ATWT Stealing Holden's Memories (1992)

July 20, 1992.
[Episode excerpt.]
As Lily suffers during Holden's disappearance in Oakdale, an operation in New York City may change his life in a surprising way. In this clip:

-Good news for Lily
-Doctors discuss Holden's fate

Thanks to atwtfaithful

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• ATWT
• As
• the
• World
• Turns
• Holden
• Lily
• Iva
• amnesia
• 1992

[CarlD2]

I think this was one of the only Marland decisions I disagreed with, at least in a major way.

[Oakdalian]

@CarlD2 In hindsight, it's not like there wasn't enough of a wait for the truth about Aaron to come out. Stretching the tale a bit longer this way could only have happened for the purpose of breaking up Holden & Lily. Oddly enough, she later says that Aaron wasn't even the problem. It seems like a monumental effort to bring back Martha Byrne, which she wouldn't get as ATWT ended. But I do like that it took years for Holden to recover. I think this story influenced Jason's new personality on GH.

[deb310red]

I heard somewhere that ATWT did this memory loss storyline because they didn't think that Martha Bryne would ever return to the show, and Jon Hensley and Heather didn't have much romantic chemistry together. So if Holden lost his memory of Lily, they'd have to break them up for good. But then Martha returned to ATWT, and we got the Holden/Lily/Damien triangle, which must have been planned in advance by Marland before he passed away.

[CarlD2]

@Oakdalian I can't remember but I think someone said that this story also happened because Jon Hensley was going to leave if Holden didn't change. The problem I had with this is that the qualities I disliked in normal Holden were amped up about 10 times in post-brain damage Holden. Cold, selfish, judgmental, now without any of the relationships that tempered him (aside from the love w/Lily, which never did anything for me). Putting him at the center of the show was a misstep, for me.