Daily Updates

From: judyomega@aol.com (JudyOmega)
Subject: GH: Update Friday, May 8, 1998
Date: 10 May 1998 03:04:17 GMT

Mark this day on your calendar, folks:

Brenda:
1.  was interesting.
2.  made sense.
3.  did not whine.

She should get lost in the woods more often....  <g>  Seriously, today
was the first day in a loooong time that I didn't have the urge to
FF Brenda.  Her dialogue was insightful and wise and VM's
performance was tightly focused.  Very well done.

And now back to our regularly scheduled update....

1.  In the Valley of the Dolls, Alan is looking in Michael's crib.  He coos
at his grandson, and then pops a pill, followed by a booze chaser.
He turns off the baby monitor and picks up Michael, talking to him
all the while about Jason:  how he was (prior to the accident)
the best of the Q's... kind, generous, and brilliant.

2.  In the Hell... er... Hall of the Mountain King:  It's night, and Jason
is still carrying Brenda.  They decide to stop but they try to stay
awake.  Brenda suggests thinking of more happy thoughts.  Jason's
idea of a happy thought is:  "If we fall asleep, we'll get hypothermia
and die."  Brenda offers another fairy tale.  Jason asks "why do kids
need to know about magic?", still not understanding the benefits
of listening to made up stories.  "Michael is magic..."  Brenda offers,
and explains that his appearance in the world made everything
change for Jason.  "Love is magic too,"  she adds.

3.  On the Wings of Love:  The Jacks boys are up the PCPD's helicoptor
discussing search strategies.  Jerry asks Jax how he could
have so much faith in Brenda... that she's survived all this time
and could find a way to build a signal fire in the damp weather.
Jax replies that when Brenda's determined, she can do anything...
including snare him.  Jerry asks why Jax went after her to begin
with, knowing that she was already attached to Sonny.  "She was a
challenge I couldn't refuse..."  Jax says.

4.  Meanwhile, on The Other Side of the Mountain:  Brenda hasn't started
a signal fire, so they're both quite cold.  In an effort to stay awake,
Brenda tells Jason about their trip to the prom (back when he
was Jason Q) and how they almost had some rebound sex after
being simultaneously dumped by Jagger and Karen.  Jason, of
course, doesn't remember, but is entertained by the story as if
it were another fairy tale.  Brenda adds that Jason Q was her
friend in those days and tried to warn her about Sonny.

5.  Go Ask Alice... er... Emily:  Emily enters Michael's nursery
because she noticed the baby monitor had been turned off.  She
finds Alan in a drug-induced haze, spouting pleasant platitudes
about Michael and wonderful it will be watching him
grow up.  They chat briefly and Emily looks verrrry suspicious.

6.  Up, Up and Away:  The Jacks' are still talking about Brenda.  They
rehash how Brenda and Jax tried to make Sonny jealous and how
Jax eventually fell in love with her.  He went on to talk wistfully
about Malibu and their Almost-Wedding.

7.  The Hills are Alive with the Sound of:  Brenda says Jason
started to dislike her when she wore the wire.  Jason agrees.
Brenda reasserts that she would've never used the wire to
send Sonny to jail, but after she found out that Sonny had
been lying to her for over a year, she didn't know who to trust
anymore.  She went to the police to find the answers that Sonny
refused to give her, and then wore the wire because they told her that
if she didn't, someone else would (someone who would not
be so willing to protect Sonny, as Brenda was...).  And, of
course, it backfired:  The action brought about by Brenda losing
trust in Sonny, caused him to lose trust in her.

[Updater's note:  *This* was the moment when I perked up and took real
interest. Unlike most of the audience at that time, I actually sided with
Brenda over the Wire Incident, and I *cheered* when she finally
took some action after being snowed under by Sonny's lies for
over a year.  And I was sickened by her downward spiral afterwards,
when she spent the next several months/years groveling at Sonny's feet
for an action that I believed was somewhat warranted.  It was
refreshing for me to hear her discuss that time in a more rational
light:  that it was *Sonny's* betrayal that led to hers.  Yes, she
was still sorry for wearing the wire, but she refused to take all
of the blame for the slow decay of their relationship.  These were not
the rantings of a woman scorned (like those we heard over and over
again after Sonny left her at the altar), this was a self-realized
statement naming the one insurmountable obstacle in their relationship:
 lack of trust.]

8.  The White Knight's Talking Backwards:  Back at the nursery, Alan
is engaging in increasingly incoherant babble, verbally slobbering
all over Emily and Michael.   When he starts repeating himself,
Emily becomes frightened and asks:  "What is wrong with you?"
She offers to go get Monica.  Alan tries to defend himself, asking
what's wrong with him expounding on the virtues of his daughter
and grandson, and then goes to pick up Michael.  "Don't..."  says
Emily.  And, to finish a scene that should be part of Stuart Damon's
Emmy reel for next year, Alan immediately switches gears and
verbally attacks Emily for keeping him from his grandson.  Why
do you act like I'm going to hit you?  he asks,  Have I ever
hit you?  Emily starts to cry...

9.  Into The Woods:  Jason says that Sonny still loved Brenda
after she wore the wire, and that it was him (Jason) who condemned
her for it.  "But he didn't trust me..."  said Brenda.  Jason compares
her experience with Sonny to his with the Q's.  Like Sonny lied to
Brenda, they lied to him and he hated it.  But Sonny always told him
the truth.  Brenda says that the Organization will destroy Jason
someday and that it will all lead back to Sonny.  Jason
disagrees:  Sonny respected him and let him make his own
decision.  "But the world he opened up to you is a world you can't take
Robin,"  Brenda counters,  "is it worth it?"

10.  Off the Ground:  The Jacks boys are still discussing
Jax 'n Brenda.  Jax talks about their almost-wedding and how
Sonny showed up with Miranda.  That was the worst night of
his life.  Then, in a moment where I hope the auto-pilot
took over, Jax flashes back to a series of Brenda'n'Jax
vignettes, set to a rather non-descript generic love song.

11.  Climb(ing) Every Mountain:  Brenda and Jason talk about
Robin and how she's afraid of Jason's life.  Jason finally understands
how she feels, after being afraid when Michael was kidnapped.
He never wants Robin to have to feel that way again.  "You do love her,"
Brenda says.  "I'll love her forever,"  Jason replies.  Brenda can
relate to that feeling when "someone comes into your life and
makes you better than you thought you could ever be...  Jax did
that for me."

12.  I Want to Take You Higher:  Alan is in the park, meeting
with his drug dealer.  They make the exchange and Alan sits on a
bench, popping pills and drinking.  Later, he passes out there.

13.  Runaway Little Girl:  Emily packs up Michael and leaves the Q
mansion.

14.  Up, up, up, up:  Jerry thinks they should give up the search.  Jax
refuses to believe Brenda's dead.

15.  And Down, down, down, down:  Brenda worries about Jason and
wonders if he'd do better on his own, without her to burden him.
She asks him to leave her behind....

End of Update...

-Judy (One half of the Twin Updaters of Different Fridays)