First, I really liked the scenes where Natalia told a shell-shocked Angie and Frankie about how Jesse always loved them, but also communicated the amount of love between Jesse, Natalia and her mom. Second, the tornado must have knocked some sense back into Greens because she quickly put together that Zach was the father of Baby Lesbianca. I'm curious where this little tidbit may lead. Third, Jake operated on Kendall when the lights went out in Georgi....I mean, Pine Valley Hospital. Once Taylor restored power to the generator and Kendall's surgery was complete, Kendall went into convulsions, most likely spasms of joy over Alicia Minshew's vacation. Finally, Erica and Adam were rescued by the Scooby Doo gang, setting up fireworks in the Baby Lesbianca saga for Erica and fallout from Babe's death for Adam, which bring us to... READ MORE

THE DRAMA: We got a little backstory on Bianca's latest squeeze, Reese, and the birth of Baby Lesbianca, complete with Zach ridiculously holding the baby up in the sky a la The Lion King. I half expected a bolt of lighting and a cry of "Shazam!" David Hay...er, the mystery squatter at the Chandler mansion knocked some bricks on top of Erica's head, or she knocked herself out; I wasn't paying that much attention. I did see David's....er, the mystery man's hands pet the dirt and bricks above Erica's head though. Prior to Erica getting brick-layed, her scenes with Adam were awesome as he admitted his role in the tampering of Bella perfume. Annie continued to freak out about Emma. Droopy Dawg Aiden continued to sulk after being rescued by Super Ryan, who had a very awkward and lazily choreographed scene where he and Deer in Headlights Greenlee reached for Aiden's jacket at the same time. At the hospital, Greenlee held Kendall's life in her hand. Jesse finally revealed to Angie that Natalia is his daughter. Babe prepared to be whisked off by that big tornado in the sky. READ MORE

Here we are at Day 2 (or according to ABC's marketing, is it Day 3?) of The Great Pine Valley Tornado of 2008. Before giving my general impressions, this entry calls for a bit of a disclaimer. My initial "The Wind Done Gone" post about All My Children's epic event was a broad critique of the episodes aired to that date based on ABC's marketing machine regarding the special effects work vis a vis the show. This may have left an impression that I was conflating the CGI work with the dramatic aspects of the story. In an effort to streamline things a bit, I will henceforth treat several aspects of The Great Pine Valley Tornado separately.

THE DRAMA: At the end of Friday's episode, Erica and Adam were trapped in the secret passageways of the Chandler Mansion, having discovered that a mysterious stranger had been living there; a jealous Aiden found Ryan and Kendall at the gazebo moments before it was destroyed; the Comeback was demolished, leaving a hysterical Babe bleeding and trapped on top of a suffocating Little A and JR with a terrible choice to make; and Zach made a narrow escape from his overturned car and returned to the decimated beach house to find the boys alive, Kendall missing, and Bianca under a flipped over couch.

Today, the drama continued with a number of rock solid twists, shocks and surprises (mostly involving Bianca) that would have been more twisty, shocking and surprising if one hadn't read them in Soap Opera Weekly, Soap Opera Digest or watched any of ABC's promos over the weekend. And we're off! READ MORE