Hearing Goodbye

The break-up of Abby and Rick is a surprisingly powerful moment in GUIDING LIGHT's history and one that is indelibly burned into the brains of many of the people that saw it. Michael O'Leary and Amy Ecklund's raw, unvarnished performances left little of the emotional damage that the characters were suffering to the viewers' imaginations. Rick's solitary collapse into tears after Abby leaves is such a beautiful and painful image and it really reminds the viewer that O'Leary is capable of great depth and power, a fact usually obscured by the "good time Rick" persona that viewers are accustomed to seeing.

Ecklund, of course, is brilliant as Abby, but it's Susan Pratt's delicious portrayal of Claire that's the icing on this cake. Claire is one of those characters that's usually painted as a villain, but Pratt's unapologetic, commanding performance never fails to let us see the desperate, determined, surprisingly fragile woman underneath, even as Claire slices and dices holier-than-thou, buttinsky Harley.

Speaking of Harley, I need to point out that one annoying thing about this clipset is the seeming need of the writers to make this event about her. I get that they're setting up the eventual co-dependance and resulting one night stand between Rick and Harley, but it just seems a little inappropriate for Harley to come into Rick's house and start talking about her own problems right after Rick's had this deeply emotional experience of loss. Other than that unfortunate intrusion, this sequence is really gorgeous and pivotal recent milestone in the history of GL.
Hearing Goodbye
clip 1 , clip 2 , clip 3 , clip 4 , clip 5

Also, I've been generating more "mvids" (read this, if you don't know what an mvid is.) to celebrate the fact that the current GL is a huge and valuable and utterly essential part of any relevant celebration of the anniversary of the show. I'm getting better at this, I think, and faster too. I'm also really enjoying the process of expressing my views of the characters and the storylines in non-verbal, non-literal terms. Plus the music is great.
Enjoy these videos!
What Else Is There?
Dinah and Mallet's stormy relationship set to a dynamic and dramatic song by Röyksopp with Karin Dreijer.

Hurt
My first video by request features Alan Spaulding and is set to Johnny Cash's cover of the Nine Inch Nails song.

Wandering Heart
Maia Sharp's haunting, beautiful tune is the backdrop for a look at the love story of Josh and Cassie.