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I can’t juggle. I don’t have the hand/eye coordination required to keep the various balls airborne and moving steadily from hand to hand. However, while I can’t juggle literally, I can and do juggle figuratively. As many of you, I manage to juggle work, home, social, and familial responsibilities with skill and precision, with only the rare “drop of the ball.” And I, as many of you, can mentally juggle various problems, concerns, thoughts, conversations, and ideas all at once, a whirlwind of work, relationships, and responsibilities flying around and passing only briefly through my mind (much like the batons pass only fleetingly through the juggler’s hands). A good executive producer and head writer of a soap opera has to know how to juggle. I have no idea whether ATWT executive producer Christopher Goutman and head writers Leah Laiman and Carolyn Culliton can literally juggle. Nevertheless, Goutman and Laiman/Culliton are great jugglers. Why do I say that? Well, one definition of a juggler is “a person who deceives by trickery”. Laiman and Culliton’s material during their first six months has often been a showy display of words and action that can “trick” the audience into thinking story has actually evolved (Example: Camille and Isaac’s interplay). Another trick is to write material that gives the appearance that something has happened, when actually nothing has occurred beyond mindless entertainment and filler (Example: the ladies of Oakdale celebrate Valentine’s Day). I can also state with a great deal of certainty that, when it comes to storyline execution, story consistency, and character development, Laiman and Culliton can not juggle more than one or two figurative balls at a time. Give them more and they end up dropping practically all of them. Currently, Laiman and Culliton are juggling with varying degrees of success two stories: Hope’s paternity, and Molly/Chris/Abigail. Meanwhile, all around them, the other story and character “balls” that need attention and care are hitting the ground like heavy anvils dropped from the roof of Lucinda’s Worldwide Building. Jessica returns to Oakdale, prosecutes Margo in one of the most hackneyed court cases I’ve ever seen, and then all but disappears from the canvas until Valentine’s Day. (Ball dropped.) Emily boasts and proclaims a new life with a new direction, and yet nothing has evolved from her proclamation beyond the words. (Ball dropped.) Denise was hired at WOAK as a means (I thought) of attaching Holden once more to Hope since the child would be in daycare at the studio. To date, Holden’s interaction with Hope has been mentioned sporadically and virtually unseen. (Ball dropped.) Goutman and Laiman/Culliton decided to wipe out the Julia/Jack connection only to resurrect it briefly last week in what played out to me as a quick and perfunctory nod to the past and the Jack/Julia supporters. What they accomplished was to cast the character of Julia adrift and, as a consolation, force the character into a pairing with Jake with no story to support it. (Ball dropped.) Instead of tying Julia back into the Oakdale fabric either by a storyline or through renewed interactions with friends, Julia remains isolated, gorgeous and inviting, but glaringly alone. (Ball dropped.) Jennifer has been on the show for months, but the character still serves no other purpose than story commentator. (Jennifer on Monday regarding Abigail and Chris’ romance: “Young, hip, and totally in love.”) (Ball dropped.) I could go on and on, but you get the picture. A good producing and writing team must be able to juggle a myriad of stories and characters, somehow keeping the majority of them airborne, and moving, and vital, and in synch with the overall frame and foundation of the show. When you watch a juggler (or jugglers), you don’t just admire the act itself. You look at the entire performance -- the way the juggler rhythmically shifts the balls (or batons) from hand to hand, the arc of the toss, how the flying balls or batons m ove with such speed as to blur and blend in an amazing show of coordination, precision, and style. And that’s precisely how a good soap opera should be: coordinated, stylistic, with characters and stories and ideas all seemingly flying at once, but actually under the meticulously organized care of one or more talented masters of the form. Goutman and Laiman/Culliton throw all their ATWT story and character balls and batons high into the air, but then catch only what they can get in each hand. Everything else hits the ground. They don’t even make the effort to juggle, to keep anything beyond the basic and simple airborne and moving. And that’s not very impressive, not very creative, and it’s rarely exciting to watch. Executive Producer Christopher Goutman is ultimately responsible for what’s on the written page. He hired Laiman and Culliton, and since the style and format of the show has changed very little since they took over, I can only assume that Goutman supports and approves of their approach. Therefore, unless there is a major change in philosophy fast, my feeling is that Goutman believes that enough gloss and style, with big dollops of mindless