One Life To Live-Luna Catches Max & Blair in Atlantic City 1994

[@CarlD2]

This is a very well-acted scene (minus the big melodramatic weeping/screaming in the last scene, although that isn't their fault). JDP looks very good with the wet hair. I wish that when Susan Batten left the show, they'd just let Max and Luna divorce and Luna leave with the twins, instead of killing her off. I think in the long run they were too different from each other to last. I really like that they didn't have Luna blame the woman.

[@venussoldier92]

I remember watching this as a child, after school. After that I was hooked on this soap opera

[@179cpv]

Susan Batten was excellent in this scene.

[@natalieps2387]

I did like when she said " u didnt just rob urself of the life we could of had but u took it from me too" that's so true when someone betrays u like a husband a bf a best friend or family member. U don't want the relationship to end but they took it away. I can't believe luna took max back after this. I know the soap critics panned this gambling story as the worst of the year but I disagree. It was actually a real story for luna & max as them as a couple were really glorified filler. I think the writers problem w/ the story was they hated max & Blair but I think that was kinda the point the 2 were so toxic together & brought out the worst in the other. Blair became a clingy desperate needy side piece. She pretended to be a gambling addict to play on Max's addiction b/c she wanted him anyway she could get him. She saw she was enabling destroying max but if he got better than she would be history. Another ugly side was not only did she never visit Dorian on freaking death row she was stealing from her when Dorian had given her a free penthouse to stay in. She also was footing the entire bill for blairs beloved but mentally disturbed mom to have a nice home to stay in instead of some awful state facility or some snake pit. I think tnb worked for sure as friends b/c it was the first time I'd seen blair selflessly help another person esp just a friend not family like her mom. When the serial hospital rapes happened she totally believed him & even went to marty telling her to come clean that she was Todd's alibi for one if the rapes that was only attempted b/c dylan saved rebecca. Since that attempt totally fit the rapists m.o. none of the rapes could be todd. She also saved his life by interrupting the rapist when he stabbed todd. She got him to the hospital & visited often & helped him to leave so he could catch the real rapist which was of course Powell. When she did all that for todd she had no agenda unless u call friendship an agenda which it isnt. I think thats why tnb worked early on b/c todd somehow brought out the best in Blair. I also think the critics felt jdp was a " wooden actor " jdp was never a great actor but def in the late 80s his great charisma & charm overcame that. Making max this pathetic destructive addict was not jdp 's fortay. He was not a great dramatic actor. Max was at his best as the loveable rascal & was great at love & romance & adventures. That all went out the window when he returned in late 91 after 20 months gone plus he returned to a very different show. Many of the characters he interacted w/ were gone or soon to be gone. Most notably andrea Evans tina & fiona ( gabrielle ) & Jessica tuck was on her way out. The last I saw of the real max was his last scenes w/ megan when she was dying & that I loved that he b4 everyones totally got that megan wanted her funeral not to be sad but a celebration of life & that it's too short & live it to the fullest. When shelia started singing by Megan's request " dancing in the streets" max had a huge smile on his face & was the first to start clapping along. Ironically the other person who got into what megan wanted was asa he too had a big smile & was clapping along. Anyway that was the end of the original max Holden

[@Pinkranger87]

OMg i remeber this I remeber watching it with mom I loved luna

[@jacktheman2895]

Luna exploded when Max said it meant nothing.

[@earlymid90schild]

@CarlD2 In a way, I see Luna and Blair as two different sides to Gabrielle (who of course was in prison and who he couldn't have then). Luna was the more innocent, kind side of Gabrielle when they met in Argentina, while Blair had the more fiery, exciting side of Gabrielle. As neither one of them was the genuine article, it made it more difficult for them to last. (And yes, for the record: I think Gabrielle was the love of Max's life; I think they might have gotten back together if Al had lived)

[@natalieps2387]

