The Pine Valley Bulletin

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Established 1998

 

 

August 5, 2003

Well boys and girls, I'm on a serious timeframe here... but I promised. So let's get started. I'm trying to get myself in a good mood (don't ask), so I chose a CD changer full of upbeat swing music today. I'm starting out with the Cherry Poppin' Daddies "Zoot Suit Riot" then Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (self titled), followed by The Brian Setzer Orchestra "The Dirty Boogie" and a couple compilations, first Hipsters, Zoots and Wingtips "The 90's Swingers" and then Hipsters, Zoots and Wingtips (Vol. 2) "Original Swingers"

That Mary Smythe... ya just gotta love her! She is determined to snag Jack for herself. Can you say delusional? I mean really, how does she think that telling Jack that she kept his daughter a secret from him for 25 years is going to endear herself to him? Well she does. And in her nutso state of mind, she goes into the wedding hall at the Valley Inn. No one is there, which is perfect for Mary as she plucks the bride off the top of the cake and stomps her. Eh, what the heck, breaking the arm off the plastic bride wasn't enough destruction, she decided to topple the whole cake! Kendall catches her in the act, but demonstrating something she has in common with several other Pine Valley residents (Erica, Michael) Mary acts like she didn't do a thing. She can't really slither out of it though, since Kendall saw her do it. Mary gets mad then and starts to taunt Kendall about Erica and their relationship. She tells Kendall that there is no way she'll let Erica dismiss Greenlee like she has Kendall. HUH? Kendall is confused, what does Greenlee have to do with anything? Mary slithers out but the wheels are turning in Kendall's brain now.

Erica arrives and sees the cake mess on the floor and of course, immediately assumes Kendall did it. But Kendall tells her it was Mary. A shocked Erica picks up her broken plastic bride. I bet Mary thought it was like having a voodoo doll. Alas, Erica's arms are both intact. Kendall, who has suddenly decided from the cryptic messages Mary gave her, that Greenlee must be Jack's daughter decides to test Erica with it and says what she's thinking out loud. Erica, of course, tries to deny it. But Erica's skiddish actions pretty much prove it to Kendall. She's shocked that Erica would keep such a monumental secret from Jack, and frankly so am I. Then again, it's typical Erica isn't it. She wants to control every situation. But Erica's justification on this is absurd. She had to know that at some point Jack would find out. Just blackmailing Mary with her 17 year old French boy toy wouldn't make this go away. Kendall urges Erica to come clean, but she won't. She plays the "we're close now, don't screw it up" card on Kendall by saying that she won't stop her from telling Jack or Greenlee the truth, but she would hate to see her in the middle of this mess. Kendall gets the message and promises, out of family loyalty, not to tell them. For being so darned stupid, Erica gets this weeks DCM COMMEMORATIVE SLAP AWARD! Will she never learn not to hide huge things from the men she loves? I guess not.

Meanwhile back at her penthouse, Greenlee reads the letter that Mary so painstakingly made sure would end up in her hands. It's the letter she wrote to Jack at the Valley Inn and postdated, revealing that she is carrying Jack's child but is going to marry Roger. Why didn't anyone (ie, Greenlee) ask her why Jack never got this letter. Mary is carrying around a letter addressed to Jack that is dated 1976. What is up with that!? Shouldn't he have gotten it in 1976? I know it's a fake, but Greenlee didn't realize that at first. Isn't she curious as to why Mary has a letter for Jack that is that old? Doesn't she wonder why Jack never got it? Anyway, Greenlee cannot believe what she is reading. She goes to get a picture of her and Roger and looks at him, realizing he is not her father. You know, for the most part I think this was a very unnecessary plot twist at this point. If they wanted to do it, it should have been done a year ago when we first realized that Jack and Mary knew each other. Why now? Yeah yeah, to mess up Jack and Erica. But there is a bigger picture here. Greenlee's personality has been defined by her lack of love and attention by her mother and her father. Now I'm just as confused as Greenlee. Who is she?

