My first official trial rant 2 . 6 . 00
Danny and Michelle are being used to prop up yet another trial storyline. One of the 7 basic soap plots that every show is practically morally-bound to put forth once a year (or maybe it just seems that way). Don't get me wrong, when trials are done well, they're mesmerizing. They can draw you in, they can bring together different storylines and tie them into one, they can set the viewers on their ears with twists and turns and unexpected plot developments, all while bringing out top-notch performances from their actors. While I think Michelle's trial does TOUCH on some of those elements, it hasn't been done with enough force that makes me take a step back and say, "woah! I've got to tell everyone to watch this! It's so good!". I don't try to speak for anyone else here in these RRR's, so in the rest of this post, remember that I'm only speaking on my own behalf. I'll go point by point:
Drawing viewers in: I found the first day of the trial interesting, but that's where it ended. It's only been 2 weeks and it's dragged on at a snail's pace. I don't rush home to see what happened. Sometimes I even wait until the next day to watch it. Of course I'm interested to see what happens to Michelle, but until this trial picks up its pace, I'll yawn my way to the verdict. And it hasn't helped to know that this trial is going to continue throughout February. Sweeps month, btw. How they can put THIS on the screen in hopes of drawing more viewers is beyond me. The elements are there, and I am HALF-thrilled to death that so much has been brought out, but the execution has been lackluster. More on that later...
Bringing together different storylines: I'm as happy as anyone to see Ross, Rick, Abby, and Holly backing up Michelle in this trial, and actually seeing them at all! They've done a good job in weaving Edmund into the storyline (I'm pleased as punch with Eddy all together, though). But I'm having a really hard time with Vanessa & Matt's involvement. While, yes, I think it would be great to have them involved, the WAY they've been thrown into this is ridiculous. Matt has gone POD (though spoilers say that's going to end soon - THANK YOU!), and the wonderful Maeve Kinkead is lying on a bed all day every day! The idea that Matt would befriend Carmen is beyond unbelievable. And as a way to keep suspense, throw Vanessa into a coma? Woah! I'd even be happier if she had suffered from some kind of temporary amnesia from the accident at this rate. Drew and Jesse in this storyline is a whole other issue. I realize that Drew's presence is necessary for them to bring up Mick's murder, but who said the whole storyline had to be about her grieving about her wonderful scumbag of a father every day? The chick's gone psycho, or just simply schitzo. One day she's barking down Michelle's throat for killing Ben, the next she's "i'm sorry'ing" her way back into M's good graces, the next she's befriending Carmen (UGH!!! Maybe they *both* can drive off a pier, huh?), and then she starts getting jealous of Michelle all over again. Yes, they've touched upon the OLD Drew, and that's fine. But leave her there, ok? Don't try and get me to feel sorry for her, because having her try and rip apart the finest person in town is NOT GOING TO DO IT! I just want Dresse out of Manny's lives after this trial. That's all for that. All in all, in bringing in all these other elements, it's made the story more diluted and ethereal, instead of more cohesive, dynamic and effective. And where's Manny? Did they forget about them in all of these attempts at evening out the canvas? More on them later as well...
