Opinion: Let’s Hear It for Splashy Soap Shindigs — Especially When Things Go Wrong!
A wedding, an auction, a football game, even a sabotaged home inspection are sparking A-list gatherings on General Hospital, The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, Beyond the Gates and Days of our Lives. Our critic says the messier the better!
Here Comes the Bride, er, Baby
Billy Abbott’s wedding to the pregnant Sally Spectra on Y&R was a long time coming, and it delivered (pun intended). They played all the beats leading up to the union, including why Billy’s mother couldn’t attend (Jill was having medical tests) and how Billy’s ex-wife felt about him remarrying.
Victoria: “My ex is starting a new chapter.”
Kyle: “Is that weird for you?”
That’s an excellent question which soaps rarely address — and how great that it came from Victoria’s new secret lover. She responded that Billy had taught her to have fun, and their kids like Sally, so she’s fine with it. I wish someone would ask Kyle if it’s weird for him to be sleeping with his ex-wife’s aunt who is also his former fiancée’s mother. Perhaps Claire will address that when she finds out.
Drama also came from Billy’s family, with Ashley popping in to be judgy about the bride.
Ashley: “Sally’s got a messy past.”
Traci: “Who doesn’t?”
The Great Gatsby-themed party took a turn when Sally’s water broke while she was alone with her ex Adam (!) and a scary phone call came in re: Jill. Personally, I enjoyed the longing looks between Kyle and Victoria, which surely someone must have noticed…
Auction Packed
You wouldn’t think a sealed auction for waterfront piers could be juicy, but GH put its biggest players in a room and then had “CEO Barbie” (Emma’s diss, not mine) steal the property out from under them. Sonny, Ric, Carly, Valentin, Drew, Selina and Brad (welcome back!) didn’t know what hit them.
Joss (to Hudson): “Is it me, or was taking down those arrogant blowhards a thing of beauty?”
She cheated to do it, so who’s being arrogant, Joss? It’s unclear what the CEO of JJE will do with the piers but the acquisition sets up solid conflict with her former stepfather, Sonny, who used to own them. He reminisced to Ric about the little girl he helped raise when he was married to Carly and seems genuinely perplexed about why Joss is out to destroy him. Carly and Sonny get along and by all accounts he’s a great dad to Joss’s half-sister Donna, so why does she hate him?
Other gathering spots for quality run-ins include The Brown Dog, The Cat’s Eye Lounge, the yoga studio and Sonny’s boxing gym, Volonino’s, where Ric got revenge for his brother by throwing Joss and Hudson out.
GH should resurrect the Brownstone which Bobbie Spencer used to own. It’s on the waterfront, so it could tie into the piers. Put Josslyn in there to keep an eye on her investment and give Trina, Gio and Emma apartments. Add a funny landlord like Bobbie’s son/Joss’s uncle Lucas and let the sparks fly like they did in 1986 when Felicia married Frisco in the backyard #History.
House Of Cards
Various Bradys and Kiriaki (the plural of Kiriakis, duh) conspired to make sure the Kiriakis mansion would fail inspection so that unseen newbie Dominic Maroni (who will soon arrive in the form of Kyle Pryor) wouldn’t want to go through with the sale on DAYS. Enter the home inspector.
Maggie: “He’s bound to be appalled by what he sees.”
Not necessarily. As Maggie, Kate, Roman and Sarah waited for word, the comedy team of Xander and Philip grew alarmed that the “lazy vermin” they had planted weren’t leaving enough rat droppings (ew). The inspector sussed out their sabotage so, being Kiriaki, they tried to bribe him. That failed too, so they resorted to the truth about how they had lost their family home via EJ’s machinations and threw themselves on his mercy.
Philip: “It’s the archive of our lives, each corner carrying someone we’ve loved or lost. We’re just trying to keep this place in our family.”
The nerdy inspector took pity on them and recorded the (planted) rats; Maggie soon got a text from Dominic’s broker saying he wanted out. The whole arc was an unusual and clever way to bring unlikely people together for a common cause — especially Sarah and her ex Xander, who couldn’t help but hug when they accomplished their mission. Sorry, Brady!
School Spirit
BTG unites the cast often, rotating between the hospital for poisonings/engagements and the Dupree living room for celebrations/crises. They also make good use of the country club and Orphey Gene’s, where catfights are de rigueur.
Samantha (to Nicole): “The universe has it out for my family. It feels like every time we’re okay, something more cray-cray than the last cray-cray thing happens.”
She was referring to her dad Smitty being framed for killing a woman involved in a black market plasma ring, so yeah, cray-cray applies. Vernon had just finished saying to Anita that they would have “no dark clouds” now that black widow Hayley had been vanquished when news broke of Smitty’s arrest. The Duprees rose above like they always do, but sorry, Vernon, dark clouds loom.
For splashy, you couldn’t beat the Baneker University Homecoming party celebrating Tyrell being the fifth generation of Duprees to attend the prestigious HBCU. Everyone wore maroon and gold, sported the lion mascot, and sang the fight song on the bus to the game. (One quibble: I saw the video of the cast learning the lyrics to the fight song behind the scenes. That should have been on screen with Anita teaching them all to harmonize.) The main drama was Izaiah and Kat growing closer, but BTG should have milked Hayley’s arrest more. Dani could have sung “Fight On” and visited Hayley behind bars in the same episode. Can you say touchdown?!
Fashion Face-off
There’s no security at Forrester or Logan, which means everyone on B&B can just storm into the enemy’s office and let them have it. There were Ridge, Eric, Zende and Dylan gathered at Forrester to discuss Zende’s resignation, while the action cleverly cut between the Forrester and Logan offices. Zende stormed out and beelined for Logan, followed by Dylan and then Brooke without so much as Katie’s phone buzzing to announce them. It’s not logical, but it is dramatic.
Brooke: “You’re attacking Forrester, and your own sister.”
Katie: “I’m not going to apologize for Logan’s success. You barge in ranting about Zende and how I’m attacking you? Maybe you should look at how you’re treating your talent.”
She makes an excellent point. If Katie, Deke and Zende had been happy, no amount of money could have lured them away from Forrester. The good news is that after months of Katie and Brooke having the same fight, Katie has finally had it.
Katie (to Brooke): “For the zillionth time, I didn’t steal Hope!”
B&B doesn’t showcase large events very often. Each family exists in their silo with one member crossing over to yell at someone and then crossing back, which is a missed opportunity. They should have had Donna get sick during that battle to bring both families to the hospital. Katie, Brooke, Hope, Zende, Ridge and Eric at Donna’s bedside while also arguing in the halls? That’s two weeks right there.
I do get a kick out of Bill’s concern for the Logan sisters’ relationship since he caused their biggest rift by cheating on Katie with Brooke. Here’s Bill’s son trying to dance around that:
Wyatt: “They’ve had their fair share of dustups regarding…”
Bill: “Spit it out.”
Wyatt (pointing at Bill): “Him.”
Is a Forrester/Logan food fight at Thanksgiving too much to ask?!
Hey. It’s only my opinion.
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