Santa Barbara 25 - Mason and Julia

Cool - the perfect adjective for Mason. The perfect adjective for Julia.

Two cool customers.

Too cool for school.

Cooler heads prevailed.

This was the case when either of them were in court, whether they were defending a client or prosecuting an accused. Except when they were on opposite sides of an issue. Julia's participation in the Mark McCormick case threatened to create an irrevocable divide between the two of them, but in the end, Julia opted to circumvent due process in favor for justice for Mason's love, Mary; sadly, the big C sign fell on Mary, leaving Mason heartbroken and out for blood. Julia wasn't exempt from his wrath.

I forget what made Mason and Julia mend fences- maybe he found out what Julia was trying to do- but eventually, they buried the hatchet. They still had a very adversarial relationship in court, and yet, Julia saw something in Mason that compelled her to consider him as a potential sperm donor.

Julia developed an itch - an itch to become a mother. And given her track record with men, she figured that the picket fence destiny that most women bank on was not for her. So she took matters into her hands (no pun intended). Mason, still reeling from losing Mary, was at loose ends too. He envisioned a happy life with Mary and the child she was carrying. Mason wasn't looking for empty sex, but he sure wasn't interested in revisiting loving and losing. So when Julia bandied the idea of Mason being possibly perfect DNA material, given his intelligence and looks (although Julia would never linger on that aspect for too long), Mason was surprisingly game. Whatever told him to go along with this was a godsend because this marked the beginning of one the most complicated, engaging, humorous pairings in Santa Barbara history.





Julia knew what she was doing. Being an attorney, she could've insisted that Mason make a deposit at a sperm bank and came in for an appointment. Or, she could've opted for the do-it-yourself turkey baster method, in order for her to maintain control over the whole process. Instead, she opted to get it directly from the tap. OFTEN. She had the money to keep this a detached enterprise, but no.... And then there's Mason. Sure, he was still in mourning, and he had doubts about being a father, given the kind of father he had, but he opted to participate in something that would tie him to Julia for life. Kinda funny how a progressive feminist like Julia wanted to be connected to a sometimes chauvanistic traditionist like Mason and yet, it worked. It worked like a muthafcuka!!!



Along the way, both made mistakes - Mason married Tory and pretended to be the father of Tory's child and Julia pretended that she was satisfied with being a single mother - actually, she was satisfied, but she was also in love with Mason. When Tory was completely out of the picture, then Mason's alcoholism took hold; then Mason developed an alter, Sonny, who was attracted to Gina, not Julia. Then, Julia slept with Father Michael, blah, blah, blah... eventually, they found themselves back together. Then Lane Davies left the show, putting an end to the heat, chemistry, and witty banter that was a nice alternative to all-consuming romance of Cruz and Eden.

Lane Davies and Nancy Grahn were sometimes characterized as the Tracy-Hepburn of the Santa Barbara scene, but it went beyond that. Davies' Mason wasn't about cutting Grahn's Julia down to size and Julia wasn't about making over Mason to be a more modern man. These two people were already in transition and fortunately, their interactions with each other facilitated a more well-rounded, authentic evolution for both of them.

And they were hot as hell together too.