Saturday Soapy Flashback: Julia Lindsay, A Good Woman Turned Catastrophic

 

The tea on Julia Lindsay (Annie Parisse)— she was a perfect example of a good character with the villainy volume amped up way too high. 

On the April 10, 1998 episode of As the World Turns, a runaway rich girl named Julia Lindsay sat on a train next to her future downfall— the wishy washy Oakdale, Illinois police detective Jack Snyder. The smart, beautiful Julia should have trusted later instincts and escaped the heartfelt clutches of a man hung up on the mischievous vixen Carly Tenney. 

Julia’s first appearance. 

Julia sans her glasses. 

In typical soapy fashion, Jack hopes to escape his heart’s wicked desires and find a true good woman— someone to snuff out the sinful temptation. Yet, Jack— who knows of Carly’s crimes and never turns her in for them— assuages his conscience by moving forward with Julia, a woman needing a full commitment. It doesn’t help that Jack will always run into his blond-haired ex in small-town Oakdale, bound by the family farm and a comfortable job that keeps him on lawful high ground. However, newbie Julia cannot compete when constantly reminded of Jack’s all-consuming love. She must be second best, his projection despite his denying the truth. 

Carly and her cousin Molly tag team Julia in the bathroom at a bar. 

Jack sings a song beautifully for Julia and they win tickets to a hayride. 

Despite being married to police captain Hal Munson, a pregnant Carly follows Jack all over town, a feral cat in heat, determined to not let the man get over her. Of course, this involves bullying Julia whenever possible, making fun of her appearance and her “goody goody” attitude.  

In a Bechdel passing scene (which happens in soaps occasionally), a fearful Camille (Lauren Martin) confides to Julia (Annie Parisse) about her breast cancer diagnosis. 

Camille Bennett pushes Julia into pursuing Jack. Simultaneously, Jack— who told Julia to give him space— pressures Carly to leave Hal— his boss and her husband. Later, however, Carly runs over Julia (who is waiting for Jack at the hayride) with her car and takes forever to call the ambulance. Jack finds her and believes his alcoholic brother Brad is responsible, not realizing it’s the object of his tormented obsession/stalker Carly. The next story is an overlong “who ran over Julia” as the woman wakes and struggles to remember who was yelling at her to wake up. Sigh. 

Despite odds never to be in Julia’s favor, the Carly/Jack/Julia triangle was Must See Daytime for a while— until Julia’s surprise revisits became just as redundant as Sheila Carter returning to Young & the Restless and Bold and the Beautiful.

Once Julia’s jealousy ignited her unhinged insecurity, she started therapy with Reid Hamilton— criminal mastermind James Steinbeck’s son David in disguise. Reid recommended that Julia leave Jack— which she did. Some great potential stories for Julia could have involved deepening her passion for journalism passion and browsing through jobs that lessened her contact with Jack and Carly. Surely, the Snyder farm did not take up the whole of the city. Maybe Lisa Hughes would have given the girl stories in another town. Perhaps in order to gain access to a juicy story, Julia risks her life and in the process finds someone new— someone who would nourish her heart. After all, in soap operas, only few women characters are allowed to be spinsters. Where is the passion and desire in singleness, especially as Julia is a gorgeous, dark-haired vixen with or without her eyeglasses?

If only Reid Hamilton wasn’t a Steinbeck in disguise, maybe Julia would have gotten over Jack once and for all. 

Julia eventually fell for Reid and became engaged to him. Yet, the heart wanted what it wanted— a one sided love with a man who simply did not feel the same intensity. Sure, Jack married Julia, but he truly wasn’t invested in the commitment, wasting Julia’s time whilst desperately pining away for Carly. Julia became pregnant and lost her baby, the beginning of the end of her sanity. 

In this promo shot, Jack may be holding Julia’s hand, but Carly’s pressed against him— implying that she’s much closer to his heart than Julia ever will be. 

The writers probably had a field day coming up with scenarios to turn Julia worse than Carly, transforming a once good woman character into an unhinged man-obsessed rapist. Between forcing herself on a drugged Jack, trying to murder Carly, and stealing a newborn baby, Julia seemed more an evil twin than the original bespectacled train passenger. Then again, soap operas rely heavily on the interloper trope— the more extreme the better for example Sunset Beach’s Virginia Harrison. 

A happier, healthier Julia. 

Julia’s portrayer Annie Parisse born Anne Marie Cancelmi, a thespian and graduate of Fordham University, was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2001. Parisse’s last return to As the World Turns in 2002 ended with Julia fleeing for Turkey. Since then Parisse has starred in Law & Order, The Following, and Mrs. America as well as several film and theater projects. Her next project is Michael Shannon’s Eric Larue co-starring with Alison Pill, Judy Greer, and real-life husband Paul Sparks. 

Julia (Annie Parisse), Jack (Michael Park), Carly (Maura West), and Hal (the late great Benjamin Hendrickson).

The downside of soap operas partially stems from lopsided depictions of women— often times overly exaggerated for extra dramatic impact, to have the audience root for the core suffering couple above all else. More often than not, the “rooting” couple can be beyond toxic as the case was for Jack and Carly. Julia Lindsay’s viciously assassinated character was sacrificed at the writer’s altar in order to prop up another woman just as morally corrupt. A police officer had to choose which of the evils he could live forever with. If only that bespectacled woman never departed the train to this stop: “welcome to insanity, population: you.”