BC - Mon, 8/15/11

Tad goes to PVH, holds up Cara's housekey and asks Cara why she moved out. She didn't move out; she left her key there with the PURPOSE of leaving, but I don't think she took so much as her purse with her, so in my book she hasn't moved out yet. In fact, she's barely been at work for more than a few minutes. BTW, WTF is up with a KEY? No one ever locks their doors in PV!

David says Zach has an infection and he needs antibiotics pumped into him. Let me get this straight: David routinely invents his own drugs, brings multiple people back from the dead, keeps them alive, yet in some sort of twilight sleep for YEARS on end while they are hidden away from the rest of the world, yet he doesn't have any antibiotics at his facilities? BOGUS!

Oh look! They threw us a bone by having Erica not only EAT something, but she eat a special sugary pastry and enjoyed it immensely. Can the G-Word be far behind?

Is Ryan's microphone not synced up with the other ones? Every time he talks he blasts me out of my chair, but if I turn it down enough to normal his volume, I can barely hear Kendall or Greenlee (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

Wow, Dixie has made remarkable strides since she got out of Oakhaven.

Robin "I just KNOW she's going to be singing 'You Are My Sunshine' to JAR in the final show" Coutellier

BC - Mon, 12/27/10

Okay, you medical and law enforcement types -- how busy are hospitals and police personnel on Christmas Eve? Do they typically run on skeleton crews?

Kendall describes her dream to Erica and Jack. She talks about how the light she saw outside was so warm and hopeful and how it made her feel good. Well, I guess there goes my brief theory that she was about to be abducted by an alien.

Cara stayed on at PVH past the end of her shift so that the doctors with families could go home. On whose authority did she tell them to leave? She's the NEW doctor. Then her brother talks her into going to the Martin Christmas Eve party after all. If she told the other doctors to go home because she'll stay and cover, and now she's leaving, who's going to be there at the hospital?

There's not a spec of color on the Chandler family Christmas tree. How ... tasteful. I'm sure every 6-yr-old appreciates a dull, but tasteful tree. In fact none of the trees show any hint of participation by a child when it comes to decoration.

I had missed a moment so I backed up my Tivo. Just as it backed up, Annie asked JAR how it went, and JAR said: "Marissa offered me a joint--". I was like, WHAT? I definitely missed SOMETHING. He was, of course, referring to joint CUSTODY.

Annnnndd there's Father Clarence at Kendall's door.

Robin "apparently Angie's going to have to be blind for a while longer unless Father C can pull TWO miracles out of his collar" Coutellier

BC - Wed, 12/23/10

Kendall having mental problems at Christmastime (or any other time of the year, for that matter)? Say it isn't so!

Who will Father Clarence visit this year? We all know that Angie needs to miraculously regain her eyesight, but she also needs to have a late-in-life baby with jeopardy attached or at least some challenges. So will Angie go another year blind and catch Father Clarence during Christmas 2011. Will Kendall get some sort of healing visit from him this time? She seems to be the one who needs a miracle the most.

OMG, I just had an AWFUL thought! Is Kendall going to try to have grief sex with Father Clarence??? You know how she gets. OTOH, maybe he just sent the two new hunks (oops, at first I typed "hungs") her way so that she can have a selection.

I'm glad Madison at least protested that Greenlee COMPLETELY invaded her privacy by looking at her hospital records (after Greenlee had the gall to say "Might as well just be honest with me". Greenlee, of course, just shrugs it off by saying: "What's done is done," and then moving on to her own agenda. Madison should sue Greenlee's rich, self-entitled ass!

Jake says he just talked to the little boy's mom in the waiting area. WTF? I'm used to regulars just dropping their kids off at doctor appointments so that they can further their storylines by running into other people, but this is ridiculous. The mom is just sitting in the waiting room waiting for her child to trot out? Does PVH have a rule that parents are not ALLOWED to be in the exam room with children? If nothing else, the opportunity for the child to be abused in one manner or another is wide open. Parents in Pine Valley get an F.

Angie hired someone she's never met before on the spur of the moment because PVH was DESPERATE for more doctors. Amanda shows up later in Jake's shift and he pulls rank to go off with her, since there's not much going on there, leaving Cara, on her first day, to take up any slack. After all, it's not like there is any increased chance of an influx of people coming into the Emergency Room due to, say, people attending Christmas parties and then driving drunk and causing massive pileups on the icy roads, or perhaps a food court collapsing at the mall because it can't hold the weight of all the onlookers when a flash mob suddenly starts singing Hallelujah.

Robin "I'm just sayin'" Coutellier

BC - Thu, 12/2/10

Annie comments (upon seeing the headline about Erica shooting David), that Erica always makes it interesting. This from the homicidal maniac.

Zach just died and Kendall wants to up and leave the boys so she can go to the beach where it happened. What a FINE mother she is! She wants Greenlee to go with her to show her where everything went down (so to speak). If I were Greenlee, I'd wear a life vest a parachute for the entire flight.

David yanks the tube out of his mouth (within a fantasy). What was that tube FOR? It didn't go down his throat into his stomach or lungs. It didn't do ANYTHING. If they wanted to give him extra oxygen, there would have been a canula going into his nose. Maybe it was just to suck spit out of his mouth, although we should have heard the suction if that was the case, like when you are at the dentist.

Robin "Not that I WANT to hear David's spit along its travels" Coutellier

BC - Mon-Tue, 9/20-21/10

I'm not impressed with the shrink hypnotizing Ryan. She brings him back to being in the room with David and says he's confronting him. She asks "Are you ANGRY?" Uh, that's leading/planting. She should ask how he feels, not pick a feeling and ask him to verify it.

Greenlee tells Jake that she heard Ryan remember that he loves her. And hearing him say that, she realizes she still loves him, too. Gee, what a shocker. She must be REELING from not one but TWO such profound realizations. Geez, you two, get a room! And lock yourself in it without any cameras and never come out again. Then we'll ALL be happy.

Greenlee tells Jesse that she told David that their whole relationship was a lie. Uh, it was a lie from the moment DAVID starting banking blackmail points and then using them against her. Of course, he DID find out that her faking giving it a try after that all came to light was a lie, but WTF did he EXPECT?

Why are Jesse and Greenlee sitting on the terrace at the Yacht Club reading

E-V-I-D-E-N-C-E

together?

So is that park part of a studio back lot or a private estate or do they just keep shutting down parts of a public park to film AMC episodes?

Why would Kendall need a kitchen tour of the penthouse? She used to LIVE there and has contributed on many occasions to the big stain on the floor in front of the fireplace.

