January 8, 2007

Usually with fictional characters you either love them or hate them or love to hate them.  In the case of the Kane women (all three of them!), I love them and I hate them.  Nah, I don’t really hate them, but I do want to smack them upside their heads sometimes. 

I’ll start off with the worst offender: the original La Kane.  Erica’s behavior this week was completely appalling. To be sure, Jack wasn’t innocent as a newborn babe.  He didn’t cop to Sean’s scheme as soon as he found out.  But I can understand his hesitation – he wanted to have a nice evening with his reunited wife.  I thought it was a bit extreme for her to want to take revenge on his silence, but it seemed like typical Erica to be melodramatic.  The seven swans a swimming et al were over the top, but I thought she nicely made her point.  If they had kissed and made up after that, it would have been great.  Oh no.  Once everything was out in the open, it went into free fall.  Erica went on and on about how Jack didn’t try and woo her back home, and how he didn’t really care about her.  She was conveniently forgetting the many times he came to see her and begged her to come home, and she rejected him by telling him she needed space and he needed to respect her feelings and her desire to find herself.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with a woman wanting her husband to woo her from time to time.  Couples shouldn’t take each other for granted - romance is important.  But Erica made it clear that because Jackson didn’t jump through enough hoops, he obviously didn’t love her in the way that she thinks she deserves.  Right on cue, Jeff arrives, and she delivers one last blow to her husband by kissing him right then and there.  It makes me want to puke even as I type it.  Cut her loose, Jackson.  To the victor belongs the spoiled brat.   She and Jeff deserve each other.   Seriously, Jeff was officially dead to me as soon as he made it clear to Josh that he wished he had tried harder to break up Erica’s marriage.  Josh’s desire to snatch Babe is icky, but at least he has the excuse that her husband is a homicidal drunk (work with me, I’m employing soap logic).  What the hell has Jackson ever done to make Jeff want to cuckold him? 

This reminds me so much of the Zander/Emily/Nikolas triangle on GH.  When Emily came back to the show, I really liked her chemistry with Nik.  I found myself kinda hoping she’d transition over to him.  But her and Nik’s behavior towards Zander was so disrespectful, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.  So much for rooting for that couple.  Such as it is with Jeff/Erica/Jackson.  Jeff comes back to the show, sparks charmingly with Erica, and then they treat Jackson like total crap.  Not cool at all. 

I’ve already ranted about Kendall.  Now she’s gone so far as to bribe Josh to keep his mouth shut about Emma.  I still find her reasoning to be very shaky and somewhat uncharacteristic, and in other cases where a character I like acts in ways I don’t like, I’m just going to blame it on the writing.  The newest Kane also needs a beating for not only allowing himself to be bribed, but smirking about it later in the week when he was talking to Bianca.  So much for his initial righteous indignation. 

Finally we have Miss Bianca.  Let me just say right off the bat that Eden Riegel and Jeffrey Carlson have taken this story and run with it.  They are amazing together.  I get so giddy watching their scenes that I want to go tripping through a flower-filled meadow.  I was aching for Zoe as she (and out of respect I will refer to her as a she from now on) told her story to Bianca.  It was just so amazingly done.  Now, let me just say that I can understand Bianca being knocked for a loop.  This big reveal seemed to come out of nowhere.  She had plenty of reason to suspect that it was a big come on ploy.  Even after she began to believe Zoe, I could see that she would still be wigged out.  Not because of her secret, but because Zoe didn’t just want acceptance – she wanted her heart.  She appeared to only want validation of who she was in the form of Bianca’s love.  That is asking way too much of anyone.  I’m betting Bianca would have been much more okay with things if Zoe hadn’t put so much pressure on her.  The thing that surprised me was that Bianca wasn’t her usual pragmatic self.  I might have expected her to firmly but calmly telling her that while she can’t love her, she can accept her for who she is.  To gently tell her that she would be happy to help her work through her coming out, as long as she understood that she might never return her feelings.  Apparently Bianca’s reaction was so extreme that all she could manage was that she can’t love her, and then she threw Zoe out.  I’m guessing that the reason for this is because her feelings for Zoe were a lot stronger than even she realized, and so she couldn’t be objective.   