Twists/Turns/Unexpected Plot Develpments: Um. Well. There was that Mick's murder thing. Gee, one whole episode and it's been forgotten. Wow, what a twist. I mean, really... what are they smoking? Did they think they could simply make us happy by just bringing it up? And by giving PAS/JL one spectacular episode where they dealt with it? And even in that, they shoved them together in four scenes and didn't even get to the pith. As pleased as I was with parts of that particular episode, I still couldn't help but hope that they'd taken at LEAST a few days with this issue. It was going to their very core, what started it all. Mick. There's never been any doubt in my mind that Danny still harbored certain feelings in him that he never shared with Michelle. I was dying to hear them surface so they could deal with them, REALLY deal with them. Not just bring it up, yell a little, have her apologize (profusely) and then making up all in the span of one show. I did love how she supported him through it, though. Don't get me wrong. They have gone through so much, and she does sincerely know how to help him when nobody else can. I know that. But I resent the writers trying to stuff it into 8 minutes and letting it be forgotten, never to be brought up again. Because now we (I) can never say that they've seemingly forgotten about Manny's past. No, we (I) can't. But we (I) can say that it was remembered in a not-so-memorable way. Manny deserved more. PAS and JL deserved more. They put their hearts and souls into those early Mick scenes - Manny & Stenz deserved a payoff. I'm still holding out hope that it will come at the end of the trial. But as for THIS issue (of Mick), I think it deserved more attention. So... that's the only twist so far. Woopie. What else is left? To find out that Danny lied about Len. Ok, I'm waiting. But to be honest, compared to Michelle's whopper of a lie, this one is going to be a tad anticlimactic. The only part that I'm salivating over at this point is the moment when either Michelle or Danny (or both of them together, preferably with Carmen and some kind of police representative around) find out about Carmen's involvement in this whole fiasco. I'm a waitin'... with baited breath. Maybe once and for all, my stupid little Danny's brain will grow 3 sizes and justice will be served. :)
Performances: On this point, I really have no complaints. In fact, I've been extremely happy with every performance during the trial (save my constant reservations about a couple of particular actresses, but I digress). Both Paul and Joie have been phenomenal, albeit underused. Jerry VerDorn has been awoken to deliver some fabulous courtroom speeches. There have been impressive performances by both the actress in the "Ruth" role and the man playing the Judge (sorry, I don't have their names in front of me). I'm even impressed by the actress playing ADA Wolfe. Sure I wanna drop-kick her character from here to Baghdad, but the actress has been doing a good job. I guess, if I were to have a problem with the performances at all, it's the lack of juicy stuff for the actors to actually put their teeth into. No, I'll revise that - for Paul & Joie to sink their teeth into. With the exception of the one episode I mentioned earlier, both have been relegated to a few lines here and there since the trial began. It's disappointing to see 2 such amazing actors be relegated to supporting such a sad excuse for a sweeps storyline.
Etc: Ok, here's where I'm going to go into FULL RANT MODE. Stand back, I may blow. While I've been one of the first people to say that I don't think it's possible to ever have "Dark Danny" back again (and, for the record, I'm sick and tired of all these Danny labels - just what *is* Dark Danny?), I'll also be the first to say that no matter how much Danny's eyes smolder or how many times he verbally spars with David, if this is ANY Danny, it's the stupidest Danny I've ever seen. What's going on here? I'll start with the most overwhelming problem - his stance with Carmen. I can completely understand why Danny MIGHT still have warm fuzzies for his mother. Because I can understand that there's that small boy inside of him who has lost everyone else in his family (who knows WHERE Pilar's head is these days!), and his mother is the other person left from his past that he has to cling to. Ya know, I could accept that a whole helluva lot more than the recent excuse of, "She's my mother." Uh, HUH? That's your excuse?? Because she's your mother? When he told Michelle, "I know she's done things..." it just made me even more upset. Yeah, Danny, she's done "things" - those "things" are 1) tried to kill your wife on numerous occasions 2) threatened to have her raped 3) lied to you on numerous occasions 4) blackmailed you 5) killed a man and set up your wife to take the rap. Those aren't ENOUGH things?? Instead, he turns on his wife, defending his saint of a mother when Michelle implies that she MAY have lied on the witness stand?? What? He thinks that his mother is too good for that? Ridiculous. Stupid. Insipid. And downright unbelievable.
They've successfully taken away Danny's voice. He has no mind of his own at this point. He simply repeats everything that everyone else tells him. If his mother says she cares for Michelle and that she supports her, then that's what HE tells Michelle when the issue comes up. I'm so sick of it! But then again, I'm sick of Carmen's entire reason for living - to bring down Michelle. Please, wake me when it's over. It's old, and it's getting older every day. Does she still hate her for killing Mick? What? Where's that heart that the writers insist on showing us every time she stops and says to herself, "I'm doing this for you Danny"? Is SHE that stupid to believe that Mick (as hard as he was) wasn't capable of attacking a woman? Even then - I have a hard time believing in this mother/son bond that's supposed to be the driving force behind her revenge when I've never even seen she and Mick together. I'd believe this more if Michelle killed Pilar or even Dietz. But this gets more and more unbelievable every day. It's been over a year and Carmen's main purpose has never strayed. And Danny still hasn't learned. The little putz. :P Candy
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