Do sudden relatives make stories better? Check out what Digest columnist Carolyn Hinsey has to say about what’s happening across the daytime dial.
We all enjoy soap staples like sudden relatives turning up, vets getting away with murder and back-from-the-dead miracles, but they’re less effective when overused.
GH needs to give long-lost relatives a rest. In the past few years, Laura got two half brothers (Martin and Cyrus), Nina discovered Nelle was her daughter and, oh, look, Willow is, too (known only to Carly, which is delicious) and Victor was revealed to be Valentin’s father instead of his uncle. Now this horse guy Cody claims to be the son of the late Dominique and he’s got a grudge against Scotty.
Scotty (after Cody punched him): “I don’t even know you!”
Cody: “Well, I know you. In another life I might have called you Dad.”
Huh? Turns out Cody’s mad that Scotty took the money (now gone) that Dominique legally left to him and their daughter Serena in her will.
Cody: “I respect my half sister’s commitment to the environment but she didn’t have to spend her whole fortune. I want my fair share.”
Scotty: “Good luck with that.”
My memory of Dominique in 1992-93 (when I was the GH editor at Digest) involves a brief fling she had with Mac and a convoluted story with a bad guy named Leopold, which doesn’t mean she couldn’t have given birth to Cody but she was never off screen long enough for us not to have seen it. If GH wanted another 30-something guy, why not make him Dillon Quartermaine? Or Ava’s brother via her mom Delia from RYAN’S HOPE (which could also add a mobby Jerome to the mix)? Rewriting the show’s history to add another sudden relative is clunky. GH has fun couples, great dialogue and long-term vets we’re extremely invested in. Crank ’em up!
Over on Y&R, crime doesn’t pay (off) because everyone gets away with it. Police commissioner Paul Williams was replaced by the hapless Rey and now we’ve got back-from-the-dead Chance trying to keep law and order (giving us two soap staples for the price of one). So there’s one cop in Genoa City investigating his wife’s family for the death of his former brother-in-law.
Nick (to Victor): “We had another run-in with Chance.”
Victoria: “I asked him to close the investigation.”
That’s not how the law works. Ashland died at Nick’s hand, Victor moved the body to make it look like an accident, and the entire Newman family was like, “Drop it,” when Chance tried to do his job. The best was Adam offering to help Chance bust Victor: “Sure, let me share my knowledge of this investigation with the son of the guy I suspect.” No.
Stories fizzle out when there’s no jeopardy, so Y&R’s lawbreaking tales go nowhere. Chelsea poisoned Rey, Tara blackmailed Summer, Stitch kidnapped Mariah, Devon threatened to sue Abby for custody of Dominic, Diane returned from the dead after framing Nikki for murder and there was no payoff for any of it.
Victor (to a worried Victoria): “Have you seen me dragged downtown to be interrogated?”
Not yet. Here’s hoping Chance arrests his father-in-law and we get some long-overdue fireworks. At least give the riotous trio of Phyllis, Nikki and Ashley more screen time so we can enjoy Diane’s takedown!
B&B tells one main story at a time, and Steffy is at the center of them all. From the triangle with Hope and Liam to her insta-romance with Finn, her battles with his mother Sheila, Finn’s “death”, and now her efforts to reunite her parents and help Thomas get custody of Douglas (who’s been happily living with his adoptive mother Hope for years).
Steffy: “The Logans have taken enough from us.”
Thomas: “We’re Forresters!”
Actually, Ridge is the son of Massimo Marone which means Steffy, Thomas and Douglas are Marones, too, but I digress. What have the Logans “taken” from Steffy? Hope raised Douglas while Thomas was off killing Emma and having sex with a mannequin, which feels like a win for the child. And I know kids often want their divorced parents to get back together but Oh, my God, give it a rest.
Steffy: “Our family has been fractured for far too long. You and dad kissed in Monaco. It is so obvious how much you two love one another.”
It was Taylor’s choice to go off for years to do “missionary work” so that fracture is on her too, sweetie. And not for nothing, Ridge has married Brooke five times since his last split with Taylor. If I had a kid so focused on my “epic” kiss with her father that she could talk of nothing else for days at a time, I would get her professional help. I wonder if Taylor knows a good therapist?
DAYS has long been the show where no one stays dead (Melaswen, anyone?) but that plot device needs a pause. If Will wasn’t killed by the necktie killer (a.k.a. Ben), Jack didn’t die in that elevator, Nicole wasn’t blown up in that explosion, etc., why would we invest in any death? We’re currently watching Chad do yeoman’s work mourning Abby, but since she resurfaced after that plane crash a few years ago we know this death probably won’t take, either. I’m all for resurrecting core character Stefan DiMera (and reuniting him with Gabi!) but Dr. Rolf keeping him in an underground lab without a heart is too much even for a show where everyone has died at least once.
Kristen: “I’m not going to let you kill him.”
Shin: “Is it possible to kill a guy after he’s been dead four years?”
In Salem, yes — more than once.
Hey. It’s only my opinion.
