This week in Llanview, we've got romantic issues, parental troubles, financial woes, trouble picking out a disc jockey name, shady characters cutting the power and sending creepy anonymous notes, husband-on-the-run-from-said-shady-characters drama, and a whole host of other problems. Unfortunately for the residents of Llanview, even Snoop Lion can't fix it all.
There's enough drama to fill a blog, and, fortunately, Dorian's got one. Hold your hand up high if you wish you could actually read it! As David says, Below the Beltway is "inflammatory, salacious, and nasty. I love it." I would be on that subscriber list in a second. Speaking of Dorian being nasty, something is about to go down with the Pellegrino fund. Poor Viki is right in the middle of receiving a Dorian Lord smackdown, and she doesn't even know.
Though it wasn't explicitly shown, it was hinted that Viki called her financial advisor and took her money out of the Pellegrino fund after Jeffrey revealed it was one of four funds that could be going down in a blaze of scandal. Even if Viki did sell, this can't be the end of her troubles. As her conversation with Clint suggested, I think there will be some accusations of insider trading or something similar. There's no way Dorian's letting Viki out of this unscathed. I just can't wait to see Viki start to fight back once she finds out what's really going on.
You know where I want to know what is really going on? Who cut the power to Shelter? There is some shady business going down in Llanview. Cutter even made Todd think maybe Dani was telling the truth about not overdosing and that she'd instead been passed bad drugs. If so, is that connected to the power outage, and could both of those things be connected to the mysterious group who is after Victor and sending Todd anonymous notes? And what about all of the hidden video cameras?
It seems they're setting up a big show-wide mystery where every odd thing that is happening is going to tie together, but I can't for the life of me figure out where it's all going yet. I'm intrigued, but I hope we get some really substantial hints as to who or what is behind the mysterious goings-on soon. There's a danger it could start to feel like they're just throwing strange happenings at us with no rhyme or reason. I could love this storyline if it starts to feel more planned-out with some twists and turns that make sense and still keep us guessing.
One person who's more desperate to figure out what's going on than even us viewers is Téa. Can I take a second to offer Florencia Lozano a big sparkly award for being so compelling when acting opposite a computer screen? In the hands of someone else, watching someone alone and reacting to instant messages could get old quickly, but Florencia is so expressive that, even when Téa is completely silent alone in a room, reading messages from Victor, my eyes are glued to the screen.
Téa has been put through the wringer lately, and she's trying her best to keep it together and stay strong through this latest disaster, but the mystery of where Victor is and the fear he's in serious danger are clearly getting to her. It's obvious she's struggling with how to handle this. She is willing to turn to Bo for help, but she isn't confident enough in the police to let them handle communications with Victor. This was evidenced by her outraged "This is your best guy?!" when Bo's computer expert failed to find the source of Victor's messages and her subsequent refusal to turn her computer over to the police.
I'm glad she didn't turn over her computer because it meant she found an "I love you, always" from Victor on her computer when she returned home. I haven't heard if Trevor St. John is coming back as Victor, but I hope he is. I'm rooting for these two crazy kids to find their way out of this mess and back to being hot and sexy together. Well, I'm rooting for the two of them unless Téa and Blair finally admit they're in love and start dating, that is.
In case you didn't gather from the above paragraphs, I adore Téa Delgado madly. That said, I've been lukewarm on Dani since the online version debuted. Kelley Missal has been doing an awesome job at portraying Dani's hurt and confusion, and her need to strike out at the people who care about her but have let her down. She was already a great actress and has only improved with age, but, though I feel sympathetic for Dani and what she's been through, I was so attached to her relationship with Téa in the previous version of the show that the degradation of that relationship has left me uncertain how to feel about Dani.
Though I'm still anxiously awaiting Téa and Dani repairing their relationship, I've already started to fall back in love with Dani, thanks to the delight she took in antagonizing Todd at the nail salon. It reminded me so much of something Téa might do, seeing Todd's desperation and getting as much amusement of her own out of it as possible. Dani looked absolutely giddy as she handed Todd the green nail polish and then reminded him he'd said he'd do whatever she wanted.
There were so many great comedic beats in those scenes, like Todd waving his nails to dry them as he talked to Bo on the phone and Dorian taunting Todd. All the actors involved seemed to be having fun with it, and that made it a joy to watch. But there were some honest emotional moments too. Dorian's "Oh, is there a father here?" in response to hearing Dani and Todd were having a father/daughter day was snarky, but Dani's half-hearted defense of Todd, and Todd's resignation to the truth of the statement, showed there's still a pretty big rift in their relationship, even if they both may want to fix it. And I do think Dani wants to fix it, even if she's still trying to act tough in front of Todd.
