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.

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.

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:

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Yay! I’m working again!

So, just for fun:

I always liked Melissa. I didn’t realize until I plunged into the wonderful world of message boards that she was a such a widely disliked character. This is probably more from her later days on the show: Jack’s dupe in the Steve/Kayla/Jack triangle, and then (with a recast) an obstacle for Jack and Jen.

This is where I am now, when Camilla Scott took over the role. As a complication for Jack and Jen, Melissa’s return is soapy genius. With Steve and Kayla softening towards Jack, we need someone else to be a visible reminder that he is Bad, Bad News for women. And that’s exactly what Melissa provides. She hasn’t been around to see that he’s changed, and she’s determined that her little cousin Jennifer won’t be hurt like she was.

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Still, this makes me mourn for Melissa, to see a Days heroine, a character with an honorable history on the show, reduced to badmouthing Jack and being Emilio’s singing partner. (Since when could Melissa sing?)

It also makes me laugh, in the clip above, to hear Melissa refer to herself as a “naive young girl” when she met Jack. Let’s take a look at this poor girl’s sheltered existence before she started working as Jack’s assistant (from soapcentral):

“Pete kidnapped Melissa … Pete and Melissa began dating each other secretly … Pete accidentally shot Mickey Horton … Linda [Melissa's natural mother] drugged Pete and arranged for Melissa to find Pete and her in bed … Melissa took a job at a flower shop, not knowing it was a front for a drug ring … Barry Reid claimed Melissa was the dealer … Melissa went on the run … Pete married Ivy … Melissa and Pete continued to see each other on the side … Pete and Melissa finally married … while on her honeymoon Melissa was attacked, and almost raped …. Melissa was too guilt ridden to leave Pete, but continued her affair with Lars … Melissa and Pete divorced.”

Come to think of it, in Salem, maybe that counts as sheltered.

Lisa Trusel certainly wasn’t the best actress on the show, but she was a good ensemble player. And she could bring it when the scene called for it, like in this fabulous scene during the “Jack is Billy” storyline (I included the scene of Kayla and Steve beforehand, because it’s a good setup for the scene with Melissa):

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I always loved how the show had Melissa and Steve each learn the secret of Jack’s identity, but never share their knowledge with each other. It would have been easy for the show to do that, as a way to fill airtime if nothing else. But I loved that the only people Steve ever told of Jack’s identity were Marcus and Kayla (and even with them, it had to be torn out of him). But, Steve and Melissa each suspect the other knows, though they never come out and say it—which leads to some wonderfully circular conversations during the time Jack is getting closer to finding out the truth.

In the scene above, though, Melissa breaks through. Trusel is very effective as Melissa emotionally lists all the evidence: that Steve gave up Kayla for Jack, gave Jack his kidney, that the kidney was a perfect match. Steve’s final, feeble attempt at deflection is very poignant: “If Jack were my brother, do you think I’d let him hate me the way he does?” Then he finally admits the truth.

Trusel managed to sell Melissa’s desperate love for Jack, and desire to help him, very well—through three recasts and enough plot twists to make your head spin. Somehow she managed to show that Melissa was so in love with Jack that she was willing to be his spy at the community center, but that she still saw herself as Steve and Kayla’s friend. Even more difficult, she managed to sell the idea that Melissa didn’t believe Kayla was lying about the rape, but she didn’t think Jack was lying either. Trusel managed to convey a level of denial for Melissa so that she could chalk up the whole thing to some big misunderstanding. That’s not an easy line to walk, but she walked it, and managed to somehow retain some audience sympathy through it all (from me, anyway). I don’t care who you are, that’s some mad acting skillz.

Remembering how desperately Melissa was in love with Jack, and how much he used her, lends a lot of credence to the “angry Melissa” scene that I posted first. When I picture that scene (and the many, many “angry Melissa” scenes that follow it) with Trusel instead of Camilla Scott, it lends much more weight to her side of the argument, and her right to hold a grudge. It is cathartic, in fact, to imagine Trusel’s Melissa telling him off. Rather like, oh, something like this:

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This is a extraordinary payoff for months and months of evil Jack getting away with almost everything. After bouncing back from his assault conviction, and Harper’s arrest, he goes on his merry way as a Salem villain mucking up people lives and running for political office. Melissa’s very public rejection is perfect payback. He’s not in love with Melissa, so if she merely left him, it wouldn’t have nearly the same impact. This way, he loses the election, and more importantly, it provides an echo of his rejection and humiliation by Kayla. That’s what provides the more lasting damage.