Why would Jesse give Greenlee any letters from David to be delivered to ANYONE? That makes no sense whatsoEVER! Not only would the letters need to remain in the chain of custody, but they'd have to be checked for prints, trace-DNA and other forensic and authentication testing. If the police suspect David was murdered, there's no way in HELL those letters would be anywhere but in an evidence locker (LOCK being the operative word) until after a trial. Besides, aren't those letters ~printed~, as opposed to handwritten? How does Jesse know that they weren't planted after the fact? The only handwriting I saw was David's scrawled signature.

In a later scene, Jesse says the lab is still working on the letters. Huh? Then how did Greenlee get the letter to give to Amanda? A copy? Putting it in a copier would also compromise the forensic integrity (snort!) of it. What did she do, take a photo with a phone and then print it?

Why hasn't Jackson come back to support his daughter? He was mad at her, but this kind of thing should trump that. I understand why MARY didn't come back; I'm not sure it would even occur to her to do so.

Robin "did Erica twitter about THAT?" Coutellier

BC - Mon-Tue, 9/13-14/10

Kendall accused Greenlee of intending to send Erica to prison. Greenlee, who was "coming clean" about everything to Kendall and Bianca, said: "No!" Uh, YES. She absolutely, unequivocally intended for Erica to go to prison; I remember she and David discussing it and chortling gleefully over the prospect.

Amanda, Jake and Tad go over papers David filed in an effort to get rid of Angie. Tad says that it's too bad she chose to continue to practice medicine even though she was losing her sight. Jake: "She should lose her CAREER over this?" Uh, YES. I don't have a hate-on for Angie -- I like her a lot, in fact, but she DID screw up.

If someone is about to be fired for practicing medicine while blind, why would having all her friends there to testify as to what a good person she is make a difference? Why would they all be allowed in the ROOM, even? It's not like it's a public court hearing. If they are going to speak on her behalf, it should be one person at a time with the others waiting in a different room. And Greenlee SHOULD be there, considering that she is on the Board (or a proxy should be there for her; she WAS widowed only the night before, so I imagine they could cut her some slack). Does the Hospital Board consist of only three people?

Now all Angie's friends and family are clapping for her after she defends herself. Angie stands there, noble in her refusal to accept being "handicapped". It was a nice speech, but is that really the place for her own entourage to be applauding her as if she just gave a rousing valedictorian speech? And her being handicapped is not the issue. She didn't fess up to it and put the hospital and patients at risk. She also, most likely, put others at risk of catching whatever she has. They made a point after a LONG time to say it was not contagious from HER, but they made a HUGE point of the fact that it was EXTREMELY contagious from the patient from whom she caught it. As she stood there looking noble and self-righteous, I thought of the speech Otter gave in Animal House and how all his frat brothers stood up and hummed the national anthem as they marched out in a self-righteous huff of American pride, which had nothing whatsoever to do with the issue at hand.

Why aren't a bunch of OTHER doctors and medical personnel in the peanut gallery? Yes, there are letters, but the presence of someone other than her friends and family might indicate that someone cares enough to do more than write a letter or sign a petition.

Why didn't JAR call eBabe when he realized AJ was missing, if only to find out if AJ went to HER?

Ryan bursts into the penthouse and informs Madison that he didn't do it -- he's FREE! Hold on there, Ryan -- you didn't BEAT him to death, but there's nothing to indicate yet that you didn't manage to get a lethal dose of Digitalis into him.

If Ryan was arrested for murder, wouldn't they have gotten a search warrant to search his place immediately?

Madison must have left the hearing the second she finished praising Angie, because the hearing was still going on when Madison was at Ryan's place.

Why did the Board make JAKE read the letter from David? That's just plain STUPID and totally unexplained. Was it so that the actors playing board members wouldn't have to be paid for the number of lines that needed to be spoken?

A vial (an empty vial) of Digitalis was in Ryan's coat pocket. You KNOW it was planted.

I wonder if Mayor Blanco had anything to do with dosing David. Yes, she was pugnaciously in David's corner in all things, but what if he had something on HER, too? Maybe she was sick and tired of doing his bidding, politically speaking. So why would she plant the vial in Ryan's pocket? Why not? At least it's not HER pocket.

Then again, the medical access to liquid Digitalis steers it back toward Nurse Gayle. Of course, ANYONE in town can get access to ANYTHING they want, one way or another, so that puts the Digitalis ball back in everyone's court.

In an AMC historical note, Digitalis was used to kill off David Thornton back around 1978. David Thornton was also a doctor (and cardiologist at that, I think). He tried to kill Edna Thornton by putting Digitalis in her wine. He was treating her for heart problems and he thought he could get away with it because the Digitalis would be untraceable (apparently they've figured out how to trace it since then) and it would mimic (or cause) a heart attack . He and Edna were distracted by something and little Dottie Thornton (6) playing around, almost drank from it, then quickly put the glass back, inadvertently trading the places of the wineglasses. David died from a heart attack brought on by massive dose of Digitalis.

Robin "in Pine Valley heart doctors named 'David' are doth destined to die due to dreaded Digitalis" Coutellier

BC - Tue, 9/7/10, Part 1

Okay, David is dead. Presumably. The suspects are innumerable given what an evil, obnoxious, scheming, manipulative man he was. Really, we don't know yet if he died from a beating or poison or what, so even people IN the room when he staggered in are suspects. Of course, David being David, he COULD just be letting people THINK he died. Until we see the autopsy, we won't REALLY know. He's had a LOT of practice arranging for other people to be fake-dead, after all.

OR, maybe David chose this moment to end his own life in a dramatic way. Maybe he found out he really DID have a terminal disease. This way he can do a lot of damage with lots of suspects. Yeah he and Ryan were beating each other ,and he may have gotten into it physically with someone else after THAT, but what if he also took some sort of time-delay, undetectable potion he made that made him die?

Jake performed CPR on David for a total of about 26 seconds before declaring him "gone". Now THAT is a dedicated doctor!

I was wrong about the white dress on the extra I described in the last Boogie Chillen. Those aren't pouches, just some giant flaps of some kind. There may or may not be bow-like appendages to the side of the giant flaps. Whatever it is, it's HIDEOUS! The black dashes I described before, up close, are actually large square shiny things, similar to sequins, but much, MUCH bigger.

LOD:
Mayor Blanco: "Your ethics are not a priority right now!"

Liza doesn't HAVE ethics. Truer words were never spoken in Pine Valley, regardless of the situation or people involved.

Have papers been signed as far as Liza being the new DA? Didn't that JUST happen right before the party, with the mayor telling her in passing? Does anyone in town OTHER than the mayor know that Liza is the DA? Oh, apparently the governor of PA approved it. That doesn't mean it's official, though, unless Liza filled out some paperwork.

