VI. Luke and Bobbie Find the Room (4/27)
Bobbie: "Want to come upstairs with me? There's something you have to see. I was looking for Laura, and I opened the door."
Luke: "Laura did this?"
Bobbie: "Yeah. Well, who else?"
Luke: "I guess she beat me to it."
Bobbie: "Look, I don't mean to panic, but what if she wandered off? Shouldn't we be looking for her?"
Luke: "Oh, come on, Barbara. We both know where my wife is."
We cut to Laura and Stefan having breakfast at Wyndemere.
Luke: "Why don't I just bring the dumpster around the side of the house and we'll just throw all this stuff out the window and be done with it?"
Bobbie: "You don't want to throw this away."
Luke: "Lucky might need this, huh?"
Bobbie: "You know, Luke, when--when B.J. died, I thought if her things were gone, maybe the pain would be gone, too. I wanted to call in a bunch of strangers to just come over and clean out her room, to just scrub away every trace. But I thank god now that I didn't. You remember when Ruby--how you just wanted to toss everything? But aren't you glad we didn't? Grief makes you do things you never imagined you would do, things you regret later. And Laura's going to want all of these things. I mean, maybe not right this second, but she will eventually. And you will, too. I know you will."
At this point, Luke received a call from Laura (see her section). I was struck by the intercutting between the two settings, and the thought that Laura goes back and forth between two houses (which she associates with the two men in her life), but doesn't really have a home anymore. We rarely see her in the Spencer house, certainly. She had shrugged off Stefan, earlier, and at this point he left the room. As she spoke, we saw Luke pick up the same photo she herself had held before she went upstairs and wrecked Lucky's room. Very nice. You could almost feel the memories around Luke as he stood in the living room in this scene, and I found that more effective than Lucky's room, which we rarely saw..
Bobbie: "Luke, I--I got the room under control, kind of. Is there anything else I can do?"
Luke: "No."
Bobbie: "Ok. Well, I'll be at Kelly's if you need me."
Luke: "Thanks."
Luke: "Bye."
Amy: "I'm amazed watching the changing dynamics between the mourners--who's strong for whom, who blames what on whom, etc. But the thing that struck me in the scenes between Laura and Stefan at Wyndemere (besides her hitting her hurt hand on the other one so that she could feel something--anything) was that she kept saying "What if you hadn't come." The thing she articulated was that she might have destroyed the whole house, but the thing on my mind was suicide. That's because when Liz gave her fairly creepy little speech about Lucky waiting somewhere for her and showing her the way, I thought we were going to get the story where her coldness/lack of emotion would be because she was planning to kill herself--and that Nikolas would save her, that Laura would be brought out of her depression to help Liz, etc. But to me, that was two suicidal women--and it was amazing how well Luke was getting along, comparatively."
"Luke had people around him (all women, too), while Laura just had objects. And while Luke claimed that she beat him to the destruction of that room, I wasn't convinced, somehow. However, Luke's not attached to objects--we've see that over and over, and not just after deaths. He travels light--and I thought the juxtaposition of Luke & Laura and their different relationships to objects in this and the upcoming scenes, along with the scene in which Felicia lists all the 'stuff' she and her girls will keep with them as they stick by Mac's side was really interesting. At the same time, when Luke and Bobbie found the room, Luke picked up a skateboard and held it to him."
Joan: "Amy, I found all of this great commentary, but only have time to make one comment of my own. You are dead-on about Luke's not being attached to things, while Laura is. I think specifically of Laura lugging that carpetbag all over the world, and Luke's using her attachment to it to get her to jump out of that airplane. That's why her destruction of Lucky's room is so amazing, because preservation is her primal instinct."
"Genie has just been wonderful in these scenes. There is a lumbering, Mamma bear quality to her movements, a slow, side-to-side keening grieving that is totally different from the work of Kristina Wagner or Jackie Zeman. The solidity of her presence hammers home her numbness."
Amy: "And I find Luke's boots seem to weigh him down to a slow plod as well, like Laura. Often, they're 'made for walkin',' but lately they seem to physically demonstrate the weight of his feet/soul. He's been wearing the heaviest pair, even to the funeral."
VII. Mac Tells Luke and Laura that the Fire was an Accident (4/27)
Laura: "I thought you'd be gone already."
Luke: "Mac called. He's bringing over the arson investigator's report."
Laura: "They have one already?"
Luke: "Yeah. I figured you'd want to see it or talk to him."
