It’s Only My Opinion: Bad Decisions By General Hospital’s Sonny and Others Lead To Soapy Stories
Tone Deaf (From l.): Characters like Y&R’s Billy, GH’s Sonny and B&B’s Bill never listen but it makes for great soapy moments.
Where would soaps be if characters listened to good advice?
No sooner had Days of Our Lives’s Bonnie advised Sarah that raising her daughter with the violent Xander would end badly than Xander absconded with Victoria.
Xander (to his lawyer): “No more talk of compromise or co-parenting.”
He was mad that Sarah planned to take the baby on vacation with her mom, claiming without evidence that she was going to keep Victoria away from him “forever.” Sarah retorted that if she wanted to take their daughter she wouldn’t have told him.
Sarah: “I am not comfortable with you being alone with Victoria unless you say you’re sorry for almost beating your brother to death.”
Xander: “The charges against me were dropped. I’m in control now.”
Sarah: “I’m heartbroken for Victoria that this has gotten so ugly.”
So… Bonnie was right. Time to take another run at her suggestion that Sarah convince Philip to admit Xander was his assailant. Good luck to Xander suing for sole custody from prison.
And how many people warned Belle against getting romantic with EJ? The conflicts of interest are endless with the prosecuting attorney in bed with the defense lawyer — literally.
Belle: “Things are going to get chaotic when we’re on opposing sides. I don’t think Johnny shot you, but I still have to do my job as DA and prosecute the case.”
Against her own nephew. As they basked in the afterglow, EJ asked Belle to drop the case since he’s going to argue reasonable doubt (with Chanel being a possible suspect).
Belle (storming out): “Now I’m thinking you seduced me to get me to drop the charges. Goodbye!”
That trial is going to be so messy.
Young and Restless’s Billy Abbott is another one who 1) doesn’t listen, and 2) never learns. We watched him insist over and over that he was done with Chancellor; Jack even invested money in Billy’s start-up. But then Billy announced he wants to help Cane get Chancellor back.
Jack: “What about Abbott Communications? I invested in it to give you something to focus on.”
Billy: “I am confident Abbott Communications is going to be a huge success. I put somebody very capable in charge: Sally.”
Jack: “How could you make a decision like that without consulting me first? I made this investment in you.”
Billy: “My judgment. My vision. This is a decision I made.”
Jack: “I didn’t do this for Sally. I did this for you.”
Billy: “Sally is my pick. I respect her, and you damn well should too. If you don’t, this conversation is over.”
Can you spell H-U-B-R-I-S? Jack is the only person in Billy’s corner, yet Billy repeatedly screws his big brother over. Jack should have said “See ya” after the Jaboat fiasco.
Bold and Beautiful’s Bill didn’t ask anyone’s opinion before he sprung double murderer Luna from jail. Fast forward six months and…
Steffy: “Luna shot Liam, and it’s because of you, Bill. You might as well have pulled the trigger.”
Bill: “I failed my own son!”
Ridge excoriated him, a rare event for Dollar Bill.
Ridge: “When did you decide the rules don’t apply to you? Your family knows you are not capable of loving someone else, and that is why you will end up alone. So, go be alone somewhere else. Your son doesn’t need this version of remorse.”
Ouch. To his credit, Bill did take Dr. Buckingham’s advice re: a rare surgery capable of removing Liam’s “fatal” tumor in one episode. What are the odds?
It’s tough when two people you love give opposing counsel, which is what happened to Beyond the Gates’s Martin. His husband, Smitty, begged him to spill the terrible secret he was keeping, but Martin’s grandfather ordered him to keep quiet. The truth came out after a stalker threatened their children, and Martin had to come clean: Two years ago, he and Vernon were attacked by racist thugs; Martin killed one and beat his brother to a pulp. They paid that guy, whose name was Kenneth, not to press charges.
Martin: “When that white man put his hands on my granddad, something snapped. I wanted to stand against that hate. I couldn’t stop myself. Granddad insisted I keep quiet.”
Smitty: “He’s not in this relationship. You left me and the kids vulnerable by not giving us this information.”
Martin: “I tried to handle it.”
Smitty: “But you didn’t. You have to leave.”
Consequences.
Speaking of which, all General Hospital’s Trina asked of Kai was loyalty, but he double-crossed her parents by telling Drew about their plans to vanquish him.
Trina: “I will always choose my family.”
Kai: “I love you.”
Trina: “Get out.”
All hail Trina Robinson! Her mother, Portia, could take a lesson in… learning a lesson. After finding out he was Trina’s biological father, Curtis told Portia that if she ever lied to him again, they were through. So, what did she do when Brad blackmailed her? Lied. And when she teamed up with Nina to drug Drew? Lied. And when Drew blackmailed her? Lied. So now Curtis is being blackmailed, too, and Drew has them over a barrel.
Drew (demanding she fake medical records): “I need it to look like Michael has an opioid dependency. He needs to look like an addict, and it needs to hold up in court.”
Portia: “So you can take Michael’s kids away from him? I may have compromised my ethics before, but I will not be complicit in destroying a family.”
Drew: “You’ll come around.”
Not if Tracy has anything to say about it — she’s got Drew’s affair with Willow’s mother in her back pocket. Tracy invited Nina for tea and then blackmailed her with the fact that Nina slept with Drew while Willow was dating him (ew). Tracy wants Nina to turn against Sonny in exchange for her silence.
Tracy: “Imagine how compelling it would be if Sonny’s latest ex-wife admitted how dangerous he is and that she left the marriage because of that danger.”
Nina: “But that’s not what happened.”
Tracy: “We’re selling a story here. Work with me.”
Ha! Nina agreed to go along but issued a warning on the way out: “You just messed with the wrong bitch.”
Speaking of bitches (in a good way), Carly got in Sonny’s face re: his war with Sidwell and made some shockingly good points.
Carly: “If you retaliate for what happened to Kristina by going after Marco, Sidwell will have no choice but to strike back. And you’re going to have to respond, and we’re going to go back and forth until everyone’s dead.”
Sonny: “I’m not having this discussion with you.”
Wanna bet?
Carly: “We can’t lose another kid! Morgan’s gone. Michael was shot in the head and nearly burned alive. Kristina was held hostage and almost killed, and you couldn’t do a damn thing about it. You have to stop the violence before we lose someone else we love.”
Sonny didn’t listen to Carly’s wise words, which is okay because, as outlined above, bad decisions lead to juicy stories. High five to GH for showcasing Sonny threatening Sidwell in front of his ex-wife’s coffin in a church.
Sonny: “My daughter almost died, so that makes your son fair game. If Marco’s in danger, it’s not because of me. It’s because of you.”
Good advice — but it came too late.
Hey. It’s only my opinion.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.