OLTL—7/29—Around and Around and Around

  
Good to see Clint Buchanan again.  I was hoping he was out in California trying to convince his wife, Kimberly (Amanda Setton) to come back to Llanview; but apparently, Amanda knew she could do "better" than a daytime drama, so went out and landed herself a role on Gossip Girl for this Fall.  Good job, Amanda.  Might as well do it while you're young.  We might see her again someday.  She can always come back and do an "Alex Olanoff" when she is age appropriate.

After calling Cole and having her call intercepted by Eli, Hannah calls Ford and tries to convince him to come to St. Ann's.  Eli shows up at Hannah's room instead, and threatens her again. When he finds out she also called Ford, he calls and threatens him again.

Kelly tells John McBain they finally have a description of Bennett Thompson—tall, dark and handsome—and suddenly a light bulb goes on.  John remembers seeing Eli Clarke when Rex was talking about going to Boston.  John pictures Eli in his mind's eye and Kelly notices he has left the moment.  Now she is sure he knows more than he is saying.

Highlight of the Day:  Brody proposes to Jessica and she is thrilled!!

But best of all:  Ford arrives at Hannah's room, just when she desperately needs a friend!! Please Ford, help Hannah.

   

OLTL — 7/27 and 7/28 — The Highlights

  
TUESDAY

1. Téa writes her "bucket list" and Todd takes her, Dani and Nate sightseeing in NYC.
2. Téa tells Daniella about how she grew up in a fancy NY highrise, but her father was the "Super" of the building.  Dani is shocked since she imagined that her mother had been rich.
3. Starr and Cole argue about Hannah before he goes to Court.  Cole confesses to Starr that he almost slept with Hannah while they were in Delaware.
4. Hannah fantasizes about telling Cole the truth about Eli.
5. Kelly flies to Boston when she doesn't hear from Rex; but gets no answer when she knocks on his hotel room.  She finally rouses him and he figures out he had to have been drugged.
6. Blair opens her door to find Eli; then slams the door in his face.  She knows he lied to her about working late because she went to his room to surpise him.
7. Eli covers his lie about where he went the night before, by presenting Blair with a diamond that he claims he picked up in NY.  She is blinded by its brilliance and forgets all about the night before.  (Oh, Dorian, look at this!)
8. Rex discovers someone signed for his room service and realizes that it was probably Bennett Thompson, who also drugged his food.
9. Todd flies back to Llanview in time for Cole's trial—to do "the right thing" for Téa.

WEDNESDAY 

1. Todd arrives at Court and surprises Starr.
2. Rex and Kelly confront the Records clerk, Glenn, about the files left at the front desk by Eli.  Glenn is convinced Rex is lying (because Eli told him to expect someone impersonating Rex Balsam), but finally does give them a description of what the other "Rex Balsam" looked like.
3. Hannah distracts a worker at St. Ann's and "borrows" his cell phone to call Cole.  Eli intercepts the conversation, takes the phone away from Cole and then threatens Hannah, cutting the call short.
4. Todd testifies and explains what happened before he was assaulted by Cole and for his daughter and granddaughter's sake he asks that Cole be allowed to go home.  The judge decides to give Cole a break and follows DA Nora Buchanan's recommendation:  time served, two years of probation and 5,000 hours of community service.
5. Todd takes Cole aside after the trial and makes sure he knows he didn't do Cole any favors, he did it for Starr and Hope, and "for now, punk, you owe me, and I intend to collect."
6. Hannah calls Ford and tells him he must come to see her so they can talk about Eli.  Ford's face changes when he realizes she knows the truth.
7. In the final scene, we see Eli approaching Hannah's room. 
   Dun, dun, da....

Big reveal of the day:  Nate is a FULL brother to James and Bobby Ford!!
              

OLTL—7/26—Monday—A Sad Goodbye!

This is NOT the way I hoped my Monday would go.  Today's episode was depressing and frustrating.

Yesterday, Rex was drugged by Elijah/Bennett and is incapacitated when the court clerk arrives with the records he ordered.  Eli pretends to be Rex and gets the envelope from the clerk.

Apparently Eli is making up his plan as he goes along because he decides rather than kill Rex, since McBain would easily figure out what's going on, he lets him live and decides to let Rex find SOME of the information about Bennett Thompson. Like, a marriage license?

Eli begins babbling to himself while trying to figure out his next steps and he mentions that he was lucky he intercepted a call in regard to Kelly's mother, Melinda, about her "dangerous new boyfriend."  So now, with his engagement to Blair, I'm guessing there is some grudge against the Cramer women.

David and Dorian try to talk Blair out of rushing into marriage with Eli, especially since there isn't any diamond yet. Blair tries to reassure Dorian that this time she thinks she got it right and "This is my last wedding." That's never good.

