OLTL: Discussion for the Week of March 23rd

[All My Shadows]

I think JPL looks great with the haircut, but I still prefer the classic Rex hair.

Let me continue to emphasize that Jess/Brody and Nat/Jared make the show for me. Their storylines are the type that ATWT should be doing.

[rangethatrover]

I love Jess and Brody and I appreciate Natalie and Jared more now than before. There are so many young overexposed characters on OLTL that I like Jared and Natalie because they are in their late 20's and have connections to all the characters. And they aren't written like caricatures.

[rhinohide]

Whoa!

I've been kind of waiting for you to weigh in most of the day, but I never expected to see that! LOL.

I'm sorry, but was it just last week, or the week before I was really thinking the show was getting back on track and was really good! Back during the car wreck and Nora and Marty's scenes. It was so promising. That seems like forever ago.

I love Jared and Natalie in a big big way. But it hasn't been that long ago that I recall them having this same conversation. We need to tell, no we can't, but we must, but we can't.

[Daphne]

Jared and Natalie are in this Chloe/Hope "grip" and I think it will dominate their story until the secret is exposed. Some days I like that RC has had them so heavily involved in this, and other days I get restless because they do have the same conversation over and over again. I'm just bracing myself for the fallout. I hope they don't get singed too much. It's not like THEY switched the babies

[alexisfan07]

Ok, am I the only one that's gonna miss Antonio? He's far better than his brother, Cristian.

[Daphne]

I would GLADLY take Antonio over Cristian anyday. I didn't like the Antonio and Talia scenes today. Antonio's reason for leaving seem silly to me and their interaction today was very awkward to me.

[alexisfan07]

Yeah, bad writing I like them together, though They make a great police duo. I'll be sad when he get his sendoff tomorrow.

[Daphne]

I agree it was the writing. But I also kinda got the impression Kamar wasn't really feeling the dialogue. Based on what he's said in the press

I'm deeply concerned about Talia.

[alexisfan07]

For her leaving?

[Antoyne]

Antonio was definitely the lesser of the two evils as far as the Vega brothers go...and the conversation with Talia definitely fell flat.

[Ann_SS]

I'll miss Kamar. I haven't always liked Antonio, but he was one of the few consistent people of color on ABC's line up. I'm surprised that there wasn't a bigger outcry about his departure.

[DRW50]

I think RC has done a great job making Antonio more tolerable. The Antonio of the Malone era was abominable. I wonder if Kamar preferred that Antonio, since he was frontburner.

Jared and Natalie are probably the best couple on OLTL at the moment. Imagine what they could be if they weren't plot devices, devoted only to driving Jessica's stories.

[rhinohide]

One of the reasons I thought the Jared scam was so good is that it did tie into so many different plots. Dorian's BE takeover scheme, Nash's vineyard problems, Charlie's relationship with Viki, Rex's paternity issues and of course just the Jared and Natalie piece. It was far reaching beyond the obvious. And it was easy (if you chose) to understand that they were planning to tell, that there were all these unforseen consequences dangling out there that they were totally oblivious to, and that when the ish hit the fan, they were as tragically impacted as almost anyone. The unravelling of their lies (once they made the decision to tell) caught up to them in a matter of days.

The baby swap by comparison is very simplistic and contrived. No one besides Jessica, Starr and Marcie are being written as impacted by the reveal. Cole, is totally left out in the cold. The grandparents, Blair, Marty and Todd, are all being written as so embedded in other stories that we don't really even remember that they have any relationship to this baby. The solution is equally simple and obvious. Jared and Natalie look like fools because they don't just go and share the information with Jessica's doctor, who may be the idiot who released her from St. Ann's when she is clearly not really integrated, but he's still the expert on how to handle the situation with the minimal fallout. I haven't heard one person anywhere post that they believe Jared and Natalie are making the right decision if they don't tell. That's a problem. We should be kind of torn, and I don't know anyone, including me (a HUGE Jared and Natalie fan) who is. We're all screaming "TELL SOMEONE!".

This is just bad storytelling and I'm so disappointed. I realize that this is sort of a second tier story and sometimes they simply don't rate the development that the prime stories (Rex's paternity, Shane's leukemia, Blair/John/Marty) do. But sadly, the prime stories aren't being developed that intricately or cleverly either. If they were, I am enough of a fan of the entire show that I could go along for the ride (this time).

[DRW50]

So Todd's been going to anger management classes and going to therapy? I know this may be seen as a boring way to pass soap time, but if we're supposed to root for Todd's out of the blue need for his kids, couldn't they have shown some of this therapy or anger management instead of months of him skulking around town and feeling sorry for himself?

Such lazy writing.

[Scotty]

Either that, or Todd's just making it look like he's reformed and lying about going to therapy. With Todd, you never know.