It’s Only My Opinion: How GH, Y&R, B&B and DAYS Are Using History To Fuel Fresh Drama
History means everything on a soap opera. Every reference to the past is a reward to viewers for watching.
General Hospital is knocking it out of Rice Park with Monica’s good-bye. They wisely centered the action around the beloved but prickly Tracy, aka the only remaining OG Quartermaine. Her scenes with her nephew after he found Monica were spot-on.
Tracy: “It hurt Monica deeply when Alan had that affair with Susan Moore. One night, you got sick, and Monica was called. She walked into that gatehouse, and you were the child her husband had with another woman. But once she left, and I quote, ‘You were my son.’ ”
Jason: “Thank you.”
Tracy had similar heart-to-hearts with Michael, Ned, Brook Lynn, even Lucy, who had hilariously married Alan against all the Q’s wishes in 1990.
Lucy: “Monica’s taste was always so beautiful; something to aspire to.”
Tracy: “You aspired all right. You stole her husband away from her — and look at you still wearing red like the day you married Alan.”
Lucy: “I was so surprised you didn’t stop the wedding.”
Tracy: “Why bother? Alan and Monica found their way back to each other.”
Indeed. Lucy graciously admitted defeat (“more power to Monica!”), which is more than you could say for Jason’s retconned twin, Drew, who never truly belonged in the Q family and certainly didn’t belong here. He was bitter to the bitter end, refusing to let Danny see Scout and trashing the Q’s to Elizabeth until.…
Elizabeth: “Stop. Monica passed away.”
Drew whined to Martin that Tracy, Michael, and the rest of the family poisoned Monica against him, but the rest of the fam shared warm remembrances rooted in history — like real people. Ned swapped stories with Brook Lynn and Lulu… Sonny and Carly toasted Monica while acknowledging she despised them… Ned and Brook Lynn discussed his long-ago affair with Monica… Lois turned up next to Tracy at an Atlantic City casino and had a welcome kumbaya with Brook Lynn.
Lois: “The Quartermaines really do love each other. Family: ride or die. Monica was at the heart of all of that.”
Brook Lynn: “If you look hard enough between all the betrayal, backstabbing, and blackmailing, there’s a lot of love there.”
Lila couldn’t have said it better herself.
Elsewhere, Britt turned up alive, and her also-dead brother popped up in the ER.
Dante: “Nathan is dead. We buried him seven years ago.”
Anna: “We thought the same thing about his sister, and now Britt Westbourne is back. That’s not a coincidence.”
Anna astutely pointed out that DVX baddie Cesar Faison was their dad, so she ordered DNA and fingerprints. Yup, that’s Nathan. Faison did a lot of crazy things (kidnapping, bombing, impersonating, terrorizing, brainwashing), so if they’re going to bring two people back from the dead, tying them to that 1990s nutjob makes sense. Focusing the story on Anna works, too, as does roping Nina and Felicia in until Nathan’s wife, Maxie, wakes up from her coma.
Nina: “We know who could have arranged this: Cesar Faison.”
Anna: “I’m 99% sure I saw his brain in a jar.”
Nina: “I don’t like those odds.”
We all saw it in 2018. Or did we?
Beyond the Gates has no real history yet, but I believed Ted’s claims that he regretted the affair he had with Leslie 30 years ago during a trying time in his marriage. He said he loved Nicole and would do anything to get her back — until he drank a bottle of bourbon, Leslie showed up at his door, and they hit the sheets. Leslie threw the sex romp in Nicole’s face; she went to Ted for confirmation.
Ted: “I regretted it instantly. Judging by your reaction, it’s as if you still care about me.”
Nicole: “You’re right, I do care… because it is something very powerful I can use against your ass in court.”
They duped us into thinking Ted was worthy of Nicole. They’d better not play with Anita and Vernon, and I don’t want Anita to forgive Leslie, either, despite learning she’s the daughter of her late singing partner.
Leslie: “I need to talk to you about Barbara.”
Anita: “Go screw yourself.”
Leslie: “Language, Aunty.”
Anita: “I’d advise you to step off before I take off my earrings.”
Bring that Dupree energy to every encounter with Leslie!
It defied logic that Bill scored a pardon for Luna out of the blue on Bold and Beautiful, but this current vengeful version of him tracks. Karma came for Bill hard when Luna announced she was pregnant after drugging and raping Bill’s son, Will.
Bill: “I got you a pardon, and this is how you repay me? You shot my oldest son, and you took advantage of my youngest! I ought to kill you myself, you ungrateful little bitch.”
That’s the Bill Spencer we’ve been watching since 2009. Katie stepped up too, calling Luna a “slut” who violated her son. This tale is so icky and hard to watch. It’s better when it veers towards the soapy consequences of what Luna’s vile behavior is doing to innocent young lovers Will and Electra.
Will: “Someone came into my room wearing your mask from the party. I thought it was you.”
Electra: “You slept with another girl the night before we finally made love? Who was it?”
Will: “Luna.”
I can’t be the only one who wants Bill to do to Luna what Luna did to Steffy.
Luna: “Will is going to love this baby and me.”
Bill: “Get an abortion.”
Would B&B really go there? Not with Katie as her usual voice of reason.
Bill: “I started this. I’m going to end it.”
Katie: “No one is murdering anyone. Did you really tell her to get an abortion?”
Bill: “I did.”
Katie: “That could be our grandchild. We are going to get through this as a family. The Spencer family.”
Great. Where’s Liam?
When it comes to playing history, you can’t do much better than the Kiriakises (Kiriaki?) vs. the DiMeras on Days of Our Lives. It’s understandable that Tony would try to get DiMera Enterprises back from Xander and Philip in the name of his “fa-thah” but he underestimated Maggie’s role in the family.
Maggie: “Victor would have wanted his two sons at the top of Titan. What you’re doing is petty and spiteful.”
Tony: “I am honoring my fa-thah’s memory.”
Maggie: “Then I owe it to Victor’s memory to stop you.”
She gathered Xander, Philip, Brady (Victor’s grandson), and Alexander (Victor’s great nephew via Justin) together and gave them a pep talk.
Maggie: “This is our chance to unite. Let’s show Tony DiMera the Kiriakis family isn’t going down without a fight.”
It doesn’t make sense to include newbie Alexander in this story without his fa-thah, so let’s hope Justin joins the action soon. Victor and Stefano may be gone, but this feud keeps them alive — the more OG players, the better.
Which brings us to the way Young and Restless has revved up Billy’s faults to put him at odds with his girlfriend, exes, employer, and family.
Jack (to Traci and Diane): “Billy’s headed for a crash.”
Again. True to form, Jack tried to stop Billy from self-destructing, and true to form, Billy thought he knew better than everyone else. He ignored Jack, Diane, Sally, and Victoria, then ruined his chance to work for Cane by letting his hatred of Victor overwhelm him.
Cane: “Billy comes with too much baggage.”
Phyllis: “I warned you of that. How did he take it?”
He gulped down scotch and threw the glass, per usual, and then stormed into a meeting between Cane, Phyllis, and Michael to threaten Cane that he has a new enemy, per usual.
Cane (to Michael): “Billy needs to be stopped.”
Phyllis: “When he gets like this, he goes all in. After he gets out of this fog, he’ll realize he gambled away the entire yacht.”
Now that’s some quality history: Ja-Boat!
Hey. It’s only my opinion.
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