This past week’s Soaps had an underlying theme of pain among them. Some were escaping their pain with emotional crutches that won’t last long, while others’ pain proved to be too much to keep in for so long. Let’s recap this past week’s episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, and The Young and the Restless.
The Bold and the Beautiful
Wyatt has such a blindspot when it comes to his mother. He also so badly wants to marry Steffy he doesn’t want to see anything which could interfere with his plans. Steffy just wants to be happy for once, without all of the drama. Everything they’re saying is rational given the information they currently have. But the kind of love they want isn’t supposed to be rational. Steffy has always been someone driven by passion, and yes that has meant that she has been burned a few times. That doesn’t mean either she or Wyatt should settle for the sensible choice. If you have to rationalize why you are good together, then it’s not a match made in heaven.
Finally Liam realized that “Eve” is lying to him. He seems to be the only one listening to his gut, which is telling him that something is very wrong. Alas, Liam could not remember or discover anything in time to stop Steffy and Wyatt’s nuptials.
Katie’s temporary paranoia is no longer that. It’s safe to say she has a serious drinking problem. Bill and Brooke don’t want to Katie to spiral, but they also don’t want to push her away to the point where Katie feels she can’t come to them for help. There’s only so long Katie can continue to function as normal self.
Performer of the Week:
Heather Tom knows how to play vulnerability, which she is doing once again with Katie’s alcoholism storyline. Katie’s eyes were filled with the dual guilt and desperation that is a tell-tale sign of an addict. The trick is to keep that duality growing moving forward as this storyline progresses.
Days of Our Lives
Tired of having their lives controlled by fear, Chad and JJ work up a plan to trap Ben. There’s no doubt he is definitely lurking around terrorizing Abigail, though you can’t blame her for jumping at shadows as well. The thought of a deranged serial killer holding your child would drive anyone over the edge. It may seem like Abigail is imagining things, but that is probably Ben’s psychotic plan. Not that keeping Abigail calm isn’t a priority, but can we stop drugging the Devereaux women? It hasn’t proven to be a good idea.
I really, really didn’t want to laugh at Theresa. Losing a pricey engagement ring is serious business definitely worth a mini panic attack all its own. It was just really, really, really hard not to laugh as she crawled all over the floor looking for that ring!
Deimos warned that there would be repercussions for Victor not apologizing for his past sins, but drugging Maggie was over the line. Deimos cares for nothing and no one, but knew that if it was a choice between Maggie’s life and his company, Victor would choose Maggie. The consequences for all of this were more catastrophic than anyone could have realized. Deimos has all the power he ever wanted, while Maggie lies potentially paralyzed in a hospital bed. Victor can’t even help his wife now that Caroline’s prediction of him having a heart attack has come true.
It’s understandable that after all Stefano put her through Kate would want someone who’s completely honest with her, but her acceptance of Deimos’s behavior is appalling. She really does have the worst taste in men.
Putting aside their messy history, Belle and Philip shouldn’t be together for one simple reason: they want different things. Belle is in the middle of a messy divorce from a man she’s loved since she was a teenager, and she has no desire to commit herself to anything serious. Philip has struggled for years to find his Mrs. Right and hopes that he could recapture the spark he had with his first wife.
At least one good thing came out of this week. Steve and Kayla have reunited at last! Granted it was provoked by the urgency of Steve’s trial the next day, but at least now they’re going to get through whatever comes next together.
Performer of the Week:
Monday and Tuesday’s episodes felt like a horror movie, with Abigail as the main character slowly losing her mind as she’s trying to escape her would-be killer. Ben really is a sociopath, because he knows exactly what he is doing to Abigail. Messing with someone’s mind is a more drawn out punishment in his mind, and Kate Mansi knows how to rise to the occasion. She played out Abigail’s fear, calm, and confusion so well it felt like witnessing a feature film thriller.
General Hospital
After discovering that Hayden is really Rachel Berlin, Nikolas is done with his wife. Hayden may have truly fallen in love with Nikolas, but she didn’t survive this long by being a pushover. She made some very good points with Nikolas which he likes to ignore. Nikolas is a complete hypocrite for lecturing anyone on lying considering what he did to his own cousin. If Hayden has her way, Nikolas is not getting that divorce. It’s really great to see Jason trying to protect his family. He and Sam are united in trying to get ELQ back from the Quartermaines. The secret weapon they are about to stumble upon is how Hayden can be of use in this mission.
