Love conquers all
By Richard Spencer, Soap Opera Update, 1992	Home   Cette page en Français

Pam Long was working late on Friday night in her office at NBC's Santa Barbara studio, and she walked out onto the floor where taping was still in progress. "I ran into A", Pam tells, "and we were talking about the current storyline, and he said, "You've tapped a vein, and it's not stopping.""

A Martinez is right. Although you noticed an on air difference on the very first day that Pam Long started writing, with an impressive introduction to the haunted mansion storyline with Mason and Julia, he first long-term dramatic story - which she does best - is reaching a climax on screen this month, and it easily may be the most emotional month that Santa Barbara has ever seen.

Right in the center of the action are Warren and B.J.. Warren is played by Jack Wagner, who with the exception of the clever trip to Russia that his character took part in, has really lacked a solid story since he defected from General Hospital. Like any good soap opera, his story revolves around the building of a true supercouple. His partner B.J. played by Sydney Penny, a girl with past problems who needs Warren more than any woman has needed him before - has all the sweetness and determination that makes her worth fighting for.

"At this point in the story," Pam Long furthers, "you realize that a true collision course was set for B.J. and Frank (who sexually abused her), Warren and all the Walkers. But when Franck is murdered, and B.J.'s brother Sawyer is in so much trouble, B.J. ends up helping him to escape, which causes major, major problems. And it's a very difficult time for Cruz, who knows that B.J. is his daughter while no one else knows - except for Jodie and Kelly."

But discovering that Cruz is her father is not the emotional dilemma for B.J. at this point in the story. "Right now B.J., in the middle of all of this chaos, gets manic, very positive. She acts as though everything is okay. She is in total denial. Her father is crushed by this, so she wants to make her parents believe that she's still okay." Why this storyline is like A Martinez's description of "trapping a vein", is because, as Pam explains, "it's so true. There's nothing contrived about it."

Of course the conflict between B.J. and Warren - B.J. needing his love, but Warren not wanting to hurt her - makes for some traumatic scenes between the couple. "Warren does love B.J., but he has to try to keep a distance from her at the same time that he has to be there for her to help through it. She is taking showers all of the time," Pam reminds, "and it's just making her parents cry. She comes out of the shower one night and she crawls up into Warren's lap, and he's rocking her in the rocking chair, and she tells him how much she loves him and she wants to make love, and he tells her that's he's not Franck - which really upset B.J. - and then Warren has to get away from her."

While Warren flees from that scene with B.J., B.J. finds herself at the police station, and that's when she helps Sawyer. Meanwhile, a disturbed Warren starts drinking. "He ends up at Angela's," Pam starts laughing, "and she is handcuffed to the bed !"(Angela previously handcuffed Ted and this is his revenge.) "Warren says to Angela, "Tell me is a robbery !"" Warren has a wild night with Angela, and the two end up in Nevada at a wedding chapel in the middle of the night, with Ted and Katrina close behind.

"All four of them end up in jail," Pam reveals, "because they were fighting. B.J. is in Warren's heart at the chapel," Pam drops a clue, "and when Warren returns, there are some torrid encounters between the two of them. No one can get her to go to therapy, and that is because she knows what's inside her head - a dark secret that she has to face." It's Warren who gets B.J. to agree to go : "Warren tells B.J. that he can't trust her feelings and she breaks his heart, so she says that she will go."

Just as the couple are in each other's arms and you think that they can be together. Warren gets word that Angela was in a car accident on the way home from Nevada. "So, Warren leaves B.J.'s side to be with Angela, but Angela doesn't seem to know who people are," Pam laughs, "and she ends up in the Capwell mansion with Ted taking care of her and C.C. not knowing that Ted and Angela have slept together, and that triangle takes off."

Following that action, B.J. will finally unblock these confused feelings that she has, which directly relates to Cruz' exit.

And when will B.J. and Warren finally make love ? "Probably in Italy," Pam Long shares. The October / November remote promises to be "a real psychological thriller."