Not unlike a week without sunshine, so was this Bianca-less week of All My Children. While I may be biased due to my Binx devotion, the show just lacks a certain realism and heart without her presence. Since Eden Riegel is on guest star status, it’s hard to say what Bianca’s future will be on the show. Also, there was no Miranda this week either. We need some Kane blood coursing through Pine Valley, stat! Kendall, Bianca, Erica, anyone! Colby? I didn’t ask for another Chandler, dammit. Oh well.
When we last saw Jesse and Zach, they were raiding the Koslov’s hide out. It turns out their intel was right, but Cassandra had been moved before they got there. Jesse knows she was there by a note Cassandra carved into the wall before she was moved.
Jesse begs the other girls for help and promises to protect them. They are so scared of Yuri and his minions that they hesitate, but eventually give Jesse some info. Billy Clyde Tuggle is there and Jesse is not convinced that he is not somehow involved, or at least tipped the traffickers off. Tuggle just twirls his moustache like Snidely Whiplash and mumbles incoherently, per usual. Jesse gets a call, and it turns out to be Uri. He’s got a deal for Jesse and he’d better take it if he wants to see Cassandra alive again.
Uri, who has the most punchable face in soap besides JR Chandler, and Jesse meet in an alley. Jesse agrees to help him fake his death and misidentify a burned body as Uri’s. When Jesse does get the call about a body being found, he rushes to the scene and attempts to take over the investigation. One little problem. The investigating officers found a weapon at the scene: a letter opener. (What is this? Clue? My bets are on Col. Mustard.) Before Jesse can even break the chain of custody, an investigator tells him the letter opener is already on its way to the lab and covered in viable finger-prints. Dun dun dun! Zach’s prints. Oh shit.
While Jesse tries to rescue their daughter, Debbi Morgan (who plays Angie), continues to deliver a heart wrenching performance as a mother in anguish. In a rare solitary moment, Angie prays to God to return her daughter safe and sound.
Back at the Chandler House, Brooke invites David for tea and tells him she wants an exclusive interview him for her new show. Brooke tells him, everybody loves a good old-fashioned story of redemption. He agrees, and takes a moment to lay into JR before he leaves.
Speaking of Chandlers, Colby Chandler struts into town this week. She literally bumps into Pete. That guy has got to start paying attention to where he’s going.
She flirts with him, but he’s much more concerned about David and his plans for Cortlandt Electronics. Colby surprised the Chandler crew at the mansion and gives hugs and kisses to AJ and JR.
She asks Brooke to gift her $20K, no questions asked. Brooke says hell no, but she offers her a job running Teen Tempo. Colby is allergic to work, so she declines for now. When JR doesn’t Hulk out to help her, she tells him to “find that inner asshole.” After the way JR’s been looking at that baggie of steroids he took from AJ, that seems to be a likely scenario.
Celia returns to Bramwell Hall, unsettled by her hallucinations. She asked her keeper Evelyn if either of her parents were mentally ill.
Evelyn says no, and tries to convince Celia that Pete is the real problem. It must have worked because Celia breaks it off with Pete, leaving him in the waiting grasp of Colby Chandler.
With AJ feeling confused and alienated from his father JR, David swoops in to comfort him. They meet for coffee and cake at Jane’s Addiction, and David fills AJ in on JR’s many nefarious deeds.
David, who would have been AJ’s grandfather if Marissa hadn’t been killed, tells him that he’s always there should AJ need anything. JR hobbles in during this tender moment, and sets the scene for a public David/JR confrontation. Poor Jane, why must everyone fight in her establishment?
What did you think of this week’s AMC? Do you continue to watch even when Bianca’s not on, or do you skip those episodes?
New episodes of All My Children air Mondays and Wednesdays on Hulu, and are also available for download on iTunes. Check back every Friday for weekly recaps.
