All My Children -- July 29, 2013

Cassandra made her choice to terminate her pregnancy and she knew Angie would try to stop her so she chose a time when Angie would be gone from the hospital. Using Jesse's hearing, Cassandra encouraged Angie to go to it, then Colby used the Chandler name to intimidate Dr. Anders into scheduling it pronto. She also asked one last time if this was what Cassandra really wanted to do, and she said it was and signed the papers. Afterwards, she seemed to be almost at peace, but I'm sure that won't last. Especially when Angie comes around, because unintentional or not she did make Cass know that she wanted her to keep the baby.

For a minute I thought they wouldn't go through with it with David around looking for Angie to tell her what was about to happen. The previews made it look like Angie would rush to where it was happening and stop it from happening. But it was all over before Angie arrived.

Meanwhile Lea offered Jesse a sweet deal that was better than he deserved. If he resigned as Police Chief all charges would be dropped against him. That was the least he should do. I have mixed feelings about Jesse. On one hand, I understand him doing what he needed to do to save Cassandra, but once he got her back he should have gone to the feds and worked with them to set a trap to catch Uri, but he didn't because he was protecting his own hide. He even continued to be Uri's rat, with the excuse the man was threatening the other female members of his family. That's when he should have gone to the feds.

The fact is if Jesse had gone to Lea with Uri's deal they could have set a trap for Uri and just played along with him until they got Cassandra back. Then once they did, they could have arrested him and put his kidnapping and sex slave business right out of business. Thus saving more girls from being victimized like Cassandra was.

Jesse even re-victimized Cassandra by making her and everyone else think she imagined talking to him. And he did it all to protect his own hide. So I didn't feel the least bit sorry for Jesse having to resign. He betrayed his position and helped fake a criminal's death and frame his friend for killing him. Losing his job is the least he deserved. Besides, he was using his position to help out his buddies, so one couldn't say he was ever the most honest police chief around.

When Cara read about Jesse's arrest the tired old excuse of how a parent will do anything when it comes to their child was brought out to justify and excuse Jesse's behavior. But the hypocrisy of this is the same free pass isn't extended to David and his child was killed. I guess because it's the offspring of David Hayward it doesn't apply to David or his kid.

David ran into Cara when he was trying to talk about Cassandra and how she's going to need Angie's support when it's over. Cara, still selling the abortion BS, says it was different for her because she wasn't raped like Cassandra was. Cara also admitted she had feelings for David, which surprised David. Thankfully, Junior didn't hear that part. He was having a fit just because he saw them talking. David wasn't surprised by this and just walked away.

The Cassandra situation seemed to open up Colby's emotional gates and when Junior came to see her she expressed regret for never visiting him when he was in the hospital. However, something tells me when she's back to dealing with Pete and Celia she'll be back to being the same calculating superficial shrew we all loathed and detest. Speaking of Pete and Celia, Pete was trying to make inroads with Celia by helping her hang up pictures of him being promoted as the prize in the bachelor auction.

Meanwhile Miranda was having a good time with AJ until Heather showed up. When AJ wanted to take both girls shopping she bowed out. I don't know why, but this episode more than any other made me find her very annoying. Her voice in particular. I see what they mean about her having a Valley Girl accent.

I'm also kind of tired of Miranda's pinched unpleasant look whenever Heather interrupts her fun time with AJ. It's her own fault that AJ might be growing close to Heather and see her as a girlfriend. They shared a kiss and she rejected him. So either go for it or get over it.

I don't know why Opal this Zach is the bee's knees. He just looks so dirty looking and like he's in dire need of a bath. He's not sexy dirty like Sawyer on Lost and you'd like him to get you dirty with his dirt and sweat. Yeah, I know, gross. But Sawyer's the only male on that show that could make my tummy flip. For all of Opal's disdain for David, at least he always looks clean.

Zach Slater is Billy Clyde Tuggle kind of dirty. It's the kind of dirty where you want the guy to bathe before touching you.

I saw people on Hulu wishing Bianca had been called in to tell Cassandra how you can come to love a baby of rape. Not to marginalize what happened to Bianca, but what Cassandra was put through was far worse than anything Bianca went through. She was kidnapped, forced to perform in a strip club and in a porn and raped repeatedly by different men. It's like trying to compare apples and oranges. I'm glad Bianca wasn't brought in. It would have only served to make Cassandra feel even worse about herself because she wanted an abortion and that's the absolute last thing she needed.

Kudos to the show for going through with the termination. A lot of shows are afraid to alienate pro-lifers and goes through the motions of a character getting an abortion, only to have the woman change her mind at the last moment.

While the PSA with Debbie Morgan at the end of the show was nice, I think a more effective person to have done it would have been the actress who plays Cassandra. Angie wasn't the one who was victimized, Cassandra was.