humor, a steady diet of romantic interludes between couples, and the occasional “big showy event”, will cover and compensate for the bad writing, little to no character development, and the lack of long term plotting. As this trend continues unabated, the implication is that this type of writing and execution will ultimately satisfy the ATWT audience. As an excellent example of how the audience is being pandered to by this regime, let’s examine the Valentine’s shenanigans at Java Underground on Monday. It was pure Goutman and Laiman/Culliton - a crisis du jour all resolved by episode’s end. It featured dialogue drenched in cliché and - astoundingly! - steeped in mid-1970s Helen Reddy feminism and rhetoric! (Katie: “The single women of the world are tired of being treated like victims! You wanted us here? You’re going to have to take us like we are: Strong. Independent. And loud!”) The scenes at Java Underground had no regard or respect for character. When the women discovered Max was behind the invitations that lured them to Java Underground (a pathetic plot device obviously plucked out of thin air), the writers had them behave like petulant crybabies, not like the independent and strong women they morphed into seconds later. (“I want my cover charge back!” snapped one. “What about the money I spent on this dress?” shrieked another.) Any regular viewer of ATWT for the past three years would have known the character of Julia can’t sing. But there was Annie Parisse as Julia, singing more than passably and with quite a bit of assurance. There was Emily, still the definition of co-dependent, a woman who seeks not only her identity, but her self-worth, through her latest male relationship, belting out a number about independence and empowerment. (And no, I can’t accept that it was the “new” Emily on that stage. Why not? Because the writers have yet to SHOW us beyond the verbal any new direction the character has taken.) So story and character consistency be damned, right? I mean, if we get to see a group of our gorgeous and talented actresses sing a lot and dance a little, it’s worth it, right? I don’t necessarily agree with that, but, basically, that’s how I got through all those scenes. I accepted that I wasn’t watching Katie and Susan and Emily singing and dancing. I was watching Teri Conn and Marie Masters and Kelley Menighan-Hensley perform beyond the scope of their daily acting assignments. Mid-way through the number, the show moved out of the reality-based drama of life in Oakdale and into what felt to me like a fan-club gathering without the personal expense and the thrill of meeting the celebrities in person. The total lack of inventiveness and creativity of the writers forced these actresses to break character, to perform as themselves. So I relished in the beauty and sensuality of Annie Parisse as the straps of her dress slid off her shoulders and onto her arms while she performed. I smiled when the camera cut from a radiant Kelley Menighan-Hensley to the adoring gaze of her handsome husband, Jon Hensley. I marveled that Marie Masters could sing so well, and was floored by the powerful screen presence and vocalizations of Tamara Tunie. So, was it fun? Sure, if you take it for what it was: Filler, time killer. Was it good drama? Absolutely, unequivocally not. It was deplorable writing on every level. Was it good storytelling? No, again, as there was NO story, only segments inserted into the episode. Was it appropriate? Well, it would have been if all of this had somehow realistically been tied to a stor yline, or an event done annually, much like the Nurses’ Ball is on General Hospital. But why shouldn’t the show be light and fun every so often, some would ask? Well, it can, if that’s what the current regime wants. It’s not my personal preference of soap storytelling, but that’s my problem. Some viewers actually prefer light over dramatic. The key is in the balance. The problem with ATWT is that the ongoing storylines are so few and the material mostly weak. There’s not enough heavy drama to counteract all this fluff coming at us. The show is crying out for dramatic weight, yet the writers seem insistent on providing slap-dash story liberally mixed with comedy and pathos. Light and fun every so often? What a crock! ATWT is already as light and airy as a soufflé, but not nearly as satisfying nor sinful. I also believe Goutman and Laiman/Culliton made a mistake when they broke down that “sacred wall” between character and performer. (We interrupt this episode of ATWT to bring you a performance of “Bawitdaba” by Benjamen Hendrickson, followed by a stirring rendition of the current dance hit “My Love is Your Love” by Elizabeth Hubbard.) Is that what we want ATWT to become? A slice of this, a piece of that? Segments, not story? Fashion shows substituting for plot? Song and dance instead of character and motivation? It appears that it is what Goutman and Laiman/Culliton want. And if we become complacent, if we do not demand the thought provoking, the emotional, the complex, the rich characterization, the STORY - then you can guarantee that ATWT will have turned into a comedic variety show of “a little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants” by