For the week ending January 19, 2001 

I’ve already talked myself blue in the face over last week’s episodes and am about to wear the letters off the keys on the keyboard from chatting about it ad nauseam.  Just as a brief explanation by the time I got home from work on Friday at 5:15 p.m. CST (the Nexis fight had just finished airing on the west coast) I had fourteen emails, messages and phone calls from people about that episode.  Apparently, I’m not the only completely obsessive Nexis fan!  This is by no means a complaint.  I’m happier than a kid in a candy store because there’s actually something to talk about!  I jumped ahead with that, so let’s back this up to Monday. 

The week started well with my new hero, Sorel, trying to smother Sonny only to be foiled by Dianna Prince, er, Carly with her twirling purse of death instead of the golden lasso.  Better luck next time Sorel!  Where was Rick?  Sonny needs to fire the all of his “men” because not one of them is ever around when he actually needs them to do something besides carry Michael or fetch some doughnuts for Carly.  And speaking of my arch nemesis, Ms. Hypocrite herself wants to launch a major media campaign without consulting Laura but she was perfectly happy to chew Laura’s derriere for simply buying some plants and hanging wallpaper?  Please let me step aside before the lightening strikes. 

I love the confrontations between Ned and Stefan over Stefan's treatment of Alexis, love MyNed defending Alexis, HATE that Alexis didn't get more of a chance to defend herself more.  I want to see some anger, frustration and hurt!  I want the writers to quit treating this story so nonchalantly!  There are good things to be explored here!  Alexis needs to jerk a knot in Stefan’s ass for what he did to her AND Nikolas.  It’s very difficult for me to remain angry with Ned and Alexis because they are too cute!  Who wouldn’t feel better after a hug from MyNed? ::::::sigh:::::::  Then, the next scene {ahhhhh} with her head on a pillow in his lap whilst he’s telling her how fantastic she is.  Then we are treated to another of my favorite confrontations, Helena shows up on Alexis’ doorstep under the guise of letting Alexis know that Stefan was the Chloe-kidnap-culprit but really wanted to rattle Alexis and get her to switch loyalties.  I love that Ned stepped up to defend her again, although Alexis has proven time and time again that she can handle Helena and Stefan and she’s also told Ned to LET her handle Stefan. 

The TeenScene :  GO NIK!  He gave Gia a piece of his mind and he was right.  He should not have apologized and let her move out.  Then she was unnecessarily rude to Stefan before he insulted her.  I'm sure Stefan knows ALL about Gia from his investigators that were keeping a close eye on him while Stefan was "vacationing". His comments had absolutely nothing to do with race. He wants the best for Nik and Gia just ain't it. That 'tude will not fly amongst us common folks so it's certainly NOT going to fly among the royalty and wealthy of the world. He IS a Prince and they are expected to marry another title and not one that starts with a B and ends in ITCH.  Coltin Scott turned in some decent performances last week when he was portraying an angry Nikolas but I wasn’t as impressed with his hurt and I didn’t ‘feel his pain’.  Stefan, on the other hand, was distraught over losing the love and respect of the boy he raised and dedicated his life to.  I think this is the fall Stefan needs to realize that he’s become the one thing he hates the most:  A Helena clone.  Once he does realize that he can work to redeem himself all of which should make for interesting Cassadine story. 

Lucky and Maxie were cute.  She’s going to end up getting her heart broken but I think it’s sweet and very true to real life that she has a crush on him.

Licky (A SoapZone nickname for L&L2) is extremely appropriate.  They annoy the hell out of me ever since they started bumpin’ uglies like lil bunnies every five seconds.  Liz, maybe your tips would improve if {you’d work more than 20 minutes a week or) you gave the same kind of customer service to all of the customers that you give to Lucky.  I do love that she hasn’t completely turned into a Zander supporter.  

