ESPRIT LIBRE // Press Archive

Hit: Love on the Rocks on OLTL (Soap Opera Weekly 5/8/07)

Breaking up is hard to do, but it's easy to watch if it's scripted well. So three hankies to One Life to Live for crumbling so many key couples in such a smooth way.

Natalie and John could not get past their character quirks, but it was not for lack of trying. Melissa Archer (Natalie) and Michael Easton (John) were heartbreakingly real when they admitted that love was just not enough. That, and Natalie's control issues, meant to "help John," pushed him further away.

Meanwhile, in a shockingly selfless act for a teen, Starr broke up with Cole. This accomplished two important feats: Cole does not have to go to military school, and Todd does not have to kill the guy. Kristen Alderson and Brandon Buddy were tortured while saying goodbye, so OLTL had the teens turn to others to ease the pain. Starr turned to her girlfriends, while Cole opened up to (of all people) John. It appears a surrogate father/son relationship is in the works....

Finally, viewers can breathe a sign of relief for the fractured Antonio and Jessica. As played out during the custody hearing for little Jamie, Jessica could not commit to being Jamie's legal mommy because she was about to uncommit to Jamie's daddy.

But shed no tears -- this is a mercy breakup; Kamar de los Reyes (Antonio) and Bree Williamson (Jessica) yammered their way into becoming the most boring duo on the show, while the forbidden nature of Jessica and Nash's coupling proved hotter than a naked back on a rainy rock.

What can we say? Soemtimes it takes a breakup to really make a story come together. +JD