OLTL: Week Of July 15, 2013 Discussion

[rhinohide]

Natalie as the streetwise savvy tough woman appears to be MIA. In her place is Cutter's sex kitten. One of many.

[Winchester91]

This is the same woman who shanked Mitch Laurence. Give it time. She will be pushed to do something within her character.

[Vee]

Episode 39:

I really enjoyed how, like AMC's Episode 40 (I still don't get the discrepancy), it focused on a central theme and parallels. On OLTL it was juxtaposing Viki and Clint with D&D and their respective marital issues. They finally did what I'd been asking for in last week's thread and had David and Dorian begin to hammer into each other about their very real issues in a real way, something substantive - David made points without being a total buffoon. That was important and needed and I'm glad they're digging into it, because the stuff both of them brought up is legitimate.

While his story has sometimes been aimless in the last few weeks up til now, the consistent throughline with David on the new show is that he is not just a broad cartoon; he's actually somewhat human and grounded again, and he can at times have real insight, real intelligent thought. Sometimes he's a good mate for Dorian as he used to be back in the early 2000s, and sometimes he's just insightful period, as he was in this episode. Also important was the scene with him and Michael Green, which I personally found hilarious. And the most important thing about that scene was that once again, as with the premiere episode and the early weeks opposite Dorian, David was the 'straight man' - the guy who realized the joke was on him and didn't just keep camping it up relentlessly. He was thrown off-guard, and the executive was the ridiculous one. That hasn't happened for David Vickers in years until the new show. David needs more of that. He needs to keep walking that line between comedy and pathos, relatability, and I think they've been handling him very, very well.

Viki and Clint, I thought Clint's rage at Viki was really nasty and uncalled for at points, saying she was incapable of love. He knows better than that, but he was angry. But I also thought he was right that she needed an element of control over the relationship that was ultimately realistic, that no one could be allowed to help her. When he asked why she always had to do it alone, I remembered that is often a core tenet of Viki's classic character - the woman who took on everything of her father's mantle and clashed with men who tried to get her to let them in (Joe, Clint). So I liked that stuff a lot. I audibly gasped when Viki said she was going to lose Llanfair, and I kind of wished they'd actually played out that beat for a few weeks or months - otherwise this Banner/Pellegrino story continues tracking towards major consequences and then deftly avoiding them. There's been a series of fakeouts like that with this story and I think there needs to be a real payoff soon, besides just Viki and Clint's break-up (which hopefully will stick for a little while - I really want to see them tempted by other people, much like Brooke or Dixie on AMC). It doesn't seem like the Banner's troubles are going away, and I want to see them go somewhere real.

As always I liked the random community stuff, like the workout class, although I will say I would've liked it better at Serenity Springs - it looks like they held it at Llanview High. Loved Nikki, but I always love Nikki. Pretty sure Téa is pregnant, which would be lovely, she should never have lost the first baby. Just don't name it Victor III. Not sure what is going on with the crooked cop, Dean - I assume he's a bad guy (and I'm glad Natalie remembered) but they keep drawing these random supporting characters into odd focus. Not that I mind that, but I'm just not sure where it's going.

Matthew and Michelle, zzz for now. Until and unless Robert Gorrie takes his clothes off again, which he looks set to do, so hooray.

Todd and Blair - great, albeit brief.

[~bl~]

When the More episodes were combined into one show for Hulu, it was done for maybe 3 weeks...one week it was coded for OLTL and the other two weeks it was coded as AMC. That's why the numbers are different.

[EricMontreal22]

Vee, completely agree with your take on David. It's damn refreshing to now see him as someone who I could actually conceive existing in real lie after years of him... well not being that person.

OK the Destiny fight with Dani really didn't show off Destiny's better acting qualities... It also kinda came out of nowhere, though I liked that it went back into Dani's loneliness and I found that element extremely touching.

I do enjoy these scenes with Bon and Nora, but I admit, while I found it a pleasure--mostly--to watch, I kinda wondered what was the point of today's. Woodstock? Where the heck did that come from? Usually they've done something to tie the radioshow into another story--thematically or directly, but this time I kept trying to find some connection, and honestly couldn't (unless it was just to show that one couple is still happy...) Oh and why does pizza on soaps always look so unappetizing?

[rhinohide]

I've given it time. It seems a lot of people enjoy the snippets of her and Cutter or her and Destiny as long as they're sandwiched between other more important stuff. Who am I to say they're wrong to enjoy what they enjoy. I'm just not getting what I want from the show. If others are, that's a good thing.

[teplin]

I was surprised that a $5 million loss would basically bankrupt Viki -- I assumed she was much wealthier than that.

I'm liking the tension between Dorian and David, and I hope they eventually split up -- they really are not a match, for many reasons in addition to the issues they are wrestling with now. I like Tuc a lot, but Dorian is much more effective and entertaining when she feels she's on the outside, struggling for love, respect, money, etc.

I would really like to see more character development with Natalie and Cutter. I find both actors immensely appealing, separately and together, but right now it feels as though they're being pushed together out of default rather than any real character connection.

All in all, I thought these were two really strong episodes. The only thing that really isn't working for me is Todd/Victor -- the pacing is off and it really suffers from Trevor's absence.

