Everyone knows that ONE LIFE TO LIVE'S Hillary B. Smith is a crackerjack actress. However, it's been a while since she had a storyline worthy of her talents. That all changed this week when Nora took on a room full of bikers at a bar where she sought refuge after being duped into thinking that Bo had been unfaithful with Georgie.
Fueled by anger, confusion and too much hard liquor, Nora turned the bar and its rough-hewn regulars into a courtroom where every man was on trial. Although as a defense lawyer it's Nora's job to convince a jury to consider all the facts before rendering a verdict, since things are often not what they appear to be, this seemingly scorned woman didn't give a rat's ass that Bo and Georgie's so-called relationship was based on nothing more than circumstantial evidence. Substituting the bikers for Bo, she indicted them all. "Every single man in this courtroom is a liar!" she spat out with venom. "Don't do the crime if you can't pay the fine." In this scene, Smith proved why she's an Emmy Award-winning actress: Whether she was yelling, crying, doing a sexy dance, or threatening the bikers with bodily harm, each transition, be it to show her vulnerability or adrenaline-induced strength, was seemless and believable.
This pattern was replaced later in scenes with Kale Brown's Sam, who came to Nora's rescue. After hacking away at her hair with a razor, Nora regained some of her self-worth when Sam told her she is beautiful. Yet this didn't stop her from yelling at him if he said anything that sounded the least bit like a betrayal to her pain. Smith's mannerisms, voice inflections - everything - were true for someone who's life was being turned upside-down. And Browne was magnificent as a former suitor who could have had her from that moment on but instead chose to do the right thing and not take advantage of her situation. It was clear from the way Browne handled the scene that Sam ached for Nora; breaking away following a passionate kiss was probably one of the hardest things he ever had to do. After hashing out Bo's supposed guilt and Nora's insistence that Sam take her to Chicago, both characters (and the viewer) were physically spent. Finally, an overabundance of dialogue was unnecessary. Smith and Browne sat side-by-side, haggard looks on their faces. Thanks to the skill of both actors, the audience knew exactly what each character was thinking.
Irene S. Keene
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