Video: "Wicked Game"

Music: "Wicked Game" (lyrics)
Music artist: Chris Isaak (website)
Watch on YouTube

Hands down, bar none, no questions asked, this is my favorite song ever ever ever used for Jack and Jennifer. It's just one of my favorite songs, period, and the fact that it was used for Jack and Jennifer squees me out to no end. After a year of firetruck wedding escapes, shipwrecks, cave love, and high couture embassy balls, they really needed to get back to the dark side of Jack Deveraux (cue crashing cymbals), and I can't think of a song more suited than the brooding, longing, and incredibly sexually tense "Wicked Game".

Not that they really ever dropped the ball with Jack's past, mind you, at least not at this point. But they really hadn't -- and needed to have -- brought it all back to full-force angst mode, so that Jennifer's rose-colored glasses could come off, and so that we could be reminded that fairy tale adventures don't change reality (it was this interplay between the far-off romantic adventures and the pervasive realities back home that made early J/J rock so hard).

Enter, Angstmas (what the post-Alamania stuff is fondly known as in J/J Nation). This video's almost all Angstmas clips, and I had a great time picking out and ordering the clips this time around because so many ideas came out about how to structure it. I bookended it with clips of the red rose Jack has (and crushes) in his limo after the rape slap, and half way through the video is an overlay Jack crushing Kayla's yellow rose after her rape (cool little note: I didn't realize it at the time, but this was laid over the part in the argument of that scene where he points out that they are right there at the "scene of the crime" ... I liked how it worked out that way, with the overlay being of the morning after said crime, and emblematic of the rage that motivated it). To me the rose was the symbol of romantic love, in the classic sense of the word "romantic", that sense that makes you believe that love can carry you away to another world where everything is perfect. And from that it's clear what the connotations of Jack crushing those roses are. Also because of the "World was on fire" lyric, I had to include, first, the Christmas Eve clip where they try to make love in Jennifer's loft in front of the fireplace, and second, a clip of the first time they make love, by the fire in the cave. I really liked putting that cave clip after the scene where Jennifer tearfully holds up her shell ring, because of course Jack gave her that shell ring shortly after they made love in that cave. In that gesture you could imagine her recollecting all the passion and love was seemingly lost, so to me it made sense that the next clip show that passion and love. That cave was also where Jack first took the leap and believed that a relationship could work out, and endure, so that's kind of where the "wicked game", as he now sees it, started. I liked putting it near the end of the song, for some reason it clicked for me that way, especially coming right before Jack taking the engagement ring back. And speaking of, those rings (the shell ring and the engagement ring, which he presents in the rooftop proposal clip) are also (duh!) a symbol of commitment and, relatedly, the belief that love will last. Since Jennifer's calling Jack a rapist basically meant to Jack that this dream of commitment could be nothing more than a dream, I thought it was important to show those rings.

I also tried to use the settings to "say" something in the video. Early on are a lot of indoor scenes, especially in the loft, the "scene of the crime" as Jack calls it. They are intimate there, they fight there, they cry there, and there is that recollection of Kayla's rape that happened there, so a lot of the story is told in that loft. At the end are a few outdoor shots, which I thought worked to convey a coldness in the relationship, given that the time period is winter of 1990/1991. And to that effect I also tried to begin with more close-up shots onto faces, contrasted with the end where there are some more distanced shots of more of the body.

One other big thing I tried to do was not use many clips of them talking, but instead find meaningful gestures: kisses, embraces, touching of faces, hair and hands, glances and long looks, shutting of doors, the raising of rings, the crushings of the roses, walking away. Two exceptions that I liked was, first, during the line "What a wicked thing to say", the clip is of Jennifer saying "(No matter what you think) I love you", which is precisely what Jack can no longer believe, what he thinks is "wicked" to say, and second, the argument during the part where I overlaid the scene where Jack crushes the yellow rose. At that part, Jack is telling Jennifer that they are standing right there at the "scene of the crime", and I liked how that occurs at the same time Jack does that action that is so emblematic of the rage that motivated that crime. I felt that conveyed the shame now felt at the intensity of that rage, and sort of visually explained why Jack feels he just cannot give into Jennifer's tears as she pleads with him to not give up on them. Other than those two instances, it's just about all body language, and I thought that fit the sensuality and mood of the song. Because that mood was kind of ruined for me whenever I used clips of jarring actions, I also tried to make the transitions smooth, sometimes going from face to face, sometimes from symbol to symbol, or symbol to meaning, or setting to similar setting, etc.

