Sound Bytes on Alex
(and Dimitri)
Speaking My Mind, Mimi
Torchin's editorial (SOW 9/21/99)
"If, as the saying goes, 'A good man is
hard to find', then- in soap opera terms, especially- finding a good couple is even
harder. Think of all the false starts and aborted romances viewers have endured because
the two actors in a love story simply didn't click. For every great couple on soaps, there
are a dozen duds that have fallen by the wayside. That's why I hate to see great chemistry
squandered, and that's precisely what's happening on All My Children with Alex and
Dimitri. While Finola Hughes brings out the best in everyone she works with (even
the drapes at Wildwind seem brighter!), she is simply magical in the flashbacks with
Michael Nader. Nader's Dimitri has never been more appealing or charming, and his delight
in his co-star is palpable. He and Alex have obvious 'new' soap couple potential,
something AMC has been hard-pressed to introduce since Stuart and Marian, who, while
sweet, are already an old married couple. A new romance on a soap, as in real life, is
exciting and exhilarating, full of discovery, sexual tension and promise. This is exactly
what Hughes and Nader exude in every memorable flashback. Other than gripping storylines,
a show's couples are its most important resource. Popular twesomes are elemental to the
wish-fulfillment aspect of soaps. They are what drive story and they are certainly what
sell magazines! Chemistry cannot be faked. It cannot be thrust upon a couple who don't
have it (we've suffered a plethora of forced pairings), and it can't be wished into
existance by writers or producers. A rare commodity, chemistry also shouldn't be ignored.
Since Dimitri isn't really dead, perhaps it's not too late to save his life and keep this
couple alive, as well. Athough Hughes and John Callahan (Edmund) aren't devoid of
chemistry, that special alchemy simply isn't there. Maria, phone home."
Critical Condition,
Marlena's Late-Summer Harvest (SOW 9/14/99)
"I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks
that All My Children has something up its sleeve. In the flashback scenes featuring the
love story of Alex Devane and the now supposedly dead Dimitri Marick. Finola Hughes has
incredible chemistry with Michael Nader. Yes, we have all assumed that Alex's love
interest is supposed to be Dimitri's brother, Edmund. Well, I don't see see anything
chemical happening in scenes between Hughes and John Callahan, do you? Anyone who has ever
watched a soap knows that Dimitri's closed coffin and the fact that we never saw his dead
body are tip-offs to something... By the way, isn't Hughes so sublimely luminous on AMC
that you can almost see her glow?"