Valentines Day 2001. Molly Conlan is now the latest member of the Leah Laiman Severe Head Trauma Club, joining “cracked coconut” survivors Eddie Silva, Tom Hughes, Denise Maynard, and, from AW, Donna Love. Tumbling down a high flight of stairs after an argument with Abigail, Molly suffered the dreaded SHT and was ambulanced away to Oakdale Memorial. I know originality is not the forte of this writing team. I know Laiman and Culliton feed on repetition like a shark on fresh, bloody meat. But this is our fourth SHT in six months! You'd think Goutman and Laiman/Culliton would vary their basic plotting just a tad out of respect for the audience. It illustrates how little thought and effort they’re putting into their work. The first climax of the Molly/Chris/Abigail storyline was fraught with standard soap dialogue that both skimmed the surface of the issue while building next to no anticipation for the next scene. A waterfall of tears accompanied the revelation scenes between Molly and Abigail, yet I remained emotionally unmoved. The dialogue often elicited unintentional chuckles. (Abigail to Molly: “You know, my Mother was right about you. You’re not only a liar. You’re a slut.” I guess, off-screen, Diana didn’t mince words!) Abigail pretty much summed up my feelings about this storyline when Molly asked her how much she knew. “The whole story,” Abigail replied. “As much as I could take without throwing up.” The Chris and Abigail coupling has been rammed down our throats from the beginning, with comparisons to the Lily/Holden romance and calculated vocalized approval from Kim, Bob, and Nancy shoveled in afterwards in an attempt to win support for this icky pairing. The “conflict” in this story (Molly slept with Chris) was formed not from character motivation and action, but as a plot device meant to get us to where we’re at now. There are other major flaws. The way Andy found out about Molly and Chris played like an addendum, a hasty cut and paste with bad dialogue. (Andy: “He (Chris) started a bordello in my pad and under my nose and you want me to respect him?”) Repeatedly reemphasizing Chris and Abigail’s ages (20 and 16, 20 and 16, 20 and 16) reeks of backpedaling by the writers in an attempt to make this coupling more age appropriate and, therefore, acceptable. But Paul Korver looks older than 20, which no amount of script hammering can remedy. Furthermore, Chris is the weakest male on ATWT, just a notch below that woman-empowering plot pawn Max. This week also shined a spotlight on Paul Korver’s limitations as an actor. While Korver looks the part and rivals any of our actresses in the beauty department, he has yet to demonstrate the range desperately needed for this feather-weight story. In fact, a bolder performance would also help to combat the continued weakening of the character by Laiman/Culliton. Korver was wooden in his big scenes with Kathryn Hays and Don Hastings, a two facial expression performance. On the other hand, Kristina Sisco is a capable young actress. This week, she was given her meatiest material since joining the show. But that material was written with a lot of repetition (I lost count of the number of variations of “It’s all my fault!” and "My life has been ripped apart!" that Abigail wailed.) Sisco can not hope to elicit much sympathy or identification from the audience with such a whiney character and a story as poorly conceived and executed as this one. Sicso’s scenes in the chapel, which should have been emotional juggernauts, merely recapped the story and repeated things she’s already verbalized. The writers even seemed at time to trivialize the very story they apparently feel has such dramatic resonance. (Abigail to Jen on Friday: "I'm Oakdale's newest jerk magnet and insult attractor.") Abigail's scene at Molly’s bedside was equally superficial. (Abigail: “Life is not simple like I want it to be. It’s sloppy and complicated.”) “Complicated” is the buzz word of Laiman/Culliton these days, as this week that word found its way into the dialogue of, e.g., Abigail and Lucinda and Holden and Andy and Denise, with no signs of stopping its overuse that I can see. Finally, Lesli Kay deserves a big round of applause. The writers had her playing sex and nude scenes while well along in her pregnancy. Kay also had to run and do some minor physical stuff while in the latter stages of pregnancy, including bounding up stairs, running after Abigail, reaching out and spinning other characters around, etc. It seemed the further along Kay got in her pregnancy, the more physical the demands of the story became! Kay was not afforded the easiest of acting duties during her pregnancy, and it’s to her credit that she pulled it all off with such professionalism and dedication. The first climax of the Chris/Abigail/Molly storyline did provide some good material on Tuesday featuring Kim, Bob, Holden, and Lily. Jon Hensley’s performance was a delicately balanced combination of barely suppressed anger and masculine protectiveness. He was supported wonderfully by Martha Byrne, who played her scenes with a concerned stillness and calm. The writers gave the best material to Kathryn Hays, and she played it with a fury that was electrifying. Tearing