Mary Worth Update: Jeff's back, Ella's leaving

Time for another Mary Worth update! Last time we checked in, Mary had decided to go to Vietnam to go find her doctor boyfriend, all based on a dream she had of him drowning. Well, she boarded the plane and arrived in 'Nam, where she asked many locals about where to find Peace Village. And, since 'Nam is soooo small, everyone knew where the doctor was: In a hospital!

It seems that he had overworked himself, or something, or inhaled large amounts of Agent Orange. That's not important. What's important is that Mary decided that the Vietnamese weren't good enough doctors and that, being American, only American doctors can do the best job possible, so she managed to convince Jeff to be transported back to the States for treatment.

On the plane ride back to the States, Jeff told Mary about how he loves helping out all the people affected by Agent Orange, how he feels a duty to help the Vietnamese, because of the aforementioned killer/life-destroyer. He ranted and raved about how it affects everyone for about a week. Have you heard a commercial warning you about AIDS/HIV and how it doesn't discriminate? Replace AIDS/HIV with Agent Orange, and you get the gist of what the conversation was like.

The doctor boyfriend is now resting at his home, which presumably isn't too far away from Charterstone Condominiums at all. So Mary Worth goes back to tell Ella Byrd all about her exciting adventure when Ella tells Mary that she knew what she had to do all along, and that any advice that she gave Mary didn't matter, because it's all in Mary's heart. Which, I hate when people say stuff like that because it IS sooo true, but it sounds sooo wrong when people say it like that. Don't ask me why.

And then we arrive at the latest comic installment, in which Ella Byrd announces that she's leaving Charterstone! Or, dying. One of the two. (She says "I'll be leaving you soon...", so, interpret that as you want.) Hopefully, before she leaves the strip, we get to find out what sort of hijinks happened in Mary's absence. Did that lawyer who was cheating on his wife come clean, or is he still having an affair? Did the professor shave his beard off? Who'll be the next person to get one of Mary's casseroles? Find out next time on... Mary Worth!

EDIT: I just realized that in one of the panel's, Ella Byrd kind of reminds me of Frances Sternhagen. So we've got that role cast for any kind of movie/TV special. And the modern Mary Worth kind of looks like Judi Dench anyways, so we don't have to worry about casting that role, either. And the professor could probably be played by Ron Perlman. Blast, this should have been a seperate post. Oh well, it's out there anyways.