Last thing I wanted to mention was the overlays I used. In the first one, Jack argues with Jennifer in the loft as a "memory" of the morning after Kayla's rape (where he crushes the yellow rose) occurs. I faded the "memory" in and ultimately had it become opaque as the argument faded away. If I really wanted to overanalyze ( too late?!) I'd say that this shows how the memory of this action that inspires so much guilt in Jack "won out", turning opaque to visually convey how it took over his thoughts and became his motivation in interacting with Jennifer. Contrast this with the second overlay, where Jack is sitting on the pier, watching Jennifer walk away, and I show a "memory" of their dance in the stateroom of the cruise ship S. S. Loretta. The cruise was the fun, romantically adventurous storyline where their relationship really officially started, so I thought that provided a good contrast with the rift they were currently experiencing, to show how far away from the optimistic times they'd fallen. I also just love Jennifer's smile/laugh as they dance, I think it's just beautiful and it has that pureness and sweetness that makes you see why Jack fell so deeply in love with her. I thought it would tweak the regretful emotions showing something like that. And the contrast with the first overlay lies in the fact that in this one, the memory of better times does not become opaque, but fades away. It is not powerful enough to gain control over his actions like the bad memory of Kayla's rape was.

That was probably more than you ever wanted to know! I just had a great time thinking about how to put this one together. What do you think?

New link added

You gotta believe that characters as passionate as Jack and Jennifer inspire some pretty passionate fans. Don't believe me? Check out this blog from the mysteriously monikered L, The Jack and Jennifer Supercouple. Now in the time I have been on the 'net, in a soap capacity anyway, I have gotten to know L as one of the most insightful and articulate Jack and Jennifer fans around. So if ramblings of minorly obsessed fans holds any interest for you (which I assume it does, if you're here!), definitely check that one out!

Video: "As Time Goes By"

Music: "As Time Goes By" (lyrics)
Music artist: Dooley Wilson
Watch on YouTube

This one was how I commemmorated (commiserated?) Jack and Jennifer's last day on the show (don't ask why it took so long to post it here). I've always loved this song, and I know it was used once for J/J on the show, but I am not sure who the artist was (if you know, I'd love to hear from you!). So I used the version I'm most familiar with, Dooley Wilson's from the Casablanca soundtrack. Those old songs from the golden era of Hollywood just have that special timeless quality, just like Jack and Jennifer. There's just something about those two that reminds you of the old great Hollywood screen duos.

And clearly I'm not the only one on that, as evidenced by the charming little His Girl Friday fantasy they penned for J/J during their Last Adventure (as I'm calling it). May I just say right now that I laaaahved the HGF stuff, I just ate it up, although I always have thought of them more as a Tracy & Hepburn than a Grant & Russell. I'm sure there's holes in that comparison, I'll think of them later. You sure couldn't think of a better movie to fit the bill, though.

Anyway, the video. I tried to include a lot of elements from their story: emotions, comedy, tears, adventure, and good ol' romance, and I did run the span from 1989 to 2006, but you can once again probably detect my preference for the older stuff. Still, the song's lyrics were good for a beginning-to-end retrospective, especially the line "It's still the same old story". Something just clicked with that line for me. Jack and Jennifer were two of the zaniest characters with the craziest adventures of any couple on Days, but what was so wonderful was that all their bantering and being fools and chasing after each other were no more than lines in one very simple dialogue: "I love you, and you love me." Different obstacles and different adventures, different time and different place. Same old story. And it's that juxtaposition of the outlandish circumstances and the basic love story that makes the line "The fundamental things apply" resonate so much for the couple, too. They're really just about the fundamentals: Love is scary, love makes you do idiotic things, love is the most amazing thing in the world. Both of them had this intense need to love and be loved, their characters were never too far above the line of psychological necessity, and that is why their love story was always my favorite: their most outrageous words and deeds always stemmed from the basic human need for love.

So yes, they're gone, but I'll be darned if I don't still go on thinking that what they had will keep resonating with me ... as time goes by ...