into Chris, Hays’ performance was a verbal powder keg, yet it was also wonderfully grounded. Hays let the power of the material propel her. Most of the dialogue was terrific. (Kim to Chris after he tried to explain his involvement with Molly: “Oh, please! You don’t live in a vacuum. You’re part of a family, a community! And if you don’t have any respect for yourself, the least you can do is have respect for the people you’re supposed to care about.”) Bob’s reaction was initially surprising and almost borderline fawning, considering the tough love approach he used with Chris in the past. Goutman and Laiman/Culliton deserve credit for having Kim call Bob out on it while simultaneously disdaining his current stance. Though not addressed, I think Bob’s reaction was based partly upon his past indiscretion with Susan. He probably doesn’t condone Chris’ actions, but Bob understands how bad judgement can lead to terrible mistakes. Unfortunately, Laiman and Culliton often sabotage their best material, and this time was no exception. Kim was all over Chris about everything except the fact that Abigail was a minor. Goutman and Laiman/Culliton don’t seem to have a problem with that, or they are solidarily committed not to address it. So WHY did the writers have to glaringly bring that very issue front and center with the following exchange between Kim and Bob? (Bob: “Don’t be so hard on the boy.” Kim: “Boy? You see a boy here? This is a grown man.”) Exactly! A grown man involved with a sixteen-year-old. But apparently, the only real problem here is that Chris slept with Molly. (Bob to Chris on Wednesday: “You know, getting involved with Molly Conlan was not the wisest thing to do.” Not a mention of his involvement with Abigail.) If Goutman and Laiman/Culliton simply don’t want to address the age difference besides reinforcing that it’s only a four year gap, then they should go to great lengths to avoid any reference which underscores Chris as an adult and Abigail as a minor. In the meantime, Chris and Abigail have broken up. Again. For the 10 millionth time. “Our garden,” Abigail said to Christopher on Wednesday. “No. We can’t go back there.” Oh, please, please, please let that statement hold true! By the end of Friday's episode, Abigail, like Molly and Carly threatened to do months ago, like she and Christopher threatened to do a few weeks ago, and like Denise did last week, had decided to "run away". Running away -- another weekly used cornerstone of the Laiman/Culliton writing team. However, I think in time, it will be Goutman and Laiman/Culliton doing the running, trying to put some distance between themselves and this truly discomforting, second-rate romance novel storyline. The scenes between John and Lucinda, while recalling their history, played out as a bizarre sonata of desperation, a way to weave Lucinda in and around any unfolding story. The fact remains that Lucinda’s loneliness is an issue that could easily be addressed by this writing team, if they really want to give Elizabeth Hubbard a frontburner storyline. And perhaps John’s rather callous marriage proposal -- he called it a merger -- was the first brick laid of this story foundation. If it were any other writing team, I’d be more certain. But the John/Lucinda scenes did work on two levels. It showed how isolated Lucinda has recently become, even from her immediate family (Lily/Holden). And it reinforced John’s motivation for his recent actions in the Baby Hope story. There was one genuinely touching moment, and it was the brief exchange that follows: (John: “I’m not asking for your heart.” Lucinda: “You’re asking for my life’s blood.” John: “I’m asking for a little part of it. That’s all.”) Understated, yet rife with subtext, because, I sense, that’s exactly what Lucinda longs for: Someone to ask for her heart. . .and nothing else. No strings attached, no hidden agendas, no daggers to the back that would drain her life’s blood. There’s your big Lucinda storyline, Goutman and Laiman/Culliton, the storyline promised for six months but never delivered! Another terrific moment occurred when Jake arrived and informed Lucinda and John about Molly’s accident. Lucinda and John’s reaction was -- well, let’s be honest -- amusement. They laughed. And it was totally in character for both, especially if one recalls Molly’s history with John and Lucinda. (In fact, another of Laiman/Culliton’s “dropped balls” was John’s promise to make Molly pay for switching Parker’s paternity tests, which only resulted in the incredibly impotent act of John getting Molly fired from the City Times!) John and Lucinda’s laughter also highlighted a major problem with ATWT and this producing and writing team. They’re afraid to take the risk of making a character too unappealing, too bad or manipulative. In this instance, it wasn’t much of a risk because Lucinda and John are both beloved veterans. The audience is very familiar with their character composition. However, lately the dirty deeds are given to peripheral characters like Henry. Sure, Katie may pull the occasional stunt, but she doesn’t quite cross a line that couldn’t easily be recrossed to redemption. That was illustrated on Thursday, as Katie had a major guilt