How much do I love Reggie? LOTS. He's the greatest addition to the show in a really long time! I love how he has become such an important part of Jack's life, and in return, he cares about Jack and Erica too. Because of this, he played Mary like a pro! When he sees her at the Valley Inn trying to get into the wedding hall, he tells her that she cannot go inside. He goes on to tell her that Jack has called off the wedding and took off to the woods to think things through. When Mary perks up at the prospect of this being true, Reggie continues and tells her that Jack has been talking about her a lot lately, and that if she wanted he would take her to Jack personally. Oh yes, Mary jumps at that chance! What Reggie did was, take Mary to the woods and dump her there! And later he tells Erica that he "took care of Mary" much to the delight of the squealing Ms. Kane!

Back at Erica's penthouse, Jack goes to see Erica. Oh... bad luck Jack. He asks her if she's really and truly ready to marry him. She gave me my first *sniff sniff* moment of the week when she tells Jack that she'd like to get her mother's blessing. The two of them, together, ask for Mona's blessing. Sweet!

I must interject here for a moment. I have to give AMC props (did I just say "props"???) for their use of history lately. We have Mona mentioned several times before and during the wedding. Lily called Jack before the wedding (couldn't be there because of chicken pox) and Jack made sure to ask Brooke to call her when the wedding didn't happen. Liza mentioned Greg Nelson recently and she also mentioned Tad's former wife Dottie this week. Nice! Oh and if you're concerned about James Mitchell (Palmer was unable to be at the wedding too) don't worry! We'll be seeing him in the near future!

Back to Greenlee... she makes her way to the Valley Inn and sees Jack. Jack notices that something is very wrong. Greenlee doesn't tell him, but only says she needs to see her mother. Jack takes her to Mary's room, but Mary isn't there. Jack is worried about Greenlee, so he makes her sit and gets her some water. Once a tattered and torn up Mary arrives, Jack decides to go so they could talk. Mary makes one last ditch effort to have Greenlee tell Jack what is bothering her but she doesn't so Jack goes. Greenlee confronts Mary with the letter, she's sure that Mary must be lying about the whole thing. But Mary tells her it's the truth and that Jack could be a great father to her, he'd love and cherish her. Greenlee wants Mary to swear on a bible that what she has said is true, but while she's getting the bible, she finds the stationary that Mary used to write her postdated letter on. Now Greenlee is really convinced that Mary's lying, she knows she faked the letter. Mary suddenly blurts out that she did in fact fake the letter but it was only because Erica is blackmailing her into silence. A stunned Greenlee listens as Mary tells her that she was Jack's blood donor and that it proves she's his daughter. In order to prove her sincerity to her daughter, Mary even confesses what Erica is holding over her head. Mary tells her how a gigolo stole all her money, and how she sought comfort in the arms of another, um... er, man. Ahhh, 17 year old Jean Jacques! Did you notice that far away look in Mary's eye when she spoke of young Jean Jacques? Mary tells Greenlee that she doesn't care who knows anymore, she just wants her and Jack to come together. She begs Greenlee to go to Jack before he marries Erica.

Over at the penthouse, Kendall is urging Erica to confess, but Erica evades. She then gives Kendall a gorgeous string of pearls that belonged to Mona. Oh, here comes *sniff sniff* moment number two when Erica tells Kendall that Mona told her she could have the pearls as long as she always kept them in the family, and Kendall is family. Oh I am such a sucker for these Erica/Kendall moments! Bianca finally arrives (more on her later) and they all get to work on make up. But after the girls are dressed, Erica starts to freak. By the way, I thought the gowns were gorgeous! They screamed class! Anyway, keeping this huge secret from Jack is starting to tear Erica apart and she questions if she deserves to be happy at all. Kendall and Bianca do their best to calm their mother down. Bianca tells her that Mona is with them and she told them that they are a legacy of strong women. Erica agrees and gets ready to marry her man!

Joni, who is looking absolutely adorable, meets Reggie at the wedding. Big mistake AMC, getting rid of her! She and Reggie could have had the relationship that Jenny and Jesse never had. They were great together!

