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All My Children Update for Monday, 20-Sep-2004

Overall, a pretty good episode with some of the characters getting to exercise their dramatic chops. One of the best performances was given by Alicia Minshew (Kendall) in her speech to Ryan, and also the scene between Thorsten MacKay and Eva LaRue McCallahan. Here were the major developments in the episode.

It starts off with Jonathan ransacking Ethan's room at the Pine Cone looking for evidence against the man he believes shot his brother, or so he says. Aidan comes in and tells Jonathan to stop, since anything he finds will be useless in a criminal trial. What surprises me is that Aidan, as a Private Investigator, seems to ignore the fact that Mr. Devoted Brother stayed away from Ryan until he became rich and many crazy things have happened since his arrival. The other characters you can kind of forgive since Ethan also arrived around the same time claiming to be (dah-dah-dum) a Cambias, but you would think Aidan's antenna may have gone up. Anyway, Aidan buys the bereaved little brother act, and they leave the Pine Cone together presumably to find Derek Frye.

Meanwhile, Kendall has snuck into the hospital to speak to Ryan, who last episode opened his eyes. This scene was truly Alicia Minshew's tour de force - in it she confesses to being crazed with jealousy, but she now sees how terrible she had been to both Ryan and Greenlee ( they weren't peaches either, but for some reason details tend to get lost in Pine Valley ) and how she now knows that she just wants Ryan alive and happy even if they are not together. She asks Ryan to tell her that he believes that, but he refuses, instead asking for Greenlee.

While this is going on, Greenlee is confronting Ethan about whether or not he shot Ryan. Ethan, being sarcastic, confesses (someone must tell Greenlee about the English sense of humor. It may help Fusion in the international market). Instead of getting his point, Greenlee starts to call the police station. Ethan points out that the idea of him shooting Ryan is ridiculous, and totally counterproductive to his agenda. After all, he is trying to prove he is the legal heir to Cambias Industries. As he wisely points out, would the board exactly give the position to the man who offed the former leader? What Ethan does do is point out to Greenlee that she would like it to be him, since it would make her and Ryan's life much easier. Rebecca Budig also has a moment here, when she offers money to Ethan to leave. I really enjoyed her speech about "Money means a lot to people who never had it. I was always the poor little rich girl." She proceeds to tell Ethan that the money never made her happy, but Ryan does, and that to her is worth any amount of money Ethan could name. Ethan refuses. After this, Ethan and Greenlee depart to their respective scenes.

Greenlee walks into Ryan's hospital room, and at first yells as Kendall for being there. Then she notices that Ryan is awake. Greenlee explains that Kendall did not shoot him, and then all out gushing ensues. All you Ryan/Greenlee fans out there - this one's for you. For all the Ryan/Kendall fans out there, well, better luck next time. Heck, it is a soap opera after all! Anyway, nothing much more here besides love talk, but Ryan tells Greenlee he wants a baby with her. Call me skeptical, but I sniff an infertility plotline in the future. Not to seem terrible, but the rule of quality writing is if you make a point of something, you had better be using it in the plotline. I am hoping for a happy storyline here, but once again this is a soap. If they do pursue the infertility plotline, I hope they do it with more accuracy and class than Kelly on OLTL, but I digress....

Anyway, when Ethan leaves his confrontation with Greenlee, he is greeted by Derek Frye, Jonathan, and Aidan. Derek Frye begins to insinuate Ethan may be guilty, and then tries to make him come down to the station for questioning (nice touch, Derek. Take advantage of a foreigner's lack of familiarity with our legal system). Kendall emerges in time to help Ethan out and inform him that Derek needs a little something called a WARRANT and cannot force him to go. Jonathan now starts in on Kendall, saying that there must have been a plot between Kendall and Ethan. Aidan tells him to back off, but Kendall tells him she does not need his help. At this point, people should begin to realize that Jonathan is either paranoid or trying to cover something up. The only one who ever cried this much was chicken little!

Afterwards, Kendall breaks into Ethan's room ( I guess they did not cover the need to lock doors in Oxford ) and finds a hunting rifle. The episode ends with Kendall looking at Ethan suspiciously as he walks in and finds her looking at the rifle case.

The other two plotlines involved Maria and Zack, and the other Anita, Bobby and Aidan. Maria and Zack have a long conversation where he admits that Ethan is his son with the maid Hannah, and that Hannah was sent away by his father while he was away at school to avoid a scandal. Maria wonders how Alexander Sr. could have ignored his only grandson, and Zack explains that Alexander, Sr. was not concerned with the happiness of his children, but in his vision of the Cambias future. There was no room for dreams and originality, and Zack admitted that if Michael did become the monster they all say, it was because he left his brother to be raised by his father. Now, this is where it gets a little tricky. Zack will not allow his son to be persecuted or railroaded, but he feels the best way to help him is not to claim Ethan as his son. Maria does not agree with him, but agrees to keep his secret just the same.

Bobby does something thoughtful and brings Anita a meal up at the hospital. What ensues is a discussion between the two about Zach. Anita wonders why Bobby would not help Edmund investigate Zach, and also why Bobby did not tell Anita about the past involvement between Maria and Zach. Bobby says he trusts his boss, and that Zach has always been straight with him. Later on, Aidan and Anita speak. Aidan apologizes for getting Anita involved in the whole mess, and promises her that if Zach poses any threat to Bobby or Maria he and Edmund will handle it. Anita leaves, and Bobby runs in and confronts Aidan.

A pretty good episode, and one that gave the actors a little more meat then they normally get. This is my first update, so please let me know how you like it (don't worry if it is a critique - I am an Italian-American from New York so I can take it!) Well, until next Monday Buona fortuna!