Layla and her mother finally come to an agreement about Evangeline and decide to let her go. I was hoping it wouldn't turn out that way, but that's the end of that story.  Too heart breaking!!

Summer in the City

  
Since I live in the City — I long for life in a bucolic country setting with peace, quiet and tranquility; and I imagine it with fragrant flowers, freshly mowed grass and the morning dew just outside my kitchen door.

I'm hoping this is what "Kitty Heaven," is like — the place where my cats go when they die, and where they will be waiting for me to join them.  If I could express it in visual form, it would look something like this painting.

       
But here on earth, life being what it is, my idealized paradise fails to take into consideration the less than pleasant side of summer:  flies, gnats, bees, wasps, mosquitoes, fleas, chiggers, poison oak and poison ivy—oh and, HUMIDITY.

Oh well, such is the life of mere mortals.

This is an actual photo I took of my dearly departed cat, Gypsy, in the backyard of the house where we used to live.  It is as close as I have come so far, to kitty heaven.  I have actually had a couple of dreams of Gypsy and her cat friends living there now.  It looks surprisingly like the painting!

OLTL—7/23 This guy is truly scary

     
Elijah Clarke follows Rex to Boston where he is investigating a lead on Bennett Thompson.  Eli drugs Rex's room service food and then stands in the doorway of his room staring across the hall at Rex's room, contemplating his next move.
       

This guy is truly scary!!

   

   

         
Natalie starts to tell John something, but is interrupted by Brody's announcement to everyone at Rodi's that he is going to be a father.  I think everyone concurs — Poor Natalie.

She tries her best to be happy for Jessica, but she is really on the edge and may do something drastic rather than let the truth come out!!

   

OLTL—7/22—Secrets don't stay secret for long

  
If you want to keep a secret, you can't tell ANYONE; because then, it is no longer a secret.  It only takes a short time before the first person tells "just one" person, who will tell "just one" person—and you get my point.

Jessica confides in Kelly who confronts Ford and he denies that anything happened with Jessica. Natalie confides in Gigi and they discuss the fact that she cannot do a paternity test yet. Natalie is considering what to do next.

I don't think anything happened with Jessica and Ford. He's just a wimp and isn't going to take any chances, so he goes to the hospital for a blood test. But Natalie is probably not going to escape her dilemma that easily.  Is she about to confess to John?!?

The next secret:

How long will it be until James Ford finds out about his mother? 
Today, Bobby Ford found out that Nate Sallinger is his brother.
  

OLTL—Wednesday—7/21

  
Not a particularly eventful day.

The twins, Jessica and Natalie, find out they are both pregnant; but they don't tell each other since neither of them is sure of their baby daddy.
(This is worse than a trashy novel.)

Eli dances around McBain's suspicions.

Gigi gets accepted to Llanview U.  Rex heads for Boston to check out the lead on Bennett Thompson.

Viki and Charlie take off for a well-deserved island get away. 
(After all of the exhausting fake love scenes they had last week —
they need it!)

Todd and Tea finally get some alone time.
  

OLTL — 7/20 — Bennett Thompson

  

Yesterday's OLTL was SO boring, I didn't have anything to say!  It was just a rehash of Friday's stories with nothing new except that David's muffins didn't make anybody ill except Natalie and Jessica—so they both head for the ER.  This is the beginning of the storyline that ABC has been promo-ing for a couple of weeks.

From now on, I am only going to hit the highlights of what happened on the show and comment on what I liked or didn't—instead of trying to cover every "he said," "she said."

Today was much more interesting than yesterday and so here's my favorite stuff.

Charlie/Dorian/Viki/David...blah, blah, blah.  Hope that story is over!

Best line of the day:
After Viki tries to explain to David what is happening, David says, "I feel like I'm watching LOST. Does anybody know what's going on now?"

Christian talks to Evangeline and tells her that he still loves her and will always love her, but now he has fallen in love with Layla.  He cries and begs her to come back to them.

Layla and her mother get into a hateful argument and could have killed each other if they weren't more civilized. Layla tries to make her mother understand, that Vange might already be gone. But since the Living Will was never filed or notarized, it is more-or-less worthless, so Mrs. Williamson is not going to let them pull the plug no matter what.

Kelly and Rex are getting closer to figuring out the mystery of Bennett Thompson. When Kelly consults with Eli about what her next steps should be—he tries to convince her to give up the search.

At the ER, it turns out, the muffins are fine, but, Natalie and Jessica are both pregnant.  Uh-oh.  Brody's got some 'splaining to do....

Lisa Williamson finds the business card of an attorney among Evangeline's papers and she calls the number.  Eli answers the phone.  She asks for Bennett Thompson. 

