That's It?

I should know better than to expect any sort of emotional payoff to a plot crafted by the writing staff at Y&R, and I was doubly naive for expecting anything from a story about Paul. Here I am thinking that the reunion between Paul and the daughter he never knew would be great and soapy, when, in reality, the writers are like "Which one is Paul?"

The blandness of Paul's revelation that he is Heather's father was made even worse by the fact that Vail Bloom cannot act. I'm sorry, but she can't. I'm sure she's a very nice person and she's quite pretty, and she went to Princeton, so I'm sure she's smart, and I find "Vail Bloom" to be the most awesome/possibly made up/heroine in a Mary Higgins Clark book name ever but...there's no there there.

That facial expression is less "you stayed out of my life and allowed me to be raised by an abusive man" and more

• "It's Veteran's Day and my boss is making me work, can you believe the nerve of him?"
• "My iPod battery is gone and I had planned to go work out after I got off today and now I don't know what I'm going to do, since the gym only plays, like, crappy techno music and I get sick trying to watch tv and run on the treadmill at the same time"
• "I specifically asked for my gingerbread latte extra hot and this is barely lukewarm!"
• "Oh my god, Becky. Look at her butt..."

It was almost sad. Luckily, since I'm basically heartless, I was less sad and more annoyed by the whole thing. Doug Davidson always does a good job when they remember that he exists and he tried his best to sell this reveal, but his scene partner has the presence of an American Girl doll. This is exactly why you should never have high expectations for anything*, because you always wind up disappointed!

*Obvious exceptions being the aforementioned gingerbread lattes, 30 Rock and Essie nail polish. They will never hurt you.

Comments

[Charlie]

Sir Mix A Lot...nice. I forgot about the source of that last reference until I just read this post. It'll tide me over until the next GH Week In Review and that should be good too.

Also, if you ever plan on bringing back the "Worst Character In Daytime" award, I would like to nominate Carly Jax. God, that woman is grating. Sorry, wrong show. But yeah, I caught that scene as well and I couldn't agree more.

[TV's Tim]

I watched that scene and was more fascinated by Doug Davidson's hairpiece than anything else. If you're going to go the rug route, at least make sure the colors match, dude. Especially in the high-definition age.

So, actresses who come from academic backgrounds who think they can act but really can't aren't exclusive to GH then?

I don't know whether to laugh or fume.

[Dallas]

funniest. post. ever. and i don't even watch y&r!

[ElementaryDays]

Love the Sir Mix a Lot shout out.

[Titian]

ummm...i don't doubt that vanilla fields or whateverhernameis sucks just as surely as tammin, (i mean, how can you not have chemistry with that sexy beast daniel goddard?) but what bothers me about this whole reveal is that no one cares. no one really cares about paul as a character and we really don't care about heather--she's been nothing but bitchy and haughty since she came on the show. there's no emotional investment in either character. paul's only around to push the agendas of other characters. we didn't see heather at all as a child, and having the writers tell us through dialogue how crappy her upbringing was isn't as impactful as showing us. how about some flashbacks? how about some tension? hell, as much as i hated the whole clear springs disaster, why didn't they think of trapping her down there with paul and have him confess during the crisis? something, anything, to bring some meat to this empty table.

[Goddess]

Ok I get the fact that Paul thought he was "too young" to raise Heather--not too young to HAVE her, mind you, just too young to take responsibility for her--and I know this cuz he's mentioned it several times. What I don't know is his excuse for not raising his young son? Your lunatic dead wife's parents ask you if they can raise him and you just say "yes"?!

[oakley frogskins]

What I don't know is his excuse for not raising his young son? Your lunatic dead wife's parents ask you if they can raise him and you just say "yes"?!