|
What can I get you?
Coffee's a dollar
I hope you like whip cream.
I just love the Voice of the Night. We have this
special connection.
| |
PSYCHOLOGY 101 Sigmund's
Room 2
The Jen Factor
Al used to be in "love" with Jen Rapport and Marcie was her
"best friend." How will Jen impact on the blossoming romance
between Al and Marcie?
The
following is just sheer speculation on my part about what might happen on the
show. For what it's worth, I'm usually way off on these type things, so don't
take any of it too seriously.
Okay, we know from the spoilers that as their romance heats up Marcie's going to
be troubled with self-esteem and body issues. How much you wanna bet that that
skank, Jen, just out of pure malice, spite, and envy, is gonna deliberately play
on all of Marcie's insecurities?
I can just hear Jen making not-so-subtle references to her intimate moments with
Al and how he got turned on by some skimpy outfit she wore blah blah blah. (I'm
getting mad just typing this.) Of course, Jen will do all this under the guise
of friendship. She'll lay some line on Marcie that she's being completely
straight with her, because she doesn't want to see her "best friend"
get hurt.
I'm probably way off base about this whole thing, because I think Marcie's
already got the lowdown on the kind of person Jen really is. Still though...
Could be interesting, particularly if Al were to overhear Jen's routine and give
her holy heck for it. -- Alisha
I'd be
really surprised if Jen didn't get her digs in about Marcie and play on her
insecurities just because she can and she knows it hurts Marcie.
And I'm waiting for the day she is doing her thang and Al over hears and rips
her a new one and then if I'm lucky Marcie is there and over hears this and we
get a great scene of Marcie and Al...being so sweet and gentle and heart
stopping romantic. -–SnappyDaze
LOL!!
Poor Jen. There's gonna come a day when she's on the receiving end of the mother
of all smackdowns. And try as I might, I really can't hate her. After all, if
not for her monumental self-absorption, Marcie and Al might not ever have
dropped out of her orbit and into each other's lives.
So...here's to Jen. --Alisha
It would
be completely in character for Jen to do this.....the only reason I think she
might not is that she already thinks they've been in bed
together (when she interrupted the intervention) and while she was rude, it was
more along the line of "you weren't there for me because you were so
busy having sex," than "he's only with you because he can't have
me." She also egocentrically assumed they ended up in bed after complaining
about her. Also, since she's after Joey, we can hope he has a positive influence
on her.
On the downside, I can remember how she harangued Natalie with descriptions of
her lurid sex with Christian. And when she's down, she tends to strike out and
hurt others. Maybe by the time she gets around to going after Marcie, she will
have screwed so many Llanview eligibles, that she will have forgotten the
details of her times with Al. It would be completely in character for Jen to do
this.....the only reason I think she might not is that she already thinks
they've been in bed together (when she interrupted the intervention) and while
she was rude, it was more along the line of "you weren't there for me
because you were so busy having sex," than "he's only with you
because he can't have me." She also egocentrically assumed they ended up in
bed after complaining about her. Also, since she's after Joey, we can hope he
has a positive influence on her.
On the downside, I can remember how she harangued Natalie with descriptions of
her lurid sex with Christian. And when she's down, she tends to strike out and
hurt others. Maybe by the time she gets around to going after Marcie, she will
have screwed so many Llanview eligibles, that she will have forgotten the
details of her times with Al. -–Nancy Ge
You raise
some very good points, Nancy. And dim bulb, Jen, probably DOES think they've
gone all the way, despite the dorm room door being open and Marcie and Al both
being fully clothed. I'm sure to Jen's way of thinking 2 people + 1 bed = sex. --Alisha
Or,
Maybe by the time Jenn notices that Al and Marcie are falling for each other
they've been together long enough for Marcie to gain some self confidence and
when Jenn starts in on her sarcastic comments that Marcie can tell her to take a
flying leap through a rolling donut... -–SnappyDaze
Yeah, I’d kinda like to see that. I like that so far, when she's with Al (at
the dinner with Bo & Gabby, and when Al was shivering under her covers), she
seems to righteously blow Jen off. She grows a spine and believes in herself,
and is no longer Jen's doormat. And in light of Mr. Malone's wonderful take on
strong women characters, I'd like to see Marcie stand up for herself (while Al
looks proudly on....wearing that smile of his) --Ladyday
Remembering
something the spoilers indicated a long time ago that said Al would be tempted
by an old addiction and would have to rely on his blossoming
relationship with Marcie to get through it, I thought then the spoiler meant
that Jen would try to interfere with Marcie & Al. Most people thought the
addiction had to do with drugs but I could never shake the idea of it being Jen.
