Episode 122 Morals

In plain English, these are the morals from Episode 122:

Will Paul tail a scare?

The expense thing continues to bug me. But recently they did something else that also did: Michael called Cricket and asked if they could delay. She said no. Paul was standing right there. Then moments later there was something where Paul wanted to get together and she said she was too busy. Why didn't he tell her to postpone it when he had the opportunity? These people are such victims of their own free choices. Meanwhile he's also busy of his own choice, for not letting the detective do his thing.

Where will Jack scare up some tail?

I guess it's all this watching of the Monica coverage that leads me to believe that people in high places are more vulnerable because of their quirks than because of possible access to their legitimate concerns. I thought I'd play with that here. Victor needs some quirks, I think. Hey, after all, he did marry a stripper...

What scares Steve about Cole's tale?

The scenes in Spain and France really were unintelligible. I mean really unintelligible. I have no idea what happened there. I just plain couldn't follow it. The writing style felt utterly contrived and reminded me of those parodies of soaps that they used to do on the Carol Burnette show ages ago in the late 1960's--which, by the way, are probably what got me interested in parody-writing.

Also, the dialog where Cole showed up in France and said about two words and then Ashley said she missed him and he said "Show me." bugged me. I hate that "Show me" thing. As if sex was a "proof" of love. Soaps can be so "moralizing" about the "religiously correct" way to view the world. And to the extent that's promoting values that are good independent of religion--like charity and compassion--I can go along. But even among married people, I think overphysicalizing can be wrong. It would have been one thing if they'd each eyed each other hungrily and had both gone in together--then I's say, "Sure, go for it." But it was obvious that Ashley wasn't in the mood, and Cole didn't seem to care. And it bugged me having him supposedly care about her without being sensitive to what her feelings might be. Yuck. Sorry. It wasn't romantic or steamy--it just seemed pushy and gross.

What will stopping Jill's scarey dog entail?

The dog was an ok ploy, but I want escalation and lots of it.

Oh, and I still think Michael and Cricket would be hot together. The best part would be watching her figure out how to explain to others (or even herself) that she wanted him more than Paul. That would be fun.

In general, though I've been a big supporter of the Kay Alden regime generally, I have to say the quality has fallen off dramatically in the last several weeks. It's as if the things that were planned fell short time-wise of sweeps and they've been stretched out artificially. Also, a number of plots seem to keep getting put randomly on hold (like Diane's divorce). I want definitive action or definitive non-action. I don't want to be teased with things that aren't to happen. I don't want long lulls in suspense to make things time out differently.

That's all for Episode 122's morals. Don't miss Episode 123 and its morals!
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