Zander just proved what I've said all along. He is a flaming piece of maggot ridden monkey dung!  He screwed over the only two people who tried to help him.  “Hey Sonny, I know you put up $2,000,000.00 for my bail and are paying my very competent attorney an astronomical fee, but could you manage a couple more grand?”  PUHLEEESE!  He wasn’t making some grand gesture to get out of Alexis’ penthouse, we all knew what was about to transpire.  Plus, he steals from the woman who got him out of jail and let him live in her apartment.  A note will NOT ever be good enough to explain that.  It’s not okay to steal just because you say you’re sorry in advance.  I hope, hope, hope that Ned gives Alexis the ‘I told you so’ look and speech that she so richly deserves! 

And that brings me to the big event.  Ned is right and Alexis is wrong.  I was even more excessively wordy than usual writing an analysis of this fight and ended up cutting out enough so that reading this wouldn’t be like reading a doctorate thesis, so this is the short version. 

Ned’s explosion had nothing to do with Emily and Zander and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that Alexis treats Ned like an insignificant afterthought.  This incident was just the final straw. Family comes first! Alexis used to know that. Protecting her family (the gatekeeper thing that drew them together in the first place) is one thing but she’s not protecting her family OR HIS.  She’s protecting a common criminal, a street thug who not only committed all of those felonies to need her, but also turned around and stole from her.  Ned is mad at himself for failing his family (the gatekeeper thing again) by not telling them about Zander the day before and due to his lack of action Emily is now ‘on the run’ with that deviant again.  

As Emily's almost-cousin Alexis should be MORE concerned about Emily's safety than Zander's and definitely MORE concerned about her safety than getting a reprimand from the bar association. This same woman who actively conspired to commit a premeditated murder, faked legal documents (not once, but twice), blackmailed the A.D.A. and allowed her BROTHER to stand trial for a said attempted murder is NOW worried about “legal ethics”? You either stand by your ethics or you don’t.  There’s no middle ground. She absolutely would not be disbarred for letting *this* secret slip.  (1) Somebody would have to report her, don't see that happening and  (2) There would be a hearing and this situation qualifies as extenuating circumstances so at worst she'd be fined have get a temporary suspension and I believe she's got the benjamins to handle THAT). Aside from all of that, jumping bail IS A CRIME. 

Granted, that bringing the PCPD into this wasn't the brightest idea because god knows that none of them can find their butts with both hands, a flashlight and a map; however, the Qs had no choice because I'm sure Sorel already knew that Zander was gone. He is the REAL mobster and probably had someone watching Zander.  Unlike wannabe Sonny whose goons not only allowed the shooting to happen in the first place, but couldn't even keep ZANDER from eluding them despite Johnny always being stoically perched outside Sonny's door and another guard in the lobby of the building. GMAB. 

Alan and Monica have EVERY RIGHT to know what's going on with their daughter and Zander broke that attorney/client thing when he jumped bail and stole from Alexis. Additionally, if she's so worried about attorney/client privilege then she should have refrained from telling Ned in the first place and definitely should have refrained from telling Sonny, let alone Carly even though Carly ascertained the information by her favorite pasttime -eveasdropping, Alexis did confirm it when Carly asked. Sonny risked the $2 million foolishly but that does not make him a party to the attorney/client privilege. SHE WAS WRONG, way wrong. 

Ned has been giving in, not compromising, to Alexis’ every whim (to use his word) for ages now and all he asked in return was a little consideration. All he got for his efforts was her constantly putting up barriers between them by representing every smarmy criminal element in PC, notifying him of her new address via voicemail message and failing to mention the fact that she was having panic attacks and fainting over the impending wedding. I think it's a subconscious way of distancing herself before she gets her heart broken, but that doesn't mean it hurts him any less. Then, she did the unforgivable - left him standing at the altar and bolted from the wedding. If it had been the other way around and Ned had left her like that people would STILL be calling for him to be drawn and quartered. Ned has been smoldering for a long time now. A little water was thrown on the embers because of the shooting and he put the anger aside because he was so overjoyed that she was still alive. He never even said "I told you so".  They never discussed in depth the reasons for her disappearing act.  Now the real Ned snaps back into motion. Someone else was in danger, it wasn't just his pride or his heart getting trampled  His 17 year old cousin is now on the run with a dangerous felon. This was just heat to make him catch fire.  

