"Frame" -- What I Didn't Like

Okay, despite the post title, I have to say that I thought this was a very good episode. Perhaps not my favorite, but definitely in the top ten…if not top five. I need to watch it a few more times in order to process everything completely. It could have…hands down…been catapulted to the heralded position of Numero Uno had it not been for a couple of...for me...glaring faux pas.

First, Frances Goren’s birthday was not in the middle of summer with the trees in full bloom and the birds singing and everyone wearing summer togs. According to “Brother’s Keeper,” her birthday took place in a much colder month because when Bobby was talking to Frank about it, one could actually “see” their breath in the frigid air. Bobby took off his coat and wrapped it around his brother because he said he must be cold.

Granted, it did not detract from the overall plot of the show, but it is a clear indication of sloppy writing. And if the writers don’t care enough about the show to keep their facts straight, then why am I supposed to care enough about their show to watch it? That's all I'm saying.

Second, and this is the bigger of the two blunders for me, is how they contrived to “do away with” the Nicole Wallace character. Don’t get me wrong, I am excessively happy to be finally rid of storylines related to that evil witch. I’ve even considered renting space on a billboard on I-75 to express my glee, but having said all that, I cannot help but feel somehow…cheated. Yes, I said cheated.

I mean, come on, we’re talking Nicole Wallace here. She’s been the proverbial thorn in Bobby’s side since Season 2, a criminal mastermind…and it pains me to admit that…whose evil genius could “outsmart” Bobby’s superior intellect. So, how do the LOCI writers choose to dispatch such a cunning, resourceful villain…by “phoning it in.” At least, that’s how it appeared to me.

Way back in the day when I used to both read and write historical romance novels, there was an author (she may still be around today) named Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. I used to be a huge fan; especially of her first two books: “The Flame And The Flower” and “The Wolf And The Dove.” One of her later books, and I have long since forgotten the title, served to forever squelch my interest in her writing, however.

Basically, she created a dastardly female antagonist who “tricked” the hero of the story into believing he had “defiled” her. Being an honorable sort, he married her instead of the heroine of the story and took his bride off to Minnesota or some such place. A bit later in the book, the heroine receives a letter for her erstwhile love, stating that Deborah (I believe that was her name) had died in the night from influenza, or something like that, thereby allowing for their ultimate union.

This is the point when I hurled the book across the room in anger having felt...yep you guessed it...cheated. I mean this author had created a villain so completely appalling that it made me want to reach inside the pages of the book and wring her neck, and we...the reader...get a lousy letter? I wanted to wring Woodiwiss’ neck. I wanted my money back. To me, this was an indication that the writer had written herself into a corner and, instead of coming up with a viable solution, opted to take the easy way out.

I never read another one of her books. As a devoted reader, I thought I deserved better, and that is precisely how I feel about the ultimate demise of the nefarious, heartless (pun intended), completely diabolical Nicole Wallace character on LOCI.

As a devoted viewer, I deserved better than a heart in a box. I want my money back.

Well, in spite of all this, I have to say there were a lot of good things about this episode, but I will save those comments for when I get around to capping it and posting my slideshows. Not sure when that will be because I’m done obsessing about this show for a while…well…at least until November.

Now I can start obsessing about that mole on my shoulder that has gone all hinky all of a sudden, or about little Bella…my three year old great-niece…who has to have an MRI on her kidneys this Friday because of a suspicious mass the doctor has found. Granted, I’d much rather obsess about a certain brooding tall drink of fictional water from New York, but there comes a time when real life steps in and the fantasy life has to take a back seat. Dang it.