I believe in you

Some really great stuff coming up for Jack and Jennifer, everybody. This scene is rightly ranked up there with the all-time classics:

(The background: Jack’s past has come back to haunt him in the shape of an article from a rival paper. Harper is seeking parole, and the article mentions Jack’s past in connection with that. One of Jack’s advertisers decides to pull his ads. After that blow, Harper himself calls and asks Jack to write some sympathetic stories in the Spectator to help Harper win his parole.)

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I really like how after Jack has (mostly) redeemed himself with Kayla and Steve, and the show has milked Melissa’s hatred just about as much as they can (at least for the moment), they find another way for Jack’s past to come back to haunt him.

But this scene is mostly about Jen and her faith in Jack. I love how she manages to break through initially by playing a trump card: that he’s a different person now and everyone knows it, even Steve (pause) and even Kayla. It is also a reminder that Jen understood, and gave credit, to his attempts to make amends and be a better person before anybody else did. That’s what lets Jack open up a little, by talking about Harper calling him today. The Harper call is perfect, because it gives Jack a way to open up without just talking about his feelings. He can come at it indirectly by opening up to her about something that happened.

Then we get a peek at the essential question for Jack in all of this: how much is Jack doomed to be like Harper? He tells Jen that if you ask anyone who he is, they’ll say he’s Jack Deveraux, Harper’s son. I love this part because it’s consistent with what we saw when Jack first came to town: Jack and Harper were close, Jack did look up to him and want to be like him. Then I love, love, love Jen’s response: she says she doesn’t believe what anybody says, and she doesn’t even believe him. She believes in him.

Whoever wrote those lines deserves a daytime Emmy, I think. Here Jen is telling Jack she can see through those smokescreens he always hides behind, to the person he’s trying to be. He really has been working hard to be a better person and make up for the past, and here Jen is telling him she sees that and values it (even when he’s been trying to hide it from her). That’s incredibly seductive—so of course it leads perfectly into a really great kiss. What I really like about this kiss is that after Jen initiates the first one, Jack pulls back, touches her face, and initiates the second. This is more than just a moment of weakness.

But, after the second kiss Jack glances over at that portrait of Harper on the wall. We see him visibly make the effort to put his walls back up. He’s still Jack Deveraux, son of the serial killer, and he can’t let Jen get hurt by that. And so Jen is left in no man’s land yet again. She knows how he feels, the kissed proved it. But, she still can’t get him to admit it. How much longer can she keep running into the brick wall? In the scene right before this one, Jen is having lunch with Emilio. She looks over and sees Jack, and when Emilio asks her what’s going on, she says, “Choices.” That’s what Jen is facing now. Jen is now having to face the fact that if Jack can never let himself admit his love for her, she might have to move on. And she has Emilio right there waiting for her to do exactly that.

 

Mom and Dad

As promised, here is the scene of Steve and Jo I mentioned last time. Be warned, it’s very short (but very nice):

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When Jo mentions how being with Stephanie helps because of what she missed with Steve and Billy, Steve looks serious, but he doesn’t get that wounded-child look that he usually does when this comes up. Then I love what he says, that he wants what’s best for Stephanie but he doesn’t always know what’s right. It’s perfect coming on the heels of struggling to take care of Stephanie alone. He doesn’t explicitly say so, but I think that watching Kayla’s painful decision to send Stephanie home helps him see Jo’s decision in a different way. Seeing how hard it was for Kayla helps him see how hard it must have been for Jo. It’s perfect and natural that what allows Steve to fully forgive Jo is becoming a parent himself.

I love that this reaches all the way back to a storyline that was first introduced three years ago, before Joy Garrett even joined the cast. Ah, delayed payoffs are a wonderful thing.

 

Baby blues

In the middle of some not-so-good stuff, I really like this arc regarding whether Kayla can keep Stephanie with her in prison. It’s full of angst and suffering, but somehow it’s the good kind.

There are a lot of great moments in this arc: Kayla’s initial desperate urgency to keep Stephanie with her at all costs, Steve’s invocation of his own childhood and his resulting certainty that a baby’s proper place is with her mother, Kayla turning to Jo for advice.