Dun dun da......

 

True Beauty Episode 8—7/19 —The Final Test

That was it for Season 2.  Whether or not the series returns is anybody's guess.  I haven't heard any buzz at all.  Did anyone actually watch it?

It has its appeal—the voyeurism and the personalities behind the facades—but it seems like America isn't interested in seeing ordinary people act badly, they like to see "celebrities" acting badly and/or doing just about anything.

Erika and Taylor are preparing the suite for Amy's return and hoping against hope, she will.  Craig's return is a surprise to both of them.

Craig to the confessional camera: "I think they wanted Amy to come home." Duh...

The ménage à trois, as Craig has dubbed them, copes with what it is.

The Final Three:

The Final challenge:

Play host to a celebrity for the night—wine and dine and kiss butt.

The "celebrity" turns out to be Jackass Steve-O and his sidekick.  Nobody is that thrilled.  Some crazy stuff ensues.  They drink, dance and party until 6:00 a.m. and then Carson presents them with their real challenge—to memorize lines and star in a commercial as The Face of Vegas.

Erika has a melt down and says she is over it and has had enough and wants to quit. It is noted by the judges, she is the only one who complains, but she sucks it up and finishes the task at hand.

They all looked great on the camera, performed as best they could under the circumstances, as tired as they were and they all did a great job. They did so well, they all "win" the challenge. Beth then gives them a key to a room in the basement of the hotel and they are instructed to go check it out.

When they get there and sit down facing a set up with multiple screens, Vanessa comes onto all the screens and says, "Welcome to the Judges' Spy Room."

The reality of the situation is explained—that they have been "Punked" more-or-less and that they are part of "True Beauty."  They are shown videos from the hidden cameras, and they see their dark sides.  They are embarrassed and humiliated in front of each other, then told to go back to the suite and prepare their defense.

They are so exhausted they sleep and then get ready for the final face off.  The ending is anticlimactic, to say the least.  Each gives their spiel and the judges make their decision.

And the winner is:  Taylor.

The end.

P.S. I'll let you know if I hear anything about what actually happens to the winners after they "win."
  

OLTL—7/16 — Temper, temper

  
At least today's surprising twist made up for yesterday's blah storylines. So how crazy is it that Nate's mother is the Ford boy's mom also?!?!  Only on a soap opera...

Can we look forward to our teen girls, Starr, Langston and Dani trying, but failing to resist the charms of the new bad boys of Llanview? Now, that's some kind of storyline.

Charlie and Viki continue with their matchmaking plans.  It's good acting, for sure, but still embarrassing to watch.  Like I said yesterday, PLEASE, leave the love-making to the teenagers (oh, and Blair—she still steams things up).

Christian and Layla are still struggling with her mother over Evangeline's care and are pushing for permission to go through Vange's papers to see if she had a living will.  Layla knows Vange can't live without life support, but Mrs. Wlliamson just wants to take her home and tries to shame Layla into thinking she would be "killing" her if they give up.

Cole talks to Hannah and she tries desperately to drop a hint to him by repeating the same phrase she has told others, "Everything I did was for you (Cole)."  But, Cole is a little slow sometimes, so he didn't catch on, yet. John McBain isn't convinced that Hannah is guilty and shares his theories with Marty.  He thinks she is covering for someone.  Marty is still grieving and would just as soon accept Hannah's confession and move on.

Blair and Eli, and Todd and Téa share their good news with each other.  Todd smarts off about something and Eli threatens that he had better watch his mouth. Todd wants to know, "Oh yeah, why's that—'Ellie'?" And Eli says, "Because I still haven't forgotten that you killed my brother (Ross Rayburn)." Todd and Téa look at each and they both realize it is time for the truth to come out.

Téa tells Eli, Ross is not really dead, but is a fugitive, so she can't reveal his exact whereabouts.  Even Blair is surprised by this news and emotions start to heat up.  What?!?!  Eli:  "Tea how could you do this to me?" 

Tea: "I'm sorry." 

Todd: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry.  He's too busy feeling sorry for himself to be happy his brother's alive."

Eli:  Oh, is that right, Manning?

Todd:  "Yeah, that's right."

Todd to Téa:  "Did you even know Ross had a brother until he            showed up?   And how old was Dani?"  

To Eli:  "You didn't even meet her until she was in high school.  Boo hoo, Ross.  You're so full of it, you don't give a damn about your brother."

End of discussion, Eli loses it and Ka-boom, Todd gets a fist in the mouth.

When it is apparent the tension still hasn't cooled, Téa pushes Todd into the pool and then Blair can't resist doing the same to Eli. 

Well, that was exciting!

I guess I need to mention:  Viki kisses David and Charlie kisses Dorian.  Please make it stop.

See ya next week......