ATWT: The "L" Word

Summary and analysis for Monday, November 26.

Lily is in bed in Dusty’s hotel room at the Lakeview as he orders breakfast after sleeping together. Lily feels like an outsider. She wanted to spend time with Faith and Natalie but they had other things to do.

At the Snyder house, Noah stops by to bring Luke his Lit assignment, but he can‘t stay long. Luke apologizes for how the family behaved on Thanksgiving (referring to Jack and Brad’s fighting, Lily leaving, etc.). Noah says don’t worry about it and this is rather tame compared to past Thanksgivings. Luke asks him to stay and offers leftover turkey but Noah becomes distant acting and leaves rather quickly. Holden comes in and wonders what’s bugging Luke. Luke thinks that he scared Noah by saying that he loved him. It’s gotten so awkward and uncomfortable. It’s possible that he doesn’t know what to say or needs more time and Luke’s scared that he trashed it all with his big mouth. Holden reassures him by saying that even though he may have trouble saying the words, he does prove that he loves him back by actions. He calls Luke his boyfriend, he goes out of his way to see Luke even though he may not be in the mood to see him. These are definitely signs of something. And it’s true. I know I’d personally rather have someone do it by actions instead of blurting out the L word when they don’t mean it or if they're not quite ready to say it.

Luke thinks that if Holden can fix things between he and Noah, it’s possible that he can fix things between himself and Lily; but Holden insists it’s too late for that. Luke puts out the fact that Lily goes out of her way to come to the farm and visit. So that should mean something. Lily drops by after this; with Luke saying “Mom! How nice of you to COME OUT OF YOUR WAY and visit.” Lily reiterates that even if she and Holden aren’t together, they are still a family. No matter where they all live. Luke says that walking out of the middle of Thanksgiving dinner gives a different impression. Faith thinks it seems to have something to do with Dusty (of course, she’s right). Luke insists it’d be easier if she spent more time with the kids. Lily doesn’t think that’s a good idea because of Holden. Lily says as far as the Lakeview goes, she has to work there sometimes, and that should be understood. After Luke leaves the room, Holden walks in and wonders if she and Dusty being together at the Lakeview is “work.”

Noah runs into Dusty at Al’s Diner. He thanks him again for what happened and how he didn’t blame him for his father’s actions. Dusty says that if Winston’s not proud of him for who he is, that’s his problem. Noah says he’s going to school and he’s hanging out, he wonders what else that can he do. Dusty replies for him to be himself. Dusty’s being nice to him because he’s calling it like he sees it. He needs all the friends he can get these days.

The only reason why I was really disappointed was because there was no explanation initially as to why Noah’s being so distant. It seemed like there was a scene missing. Last week Luke and Noah were together at the Snyder house for Thanksgiving (Noah even got to cut the squash!), and they were so happy. They even held hands at the end! After an eventful last Tuesday with Noah defending Luke’s and his honor, and the heartwarming scenes where they were all sweet with each other the following Wednesday, it just didn’t seem to make sense for one of them to be so distant all of a sudden, at least not without any kind of explanation. An explanation that could be done with an additional scene or two beforehand. I mean, I thought Noah had trouble introducing Luke as his boyfriend in front of the Major last week because he was in the army, which kind of made sense. Again, I can’t stress this enough, if there are rewrites or changes that need to be done, at least have them make sense! Please! Is that too much to ask?! Or at least make sure the continuity is right.

One thing I’m really loving though is Holden and Luke’s relationship. Holden has really gotten on my nerves lately with his holier-than-thou attitude during most of the Lily/Dusty drama, particularly around the time Luke got hurt. But when Luke is with Holden and they have discussions, the man just cannot fail. As a father, he’s one of the best characters I’ve seen in daytime. I’m sure there are many people out there besides myself who wishes that they could have a father like that, regardless if you’re gay or straight. We were so close though. So close until he had the conversation with Lily at the end. Arrrgh! So close to one full day of likable Holden again! So close I could taste it! He dumped her! Again I reiterate that HE dumped HER!

I think that Dusty being Noah’s mentor is a good effort, though I was really hoping that Noah would talk more about his relationship with Luke. I feel it would have been better that way.