Deep Soap: Let’s Go Crazy

Genoa City Vida Loca

Is someone putting psychotropic drugs in the Genoa City water supply? Suddenly half the characters on The Young & The Restless have lost their minds. Monday’s episode paralleled/juxtaposed three mental breakdowns. First there was Kevin whose PTSD/Stockholm syndrome led him to commit a series of armed robberies. Michael successfully convinced a judge that Kevin should be held in a mental hospital instead of prison pending his trial. Though the audience was clearly supposed to side with Micheal’s belief that Kevin should be charged with nothing and go free, I agreed with the court. I did not think it was a tragic miscarriage of justice that Kevin was placed in a padded cell. The guy has committed multiple armed robberies and has a history of suicide attempts. What was the hospital supposed to do? Put him in general population before performing an extensive psychological evaluation and hope for the best? The guy is the definition of “a danger to himself and others.” He needs extensive treatment in a locked facility so he can truly heal. He also deserves some punishment. He scared the hell out of numerous bank employees and customers and stole a lot of money after his captor died.

Y&R’s second psychological case study is Sharon. For months, we have watched her unravel, shoplifting in an apparent fugue state and trysting with Billy Abbott. Yesterday she finally shared what was going on with Nick. She admitted that she had no recollection of her thefts and explained that she slept with Billy so she could pretend he was Nick. (Surely dreaming of another man when you’re with Billy is a clear signal that you’ve lost it!) She realized that she had been on a downward spiral since being hit with the one-two punch of Cassie’s death and Nick’s affair. For the first time, I completely understood Sharon’s motivation. Nick’s response to his ex-wife’s confession was to sleep with her again. I don’t think that most psychiatrists would agree with this “cure.”

Most surprisingly, back in Genoa City, Nick’s current wife Phyllis decided to do a little snooping. Disguised as a maid she snuck into Sharon’s hotel suite and had a little break with reality of her own. First she tore up Sharon’s lingerie — understandable in soap terms considering Sharon has slept with her husband. But the way Michelle Stafford brilliantly portrayed Phyllis’s loss of control it was clear that her mental state was not so different from Sharon’s. When she stumbled across bags of the property Sharon stole, she hatched a plan to get her busted. She spread the merchandise all over the room. Then came the unexpected moment that elevated the scene from revenge to character study: Phyllis wrote “I hate myself” on Sharon’s mirror and stared at her reflection. Yes, she was framing Sharon. But she was also talking about herself. Phyllis does loathe herself both for regressing into the woman who was ready to kill Christine over Danny and for her belief that she isn’t enough to keep Nick from straying. (Sidebar: is there something about Nick that makes people lose their grip on reality? Has Kevin ever hooked up with Nick?)

The carefully plotted Y&R juxtaposed these stories for a reason. All of them featured people who broke the law due to mental issues. (Phyllis is guilty of breaking and entering and destruction of property.) It seemed to be saying that anyone can be pushed too far. The mentally ill are not “the other.” They are our friends, our family, us. In a stressful time where there have been so many stories of people snapping and going on killing sprees, this resonates. Y&R’s secondary treatise seems to be that people should not be prosecuted for their crimes if they are under mental duress. If Kevin doesn’t belong in prison, then there’s no way that Sharon and Phyllis should do time for misdemeanors. Since I am all about there being consequences for characters’ actions, I want them to end up suffering in some way for the mistakes that they’ve made. But I applaud Y&R for daring to tackle a provocative theme without hitting viewers over the head with it. Soaps can make viewers think. They should do it more often.

Crazy In Love

It finally happened. For months Otalia fans have waited for Olivia and Natalia to admit their feelings for each other. Tuesday’s Guiding Light did not disappoint. Able to take it no more, Olivia went to the cemetary to pour her heart out at Gus’s gravesite. In a beautifully written speech, she told Gus that when she received his transplanted heart, she also received his feelings for Natalia. Crystal Chappel deserves every accolade available for her performance. It seemed effortless though I’m sure it was anything but. This was one of those moments when I understood what all the actors mean about how the new shooting style makes their work more naturalistic. I felt like I was eavesdropping rather than watching a scene on a television show. When Natalia showed up at the gravesite, wondering why Olivia seemed upset on what was supposed to be a happy day, I could almost hear the millions of GL fans setting aside their sadness over the show’s impending cancellation, to scream, “Tell her!” And the words burst out of her: “I’m in love with you.” Fade to black. I can’t remember the last time a show ended on a truly romantic cliffhanger. I can’t wait until two o’clock so I can find out what happens next.

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