For the past several weeks, everything I’ve watched on One Life to Live has made me stick to my guns – insisting that The Powers That Be at One Life to Live just give us the John and Evangeline story already! I saw nothing that needed to be added to that – until now. Now I feel like I must include one additional thought to The Infamous Powers That Be…
Where does the madness stop? In order to force-feed the John McBain/Natalie Vega crap, Dena Higley & Co. had to bring John down to Natalie's level. And how did it make John McBain look? Why, indecisive, spineless, and flaky, to say the least - not at all the John McBain we all saw on OLTL before Higley came along, not at all the John McBain that Evangeline Williamson fell in love with. McBain no longer had contact with any other characters besides Natalie – not his brother Michael, not Bo, not Marcie, not the comatose Nora (give me a break), not his nemesis R.J, not his friend Antonio, and most especially not Evangeline, with whom he had a real connection, not one that was written into some script and stuffed down our throats in scene after scene. He couldn’t even have any flashbacks to their year-long relationship. He couldn’t confront Natalie and insist that she stop following him around and poke her nose into someone else’s life and stand by it once and for all. And his integrity suffered mightily for it. So did we. We still do.
Flash forward a few months later and guess what? Just as they had to de-construct John to force John/Natalie, in order to force Evangeline/Cristian Vega, they’ve had to de-construct Evangeline by bringing her down to Cristian's level. For the record, I don't care how much she "laughs" when she’s around Cristian nor how many beers they consume in each other’s company. For me, it just does not play – period. And she, too, now looks flaky, indecisive, impractical, irresponsible - more and more like Natalie all the time. And if the resultant lackluster interaction isn’t bad enough, the fact is that in order to keep her (constantly) in Cristian's orbit, Higley & Co. will be scripting equally lackluster re-hashes of Evangeline versus Natalie. With all due respect, those scenes were tedious and stupid the first several thousand times around. I surely do not need or want to see a repeat - especially over Cristian, who still loves Natalie. It will just mean more of Evangeline bending over backward to understand, pacify, and make allowances for Natalie and her bad behavior while the always childish and ungrateful Natalie continues to call her every name in the book and get away with it. Again, with all due respect, I see nothing that Cristian provides to Evangeline - nothing useful anyway - and I still don't understand how the folks in charge can write her just sweeping his culpability in the rift in her relationship with John under the rug and becoming his instant good friend when he and his determination to protect his precious Natalie at her expense are the main culprits in how and why John kept the truth from her in the first place. And, to make matters worse, he is unrepentant for the role he played in breaking Evangeline’s heart – as if he had no part in it which, for me, is unconscionable and completely unforgivable. No, there has never been any love lost for me over the character of Cristian Vega. It’s just that now, there’s even less.
And, of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the fact that, as a responsible, adult female with a career that I love, I am deeply offended by the image of some man physically restraining a woman – any woman – from doing something she feels is right – from doing her job. The sight of Cristian actually tossing Evangeline over his shoulder and spiriting her away in order to force her to do what he wants her to do and the very idea that Evangeline would actually accept this type of treatment is completely appalling to me. Is this the same woman who knew her own mind, who could take care of herself, who physically resisted being accosted in that train station and physically deterred that reporter from verbally accosting her during Natalie’s unfortunate rescue from the pit? But it’s okay for Cristian to take control of her career decisions and her life decisions as well? Now don’t get me wrong. I’m all for romance. In fact, that’s why I came back to One Life to Live in the first place – for the romance that John and Evangeline together provided. But this is not romance – at least not for this responsible, adult female with a career that I love. It is machismo at its worst and it is, by no means, romantic in any way. It is insulting – period, end-of-story. And, before someone counters with that argument, picking Evangeline up and carrying her off as part of the personal and playful male-female adult dance is one thing. Doing it to keep her from doing her job is quite another. And while I’m on the subject, ever since she’s been hanging around with