think it was a mistake not to relay more on Grant's (CC's brother) side of the family rather than keep recasting Capwell kids and finding the various long lost children of CC.  Eileen could have been Courtney and Madeline Capwell's older sister.

[Wendy]

 

I agree with you, but - it's been so long that I can't remember - was it ever established that Grant had more kids besides Madeleine and Courtney? (I know soaps do/can retcon, but I just wondered.) As it was, we didn't know Grant had kicked until Mason used a ruse of a memorial service for his uncle to spring the second remarriage on Julia.

Edited December 25, 2021 by Wendy

[j swift]

I would bet it was never established that CC only had one sibling,  there could have been Grant, CC, Bibi, Deedee, and EE Capwell(named for the poet).

[Wendy]

 

LOL! CC could have been SB's answer to Stefano DiMera, with family members crawling out of every crevice! (If I remember correctly, Louise Sorel did return for one last hurrah, and the final story for her was hinting that she and CC had a retaliatory fling around the time that Lionel/Sophia did...and that Warren was CC's. Glad the show ended before it got that far!)

[amybrickwallace]

 

When Eden and Mason found out that Sophia was alive and in town, they warned her to stay away and mentioned that they were worried about the effect of her being around would have on Ted and Kelly. They had a scene with her and Lionel in the presidential suite of the Capwell Hotel, right after Joe had been killed, and Eden even asked Sophia, "Do you even realize what she's gone through?" Still, I doubt either Mason or Eden were being completely altruistic. Mason wanted to stick it to CC, and Eden didn't want to give up her position as Lady of the Capwell Manor - one of the reasons why she detested Gina so much.

 

About Kimberly McArthur as Kelly - in retrospect, she really wasn't that bad. She just had the misfortune of replacing an original cast member who was hitting big in Hollywood at the same time the 1988 WGA strike was going on. I think any of us would have taken KM over ED as Kelly any day.

 

Kelly was pregnant by Jeffrey but miscarried in 1988. That was one of Robin Wright's final stories on SB and I thought she played Kelly's grief very well. She was very somber and didn't resort to histrionics. Kelly was shown to have a gift for drawing - especially in early 1985 during the ghost town storyline. She could have headed up the art department of Capwell Enterprises. Even better, she and Eden could have formed a business of their own. Eden was shown to have a mind for figures and estimates (around the time she met with the workers constructing The Orient Express). Eden could have run the business half and Kelly the creative half. Who knows?

Edited April 24, 2019 by amybrickwallace

[j swift]

She could have designed jeans for Gina or worked with her mother at Armonti, but the only job I recall was when she was Adrianna's overqualified fake nanny in Paris.

 

She also miscarried Robert Barr's baby right before Flame shot him.

 

I just find it remarkable that there are no memorable scenes between the two sisters.  When Kelly is at the asylum and then in Europe, does Eden ever ask about her or try to reach her?

 

Edited April 24, 2019 by j swift

[amybrickwallace]

 

I had forgotten about Kelly's second pregnancy. Thanks for the reminder.

 

When Kelly was in Europe, Eden did keep in touch with her via phone. Gina and Keith had bugged Cruz's phone and found out where Kelly was that way. Those scenes aired in September 1986.

[Carlos Abad]

 

I cannot find the episode because most episodes were removed from Youtube, but I remember a remarkable episode between Eden and Kelly. It is when Kelly discovers Eden is alive (after Utah) and in a wheelchair.

Those moments are amazing IMO and Marcy and Robin have a great chemistry as sisters.

[amybrickwallace]

I believe this is the episode you are talking about, from August 1987.

 

ETA: For some reason, it keeps embedding the wrong video. Let me try to fix this.

 

Here you go: 

 

Edited April 26, 2019 by amybrickwallace

[amybrickwallace]

 

 

[j swift]

I stand equally corrected and entertained, thanks for each of those videos, I never appreciated their relationship as much as I have now that I've watched these.

 

But, I can't resist saying (a) Kelly really seemed to enjoy whipping Eden around in that wheelchair (it threatens to fall into Baby Jane camp), (b) she changed her tune later when she went after Cruz for herself, and (c) it amuses me as an odd overlooked detail when soaps put people with paralysis in outfits that would be impossible for them to wear in a wheelchair.

Edited April 27, 2019 by j swift

[amybrickwallace]

I think those were among the best of their scenes together. Personally, I would have been grossed out if SB had put Cruz and Kelly together if Robin had still been playing Kelly. They just had the big brother/little sister vibe down so cold, that it would have been like watching...a big brother and little sister.