Jesse Soffer and Jen Landon, broke my heart in like the first 12 minutes. As for the Maddie storyline...eh, I don't know...just trying to add some insight perhaps!!!

I thought those scenes were wonderfully done...my heart also broke when Jennifer asked Gwen to be there for Johnny and watch over him...I hope that Dusty will let Johnny have all of his family around him.

From the previews, Hal, even in this sad time still finds a way to stick it to Paul... It would be nice if everyone's bitter attitudes would be put on the backburner, especially with them knowing that Jennifer has only few precious moments with all the people she loves.

--Poor Jen! I'm still not sure that her dying (if she does in fact die...this is a soap opera after all) will benefit the show in the long-term future. To me, Jen is the future of the show, not people like Maddie and Gwen.

--Ewww Jen, don't marry that loser! Well, I guess she has nothing to lose now. As usual, though, the scenes in the hospital were amazing. I was totally crying during Jen's scene w/ Hal. Also, when Kim started crying...so sad! Everything was beautifully done. It definitely made up for the other lackluster scenes. Barbara and Kim are my two favorite characters (along w/ Lucinda), so whenever they cry, I'm like water works too.

--OMG, I thought Dusty would never leave Jen's hospital room. There are other people in her family that want to see her...like her parents!! BTW, where was Paul? Not that I care...but his sister is dying.

--Also, I really don't care about Gwen...she's not part of the family. Why are they wasting airtime showing a Jen/Gwen scene? I'd rather have seen Jen talking to Will instead.

--Maddie's storyline, umm...who cares?? I'm just glad that Dallas isn't a rapist.

--Oh please! Not another deserted island storyline! And, of course, it involves Simon and Katie. Now all we need is Henry and a stupid jewel and it will be like 2001...NOT!

The whole going overboard scenes looked so fake to me...right at the point where it looked like Katie vaulted over the rail rather than being thrown off.

I know tomorrow it's going to be "Punk Paul Day" between both Hal and Dusty. With everything going on, the last thing Hal needs to be doing is slamming Paul.

Loved the beginning scenes of Gwen, Casey and Billy/Johnny.

I kinda just ignored the Jen scenes.

I agree with the whoever said Maddie's story came out of no where. She had no qualms about siccing sicko BJ Green on Katie when she first came to Oakdale. Her being a sexual assault victim makes no sense.

I thought today's episode was great. I enjoyed just about everything.

The Ryan/Munson/Hughes stuff was really tear-jerking. The two scenes that did me in were the one of Will breaking down in Gwen's arms and the one of Kim breaking down in Dusty's arms.

Call me crazy, but I'm enjoying the Maddie storyline. If the story is good enough, I'll be able to put behind me the rewriting of history. I think everyone was a little relieved that Dallas didn't commit the crime. It widens the possibilities for his character and I can't wait to find out exactly what happened to Maddie in Chicago.

The Matie/Skatie stuff didn't interest me much today. I have to say, though, that the scenes of Simon and Katie in the water with the rain looked really good. It looked real to me.

Jack and Carly turned on the sexual tension today, and you have to leave it to Jessica to come in and be all blatant about it.

Can't wait for tomorrow's episode!

Well, in defense of Maddie's past behavior, I find it extremely plausible that when she first arrived, she went overboard to put whatever happened to her behind her --- the old "mind over matter" scenerio. If she obsessed over something (anything) else, then she wouldn't have to think about it, hence her obsession with getting Henry & Katie back together. She never truly dealt with what had happened, she just tried to push it out of her mind, move on, and be a normal teenager. I *can* buy her insistance on wanting to sleep with Casey -- she wanted a positive, romantic experience to (in her mind) erase what had happened. She wanted a real first time instead of what had actually happened (which we still don't know the full extent of). She was in denial (a common coping mechanism for tragedy -- just look at Dusty in the Jenn storyline). However, seeing Dallas again (who, clearly, was a key player in the aftermath of what happened), brought up everything she was trying to suppress and ignore (hence why she wants him out of town and away from her). She just wants to forget it all ever happened, not realizing that it's not something she can forget, she can only deal with it (and to deal with it means that she has to acknowledge and accept what happened, which she hasn't done yet). I find this all plausible, but it's something that needs to be elaborated on on-air through dialogue.

Also, major thumbs up to both Landon & Soffer today. Jesse Soffer simply broke my heart with his performance the way he just dissolved into tears. Fabulous.

Also, I liked how when Simon told Katie there was an island nearby to swim to, her reaction was "oh no! not *another* island!"

Lots of emotion in today's show. Loved all the scenes everybody mentioned. Also loved Hal with Jennifer and of course Barbara's scenes.

Loved the Jack and Carly tension. I like that they aren't rushing the reconciliation.

I hope we don't have a summer of Simon and Katie on a deserted island,AGAIN!

I'm surprised everyone has a problem with Maddie's story. Technically they didn't re-write anything since all we know about Maddie's past is that her family doesn't like us. Maybe that led to her being in the wrong place at the wrong time, thus leading to a sexual assault. It does explain why she came to Oakdale and no one at home seemed to care. Even though they weren't keen on Maddie, I doubt they'd just let her leave. My guess is that they knew about the assault and agreed she needed to start fresh.