But I think this scene is one of the best:

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I love how Mary Beth plays Kayla’s joy at hearing she will be able to keep Stephanie with her, and then her smile immediately fading as she looks at Steve and realizes what this means for him.

Stephen and Mary Beth play off one another perfectly as they struggle to say goodbye. Steve’s reassurances that he’s going to get Kayla out of jail take on a new urgency. He’s been saying that all along, but here he seems to be saying it because he couldn’t bear to say goodbye otherwise. For Kayla, she’s been worrying about Stephanie so much it’s almost a shock to have to suddenly say goodbye to Steve. And Mary Beth plays Kayla’s distress so well, but also a tinge of guilt and worry, knowing she’s taking Stephanie away from her father. (It’s amazing how well they do with the baby crying through the whole scene. I think it adds to the angst of the whole thing.)

The scene ends perfectly, with Steve alone, holding the baby’s ID bracelet. It emphasizes that even with the outcome they were hoping for, there really is no good option.

After Kayla gets to prison, she begins to doubt whether this is the right choice after all. Kayla doesn’t get to keep Stephanie with her in her cell; the baby spends most of her time in the jail nursery. Then the other inmates set a fire in the jail somewhere, and Kayla doesn’t know whether Stephanie is in danger or not.

This leads her to make a heartbreaking decision:

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I just really enjoy (in a masochistic way, of course) watching the process Kayla goes through, from her desperate insistence on keeping Stephanie with her (it’s her first thought after she gets convicted) to her determination to give her up. Here she actually has to convince Steve to take Stephanie home, and we see both the horrible pain it causes her and her growing conviction that it is the right thing.* The moment when Kayla gives Steve to Stephanie and says goodbye is incredibly painful and moving. It’s a much more powerful moment, too, than it would have been if the social worker had simply denied Kayla’s request to keep Stephanie. By having Kayla choose to do this, to put her daughter’s needs first, no matter what cost to herself, it makes it more about Kayla and who she is, instead of just a generic “heroine suffers” moment.

(For Steve, seeing Kayla go through this gives him some insight into Jo’s decision from so long ago, and paves the way for a wonderful upcoming scene with Steve and Jo, which I will post soon.)

The pair of scenes that close off this arc emphasize that cost, and how alone Kayla is, as we see her wondering how she is going to make it without Stephanie. And then a note of hope, showing Steve with the baby (and that adorable yellow-rose baby rattle) vowing to get her mother home soon.

*Of course, after all this agonizing about what’s best for Stephanie and where she will be safest, Stephanie ends up being kidnapped. D’oh!

 

Hey Mickey

I watched Mickey’s funeral—or his funeral after-party, whatever it was—yesterday.

I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it seemed like the show was really trying to honor its history. I loved the big picture of John Clarke. It was great to see Lisa Trusel, and her scenes with Nathan were cute and funny. She looked great, I thought. And with such shiny, shiny hair—but sadly, not that that reddish brown color I used to admire so much.

Seeing Doug and Julie was a treat as always, and Maggie of course. I thought Nathan did decently as the newest Horton member. It was awkward saying Alice was in “the den” with Bill and Marie, and Sarah was “bringing the car around,” though perhaps better than not mentioning them at all. As long as they were at it, why not stack the other rooms with Jack and Jennifer, Mike and Jeremy, Josh and Jessica Fallon [and Nick, sob!], David and Scott Banning, Sandy Horton, &c. &c…. and where was Lucas? Or Will? It all ended up reinforcing how pathetically neglected the Horton clan has been over the years.

And why, oh why, was Melanie featured so heavily? I have seen complaints, from browsing around message boards, that Melanie is irritatingly put at the center of too many storylines. But giving her a showcased role in the middle of a Horton funeral? Really, really odd. Mia seemed bizarrely prominent as well.

But, of course, the flashback, the photo album (if I ignore who was paging through it) and especially the montage were wonderful. How I wish I could watch those early episodes of Days! Just thinking about the treasure trove in the Days vault gives me palpitations.

And by a nice coincidence, my mother is visiting me this week, so we watched the episode together. When the scene of Mickey and Maggie’s first meeting came on, my mom said, “Oh, I remember that.”

 

Roman and Isabella

So I’ve been enjoying tremendously watching the beginnings of RoJohn and IzzyB (sounds like sitcom!).

