Brad Snyder lingered briefly, long enough to talk to Katie and hold her one last time, before succumbing to his gunshot wound. There were tears, accusations, forgiveness, grief, and anger. It was emotional and heart wrenching for both the actors and the viewers.

Now I will say that for a critically injured patient, Brad had no I.V.s, no medical staff observation, he wasn’t in any ICU--he was stashed in a room right across from his wife, a maternity patient. Even with his chest wound, he was able to wrap both arms around his wife. When he coded, I didn’t see much in the way of heroic measures from the doctor and nurses on duty to try to revive him. But that’s medicine in Oakdale Memorial. 

By the time Katie could bring their baby to his room, Brad was gone. As Katie, Terri Columbino was excellent in her portrayal of a shocked, traumatized, and heartbroken combination of new mother and new widow. It was also a good choice by the show to have her forgo heavy makeup for the week, while Katie recuperated in the hospital. It made the entire sequence that much more realistic. When Holden was thought dead, Lily was still made up to the 9’s even in her grief. But Katie looked pale and washed out, evidence that her heart was not in her appearance but in her loss.

Michael Park’s performance was also stellar; Jack tortured himself for his part in the loss of his brother. Did the beer he had before the confrontation contribute to the shooting? Should he have waited for backup? What would Katie say when she found out he was the shooter? What would Liberty say? What would Parker say?

The scenes on Wednesday between Parker and Jack were, IMHO, the highlight of the week. From the few times I’ve observed them together in person, it is obvious to me that Michael Park and Mick Hazen are two peas in a pod, on the same wavelength and perhaps as close as a real father and son. Jack told Parker the sad news of Brad’s death, and that he had pulled the trigger. The pain and disbelief on Parker’s face told the whole story, while Jack still could not seem to grasp totally the reality of this mess. Parker’s love for his adoptive father came through as he offered whatever help he could, while Jack’s grief pulled him so far down that no help could overcome it.

Then Jack had to tell Katie the truth. She found him at the hospital, looking at his new nephew, and asked him how her husband had died. When he was finally able to choke out the truth, Katie embraced him in forgiveness and compassion. In her effort to comfort Jack, it instead propelled him even closer to the edge.

Jack then staggered to Carly’s house and confronted Craig and Rosanna, demanding that Craig call him a murderer. In his tremendous burden of guilt, Jack wanted someone to tell him what he felt deep in his own heart, that Brad’s death was all his fault. But Craig would not comply, even when Jack pulled his gun out and pointed it at the couple. I hoped that at some point in this scene Craig would remind Jack that he himself knew what it was to suffer guilt over a loved one’s death; Craig had lost his own son Bryant in a tragic accident. But Craig tried to make Jack see that this, too, was an accident. Jack, however, was not believing any of it.

Meanwhile, Henry tried to connect with Katie, and visited her at the hospital, where he discovered that she blamed him for everything. Henry already accepted that blame, but he could not convince Katie to forgive him. But Katie refused to accept that she was also instrumental in the tragedy; she did not have to run off to confront Ralph and demand he leave Henry alone. The woman was in the 9th month of a high risk pregnancy, and had even been on bed rest for a while. So she had no business running to a rooftop to threaten a gangster.

As for that gangster, Henry was finally able to contribute, in a small way, to Ralph’s capture, in what I felt was the weakest link of the story this past week.  Ralph manages to escape Margo’s clutches at the Lakeview by grabbing a random hostage and running out the door. But what does he do next? He saunters into Yo’s like he needs to slake his thirst with a beer. Would an escaping wanted criminal, who had just contributed to the demise of one of Oakdale’s favorites, decide to walk into a public place? I know criminals are not necessarily smart, but Ralph had been in his business for a long time, and I expected a little more in the street smarts portion of his abilities. 

My only lack of interest in the entire week was the lame Lily-Damian-Holden triangle. Lily finagled a trip to an isolated cabin with Holden, only to have Damian find out about it and sabotage the entire affair. Never mind that Holden was planning to spend a weekend in the woods when his cousin had just been killed and his other cousin was being crushed under the guilt. But my big problem with all this was Lily. Damian is telling the woman what to feel, what to think, and what to do, trying to convince her and control her emotions and actions. She told him she wanted an annulment and she wanted to reunite with Holden, but he kept telling her that she didn’t want either of those things. On Friday Lily finally voiced what I had been asking her; did she need a man, any man, to feel complete? Of course Damian wasn’t listening to her, he kept trying to override any feelings the woman might have that didn’t include him. I even tried shouting at my TV, “Tell him you don’t love him, you love Holden, and even if you never get Holden back you don’t want Damian!” But of course no one ever hears me when I shout at the TV, and Lily was no exception. 