I don’t think Bianca would have hooked up with Leslie if she weren’t looking for reassurance.  She probably would have been thinking about Maggie and felt too guilty to take that step.  Not that she would have been cheating on Maggie, since they are officially separated, but she probably would have felt that way.  But after the surreal experience with Zoe, she apparently needed to find solace in someone that was straightforwardly female.  Nothing complicated about Leslie’s soft feminine curves and pretty, long hair.  

Of course, there’s the obvious point that if Bianca had reacted rationally, we wouldn’t have had the subsequent scenes where Zoe behaves recklessly, leading the police and other not-so-objective PV citizens to suspect her of murder.  Ditto with Erica not dealing well with Sean and Colby’s scheme or Kendall’s handling of Emma’s paternity.  It’s a common soap ploy to have characters behave illogically, causing other characters to behave even more illogically, and the drama keeps escalating.  When you think about it, though, it isn’t just a soap thing.  There’s a reason why art imitates life.  People behave stupidly.  I know I’ve bellied up to that bar plenty of times.  I’ve often criticized soap characters for not learning from their mistakes, but I’ll let you in on a little secret.  My high horse is made of papier mâchè.  If I tried to climb up on it, I’d crush the poor thing.  Not only have I behaved stupidly and illogically, but I have to wonder if I’ve learned from it.  I don’t know.  Which is why, as much as I want to bash Kendall for not remembering that her secrets always blow up in her face, I’d be the pot calling the kettle black. 

On a similar note, while it was tedious to see Colby once again caught stealing a vehicle, I was thankful that she was at least subdued this time.  Remember the previous incessant screeching about her not doing anything wrong and she was a Chandler, blah blah blah?  This time we got blissful silence.  Baby steps.   

It’s becoming clear to me that when Ryan is in Zach and Kendall’s orbit, he more often than not acts like a complete ass.  Any other time he seems to be very charming.  I enjoyed his New Years scenes with Annie and Emma and even Brooding Jonathan.  Then he went over to Kendall’s condo and threw his weight around about Spike’s safety.  I’m not saying his concern wasn’t legitimate.  He’s afraid for his son, and he wants to protect him.  But as Kendall said, “You men don’t get to decide what’s best for me and Spike.”  It’s been a sore spot with me ever since I had my daughter.  When people try to take children away from their mommies, I start to flip out.   

I wouldn’t say Ryan is an ass for feeling a certain amount of resentment towards Zach for his connection to the killer.  His sister died, and when you are grieving your mind screams out in frustration over how it could have been prevented.  Random violence is somehow, gruesomely, easier to swallow because you don’t have to dwell on how you could have stopped it from happening.  How could Ryan not think about the fact that if Zach was not in PV, his sister would still be here?  It’s not Zach’s fault – the blame rests entirely on the shoulders of the psycho who thinks its okay to take people’s lives.  But, I could understand that Ryan’s mind would go there.  What’s not going to be pretty is when Jonathan’s mind goes there, too.  He’s not going to be as calm as Ryan.  A lot of people welcome the return of BSC Jonathan.  I don’t, really.  I’m sad about it is for Amanda’s sake.  She’s invested a lot in Jonathan and now he’s going loony tunes again. 

I loved hearing the back story of Zach’s mother.  I’m eager to know more, and I’m sure we will get more.  I enjoyed extrapolating from the information we got.  Michael would have been two years old at the time.  Did the fact that he grew up without a mother contribute to his contempt for women?  I’m not saying a boy who grows up without a mother is going to become a rapist, but certainly Michael’s father wasn’t exactly the nurturing type.  When Michael was on the show, he was pretty clearly jealous of his father’s worship of his older, supposedly dead brother, even though Zach had been under the impression that they were close as brothers.  Might some of Michael’s resentment of him stem from the belief that Zach caused their mother’s death?  And let’s not forget Alexander Senior, the deliciously mercenary patriarch of the Cambias clan.  Was he the one really responsible for her death?  I bet he was the one arguing with her.  Oh the possibilities!!  I thought it was amusing to see little Alex wearing a little suit.  I had speculated in one of my fanfics that Alexander probably made his son look like a tiny business man. 

Last word of the week:  There better not be any more actual deaths of women on this show.  I like everyone on the canvas now, and I don’t want anyone else leaving the show.  You got that, people?  Attempts on life, fine.  Dead bodies are forbidden!!  I have spoken!! 

Thanks for reading.  Cheers!

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