Ten Steps to The "Slow Build": John and Sam and That Other Guy

I was never a John fan. I have to admit that. He never bugged me but he never grabbed my attention either. I will admit that I was never so disgusted by him that I yelled at the screen, muted the TV, or changed the channel. That was saved for SNV.  But John was just, well, fine. Take him or leave him. I think some of this ambivalence was due to my sincere good feeling towards the actor who seems to be all kinds of sweetie.

So imagine my surprise when I watched GH Friday and was more positive than ambivalent. Holy Make Out Session, Batman!! I think he won me over as he gently held Sam and then grabbed her and shoved his tongue down her throat.  Well, at least scored some points in the romance department. Now that's how it's done, People!! Romance and hotness all in one moment.


The scenes on the docks with John and Sam were sweet and poignant and, well, hot.  I found that I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked them together, even though I'd seen it once or twice before. I wouldn't say I'm a GH fan, even a little. Besides Tracy, I'm generally uninterested and watch only for Todd and the occasional moment with Starr. Unfortunately, those moments are getting fewer and fewer.  Yet I have stopped to watch a few John scenes with Sam and they are genuinely nice.  That's rare these days.

Now I've seen people claiming that Todd and Carly are on the "slow build" to love. That's really not what I'm seeing. Even a little. But I mentioned that last time.  But I am seeing it here and it's working well. John has known Sam for about six months and finally, they get a kiss that shouldn't have happened.  They have the whole "forbidden" thing happening, which is hot, but they also have a real intimacy, as well.


In order to have the slow build, you need intimate moments.  Todd and Carly chuckle and laugh and he bellows while she looks confused.  I think that may be the actress, BTW, who doesn't seem to be on the same page as Howarth and Howarth seems  to enjoy keeping her off balance. I think I've seen him laugh at her reaction a few times, in the guise of Todd being snarky. But that's neither here nor there. With John and Sam, they talk and listen to one another. They use hushed tones and discuss feelings and life stories.  Hell, he delivered her baby.  That's pretty intimate.

They've taken her husband out of the equation to some extent but kept her mourning for the relationship to actually build the new one. I've seen accusations of her being a bus victim in this, but from an objective viewpoint, she isn't being thrown under said bus. She's seen as the victim of an unkind, unwilling partner whose own needs and feelings are his prime concern.  How she feels and what she wants and what happened to her are irrelevant to him.  Of course, what can you expect from a man whose job is to exterminate other human beings.  Detachment and selfishness must be in the job description.  Yuck. And he's not even cute.  Sorry, Kids, I want that dude off my screen like yesterday!!  And, as the promos suggest, that probably is happening.  But that's another blog for another day.

Now said husband may be regretting his behavior but that makes the slow build even more effective. There's a formula for these things.  Here's what I've found in forty plus years of soap watching. Let's call it the Ten Steps to The Slow Build or "Cliff Notes for the Bad Soap Writer":

1. Couple meets while having problems with significant others- or being on the way to problems
2. Couple has instant sexual chemistry
3. Couple becomes friends and share intimate moments
4. Couple starts to rely on one another more than significant other
5. Couple has sexual moment as rebound and swears to not do so again
6. Couple tries to make it work with significant other
7. Couple can't forget sexual encounter and do it again
8. Couple breaks up with significant others
9. Couple keep having sexual moments again and again and again and continuously try to avoid it to no avail
10. Couple gives it up and that's that.

You see Todd and Carly didn't get past #2.  That's not a slow build.  But John and Sam blew the doors off #2 and are now deep into #5 and I predict #6 by Tuesday and #7 by Thursday.  This was a slow build but they're entering overdrive.  It's do or die for Valentini. He's pulling out the big guns, excuse the pun. 

Now I'm not a Monaco fan, even a little. In the past, I called her out on her lack of skills and her unsavory road to "stardom".  However, even she was likable with Easton as they lamented the past and current ramifications of their situations. I thought she was, well, sweet.  In her scenes with Howarth, I didn't find her to be anything more than a prop to his guilt but, like John, she didn't bug me.

I have to admit to loving John and Todd's scenes on OLTL but, then again, I loved almost everyone with Howarth on OLTL.  Hell, he made TSJ watchable. On GH, not so much.  Heather's getting stale and Carly's just a Chucklehead there to showcase Todd until Blair arrives and hopefully Viki. She's the Placeholder he claims SNV was until the real thing arrives.  I didn't see the "great" qualities in the scenes with Sonny.  I thought Benard- I learned to spell his name now- looked silly and old and short and tired and trite. Much like the rest of GH.  It really needs to be put down. It's a dying dog. But I digress for a change. John seemed to come to life with Howarth and I miss that. Hopefully we're getting some soon.

Yet with Easton, Monaco actually exuded some feeling from me. But let's not go over overboard. Her attempt to make him stop drinking and the way she called him "friend" were cringeworthy. She ain't no Slezak, or even an Archer, but she's passable in a Bree Williamson kind of way and she's not nearly as pouty.  Yuck. That pout. Even Howarth couldn't get her through those terrible scenes with "Uncle Todd" where she looked as if she wanted to devour him whole and he looked as skeeved out as we were. 

Again, I digress.  But I think Monaco has some potential as long as she's away from the Blackhole in the Black T-shirt- meaning Burton.  He's awful and like some light up the screen around them and make everyone look better, he does the opposite. He makes every scene worse and his presence is sucking the oxygen out of the atmosphere.  And not in a good way. He's so bored and boring, he makes everyone seem as bad as him.  PLEASE KEEP HIM AWAY FROM BLAIR!!! She's had to deal with enough of that. She got stuck with TSJ for years.  Yeah, I said it!!! He sucked.

So, here I am, almost on the "McBam" bandwagon, but I'm still standing with my feet firmly on the ground. I can't get fully onboard yet. I like what may be coming but I'm hesitant.  Anything having to do with Jason makes me want to wretch, but I'm hoping he's going away if this show stays. Those new promos are quite the eye opener. And not subtle, to say the least.

But, that's my next blog. It's tentatively titled "ABC Legitimizes Valentini's Folly" or "Pink Slips STAT: Suck It, Mob Guys and Your Trolly Chick! There's a New Gang in Town". 

Guess which one I'll use.................