HOLLYWOOD—It’s the day that soap fans around the world have been eagerly awaiting. The return of “All My Children” and “One Life To Live” which returned to fans in a new format on Monday, April 29 via the Internet. It is indeed a new medium for fans, but it allows them an opportunity to watch the soap at any time of their convenience.
Both shows return with some staple faces intact. “OLTL” kicked off its opening with a murder mystery that is just the right touch to hook the audience. The elusive figure who committed the crime is not known, neither is the victim. The important connection is the symbol depicted on the victim’s arm; similar to what Todd Manning (Roger Howarth) reveals from an envelope that he opens. Start making guesses with how the two are connected. The majority of the first episode revolves around the newly revamped night club known as Shelter.
Natalie (Melissa Archer) has moved on from the love of her life, John McBain and finds herself being pursued by Cutter (Josh Kelly). He has reformed his bad boy ways or at least the audience is made to believe that. Cutter’s partner in crime is none other than vixen Blair (Kassie DePaiva) who appears to be a lonely soul, but that all changes with the arrival of her former flame Todd. Viki (Erika Slezak) and Clint (Jerry verDorn) basked in their newfound happiness, as Dorian (Robin Strasser) found herself drawn back home after a scandal in D.C. Luckily David (Tuc Watkins) was by her side to provide laughs. It’s happy to see Clint and Viki moving towards marriage once again; come on these two are destined to be together.
Bo (Robert S. Woods) and Nora (Hillary B. Smith) dealt with issues involving their rebellious son, Matthew (Robert Gorrie). His parents pressured him about the drugs they found in his backpack, which actually turned out to be his friend Danielle’s (Kelly Missal) who’s a complete mess. Her mother, Tea (Florencia Lozano) continues to wallow in the lost of her child, unaware that her daughter is crying out for help. The first episode definitely delivered on the goods with the return of Trevor St. John as Victor Lord. Looks like he has unfinished business with his brother Todd and I can only imagine how things play out in the coming weeks, especially for Tea, Blair, Jack and Danielle.
Matthew has his own troubles with his baby mama Destiny (Laura Harrier) who wants to have a night out on the town. He runs into an old pal, Jeffrey King (Corbin Bleu) who has just gotten a gig writing for Viki’s newspaper. He is old acquaintances with Danielle as well, but it’s Destiny who catches his eye. The dram culminates with Danielle passing out, as her family and friends react. To bad no one stayed around, if they had they would have caught a glimpse of Victor!
“All My Children” picks up things five years after the 2011 climatic episode that saw J.R. fire a bullet into a room full of Pine Valley residents and Brooke (Julia Barr) waking up from a vivid nightmare. It appears the aftermath of that tragic night has impacted people in more ways than one. The biggest mystery for the audience is just who died that mysterious night. It’s not certain if that person is Tad, Erica or some other Pine Valley resident, but viewers are made to think it may have been Tad Martin as so many residents are mourning him; especially his true love Dixie Cooney (Cady McClain). She stays vigilant by the bedside of who is presumed her comatose son, J.R. Chandler who is slowly coming back.
Opal (Jill Larson) is above the moon with the arrival of her son Pete (Robert Scott Wilson) whose been gone for way too long. Pete isn’t a fan ofPineValley, but decides to stay awhile after meeting the lovely Celia Fitzgerald (Jordan Lane Price) who lives quite the sheltered life at a posh private school. Miranda (Denyse Tontz) and AJ (Eric Nelsen) are very close friends, but it looks like AJ has feelings for Miranda, that she is not aware of.
Angie (Debbie Morgan) and Jesse (Darnell Williams) are basking in the midst of love, as he prepared a surprise for his wife, as he orchestrated the return of their daughter Cassandra (Saleisha Stowers). There’s just one problem, Cassandra was never picked up by the driver that Jesse hired and she’s being held captive against her will. A mystery is in play that will literally have audiences glued to the computer screen.
Dr. Cara Castillo (Lindsay Hartley) is an emotional mess as she hallucinates about the wicked David Hayward (Vincent Irizarry) who has been locked away in prison for the past five years. She might be stunned to realize he’s arrived inPineValleyand want’s revenge. David visits someone’s grave, but the audience is not told who as he informs us that he spend time in jail for their murder, but I suspect he was framed and Cara knows why.
Other notable surprises for the soap is the return of Thorsten Kaye as Zach Slater, Eden Riegel as Bianca Montgomery, David Canary as Adam Chandler and Ray MacDonnell as Dr. Joe Martin. While many staple characters are no longer on the forefront, in my opinion “All My Children” is off to a stellar start and is better than where the soap was before it left the television waves; it’s very promising in my opinion.
New episodes of both “AMC” and “OLTL” can be seen daily Monday-Thursday on Hulu or iTunes. Each episode is about 30 minutes, but its 30 minutes of pure glory for any soap fan that has missed these titans on the small screen. I’ll admit, I thought the computer format would be a distraction, but it isn’t.
By LaDale Anderson
