This is the month of May and of course, more happens than normal because it is Sweeps Month. The one thing about ATWT is that it does not do a major stunt during a sweeps period like some other shows; it just continues to tell it current stories without interruption. I have to wonder though if a huge stunt story may have been helpful to the ratings.

Casey and Maddie
It is the end of Casey and Maddie - for now. I guess it will continue in six months or so with a new actor playing the part of Casey. What a message this show is sending with all the crimes that have occurred in Oakdale going unpunished and poor Casey does not do anything as terrible as Barbara or Paul or Emily or Dusty; however, Casey has to go to jail. I assume that this is the way they get rid of an actor who is leaving the show by sending the character to jail just like when Hunt Block left the show.

Maddie and Casey are such a great couple so real for teenagers and they are just a compliment to the married Will and Gwen. This foursome together has a friendship that includes trust and sharing a lot of heartache and pain over time. It was sad to watch these final episodes of Zach Roerig as Casey were great to watch as you can see how he matured in the role over his two years on the show. He took control of role when he became involved with Maddie and they as a couple were just the best - it's a chemistry that I will miss.

So what is going to happen to Maddie now? Will she get involved with another guy before Casey gets out of jail or will she continue her life with her friends waiting for Casey? I am hoping for the latter as she belongs with Casey but she is young and it may be easy to become interested in someone else in short order.

Gwen, Will and Cleo
Cleo is a loose cannon that Jade had a hard time trying to control. This girl is so strange but interesting. It was right on target for Will to know that Cleo was not Gwen just by being in her presence for a short period of time. It is also funny how she covered for Jade as she is trying to cozy up to both Will and Gwen. It appears that she has her own agenda which is different than the one that Jade had.

Cleo fooled Barbara, tried to fool Will and then had the nerve to go see Gwen. I don't blame Gwen for being a bit wary of this impostor. I am anxious to see what she is going to do next. This is not what I expected the writers to do by having Will and Gwen find out her identity so soon. I just wish she had given up Jade so then the power would be with Gwen and Will. I must commend Jennifer Landon on creating a totally different character than Gwen - that eye blinking thing is hilarious even when Cleo is being Gwen. This story had added some life to Gwen as she was almost ruined with the recent Adam storyline.

Gaslighting Craig
My first thought when this started was how were Paul and Lucinda going to pull this off? Alison does indeed sound like Rosanna. They are dealing with a drug addict and this is going to go so wrong. It is not that Craig does not deserve everything that he gets after all he had done especially recently with duping Lily and taking Lucinda's company.

By having Scott Bryce in the role of Craig, in short order, things have changed. Scott was always able to show Craig do bad things and still see the pain he was in at times as well - it is great to see him back in the role he created. The other thing is that you can see the chemistry with the other actors he worked with before like Elizabeth Hubbard or Jon Hensley. I am waiting for Craig to interact with Margo, Tom or Emma.

This story is going to have a real ripple effect as Emily becomes more involved now that she has seen Paul with Alison. Craig is falling apart already with just two phone calls; it is going to be fun as this escalates that Lucinda may find a way of getting back her company. It is always good to Elizabeth Hubbard on a regular basis and it's been a long time since the show did a business story so this should be interesting.

Jack, Katie and Brad
This will change real soon as soon as Carly makes her appearance. Jack and Katie was a nice flirtation but a real relationship was not a good move as Jack belongs with Carly and Katie seems to be more interested in Brad. Brad does seem to be interfering enough so that he can get Katie for himself.

Finally, there was new opening this week and as with any new opening it takes some time getting used to. I am confused about some of the pairings like Alison and Luke and some obvious omissions of characters like Maddie, Lisa, Meg, Margo and Tom. Hopefully, this was the first of more than one version of the opening; there some people missing and some questions about the positioning of certain characters in the forefront. This was the first week - there has to be more than one version, right?

That's all I have for now.
Reggie Jackson