Alexis is still pushing him aside by stating that this is not the time to iron out their "issues" because their time should be spent trying to find Emily, but as soon as Ned leaves she's back to looking up statutes to keep Zander out of trouble AGAIN! Ned is  100% right. He is not a priority for her.  It is my most humble opinion that love comes before work, no matter what.  Alexis needs to re-prioritize.   Even she knows this on some level due to her comment to Chloe after the non-wedding: “My heart was willing. My resolve wasn't. And I have clients who are waiting, Chloe. I'm sorry. You know, that's the good thing about work, because it's always there.”  That is very telling of her psyche.  The work will always be there but she’s not secure enough in the relationship to allow herself to trust Ned because everyone else she’s ever loved has disappeared. 

*Paging Dr. Collins * 

The only other things I saw as I was FF, Stefan yelling "NIKOLAS" and I was thinking

"STELLLLLLAA" so I cracked up. Then I caught the end of a Nik/Gia scene when he said "I no longer have an uncle"...is he supposed to be Tony Soprano now?  

I see that it was necessary for someone else to tell Alexis that she’s putting her career ahead of her family and friends but it should not have been Lucky.  He doesn’t know Alexis from Eve and certainly knows nothing about her life. 

The more I see AJ, the more I love him.  He was right on the money last week telling Edward off and I loved that Edward actually listened to him.  Kudos to the writers for finally giving Billy the right material to let him shine! 

Roy absolutely cannot testify against Sorel unless he has actual knowledge OF THIS CASE!  Time for Alexis to enroll in a refresher course in criminal law (and ethics). 

Bobbie has obviously seen “Erin Brockovich” and tried to emulate her in every way.  This story is actually intriguing me right now.  She’s wrong for looking into Roy’s past without his knowledge but I’m interested in finding out what he’s so desperate to hide so I’m going with the flow on this one. 

Semi-off-topic note to finish – About two weeks ago I acquired a CD version of “The King & I” starring Yul Brynner and Constance Towers recorded in 1977.  Prior to purchasing this cd, I had not had the pleasure of hearing CT sing; however, it was only $6.00 and I got Yul Brynner anyway, so I risked it and let me just say that she is OUTSTANDING!  If anyone ever has the chance to catch her stage act, I highly recommend it.  I’m so very impressed.  I think it’s about time that Helena wows the crowd at a Nurse’s Ball! 

~Tracey~

For the week ending January 12th

I’ve seen many people complaining that the past week was a snoozer and I basically agree but I didn’t expect much because traditionally not much happens during January.  

I can’t help but love Ned and Alexis even when they infuriate me.  Alexis still needs to get her head on right.  God made answering machines and voice mail for a reason and that reason being when you are kissing your very sexy man phone calls about the drug dealing kidnapper living upstairs can wait!  The dumbing down of Alexis continued this week with that scene outside Sonny’s hospital room.  She is not that thick skulled and she {of all people!} should have been able to figure out what was going on since she just walked in on them a couple of weeks ago. 

All I could do while Sonny was telling Benny to never accept any orders from Carly was laugh.  Thankfully he knew exactly what she was up to and put a stop to it before more mayhem erupted and as a bonus it humiliated Carly in front of “the help”. 

Helena & Stefan’s conversation had me squealing with delight like a little girl! This is the relationship that needs to be explored with Stefan.  I want the explanation of the respectful hatred between them.  Chloe can apparently hear conversations in her dreams now rather than the music box.  I guess voices as opposed to music are an improvement when your psychic brain tumor is nearly eradicated.   Fortunately, this entire tumor story came to an overdue death by the end of the week.  Unfortunately, it didn’t mean Chloe’s demise.  Tava’s performance during her attempt to be as duplicitous as Stefan was lukewarm at best.  Chloe cannot compete with the Cassadines when it comes to lying, cheating and manipulating.  I’m grateful that Alexis got the chance to tell Stefan that she was disappointed in his actions but that scene needed to transpire at Wyndemere with a little more anger, frustration and hurt.  Hopefully, we’ll get that once Nikolas finds out about Stefan’s vacation by death. 

