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2023 Nostalgia Re-readathon | SVH #97: The Verdict
Innocent until proven guilty...
The verdict isn't in yet on Elizabeth Wakefield. But her twin sister, Jessica, has already convicted her and won't even talk to Elizabeth. Now that Jessica has Todd, will life ever be the same for Elizabeth?
Pamela has transferred to Sweet Valley High, to be closer to Bruce Patman, the boy she really loves. But Bruce still won't look at her. Pamela's made a final break with her past - but is it enough?
Between building a relationship with his new female roommate, Billie, and being there for his troubled family, Steven Wakefield is completely worn out. It's clear that he can't do both - what will he do?
...Margo has arrived in Sweet Valley, and is ready to take over her new life - even if it belongs to someone else!
We've had another ghostwriter switch, possibly back to the original one, because events have changed yet again - not the least of which is that the Brazil trip, the original prize for the Prom Queen, has suddenly been mentioned again. More storylines are also wrapping up, which is a good thing because the Wakefield family drama is starting to overtake everything.
There are really only two storylines outside of the Wakefield family in this book:
(1) Pamela Robertson has transferred to Sweet Valley High and continues to find herself ostracized by one and all, due to the false rumors from Big Mesa that ruined her reputation. She attempts to join the tennis team, but gives up even on that. Bruce is outright cruel to her, and Pamela brushes off friendly overtures from others, including Roger Barrett Patman. She ultimately decides to start volunteering at Project Youth with an afterschool program for young kids. Amy Sutton (of all people, considering the nasty rumors she herself spread in the last book) approaches Pamela and invites her out, along with Lila. Pamela figures she has nothing to lose, so why not? Turns out that she, Amy, and Lila really hit it off and even go shopping together at the mall. Amy then has a heart-to-heart with Bruce. At the end of the book, a Big Mesa boy attempts to accost Pamela in the SVH parking lot, and Bruce rides to her rescue. He apologizes, and they are on their way to repairing their relationship.
Bruce continues to be a complete asshole in this storyline, and Pamela comes off a bit pathetic in her longing for him, especially after their nasty encounter following tennis practice. I kinda wish she'd thank him for his assistance in scaring off the Big Mesa dude, then basically be - thanks, but no thanks, I deserve better than you. But this is Sweet Valley, so that's not going to happen.
(2) Lila continues to bond with her mother, and watches in fascination and hope as her parents begin to reminisce about their early days together. She's convinced they are falling for each other again, and pretty much nothing can deter her, not even when Grace finally tells her why she abandoned Lila all those years ago. According to Grace, she and George had a whirlwind romance and married quickly, but her family disapproved and George was intimidated by Grace's family fortune. He started working 24/7 to earn his own fortune, and the rift between them ultimately grew too wide to bridge. Grace left George and took Lila with her; George threatened to have her declared an unfit mother, and actually succeeded, wielding his newfound power and influence to gain sole custody of Lila. George apparently thought that doing this would make Grace come crawling back to him because her family fortune suddenly vanished, but instead she left the continent altogether. George deliberately kept Grace from Lila until Lila's mental health crisis necessitated her return.
I had definitely forgotten this bombshell of an explanation, likely because I'm pretty sure it was 1000% retconned in The Fowlers of Sweet Valley. I can't believe George was so callous and cruel as to drive his own wife away if she wouldn't toe his line, all because of his own issues with her generational wealth. What an asshole! Lila seems certain that True Love Will Conquer All, but damn. I know what's coming, and I want some serious grovel to make up for this.
The good thing about Lila's plotline is that Grace's ~lover~ Pierre is mercifully absent from this book. I guess this ghostie could've done without his drama, too, LOL!
And now, onto the Wakefields...
(3) Steven and Billie have settled into a best-buddy-roomies sort of vibe, and Steven finds himself leaning heavily on Billie during all the stress and strain of Liz's trial. He ultimately divulges some information to her (especially about his mother's strange behavior) and accuses Billie of spreading gossip when random people come up to him and ask him about his mother's nervous breakdown. Billie leaves their apartment; Steven realizes she didn't tell anyone anything that he'd told her in confidence; and he gathers some nerve to go and apologize to her at the end. She accepts his apology and they stand around grinning like idiots at each other, because apparently romantic love can blossom even under extremely stressful circumstances.
