Someone wrote on a message board that Passions was the 'crack cocaine' of soap
operas.

I laughed at the notion then, and I shake my head in agreement now.

Maybe James Reilly truly has a talent; reaching different segments of the
audience with different parts.

In between the insane, offensive and ridiculous, giving enough soap opera that
the soap viewer - a loyal lot by nature - hangs in there.

For my niece, she wants Theresa to get Ethan.
For my nephew, he wants Luis to get Sheridan.
Some viewers want Kay to get Miguel.

Well, I have my own addiction: Julian and Eve.

I can Passions-live off of a good dose of their scenes for a couple of months.

Today was one of the beginning of  'good' Evian scenes.

My poor Eve. She's being stretched to the limit.

Her family's falling apart.
She's got that demon of a sister living under her roof, threatening in one
breath and taunting in the next.

She comes home from a long, difficult shift, to find that her eldest daughter
has left home after a blistering fight with her father.

Eve tries to comfort TC, who has decided to blame Eve for everything. It's
Eve's worst nightmare. She's wanted to be a good wife and mother - having a
loving family is something she's worked on for 20 years. But, it's been a
balancing act, and things she's pushed down have come back to haunt her.

I was proud of Eve yesterday when she told TC the cold, hard truth: while he
was PHYSICALLY there for their daughters, there was something about him that
made his daughters fear him, and thus, they hid things from him. Eve told TC
that Whitney played tennis because she didn't want to disappoint HIM, and that
she was trying to fulfill TC's dreams, NOT Whitney's.

TC wasn't hearing it, and left to enter the shed. Lousy Liz was there, taunting
Eve, so Eve left to go talk to Whitney and bring her home - to begin repairing
the rifts in her family.

But, she doesn't get to Whitney. She gets into a car crash, which is the straw
that broke Eve's back. As the driver of the other car approached Eve, she was
frazzled. She didn't need this - this was the LAST thing she wanted to deal
with, so she's already blabbering about taking care of things.

She looks up, and who does she see?

Julian.

With a concerned look on his face.

For Eve, this was too much. How could, of ALL the people in the world to get
into an accident with, she gets Julian.  She was hostile to Julian, for a
minute, who was concerned as soon as he saw it was Eve. It was good - when they
first got into the accident - BEFORE he saw it was Eve, Julian was cross. You
could hear it in his voice. But, when he saw it was Eve, he melted. He
approached her with concern. He saw upset Eve was, and tried to tell her that
it was ok. He asked Eve what was wrong, and she broke down sobbing in Julian's
arms. He was so gentle with her. Telling her that TC wouldn't care about the
car. That it was only a thing and it could be fix. It would be alright. Eve
said it wouldn't be, and Julian knew that it was a lot more than the car. He
took her away from the car crash and to a diner.

Eve was sitting at a booth, like  she was in shock. Julian had notified a
mechanic and told him to repair the damage NOW. Made sure that the man knew it
needed to be done because HE said so.

Once the mechanic was ok, he  went back to Eve, who asked him how she long has
she been sitting there. She was truly in a daze. Julian wanted to be there for
her, but there was a waiter who came by asking them to order. Julian bought him
off with a $100 bill, and sat there with Eve. She was worried about the car,
and Julian told her he had handled the situation. He was more concerned with
her and what had made her so upset. She told him...
 

" My life...my marriage...my family...it's all falling apart."

Eve dissolved into tears as Julian looked on with concern.

Eve explained the entire situation with Julian: Whitney and Chad; Simone
feeling betrayed; Whitney and TC getting into it which has led to Whitney
leaving home. She told Julian how TC blamed her for what happened because she
wasn't a good enough mother. Eve lamented that she had thought she had balanced
things between work and family, but in the end, she failed. You could FEEL the
pain in Eve's voice when she took the blame for it all. After all, remember,
the reason Eve's done the 'questionable' things since the show began was
because she wanted to maintain her family. It DOES mean the world to her. She
told Julian how she and TC had never fought like that ever in their
relationship, and she guessed TC was right.

Julian told her that she wasn't to blame: he was. He apologized for coming into
her life and changing the course of it. He knows he is to blame for setting Eve
on a course that has led her to this point. He asks for her forgiveness.

Eve told Julian she had forgiven him. He wasn't to blame for her life. That she
used to blame him for everything, but she has gotten past that. She was well in
the road for that when she accepted Julian's sincere apology during the 'shared
vision' at the Crane Mansion. It was further reinforced when Julian was willing
to stand by her side when she was going to tell the truth. Having Brillo Head
around probably cemented it, which makes me love Eve even more than I already
do as one of the best characters on Passions. Eve admitted that SHE made the
choices for her life. She had free will. She could have said no, but there was
some part of her that actually wanted that lifestyle. Julian told her that she
was kind, but that he would never forgive himself for abandoning her when she
was pregnant with their son. I thought Tracey Ross was excellent during this
exchange, as she put up her hand to get Julian to stop. She had already 'lost'
one child tonight - Whitney, and couldn't go down the road to the pain of
losing their son. She told Julian she knows he regrets it, and that she fully
believes him.

Julian tries to comfort Eve by telling her how wonderful she is. That's she's
always been wonderful. He tells her that TC can't stay angry at her much
longer. That Whitney was a stable, sensible young woman like Eve, and would
return home. He tells her that even though things look bleak now, once it all
cools off, it will work out for the best. That the bonds of love her family has
are strong and would prevail. Eve said that she used to think so, but now she
was unsure. She had clarity and realized that the issues were there underneath
the surface and that Whitney was the catalyst that brought it all to the
forefront. Eve tells Julian that she wants to save her marriage, but that
Brillo Head is a vulture circling overhead waiting to use her family's
misfortune to swoop in and get TC. I loved the look in Ben Masters' eyes as Eve
spoke about wanting TC. It wasn't what Julian wanted to hear, but he saw that
it was what Eve wanted.

Eve told Julian of Lousy Liz's plans - that she wants TC and the girls for
herself. How she's been threatening Eve for months about her past, but Eve
laments that the past isn't what's undoing her family - this current situation
is, and that Liz is trying to take advantage. Eve was beside herself at the
mere idea that after all the work she's done in her life, trying to get back on
track, that Liz could just sweep in and destroy it all. Julian took her hand
and asked Eve what he could do to help. Eve was touched and told Julian that he
couldn't do anything because TC hates him so much, and it would only add to
tension, but Julian insisted that he wanted to do something for Eve to help.
Julian told her that though he didn't help her all those years ago, he was
going to stand by her now  no matter what.

Sigh.

These were great scenes.

I absolutely loved them. Ben and Tracey were terrific, and all  I could do was
smile.

Loved Evian today.