Here’s my take on things: Jen has been through some pretty rough stuff
lately—her father was killed, her mother killed him AND then promptly went
crazy, her supposedly so loving brother is living it up out in LA, Flash seems
poised to take away her step-surrogate mommy and little brother, Cris is getting
ready to marry Natalie and she didn’t have to pretend to be pregnant to get
him to propose, Rex has run hot and icy, and…
Well, you get the picture. Marcie, in Jen’s mind, was supposed to be
her doormat. She was supposed to wipe her feet on Marcie in perpetuity and
Marcie’s only response was supposed to be, “Thank you, Jen, for letting me
have contact with your precious feet.” But now Marcie has the nerve to show a
spine AND she’s taking away Jen’s other doormat in the process, Al. Jen
should be livid!
AND she is realizing something else in the process. She has underestimated the
value of both Marcie and Al’s friendship and now that it is gone there is a
real void in her life and she’s not quite sure how to act. One thing she knows
is that she’s angry about having to feel this way. Then forced out of her
supreme self-absorption, she also sees that she never really took the time to
know either of them. As she sees each of them through the other’s eyes, she
feels jealous and cheated. Why didn’t she realize how wonderful they were?
Remember how much she enjoyed playing cat and mouse with clueless Natalie? Well,
I can see her sharpening her claws for Al and Marcie. Jen feels betrayed and
angry. What right do Marcie and Al have to be happy when she’s so miserable?
She starts plotting to destroy Marcie’s ego and to win back Al, just to teach
them a lesson: she is the center of the universe after all. And she’s going to
teach them a lesson for trying to forget that.
Hey, but I also see her setting herself up for the biggest smackdown on the
show! When the dust settles, Jen will be lucky to be able to crawl away. And
MARCAL will be! LOL
At least that’s my version of what will happen.--Tessarae
Heh. If
Jen so much as bats a single eyelash at Al and/or hurts Marcie the howls of
protest from this board alone will be deafening.
Great post, by the way!
If I could just expand a little here... One of the ways that we, the audience,
are clued in to a character's interior life is when that character confides in
someone else, be it a friend, so-called friend, whatever. Naturally in Marcie's
case it would be great if she chose to confide in someone who could be
supportive and reassuring with nary an ulterior motive in sight. Unfortunately,
though, that's not very compelling storytelling, because there's not enough
conflict. I think one of the ways you gauge a couples' love for each other is by
how they overcome the major obstacles in their way. All of which leads me to
believe that Marcie is going to wind up confiding to possibly the worst person
on the planet. Might be Jen, might be someone else. In fact wasn't there a rumor
at one time that a girl from Al's past, Juliet, would be re-entering his life?
It goes without saying that all of this is IMHO, and so long as the writers
continue to tell Marcie and Al's story with the same measure of sensitivity and
reality it'll be compelling and poignant, no matter how it plays out. --Alisha
I think
all of this speculation is fun. I have always felt that Jen is a hussy-- and I
know she never wanted Al--- not for real-- but i could so see her-- NOT wanting
Marcie to have Al-- simply because it would take Marcie away from her-- away
from being at HER beck and call- whenever she had time and wanted Marcie to
run-- like she did when she was going before the judge and Marcie could not be
there- I could see Jen-- being really " nice-nasty' and telling Marcie a
lot of mess-- making her even more insecure-- then grinning when Al does not
know what the heck is going on-- and I SEE Jen doing this as her way to get back
at Marcie- especially IF Marcie bonds with Natalie during this diner hostage
things-- Jen wants her to be friends only with her-- so she can stay - at her
beck-- but as Marcie ahs other friends and begins to explore the world of
womanhood with al as her sexy and capable guide- i can totally SEE Jen trying to
come between that for her own selfish reasons- but she won't win-- Al and Marcie
won't let her. --Ladybrin
I
don't hate Jen as much as what seems to be SO many fans do. Hopefully you guys
can accept me for what I am, as I do love my MARCAL too, and wouldn't trade it
for the world! However, I see Jen's pain, and though I don't justify her actions
any more than I justified Al's actions when he was bad... I always felt that
there was so much that could have happened between Al and Jen, as they seemed
equals, if Al had stayed bad. (I loved watching NM play bad, but I found out
he's fun to watch good too) I would have liked to see Al realize that Jen is so
much like him, and consider whether she's the girl he really loved (obsessed
over), and Jen realize that she likes Al, just when he gives up on her. It could
have been fun to see his face when he realizes that Jen regretted it all and
really loved him. But alas, Al has gone on to greener pastures. How could I not
love a girl like Marcie! She has him reaching for the stars and having a future,
with hope and love! How often do we get to see that on a soap??? And these
actors are amazing in that we love to share it with the characters! They let us
in! I digress... I don't like seeing Jen as only a prop for MARCAL whenever they
are around. I must admit its fun to watch Al and Jen rip into each other though.
