In Los Angeles, Dollar Bill sat on his judge like a bench with bailiff Justice by his side and Brooke, Katie and Thorne in the gallery and tried his case against Ridge and Judge McMullen regarding their custody case caper. Bill gave his opening statements and when he played and tagged the tape of Ridge and the Judge discussing their caper into evidence, case closed. Ridge was guilty, guilty, guilty. We all wondered what Bill would emerge, scoundrel Bill or this new and improved Bill. Well, Bill went high and bestowed absolution on Ridge for all his sins. Yet, we all were thinking the same thing. This won’t last. You can set the timer to when our scoundrel returns.
Last week General Hospital celebrated Maurice Bernard’s 25 years on the show with a Sonny centric episode, What If…..The episode centered around what Sonny’s life and Port Charles would look like if Sonny never joined the mob. There were some great what-ifs, Dam (Dante and Sam), Java (Jason and Ava) and AJ Quartermaine alive. It was a nice tribute to Maurice Bernard. We also got a letter from Hayden and the foundation of a bullying storyline involving Aiden was set. Could Lucky and/or Hayden be headed to Port Charles? We have everything crossed.
Salem packed another good punch last week. Christopher Sean was superb as Will ripped Paul’s heart out his chest when he admitted he loves and wants to be with Sonny. Charlotte DiMera was born into soapland. And her on-screen mommy is our Co-Performer of the Week. It was impossible to choose between Marci Miller and Camryn Grimes. It was a dead heat.
Marci Miller has saved her best for last. She is doing the darn thing. What a week Abby had. We witnessed; her anger of being kidnapped, her surprise of an early labor, her fear something would go wrong in labor, her joy of giving birth, her unwavering trust in Chad and then…..to be strapped to a stretcher and have her baby ripped from her arms while the man she loves is having her committed and turning her baby over to the man who had sex with her when he knew she was mentally ill. Whew.
How hair-raising was it, when Abby pleaded with Chad not to have her committed to not take her baby away. Why would you do this to me?! Why?! Gimmie the baby! Gimmie my baby! Please give me Charlotte! Chad, give her to me! Over and over she pleaded. ( It was bone-chillingly reminiscent of another Abby’s horror as Ben Weston took a baby away from her when she was chained to a burning bed.) Abby recovered quickly though. We got a defiant and determined Abby in scenes with JJ to close out the week. Marci and Casey so good. Marci was outstanding, spine-tingling like literally, we need to create more words to do her justice.
Genoa City gave us classic soap last week. We were treated to good old fashion couple’s drama (Phick/Shick/Philly/Shilly, Arturo/Abby/Mia/Rey and Lola/Kyle/Summer) against the backdrop of “a big event”, the JaBoutique’s launch party. And Genoa City is where our other Performer of the Week resides; Camryn Grimes!
Camryn because she doesn’t nearly get the recognition she deserves (co-starring with such deserving A rated actresses.)
Camryn Grimes showed us all that she is more than deserving of being in the conversation with the leading ladies of daytime. Four episodes of excellence. For four episodes, Camryn masterfully carried us along as we experienced Mariah’s emotions. She went from joy to moving in with the woman she loves, to confusion over Tessa’s reaction to her buying a new mattress, to the agony and incredulous vibe of learning the dark secrets of the two women she loves most in the world.
Mariah full of co-habitation bliss was happy to tidy up the somewhat cramped studio apartment. We did like the way The Young and the Restless had us following the duffel bag. Then pulled a switch a roo and had Tessa a couple of steps ahead of us and Mariah by moving her ill-gotten gains to the mattress. My grandmother kept cash underneath her mattress. But when you are talking a quarter of a million dollars, you need to keep that inside the mattress. Mariah, used to Sharon’s more luxurious bedding, got a crick in her neck after one night. So, she whipped out her credit card and bought a new one and threw the old one, stashed with cash, in the dumpster.
I’m sure Mariah imagined Tessa swooping her up in her arms (being so grateful for the upgrade) and them christening the new mattress. Nope. Tessa was furious. Tessa’s anger was confusing and sent Mariah reeling. But that paled in comparison to how Mariah felt when she saw Tessa by the dumpster stuffing cash out the mattress into her duffel bag.
Mariah and the quarter of a million dollars confronted Tessa the next morning. You can’t con a former con. But Tessa did try. I got the money from selling a song. You don’t believe me okay then how about I stole another one of your songs? You want me to sing it for you. Um….
Bit by bit Tessa gave Mariah a piece then another piece then another piece of the puzzle. We loved the way the writers revealed to Mariah what happened through multiple episodes. It was a welcome change of pace from how The Young and The Restless can sometimes move at warp speed.
Camryn’s expressions, voice inflection and demeanor had us living Mariah’s nightmare right there with her. She learned the hush money was really blackmail money, Noah, her brother, was Tessa’s mark and that her mom, Sharon, was at the very least an accomplice in JT’s murder. Whew again.
How would one react to learning all that? Who knows? But Camryn’s reactions were perfect for us. You know the adage show don’t tell? Camryn did so, skillfully. We’ve all discovered secrets that we wished we hadn’t. We have all been in Mariah’s shoes. We walked a mile in her shoes this week and what a trip it was! Well done Camryn!
***Cait Fairbanks was a worthy screen partner as well.
Who was your performer of the week?
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