SimonSays.com

Since today is the Matt competition, I thought we could add a few more Paradise topics to the ones that have already been resurrected.

How did you like Lisa and Parker ending up together in Paradise? I know that in the past, it has come up that it seems a little 'too close for comfort' since he and Meredith were engaged at one time. What did you think about the situation and them being together? And, how did you like their characters, in general?

I adored Parker and Lisa. I didn't care for Parker with Meredith at all and frankly, he acted like an ass a lot of the time. LOL But with Lisa, he "worked" for me as a character. I would love to have seen more of their romance as it developed though. Scenes I'd like to have added include - LMAO

1) The morning after scene once Lisa hangs up the phone with Meredith.

2) The first real "date" that Lisa and Parker go on and how he led up to asking her.

3) When Parker admits he loves Lisa AND when he actually realizes he's in love with her.

4) The proposal

I guess with secondary characters you love you always want to see more of them, but I really would love to know how it all came about after they slept together.

They fought a lot, but I never felt like there was *more* there...maybe if there had been instances in the book in which Parker felt horribly for being nasty to Lisa (like when he's mean to her the night at Mer's apt when he says she should wait in the kitchen)...or Parker and Lisa would catch each other looking at each other...just something...

I would have loved to see more of their relationship too, I thought it was really a shame that Judith didn't expound on it more, after their night together (Yes, I know Matt competitors, Paradise was long enough as it was to study) but just a few more scenes like to ones Shannon has suggested would have been really enjoyable for me.

I never had any adverse feelings when Lisa and Parker slept together, after all we all knew Meredith was Matt's, and I was so happy for Lisa who is one of my favourite secondary characters. Let's face it she made Parker human.

lol

Mal

sidenote, does it ever freak anybody else out that he had a kid? Before he and Lisa got together? I just can't see him as a fatherly type.

Lisa and Parker totally work for me.

Flawed characters are so interesting to read about. I get bored if there's nothing to really flavor the personalities.

Lisa brings out the best in Parker, tweaks the flaws, and vice versa.

Parker softens a bit of brashness in Lisa and she livens up Parker when he is a bit of a bore.

[This message has been edited by Lucee (edited 05-14-2002).]

Posts: 1069 | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged | 

I didnt think Parker quite paired up with Mer either. As a matter of fact I dont think Parker pairs up with anyone..but me LOL. Sorry just had to throw that in there!

I just cannot possibly see the two together. Why? I loved Lisa...she's cool, she's friendly, she's down to earth, she's funny, she does things on a whim, etc. Parker...as some of the others have stated...wuss, snobby, fickle, etc. I just never felt like he stood up for anything unless it was his money...he was "just there". Lisa was there--and then some. I know that opposites attract at times, however not these two. Also the fact that they were all friends doesn't help any. It spells D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R down the road!

Cheers,
Steve

And as for you Steve, we've had this discussion before. Don't make me repreat myself young man. LOL

It took you just a short 8 minutes to respond...how did I know you would post right after me??? LOL

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

Steve

As for my fast response, that's actually pure chance as I haven't had access all day to the net. You just had the great misfortune LOL to post right while I was eating my lunch and reading the board!

As for those love/hate relationships, love em, love to see the sparks fly. Come to think of it it's a bit like me and Joe LMAO, we fought all through ACOSW during our courtship and look how we turned out.

lol

Mal

I thought that Parker and Lisa were fine together. What is it they say "there's a thin line, etc.." LOL

Anyway what was Judith supposed to do with them? They couldn't just ride into the sunset..this wasn't a western you know.

And the rumors of the divorce are false. I heard they bought a Llama farm and moved away. You can't always believe the press Steve.

I'm stickin' with my guns however and tellin' ya they just don't go together.

They're one of the couples that you've seen before...you and everyone else whisper, "they're *so* not for each other"...of course, they get offended and marry just to prove their point...and sure enough, a few years later, everyone else was right and they are divorced. Sorry...but Lisa and Loser...er...I mean...Parker got divorced.

This is an old arguement with me and Steve and we know that we will never agree on this topic. Ever. At all. In any way whatsoever. Isn't that right Steve? LOL

Mal made a good point about Mer and Matt already having slept together again which this all comes out. I will always love Lisa and Parker together. Period. I'm definitely standin' my ground!

I sooo didn't like the fact the Meredith slept with Matt while still engaged to Parker, and I sooo didn't like the fact that Lisa slept with Parker when she still thought Parkder was with Meredith. And even if I'm remember wrong and Lisa DID know Meredith and Parker got un-engaged before Lisa slept with Parker, it's still yucky.

Oh, and I don't like Jess and Sara either. Oopsey, too much honesty from me? :D

But I love you guys!

I remember when I first read Paradise, the sparks that were flying right from the beginning between Parker and Lisa had me telling myself that these two were meant to be together, I knew from then that they would end up together, so I wasn't in the least surprised.