People are arriving for the wedding and as Ruth and Joe arrive and tell Jack how happy they are for him, Ruth delivers this weeks LINE OF THE WEEK when she says, "I'm very happy Jackson is marrying Erica and not a Brent or a Martin!" ZING! And in the CUTEST SCENE OF THE WEEK, Brooke and Anna go see Jack and give him a final out before marrying Erica. They've got the car ready and want to rescue him!

Myrtle walks a very stunning Erica down the aisle and the wedding ceremony gets underway. They have Stuart read a lovely poem. You know, just seeing Stuart anymore gives me a *sniff sniff* moment. I miss him and Marian so much! After the poem, the Reverend asks who gives this woman to this man, and Myrtle states while looking up to the heavens, "Her mother, and I do." Erica is touched and Myrtle goes back to sit with Opal, while her boyfriend Boyd beams with pride from a few rows back.

Well, as several people stated... it wouldn't be a Pine Valley wedding without an interruption. Greenlee bursts into the wedding. Kendall tries to stop her and begs her to let her mother get married, but Greenlee says she objects... she objects to Erica, to this wedding and to this man being her father. Jack is confused. He tells Greenlee that they have been over all this already and he has no intentions of ever being her step-father or surrogate father. Greenlee tells Jack he's the real things. Mary arrives and confirms that what Greenlee is saying is true. Erica, in true Erica fashion, says it's all a lie. Greenlee is prepared though, she has Mary's diary and makes a total spectacle of herself at the wedding as she reads a passage that indicates she is Jack's daughter. You know what the best part of this whole thing is? How much Jamie is enjoying it all. He is smiling and laughing and just diggin the whole scene! It was hilarious. As Greenlee reads about Mary and Jack's night of teenage (huh? neither of them were teenagers 25 years ago!) passion, it hits me! We know that Mary had no idea that Jack was one of THE Montgomery's of South Carolina, and that Jack never let on. So this is what hits me... Jack must have left the family after Christine (heretofore known as Kit) supposedly drowned. If you recall from that storyline, Jack blamed himself for his little sister's death his whole life. So this must be why he cut himself off from the family!

Irrationally, Greenlee is angry at Jack for never piecing it together. Maybe he should have had an inkling, but come on now. Why would anyone just think... oh she's my daughter, when she already had a father? And anyway, Jack thinks the whole thing is a lie. But then Greenlee plays the blood donor card and Jack turns ten shades of pale. Mary tells him then that she wanted to tell him but that Erica was blackmailing him. OK Mary, that's why you didn't tell him NOW, but why didn't you tell him 25 years ago...24 years ago...23 years ago, you get the idea. Of course, Queen of Denial Erica, denies Mary's accusation. Erica was wrong, Mary was wrong... no two ways about it.

Greenlee takes off after telling Jack that he's just as dead to her as Roger and wants nothing to do with him, and while she's at it, she wants nothing to do with Mary either. David tries to go after her but he could not find her. Erica tries to get the wedding to go on, but Jack is having none of that. He grabs Joe and Tad and heads to the hospital to get a look at the blood donor records. Knowing that they are confidential, Jack calls a judge to get a court order to view them.

Bianca is starting to freak. Jack and Erica were supposed to end up happy. Erica assures her that everything will be fine, so Bianca gets the Reverend to keep his schedule open so they can have the ceremony performed at any time, once Jack gets back from the hospital. She fusses with decorations and tries to keep busy. Maggie (who actually has on a pretty nice dress for a change) watches as Bianca starts to come unglued. She picks up a white rose, just like the one she picked up from Myrtle's floor after Michael raped her. Bianca is that white rose, that innocence lost. She's upset, it wasn't supposed to be this way!

At the hospital, Joe gives Jack the records he wants to see, without waiting for the court order. Eh, he knew it was coming anyway. The hospital records show that Greenlee was in fact Jack's blood donor. Joe confirms that she has to be a very close blood relative for there to be such a match.

