The Spencers (cont.):

"That night, after Lesley had helped her to realize that she needed to grieve together with her husband, Laura was going to Luke's to offer solace. She had every expectation that such mutual comfort might help them and help their marriage."

"Laura expected to find Luke alone, hurt, angry and needing her, the woman who knows him best and would, presumably, know his grief best. Instead, she found him swapping spit with a relative stranger, and a former hooker, to boot. Does anybody really wonder why she was crushed and disillusioned, or why, after a year has gone by, the wound still smarts?"

"This scene at Jake's was fascinating for me, because it involves three of my favorites. I was delighted that Laura let Tammy have it. And I loved Mike and Tammy's conversation and the insight into what informational boundaries they have set and torn down in their relationship."

"On the other hand, it is at times like this that I find it hard to defend Tammy, because she has an unfortunate tendency to lead with her chin, straight into business that is definitely not hers. If Laura is determined to go a little off the rails, it is none of Tammy's business. I applauded Laura's dropping the information that she had seen Tammy with Luke that night, not only on Laura's behalf but also because it delivered a slap of cold reality. I hope Tammy learned at least one lesson from Laura's revelation: when you are witness to a situation in which you can play no useful role, withdrawal is the better course of action."

Amy: "This scene reminds me to comment on Terry's wish for a return to Luke and Stefan for fall sweeps (you made the comment last month sometime, pal). While I want Laura to find her backbone, I don't really think that she can do that and go back to Stefan. The way the writing for this couple has gone from 1996 to now--four years--has demonstrated that their present relationship is not based in anything more than images and dreaming and memories of the past. I absolutely don't want to go down the romantic road again with them under the current circumstances. (Ironically perhaps, I think she has a better chance of finding herself and her strength again and forging a new relationship with Luke. Not right now, but in the future.)"

"The picture I now have of Stefan and Laura, after the ultimately frustrating time we've had getting here, is that Stefan has dragged those past scenes with him all this time. That Laura, facing so much loss and doubt, has gradually turned to him as an escape, a 'what if,' etc. Did they love each other then? Sure. In some sense of the term. Could they love each other now? I have my doubts, and, interestingly, it's where Stefan's concerned--I don't see him dealing with her much differently now than when he showed up--not seeing her any more clearly. But the circumstances as they have been, she ended up with Stefan by default, and he tried so hard to convince himself that he'd finally got what he wanted. But Laura wasn't in any condition to choose, and she's gradually (even if the lie about Lucky was the culmination, I still don't think it was a quick thing) realized that she loves him but doesn't trust him, for various reasons. And, I think, has realized that she can't be with him the present and--more importantly--doesn't want to. She has regrets where he's concerned, etc. And he'll be angry and still want her for a while. But finally, this storyline has run its course as a romance, for me--run its arch, as it were, from angry and abandoned through coming together through breaking apart."

"Sorry, Terry, but I want Laura anywhere but with Stefan in her absent months. This is not to say that I would mind Stefan looking for her, revealing that he is not over her. And I don't expect her not to continue to have regrets and doubts were he's concerned. He is, for all intents and purposes, the father of her child, after all. But at this point, after so much rough writing and me having to make stuff make sense, I have decided that the story Guza was writing was a story of people who cannot make it work in real time. And after all, that's the story I bought into in 1996. So I've made my peace with it."

Continue to Next Page of Review

Back to Front Page of Issue

Back to Top