Out of the loony bin. (Soaps.com)

Lori’s “All My Children” Weekly Wrap Up For August 1 – 5:

I can’t express enough how much I loved last Friday’s episode of “All My Children.” Most of the week served as build up to what unfolded, so let’s just get right to it, shall we?

A perfect fit.
How great was Leo’s return? Even though I started to guess he wasn’t real when he immediately remembered everything and was perfectly ambulatory, unlike Zombie Dixie, it didn’t take away from the romance of the scene. I was surprised by the mad chemistry that still existed between Josh Duhamel and Rebecca Budig and the big screen star’s ease at transitioning back to Daytime. It was like he never left. I feel like they are a couple who truly gets and appreciates each other and I teared up as they recalled their past together. It’s too bad Josh has such a successful post Daytime career because Leo and Greenlee are a couple I could watch for years to come.

The great escape.
Oak Haven continued to be a source of great comedy last week. It started with Erica seeing Dixie, which led to Janet using her feminine wiles on orderly Ralph to help her new friend for life Erica get in to see her. I laughed out loud at the nod to the ridiculousness of Dixie dying from eating poisoned pancakes, as Erica repeatedly told a confused Dixie that’s what they thought happened to her. “Pancakes? No,” a confused Dixie stuttered. I think that was the reaction most of the viewers had as they watched it happen onscreen a couple of years ago. Things just got better from there as Janet showed up at Kendall’s with Erica on Friday. She proceeded to explain to a dumfounded Bianca and Kendall that her taking over her sister Natalie’s life so many years ago made Erica’s story of a look-a-like all that more plausible. Only on a soap does that make perfect sense.