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“Guiding Light” mini-cap 5/22: Taking a chance

Anxiously, Olivia skips up to the farmhouse in great shoes. She checks her Tic Tac; it’s still working. Natalia meets her and they share a long, “I’ve missed you” embrace. Natalia says Emma is fine and wants to stay. Olivia says maybe Emma is right, and it’s time for them to move back. Does anyone else hear the beeping sound of a U-Haul backing up?

Natalia says the time they lived together was the happiest family life she’s ever experienced, but Nat gets that far away look. Here come those questions we have grown so fond of: “What if we are not ready? What if we don’t work? What if something happens?” Olivia says all people in relationships take risks.

Olivia affirms Nat is bolder and braver than she gives herself credit. She took a chance when she quit her job and began working for Liv, she took a chance when she became a bolt-back bride, and she took a chance just by letting Liv inside. Nat said past choices have been safe, but she took the biggest chance in her life when she told Olivia that she loved her. She has no regrets. Their faces move closer toward each other. Suddenly, Liv is vectored from the flight plan into a hug that looks more like a headlock. The planet’s greenhouse gases reach critical mass as thousands of Otalia fans simultaneously exhale.

Edmund’s dead. Olivia said she had seen him with someone yesterday. Yesterday? Liv told Nat she got back early the day before. She was going to come right to the farmhouse, but there was an emergency at the Beacon. What? This excuse is about as believable as Doris getting a new jacket. Natalia thinks Olivia should be honest and tell what she knows. When you lie things get messy. Olivia counters with, “How honest are we being.” Natalia says they are not lying: It’s a Nixonian soap ploy to create angst.

Father Ray arrives looking suspiciously like Tony Danza. Angela? Mona? He wants to know if Nat worked things out with what’s-his-name. Father Ray wants to know if there is someone else in Nat’s life. Natalia says yes and fixates on the New Year’s Eve picture of their family. Father Ray looks in the same direction and double-takes. “Olivia?” Natalia confirms to the Catholic priest, Bingo!

Confidently, Natalia says her feelings are real. Father Ray understands she is following Gus’s heart, but acting on these feelings is immoral. Natalia says God is love and in her heart she has done nothing sinful. This is not a confession. Father Ray quotes scripture referencing abomination. He offers guidance and re-programming. Nat says she is still the same person no matter who she loves, and she respects God’s teachings. Childishly, Father Ray counters with “not all of them.” Natalia says she loves God and Olivia and doesn’t believe she has to choose between them. She bedevils the padre with her own scripture of love and acceptance.

Nat informs Liv she told Father Ray about their relationship. He asked; she told. Though she loves the idea of living together again, Nat says moving in right now is not a good idea. Olivia asks why, because it would be a sin? If so, then they also have to stop eating lobster and wearing those poly-blends. Natalia tries to reassure Liv she doesn’t think their relationship is a sin; her decision would be the same for anyone at this point. Her feelings for Olivia haven’t changed. Olivia’s eyes well up at the thought of having to return that U-Haul, but they’re OK, right?

Olivia and Natalia finally show up to work. I was beginning to think the Beacon was automated. Olivia says they don’t want the employees to know about their relationship just yet so they’ll act normal. Normal? I thought this was a label-less storyline.

To make things interesting, Liv’s office is her hotel room. They are attempting to work around the Posturepedic pachyderm in the room when, cleverly, Olivia gets Nat to come closer to find a spreadsheet that was obviously right in front of her. Liv, hon, you will find it if you stop looking at her lips.

“Just Jack” bursts in to announce someone screwed up and double booked the banquet rooms. Liv is flustered (“Huh? What?”). She begins to rip the boy a new one when Natalia admits it’s her mistake. Olivia softens and says it happens. Move one of the parties to Towers. “Just Jack” leaves with an overly dramatic flourish. Natalia threatens to quit her job if Liv doesn’t stop giving her special girlfriend treatment and regard her as any other employee — except Jane. Liv agrees and says she can separate her professional life from her. Nat fills in the blank: “Love life?”

The daytime D.E.B.S. stealthily synchronize their lunch departure twelve minutes apart so no one will notice they are together. Liv suggests instead of continuing to sneak around they set a timetable to tell Emma and Rafe. Liv wants to know what part of progress are they so afraid. Nat says she’s afraid of everything and wishes she could be more like Olivia. Olivia is scared too, but that’s how she knows it’s worth it.

Nat and Olivia open up their impromptu picnic. It’s a veritable smorgasbord of culinary delights: chocolate bars, breath mints, and gum. Natalia tells Liv she likes her hair that way. It’s a nice, light moment when what’s-his-name shows up. He says, “You’re hard to find.” Well, one of my Otalia prayers has been answered: The Nat tracker has been disengaged!

He announces Rafe’s new hearing. Rafe could be released from the half-way house. Natalia says she doesn’t know how to thank him. He says he just doesn’t want to see a good person go down the wrong path. Hmmm. Is he insulting Natalia? Nah, he’s a good man.

Nat is psyched about the possibility of having Rafe home, and then she realizes what that will mean for Otalia. Uh oh, she gets that pensive look on her face. Here comes an “I don’t know.” Liv stops her from thinking and says please, not today; today we celebrate taking a chance.

Olivia asks Jeffrey to testify for Rafe. She worries this hearing could change everything. Jeffrey surmises the problem with Rafe discovering his mom and Olivia have grown closer. (Hey, didn’t they say that about another bamboozling female soap couple?) Are Otalia a couple? Liv doesn’t want to label it right now until they can define it.

Back to the scene of the crime (not Edmund’s, the gazebo): a crime of passion. Liv calls Nat and tells her nothing is going to come between them. They are in this together; it’s what she wants more than anything.

For updates and in-between Otalia postings go to www.mindschmootz.net.

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