Liza has way, Way, WAAAAY too many connections to David to be a prosecutor in this case. He delivered Colby. He's an enemy of Tad, with whom she has an off-and-on relationship. He's an enemy of Zach, whom she also loves. He's blackmailed HER on occasion, forcing her to represent him. She DID represent him (as she stated to the mayor). For all those reasons and more, there's no way in HELL she would be able to get anywhere near this case in real life. Don't they have an Assistant DA? Also, she falsely accused Jesse of raping or attempting to rape her when they were teens. It was a long time ago, but they should NOT be working together on a murder case. I don't know the solution to that kind of ethical dilemma in real life. In PV life, it won't matter one whit.

All things considered, Jesse did a lousy job of securing the crime scene. While he did need to tell people it was a crime scene and not to leave, he should also have been standing over the corpse and trying to guard it from being contaminated. Why is everyone from the party STILL hanging around on the terrace well after David died but his body was still there? Shouldn't they have been herded into a ballroom or something? But nooooooo, they're walking all over the place and sitting at tables, milling around the railing between the walkway and the terrace, getting all manner of contaminants (hairs, fibers, dust, sequins, feathers, etc.) on things. For all the police know, people are standing behind the railing and spitting on the corpse! There could be blood or other DNA evidence transferred to the railing during his fall. The extras probably stepped on TOP of his body to walk by when Greenlee was at the very nearby table with Amanda, because there really wasn't much room to do otherwise. And, of course, someone threw their jacket over him a few moments after Jake pronounced him dead, which, in itself, is contaminating the body and crime scene. What a bunch of knuckleheads.

Then Greenlee kneels down and holds David's hand and cries over him, contaminating the body and her OWN body by touching him. For all the cops know, she's also removing or planting some kind of evidence. TOTALLY bogus!

That ring Greenlee is wearing is GIGANTIC; it's at LEAST a 1"x1.5" rectangle that I would only expect to see on someone at Halloween or perhaps at a costume party. Maybe it's a locket and it's where she keeps her mad money, the key to her safety deposit box and few other spare rings. Here's a practical question: How does she wipe herself without getting it caught on the underside of the toilet seat? That thing is big enough to BE a toilet seat!

Greenlee tells David's body that he deserved better than this. No he didn't. He deserved far WORSE, given what he's done to people over the years. All things considered, it was a pretty tame death, even if he DID get beat up first. For someone of David's caliber and history, you would at LEAST expect some preliminary torture or bizarre punishment or other more exotic death like being buried alive under a park bench (oops, BTDT). Some other options:

• He could have been thrown into a garbage bin just before pickup and been crushed in the truck or suffocated under tons of garbage.

• He could have been tied to a railroad track.

• He could have been asphyxiated from the overwhelmingly powerful air-freshener in his room or all the perfume, cologne, dry cleaning chemicals and dryer-sheet scents wafting from all the party-goers and waiters.
  

• He could have been stabbed with a BBQ fork.
  

• How about he punched someone who had just put a cocktail weenie into their mouth and the punch made the weenie fly out of that guy's mouth and into David's, causing David to choke to death?
  

• He could have burned some gift from Greenlee in a fireplace and died from toxic fumes.
  

• He could have gotten stuck in a revolving door in the Chandler tunnels, became nauseous, and choked on his own vomit.

• One of his Facebook friends could have been mad when he unfriended them, so they posted an ad on Craigslist pretending to be him and asked someone to kill and eat him.

• He could have slipped in the shower, fallen through the glass and landed with his head in the toilet.
  

• Angie could have bit him when he poked his finger in her face one too many times and the virus she has mutated and went straight to his heart.
  

• How about he tripped on the stairs, an extra behind him can't stop in time and her stiletto heel punctures his skull and skewers his brain?
  

• Maybe someone sets it up so that it looks like he died from autoerotic asphyxiation?
  

• Spontaneous combustion? I'm kind of surprised he didn't just shrivel up, leaving only his clothes and a wisp of steam or pile of ashes.
  

• An infected papercut? On his tongue?

• SOMETHING other than him being punched a lot which, let's face it, is kind of a normal day for him? Okay, maybe he has been punched SO many times during his time in PV that this was the last straw and he just imploded.
  

• There should have been coyotes howling when he keeled over or a flock of seagulls passing and pooping on him.
  

They should have given us a death scene that consisted of more than him staggering in, everyone turning to look at him and him keeling over, just like that. A fall over a railing from a not-quite-3-feet above the terrace doesn't really cut it in the drama department. He should have been staggering all OVER the place, tossing out little insults and goodbye stuff like "Tell eBabe I love her" and "Greenlee loves ME, not Ryan" and "Hey Tad, Dixie was a GREAT f**k!" and "Don't forget to feed my goldfish" and "The person who did this to me is ........... uh-oh ..." Thud.

Come ON! How about a little CREATIVITY, writers! Okay, it's too late for an exotic death, coyotes howling or seagulls pooping on him. At the very LEAST, can we find out when they undress him at the morgue that he's wearing lady's underwear? A Wonderbra, a lacy thong, garter belt and stockings isn't TOO much to ask for, is it? And we want to SEE it.

Oh well, maybe Vanessa and/or Leo will show up at the funeral. They never found the bodies, after all.

David's been dead for a while. So why did a cop just THEN go to his room? Shouldn't someone have been posted there right away (and NOT gone in until Forensics had a chance to investigate) considering his room was right there at the yacht club?

All things considered, did it ever occur to Kendall's pea-brain that Ryan might need medical assistance? He IS semi-fresh out of a coma from a brain aneurysm, after all and he clearly has amnesia. Protecting him as far as David goes isn't going to matter much if he's (further) brain-damaged or dead (again). Why hasn't she at least taken care of the gash on his face? For that matter, why isn't blood smeared all over his face instead of just near the gash? You would think it would have bled profusely.

Apropos of nothing, I think they should introduce Mayor Blanco's famous daughter and have her (if she's of age) start a relationship with Bianca. If they got married, Bianca could be Bianca Blanco. Then we could call her BiancaBlonkaDonk.

Robin "who will be our Snidely Whiplash NOW?" Coutellier

BC - Mon-7/26/10

Tad asks Jesse if he thinks Liza would lie about something like THAT (Damon kissing her). Uh, Jesse might not be the most unbiased person to ask that question, considering that Liza accused him of trying to rape her (or actually raping her?) way back in the day. Uh, yeah, she WOULD lie about something like that.

How did Colby's dress manage to survive the trip to NYC completely unwrinkled from the moment she whipped it out of her suitcase? It must be one of those Harry Potteresque suitcases where it looks like a suitcase on the outside, but on the inside there is actually an entire closet with hangers, shelves, shoe compartments, valets and tea-towel-clad house elves laboring over little tiny steam irons.

Well it's about TIME they let us in on the fact that Liza has been replacing Damon's pills with something else. I couldn't figure out how it was that Damon could not notice that the pills were GONE. At least she's giving him placebos and not some other drug. Then again, since she's getting them from David, God KNOWS what they might contain.