As for the loyalty between friends, I know loads of people in RL that have ended up dating their best friends boyfriends, without their friendship suffering. I would think Mer would be glad Parker and found happiness with Lisa seeing as she herself had done so with Matt, I can't imagine Mer having a *dog in the manger* attitude, I don't want him but you can't have him either. Good luck to them I say.

lol

Mal saw sparks b/w Lisa and Parker...

I saw nothing b/w Parker and Lisa, except dislike...

Hmmm...verrrrrrrrrrry, verrrrrrrrrrry strange! LOL

We all have such varying ideas about these two.

I for one, cannot see how these two ever made it together for very long. Everything I ever thought about them has already been previously stated, the rebound, the best friend sleeps with the Ex, the fact that Lisa was so fiery, and Parker was.......NOT. Lol! I don't have anything more to add. I just never got it either.

quote:

---

Post Number: 46192 of 46295
Subject: LISA PONTINI

On 08/20/99 at 2:13AM JUDITH McNAUGHT said...
Hi, everyone! Judy e-mailed me the
following question, and the answer
follows:

QUESTION: *Lisa Pontini was so well-
imagined, I really felt as though I
KNEW her, or at least, had met someone
like her before. Was there anyone
specific you had in mind when creating
Lisa, on whom you based the character?
Did you know from the start that you
were going to pair Parker and Lisa
together??

ANSWER: Actually...my original plan for
Lisa was very, very different than
the "Lisa" we all came to love. In the
early stages of the manuscript, when I
planned to take PARADISE main-stream,
Lisa started out as an adorable
youngster—just as she was in the
version you read. Meredith was still
her benefactor and engaged to Parker,
and Lisa was working for Bancroft & Co—
Everything was the same to that point.
But in the first draft of the
manuscript, the adult Lisa had
developed a grave and realistic case of
envy and resentment toward Meredith—a
love/hate relationship toward Meredith
because Meredith was always in the
position of Lisa's benefactor, and Lisa
resented her for that as much as she
took advantage of the opportunities
Meredith offered her. I'm not certain
I'm explaining that, but it's rather a
common psychological event when one
person is able to effortlessly and
repeatedly bestow favors on another.
Many of us would feel deep, undying
gratitude in that situation, but there
are other people who resent the "giver"
even while they are taking, needing
those very gifts. To put it succinctly
they hate being the recipient of
charity and, even though they need that
charity, they resent the fact that
someone else is able to hand it out.

Anyway, I ended up disliking Lisa so
thoroughly when I wrote her that way,
that I changed my mind and decided I
preferred to portray a woman (Lisa in
this case) at her best, not her worst.
In that early version, Lisa kept her
animosity mostly hidden, and she hated
herself for being jealous of Meredith,
so she wasn't a completely despicable
character, but she wasn't all that
likeable either. And, yes, in the
early version of the book, as in the
final version, Lisa was secretly in
love with Parker. And since I knew
that Matt and Meredith were going to
end up together, I had pretty much
assumed that Parker and Lisa would get
together in the end.

It's good to see everyone here is
having such a good time.

Regards--

JM

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[This message has been edited by Sari (edited 05-18-2002).]

Posts: 2911 | From: The Rutherford ballroom | Registered: May 2000  |  IP: Logged | 

Thanks for posting that it was really interesting to get JM's slant on the Lisa/Parker affair.

I agree, Stacy. It is really funny how we can both read the same book and get a completely different slant on it. I guess with me when couples are hostile to each other, I always think there's more too it. After all I watched for years as my own daughter fought and insulted every boy she really liked. I could measure how much she liked them by how rude she was to them. If she was nice to them I knew they were on the way out. So I guess I measure it from that LOL . But I did always think that P & L would end up together, they had to, because we all knew Mer would end up with Matt, and JM had to do something with Parker.

lol

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING DEBTATES I'VE SEEN. I AM THOROUGHLY ENJOYING IT.

THANKS SHANNON FOR BECOMING MY NEW BEST FRIEND, I NEED ALL I CAN GET. LOL I'LL SIT ON THE COUCH WITH YOU, MARION, AND LUCEE ANY DAY AND SHOOT THE BREEZE.

The very first time I read Paradise, I loved Lisa and Parker together. I think it had more to do with the fact that I like everything all nice and tidy at the end--with everyone happy and nothing left to guess at...I don't think it was so much that I really loved Lisa and Parker as a couple, though.

On rereads, their appeal has lessened to me to some extent. I fall somewhere in between the categories of 'love em or 'hate me. LOL I think it has a lot to do with what SL mentioned about not seeing the attraction along the way. It also would have been nice to see something in between the night they slept together and then the epilogue where they were married...

So, while I don't dislike them, I'm not on Shannon's bandwagon either! (sorry Shannon!) How's that for indecisiveness? LOL

Just kidding! Everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinions on this, but I just have to quote an old friend of mine who would always say "You may be right...but you're wrong!" LOL