29 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Sadly it's so true about soccer mom Reva right now. They really screwed up not having Blake be the one to save Holly from the bridge IMO.

I actually liked Cassie and Sean, they had great chemistry! I'm still perplexed by the show's decision to let Sean go, but even more so to not allow him to say goodbye to Reva or Cassie, only random Dinah and Matt.

That's wild about Susan/Lizzie. If Lizzie was already SORAS'ed, I'm surprised they didn't bring Susan back to at least be the same age. I guess maybe they wanted Harley to still appear like a younger mother.

Hmm let's see... she tried to take Marah, but Marah was old enough to realize that was a dumb idea haha. I guess technically she didn't take baby RJ LOL. I'm surprised she didn't take Maureen since Holly sent Vanessa the spider and nursery rhyme. Otherwise I think you're right, I can't think of any other children on the scene right now since Peter is away with Bridget/Dylan.

It's bizarre how they didn't age any of Harley's children. Susan ends up nearly ten years younger than Lizzie, and the barely acknowledged Zach ends up younger than James, apparently.

I'm not sure anything would've made the story better, but putting Holly's focus on Maureen would've made a hell of a lot more sense. And Holly stealing Maureen out from under ****'s nose while he was bangin' Beth would've been the cherry on my sundae.

Then Vanessa could've divorced his ass with a clear conscience.

I can’t believe they had Reva in the climax with Holly! I mean I can, but I can’t.

I wonder if Blake and Holly will have any pay off scenes and look forward to seeing what they do with Holly in coming months.

1 hour ago, GL95 said:

There’s a scene circa 1995 where Marj’s Alex barges into the yacht to do one of her shrewish yammerings about Alan to the point where A-M literally covers his ears and starts making unintelligible sounds just to get her to stop talking. There’s obviously a character dynamic shift but even at his most irritated/pissed off you can’t imagine AM doing that to Bev’s Alex (or Rick making that acting choice). I hadn’t seen any of Bev’s Alex when I first watched and the entire tone of the show is so different.

When Holly completely loses it over Blake/Ross and is breaking down/lashing out for awhile Maureen plays it pretty big but it’s effective because Holly’s not generally over the top. By 1995 you feel like most characters would go on a 5 minute table clearing rant if they ran out of ketchup.

Call it "The Reva Effect." It is the mere presence of Reva on the canvas that creates ridiculousness throughout Springfield. Guiding Light increasing becomes a louder, more hammy and less intelligent program whenever Reva among the characters.

Reva encourages sloppiness. In everything. In breakdown, scripting/dialog, character development, story continuity, believability, acting choices. And it's painfully obvious that TPTB believe that anything goes once Reva is present.

You mentioned the change in tone. Damn straight. (A shame you won't get much opportunity to know the original Alan as played by Chris Bernau. Fascinating and expertly played. Light years apart from Ron Raines' moustache-twirling Alan). Alan and Alex being gutted/ruined coincides very nicely with Reva's return. It's no accident.

Guiding Light was already in a downturn when Zimmer returned in Fall 1994. "Reva" simply institutionalized Guiding Light's destruction.

It wasn't Maureen's death that represented GL's jumping the shark moment. It was Reva's return.

It was Reva saving Holly on the bridge that finally prompted me to turn off Guiding Light forever. That scene was beyond offensive. I mean, WTH? It's heartwarming to see others here react similarly.

Turning if off wasn't that difficult as I had watched GL only sporadically once Watros left. I mean, what was the point in watching without her? To be continually insulted?

@Speed Racer Whether we like Reva or not, she was GL's definitive character of its final 25 years.

I believe Kim Zimmer returned spring 1995 for a short arc but then returned permanently that summer and remained until the end.

18 minutes ago, kalbir said:

@Speed Racer Whether we like Reva or not, she was GL's definitive character of its final 25 years.

I believe Kim Zimmer returned spring 1995 for a short arc but then returned permanently that summer and remained until the end.

That's correct. And look what happened.