January 25, 2004 

I am wondering if the AMC writers are suffering from Macbeth envy. That play gets mentioned on AMC more often than any other Shakespearean work. It’s Adam’s favorite and Mary mentioned it recently, too. I am wondering if that Macbeth envy is behind a recent plot development. Were the AMC writers sitting around speculating, “Damn, if Macbeth can have three witches, there is no reason AMC cannot have three bitches.” 

So now we have them: Greenlee, Mia and Simone.  Those scenes with the Three Bitches of Pine Valley circling a  (supposedly) pregnant Kendall were just ugly. I don’t understand why these characters have been taken down this road.  Greenlee was bitch enough before, why the need to expand that part of her character? So that Ryan’s rejection of her can be total and complete?  Mia has changed so much since arriving in PV, I do not even recognize her any more. She arrived as a complicated, strong, compassionate woman. Now she has been reduced to playing a shrew, plain and simple. Mia needs to get a grip. If sending Kendall to death row is the only way Mia can get Aiden, shouldn’t she be questioning if he is worth getting in the first place? 

And then there is Simone. Compassion has never been her strong suit. Remember her insisting that a comatose Greenlee was making a big deal out of a bump on the head just so she could get attention?  Yet we have always been lead to believe that Simone was a strong person. (Except of course when in dire need of getting laid.) Where was her strength in Friday’s episode? Sure she started getting cold feet, but that was after luring Kendall into the bitches’ lair. Simone may only be a bitch by association, but the title sticks just the same. 

The saddest thing about all this is the Fusion storyline started with such promise. Women working together to make a dream come true. Stepping on each others’ egos sure, but loyal in their own way. And it is all gone now.  For what?  Ryan? Aiden? Fusion stock? 

They are no longer the “Women of Fusion.” They are the “Spoiled Little Girls of Fusion.” And far less interesting to watch because of that change. 

And that change is disappointing for another reason, too. Friendships have been the hallmark of AMC since its beginning. Nick and Mona. Phil and Chuck. Phoebe and Mrs. Valentine. Jenny and Jesse. Bianca and Leo. Myrtle and Mona. Opal and Erica. Brooke and Dixie. The list goes on and on.  

Friendships on AMC have never been without their troubles. Mona’s friendship with Nick was strained a bit when Erica became his lover. And Tara certainly complicated Phil’s and Chuck’s friendship. Certainly no one can argue that Brooke and Dixie had to work through a lot, let’s make that a hell of a lot, on their way to friendship.  

These friendships were resilient. The bonds of friendship stretched to the breaking point but snapped back before breaking.  

And why didn’t the bonds break? Because ultimately these friendships were worth more to the friends involved than the strains put on them.   While the circumstances friendships face on AMC are often unrealistic, , the friendships themselves have always been very real.  

And there is something very unreal about the Fusion babes current storyline. Shouldn’t the fact that Kendall is being tried for murder in a death penalty state override everything else?  Shouldn’t they be working together to get her out of this mess? Once that is accomplished, they can get back to snarking at each other.   

Even Brooke and Erica have been there for each other in times of trouble. And they could never ever be mistaken for friends.  

One thing I have learned in life is that romantic partners can come and go. Jobs can come and go. Friends stay. Stay through good times. Stay through bad times. Just stay, for the sole reason that you are friends. 

I guess the Fusion babes have yet to learn that there is something lonelier than not having a date for Valentine’s Day. And that is the loneliness that comes from not having a friend you can call anytime, even at 3 in the morning, to complain about not having a date for Valentine’s Day.  

I am trying to keep the faith that these characters can bounce back from the plot points recently thrust upon them. And that Megan McTavish remembers that these are characters worth developing, not devaluing. 

I would love to hear your take on AMC. Email me and let me know what you think.