(Oh hush. You knew I had to use that line at least once.)

A rose by any other name

Just how good a job did Bill and Laura do naming their little Miss Horton?

Jennifer:

Gwenhwyvar, the Welsh name, was adopted and Frenchified to Guinevere by the Normans. The Cornish form, Jennifer, was little known outside of Cornwall until the twentieth century.
Originally it meant "White Wave," "White Lady," or "Fair Smooth," from "gwen" (white) and "hwyvar" (smooth). Commonly given are "pure," "soft," "fair one."

Or maybe it's just the minor genius of that whole King Arthur/Queen Guinevere thing from the Cruise of Deception, not that Jack is exactly the King Arthur type. But (confession alert) I have always really dug the whole man-of-the-world-meets-other-worldly-ingenue vibe of their early relationship ("other-worldly" in the sense that Jack considered Jennifer way out of his league), so even though their outfits for the dress-up dance on that cruise were silly, I sigh every single time I watch that scene in the stateroom where she plants the sword on the bed and tells Jack about how Arthur taught Guinevere the ways of the world and the power of words and the power of love, yadda yadda. So subtlely obvious. Anyway, Jennifer (when written properly) sure is a tough little cookie, but somewhere in her appeal was that pureness, to the point of almost untouchability. That she was fiesty and stubborn and often in way over head kept the ingenue act from getting cloying, but the untouchability underneath made for a lot of great angst back in the day.

P.S., as I was writing this up I rewatched the clip of that Arthur/Guinevere chat in the stateroom and I noticed how it would make a great flashback to show during the current Frankie storyline:

"There's something I remembered. The facts of the legend of King Arthur."
"What about the legend of King Arthur, Jack? I thought you said you didn't know anything about the legend of King Arthur."
"I happen to be a fan of Richard Burton's I remember a few things."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that Guinevere dumped Arthur. In the final reel, she dumped Arthur and ran off with Lancelot."
"Jack that is so like you, you know that?"
"Hey I didn't write it. I can't help it if Guinevere was fickle and faithless."
"Well maybe it was King Arthur's fault. Maybe he was so miserable and worthless, and maybe he trated her so badly that she just got fed up and left."
"No, I don't think so."
"What do you think, Jack?"
"I'm going to tell you what I think. I'm telling you a story, it goes like this. Arthur gave her up, but he did it on purpose. See this guy was smart, he knew that he couldn't make her happy. I mean it was hard keeping that round table round in those days. And he knew that she'd be a lot happier with Lancelot. So he did the thing that was most noble. That was most civilized. He gave her up."
"He may have been noble, Jack, but he also ended up alone. Very much alone."

Now, I know I've sorta said that I am sooooo over martyrs, but when accented with the proper Jack-esque cynicism, the whole nobly misguided act really looked good on him. And with all Frankie's done for Jack, wouldn't he fit in as Lancelot, the perfect white knight? (Those so inclined can vomit now if they wish.) And of course the best part was how Jennifer reinterpretted the legend into a cautionary tale for Jack, warning Arthur to not let Jennif-- erm, Guinevere get away, because she wanted Arthur. That was Jennifer, determined to get her happy ending her way, desite how the story typically went.

Yeah that settles it, they so should have chosen that flashback.

Just a thought: Jack's test results

Do you suppose that they are dragging the results of Jack's test out so that Jennifer could actually choose a husband before she knows which is going to be alive in two weeks? Given her little schpiel on Thursday's episode about not wanting to hedge her bets, I can just picture this scene where Jennifer takes Jack by the chin, looks him straight (well, upward, unless she gets a forklift) in the eyes and declares that she doesn't give a stinkin' rat's patootie if he is in remission or not, she just wants to be with him all the days of their lives, no matter how numberous those days may be.

I mean, I can dream, right?

Banner: "Simply Classic" (His Girl Friday)

Dimensions: 492 x 205
JPG: 53kb
GIF: 52kb
PNG: 83 kb

Episodic: 2006 September 7th

Not only the J/J/F triangle, but now Jack's tets results, continue to be dragged out ... Meanwhile Jack and Jennifer have one last adventure ...

