Hallooooo my lovelies!

Please, pull up a barstool and let's hunker down to discuss the State of OLTL...

In some ways, OLTL is better than it has been for a long, LONG time.  I mean, seriously better!  And in other ways, it still has a ways to go - but that's okay, because unlike over at AMC, you can actually SEE the positive turnaround.

Let's examine the positives:

Viki finally has her own storyline - one not revolving around propping up her RIDICULOUS daughters!  WOOOOOOOOT!!

The humanity in Todd (that I have always known to lurk under the surface) is finally working its way to the surface.  We are seeing less of the Jerk!Todd and more of the layers that facade hides.

We are seeing more of the vets!  That is always a good thing in my book!

David Vickers is back on canvas!

Alex Olanov is back and scheming in true Alex fashion!

We haven't seen a whole lot of Adri-YAWN-a lately. 

Now, onto the complaining (which you all know that I do so well):

I say again... Bo missed the reading of the will to stay home and "tend" to Lindsay?!  WTF?!  No, no, no, no, no!!  Big mistake.  It's not that I have a problem with Bo and Lindsay friend-ing up again, I don't - but for him to have stayed home when the rest of the clan headed off to Texas?  VERY, VERY out of character for Bo.  And really, what was he going to do for Lindsay in those few days?  Or even one day?  She's already institutionalized, she's out of harm's way, what more could have gone wrong for her in the day or two it took for Bo to go back and forth from Texas?

Sarah Roberts.

*crickets chirping*

Please, please, put us out of our agony here?  Having Sarah on canvas is simply pointless.  Pairing her with Cristian does absolutely nothing for either character.  If they are not going to bring back Tina, then Sarah needs to go back on the road, or to London to be with her father.

Speaking of Cristian... Does he really have to have a relationship with every Buchanan female?! 

Nat, Jess, Nash, Jared...

*yawn*

Are we still in high school?  While we're on the subject of Jared, let's dish about a few rumors/spoilers out there, shall we?  Jared now knows that David Vickers is the long-lost Buchanan brother.  He also knows that Nigel doesn't want that revelation to see the light of day.  (Why, Nigel, WHY?!)  What will he do now?  Word has it that HE is going to pretend to be the long-lost Buchanan brother himself - even going so far as to steal some of David's hair for a DNA test to prove it.

*blink-blink*

I'm sorry... Haven't we done this before?  You know, on the Lord side of the family tree?  Isn't that EXACTLY what David did years ago when he pretended to be Victor Lord's long-lost son and Viki's brother?  (I have no doubt that David did it waaay better than Jared will be able to pull off, BTW!) 

Anyway, it's the SAME DAMN THING; right down to the part about being in love/lust with a female "relative" at the same time!  In David's case, it was Tina.  He couldn't very well BE a Lord and still be bedding Tina - his supposed SISTER, could he?

Now we have Jared, who is supposedly enamored of Natalie who, if he really WERE Asa's son and Clint's brother, would be Jared's NIECE!!  If they do go this route, we're going to have to endure the squickiness of watching them fight off their "overwhelming" attraction to one another because they're family.

*huge eyeroll*

Been there, done that, can we try something else?  Oh yes, and while you're at it, can we give Renee back her bullshit radar?  She should have been able to spot Jared coming from five miles away - grieving or not.  Please, we all know better.

Can we end the Marcie-Tommy-Todd fiasco THIS MONTH? Please?  I'm begging here!  It's gone beyond ridiculous now and it has to stop!  I have to wonder if TPTB are trying to make Marcie irredeemable in the eyes of OLTL viewers.  Now, I know that there are some of you out there who loathe Todd and are rooting for Marcie (to each their own) but this has gone on long enough and it's doing nothing to make Marcie look heroic or self-sacrificing.  It does neither.  It makes her look selfish, unbalanced, and frankly, very much a bad mother. 

I was nearly screaming at my TV when Marcie was telling her side of the story to Gigi the other day.  Note to Marcie, coming clean and telling the truth means telling the WHOLE truth, not just the parts that make you look good.  I couldn't help but notice how she ommitted pertinent facts, like the fact that Michael has known all year long that Tommy was really Todd's and hid it.  She also ommitted the fact that she firmly believed that Todd had been wrongfully robbed of his son and deserved to get him back... that she had no problem with Todd being near or even HOLDING Tommy at times for her... right up to the moment she learned that Tommy was the missing Manning son in question. 

Suddenly, Todd didn't deserve to have anything to do with HER son.  Suddenly, he was a bad father with screwed up kids - ONE of whom she trusted completely to babysit Tommy.  Funny how she trusted and admired and adored Starr right up to the time when Starr called her on keeping her baby brother away from her and Jack as well as Todd.  She didn't think Starr was too screwed up until then.  Another thing I noticed was the glaringly apparent ommission of the fact that Tommy had been STOLEN at birth from Todd AND Margaret.  She mentioned Todd trying to kill Margaret, but never mentioned the WHY of it.  She never admitted that Margaret was a complete psycho who had been terrorizing (not to mention trying to kill) Todd and/or his family for quite a while, or the fact that Margaret raped Todd in order to conceive Tommy.  Nope, cause that might have made Gigi change her mind about helping her out. 

The bottom line in this?  Marcie isn't doing what she's doing to PROTECT Tommy; she's doing it because she simply doesn't want to give him up - PERIOD.  She is being selfish to the point where she is endangering Tommy's life, his health, his security/well-being.  She fully expects Michael to give up Tommy and to forget all about him - and her - but she's not willing to do the same?  She's not putting Tommy's needs ahead of her own and that speaks volumes about her character. 

To sum it up?  Viki needs to bump into her in the hallway - I mean they RIGHT across the freaking hall from each other for crying out loud!!!  Once she does bump into Marcie (and assuming that anyone has bothered to tell her about the Tommy situation) Viki needs to get her "Mama Bear" persona on and take Marcie to skool!!

Random thought:  I have to wonder if Viki DOES know what's been happening with regard to the Tommy sitch...?  You would think that Natty or Jess would have mentioned it to her, but then...  there is simply NO way that Viki would have stayed in Paris (Texas, y'all) given everything that Todd was going through.  She would have been front and center at the custody hearing and; when Marcie took off with Tommy, Viki would have been right there offering help and moral support - no question.  So, while part of me hopes that she knows about Marcie absconding with Tommy; so that she can bitch-slap some sense into the woman and take Tommy back to Llanview herself - there's another part of me that hopes she doesn't know; else she will have been behaving VERY out of character herself.  (Least Bo would have some company there!)

Onto Nora and Clint...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

It's just too icky!  Why, why, WHY are they going THERE?!  Those Buch men swap women too much as it is, but for Clint to fall for Bo's ex-mother-of-his-only-child??!!  Nonononononono!  And, lest anyone forget, Nora and Viki are FRIENDS!  Close friends.  (Moreso than they have shown onscreen in some time.)  Nora knows that Viki is still wrestling with some unresolved feelings/issues where Clint is concerned and she would NEVER go there with her friend's ex.  Never.   Please... fix it?  Now?  Just...

*shudder*

In summation, my lovelies, in spite of my nitpicks here, OLTL is and has been on the upswing ever since Carlivati has taken on more and more of the writing and especially since her name disappeared from the credits entirely.  Yes, there have been some missteps, but they are easily corrected.

What say you?  Toss back a few on the house and let me hear what you think.  Until next time - CHEERS!!

CC