Episode 61 Morals

In plain English, these are the morals from Episode 61:

Will Ashley learn to read Cole's romantic intentions?

This episode provided a framework in which to make fun of the completely ridiculous introduction of `Ellie' this week. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a character we have never seen before appears? And she's supposedly been a member of the family for years? (I suppose she was just never invited to any of the many parties, like Miguel was.) This is nuts. This person is obviously here so that Veronica can replace her, but it's completely silly to just write her in out of nowhere.

People on the newsgroup suggested a million good things that could be done instead. Miguel is obviously overworked, and rather than rewrite history they could just say that now that he's taking care of three households it was time to hire more staff. Or Miguel could need to be on vacation for a while. Or they could just decide on a whim to hire more staff. Just about anything would be better than lying to the audience and saying that someone has always been there when quite obviously they have not.

This plot also pays tribute to Cole's remark to Ashley that he'd written 50 books. Perhaps he was just kidding. But then, Ashley should have laughed. The whole scene was deadpan, and it left more than a few people wondering how he could have cranked out that many books at so young an age.

Also, are Cole and Victoria divorced or what? Last I remember (when Sarah Aldrich arrived as Victoria) their marriage was ``back on track''. Now she's suddenly gone and Cole is kissing other women one day while giving Nick advice on how to have a sound marriage the next day. How about a little continuity here. My episode here is schizophrenic on Cole's marriage, but really only because I'm as confused as can be about what the truth is on the show.

Will Lynn finally spell out her feelings for Paul?

The writers of this show amaze me sometimes. They work so hard to contrive reasons for some couples to break up (e.g., Nina and Ryan) when they've got perfectly good marital strife (e.g., Cricket and Paul) just waiting to happen. I've been thinking it was time to get Lynn involved with Paul again, and when Mary came in the other day asking if Lynn was spending all her time in internet chat rooms, I got to thinking there must be something fun we could put them up to.

Are Nina and Trish closing the book on Ryan, or just starting a new chapter?

The idea that it was getting crowded in the bushes with people stalking one another has been with me for a while. I wasn't really sure where to take it until this weekend when I saw the coverage of the death of Princess Di. I got to wondering if these two would ever notice the similarity between their actions and other stalkers, and if so if they'd feel remorse. My conclusion was that they'd find a lot in common with each other over this, and I was looking for a way for each of them to stand up and give Ryan a cold shoulder. But having them get together was only one of several ways it could have gone from there--just having them plot together against Ryan might be another. As long as they end up with some spine and Ryan learns some humility, that's probably fine.

That's all for Episode 61's morals. Don't miss Episode 62 and its morals!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.