With that said, Dallas is my new obsession with this show! He is so hot, can act and is a good guy! Yay! I can't wait until he puts up a website full of pics. I'm loving him and that it hopefully means more Jessica.

The Jen deathbed scenes are hard for me for a few reasons.

1. I know how ATWT stories work so I know that this will be forgotten as soon as the story is up. Over at Y&R, they are still dealing with Cassie's death 18 months later. I doubt we'll be getting this with Jen. By then they'll probably have Nikki back in town to take her place.

2. I have a strong feeling that this will be Dusty and probably Lucy's story. I don't see them focusing on Hal and Barbara as it should be. The most logical thing would be to focus on those two, her parents and maybe draw the two back together? It would make sense, but ATWT isn't interested in their vets.

3. Jentitled and Dusty are so fricking annoying these past few months that it's hard to feel sympathy. I'm much more concerned with how the people around them will be, not them. Actually, everyone BUT them to be exact.

If they utilize him properly with this storyline, Trent Dawson will be amazing when Henry finds out what happened to Maddie. I love Henry/Maddie scenes

The Jen deathbed scenes are hard for me for a few reasons.

1. I know how ATWT stories work so I know that this will be forgotten as soon as the story is up. Over at Y&R, they are still dealing with Cassie's death 18 months later. I doubt we'll be getting this with Jen. By then they'll probably have Nikki back in town to take her place.

2. I have a strong feeling that this will be Dusty and probably Lucy's story. I don't see them focusing on Hal and Barbara as it should be. The most logical thing would be to focus on those two, her parents and maybe draw the two back together? It would make sense, but ATWT isn't interested in their vets.

I agree. Every few months, ATWT tends to change all its storylines over and starts again. And I'm pretty much sure that this is going to turn into a Dusty/Lucy storyline where the two of them will fight over custody of Johnny. It's not going to be about Jen's family at all: Will and Paul have their own problems, and it's almost impossible for characters on the show to be dealing w/ two problems at once. And once this storyline is done, we'll be lucky if we see Hal, Barbara, Bob, and Kim.

Well, in defense of Maddie's past behavior, I find it extremely plausible that when she first arrived, she went overboard to put whatever happened to her behind her --- the old "mind over matter" scenerio. If she obsessed over something (anything) else, then she wouldn't have to think about it, hence her obsession with getting Henry & Katie back together. She never truly dealt with what had happened, she just tried to push it out of her mind, move on, and be a normal teenager. I *can* buy her insistance on wanting to sleep with Casey -- she wanted a positive, romantic experience to (in her mind) erase what had happened. She wanted a real first time instead of what had actually happened (which we still don't know the full extent of). She was in denial (a common coping mechanism for tragedy -- just look at Dusty in the Jenn storyline). However, seeing Dallas again (who, clearly, was a key player in the aftermath of what happened), brought up everything she was trying to suppress and ignore (hence why she wants him out of town and away from her). She just wants to forget it all ever happened, not realizing that it's not something she can forget, she can only deal with it (and to deal with it means that she has to acknowledge and accept what happened, which she hasn't done yet). I find this all plausible, but it's something that needs to be elaborated on on-air through dialogue.

I agree with everything you said except for one thing. The BJ Green storyline. If that never happened, I would totally agree that this could very possibly be in Maddie's character. But I can overlook it because that story was horrid.

Oh and Matt, I adore your Valley of the Dolls banner.

The Maddie storyline needs to focus on her family ties with Henry and showcase that, yes. But knowing ATWT it will be the teens.

As for Jen's death it is going to become a Dusty, Paul storyline. They should use this as an umbrella story and focus Barbara and Hal on the front burner.

Jen's death?

I thought they were going to recast. Yesterday when I tuned in and heard Bob talking about heart failure and kidney failure and making Jen comfortable I was shocked.

I wonder if Lucy will end up raising her brother along with Dusty.

I don't like this story at all.

I'm under the assumption that they were going to recast Jen, but couldn't find a suitable replacement in enough time. B/c when Jennifer Ferrin said that she wasn't going to renew her contract, the show put out a statement saying that they were going to definitely recast the role. But it looks like that's not happening.

And so Jen is going to die, and all we're going to get out of it is a stupid storyline involving Paul, Dusty, and Lucy? GMAB! If anything, this could be the best storyline to reunite Hal and Barbara, but I think we'd have a better chance of seeing pigs fly than see the show give the vets their own storyline.

I'm still really opposed to them killing of Jen. I think it's going to cause a lot of problems down the road for the show. And w/ the show's contract expiring next year, the last thing they need is to do something that's going to blow up in their faces. There are a lot of benefits to killing of a major character, but I don't think ATWT is going to handle it properly at all. This isn't going to turn out to be a story about her family dealing w/ her death; instead, it's just going to be another way to give dumb characters like Paul and Dusty storylines. I'm just in a very anti-ATWT mood right now. I'm not enjoying where the show is heading.

It's the same w/ Maddie. Her storyline could be a good way to give the Hughes', Jessica, and Henry a good storyline, but instead all we're going to see is the teen scene (Maddie, Casey, Dallas).

The way Dusty has been treating everyone lately, I don't see anyone even getting to spend any time with Johnny....

I have a feeling that once Jen does pass away, everyone will be standing in line to place all the blame on Lucy's shoulders.