attack after finding out about Molly’s hospitalization. She even shared some of Abigail’s blame game. (Katie to Henry: “It is our fault that Molly almost died.”) And Henry alone was responsible for the latest insipid plot twist, a "National Intruder" cover story that sent Abigail into yet another running and bawling jag on Friday. Although it’s too early to tell, it looks like Isaac is being groomed to become a soap standard good guy, with perhaps a slightly shady past that involves tough guys with big wads of money. Even Chris’ involvement with Molly was structured to make both characters culpable, but not TOO culpable. As a contrast, think back to when Emily was going after Tom. Her pursuit was a take-no-prisoners approach. The Felicia Minei-Behr/Lorraine Broderick regime did not shy away from executing some truly horrible acts for Emily, although, admittedly, the writers were helped tremendously by Kelley Menighan-Hensley’s unapologetic and ruthless portrayal. I was reminded of that when Emily popped Jake on the face on Wednesday as she left Isaac’s hospital room. It was quick and harsh and startling and immediately jolted to life an otherwise dead scene. It was also just what Emily would do after listening to a bunch of lame putdowns and remarks from two cocky men. We need more of that kind of bite and behavior, behavior done because it fits the character and the situation and not because it fits the situation only. Remember when Carly drove her car into a tree wh ile pregnant? Or when she accidentally ran down Julia? Or David kidnapping Lily and Holden’s baby? We don’t have many characters now who fuel the flames on ATWT with their drive, hatred, passion, and/or undisguised malice. Henry and Katie pale in comparison to David Stenbeck, or old-Emily, or old-Carly at their least wicked, much less when all their engines were fired. But the fact of the matter is some of the ATWT audience is responding to Henry. Why? Because he is one of the few characters who does stir up trouble and who is unapologetic about it, and also because Trent Dawson plays the part with such smarmy, self-satisfied glee. Henry is not so much a great character as a waterdowned composite of “villain.” If the show had a stable of well-defined villains or characters doing desperate acts rooted in their character make-up, or because of a believable circumstance which was set up by advance story, Henry wouldn’t even register on our TV screens. I don’t think the writers quite grasp the difference between plain cruelty because the action is not founded in character and story (Lisa delighting in Carly working in the Ladies Lounge, or Camille’s condescending treatment of Carly at Al’s Diner) versus actions - good or bad - which are grounded in character and motivation. So we need more scenes like John and Lucinda’s cackling over Molly’s hospitalization, even if they make us initially recoil a little. If the action is consistent with the character, or if prior story has set up the character’s action in a believable way, the audience will not be alienated. Quite the contrary. We’ll love it! Odds and Ends: 1. This week also highlighted how (though I’ve read the opposite) Jake has not been successfully woven into the Oakdale canvas. Laiman and Culliton established Jake well with Julia and Lucinda. Besides those two, it is still kind of startling to watch Jake interact with the other characters on the show. Watching Jake on the periphery of the hospital scenes on Tuesday raised the question: Was he there out of concern for Molly? If so, it didn’t work since the writing never established any kind of friendship between Jake and Molly beyond Molly’s brief tenure at the City Times. So I’m guessing Jake was there to sniff out a story. Still, I became distracted again when Jake asked Bob a question. I kept wondering if they’d ever been formally introduced. I was waiting for Bob to go, “Who ARE you?” We’re back to juggling and dropped balls. There is too much left assumed and not addressed by this writing team, things that may seem insignificant, but are actually, in the grand scheme of things, very important. 2. I think there’s a seed of a story in Isaac/Camille. It’s been revealed that Isaac is Ben’s half-brother. Camille was once engaged to Ben. She now, on the basis of all that recent kissing, seems to have the hots for Isaac. But mostly we have a lot of banter and smooching between Camille and Isaac and nothing else. Isaac still remains mostly an enigma. (“I’m a businessman,” Isaac told Camille, as if that explained anything.) While that may be intentional by the writers, there’s so little of the character to grab on to. I am having a hard time caring about Isaac or what happens to him. Alas, there is also not enough chemistry between Lauren B. Martin and Paul Taylor. This could change, however, as the story develops and when/if the character of Isaac is better defined. Martin, however, has been great as usual. Like the majority of the actors on ATWT, she’s been given bare bones material. Mostly, Camille has been flipping like a trout in a hot skillet between Doctor D and the Mysterious Isaac. Fortunately for Goutman and Laiman/Culliton, Martin is an actress you can actually “see” thinking. (A great example of that was during Wednesday’s show when Isaac was yanking Camille’s chain about being a bookie.) Martin is restrained, but very expressive, allowing Camille’s reactions to play across her face. When Isaac asked Camille if there was anything else she wanted to know about him, Camille responded, “No. There’s nothing else I want to know.” Martin’s facial expression and her vocal inflections injected that line with more than its obvious meaning. And in emotional scenes, Martin is brilliant, as viewers of Camille’s cancer storyline and her raw and tear-drenched performances when Camille called off her engagement with Ben the night before their wedding in December 1998 will recall. 