My reaction to the Four Musketeers reunion……(possible spoilers if you get GL later in the day……)
Is it just me, or did Guiding Light’s editor have too much coffee? Or perhaps, had cocktail hour too early in the day? It was all a bit confusing…..
Listen, any series of days on GL that lets us see (a) the Four Musketeers together, (b) Grady going to hell and (c) a Bill/Lizzie reunion is all good with me.
But…..wasn’t it a bit odd that in the middle of a lovely reunion, Phillip took off, comforted Lizzie during a meltdown, tossed Grady off the side of a ravine, and then came back and…..was re-crowned prom king, as if he’d just taken a quick run to the john?
These were two vastly different stories in tone, and clashed loudly when the show transitioned back and forth from one to another. I didn’t understand why the reunion didn’t happen in and of itself, with the Phillip/Grady faceoff after it concluded.
Beyond that, I stood and clapped when Grady did a Roger Thorpe today. Unlike Roger, here’s hoping a branch doesn’t catch Grady on the way down.
And Krista Tesreau is much missed and would be a welcome addition back into Springfield, even if just on a part-time basis. Maybe Mindy’s expanded into interior decorating? I hear Cedars could use some designer magic……
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Patrick, I was confused at first with the timing. I thought ther was just going to be a reunion, period. Then there was the lunch and the dance part was later that night. I don’t know how much time was in between, even though no one changed clothes. It was broad daylight when it started and now it’s night.
How did you feel about the music? I’m willing to just sit back and enjoy seeing these four characters together but I wanted 80s music.
Speaking of “Almost Paradise,” Beth and Lujack’s song… Since they moved the graduation year to 1984, my all-time favorite musical year, they could have given us some Footloose soundtrack. I would have loved that.
Roger, I think if it would have literally been two different episodes – one reunion, and one with all of the Phillip/Lizzie/Grady action, it would have been fantastic. The scenes were great – it was just kinda baffling that they were woven together the way they were, in my opinion.
I would have loved some 80s songs, but licensing fees for music are so prohibitive these days that it’s not a surprise there weren’t many songs. I did think the original instrumental piece they were playing when Phillip and Beth were dancing captured the 80s pop sound nicely.
I wasn’t bothered as much by the time shuffling as was by the fact that 1. The Four Musketeers graduated in 1983 not 1984 and 2. Mindy never went to Springfield High. Mindy arrived in Springfield in May 1983 to visit her Aunt Trish after she graduated from high school in Tulsa. Even the GL opening credits back from 1983 show Rick, Beth, Mindy, and Phillip at the graduation with all of them wearing caps and gowns except for Mindy, as she had already graduated. Other than that, I loved seeing the four of them together again.
But Beth and Phillip’s song was “Truly” by Lionel Richie! And as a long time fan of the show….I kept waiting for them to play the song as they were crowned king and queen of the prom. Surely, Lionel wouldn’t have minded the props to his classic 80’s song played for two such beloved characters….this was WHEN Phillip fell in love with Beth!!!!! Such a huge oversight!
Hey Patrick!
I actually liked the story angle of Philip wandering off from the reunion, committing a grizzly murder (albeit unplanned), cleaning his hands, and returning to dance with “queen.” I think it was a profound statement of where Philip is at psychologically that is capable of completely shifting gears like this.
Violent murderer one minute … cool prom king the next. Interesting stuff.
I was also disappointed by the music, and completely amused by the food at the lunch. It looked like they were trying to consume first-grade cafeteria trays. I guess the Recession has hit Springfield High pretty hard.
Loved the reunion of the actors…the “reunion” itself, not so much. The cheapness–and 25th reunions are usually pretty nice–eventually got to me, and I too bemoaned not a single 1984 pop song, especially after we got Petula Clark last month.
I didn’t mind the “rewrite” as to who graduated from where and when, because this was a minor sin necessary to get the Four Musketeers together again. It’s forgotten as of next week, along with Clone Reva and Holly the Nursery Rhyme Stalker. (Phillip is apparently the only kidnapper of young children ever to exist in Springfield.)
If anything, it proved that Krista Tesreau belongs back on the show, at least in a recurring role similar to Blake, Vanessa, etc. And, if she’d care to commit a bit more, I’d love to see Mindy take on Alan-Michael, Frank, Rusty. Nick, even Phillip. I saw nothing but friendship with Rick this time around, and would rather see Mindy stirring up a little trouble, not lounging around on the Bauer sofa.
While it was great to see the Four Musketteers back together, overall, I was disappointed by the reunion.
I’m willing to let it go that they moved the graduation year from 1983 to 1984. But they didn’t really need to do that. They could have easily explained that Beth was in charge of the reunion committee but got so involved with Lizzie’s drama, her law school classes and her affair with Coop that she failed to follow through with some of the arrangements; thus they were forced to have the reunion late.
But what really was missing for me was a payoff. I wanted the 80s music!!!!!! I wanted to see Phillip and Beth dancing to Truly!!!! And I wanted some kind of breakthrough scene with Phillip and Beth, Maybe one of them admitting that he or she still loved the other. Maybe something else entirely. But I didn’t feel like I got a payoff at all. The high school graduation was such a huge part of their love story, the reunion should have been some type of momentous event in their story too.
Other things that really bothered me:
1. Pizza Face — was it really necessary to create some female character just for this reunion???
2. Other guests acted like Phillip being there was no big deal — he’s the richest guy in town and has routinely made the papers over the years. Surely some of his classmates would have come up to him to make business contacts or some of the women would have tried to seduce him.
3. Mindy did NOT attend Springfield High — as Jeff said above, the opening credits of that era showed her in a red dress and hat while the other three were in graduation attire. The show is going to such great lenghts to remain faithful to facts established about Phillip in 2004 regarding the kidnapping, yet why play fast and loose with the facts about Mindy.
4. Mindy didn’t connect with any of her family except Billy — her brother Bill is in town as is her step mother Vanessa and her neice Daisy (plus her uncle Josh and former step mother Reva). Surely she could have had a scene or two with a few of those relatives.
Now, as for the whole rescuing Lizzie and then going off to confront Grady thing in the middle of the episode, it felt so completely out of place. As you said, they treated it like Phillip went to the john, but those two acts must have taken several hours.
I’m glad they dealt with the Grady situation. But don’t really understand why it had to be in the middle of the reunion.
Let’s hope we see more of Mindy soon. And with luck she can bring Marah with her. And maybe even India too!!
Hi James! You and many others mentioned the music, and I agree, it would have been great to use the song. Quite frankly, considering where Lionel Richie’s career is, I’m wondering if it wouldn’t have been even cooler to have him come to sing at the reunion. Lizzie could see him and ask how Nicole is, since Lizzie was introduced as a celebutante!
But I also understand there’s a lot wrapped up in music rights….we know GL has a limited budget but many shows, daytime or nighttime, are grappling with music rights and royalties. Many awesome 80s and 90s shows haven’t been released on DVD yet because the cost to secure music rights are astronomical.
I agree, it would have been interesting to bring back characters from that time….though I think most of the characters that came to my mind initially, like Darcy and IQ, were involved in Lujack’s story, not the Four Musketeers. I thought perhaps Doris had gone to high school with Mindy and Beth and the guys, but was the dorky girl that they never noticed….
I’m with you 100% on bringing India back. India and Phillip are SUCH fun. If GL was smart – and they have been smart about several things lately – they’d bring back India to play for a week or two just as Phillip’s story reaches a dark point.