Two major things shook LA this week...Felicia being forced to come clean about her little sailor man and Sally faking her 'retirement' as a cruise and not the reality of her trip to Shady Acres Rest Home. Sad, so sad but we'll get back to that in a minute. There are far too many facets of this Dominick Jr. story that both intrigue and irritate me.
What makes me happy about Nick's sudden ability to go forth and populate he Earth? Well, anything that upsets the West Coast Whiner and child bride, Mrs. Nick Marone. Bridget really has much coming to her with all the stupidity and thoughtlessness she has shown over the last few weeks. So now she has to 'stomach' (sorry, couldn't resist) the news that her beloved sugar daddy hubby has gotten the gift of a son from his former drinking buddy. She will react badly I believe. Two words...BOO HOO. I am happy that Nick will be able to look forward to helping raise his son. I am also happy that this may just set itself up to be the end of this farce of a marriage between Nick and Bridget. She is not mature enough to know NOT to be threatened by Felicia and her son. My hope is that if Felicia checks out this Spring, Nick gets a chance to raise his son and since Bridget would have lost her child before that and gone back to Europe with Dante. Nick will be free in a much more open and legitimate way to be with Brooke and raise their big happy 'Yours, Mine, and Ours' family under one roof. Now THAT would make me boundlessly happy.
I really like Leslie Kay as Felicia, much more so than Colleen Dion. I watched very carefully all week, waiting for anything I could criticize and hack to pieces in my column but nothing. Loved her and loved her dialogue. Someone in the writing war room is on the ball! A few readers have emailed me saying that they see too much of Molly from ATWT in her performance but I can't say the same. I liked her in that role as well but think that Felicia's complex family dynamic with Stephanie allows for Kay to stretch herself a bit and far more than she did with Molly's character. Another mark in the 'Happy' column.
Ah, but all good things come to an end, right? What make me 'itch' in this story? Well, let's start with Bridget's callous attitude during the little baby celebration. She is so blinded with her obsession with Nick that she seems to care little for Felicia's feelings no matter how off they may be. Ok, so Nick doesn't have any feeling for her 'like that' but the whole scene was obviously hard for her to watch. It's one thing for Felicia to come back and find Nick potentially keeping time with Brooke knowing that history but to see him married to her little half-sister?? Ugh, poor thing.
I am also not comfortable with the mere fact that this muddies the families too much and makes it seem like a bad Springer episode. Kids are related in too many different ways and it all just seems like it is cheapening the show too much. Nearly every email I see these days references this fact as one of the reasons readers don't watch the show as much as they did before. And to add to the unsavory feeling of all these inter-relations, it just makes me sick that we are seeing Nick starting to turn out kids like his Old Man. One minute, Massimo is a dashing bachelor with no family of his own and within a week it seemed, he had two sons and a wayward cousin. Now Nick has a daughter on the way and a new son overnight (not to mention his near-miss kid with RJ...which I still say could go either way, you know?).
Enough complaining about Nick and Bridget...I have already given that awful marriage too much attention as it is. Sally Spectra could be seeing her last days on the set of B&B, folks. Now, do I have some divine knowledge that tells me this for certain? No. But I don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the lack of screen time and the wheelchair don't bode well for Mustang Sally. Several months ago she hurt her leg and perhaps the wheelchair is necessary for her personally rather than just something that's written in. I felt so bad watching that scene Friday. I have always loved watching Sally play spoiler to all things Forrester. She has been unscrupulous, outrageous, unabashed, and amazing loyal in a world where loyalty is a dirty word. Sally has given unconditional love to her kids and has taken once-ditsy Darla in as her own. She kept the doors at Spectra open by taking chances and taking just as many 'risks' at other expense. But through it all, she made no apologies and treated all her employees as though they were her family. I don't know about any of you but I NEVER saw ANY Forrester employees being addressed by management. Some say she didn't have any class. I say that 'class' is a relative term and has much less to do with what your social pedigree and more to do with HOW you treat those around you.
Sally may have her faults but really...when you look at all the recent goings-on as of late, she looks like a saint. The reality is that characters like Sally, Stephanie and Eric can't be on the show forever if no other reason than their age and willingness to keep up the pace of filming all year. It's a grind and I wouldn't blame her for wanting to pack it in and go out on top. Her storylines have decreased over the years and when you have a 30 minute show and writers that are overly obsessed with Brooke-related triangle storylines, there is little room left for tried and true characters like Sally Spectra. That makes me very sad. I really hope I am wrong and Sally will be around for a while.
Well, as usual, not much more to comment on for the past week. Over the next few weeks I will be working hard to bring you my annual Warped Christmas column as well as the end of the year Best of and Worst of 2005 columns. It truly is the most joyous time of the year!
My question of the week...what has been your favorite storyline of 2005? Come on, there has to be one! Let me hear from you as I will use your thoughts to help give my end of the year columns some extra 'bite'.
Last week's question had to do with how you all felt about Nick's character. I think I can accurately sum up all 40+ emails pertaining to this subject in one single phrase: The Captain is going down with his ship. He's ruined and unless there is a drastic change in the writing corps, we may never see the real Nick Marone again.
ps.......if I hear Bridget say the word 'reconnect' one more time, I will throw myself off a building.