Scott & Laura are quickly becoming my favorite romance to watch (excluding my obsessive love for Nexis).  Laura lights up like the Christmas Tree in Rockafellar Center around Scotty (who doesn’t really?), sometimes she’s over the top in the giddy youthful exuberance but maybe that’s just the dynamic of the Scotty/Laura relationship.  It’s so obvious that they enjoy working together and I think that is just finer than frog hair!

Mac/Laura/Scotty – Can we just whip ‘em out and measure them right there on Laura’s desk and move on?  I actually enjoy all of Scotty’s blustering and stomping around.  He cares and he just wants to protect Laura from any type of perceived threat.  Go Scotty! 

The Bad Hair Brigade even amused me this week.  I’m not coming down on either side of that argument because they all had some valid points and they are all massive hypocrites.  I have to give Gia a little credit for telling them all off knowing that her association with them is precariously balanced anyway and not having anyone to back her up unlike the other three.  I find them all to be infinitely amusing when they are in the midst of civil unrest.  Gia was right about one thing, having Emily in California means that she’s not around Zander, meaning they don’t have to be around Zander.  Speaking of Gia, I think it would have only been appropriate to give Nikolas a bath after spilling cider on him. 

I don't feel sorry for Emily.  I wanted to due to Amber’s most brilliant performance but Emily has NOT done everything Alan and Monica asked because she was told to stay away from Zander and she didn't.  I swear if I hear that phrase “I did everything you asked…” one more time my eyes are going to roll so far back into my head that I'll be staring at gray matter. This was her choice to make boarding school or staying away from Zander.  If she was so concerned about being with Alan and Monica on her birthday or planning her graduation party with them then she should have made the choice to do as she was told. They are trying to protect her from someone that not only poses a threat (either himself or by just being associated with him) but someone who drugged, stripped, framed and kidnapped her! I hope he is using her but I don’t give the writers that much credit anymore. *That* would make me respect him. This Romeo & Juliet storyline overused and undertold. One of the nicknames for this couple is "Scumily" and aside from the fact that it just cracks me up, I think it's fitting at this point. TPTB are forcing this alleged relationship to move too fast. If there was a slow build to the relationship and Zander showed some remorse for all of his numerous crimes.  I think he should at least be confronted by his misdeeds by coming face-to-face with a girl who was raped after being given a roofie (perhaps at a RAVE).   He also needs to try to protect Emily by staying away from her because he IS in danger from Sorel and that puts everyone around him in danger also.  Additionally, he should stay away from her because he respects her F-A-M-I-L-Y.  If we could see all of that then I'll change my mind, but all I'm thinking right now is contrived, contrived, contrived. 

Zander: (1) I just love how TPTB are trying to whitewash the fact that Zander was selling roofies by today saying "I was working at parties -- ahem -- selling ecstasy, designer drugs. I was a dealer." Rather than FIXING what they started they're just hoping that we will forget and this viewer refuses to forget.  I’ve also seen a lot of people trying to compare Luke and Zander.  There is no comparison. There was a story there and we’re not getting one here. I won’t defend Luke for his most heinous crime, because there is NO valid defense. Zander can be redeemed like Luke if the writers would just put the effort into it. But we’ve gone from drug-dealing, co-conspirator, kidnapper to the fawning victim without ANYTHING in the middle. No story, no remorse, nothing. With Luke we got to see what he was feeling and what Laura was feeling over a period of time. Luke still hasn’t forgiven himself for what he did to Laura more than 20 years ago and THAT alone makes him better than Zander. Luke doesn’t consider himself a victim. Zander refuses to admit that he had any responsibility in the events that transpired.  That has all the markings of a sociopath. 

I’ve yet to see him exhibit any remorse, if he did feel guilty about anything I might lighten up. I know he made one statement one time about being sorry that he drugged Liz but it was a flip, off the cuff comment to keep her from turning him in to the cops and nothing else has come of it. I’d still like them to address the fact that he was selling the date-rape drug. I’d love to see Elizabeth chew off a nice piece of his ass for that being a rape victim. All I’m really asking for is some depth to this STORY. Yes Chad can act. Yes he and AmTam have chemistry, but I need more than that to be entertained.  