(4) Todd has finally figured out that spending time with Jessica is getting him nowhere near Elizabeth. He goes to Steven for advice (a great scene in which Steven asks him what the hell he's thinking, professing to still love Liz while dating her twin) and ultimately decides to write her a letter, asking for a sign that she's willing to forgive him. The sign never comes, and Todd despairs. He continues to go out with Jessica but it's obvious to one and all that he is still mooning after Liz. He even tries approaching Liz, but she can't handle dealing with him after everything else that's happened.
Of course, Liz never received Todd's letter; Jessica intercepted it and tore it up, and then proceeds to lie to Todd about how Liz is cold and vindictive and wants nothing to do with him. It's obvious that Jessica is cracking up, but she feels so isolated from her family that she's clinging to Todd like he's her last anchor in a storm. The harder she clings, the more he wants away, and it's just awkward and awful, all around. Perhaps it's this storyline, above all else, that makes Frannie's supposed Todd/Jessica endgame even more unbearable in SVC. These two characters have no chemistry, and Jessica is acting like a vindictive bitch. Even her friends have noticed that she's losing her grip on reality and are questioning her motives and actions, yet somehow this was supposed to be the endgame all along? No dice, Frannie.
(5) Elizabeth stands trial for vehicular manslaughter in Sam's death, and this whole plot arc is just painfully, cringingly awful. Whereas the previous investigation and arrest had been at least somewhat near the realm of reality, the trial scenes are straight from fantasyland. I read them and just kept thinking, "this is not how this works - how any of this works!" In Sweet Valley, not only is Ned allowed to serve as his daughter's criminal defense attorney (with assistance from his pre-law undergrad son), but apparently all a trial is is the prosecutor putting Liz on the witness stand day after day and continually questioning her about the night of the accident. This goes on for 3 days, before a surprise witness pops up and confesses all. Apparently there was another driver who crashed into the Jeep head on, causing the accident, and then left the scene. He didn't come forward until the very last minute, because he didn't want pretty honor student Liz to take the blame for his actions. Liz is cleared of the manslaughter charge but is convicted of DWI and loses her license.
I mean, just throw your hands up because it's completely ridiculous. Even soap operas get criminal trials more right than this. It's completely ridiculous, but considering how badly the ghosties had painted Liz into the corner, I guess they considered it their only way out.
Liz is free and her family celebrates. Alice Wakefield had reverted to 1950s TV housewife because she felt so helpless during the investigation and trial, but Liz's acquittal brings her back from the brink. It simultaneously pushes Jessica off the cliff, because she sees her family celebrating Liz's "victory" and reads it has nothing but cold rejection and betrayal.
Never mind that Jessica is bringing most of this on herself by refusing to talk to Liz. Elizabeth wants to make up, but Jessica continues to ice her out, and to keep Todd away from her, even though Jessica knows Todd wants nothing to do with her. Jessica has stopped mourning Sam and has become obsessed with punishing Liz for getting away with killing him. Jessica is a mess.
(6) Margo's storyline is retconned, too; she's back in Cleveland now, having killed the little old lady in the bus station bathroom, instead of the Houston train station as per the last book. SHe's back on the bus again, still heading for LA but doing it the hard way. She finally arrives in LA, only to be confronted by Josh Smith, Georgie's older brother. He accosts her in a diner but other men come to her defense and she escapes. She takes a detour to San Diego before finally arriving in Sweet Valley. She goes to Valley Mall when she arrives, soaking in the atmosphere of her new hometown. She even sees Amy, Lila, and Pamela, and considers whether or not they'd be her friends. (She decides Amy is too pretty and might have to die, LOL.) Margo buys a blond wig and tries it on, and is reading the LA papers when she spots an update on Elizabeth's trial. She learns that Elizabeth has a twin sister, and her plans really start to gel into place. All she needs are some contacts, and she's ready to start taking over Liz's life!
Margo manages to get through this book without killing anyone, but Josh is on her tail and he apparently knows all about her past (Nina and Long Island). How he tracked her down is anyone's guess at this point; I know Josh continues to pursue her though the rest of the miniseries but am not sure if his backstory/investigation to this point comes out. I guess we'll see!
Aside from the ridiculousness of Liz's trial, this was a pretty solid read; I liked it better than The Arrest and was content to not have a Wacky Hijinks subplot going on in an attempt to lighten the mood. If it wasn't for the inconsistencies with the story that make it obvious there's more than one hand stirring this pot, it would be a solid five stars. Unfortunately, it's just a little more sloppy than I remember.
