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Carolyn Hinsey Shares Her Opinions

From her take on the DAYS double wedding drama to Quinn and Carter sharing scenes with each other again on B&B and more, check out what Digest columnist Carolyn Hinsey has to say about what’s happening across the daytime dial.

Keeping a soap couple interesting is a challenge — they need obstacles, screen time and heat.

Nikki and Victor have settled into a cautious détente on Y&R. Their current drama comes from working together and their kids, with the occasional lie bubbling up to cause friction until he buys her a diamond or a villa and begs forgiveness. Abby and Chance prove my point (no obstacles or heat), Lily and Billy’s obstacle is his microphone (not a euphemism), and Nick and Phyllis fizzled despite having all three, which I still don’t get. But Adam and Sally show promise, and Victoria kept us glued as she gaslit her shady husband into thinking they were going away together.

Victoria: “You pride yourself on being one step ahead of everyone else. You didn’t see this coming?”

Ashland: “I thought our love would win out in the end.”

He faked cancer, lied that he was dying and pitted Victoria against the Newmans to engineer a merger between their companies. Those are some matzo ball-sized obstacles.

Victoria: “All to get your hands on my family company.”

And now he wants her back, so cue Victoria’s car crash and Ashland saving her from the flames to start his steep climb toward what looks like redemption. Never say never on soaps, but that’s as tough a slog as crawling out of a wheelchair after your true love declares herself the Slut of Springfield.

Ah, memories.

DAYS’s Abigail also gaslit Gwen into thinking she’d forgiven her and would be honored to serve as Gwen’s maid of honor for her wedding to Xander. Jack and Jen returned briefly for the union (no obstacles = back burner) which never stood a chance because the marriage was built on deceit.

Xander: “We’ve had enough bad luck.”

Hahaha. Gwen acted all sweet and innocent, asking Jack to give her away and preparing for her big day like a virginal leprechaun who finally scored a pot of gold in that clueless troublemaker.

Gwen: “Everything is so perfect!”

Again, hahaha. The double wedding of Xander, Gwen, Craig and Leo began beautifully, then detonated in spectacular fashion.

Justin: “I now pronounce you …”

Chad: “Stop!”

Chloe (beaming): “This is more than I hoped for.”

Leo was busted for bigamy, Craig and Xander were left at the altar, and the lying Gwen got spun off into the hellscape she deserves. That’s one way to keep a twosome interesting: blow them up.

All eyes are now on Ben and Ciara as a round-robin of devil worship conspires to threaten Ben’s life and steal their baby. Will eternal marrieds John and Marlena save the day? Here’s hoping they get the necessary screen time and believable throughline to try.

Michael and Willow could use a demonic moment or two on GH since their story has devolved into talking about Nina and reading stories to Wiley. That obstacle is coming with the reveal of Nina being Willow’s bio-mom.

Sam and Dante are technically together, but we missed the courtship so their lovey-dovey moments feel forced. Can we get a redo with heart-to-hearts re: the holes left by Jason and Lulu? Honoring past loves adds layers and interest to current ones. Look at how Portia and Curtis’s pasts inform their present, aided by the drama caused by Jordan prosecuting Trina and the fact that we know Curtis’s divorce from Jordan was never finalized.

Young lovers (okay, they did it once) Joss and Cam had a solid build but got back-burnered when Joss declared herself judge and jury over Spencer.

Joss: “Get your psycho girlfriend to ’fess up already.”

Like mother, like daughter.

The slow burn of Spencer’s affection for Trina with all its classic bumps in the road has been Soaps 101. He looked dumb indulging Esme until we learned it was a ruse to get the 411 on her role in the sex tape. I especially appreciated GH resurrecting Britt’s role in Spencer’s life since she dated his dad during Spence’s wonder years.

Britt (to Spencer): “Whatever mistakes you’ve made, you are worthy of love.”

Back atcha, sweetie. Britt is one of those characters who stays engaging even in a misguided romance (like Jason). The same goes for Ava, who weathered Silas, Franco, Sonny, his son Morgan and Nikolas, and lived to tell about it. 

Nikolas: “We are both passionate, volatile people, which is why we’re so good together.”

Ava: “This isn’t foreplay, Nikolas. As long as Esme remains in this house your bed is going to be very cold.”

But their storyline will be hot.

B&B does this weird thing where the show drives a hot couple, makes us like them and then drops them. Katie/Wyatt, Brooke/Bill, Quinn/Carter are just a few who went from fiery to flat overnight. But we recently got a welcome redo.

Quinn: “Are you all right?”

Carter: “I haven’t been all right since you went back to Eric.”

Finally! He admitted he misses Quinn and that part of why he went after Paris was that she was unavailable. “Quarter” 2.0? Bring it.

Meanwhile, Ridge’s reunion with Taylor is predicated on a lie (Brooke drinking and “turning” to Deacon) but they were perfectly positioned together when Steffy was shot and her husband killed. Steffy woke up thinking she was with Liam.

Steffy: “My sweet husband!”

Liam: “Steffy thinks she and I are still married.”

It’s B&B’s version of Bobby Ewing stepping out of the shower — Finn never happened. Truthfully, we hadn’t seen him for months before he died, which meant Steffy and Finn had no obstacles, screen time or heat. Ditto Hope and Liam. So I guess that’s another way to make a couple (or triangle!) compelling: Rewind them to when they were.

Hey. It’s only my opinion.  

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