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One of life's joys is reconnecting with a loved one, especially if you haven't seen that person in a while. I can recall with vivid clarity the times I have waited at the airport to greet someone important in my life. Shuffling from foot to foot, butterflies fluttering furiously in my stomach, the minutes passing in what seemed like slow motion, marked by the changes of the digital clock on the wall. Then there's the moment you see each other – the rush of instant familiarity, the little skip your heart takes, the smile that suddenly and automatically floods your face, perhaps followed immediately by laughter, or an exclamation of delight, or even tears. And then the embrace - enveloped tight, enveloped totally - my lover, my brother, my friend, my wife, my husband, my. . .As the World Turns? This week I found myself reaching out - cautiously, hopefully -- to embrace my soap, as if welcoming back an old and much-missed friend. I reached out because, at last, I saw before me something a little familiar, something that sounded and looked like the show I recalled from a couple of years ago and have always, through its various incarnations, loved. Yet I am reluctant to embrace ATWT again, having been battered and disheartened from a year of story by former head writer Leah Laiman. One year of Laiman's careless, apathetic, make-it-up as you go storytelling served to symbolically beat this viewer into a kind of submissive resignation. Oh, I ranted and railed against Laiman's repetitive and throw-away style, but I was watching ATWT more out of loyalty and devotion rather than an active involvement in the show and its stories. It was a grudging and frustrating tolerance of the wasted opportunities and talent that played out day after day after day. I guess calling Laiman's year a "Reign of Terror" is perhaps way overstated and -- okay -- inaccurate. Maybe I need some time to put the Laiman year into perspective, because I'm not sure how best to categorize Laiman's tenure as head writer of ATWT. But that's not important, because I don't want to focus on the past. The only reason I'm referring to Laiman at all is that her tenure on ATWT -- for better or worse, depending on how you see it -- has had the effect of making me reluctant to quickly embrace new head writer Hogan Sheffer. Oh, make no mistake: My unequivocal support Hogan Sheffer has, just as Lorraine Broderick had it at the beginning of her tenure and just as Leah Laiman had it at the beginning of hers. I think that support is a gift each viewer of ATWT voluntarily (if now somewhat reluctantly) hands to the writer(s) and executive producer of the show. It is theirs to hold and nourish until circumstances (e.g., their respect or lack thereof for character and story, their commitment or lack thereof to quality) cause that support to be withdrawn or, in Laiman's case with me, yanked furiously and possessively back. So while I wish for Sheffer great success, and furtively want to believe he has embraced the show in much the same way a loved one is embraced after a long absence, I am now one of those hardened soap viewers that have taken the stand of "wait and see." It seems fitting, in an admittedly backhanded farewell salute to Laiman, that I should use a cliché to express my cautious and guarded embrace of our new head writer: Welcome, Mr. Sheffer! I wish you great success. But the proof will be in the pudding. There was already great emotional content inherent in the aftermath of the car wreck. After all, who can not be both horrified and extremely sympathetic to a young child in critical condition after an accident? Yes, it was manufactured emotion. But Sheffer was not content to coast on the built-in dynamics. Sheffer and the writers took it deeper and used the aftermath of the accident to bring up the emotions of several characters involved (e.g., Hal, Barbara, Bryant) and then show how each reacted. Contrast the scenes at Parker's bedside with the ones written by Leah Laiman during Tom's hospitalization. (Recall that both patients were in critical condition and near death.) Laiman's work skimmed the surface, best illustrated by Margo's endless ramblings about Alec, and Lisa and Bob's cliched dialogue at Tom's bedside. "You're a fighter, Tom, and you're going to make it through this" pretty much summed it up for all the characters involved. "Parker's a strong little boy," Barbara said on Monday, but that was just one statement in the grander scheme of things. It didn't end there. Instead, Sheffer used the accident as a catalyst to explore character and to propel story forward. Each scene was structured, not with the accident as the centerpiece, but with a specific character (e.g., Hal, Bryant, Barbara) at the forefront. We saw Hal's anger