Contrary to the complicated beginnings of some couples, the show has brought them together very simply. They are working together to bring down Victor, who they are sure is guilty of Marina’s murder. Of course, this will later get very complicated, when it becomes clear that Isabella is the one who killed her sister, but that’s still in the future.

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I love the spark that Staci Greason brings out in Drake. I don’t think he sparked with anyone as well as he did with her. He was always so self-serious with Dierdre, and he was great with Genie Francis but this is even better. Their banter in the first part of this scene is wonderful, as Isabella is insisting on helping with the investigation, proposing breaking into Victor’s house, and Roman is trying vainly to dissuade her.

Then, after Isabella takes a header into the river, Roman takes her back to his place to “get out of her wet clothes.” (A soap classic.) Then we get the first major UST moment from them. Staci and Drake are both wonderful conveying the attraction they both feel, while at the same time continuing the lovely playful banter. I just love that combination.

Of course Days has to add a little wrinkle, as we get Isabella deceiving Roman in order to get the blueprints to the Kiriakis house, so she can search it by herself. You can’t have a step forward without sowing the seeds of tension and doubt. I love the way the show does this so seamlessly, getting us to root for this couple with these scenes of growing attraction, and then making us wonder what Roman is going to do when he finds out about Isabella’s ulterior motive.

 

Toy Train

I love props on soaps. I love seeing the villain holding up the key/prism/folder full of bonds and gloating, “Mine, all mine!” Or the hero investigating a murder, holding up a single earring and musing, “If I find the partner to this it tell me everything I need to know.” I love old diaries locked up in safes embedded in a hole in the middle of the forest in Italy, or a piece of jewelery that demonstrates that your romantic rival is your long lost brother.

Sometimes these props don’t end up making much sense—for example, I’ve been watching all this stuff recently with Isabella’s mother’s diary. Isabella and Roman are convinced that a 20+ year old diary is a clue in Marina’s murder—tell me how, please. But I still kind of love it anyway. Even though the diary’s use as a clue to Marina’s murder is poorly explained, its use as something that brings Roman and Isabella closer together is impeccable.

Maybe it’s just because I know their story so well, but I think Steve and Kayla got more cool props than other characters did. I’ve been racking my brain, but other than the diary I just mentioned, all I can come up with is that cameo for Kim and Shane. (But there must be others, so if you can think of any, please let me know.) I wrote about this once before, but Steve and Kayla had so many props that served multiple functions in the plot—with Jo’s necklace that Steve gave to Kayla as I think the all-time champion. First its use as a wonderful Christmas gift when they were just starting to date, then the clue to Adrienne’s identity for Kayla, then something that Steve had to ask her to return (in the most cruel way possible) when he was afraid Jack would see its resemblance to his “mother”s ring. Then I loved that the show remembered to show Steve giving it back right before their wedding. That’s a lot of work for one prop.

But there were so many others: the patch, the dagger tattoo, the polaroid picture of Kayla, the harmonica, the cookbook Kayla gave to Steve, Steve’s red keepsake box, Billy’s baby picture, the engagement ring Steve wore around his neck, the rose he gave to Jack and Kayla for a wedding present, the ID bracelet and locket Steve gave to Kayla after Stephanie was born.

And here’s another one: Steve’s toy train.

We first started seeing the train when we started seeing flashbacks of Steve’s childhood—the treasured toy of a child who didn’t have much. Then, when Adrienne was just a mysterious woman with an unknown connection to Steve, she broke into his apartment and took the train. It’s not 100% clear to me in retrospect why Adrienne did this, but at the time it was confirmation that her connection to him had something to do with his childhood. When Steve retaliated by breaking into her apartment and taking it back, Kayla caught him and demanded to know why he was breaking into poor little Adrienne’s apartment.

After that the train would pop up here and there during the Jack is Billy storyline. Steve would take it out, along with Billy’s picture, to shore up his resolve at what he was doing for his brother. As a relic from his childhood of which nothing else remained, the train came to be a poignant symbol of everything he lost.

