January 31- February 4 2000

This week brought some new faces to Llanview -- old favorites and interesting newbies. Dorian's new fella is quite the looker: Drake Farrady -- that's a soapy name if ever I heard one. Oh the tender look on Dorian's face when Drake (played by handsome soap veteran Leigh J. McCloskey) introduced himself as an old friend of Mel's. Unfortunately, I missed most of their first encounter due to Tuesday’s continuing coverage of the Alaskan Airlines crash that has occurred on Monday. I'm a bit confused. I had assumed that Drake Faraday was a dashing fantasy figure who would whisk into Llanview and then quickly sweep Dorian off her feet and out of town (*sniff*) -- so what's this mysterious connection to Lindsay? Did I miss something else during Tuesday's preemption? When did Joey and Kelly move back to the carriage house? I thought Joey had insisted they stay and continue "helping" Kevin? At any rate, Kelly is determined to put New Year's Eve behind her. She bought a sexy nightie and started vamping her fiancé. Everything was going fine until Joey's face morphed into Kevin's -- not a good sign. So Kelly left the bedroom on some flimsy pretext only to discover Kevin loitering outside the front door (that dog!), whereupon Kelly confessed that she *was* attracted him. Then she ran upstairs, jumped in the sack with Joey, and decided to step up their wedding plans -- yeah, that makes sense. Finally, Ben made a face-to-face plea for forgiveness, but Viki wouldn't budge, telling him "There's a chasm between us." Good. I find Ben's dismay over the breakup to be utterly unconvincing. He seemed more upset about Will's arrest than losing the woman of his dreams. Mark Derwin really needs to do a better job of selling his character's emotions and motivations. I wonder: Would Viki be more open to a reconciliation if the specter of cancer wasn't looming? Bo was a total stud with Asa. He laid it on the line with his father, telling him, "You're destroying your family just to get what you want." When Asa called his bluff, he found out that Bo's threat was the real deal. Bo's parting shot as he walked out of his father’s life: "I don't even know you any more." By manipulating Will and fudging those accounts, Asa may think he's won, and maybe he has -- for now -- but he's also lost -- big time. He may be too stubborn to admit it, but this war with the Rappaports has cost him dearly. And it's cost Bo too. His grim countenance as he walked away from his father was painful to see. Then Will showed some gumption by taunting Asa. Will boasted that Asa's schemes had given him his father back and that he also had Nora's support and Bo's as well. "We are the family now, and there's no way we can lose." Asa didn't like hearing that! Nora and Dorian kept up their cat-and-mouse routine for a while with Nora pretending that she knew Lindsay's secret and Dorian pretending that she believed Nora. Finally, Dorian put a stop to the game. She told Nora that Lindsay's secrets were hers to keep or tell. Nora tried to call in her marker with Dorian, and that's when Dorian accused Nora of still being in love with Bo and wanting to destroy his relationship with Lindsay. Just then Sam walked in. Alone with Nora, he confronted her about her feelings for Bo. Sam accused Nora of avoiding the real issue: Bo and how she feels about him. Sam really pushed Nora on this and Nora pushed back. She insisted that Lindsay was the only issue and stalked out. But the next day, after Bo told her again to butt out and even Hank questioned her motives, Nora was willing to rethink her stand on Lindsay. She told Sam their family was first priority and promised to put aside her suspicions about Lindsay. Sam was relieved. I think Sam and Nora communicate very well. Dare I say it? Better than Bo and Nora, who always had a strange tendency to shut each other out when the going got tough. Well, no sooner had Nora decided to butt out of Lindsay's affairs, then the truth fell right in her lap, courtesy of Dr. Conklin. Dr. Conklin told Nora that her nurse distinctly remembered handing Bo's sperm test results to Mrs. Buchanan, but when Nora questioned the nurse, she pointed to Lindsay as the Mrs. Buchanan to whom she gave the tests. Bingo! Hank paid Nora and Sam a visit and was promptly buried in an avalanche of legal motions, but Hank had surprise of his own: a brand new ADA would be handling the case: Jared Hall, grandson of OLTL legend Ed Hall, and one of Sam’s former interns. Soap