3. It’s great seeing Scott DeFreitas back on the frontburner. DeFreitas is a natural, an actor of great range. His earnest and intense performances are the pulse of the Baby Hope story. I have enjoyed watching how Denise has gradually come to trust Andy. I could have done without the predictably written surprise visit by the social services worker on Thursday, yet another Goutman and Laiman/Culliton “crisis du jour” all neatly resolved by episode’s end. On Friday, the "crisis du jour" all neatly resolved by episode's end centered around Hope possibly swallowing some over-the-counter cold medication. This caused John to take action in a phone call on Friday. This type of plot-driven writing with not even an attempt at basic variation by the writers is becoming more and more difficult to stomach. Nonetheless, I applaud Goutman and Laiman/Culliton for remembering Andy’s alcoholic past and how the peaks and valleys of life can play havoc on a person with an addiction. After punching Chris, Andy needed some support. It was too late for an AA meeting, so he showed up at Denise’s. This was very believable and true to the character of Andy and, at this juncture, the story. I’m also enjoying how Ben is slowly becoming mistrustful of Andy. (Ben to Andy on Tuesday: “It seems like you’re always hovering around. Trying on this fatherhood thing like a new pair of shoes.”) This attitude is very much in line with Ben’s character, as Ben has been shown at times in the past to be very controlling. That’s one reason Ben encouraged Denise to tell Andy about Hope. He hoped for a quick resolution (in their favor) which would enable him to have better control over his new familial situation. When Ben arrived back at Denise’s after performing surgery on Molly, he looked exhausted - not just from the work, but from the ever-increasing presence of Andy in their lives and the unresolved issues surrounding Hope. It was a nice touch inserted by the writers. Finally, I'm getting fed up with Denise flying off the handle at the slightest provocation. On Tuesday, she asked Ben to leave after the surprise visit of the social worker. On Friday, she asked him to leave again after he rebuked her sexual advances. I'm not slamming the writers for trying to inject conflict into Ben and Denise's relationship. I'm slamming them for the repetitive way they execute their story. Over and over and over again, the same style with only the theme changed! Hope’s paternity and the rights of her parents and grandparents aren’t cut and dry, and so far Goutman and Laiman/Culliton are showing that. I hope - pray - the writers do not eventually resort to some pat and quick resolution as they did in deciding whether Hope belonged with Denise or Lily/Holden. The story needs to play out over time, see all sides of the issue explored, and then let the outcome be determined based on the CHARACTERS and their motivation. Despite the repetition, the best material on ATWT seems to be concentrated in this storyline, which makes me wonder how much better the show could be if that quality could be extended out and beyond this story. 4. Carly’s scenes on Thursday were hilarious! Carly’s videotaped message to Jack - a scene begging for mature, heartfelt dialogue, contained confetti-strewn snippets instead. (Carly: “I really need you to know. . .so many things.” And later: “I’ve never heard so many ooh-la-la’s in my life.”) Later, shown picking at (apparently) Chinese or Thai food with chopsticks (I guess to remind us of the Hong Kong connection!), Carly was next seen begging her captor to let her see. . .HIM. Since there have been so few clues as to why Carly had to leave Oakdale (and I think this is because Goutman and Laiman/Culliton haven’t gotten that far yet, but of course I can’t prove it), the scenes played like outtakes of a bad B movie. 5. Lily found a wrapped bundle of letters -- still dry! -- on the ground at Synder Pond. I hope this is the beginning of a new story, and one that's been outlined and basically written for at least the next four to six months. 6. The dialogue, though a little better overall, still needs a lot of attention. During Wednesday’s episode, Abigail said the following: “My whole life feels like it’s turned upside down on its head.” In the very next scene, Andy said to Denise in response to what was bothering him, “Everything. . .My head is all turned upside down.” Our heads, too, after listening to repetitive drivel like that.
Grade for the Week: D+ |
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