| Have you ever taken one of those superballs that bounces really high, thrown it against a wall and watched it fly all over the room? That's the image that came to mind this week as Reva --- and Kim Zimmer --- ricocheted from one dramatic situation to another on GL. Coming off her euphoric reunion with Josh at Cross Creek, the news that Richard asked someone to marry him got Reva all jumpy again. Reva tried to delude herself, but she was so obvious, especially to Josh. Zimmer, on the other hand, wasn't so obvious, making sharp acting choices that made her scenes complex and volatile. Reva tried to placate Josh, but he wouldn't buy it, because Reva's obsession with Richard was written all over her face. Zimmer forcefully portrayed Reva's ugly dilemma. She didn't deliver her lines --- she spit them out. While Reva wanted to do the right thing, there was something irreverent and defiant about Zimmer's performance. Finally, the Reva of old has returned! Zimmer continued to juggle these conflicting emotions when Reva confronted Cassie. She went to the farm, bouquet of flowers in hand, under the pretense of making things right with her sister. But it didn't take Cassie long to figure out that Reva was dying to know if Richard had asked Cassie to marry him. Cassie called Reva on it, and Reva started bouncing off the walls again, basically attacking her sister for becoming involved with a man Reva claims she doesn't love. Zimmer didn't shy away from letting Reva's claws come out, or from wearing Reva's heart on her sleeve. The contrast was startling, unnerving. The scene became uglier when Josh walked in and heard Reva's diatribe. Once again, Reva had to talk her way out of what was so obvious --- that she wants both Richard and Josh. But Josh wouldn't listen anymore. At the house, Josh told Reva he's leaving her. Reva was reduced to tears, but Zimmer didn't forget the tempest of emotions swarming inside Reva. She still seemed wired and frantic over the news that Richard was engaged. At times she looked like a junkie searching for her next fix. Then Marah arrived and said she would ask Prince Richard to leave her mother alone. "Richard is in San Cristobel," Reva said. "No, he's not. He's in Springfield. I saw him on TV," Marah explained. Like a robot, Reva turned, drawn to the house like a magnet. Zimmer's body language, even from the back, demonstrated the pull this man has on her. "He's not on TV now," Marah said helplessly. Reva stopped in her tracks, and turned back towards Josh. She knew she was caught. "I rest my case," Josh said sadly. After hugging Marah and promising they'd get together soon with Shayne to talk things over, Josh left. Reva tried to explain herself to Marah, admitting tearfully when her daughter questioned her that she had had a moment of intimacy with Richard at Cross Creek --- "But I didn't sleep with him!" --- whereupon Marah called Reva a tramp. Reva whacked Marah across the face, but withdrew her hand immediately, a look of sheer horror playing across her face. Reva's pain and confusion was so evident it was as though she, not Marah, had been hit. The force of the slap, however, paled in comparison to the power of Zimmer's week-long tour de force. |