Colby and Damon have already been in one car accident -- hasn't it ever occurred to Liza that Damon's impulsivity could cause any number of bad situations to be inflicted upon her daughter? Apparently not.

Oh PLEASE! That is SO not a month's supply of pills David gave to Liza. If they were LITTLE pills that might be the case, but those are pretty good-sized pills and they don't take up much space in the bottle. How hard would it have been for them to fill it up to a believable volume?

Why is Tad so high and mighty about Damon and Colby being in a hotel room in NYC in a state of undress? They ARE both adults, after all. Yeah, they shouldn't have taken off without telling anyone, but showing up at the door is sooooo tacky! Oh well, at least, for once, people didn't just burst into what would normally be an automatically locked door, although I'm sure they WOULD do that, rather than knocking, if it were not unlocked.

Ah, Tad is pissed off that Damon kissed Liza. Really? THAT is why they drove to New York to break up the young lovers? They had to interrupt the kids in BED for that? Damon had to be dragged out shirtless for THAT? Don't these people have ANY dignity at ALL?

Why is ANYONE allowed to see Ryan if he just got out of surgery after having a brain aneurysm operated on? He should be in ICU or, at the VERY least, have his visitors controlled. David should not be allowed ANYWHERE near him. Neither should Greenlee, for that matter. Even Madison is questionable. ALL of these people could stress Ryan out.

I LOVED how Tad glared at Liza and the way he showed her the photos on the phone.

Did the Joe and Ruth sell their house? I'm surprise David didn't snap it up just to spite Tad and Jake. It would be too tacky (in his view) to live in for long, but you would think he would buy it just to deface it and then tear it down because he's just THAT petty.

I was glad to see Ryan wince after yelling (good naturedly) after Madison. Just before he winced I was thinking that must hurt to yell like that in his condition.


Robin "Let me just test your reflexes, Ryan--oops! Was that your head I hit with the hammer? I meant to bonk the knee. My bad." Coutellier

BC - Fri, 7/23/10

I admire the ability of the actors to stroll through the park and not frantically try to shoo away the multitude of bugs that seem to be flying around. I hope none of them inhaled any.

Don't board members on both sides (Cortlandt and Chandler) have some say in a purchase/takeover? Aren't there regulations and forms to be filled out and official approvals to be made? Does JAR's flunky have a receipt written on a napkin?

Line Of The Day (LOD):
Bianca tells Caleb that her mother and Jack are on the "windy Riviera". CaLeb: "Poor Uncle Jack's hair."


Bianca says she can't wait until the kids see Wildwind (she's planning to rent it from Caleb). Caleb tells her to just wait until he clears out and Bianca gets snippy about him not liking kids. Hello? WTH would she move in before HE moves out?

Jake was a little handsy with the nurse when he told her to take Ryan to Radiology. He ended up saying "Let's GO" and familiarly put his hand on her back in a combination of encouragement and urging her to skedaddle like a good little girl. It was very unprofessional and I did NOT like it.

Angie should have stepped down way BEFORE this. She tells Jake it's time to do it now and he tries to convince her not to do that. WTF? She keeps going BLIND and won't let anyone else know about it. She should NOT be treating patients and she should NOT even BE at the hospital if she can't own up to that and caves when she's pressured to treat patients.

Bianca tells Miranda (over the phone) that she and her little sister are going to have SO much fun there! Checking out the stables (where people keep having sex and frightening the horses and where a paralyzed Edmund burned to death), wandering through the garden, playing hide and go seek til they drop ... I continued the verbal tour for her: Seeing where the turret burned down after/as Gillian was shot in the head, rendering her braindead, the mausoleum where Marian was held captive in a crypt and multitudes of people hid out and/or were imprisoned, the well where JaNut-From-Another-Planet tossed her sister so that she could impersonate her and marry Trevor Dillon, resulting in the conception of Amanda, the mine shaft where Laurel and Jack dumped Denny's dead, rug-encased body, the Hunting Lodge where Erica stabbed Dimitri with a letter opener and where, further back in time, Alf Gresham regularly beat the shit out of the little boy, Edmund. Oh, and there's the chapel where SOOO many temporary marriages and interrupted funerals took place. On the plus side, Wildwind was where Timmy first encountered Harold, the Wonder Dog.

Robin "Ahhh, GOOD TIMES!" Coutellier

BC - Tue, 12/1/09

Why is Amanda arguing with David about what Trevor may or may not have that's causing a fever? How about you STFU and TAKE HIM TO THE HOSPITAL or bathe him in tepid water or something like THAT?

Wow, they actually put Adam and Scott in orange jumpsuits. Sparkling new and completely wrinkle-free orange jumpsuits, but jumpsuits, nonetheless. That would be a normal thing (except for the spotless and wrinkle-free part), but most people that are put into PVPD cells wear their own clothes.

Oh PUH-lease! David, world-reknowned cardiologist/surgeon couldn't spot a simple EAR INFECTION in a baby! I don't believe THAT for a second! That's practically the first thing to check for with a baby.

Jake really does sound heartbroken.

Aidan was never the best of characters but he has taken a nasty turn and I don't like it AT ALL. At least before all this he was a quasi-good-guy. Now? Between his utterly inexplicable relationship with Annie and his nefarious motives and manipulations of Kendall, there's nothing left to like about him.

Robin "What next? Does he have a cabin in the woods with a dungeon containing skeletonized body parts?" Coutellier

BC - 11/23-24/09

Why would Ryan bring Emma to see her mother while her mother is in a coma? All of Emma's childhood memories are going to be about her mother committing crimes, being in jail and being in the hospital.

Is anyone else getting some Boxing Helena vibes off of Aidan? He's just plain creepy at this point.

At the risk of channeling Chandler Bing, could David BE any more vague about what's ailing Annie to the point of her being about to die?

Annie notes that her husband is there at PVH. David finishes pretending to listen to her heart and says that it won't be for long because the cops are about to take him to jail for murdering Stuart. WTF? She JUST came out of a coma and he feels the need to volunteer that information to her NOW?

Liza tells Zach that there WILL be some charges about Kendall escaping, but for the circumstances and time already spent, it's going to be over. What does she mean "time already spent"? KENDALL didn't spend the time in prison, the lookalike did.

Looks like the show found a way to have Erica/Susan Lucci literally say: "I'm going to Los Angeles!"

Robin "swimming pools, movie stars" Coutellier

BC - Tue-Thu, 11/10-12/09

What kind of idiot wears shiny high-heeled boots to do a burglary or whatever it is that Madison was doing breaking into Frankie and Randi's apt? Idiot.

Why would Angie take confidential hospital documents to a BAR to work on them? Same reason lawyers take crucial legal documents to a bar, I suppose. Idiots.

