It’s Only My Opinion For The Soap Week Ending January 17
Say It Loud: General Hospital‘s Nina (Cynthia Watros, with Cameron Mathison as Drew) and Young and Restless‘s Nikki (Melody Thomas) are two women who aren’t prone to holding their tongues.
Last week, I wrote about characters who need a smack. This week, I’d like to honor the ones providing those smacks, whether through bold talk or actual takedowns.
Like GH’s Curtis, who already got the better of Drew when he took over Aurora, but followed it up by telling Drew to cut the phony “caring uncle” act after Michael was burned in a bombing meant for Sonny.
Curtis: “You need Michael to live because you don’t want to feel guilty if he doesn’t. You’re the bad guy here, and no bedside meet-and-greet is going to change that.”
Drew: “If it was your family, wouldn’t you be in there?”
Curtis: “If it was my family, I wouldn’t have slept with Michael’s wife.”
Checkmate. Propping Drew as a heroic Navy SEAL who went to jail for Carly and “saved” Willow wasn’t working, so give GH credit for pivoting and making him the most hated guy on the show. Taking down a core jerk who deserves it is so much more satisfying than besting a routine villain (like Cyrus). Drew is a Congressman who’s supposed to be in D.C., yet he just hung around the hospital daring people to confront him.
Drew: “I want you to know how sorry I am.”
Carly: “For what? Screwing Michael’s wife when he was on fire?”
Drew: “I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
Carly: “But you did. You don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself.”
Drew: “I cared about you enough to go to Pentonville for you. Michael is in that burn unit because of you, and you know it.”
Bringing up Carly’s decision to let mobster Sonny raise Michael (instead of A.J.) while she was praying for Michael in the hospital chapel was a… choice. So was Josslyn confronting Willow outside Michael’s hospital room.
Joss: “Did you actually think you could bang Michael’s uncle with Wiley in the next room? Wake up, you lying, faithless skank.”
Willow: “Michael made mistakes, too.”
Joss: “I’m looking at one.”
Tracy, Sasha and Nina also showed no mercy for the cheaters, and it was welcome snark after all the sadness recently in Port Charles.
Nina: “Have I missed the part where you told Willow you were having sex with her mother?”
Drew: “I love your daughter.”
Nina: “You wouldn’t know love if it bit you in the ass.”
Would DAYS’s villainous EJ? Certainly not since Nicole left. And he’s been outmaneuvered by the Rafe look-alike, which is funny since EJ always thinks he’s in charge. Sadly, the rest of the town has been hoodwinked by a newbie named Kerry who somehow has the power to shut down an entire soap opera with an anonymous small-town gossip column. That leaves us with two emerging heroines: Stephanie Johnson and Sarah Horton.
It’s not surprising that Patch and Kayla’s daughter and Mickey and Maggie’s daughter would both be brave, but the swiftness of their right-thing doing was remarkable — especially for Salem.
Stephanie: “Philip has no business being CEO. It turns out Philip’s letter from Victor was a complete forgery.”
Sarah: “I really appreciate you telling me.”
Just like that! Sarah then went to Titan and found Philip scheming with his mother.
Philip (fake nice): “Sarah!”
Sarah: “Cut the crap, Philip. I know everything.”
Kate stressed that Xander likes to murder people, so Sarah should keep mum to protect her husband from killing Philip and going to jail.
Kate: “We all know Philip is Victor’s favorite son.”
Sarah: “Says his mother.”
Philip: “Do you really want to see what Xander will do given the full unchecked power of Titan?”
No. Shockingly, they got through to Sarah, who laid down the law with Philip about behaving himself and then indeed kept quiet. That lead to a surprising kumbaya between the brothers about wanting to prove themselves to Victor. But know this: Philip deserves to lose his co-CEO job if he keeps detailing his crimes loudly on one-way phone calls.
B&B is doing an interesting thing with the Steffy/Hope rivalry. For months, I was rooting for Hope as Steffy attacked her with her boring refrain about “the Logans!” But now that Hope is all smirky turkey post-takeover, I think I want Steffy to take back the company.
And kudos to Donna — the current woman of the Forrester mansion — for spying Ridge with Taylor and immediately calling Brooke.
Donna: “They’re at my house! I heard them talking about moving in together. There are candles and champagne, and Ridge lead Taylor upstairs.”
That’s as big of a smackdown as Donna can give Ridge considering she’s married to his father, but enough with Ridge’s played-out seductions of 1) a Forrester original gown, 2) candles and champagne, and 3) rose petals on the bed.
Ridge (to Taylor): “I’ve missed you. I’ve missed us. I’ve always loved you.”
Always? During which of his eight marriages to Brooke was Ridge “always” loving Taylor?
And spare me Luna’s claims of regret to Bill during her “house arrest.”
Luna: “There’s so much I’m not proud of, like what I did to Tom and Hollis.”
You mean like murdering them?
Nikki’s first act as the new CEO of Chancellor on Y&R was pretty bold.
Nikki (to Claire): “Please remind publicity to take the name Abbott off Chancellor Communications.”
Bye, Billy! Nikki’s bravado didn’t extend to her personal life, though. If psycho Ian Ward is back, and a woman is ordering her tea in the exact same way Jordan used to, shouldn’t Nikki have been concerned enough to confirm Jordan was still in prison?
Nikki (to Claire): “You will never have to face her.”
Until Tuesday’s episode… Nikki’s son picked up the bravery mantle, leading the search for Sharon while the cops bumbled along per usual on this soap.
Chance: “Any update on Sharon?”
Nick: “I’ve been working with my dad’s security team scouring the woods. What if Sharon was never in the car in the first place? Let’s look at the sequence of events… ”
Isn’t that the cops’ job? Nick’s gut rightly tells him to suspect Ian Ward, but Chance is all “I need proof.” Making the police dumb is one of my biggest soap pet peeves (along with the phrase “be a family again” and diseases that magically disappear, like Nikki’s multiple sclerosis, but I digress). I suppose Genoa City should thank private citizen Nick Newman for keeping Detective Chance Chancellor in the loop.
Mariah needs to step up now as her former tormentor, Ian, eats the show with phony platitudes while clutching a Bible.
Ian (to Mariah’s wife, Tessa): “I’ve kept you in my prayers. I live to serve. May God bless you and keep you safe.”
Now that guy needs a takedown.
Hey. It’s only my opinion.
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