The week of June 8 provided a four-day Otalia week filled with spectacular highs and new twists. While the Otalia rollercoaster has been on level track, the story zoomed through new yet thrilling loops that left me stunned, dazed, and amazed by the time this week’s ride ended.

The June 9 episode started with Natalia fulfilling her promise by spending more quality time with her son, Rafe. Natalia planned a day of volunteering at her church – as head of the cookie committee – along with Rafe. When she went up to his room to see if he was ready to leave, Natalia found Rafe still sleeping until she awakened him. Granted, Rafe woke up with a bit of his “Raftertude,” but I actually considered his response with Natalia normal. I can recall not being in the best of moods when my mother woke me up for school as a kid. I sometimes had a bit of my own “Rafertude” since I am not a morning person; maybe Rafe isn’t either. Additionally, he had to abide by prison rules by being “ordered” to sleep and wake up at a certain time, so he was probably enjoying sleeping by “Rafe’s rules” instead.

When I watched Natalia urge Rafe to get up and get his day started, I felt like I was watching another normal mother/son interaction. Despite Natalia’s attempt to get Rafe involved in normal yet helpful activities, he wasn’t too keen on the idea. Rafe felt that she didn’t need him to a part of the cookie committee but Natalia did. I saw this effort was a way for Natalia to spend quality time with Rafe by helping him adjust and feel better about himself. I agreed with Natalia’s assessment that the best way to take your mind off your own problems is to serve the community. Volunteering their time to escape from their problems was something they both needed but for different reasons. I would notice that volunteering, as escapism, would be a theme for the June 9 episode. After Natalia urged Rafe once more to help her, his “Rafertude” evolved into a temper tantrum – complete with a child-like response of kicking the bed covers. Instead of getting upset at Rafe, I was actually laughing at this scene. Natalia refused to let his temper tantrum deter her goal of getting him ready and going with her to the church. Her sunny response of “Let’s go” as she pulled the covers away and left Rafe’s room made me laugh again with encouragement. Natalia was not about to give up helping Rafe like she promised. This particular scene reminded me of the October 6, 2008 episode when Natalia found Olivia sleeping in a room (other than her own) at the Beacon. In the October 6, 2008 episode, Olivia conveyed a bit of her own “Rafertude” towards Natalia once she was awakened. Just like Natalia was trying to help Rafe in the June 9 episode, she helped Olivia by saving her skin with Decker, Olivia’s boss with Galaxy Hotels. (more…)

The big purple freeway known as Otalia has been an important infrastructure project to Guiding Light. The freeway project had to be architected by Ellen Wheeler and Jill Lorie Hurst. Freeway construction had to begin, which took several months and up to a year to complete for some portions of the roads. Even after the lanes were built, there have been moments of clear traffic and moments of congestion. The Otalia scenes for the week of June 1 offered some speed bumps and potholes; however, there were not any serious road hazards that could cause a breakdown on the Otalia expressway.

The Otalia episode for June 1 started with Olivia and Springfield’s (as well as “Calidornia’s”) frenemy mayor, Doris Wolfe. Olivia sought Doris’ advice by asking how long the adjustment period would occur for newly released inmates, namely Natalia’s son Rafe. Olivia explained her fears about Rafe’s struggles during his adjustment period, and I could hear the anxious frustration in her words. For the past couple of weeks, I wrote how I felt Olivia was ready to be out in the open with Natalia. The fact that Olivia turned to Doris for advice proved to me that the “fear monster” had consumed her again. While Olivia feels like Doris is the only person who understands what she feels, I also think Doris offers her a friendly ear. Olivia has turned to Doris on a couple occasions in the past whenever the “fear monster” consumes her.

March 26, 2009 Episode

To give you a refresher, Natalia almost kissed Olivia while she was sleeping from sedative after a scare with her heart. While Olivia stopped the kiss from happening, she definitely wanted it to happen based on her reaction after Natalia left. Olivia was still in some form of denial and fear of the unknown, even though she was already head over heels in love with Natalia. This denial and fear drove Olivia to Doris. She talked about how she viewed her attraction to Natalia vs. her attraction and power she’s always held over men. In that episode, Olivia expressed how she didn’t want to give up the familiar part of her for the unknown with Natalia. (more…)

After being thrilled by Otalia’s ability to pass the flirting baton, I felt a cooling off period would be on the horizon for TV’s hottest couple. Since Guiding Light’s Otalia story line is following “old school soap opera,” I am familiar with a decrease in intensity before it ramps back up again. As I have stated before, the Otalia story line is riding a roller coaster. There are climbs up the track and dips down the track, and you cannot always stay inside a vertical loop. You have to ride on level track for a bit. Keeping that I mind, I felt the week of May 25 for Otalia could be summed up as one word: a “frankenclipse.”