Wasn't Jake Chief of Staff at one point, or was he Chief of Surgery? He acts like he doesn't know what the job entails when Angie lets him know that she's overwhelmed.

Where was Jesse when Randi called him to say that Madison was in their apartment? I'm guessing he hadn't even gotten down to the sidewalk.

When Annie told Scott that the way to help her was to throw her down the stairs, I winced for a number of reasons, but mostly because I thought of Aisling (a RATSA regular) and her fall down the stairs. Why do people think falling down stairs is not that big a deal other than a few bumps and bruises? It can have LIFELONG repercussions (assuming you live through it at ALL)! Idiot.

One of the weird laws of physics in Pine Valley is that people fall off cliffs, drive off cliffs, jump from penthouse balconies, etc., with little to no damage, but if a pregnant woman falls down TWO steps (or just trips over a shoelace), she automatically loses the baby. Leslie Coulsen fell off the top of the Chandler building and then sneaked out of the hospital. Of course, if the storyline requires it, there MAY be damage, such as when Bianca fell/was pushed off a balcony by JAR and when JAR jumped off a 4th floor balcony.

I can't believe Jake is even giving LIP-service to the concept of doctor/patient confidentiality! He tells Ryan he can't TELL Adam Annie is/was not pregnant -- Adam just has to be in the vicinity to overhear it. Since when has doctor/patient confidentiality ever been a concern to medical "professionals" in Pine Valley (or to a Martin, for that matter)?

David's car runs out of gas. Amanda yells at him and he says they have to flag down a car. She can't remember the last time she saw a car come by there. Really? I didn't SEE any cars, either, but I HEARD a shitload of them zooming by -- unless they got caught up in some weird 21st century version of a buffalo stampede consisting of buffalos driving vehicles at speeds way faster than 25 mph while on their way to the next river to cross, there is no way they were on a deserted road at the time they pulled over.

Robin "someone needs to have a talk with the foley editor" Coutellier

BC - Mon, 10/12/09

Here's a partial address of the penthouse:

x50 Oakview Lane

I couldn't hear what the first digit (or possibly first 2 digits) were and it wasn't shown in closed-captioning.

Kendall promises Zach that she will always think before she acts. I'm sure a collective "HA!" went up among the people watching it. There was a dramatic pause and, seeing the look on Zach's face, she amended to to promising to TRY to think before she acts and not to act so impulsively. HA!

I DO wish they'd stop referring to Emma as "that little girl" or "that girl". She has a NAME, you know!

Scott guesses that Annie never WAS going to sell Emma out for killing Stuart -- she was just doing that to throw Ryan off. He then asks who killed Stuart if Emma didn't. Annie looks meaningfully at him and suggests they go for a walk because he needs to know the truth. I wouldn't do that if I were him.

I see Scott is still breathing and conscious, so he obviously survived their walk. I'm guessing that Annie told Scott that ADAM killed Stuart, based on the fact that the only thing we heard her say to him was at the end of their conversation when she says: "You understand now, don't you? Why it HAS to be this way?" Scott is certainly acting as if she told him that Adam did it. I guess we'll find out during November sweeps.

Wait a sec -- are they going to do the unthinkable and say that Stuart shot HIMSELF? We heard Adam's voice going over all the reasons he had to die, making us think that, in his addled state, he shot Stuart, thinking he was shooting himself or at least offering himself up to be shot. What if Stuart shot himself as a means of saving his brother? It doesn't seem likely, logistically. It is DEFINITELY out-of-character for Stuart to have done that (taking his own life), but few of the characters are acting in-character anymore anyway -- they do whatever the writers can think of to advance a plot; personality, history and values be damned.

Why would Jake take his surgical gown off in the waiting room? Wouldn't it have Emma's blood all over it? If they were drilling holes in Emma's head to relieve the pressure, then the blood would probably spurt out like the contents of a popped pimple. Yup, a bloody gown is just what terrified parents need to see. Not that it DID have any visible blood on it, but still ...

Robin "does Emma have bald spots now?" Coutellier

BC - Fri, 10/2/09

Angie says she wants a full tox screen done on Madison, including alcohol, aspirin and acetamonophen (e.g., Tylonel). I'm wondering why she stressed those things instead of, say, heroin, cocaine, or Rohypnol. The paramedic said it looked like an overdose. He didn't say an overdose of WHAT or even what the symptoms were.

Did you notice that Madison's canula came out of one of her nostrils so that it was drooping under her right nostril? It made it look like she had a big snot blob loosely attached to it

For someone who (presumably) just had her stomach pumped, Madison's makeup is FLAWLESS! Yeah, she looked a little more wan than usual and there are dark circles under her eyes, but I've never seen such perfectly applied foundation and lipstick outside an airbrushed magazine ad. Thank God the most recent lipgloss fad is over (for the moment); otherwise it would REALLY look like a snotty mess under her nose.

Robin "not quite flawless" Coutellier

BC - Thu, 6/11/09

Hearing problem or not, for a 3-yr-old, Spike sure doesn't talk very well. The triplets who play him turned 3 a couple of months ago, which surprises me, because they all seem a lot younger.

Jake mused about what Paulo would say to Consuela on their telenovela. Nothing. Her name is Consue-LO. I'm guessing Paulo is the one who crashed the wedding of Marco and Consuelo.

I am just REALLY uncomfortable with this whole storyline of Amanda thinking that she has to give away her baby because of David. Yeah, he's going to hound her and her child for the rest of their lives, but what if she gives the baby away and then David dies 2 years later? Then she'll have given her beloved baby away for nothing! All she REALLY has to do is tell her mother about it (assuming they didn't kill off JaNut and forget to tell us about it, which they seemed to be hinting at the other day). JaNut WOULD find a way to permanently solve the problem, rest assured. Aidan would probably be willing to help her escape. He seems to have an issue with boundaries, after all. And Amanda STILL hasn't had any kind of DNA test to indicate that the baby even IS David's biological child. David is right -- she IS stupid.

Why didn't Ryan STAY with Emma for her visit with Angie at the hospital? Most parents stay with their children for things like that; they don't use the DOCTORS as babysitters. What if Angie had to rush away for a code red or something? Ryan is an incredibly self-centered, neglectful father! He always HAS been ever since he found out he WAS a father. His initial instincts about having children and being a bad father were on target. He may not be physically abusing them, but he's a lousy father, nonetheless.

WTF is Kendall wearing a cocktail dress and a necklace that goes clear down to her BELLY to visit with her toddler who just had heart surgery ... again?

Jack's looking mighty orange. They need to adjust the color of his tanning spray.