newcomer Herve Clermont made a good initial impression. It's great to see some new black characters for a change. Now how about bringing back Rachel? Hey, wouldn't it be cool if Al Freeman, Jr. made a brief appearance in Llanview to see his grandson in action? Skye showed Max her ace in the hole: the real Buchanan heir adoption certificate. Max promptly tore it up, but clever Skye has other copies. Desperate to keep Skye quiet, Max kicked his seduce-and-destroy plan into overdrive. After weeks of verbal foreplay, Max finally overcame Skye's defenses and these two got down to business. Max played on Skye's insecurities and loneliness by telling her what she's been desperate to hear from Ben (from anyone): Max told Skye she's first choice and he wants her more than Blair. Oh dear, Max is gonna pay for that! One question: Won't sex with Skye just be one more thing to hold over Max's head? But it looks like Max played his cards right. Skye may act like a tough cookie, but beneath the surface, she's desperate for someone to love her. Max thinks he can control Skye because of that vulnerability. I say he's playing with fire and is gonna get burned. What's going on inside Jessica's head? Is she still stuck on Cris? Does she have residual feelings for Will? I don't know and Jess may not know either. Cris showed up to thank Jessica for telling him the truth. He wanted to comfort her, but she rebuffed him and accused him of not knowing what he wanted. And it's true. One day, he loves Jess; the next day, he's marrying Roseanne; and now he's claiming to love Jessica again -- I don't blame Jessica for reacting with anger and confusion! Meanwhile, Roseanne is in major denial about her future with Cristian, and she may have an unlikely ally in Carlotta. I realize Carlotta is a good Catholic, but would she really encourage Cristian to make a go of his marriage to Roseanne? Her beloved daughter-in-law Andy was married before she met Antonio and we never heard a peep out of Carlotta on the issue. So why should Cristian's ill-conceived union with Roseanne be treated as a sacred covenant? In a typically "smart" move, Roseanne decided that the best defense is a good offense and began lashing out at everyone: first Carlotta, then Tea. And when Will showed up she slapped his face. Carlotta got mad and told her ungrateful deceitful daughter-in-law, "I urged Cristian to stick by you and that was the hardest thing I've done since I had to bury my husband Diego." Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but a lot more than Roseanne deserves! Then Cris and Carlotta started blaming R.J. for what happened -- come on! It's completely off base to blame R.J. for Roseanne's schemes. Lots of people warned Cris not to rush into marriage, but he was too pig-headed and too eager to sooth his wounded pride to listen. Then Tea acted all weird. First, she told Roseanne to shut up (nothing wrong with that), then she made a big deal about all the potential legalities involved, telling Roseanne she could be guilty of extortion or being an accomplice to embezzlement. What's strange is that Tea has known for months that Roseanne was lying about a big chunk of change -- suddenly, she's all scrupulous about the details? Heck, Tea even covered for Roseanne on several occasions. For Will, things are going from bad to worse. There was a sad scene with Will kneeling at Megan's grave and promising to make amends, but Will's remorse didn't cut any ice with ice-cold Jessica. Come on, Jess! I know she feels betrayed, but it's not like she's perfect. Who neglected to tell Cristian about the one-night stand with Will? Who refused to come clean about the baby and then ran away? I'm starting to feel sorry for Will, though I can't believe his foolish behavior wound up costing Nora and Sam their house! Will went to Cristian's art school nosing around for the truth about Cris's scholarship. Then Cris showed up with the same idea and both guys leveled each other with a few hard truths. Cris called Will a thief and Will accused Cris of using Roseanne. True on both counts. Naturally, the weasily administrator called Asa who promptly sicced the cops on Will (bail violation for leaving the state). The dean gave both guys a cock-and-bull story about funding cutbacks. Then the cops showed up and dragged Will away in cuffs. Gee Will, don't you think Asa is smart enough to cover his tracks? Better leave the investigation to professionals. Bo talked to Jess and tried to convince her to keep