Thursday, January 29, 2009

all my children

And out of nowhere..a post about soaps.

I learned a lot about McKenzie Westmore when I went to her site...She's a christian country singer, she was in Raging Bull, she's the daughter of a Star Trek makeup artist. Things I feel I should have known. But there is one thing I know about her from watching her for nine years on Passions, and now in a role on All My Children. She's best at playing bad.
On Passions, she spent years portraying Sheridan Crane as a helpless, damsel-in-distress type. She was buried alive, sank on the Titanic and I swear there was an entire year where she was trapped in a pit giving birth. But towards the end of the show's run the character took an evil turn, blackmailing, abetting, and almost murdering, mostly to get her man back after she royally fucked it up with him.
That's when it all clicked. I think Westmore is an enthusiastic actress (great for soaps) but that energy was wasted crying for help all those years. Now that Passions is over she has a new role on All My Children. She plays Dr. Sinclare, a doctor who is trying to prove crazy Annie is faking her mental illness. She clearly has an agenda and is all mean and bitchy. It makes me happy to see her in a role that suits her more, evil is always more fun. Speaking of evil, Annie is much better as a crazy/evil person as well. When she first came on the scene she was considered (I think a character actually said this)a cheap imitation of Greenlee Smythe. But then she lost her man (seeing a pattern), killed her brother and some other people, stabbed Erica and some other people, then just went all kinds of crazy. It is my guess that Sinclare's agenda has something to do with Richie, the brother that Annie killed.

Other fun things today:

-A lesbian wedding shower gone awry illustrates how homosexual relationships don't always fit easily into a hetero-centric model.

-Erica throws snow at Bianca

-The only one who can get through David Hayward's gruff exterior is a burn victim.