I call B-O-G-U-S on Opal having all of Tad's old toys in a storage locker. He didn't specify whether it was Ruth or Opal that kept them, but I'm pretty sure he meant Opal. Ruth and Joe would have stored that stuff at home and lost it all in the tornado several years back unless it had all been in the basement. Opal and Jenny came to town on a bus with almost NOTHING but the clothes on their backs. There is NO WAY Opal would have been paying for a storage locker all these years. She might have been able to afford it after marrying Palmer or Mr. Purdy but NOT before then. Her worldly goods would have been LONG gone, and she would never have been able to afford most of that stuff in the first place when Tad OR Jenny were kids.

And speaking of those toys, was that toy gun a foreshadowing or just part of the writers' continuing fascination with showing guns on the show in whatever way and as often as they possibly can?

That's a MIGHTY clean and dry baby for being fresh out of the womb. That had to hurt! Amanda might want to consider using a lubricant in the future.

So, how will they find out that Jake is really the father of Amanda's baby (assuming that he IS)? Will they go the baby-needs-a-transfusion route? How about a birthmark? Maybe it will need a bone-marrow transplant. Maybe Joe or Ruth will say that the baby is the IMAGE of Jake when he was a baby. Or maybe they'll just figure out that there's no way that baby arrived "early". Then again, Jake didn't seem to notice it. David is right -- Jake IS stupid.

Robin "will they call the baby 'Trevor'?" Coutellier

BC - Mon - 6/8/09

Why are Kendall and Zach still allowing David anywhere NEAR their precious baby? There ARE other hospitals around where David does NOT have privileges, let alone omnipotent power that allows him to butt into every single case in the hospital whether the patients or others want him to or not. No sooner did I write that then they parted ways, but that means NOTHING as long as Ian is still at PVH. As far as PVH goes, David still goes wherever he wants and does whatever he wants, with no repercussions whatsoever. The fact that another doctor is taking over the case means NOTHING as far as David goes. NOTHING.

David says he thought he was allowed to have an attorney present. Jesse says that he didn't think an innocent man NEEDED an attorney. David says that they DO, if they're being RAILROADED. I have to agree wholeheartedly with David on THAT one, whether he's being railroaded or NOT. If you are hauled in for questioning in a murder investigation, you'd damn well BETTER get yourself an attorney! Of course, David should be smart enough (ESPECIALLY by NOW) to invoke his right to remain silent.

All things considered, Adam sure hasn't shown much grief since the funeral. It's as if the DRUGS were what made him grief-stricken, and now that he's off of them, it's just a sad situation.

Robin "that just does NOT fly with me" Coutellier

BC - Mon, 5/18/09

Okay, so Adam DIDN'T have a heart attack or stroke. THAT theory was shot down, so to speak. Jesse radios that he's got the body in the living room and it's shot in the back. Uh, shouldn't he at least check for a PULSE before he refers to it as "the body"?

Why are all the women wearing pointy, very high-heeled shoes to murder someone? Not only are they uncomfortable, but they make a lot of noise. At least they weren't slingbacks that went THWAP, THWAP, THWAP with every step. And why was Kendall wearing pointy heels to sit a vigil at her baby's hospital crib? You'd think she'd want to at least wear comfortable shoes for THAT.

Jesse sure is quick on the draw! He starts shooting AS he warns someone on the terrace not to move. Great cop my ASS! Then he points the gun toward the ceiling (so as not to hurt anyone accidentally). Turns out that the man on the terrace is Tad whom Jesse, with THREE shots, managed to shoot in the head. OOPSIE!

Did Jesse even BOTHER to send someone upstairs to protect the children? You know, the ones that are in the range of fire since he's now pointing the gun at the ceiling? Apparently NOT because they children are alone up there. Ryan came and dragged Kendall away. Does he even KNOW that Emma is still there? Did he set her down in the hallway and then completely forget her very EXISTENCE?

A cop tries ineffectively to keep Krystal and Opal from running out to see who else got shot. Why didn't he just shoot THEM, too? THAT would have stopped them, although saline from Krystal's implants might have made somewhat of an exploding mess. There'd probably be saline goo dripping off the ceiling.

JAR is told by Scott that Adam is dead. After a few moments of letting it sink in, JAR remembers Junior Junior and races upstairs shouting his name. Well it's about F**KING TIME someone remembered the children! Meanwhile, Aidan has made his way upstairs, not to take care of the kids, but to grill Junior Junior on Emma's whereabouts so that he can find Annie.

Colby rushes into the nursery and blurts out to JAR that she can't find Emma anywhere. Even with all that shooting going on and sirens wailing, etc., Colby was completely oblivious to it. Maybe SHE shot Adam. Then JAR tells her that someone put a bullet into their father. Slightly concerned, she asks if Adam is okay, as if he had just twisted his ankle or something. I'm not sure she understands the concept of *PUT - A - BULLET - INTO - OUR - FATHER*. DAMN she's dense!

David has obviously been having an affair with The Bride Of Chucky. So much for his professed GREAT LOVE for Krystal. Not that he loves Gayle, either. Like Krystal, she's TOTALLY besotted with him and can't seem to comprehend how BLATANTLY he is manipulating her.

Ryan tells Kendall that he hasn't been able to get hold of Colby to find out how Emma's doing. He says it very calmly like it's no big deal, as if Colby took her out for a walk in the moonlight and they just aren't back yet. Never mind that a) he has credible evidence that Annie is back, b) Annie used to LIVE at the Chandler estate and knows her way around, including the tunnels, c) he KNOWS Adam was just SHOT and is probably dead. Does he even CARE that his own little daughter could wander downstairs and FIND the dead, bloody body? Apparently not. He also knows the electricity is off, so the children might wander around calling for help because they're scared. And what about Colby when she finds out that her father has been shot? Does Ryan think Colby will be just fine and it won't affect the kids in the slightest that the person taking care of them is suddenly wailing because her father was just murdered right underneath her feet? Not that Colby IS freaking out. Yet. This Colby isn't very good at freaking out. She's also not very good at NOT freaking out, but I digress.

Jesse wants to know what Tad was doing with a gun. That's a valid question, but they sure are jumping to a lot of conclusions, one after the other after the other. Every time they find a new clue they think the NEXT person probably did it and they're willing to shoot to kill based on each new assumption.

At PVH Ryan inadvertently hears from a blabbermouth cop that a child is missing from the Chandler estate and that it's a little girl, taken by her own mother. Did you buy a f**king clue NOW, Moron?

Okay, rule #1 (or at least among the top 3), NEVER put murder suspects TOGETHER, and especially ALONE together when investigating a murder. N-E-V-E-R. All kinds of story-planning and/or "influencing" can go on in the process, not to mention cross-contamination. They HAVE to be separated. For that matter, why did they let Opal go to the hospital? Yes, the Keystone Kops just shot her son in the head, so they kind of owe her one, but JAR's father was shot in the back and DIED, so why does JAR have to stay there when Opal gets to go? She and Krystal were both standing over the body, albeit after the fact. Krystal has to stay and she and Opal were found together.

