Gold Star Performer -- SID 11/2/04
After all the pain and suffering that Dinah has put Cassie through - stemming back five years, when Dinah shot Hart, up to the nightmarish recent weeks - it wasn't at all surprising that she felt driven to the absolute brink of insanity, kidnapping her rival and bringing her to a Cliffside. But thanks to Laura Wright's delicate portrayal of a woman on the edge, we empathized with and understood Cassie's fears as she attempted to take the life of the woman who has constantly left her terrified for her own.
AN EYE FOR AN EYE
Desperate to protect her children from the crazed woman who took away the first man who ever loved her, Cassie held Dinah at gunpoint, forcing her foe to teeter on the edge of a cliff. "You have stolen enough from me and my family, and it has to end now," Cassie whispered. "You have 10 seconds to live. That's nine more than you gave Hart before you blew him away."
Although her face was frozen in an emotionless expression, Wright somehow still managed to convey all the confusion, angst, fright, and anxiety that her character was surely going through as Cassie resolved to put an end to the nightmare Dinah created. And when her rival insisted that perhaps they were more alike than Cassie would want to admit, "You killed out of rage and spite," she calmly stated in response. "I'll do it to save my family. I hope God can forgive you, because I can't."
COMING TO HER SENSES
Just in the nick of time, Edmund and Jeffrey arrived on the scene, and caught Cassie in the act. Unwavering in confidence and without an ounce of remorse, Cassie confessed to having kidnapped Dinah and planning to kill her. But it was Jeffrey and Edmund's good cop/bad cop routine that gave Wright an even better opportunity to shine as Cassie at last began to sense the ramifications that such a plan would have. Practically trying to convince herself, the high-moraled woman insisted one final time, "I have to do this for the children," before at last putting down the gun.
In an instant, Wright took Cassie from cold and unrelenting to ashamed and disbelieving as she cried to Edmund, "What did I do? I wanted her to feel what it's like to be scared all the time. I just wanted her to feel it." Maybe Cassie was able to make Dinah sense the fear that she's been living with. Maybe she didn't. But thanks to Wright's subtle mix of revenge, trepidation and apprehension all at once, viewers certainly felt the torture that Cassie's been living with.
Back to 2004 Articles
Back to Article Links Page