Will AMC surprise us?I’m hopeful they will, but time and again they’ve burst our soap bubbles.
I give the show mad props for what they did right. The initial return of Jesse and Angie was a masterpiece. The promotion and buildup was brilliant. Angie and Jesse’s first sighting of one another at the train station, buttressed by the haunting and very appropriate strains of Alicia Keys’ Like You’ll Never See Me Again, was top-notch. The Hubbard reunion and re-marriage was everything soap fans could have hoped for. However, it seemed that’s where the writers ran out of gas.
It was clear there was a detailed plan in place for the couple’s return to Pine Valley and how it would be accomplished. There was a lot of attention paid to the couple’s history and how it could be tied into the current story arcs – and it showed. There is also, however, a clear indication that what to do beyond the over-the-top soapy reunion wasn’t really a priority; hence, the secret family coming to town to show their munificence in “letting Jesse go”. And in order to accommodate the new Hubbard polygamist sect, something had to give - character and common sense.
The writers had to give up on writing based upon the character’s history and we, the viewers, will have to set aside common sense if we are going to make it through this storyline without screaming the entire time. We’ll have to deal with Angie trying to exercise unbelievable understanding and accommodation by allowing the “other woman” to move into her home and play Wifey #2. We’ll struggle through Natalia treating Angie like the wicked stepmother who is trying to take her poor mama’s place even though she acknowledges knowing it was her mother who was second choice. Frankie will grate on our nerves with the constant flare-ups and childish resentment over daddy spending time with the “other family”. Pout. And we’ll have to deal with Jesse trying to be all things to all people and pissing of everyone as a result. Are you as excited as I am?
Now for the surprise…
Will the writers take a different approach once Rebecca is magically cured? Oh, you don’t seriously think they’ll let her die and have Angie and Jesse rally around Natalia and live happily ever after (until sweeps, that is)? Do you? So, how much do you want to bet that once old Becky is cured she’s going to want a “do over” so that she can have her little family life with Jesse back? After all, she only forced him to leave because she thought she was dying. Once that little roadblock is removed, all of Angie’s sacrifice and understanding won’t mean a thing. What do you think? Will the gloves come off and we’ll have Hubbard vs. Hubbard by February? Or, will the writers surprise us and do something completely different?
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