Kendall Hart Is Having The Worst Year Ever
Obviously, waking from your coma is something to celebrate, but Kendall's happiness at being alive is going to be short-lived when she finally wakes up and finds out that:
- She was in a coma for months
- Babe died (yes, this is something to actually be celebrated, but there is no way the show is going to let a moment go by without a Babe memorial)
- Myrtle died
- Her brother died...
- ....because her husband shot him
- ....to get her a heart. 'Sup, survivor's guilt?
- Her husband donated sperm to her sister and neither of them decided to tell her because, you know, she's a totally laid-back person in general
- Her sister is engaged to the worst person in the universe
Consciousness is totally going to suck for her! I know this because I have lived through all of the things currently polluting the screen and it has sucked for me.
The saddest part of all is that Charles Pratt didn't even have to exert much effort to be better than the previous AMC writing regimes. He pretty much had to show up to work and not drool. And he couldn't even do that! EVERYTHING about this show right now is terrible.
Several people have emailed me for my thoughts on the Josh/Zach clusterfuck of a story. Half of the emails have been pro-Josh, the other half pro-Zach and almost all of them anti-AMC writers, which I am totally on board with because all sense of logic, quality and entertainment went out the window as soon as pen was put to paper.
I have already complained about the mess that was Josh's exit story and I need to say, again, that when people start complaining about the character assassination of an ABORTED FETUS, you know the writing is bad. And the execution (no pun intended) of this story was similarly bungled: none of the characters had any sort of layers at all, everybody was too cold-blooded (really...I get that Zach is a man at the end of his rope, but the way that he badgered Erica was just cruel) and it happened WAY TOO FAST. On an actual soap with a decent sense of pacing, the standoff and ensuing fallout would have taken at least a week. But here, it's wham, bam, WTF did I just watch, ma'am?
I hated it, in case that part was unclear.
I feel like the writers were so overcome with glee at the fact that they came up with the idea to have a family member die and donate an organ to their ailing family member (and by "came up with", I mean "blatantly ripped off from programs that did it first, did it better, and did it far less squickily") that they paid no attention to character, dialogue or history to make it happen. If there were ANY SORT OF INKLING that Josh was going off the deep end, it would have made sense; why couldn't there have been weeks of watching him slowly unravel due to [insert reason here, such as owing a debt to a badass alien overlord]? I know that would have taken time away from watching JR mourn Babe again, some more, but still (did he mourn Dixie's multiple deaths this much?). And how about a little more of Zach's emotional fallout? Yes, there was one day when he was depressed, but on a real soap, there should have been DAYS, at least, of guilt and doubt. ALSO, while I am complaining, I feel like, if done properly in a perfect world (i.e., a world where Charles Pratt and Julie Hannan Carruthers are not in charger), this could have been a moving story BUT! It is already coming on top of the secret of Gabrielle's parentage, so it is just waaaaay too much. I'd call it overkill, if I hadn't already used the execution pun above...
In other Pine Valley news...
- I am not saying that I'd enjoy Amanda's Who's The Daddy story, because I dislike Who's The Daddy stories in general, but I'd enjoy it more if David weren't such a mustache-twirling evil villain. Is it leftover sleaze from his time as David Chow on The Young and the Restless? There is just something so off about him since this return and it makes me miss the old David.
- Although David being so over-the-top bad has led to an amusing rivalry with Angie, so at least something good has come out of that. I loved Jesse arresting her.
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Sweet at it was that Colby smacked down her friends for making fun of Brot...who above the age of four stares at people like that and mocks them in public? I know that there are terrible people in the world, but they are usually a bit more subtle in their terribleness.
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Really, I am obsessing over this, I know, and it's nice to see someone on soap die and not immediately be forgotten and written out of the show's history (JULIA), but the mourning of Babe is so ludicrous that it has become campy. When JR was wailing that he should have died instead, I could barely keep watching because I was so embarrassed for everyone involved.
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Melissa Claire Egan continues to build up amazing Emmy reels and I'd hope for her to win one if I weren't such an Emmy jinx (see: Bergman, Peter; Storms, Kirsten; etc.). How great has she been lately? It's so disappointing that Annie was bland for so long and that AMC waited until now to tap into her awesomeness.
