7 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Always enjoy your reviews @dc11786 

Same here.  It's just so fascinating to me how AL really seemed to come together (for the most part, minus some obvious missteps) after a turbulent early period.  It makes you wonder just how much farther the show could've gone had CBN not given up on it.

15 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Always enjoy your reviews @dc11786 I need to try to watch a bit of this now that we're heading into Christmas.

The Santa Claus drag king act is worth it. Its also just a very nicely done sequence outdoors. While I'm not 100% thrilled it was played for laughs, having Harold and Santa kissing on a Christian soap in 1982 is mind blowing. Babs and Harold are the show's super couple. I just adore them. There is the added bonus of Harold deducing that Vince Cardello was the Prince, which is a lowkey way of resolving the earlier conflict between Harold and Babs where Harold thought Babs was hooking again and Vince was her john. 

Christmas 1983 is a little splashier I believe with a lot of musical numbers. There is a song or two, but it is much more calm and quiet evening. 

8 hours ago, Khan said:

Same here.  It's just so fascinating to me how AL really seemed to come together (for the most part, minus some obvious missteps) after a turbulent early period.  It makes you wonder just how much farther the show could've gone had CBN not given up on it.

There is always so many what ifs with "Another Life." I'm curious what would have happened have Vinley launched the show if it would have had such a rocky beginning, or if that was inevitable due to the nature of the production launch with CBN. Winsor was a fairly decent writer and what I watched in his waning days was not quality. I also wouldn't let go of that brief headwriterless period where Nancy is launched because it is so powerful and so different from the period before and after. 

I have to wonder if Metromedia's decision to launch "Rituals" had any impact on clearnance for the show in its final year. I can't remember if anyone was even syndicating "Antoher Life" at that point, but I believe the Metromedia stations initially had to air "Rituals."

I'm curious how Vinley would have done on a network soap. Maybe "Loving" in the post-Marland period or even "Captiol" in the post Henry Sleasar run. 

I watched a couple more episodes (through 410):

I believe the highlight remains on Edye Byrd's Ione who had two fairly strong sequences in two very different stories. First, Ione goes to visit Charles Carpenter to offer her positive thougths and prayers for Miriam's safe return and Charles lambasts Ione blaming her for the kidnapping and saying there is no way that Miriam will return to Ione's when she is returned. Ione holds her own without stooping to Charles' level. 

In the other, Ione visits the clinic that has just opened and offers to be a receptionist for the day to Ben and Dave. Ione is a natural fit with her connection to the community, her general positive energy, and her giving spirit. I fear what this means for the boarding house, but I love having Ione so firmly entrenched into so many parts of the canvas. She's such a presence on the show. 

One thing that I noticed, especially with the presence of Ione, is how lily white Chesterfield has become in reference to the clinic. I hope there is a conversation about the black community's concern about the clinic due to historical medical racism, but I am not sure that will be addressed. Though, this is literally the only soap that I think might address it. Ione has specifically stated her connection to the community and I'm hoping we will see a bit more diversity in who comes through the clinic given how they have described Chesterfield in the months leading up to this. 

Continue on the Ione Redlon love rant, she addressed a very subtle issue with Ben, how many of the patients are unable to read and right. Blue also is unable to read and write well. I have to wonder if there wasn't a plan at some point to have Lori back in Chesterfield having adult literacy classes. Or if it is just a red herring by Jason Vinley on how the canvas will learn that Blue, not Monk and Fernandiz, was the one to attack Lori. 

Gene's role is also beefing up a bit. He wants to do a story on the clinic and its first patient, Blue, which I imagine will lead to Blue's identity being revealed to the important players. I also feel that the show has painted Blue in a much more complicated light, which I don't necessarily hate. It's compelling. Back to Gene, Gene has also spoken to Carla about supporting Monk because he sees a lot of himself in him. This is a great way to touch upon some of Gene's identity issues in a way that is uplifting. 

There was also some nice beats between Carla and Gene about the baby and Jimmy's possible resentment. I don't remember Jimmy's exact reaction, but I loved that this was touched upon. There are so many soap opera super couples in the modern era with age gap children (especially on "Days of our Lives") that this would be an interesting issue to explore. The only one I can think of is Sami and Belle, but that was obviously much more complicated than just the age difference. 

I'm surprised by how much Vinley is able to pack into each episode. There was some Amber / Gil banter which was nice, but not super memorable. I do wonder why Peter Davidson doesn't make the connection that Amber might be Dave's daughter, but Vinley seems to hint that people think it could be a professional name. Almost into 1983. 

Episodes 411-413:

I very strong set of episodes. 

The key standout to me was the one-off return of Dennis Fraser, the drunk driver who had caused Nora and Scott's death a year earlier. Dennis arrives on New Year's Eve to update Terry what he has been doing since their last encounter. He and his family have not only embraced God, which Terry had stated to the Davidsons back in the spring, but also that he is working with an organization to prevent drunk driving and has convinced others to see the light. I think its a nice way to revist a story that was so critical to the family history of the Davidson clan as well as a way to resolve some of the issues I had with how Fraser's original story was resolved. The fact that Fraser was taking action steps, and not just preaching, felt like an important story shift. 

