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OLTL: Discussion for the week July 28th-August 1st

Scotty

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Cheap21 Experienced

Cheap21

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The pacing on this show over the past week has been horrible. How the hell could Ron C leave the Mendorra story on a huge cliffhanger with Sarah going over the falls and 4 days later, we STILL havent not returned to that.

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rhinohide Newbie

rhinohide

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Wow! Today must have been "stimulating"! Ten (11 counting this one) whole posts! Little or no content. I want to know what you guys think. Come on! This isn't the board to just go to and gush gratuitously. Does anyone really have anything interesting to say about today's OLTL? It's a challenge. I know.

I'll start! And I didn't even watch for reasons I won't go into. I may watch on soapnet later if I catch it.

1) John and Blair: I don't really care about the caliber of their love scenes. These are two beautiful and talented performers who are very experienced in doing love scenes and who are going to look good together. That was a given! No surprises there. I don't even have to watch today's show to know they were probably hot and titillating. But that's not why I watch OLTL. I want to know what the story is? I've seen Blair love scenes before and I've seen John love scenes before. How different are they going to be? Is there a story? Or are they just a plot point to make Todd jealous and spiral even further out of control.

2) I like Addie. I find her relationship with David both skeevy and healthy at the same time. I get that Addie is so totally clued in to who David is, and what he is up to. She's not being a fool. She sees the big picture (because she's been so removed from the myopathy of real living) and she knows whatever she and David have isn't the long term picture. I love that she's so wise and yet so naive.

3) I am really liking the Viki/Charlie story. The former writers would have just stuck Viki/Charlie together and called it a day. But Carlivati is creating this continuing saga that's carefully being developed. I am not sure he knows where he's taking them, and they don't get enough screentime, but anytime they share scenes, I feel like I need to watch. In fact, so much so, they're the only reason I will make an effort to catch soapnet later tonight.

4) Spoilered for spoiler free people:

How do you like my contribution so far? :P

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DavidEvanSmith Newbie

DavidEvanSmith

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Well for me, not posting boils down to the fact that no news is good news. I've been enjoying every hour of OLTL that I can catch.

Friday's episode, pertaining to Viki/Dorian's scenes, was fantastic. I so love their rapport and Viki/Dorian are the TRUE supercouple at the heart of the show. OLTL wouldn't be OLTL without it. The day Dorian stops living in reaction to Viki is the day the show needs to be canceled. The hell with Mel's advice. Did he not know Dorian at all?!

As for today, it was all very clear, focused scenes.

John/Blair - I like their chemistry, I guess I always have, and part of me wanted them to just stay friends. But this could be interesting. I feel like the actors took extra time to express that this connection was about themselves and each other, and not about Todd. I didn't see DePaiva putting forth that "Oh, I just need to wash that Todd right outta mah hair!" vibe, here. It was more about Blair being done, Blair wanting to take care of herself, look at herself, rediscover herself again, and here John was just appreciating her, understanding her, sympathizing with her, and not judging her for anything she's ever done. Blair brings out the fun side to John, and I liked that John was kind of hungrily wanting Blair to stay the night. He is an emotional cripple, but he seems to acknowledge it most with Blair, through her jokes and her making fun of him. LOVED him defending himself against her attack on his all-black wardrobe. "I have a pair of sweatpants in there!" John said. "What color are they?" Blair wondered. "Navy." Well delivered Easton! You know what I like best about this pairing? It's the first one that happened slowly, over time, organically, and wasn't manufactured like his past relationships with Natalie or Marty. Evangeline was kind of a "WTF" out of nowhere twist when it started, but it still lacked logical basis, and I thought Evangeline character integrity was sacrificed to support her pairing with John. But Blair is MORE Blair with John, not less Blair. Hope that makes sense.

