It’s Only My Opinion For The Soap Week Ending December 6

Enemy Territory: GH’s Carly (Laura Wright) tried to play referee for warring Drew (Cameron Mathison, l.) and Jason (Steve Burton), while longtime DAYS foes Liz (Gloria Loring, l.) and Marie (Maree Cheatham) came face to face.

The secret to a good soap rivalry is to let each party get the upper hand periodically to keep things entertaining.

Y&R’s Victor Newman has been getting away with too much lately, and his vendetta against Jack Abbott for helping Victor’s wife, Nikki, kick booze was misplaced. So, I was Team Jack during this latest go-round when Victor hired Kyle to run Glissade (in order to hurt Jack), sold the company out from under Kyle, and gave it to Diane in exchange for Diane firing Kyle. How’d that work out?

Diane: “Victor just handed me a big box of nothing.”

Jack: “You didn’t really think I was going to let Victor have the last laugh, did you?”

Actually, yes. But in Victor’s haste to get rid of those assets, he had a fire sale and Jack bought them all. The enemies had a run-in at the GCAC and Jack couldn’t resist needling Victor with the secret knowledge that he had purchased Glissade’s cosmetic divisions for pennies on the dollar.

Jack: “This chess match isn’t over yet.”

Victor: “I am many moves ahead of you. Kyle is failing in spectacular fashion and so is Billy Boy.”

Jack: “I wouldn’t count Billy out, and Kyle is poised to do great things now that he’s out from your toxic influence.”

Indeed, Jack and Diane’s plan to get Kyle back in the family fold worked, and he agreed to come back to Jabot as co-CEO. Even better, Jack proposed rebranding Glissade as Jabot Classic (as a tribute to his father) and having Diane run it.

Jack: “We deserve the right to see Victor’s face when he realizes we outsmarted him. We got Glissade and we got our son back. Victor’s finally on the losing side! Think of it as my gift to you.”

As for Billy, he put Victor on notice when he got in his face about dating Sally (“How heartwarming,” scoffed The Mustache at the new duo) so, yeah, don’t count him out.

Billy (to Victor): “This isn’t over.”

I hope not!

Over at B&B’s Forrester Creations, Steffy and Hope have continued their mothers’ decades-long rivalry with mixed results. Steffy bullied Hope for stringing Thomas along, Hope made a play for Steffy’s husband, Finn, Steffy threatened to cancel Hope’s fashion line… and on it went until the company COO Carter got secretly involved with Hope. An office misunderstanding resulted in Steffy firing Hope, which prompted Carter to try a hostile takeover.

Ridge: “Carter named himself manager of the LLC and whoever manages the LLC…”

Steffy: “…is in charge of Forrester Creations.”

Ridge: “That was his last act here at Forrester.”

Fired! As for Steffy, she will always find a way to blame Hope, which makes things pretty uneven. Once Ridge told his daughter that Carter and Hope were romantically involved, that was it.

Steffy: “I knew Hope was up to something.”

Ridge (sarcastic): “Carter says they’re in love and it’s going to last forever.”

Steffy: “This is all Hope’s fault.”

Cue the catfight with Hope calling Steffy petty and tyrannical and Steffy calling Hope toxic and disgusting. We’ve seen it all before, so if Carter and Hope actually do get control of Forrester, at least they’ll be singing a new song.

As will Ridge and Brooke, because despite Brooke being the one who told Ridge about Carter and Hope’s plan, he turned on his paramour and blamed her daughter for Carter’s attack.

Ridge: “They were in a relationship no one knew about. No one except you. Makes sense now they were trying to steal this company from us — a relationship would be a red flag. Your daughter played this perfectly.”

Brooke: “Wait. You’re blaming this on my daughter?”

Ridge: “Hope turned Carter into a person I don’t recognize.”

Did she hypnotize him? Cast a spell on him? Or did Hope encourage Carter and tell him his ideas have value? Ridge can take several seats if he’s going to blame Carter’s long-held discontent at Forrester on a woman he’s been dating for six weeks.

DAYS is woefully short on soapy feuds. They had a good one going with DiMera half-brothers EJ and Stefan (especially after EJ bedded Gabi), but they inexplicably got rid of Stefan. Kate and Vivian had a few episodes of strife before Kate turned fugitive Vivian in to the cops and gloated that Vivian would soon fulfill her destiny pushing a library cart at Statesville. Half brothers Philip and Xander have the makings of a good Kiriakis battle but so far… nothing.

The closest they’ve come to a classic soap rivalry lately was revisiting the 40-year-old love triangle of Liz Chandler, Neil Curtis, and Marie Horton when Liz and Marie returned for Doug’s funeral.

Marie: “I’d count myself lucky if I never laid eyes on Liz Chandler again.”

Liz (approaching): “I guess today is not your lucky day.”

They rehashed Liz’s affair with Neil and her shooting Marie but agreed to set their hatred aside for the day.

Maggie: “How mature of you to finally let go of grievances from the 80s.”

GH’s Jason and Drew are writing the book on grievances, making up for years of convoluted backstory with some serious bro hate. They each had a kid with Sam and are trying to do right by those motherless children, but Drew’s affair with Willow — aka the wife of Jason’s godson, Michael — makes it impossible for them to get along.

Jason: “Danny, Scout and Rocco are close. I don’t think it’s a good idea splitting them up so I’m moving into the main house with Danny.”

Drew: “The second you move into the Quartermaines, Scout and I are gone.”

Enter Carly (who’s had relations with both brothers) to call Drew on his insistence that he’ll move to D.C. with Scout.

Carly: “Didn’t you promise Sam you’d do your best to co-exist?”

Drew: “That’s a cheap shot.”

Not unlike the one Drew is dealing Curtis by screwing him over at Aurora in order to placate Michael for having “kissed” Michael’s wife. Curtis laid the whole story out for Jordan — including the mother/daughter combo of Nina and Willow that Drew’s been working — and she had the only logical response.

Jordan: “This is beyond messy.”

Exes can be rivals too, and if they’re both lawyers, they will fight for the upper hand by one-upping each other.

Ric: “You consistently favor Kristina over Molly.”

Alexis: “Bull crap.”

Ric pointed out that 1) Kristina was going to steal Molly’s baby, and 2) Kristina confronting Ava while eight months pregnant brought the accident on herself.

Ric: “Even when the truth is right in front of your face you can’t realize it. That’s pathetic.”

Alexis: “Just what I want: Parenting advice from a man who locked a pregnant woman in a panic room for weeks.”

Are you not entertained?!

Hey. It’s only my opinion.