It’s Only My Opinion: Soap Bitches Like General Hospital’s Willow are Having a Moment
In the soap world, bitchy women have long ruled the roost. Where would daytime even be without the storyline sparks generated by sharp-tongued, take-no-prisoners women like Lisa on As the World Turns, Iris on Another World or Dorian on One Life to Live? In today’s narrative landscape, bitches are totally having a moment. Carolyn Hinsey celebrates how General Hospital, Young and Restless, Days of Our Lives, Beyond the Gates and Bold and Beautiful are benefiting from the bitchy behavior of characters like GH’s Willow, Y&R‘s Phyllis and B&B’s Brooke.
The Bitch Is Back
Bitchy women are having a moment on soaps, and I’m here for it.
Even those who aren’t usually nasty — like B&B’s Brooke Logan — are lashing out. She objected to her sister Katie using their last name for her new fashion line and hiring ousted legend Eric Forrester to design it, so she launched a truly unhinged exchange.
Brooke: “Whatever you’re trying to make happen? It’s over.”
Katie: “Eric came to me because designing keeps him alive. You discarded him.”
Brooke: “That’s ridiculous.”
Katie: “Really? ‘Surprise, you’re retired!’ You didn’t value him. I do. This is about me creating my own legacy.”
Brooke: “But you didn’t do it on your own, did you? Bill funded it, my name pushed it — anybody of importance doesn’t know who you are — and you used Eric for some kind of wannabe Forrester line.”
Wow. It’s fun to watch the perpetually beaten-down Katie rise up against her entitled sister after years of being dismissed. Katie’s got Bill and his money in her back pocket now, and Brooke can’t handle it. Bring on the bitch-fests!
Across town, milquetoast Taylor is also rising up. Ridge tried to “protect” her by throwing her paramour, Deacon, out of her office, and she was having none of it.
Taylor: “You don’t get to tell me who to love.”
Ridge: “Deacon comes with Sheila, and Sheila comes with mayhem.”
Yes: Rollicking, twisted mayhem. Sheila keeps going to Taylor for advice on how to hang onto Deacon (who used to be Taylor’s patient), and it’s beyond cringeworthy since Taylor and Deacon have fallen for each other.
Sheila: “I need to reignite my sex life with my husband, and I need you to help me.”
Q: What could be more awkward? A: Taylor advising Deacon to seduce his wife to throw her off the track about them. Deacon dutifully did as the shrink told him. Sheila went out and got a pedicure on her eight toes (!) so she’d be ready for their sexy time, and Deacon downed a shot of whiskey to be able to bed her. The scenes were cringe x 1000 with Deacon picturing Taylor in bed with him to be able to perform while Sheila moaned and called him “Daddy.”
Wait, I take it back. The most awkward scene was Sheila charging into Taylor’s office the next day to thank her for inspiring Deacon to sex her up.
Sheila: “It was so raw and passionate. He worshiped every inch of my body. Whatever you said to Deacon that lit this inside him, do it again and again.”
Ew! Combine Sheila’s preposterous ignorance with Ridge and Steffy’s demands that Taylor never see Deacon again, and I’m rooting for the Taylor who shot Bill to find that same inner strength and have sex with Deacon on the bar at Il Giardino in front of all of them.
BTG’s nasty Leslie brings the otherwise classy residents of Fairmont Crest down to her level, which can be entertaining. She intruded on Nicole and Vanessa at Uptown, and they were like, “Nope, not here.”
Nicole: “Why don’t you crawl back into the gutter you oozed out of and leave me the hell alone?”
Leslie: “I was speaking to Joey Armstrong’s mouthpiece over here.”
Vanessa: “I suggest you tread lightly.”
Nicole labeled Leslie’s interest in the free clinic “performative philanthropy,” and Vanessa and Leslie later went at it so hard (calling each other trash, etc.) that even desperate-for-work Derek said he would walk away from the clinic if they didn’t stop squabbling.
Leslie: “Hug it out?”
Vanessa: “Don’t push it.”