I just think that it’s too plastic that they never dealt with what happened.
And Al's reaction to Jen will never be satisfying for me, as long as it’s
written as is. --LadyEevil
Personally,
you actually liking the Jen/Al pairing doesn't upset me because before I started
liking Marcie/Al, I thought Al should have been with Natalie before the Lobotomy
(aka Cris). I was incredibly disappointed they didn't go the Nat/Al route. I
actually like Jen's character now (instead of the good-goody). My problem with
the baby SL was just that...the stupid way TPTB had her go about keeping
Cristian AND the way Al was obsessed with her. That's just *my* thing...much
like in real life, I don't like men who don't have a backbone.
"I digress... I
don't like seeing Jen as only a prop for MARCAL whenever they are around."--LadyEevil
Respectively,
I have to disagree here. Unless I missed something, I don't think that Jen was
used (or has ever been used) as a prop for Marcal. If your speaking of their
interaction at the park after Marcal went rollerblading, I thought that scene
was about Jen using whoever and whatever to get Joe's attention; kissing Rex
didn't work so she started talking to Al, using the excuse of wanting to
congratulate him when she already had (which Al pointed out).
"And Al's reaction
to Jen will never be satisfying for me, as long as its written as is."--LadyEvil
I can totally understand this
because I've been there, done that with soap couples that didn't quite make it.
It is a very heartbreaking thing to invest in a couple that you like only to
have them either totally trashed or dropped. So I feel for you on that respect.
But as a viewer (not a "Marcal" viewer but a OLTL viewer), I enjoyed
Al's reaction to Jen. It was totally in character if you ask me. Like he told
her, she was rude when they were at the Palace, especially when there was no
cause for it. And now she wants to play nice because she wanted to get The Rev's
attention? He had her number and wanted her to know it. I thought it was very
astute of him. --Whlwtcher
Oh,
I actually do love it! I loved seeing Al diss Jen! Now who's the loser! I still
think that Jen was used to prop MARCAL, at least to a certain extent. Jen had to
be ridiculously mean to Marcie at that party when Will noticed the change in
Jen, and Al was written as saving Jen from the snow, and even though it was
touching enough for even Jen to be moved, she was written to trash Al, just in
time for him to "relate" to Marcie's pain. Maybe not a prop, but the
only purpose for the writing of Jen this way seemed to be to give Marcy and Al a
jump start. Otherwise, Jen is not written that mean for the sake of being mean.
She's written as being cruel in many ways because she was hell bent on revenge
and didn't care who stood in her way, but how was Al or Marcy in her way at that
point?
I'm not for a minute saying that MARCAL wouldn't work if not for Jen.. not even
for a second. NM is very believable in his portrayal of wanting to be a better
person, and being inspired by Marcy. That's where the true story lies in my
heart. --LadyEevil
I guess my whole spin on the Al/Marcie/Jen thing is this: Al is a great guy who
didn't display that with Jen. He really can be himself with Marcy. That gives us
so many sides of Al to love without him losing his edge. As seen when he was
going to give to Brad. It reminds me of what Marcy said about Jen and Rex. Rex
doesn't bring out the best in her. But I have hopes for that couple because I
think there is great development opportunities for them because they are on the
same page from the start. I think that what we are seeing now is a case of the
shoe on the other foot. Jen has now become to Joey what Al was to her. Not in
love, just obsessed. That's not healthy. She has become so set on grabbing the
unattainable that she is acting very irrational. With Rex, she doesn't have to
prove anything they both have low expectations of each other so sometimes they
are pleasantly surprised. I like that. But that whole business with Al in the
park just played out 3 things: The beginning of the Marcie's insecurity
storyline (which was more Rex prompting than Jen prompting) 2) Closure for Al
(Jen I see through you) 3) Jen's relentless efforts to get Joe's attention that
she will use any avenue. Come on, we all remember going over to talk to someone
just to be in bird's eye view of the one we really want. I think that everyone
is being true to who they are at this point. I saw Al as more of a pawn in her
game than her as a prop for the writers to build Marcal. But this time - CHECK
MATE! (uh huh Jen, what are you really up to?) --Cutieface723
This is where my Sigmund
stuff comes in: I have been trying to write a fan fic with Natalie and Marcie
exploring insecurities and also bringing Jen into it. So far it hasn't come
together the way I wanted, so I'm offering some of my thoughts.