Laura: "Thanks for waiting."
Luke: "Yeah. Give him my regards."
Laura: "Luke, wait a minute. Will you please stay?"
Luke: "Why? We know what's in the report. It's going to say that Moreno or somebody set the fire to get back at Jason or Sonny and Lucky got in the way. And I'm the guy who taught him to trust criminals, and I'm the guy who robbed him of a normal life, and we've been through all this."
Laura: "I promise not to say those things. I promise."
Luke: "I don't believe you."
Laura: "Lucky was the best of what we were. And we're still his parents. We should find out about what's in that report together, out of respect. Not for [transcript cut; she says not for them, but for Lucky]."
Laura: "This home was supposed to be our safe place--a home for Lucky, a place for him to be."
Luke: "Well, we messed up."
Laura: "He lived the way we taught him to. He got to this town on his own, didn't he? We made sure that he knew how to do that--to travel light and get where he was going without getting lost. You taught him all of those things. But I--I wanted him to be safe. I wanted him to be here with us."
Luke: "Please don't do this."
Laura: "I promised him a home, and then I made it impossible for him to live in it."
Luke: "Laura, somebody lit a match, and our son died. That's all. Yeah, come in."
Mac: "Good. I'm glad I caught you both here together. The arson report is clear. There are no unanswered questions, no evidence that doesn't add up."
Laura: "Who started the fire?"
Mac: "Nobody started the fire. It was an accident."
Luke's reactions in this sequence were telling--he was shocked that Laura would ever do that--and I think he knew from that just how badly off she was. Interesting that he wouldn't open up to her even then--that when she came home he was as removed as removed could be, even to the point that he wasn't going to stay and hear the report, either for her support or to see if he was right about the arson. He was convinced both that she didn't want or need him and that somebody had killed his boy. Wrong on both counts. But even though they had swapped lines--that they were each using the words of the other to blame themselves now, instead of the blame they were heaving at the police station--he was still reserved--protecting himself. And I wonder how the Tammy thing fits into his consciousness at that moment, even as he believed she'd gone to be comforted (perhaps in a similar way) by Stefan?
Laura: "Are you sure that it was an accident?"
Mac: "I had the fire marshal and the chief arson investigator justify everything line by line."
Luke: "How are they saying it started?"
Mac: "The fire originated in Lucky's room."
Laura: "That's not possible. He didn't smoke. Was it the hot plate? Did he leave the hot plate on?"
Mac: "Lucky lit some candles. He went to sleep without putting them out."
Luke: "Oh, now, hold on, Mac. That's--accelerants are very hard to trace."
Mac: "Luke, the point of origin is clear. The fire started on the nightstand where the candles were located. It moved from there."
Luke: "According to your report."
Mac: "Nobody wants to nail Moreno or Corinthos more than I do, but the evidence does not take us there, as much as I want it to. It wasn't a professional hit. It wasn't a sloppy amateur job. It wasn't a warning. No messages were being sent."
Laura: "But he's still gone."
Mac: "I'm sorry. Look, you are both welcome to go over the report if you want. The fire was an accident. The case is closed."
An accidental fire was completely outside Luke's worldview, it seemed. He had been holding on to the thought that there was a reason, that there was a source. His physical response to Mac's announcement was fascinating to watch, as was Laura's.
Lucky: "Let me get to the net somehow, please."
And we cut from Mac's announcement to Lucky on the computer in his cell.
VIII. Luke and Sonny (4/28)
Luke: "This is a very bad time, Herr Krieg. I'm in no position to do business with you or anybody else right now."
Faison: "Well, you'll be doing business with me sooner than you think. And the terms will be all mine."
Sonny: "You don't have to worry. This will probably be the last time you ever see me here again. Just--sign these papers, and our partnership will be over."
Luke: "Well, I guess you didn't hear. You're off the hook. You had nothing to do with Lucky's death."
Luke: "It'll be in the papers tonight or tomorrow. But Mac came over to the house and told Laura and me that the investigation is over. The fire has been declared an accident."
Sonny: "Investigators didn't find anything?"
Luke: "They say my kid left candles burning. It's so stupid. Anyway, you and Jason are officially cleared. Nobody torched my kid trying to get back at you."
Sonny: "You don't look sold."
Luke: "Well, you know, official reports don't mean much to me because if you weren't the cause of the fire, you could have been."
Sonny: "Go ahead and sign the papers. I'll be out of your life for good."
Luke: "What, you're going to give me your half of the club?"