And then there’s this:

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As far as using props, and using history goes, it doesn’t get any better than this. It’s wonderful to see Steve bring out a symbol of everything he lost and turn it into a symbol of his promise that Stephanie is not going to lose all of that. (Of course this is putting aside that Steve misses Stephanie’s entire childhood.) It’s also a nice moment of closure for Kayla too to witness this moment. It goes back to their conversations during the Benjy storyline, when Steve wasn’t sure about having children. Kayla reassured him then that he would be a wonderful father, and here she’s seeing a confirmation of that faith. By giving Stephanie the train, and talking about what it meant to him when he had nobody, the implication is that being a father to Stephanie will help Steve redeem his bad childhood. It provides a wonderful moment of closure for a character who was haunted by so many demons.

 

Jen gets a job offer

One thing that can be very difficult, over the long haul of a supercouple story, is keeping the power balanced between the two characters. That is particularly true in a “push her away” type story like the Jack and Jennifer (or Steve and Kayla) story. The show has to be careful that the woman is not a complete doormat, someone willing to put up with anything and keep coming back for more. At the same time we have to see that the man’s repeated attempts to push her away have some cost—we have to see that it hurts.

The show had a way of playing around with this power balance, shifting one way, then shifting the other way. Just when you think “Wow, Jennifer has been putting up with a lot of crap lately,” boom, something happens to shift the power back. It’s part of the whole supercouple dance, this shifting back and forth. (Needless to say, these kinds of subtleties are completely beyond Days’ writing team today.)

Here’s a good example of a “poor Jen” scene:

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Jen assumes she can come in and tell Jack she got a job offer from another paper (actually, two offers) at a higher salary, and he will match it. Her confidence is not unwarranted—she’s always known that Jack respects her professionally and thinks she’s a good reporter. But, Jack sees an opportunity to let Jen move on and get a fresh start. He encourages to her take the other offer. Naturally, she is hurt by this, and it all adds up to shifting power away from Jen. It’s not what he does—pushing her away is what Jack does, after all—it’s how he does it, acting so convincingly that he couldn’t care less. The mask doesn’t slip at all. And he sees that she’s hurt, but she can’t see what he’s feeling at all.

We can guess that Jack isn’t as indifferent as he appears. But, the show very wisely lets us the viewers actually see it, by giving him a scene with Jo afterward. First we see a nice affirmation of Jack’s professional admiration for Jen, when Jo (in typical Jo fashion) tries to give him credit for Jen’s Ferraro award. He says very definitely that Jen won on her own merits. Then, when she hears about the firing, Jo expresses her (which is also our) outrage at Jack, and we can see from his reaction that this is hurting him. And he tells Jo that this way Jen can make a fresh start and move on.

But Jen doesn’t know this, and she is left to try to make a decision now, about staying or going. More money, more responsibility, her own office … the choice seems clear. There’s a tiny wrinkle in that if she leaves she won’t finish her college degree (her internship at the Spectator is for college credit), but this seems minor compared to everything else. There is really only one thing to explain Jen’s reluctance: her feelings for Jack. And the way this is set up it seems the height of doormat-ness for Jen to stay, to hang around guy who is trying to kick her out the door.

But then there’s a twist:

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The power starts to shift back right from the outset of this scene, because Jen has gone out to a party with her friends and family to celebrate her award, and we see Jack’s jealousy as he asks her about it. Then, he goes further when he oh-so-casually asks her what she’s decided, and we see how much he is dying to know. I love that Jen is very far, emotionally, from the earlier scenes, when her hurt was so close to the surface. Here she’s steaming mad and isn’t giving anything away. As Jack waits to hear her decision, she calmly hands him his pen (“Binky’s pedicures,” hee!).

Then, in the next scene, Jen announces she’s staying by ripping up her article and saying she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of leaving. It’s such an unexpected resolution to the arc, and that makes it rather wonderful. Also, it brings up a thread that runs through all of these scenes, that Jack was trying to get rid of her for reasons that had nothing to do with work. He was trying to make her decisions for her—”for her own good,” of course—and she’s telling him she isn’t going to be his little chess piece. And just like that, she turns it around so that leaving would be the “weaker” choice, because it would be playing right into Jack’s manipulations. (I also really like Jack’s involuntary smile at hearing the news, like “I tried to do the right thing, but she isn’t letting me so it’s out of my hands.”)