That is such an excellent point !! Gabrielle did a great job of walking that line of really good innocent & religious & the bad girl who was so angry about being rejected over & over by max that she became very mad & bitter. She took up with michael grande whom I believe she did love but not like she loved max. She teamed up with michael to swindle the holden brothers from the hotel max owned ,& steve managed. She also teamed up with michael for the eterna story. When max saw how bad she was becoming he got full custody of al. She tried to kidnap baby al & michael dumped her for his estranged pregnant wife alicia. She went from being Michael's lover to becoming dear freinds with him & his wife to when alicia died she wanted michael back & she crossed into total villainy by switching Michael's dead baby with Brenda's live one. I found it interesting the max finally started to fall for her when she was a bad girl on the way to redemption. Max was always drawn to dramatic sorta bad girls. Tina of course was not evil but a liar schemer & manipulator that max fell for. Then he fell for megan who came to town as a smug bitchy actress. He pretty much ignored gabrielle bc she was too good & boring for max. He started to fall for her when she was a more complex character. Capable of doing terrible things but also had a lot of good left in her. So u are dead on about blair & luna. Luna was like the innocent good girl gabrielle used to be & Blair was like the scarlet o'hara gabrielle was. That's why blair & luna were not a good match for him bc gabrielle encompassed the good & the bad. Excellent observation ! But I'll say blair at that time was too bad never an innocent & that's why gabrielle was the love of Max's life. When oltl decided to fire jdp I thought his ending was perfect full circle. He said he was going back to argentina the only place he ever really loved. Max & gabrielle started on the show fresh off their courtship & one night stand the produced al. They showed a flashback of them often in the 80s of her totally in love with him & he said he was gonna come back to her when he had the cash to buy a ranch next door to her. He said that was his dream. So that happened offscreen only a couple months before . Oltl did a great job in how they organically introduced characters. Cord dumped tina who cords mom, Maria found out was pregnant w/ cords baby & Maria hated tina & thought tina was making it up to get cord back lol. So max was a next door neighbor to the Robert's & max went to maria for a loan so she said yes on the condition he romance & seduce Tina out of town. I think Tina was a pariah for doing something to cord & blackmailing asa about him being clints son. It all came out that Tina knew & cord dumped her. So she decided to leave with max to argentina that's where we met gabrielle a girl who was pregnant & ashamed bc in Argentina u had to be married to live together so max & tina pretended to be married. Tina was so not over cord. Anyway gabrielle heard max was back with a wife & was crushed. Tina went over the falls & everyone thought she was dead. She wasn't & helped gabby deliver al than lied to her that she would take al to max & raise him with max. Instead she passed him.off as cords. That storyline was so good. Anyway since they killed off an iconic character like gabrielle by a toilet I just wished she & max left for argentina together & were finally the family that she wanted all those years ago in Argentina. I mean max looked awful for years he let al go live with gabrielle & never sent child support he dumped lunas twins one who was deaf with her brothers in NC. He was such a dead beat dad so it was crazy now he wanted to have a baby with blair in 2000 when he had 3 kids out there he never bothered with. I'll never get why malone who knew luna was leaving would saddle max with not one but twins on top of al.

[@renealexander2703]

I agree. Love Max and Gabrielle. I think Gabrielle definitely was the love of Max's life and the best pairing.

[@natalieps2387]

When max said he slept w/ blair luna was crushed but what really made her mad was that typical response " it meant nothing " that's when luna cracked him 2x! If it meant nothing than ur saying u wrecked our marriage over " nothing "

[@Coryraisa]

Both Blair and Luna really mean nothing to the sleazy, callous, empty-headed Max.

[@icshaw6736]

He was stringing both of them along.

[@Pinkranger87]

I wanna see their children come Llanview

[@Coryraisa]

8:57-9:00...Max having a huge tantrum because he was caught. 🤣🤣🤣

[@nattyps3160]

I know what a snake

[@MRInvincible569]

Actually the gambling fit Max's character. If you look at some of the 1987 episodes he had an issue with gambling then as well. It just didn't get out of control like it did here. It might have hit better if they did flashbacks.

[@monicablom4231]

This was a really good scene. Although i shipp Max more with Gabrielle and Blair. Especially Gabrielle, those two were on fire.