When she asked for the annulment, Damian refused and she wavered, telling him she would postpone the proceedings. At this point I have to ask, does anyone care which man ends up in Lily’s bed? I like all three actors and their characters, but this story has all the appeal of a wet dog to me. Disappointingly, it was Judi Evans’s last day of her short stint as Maeve; I was hoping Holden would enjoy some quality time with her. However, I have heard rumblings that Holden will enjoy some face time with a returning character, as he and Lily will not reunite any time soon.

So we arrived at the end of the week, and the previews were enough to make any fan sit up and take notice.  Was it the fact that Henry was seeing a vision of dead Brad? Was it Brad’s funeral service? Or was it the woman in the hat, in the parking lot of the church? Yes, Carly returns next week, to give Jack a shoulder to cry on, an arm to lean on, and a companion as he sets out to redeem his soul. 

November is sweeps month, folks. It is also do-or-die month for ATWT. Chris Goutman, the EP, has said the show will make every effort to dazzle the fans this month, in hopes of making up for past mistakes and boost the all-important ratings for the show. CBS plans to watch the ratings closely during this month as they consider the future of the show. This month could create the reprieve or the death knell for Oakdale, depending on what the ratings do. So we need to hope for two things: First, we need to hope that every fan, every past fan, and every potential fan tunes in to the show in November. Call your friends, contact your face book pals, encourage your workplace mates, beg, promise, whine, do whatever it takes to get people to watch. Second, we need to REALLY hope that the stories in November will be good, better than they have been in months. The combined writing team of ATWT’s writers and GL’s old bunch needs to cough up the writing of their lives, if they want to keep their jobs by keeping us interested. 

Both of these tasks are monumental, but doable. They have to be done if our show is going to survive after the current contract expires next spring.  So if you don’t want to see ATWT on the trash heap a la GL, then spread the word to the viewers and write to the show. Snail mail, e-mail, phone calls--shoot, if you live in NYC, go down to the CBS studios and tell them in person. Here’s all the contact info you need:

As the World Turns
1268 East 14th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11230
atwt@cbs.com

CBS
530 W. 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
1-212-262-2133

Let’s keep that world turning.

Viewer Soapluver wrote, “ATWT has really improved in the last few weeks. There seems to be more continuity. Although it was sad, I'm glad Liberty lost the baby. It was a mistake to make her pregnant in the first place. The acting surrounding Brad's death has been excellent. I have never been a Katie fan, but the actress has been outstanding the last few days...same with Jack. I haven't been a fan, but his slow crumbling over shooting his brother has been riveting. And I love the connection between Barbara and Henry. The sour note? The completely different personality Janet has been given. Her introduction as a slutty, former party girl who arrived trying to steal someone else's husband makes it impossible to believe her as Mother Earth, who is only interested in God, cooking, and truth. I'm relieved, however, to tune in to a show that has remembered its vets. For a while, it was liking watching a whole different show...and I hated it.Kudos for finally making me interested again.” 

Yep, I have to agree about Janet, I didn’t like her when she first roared into town, determined to win Brad back. I kind of warmed up to her over the next months, but the past few weeks have driven down her stock, IMHO. Maybe it was nerves, but her blathering story at the hospital about Brad on the football field, while the doctors were working to save him and Katie was standing there in shock, was just stupid. And ordering people out of HER house when it’s always been Emma’s is just wrong.

MJ said, “Personally, I will not miss the character of Brad Snyder, but I think it's sloppy writing to kill off his character just because the powers-that-be wanted to release Austin Peck from the show. The Snyder family recently went through a perceived tragedy with Holden's fake death, and they've had a lot of other heartache as well. Having another family member die so soon is too much. For a light-hearted story, what about a surprise birthday party for Emma Snyder with retro-old clips from years past? The whole town could show up at her surprise party at Lisa's hotel. People could talk about how Emma is a good mother, grandmother and friend. Old cast members could show up for fun...money would be better spent to "stunt cast" some old veteran characters (e.g., Ellie Snyder, Seth Snyder, Iva Snyder, etc.) for a day or two vs. bringing on stunt-casted newbies from ABC soaps and GL.  I also think the Craig/Rosanna pairing (part 2!)is ridiculous...almost as much as the Craig/Carly pairing.  Where are Kim and Bob Hughes? Are they off visiting John Dixon with Nancy Hughes in tow?” 

In addition to getting rid of AP, IMHO the writers are starting a slow return to Carjack. And I would love a light-hearted story, but right now gloom, doom, and tragedy seem to be touching everyone in town. The show should be reflecting this, since Brad was connected to so many people. Yes, stop the stunt casting—Judi Evans is a good example; why should we care about Maeve when she was only there for a few weeks? At least Bob and Kim were involved in Brad’s death, so at least we know they recovered from their illnesses of the recent past. As for Nancy, I have read rumors that she might get some minor storyline, but Helen Wagner is now 91 years old, in poor health, still suffering the loss of her husband from last summer, and as I said in a previous column, another actor on the show told me she struggles to remember lines, cues, and gets easily frustrated, so if she does appear again, I hope the show treats her like the star she is and makes every scene as easy as possible.