at Bryant unleashed on a protective Lucinda (a controlled and effective performance by Elizabeth Hubbard). Hal and Lucinda's scenes were particularly edgy on Friday after Bryant's arrest. (Lucinda to Hal: "Feel better now, Hal?") We also watched Hal lashing out at Barbara one minute, reaching out to her the next, and then later twisting a verbal dagger in her back (Hal to Parker as a shocked Barbara looked on: "I sure wish your real Mom was here, Champ. I sure do."). Benjamin Hendrickson was magnificent this week -- staggering backwards in shock when seeing Parker after surgery, growling out his lines through teary eyes, shaking Jennifer with barely controlled fury. Colleen Zink-Pinter balanced Hendrickson's work perfectly. Zink-Pinter's approach was more restrained but just as effective, conveying Barbara's anguish and, in the moments when Hal shunned her, the hurt and rejection. What has been very impressive about Hogan Sheffer has been immediate grasp and understanding of one of the cornerstones of ATWT - emotional resonance, and lots of it. Sheffer seems to have looked out over Laiman's World and seen, as did many viewers, an empty, dry desert -- the heart and emotion drained from the show until the characters were isolated and parched from the bitter taste of forced pairings, horrible stories, and no character development. Sheffer has turned that emotional faucet back on, but not at a trickle. Emotion has flooded back into the show, from the tear drenched scenes at Parker's hospital bedside, to the way Jack held Julia in his lap on Monday as they discussed (in a scene tinged in irony) trust and morality. (Julia: "Sometimes. . ..we need to hear bad news." Jack: "Even if it snowballs and hurts people?" Julia: "Yes. You have to follow your instincts, you know? And do the best that you can.") This infusion of emotion has quickly and effectively served several purposes: 1. It has started to return the "heart" to ATWT, the feeling of small town family and community which has always been the very core of the show. 2. It has helped shore up wobbly storylines (Carly's disappearance, Jennifer/Bryant/Abigail) and salvage others from total ineptness (Lily/Simon and the diamond). 3. It has opened the window to romance and possibilities (Jack/Julia/Carly, Jake/Molly/Emily/Christopher, Lily/Simon/Holden/Rose) that arise out of story and character, not by just throwing people together with no story and seeing if they "click". I mentioned this in my last critique, but it bears repeating: When Simon and Lily return to Oakdale, it will be imperative for the writers to immediately begin mixing Simon all over the Oakdale canvas. I'm not saying that Simon should be cut out of the Lily/Rose/Holden corner of the canvas. I'm saying the only way for Simon the character to grow and evolve beyond what he is now is for him to feed off the other characters in Oakdale. Simon has been on this island with Lily for a couple of months now. But ever since Simon arrived in Oakdale, his character has always been on an isolated island of mostly bad story and limited character interaction. So isn't it a cruel little paradox that Lily and Simon's island adventure works best when they are alone. Each time another party has been inserted into the story, the results have been embarrassing (Cooley), or the scenes so broad and loud that they have bordered on the comic or crossed into parody (Celia). On Wednesday, the writers once again had Celia waving a gun around, threatening umpteen times to shoot while shouting out abysmal dialogue. (Celia to Simon: "Do you think I'm the Village Idiot? Oh, no, I'm not! That's *your* title!") The quality only worsened when Lily and Celia tussled for the gun. First, Lily, demonstrating a throwing arm and follow-through a NFL quarterback would envy, bonked Celia on the head with a big rock. Next, Lily and Celia went at it in the very cramped hot springs and then, sufficiently wet, crawled and clawed for the gun in a wrasslin' match in the sand. With Lily in her sexy orange sarong and bikini top and Celia in that sleek rubber wet suit, the scene came off as a G-rated parody of a lesbian scene in a heterosexual porno movie. When Simon arrived, also dripping wet from being outside, his black slacks clinging to his gleaming, perfect torso like a second skin, the only thing that came to my mind was: Three way! The only time the island story has worked was when the focus was not on the story itself (which remains weak), but when it shifted to character. Watching Lily and Simon getting to know each other, watching them bond, watching Simon slowly and helplessly fall for Lily -- these have been the rubies of quality hidden in the sands of the island. Simon is becoming an appealing romantic lead, thanks in great part to Paul Leyden. Simon looks at Lily