So there I sit, in front of my television, watching one of my most precious possessions – one of my John and Evangeline edits. It’s the scene after Natalie convinced John that he should not have taken the key to his apartment back from Evangeline – that he should give it to her. So John is waiting outside of Rodi’s as Evangeline shows up. They both blurt at the same time that they need to say something to the other. John tells her to go first. She insists that he go first. He shows her the key to his apartment and tells her that he wants her to have it. Evangeline looks genuinely surprised and tells John that it’s okay – she doesn’t need it anymore. Well now he’s more baffled than ever – especially after the advice Natalie gave him earlier. His phone rings and he answers it. It’s a call and he’s got to go. He asks if she’s sure. She says that she is and she’ll see him later. They kiss sweetly as my anticipation builds – having seen this particular scene countless times. Then there it is – that gentle and completely affectionate brief touch of their foreheads. And again I sigh, as I have so many times before, so much emotion wrapped up in one seemingly simple gesture. It’s the kind of a statement I’ve come to expect from all of the truly meant to be couples during my many years of watching soaps and John McBain and Evangeline Williamson have it.
Clearly this is not just another story.
What about the scene in John’s apartment after his party at the Palace – Evangeline lying on his bed, having fallen asleep before hearing John say that he was falling in love with her? Remember the way John just sat there silently, watching her sleep? Remember the adoration in his eyes? Remember the softness? Yep, another sigh-inducing scene alright. How about early on – when Evangeline came back to town intending to surprise John in his room, only to find Natalie there? Remember how she held herself together in spite of her disappointment? Remember how John took off after her, catching up to her in the park? “I’m not upset,” she told him. “I’m…disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing you tonight…I missed you while I was gone.” Remember the look on John’s face when she said those words – how his eyes brightened? “I missed you, too,” he said – sigh #1. And then later after the “And we got so close so fast, sometimes I wonder…Do we have that kind of connection? Maybe we don’t have it yet. Maybe we never will. I don’t know.” Remember the desperation in his voice when he said, “Don’t you give up on me! We’re worth fighting for so let’s talk about this!” - that single, solitary tear glistening in his eye when he said it? Sigh #2. How about after they’d returned from her aunt’s funeral, John dropping by her office because he didn’t like the way they’d left things when they saw each other last. Remember the shot of them just sitting there on the sofa in her office, his arm around her, her head on his shoulder? Sigh. What about the uncertain “Are we okay?” at the door, followed by “We’re good” and the relief in John’s voice when he said “Good.” Remember how he tenderly touched her hair before leaving? Remember how Evangeline’s hand just naturally found its way to where his hand had been, her love for him so totally visible in her eyes? Or how about after Evangeline admitted to John that she was falling in love with him. Remember how afraid he was that he was going to lose her because he couldn’t bring himself to say it back to her? Remember them in the courthouse, just outside the courtroom? “Be patient with me,” he asked. Remember the tiny crack in his voice when he said the one word that came next – “Please?” Game, set, and match!
If you didn’t know it before then, that scene had to have clued you in on the fact that you were not watching a typical soap opera story.
You were watching John and Evangeline – one of the special stories.
People tend to key in on the incredible sensuality between John and Evangeline. But in watching for those moments only, they’re missing the best stuff - the ever-deepening emotion in Evangeline and John’s relationship ever since that first handshake in Angel Square, the ever-deepening trust between them, the ever-deepening respect, the ever-deepening contentment at just being together, the ever-deepening longing for each other when they’re apart. They’re missing the way their eyes perk up when the other is in sight, how they look at each other as if no one else is around. They’re missing the bounciness in the already bouncy Evangeline’s demeanor whenever John is nearby. They’re missing the discernible lightness in John whenever he knows that Evangeline is around. Don’t get me wrong. The sensual stuff is pretty darned powerful – without a doubt. But that’s only because of everything that surrounds it – the really good stuff, from “Thanks for having my back” and “Of course. I love you” to “I’m proud of you”, from “I let Evangeline get away” to “You broke through”, from “You saved me” to “Can’t you see I’m falling in love with you”, from “Whatever this is, I can’t deny that something happens to me whenever we’re together” to “You come first”, from the adoring gazes to the embraces that make us melt, it’s the stuff that makes John McBain and Evangeline Williamson the powerhouse that they are.
It’s in the writing for them, to be sure, the words written by folks like Myers, Lisanti, Brown, Esensten, and Nipkow, among others. It’s in the situations crafted for them by folks like Malone and Higley, too, no matter how hard that is to remember at times. But no matter how powerful the writing is, it’s just a series of words on a page without the right performers to say those words, to infuse them with just the right amount of feeling. Having performers skilled enough to take the script and crawl in among those words, to so understand the emotions behind them and to recognize what those emotions mean for the identity of their characters that, with just a word here or a word there, with just a look here or a look there, they’re able to cause not only the words but every emotion behind the words to leap off of the page, to sail through the television screen, and to touch each one of us where we feel it the most. And these performers are so gifted that even when the writing misses the mark, they understand their characters so well that they are still able to touch us – to make us sigh. Let’s face it. That potent combination of sensitivity and talent and dedication and outright skill does not come along every day. But One Life to Live has it in Renee Elise Goldsberry and Michael Easton. Sure, John McBain and Evangeline Williamson are two very cool characters. But can you honestly say that you’d care this much about what happens to them, you’d spend as much time as you do watching and worrying about them, that you’d even be reading these words right now if they were being portrayed by performers other than Renee and Michael? Neither would I.
No, it’s not just another story. It’s a very, very special story – one that quickly became a story that I so want to see play out – to reach its potential, which is vast, let me tell you. It’s the kind of story that crosses so many different emotional levels, through and across so many different segments of the viewing audience. There’s not just one type of Evangeline and John fan. There are many, many types of Evangeline and John fans. There is no one place to find Evangeline and John fans. We can be found everywhere. There is no one age range for Evangeline and John fans. We come in all ages, all shapes, and sizes. Some of us may have come to Evangeline and John because we loved Evangeline Williamson. Some of us may have come to Evangeline and John because we loved John McBain. Some of us discovered Evangeline and John because we’re huge Renee supporters, some because we’re huge Michael supporters. And some may have come to the party simply because we’ve been watching One Life to Live forever, through all of its ups and downs, and this story – this one special story – is the one that makes it stand out for us.
But whoever we are, wherever we come from, we do have one thing in common. We don’t need gimmicks. We don’t need stunts. We are observant enough to know pure gold when we see it without all the fluff. We’re able to wade through all the hype, the rumors, and the distractions, able to find our way to the heart of the matter – the one simple and completely undeniable fact that’s brought us all together, the fact that keeps bringing more and more of us together all the time. And the fact is that Renee Elise Goldsberry and Michael Easton as Evangeline Williamson and John McBain are it – pure gold.
Evangeline Williamson and John McBain. With words and words or with no words at all, Renee and Michael make it clear that this is not just another story. Not at all.
This one is special.