[@kristaramirez4111]

Max looked friggin ridiculous crying here

[@Coryraisa]

6:12...slap-happy Luna isn't going to get a fess up out of sleazy Max. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@netguy02]

@CarlD2 Yes, Max and Luna were too different to last. Aside from Max's gambling and cheating with Blair, OLTL made a mistake by transforming him into a responsible good guy for Luna's sake, and it took a long time for his bad-boy side to return after her death. Since Luna ended up periodically appearing as a ghost anyway, it definitely would've been better if she'd just divorced Max and left town with the twins, returning to Llanview for visits when necessary.

[@CarlD2]

@netguy02 Yeah I think Malone wanted to do this for Luna because he loved her and had created her, but for me the question was whether this was something which was necessary or helped the story. I don't think it did. I also think that the show did not know how to do rogueish, fun Max, and instead made him completely amoral and disgusting, which Max never was during JDP's first run.

[@lrturner4141]

Dangit. Max made Luna turn ugly. Go Luna.

[@Coryraisa]

Luna was an ugly magpie with frog eyes from the start and hog-faced Max was a horrid sleaze who didn't care about anyone but himself. Blair was manipulative, but loved playing both Max and Luna like violins. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Coryraisa]

7:11-7:14...I suspect Blair was secretly eavesdropping on Max and Luna's entire screaming match and sauntered by just at that minute to irk the crap out of Luna. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@nattyps3160]

Lol. Blair was listening to every word probably right out of view.

[@Coryraisa]

@@nattyps3160: Luna and Max were dodos and Blair played them like violins...so hilarious!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@showbizroxs]

When in 1994 did this air?

[@MRInvincible569]

Around late April and early May.

[@camillemckenzie3235]

June 7 or 8 1994

[@izzatluv]

I'm looking for the sex scene too LOL I still remember it!

[@nattyps3160]

Susan batten really blew me away & the writing was great. Jdp doesn't do drama well. He's better as the hero romantic lead funny comedic stuff. That's why I think max was excellent for the 80s but just didn't evolve w/ the 90s which was darker dramatic social issues grunge Era etc. That's why I think a Todd manning blew up he was the personification of 90s angsty youth. He looks like he could be in a grunge band for godsakes. I think pearl jam nirvana when I see him. Dorian viki etc are just timeless. Never outta style. Like a little black dress.

[@renealexander2703]

Max never fit with Luna.

[@renealexander2703]

Actually, I think Jdp is a good actor. He does drama quite well, in my opinion.

[@renealexander2703]

Max is also timeless. Any character could be timeless. It's just that they made Vicki a crazy basketcase with hundreds of personalities like Sybil.

[@nattyps3160]

@@renealexander2703 u know I'm sorta going by fans & the old soap mags. Many people hated the gambling story & it was across the board panned. I actually thought the story was good but it sorta just ended. Max went to one full meeting told the aa guy that it wasn't for him & suddenly his gambling was gone. I'm sure they wanted max to do some sort of rehab but the story also went on very long from like March to Oct. Let me reprase about jdp. He's not a bad dramatic actor he's just really great at being the lovable dashing rogue. I do recall when people really started hating max w/ Blair & scamming Asa & cheating w/ skye & having his mistress & wife live together. The character was so written horribly horrible pair8ng w/ Blair & I hated max being a snake & obnoxious & not a good guy anymore. I think Max s story ended when Luna died. Jdp pretty much loathed what happened to max for years when he returned in 91. He said no regime got the character like Paul Rauch did

[@renealexander2703]

@@nattyps3160 , oh, okay. That's a shame. I've always loved Max. I never liked him with Luna, Blair, Roxy, Leann, and the Nun. I did like Max with Tina, Lee and Megan. However, my favorite lady for Max is Gabrielle. Max and Gabrielle are one of my all-time favorite soap/television couples. I love them together and I was so heartbroken when they killed off Al and Gabrielle and did not make Max and Gabrielle endgame.