Fraser's return set off some nice ripple effects. Peter takes his old standard highly emotional, suggested of low level violence approach, which emphasizes how impulsive he still is, whihc makes sense. He's only 18 I think. Lori's response was also very representative of the person she has become. She has an emotional moment because she unable to comfort her mother because of her own mental health issues. I appreciate how Lori's story is playing out. There was another minor moment where Peter was recounting how the "crazy neighbor" was caught stealing from the store and Lori lambasts Peter stating that the woman deserved respect, clearly connecting after her own experience. It was a very strong moment. 

There was some nice light hearted comedy mixed in with Nancy. She goes to visit Gil at the office to make a play for him to be interrupted by Amber only for Gil to literally use the same routine on Amber that Nancy used on him to equal success. Then, out for New Years' Eve at the Castaway, Nancy is again hit on by Fred Winthrop, an older gentleman who recently came into money. In addiition, there were some nice cracks made by Alex Greeley about Lester Lewis in his conversations with Dave, who is trying to get back on staff at Kingsley General. 

I'm finding myself a bit bored with the Marianne / Russ stuff. I really liked the Vince / Becky dynamic and Marianne seeing Vince as the problem is a bit much for me. Vince is definitely problematic; a gangster who was cheating on his wife and had a child by his mistress who he continued to emotionally support. Marianne's own father Jason was so problematic to me with his holier than thou routine while also bedding down with Sharon Landers and romancing Terry Davidson. I don't think Marianne has asked to give back her commission for the paintings that Vince bought for the Hollister Mall. It just feels very insincere. I don't hate Marianne, but I can see why this dynamic didn't last long. Marianne's desire to show Russ the joy of faith when Lori couldn't is a bit repetitive, but at least that's addressed onscreen by Terry. I know Doug Hughes, the younger attorney of the people, returns later, but I would have had him as the other man in Marianne's life. 

The Miriam kidnapping stuff is well done with lighting and Miriam's dynamics wiht both Blue and Lance being so different. I thought the Blue / Miriam friendship was a nice touch that I don't think is often playe dbecause Blue is being used by Lance and Ronnie who are now setting him up as the fall guy in the kidnapping by having him pick up the ransom. Blue's downfall cannot be too far off with Dave and Ben talking about the newspaper article Gene's writing which would feature Blue's picture. 

I also feel there is a deep disconnect in the philosophy on this show in the sense of theory verse reality. At the clinic, Ben and Dave have another discussion about abortion leading to the discussion of government funding vs. private funding. The key to the plot is the need to fundraise, which I imagine is how we will see Kate Phillips, Dave's ex-wife, reenter his life. In a sense, I think the fundamental idea of Dave and Ben wanting to run the clinic their way without bureaucratic hand tying is appealing, but I don't personally accept their point of view. I am also starting to see a bit of a deep disconnect in the abortion debate from the show's foundational level. Dave states he saw two young women that morning seeking an abortion, with the allusion a third might be in the reception. In his recounting of the morning patients, Dave states how he encouraged both women to give the baby up for adoption. 

Yet, we also have a fundamental view that adoption / surrending a child has had negative outcomes. While not written by Vinley, Becky's adoption left her seeking approval and love in ways that were deeply complicated. Simutaneously, some of Nancy's issues seem to stem from the fact that she also wasn't raised by her biological mother, though I suspect the show sees Nancy as evil by birth rather than by the uneasy environment she was raised in. Though, most recently, there was a rather intensely emotional scene where Blue Noble goes on an eloquent (for Blue) exposition dump about how he was raised and dehumanized in foster care. It's hard to accept one preaching for life while simutaneously making all the villains have issues stemming from parental abandonment. 

 I have finally made it into 1983 and looking forward to some of the stories from that year.

Thanks again @dc11786 always enjoy these. You are right about the mixed messages in the show's tales about abortion and adoption. I suppose that is inevitable as there was likely always a push over just how much of the fundamentalist Christian content they were going to center. 

A shame they never quite seem to know what to do with Russ.

The show definitely is ignoring some of the complexities involved in the situation. I am also curious to see how Kate Phillips is presented because I get the sense we are suppose to hate her for being "civic minded" and encouraged a clinic that provided abortion services. I know there is a bigger story coming up about abortion with someone in that circle so I'll be curious to see how it plays out. Slightly off topic, on the British soap "Eldorado" they handled abortion with more engagement in the complexities of the issue while still taking a heavy religious punishment angle; Rosario aborts her mid-life pregnancy only for her only son to die several weeks later. I have to wonder if we will get a speech about how Dave Phillips feels that his son Kevin was taken from him because of his sinful abortionist past. 

I almost wonder if Vinley wasn't subtly trying to undermine the issue of abortion with the deeper intersection into a character like Blue Noble and his childhood, but I suspect that subversive reading may not be accurate. 

As I think I may have already suggested, I would have kept Russ in Lori's orbit especially after the mental health crisis. I also would have extended the Russ as Lester Lewis' assistant storyline. I think Lori and Russ finding each other again after Lori's attack in a friendly way that concerned all the supporting parties (Marianne, Ben, Terry, and even Vince) would have centered Russ in a way that would have played into Chris Rolland's strengths. Russ going into the mob was an inevitability from September, 1981.  I just don't know if that's where I would have centered him. 

I do wish we had gotten visits from Louise and Tony Cardello. I think they would have allowed us to explore some interesting dynamics given Louise's ties to the mob and Tony's sexuality. I also would have made Carrie Weaver a more permanent fixture in Kingsley. Preferably as a member of the church board for the house of worship that eventually hired Jeff Cummings.