qormi Review of Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II

Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II (1976–1977)

Sems like they made it up as they went along.

[25 September 2011]

Book 2 doesn't hold a candle to Book One. Standard soap opera fare punctuated by a weekly scene of Falconetti doing something violent, being it slapping a woman or torturing a cockroach. The romance between Rudy and Maggie is challenged by Kate. Rudy sees both of them and must choose. Now, you don't tell a woman that you have to choose between her and another woman. Women don't take this well, so this scenario was not realistic. Also, Rudy and Maggie are perfectly matched - same age, well educated....Kate seems like a giggling teenager and her scenes with Rudy are rather creepy. One common theme here is a lack of motherhood - all of the women in books one and two are lousy mothers. Rudy's mom favored him and ignored her other son, Tom. Julie ignored her son, Billy - sending him off to boarding school. Wes's mom was a prostitute and the courts took him away from her. Wes's stepmom, Kate, told him she didn't want him around. Maggie ignored her daughter, Diane, and sent her off to boarding school. Kate was always apart from her daughter - you never saw her. Ramona's mom died when she was a child. Anyway, the plot was predictable. Billy fell for Annie and kept getting rejected. Estep was always plotting and his goons killed for him. Wes and Ramona never worked it out....the whole thing had a very disappointing ending and nothing was resolved...just a bunch of people with shattered lives and life-threatening injuries. Had Rudy, Wes, or Billy ever bothered to call a cop instead of taking matters into their own hands, everything would have worked out just fine...duh...