First of all, I hope that all of our American readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Hopefully, your holiday was a lot more peaceful than it has been in Pine Valley so far! It was a short week, but this column is a little longer than usual - I guess that goes to show how much AMC packed into these three episodes.
The week started out with a little of my favorite new games - Shooting at the Laverys! I know I'm not the only one out there who prayed that at least one of those bullets would have hit their mark. Sadly, all three Lavery siblings made it out of the alley unscathed. Of all the suspects, my guess is that Sam is the shooter. Why? I don't think Julia has enough of a motive and I think Jack would confront Jonathan or Ryan face-to-face if he were going to kill them. And Aidan and Zach? As Mr. Slater said, if he took a shot at the Laverys, he wouldn't have missed - the same goes for former spy Aidan. By the way, I loved the banter between Aidan and Zach when Ryan and Derek were drilling them about their whereabouts - I always sensed that Zach was a peanut type of guy! Sam has bad aim and a chip on his shoulder. I just hope he takes some target practice before he tries again.
Secrets and Lies
Elsewhere, a very suspicious Greenlee was trying to figure out what Kendall and Dr. Madden were hiding. I got a lot of emails after my last column from people who wanted the real scoop, so it seems that many of you were just as determined to find out that secret as Greenlee was. Someone has to tell Kendall and Greg that just because a person goes to the bathroom, it doesn't mean they can't still hear you! The best thing to come out of those scenes, in my humble opinion, was finally seeing David again. I appreciate that AMC acknowledged his recent lack of screen time by having David inform Kendall and Greens that he was "out of town." If they really want to make it up to us, they should bring David back to where he should be - in a front-burner storyline.
As the week went on, Josh helped Greenlee break into the fertility clinic so that she could find out what Kendall was hiding. I must say that I was disappointed - but not shocked - with Greenlee's reaction to the news. It only took her a few minutes to plan a relatively detailed revenge scheme aimed at Kendall. The mature thing to do would have been to go directly to Kendall and confront her in private, but instead, Greens chose to invite half the town to the annual Kane/Montgomery Valley Inn drama-fest (otherwise known as Thanksgiving dinner) to make the big reveal.
And after all the players were in place -Greenlee even deliberately sat Kendall between her husband and her ex - she blindsided everyone with the truth: the mother of the baby Kendall is carrying is not Greenlee, it's Kendall.
(What follows is a spoiler for Monday's episode, so skip to the next paragraph if you want to be surprised). The night Kendall got pregnant, she discovered that the embryos had been destroyed in the blackout, and Ryan's sperm, which had also defrosted, had to be used immediately. So she made a quick decision - to give Greenlee the baby she needed, she decided to get pregnant herself and pass the baby off as Ryan and Greenlee's biological child. Some people, including Greenlee, will argue that Kendall did this because she is still in love with Ryan. I agree that Kendall did do it out of love - love for Greenlee. She had to make a quick decision, and she did what she thought she needed to do to make Greenlee happy. Let's not forget that when Greenlee miscarried, she had lost the will to live. I'm not saying this was a smart decision, but I do believe that, to a degree, Kendall was a victim of circumstance. I hate the idea of a Ryan/Kendall baby, but she did what she did, as misguided as it was, to help her best friend.
Most people I talk to saw this supposed "twist" coming from the moment the surrogacy storyline began. Most of us know that despite his assurances to Kendall that he would stand by her, Ryan will turn on his former love after he realizes what she's done. I see some major fireworks and extremely harsh words coming. And that's fine with me! Because it's clear that Kendall's husband, Zach, will support Kendall unconditionally. And that's all I care about. If we're lucky, this will help Kendall realize that the man she loves really does love her back. I'm sure I say this every week, but I don't know how much longer I can wait for these two to get together!
America's Sleaziest Home Videos
But the Kane/Montgomery clan wasn't the only family causing a stir this week. The Chandlers had their fair share of drama too, starting with Babe's suspicious fall down the stairs at Pine Valley hospital. Of course, Amanda is the obvious suspect, which instantly makes me doubt that she's the guilty party. My money is on a not-so-gone Janet as the culprit - I just can't see Amanda's mom taking off and leaving her precious daughter alone, under the circumstances.
I must admit that I am starting to warm up to Babe and JR as a couple. The recent scenes they've shared have caught my attention, probably because Jacob Young has done such a good job portraying JR's softer side, as he struggles to come to terms with his growing feelings for his once-hated ex-wife. In spite of his over-the-top antics in recent months, I still care about JR and want him to be happy, even if it is with Babe. I am surprised that the writers haven't played up the Jamie factor thus far. He's only really been in the background of this story up to this point - I guess he's busy at the hospital, pretending to be a doctor. I wouldn't necessarily enjoy another run at the JR/Babe/Jamie triangle - I'm just surprised it hasn't really surfaced yet.
JR took a page from Greenlee's book by inviting a few surprising guests to the Chandler Thanksgiving feast, namely Tad and "Aunt Di." JR decided to celebrate by showing a video of his aunt doing a striptease. I know this was supposed to embarrass Di, and I don't blame JR for wanting to humiliate this woman, but I found the whole stripper angle a little creepy. Running footage of Little Adam before it was kind of disturbing, and the stripping portion ran way too long. The running commentary from Krystal, Palmer and Babe was awkward too. All in all, I could have done without it.
Where the Heck are Ruth and Joe?!
Am I the only one who missed the annual Thanksgiving dinner at the Martin household? I know there are only so many minutes in each episode, but there were a lot of Pine Valley residents missing in action. JR invited Palmer over for dinner - why couldn't he have invited Opal? And what about Jamie, Brooke, Ruth and Joe? You would think if he wanted to humiliate Di he would want as many people to turn out as possible. And this is a Chandler gathering, so where the heck are Stuart and Marian?
It also would have been nice to see the Frye family celebrating the holiday together. With everything Dani went through with Mimi and Garrett, and Derek and Livia up to their necks in Lavery-related legal issues, I would have liked to see a little family bonding over at the Frye house.
In any case, the next few days should be pretty exciting, as November sweeps comes to a close and the Thanksgiving fallout continues. I hope you all enjoy the mayhem - I know I will!
See you back here in two weeks!
-- Kristine
