Tuesday, February 02, 2010

(Belated) Nuke Day: I Give Up!

Yesterday's episode of As the World Turns was a Nuke day, one that picked up right where Friday's episode left off, with Noah having just told Luke that they couldn't be around each other.

Luke told Noah that Dr. Oliver couldn't dictate who was in his life, but Noah said that he wouldn't perform the surgery unless Noah stayed away from Luke. Again, WHAT? That's not what Dr. Oliver said. He told Noah to keep Luke out of his (Reid's) orbit. He never said anything about Noah being with Luke.

Either Noah is lying to Luke, or he heard what he wanted to hear when Reid was talking to him. Either way, Noah sucks.

Noah said he had to go through with this and Luke pointed out that they were supposed to be partners. Noah claimed that it would only be for a few months and Luke told him that he was picking Dr. Oliver over his boyfriend but that Noah wasn't the only person in their relationship. Didn't Luke himself have a choice in all of this?

Luke insisted that Dr. Oliver, whom they'd just met, didn't know what Noah needed. Mayer said that he'd get by, but Luke reminded Noah that it wasn't just about him, that Luke needed Noah, too.

Meanwhile, Reid was checking out his new digs at Katie's place. Katie's ex husband/best friend Henry was not happy with this new development (join the club, Henry), and Reid didn't make it much better by commenting "You didn't say anything about a threesome!" before Katie explained that Henry didn't live there.

When Henry started in on some over protective questions, Reid smirked and told Henry that if he frisked him, Reid would expect Henry to take him to dinner afterward. Hmmm. They're still keeping Dr. Oliver's sexuality up in the air, which could be good sign.

Back at the hospital, Luke filled Noah in on Damian's sudden goodbye and how permanent it had all sounded. Luke still didn't know why Damian was on the run. Noah had the good sense to apologize and say that he'd been so obsessed with himself that he'd been completely ignoring Luke. Noah said that Luke should have just told him to shut up and listen and the two had a nice moment where they were holding hands.

Reid walked up at that point and said "Mr. Mayer, I thought we had an agreement?" Which could either mean "Why is Luke at the hospital with you when you said you'd keep him out of my orbit" or that the writers have decided that in spite of what they wrote for Reid to say in the actual scene we saw onscreen, he really did mean that Noah had to shut Luke out of his life.

Noah, again to his credit, told Reid that he couldn't cut Luke out of his life and that if that meant that Dr. Oliver wouldn't perform the surgery-

Luke interrupted, saying that he was okay with it and that the most important thing was that Noah see again.

Luke told Reid that he knew the rules and would abide by them, but that didn't mean he wouldn't hate Reid for keeping him out of Noah's life when he needed him the most.

Instead of saying that he'd never said Luke couldn't see Noah, Reid said that it was just sound medicine. I guess Noah isn't to blame for mis-interpreting (wilfully or otherwise) Reid's statement, then. It was just bad writing on the part of the show. What a surprise! I give up. I will no longer attempt to make sense of this show. Space aliens could land and proclaim Lucinda their leader and I won't bat an eye.

The wonderful Agnes Nixon (creator of One Life to Live and All My Children, and a true soap legend) recently said, in reference to the cancellation of Guiding Light, "Too many people think they’re writers and they’re not. There’s so many people who think it’s easy. The people I work with are so into character, into character building. I didn’t have time to watch Guiding Light. I knew some of the people there, who were very nice. I just thought it wasn’t necessary. If someone had a little more intelligence or understanding of the craft and the medium, it could have been saved." She noted that she felt the same in regards to As the World Turns, and truer words have never been spoken.

Anyway, before he left Luke warned Reid that if he didn't live up to his own hype, he'd have to answer to Luke.

After this confrontation, Luke went to see Lily and filled her in on his odd goodbye with Damian. Lily had Luke take her home, where she filled him in on what Damian had done. Luke couldn't believe how Damian made him believe he'd changed and Lily told her son that his father had always had demons that came out when his back was against the wall, but that she'd always be grateful to him for giving her Luke and that it was okay if Luke still loved him in spite of everything.

Holden, by the way, may or may not have killed Damian.

Back at the hospital, Henry showed up to see Reid and to apologize. Henry filled Reid in on Katie's recent history, losing her husband the day their son was born, and told Dr. Oliver that being alone wasn't good for Katie, who was a little lost right now.

Reid: What do you mean by lost?

Henry: Well, how would you feel if the man that you loved was shot and killed before he had the chance to see his kid?

Reid: I'm not quite sure how to answer that.

Again, they could be hinting at something here, but the writers apparently can't have characters say what they mean even when they're stating it explicitly, so they're probably incapable of hints.

At any rate, Henry tried to scare Reid away by telling him about the wild mood swings Katie had been having since Brad died, but Reid didn't buy it. Reid told Henry that he didn't blame him for trying to keep a beautiful woman like Katie to himself and that even world famous brain surgeons have needs, and with a hottie like Katie on the other side of the wall....

I think Reid was just messing with Henry's head, which is clearly something he likes to do, but I'm still not sure one way or another.

Later, Katie met Reid back at Java with a lease for him to sign and the flirting was definitely on in full force this time. Damn it! I think I'm giving up hope.

Luke ran into Noah on the bench in Old Town, where he was waiting for Maddie to come out of the bookstore. Noah asked how Lily was and how Luke was doing. Luke told Noah that he couldn't get into it, because if he did he'd break down, and then Noah would comfort him, and they'd be breaking Dr. Oliver's rules.

Noah said that he didn't care (he's really done a 180 since the start of the episode!) but Luke said that he did care, that he wanted Noah to see again more than anything. They exchanged an awkward goodbye and then Noah tried to stop Luke from going, saying that this was stupid (yes it is) but Luke just said he had to go and walked away.

Oh, how I wish I could walk away, too.

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