an open mind about Will. So she went to Asa for some answers. Asa did his best to talk Jessica 'round and avoid telling his beloved granddaughter an outright lie, and Jessica is still trusting enough to believe her grandfather. Then Cris showed up and told her he was starting to believe Will. NSA: New Set Alert! Hey, where's this seedy bar everyone is hanging out at? Cris showed up to drown his sorrows in pinball, then Will walked in and they got into it. Guess who broke up the fight? Antonio! Hey, welcome back, dude! Hot-tempered Antonio no sooner hit town than he started butting heads. First, he told off his new sister-in-law "Get this farce of a marriage annulled -- now," then quickly rekindled his old animosity with R.J. Soaps need conflict and Antonio is a spark plug for confrontation. Snippets: When Asa asked Renee to take a trip to the ranch with him, she accused him of feeling guilty and said she couldn't leave town because she had a wedding to attend. Asa tried to forbid her from going to Bo and Lindsay's wedding, but Renee went shopping instead. Gee, John was rather suave in his scene with Skye -- interesting... I loved how Sam reached out to Bo after the confrontation with Asa. Roseanne accused Antonio of being "hot" for her -- true? "Poor" Jess -- it must be rough to have two gorgeous guys vying for your attention. Doesn't R.J. have any post-Indigo occupation? He needs more to do than hang around the diner getting on Carlotta's nerves. I hope that rose Joey was rubbing all over Kelly was de-thorned! Antonio looks a little shrimpy next to David Fumero's Cristian. I don't believe for one minute that Blair wouldn't know what was going on between Max and Skye -- she could smell it on the both of them. This is one lady who won't be played for a fool. The Blair I know would've staked out Skye's front door till Max emerged. That was very sweet of Jessica to congratulate Bo and Lindsay. I hope Cris intends to pay for that broken wall! How can Sam talk about how honest Nora is after what happened with Bo/Sam/Matthew? Sometimes when I watch Hank and Nora together, I wish we'd had the chance to see them as a married couple. Not sure I'm crazy about Jess's new curls. Gee, with Hank off the case, the state might actually win for a change -- poor Will! LOL at Lindsay's butterfingered treatment of Asa's wedding gift -- oops! It was funny to watch Jared Hall try to keep track of the labyrinth of Llanview cross-coupledom, or as he called it "reshuffled couples." Hey, is that a new Bo photo in the opening montage? Always of interest, Robin Strasser's recent hotlines as the end approaches have been wonderful. New ADA Jared Hall raised some very good points about the incestuous nature of law-and-order Llanview style. Shouldn't Bo recuse himself from this case. Hank did and he's much less involved with the principle players. Strictly in legal terms, Will taking $35,000 is enough to raise the stakes to grand larceny, so it really doesn't matter that Asa gilded the lily to the tune of $500,000. Roseanne seems almost delusional at times. How can she tell Tea she won't give up her expensive new apartment? How can she possibly pay the rent? The goose laying those golden eggs has been cooked! Why does Will have to stay in jail? What about house arrest with an electronic ankle monitor. If it was good enough for Todd facing multiple kidnapping charges, surely Will deserves the same. LOL at Hank beaming with pride as protege Jared Hall adopted a Hank-Gannon-style hard line. In the past few weeks Sam, Hank, Dorian, Lindsay, and now Viki have asked Nora if she's still in love with Bo. Where there's smoke... Geez, is Ben gonna shadow poor Viki all over town? Seems to me that Bo and Nora have two very different interpretations of what when down New Year's Eve in that warehouse. Okay, I'll bite: how does Lindsay know Drake Farady? It was very sweet of Lindsay to ask Dorian to be her matron of honor. Then again, she really doesn't have any other friends. Last week, all the hints pointed to Ben being Asa's son. This week, the show is again dropping clues that John Sykes could be the one. I still think it's Ben. This Sykes stuff just *has* to be a red herring. I think Bo seems genuinely happy with Lindsay. That was a nice brother-sister talk between Jess and Kevin at the cemetery. Uh oh. Lindsay has decided not to tell Bo about the baby till their wedding night. Sounds like a bad idea to me. Till next week!

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