Performers of the Week: Scott Clifton and Annika Noelle
(Liam and Hope, B&B)
The brutal bust-up of the Hope/Liam marriage was brought to scorching life in two very different but equally powerful ways by Scott Clifton and Annika Noelle.
Hope returned home from Rome unaware that Liam had spied her kissing Thomas. Clifton played Liam with an attempt at outward calm that couldn’t entirely mask his quietly seething rage; Noelle played Hope as able to perceive his dark mood, but not yet able to make sense of it; she was off-balance, trying to fend off her own mounting anxiety. Clifton brought Liam’s fury to a slow boil as he pressed her for details about her time in Rome, practically daring her to fall into the trap he was setting by lying to him. He seemed to take her failure to proffer an immediate confession as permission to be as cruel to her as he felt she was being to him, his tone taking on a nastiness that took her aback and his lips curling into a snarl so scornful that tears sprang to her eyes. As he got in her face and challenged her to say the words — “I. Kissed. Thomas.” — he lost his grip on his temper, which flared with such ferocity that she trembled with fear.
As he eviscerated her character, laying the blame for his pain at her feet, Hope shrank in response. Noelle’s face flickered with shame, then horror, then hurt as he lit into her, until finally, she snapped. “I don’t want to have feelings for him,” she wailed, practically hyperventilating as she struggled to find the words to explain herself, desperate for the compassion he was withholding as she pleaded with him to forgive her — then, fixing him with a loaded look, her voice heavy with emotion, she referenced his own past transgressions, reminding him, “You have also hurt me. And I’ve forgiven you.”
Clifton and Noelle were mesmerizing to watch. In scene after scene, their work was intense, raw and uncomfortable (which we mean as a compliment!), the product of two actors willing to bring the ugliest and most damaged parts of their characters’ makeup to the fore and expose them to the camera. The trust between their characters may be broken, but our faith in their talent has never been more secure.
1 of 5
Photo credit: ABC
Thumbs Up!/ Thumbs Down!
GENERAL HOSPITAL
The Maine Attraction
It was a great surprise when Ned woke up after sustaining a head injury insisting that he was not Ned, he was Eddie Maine! GH introduced Eddie 30 years ago when Ned, bored with his buttoned-up life as an ELQ exec, began exploring his passion for music (and for Lois, who he wooed and wed under his assumed name). That Eddie tale (and its mini-revival a few years later during Ned’s romance with Alexis) was a hit, and made fantastic use of portrayer Wally Kurth’s gifts as an actor and a musician. But this Eddie isn’t the Eddie we knew — that Eddie knew he was Ned! It’s a head-scratcher that today’s Eddie thinks he’s a real person and not a stage persona and doesn’t recognize the people that were in Ned’s life in his Eddie era (e.g., his mother or Lois’s childhood buddy, Sonny). We love that Kurth is getting an important story, and he’s been excellent in it; so have Jane Elliot (Tracy), Lisa LoCicero (Olivia) and Amanda Setton (Brook Lynn) as Ned’s devastated kin. But resurrecting Eddie in a way that’s so disconnected from why fans loved the original storyline is a missed opportunity. To capitalize on its rich potential, this plot needs more of what the first one had in spades: humor, romance and rock ’n’ roll.
2 of 5
Photo credit: JPI
Thumbs Up!
YOUNG AND RESTLESS
Business As Usual
While Victor has hardly been missing in action from Genoa City, in recent months we’ve seen him reacting to situations more than driving story. But that changed in a big and welcome way when the testy tycoon became fed up with the squabbling amongst his kids and swooped in to shut it down. When Victoria turned her nose up at her dad’s advice to buy McCall Unlimited, he snapped up the company and handed it over to Adam. Adam vowed to use his new toy to destroy Newman Media, while Victoria pushed Nick out of his COO post so boyfriend Nate could step in. Nikki’s finger-wagging did little to change anyone’s behavior, so Victor, who has been on a slow burn for months, seething over his words of wisdom being continually ignored, decided to handle the situation his way: by reassuming control of his empire. This is the Victor — in all of his commanding, domineering glory — we’ve missed and whose stories we’ve long reveled in, and we’re applauding his overdue corporate comeback.
3 of 5
Photo credit: JPI
Thumbs Town!
DAYS OF OUR LIVES
You Snooze,
You Lose
The Johnny/Wendy/Tripp triangle is sadly proving to be ho-hum, and it has nothing to do with the talented trio of actors in the story. The problem is the story, or lack thereof, which is leaving viewers without a compelling reason to care about who Wendy ends up with. The show has yet to build genuine rooting value for either possible pairing, or to establish why Wendy is torn between her two suitors. The show failed to play the beats of Wendy falling for either guy — there were no meaningful romantic dates, no pining for one another, no overcoming obstacles to be with each other on either side of the equation. Johnny and Tripp were depicted as instantly smitten with Wendy, and because it doesn’t feel authentic, fans simply aren’t invested. Wendy doesn’t even seem that invested! DAYS should cut bait with this threesome and steer each character in a better thought-out direction.