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS AND SHALLOW OBSERVATIONS 

Tammy was not on at all last week!  *That* is a very good thing. 

Roy is finally getting a story, not a great story, but a story outside of being Bobbie’s kickstand and I am mildly interested. 

During Chloe’s dream sequence Stefan kept sucking his teeth like he had sesame seeds stuck in them or something.  It was marginally distracting.  Apparently Chloe can hear in her dreams now also and hears something other than the music box.  I won’t complain though, at least it puts this portion of the story to rest. 

Reginald’s insolence is pissing me off. He is an e-m-p-l-o-y-e-e.  He doesn’t get a vote in the family meetings or decisions. 

There is not any special sauce that will make me appreciate a McFlea reunion unless Flea chokes on it.  She subscribes to the out of sight, out of mind theory because as soon as her lips met the chill of a Port Charles winter after {thankfully} Luke left town she was back on Mac’s doorstep 

Laura & Bobbie being as breakfast buddies causes me sit and stare at the television in confused amusement.   

I hate that TPTB have made Juan marginally interesting now that he’s leaving.  I loved his crack about Zander being an eavesdropper in addition to all of his other crimes.  Who knew I’d learn to like Juan if they just gave me someone to hate in his place!  

AJ’s new home is very bachelor–ish, and I’m not too crazy about it.  He should have hung onto Jax’s furniture.  Nik also has better taste in furnishings.

I think MyNed is being ever so slightly hypocritical by claiming that the best place for Em is with the Qs when its the not the best place for his daughter or AJ’s son.  

Chloe’s heroine addict hair makes her face look too long and angular. 

MyNed: "rrrrroooowwwllllll, c'mere you sexy thang!" I love that suede jacket, always have. It makes him look so very huggable.   I also loved the green sweater he had on when he went to AJ’s.  I don’t recall having seen that one before.   

Laura is so NOT over Luke. You can never get over your soulmate. You may move forward in the everyday things of life but souls are entangled for eternity and L&L will never be complete without one another. End sappy crap. 

Some days I’d really like to see Laura take a swing at Flea, but I love that Laura just dismisses her as if she's an insignificant, inferior life form. 

It is a mistake for Hannah to tell AJ about her relationship woes with Taggs.  

Paige trusted the Qs to protect Em, not to let her do what she wanted just because she wanted to do it!  GO Qs!! 

I’m loving NLG’s new haircut but hating the nail polish.  She talks with her hands so it becomes distracting. 

THREE LINES OF THE WEEK:

(1) AJ to Ned ”I had no idea hell had frozen over.” I enjoyed their entire exchange at AJ’s.  It was prickly as usual but they are somewhat united for a common cause.  (2)  Alexis to Carly: “What was that? Touch Therapy?” Alexis’ snide remarks to Carly always crack me up.  The fact that she doesn’t let Carly get to her with her petty jealousies amuses me also.  Carly doesn’t have any friends so she doesn’t understand that relationship between Sonny & Alexis.  (3)  Edward to Alexis: “It seems to me, young lady, that you forfeited any right to comment on family affairs when you left my grandson at the altar.”  Thank you, Edward!  It’s also not the best way to endear yourself to the man or family of said man who got left. 

What is Flo’s point?  If all they needed was someone to antagonize Taggert and Gia then we have Sonny/AJ and the bad hair brigade for that.  Send her home. 

Carly/Laura/Elton---You couldn’t have waited a day or two? 

Lucky – There are only “a thousand miles” between New York and Santa Barbara?  I bet he never asks for the geography question in Trivial Pursuit. 

Liz:  Less lipstick is definitely more, but threatening Zander holds about as much weight as a “Don’t make me kick your ass Beavis” from Butthead. 

The Q family meeting was all I expected it to be:  Loud, snippy, very entertaining and didn’t accomplish anything except to align AJ and Ned against the family. 

Later!