[Cheap21]

she explained that the Banner hasn't been doing well in years and she's already had to mortgage her house twice. She''s poured alot of her personal money into keeping it afloat. Even now, I don't think she's mentioned shutting it down. Seems like she was going to continue to poor her remaining assets into keeping it running. She isn't poor but without that $5 million as a buffer, she cant live according to the means she's accustomed to.

[cher1989]

Episode 40

What's not to love with Bo and Nora? Bo's got his cases. I'd like Nora to have something a little more substantive.

David quits his relationship with Dorian after being caught with another woman. This is not what I want for Dorian. I don't want her in a marriage with David anymore. She said she wasn't feeling it. Neither am I. I like that they are writing David with more dimension. Keep it up show. However, I want to get Dorian's point of view of her relationship with David. We got his.

Kelley Missal continues to impress. Dani feels alone and wants to kill herself. Why?

I've been rooting for Laura Harrier but she was weak in these scenes.

Ugh to Matt and Michelle. I suppose they had to bring the relationship to this level before unleashing the "craziness" that I'm guessing is coming.

Blair and Todd? Steaming. Hot. Now what?

[greens_dupres]

I've been rooting for her too and think she has improved but those scenes and anger scenes in general do her no favors. And I don't even think they needed to write a full screaming match to explore the fact that there's tension betwen Dani & Destiny over Matthew, which I did think was a good idea to address. You can see how hard she's trying to ACT in those scenes and the scene becomes more about evaluating her performance than the dialogue. If they want to keep her, I'd write to her strengths at least right now- she does good in the quieter character stuff with some of the vets, seems to lighten up and relax with Corbin Bleu which is perfect since that's exactly what his character is supposed to be doing for Destiny and she has chemistry with Rob Gorrie and I generally buy her combination of being defensive/tenative/hurt/hopeful all at once when it comes to him. But the less hysterics they give her to play for now the better- especially if Kelley's in the same scene.

[chrishntr]

I love that I can see both sides to this Viki/Clint drama. I am really hoping that this is their love story that never happened and was rushed on ABC.

I'm all for Natalie going forward with her life and forgetting about John McBain, but I just don't know if Cutter's the guy for her, even though I truly wanted it at first. There is just something about Cutter recently that SCREAMS slime ball. And that is not what I want for Natalie.

[cher1989]

I think that LH is coming off kind of "valley girl." I think they should show her in more scenes with Shaun. I'm rooting for her because I've seen her improve, which means that she's working on her craft. But you're right for now she works better in quieter scenes.

[Dee41]

So this week was very good

Viki/Clint- I'm glad Clint stopped groveling. He was way out of line with keeping John from Liam but I can't fault him for helping Viki with the Pellegrino fund. They both brought up good points. The time apart will do them some good.

David/Dorian- DnD were one of my favorite pair. I think it's ridiculous that Dorian is the one fighting for the marriage when David cheated. I was pleasantly surprised by David. I found his reality show dumb but now I understand why its so important to David. I was always under the impression he liked being a kept husband. Glad to see that isn't the case.

Cutter/Natalie- Their make out was hot. I don't understand why their scenes were so short. I would have much rather seen a hot love scene between them instead of that awful one with Matt/Michelle

Matt/Michelle- Matt was behaving like a typical guy. Michelle is so going to be cray cray. I didn't appreciate getting such lengthy scenes between them. I can't believe how chemistry free they are.

Dani/Destiny- Hated those scenes. First off, best friends? The show has done a piss poor job showing a friendship between Dani/Destiny. I'm not buying what they're trying to sell. Second, it was out of character for Destiny. Destiny is not the type to go on some jealous rampage. She came off as a jealous psycho. It didn't help that LH was dreadful. It got so bad i finally hit the mute button and turned the captions on. A better actress might have been able to add some layers to the scenes so Destiny didn't come off so one-dimensional.

I hope Jeffrey was paying close attention and proceeds with caution when it comes to Destiny. She was jealous. There was no other way to interpret her outburst.

She does, which is why long term she won't work as Destiny imo. Her voice (especially the vocal fry she does at times), her mannerisms, etc scream valley girl. It's disappointing because it's not even close to who Destiny is. Destiny made fun of the valley girls.

[EricMontreal22]

AGreed. I will say, for a show that usually has such strong dialogue, the way these scenes were written set her at a disadvantage from the get go, so I'll cut her some slack--it came out of nowhere. Still, I wish a director had told her to tone them down a little bit or have SOME build not basically go d from "oh hi" to "DID YOU SLEEP WITH MATTHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????!"

[alexisfan07]

I wish Laura Harrier would be let go. From the lack of acting ability to the insane proportion differences from Shenell, she just isn't Destiny to me. Plain and simple. Not even putting her in scenes with Sean Ringgold will help me at this point. IMO, the good acting some of you are referring to in her quietier scenes is mostly just based around some slight screen presence/charisma, which she probably has from being a model for years. But I can't with her slouching and strange hand motions and...bouncing. I have no other word for it, she sort of bounces and bobbles in her scenes and has her palms out. So [!@#$%^&*] strange.