4 of 5
Photo credit: JPI
Applause, Applause
Fantastic inside jokes abound on DAYS! Eli told Lani, played by Sal Stowers, that he tuned in to BODY AND SOUL because he had a crush on the actress named Sal (“She reminded me of you”), and when the end credits on the soap-within-a-soap ran, they were filled with fun winks to previous roles played by DAYS cast members, including Tucker McCall (the former Y&R alter ego of Stephen Nichols, Steve) and Katherine Bell (who Mary Beth Evans, Kayla, played on GH).... The hookup(s) of Y&R’s Kyle and Audra are bringing serious sizzle! ... Kristina Wagner’s Felicia is a gem in the GH universe — we’re loving her in her latest caper, investigating Martin.
5 of 5
Photo credit: ABC
Picky, Picky
Y&R’s Sharon either needs to invest in a smoke alarm or change the batteries in hers, because she and Nick shouldn’t be able to set Cameron’s lighter fluid-doused belongings ablaze inside her house without one going off! ... Wouldn’t selling the many ginormous rocks she has worn on her ring finger via her weddings and engagements to mega-rich men like Jax, Sonny and Jason help GH’s Carly pay off her debt to the SEC?
Thumbs Up!/ Thumbs Down!
GENERAL HOSPITAL
The Maine Attraction
It was a great surprise when Ned woke up after sustaining a head injury insisting that he was not Ned, he was Eddie Maine! GH introduced Eddie 30 years ago when Ned, bored with his buttoned-up life as an ELQ exec, began exploring his passion for music (and for Lois, who he wooed and wed under his assumed name). That Eddie tale (and its mini-revival a few years later during Ned’s romance with Alexis) was a hit, and made fantastic use of portrayer Wally Kurth’s gifts as an actor and a musician. But this Eddie isn’t the Eddie we knew — that Eddie knew he was Ned! It’s a head-scratcher that today’s Eddie thinks he’s a real person and not a stage persona and doesn’t recognize the people that were in Ned’s life in his Eddie era (e.g., his mother or Lois’s childhood buddy, Sonny). We love that Kurth is getting an important story, and he’s been excellent in it; so have Jane Elliot (Tracy), Lisa LoCicero (Olivia) and Amanda Setton (Brook Lynn) as Ned’s devastated kin. But resurrecting Eddie in a way that’s so disconnected from why fans loved the original storyline is a missed opportunity. To capitalize on its rich potential, this plot needs more of what the first one had in spades: humor, romance and rock ’n’ roll.
Thumbs Up!
YOUNG AND RESTLESS
Business As Usual
While Victor has hardly been missing in action from Genoa City, in recent months we’ve seen him reacting to situations more than driving story. But that changed in a big and welcome way when the testy tycoon became fed up with the squabbling amongst his kids and swooped in to shut it down. When Victoria turned her nose up at her dad’s advice to buy McCall Unlimited, he snapped up the company and handed it over to Adam. Adam vowed to use his new toy to destroy Newman Media, while Victoria pushed Nick out of his COO post so boyfriend Nate could step in. Nikki’s finger-wagging did little to change anyone’s behavior, so Victor, who has been on a slow burn for months, seething over his words of wisdom being continually ignored, decided to handle the situation his way: by reassuming control of his empire. This is the Victor — in all of his commanding, domineering glory — we’ve missed and whose stories we’ve long reveled in, and we’re applauding his overdue corporate comeback.
Thumbs Town!
DAYS OF OUR LIVES
You Snooze,
You Lose
The Johnny/Wendy/Tripp triangle is sadly proving to be ho-hum, and it has nothing to do with the talented trio of actors in the story. The problem is the story, or lack thereof, which is leaving viewers without a compelling reason to care about who Wendy ends up with. The show has yet to build genuine rooting value for either possible pairing, or to establish why Wendy is torn between her two suitors. The show failed to play the beats of Wendy falling for either guy — there were no meaningful romantic dates, no pining for one another, no overcoming obstacles to be with each other on either side of the equation. Johnny and Tripp were depicted as instantly smitten with Wendy, and because it doesn’t feel authentic, fans simply aren’t invested. Wendy doesn’t even seem that invested! DAYS should cut bait with this threesome and steer each character in a better thought-out direction.
Applause, Applause
Fantastic inside jokes abound on DAYS! Eli told Lani, played by Sal Stowers, that he tuned in to BODY AND SOUL because he had a crush on the actress named Sal (“She reminded me of you”), and when the end credits on the soap-within-a-soap ran, they were filled with fun winks to previous roles played by DAYS cast members, including Tucker McCall (the former Y&R alter ego of Stephen Nichols, Steve) and Katherine Bell (who Mary Beth Evans, Kayla, played on GH).... The hookup(s) of Y&R’s Kyle and Audra are bringing serious sizzle! ... Kristina Wagner’s Felicia is a gem in the GH universe — we’re loving her in her latest caper, investigating Martin.
Picky, Picky
Y&R’s Sharon either needs to invest in a smoke alarm or change the batteries in hers, because she and Nick shouldn’t be able to set Cameron’s lighter fluid-doused belongings ablaze inside her house without one going off! ... Wouldn’t selling the many ginormous rocks she has worn on her ring finger via her weddings and engagements to mega-rich men like Jax, Sonny and Jason help GH’s Carly pay off her debt to the SEC?