And over at the cemetery, Greenlee goes to Roger's grave. She has such anger. She wants to confront him... she tells him that she realizes now that he knew she wasn't his daughter and could never love her. He made her feel inadequate all her life, like she wasn't good enough for him. She grabs a stick and beats the tombstone, telling him over and over that she hates him and wants to hurt him the way he hurt her. She wishes her were still alive so she could break his heart like he broke hers over and over. Oh my, this is not a just a *sniff sniff* moment, this is a *weep weep* My heart just broke for Greenlee and all the confusion she has right now. She gets HONORABLE MENTION PERFORMER OF THE WEEK.

This weeks MEANINGLESS DRIVEL OF THE WEEK is when Mia and Simone plan to have Juan Pablo pose as Mia's boyfriend so they can win the stupid Fusion bet. Who cares! There was so much intensity this week, and this mindless filler was just annoying!

That goes for this weeks LEO duPRES MEMORIAL PASS THE HANDBAG moment too, which is Tad being jealous of Juan Pablo's flirting with Liza. Personally I would rather never see Tad and Liza as a couple again, but this dancing around it is more than annoying, it's insulting. I know many think the Fusion women act immature a lot of the time, well that goes for Liza too! Ugh.

And one more thing.... out of nowhere, David declares that Anna is his only chance for happiness and asks her to marry him again. Say huh?

OK... now to the good stuff! Bianca and Maggie go to the Pitt. Is it the Pit? or the Pitt? I never know. Anyway, Bianca proceeds to get drunk, after telling Maggie that they don't card there. You know, I have to give AMC kudos for paying attention to more details.... like Jack calling for a court order to get the records, like Bianca saying that the bar doesn't card, like all the times they have said lately that you can't use a cell phone in a hospital. OK, they still need some work on it (like Bianca's shoulder bruises suddenly disappearing - or maybe she just used IGIA Quick Cover!), but it's so much improved. Anyway, after getting drunk, Bianca acts like a sleazy skank, dancing all over the bar. When the men call her on it, she freaks. Sober Maggie gets her out of there and back to the dorm room, where she takes care of her friend. While Bianca is laying down, Maggie tells her that she knows something is terribly wrong and wishes she would tell her what's wrong. A groggy Bianca tells her she doesn't want rape to happen again and could she please make sure he doesn't come back. Maggie promises Bianca she is safe, as Bianca drifts off to sleep and Maggie is left more worried than ever.

The next morning, Maggie tells Bianca that she said something about rape before going to sleep and wants to know what she meant. Bianca covers by saying she probably said a lot of things in her condition last night. Maggie pleads with Bianca to not hide anymore and outright asks her if she was raped. Bianca tries to leave, but Maggie won't let her. Bianca starts to freak out about the door being locked. Maggie assures her that the door isn't locked and begs her to open up and let it out. Bianca is terrified, she cannot let it be real. I'm riveted to my seat as I watch Eden Riegel's Emmy winning performance unfold before my eyes. Bianca collapses to the floor and starts out by saying "he hurt me." She didn't want to continue any further, she couldn't even say the world "rape." But Maggie, her friend, sat with her and urged her to let it out. Maggie tells her he will never hurt her again. This is when it happens. Bianca tells her that he never left her. He is with her, he is still inside her. SPOILER ALERT Prophetic words by Bianca, because as it turns out, he is inside her. ABC has confirmed that Bianca will be pregnant as a result of being raped by Michael. SPOILER ALERT

