It’s Only My Opinion For The Soap Week Ending February 14

The Look Of Love: (From l.) B&B’s Steffy and Finn (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood and Tanner Novlan), DAYS’s Johnny and Chanel (Carson Boatman and Raven Bowens), GH’s Brook Lynn and Chase (Amanda Setton and Josh Swickard) and Y&R’s Claire and Kyle (Hayley Erin and Michael Mealor).

Soaps should treat every day like Valentine’s Day — every couple could use more chemistry, obstacles and romance.

B&B’s Steffy and Finn have that in spades. She’s a third-generation Forrester and he’s the doctor who swooped in and saved her from the Liam/Wyatt roller coaster she was on. Since marrying in 2021, they’ve only had eyes for each other and have fought most of their battles together. Finn has never even wanted to stray (despite Hope’s pathetic efforts to seduce him) while Steffy ignores Liam each time he wants her back and the story is always dropped.

Psycho murderer Sheila Carter turning out to be Finn’s bio-mom was a big hiccup, and the secret of murderer Luna being his daughter will be another one.

Steffy: “Finn and I have been through way more than any couple should. I don’t think this feeling is ever going to go away, wondering what Finn and I will have to face next.”

Nor should it — hurdles create rooting value. What trips many couples up is stilted dialogue about how “in love” they are, as opposed to showing us why.

Steffy (to Finn): “I was just thinking about the day you proposed to me, how strong and intense our love was, and how it’s gotten stronger year after year. I was also thinking about Luna, your crazy cousin, and how you rescued me. We’ve overcome so many obstacles. All that is behind us. Only beautiful experiences lie ahead. I know nothing is going to tear us apart.”

Haha. In the end, we know they will weather the Poppy/Luna storm which is what makes them a super couple.

B&B’s other duos could take a page from Steffy and Finn. The recast of Taylor has been jarring, and her clichéd reunion with Ridge substituted rose petals and champagne for a logical reason why he would have jumped from three decades of “destiny” with Brooke to Taylor literally overnight.

Taylor (to Ridge): “I’m confident in our love for each other and our permanent future.”

Permanent? Taylor and Ridge have 19 marriages between them. All they do is make out on the couch and talk about Steffy. Show us why we should invest in them (over Brooke!).

Ditto Hope and Carter, who decided to date one day (after her desperate attempts to seduce Thomas and Finn failed) and then orchestrate a coup against the Forresters. Just saying you’re in love doesn’t make it true. You can’t make fetch happen.

Y&R is trying to do that with Billy and Sally, two losers who decided to pair up after their partners cheated on them. Chloe reminded Sally that Billy “screws up his life on a regular basis” while Phyllis called Sally “pure destruction,” but those don’t really count as obstacles. You know what would be a stumbling block? Sally getting arrested for kidnapping Flo on B&B. A girl can dream…

Better is Y&R finally playing the Kyle/Claire/Summer triangle, which is extra juicy because the ladies are first cousins.

Claire: “I want to be with Kyle, and he wants to be with me.”

Summer (with attitude): “Things will work out exactly how they’re supposed to.”

Grandpa Victor is a solid impediment to Kyle and Claire, especially now that he knows Summer is sniffing around Kyle again. Victoria warned Victor not to interfere in Claire’s romance like he did with Victoria, Nick, and Adam, and the outcome was predictable.

Victor: “I don’t want to argue about the Abbotts and all that crap!”

Personally, I see much more chemistry between Kyle and Summer. Claire’s saccharine naïveté is not believable for a girl raised by a psychopath.

Claire: “I am going to convince Grandpa and any other doubters that Kyle is the perfect man for me.”

Victoria: “Good luck with that.”

For true love, the surprising example on Y&R is Daniel. He’s mourning Heather in real time like a real person — which makes us miss her, too.

Daniel: “I’m just waiting for remembering to not hurt so much.”

Julie has been mourning Doug in a similar fashion on DAYS, made more poignant by Doug’s portrayer dying in real life. The show will soon lose fellow OG couple Marlena and John (sniff!), so the mantle falls to Patch and Kayla, who have always had chemistry, obstacles and romance. Crank them up!

Chanel and Johnny are one of the few young couples who share similar chemistry, but their breakup did not pass the believable hurdle test (Johnny thought Chanel cheated so he went out and cheated). Their reunion prompted the perfect level of sarcasm from Johnny’s wronged wife.

Chanel: “If you ever doubt me again, talk to me. No letting things spiral. If you ever see Alex having sex with someone you cannot see, please don’t assume it’s me.”

They’re trying for another baby which will provide a more logical test of their relationship…

Less logical is EJ and Belle having hate sex (while barely crossing her with her ex, Shawn), Brady accepting that Ava just took off when the DiMera family’s MO is constantly kidnapping people, and Jada saying Rafe is acting like a “completely different person” when he has a known doppelgänger. Duh.

That leaves us with Holly and Tate (and his freshly recast baby mama) and… Stephanie and Alex?

Stephanie: “I would have kissed you even if you hadn’t almost died.”

Alex: “How much would that have sucked if I kicked the bucket?”

Such poetry. A month ago, Stephanie was seeing Philip while Alex was sleeping with Joy… so this duo doesn’t exactly scream true love. Neither does Alex’s dating history in the 2.5 years since we met him: A three-way with Chanel and Allie followed by him bedding Stephanie, Gwen, Theresa and Joy. That’s not a romantic leading man; it’s a cry for help.

Obstacles are Soaps 101, but a hurdle doesn’t mean anything if the couple doesn’t have basic rooting value. GH’s Drew and Willow have none.

Nina: “Why don’t you do us all a favor and move to D.C. already?”

Drew: “Maybe I will, but I’m taking Willow with me.”

The fun there will be when PC learns Michael slept with his ex, Sasha, after he discovered Drew and Willow’s attraction.

Willow: “Sasha is pregnant with God-only-knows-whose baby, but I still feel like she’s constantly judging me.”

Be patient! I might not mind Sasha/Jason if they tell it S-L-O-W-L-Y, especially now that the slow burn of Carly/Brennan has been upended by the recast. Kai and Trina are promising, as are Lulu/Dante with cute scenes like them filling in at Bobbie’s Diner, but Sonny/Natalia continue to be a non-starter. Ned/Olivia, Felicia/Mac, and Maxie/Spinelli are fun, built-in duos who should have more airtime — especially after Chase and Brook Lynn encounter the mother of all obstacles (pun intended). Good soap couples can overcome anything… well, almost anything.

Felicia: “All that trouble you got into, is it just because you can’t be with Sasha?”

Cody: “I miss her so much. I want to be her hero because that’s the only thing I can be.”

Not true! He can still be her cousin.

Hey. It’s only my opinion.