AMC: Monday June 2, 2013 Episode Discussion

[KMan101]

(even though your reply was towards Eric ... heh, I'll make it about me because I'm in the mood to talk about the show LOL)

I was so happy the guitar riff and AJ/Miranda got a day off. I like them but it really was getting to be too much of them.

I guess I personally look at a show more in a writer's perspective than sometimes as just a fan. I thought the Jesse/Angie/room scenes played well but yeah, I guess it would be depressing. I'm just not that depressed watching because it's, to me, actually interesting. Not that I WANT to watch it, but you know what I mean. It's one of the few storylines actually going on that I can invest in.

[Vee]

Watching this the other day I got a real sense of how right Carl and Eric are - if this was ABC, Uri would be the "noble trafficker" forced into it by his family, etc etc. who then spends the next six months proving his love to Cassandra. Uggghhhh.

[KMan101]

I'd say they would probably be right too.

[Soaplovers]

I guess it goes to prove that everyone has different reactions to the same scenes... isn't that a great thing about being human

I thought it actually was a better episode due to the fact that Brooke was actually given something to do, and she was sort of acting like Brooke.

However, I think the show introduced Lea to us all wrong. I like that Lea is an FBI agent, but to hint that she is Zach's new love interest was a mistake.. especially with a lot of fans loving Zach with Kendall. I think if Kendall can't return full time.. let Zach be single and support for other people's stories.. then down the line start to chemistry test him. Lea could just have been an FBI agent and once the human trafficking story was complete then interact her with all the eligible bachelors and see if chemistry takes.

Regarding the music... I guess a human trafficking story shouldn't have happy music. And BKT is an acquired taste in regards to humour. AMC used to have more broad/campy humor back in the day, much more then OLTL ever did... which is why I thought RC was a bad choice to head-write OLTL since he didn't get that show.. perhaps he could have worked as a co-head writer on AMC with Lorraine Broderick.. combine the social issues with the broad humour.

According to Cady's blog, the fact that the headwriter's weren't familiar with the veterans (i.e. what made them tick, getting into their head) right off the bat is probably the reason why we were only seeing AJ/Miranda & Celia/Pete so much.. plus why Cassandra (a charcter who hasn't been on in years) have been featured more. She did state that the headwriters got better in regards to reading the veterans but that PP didn't have the patience to wait.. and she understood in this format why they couldn't.

The incoming head-writer Lisa Connor should be good since she helped Agnes with the 25th anniversary book for AMC.. and I hope that means story/focus for Dixie. I don't want Dixie to be background until MEK decides to grace us with his presence.

[GregNYC]

Why weren't the sex trafficking victims happy to be rescued? Instead, they were angry and almost yelling at Jessie.

[Soaplovers]

I'm guessing they were brainwashed?

[marceline]

I didn't see anger. I saw wariness from women who'd been abused and probably have no reason to feel comfortable in a room with a bunch of men who want something from them.

[EricMontreal22]

Interesting points Soaplovers. In regards to RC co-HW AMC, while now I would never want that to happen, you have a point, though I doubt his ego could hndle being a HW. That said Nixon's classic types of humour based characters that she really refined on AMC (though it seems her AW and early OLTL had it too) are truly DIckensian--no wonder she name drops him as an inspiration--not only did he write serials and said "Make 'em laugh, make 'em cry, make 'em wait" according to his publisher first (others think Wilkie Collins who worked with Dickens said it first), he also loved to mix realistic and pressing social storylines, complicated and often pretty unrealistic coincidences, young very sweet lovers who the audience roots for but are often extremely bland (think Little Dorrit--or AMC's Tara), and over the top caricatures providing the humour--often also being either loveable helping characters or villains. I don't think Ron C really gets that. But Billy Clyde Tuggle is certainly an aspect of that.

That element has largely been missing from AMC since the late 90s,and I like that the idea to bring back Billy Clyde (maybe it was Nixon's) shows this show may be willing to bring some of that feel back. Yeah, the actor mumbles more than he ever did, but I love having him here, even if I agree that it' s a bit of an odd dichotemy between th sex traffickers and then the comic pimp Billy Clyde, but for the most part they've made it work well enough for me,

Me too--I thought that aspect was very realistic.

[dragonflies]

my uncle's stepkids call him "dad" it's not that uncommon

[DRW50]

Ron Carlivati already wrote AMC - his name was Chuck Pratt.

As for this episode...

I think Pete mostly comes across as a little punk when he's not in vapid loverboy mode. I'd like to see someone else (not Caleb) come in for the Cortlandt side of the business. I wanted to see Nina in the business side. I know this is his business interests, not anything of Palmer's, but I'd still rather see Nina.

I also see no real reason to care about Celia/Pete. For him to just completely ignore her when she's having meltdowns goes beyond being distracted. It's just being oblivious and uncaring.

David and Jane have an odd relationship, like Jane knows a secret and he doesn't know she knows.

The Brooke/David scene was probably my favorite of the episode. She did her best at unwinding David's defensiveness and talking to him maturely and reasonably. The JR/David scenes sort of go in a loop, but for the most part I still appreciate JR's story arc and the pacing of it. I just hope they keep he and David apart until something changes.

The guy who plays Uri is actually an effective villain, genuinely menacing. Other than Debbi Morgan's performance, I'm not invested in the story, but I thought this episode did a good job of showing Jesse's dilemma and Angie's pain.

I liked the Angie/Joe scenes in this quite a bit. I've said it before, but I'll say it again - my enjoyment of Joe goes up 10000% when the other Martin men aren't around.

Zach and Billy Clyde come across as distractions, but I do think Zach works as a grizzly supporting character. I also wish he and Lea could have a relationship that wasn't sexual or romantic, and just a fight over their very different personalities. I find Lea more believable as a cop than I would have expected.

Billy Clyde comes across as that annoying uncle the family puts up with. I don't know quite what to say about him. Sometimes I am amused by him and sometimes I cringe.