Oct 31, 2006

I’m one of many folks who tend to be annoyed by soap characters that are elevated to saint status, with other characters constantly singing their praises.  Emily on GH, Jessica on OLTL, etc.  Dixie is a reformed saint - she’s been knocked off her pedestal quite thoroughly.  Bianca still retains saint status, but I don’t find her as annoying.  Part of that is because I ached for her all throughout her struggles after being raped by Michael Cambias and losing her baby.  I don’t consider her a saint any more than I consider those other characters a saint, but I tend to be more indulgent of her than the rest.  One thing I enjoy about her saint status is her ability to tell it like it is to whomever she wants, and they are too awed by her saintliness to protest.  I’m referring to her smackdown of Adam early in the week.  She was sick to death of his family causing grief for her family, and she let him know about it.  I loved it! 

One character that had shades of sainthood, but is quickly losing polish on her halo, is Annie McDermott.  I know that this is one of those situations where there’s more to the story, but at the moment she is coming across as a stupid bitch.  I really liked the judge on Friday’s episode, and loved when he commented to Livia that the law was on Annie’s side, but logic wasn’t.  Her behavior is illogical.  Period.  And the only thing it is serving to do is put the spotlight on her. 

I can see why she would react badly to Dixie’s less than tactful (snort) behavior.  She’s spent so much time afraid that Terry the Perv would take her child away, that to suddenly have these other people grabbing at Emma would be a bit much.  The fact that she can’t prove through DNA that Emma is hers would also be worrying, but that didn’t need to even factor into the test.  Emma would have been tested against Tad and Dixie, not her.   

She claims that she doesn’t want to put her daughter through the test.  A cheek swab?  Oh the trauma!  As far as her not wanting Emma to wonder who she is - why does Emma need to even know why the test is being done?  It became pretty clear throughout the week that Tad and Dixie weren’t going to give up, so why not shut them down by doing the test?  Not to mention, as Tad kept pleading, it would give Dixie peace of mind.   Regardless of Dixie’s bad behavior, it is still pretty heartless to let her twist in the wind.  

Ryan asked Annie if she was worried about Tad and Dixie being a match, and we never heard her answer.  That can be the only logical reason why she would deny the test.  Because she’s remained stubborn, social services is going to be crawling up her butt with a microscope.  Given her history of running from court orders, she’s not in a good position to be probed. 

David Hayward is a lot like Ric Lansing on GH in that I can’t really blame other characters for hating his guts, but that doesn’t mean I like hearing them act as if he’s evil personified.  I couldn’t help but notice that Babe called him Dad several times, until he confronted her with her actions – then it was back to David.  I was cynically amused by Babe’s outrage that her father would DARE say such HATEFUL things about her even though they were TRUE, and why couldn’t he understand that she LOVES JR, and to keep bringing up the fact that he tried to KILL her is just plain MEAN even if it is TRUE.  What a horrible man for shining a light on her joke of a marriage in an attempt to get her to wake the hell up.  Favorite David line this week:  “I get things done.  People could learn from me.” 

Unexpected line of the week from Sean:  “What’s he gonna do, pull a gun out of the drawer?”  That was the only worthwhile nugget out of the teen storyline this week.  It took a couple of hours to get my eyes back to normal when they rolled back in my head upon seeing Colby put the figurine (what the hell was that thing?) in Sydney’s bag.  If Sydney doesn’t find anything suspicious about Colby taking her backpack upstairs, then she deserves what’s coming.  Oh, and thumbs up to Sean – nothing says “I care about you” like teaching your favorite girl how to cheat her way to better grades. 

I don’t know why, but I’m really enjoying the storyline of Josh being a Kane.  I know, I know – the way the storyline came about was stupid in the extreme.  But what is done is done and I’m not going to eschew the current good material on principle.  I get to enjoy John James in his role as Jeff Martin (Jeff’s admiration for Babe notwithstanding) and I get adorable scenes like the one between Erica and Josh.  Erica cracked me up as she radiated pleasure over Josh’s smooth handling of the party planner.  Hearts were practically flying out of her eyes.  I also enjoyed Jeff approaching Josh and taking him to task for his behavior.  I just want to pinch everyone’s cheeks, they’re all so cute. 

Speaking of cute, I enjoyed Zach’s barely suppressed anguish as he realized to his horror just how thoroughly Kendall had demolished his gift basket from the Emir.  Does he not recall a year ago when Kendall tossed the expensive bottle of champagne out of the courtyard?  He needs to start keeping his pricey gourmet foodstuffs in his office.  Or not ever piss off Kendall.  Yeah, I’m thinking he could install a mini-fridge right next to his desk. 

I watched GH this week!  Yeah, I wonder why – hee!  Nothing like the return of a vet to make me tune in.  Boy did Genie really nail her brief scenes.  She was spacey and confused for most of it, but when she momentarily thought her children had been in a car wreck, her horror was palpable.  Ditto her reaction when she saw Lulu.  My favorite part was earlier when Lulu left the room crying, and Laura’s head slumped to one side.  Ah yes, my little goose bumps, I have missed you.  I would compose a parody song entitled “I’m Bringing Soapy Back” but I’m too lazy.  Hey, if someone else wants to do it, I’ll be happy to post it in my column.   

Line of the week for GH (and this is a toughie!) goes to the delicious Helena Cassadine:  “I don’t attempt murder.”  Surprise of the week was when she was actually honest with Emily.  One thing about Helena has always remained steadfast – her love for Nikolas.  She may have a new Cassadine heir, but that doesn’t mean she’s through with her grandson. 

I love how Robin Christopher has been able to flesh out her comedic talents since entering Luke’s orbit.  The birth scene was so very Skye – lots of screaming and ranting and begging for an epidural and medical team.  Only Skye can make screeching look radiant.  I also wanted to cry when she brought the baby to the Quartermaines.  I still remember how she and Edward used to be at each other’s throats.  I love how she still thinks of Alan as her father. 

I loved how the mayor looked like a deer in the headlights when Ric was outlining his plan to replace Alexis as DA.  For Ric, guilt is an abstract concept.  I love it.  When Alexis finally revealed that she knew about his night with Sam, instead of pouring out apologies and asking for forgiveness, he acted like it was perfectly justifiable and turned it back on her – making her initial behavior and later silence the bigger issues.  What was even more delicious was that Sam did the same thing.  As much as she and everyone else like to act like they are so much better than Ric, here is proof positive that their bellies scrape the ground too.  I also loved how Ric called out Sonny’s hypocrisy.  “It's just a shame that you had to get cancer before Sonny would stop treating you like dirt, right?” 

As perverse (and hypocritical) as it is, I am also loving the renewal of friendship between Sonny and Alexis, as well as the odd bond forming between Alexis and Carly.  It’s that part of me that likes to see things get mixed up every so often.  Even though I hate that they are conspiring to keep Ric from his child, I was also amused by Sonny and Carly presenting Alexis their idea of temporary guardianship of Kristina and Molly. 

Thanks for reading.  Cheers! 

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