(And isn’t it funny to see wee little cousin Jennifer dressed up in a her bridesmaid’s outfit in that scene?)

Here’s a little bonus of Pete and Melissa. I honestly have no idea whether I would even like them anymore, but I still thought this little scene, their first kiss, was cute when I rewatched. (They’re so young!)

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Apparently James E. Reilly was not the only one who employed the “flashback to two minutes ago,” hee. And rampaging Maggie at the end there is priceless!

…. from the trial storyline, anyway.

But no kidding, it really is good. If you love Steve and Kayla, if you love what Stephen and Mary Beth can do with layered, meaty material—if love angst like I do—you must, must, must watch this scene:

We open with a fantasy, which is always a nice relief when things are sad and angsty. Then I really like the fact that Steve wants to jump bail and skip town. It’s just so very Steve, consistent with how he behaved when the police were pursuing him for Britta’s murder and for Harper’s shooting. He hasn’t been able to do a thing to help Kayla since she was arrested, and this seems fueled as much by a desire to act, to do something, as really thinking it’s a great idea. Plus I love the idea that the DA was right, when he justified asking for a high bail for Kayla because her loose-cannon husband might encourage her to skip town. Case closed.

This is old-school Steve and Kayla, too, in that Kayla is arguing against running away—just like she did when he was a suspect in Britta’s murder. But there’s a difference. Kayla has seen enough now that she knows the system doesn’t always work. She wants to stay not because she is so sure she will be cleared, but because it is in her nature to stay and fight. (And isn’t it ironic that for all of Steve’s fears about being railroaded by “the system,” that it’s Kayla that it happens to instead?)

Because he frames his whole issue by asking her to trust him, when Kayla rejects Steve’s suggestion, it comes across as a direct rejection of Steve’s help. This taps into a recurring theme for them—that Steve “I love to play God” Johnson needs to believe he can fix any problem. All along, he has been reassuring her that he’s going to fix this for her and make sure she doesn’t go to jail. Kayla has accepted those reassurances, without, I think, being particularly reassured by them. What is reassuring to Kayla is Steve standing with her, loving her and supporting her, not a belief that he will make the problem go away.

All this goes back to a conversation they had during the rape storyline, when Kayla told Steve she used to think he could fix everything, and now she knows he can’t. Because circumstances won’t always allow it, for one, but more importantly that the “hero” in Steve has his dark side too—as she found out, only too well, when Steve pushed her away for Jack’s sake. It’s bittersweet that she doesn’t see him as the all-conquering hero anymore, because he still wants to be that for her. In fact, early on one of the things that drew Steve to Kayla was her vision of him, her recognition of him as a hero. But in the end losing those rose-colored glasses makes her continued love and faith in him more meaningful and real.

Then I love, love, love the moment when Kayla says she can’t remember the last time they faced a problem, and Steve correctly reads that as a reference to the way he hid Marina’s existence from her. I love to hear Kayla talk about how much it hurt to be kept in the dark, to doubt him and to doubt them. It’s a wonderful way to connect what’s happening now, which are mostly external problems, with the more internal issues of the Marina storyline. It’s like she’s thinking, haven’t you learned anything?

Then comes Steve’s wonderful breakdown. He’s shattered and a little scared to hear Kayla talk about how she felt then—it reminds him of the time when he wasn’t sure she was going to forgive him. It’s very cathartic to hear him say that not a day goes by that he doesn’t kick himself for not doing the right thing, and then the way he hurls the music box as he says he just wants to do something.

I love the double meaning when Kayla picks up the music box and Steve tries to say that he’ll “fix it.” This is where they started, with Steve trying to fix something that is unfixable. Stephen is wonderful showing Steve breaking down, saying he’s sorry, over and over again. It encompasses so many things—hiding Marina from her, letting Marina hurt her, not facing the problem then, not knowing what to do now. And we can see Kayla relent as she sees him at the end of his rope, and her strength comes out as she takes his face in her hands and says they will face this and fight it out. Kayla might have been angry, but she hasn’t lost her faith in them. It’s a wonderful place to end the scene.