with what seems to be a combination of soulful-eyed wonder and devotion, and Leyden's large, dark eyes and his handsome face make those looks all the more alluring. What is interesting is that the writers have made Simon the most ineffectual anti-hero I can remember. Simon rides to the rescue, but he rarely saves the day. He gets caught in human net traps, he can't overpower the petite Celia for a gun, and he initially couldn't save Lily from the clutches of madman Cooley. The times Simon has saved Lily's life have all been offset by the times Lily has saved his, which makes me think this tit-for-tat life saving was deliberately counted by the writers. Here's a man time and again shown to be ineffective at best at the most important requirement in romantic fantasy of the ideal man -- masculine protectiveness. Yet Simon still remains strong, appealing, and yes, desirable. Simon is perhaps the most vulnerable romantic buffed beauty on daytime, a man who seems to require more protection than he can simultaneously provide. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as it is Simon's vulnerability as portrayed by Leyden that infuses the character with sensuality. Vulnerable sensuality can be a potent mixture, and it makes Simon stand apart from our more traditional heros and anti-heros such as Jack, Jake, Hal, and Ben. How charming and original it would be if, ultimately, it is the woman who figuratively "saves" the man. Sheffer is using small moments in scenes to reinforce and redefine character. It's wonderful to see this happening again, because for over a year the characters have tended to blend together, having lost their individuality after being whittled to one-dimension. Let's look at some examples of the writers' subtle work at reinforcing and redefining characters. On Tuesday, Jake told Emily: "Stop the damsel in distress bit because you're about as helpless as a piranha!" And later, after Molly arrived for her date with Jake, Emily began to leave. Jake followed to open the door for her. "Don't bother!" Emily snapped and flung open the door herself. Those two examples, which basically passed in seconds in the scene, underscored our definition of Emily, all hard angles and edges surrounding an insecure woman with a fragile heart. When Emily got back to the office, there was Chris practically wearing his heart on his sleeve. He lit into Emily immediately until she asked, "Is this concern or anger?" "Are you okay?"Chris asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," Emily answered. "Then it's anger," Chris responded. It's another great example of character development and motivation playing out concurrently with the unfolding story. It's character development and reinforcement that is not telegraphed with blaring trumpets - "Look! Look! Chris has feelings for Emily!" "Look! Look! Emily's still as tough as ever, but she may have some hidden feelings for Jake!" It's also writing that works on more than one level. It's the kind of multi-layered writing that ATWT desperately needs, writing that has been missing for the most part during the past year. As another example, Denise's character suddenly and with great clarity came back into focus on Wednesday and Thursday in her exchanges with Ben. Denise: "I always wanted to be a good person. I just didn't know it was going to be this hard." And a few moments later: "I did not choose Andy over you (Ben). It was *because* of you. The old Denise would have been on that plane in a heartbeat." On Thursday, after Denise refused to immediately move in with Ben after they purchased a house, Ben said, "You know, I used to think that you were the strongest, the most determined woman I ever met. But now. . .I can't believe. . .Maybe I never knew you at all." It's quite possible, because Denise the character has been ill-defined for a long time. Julia was redefined a bit on Friday when she finally confessed everything to Jack about being in contact with Carly. (Jack to Julia: "You did all this behind my back." In some well-written scenes, Jack began to see Julia in a new light while Julia demanded he see her the same way. (Julia: "I am NOTHING like Carly!") True enough, but Julia is also no saint. That's probably not news, either, but Julia's action were the first time we had seen a real manipulative side of the character, even if those actions were taken with great reluctance and some guilt. The audience knew the motivation that caused the action, which made Friday's scenes between Jack and Julia standouts. It's scenes like all the examples above that give me hope that the show is moving away from basic, skim the surface storytelling and in to combining stories and characterization for a richer viewing experience.
Grade for the Week: B |
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