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I kinda wonder if this ghosty just skipped a looooooooooooot of what happened in the book(s) they didn't have a major hand in, given the Jeep not being fixed (I mean, it makes sense the Jeep would still be out of commission given the accident so I'm not too upset by this one), Margo suddenly not being in Texan hell, and Pierre being MIA at the same time Lila's anger at her mother is handwaved away. That last one bugs me the most, actually. I wanted it to play out, dammit. I don't mind softer Lila at all, but I'd say after 14 years, the girl's allowed to vent.
I kinda buy George being that cold to Grace, just based on how he's raised Lila and how often he comes across as an ass in the series. That said, it was definitely an interesting choice to have him be the bad guy here. I guess we can't have a mom be less than wonderful unless they go all in on it? Or maybe they thought that since they were having Alice crack up would be one bad mom too many?
Ghosty lost me, however, when they played weird with the timeline for Billie and Steven. They go from brand new roommates, still picking out new stuff together (sure) to having shared "countless meals together". I mean, I guess if you just don't count them, they'd be countless? At first I thought this was meant to be a way to show time had passed so the trial wouldn't seem AS rushed but no, because even Saint Liz couldn't get away with missing that much school and the Todd/Jessica thing wouldn't work on that time frame either.
I am completely weirded out by AMY being nice to Pamela, though I somehow like Amy being the one to talk to Bruce about what an ass he's been? Confusing. I do wish Pamela had told Bruce where to shove it though because my God, no one needs to be told on any level that it's okay to treat someone you love like absolute shit and all will be forgiven if you magically punch someone to defend them one time. This is definitely the storyline that needed the most mental gymnastics to make work and since I truly do not remember much about Pamela at all after the Evil Twin stuff, it's not worth it. And I mean that even if she's mentioned in every other arc from now until the Earthquake.
By the time Josh ran into Margo, I really felt like I'd missed a book given how fast everything was moving.
I did like the moment of hope for Jessica where she thinks that if Liz has been exonerated, that means maybe she too isn't guilty, but then the cold, broken, in desperate need of a fucking shrink (WTF, NED. If one twin is wasting away to nothing and the twin whose boyfriend is dead is going on like nothing happened, send one or both of them to get HELP, especially given how your wife has clearly taken leave of her senses) version of Jess comes back and oof. OOF. It's still so weird to reconcile this Jess with ET Jess. Kinda wonder how we're gonna bridge that gap.
Kinda also like that Alice's coping mechanism is spelled out, but at the same time... you really dropped the ball there, ma'am.
Todd remains an absolute jackass, but I agree his meeting with Steven was fantastic.
Missed opportunity for anyone to remember that Enid knows better than most how Liz is feeling, even if her joyride didn't actually kill anyone, but I'll accept her just being there this whole arc, even when Liz tries to push her away.
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That seems to be the ghosty MO, LOL.
Lila's anger at her mother is handwaved away. That last one bugs me the most, actually. I wanted it to play out, dammit. I don't mind softer Lila at all, but I'd say after 14 years, the girl's allowed to vent.
The scene at the end of #96, when Lila overhears her mother's anguish, does some heavy lifting, I think. I do agree that Lila's attitude change from I'm furious with you for leaving me to ooh I wanna matchmake you two back together was a little fast, but it wasn't terribly out of the realm of Sweet Valley possibility, for me. Lila not being more upset with her father after the bombshell revelation was a bit harder for me to swallow.
I kinda buy George being that cold to Grace, just based on how he's raised Lila and how often he comes across as an ass in the series. That said, it was definitely an interesting choice to have him be the bad guy here.
I think just *how* horrible his actions were may be lost on the target audience, tho. Going out of your way to have your ex-wife declared an unfit mother is beyond the pale, but what teen would pick up on that, especially with a huge matchmaking angle going on at the same time? I think this hit me harder as an adult, honestly, and I'm a little worried its going to sour me on #98 because I don't see how George is going to grovel enough to earn the right to have Grace back as his wife.
to having shared "countless meals together". I mean, I guess if you just don't count them, they'd be countless?
LMAO. That sounds about right for ghosty logic!!
This is definitely the storyline that needed the most mental gymnastics to make work and since I truly do not remember much about Pamela at all after the Evil Twin stuff, it's not worth it.
I don't remember Pamela after this arc, it's like she disappears into the ether. I'm thinking maybe she shows up in #98 (at the Fowlers' wedding, as Bruce's date) before she disappears for good. The one right after this, Liz and Bruce start wondering if they have feelings for each other because they learn about Henry and Alice's secret marriage.