Does anyone remember when there were actual moments you really enjoyed seeing come on screen on AMC? Like remember the Zetus scenes back when Ian and Spike were in the hospital and Zach and Josh had there moments? I used to always look forward to scenes of Zach and Myrtle and them share their confidences. Scenes of Zach and his boys were always a sweet scene to end the show with an awwww, or Kendal and Zach and the boys playing. Always natural and always something that made me feel good inside. For a time I was really excited by the bromance with Zach and Josh. They decimated that. Zach with his boys? Eh. It always seems to end with Zach or Rachel or Reese shuffling the boys off to their rooms and Zach mossies over to BB and starts cuddling and loving her and Reese in the back ground looking on ever so lovingly. I don't know, it kind of ruins the awww moment for me. I seldom have any characters that when I see them coming on screen, think, "oh, this will make me feel warm inside." It's hit or miss and generally it is more either bored, infuriated, puzzled or just plain disgusted.
Posted by: Curious | January 25, 2009 at 03:35 PM
Since when has Pratt and his crew paid any attention to character, dialogue or history? Those or foreign to him. He continues to see Pine Valley through the lens of GH and Tamara Braun.
Posted by: AMCbrokemyheart | January 25, 2009 at 04:11 PM
I'm very excited for Kendall to wake up. I hope that she gets to have the appropriate reactions to at least some of those things on your list.
I love seeing the praise for MCE and Annie. I think she's been totally fabulous lately. I was watching a few old clips and I was struck by just how little meat they gave her to work with. I'm also going to stay out of the wishing for Emmys sphere because I too tend to curse those I wish well.
Posted by: Kels | January 25, 2009 at 04:32 PM
I cannot wait for Kendall to wake up and I hope she makes Zach, Bianca and Reese PAY for their betrayal. (I include Reese because, even though she doesn't even know Kendall and, thus, has not really betrayed her -- she just bugs the hell out of me.) I particularly want Kendall to remind Zach of all the times he ranted to her about not keeping secrets when he was sitting on the biggest, creepiest secret of all time. As for Bianca, I can't wait for someone to finally point out what a spoiled, immature, selfish little twit she's become. I'm also interested to see how Erica is going to deal with all this -- will she side with Bianca or Kendall?
I'm also totally loving Annie's storyline and MCE's performance. I find the growing relationship between Aidan and Annie very moving, and I actually think I'd like to see them fall in love and become a happy couple...while Ryan ends up alone and lonely.
Posted by: Susan B. | January 26, 2009 at 12:28 AM
did you totally *crack up* over this exchange from Wednesday's episode?
REESE: "I cant wait to meet her!"
ZACH: "You're gonna love her! She's gonna love you!"
talk about delusional!!!!
Posted by: n69n | January 26, 2009 at 07:14 AM
Come on! Where is Aidan's shout out? He is tremendous in these Annie scenes. Friday's episode was heartbreaking. I love their friendship.
Posted by: Wickham | January 26, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Okay, I'll give a shout-out to Aidan, too -- both Aidan the character and Aidan the actor. As I said in my post, I'm finding the growing relationship between Annie and Aidan very moving. They've both been very hurt by people who claimed to love them and then unceremoniously tossed aside without a second thought. Ryan only cares about Annie getting well so she can be placed on trial and sent to prison for the rest of her life. Greenlee has been extremely callous to Aidan's feelings and couldn't throw him over fast enough when she decided she'd rather be with Ryan. And, in addition to losing their spouses, Annie and Aidan have also been abandoned by their so-called friends (Zach, Kendall, Tad, et. al.).
Both Annie and Aidan have been extremely damaged by these heartless, selfish creeps, and it's been very interesting to see them connect with each other. While MCE has had the benefit of showier writing for Annie, I think Aidan Turner has done a great job of portraying Aidan's more subtle, private emotional journey. When Aidan and Annie were talking through the vent, "holding hands" and Aidan started to cry, I got tears in my eyes, too.
So kudos to both MCE and AT -- they're both doing a great job in an unexpectedly interesting and heartfelt storyline.
Posted by: Susan B. | January 26, 2009 at 11:40 AM
If AMC insists on bringing Kendall out of the coma, the least they could do is recast with someone with some acting chops. This character hasn't been viable or interesting since Sarah Michelle Gellar originated the role and rocked the show. Damn, I loved me some Kendall back in the day.
And sweet mother of God -- how does Charles Pratt continue to get work? Has anyone bothered to look at the number of shows he's managed to destroy as writer/producer? Jeez.
Posted by: Dirk Mancuso | January 27, 2009 at 03:10 AM
Ryan only cares about Annie getting well so she can be placed on trial and sent to prison for the rest of her life.
Posted by: epdrama | February 08, 2009 at 11:34 AM