I missed yesterday's episode so thank you for posting that Hun! OMG! I love Spinelli and Maxie together, but Monday showed just how much Maxie has grown and is her own person. It took me a very long time to accept Kirsten Storms as Maxie (I really loved Robyn Richards), but that one episode really shows the essence of Maxie and how she has grown. Maxie and Spinelli are awesome, but Maxie can carry her own scenes.

Before becoming friends with Spinelli Maxie had become a vicious shrew, IMO, who supplied drugs to a married man and pretended to be pregnant to make him stay with her. She was desperate and felt unloved. I think that Spinelli's love and acceptance have helped Maxie return to the feisty spunky girl (now woman) we loved.

Quote:I cannot even begin to explain how much better Maxie is sans Spinelli. I gave them an honest shot. They just don't work romantically and it seems to me that the majority of the people who are rooting for them are Spinelli fans first. I'm a Maxie fan first and I know that many of my fellow Maxie lovers can't stand the idea of a Maxie/Spinelli pairing. It's not just that they have zero romantic chemistry, it's the fact that when Maxie is around him, she becomes this caricature. Her voice gets really high-pitched and she sounds like a total Valley girl. I don't like that Maxie and I hate that the-powers-that-be can make me feel that way about my favorite character on this show.I tend to look at it as Spinelli drawing out a different side of Maxie. Personally, I though Maxie might have been on the pathway toward becoming a caricature before linking up with Spinelli. Exposing more facets to Maxie just lets the extraordinary Kirsten Storms showcase more of her talent.

Quote:Before becoming friends with Spinelli Maxie had become a vicious shrew, IMO, who supplied drugs to a married man and pretended to be pregnant to make him stay with her. She was desperate and felt unloved. I think that Spinelli's love and acceptance have helped Maxie return to the feisty spunky girl (now woman) we loved.

You skipped like an entire year. The whole thing with Lucky happened in 2006. And then February 2007 happened. Being locked in the vault with Cooper and the relationship between them that came out of that was, in many people's eyes, what redeemed Maxie. Spinelli had zero to do with it. I hate hate hate it when people imply that Spinelli has made her a better character. A slightly better person? Maybe. But I'm talking about the character. She was awesome before Spinelli even came along.

Quote: Personally, I though Maxie might have been on the pathway toward becoming a caricature before linking up with Spinelli.

How so?

Quote: I tend to look at it as Spinelli drawing out a different side of Maxie. Exposing more facets to Maxie just lets the extraordinary Kirsten Storms showcase more of her talent.

That I will not argue with. I really loved their friendship in the beginning. Maxie never really had an actual friend until Spinelli and I enjoyed watching them grow from disliking one another to becoming good friends. But once Spinelli realized that he was in love with her we started getting them on overload. And how many times must I hear how Spinelli is her "best friend" and watch as they expect me to believe that Maxie is so blind to Spinelli's affection for her? It's the same thing that happened to Julie Marie Berman's Lulu. Spinelli fell hard for her, TPTB put her up high on a pedestal (as did Spinelli) and she's only recently been slightly lowered from it. With Maxie it's just gotten to the point where we're getting Spixie/SpinMax (or what have you) at the expense of her individual character. Too much of a great thing is never good.

I agree with you. I am a Maxie/Kirsten Storms fan and a Spinelli/Bradford Anderson fan, separately and together. Coop started to bring out this other side in Maxie, but Spinelli was able to do that completely. Maxie is still feisty and spunky, but she's also compassionate. Who would have thought that Maxie would have ever cared about what happened to Lulu and now she goes to visit her and tries to comfort her in her Maxie-like way. I love the new Maxie and I think we're getting to see more of Storms' amazing talent. I like Maxie/Spinelli because they're quirky and fun and I think that's missing from a lot of soap couples.

hshan, I completely agree with you! At first I feared that Spinelli/Maxie would be similar to Spinelli/Lulu, but they've been so much more. I love that the writers are taking their time with this pairing, and they have definitely been the bright spot of GH.

Quote: You skipped like an entire year. The whole thing with Lucky happened in 2006. And then February 2007 happened. Being locked in the vault with Cooper and the relationship between them that came out of that was, in many people's eyes, what redeemed Maxie. Spinelli had zero to do with it. I hate hate hate it when people imply that Spinelli has made her a better character. A slightly better person? Maybe. But I'm talking about the character. She was awesome before Spinelli even came along. The whole time she was with Cooper, she was all about sex and Cooper. She wasn't just Maxie. Georgie was there for her (on Nightshift) when she got sick last year, but she still wasn't a family girl. She still wasn't a character that stood on her own. She realized that after Georgie died, and she teamed up with Spinelli to find Georgie's murderer.Teaming up with Spinelli gave her a new purpose, separate from sex and chasing boys and stealing drugs and faking a pregnancy. She discovered she was capable of detective work, regardless of their untraditional methods. She discovered she could be a good person and care about people other than herself. Getting the assistant job with Kate also helped her growth, which all happened within the same year.I don't believe Spinelli is a determint to Maxie's character. They're both enjoyable. I couldn't stand Maxie at first, especially how she nearly ruined Luke and Laura's wedding ceremony, but she really turned around. And that really does highlight Kirsten's abilities. She could share a scene with a wall and it would still be entertaining.Luckily, Spinelli isn't a wall...perhaps a babbling brook, but I'm okay with that, too.

Quote:Quote:Before becoming friends with Spinelli Maxie had become a vicious shrew, IMO, who supplied drugs to a married man and pretended to be pregnant to make him stay with her. She was desperate and felt unloved. I think that Spinelli's love and acceptance have helped Maxie return to the feisty spunky girl (now woman) we loved. You skipped like an entire year. The whole thing with Lucky happened in 2006. And then February 2007 happened. Being locked in the vault with Cooper and the relationship between them that came out of that was, in many people's eyes, what redeemed Maxie. Spinelli had zero to do with it. I hate hate hate it when people imply that Spinelli has made her a better character. A slightly better person? Maybe. But I'm talking about the character. She was awesome before Spinelli even came along. You're right... I skipped the whole Cooper/Logan storyline. Not a great example of Maxie's budding maturity, IMO. More like more of the same witchy, not spunky/feisty, behavior. Coop did have an influence on Maxie, but not enough to prevent her from trying to destroy Lulu and Logan's relationship. She made a bet and slept with Logan while dating Coop. I love feisty and spunky Maxie, not witchy (rhymes with the really word) Maxie. Spinelli did not MAKE Maxie a better character. But having Maxie realize that Spinelli truly cares for her, bad/questionable behavior and all, has helped Maxie realize that she is more than the town bad girl and helped her become a better person -- albeit still feisty and spunky. Spinelli didn't make her better -- he helped her realize she was a better person.

Quote: Quote: Personally, I though Maxie might have been on the pathway toward becoming a caricature before linking up with Spinelli. How so? I think Maxie was in danger of becoming, as someone here put it, a shrew. She seemed to be all about chasing boys and sex and being mean. Spinelli didn't "fix" her, but he has provided the excuse for fans to see a more mature, better side of her.