Two weeks ago, if someone had told me that I would be watching a semi-truck full of Pine Valley residents slowly sinking into the quicksand at Willow Lake, I would have asked them if they were on some type of medication. But lo and behold, that's how we ended this week on All My Children. Opal, Joe, Brooke, Krystal and Adam - having spent a week screaming for help, bickering and getting loopy on laughing gas - were still Janet's captors. And they were thisclose to meeting their maker when Jonathan, Pine Valley's newest hero-on-call, came to their rescue.
Unfortunately for Jonathan, Janet was setting him up, luring him there to "save the day". When Jamie, JR and Tad showed up on the scene, all they saw was Jonathan and a truck with their screaming family members inside. Gee, I wonder who will get blamed for the crime?
A few thoughts on Janet's recent antics: I must admit that I get a kick out of Kate Collins' vintage Janet From Another Planet. If nothing else, it takes me back to the good old days, when Janet was torturing her sister, bedding Trevor and introducing Will Cortlandt to Mr. Crowbar. And it's nice to have a little humor injected into an otherwise gloomy Pine Valley. But I think things are going a bit too far. It makes perfect sense to me why Janet would kidnap Adam and Krystal, given their treatment of Amanda. I can even dig way back into my memory and come up with reasons why she would hold a grudge against Opal and Brooke. But Dr. Joe? I still don't get that one.
I haven't given up on the story yet - Amanda seems to be putting two and two together, and there were some moments I really enjoyed, such as Krystal getting the skinny on Adam's history with Dixie from Brooke (who fittingly referenced her previous encounter with the Willow Lake quicksand). And little did Babe know that when she was worrying what horrible things were happening to her Mama, Krystal was facing a real nightmare - Adam suggesting a ménage-a-trois with his current wife and Brooke! Yuck!
Will You Marry Me...Again?
Even though he started the week shunning Babe's marriage proposal, JR was wonderful to her during their family crisis. By the end of Friday's episode, he was ready for a third trip down the aisle with his ex. Even though I know that Babe engineered this whole situation to her advantage, I found myself very happy that JR had found a little joy. His speech about hoping Little Adam never remembers the hell his parents inflicted on one another was very touching, and it reminds me of JR's best qualities.
Speaking of Babe, she had an attack of conscience this week and she almost confessed all to JR about her plot to remarry him - but a well-timed interruption from Winifred and Little A stopped her from spilling the beans. I want to like Babe, but I just can't seem to reconcile her actions with her motives. I don't care how much she loves her son or wants to be with him, putting his father through the emotional ringer just isn't acceptable.
I Don't Have a Storyline - Can I Borrow Yours?
Julia has certainly been getting around lately. After having one off-screen night of passion with David (is that the best they can come up with for the good doctor?), she's chosen to plant herself squarely in the middle of the Ryan, Kendall and Zach "triangle", In fact, she visited all three parties this week, offering some unsolicited advice - she told Ryan to beware of big, bad Zach, she told Kendall to choose between the man she loved and her ex (sorry, I thought she already had!), and she offered to help Zach ease tensions between the three. Is it just me, or is this none of her freaking business?! I understand that she's Ryan's friend, but that doesn't give her the right to stick her nose in where it doesn't belong.
Even with Julia's interference, we got a few more wonderfully romantic moments between Zach and Kendall. Their scenes at the beginning of the week, when Zach calmed a manic Kendall down and carried her off to bed, were very sweet. And even though they had to stop themselves from going any further, their romantic exchange was enough to get my heart racing. I just love watching these two together, no matter what the situation.
Ryan and Ethan obviously don't share that opinion, considering that they've teamed up to uncover whatever secrets Zach may be hiding in an effort to "save" Kendall. Both of them had confrontations with Slater this week - Ryan and Zach argued over Kendall's baby and Ryan's new role at Cambias, prompting Ryan to propose to Kendall. Yep, that's right, Ryan popped the question, saying he couldn't trust Kendall with "his son". Now, I know that not everyone hates Ryan, and someone advised me recently that if I didn't have something nice to say about Ryan, I shouldn't say anything at all. So I'll shut up now.
Daddy Issues
Ethan and Zach re-hashed their troubled past as father and son. I haven't really had much of an opinion on Ethan in recent months. He's pretty much been hanging out on the backburner with Simone, surfacing for a few scenes here and there. But he really ticked me off this week. Now that he's convinced Ryan to join Cambias Industries to stick it to Zach, Ethan called up Maria, prompting her to call Zach and tell him to back off of Ryan and Kendall. And then, when Zach confronted Ethan about his actions, Ethan once again brought up Zach abandoning him when he was a child, as well as Zach's role in Ethan's break-up with Kendall.
Let's just clear a few things up once and for all. First of all, Zach did not know about Ethan until a couple of years ago - you cannot abandon someone if you don't know they exist. And, as Zach said, Ethan has only himself to blame for losing Kendall. Ethan was the one who chose to lie everyone, including Kendall, about Edmund's murder. Yes, Zach made it harder for them to reunite, but if Ethan thinks it's all daddy's fault, he's just plain wrong.
That said, the writers certainly seem intent on making Zach look guilty of something. Ryan, Ethan and Simone were throwing around a lot of accusations during Friday's episode, and Zach was acting pretty strangely when Kendall asked what was bothering him. Add that to what Ryan discovered during his break-in at Zach's office - a mysterious lightning bolt in a day timer, and a diagram of what looked like a power grid taped under the desk - it definitely looks like Zach's hiding something. Most of us suspect he had something to do with the blackout the night Kendall got inseminated, and that could very well be true. But I think there might be a lot more to this story...I just can't believe Zach would keep incriminating evidence under his desk, as opposed to in his safe!!! Why would he keep it AT ALL?! Well, as always, we'll have to wait and see.
That covers everything for now - see you back here in two weeks!
-- Kristine
