I spent some time in May, 1991 (RE #305-306). The show is very strong in this period. There is a lot of build up to Monty's murder with everyone and their brother announcing they want him dead. I knew a good chunk of this revolved around baby Tommy's paternity. Monty has some very good dialogue getting some digs in on Clay about his financial status (dismissing Clay's claims that he is broke from Cabot disinheriting him) and some mildly flirtatious moments with Gwyn. There is a bit of heat between Robert Leeshock and Christine Tudor Newman. Gwyn sleeping with the "father" of Trisha's baby would have been interesting to see play out.

I also didn't realize how in the trenches of AE Monty was. He had been working in the machine shop with Trucker but had been elevated to the executive suites and Gwyn was looking to push him further. In addition, he's looking to extort money from Trisha/Gwyn, Trucker, and Clay. He's just ruthless. In addition, he is looking for sexual favors from Rocky to keep quiet about Clay being the baby's father. It's all delightfully messy.

As I recall, it is later revealed that Monty killed himself with a fatal inject of insulin, but D.A. Miller suggested that someone else may have switched the vials but they weren't sure who. I feel like Abril was the most expendable as she has basically left the canvas after giving the baby to Trucker and Trisha. Her killing Monty to protect her baby would be a way to keep her out of Trucker and Trisha and Tommy's lives. It's crazy to think that this story is almost never mentioned again almost immediately after all the build.

The big Trucker and Trisha angst is Trisha learning Trucker gave 25k for baby Tommy already and how awful it is to buy a baby says the woman who wanted to use her family's wealth and influence to secure an abandoned child weeks earlier. This is also the woman who in a month's time is blackmailing her father with his freedom in order to secure custody of the same child. Trisha's moral high ground is quicksand.

In just a cute little detail, Gwyn keeps calling herself Gwynnie around baby Tommy which I assume is her equivalent of grandma. A precursor to the glam-ma era.

The other major crux storyline is Clay and Carly's engagement party, which I was unaware had even been a thing. The even is held at T.J.'s which is now in the mall. I am not quite sure the evolution of this set. Is this a second T.J.'s location? This does seem to be the same set they use later for Checkers later in the year. And I can't remember if it is called T.J.'s by name, but the old T.J.'s set is used for at least one of the college parties in 1992 (maybe the Casablanca dance, but I think that's wrong).

While Clay is dealing with Monty's threats, Paul entertains Carly, which puts Ava in tizzy leading to her tacky announcement that she and Paul are getting married. Certainly not the time, Ava. And kudos to Carly and Clay a month later marrying on Paul and Ava's wedding day. Carly and Ava's rivalry is more fun than I expected. Shana gets a nice snarky response in about Ava's engagements being a weekly event. Carly is of course hurt at Ava for making the announcement and seems hurt that Paul and Ava are moving forward. Carly and Clay have very nice chemistry and when Clay returns, things seem more right in Carly's world. There is some nice video work with Ava in the powder room after talking to herself in the mirror. The show seems more stylized in 1991 than in any other period barring the Loving murders.

After the party, Ava goes to see Sister Veronica and learns that Michael has been taken by his adoptive parents (Veronica's cousin and her husband) out of the country. There is a rather decent scene of Ava speaking to God. I imagine this is around the time that Lisa Peluso embraced her faith as I felt this more in the 1994 heaven storyline. Anyway, this story doesn't jive with what we get later in the year so I'll be curious if there's any attempt to merge the two versions of Michael's life after he was adopted. With Sister Veronica, Ava has been claiming she is Carly which is an interesting gambit with all the complexity in the Carly/Ava dynamic. The dialogue seems very good in this period. Kate makes a nice remark about Ava having grown up in the last year having to help Kate deal with her cancer.

There is some minor bits and pieces with Stacey and Jack fighting over a family picnic with Stacey struggling living in the manor, which is nice B-level domestic fodder to keep the show moving along. Stoic Soames in a Kiss the Cook apron is comedy gold with the actor's reactions. Stacey is out of her element in the mansion and I sorta love it. Christopher Cass works better than I expected as Jack in this period as he doesn't give Perry Stephens' All American Boy vibe, but gives this sort of this mid level entitlement that works for the adopted scion of the Alden fortune. I know Dane isn't around much longer, but I wonder if the plan was, at one point, have him move into the mansion.

At the picnic, Kate mentions to Louie and I think the elder Donovans (Patrick and Rose) about her son John and his wife having marital trouble and her granddaughter coming to stay for the summer. It's nice groundwork.

There is another gap in the 1991 material with the last of the last batch being from March 22 and then it picking up in the first week of May. Things have bounced back and forth before so I'm not ruling things out. I know we have quite a bit already from spring 1991. And one of the episodes missing from the Random Episodes (an early March episode) set is available in @DRW50 's videos.

More City episodes have been uploaded, including Molly's last stand (which may have been on Youtube years ago but hasn't recently).