To date, Michael Easton has played a vampire, a cop, a strict oncologist, and now a doctor once again. His roles have ranged from cool as a cucumber to deranged, but his current role as Dr. Hamilton Finn is a stark division of character traits. At first Dr. Finn appears to be a very professional, if somewhat unconventional, doctor. The way he went off on Dr. Obrecht for lack of proper treatment on Tracy’s case was astounding. He already has seals of approval from Epiphany, Carly, and Tracy-three women who hardly agree on much. Even his lizard is growing on everyone. So what is the good doctor hiding with those injection needles?
How great is Kristina’s storyline? After telling her mother the whole truth about what happened with Parker, Alexis was left in shock and Kristina was deeply hurt. Kristina’s talk with Lucas and Alexis’s talk with Julian were both very honest and enriching. The first conversation a person has about coming out to their parents is scary, but Alexis makes a good point that whether or not Kristina is gay, her married professor is not the person to help her figure it out.
Performer of the Week:
This one goes to both Lexi Ainsworth and Nancy Lee Grahn for their honest performance discussing an incredibly sensitive and personal subject to young men and women everywhere. Sexuality has always been a very complicated subject to tackle on television, particularly the exploration of LGBT teens. Kristina was honest with herself about how she was feeling, as was Alexis without removing her sensibilities as a mother to pay attention to the circumstances of her daughter’s particular situation. Both Ainsworth and Grahn are showing that this topic doesn’t need to be “handled”, it just needs to be spoken about honestly.
The Young and the Restless
A Newman family trial is always painful, none more so than this one. Michael’s actions opened the door for Victor to re-level the playing field in his trial. Victor wanted to justify his actions, and he was willing to run over everyone in his family to do so. In the end no one won, everybody lost. This was especially true for Victor, who for once, could not justify himself to a jury of his peers, and was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Phyllis is as bloodthirsty as a wolf in a desert. She doesn’t care that she pretty much torched Michael’s career and is destroying her marriage bit by bit. No, that’s not even enough for her, even after seeing justice served to Victor. She wants to destroy any shred of respect Victoria has for Billy by pushing Passkey out into the public eye. Not that Billy isn’t completely blameworthy for his actions, but he doesn’t have the same desperate look in his eye that Phyllis does. It’s no wonder that Victoria has reached her breaking point and that Jack is almost there himself.
Chelsea is really being a bit naïve. It’s not that Adam wants to go back to Newman. In fact this is probably the first time he genuinely doesn’t care to be in the middle of the family mess. However like the rest of his family, Adam feels a responsibility and sadness for what has been broken. That, at least, is the one common ground he has with his siblings.
Sharon really has come a long way. Feeling lucky that she has Dylan and Sully, she genuinely wants to help Nick and Sage get their happily ever after. It seems as if Sage has finally realized that Shawn isn’t fully ready to let go of her son, so the suggestion of an open adoption does seem like a good compromise, even though it’s still in the hands of an unpredictable young woman. Sharon and Dylan are embarking on an unpredictable path themselves, as they aren’t ready to let go of the inconsistencies surrounding Sully’s birth. They could get their answers, but they probably won’t be the ones they wanted.
Performer of the Week:
This week has to go to Amelia Heinle. For over ten years she has played the dutiful daughter of the gargantuan Victor Newman. To be Victor Newman’s daughter was to be proud, smart, strong, sophisticated, bold, at times unemotional and ambitious, but above all, loyal. In the past few weeks Victoria Newman has been loyal to her father’s legacy but not to the man he has become. Without the love of her life to support her personally or her family to be able to support her professionally, Victoria is feeling more alone and angry than she has in a very long time. She let that anger slip up several times, until she could no longer take it and Billy was standing in front of her as the perfect target. She should be credited for having control of her restraint for as long as she did.
It seems that everyone was holding in the pain this week, with a few exceptions showing the kinks in their armor. Whose circumstances will prove too strong to handle next?
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