July 31, 2007

Wow!

Okay, I'll be the first one to admit it.  As much as I HATE, LOATHE, and DESPISE the fact that we are enduring yet another (in a long line of tragic stories) "babies in peril" storyline - the Spike-Ian-Kendall-Zach story has me riveted.  It has been a LONG time since AMC made me cry, but dang it if they haven't got me tearing through the Kleenex box!! 

We were promised a heart-wrenching, soul-searing scene, in which Kendall is on her way to the operating room to deliver a much too premature baby Ian, only to look over at one point to discover that her firstborn son, Spike, is traveling right beside her on his own gurney.  My heart stopped as it finally registered on her that the child she was seeing was, in fact, her own son.  In the seconds before Kendall turned her head, and the scene moved into slo-motion, I found myself screaming for Zach or Erica, a nurse, SOMEBODY to move between the two gurneys so that Kendall would not see poor Spike, but alas...

Kudos to 'Lish Minshew, for her powerful acting in that scene (and others to come).  The look of sheer horror, fear, and grief on her face were spot on, and her agonized wail "Spiiiiiiike!!"  It literally sent shivers down my spine and I had to go and spontaneously hug my own child. 

Now, here's something I almost never get a chance to say --- Kudos, as well, to Susan Lucci and Erica Kane and, yes, the writers; for finally allowing Erica to behave like a mother and grandmother.  (she actually UTTERED the word "Grandmother" - though not in reference to herself)  They even dressed her in more appropriate clothing for a change.  The black was a bit somber - considering the circumstances - but that dress was so much more flattering and age-appropriate than most anything else she's worn in ages.  I love it when Erica brings out her "Strong Kane-Women" speech.   And she brought up Mona!  (*sob*)  It is, during times like these, when Erica shines the brightest.  She was strong and supportive, kind and reassuring - to KENDALL - just like Kendall needed her to be.  For once, this wasn't about Erica.  And ya'all... When Kendall "broke" on Monday's show and Erica tearfully took her in her arms and told her to let go and it was okay...?  This stone-cold-hearted cynic was done for!  Of course, I was already halfway gone when Zach finally let go of his own rigid self-control.

*sobs more*

We've all been clamoring for our long-lost "Love in the afternoon" stories, and I still am.  However... one very important component in Daytime Drama IS, well... DRAMA.  There is nothing more dramatic than what we're seeing right now.  For those of you who go waaay back, as I do, and who watched General Hospital and experienced the "BJ's heart" storyline, you know what I'm talking about.    Everyone involved in that storyline brought their "A-game" and that is what I see happening with the Spike-Ian story on AMC.  Of everyone involved, I can see only one character who is NOT tugging at my heartstrings:  (You guessed it!)  Ryass.  He's shown faint glimmerings of hope, but he's not quite "up there" where Zach, Kendall, Erica, Jack are - and I find that very sad.  I was hoping that THIS story would be one that would finally show me that all hope is not lost for this character - maybe there's still time for that; I don't know, but I sure hope so. 
I wanted to feel Ryan's pain and fear as he sat by Spike's crib, waxing on about the future and all the things they were going to do together, but I couldn't.  On soap message boards everywhere people are asking why it is that Ryan (Cameron Mathison) can't manage to squeeze out a few tears for his son?  Why we can't feel his pain the way we can feel Kendall or Zach's, and even Erica and Jack's.  Both TK and CM are essentially acting opposite dolls (as opposed to living babies) in their scenes, but why is TK's performance so much more believable and oh so much more heartbreaking?   In fact, I actually PHYSICALLY cringed, when Ryan grabbed Greenlee and manhandled her away from Spike's crib.  As angry as I am at Greenlee for causing Spike's injuries, Ryan getting physical, bordering on violence, just took me back to that scene at the casino hotel, when he had his fist raised to Greenlee's face.  I honestly thought he was going to beat her right then and there, and it bothered me.  Why?  It just brought home what a neanderthalithic jerk Ryass is and has been for a long time.