Back in the black

• A little relationship double-talk? I wonder if their little discussion of Abe and Lexie's relationship was Jack and Jennifer's way of setting the groundwork for the resolution of their own: "You know, Jack, sometimes people do crazy, irrational things when they're hurt." Liiiiike ... marry their high school boyfriend a mere months after the love of their life dies? And did I spy Jack giving her a wry, knowing look after that line? I wonder if that is how they're going to spin it, Jennifer married Frankie at least partly out of pain and grief. You know that crazy irrational Jennifer!
• Oh when the saints go marching out. I liked how they allowed Frankie to be more concerned about Jennifer finally making her decision than about Jack. For example, when he said "I'm just as anxious to hear about the results as you are" we were allowed to see that it was because he wants to know what Jennifer will do, and we weren't given crap about how he loves Jack. Of course he doesn't want Jack to die, but I cannot fathom anything else being in the front of his mind but Jennifer. Jack and Frankie are not best friends no matter how they push it, she is Frankie's big investment here and that's how it should be. Again, that doesn't mean he wishes Jack ill, but come on, don't insult my emotional intelligence. This situation should be awkward, it should bring out a bit of the selfish in both men, because that doesn't negate that they're good guys. This is a problem I have with JER's characterization, any time somebody thought of themselves they were automatically Bad People. Hello, it's called realism!
• Frrrrriction! Speaking of realism, thank goodness Jennifer's angry at Jack, at least it shows the emotional investment we would expect. Too bad it wasn't (and seemingly won't be) given a nuanced exploration, but that's what happens when your storyline is so truncated. But the point is, where there's friction, heat soon follows...
• The course of love did never run smooth. And I especially liked when she said "I know the story of him wanting to protect me, that's why we got divorced in the first place, because he has secrets and then he abandons us all to protect us. I know all this about Jack. But I love him." Emphasis mine. Because that sums it up. Jack and Jennifer belong together not because either one is perfect and thus is "worthy" of the prize, but because despite everything they love each other. That's a supercouple. Now if only this line was given more of a dramatic Moment in the scene.
• Yay, humor! I liked how Jack snarks "Greeaat!" to Jennifer in the hospital, in fact wish it was a bit snarkier. I liked the look on Jennifer's face when she goes "Did I hear you right that he wants you to meet him?!" That's classic Jennifer coming through a bit there. I liked the look on Jack's face when he tapped Jennifer on the shoulder in the warehouse, and on hers when she spun around. And aahhhhh, the bickering. Can't say they transitioned well into this, I don't think newer viewers ever saw this Jack and Jennifer, they must be wondering who these people are. But personally it warms my heart, the bickering does. I can appreciate it out of context of the storyline, because, gosh darnitt, I've missed the real J/J so! I loved the "I'm feeling a little remission creeping up right now" line, Ashford's delivery was spot-on perfect, it was subtle and spontaneous like Jack's humor used to be. And I loved their little tug-of-war for the photo at the end, cute touch.

