UPDATED 11-23-09

        THE LLANVIEW CRAZE

  Am I Going Crazy?

 Or is this soap actually getting good?

Hey everyone, I’m Nikki, subbing for the awesome Jeremy this week and what a week it was!

First of all, Melissa Archer, Brian Kerwin, and Florencia Lozano, stole the show this week! Of course all of the OLTL actors rock, but these three KILLED it! Archer’s portrayal of a grieving Natalie was incredible and heartbreaking and showed any doubters how much talent this chick has! Between breaking down in her father’s arms after finding one of Jared’s shirts in their room to smacking John in a fit of anger, I think all of us viewers could feel Natalie’s pain.

Unfortunately I don’t know why everyone wants Nat with John! Am I the only one who finds the character of John McBain more boring then watching paint dry? Nothing against Michael Easton, but every time John is on I want to take a nap. Perhaps his voice is just soothing… on second thought, nope I don’t think that’s the reason. But in “Jolie” fan’s defense, I wasn’t watching during their relationship but if you guys want to enlighten me on their appeal, please feel free to do so!

Jared’s death wasn’t just felt by his wife, his dad was drowning in grief, guilt, and for a few seconds I thought Charlie would be drowning in alcohol! Was anyone watching that scene with Viki and Charlie in the living room and going “Why does Viki have a fully stocked BAR in her home where she lives with a recovering alcoholic?!”, I know I did. But Charlie didn’t fall off the wagon, instead he threw the bottle of liquor and Kerwin gave his most unbelievable performance to date! I just wanted to reach through the screen and hug that man as he continued to be rattled with guilt and tried to figure out what happened the night when he became a “murderer”. Viki tried to comfort her mentally destroyed hubby to no avail and is it really any surprise that Erika Slezak did an amazing job with those scenes? These two simply shine together and bless Ron Carlivati for recognizing that and using BOTH characters in a big storyline, not just one or neither, like other soaps have been doing lately.

Jared’s death and Mitch’s comeback obviously were meant to be the big storyline of the week, but I’d be lying if the Todd/Tea storyline isn’t exciting! But first, lets make sure we’re all clear here: I am a Todd/Tea fan. I want to state this because if I get any comments or e-mails saying “You’re biased!”, “Tea sucks!”, or god forbid if I see a “Todd and Blair belong together!”, I want you to save your breath! Yeah, I might be a little biased, but even Tea haters, have to admit that Florencia Lozano rocked those scenes between Ross and Tea! This woman never fails to bring all she’s got to a scene and I can already see an 2010 Emmy nomination in her future. Gotta give Michael Lowry props too for his performance as a psychotic, wounded “father”, too bad Ross is creep! What kind of person chokes women?! And Ross wonders why she tried to protect Danielle from him? Speaking of the delusional brat, she came face to face with her biological father this week and seemed to be the only one out of the loop! Once Todd found out she was Tea’s daughter, you could tell he knew instantly what that meant. Time to break out the cigars, Todd, you have another ankle biter! I can’t wait to see the scenes between Todd and Tea where he confronts her, Trevor and Florencia are magic together no matter what kind of scene it is, so I’m sure that will be a great holiday treat next week!

Todd and Tea did share a scene this week, a one minute fantasy dance that made all the Todd/Blair scenes bearable this week! Blair has become beyond pathetic. She sent Ross, a dangerous man, to Seattle after Tea just so she could continue to try and get Todd to magically fall in love with her. At least she came to her senses (the few she seems to have these days!) and stopped her and Todd from doing the nasty when she realized he was in love with Tea. Speaking of which, did OLTL really have to have a sex montage with two of the couples with the least amount of chemistry on the show?! Todd and Blair and John and Marty having sex is so boring that watching Stacy and Kim putting on a pregnancy pad the wrong way is more interesting!

Oh those useless tramps are at it again, trying to blackmail Roxy and trying to find a way to spill the beans about Schuyler and Gigi’s drunken night, but Roxy shocked the two pole dancers by telling them Rex already knew the identity of Shane’s mystery donor. Oh Rex, he thinks he’s the father of Stacy’s demon spawn, his girlfriend has the ugliest haircut imaginable AND is hitting on another guy, his brother-in-law was murdered by Mitch Laurence who is he just found out is his father, this is what soaps are made of folks! Speaking of Rex’s daddy, Jessica went to see her father in the Napa prison (A full week in that cell and Mitch still hasn’t escaped yet! I’m in shock!) with Brody by her side. It was creepy that Mitch knew all about Brody’s history, including his kidnapping of Shane and shooting Rex, but it was great nod to Brody’s past which we don’t hear about so much since him and Jessica hooked up, plus how sexy was Mark Lawson as the protective boyfriend? Come on ladies, you all know you were thinking the same thing!

You know what else was sexy? Bo and Nora! After all the years apart, these two haven’t lost an ounce of chemistry! Poor Clint though, his daughter’s are in hell right now and his wife and brother are kissing behind his back. But think of all the delicious drama we’ll have once this whole “Bora” affair comes out!

And drama did not escape Dorian Lord this week. She created her own drama by whining non stop about how that fateful ONE vote kept her from becoming mayor. Really? First of all, what election has EVER been decided by one vote?! And we’re expected to believe that a political war between Dorian and Viki came down to MARKKO’S vote? This was the only sore spot of the week for me, because it’s so ridiculous! Viki isn’t even worrying about being mayor! I don’t think she even knows she won! Dorian needs to calm down and instead of worrying about what brightly colored outfit she wanted to wear during her acceptance speech, she needs to worry about how good her security is now that her psycho ex-hubby is back.

Off the charts performances, loved ones grieving, paternities coming to light, secrets being kept, and a whole lot more drama erupting. Yes, OLTL certainly isn’t perfect, but its been, dare I say, entertaining! More than that, its been a real soap opera, and its great to see it being restored to its former glory, lets cross our fingers for it to only get better!

If you have any comments, positive or negative on my thoughts on One Life to Live, please e-mail me at Nikki@soaptownusa.com and tell me your opinions on the show.