You will notice that I brought up Jack (Walt Willey) earlier, and it's with good reason.  For some reason, his lack of tears isn't bothering me as much as Ryan's lack of tears is.  Perhaps it's because Jack is showing a wide range of emotions without the tears, while Ryan is displaying only anger.  (Which is not to say that Ryan doesn't have a right to be angry - he does - but he should be feeling more than that, IMO.)  Jack is a man who is truly caught between a rock and a hard place.  He cares deeply for Kendall, Spike and newborn Ian; but Greenlee is his daughter.  He is noticeably horrified AND saddened that she would even consider doing what she did (Spikenapping Spike) but he isn't about to abandon her, like almost every other person of importance in her life has done.  I don't see his support of Greenlee as him DEFENDING her at all.  She is his daughter, and she is virtually alone in the world.  He wasn't there for her while she was growing up - a time when she so clearly and desperately needed a parent who actually gave a damn about her and her needs - he is not about to abandon her now.  Hopefully, Jack will be able to FINALLY convince Greenlee to get the psychological help she should have gotten waaaaaay back, when Leo "died." 

Everything changed for her when Leo died.  Everything.  Greenlee was never the same person again, after she lost Leo.  It seemed, after a while, that she'd bounced back, but I don't believe she ever really did.  Her morphing into Pod-Greenlee when she snagged Ryan is further proof that the woman was not all there.  In that last year, before Rebecca Budig departed the role of Greenlee, Greens took some MAJOR blows to the psyche.  Major.  As if being married to Ryan weren't bad enough, she had to suffer through the whole Jonathug nonsense, the drugging and almost dying, the kidnapping and almost being blown up in a cave, the Ryass over-the-top anger, him coming ]thisclose[ to beating her to a pulp upon learning that she'd had herself inseminated, and then him driving over a cliff (while fully cognizant of the fact that Greens was witnessing his leap firsthand), his fake death, then miscarriage, then learning she could never have children (I think that was Madden being evil though - I'm guessing she CAN have children), and then Ryass coming back from the dead (learning that he faked it) and finally learning that Kendall was carrying her own child, not Greens... 

I'm mentally exhausted just thinking about it!  Of course the woman needs psychological help after all that!  She NEVER really dealt with any of it.   They still haven't really said what Greenlee did while she was away, but it's obvious that she didn't get the help she needed.  In fact, she regressed!  She somehow talked herself into believing that what Ryan did to her wasn't really all that bad, and that he was the only man she could ever love, or who would ever love her.  Now, lest anyone think for one moment that I am DEFENDING Greenlee myself?  Let me assure you, I am not.  I'm pissed as all get out at her for Spikenapping that sweet, innocent little baby.  I'm mad that she let herself get so worked up that she didn't know better than to pull the car over, take a few deep breaths and THEN reach for the phone - or, better yet, simply stop the car, breathe, and then just turn around and head back to Pine Valley.  I'm pissed that Greens - who has NEVER had a problem before with expressing herself before - didn't stand up and just shout to everyone in Fusion that she was losing it and couldn't BEAR to be in the same room with Spike, let alone the same car, because she thought of him as hers and she knew she couldn't have him.  Greens has gone to some pretty extensive lengths to make herself heard before, why not this time?

*deep sigh*

Looking ahead. It doesn't look like Greens is in for an easy ride of it, and it's much too early to even be thinking about redemption, but. What are the odds that Kendall and Greenlee (we'll leave everyone else out of it for now) can ever repair or rebuild their friendship.  I say the odds are nil to HELL NO but, then again, I would never have imagined that Bianca would once again be BFF's with Babe after she kept Miranda from her for nearly a year, so what do I know?  What say you, my friends?  Will Kendall ever be able to forgive and move past this deepest of betrayals?

Have a few drinks and ponder on that a while.

CC


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