OLTL: Week of September 8,2008

[rhinohide]

Midweek? One Page? I am not posting out of courtesy for those who are loving Todd and Marty, John and Blair, Rex and Gigi and most of all Tess. If you don't have something nice to say . . .

Loved Jared and A Martinez today. Can't wait to see what comes next.

Enjoyed Cris and Carlo.

After that? I got nuthin'

[Soapfan1]

Tess love herrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[EricMontreal22]

You knwo this week I'v ereadlly noticed a complaint some others have said--not very good to downright poor dialogue. The last few days have had especially clumsy integration of exposition/back story (you know the soap technique of "hiding" into the dialog enough back information for anyone who missed the past few days). Comparing it to yesterday's AMC, the only other soap I watched, while quality of story can be debated the dialogue was just miles better.

Otherwise, today wasn't bad I thought (is Matthew REALLY entering *high* school? wow) although it's interesting that Columbia might as well be one of the show's mythical countries (no probs bribing yoru way into top security maximum jails?). However...

Carlo and Chris strikes me as maybe the most wrong headed story Carlivati has come up with. Why? While it may not be as bad for some as part one of Mendorra, or 1968, or Marti and Todd (which I admit is fast becoming, against my intial reservations, a fave of mine) all had potnetial on paper i think and I got where Ron was coming from--ie even if it was doing something different or a "fun" hommage. But Carlo and kidnapping Chris?

Did ANYONE think ANYONE wanted to see this tory again? I guess it was only once (under Higley or Malone?) that Chris was kidnapped by Carlo before but seriously it feels like it's happened a myriad of times already with next to no change. No wonder Chris doesn't even seem WORRIED this time--in his shoes I wouldn't be either. It's an empty pair up with IMHO no appeal as a story, character match up, or ANYTHING. Was it just killing time while the writers don't knwo what to do with these characters? And if they were going this rout surely it woulda had SOME added potential if it had been halted a bit--if we were allowd to forget about Carlo for more than two episodes before he was revealed as the kidnapper.

Seriously

[oltl1]

I really liked todays episode. First time in a while I liked Bree Williamson as Tess. When she licked the glass wall WTF. Really enjoyed Matthew talking to Cole about entering highschool too. What a difference a scene like that has when you've watched the same actor grow up in the role. And it's about time Clint went to visit his daughter. Also liked the Starr/ Langston scenes and the Ray/Jared stuff. I can't wait for this guy to get to Llanview so I can see A share the screen with Robin Strasser. I don't know about anyone else but I'm starting to get excited about this show again.

[rhinohide]

Raises hand meekly.

We never saw the story before. It was shown only slightly through spotty flashbacks during the Santi era and at the time I don't believe the audience even knew Carlo Hesser was behind Cristian's captivity. As I recall, it wasn't until Evangeline discovered that John Doe was the real Cris that Carlo Hesser's involvement was revealed. And it was explained in about 5 minutes of dialogue in the midst of the prison riots. Then poof! It was over. Hesser's motivations were glossed over and the plot was brushed under the rug. We don't know how Cris got from being presumed dead with Flynn, into Carlo Hesser's hands. There's a lot that we don't know about all that.

At the time I remember a lot of Cristian fans (including me) being thoroughly disgusted that Cris just resumed his life after having been held captive and tortured and brainwashed for two years, then imprisoned for murder, seemingly with no lasting ill effects. He just became the good guy he was before. So yeah! I am interested in this story and where it's going.

[EricMontreal22]

HAHAHA fair enough--sorry I didn't wanna imply anyone who disagreed with me was wrong And that makes sense--I dunno why I just still feel this huge sense of deja vu... It feels like they didn't knwo what to do, this was an obvious way to tread water/draw out the story to me--and with Natalie being held prisoner and in a sense Marty *as well* it feels to me like the wrong time for the story.. But it's true that his brainwashing, etc, was never properly handled (was the Prison Riot done under Malone or Higley?)

[rhinohide]

I am not certain, but I am pretty sure it was Higley.

Carlivati seems to revolve his stories around central themes A LOT! For awhile there, almost every story was centered around secrets about different characters' paternities. That was a central theme. Now capitivity? I don't know if it's deliberate.

[oltl1]

This storyline was under Higley. She started writing OLTL in December of 2004. Malone wrote Christian's exit story but Higley brought him back.

[miajere]

Yeah at one time, the paternity seemed to be everyone's secret....The secret of the month is captivity- and "who's alive or dead?" It's not my taste, but I guess some find it interesting. Hopefully there won't be a ball anytime soon asking characters to submit those secrets into boxes.

[miajere]

Yeah at one time, the paternity seemed to be everyone's secret....The secret of the month is captivity- and "who's alive or dead?" It's not my taste, but I guess some find it interesting. Hopefully there won't be a ball anytime soon asking characters to submit those secrets into boxes.

[MichaelGL]

Yay Dorian's back! She looks brilliant too. I liked the scenes between Dorian, Starr, and Langston.

Carlo Hesser's alias in Columbia was Mortimer Bern.... Nice nod to history there. I was left wondering if Hesser was going to do something to Jared.

So Cris was placed in the prison under the name Ray Martinez?

It moving to see Bo make parallels between him and Drew and Rex and Shane. I wish they hadn't cut to that blink-or-you-miss-it scene where Bo was looking at Drew's picture.

[DavidEvanSmith]

Okay........... so Carlo (posing as Mortimer Bern... I love it!) delivered Cristian to the Columbian prison that Jared was busting Ray Montez out of? What an interesting intersection of storyline.................... wonder where they're going with it...

[Gordon24]

Great THURSDAY episode with great conversation and character interaction.

It was great to see Dorian back sporting her big HAT! I thought her conversation with Langston was wonderful.

I did not know much about Bo's son but loved the convo with him and Rex. I thought it was touching that Rex was thinking about giving up on being Shane's father.

I also enjoyed the Gigi/Brody conversation. I am glad she apologized to Brody for putting him in the middle of everything. I also loved that she questioned how he "faked" Rex's paternity. Rex/Gigi still do not know it was Adriana who sent him Rex's toothbrush.

I thought Tess/Jess using Carlo as her sacapegoat in Natalie's disappearance was a great twist especially now when we have Carlo wondering about Jared.

Funniest lines of the day:

1)Tina's "OMG! Doesn't anyone make a decent prison any more?" then they show Natalie trapped below them

[Toups]

Who's "Mortimer Bern" and who was "Jeb Stuart" - a name Carlo recognized.

Yeah, it was awesome how RC intersecting both storylines - it feels like old school Carlivati. LOL

Bo/Rex scenes are always good and I loved their talk about fatherhood.

That was cool of Tess to do that. I've been enjoying Tess a lot lately, ever since she built the secret room.

Today's breakdown writing was fantastic. Everything flowed nicely.

[rhinohide]

Mortimer Bern was Carlo's twin brother, supposedly dead.

Jeb Stuart was Asa's alias when he sailed the high seas with Pamela Stuart.