Natalia walks into the room where all the suspects are. Are CADETS allowed at murder scenes? The crowd of suspects/witnesses are, as I so astutely warned against, hashing everything out with each other, pointing fingers and trying to figure how what happened. Natalia's carrying Junior Junior. At least SOMEONE is with him, because Colby sure as Hell wasn't.

At PVH David tells Jake he'll provide assistance, if necessary, to the neurologist who will be performing brain surgery on Tad and Jake is to stay the hell away. Jake begs to differ, but David overrides him. WTF? Tad's MORTAL ENEMY is going to muck around in his BRAIN? I don't THINK so! Doesn't Tad have someone listed as next-of-kin (like his father, Opal or Jake) who can refuse to let David anywhere near him in the operating room? Let's hope it isn't Krystal, because she always sides with David. The CAT scans show that the bullet is lodged in Tad's frontal lobe. The doctor warns Jake that Tad might be a very different man if he survives.

According to a Wikipedia entry, damage to the frontal lobes can lead to a variety of results:

• Mental flexibility and spontaneity are impaired, but IQ is not reduced. So he'll be smart enough to realize that he's not being spontaneous or flexible.
  

• Talking may increase or decrease dramatically. He's not often quiet -- this could go either way.
  

• Perceptions regarding risk taking and rule abiding are impaired. IOW, nothing will change.
  

• Socialization can diminish or increase. He's always been pretty sociable. He'll either turn BACK into a party animal or hole up in the basement and watch the Reality Channel day and night.
  

• Orbital frontal lobe damage can result in peculiar sexual habits. Oh dear (or maybe I should say "Oh DEER!"
  

• Dorsolateral frontal lobe damage reduces sexual interest. Whew! For a while there I was worried about the deer. And the goats. And the garden gnomes. And the Travelocity Gnome.
  

• Creativity is diminished as well as problem solving skills. So much for being a private dick. Of course, with that risk-taking problem, he COULD turn into a PUBLIC dick of a whole 'nother variety.
  

• Distraction occurs more frequently. Hilarity ensues as he stops what he's saying and doing, mesmerized by a fly. That might work out well for the goat, though.
  

• Loss of smell and/or taste. Hence the whole goat thing.
  

Wait a second -- those WERE Erica's legs at the crime scene? Or is that a red herring? If Erica goes to trial for killing Adam (and she's as good a guess as any), will she use a menopausal defense?

Erica asks Kendall where she was and Kendall gives a flimsy excuse about going up to the roof. Erica, herself, gives a flimsy excuse about taking a bath with her phone turned off. BZZZZZZT! Why would she turn her phone off if she KNEW her baby grandson was at death's door? TOTAL lie! For that matter, why wasn't SHE at the hospital WITH Kendall in her time of need?

Robin "stay tuned for answers to these questions and more ... As The Stomach Turns" Coutellier

BC - Fri, 5/15/09

On a sad note, Susan Willis, who played Helga Voynitzeva back in the early 1990s, has died. Helga was a HOOT! The character and the portrayal of her was VERY reminiscent of Cloris Leachman playing Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein. RIP, Ms. Willis.

I never noticed it before, but in the nighttime shot of the exterior of PVH there is a silhouette of a man peeping out from behind the left pillar. He's holding something rectangular like a magazine or a clipboard, and then he steps to the left and flamboyantly throws his arms out and JUMPS off of something (presumably a ledge). You can see it in the opening shot of Friday's show and on Youtube.




Once more, the doctor's give vague orders. Angie frantically says "More eppy, more eppy" as she, Jake and a nurse work over little Ian. And WTF was up with the nurse IMMEDIATELY saying "I'm sorry" in response to Kendall's frantic pleas to help Ian? Obviously there WAS something that could be done to at least f**king TRY to help him! Talk about soapy behavior! I'm surprised we didn't hear organ music.

There was a continuity error in the PVH scenes. When Ian's monitor first goes into alarm, the nurse quickly lowers the crib rails (only to tell them that she's sorry -- what did she do, unplug him?) A few moments later when Angie and Jake race into the room, they have to lower the crib rails again.

We were wondering what happened to Emma after Ryan set her down on his way out and went in to stop the confrontation. At this point (especially after being knocked out), Ryan KNOWS that someone pulled a gun on Adam in the living room. So why is Emma STILL there or brought there AGAIN? The place is a powderkeg and Ryan KNOWS it!

Ian's heart starts beating again. Angie half gasps/half wails: "Oh my God, he's ALIVE!" She's an ER doctor. I'm sure she's glad that he's alive, but you'd think her training would have helped her keep a calmer and more professional demeanor -- she should have jumped right in to do whatever it is that doctors do the MOMENT a patient's heart starts beating again. I guess I'll cut her some slack since she's already frazzled about Frankie's injuries.

Isn't ANYONE watching the kids? You'd think Adam would at least remind all the many people trying to kill him that the kids are right upstairs.

Does Stuart still drive a canary yellow station wagon?

If Adam KNOWS everyone in town is, quite literally, out gunning for him, why didn't he alert his Security staff and arrange to have a bodyguard with him? I know that wouldn't do any good since no one in town is capable of being even REMOTELY secure, but you'd think he'd make a TOKEN effort at least. Then again, he does seem to have a death wish at this point. He seems to be waffling on that point.

So Kendall went over to Adam's without so much as a gun? What did she think she was going to do to kill him once she got there, stomp on him with her stilettos? The same with Zach. You KNOW Zach has guns stashed somewhere (like the Casino), so why did he show up and pick up a gun from the floor, just like Kendall did?

David drills it into Junior Junior that EVERYTHING he does is for him -- EVERYTHING. Nice, if Adam is killed and David did it, then Junior Junior will spend the rest of his life feeling responsible for it.

The Chandler estate is located at 300 River Road, according to Jesse. I can never think of River Road or River Junction without thinking of the old Carol Burnett skits called As The Stomach Turns. If a character was sent to River Junction, that was the END of the character and very ominous organ music would play -- NO ONE ever returned from ... RIVER JUNCTION! And no one survived a drive on ... RIVER ROAD!

Someone mentioned on R.A.T.S.A. that they think it might have been Liza who shot Adam. I was confused about the pointy black heels on the bared legs we saw. I thought maybe we were meant to think it was Erica, but I think the legs were too big to be Susan Lucci's legs, and I idly wondered if they were using stunt legs, but Liza could definitely fit in both shoes and the scenario. Colby soundly rejected her over the phone, so Liza is probably pretty pissed off at Adam.

Looks like I was right with everyone taking a bead on Adam at the exact same moment. Everyone kept picking up everyone else's dropped guns, though, so each gun is going to have multiple prints on it, assuming they can even GET prints off of them. I don't know, though. It looked to ME like Adam might have had a heart attack or a stroke. Thunder cracked at that moment, so we don't know yet. I do hope at least ONE of them managed to shoot someone other than Adam.

