I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Kassie DePaiva gets far too little credit. Her acting may not be as diverse or flashy as Roger Howarth's, but it can be just as strong. And there are some scenes, this one included, in which she just flat out blows me away. This scene, when Blair sees Todd for the first time, is all Kassie's, and it is phenomenal. She goes from disbelief to fear to wonder to hope to joy in the space of about fifteen minutes, and watching her, you feel those things with her. That is, perhaps, the greatest power of her Blair; no matter what she does, or how she does it, somehow you end up empathizing with this woman, and even cheering her on or crying with her, as the case may be. In this particular scene, the tears are more prevalent than the laughter, and it is both heart-breaking and heart-lifting.
Blair is angry with Patrick, and she throws a vase of flowers across the room. She's still for a moment, then we see on her face that she senses him behind her. She whirls around and sees Todd and gasps, her eyes widening.
B: (stunned and disbelieving, begins almost whimpering in fear) Is it . . . I can't . . . no (as he approaches her, she falls back crouching against the stairs, thinking he's a vision, she hysterically covers her eyes) No! Please, Todd -- I can't see you. Please, Todd, no. Stop! Stop!
T: (speaking for the first time) I'm not a dream, Blair. I'm not a dream.
B: (her hands fall away from her eyes, and she looks at him, slowly reaching out to touch him. She stops before her hand makes contact) Oh my God! (whispering) You're real.
T: Yeah. I'm real.
B: (she rises and crosses the room, hitting her forehead with her hands and speaking quickly) No! Stop it; I'm dreaming! I've gotta wake up; stop it, stop it!
T: (interrupting) Blair, listen to me. (she whimpers no!) Take a deep breath, pull yourself together.
B: (she whirls to face him, exploding) I went to Ireland! I saw the cliffs, I saw the car, I saw the rocks, I saw the sea! They said there's no way you could have survived it, Todd!
T: (somewhat harshly) I survived. I'm not a dream, I'm not a ghost. (he bends down and begins picking up flowers) What were you doing before I came in?
B: (slowly approaches him, ignoring his words and focusing on the reality of him, hope and brittle fear and pain warring in her eyes. She reaches out, slowly, slowly, and touches his hair, kneeling to face him. She speaks in a small voice, looking into his eyes) You died.
T: What can I say, Blair? I can't do anything right.
B: (voice cracking) I was alone. I was alone! I needed you! (rising, frenzied, tears streaming down her face) I tried so hard to keep your memory alive! (grabs photo off desk) Pictures of our wedding! (shows him her hand) I never took your wedding ring off! (fumbles in desk for tape and puts it in the answering machine; Todd's voice says “You've reached the Mannings, and we're not in. . .”) That's our old answering machine message! I needed to hold on to you; I wanted the world to stop!
T: (angrily) Yeah, but the world doesn't work like that, Blair. It's not gonna just stop. Life goes on!
B: (almost incoherent, through her tears) How could you do this? Why didn't you call me? My God, Todd, (she slaps him, hard), how could you hurt me like that? (she collapses against him, falling to her knees in front of him, sobbing) I loved you, I loved you, and I needed you! I needed you. (she holds his hand, pressing it to her mouth, sobbing as he looks on expressionless)
Todd's sitting on the couch; Blair's on the floor, her head resting on the couch beside him.
T: A fisherman found me on the beach, washed up. (she looks at him) He thought I was dead. And he was only half wrong. For days, then weeks, months, nightmares meant that I was sleeping. Pain meant that I was awake. Monsters, faces, fear, hallucinations, home remedies, wild animals (he looks at her). Okay, I made up the part about the wild animals, but the point is there were no credit cards, no cellular phones. Not even --- a message in a bottle.
B: (rises to sit beside him, exhausted and confused) I'm, uh, I'm still trying to make sense of it all. (looks at him, mascara smeared under her eyes) I can't tell you (voice breaks) how long it took me to believe in a world without you. You wanna hear some wild stories? Well, I dreamed up dozens of them. And every one of them ends with you alive. You, held hostage. You, chained and blindfolded. You, without a memory. You, without a face. And then each one, one by one, all turned impossible, even for me. And when the last one died, it was like you dying all over again (sobs, then looks back up at him).
T: (he rises, crossing to the stairs, looking out the window) All water under the bridge. Me, I know because I'm an expert on water now.
B: Oh, Todd, I was right! I was right all along, and I don't care how it happened (rising, smiling) because it's just a miracle. (her eyes widen) Oh my God, Todd. I've got a miracle for you! I had a little baby girl, and, Todd, she is sooo, she is so beautiful, and you are just gonna love her! She was kidnapped.
T: (looks at her) She was kidnapped?
B: Yeah, but she's fine. She's fine now. It was awful, and I thought that I had lost -- I thought that I had lost the other great love of my life, but now you're here, and she's back. She's over at Cassie's; come on, I want you to see her.
T: (steps back) Cassie and Andrew? No, I don't wanna see those people.
B: (softly) Don't you want to see our little girl?
T: Bring her here. (false smile) For me. Please?
B: Okay, (smiles back) okay. (gets her purse, then turns back to him, afraid) You won't disappear again, will you?
T: No. I'll be here when you get back. I swear it (raising hand in boy scout salute) on my own grave.
B: (walks slowly to him, cups his cheek with her hand as her face crumples. She runs her thumb over his lips) You are real.
Blair brings her hand back to her own mouth, then hurries out the door, looking back once with a smile. She leaves, closing the door behind her, and Todd's indifferent mask finally drops as his face becomes covered with pain.
