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One Life to Live Tribute Thread

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By Toups
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Franko Mentor

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Thoughts on 11/21/88-11/23/88:

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving, SONs and Llanview residents!

Viki/Leo/Christine/Michael -- I was pleasantly surprised by how engrossing the scenes where Christine learns Viki's her mother, and then later, Viki brings Christine up to speed about what supposedly happened in 1963. It clearly helps that this is all being played and presented as absolutely straight, with no ambiguity. I'm really going to be curious how things play out when the deception is apparent. Or was it teased from the get-go and I just haven't picked up on it? Anyway, at this point, Leo is the weakest link. I get that he can't get out from under Michael's control, and it turns out that he was right about Christine freaking out about the news, but at this point, I want him just to shut up and let the women have their ultimately phony moment. Speaking of the women, I am loving the support Viki's getting from Renee (and Bo) right now. And yeah, Niki Smith in the Peace Corps? As if!

 

Ursula/Tina/Cord/Mari Lynn/Wade -- As great as Erika and Susan Floyd are in these episodes, I've got to give my crown to Jill. Ursula's just so much fun here. I'm getting such a kick out of her continued outrage over Tina's existence. "A sterling silver dish for sweets. For the woman who has everything and doesn't deserve it." It was also hilarious that the experience of preparing a Thanksgiving turkey inspired Ursula to come up with her bomb idea. Grim comedy aside, I also liked that Mari Lynn and Wade weren't presented as easily-manipulated morons. Okay, so Ursula posing as Candy Sweet is dependent on Mari Lynn accepting circumstantial evidence (and the fact that they're meeting for the first time). Somehow Mari Lynn comes across as reasonably smart, in allowing someone she thinks is a sex worker who knew her mom and Renee and is avoiding violence from her ex-lover/pimp to stay at the carriage house. Although Wade has a point about the idea of someone showing up (little does he know!). And again, how can you not love Tina and Cord so happy together?

 

Max/Asa -- To paraphrase A Chorus Line, "Doug Wert out!, James De Paiva IN!" I've tried to keep myself spoiler-free, but I see that Asa will get WVLE. And the Holden Tower was once the hotel that Asa owned and then gave to Pamela (and Renee will get in the future?). Paging the historians!

 

Rob/Cassie -- Looks like it's the end of the line for these two. She just can't trust him anymore and it that's the case, they'll never work out. I'm assuming Mark Arnold was done after the Nov. 22 episode.

 

Bo/Drew -- Maybe it's me, but I get the impression that getting rid of SORASed-too-soon Drew was OLTL trying to put aside a mistake made during the writers strike. And who knows, maybe the attitude was that having Bo as father of a teenager would cause too much attention on the 14-year age gap between Robert S. Woods and Jensen Buchanan?

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Franko Mentor

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More comments to come later today/tonight, but I'll say this right now: as absurd as Cake Boom is after the fact, it was executed perfectly. Not a detail was missed in the lead-up and the aftermath was handled with a great deal of respect. This is how you do a soap tragedy.

And then, when that's all wrapped up, we get a day of Michael delivering Eterna 101.

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Franko Mentor

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Thoughts on OLTL, 11/28/88-12/9/88:

-- I'm making the ensemble share the crown for this fortnight, because like I said, the exploding wedding cake and reveal that Steve Holden died from its impact wouldn't have worked as well as it did if everyone didn't play it straight. Even though everyone shares the crown, obviously special attention goes to De Paiva and Brock. On the one hand, since I'm watching in 2021 and knew what to expect, some of the lead-up did feel drawn out (I liked that Wanda's assistants lampshaded how annoying Ursula was getting about the cake being handled just so). On the other hand, I liked the influx of drama with the Holden brothers, that Max discovered Steve (foolishly) worked for Michael. The explosion's aftermath had some nice details like Asa making sure that Llanview was still structurally sound and Viki talking about dealing with nosy neighbors.

-- Ha, after my commenting that Viki was subtly having "I slept with this guy?!" feelings regarding Leo, then she came out with them. That whole interlude with Linda Donovan (played by a woman I feel like I should recognize) was a bit silly. I know Linda was fulfilling a mission, but she could have read the room better and eased Viki into some fun, not been automatically "Beach Boys! Far out! Yeah! Let's dance to 'Surfin' USA'!"

-- Gabrielle confronting Max after he's lost the Holden Towers is structured so similarly to the sixth season finale of Dynasty that I started imagining Gaby saying things like "Take this junk, and your blonde tramp ..."

-- So, was that it for Virgil? In stuff that didn't make the upload, he got rebuffed by Wanda and then knocked out by Ursula. Then, in stuff that did make the upload, he apparently went back to Heaven? Poor Wanda, not getting to know what happened to him.

-- I'm so glad to know that Renee was such a devoted, mother hen of a madam. During the scene where it's apparent that she doesn't know "Candy", I started singing "Little Bitty Pissant Country Place" from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

-- You could cut the tension with a knife when Roger and Sarah ran into Cord and Tina. I'm glad Tina let the ex-couple have their final moment. And yeah, by this point, we're unmistakably into the courtship of Bo and Sarah.

-- Gabrielle can claim she's into Michael all she wants (and he can creepily manhandle her; foreshadowing to their wedding day trauma?), we know what's up when she was distraught and ran like hell after thinking Max died.

-- Ursula acting like a demented Goldilocks while at Stonehurst is just too much fun. Also, throwing it out there -- I know I should think Mari Lyn was a gullible moron, but for some reason I can't. Wade's line about "undoing some of the damage you've done" was way harsh, Tai!

-- Notice the sorta-blooper? Larry referred to having lost Laurel when he talked to Brenda. But not Meredith. What's up with that?

-- Tina and Cord's honeymoon in Spain was mentioned in David Sedaris' "Santaland Diaries," although what David described didn't entirely appear in the upload. He remembered Cord being challenged to a duel by the bullfighter, when really the guy ended up having Cord help in the ring. For what it's worth, "Sleighbell" did an impressive flamenco dance, as David indicated. (Well, impressive to me, anyway.)

-- Okay, so here's where we're at with Eterna ... we know (but Viki and Christine don't) that Leo and Christine are frauds. We also get the whole sordid story of the city, its slave caretakers and the founders' greed straight from Michael. Favorite detail: the Eterna uniforms were mentioned from the get go.

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Khan Grand Master

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If not for all the Eterna madness, it would have been a good-if-not-great-era for OLTL.

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Khan Grand Master

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Possibly, yes.

Recently, I learned Schnessel briefly wrote for ATWT (under Douglas Marland) after exiting OLTL.  I'm curious as to whether CBS/P&G planned to have him replace Marland as HW.  Of course, if that was their plan, his untimely death likely scuttled it.

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soapfave06 Collaborator

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Did he really? I had no idea. I wonder if he quit OLTL then as I always heard he passed away during his tenure but if he died two years after the fact maybe he just fell ill and quit and took a small job at ATWT? 

I wonder how his ATWT tenure would pan out given how plot driven OLTL was. 

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