I’m in shock!
I’ve been watching soaps for most of my life. I remember that One Life to Live premiered over 35 years ago. And, for me, it’s been a wonderful sleep aid for the past several years. Whenever I turned it on, a deep sleep would follow.
Not so anymore!
And five words are responsible: John McBain and Evangeline Williamson!
No one is more surprised! I LOVE this couple! They’ve got it all. John is handsome and smoldering and damaged. Evangeline is professional, a definite super-achiever and, in her own way, also emotionally off kilter. Like them I never saw it coming – that is, not before John challenged Evangeline to be spontaneous and her response was a very spontaneous kiss. Then it became kind of apparent that these two had a little something going on between them. I’m so happy that I’m not the only one who saw those sparks shooting out in all directions.
Michael Easton as John is wonderfully smitten with this new woman in his life – this woman who brought him back to life after the tragedies he’s known. He is protective and attentive and funny and passionate and even a bit lighthearted – something I never saw in him when he was paired with Natalie. It’s as if a heavy burden has been lifted from his broad shoulders whenever he’s with Evangeline. And, just in case you’re wondering, I’ve never liked Natalie so I’m not exactly crushed to see John away from her. In fact, I’m thrilled. For me, McBain was good-looking and everything back then but there was no electricity – not until he got together with Evangeline. Now he sends enough electricity through my screen to power a medium-sized city.
And Renee Elise Goldsberry is incredibly appealing as Evangeline. Aside from being very likeable, she’s coy and arrogant. She’s aggressive and a perfectionist. And she’s flirtatious. Whenever she does her patented hair flick thing at John, you just know he’s going to respond and how. When she was paired with R.J., we saw the attorney-criminal conflict. And don’t get me wrong. It was enjoyable enough. It was certainly refreshing to see R.J. with a woman who was strong and purposeful – not a hopeless and unrepentant liar. But, in my opinion, that pairing’s got nothing on this one.
And John and Evangeline are both so terribly uncertain in the face of this new surprise romance that's got them caught in its grip. They're trying so hard to move things along slowly, to take things a step at a time in an effort to protect both his badly broken heart and her overly cautious one. And then things just take off again - no more slow, no more step at a time. This is a couple that's got it all. As a matter of fact, as far as I'm concerned, they've got what it takes to be a Super Couple, with both characters finding in the other someone who arouses physically and spiritually, someone who calms, someone who soothes, someone who loves unconditionally, someone with whom it's okay to be vulnerable – all at the same time!
Bravo to One Life to Live producer Frank Valentini and Company for bringing the John and Evangeline story to us. They're the best thing that’s been on OLTL in a long, long time.
I've been crestfallen for the past couple of years over other storylines on other shows. But John and Evangeline have inspired me all over again! Love in the Afternoon can still be found somewhere on ABC!
You go, John and Evangeline for daring to take those tentative steps toward falling in love – because that's where this unlikely pairing simply must be headed! Thank you Michael Easton and Renee Elise Goldsberry for bringing these two special characters to life! And congratulations OLTL for reawakening my long disappointed passion for romance and the unexpected and for showing me that stories like these can still be told on daytime!
Two fine actors, incredible energy between them with a chemistry that won't quit! Apparently this is the recipe for good soap opera.
So tune in to OLTL, if you haven't already done so.
One Life to Live - where romance LIVES!