This weeks SCENE OF THE WEEK continues as Maggie helps Bianca along, all the while telling her she is there for her, she is her friend and she loves her. She asks her when it happened, Bianca tells her it was the night of the storm. She came home to Myrtle's and he was there. She didn't even know it. The power was out, she never saw him until he lit his lighter under his face like some kind of Halloween mask. She was scared and he apologized for frightening her. She asked him to leave, but he wouldn't go, and he locked the door. She hoped someone would come home, but no one ever did. He made her dance with him, she didn't want to! Her details, her heartbreak was just heartbreaking to watch. His breath was lemony and she couldn't get away from it. She couldn't get to the door, it looked so far away. Bianca breaks down as she puts the blame on herself because she angered him, she hit him with the fireplace poker. Maggie tells her over and over that it was not her fault. Bianca tried to get to the door, but couldn't get out, he grabbed, he tore her shirt. She screamed and no one heard her. No one but him. He covered her mouth. She hit him, but he was so much stronger than her. She said "Please don't do this," and then faults herself again for saying "please" while Maggie tells her she did nothing wrong. I'm getting weepy just repeating this. OK... proceed. Bianca tells Maggie she tried to pretend it wasn't her that he was doing this to, but was her. And he wouldn't stop, even when it felt like he was ripping her in half, he would not stop. She thought it would kill her, and after it was over, she wished it had. Is it any wonder that Bianca is this weeks PERFORMER OF THE WEEK? She was absolutely incredible. She has been through this whole storyline. Remember the day after the rape, when Bianca was on the sofa at Myrtle's and was in such a state of shock, you could see it all over her face. Those tears just flowing down her cheeks. WOW, this is one talented young lady. She has blown me away throughout this whole storyline. And something that I have truly loved that AMC has done lately is silence. No stupid background music during these intense scenes. It makes it even more intense if that's possible. Absolutely incredible. **STANDING OVATION TO EDEN RIEGEL**

After Bianca tells her story, Maggie assures her that she is safe and that she loves her and will protect her. She asks Bianca why she never told her mother. Bianca's rationale for that is that she couldn't do it to her mother, it would cause her to relive her own horrible rape ordeal. Maggie wants to call the police, so she asks Bianca for a description. Bianca tells her that no description is necessary, that it was Michael Cambias who raped her. A shocked Maggie wants to call Jack immediately, but Bianca says no way. Maggie agrees to wait until after the wedding, but as soon as it's over, she wants Bianca to report Michael to her Uncle Jack. Bianca says no way, that Michael is going to jail anyway, so there is no need to put herself or her mother through such an ordeal. Maggie doesn't agree, but Bianca makes her swear on their love for Frankie that she will not tell anyone what happened. Maggie agrees.

I know a lot of people don't like this kind of storyline, and well... nobody likes rape. But it is a part of life and I think AMC and Eden have done a fabulous job. I do not think that Bianca was raped because she's a lesbian. Michael could care less about that and would have raped her regardless of her sexual orientation. Bianca is the common denominator in everyone's life that he views has wronged him.... Erica's daughter, Kendall's sister, Lena's lover, and even Boyd's friend. And well yes, her being a lesbian did played a part, because well... she is a lesbian. But it's not the ONLY reason and certainly not the main reason. Michael is disturbed and delusional. He still believes he did nothing wrong and still proclaims how he would never force himself on a woman. I think his friend, "that girl in Milan" who has been mentioned several times will end up being a part of this equation and will show his pattern of abusing women.

Michael is not after lesbians... he tried to rape Erica and Kendall too! Bianca had to be the one though. She is the only one who hasn't double-crossed him. She is the only one left that he could get to understand him, to help him. No matter how you slice it, Michael is ill. He doesn't know that what he did was wrong. He doesn't believe he crushed a young woman's spirit. He believes he got close to her. He believes that she now wants to be with him. Did you see him take her hand at the Valley Inn? It was like he was going to take her to his room. He wanted to be with her. He thought that was what she would want too. He is ill. The fact that she's a lesbian is of no consequence to him. He doesn't understand it. He uses sex in every aspect of his life, and this is no different. He doesn't understand that what he did was not even about sex. He's so out there, that he thinks they made love. And this is in no way an excuse for what he did. I think he's disgusting and I hope he pays for what he did, in spades! This is just my view on why it was Bianca that was raped, and why I don't agree with GLAAD's complaints about this storyline. If they looked at it as giving a lesbian character a huge storyline, instead of raping a lesbian for the sake of raping a lesbian, they might be more apt to get behind it.

This weeks AMC gets an A due mainly to the performances of Eden Riegel and Rebecca Budig. Truly amazing!!