Emilio’s presence here also helps. Poor Emilio! He’s about to be run over by the Supercouple Love Train. But he is used very well here. Jack tries to be all smirky about him, and even though we know it’s a mask for his jealousy, it’s still a potent weapon against Mr. Sincerity. But Jen turns that around too: she doesn’t get defensive, and she doesn’t rise to the bait. She knows just what is behind Jack’s sarcasm, and she calls him on it: he’s not happy for her, as he claims Then she goes a step further: Emilio can tell someone how he feels, while Jack is too much of a coward. Zing. And now the power has evened out nicely. Nicely done, Days.

 

Merry Christmas, everybody!

What, no Clay Aiken??

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And as long as we’re talking S&K Christmas, here’s my take on Christmas 1986:

Happy Christmas

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

 

Little Stephanie

I hope y’all don’t mind if I don’t spend any more time (or, any time) talking about Kayla’s trial. Stephen and Mary Beth do their usual fine job, but beyond recounting the many, many legal travesties (which my friend esp13, who is a lawyer, has helpfully filled me in on), I don’t have that much to say about it.

But of course, one big incident happens in this time period, smack dab, in fact, in the middle of the trial: Stephanie’s birth.

What I find funny about all this is that if you watch all this by itself, the birth scenes and the days in the hospital afterwards, you would have very little idea that anything else was going on in their lives. It’s as if the show knows what a bum deal they are giving us with Kayla’s conviction and they decide to (nearly) ignore the whole thing for a week or so. And it is a relief to see them be happy, Kayla especially, so I guess I won’t complain.

I don’t have much to say about the labor and delivery, though it must have been interesting for Mary Beth Evans to fake being in labor and having a baby, when she was getting close the end of her pregnancy in real life. Apparently the Days folks were concerned all that acting would somehow bring on her real labor, hee! And Stephen Nichols is great as the nervous prospective daddy. I love how he plays the bumbling and nervousness but doesn’t overplay it, so that it stays believable and real (and very cute and funny).

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And of course, as Days used to do so well back then, it’s a wonderful family celebration as all their loved ones gather at the hospital with them.

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It’s fun to see the way the siblings conspire to dress up as interns and come in to see the baby. I love the banter between the Bradys as Kim is holding the baby: Roman in big brother mode telling Kayla she was cute when she was a baby, and teasing Kim to “pass the kid quick” when she starts getting emotional. And Judi Evans is wonderful showing how bittersweet this is for Adrienne. She wanted a baby so much with Justin, and (at this point in history) thinks she’ll never have children.

Apparently the way Jo then hands off Stephanie to Jack is a bit of a sore point among Steve and Kayla fans, but I actually love this scene. Knowing how hard Jack has worked to help Steve and Kayla, and how much he was motivated by the baby, means he has earned this moment. But what really makes it special is the look Stephen Nichols has when Jack is holding the baby. We know how long Steve hung onto the idea of “uncle Billy” being a part of their lives, long after it made sense to do so. Now it’s actually happening. But Stephen doesn’t play Steve’s reaction as happy—he’s incredibly moved, but almost to the point of being upset about it. It’s a wonderful way to reference a lot of history. And then Mary Beth shows Kayla’s reaction too, of knowing this is a big moment for Steve, turning to him and putting her hand on his.

This is pretty damn adorable:

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It’s so perfect for Steve, too, the way he wants to be—as he says—a knight in rusty armor for his wife and daughter. What a great callback to that early scene where Steve asked Kayla so derisively if she thought there was a “knight in shining armor” inside him waiting to get out. The baby’s reactions are perfect (I always said Stephen brings out the best in his co-stars!), as is Kayla’s as she comes in to hear the end of his bedtime story. This scene is bittersweet because we know what’s going to happen in just a few short months. But, even without knowing that, it’s wonderful after how hard Steve and Kayla fought to get to this point, and the fears and doubts Steve had about being a father.

 

Congratulations, Stephen! (with poll)

I’m sure many of you have heard the news, that Stephen Nichols is joining the cast of The Young and the Restless, as Tucker McCall. He replaces William Russ:

Link (TV Guide)

Yay! I’m working again!

So, just for fun: