Luke (Van Hansis) is arrested on Thursday's episode of As the World Turns and Lily (Noelle Beck) is NOT happy.

Janet (Julie Pinson), Lily (Noelle Beck), Katie (Terri Colombino) and Vienna (Ewa da Cruz) have something in common.

Merriam Webster defines melodrama as

a work (as a movie or play) characterized by extravagant theatricality and by the predominance of plot and physical action over characterization.

With that in mind, I have to say I thought today's episode of As the World Turns was rock 'em sock 'em old school melodramatics, which is not a bad thing every once in a while! The events of today's episode weren't so much about advancing characterization as it was an opportunity for several plots to move forward, a few actors to shine, and history to replay itself. Although events on all fronts transpired at warp speed (as usual), they were still intriguing and a few managed to surprise!

ROCK' EM! READ MORE

Check out this As the World Turns preview for tomorrow. It looks like Carly (Maura West) and Lily (Noelle Beck) are best friends again.

I wasn't going to comment on today's episode of As the World Turns because I've been extremely busy, but two segments were so incredibly good that I couldn't help myself.

The first segment was Chris' goodbye scenes with Kim. Beautifully written and heartfelt, these are the kinds of scenes that the ATWT writers should be penning all the time. READ MORE

Today was one of the first episodes of As the World Turns that I've been disappointed with in quite some time. As a whole, the performances were solid (was that a hint of growth from Chaunteé Schuler?) and the writing was decent, but there were a number of small and large plot elements that got on the very last of my nerves:

• So, Jack has the gall to ask Carly, who he's never hesitated to browbeat in fits of moral indignation, to talk to Janet — who he recently didn't hesitate to browbeat in a fit of moral indignation — about Jack's absence while the former keeps Jack's mission a secret from the latter. I almost recited the inevitable Janet's "You could trust Carly but not me!" argument with Jack coming a mile away, but I was only partly wrong. Janet stormed into the police station and demanded respect and common courtesy. Excellent! The only thing Janet and Carly should be keeping secret is how a cup of sugar wound up in Jack's gas tank.

• Didn't Janet's conversation with Carly about Jack sound a lot like Cassie's million laments about  "the connection" between Josh and Reva on Guiding Light before Josh dumped her? READ MORE