Frankenclipse – the eclipsing and/or interruption of Otalia’s happy and private moments, usually by Frank Cooper; however, this term can be applied to any Guiding Light character that dims Otalia’s light.

Heavenly Bodies

The May 27 episode kicked off with Olivia and Natalia taking care of Beacon business with Greg, the Banquet Manager. I wondered if Greg picked up on the undercurrents between Olivia and Natalia based on an “oooohh kay” look he gave them in the May 20 episode. Obviously, Natalia was wondering the same thing when she noticed the way he was looking at her and Olivia. When I watched this scene, I thought Greg would make some sly comment about how he knew what was going on between Olivia and Natalia. Instead, he threw me into a bit of a laughing loop when he asked about Olivia’s shoes and complimented them. I concurred with Olivia’s flashy, “Oh!” response to Greg because he made me a fan afterwards. Guiding Light, Greg might be your version of As the World Turns’ Henry Coleman. Keep him because he is fantastic (and not just because he admired Olivia’s shoes). (more…)

The Otalia scenes for the week of May 18 made me ache but in the most pleasurable of ways. Smiling is an unintended side effect whenever I watch Otalia on Guiding Light, but this week, I think I broke a new record for Otalia-related smiles.

“Happiness pulses with every beat of my heart.” ~Emily Logan Decens

As I watched Olivia scurry down the sidewalk to Natalia’s front door on the May 19 episode, it reminded me of how I feel when I come home to Guiding Light. Just like Olivia, I am anxious to return to my newfound love. I don’t perform a quick breath check when I come home to my sweetheart though (aka the Guiding Light). That quick two-second scene was hysterical yet true to life, especially when you’re starting a new relationship. You want to make sure you look good (and smell good) – something I’m sure Olivia and Natalia are thinking about based on the past few weeks. The happy anxiousness on Olivia’s face as she knocked on the door showed me just how much she missed Natalia while she was away. To me, Olivia’s face conveyed a “can’t wait to see my baby” expression as she all but barged her way inside the farmhouse. I then watched as that happy anxiousness transformed into joyful relief as Olivia and Natalia clinched each other – as if they’ve been a part for months rather than days.

When I saw Olivia and Natalia hug each other in the way they did, I had another one of those jaw-dropping moments that often occurs with this story line. The naturalness and ease of how Olivia and Natalia clinched each other showed more progression in their comfort level as a potential couple. They’ve hugged each other numerous times over the past several months but not in a romantic way. In fact, what Olivia and Natalia did wasn’t a hug. Their embrace was passionate, and they showed me through their body language these two are head over heels in love. When they pulled away from each other, I noticed the loving and glowing smiles Olivia and Natalia gave each other. I also noticed a moment where I felt Olivia wanted to kiss Natalia. Instead, Olivia held herself in check, caught her breath, and got past that moment by asking about Emma. (more…)

The Otalia storyline is the personification of an Agnes Nixon quote, which one of my brothers shared with me many years ago:

Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, make ‘em wait.

If the week of May 4 was about making us laugh, making us cry, and making us wait, then the week of May 11 continued down that path. The intensity Guiding Light has provided with the Otalia story line shifted slightly, yet the writers managed to maintain the proper balance of Agnes Nixon’s approach for soaps for this week. That said, if the May 11 episode was the calm, then the May 12 episode was the storm.

The Calm

The relaxing cocoon of the spa has done wonders for Olivia and Natalia’s comfort level around each other. I want to believe all of the mud baths, massages, manicures/pedicures, and hiking contributed to their relaxed states. However, I pinpoint their ease with each other after their (non-physical) lovemaking from the May 5 and May 6 episodes. Since then, Olivia and Natalia have been able to reclaim some of their familiar comfort as friends and obtain some new comfort in being together as a potential couple.

The opening scene for the May 11 episode provided clear evidence of that familiar yet new level of comfort for the pair. A perfect example is Olivia’s expressive body language after she and Emma returned from their manicure/pedicure treatments. Olivia’s sexy, sashaying hip motion when she entered the room was another one of those subtle yet not so subtle siren calls towards Natalia. Still, I viewed Olivia’s body language as an interesting combination of two things. She was definitely sending out the siren call, but she was also releasing the joyful, loving energy that she has for Natalia. Olivia is just so happy to be in love and to have that love returned that her body cannot contain it. The love is positively radiating from Olivia in every way, especially when she agrees with Emma’s statement about missing Natalia. As for Natalia, she released the big guns again with those dimples by smiling affectionately and gazing lovingly at Olivia with those soulful brown eyes of hers. No wonder Olivia melts into puddles around Natalia because even I notice the compelling tug of those dimples and her expressive eyes. (more…)