Watch This! Avalanche of Angst

[dreiser]

I've watched two soap operas constantly since I was six years old and they're All My Children and One Life To Live. I love both of them but AMC has been my standard favorite because of Susan Lucci and Erica Kane.

However, there are times with OLTL slips into the top position and I like it more than AMC and the past few months, despite the glorious beginnings of the Bianca/Reese romance, I've enjoyed OLTL consistently more than AMC. Right now OLTL is at the height of soap opera awesomeness. Everyone on the show has some level of angst and it's all so very good.



Normally I'm not someone who goes in for a lot of angst. It's good, especially in soaps, but my obsession with AMC and OLTL remains rooted in my sad love for romance which is also why I own hundreds of plot repetitive shoujo romance mangas. Anyway! I'm not big into it when they just deluge a show with angst but I have to admit when it's done right it's so fucking delicious and currently OLTL is goddamn Turkish Delight with how delicious it is. Everyone on the show has some level of angst and it's all so very entertaining to watch them interact with each other.

Let me list some of the characters and their various woes.

Cole Thornhart: His girlfriend, Starr Manning, got pregnant and decided to give the baby up for adoption. The baby "died" after she gave birth. His mom, Marty Saybrooke, came back from the dead with amnesia and proceeded to blame him for all her problems adjusting and ignored him and when she didn't ignore him she treated him badly. This led to him to become addicted to painkillers to numb himself from all his problems. He goes to the school dance and finds ex-gf, Starr, kissing her teacher, Mr. J, he gets into his car while high with his friend, Matthew Buchanan, in the passenger seat and because he's high, crashes into Gigi Morasco's car. He is trapped under his overturned car until his mother, Marty, gets super strength and lifts the car while John McBain pulls him to safety. Matthew wasn't wearing his seatbelt and he's flung from the car and is paralyzed from the waist down. Nora Hanen, the District Attorney and Matthew's mother and Cole's temporary guardian while Marty ignored him, finds out Cole was high when he caused the accident and presses felony charges against him. He's now in jail.

Marty Saybrooke: Is in a horrible accident in Ireland where she's found by Todd Manning, who gang raped her in college, and she's on the verge of death. When she wakes she has amnesia and Todd sees this as a chance to make things right between them and he nurses her back to health. She's isolated from all her friends and family, not even told about her son Cole Thornhart, she becomes dependent on Todd and she falls in love with him. They decide to have a family together, Todd doesn't want Starr to give up her baby so he comes up with a plan to kidnap her and raise her with Marty. After the first time they make love John McBain breaks into Todd's penthouse and finds her. He reveals what Todd did to her in college and she suffers a mental breakdown. She's slowly introduced to her friends and family but she can't take the responsibilities, she's too damaged, and she runs from Cole and moves in with Wes Granger. One night she wakes up to find Wes in bed next to her stabbed to death and she's covered in blood. She's charged with the murder but is released on recognizance by Nora Hanen so she can help Cole who is suffering horribly without his mother and has become addicted to drugs. Cole rejects her for her previous behavior and gets into a car accident where he's almost killed. Nora blames Marty's selfishness and bad parenting for Cole becoming addicted to drugs and crashing his car, causing her son Matthew's paralysis.

Gigi Morasco: Her sister, Stacy, comes back into town and has a longtime unnatural obsession with her boyfriend, Rex Balsom, and starts immediately putting the moves on him. The night that she gets into a car accident with her and Rex's son, Shane, her sister slips a drug into Rex's beer and attempts to seduce him. Shane has a bad asthma attack during the accident and they're taken to the hospital where Gigi is frantic and trying to reach Rex. She has no luck, she goes home to find Stacy on top of Rex who is clad in his underwear and passed out. The next day she gets a call from the hospital and discovers her son, Shane, has leukemia. Stacy, might be a bone donor match or she might take credit for Rex's unknown comatose father's bone marrow donation, and she uses this to force Gigi to give Rex to her to save Shane's life.

Jessica Buchanan: Has dissociative personality disorder and has two alters, Tess and Bess, Tess took over her life without anyone knowing for months. She locked her sister, Natalie, and Natalie's boyfriend, Jared, into the basement where she planned to blow them up so they wouldn't tell anyone that it was Tess in charge and not Jessica. She gives birth in a cabin all alone and the baby dies. Bess comes out to take charge and decides Jessica would be devastated and couldn't survive her baby dying so she goes to the hospital and switches Jessica's dead baby, Chloe, with Starr Manning's baby, Hope, so Starr thinks her baby died and Jessica thinks hers lived. Ultimately Tess is caught and Jessica is sent to St. Ann's where she forms a friendship with Brody Lovett. Through investigation, Natalie has discovered what Bess did by switching the babies and is currently trying to prove Chloe is really Hope while Jessica has no memory of what happened. Which means her personalities are not integrated and Tess or Bess could emerge at any moment and take over again.