I was especially moved by how hopeful Dani was that Todd might believe her about her not overdosing. During Todd's phone call with Bo, we saw that Bo was lying about throwing away Dani's pills, so I hope we'll eventually see them tested and find out the truth behind Dani's hospitalization. If so, I'll be eager to see how that affects her relationship with both Todd and Téa.
As always, I'm wondering how much we can trust Todd, especially after he got another note with that mysterious symbol on it. Does Todd know something about these people who are sending the notes, or is he as clueless as everyone else? The latest card looks to be a list of people he loves, "Dani, Jack, Starr, Sam, Blair, Viki, Téa, Natalie." Is it a threat? He takes care of Victor like the previous note said, or something happens to the people on the list?
Speaking of fathers who aren't exactly doing a bang-up job at parenthood, Matthew's trying to act all grown-up-businessman. I have a hard time taking him seriously when he's really spending all of his time waiting for texts from his online girlfriend while ignoring his child and responsibilities. It was satisfying watching Destiny snap at him first for bailing on babysitting and then for his oblivious behavior around Drew, but it would be more satisfying if Matthew would man up and support his son.
Matthew showed some promising signs while having coffee with Destiny and Drew but then backpedaled like mad when Destiny invited him to dinner. There was sheer panic on his face at the thought of doing anything remotely domestic and fatherly. I'm especially bummed that Destiny backed down on getting Jeffrey's phone number from Matthew only to put up with more of Matthew's crap. Even if Matthew does step up to his responsibilities, I'm rooting for a Destiny/Jeffrey pairing. Jeffrey has so much more respect and concern for Destiny and what she's going through than Matthew has ever been able to muster.
I do have a little hope for Matthew because it seems his conversation with Snoop Lion may have finally clued him in to the fact that he's basically being a horrible person right now. Is anyone else wondering why Snoop Lion has so much time to wander around, offering various Buchanan men wise advice, though? Last week, it was Bo. This week, it's Matthew. Snoop, dude, the Buchanans have a heck of a lot of problems. Your other business is going to suffer if you devote all your time to straightening their mess out. Despite my wondering if he should have more important things to do, Snoop Lion spoke the truth, and I hope Matthew truly gets his act together and makes up for how he's been ignoring Drew and Destiny.
Nora's about to give some wise advice of her own. I'm excited about this advice show of hers. I hope it results in all of Llanview calling her with their problems and not knowing it's Nora they're talking to. This could provide both great comedy and drama, and I think it's smart to give Nora something that keeps her tied to so many other characters, even when there's not a big legal case going down.
I also love Bo's role in this. He's seen Nora's not as happy as she could be, and he's urging her to change that. He is very eager to help her, evidenced by the fliers and social media he set up for her. There's an interesting contrast between Bo helping Nora with the radio show and Clint's attempts to help Viki with the Banner a few weeks back. Although he genuinely wanted to help, Clint was butting into Viki's business because he thought he knew what was best despite what Viki wanted. On the other hand, Bo's anxious to help Nora because he knows this is what she wants. He says, whenever she talks about the radio show, she has some of her old sparkle back.
Will Vimal and Rama still be together many years from now like Bo and Nora? Open marriage works well for some, but I have my doubts as to how well it will work for Rama and Vimal. Up until this week, it had been mostly Vimal who had reservations and displayed jealousy, but when Rama wanted to spend the evening with Vimal and Vimal had a date, we saw some jealousy from Rama as well. The two of them are sweetly romantic together. I enjoyed Rama putting on her wedding attire and Vimal pretending to leave only for the dramatic effect of swooping back in to kiss Rama.
I do understand Rama's desire for an open marriage, especially given what she explained about her and Vimal's marriage being arranged at a young age and them never getting a chance to explore other options. However, with Vimal being so reluctant about the whole thing, I don't know that an open marriage will be the final solution for them. I love them and hope they stay together, and I dig that we're seeing them talking honestly with each other about what they both want out of their marriage and exploring definitions of marriage that may not fit into everyone else's idea of the norm.
Dorian was a little jealous of Rama when she spotted her looking cozy with David in some of his reality show footage. I'm making an official plea to the OLTL writers right now. Please get Rama, David, and Dorian together in the same room. I am honestly begging you. I guarantee you it would make great material for David's reality show and result in some stellar comedic opportunities. Can't you just imagine Dorian and Rama's reactions to one another and David's reaction to the two of them together?
Dorian, who is obviously feeling at loose ends now that her political career has imploded, suggested herself as the leading lady on David's show. David seems none too eager to take her up on this offer. It's tough having two celebrities -- or at least two people who are convinced they are celebrities -- in one marriage.
David shooting this show has provided some memorable moments already. Seeing how different characters react to him and his camera is always fun and a nice lighthearted contrast to some of the more shady and dramatic goings-on in Llanview, so I hope he keeps going, whether he accepts Dorian as his costar or not. I applaud the show for balancing the heavier storylines with bits of levity like this.