7 hours ago, DRW50 said:

More City episodes have been uploaded, including Molly's last stand (which may have been on Youtube years ago but hasn't recently).

I've been told this is the start of the better period of The City. It's still quite rough, in my opinion, and there really is such a hard edge to most of these characters that it's hard to invest in. Molly's last stand was no match for Gwyn confesses. There were a few moments were it seems like some lines, or at least concepts, were reused from that sequence, but the whole thing is very watered down. So Molly Malone was a real person and Sandra Carlson killed her?

The other stories were decent to bland. I don't hate Carla Soleito being curious about her father's new woman and how that will impact her, but she seems combative with everyone. Even Sydney, who is deadpan 99.9% of the time, is at least trying to save a man's life, which is an entire storyline happening by one way phone calls, a choice on its own. She hates Ally, I get it it. She is angry with Tony because of Ally. She is fun, but I could see how this character could easily be exhausting.

Sydney's exit / Tracy's arrival had some nice moments with their back and forth. For some reason, I thought Malcolm Christopher was killed by the serial killer, but maybe that was another character who's name started with an M (Mike maybe?). Anyway, I don't really care about gold in the building, but Sydney sticking everyone with back taxes was a nice exit for her, but I don't know why they went with Jackson Montgomery as the one to usher her out of town. At least Morgan Fairchild's hair looked good.

Having, in recent years, sat through a year and a half of Wendy Riche's morally complex Tracy Q, this, and everything I´ve seen of her after, all comes off as very one-note. Jane Eliott is a phenomenal performer and this show needs a live wire given that so many of the heavier characters on Loving who crossed over have been watered down. I do like that they immediatley throw her at Gino as I thought, for a second, maybe Tracy was the lady Gino had met on the cruise. There is at least energy in those scenes.

Nick's liver failure has potential. His goodbye scene with Sydney was one of Fairchild's better moments. Sydney gifting him a photo album of Richard was sweet. Corey Page is decent in his material, but Joni Allen is a bit much. Lorraine being tempted by the bottle was fine, but given two alcoholics are living there and there's a bar downstairs, I'm confused why they would have booze.

There were more episodes I didn't watch, and I probably won't.

6 hours ago, dc11786 said:

I've been told this is the start of the better period of The City. It's still quite rough, in my opinion, and there really is such a hard edge to most of these characters that it's hard to invest in. Molly's last stand was no match for Gwyn confesses. There were a few moments were it seems like some lines, or at least concepts, were reused from that sequence, but the whole thing is very watered down. So Molly Malone was a real person and Sandra Carlson killed her?

The other stories were decent to bland. I don't hate Carla Soleito being curious about her father's new woman and how that will impact her, but she seems combative with everyone. Even Sydney, who is deadpan 99.9% of the time, is at least trying to save a man's life, which is an entire storyline happening by one way phone calls, a choice on its own. She hates Ally, I get it it. She is angry with Tony because of Ally. She is fun, but I could see how this character could easily be exhausting.

Sydney's exit / Tracy's arrival had some nice moments with their back and forth. For some reason, I thought Malcolm Christopher was killed by the serial killer, but maybe that was another character who's name started with an M (Mike maybe?). Anyway, I don't really care about gold in the building, but Sydney sticking everyone with back taxes was a nice exit for her, but I don't know why they went with Jackson Montgomery as the one to usher her out of town. At least Morgan Fairchild's hair looked good.

Having, in recent years, sat through a year and a half of Wendy Riche's morally complex Tracy Q, this, and everything I´ve seen of her after, all comes off as very one-note. Jane Eliott is a phenomenal performer and this show needs a live wire given that so many of the heavier characters on Loving who crossed over have been watered down. I do like that they immediatley throw her at Gino as I thought, for a second, maybe Tracy was the lady Gino had met on the cruise. There is at least energy in those scenes.

Nick's liver failure has potential. His goodbye scene with Sydney was one of Fairchild's better moments. Sydney gifting him a photo album of Richard was sweet. Corey Page is decent in his material, but Joni Allen is a bit much. Lorraine being tempted by the bottle was fine, but given two alcoholics are living there and there's a bar downstairs, I'm confused why they would have booze.

There were more episodes I didn't watch, and I probably won't.

Always appreciate your analyses.

I agree that Tracy was more complex on GH a few years earlier. This is a closer match for her short 1996 return, which I don't think was that great (I haven't watched in a long time). I remember the Thanksgiving episode for The City being one which helped me connect with her.

Carla gets more sympathetic toward the end of the show but she mostly remains hard-edged. Amy Van Horne brings shadings when she can.

Jeff Trachta who played Hunter Belden on Loving will be on The Locher Room this Wednesday, August 5, at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Host Alan Locher is inviting questions from Loving fans, that he can ask Jeff Trachta. Please submit them at the Locher Room Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Jw5stdnBu/

Thanks. I think I can almost recognize him under the Bradley Cooper special, if I squint.