Blair Cramer: Helped her daughter, Starr, go through her pregnancy only to have her grandchild "die" shortly afterwords. Falls in love with former police detective, John McBain, only to find him slowly slipping away by the return of Marty Saybrooke. Her ex-husband, Todd Manning, gets away with the kidnapping of Marty and she puts a restraining order against him which he repeatedly ignores. She makes John choose between her and Marty and in the end he goes to help Marty. That same day she's stabbed in the shower by the serial killer who has murdered two other people and is currently in a coma.

Cristian Vega: Was put into a Columbian prison by Carlo Hesser. While in Colombia, he meets Vanessa Montez and the two start to connect because she saves his life. Their friendship develops and he helps her escape the country along with her stepdaughter to get away from her husband Ray Montez whom she claims killed his ex-wife. He ends up dumping his current gf, Sarah Roberts, to marry Vanessa to keep her from being deported. They fall in love and then Ray escapes prison in Colombia and comes to Llanview. He finds out that Ray never murdered his wife and Vanessa set him up so she could get his money, Vanessa confesses to all of this and to using Cristian.

It just goes on and on, people! Everyone on this show has drama or is connected to drama. Even my favorite crush on the show, Tea Delgado the world's sexiest bad ass defense attorney that is featured in my icon, was wonderfully angsty as she realized today that her ex-husband, Todd Manning, whom she still loves, will never love her the same way. As she put it herself, she's coming in third for Todd's love and she's not someone who settles for being the bronze medal. The end of today's show had one of those sequences where they play sad music over sad scenes and normally that's so cheesy but I thought it was well done. Being a Tea fangirl I loved the scene with her grimly deleting Todd's name from her cell phone, though she should have a nicer phone like a BlackBerry, after she tells him that she's done being his lawyer. Teaaaaa! Be my attorney? I love you big time.

I'm serious, I so crush on her. lol. I want to write Tea into one of my All My Children fanfics somehow. Originally I planned on her being the attorney for Bianca or Reese for my bitter Bianca fanfic but I think I might just write that fic in Paris with what happens after they exit the show and how they put their relationship together and if I do that no need for Tea Delgado lawyer awesomeness. Such a bummer.

Anyway! Watch this clip. The show is sooo good.

Scenes go in order: Cole goes to see Nora and Marty and prepares for his arrest; Matthew reads a sports magazine and looking at cover reminds him how he might never walk again; Rex and Gigi pray for their son, Shane, who has leukemia; Bo comes in and comforts his son, Matthew, about his paralysis; Cole is arrested for DUI as John McBain watches on; Tea deletes Todd from her cell phone and removes him from her life knowing he'll never love her like she wants him to; Todd gets a new lawyer and wants his kids back.

Comments

[shady76.livejournal.com]

Tea is made of awesome..Always has been, always will be!

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

I have such a crush on her. I've got this idea for a crossover fic for AMC/OLTL just to hook her up with Bianca. Sure Tea shows no gay tendencies but I think if she was attracted to a woman she wouldn't waffle over it and would go full steam ahead. Plus Bianca does have a habit of making people fall in love with her. lol. Mostly I just like the idea of the pretty.

[shady76.livejournal.com]

Ooooh...I could see that (in vivid colors in my head). I've always loved Tea, I actually came back to OLTL when I heard she was back..cuz before that, the show was just pissing me off beyond belief. Kind of like how I left GH when the "true" Carly left (aka Tamara).

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

The idea of Tea being bad ass on Bianca's behalf in her super in love protective lawyer mode would be made of so much awesome, imho. It would be nice to see Bianca with someone who is comfortable in their own skin and has more than enough backbone to stand up to Erica and Kendall if the need should arise. Tea is that without a doubt. Plus I think she'd be super cute with Bianca's girls.

[shady76.livejournal.com]

She would be ADORABLE with the girls..remember how she was with Starr when she was Miranda's age? Too cute! And I would die to see her take on the Kane bitches. See now you have to write this

:P

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

I remember but not well enough. I need to look up more old school Tea clips on YouTube for a refresher. I recall her getting all excited about Christmas and forcefully decorating Todd's place against his will for the holidays and talking about how she grew up without much money and luxury. I love Erica and Kendall to pieces but they do tend to go after all of Bianca's gfs in some form and they couldn't get away with that with Tea, she'd just bite right back. lol.. I do plan on writing it. I just need to see how Bianca/Reese exit to figure out how I want to start the fic off.