[@amandastoudemire6563]

blair knew what she was doin'. she knew he was married to luna, and she went around with max anyway. luna should have pushed her out the damn window. max is just pathetic. he tried to justify cheatin' on his wife, on crushin her heart and her dreams of a long happy marriage and family. I hope she made him crawl over broken glass on his hands and knees before she took him back. she needed to get some back.

[@bubblezzxxd15]

He knew he was married! Blair wasn't in a relationship with Luna, she didn't owe her anything

[@natalieps2387]

@@bubblezzxxd15 exactly it always annoys me when the wife blames the other woman blame the husband the man that made the vows

[@natalieps2387]

Max & luna were not a good match. I know by the 90s max was kinda past his characters prime of the larger than life guy who loved exotic & sexy beautiful exciting women & wanted lots of money & adventures. Then by 92 when they brought him back something was missing. The soaps became more intense & 90s & max seemed like a throwback of the 80s glitz & glamour. He also didnt work great without gabrielle Tina or megan around anymore. Luna was a goody goody spouting new age stuff & I think saddling max down with a boring homelife with a wife & 3 kids ruined the character completely. Then roger howarth exploded onto the scene a very complex younger character that took the leading man spot. Max really had no ties to anyone. I think the show struggled terribly when max gabrielle & andrea Evan's tina left that the ep thought bringing max back would make the show better but he really was lost in the 90s. Max was like the Rhett butler of the 80s & gabrielle was like scarlet. Luna is melanie & u never pair melanie with rhett. Cord was like Ashley so imo cord & luna were meant to be . Yes it would have been boring two do gooders together that are not complex they are just nice sweet people which us great for real life but not a soap. Blair was like the new scarlett & she worked the best with todd bc he was like heathcliff from wuthering heights so a totally original & fresh pairing. Blair was not at her best with max . She was clingy & u kinda didnt see what the heck she saw in him or cord. Todd & her were unexpected but sparks like crazy. I never got why when todd made his two returns the show couodnt let them be happy without all the ikes & fights. They were actually very exciting as a couple in 95 when they were happy. Making them suddenly fight & attack in 96 & 2001 was silly bc they didnt need conflict to be entertaining. Anyway luna was such a doormat to take max back after this.

[@MRInvincible569]

I think you summed up Max perfectly. Both him and Cord were missing something without Andrea Evans being around as well as Megan and Gabrielle being gone.

[@natalieps2387]

@@MRInvincible569 thanks ! I really feel like when andrea left followed by jdp then fiona the show had its worst 2 years ever. 90 & 91. E.p. Linda Gottlieb moved heaven & earth to get max back. This was around 92. He took over for the previous max who gave me the creeps. So max was in a relationship with leeann who looked too young for him. I mean she hooked up with vikis very young adult son kevin. She was more part of the kiddie crowd. The character of max was a throw back to the 80s when shows esp oltl were doing more social issues & the money & extravagance of the 80s was over. Max also had no family. I thunk andy was gone & they killed off his brother steve. I never felt any of his pairings when he returned were good at all. Also he entered the show with another new comer gabrielle. Luna was a terrible pairing that totally emasculated max. Roger also took over the show & unfortunately max was replaced by a younger better actor that fit well with the 90s. Michael malone wanted to set the sun on the buchanans & fringe buchanan max & rise the sun in the lords. Paul Rauch the previous e.p. who also had direct control of storyline, had the buchanans so front & center since 1979. Also the lord women were buchanans through marriage. Malone resurrected the Dorian viki fued. He also focused a lot on victor a man who's name I dont remember being spoken about in the 80s. Anyway I think max kinda grew out of the lovable adventurous scoundrel when he left in early 90. His character just did not seem to fit in with the direction the 90s went.

[@renealexander2703]

I agree with you. Great analysis of Max. However, I disagree that Todd was a 'better" actor.

[@renealexander2703]

@@natalieps2387 , the 80s were more glamorous, fun, romantic, adventerous and action packed. Everything that soaps are suppose to be.

[@donna1175]

You don't trust me.....says the man who constantly gambles, lies and commits adultery.