Antonio’s boxing, non-painting, aimless younger brother, has she even seen the inside of her office? Does she know that her best friend Nora seems to be coming out of her coma? Does she even remember where Nora's hospital room is? How come when she’s with Cristian, she can never be reached, not even by her clients? Talk about isolation (sound familiar?). When Paige visited Todd in Statesville and told him about Spencer, where was his friend and attorney? When Todd was about to be transported to the death house, where was his friend and attorney? Oh sure, later she hid him and went on the run with him, risking her career to do so. But when Todd was brought into the LPD, his friend and attorney should have been by his side. But where was she instead? I’m just saying…
And while I don't have a problem with Evangeline's friendship with Todd Manning, unlike some folks out there, I do not want to see that friendship morph into anything more. First of all, it would put Evangeline squarely in Blair's path when the truth about Spencer is fully revealed (I have to believe that this actually will happen in our lifetime), which serves up yet, another triangle, which no one needs or wants to see. I’m not looking to see Blair take Natalie’s place in Evangeline’s face, calling her names and doing any and everything to get Todd away from her. Besides, Todd Manning has no scruples. Just because he happens to be innocent in the Margaret Cochran case, he is still a man who will do anything, say anything, manipulate anyone to get what he wants - period, end-of-story. And he is in love with Blair and always will be. Put Evangeline into this situation and, again, she comes up on the short end.
What I don't get is how anyone who considers themselves a fan of the Evangeline character could want any of this for her. In both cases, with both of these men, aside from the fact that both are criminals - Todd the rapist and Cristian the brainwashed murderer - she is clearly playing second - the consolation prize. As far as I’m concerned, watching Evangeline with either of them will be just as much fun as watching John with Natalie, with Evangeline looking just as good as John did then. As formerly written, Evangeline was once a character completely and totally deserving of a man focused on her and her alone – accepting no one’s cast-offs, let alone cast-offs with criminal records.
And, if you will recall, she had that man in John McBain as formerly written - before Higley started studying geometry and how to torture, sicken, and reduce One Life to Live’s viewership with it.
And now we’re seeing a story that was supposed to center around John McBain confronting his past and finding out who murdered his father being used instead as yet, another showcase for Natalie Buchanan or Natalie Vega or whatever she calls herself these days. And I’m sick about it. If there is one character on all of daytime that does not need another way to be rammed down our throats, it’s Natalie what’s-her-name. And pushing and shoving and wedging Natalie into this story derails its power since it’s not about her. It is about John McBain. It’s about Michael McBain. It’s about these two brothers and their family and the loss of their father when they were boys. She has no part in it yet there she sits prominently, in the middle of everything, just like the albatross she is, robbing us of the chance to watch the slow emotional growth and ultimate healing of John McBain. Maybe she’s not an albatross – too unkind to albatrosses. Maybe she’s more like a wart that just will not go away no matter what you do. Yep! That’s Natalie. Yes, you are right. I don’t like her – never did, never will. But I digress…
Before he was forced to become Natalie's second obsession (her first obsession being herself), John McBain was a strong, decisive, complicated, passionate, honest, responsible character. Before she was forced to become Cristian's bone-idle, beer-guzzling buddy, Evangeline Williamson was a strong, decisive, complicated, passionate, honest, responsible character. Those are the characters I want to see again – as the full-bodied, multi-dimensional, relatable adults they once were - and I want to see them TOGETHER - not paired with any of these three far less than adequate, far less than interesting, weak, unappealing, and completely unacceptable substitutes.
Hey, we all have our own minds. We all want what we want. That’s fine. But I know what brought me back to One Life to Live. I know what I want to watch and I know what I do not want to watch. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here. If this is the scenic route, let's find another way. Let's lose all of the distractions. Let's lose all of the side trips and detours. Let's lose all of the freeloaders and hangers on.
Let's get some backbone and put the focus back where it belongs - on Evangeline Williamson and John McBain TOGETHER.
Just tell us their story already!