I challenge any Days fan, past or present, not to tear up at this one:

And I’d like to send out a thank you to all my readers. I started this blog in November of 2006—three years ago! It’s changed a lot since then—not watching the current show will do that—but I am so grateful to have connected with people who love this show like I do. Who would have thought that I could find such a wonderful group of intelligent, insightful people who share my passion for storylines from 20 years back?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

We’re starting a period for Steve and Kayla where the story itself basically sucks: Kayla’s trial and conviction. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s just too much suffering piled on for Kayla, and way too many legal travesties during the trial.

Still, there are moments worth watching, like some of these scenes around Kayla’s arraignment. There’s a good twist when the judge sets Kayla’s bail abnormally high (2 million dollars), not because of Kayla, but because of Steve. Steve is presented as a shady character and a bad influence who might induce the law-abiding Kayla to skip bail. It’s a callback to Steve’s bad guy-days, which I always like. And Steve’s intense guilt about the whole thing is a way for the whole Marina thing to come back to haunt him. (Not as much as it’s haunting Kayla, of course—but that’s pretty much a given during this whole section.)

Steve has been staying admirably calm, for Kayla’s sake, but when Neil tells him that Kayla’s pregnancy could be endangered unless he finds a way to remove all stress, he freaks out:

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I like seeing Steve break down here, seeing his desperation and anger over his helplessness to do anything to remove Kayla’s stress when she’s been arrested for murder. And I love that Kayla seems to understand that. Steve’s emotional outburst doesn’t seem to be stressing her out, instead she’s looking at him with almost a ghost of a smile, like, “this is the Steve I know and love.”

The high bail also allows for an interesting subplot with Victor and Caroline, when Victor offers to help Caroline out by posting the bail. (Caroline doesn’t know that Victor was largely responsible for Kayla’s arrest to begin with.)

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This scene is feels a little bit off, because it seems like Caroline should be more preoccupied with Kayla than taking a walk down memory lane with Victor. Also, it kills me that Caroline is worrying about Victor’s feelings and thanking him so sincerely, when he’s the one who caused all this to begin with. But despite all this, I kind of love it anyway. I love the reference to “We’ve kept secrets before,” and the look they share after that. John Aniston and Peggy McKay really make me feel that these two have had a past relationship.

And for a tiny moment of happiness, here’s Steve and Kayla finding out her bail was posted. Steve and Roman persist in looking a gift horse in the mouth, but at least Kayla is happy for a minute:

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It tickles my funny bone that Jack, the man who was introduced as the uncomplicated nice guy foil for Steve, now has a uncomplicated nice guy foil of his own. It’s also amusing that that uncomplicated nice guy is a former gang member. I love soaps.

The nice guy foil usually ends up being either a doormat, or an oblivious prig constantly saying “I know what’s best for you.” (Usually a little bit of both.) But initially, when it’s done right, the nice guy foil is genuinely nice: straightforward where our bad boy is secretive, considerate where our bad boy is moody. He might think the girl should forget about the bad boy, but it’s because he sees how much he hurts her, not because he has a superiority complex.

Jen sees Jack at the hospital visiting Isabella (who is in a coma). From the way Jack is acting, she thinks he has feelings for Isabella. Still upset, she runs into Emilio:

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Poor Emilio! I can’t help feeling sorry for him. But there’s a really good dynamic here, that perfectly sets up Emilio as a foil, not a rival. When Jen asks him out, we can see her heart isn’t fully in it. When Emilio agrees, he’s not quite sure what he’s getting into. It’s obvious for these two, even when they’re not talking about him, that Jack is the elephant in the room.

Then on their date, they do talk about Jack. Jen is evasive on her feelings for him, and Emilio’s jealousy comes through, but somehow it doesn’t feel as though Jen is being unfair. She’s been hurt by Jack again and again, and she doesn’t know what else to do but try to move on. She clearly wishes she cared about Emilio, and even hopes that someday she will again. I like the way Melissa Reeves plays the lines about Emilio being her “best friend” (Billy Hufsey does a great reaction shot to that line, showing his disappointment) and how he makes her happy. She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself too. But, it’s also clear that Jen isn’t wholly pretending: she does like being with Emilio, she is happy.

And of course, in perfect soapy timing, Jack comes in just in time to witness this heartwarming exchange. Jack’s decision to suddenly show up with flowers isn’t really explained, but his feelings for her are well enough established that I think it still works. And the “you make me happy” line is perfectly pitched to discourage Jack, because that’s what he wants for her. Jen has tried to tell him that she wants him, not Emilio—but he’s hearing right from her own lips that she could be happy with Emilio.