I figure I'll alternate postings. One week, Bianca/Reese fic posted, next week Bianca/Tea. Though the one with Tea won't be romantic to start off, Bianca is sort of bitter of the break up with Reese.

[shady76.livejournal.com]

Well I think the Breeze is gonna be ending in another month or so, shouldnt be too long now. I heard Eden starts filming again next week(about fucking time). I don't even know how I feel about it anymore. I'd like to see them leave town together happily, but I don't see how they can do it..I almost want to see Bianca have to chase Reese now..for being such a stupid cow. Yeah I've got issues...and I am SO sick of the Zach story.

Anyway, nobody else watches..so I have nobody to rant to..had to get that out, sorry.

I look forward to anything and everything you post..your stuff is killer.

By the way, you dont happen to know when it was that Zach told Bianca she was just like Erica now, do you? I know I saw that damn clip..and I can't find it anywhere now.

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

I'm a Bianca fan and I don't think she did anything wrong by leaving with the girls. She was hurt and betrayed and she wanted and needed space so she left. Reese decided not to go after her. I like Reese but it bums me out how Bianca seems to never get people on her side, they always have sympathy for her romantic interests when they jack her over but none of that same sympathy for Bianca and her feelings.

So... not with you at all about stupid cow and Bianca. I don't think she should have to chase Reese. For once someone chase after her. That never happens. People claim they love Bianca epically but they don't ever do much to prove it besides Erica and Kendall.

I am sick of Zach though. I'm bummed TK got his contract renewed. I'm ready for his character to leave the scene already. I'm not sure when that clip was and I'm not inclined to find it because I think that was below the belt and cruel on Zach's part though I do see his point partially but why the hell not let Bianca vent for once? No, just insult her instead and act like her feelings aren't valid and she can't be pissed and bitter for once in her life.

[shady76.livejournal.com]

you dont have to find it..just wondered if you knew offhand.

As for Bianca, it just seemed really out of character for her to take someones child away from them when she of all people knows how that feels. I mean, yeah, I get that's angry and hurt, and needs space and all that..but to actually say that Reese was never going to see her child again..I don't know I guess I just thought that was really very harsh. Don't get me wrong, I like Bianca. I always have. I just don't think she's being written in character now, and it really bothers me.
I suppose I can see the story from both characters' perspectives. Although I probably missed quite a bit, since I had school during the day, I caught up on youtube when I could. Bianca I just felt let her family influence her way too much, they made her paranoid about Reese's feelings, which drove a wedge between them, and Reese...well yeah she made a mistake, a huge colossal one. But she knows it, and she wanted to work through it, but Bianca didn't give them that chance..she just packed up and took her whole world with her, leaving her alone in a town where everyone hates her. And yeah, Reese didn't have to stay there..but I suppose she thought she needed to win some people over or something, I really don't know. Anyway..about that letter..do you think Kendall told Bianca about the blindness, or just that there was an accident?

And wow...I think that's the longest comment I've ever written. ;)

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

I think it's less about the kiss as things building up and the feeling, which I think is sadly accurate, that Reese has been hiding huge parts of herself to Bianca. She feels like she doesn't know Reese anymore and she had to run from that. As for keeping Reese from the girls and custody situation, I might be alone but I don't see Reese having this gigantic claim on then anymore than Maggie had on Miranda when she separated from Bianca. I don't think in the longterm Bianca would have prevented Reese from seeing the girls though. I think the way she said goodbye to Reese with the girls proved that her anger was ebbing away.

All the things she said in terms of custody was said out of anger in the heat of the moment and people seem to be vilifying her for it which I don't get but again, I don't see Reese as having this huge claim custody wise maybe due to my legal background. In court Reese would lose no matter what made up document AMC created for her parental rights to a child who wasn't born yet.

I have no clue about the letter. These days it could go either way unfortunately. Hard to judge.

[shady76.livejournal.com]

The whole custody thing was really confusing..I had thought Reese had no claim until she adopted, but then the lawyer said something about how she did have a claim, and then nothing else was said. It was weird, and not very clear.

Did you hear that Thorsten Kaye is probably leaving AMC to join OLTL..they want him to bring back Patrick..bleh

I like the guy, but both of those characters are terrible...although if Patrick came back, maybe it would get Marty away from Todd, that would be better.