hildy89 | Death in the afternoon

There's a popular old saying. No one's really dead in science fiction. And it's equally true in soap opera land. Characters rise from the grave more times than we can count. But for some reason, I have different reactions to deaths in one genre than the other. For sf fandom, when a character I like dies, I'm furious, I'm upset. My anger usually knows no bounds, unless it happens to be someone I don't like, which rarely happens. With soaps, I'm just saddened. I don't know why I have such a different response. I grow equally attached to characters in both genres. Soap characters usually have longer to grab my attention, so maybe there's more history involved. Is it seeing the storyline come to final close? Even so, I don't get nearly as riled up. Maybe it's knowing a) they could be back someday b) the actor/actress could go on to better things I'll like just as much. But that's true with sf too, right? I've watched sf characters be thrown away with just as much disregard as soap characters, too. It's very odd.

I noticed this especially this week on "All My Children". AMC is badly resembling AW in the latter days with all the complaints on underused characters and the treatment of veterans versus newcomers. In their usual fashion, they need to clean house, so they invented yet another serial killer storyline. Every time I'm turning around, there's a big murder mystery or massive event. You'd think there'd be an easier way to eliminate characters. In the last month or so, we've buried two characters and one near miss. And now we lost a real heartbreaker with Dixie. I wasn't around for her initial run, so when they brought her back, I was curious and expectant. I wanted to see the sparks fly between her and Tad, I wanted to see this woman he'd loved his whole life, but they spent most of the time at each other's throats. This is "Together forever"? It wasn't until the very end that we saw the connection between those two. If they'd included just a little more of that warmth and caring and fun, who knows? From the sounds of it, AMC producers decided they really needed the shock value and killing Dixie was it. Unfortunate for Cady McClain and the fans, but that was the decision. How she died was cheesy as all get out, but everyone really shined at the hospital scenes. The flashbacks gave us glimpses of the real Tad and Dixie. What woman wouldn't want to hear Tad's "Heaven help me, I think I've forgotten every woman I've ever met"? I was bawling by the time they played "You are my sunshine". God only knows what her funeral will be like.

Now I'm dreading how I'll react to watching Frankie's exit from AW.