OLTL: Discussion for the week August 3

[Scotty]

Discussion for the week August 3

[DRW50]

I'm looking forward to this week -- as long as the scenes don't involve Todd or Marty/John or Rex/Stacy/Gigi. Nora is in the middle of the best material she's had since, I would say, 1994, and I'm glad Frons failed in his efforts to chase her off the show years ago.

I still live in hope for a return to a more complicated Dorian/Viki relationship. I was watching this again and it just gets better and better. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a more understated yet utterly devastating performance from Robin Strasser.

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[Scotty]

I am really liking today's episode so far. The Grey Gardens stuff is funny, we finally got that updated opening (with Stacy, Kyle, and Tea), and the wedding stuff is good.

[Dale]

Hi, Scotty! Is the Grey Gardens spoof good or GOOD? I am really looking forward to seeing it!

[Scotty]

Hey Dale!

I thought it was GOOD.

To be honest, I had never even heard of 'Greay Gardens' until I first got wind that OLTL was going to do the spoof, and I researched it for the article I wrote for SON several weeks ago about it (I learned a great deal about it in the process).

That being said....I thought OLTL did a pretty good job with it.

[Doyen]

I'm glad they finally added Téa and Stacy to the opening sequence.

[DeliaIrisFan]

What a fun episode! My only minor quibble - aside from the fact that I caught a few references to scenes that were dramatized in the recent HBO adaptation that were not in the original documentary, suggesting that someone who wrote the script or the breakdown didn't do as much research as they might have - is that I think that the dream sequence should have been from Dorian's perspective instead of Blair's. In the past month alone, Blair got to fool around with a poolboy and hook up with her ex-husband, so I wouldn't exactly call that a dry spell in her love life, whereas Dorian's despair about David and Ray on Friday rang truer than Blair's recently renewed obsession with Todd. Plus Viki playing Jackie Kennedy opposite Dorian as Edith (either one of them) would have made a lot more sense than Blair and Tea channeling those roles. The reason that Tea and Blair hate each other is that they both came from nothing and are used to fighting for what they have gotten, so their dynamic is completely different. And Todd is definitely no Kennedy. Dorian on the other hand didn't grow up poor, per se - in fact she had at least one relative who was extremely wealthy, that aunt whose inheritance led to that whole Adriana-as-Dorian's-daughter story - but her branch of the family was eccentric, to put it mildly, and all of her relationships with powerful, esteemed men that could have solidified for her the type of social standing that she feels Viki enjoys always ended prematurely in ways that tarnished Dorian's reputation. When in reality, Viki has been judged less harshly by society for doing what on the surface might appear to be some of the same things that Dorian did (cheating on Clint, ostensibly killing Victor).

But why split hairs? RS is a gem, and KdP was a lot of fun too, even if the parallels between Blair's trajectory and the Grey Gardens story was not so clear to me (and I'm glad she didn't attempt to do Edie's accent). It's also really impressive that OLTL's set design and other behind the scenes folks can still pull off sequences like transforming La Boulaie into Grey Gardens on an ever shrinking budget. Most importantly, though, how nice to see a soap these days trust that its audience is astute enough to understand and appreciate a cultural reference. As bizarre as this sounds, shows like today's prove that OLTL is the most intelligent soap on the air today, when it's not getting sidetracked by stories about strippers using bags of blood to blackmail their sisters into breaking up with their boyfriends.

[DRW50]

At least Ray and David both actually cared for Dorian, and she for them. The poolboy was a pathetic attempt to make Todd jealous, and Todd treated her like trash after they slept together.

I don't think Todd or Tea should have been included in this sequence. Their sleazy goings on already dictate most of the story, I'm not sure why they have to be here too. Todd rots everything he touches.

This sequence also made me wonder exactly where Blair sees Addie in her life, and if RC will ever be allowed to write any type of relationship for Blair/Addie. She has barely been a blip since he returned from the strike.

[oltl1]

Amen. The amount of detail in those sets was outstanding, especially in these economic times. A shout out must go to the costume department as well, for dressing Viki and Nora so beautifully for their wedding. Overall, a decent episode.

[DRW50]

It's nice to see Viki in a happy relationship. For a long time I thought they'd never let her have another relationship after Ben.

[operagirl1]

The anvils were dropping for Jared though. With the "I don't blame you" from Jess, cutting to a picture of the Stalker with a picture of JB, it doesn't look good.

Natalie & Jared are my favorite couple on OL. I do not want him to go.

[SFK]

And how nice of Robin to let the show *borrow* HER portrait of Dorian.

[DavidEvanSmith]

I hope they DO sacrifice Jared for the sake of giving Natalie, Jessica, Viki and Charlie great story. Sacrificing Nash worked to reenergize Jessica (though I really liked Nash and was initially against the idea). Perhaps the long-thought-dead brother of Jared is the stalker and resents Jared for his ultimate luck in life, and ends up killing him. It could challenge Charlie's alcoholism, Natalie can once again feel like all her loves die on her, Jessica will feel partly responsible because it was her stalker, and Viki/Charlie's marriage will be strained. Jared has absolutely no drive on the canvas, so I have no problem with them killing him off. If it's Jared's brother, then Charlie will still have a son on the canvas, just a more flawed, disturbed son.

[chrishntr]

Another great show today. Most the time Todd just grates on my nerves but today he was rather funny. Only Todd wouldn't cut his phone off at his sisters wedding, that had me LOL.

I am SO glad that Viki and Charlie finally made it Mr. and Mrs. Banks. Would love to see more story for Viki/Charlie and Jared/Natalie, and I don't want the stalker to end up killing anyone, especially Jared. Natalie has had enough heartache when it comes to men, let her at least be happy in that part of her life.

What's a wedding without someone busting up in there and causing trouble? Gotta say Dorian and Blair were rather funny. I almost fell out of my chair when Blair sat down in Tea's lap because she wouldn't move.

Honestly they could have cut out the trio from hell and showed more wedding/reception stuff.

[Vee]

Don't make me laugh. Killing Jared would be a carbon copy of killing Nash, and while killing Nash was a great series of scenes, it did nothing to "reenergize Jessica" because the show totally fumbled the fallout - with a horrible Tess return and an even lamer baby switch, both of which we'd seen before. Jessica as a character today is still drifting, still diffused; she has a good romance with Brody, but we have no idea who she is, and haven't since some years ago. I like the stalker plotline, but having both Jessica and Natalie's husbands die would be downright idiotic, especially since Jared and Natalie are still quite a popular couple with the audience. What's more, Jared has proven to be a dynamic young male lead who brings something new to the table, as opposed to being related to everybody. Nash wasn't related to everyone either, but unlike Jared, he had basically no backstory or character definition while he lived. I can't think of anything lamer than replacing Jared with the dead brother thought up by scabs during the writer's strike.