Let’s face it. The world is in a mess. It makes it hard to play games and have fun with soap operas, but sometimes you need a little distraction, a little diversion, or you will simply go mad. So I hope you will forgive me for continuing to put plume to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and picking apart daytime duos for your reading amusement. Yes, it’s frivolous. But don’t we all need a little frivolity now and again?

Maybe it’s because I’ve been thinking about how you turn gloom and doom around for your mental health, but aside from a suggestion from one of my lovely readers to take on this particular couple because she fears they’re going to disappear, I must say that Bo and Gabrielle also fit my theme. It’s all about the lighter side of life and soaps, about characters who were gloomy and miserable suddenly getting a spring in their steps, a song in their hearts, a sparkle in their eyes, because of a new and unexpected pairing.

(And darling, whoever you were, I am simply desolate that I can’t seem to locate your note or pay proper homage. I’ve had my petulant page looking for your name for days and it’s just disappeared. I think the page is hiding it on purpose to make me look disorganized and ridiculous. Which I am. But that’s never here nor there, is it? I’m the Queen. No one expects me to be organized, do they? So write me again and tell me you were the one and I will be happy to give you credit in the next column. But I digress... Back to the Duo du Jour.)

I’ve seen Bo since the first day he came onto “One Life to Live” as Clint’s bad little bro, taking target practice and setting his sights on daytime’s dreariest diva, Pat Ashley. Pat Ashley always did put my royal undies in a bundle. So the fact that Bo stayed, transmogrified into a bona fide hero, becoming the best of the Buchanans, paired with lots of lovely ladies, while Pat is long gone... Sounds like a good deal to me.

Although he’s had some fun over the years (remember the rock-and-roll wedding to Nora?) he’s also been through some major heartbreak, like any soap stalwart. The worst was probably losing his son, Drew, and then going a little off his rocker, such that his wife decided to take a tumble in the cabana with another man so she could come up with a bun in the oven to give Bo a reason to live. But he’s also had a penchant for falling for schemers (note to Bo: might want to stay away from Lindsay and any of her relatives in future) and getting burned big time by their schemes.

So it was with some trepidation that I watched him begin the dance of temptation and flirtation with Gabrielle. Talk about a schemer!

Holy moly! Gabrielle has had her eye on the main chance and some main man so many times I’ve lost track.  And she never cared who she hurt or what she did to the people who got in her way. Of course, she also paid the price for those schemes, including prison. When she blew into town the last time with her son Al in tow, she was one big deception. Marrying Asa just to get back at Max? Lolling around in lingerie and trying to play Max dirty on the side? Bartering her son and his paternal affections for a few bucks? Blackmailing Todd about his baby scam for a bankroll? All of that was low, even for Gabrielle.

But somehow, Bo and Gabby turned me around. She seems to bring out a lighter side of Bo, to put a twinkle in his eye. That’s so nice to see, because our boy Bo has needed that twinkle for some time.

And as for Gabby... As she tried to be a fashion reporter and shoplifted a dress to go to the big ball, I actually felt sorry for her. Who’d have guessed that?

It’s a lovely fact of writing romance that you can construct your characters to know they are right for each other because they bring out the best in each other. And that’s what I think happened with Bo and Gabrielle. She brings out the sweeter, protective, mischievous side of him (sex on the desk, Bo, you naughty boy?) while he brings out her vulnerability, her conscience, her desire to be real and compassionate and strong. Isn’t it delightful? Isn’t it delicious? Isn’t it exactly what we need to see in real world of violence and sorrow, and also in a soap opera world of misery and tragedy?

Robert S. Woods and Fiona Hutchinson, both old hands when it comes to soap couplings, seemed to have injected every scene with sparkle and energy, as if they, too, were happy for the respite from turgid daytime drama.

I was thinking of using the Beastie Boys this week (“Lighten Up”) but it turns out that song basically has no lyrics for me to make fun of. So, I did the same thing a lot of Americans did during the Great Depression. No, not Mickey Mouse. Not even Shirley Temple. I turned to the bouncy rhythms of George Gershwin, and the equally bouncy lyrics of his brother Ira. Sing along if you can, and if you don’t know this song, hie yourself to a road company of “Crazy For You” or rent Fred Astaire in “Damsel in Distress.” You need to know this song! (Take it as a royal decree.)

Things are looking up

I’ve been looking ol’ Llanview over

And it’s covered with four-leaf clover

Oh, things are looking up

Since Bo looked up at me

Bitter was my cup

Losing Asa’s bucks was a bummer

Not to mention the furs and the Hummer

But things are looking up

Since Bo looked up at me

Max is a loser

Al’s a user

But my dear Bo’s true blue

Now love’s in session

And my depression

Is unmistakably through

Things are looking up

It’s One great little Life we’re Living

Gabby’s happy as a pup

Since Bo looked up at me.

Awww... Isn’t it cute?

I fear, as do my correspondents, that Bo and Gabrielle will not last long. The handwriting seems to be on the wall, what with the departure of Sam, Nora on the loose and working with Bo, Max available, problems a-brewing with Al, and some big fat signs that they are going to rewrite history and make Matthew Bo’s child after all. Although I don’t own a crystal ball, I do have a tarot card or two. (I like those Queens of Hearts, Cups, whatever. Kindred spirits.)  And my cards keep telling me that Gabrielle will play a role in that paternity roll-out, that she will find herself being the one who keeps Matthew’s DNA a secret... Or decides to spill all to her beloved Bo, risking losing him to the mother of his son.

Spells trouble with a capital T for my happy couple. Long-term, I can’t see Bo and Gabrielle lasting. More’s the pity. They’ve been a lovely oasis of sweetness and light on a stormy show. It may not be everlasting love or once-in-a-lifetime love, but it sure was fun while it lasted.

Next week — it’s All My Children’s turn on the hot seat. Who shall it be? You decide, kiddies! Kendall and Michael, Maggie and Henry, or Maria and Aiden?

X O X O