Opinion: From General Hospital To The Young and the Restless, Karma Is Coming for Soap Characters
Baddies better watch their backs on General Hospital, The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, Beyond the Gates and Days of our Lives. Our critic says it’s about time!
Revenge Round Robin
Brennan’s murder on GH is bringing out the worst in almost everyone. Carly is covering for Charlotte and Danny, who left the WSB rogue dead in her hotel pool, and Ava let Drew frame her “best friend” Nina for the crime (to pay Nina back for dumping his wheelchair in a lake).
What no one knows is how Brennan died, but that hasn’t stopped the players from pointing fingers. A smug Drew actually ordered champagne to toast Carly and Valentin’s arrest despite knowing he and Ava drugged Brennan.
Ava: “There’s still plenty of time for something to turn up.”
Drew: “If I’m not concerned, why are you?”
Ava: “Because I’ve allied myself with you.”
Indeed, Ava’s guilt led her to ask Lucas to put in a good word for her with his cop roommate Joe, who deemed Aunt Ava’s behavior a red flag — until Joe came upon an even redder flag with Carly and Valentin standing over Brennan’s corpse. In came Lucas again, to plead his sister’s case this time.
Lucas: “Carly probably mouthed off to you.”
Joe: “I didn’t arrest Carly because of her issues with authority or bad taste in boyfriends.”
Lucas: “You have actual evidence?”
Lots of it. Alexis has more, but her stubborn insistence on obeying attorney-client privilege continues to protect PC’s guiltiest parties (Ava, Drew, Willow). She’ll go to the mat for her grandson Danny, but not before lecturing him on the perils of running away from dead spies.
Danny: “The next time I get in trouble, I’ll ask for help.”
Alexis: “Preferably before you flee the scene of a crime.”
Ironically, the cleanest person in this melodrama is former hitman Jason Morgan, who is in on the cover-up but had nothing to do with the crime. Tracy even left Jason in charge of the family when she split town, lecturing Gio on her way out.
Tracy: “I need you to step up and be a real Quartermaine. In this house we lie and cheat and steal from each other, but when one of us is in trouble we close ranks and help.”
Got that, kid? Welcome (back) to the family.
Days Of Thunder
Over on DAYS, the noose is tightening on EJ DiMera. He’s the worst husband, father, partner, boss, friend, you name it, having committed countless crimes ranging from rape to poisoning the water supply. He rarely admits guilt, choosing instead to blame others. Even sweet Belle is rooting for her ex’s downfall.
Belle: “How’s The Spectator’s investigation into EJ going?”
Chad: “We’ve got smoke, we just have to figure out what’s burning.”
How many hoses you got? While the local newspaper and the law close in, EJ’s son is grabbing his wife and kids and walking away.
Chanel: “Johnny’s biggest fear is he’s going to turn out like his father. Our parents mold us, but we write the rest of our story.”
Marlena: “I certainly hope that’s true.”
Marlena was on edge because she was about to meet the much-discussed man who may or may not be her son with Stefano DiMera. But no one was more nervous about that than EJ.
Dominic: “We meet at last.”
EJ: “And you are?”
Dominic: “Dominic Marino. Hello, brother.”
If the law can’t take EJ down, maybe this guy will.
Sister Knives
B&B’s Katie has turned the launch of her fashion company into delayed revenge against Brooke for sleeping with her husband Bill back in 2013. Katie eventually remarried Bill — and the sisters pushed through it — but Brooke’s refusal to accept Katie’s success at Logan has reopened old wounds and it is bloody.
Brooke asked Bill to intervene with Katie re: “stealing Forrester employees” (meaning she offered them better jobs), which went over like ripped jeans on a runway.
Katie: “You and Bill exchanging texts like lovers? Him sending you that disgusting stallion emoji, what you used to call him when you were sleeping with him behind my back?!”
Brooke: “I understand you’re upset.”
Upset? Katie went off on how Brooke seduced Bill when Katie was postpartum and screamed that Brooke is the master at stealing. Enter Donna to defend Brooke, which made a bad situation worse.
Katie: “You knew! I’m such an idiot. [To Brooke] We all know you’d sell your soul for a little male attention. Stephanie was right: You’re just a slut from the valley. I will never forgive you for this, and [to Donna] if you’re going to stand next to her, then I’m done with you, too.”
Yikes. Yes, it’s weird that Katie waited 13 years to get revenge, but this twist upends Katie/Bill, Ridge/Brooke and the entire Logan family, including Hope.
Bring on Thanksgiving!
Hack Beauty
Billy has been a Grade A jerk lately on Y&R, and he actually admitted it to Jack, saying, “I’ve been an ungrateful ass, and for that I am sorry.” That won’t stop him from making his 900th play for Chancellor, but Billy’s gonna Billy. Everyone except Sally knows the Abbott scion will never change.
Neither will Diane, who begged forgiveness from Jack for disappearing for a decade and is now lying to him that she’ll leave Nikki’s new company alone. On the contrary, she’s trying to bury Vibrante and wants Kyle’s help. He’ll have no part of it.
Kyle: “I’m with Dad on this one.”
Diane: “Your father will know that ultimately my motives were professional.”
Kyle: “That sounds like a press release. He’s not going to buy it.”
Diane: “I haven’t tried to sell it yet.”
What Diane doesn’t realize is that Jack will always be Team Nikki because she’s a fighter who speaks her mind and never faked her death. Nikki is also funny, calling Diane an “old brontosaurus” for re-upping a classic Jabot campaign and putting herself in the ads.
Nikki: “Get this: Diane is going to be one of the models.”
Victoria: “She was one, back in the day.”
Nikki: “Way back in the day.”
And she had to blackmail Jack into giving her the job, so miss me with Diane’s brazen revisionist history with Jabot Classic.
Who’s Sorry Now?
Karma is coming hard for BTG’s Bill Hamilton. He’s trapped in an ugly battle with his pregnant ex Hayley and filled with regret at how much he’s lost since he blew up the life he had with Dani.
Bill (to Caroline): “Dani was the whole package. I gave up the one woman who loved me, and the family we made together, for a woman who tried to kill me.”
Bill is now living alone in the house he bought for Hayley (“The silence is loud,” he mourned to Naomi) and trying to bury himself in work. He perked up when Naomi asked if she could accelerate Hayley’s karma by delivering Bill’s document saying he was terminating all parental rights to her (their) baby.
Hayley: “I’d invite you in, but I don’t want to.”
Naomi: “And I would happily forget my home training, but you’re with child.”
As Hayley reviewed the papers, she realized her plan to milk Bill for more dough was actually devolving into hello, single mother.
Naomi: “Justice comes in many forms.”
Aka… revenge!
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.