Sonny: "That's right."
Luke: "Sonny, that's what a guilty man would do. I'm surprised you'd be that obvious."
Sonny: "When we first started working together, I promised that I would protect the people you love. You stopped believing that. Why continue?"
Luke: "You still believe it?"
Sonny: "I'd put my life on the line trying to get it back. But can I guarantee it? No."
Luke: "Well, I thank you for your belated honesty."
Sonny: "Well, go ahead, sign the papers, and I guess it's over."
Luke: "Look, my wife and I are done. Ruby's gone. Now Lucky. If it's all the same to you, I've had enough losses for a while."
Sonny: "I'll keep a set of papers just in case you change your mind."
Luke: "Yeah, you do that. I called Claude. I told him to get a hold of the staff. We're reopening for business tonight."
Sonny: "Can you handle that?"
Luke: "I can't make anything any worse. All right, look, I--I got to do something. It's important. I got to talk to somebody. Are you going to be here till I get back or what?"
Sonny: "Well, I mean, if you don't mind, I was going to stick around, you know, maybe just--"
Luke: "I don't mind. You're still half owner of the place--until further notice. Well, hello. Didn't anybody ever tell you that punctuality is, like, the eighth deadliest sin around here."
This scene was great, and would become an important stepping stone and/or contrast to some which would come later between Sonny and Luke. I liked Luke's logic--that he didn't want to lose anybody else, not by choice.
But he went from that vulnerable moment of honesty to typical joking interaction with Hannah. It was as though he could only face his emotions every so often, and certainly didn't want to display them for the general public. He was very calm, very controlled, at the memorial, and it was always telling to see when he let his guard down and with whom.
[Note: I had thought that there was a scene in which Luke and Mike stood at the scene of the fire and talked about Luke's anger towards Sonny. It may have slid through the cracks, or it may come later. The thing I wanted to mention was that Luke was standing there smoking one of Faison's cigars, just as he would do in the scene with Tammy, below. The irony of 1) Luke holding something on fire and 2) holding something from Faison was subtle, but really nice. We also had this great shot of Luke from above, as he stood looking up at what had been his son's room--almost a point of view shot as if Lucky were looking down on him. It was the same shot by which we had seen some of the action the night of the fire.]
IX. Luke and Bobbie (4/28)
Bobbie: "When she heard the news, she was pretty much finished for the day. I would assume you're relieved."
Luke: "Why would I be relieved?"
Bobbie: "Well, because I got the impression that Laura blamed you for allowing Lucky to become friends with Sonny and Jason. So, if nothing else, knowing that it was an accident should make it easier on you."
Luke: "It doesn't."
Luke: "Thinking that the fire was set by somebody going after Sonny or Jason gave me a whole roomful of people to hate--Sonny and Jason for not taking care of business, Moreno or somebody for setting the fire, even me and Laura for not dragging my kid home when we had the chance. Whole roomful of people. But now it's an accident, so all I can do is walk around with this big knot of pain in my guts."
Bobbie: "Luke, I know what it's like. That horrifying sense of hopelessness, the self-hate, the questions of why. But you know what? When this awful time is finally over, all you're really going to remember is Lucky. And you'll think about the first time he took your hand, the wonderful adventures that you had together, and the incredible young man that he grew up to be. Those are the things that are really important. And everything else just falls by the wayside."
Luke: "I'm keeping you from your own son."
Bobbie: "Do you want to come over to my house? Lucas would really like it."
Luke: "Yeah, sure. But not tonight."
Bobbie: "Ok. See you tomorrow."
Luke: "Yeah. Will you kill the lights on your way out?"
Bobbie: "Sure."
Perhaps the reason Luke turned to Tammy and Felicia, rather than to Bobbie, to a certain degree has to do with this response. She keeps telling him that she's been through this and that he'll be ok, but maybe he just can't stand to hope. Maybe he doesn't want to hear it'll get better. Or maybe he just wants to feel what he feels. We would hear Elizabeth articulate all of these things over the next months, but while Luke didn't speak of his grief much, I think we could draw some parallels along the way.
X. Luke and Lucky (4/28)
Lucky: "Stop. You can't touch me. Don't be afraid. It's ok."
Luke: "Is it you?"
Lucky: "What do you think?"
Luke: "I miss you so much, cowboy."
Luke: "You took a big part of me when you left. Everything good I had in me was you. And I'm empty now. I'm just--I'm empty."