Dorian/David/Addie - I love Pamela Payton-Wright and she sure doesn't have the easiest character to play! I was terrified when she oddly responded "it's raining" that she was going to relapse after David said he was leaving her. But she was firm and strong as ever. I think this was the least-clear of the writing today, though. David waffled, between leaving her, wanting to be with her, and not wanting to have the money taken away from him. If it was intentional, it confused the hell out of me about David's motives and throughline. I have no idea what he's about right now. I can't rave enough about how well Addie's being written, and I believe her miraculous recovery was a story started to pass the time during the writer's strike, and I worried it would be dropped when the strike ended. But it seems to have been spun even MORE into gold, and it's made me want to see Addie as a contract regular (though it seems very unlikely). Addie definitely is more refined and polished than Dorian, more old world charm and more emotional clarity, less "walking open wound" than Dorian is. It's surprising, considering her child-like state for most of her life. A miracle indeed. But it makes perfect sense that her whole purpose now is to live the life she never got to lead while in St. Ann's. I want Addie and David's "love" to become real, but I'll settle for Addie finding true love and everlasting marriage with someone else. Not sure who. Payton-Wright is so damn likeable!

Viki/Charlie - This is one honest-to-goodness, true-to-life, damn great love story for "mature characters". I love that Charlie is a man that's not afraid to cry. He's world weary, he's NOT perfect, he's made mistakes, he's not painted as any kind of hero. Sloan was propped as an army hero. Ben was propped as the heroic "everyman" who needed rescuing from the mob. It was all so gimmicky. Charlie's biggest enemy is himself and his own demons and that has done so well in providing obstacles for their love so far, even if Dorian took advantage of one or two of Charlie's faults. And the romance isn't age-specific. It's just simple, classic, and timeless. It's not trying to be what Viki's later-life love story is "supposed" to be. It's just natural. Kerwin is magic and has made Charlie so good and honest and sympathetic despite his faults. It must be so easy for Slezak to play that love Viki has for him. He's the kind of older man I'd want if I was Viki's age! You just wanna hug him. OLTL has the most diverse "old guard" in daytime, and that's well-developed characters. Dorian, Viki, Charlie, Clint, Nora, Bo, Lindsay, Roxanne. They are all VERY different people who for the most part stay true to their nature. Amazing. We just need an extra guy or two so Roxy and Dorian can get some real lovin'. But I think it really says something about the show if the "mature romances" are so much better developed, performed, and written than the younger love stories of say, Natalie/Jared, Rex/Gigi, and Starr/Cole.

Todd/Marty - I saved this for last because I'm still working on how I feel about these scenes. There's so much said, and EVERYTHING Todd said to Marty was true. And his only lies were by omission. It's the most I've seen St. John really perform in months, and the most sympathetic I've seen Todd. I know it's hard to tell where they are going and what the point is. I think the overall purpose is to reestablish Haskell's Marty, and establish her opposite St. John's Todd, since Haskell's only appearances with him were very short ones (Todd's trial for raping Blair, and the dream where Marty haunted Todd). I doubt this story would have at all been played out if Christina Chambers was brought back as Marty again. It wouldn't have happened and wouldn't have had the same weight anyway. But I think the point is to reestablish the Marty/Todd connection, twisted and imperfect as it is, with Haskell and St. John in the roles. The storm, the close quarters, the retelling of the story that connected the characters. It's all to establish what their relationship is. I imagine so that the audience can get behind whatever years of future story they plan to mine between the two of them, as their mutual grandchild is (hopefully) born and grows up. The fact that Todd is taking advantage of Marty's helplessness now will only respark the hatred and kill any peaceful coexistence that might have come about since the long-ago gang rape.

I hope Marty shoots Todd in the chest when she gets her memory back. I really do. Especially since she IS opening up to him and allowing herself to be vulnerable around him and asking him to stay overnight in her room so she isn't alone. That will dredge up any guilty feelings that a rape victim might feel... she will feel raped again (mind-raped) and she will feel she allowed it to happen. She'll blame herself for having amnesia, she'll hate Todd all over again. I think this is all just to reset the stage for Marty and Todd to be poised as great enemies. And Todd is entirely reponsible, and all the while he thought he was redeeming himself, by helping her, and he just has no idea HOW to do good.

So I'm not giving up hope on this story.

I like that every day I watch an episode, every scene I do still hear a key phrase or interaction that either completely clarifies what makes two characters dynamic, or I feel I've walked away from an episode having seen a new side to one or more characters. The characters still surprise me, and none of the dialogue REALLY feels manipulative or agenda-pushing. I don't think the writers try to hide characters' flaws, they relish in the characters' flaws! The propping and agenda-pushing on daytime is from trying to make the audience feel a way that past history doesn't reinforce. It's contradiction, two-facedness, inconsistent. OLTL is harshly honest about their characters, and that's what I find refreshing.

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