ATWT: Charlene’s Package for Noah

(I wrote this as well as the other most recent ATWT article earlier but due to a family emergency, I was unable to post)

Here’s a summary and analysis for the episode that aired on November 15.

As we start, Holden and Lily arrive at the Snyder farm to tell Luke, Faith, and Natalie that they are getting a divorce (again). Lily insists that they’ll still be together as a family, but Faith doesn’t buy it, wants to stay with Holden and Luke at the farm, thinking that Lily will just go off to be with Dusty, and then she leaves in frustration.

Noah arrives at the police station where we also have Dallas (now played by a new actor) and desperate out-of-work lawyer Bonnie. A package has come for him, apparently from his mother, Charlene (a.k.a. Cheri) which contains some of her personal effects. Bonnie tells Noah that if he needs any help with the estate, to let her know. It turns out the package was sent by Ruth Mason from Memphis, Tennessee. Ruth was Charlene’s only sister. Noah says he doesn’t want the box, but with a little encouragement from Dallas, he takes it. Dallas insisted that if he doesn’t take the package, it’s like his father gets his way, which is true. The box could tell a lot about his mother. Dallas tells him not to open it alone, and do it with a friend.

Back at the farm, Noah runs into Holden with the box and Holden tells him that he needs a friend. Noah opens the box with Luke and we first find a little wooden statue that Charlene took to remember him by. Then there are a bunch of letters that were unopened that Charlene sent to him, that were apparently sent back by dear ol’ Dad (ugh, the swine!!). One of the letters from her states that Winston ruined her life and not to let him ruin his, and to believe in himself and never let him feel ashamed for being who he is. She also says that she never should have let him take Noah away; and that he should have been with two loving parents who didn’t judge him. She’s sorry she wasn’t there. Noah doesn’t understand why she could become a prostitute and that the letters make her sound decent. And that he’ll never forgive his dad for this. Luke says that maybe he should meet with his aunt, but Noah doesn’t believe that will do anything. Noah doesn’t want to talk about it anymore; and Luke doesn’t want to talk about his parents splitting up. Noah suggests that they do something physical instead. Cut to Luke’s classic facial expression as he says “like what?.” Of course, he meant physical therapy. As he helps Luke move his legs, by the end of the exercise, Luke says that his legs are sore. Noah wonders if that was just a figure of speech or can Luke actually feel his legs.

To be honest, I was mostly rather disappointed with the day’s scenes for several reasons, particularly at the farm. First of all, someone needs to inform Holden that Luke and Noah are more than just friends, they’re in a relationship now. Secondly, the scenes with Noah reading the letter and going through the package seemed rather rushed. The letter written by Charlene was rather sweet and that was well done and very emotional, but I was honestly expecting more from the writers when it came to the scene as a whole. Then at the end during Luke’s exercise routine, to me there should have been more of a celebration. I mean, for God’s sake, Luke can FINALLY FEEL HIS LEGS. Why no cheering? Why no kissing? Why no hugging? Not even a measly little high-five?! Where was the hand holding (or something) after Noah read his late mother’s letter? Come on! The powers that be really need to write more affectionate bits in. I’m not asking for too much. A simple hug or a kiss is all I want. They have no reason to be afraid now. They kissed twice and had a freaking towel fight -- shirtless and dripping wet. We’ve already seen some of the hottest stuff between them so far. While there were some lamebrain “EWW, G3T DOZE QU33R B0iS 0FF MY TEEVEEEEE!” reactions by the ’phobes, the response overall was mostly positive and they got a lot of praise. Van himself has said that he’s only gotten a few negative letters compared to the many positive ones. Van and Jake have no problem doing scenes like this. Their first kiss made major news; it was all over Soap Opera Digest and magazines like it. It was also covered on Entertainment Tonight the day before it aired. It was watched by hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube. There should be no reason at all why there would be any doubt when it comes to this department. It was definitely a huge milestone for daytime. I was literally counting down in excitement until the first kiss between them actually happened (ask almost any close friend I instant message with and they’ll confirm this). And the second time I had near the same excitement. But it shouldn’t be a big deal anymore. Again, like a number of other Luke/Noah fans, I don’t ask for much. A peck on the cheek or on the lips, and hugging is all that I really want.

While I did enjoy some of the scenes from this whole paralysis storyline, for the most part I was rather let down. Reason being, for one, while the action scenes I thought were well done by the actors, we never got an official cause of Luke’s paralysis. We don’t know if the Colonel shot him and then he fell down weird, or if he just had a bad fall in the struggle. Then we have the problem of it being so rushed. To be honest, it was a combination of it being rushed and them not being on enough, if that makes sense… I’ll explain. In October and November, we were pretty much back to them only being on once or twice per week (mostly once), which means that it took so long to see them compared to other characters, and when we did see them, a lot of the scenes, like the one I summarized, were rather rushed. If they were going to have a bunch of rewrites, changes, or what have you, they were better off just making Luke hurt pretty badly, but not paralyzed. Let’s say, instead of being paralyzed, how about he breaks his leg or foot instead. Not that I want our good buddy Luke hurt in any way, but that could have been played out as much more believable, especially if they were going to be on so little. And when they do go away for a week, often it’s at the WORST possible time. You don’t leave the audience at a bigger than normal cliffhanger and then have them wait between three days to a week to get it resolved. And when I say I want to see them more, they don’t have to be on every single day of the week. Two to three times per week, tops, will satisfy this fan. It doesn’t have to be all day, everyday. And my biggest complaint of all -- NOT ENOUGH LUCINDA. Seriously. They are so close, and she was barely there in the hospital and didn’t visit him at the Snyder farm ONCE. There could have been great scenes with she and Noah when he was still in the closet. Come on, writers, work on that.

There was one thing I did love though besides ‘s letter. The way Luke looked at Noah when he read ’s letter. And Luke’s face when Noah said “Let’s do something physical” -- PRICELESS. The chemistry between Jake and Van never disappoints me and the acting doesn’t either. They make Noah and Luke together believable and even if the writing in a scene or two disappoints me, the acting pretty much never will.