Lucky: "Do you remember what I told you after Ruby died? You can either stay stuck or you can move forward and stake out new ground."
Luke: "Not anymore, pal."
Lucky: "You can do it. You can. You're the strongest man I ever met."
Elizabeth would see Lucky in memories, and later in dreams. Laura would imagine Lucky in the future, in all the scenes he'd never have. But Luke? Luke saw Lucky in the present.
Instead of hazy scenes laid over with music or dream sequences, Luke moved from the flashbacks the night of the fire to actual interaction. Luke's done this before--imagined the dead coming back to help him accept things, as in the scene where he imagined Katherine Bell telling him that she knew he had killed her on the parapet. This time, he saw Lucky before him, and to Lucky he could speak his feelings. And only from Lucky could he hear the words he needed to hear--could accept the promise that things would be better. Finally, it was his son's confidence in him--the confidence Elizabeth had told him was there--that helped Luke move on.
Laura and Elizabeth would move on despite their visions of Lucky. Luke would move on because of them. It showed how sure he had become of his son's love, and I wondered if part of what would haunt Laura is that they hadn't worked together to make a peace; Lucky had come to it on his own.
Finally, it's been interesting to watch the smiles. Laura never smiles (and I'm remembered of Emily's talk to Jason about Lucky--and how she couldn't smile after her mother's death until Lucky made her do so one day). Luke continually gives these little (beautifully charming) smiles to people, even through his tears--to Bobbie, to Lucky-of-his-imagination, etc. But he doesn't give them to Laura, interestingly enough.
XI. Tammy Checks on Luke (4/30)
Tammy: "Hi."
Luke: "Hi. Whatever you want, it's on the house."
Tammy: "Ok. Well, I don't want to break the bank or anything, so I'll just have a beer."
Luke: "A beer."
Luke: "Something on your mind?"
Tammy: "Mm-hmm, yeah. The other night."
Luke: "You're not here to lodge a complaint, are you?"
Tammy: "Oh, Luke, are you crazy? No. It's just that I haven't seen you since that night, and I wanted to make it clear that that's what it was. It was just that one night. And, well, no one knows better than me what it's like to, you know, have things ignite in the moment. Ahem. That's what it was. It was just--it was a moment, and I don't subscribe to that whole idea that you're responsible for acting on your impulses. Luke, what I'm trying to say is one night is just fine with me."
Luke: "What makes you think all I want is one night?"
Luke: "See anything you like?"
Tammy: "Oh, you know something, Luke? You are sharp as a tack. You don't miss a beat, do you? But I happen to know the difference between a man who really wants me and one who's just trying to drown. Ok? You've been a really good friend to me, and I appreciate that. And if you ever want to spend time with me, that's fine, we can do that. But don't dress this whole thing up as anything more than it really is, ok?"
Luke: "Man. That's what I love about the ex-working girl. She's so sentimental."
Tammy: "Ha-ha, you're very funny. But how are you, really?"
Luke: "I'm ok, I guess. I get up every morning trying to figure out how I can best honor my son. I can't think of anything,"
So I just do something. That's why I reopened this place. That's why I'm asking people, "you want cheese fries with that?" Instead of standing on the roof shaking a stick at the stars. I did that too much in my life. And at the end of the day, I go home and I get in bed and I stare at the ceiling. Sometimes I even sleep. The sun comes up, and then it all starts over again. So, I guess I'm ok. Maybe if you tell yourself you're standing up long enough, one day you really are. But I don't hold much stock in this need to get on with things myself, but my son did it, so maybe I owe it to him to try."
Man: "Luke?"
Luke: "Yeah?"
Man: "Make it a burger."
Luke: "You want cheese fries with that?"
Tammy: "Hey."
Luke: "Hmm?"
Tammy: "Are you still living upstairs?"
Luke: "You're thinking of paying me a visit?"
Tammy: "No, actually, I was thinking about your wife and where she is in all of this."
Luke: "Well, the truth is Laura and I were done before Lucky died. And losing him sort of sank the lifeboat."
Tammy: "Hmm. See, I would have thought that you would turn to each other right about now."
Luke: "I think there was that impulse, but that's all it was."
Tammy: "How do you know that? You could still go to her."
Luke: "My wife doesn't want me, Tammy. She's moved on. Laura's a survivor. She'll manage somehow."
Tammy: "What about you?"
Luke: "Me? I'm the cat that always lands on is feet. You know that. Right now I'm still falling. And the other night you caught me. That meant something."
Tammy: "I'm glad."