When Jen first came to town, she was basically a spunky, good girl. Christian
and Al both fell in love with her in this period. I suspect that she may have
been somewhat of a Jessica-substitute for Chris, but I think he loved her. Her
parental model Lindsay had never been in a successful relationship and always
felt like she was coming in second to Nora. The parent she was closer
to-Sam-adored her but had spent 20 plus years panting after someone he couldn't
have making him a less than ideal model for the man she would choose. Al was
portrayed as nice enough but not really experienced and rather socially awkward
having missed out on a lot of that in high school. Christian was older and more
experienced, and wasn't being pushed on her by her mother. It seems believable
that she would fall for Chris.
Anyway, after she and Chris endured and overcame a lot of couple problems, Chris
fell in love with Natalie. There was never a lot of explanation for this: Jen
didn't do anything to cause it, as sometimes happens, people just fall out of
love. (I suspect their love fell prey to BSOCS-boring soap opera couple syndrome
but that's another story.) Once that happened, Jen fell back on her female role
model-Lindsay and proceeded to not get mad-get even. It's understandable that
she take revenge on Christian and Natalie and Al, to some extent, because they
had all wronged her. But she also manipulated Carlotta and Marcie during this
period, and neither of them had done anything to hurt her. Sam, the one person
who might have been able to stop her destructive behavior, was preoccupied
sniffing around Blair-another woman he couldn't have.
Anyway, there seems to be some effort to Jen finding her way back to being a
more balanced person which is a story I wouldn't mind seeing instead of all the
constant sex and booze with Rex. Even with Joe, I'm not sure if she really has
feelings for him or just wants him because he's unattainable. Originally, I
thought she just went after him because Marcie wanted him, and now I can't tell
if she's really interested in him for himself or because he seems a little
interested in Flash. I wouldn't mind that story getting a little screen time but
as a Marcal fan, I'd still want to see more of them. --Nancy
Ge
Very
nicely done, Nancy!
"I have been
trying to write a fan fic with Natalie and Marcie exploring insecurities and
also bringing Jen into it. "--Nancy Ge
I
hope this comes together for you because it sounds like a really good read. Each
one of them have enough "issues" that it could be a Psych 101 paper,
especially when it pretty much boils down to having issues with their family
life, particularly their mothers. Each one of them, IMHO, have abandonment
issues with Mom to some degree. Now I know, Marcie's mother didn't *really*
abandon her per se because well, she died...but I got the impression during the
Diner/Hostage scenes that there were some issues there with her mother or rather
issues with how everyone preferred the mom to Marcie. I for one would like to
see a more in depth exploration of their issues, even if its just in fan fic.
"...there seems
to be some effort to Jen finding her way back to being a more balanced person
which is a story I wouldn't mind seeing instead of all the constant sex and
booze with Rex."--Nancy Ge
I agree with
you about the constant sex and booze. But if you want to do the Sigmund route,
it really is "in character" for a person to behave like the way Jen is
being written. She's depressed; she's lost; she has Lindsey as a role model (no
offense to Lindsay fans). Children learn by example. As for the Rex part of the
equation, the more I think about it, the more I really do like a pairing for
these two characters. Put aside that they look really good together but I'm more
focusing on the fact that they really are like each other in that they are both
from highly dysfunctional, detached families with less than ideal mother
figures. As dysfunctional as Al's family is/has been, I'm sure he can't possibly
understand what its like to have either Lindsay or Roxy as a parent. Nor would
Cris be able to understand. Yes his dad's dead like Jen's but he has a stable
parent in his life to make up for it.
Rex and Jen could be really good for each other in the sense that they
understand each other and can understand what the other has been through more
than the average person. *That* is what I'd like to see them explore if I had an
opinion on a Rex/Jen pairing. --Whlwtcher
Jessica Morris Weighs In On Jen
October 14, 2003 Soap Opera Digest
October
28, 2003 Soaps In Depth 
PAGE 2
More on Jen & Marcie
SIGMUND
Click to return to the main psychology page MARCAL
Click to return to the main page
|
The
Diner of Love