Goodbye My Friend

"I was shocked, I kept expecting it to be a dream sequence. Or a nightmare that Ed had. Heck even a fantasy of Lillian's. To me, all I remember is disbelief. I couldn't believe that tptb would kill off such an important and well liked character. (I loved Maureen.) ...Afterwards, I remember the tears that were shed by members of the entire town because I was crying with them. I was devastated by Maureen's death. It was so sudden and unexpected."
-- oopsie82, GLMP message board poster

They don't make events much more "watershed" than the death of Maureen Bauer. I had a hard time coming up with material for this blog entry at first, not because my feelings were so deep, but because they weren't. You see I started watching GL in 1993, but at the end of '93. I missed Maureen entirely and by just a hair. This normally wouldn't be a problem for me in composing an analytical piece or even in describing my own belated emotional reaction, but the death of this character seems to defy critical analysis and demand the immediacy of eyewitness accounting, so deep are the feelings of loss and anger that are aroused to this day by the mere mention of the event.

"First, this didn't seem like a typical soap "death". Because there was a current of realism running through everything that Maureen Bauer did, her death didn't take on the cartoonish aspect of say Roger (falling off the cliff) or Reva (driving off the bridge). It felt more like real loss.
...I have never heard any fans of the show say they didn't miss Maureen Bauer or lament the fact that she was killed off so permanently. I for one miss the character's humor, intelligence, strength, and compassion. She was everywoman, but she was also one of a kind."
---Alexandra, GLMP message board poster

It's events like this, so broadly and so clearly defining eras of the show, that really bring home to me that I'm still a baby viewer of GL. It's different than hearing sories about Robin Lang or Lucille Wexler from the (relatively) distant past. Maureen was a character that was on the show in my adult years, but before I became "part of the family." She feels less like history and more like a missed opportunity, despite the fact that I've gotten to know her somewhat through my Memory Project. Reading the reactions of viewers who loved Maureen gives me a better insight into the "sacrilege" I commit when I announce that Ed and Eve are one of my all-time favorite GL couples.

"This is a difficult storyline for me to discuss since Maureen Reardon-Bauer was my favorite GL character of all-time and I was stunned when she was killed off. Despite my shock and the fact that I believe that killing her off was a huge mistake, long term, the events surrounding her death were beautifully done. The writing and acting of this story was some of the best material of modern soaps"

--- RoseVioletDaisy, GLMP message board poster

It goes without saying (or it should) that the script, the acting, and the direction for every part of Goodbye My Friend is very nearly without flaw. I won't sully it with a rundown of the "highpoints" and "standout performances," except to say that Ellen Parker definitely goes out on a high note.

"I was devastated by Maureen's death. I simply loved her dearly."

---rmw, GLMP message board moderator

Goodbye My Friend

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