It’s Only My Opinion: The State of Villains on General Hospital, Young and Restless, BTG, DAYS and B&B
Villains are a critical component of the storytelling on General Hospital, Young and Restless, Days of Our Lives, Beyond the Gates and Bold and Beautiful last week — but some are bringing more heat than others. Here’s our critic’s take on what evil lurks within the daytime lineup.
Bad guys can really jumpstart a soap, especially when played right. Personally, I’m a big fan of villains who surprise us.
Like GH’s fugitive Valentin, who popped up in Carly’s attic. She was scared at first, but he won her (and us) over by counseling how to bring down the real scoundrel: WSB honcho Jack Brennan. Val’s advice has been spot-on, and it’s fun to watch Carly work secretly to bring down her clueless boyfriend.
Carly (lying): “Please tell me you have Valentin safely locked away in some WSB closet.”
Brennan: “We have been looking everywhere for him. I’m starting to think he’s not in Port Charles. We’ve had Charlotte under constant surveillance, no sign of him. Wherever Valentin is, he’s plotting revenge. He might even be recruiting other people to help him.”
Carly: “Who in their right mind would help Valentin Cassadine?”
Wink! Carly even falsely steered Brennan towards Anna being the one helping Val (which we know isn’t true because she’s being held captive by Sidwell at Wyndemere) and broke into Brennan’s hotel room searching for info on the Faison project. That break-in gave Carly the chance to overhear Britt tell Brennan that Sidwell had ordered her to work on the project at Wyndemere, which Carly promptly shared with Valentin — who had just come from breaking into Wyndemere. See what they did there? That’s some A+ scheming.
Sidwell and his son Marco are new evildoers, but they are making their mark. Drew, on the other hand, has morphed into an old-school, mustache-twirling snake who nevertheless seems to get beaten at every turn. When Martin and Drew showed up at the manse during the newly instituted Quartermaine cocktail hour (cheers to that!), their intent was to taunt Tracy about her missing heirlooms/tchotchkes and the court order for Drew to return them. Instead, they got a torrent of abuse from the fam who had just learned Drew left Ned for dead after his heart attack.
Brook Lynn: “You did nothing when my father collapsed. What kind of monster are you?”
Tracy: “My son could have died because of you.”
Drew: “That’s a tad overdramatic.”
It will always be funny when someone says “tad” in front of Martin. Also funny? Olivia pulling a shotgun on Drew, who hightailed it right out of there.
Speaking of pulling guns on Drew, GH’s most shocking new baddie is Willow, who did indeed shoot two bullets into the back of her then-fiancé. Alexis knows the truth now, and could only share it with her law partner Diane. But it gnaws at her…
Alexis: “What if she did it?”
Sonny: “There’s a thin line between love and hate. Even good people can be pushed to do bad things.”
Surprise! Willow is not a good person.
Every show needs an enemy, and they come in all forms. The enemy on BTG right now is cancer, and they’re using it to connect exes and make problems as they should. When Chelsea called her dad with the sad news that Dani tested positive for the BRCA gene, he frantically headed for the door.
Hayley: “Talk to me!”
Bill: “I can’t right now. My family needs me.”
Hayley could be forgiven for thinking she’s his family since they’re married. But since she’s also trying to kill him (with the slowest acting poison on record, but I digress) we’ve got no sympathy for that black widow.
The tea about Anita’s cancer and the Duprees getting tested for the BRCA gene spread a little too fast for any pretense of HIPAA laws existing at Garland Memorial Hospital, but it did allow everyone to stick in their two cents. Even Dani’s bestie Pamela showed up from wherever she lives (a place where they apparently speak in 1940’s old movie accents) to help her pal. The duo discussed the odds of Dani getting cancer and the fact that Pamela will hold her hair if she needs chemo.
Pamela: “If you want to vomit on your ex, I won’t stop you.”
That’s the energy you need to fight cancer.
DAYS’s Xander continues to be the Kiriakis jerk, most recently booting Brady from Titan because he’s jealous of Brady’s closeness with Sarah.
Sarah: “How dare you fire Brady from his own father’s company? All because you got upset because you received our divorce decree?”
Xander: “I didn’t fire Brady because our divorce was finalized. Brady’s work has been slipping.”
Sarah: “Because his daughter is ill! You are a royal ass.”
A screaming match ensued which is Xander’s go-to, so no surprise there. The villains in Salem lately are tired retreads who come in, do a thing, and exit without leaving a lasting impact. The “Stephanie has a stalker” arc looks like it fits that bill — much like the “DiMeras are locked in the crypt!” story, which ended with such a disappointing whimper. Peter Blake returning to kidnap his siblings showed such promise, but he died like two episodes later in yet another anti-climactic exit for the bad guy du jour (Doug III, Whitley, Grandma Rachel). Come on, DAYS: Surprise us!
Y&R wasn’t able to surprise us with Matt Clark because he was a recast in a spotty story. Characters had to say his name over and over so we’d know who he was, plus repeatedly acknowledge that Matt had been long dead (but whatever, he’s back). Talk about anti-climactic…
But one thing Y&R does well is shift villainy from character to character. We thought Sharon murdered Heather for a good part of 2024, and Diane and Phyllis have both been excoriated by their families for faking their deaths. Phyllis teaming up with Cane to take back the stolen AI program to ruin Newman Enterprises actually feels like just deserts for Victor, who has been treating people abominably lately.
Diane: “I never thought I’d utter this sentence, but yay Phyllis. It’s delicious — Victor brought down by his own evil plan.”
Jack (cautioning): “The war is never over.”
The black hat is now shifting to Phyllis, whose hubris over “winning” is next level. It was funny when she suggested to Cane that they change the name of Newman Enterprises to “I Am The Queen, Bow To Me LLC” but it also illustrated how much revenge has taken over her life. She looked like a real Cruella during her fight with the injured Nick as he struggled to make her see what ruining Newman will do to her relationship with their daughter Summer and all her friends.
Phyllis: “Success will be my only friend.”
Nick: “This is pointless. I’m going to grind you to dust, with no regrets.”
Can we be Team Nick without being Team Victor?
Psycho Luna is gone, so B&B is cranking up psycho Sheila to threaten Deacon’s kids into liking her.
Sheila (to Deke and Hope): “I know your dad would be so proud of you if you could accept our relationship.”
Cut to their dad making a pass at Taylor during his therapy session.
They’ve also crafted Ridge into a shocking baddie, treating his father like an old shoe that could be tossed out when he became unfashionable. Ridge has repeatedly said Katie’s fashion house will fail without a “world class designer” so how great is it that she hired one in Eric?
Eric: “The first collection has to be undeniable. If you don’t have a big opening, you’re dead. You need people who believe in you, and that’s what you’re going to get.”
With Ridge as the surprising heavy in this story, it’s fun to see Katie bring out the playful side of this honorable man who was treated so poorly at Forrester. The fact that Eric has been married to both of her sisters means she knows him well, and it works.
Katie (reviewing applicants): “What do you think?”
Eric: “I think there are very good reasons why these artists are looking for work.”
Ha! We haven’t seen sarcastic Eric in a looong time. True to form, his only request of Katie was a parking pass.
Katie: “You park wherever you want.”
Eric: “Let’s do this thing!”
B&B’s new villain Ridge won’t know what hit him.
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.