I’m off on a business trip tomorrow morning, so I won’t offer much commentary, but as promised, here is the wedding itself:

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And the aftermath:

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A few points:

I love the end-of-the-episode suspense Kayla appearing at the end of the aisle, with Abe hovering in the background, as the wedding begins. Just a good old-fashioned soapy cliffhanger.

After the wedding has fallen apart and the truth comes out about the “new evidence” linking Kayla to Marina’s death, I love the way Steve stares at Kayla will so much meaning as he says “you have nothing to be sorry for.” Stephen gives that line an extra intensity, meaning, “I don’t care if you killed her.”

Mary Beth Evans breaks my heart with her reading of the line “there isn’t going to be a wedding today.”

Steve and Kayla’s heart to heart upstairs is wonderful, and the closest we’ve gotten so far to an actual hash-it-out scene regarding Marina. (It deserves more analysis than I have time for right now.) Mary Beth has shown in her performance (even though the dialogue didn’t really convey it) that Kayla was afraid of Steve’s reaction to learning she might have killed Marina. That’s wonderful because it helps explain why Kayla was keeping the tape a secret. Also, it connects to a tiny element of doubt for Kayla with how this whole triangle turned out. Did she “win” over Marina just because Marina died? Steve’s reaction here lays it to rest, when his primary concern is helping Kayla, not figuring out what happened to Marina. He reassures Kayla that she wouldn’t leave someone to die, but there’s also the strong implication that he doesn’t really care either way. It ties up that loose end very nicely.

The second, aborted wedding isn’t a favorite among S&K fans, and I can understand why. It is thrown together hastily, Mary Beth Evans is eleventy months pregnant, Kayla is keeping a secret from Steve (that tape of her and Marina fighting), and the ceremony is interrupted when Kayla gets arrested. It is a far cry from the Big Payoff Supercouple Event that their first wedding was.

There are, however, some consolations, like Steve’s morning-of-the-wedding outfit:

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Mmmmm.

Rewinding a bit, I also really like this scene from the day before the wedding. Given that the real wedding isn’t going to come off, I’m glad the show gives us this moment. It’s especially nice, after Marina, to hear Steve say that he learned more about love from being married to Kayla for one day than he ever knew before. It shows, not that Steve never loved Marina (or Britta) but that the love he has with Kayla is so much deeper and more meaningful:

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And putting couple expectations aside, I do think this wedding is pretty damn good soapy drama. It may not be a Supercouple Event but it is an Event nonetheless. I love the way the show ties together the threads of everyone else’s plots. In addition to the yummy scene above, we get this moment for Jack and Jen:

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When she says that she’s trying to picture him as Steve’s best man, I get the feeling she’s trying to recapture the moment they had a few days ago, when he confided in her. And I really like how it works, but only to a point. He acknowledges that it’s pretty unbelievable and lets her see how much it means to him again. But when she pushes further by hinting she’d like to see him in his tux, he pulls back. That makes her mad and she starts throwing shoes.

Then of course the classic soap wedding fantasy sequence, and poor Jen trying to follow the “script” from the fantasy afterwards and having it all blow up in her face (again).

There’s another great Jack and Steve scene when the best man arrives:

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All the wonderful nervousness and awkwardness is still there in full force. They both have their defenses up, afraid to show what it means to both of them. (Stephen and Matt really do play the “best man” thing so well! It makes me feel churlish to say it’s a step too far.) Then when Victor arrives, suddenly the Johnson boys are on the same side. I especially love the visual of the two of them blocking the door together, presenting a united front. And then Jack gets to play the big brother role for once when he holds Steve back from attacking Victor. I love his explanatory aside just before he closes the door: “Nervous groom.” Hee!

And, in addition to these scenes I’ve posted, the show uses the wedding to draw Justin closer to Adrienne and Shane closer to Kim (both couples are currently estranged), by having the men accompany the women to the wedding. And for soapy suspense, intercut with all of the above we get Roman listening to the tape of Kayla and Marina, which Victor has sent to him anonymously. First Roman, and then Abe, have to decide if they are going to rush right over to question Kayla, or wait until after the wedding. Victor too seems to have something up his sleeve, smiling with satisfaction and saying he’s going to a wedding today. We also see Kayla eying her reflection nervously as she waits to walk down the aisle. Will Abe or Roman arrest Kayla? What is Victor’s dastardly scheme? Will Kayla get cold feet and call the whole thing off?

Next time: more soapy drama with the wedding itself!