Soap Opera Weekly
July 27, 1999
Applause, Applause

Though I have always enjoyed Lindsay's antics, her buttinski ways - not to mention her tendency to leap before she looks - have made it difficult to muster up any sympathy for this One Life to Live character, let alone shed any tears. And that is, until she was forced to deal with the ramifications of being wrongfully charged with vehicular homicide in the hit-and-run death of her granddaughter. With a firm grasp of subtext and an understated performance, Catherine Hickland managed to arouse not only my compassion but my respect for her talent.

In scenes that marked the actress's first solo storyline opportunity to strut her stuff as Lindsay, Hickland didn't seek the spotlight, but instead allowed the situation to light the way. Forced to walk into the police station and confront reporters and station personnel ready to convict her without a trial, Lindsay held her head high, but the horror and disbelief that registers on her face were not only palpable but disconcerting. She didn't speak. She didn't have to. Her body language, taut with emotion, said enough - and what that didn't communicate, the devastation in her eyes appropriately conveyed. While Hickland kept her performance restrained, she nonetheless made it clear that Lindsay felt like an animal trapped in a cage; she looks like she was going to jump out of her skin at any moment. Only a cold fish would lack sympathy for Lindsay during this time.

Lindsay's attempts to convince Bo and ex-husband Sam of her innocence were compelling. Even more poignant, however, was her concern for their children and her begging Sam not to tell them what was happening. The tears, the anguish in Hickland's voice and her all but clutching Sam's lapel for emphasis accurately delineated the character's desperation and heartbreak. OK, so she had my sympathy.