Like kristi, Manny's sweet, tender love scenes sans passion did not inspire me to press the rewind button to rewatch them, which is probably a first in my Manny viewing habits. In my opinion, those scenes were not about two people making love for the first time -- they were about the actors/director/crew trying to keep those pink satin sheets from slippin' and slidin' for 3 1/2 hours! I would have preferred to see a love scene that started out like the almost love scene. Manny could have sent Mama off chasing imaginary bomb threats and Pilar in search of a clue. Then Manny could consummate their marriage in their bedroom at Casa Santos, once again with him being tentative, her reassuring him followed by a passionate love scene (tastefully executed, of course), and then Manny could have talked about how far they've come from their wedding night/almost love scene.

I, too, have been disappointed and puzzled by the writers insistence upon isolating Michelle from the rest of Springfield's Bauer friends. When I posted a response to Melissa about an alternative scenario to Rick locking up Michelle in the loony bin, I pictured all those you mentioned and others coming to intervene with Michelle in a "tough love" manner by expressing their concerns about her commitment to Danny and his dangerous world. Was the point of the loony bin episodes to visually depict to viewers just how isolated Michelle has become from the rest of Springfield since her marriage to Danny? Even Aunt Meta didn't come to visit her, and I still cannot believe Ed went along with Rick's solution to keeping Michelle away from Danny. The only purpose that I can see for this loony bin detour is to isolate Michelle from her family as well as the rest of Springfield and have Rick come across as an unreasonable jerk, which I suppose is the writers' segue into the upcoming Rick/Abby storyline.

I agree with those who suspect that the writer/s who wrote the dialogue for Manny before Danny decided the couple was going to renew their vows is no longer at the helm of Manny scripts. Ever since that breakfast scene when Danny put ketchup on Michelle's nose, much of their dialogue has sounded hollow to me. Rather than having Manny renew their vows and consummate in the woods offscreen -- and we've yet to see them revisit their bridal suite -- I wish TPTB had saved consummation for the San Cristobel location scenes, which I imagine will air next month.

In the meantime, they could have had Manny actually get to know one another, have Danny talk about how hurt he was when Michelle rejected him on their wedding night and almost love scene and more about the FBI incident. And, as I've complained about in past post responses, Michelle is rarely given any dialogue addressing her past, her relationship with her parents, how she dealt with her mother's death, her father's involvement with Eve and her subsequent death, her move to Europe with her father, how alone she must have felt in her teenage years, etc. I purposefully didn't watch much of the McTavish/Laibson regime, but at least Rebecca Budig's Michelle got to talk to Maureen's ghost and her friends -- Joie Lenz's Michelle has had no one to share her thoughts with since her forced "friendship" with Drew.

I'm still thrilled that TPTB did not ruin Manny with a Drew baby, but does that mean that Manny's storyline had to change from being character driven to plot driven (the bomb under the pew, Michelle abducted and locked in the loony bin) and then tossed to the sidelines of Josh and Reva's storyline? I've loved the few and far between Manny San Cristobel scenes thus far, but as so many have already posted, their happy being-in-love dialogue has been repetitive and the focus has centered on Reva and the ring, and not on Manny's honeymoon and her lack of an engagement ring, but I digress ... WHERE IS MANNY'S CELEBRATED PASSION? Does Manny's new house even have a bedroom? I have somewhat lowered my expectations for this storyline, but I'm hoping that August will bring longer, more passionate scenes for Manny -- AND NO TRIANGLES, PLEASE...

Marie