Luke: "Oh, I've had enough cheese fries for one night. What do you say I give you a lift?"
Tammy: "Anytime."
I loved these scenes. I loved Luke's attempt to tell her what she wanted to hear, and the fact he got it wrong. I love that Tammy knew exactly what to say and what to ask, and that Luke was comfortable enough to answer her questions honestly. The bit about, "Do you want cheese fries with that" was priceless. I absolutely hate that Luke has seen almost nothing of Tammy since this.
I was struck most of all by Luke's assertion that Laura didn't want him, and that she would survive. That's what was behind his voice when he told Bobbie that they knew Laura was with Stefan. He believes that she will turn to Stefan for support, because he knows that she's a survivor. But behind that, I think there is still the sense that he would like to have comforted her that night after they went to the morgue. And like some letter lost in a Shakespeare tragedy, he didn't see her at the door of the club, standing and watching him with Tammy. He doesn't know that she wanted him too. And later, he would be stunned at how poorly she had been dealing with all of this when she wound up in the hospital.
Terry: "Luke made me weep with his matter-of-fact one-foot-in-front-of-the-other talk. 'Want cheese fries with that?' What a guy. And Tammy was just right. Yeah, she's attracted to him, but she knows the score, and she tells it like it is. Good girl. And I love the colors they put on her--orange, this time."
Amy: "Tammy--and Luke--are in no danger of miscommunication, misunderstanding, complications, etc. If there are complications, they'll be mutually understood and intended, I'd wager (and I'd love to see some complications). She's always in lovely vivid colors. And he was delicious. They're laying the dramatic irony-'Laura's moved on.' 'Luke's moved on.'--a bit thick, however. Just a touch. It was the quick cut from one to the other that made it too obvious."
From Terry's update for these scenes:
"Tammy appears at Luke's Place, where he's tending bar. He tells her whatever she wants is on the house, so she orders a beer. She wants to discuss 'the other night'--you remember, the night they had sex. 'Here to lodge a complaint?' Luke asks, with a silly grin on his face. No, she assures him that she knows it was 'a moment,' a one-night stand, and nothing more."
"Tammy looks lovely in an orange sweater set. Luke attempts t flirt with her. Another of those details that mesmerize me--he is fiddling with a black bar towel a they talk, and at one point he wraps it around his hand, in a way that mimics the bandage Laura has been wearing after her encounter with the mirror in Lucky's room. Is that purposeful on Geary's part?"
"Tammy cuts through his banter, and as they talk he takes a puff on his little 'Faison' cigar."
"Later, he talks about saying, 'Do you want cheese fries with that?' [That line made me cry!] instead of 'standing on the roof shaking a stick at the stars. I've done too much of that in my life.'
"That stick at the stars comment sounded familiar to me. I remembered him telling Lucky, at some point, not to shake a stick at the stars, and could not remember the precise context. So I put out a call to my cohorts on the editorial staff and the ladies came through as always. In a matter of hours, they had sent back emails reminding me of the exchange, and Amy, bless her, dug out the exact quote from her "GH in Review" column of a few months past. The scene I was trying to remember took place on 8/21/98, when Luke had confronted Laura about her relationship with Stefan after her testimony at his trial. Luke tells Lucky he's going away for a while, in a scene in the park. I quote the relevant section, from Amy's review:"
Lucky: "You're going someplace."
Luke: "Ya."
Lucky: "Is that going to be better?"
Luke: "It'll be worse if I stay. Worse for you, your mother, everybody. And it's not going to get good for you, Lucky, until you can leave this park and everything that happened here behind you. That's the other thing I needed to tell you. You can't undo what's been done. You can hate it, you can like it, you can punish it, forgive it. But if you think you can change it, you're standing on the roof shaking a stick at the stars. The only thing that makes anything change is having the courage to turn around and move on."
Lucky: "I appreciate this, dad. But, you know, I've learned a lot in the past few months. Mostly I've learned not to take your way out of anything."
"Back to the present--this blast from the past was doubly intriguing to me because in it, Luke advises Lucky about having the courage to 'move on,' and yet when he's talking to Tammy, he says he never put much stock in carrying on, 'but my son did.' The words aren't precisely the same, but it sounds like he's giving his son credit for giving him strength he didn't posses on his own, which parallels Liz's earlier talk with Nik."
"At the end, he tells her that she caught him, and he's grateful. She takes his hand, and says she's glad. He kisses her hand and offers to give her a ride home."