OLTL: SOW Spoilers

[proteus]

Love To Hate

Blair may hate Marty and Tea, but Kassie DePaiva is thrilled to see Susan Haskell and Florencia Lozano return to OLTL. KDP says "I have women of my age range that I can go nose to nose with. And I haven't had that in so long. Nobody hates Tea more than Blair, and nobody's hated Marty more than Blair, but now it's just good. They're strong, powerful actresses who are just great. They're splashing color all over the canvas of One Life."

Blair Breaks Up With John

Blair sees Marty's return as the writing on the wall and calls it quits with John this week. KDP (Blair) says "She's got a daughter to take care of, she's got a family. She goes to John, first to apologize for Dorian's behavior and then to break up. She says, 'You know what? We said we weren't going to get complicated; we're not, and Marty's back.'" Blair is surprised, make that shocked, by John's response. KDP says "He basically says that's not what he wants. She floored by that-and Micheal Easton did a beautiful job with the speech. After that I went, 'Oh my God, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to Blair in the 15 years I've been on the show! Nobody's ever nice to Blair!' You fully expect John to go, 'It's not working out; I gotta take care of this,' but that being said, this will open up a whole new challenge in their relationship. Can Blair really mature enough to handle the shadow of Marty again? Because John's personality is to save Marty, and he's going to continue to do that. That's going to be a struggle. After Todd, after Spencer, after all these dysfunctional men, it's very refreshing for Blair to be with a knight in shining armor." Calling Todd dysfunctional is an understatement, and when Jack keeps asking about what's happening to his father, Blair decides to go to the source; she brings Jack to the prison to see Todd. KDP says "Blair is at her breaking point, where she's like, 'I can't answer those questions.' Jack questions, 'Why did you hold this woman against her will, and what did you do to her?' They are sad, painful scenes. But Blair can't continue to clean up Todd's messes. She's not going to do it. She cannot do it. Todd needs to be held accountable. Is it the greatest thing for a mother to do? No, but at the same time, I can justify the character doing it."

A Closer Look: Tea

Todd is in trouble, and this week an ex comes to town to offer legal assistance.

SOW: What brings Tea back to town?

FL: What always brings women back to town (laughs)? Ostensibly it is that she has been doing international law, and she sweeps back into town to visit-at least that's what she says. She finds out that Todd is in trouble and that he is not going to be hiring representation. She visits him in jail and feels it's her duty as a lawyer to represent him; everyone deserves a defense. She is also there for a mysterious other reason.

SOW: Does she still have feelings for Todd?

FL: She is telling herself that she is over him, and she may well be. There is something very deep in her history, in her childhood, that makes her equate love with pain. When those feelings get triggered, she mistakes hardship for desire. She has always cared about Todd, but she has been pulled back into a certain cycle that she hasn't been able to break free of-although she thought she was free.

SOW: Todd turns down her offer of legal help.

FL: That just makes her want him more. I don't think she is consciously thinking, "We're going to get back together," or anything like that. I'm not sure she consciously wants that, but she is drawn to protect him, and the more he pushes her away, the more she feels she is the only one who can help him and save him, and she feels responsible.

SOW: At least the Vegas will be super-nice to her, right?

FL: In terms of the Vegas, that's Tea's family, her clan. So it's sort of her safety and the place that she goes. There is a draw to being with those people. Antonio, who is like an older brother to Tea, is a reflection of Tea, and a lot of the time Tea goes to him with her half-baked ideas in order to get some sort of reality check. It's like a little sister going, "Well, I'm going to do this anyway," when she knows that she needs a family system around her to keep her grounded.

SOW: How is it for you being back at OLTL?

FL: In Llanview, Pa., all the people are wonderful. They are really wonderful. Great sense of humor, great actresses, great actors, great hair and make up people. It feels a lot like no time has passed, and I'm just coming right back into the flow of things. It feels like we do a lot more now in one day than when I was here last. Soaps are demanding. There is something about being challenged on that level that makes me feel like I am getting stronger. I am grateful for that.

Sneak Peeks:

Another death stuns Dorian and Starr.

Marty plans her revenge on Todd.

Jessica opens up to Brody.

Andrew answers Marty's questions about her past.

Tea floors her family with her career news.

Can't Miss: Wed. Dec. 10:

Rev. Andrew Carpenter helps Llanview to mourn baby Hope.

Tuesday, Dec. 9: Viki and Charlie reunite.

Week Of Dec. 15-19: Rex faces financial woes. Christmas begins in Angel Square. Marty and Tea face off. Sarah and Cris hit a rocky patch.

[Vee]

I demand Florencia Lozano give me back my brain. She has always been ten steps ahead of the writing for her twisted character - I always felt that Tea was the Margaret character we should have gotten, and evidently, so did FL, who's spoken about Tea's mental state before. I don't think any woman, Tea included, deserves what Todd put her and other women through, but I also think Tea continues to seek out and push for these sick situations, and constantly pushed her relationship with Todd to awful new lows back in 1998, because that kind of abuse was all she knew from men, and she equated it from love. Even when Todd would try to pull back and not do something worse to her, she would escalate the situation, insult him, demean him, find some way to push his buttons to keep it all going. It became painful to watch, and I initially was a fan of the couple because I enjoyed the actress. Again, that doesn't mean I think she deserved what she got from Todd, but I think she's as sick as he is - especially if she wants to grill Marty on the stand about the rape, according to the spoilers. She's doing what she always did - Todd wants to take the punishment, Tea swoops in to "fix it" and makes it worse. Anything to perpetuate this cycle. I think she's always been that way. She dove into illicit affairs with Kevin and Andrew because they were "tawdry" and in the case of Kevin, devastatingly casual; there was always something 'wrong' about it that excited her. When Andrew turned loving and caring, she backed away. Her last chance for a decent man was RJ, and she threw him away because he treated her like a queen. That's never been what Tea wants. What she wants is the monsters. It's sad. Maybe there is a twist which can redeem her character, but as it is this is classic Tea, and I'm sure it will at least be good story and very compelling.

BTW, she looks amazing.

[tina m]

I don't really know much about Tea besides what I've heard.. I started watching OLTL full time after she left in 2002, but it's always nice to get an old fan favorite/important character back. Interesting to see how she helps out Todd and how her coming back 2 town will have an impact on Todd. Meanwhile on other OLTL spoilers, I'm starting to REALLY like John/Blair even tho I'm a Marty/John fan...and it sucks about Sarah/Cristian.. Really sad to see Justis leave.

[evermore]

so who's the other death? Is that a reference to Dr Joplin or someone else?

[leevo64]

Dr. Joplin.

[Faulkner]

FloLo and Haskell? Woah...get ready for all the air to get sucked out of the room by those two scenery chewers...I'll have my earplugs handy.