Still in the red

• Put the triangle out of its misery already! You know, I don't dislike Frankie, let me say that up front. But the way they had him come in to Jack's hospital room right after Jack mentioned getting back to his family ... the sight of him sent a pang of irritation through even me. I couldn't help it, I didn't want to but it just came. I mean, did they want that to happen? Did they do that on purpose? Because honestly, I know Jennifer has some things to say to Frankie, but having Frankie at the hospital on this day is pretty tacky. They must know that, right? That's so obvious, right? I'm really tired of the Jack + Frankie = Best Friends Forever routine, nobody buys it, they didn't pull it off in the paltry screentime given them, so why have Jack ask Frankie to be there? It was a bad idea to start this triangle after Jack crashed the wedding and it was an inexcusable idea to continue it after Jack came home from the hospital. It mandates these really ridiculous situations, in which Frankie happily munches sandwiches with his wife and her other husband, in which Jennifer guiltlessly kisses Frankie in front of Jack and guiltlessly calls Jack the love of her life to Frankie's face, in which Jack asks Frankie to be there and not not Abby, not Steve, not Jo. Frankie! They didn't intend to make Frankie look this way, I don't think, but it does make him come off as the third wheel. Maybe Jack asked him as a way to diffuse awkwardness ... But moreover I cannot believe that the hospital would allow Frankie to be there considering he is not family. Is it allowed if Jack asks him to be there? Can they do that? And if so, why did Dr. Berman ask Frankie to come inside Jack's room? Shouldn't Jack be the only one who can?
• A puzzling greeting. I'm going way overboard in my interpretations here but I don't know how to read Jennifer's "Hi" to Frankie ... is it "Ahh, you again, relief" or "Augh, you again, leave us be"? I think you could make it go either way depending on which guy you're rooting for. Maybe it's just, "Aahh, I keep realizing that having two husbands is not shaping up to be the swingin' time I had in mind" ...
• Same old song. Jennifer must've spent some time in the music business, she sure picked up on the fact that summer is the time to hit the waves with the same trite chorus over and over again ad nauseum. "Jack is the love of my life, but I love Frankie too. Jack is the love of my life, but I love Frankie too. Jack is the love of my life, but I love Frankie too." Surely she has something new to add to the equation by now? Problems won't solve themselves, and she has quite the problem on her hands.
• Why? What is the ostensible point of dragging out the results of Jack's tests? They leave in two weeks, they've been off screen for ten days. This is the best use of the remaining time?
  Edit: Wait, I just thought of a reason.
• Family connections. Why doesn't Jack say anything about Stephanie? Even when she finally comes up in conversation?
• Nurse or wife? I wish that there was a bit more of the selfish in Jennifer's asking to take Jack home. I wish she wanted to take Jack home not just because she is worried about his health but also in part because she just wants to be with him. I miss the Jennifer who just wanted to be around Jack no matter what he was doing. There was this line back in the scene where they find the Toscano key in Steve's house where Jack is denying an attraction between them and Jennifer looks right at him, tears in her eyes, and asks, "Do you just not want to be near me any more, Jack?" And your heart breaks in that moment because of how sheerly unadulterated her wish to just "be near" Jack is. I want that back. I know the situation is a lot messier now, but the time for the complications was a month ago. With just two weeks left we deserve the magic now.
• Thorns on the rosebushes. While overall I loved the bickering, there were a few things that raised an eyebrow. Jack's "NOW look what you've done" line, I think it didn't come off right. Partly because it is not in recent viewers' memory that Jennifer would often bumble in on Jack's operations. And even for those of us who remember, it hasn't happened lately, so it felt like it came back too easily to Jack. I also don't know how I feel about the "I feel alive" stuff either, it should a fairly big revelation in Jack's ordeals, given how long he's been sick, but when that line came it didn't feel like enough of a Moment. Just an excuse for him to pursue involvement in the story.

Odds and Ends

• Fashion forward ... almost. Hurrah for Jack's dress shirt! Nice collar, stiff collar, gooooood collar. But Jennifer, oh Jennifer, that dress ... what did she do, raid a Fran Drescher garage sale? Can't help it, though, like the hair. The bangs are adorable.
• Cue dramatic music! Did anyone else think that the phone call was a bit underwhelming? I mean, here's this sudden shift in the focus of their screentime, a totally random happenstance from the characters' point of view, and we didn't even get one of those musical Dunn DUNNs?! This is one of the rare times a Dunn DUNN is actually called for!
• Write it down? Write what down? Did the deep throat really say anything Jack needed to pull out a pencil and paper for?
• E for effort Why does Jennifer just stand there telling Jack not to walk out the door when she can just up and follow him? That line could've worked if there had been a recent pattern of Jack running off against Jennifer's pleas of caution, but there hasn't been. I was almost able to enjoy the seemingly classic Jennifer-ness of it, but no cigar.
• It's only a paper moon ... Why is it that all the one-off sets these days look so like sets? And not locations? I remember the factory scene from back when, where Jack gets beat up by the thugs looking for the diary pages, and I so believed that was actually a factory, whereas I look at this warehouse and all I think is "television set". I can't quite place why that is.
• One obviously positioned clue, coming right up. Couldn't they have made the photograph of the gun be fluttering on the floor somewhere? Because that's the only way I can buy them not seeing that the darn thing was there the whole time. It would be so easy! Just put it on the floor! And have them find it there! What's so hard about that?

Overall, it's clear they're throwing J/J fans a bone, but some of it actually worked. Outlook's pretty poor for a good storyline, but we've been surviving on just moments for years anyway, let's hope we get a few good moments in before curtain.