(WTF, NED. If one twin is wasting away to nothing and the twin whose boyfriend is dead is going on like nothing happened, send one or both of them to get HELP, especially given how your wife has clearly taken leave of her senses)
Professional therapy? In Sweet Valley? Shut your mouth! These kids don't need anything more than peer counseling, because of course teenagers know the be all, end all of humanity's issues.
It's still so weird to reconcile this Jess with ET Jess. Kinda wonder how we're gonna bridge that gap.
I feel like the twins begin to thaw towards one another at the Fowler wedding, and when Todd finally leaves Jessica to try to reconcile with Elizabeth, she has a few revelations about where she's going wrong with this notion of revenge. We'll definitely see!
Todd remains an absolute jackass, but I agree his meeting with Steven was fantastic.
Todd is kinda pathetic in this book, trying to maneuver it so that Liz has to make the first move. That's a wuss move and looks especially bad, considering Enid's unwavering loyalty and support during the trial.
Missed opportunity for anyone to remember that Enid knows better than most how Liz is feeling, even if her joyride didn't actually kill anyone
Oof, that's probably a reach too far back in canon (I'm sure these ghosties weren't around when classic canon was being written), but yes! It would've been great to have some POVs from Enid, if only to balance out Liz's patheticness as she drudges through the trial.
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And I'll allow the scene I totally blanked on to do the heavy lifting, like you said, though I'm gonna sulk for a little bit longer. Lila's subplot is currently way more interesting to me than some of the others.
I don't remember Pamela after this arc, it's like she disappears into the ether. I'm thinking maybe she shows up in #98 (at the Fowlers' wedding, as Bruce's date) before she disappears for good.
Pamela shows up at least one more time for The Evil Twin because Margo ogles Bruce and we get a bit about Pamela's dress at Lila's party and yes, I've read that book enough time to remember that. D'oh. But that's still this arc so who knows. Kinda want to re-read the Bruce/Liz arc again, but also do not because isn't that also when Toddles and Liz are shacked up? And a quick check elsewhere confirms Pamela's in that one at least some so... the Pamela mystery continues.
Professional therapy? In Sweet Valley? Shut your mouth! These kids don't need anything more than peer counseling, because of course teenagers know the be all, end all of humanity's issues.
What was I thinking? But also, she could totally get help from a 20-something and then fall in love with them. It's totally on brand for Jessica AND Liz, so it works either way!
I think you're right on the thawing. I wanna say James probably also helps moves things along, since by that point Jess is channeling her self loathing, guilt, and missing Sam into something positive (the race) and we get the cold shoulder from Liz when she finds out Jess intercepted Todd's letter.
Seriously though, Todd. How do you go from ANTR Todd, who is pretty friggin' awesome, to this chicken? I did love his WTAF reaction when Jess completely lost her mind and tried to spin the prom as the start of their epic romance instead of the tragedy it was. Well. Til they wound up kissing again. Because Jess went totally bonkers.
I'm never sure how they view the older books, since Frannie doesn't seem to admit anything past like, book 21 is canon. Still. Enid's refusal to let Liz wallow alone is worth a cookie.
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1000% agreed, and it's kinda delightful that it becomes the central plot in #98.
Pamela shows up at least one more time for The Evil Twin because Margo ogles Bruce and we get a bit about Pamela's dress at Lila's party and yes, I've read that book enough time to remember that. D'oh. But that's still this arc so who knows. Kinda want to re-read the Bruce/Liz arc again, but also do not because isn't that also when Toddles and Liz are shacked up? And a quick check elsewhere confirms Pamela's in that one at least some so... the Pamela mystery continues.
Yes, indeed, the next miniseries is the one where Todd moves in with Liz while all the parents are away, and I'm sure its laughably bad considering its supposed to be a chaste relationship. I love the cover of "Almost Married" because of Jessica's expression alone. Priceless!
I'm guessing that Bruce and Pamela's relationship is destroyed in that arc after Bruce and Liz start to dig into their parents' past. Makes SVH sense, at least.
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*looks it up* Okay, that's pretty fab.
As for P/B, probably... which means all this time devoted to it is ever so vexing! I got bored and curious and somehow wound up on LJ proper and went looking to see if I could find the post I made asking whatever happened to Pamela and I did! And the answer was simply the vague she fizzled out somewhere along the way. Dammit, SVH, don't make me re-read these things to find out when.
Also, I wish Jess had been the one to shake up the P/B relationship simply because I could've called it the PBJ triangle. Curses!