The Deception storyline on the whole has been a disappointment to me. I was so excited that we would see Laura strong and independent; I looked forward to the teen scene being integrated with the grownups; I was interested in seeing Laura deal with her two sons, with her understanding of the two girls in question for the job, and with Carly. But instead of integration for the teens and character building for Laura, we got an incredibly repetitious storyline that, for me, made everybody involved look bad. Elizabeth and Gia raised snottiness to a new level, while Lucky's decision to photograph Gia made no sense at all, since it was seemingly based only in Carly's offer of more money. I just don't see why the fact that Elizabeth is beautiful qualifies her to be a model, when it's clear she can't do the job. And while I loved Amy and Elton on the scene, as well as some of the scenes of Laura in her office with family and friends--and especially facing off with Stefan--she seemed not strong, but just as immature as the teens with whom she was dealing. Since when does she let Amy talk her into anything? And since when does she believe Tony Jones where Carly is concerned, instead of trusting her own observations--which have shown the good in Carly as well as the worst? She's looking for justifications for doing what she wants to do, and I don't think she's even convincing herself.

There have been some high points. While the scenes of the actual photo shoots were pretty awful, I am surprised to admit that, amidst the squabbling, I've come to sympathize with Gia. (I wish that I had been given reason to understand Elizabeth's stake in this job as clearly--Nikolas says it's that she's facing down demons, but all I see is that she's doing what people expect of her and not admitting how it makes her feel or that she doesn't want to do it at all.) I only wish that Gia had connected to somebody else, as well as Nikolas, by this point. I enjoy Gia with Carly, and I like the fact that Lucky catches a glimpse, every once in a while, of what Nikolas sees in her. I like Gia and Nikolas better than Lucky and Elizabeth, and that shocks me. Their relationship may have been contrived, and may not yet have played out as well as it might have, but amidst the arbitrary soapiness of the whole thing, they have had some really nice scenes.

Nikolas, especially towards the end of the month, was finally hitting his stride. By having him "stay out of it" for so long, the writing kept this storyline from doing what it needed to do. But when Nikolas not only confronted his family in the board meeting but also told Laura what he thought of her choice for the Face of Deception and her treatment of Gia, we were onto something. I also liked that he didn't become an unequivocal supporter of Gia's, but was still pointing out her errors in judgment.

Meanwhile, Lucky and Elizabeth have moved towards the bottom of my list. The continual discussion of lying and trust has grown old, and the fighting over Jason--and the subsequent cave in--is just a nightmare come true. But the most problematic thing to me is that Lucky treats Elizabeth so poorly and she actually believes that he's entitled to do so. Their scenes have become painful to watch, and while Lucky may have brainwashing to excuse his piggish behavior, Elizabeth has no such reason to put up with it like she has. The scenes at Jake's had me for a moment, as Elizabeth told Lucky that she would not do anything on command, but while Lucky told Emily that he had been wrong, Elizabeth told Jason that she thought he had a right to feel the way he did. Moreover, she profusely apologized, even though Lucky was still questioning her. Nothing is resolved; in fact, not facing what's going on between them only makes things worse.

Finally, Elizabeth makes Jason into this person who expects nothing from her; she used to feel that way about Lucky, but now she feels guilty about not having everything with him, not feeling "in love" all the time. While Lucky may indeed expect those things from her, I think she also expects them from herself, and when she doesn't feel the way she thinks she should, she blames Lucky and looks to Jason as the one with no expectations. My favorite scene was actually the one in which Jason asked her why she was doing something she didn't want to do. She had to realize that he wasn't simply going to agree with or understand everything--that he did, after all, have some expectations of her.

But as for Elizabeth and Lucky, this relationship is at a crisis point, though I don't know how long we're going to have to wait until it blows sky high. I fear that, when and if it's revealed that Lucky's brainwashing is behind it (and when Jason goes away), they will decide that all is well and brush this under the carpet. Lucky's reactions are a big part of this (I was thrilled that Emily pointed that out; thrilled too that it marks Lucky as his father's child), but to write them off as only the brainwashing makes this a weaker storyline, for me, just as it did at the start of Lucky's return.

Key Scene: Fight at Jake's, 2/26/01

Continue to Next Page of Review

Back to Front Page of Issue

Back to Top