Robin "Helga would have been PERFECT to have been seen wandering around the Chandler mansion on Friday's show" Coutellier

BC - Mon, 5/11/09

I wasn't playing close attention to WHY Opal was at Ryan's place and I was wondering. She questioned Aidan, but I don't think he asked her why SHE was there before he hustled her out, did he? Later in the show it was revealed that she went over there to tell Ryan NOT to go to the party at the Chandler house. Uh, if that was the case, why did she just quietly let herself in with her key without even knocking when he wasn't expecting her? For that matter, why didn't she just CALL him? Yeah, I know she needed to "see" Annie and catch Aidan, but it was was a) incredibly rude, and b) stupid.

After Opal leaves, Annie rushes into the room, squealing with delight over Aidan being there. He untangles her from him and says: "What the hell is WRONG with you?" Annie: "Uh, I'm criminally insane -- DUH! I killed a few people, remember? Hello??? Is anybody in there??" She thwacks his forehead and a hollow sound echoes forth. Okay she didn't say or do that last part, but it's what I THINK she should have said and done and what would have happened if she HAD.

JAR is mad because "now David has an all-access pass to this house". What does he mean "NOW"? David has ALWAYS had an all-access pass to the house. He pops in and pops up wherever and whenever he feels like it. Has Security ever stopped him, even ONCE?

I think Jill Larson looks much better with her hair red as opposed to blond. OTOH, the matronly style is nice enough, I suppose, but it's kind of Better Crocker/Phoebe Wallingford-ish. Erica wouldn't be caught DEAD with that hairstyle, at least not for another 20+ years.

Ian's heart monitor changes its tune for the worse and David curses, giving the order "INCREASE THE MEDICATION!" WHAT medication? I would imagine Ian is getting more than one medication pumped into him. I would think the name of the medication AND the dosage would normally be included in an order like that. Of course, it WAS Jake he was giving the order to, but still ...

Aisling, I hope your flashbacks weren't too painful when watching Aidan roll down the stairs! I did notice that he landed quite carefully, though, as opposed to thudding onto the ground. Once his stunt double and/or dummy (insert your own joke here) stopped rolling down the stairs and Aiden Turner took over at the bottom, he looked more like a chimp or an orangutan doing a playful somersault. Not that I would expect an actor to be THAT realistic. I suppose that WOULD be asking a lot from one's instrument for the sake of one's craft.

I think the angel and engraved lettering on Babe's grave is supposed to be golden, but on MY TV it kind of looks like the color of baby barf after a baby eats pureed peas.

A poster (katya) on the Pine Valley Podcast blog suggested a GREAT nickname for Marissa. Since Krystal basically auctioned off Babe's twin sister at birth, maybe her nickname should be "E-Babe" I LOVE it!

I have to confess that I'm a little miffed that Krystal kept the BLOND baby instead of the brunette. My sister ALWAYS got the blond dolls and I ALWAYS got the brunette ones. From an adult standpoint, it makes sense in order to differentiate which doll belongs to which little girl, but from a kid standpoint: THAT'S NOT FAIR! Once Marissa finds out (assuming that she doesn't already know it and is just playing along for the time being) that she was sold as a baby so that Mama could keep the shiny blond Baby-Doll with the glittery hoo-ha, she's going to have a wicked MARCIA-MARCIA-MARCIA complex.

Robin "Why, yes, I AM a middle child. Why do you ask?" Coutellier

BC - Mon, 4/6/09

WTF? At the end of Friday's show Annie thanks God that Aidan is there as he envelopes her in his strong, manly arms; then she introduces him to Tori, who Annie thought was sitting in a chair. Aidan saw that there was no one there and said so. Annie was actually TALKING to the imaginary Tori. When TODAY'S show opened, however, Annie thanks God that Aidan is there as he envelopes her in his strong, manly arms, and tells Aidan Tori's been helping her out; then she is surprised because Tori has apparently left the room. Can't they keep their story straight from one SECOND to the next??? This reminds me of the movie MISERY where Annie (hmmm) Bates gets incensed because when she was a kid they showed a serial cliffhanger at the theater with a man going over a cliff in a car, but in the next installment the following week, the man was no longer in the car. "HE DIDN'T GET OUT OF THE COCK-A-DOODY CAR!!!" That's what AMC is doing!

Oh look, there ARE actually people who work at Oakhaven that have access to Annie's room! Two orderlies came in to tackle her. Then Annie's cute doctor (whom we haven't seen for quite some time) comes in and asks Aidan what happened, so at least we aren't imagining AIDAN. Unless, of course, this is all AIDAN'S imagination. Maybe if Annie's doctor showed up more than once a month or so he'd have an idea of what happened. Then he mentions how they've given Aidan great leeway in visiting Annie because it seems to be helping. I hope that leeway includes condoms! How could the doctor POSSIBLY sanction Aidan having sex with a criminally insane patient because it seems to be helping her mental clarity?

Colby complains that her own brother doesn't trust her to protect her father, yet Petey shows up in the park with a shovel, ready to bury a body (he was anticipating the murder of David Hayward since Colby was so mad at David). She asks what's wrong with the picture. The sick part is that she doesn't seem to think the wrong part was Petey's complete willingness to help her bury a body, no questions asked. Petey is like a blank slate, ready to be filled with whatever the writers feel like scribbling on any given day. He has no moral compass whatsoever, and no feelings, either, other than a) an all-consuming (not to mention inexplicable) passion for Colby, and b) embarrassment over his mother. Even his feelings for Colby must be wishy-washy, considering he was willing to sacrifice himself only a day or so before to marry Amanda in order to give Amanda's baby his name. He's not evil, nor is he good. He's not even in-between! He's just THERE, living from moment to moment. The actor has great comedic timing and often steals the scene, but the character is more disjointed than a rubber chicken. He's like water, just flowing around and having it's course altered by slight changes in the landscape.

Would a shrink REALLY have to "report everything back to the DA" in the case of someone who may or may not be criminally insane? If Annie is being treated to get to the point of being competent to stand trial, would the DETAILS of everything she says during treatment be admissible in court? How do they know if anything she says right NOW is the truth if she's not "cured" yet? Is the good doctor going to mention that she's having frequent sex with Aidan while under lockdown and "in treatment" and that it seems to be helping?

Ian is under sedation and has just had heart surgery -- should he REALLY be sleeping on his BELLY? He could stop breathing and not be able to lift his head. Besides that, it must hurt his poor little chest to have that kind of pressure put on it. For that matter, how DO they keep a toddler from busting stitches after open-heart surgery? Do they have to put him in a little body cast, at least for the chest area?

Robin "would someone PLEASE send Ryan to the PVH Ebola Ward to distribute Jello?" Coutellier