Why are dramatic stories based in realism so engrossing? Check out what Digest columnist Carolyn Hinsey has to say about what’s happening across the daytime dial.
Juicy scenes of drama and betrayal work every time, but they hit harder when they’re real.
Like GH using Portia’s bridal suite with her bed covered in rose petals as the location for her confession that Curtis, not Taggert, could be Trina’s bio dad.
Trina: “I don’t know who I am, but I sure as hell don’t know who you are.”
Knock knock! It’s Curtis and Taggert.
Curtis: “Am I Trina’s father?”
Portia: “I don’t know.”
The champagne glasses in the foreground were a clever way to remind us that it was still Curtis and Portia’s wedding day as Portia dissolved in tears.
Trina stormed out to find Spencer and they wound up at Ava’s art gallery where they shared their first kiss — a nice reminder that love can still triumph even in moments of great pain.
Spencer: “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted this?”
The audience: Yes.
Portia’s life falling apart just as a “catatonic” Ryan regained his was a nice juxtaposition, and you don’t get more dramatic than Esme going into labor while Ava is threatening to blow Ryan’s head off. In the end, Mac stepped in to kill Ryan and personally zip him into a bodybag.
Mac (to Ava): “Ryan Chamberlain’s reign of terror has come to an end.”
And of course Heather was The Hook. Part of me thought GH would change the identity of the serial killer based on the popularity of nutballs Heather and Ryan together but they stayed the course.
Laura: “Heather is the killer? She was locked up!”
The mayor should really do something about that.
The lead up to Y&R’s Sally finding out which Newman brother fathered her child was very dramatic but it turned out to be fake. The scenarios we watched were just in her head.
Sally (to Adam): “I’m pregnant. Nick is not the father. You are. This is the last thing I wanted, to be caught between two brothers.”
The best way to avoid that is to not sleep with two brothers on the same day… Her imagined fight between Nick and Adam was predictable but I did appreciate how the humorless Sally nailed Victor’s response in her vision.
Victor (to Adam): “Desperation does not become you.”
Sally’s dream of Nick being the father also resulted in the hammer coming down from The Mustache.
Victor (to Sally): “Congratulations. You came to town without anything. Nothing. Now you get the big prize, the eldest Newman boy.”
Nick: “You better get on board or you will never know this child.”
I wish Sally’s visions had been the real thing, because the actual reveal that Adam was the dad was anti-climactic.
Sally (to Adam): “This changes nothing.”
Then what was the point? They missed a giant opportunity by not having Sally lie that the baby was Nick’s. We watched that girl scheme up and down L.A. on B&B. That’s her wheelhouse and it would have made a juicier story.
Conversely, Ashley and Jack’s knock-down, drag-outs drip with betrayal and I could watch her diss Tucker all day. But Y&R keeps inserting business into the action which stops it cold. Those scenes about Jabot’s “anti-aging products” and “chemical reactions” were torture, saved only by Ashley at the end.
Allie: “Life isn’t perfect.”
Ashley: “But your makeup can be.”
Speaking of makeup, the afterlife sure has a top-notch hair, makeup, lighting and costume department, doesn’t it? The “late” Marlena, Kayla and Kate have never looked better on DAYS. Meanwhile, there’s lots of drama here on earth but it doesn’t mean anything because we know those divas will return.
John: “Beautiful service, man.”
Patch: “So was Marlena’s. And Kate’s. Three funerals, it’s just …”
John: “… overwhelming.”
Cut to the women in Cloudland discussing how they’re going to plead their case to the devil who — shocker! — had Doug’s face. Turns out, they are the kind of dead where Kayla can sneak off and pay Patch a “little visit” which gave her the positive outlook she needed to buck up her fellow zombies.
Kate: “I’m more of a soul’s half empty kind of gal.”
The humor is heavenly and the mourning back in Salem is believable but it’s so hard to watch Marlena “die” over and over and not have John at least acknowledge that she’s come back every single other time.
John: “We’ll never see Doc on this planet again.”
Guess again.
Give me Anna talking to Kate’s urn every time.
Anna: “Kate are you there? It’s Anna. I’ll do all the talking.”
Ha!
Accountability is important for dramatic realness, and it looks like B&B’s Thomas might finally be getting some now that Douglas has chosen to live with his aunt.
Thomas: “Hope doesn’t trust me and she has Liam in her ear disparaging me.”
Eric: “No one to blame for that but you, son.”
Steffy delivered a similar message.
Thomas: “You’re going to keep me away from my son?”
Steffy: “You’re the one who screwed up.”
Thomas: “I’m his father.”
Steffy: “I made a promise to Hope.”
Thomas: “What does Hope have to do with this?”
Steffy: “Hope is his mother.”
Thomas: “And I’m his father.”
Finn kicked Thomas out, probably because he repeats himself so much.
Elsewhere, Hope returned to an empty house while the camera panned to her son’s picture.
Hope: “I miss Douglas so much already!”
Um, Hope? You have another kid. Her name is Beth. Go check the “other room.”
Meanwhile, Hope’s mother has abandoned the drama for a kumbaya with rival Taylor which feels fake unless they’re becoming a couple.
Brooke: “You’re beautiful, understanding, compassionate.”
Taylor: “You are beautiful inside and out.”
“Braylor”? “Trooke”? I don’t see it.
Deacon: “Are you sure there isn’t one catfight left?”
That’s better!
Hey. It’s only my opinion.
