Yesterday started with Luke & Noah discussing lower income child mortality rates in the United States and the poor health care system. Yes, really. Is there a way to write a serious discussion like this on a soap without it sounding stilted and out of place? I'm sure there is, but As the World Turns hasn't found it.
The guys decided to try a make a difference for sick kids using the foundation (Noah even came up with a new slogan: save one life and you can save the world) and decided to do something along the lines of a camp for sick kids to go and get the chance to have fun like other kids for a change.
Luke wanted to put his own spin on it, though, and suggested a cruise instead. Would kids really prefer being stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean to swimming, hiking, and campfires? Or whatever it is kids actually do at camp since I never went and can only base my knowledge on films, most of which indicate that camp counselors being slaughtered is a regular hazard of the job.
Luke & Noah ran the idea by Lily and wondered if the foundation could buy a yacht. Lily had an even better idea: the Grimaldis are big in shipping and have a whole fleet, so Damian could likely donate a ship for the cause. Luke didn't feel comfortable asking Damian himself, not wanting to give the impression that he was only interested in Damian's money, so Lily volunteered to do the asking.
Noah, meanwhile, was just hoping that all this meant he'd get to see Luke in a sailor suit, which lead to Luke giving him a look and a smile that totally indicated that a sailor suit would indeed be in their near future.
Damian ended up shooting Lily's request down, claiming that the Grimaldi ships were all tied up and acting very odd about it. When Lily mentioned this to Holden & Lucinda, they immediately deduced that Damian was up to something.
Meanwhile, Damian sought out Luke & Noah and offered an alternative to the cruise idea: a dude ranch in Montana where the kids could interact with animals. The guys loved the idea (Noah was no doubt picturing Luke in a cowboy hat before Damian was even done speaking) and agreed to put the plan in motion.
While Holden & Lily argued over Damian yet again, Lucinda took it upon herself to head down to the docks to investigate the Grimaldi ships. Yes, Oakdale, Illinois is apparently major world shipping port. That makes about as much sense as the wealthy and powerful Lucinda Walsh heading down to the docks herself rather than hiring someone to look into things.
Long story short, Lucinda called Holden to tell him that something was definitely up and Lily sent him down to the docks to bring her mother home safely. While they were there, an armed man marched them into a ship, accused them of spying, and told them that 'the boss' was on his way to deal with them. The boss, of course, being Damian.
That brings us to today's episode, where Damian assured Holden & Lucinda that it was all a misunderstanding. When they persisted in accusing him of being up to something, he threatened to have them arrested for trespassing if they returned.
When they got back home and filled Lily, Luke & Noah in on what happened, Lily of course believed that it truly was just a misunderstanding, while Luke was confused about what to think. Noah suggested that Luke go directly to the source.
Luke followed his boyfriend's advice and confronted Damian. Damian tried to run the whole 'misunderstanding' line again, but Luke told him that if Damian ever wanted Luke to trust him as he trusts Holden, he had to start being honest with him.
Damian admitted that there was something going on, but said he couldn't tell Luke any specifics because it would put people in danger. He asked Luke to believe him when he said he wasn't doing anything bad, but Luke wasn't sure if he could.
Luke headed to Java and confided all this in Noah, who decided that maybe he'd been wrong about Damian all along and he hadn't really changed. Luke still didn't know what to think.
Then, worlds collided. That's how it always feels on this show on the very rare occasions when people suddenly interact outside of their own storyline bubbles. It doesn't matter if the characters are family or best friends, they simply do not interact with each other on this show if they're not in the same story, unless it's Christmas or Thanksgiving. This is one of the many issues I have with the current writers.
But, as I said, worlds collided today and I actually had to stop fast forwarding a story because Damian and then Lucinda showed up in the middle of it. Awhile back, Luke's cousin Lucy Montgomery returned to town, but of course she's had zero interaction with any of her family outside of her father Craig, who is in her story bubble. There's been something going on with ships and guns and a dead guy at the docks that Lucy has been involved with... who knows, I've fast forwarded right past it all.
Damian showed up at the police station today, after Lucy's arrest, to reveal the truth of what's been happening: Damian has been helping Lucy use Grimaldi ships to smuggle medical supplies to refugees in Africa.
Um, okay. The last time Damian was in town, he took a brief break from trying to send Luke to Scared Straight camp to have a flirtation with Lucy, but once she figured out he was faking an illness to get Luke to return to Malta with him, it didn't end well. How they hooked up on this smuggling deal, I have no clue.
Which reminds me, one of my favorite early Luke scenes was the casual way he came out to his cousin Lucy back in the summer of 2006 and her equally casual acceptance of it. Here's what I wrote at that time:
Cousin Lucy was also very accepting, and Luke's coming out to her marked just how much Luke was beginning to feel more comfortable with his sexuality. Instead of a dramatic coming out conversation, Luke outed himself to his cousin a bit more directly one day a few weeks ago when they ran into his best friend/secret crush Kevin at the club.
When Lucy asked Luke if Kevin was a friend of his, Luke simply said "I used to love the guy." Lucy, much like their grandmother Lucinda, barely batted an eye before asking if their break up had been 'over-coffee-friendly or breaking-furniture-messy?'
When Lucy asked Luke if Kevin was a friend of his, Luke simply said "I used to love the guy." Lucy, much like their grandmother Lucinda, barely batted an eye before asking if their break up had been 'over-coffee-friendly or breaking-furniture-messy?'
How nice would it be to see Luke interact with Lucy again, to see the two of them just sit and chat about what's going on in their lives, catch each other up so that it didn't seem like they lived in completely different worlds? It will never happen with these writers, though.
Lucy did call Lucinda, the Grandmother she hasn't bothered to visit even though she's battling cancer, for help once she'd been arrested and Lucinda immediately decided that the gun smuggling (which Lucy knew nothing about) was Damian's doing.
Once he'd told the cops the truth about Lucy, Damian rushed to Java to tell Luke & Noah the truth as well and they all lived happily ever after. Or something. I don't know. When does Luke put on the sailor suit?
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