Friday, March 13, 2009

The Difference A Week Makes (Weekly Commentary)

WOW, what a different One Life To Live it was this week. I feel like it's finally starting to improve, one thing is for sure, OLTL seems to be finding it's mojo again. It might have a little something to do with having on more than those 8 characters that so many are sick of. Still way too much Rex and Gigi for my taste but we will get to that.


Welcome back Nora!

I have to start with the best part of the entire week. I said last week that OLTL finally did something right with the big Cole/Matthew car accident and I have to say again, it was brilliant. I am not as high on Eddie Alderson as some are but he is not so bad, I just feel like he has not really gotten to dig into a SL to be praised for yet.

One of the things I loved about the fall out from this accident is that it brought Bo and Nora back together, not romantically, just together as parents fighting for their kid. The look on Bo's face when he found Matthew lying on the ground unable to move was down right horrifying. Even worse was the look on his face as he watched Michael poke around Matthews legs and get absolutely no reaction from the kid. It was the look of the coming devastation. Bob Woods, Hillary B. Smith and Eddie Alderson were amazing with the scenes.


I have to give a special shout out to Hillary B. Smith, she was absolutely brilliant this week. I felt her pain every step of the way. What I found odd was how Marty just came to Nora and said "Oh by the way Cole was on drugs tonight." What in the world was that? She seemed completely unaffected by it she just said it just like that. Nora's reaction was must see though. She yelled her head off straight in Cole's face and shook him like an animal as she was screaming and crying for answers. How could Cole have done this to someone who idolized him and looked up to him like a brother? The look on Nora's face when she learned that Matthew was telling the truth about not smoking the pot and that Cole had let Matthew take the blame for his drug use, WOW! Nora was on fire, yelling at Marty to stay out of it, it was between Nora and Cole, Marty was nowhere to be found when Cole needed a mom so she has no right to interfere. Then Nora went on to yell at Starr, Markko and Langston for their part in Cole's drug abuse. Hillary B. Smith nailed every single scene. Big Kudos to her and to the fantastic writing for the scenes. Welcome back Nora, you were missed.

The Old Todd and Starr!

The fall out from Blair's stabbing has also been fantastic. I could have completely lived without ever seeing John anywhere on the scene but everything else was great. I LOVED the scenes between Todd and Starr, well before Starr went off the handle about how she almost forgot what Todd did. Such wonderful father/daughter scenes were ruined by that. For a few scenes I felt like the old Todd and Starr were back, Starr was angry but at the same time she and Todd talked and for once they REALLY listened to each other for a few scenes. My heart broke when Todd started saying he could not believe that Starr would ever even ask him if he tried to kill her mother. Is Todd capable of murder? ABSOLUTELY, but it was heart breaking see a daughter ask her father to swear he did not try to kill her mother. Todd felt like someone punched him in the guts and I felt for him. I have never been the biggest fan of Trevor St. John (Roger Howarth fan and all) but I have to say that for once I understood his acting choices, I loved it in fact.

Kristen Alderson has turned into a good little actress herself. I feel like she is WAY over the top at times but sometimes she really nails it and I loved the scenes with Starr and Todd, they were completely heart breaking. It just made me realize that this is one relationship that seriously needs to be repaired. I also loved the scenes where Starr went to Blair and begged her to come back to them because she needed to be able to talk to her mom again about everything wrong in life. The fear of losing her mom was incredibly evident and Trevor and Kristen really knocked it out of the park. Dorian was another one who had me all week long. Dorian always deals with things in her own special way and accusing Todd and Ray was classic Dorian, as was threatening both of them. I feel like they actually made Dorian human when she actually admitted that she feels like Todd did not do it, that had to take a lot for Dorian to admit. I also kind of see something between Dorian and Ray that could actually work.

Third Party for Boring Couple = Fast Forward Button!

Really OLTL, I know you like to show the "new" skin by having all the newbies walk around shirtless but seriously no one needs days and days of Stacy walking around in her underwear and bra. It's not cute, it's gross. I cant comment too much on this because I FF'd through most of the Stacy/Rex strip scenes. I watched maybe a combined 10 minutes of it and I have to say Stacy is an evil and useless character and Rex is just a big ole tool. Stacy is supposed to be angst for Rex and Gigi, problem is I could care less about Rex and Gigi AND Stacy. I did watch the aftermath though once Gigi found Rex and Stacy together. It was obvious that Gigi was not really buying Stacy's explanations but she also did not believe that Stacy drugged Rex. So tell me again, since Gigi did not believe Rex, why in the world did she shoo Stacy away and crawl into bed with Rex? Here is a thought, you just found your boyfriend and sister in bed, KICK THEM BOTH TO THE CURB. How about that?

Then comes the reveal that Shane has cancer. All I can say about that is Dear PTB, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop giving Farah Fath dramatic material to work with. She is so terrible at it that it is sad to watch. Farah is great with the light hearted stuff and the comedy, I will even give her the romance (though Rex and Gigi have nothing and are boring,) dramatic is not Farah's thing, AT ALL. It's no offense to her or anything, she simply is terrible at it and the fact that TPTB continue to give her dramatic material that she has absolutely no clue how to handle is just a shame.

Shame on OLTL!
I get that OLTL has this constant need to do controversial stories and that is great, I actually admire that about the show because I feel like someone needs to do it. However, a teenager hitting on her teacher is not one of those SL's that should be done at all, especially since that teenager has already done the unprotected sex/teenage pregnancy thing. It's incredibly irresponsible. If it were Langston doing this, I would have hated it but it would not be as terrible. Starr is already someone who is not even close to being a good role model and has done a lot of things and shown a lot of poor judgement. There is no need to make her even more irresponsible than she already was. Like I said, the teacher/student thing is something that never needs to happen on soaps again, its just a new level of disgusting.

Boring Couple #2 Alert!
OK seriously, the only thing that bores me more than Jessica and Brody at this point is Rex and Gigi. Really we do not need to see Jessica and Brody have one boring conversation after another and Jessica following him around town like a lost puppy dog. Brody said it best, Jessica needs to stop baby sitting him, she has 2 children that need her undivided attention. Seriously Jessica, how about try to be a good mother for once, because so far Jessica sucks as a mom. Lets see, she basically caused her step daughter's car accident by engaging in some incredibly "skanky" behavior, she put her irrational need for revenge over the needs of her own children, basically killed her own kid and now does a fantastic job of neglecting her children just so she can chase around some guy who ALSO has mental issues. GREAT MOM! It would not be so bad if I felt like Brody and Jessica had an ounce of chemistry, they just bore me to tears.


The Secret is Out!
So Natalie and Jared have figured out the truth now, seems they are the only bright people left around the Buchanan's, how no one else could notice that Jessica's premature baby came out looking like a full term one is beyond me. I will say though that this is going to bring some good drama and I am glad that Natalie and Jared are right in the middle of it. Personally I think the two deserve a great new storyline but until that happens, I am glad to see them onscreen. This is one couple I find interesting even when they are doing nothing. The looks they exchanged as they were figuring everything out was great, the wheels were really turning for both of them as Marcie explained everything about Hope and her death. What Jared and Natalie do with this information is yet to be seen, but one thing is for sure, it's a soap so this secret is going to drag on and come out at the worst possible time. That's just the way soaps work.

In closing, this family aspect that has been the running theme this week (Bo/Nora/Matthew and Starr/Blair/Todd/Dorian) has made the show not only watchable about but very enjoyable, my only hope is that OLTL will keep it up.
Happy Weekend!

5 comments:

  1. Good job, ITA! This week was so much better. I just loved Nora yelling at all the teens, Go Nora!

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  2. Wasnt Nora just great this week? I imagine that she will throw the book at Cole

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  3. Ugh, I cant even talk about Starr and Schuyler, its so gross. You are right on with most of the stuff you said.

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  4. I have to agree on the Starr and Skylar thing to its just nasty.

    I am looking forward to the baby secret coming out it's about time

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  5. You are so right Jessica and Brody have to be the most boring couple on this show, they have nothing going at all, I just hit FF.

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