Monday, April 27, 2009

One Small Request

Well, today was another Nuke day on As the World Turns. It was also a very unusual episode in that the whole hour was devoted to the Luke & Noah storyline. I'm pretty sure that's never happened before.

Our boys were where we left them, still tied to that pole, and Noah was feverish and unconscious from his gunshot wound. Luke tried to make a deal with Zoe, saying that if she'd take Noah to the hospital, he'd give her the money. Even when Luke warned her that the Grimaldis would hunt her down if she killed him & Noah, Zoe refused. She did agree to get medicine for Noah, though, provided that Luke agreed to do whatever she wanted in exchange.

Uh oh. Luke agreed without question, of course, and Zoe left to go get the meds. While she was gone, Luke managed to wake Noah up briefly and got him talking for a few minutes. I think this was probably my favorite scene out of this whole mess of a story, simply because Van Hansis really conveyed Luke's love for Noah and his terror that he was about to lose him, masking it all under a false cheer as he tried to rally Noah's strength and keep him awake. In addition to all that, it was also just a really sweet moment between the two of them.

Elsewhere, Holden & Lily had belatedly filled Jade in on the kidnapping and Damian used a computer age enhancing program to age a picture he'd found of Zoe (her real name, by the way, is Gia, meaning that they're not even both Zs, let alone Z Twins) with her mother as a child. Oddly enough, Damian didn't seem to recognize the woman he'd had two recent encounters with. Maybe he'd only had eyes for Zac?

Damian wanted Lily to come to his room to check out the photo and see if it looked like the woman she'd seen, but Holden wanted her to stay at the house with her police protection, where it was safe, so he went himself, leading to yet another Damian/Holden argument over Lily, Luke, and whether Illinois could kick Malta's ass in a fight, that sort of thing.

Zac had been watching the Snyder place, waiting to get Lily alone. After Holden & Jade left, Lily heard a thump outside but convinced herself she was hearing things. Of course, Zac was at that very moment crouching over a dead police officer five feet from the door.

Zac, in the dead cop's jacket, knocked on the door and told Lily that he'd replaced the other guy on a shift trade and that Margo wanted him to bring her in to Lily's office, where Margo was waiting. Lily, not surprisingly, just went along with this without a second thought. I guess now we know why Luke was so eager to rush into such a blatant trap himself. He's Lily's son, all right.

Once they were at Lily's office and Margo was nowhere in sight, Lily finally put two and two together. Zac pulled his gun and ordered Lily to transfer the money, but Lily refused until she had proof that her son was still alive. Zac threatened to shoot her, but Lily called his bluff, pointing out that if he did that, he'd never get the money.

Zoe, who'd gone to the hospital to steal the drugs for Noah (locking a suspicious Alison in a closet while she was at it) was back with Luke & Noah when Zac called. Zoe put Luke on the phone and he told his mother that he was fine, but that Noah had been shot. He also told her not to make a deal with these people, that they were liars.

Once Lily had talked to Luke, she went to the computer to make the transfer, managing to send Holden a "Help. Office. Now" e-mail before Zac realized what she was doing.

Jade & Casey, who'd had no luck in their pointless wanderings around Old Town asking people if they'd seen anyone who matched their vague second hand description of Zoe, returned to the hospital and rescued Alison from the closet. The three of them then found the oh so convenient receipt for the storage unit that Zoe had dropped on the floor. Don't you love it when kidnappers make it so easy?

Once Lily finished the money transfer, Zac raised the gun to shoot her in the head, but Lily pointed out that people would hear the shot and he'd never get away. He reluctantly let her live and ran out one door just before Holden came bursting in another to save the day.

Damian, meanwhile, found the dead cop outside Lily & Holden's house, the one that both Lily & then Holden had walked right by without ever seeing for some reason. When Casey, Jade, and Alison showed up, Ali confirmed to Damian that the woman who'd locked her in the closet at the hospital was the one in his age enhanced photo and then they gave him the receipt she'd dropped.

Back at the storage unit, Luke was pleading for Zoe to give Noah the drugs when Zac returned with the good news that they had the money. Zac was ready to 'clean up this mess' and get out of town, but Zoe, while thrilled about the money, told Zac that she'd meet him later on where they'd agreed. He argued that there wasn't time, but Zoe said she had to 'do this' for her mother.

Once Zac was gone, Zoe promised to give Noah the medicine after Luke gave her what she wanted: justice for her mother. The Grimaldis had refused to accept her mom and had even killed her, but Luke was the golden boy who'd inherit everything, and so would his first born child. Oh, lord, no. They're not going there, please tell me they're not.

But, they are. Zoe informed Luke that she wanted his baby, had planned all this out so that she was at the right place in her cycle, etc. She told him to relax, that he might actually enjoy it, and then kissed him.

I hope Zoe stole some Viagra from the hospital, too, because I think that's her only hope.

Damian arrived outside the door, but of course Zac popped up with his gun and told him that Luke was busy, but not to worry: what he was doing would make Damian very happy.

Shoot me next, Zac, please. I don't think I can take it if Zoe actually manages to rape poor Luke and have his child.

Even at this late point in the story, I was still kind of holding out hope deep down that Zac could somehow be redeemed. Now, of course, they've made him a killer, so that's definitely out.

Tell me this, though: if Zoe's plan all along was to have Luke's child, why did they kick this whole thing off by running him down with a car? Maybe they planned to extract the sperm from his corpse? God, these writers suck.

No comments: