Episode 33 Morals

In plain English, these are the morals from Episode 33:

Jurassic Pack

Well, the title is obviously about the Michael Baldwin storyline, or about people generally confronting the past. But it's also a pun on the way people speak around Boston, where I live. They pronounce the world ``park'' as most people in the U.S. would pronounce the word ``pack''.

Grace and Tony attempt to rectify the past

There's bound to be some sort of ``silly mix-up'' about the return of Cassie to Sharon. In this world where no one gives anyone any information until they're sure it's needed, there always is. I was just peeking ahead to what possible problems there could be. The obvious one is over the term ``your child'' and its many ambiguities of reference. The story pretty much wrote itself from there.

As for the ending, it may seem merciless, but I like Josie Davis and am sad to hear she's leaving the show. I figured it was better to just kill her off than to have yet another character replaced. I'm really getting tired of seeing familiar characters with unfamiliar faces. Sometimes the replacement actors/actresses are even reasonably talented, but why not just give them their own parts so they could shine on their own instead of having to live forever in the shadow of comparison?

Oh, and Cassie? Sorry about that. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'll bring her back in some later episode! I have more plans for her--other ways to explore her repatriation with her mother.

Kurt struggles to balance past and present

The obvious questions everyone is asking are ``How can Kurt stand Ashley being the way she is toward him?'' and ``When is enough enough?'' I figured at some point Kurt would snap, and so I thought I'd explore what that might mean. Of course, he might just get angry and violent, but that seemed too easy. So I looked elsewhere for more subtle effects.

There's also the side issue of everyone gossiping all over about Kurt's brave feats. Knowing Ashley and her obsessive behavior, I figured she'd go to extremes to find a way to see Kurt engage in brave deeds, which dove-tailed nicely with my desire to create a situation where Kurt was unable to act.

And we're getting a little tired of the number of times Jack says to Diane that he thinks she's beautiful. How about having him focus on something else already? He's starting to sound like a broken record, and if this story is any indication, it could become a public health threat. If he hadn't stopped to tell her this time, Joshua might have arrived sooner and John Abbott might still be alive today!

Note also the themely use of religion, now an essential element of every episode. Sigh.

A villain from eons past resurfaces

It's a recurring theme on the newsgroup for people to ask for David Kimble back. I figured I'd appeal to the best of Soap Opera science and grant the request. My feeling is that this is no more of a stretch than many other things I've seen done on the show, and anyway, the end would really justify the means.

That's all for Episode 33's morals. Don't miss Episode 34 and its morals!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.