So, I don't watch OLTL regularly and had not seen the funeral episodes yet, so I got on youtube this morning to check them out. Here is my take.

8-16-07
Pros: The writing was tight. I liked that as news of Asa's death spread, the actors chose subtle and real as opposed to hysterical and overacting. Everyone was on their A game. Was it just me or did Nigel come off the most sympathetic? I wanted to reach into the screen and hug him. At the same time I also wanted to reach into the screen and slap Todd. What an insensitive jerk. It was also nice to see the return of several vets. Too often on soaps, important characters are not seen at times like these and it's a huge cheat to long time viewers. Kudos to them.

Cons:
So, I watched the episode twice because I'm trying to wrap my head around why the show killed Asa AND buried him within a half hour of the first episode. What the hell was the damn rush? Asa was a pillar character of OLTL. He was the Victor Newman, the Erika Cane, the Luke Spencer of his show. I found it offensive as someone who watched the show regularly in the late 80's and early 90's to rush through it like that. The pacing also negated the returns of old favorites because they felt incredibly underutilized. Granted my time away from the show has been long, but I really expected to care a lot more than I did.

The death that OLTL did in the early 90's that haunted me for weeks was when Megan died. That entire week leading to her death was sublime. The rich scenes that I witnessed as loved ones shared their final moments with her were sad and uplifting at the same time. And the episode when she did pass where Jake carried Megan's fraile body to the window to see the valentines he had placed on their wedding tree was gutwrenching. And it didn't end there. The following week, several episodes were done where tributes were made to Megan. Then it ended when Sheila sang the song Megan wanted at her funeral, "Dancing in the streets". SO sad! It was absolutely beautiful!

I have read so much about Asa's passing I honestly was expecting something like that. I'm dissapointed. By rushing through his death, the writers missed several opportunities to show the characters truly grieving and dealing with his death. by the time I started the second episode I was frankly a little ticked and honestly didn't really care. But I watched anyways.

8-17-07
I actually liked the second episode more than the first because I finally got to see the characters grieving. I thought Robert Woods had the strongest scenes in the show. I'm baffled now why he wasn't nominated. The Viki/Dorian scenes were also well done.

Ahh, finally, the old favs they brought back have nice scenes...oh wait, why are they boarding a plane already? I feel cheated.

Look, I thought the shows were nicely produced,
beautifully acted and the writing good. I also think they will play well as back to back episodes for emmys, but for me the bigger picture wasn't as good as I've been led to believe.

In truth, the two episodes played out like the self contained emmy baiting we all detest here on derby. It had a beginning, middle and end. Asa's death WAS a 2 day event.

Good, yes...brillant, ummm not really.

As a life long OLTL fan and an Asa fan, I felt the same way you did....at first. The episodes seemed rushed, and it felt like poor old Asa was buried and forgotten in two short hours.

However, if you look closer, the show's main stories are still still reverberations from Asa's death! The Jared/Charlie/Nat/Rex/Gigi/Shane mess is a direct result of Asa's passing. The BE takeover/Clint-Nora stuff is all related to Asa's death.

I still feel Asa's presence in Llanview. Yes, they buried him quickly, but Llanview still grieves for him and he is mentioned frequently.

Phil Carey would NOT come back, so this was the next best thing. And he's died so many times before, I liked how subtle it was.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: nbgemini,

quote:

Originally posted by nbgemini:
Phil Carey would NOT come back, so this was the next best thing. And he's died so many times before, I liked how subtle it was.

Thats fine if the actor did not want to come back, but the aftermath still felt rushed. I wasn't expecting that at all. As I said, after the second episode ended, I felt cheated. He died, was buried, people came and went and now life in Llanview can move forward. The quickness of it felt like the writers wanted to address it and move on as quick as possible. It seemed like a small way to send off a big character.

I still think for how they chose to handle it, it was well done. I've just seen death on that show done much better.

On a positive note, the mini movie style of it will play well for emmy voters. At least in writing. I have not seen the musical, nor do I want to, but I can't imagine its better than these back to back episodes.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TYATR Fan,

i kind of agree with TYATRFAN in that i also felt that two episodes alone were not enough to handle Asa's death--i feel like several loose ends weren't tied up as they relate to Asa. I feel like we should have seen more of Renee mourning and i feel like showing the actual memorial service would have been an added touch. But i also agree that the episodes themselves were done very well and are in fact some of the best episodes this show has had in years.

I like that they brought Max back--but i kind of wish they had tied up his story by having him find out that afterall this he really was Asa's son--i think that would have been a very nice touch.