We’re used to characters like Y&R’s Audra pushing it (which frankly has gotten old) but, like BTG’s Leslie, she brings out the dark side in others.
Audra: “The feud between us is so last year.”
Claire: “Say the things you say behind my back to my face.”
But nothing beats Phyllis’s march toward world domination. The combination of her patting herself on the back while alienating everyone in Genoa City (including her own kids) has failure written all over it.
Phyllis: “I aligned with you. The rest was me.”
Cane: “All you did was chloroform me.”
Phyllis: “Whatever means necessary.”
Speaking of means, Y&R hasn’t invested in one employee at Newman, which makes it hard to believe Phyllis is actually running Victor’s empire. At least when Victor barked orders from behind that commanding desk, he had Nikki, Nick, Victoria, Adam and/or Chelsea buzzing around to do his bidding. Instead, we get this:
Phyllis (yelling into the phone): “The head of marketing is not picking up. I am the boss now! Whoever doesn’t pick up my phone calls is fired.”
Yeah, that’ll work.
Over on DAYS, Stephanie was nasty to the wrong person, and she regrets it now that she’s been kidnapped.
Stephanie: “I’m so sorry for the way I treated you. I can’t believe I didn’t realize Owen was behind it.”
Jeremy: “When was the last time he was in Salem?”
Stephanie: “Over 15 years ago. I never suspected he would come back. You tried to save me. You risked everything. If only I had listened.”
Woulda, coulda, shoulda: Jeremy told her 900 times he wasn’t the one stalking her. Stephanie’s current plan is to convince Owen she loves him (i.e., telling him he’s “stirring feelings in her”), which is going to be tough to watch.
GH’s Joss found her tough inner Sydney Bristow when Cyrus murdered Dex in 2024, and she’s been embracing that alias ever since (see what I did there?). Her secret life as a WSB agent was exposed after she drew a gun on fugitive Valentin hiding in Carly’s attic, and Carly burst in.
Carly: “You going to shoot your own mother?”
Joss stood down and realized Carly had known about her undercover work for months (thanks to Jason). They went at it.
Carly: “You killed someone?”
Joss: “Cyrus was the first.”
Carly: “There’s more? Do you hear yourself?”
She does. Carly was appalled at her daughter’s choices, and Joss was appalled that her mom would “aid and abet” Valentin. Finally, Carly asked what Joss hopes to get out of this dangerous path she’s chosen.
Joss: “I want to take down Sonny and everybody else like him — mercifully and finally.”
Carly stood open-mouthed as Joss listed crimes Sonny is responsible for (like Morgan’s death and Kristina and Michael almost dying), along with her fear that Avery and Donna will be next. Joss is done waiting for Carly to have her “ah-ha moment,” so she plans to take her former stepfather down.
Both women came out of this confrontation a winner, because it moved story dramatically forward — which is also a win for viewers. Carly later cried to Valentin about how her choices led Joss to this decision.
Carly: “When I looked into Josslyn’s eyes, it was like looking at a younger version of myself. I came here to destroy my mother’s life. I ruined so many lives!”
Valentin: “And now you’re worried Josslyn is going to ruin hers.”
Valentin took Carly in his arms, said he’s not leaving her, and pronounced them partners united against Jack, Sidwell and Cullum. Cue their passionate sex romp, which was beyond refreshing after watching so many other GH duos lightly kiss while the camera pans to the fireplace. If bitches are having a moment, that was surely Carly’s.
Which brings us to this moment of Willow’s: Vengeful and twisted.
Willow: “I have my own agenda now. I’ve always felt subservient to the men in my life, but now I’m Congresswoman Willow Cain.”
Yes, she is, thanks to shooting and drugging her husband. Willow even propped up paralyzed Drew for a photo shoot and forced Laura to be a part of it, which was diabolical and delicious. But Obrecht knows her great niece’s life is messier than Nina is letting on, and she called her on it.
Nina: “My child’s life is not a mess. She is a congresswoman.”
Obrecht: “You can paper over the cracks, but I wouldn’t walk on them.”
Don’t try to out-bitch a bitch. Game recognizes game.
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.