Holden @ soapcentral.com

Last week on As the World Turns, Paul found Sofie on the verge of death... and instead of calling 911, he watched her die, tossed her body in a laundry bin, and then buried her in his backyard. Now, I know she accused him of rape. I know she was creepily obsessed with him, claiming to be pregnant with his child when she probably wasn't, out to get Meg, etc. I know she whispered Meg's name before she died, leading Paul to think his beloved was the one who had attacked Sofie. Still, though, the girl was PREGNANT. Possibly with Paul's child. Watching her die, even to protect Meg, was cold.

Now we have the mystery emerging of who really did kill Sofie. Right now they're def making it look like it was Barbara (even Lisa practically accused Barbara of murder), but my experience with soap operas tells me that a) Barbara is way too obvious a suspect, and b) it's way too soon for the real killer to be on the radar. I suspect that it will turn out to either be a nobody, throw-away killer, or someone other than Barbara or Meg. Possibly Cole. Or what about Chris? He was on a crazy drunken binge rage thing.

I was glad to see Luke and Noah back together, but then, of course, their reunion turned out to be brief, because Noah has decided to enlist. Really, will those two boys ever be happy and together? It doesn't look like it will be any time soon, especially after the previews showed Luke showing up at boot camp (or wherever) and telling everyone that Noah is gay. Jesus, Luke. I know you don't want him to join the army, but he's never going to forgive you for that.

I'm still loving Holden and Carly and their forbidden lust. Jon Hensley has a lot more chemistry with Maura West than he does with NuLily. I can't wait for Jack and Lily to find out about Holden and Carly having sex, and I have to say that I hope there's more of Holden and Carly together, because they steam up the screen!

Speaking of steam, I actually really like Janet and Jack together. They're fun and funny, and it gets Janet away from pursuing Brad. It'll be interesting to see what Liberty and Parker do if their parents start dating, lol.

Brad and Katie were cute as per usual, especially in their Fourth of July outfits on Friday, although Katie's make up was a little over the top.

This week I'm looking forward to more tension between Holden and Carly, more Jack and Janet, and the unfolding of the mystery of who killed Sofie. Also? Margo's going to catch Casey and Emily in the act! Hee.

Oh, and yay for twenty five years for Tom and Margo! They've been married longer than I've been alive, which is certainly saying something, especially for a soap couple!

I really enjoy watching popular media - film and television because there are so many life lessons just right there in living color before my eyes. Case in point Holden on ATWT. Where do I begin. He had problems with his wife because he  felt like she was not truthful and was manipulative in their relationship, and he just couldn't deal with any of this any more.  Now is it just me but is Holden going from the frying pan into the skillet. He is  interested in Carly, a woman who wrote the book on manipulation and lying. Lily is in the minor league compared to Carly. In fact she probably learned most of her stuff from Carly. Carly is all the way major. If the writers  are on their job Holden should experience the same things Jack experience with Carly, of course miracles do happen and Carly as in real life could experience some type of redeemtive moment. However, even redeemption doesn't necessary means you no longer fight the same demons it just means you now have some outside help fighting them. Back to Holden,  he should experience the same things as Jack did with Carly, unless he walks away and learn the lesson of history. The bottom line is in life we learn from personal experience or from history. Now I know that the writers will not allow Holden to walk away from Carly now because we would not have the drama needed for a "daytime drama" but if this was real life I would tell Holden this- Jack has the history book on Carly, borrow it read it and walk away. Life is painful enough if you can learn from history do it.