Kate Phillips is on the scene. She is an interesting character from the start. They immediately don't hold back and reveal to her that Dave is back in town. Kate is the middle ground; she doesn't know how she feels about Dave's return. Stinette gives the character an elegance in these early appearances I wasn't expecting given that I mostly know of her from Loving where she was working class Rose Donovan. I guess she gave a different aura in her roles as Kate and Nadine on The Edge of Night.
There is some simple sloppy writing in the Babs Farley story that borderlines on well intentioned camp. In a typical soap opera fashion, Ione Redlon and Dr. Dave Phillips are talking about an on the run Babs' whereabouts in a public space while an U/5 mob goon listens in a chair nearby. This alone isn't insane, but add in the conversation that follows about them needing to pray for Babs' safety with Dave insisting they shouldn't waste their prayers borders on hilarious. I get we are probably building tension for when Babs is in danger, but overall I just can't.
The end of the reign of Blue Nobles is powerful. Blue was a rapist. A kidnapper. A stalker. A general menace. Yet, I still feel for him, which I think was the point of it all. Blue has terrorized Paula for money and informs her where he is staying so that she can bring him more, only for Paula to inform Russ, who is hunting Blue down. In the meantime, Lance accurately deduces where someone like Blue would hide out. Lance is still playing the jealous boyfriend (of which boyfriend it is unclear: Blue? Ronnie?), but it's interesting that in the conversation with Ron that he is wearing a blue shirt. This actually makes me like Lance for the first time.
As Blue's hours tick down, we get a scene of Miriam praying for Blue hoping that Jesus will help him to find the path to Him. It's all pretty intense stuff, which, out of context of the larger story, would seem hokey, but given all the beats played leading up to it, there is such weight to the material. Russ tracks Blue down to the warehouse and a fight ensues. The verbal back and forth between Russ and Blue is delightful with Russ admitting he can lose people like Lance and Vince, but it is the Loris and Mariannes of the world that make it worth wild. And then, the bomb is dropped; Russ' true motivation for his intense hatred towards Blue. As Blue insists he has never had Lori, he never raped her; he delightfully adds that neither has Russ. This is a such a delicious low below from the writers that Blue has no way of knowing, but sheds light on Russ' character. Russ is pissed because he thinks Blue got to do something he didn't, have sex with Lori. It's a crazy surprise for an already great sequence.
At this point, Russ loses control of the gun and now when Russ does finally shoot Blue, it is self defense. And now Russ joins the likes of the truly criminal. Blue's final moments,in the next episode, do find him finding God moments before dying saying Jesus' name in the last seconds of his life. This is pretty profound stuff. In the year prior, we would get so many of these find Jesus moments after literally a single interaction between a believer and a non-believer. This works better for me. Kudos to Vinley for taking the deus ex machina ending of the last writers and making it not only palatable, but powerful.
This features Miriam's prayer for Blue and Blue's demise.
I feel like Russ' role in all of this should be more controversial than I am taking it. The show has inconsistently shown that Russ still cares for Lori, but I've always found it such a critical part of his character. The show's writers have several lines in episode 440 where they imply Blue and Russ are two peas in a pod. When Russ talks about the Loris and Mariannes of the world, he asks what would be left with them gone and Blue says "You and I." It's really shockingly psychological stuff for a location sequence. It's also wild to have Russ witness Blue's moment of belief when Lori spent months and Marianne spent months trying to convert Russ. Where does Russ go from here? Does his guilt lead him to religion himself or does it lead him deeper into the mob? I think I know the answer, but it provokes such intense questions.
Chandler Hill Harben will be missed on this show.
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dc11786 ·
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