The Best And Worst On BTG, B&B, DAYS, GH And Y&R The Week Of July 14-18
From Martin finally spilling all on Beyond The Gates to Sasha reuniting with Robert on General Hospital and Victor cooling his heels in Nice on Young and Restless, here are our critics’ picks for the best and worst on soaps last week.
The Best
Beyond The Gates: Martin ‘Fesses Up
It’s been five months of Martin and most of the Duprees covering up a giant secret without Martin’s husband, kids or mom being clued in. Martin’s bad dreams, the gun, and the stalker finally collided at a BTG press conference where Martin planned to spill everything about “that night.”
Not so fast. “This is reckless and irresponsible,” scolded Vernon, ordering his grandson to call it off. Bill “The Fixer” Hamilton stalled the reporters until receiving a text with a photo of the stalker Kenneth lying dead. Martin canceled the announcement and went home to tell Smitty.
The story spilled out of him: Two years ago, Vernon and Martin got a flat tire in a rough area and were attacked by two white men uttering racial slurs. Martin wound up killing one and beating the other to such a pulp that he needed plastic surgery — from Martin’s own father, Ted. That man was Kenneth. He was paid to disappear but returned to blackmail Martin and threaten their children, Samantha and Tyrell.
Smitty responded that loyalty to him and their kids should have come before taking orders from Vernon, and he asked his husband to leave.
Martin retreated to the Dupree mansion, where Anita assured her distraught grandson they can depend on each other. But can they depend on Nicole now that she’s been blindsided by a two-year-old crime involving her son, her husband and her parents?
General Hospital: Sasha Goes Home — to Robert!
We’re not enthused about losing sweet Sasha Corbin (or her luminous portrayer Sofia Mattsson) after seven years of watching her love and lose some of the finest men in Port Charles (as well as her baby son Liam). But the way GH wrote this heroine out was a master class in how to soften the blow of a fave’s exit while still advancing story.
“Hello, luv,” greeted Robert when his newfound daughter Sasha knocked on his door. “Hi, Dad,” she beamed, introducing him to his “perfect” new granddaughter Daisy. The scenes had added weight since Robert’s portrayer, Tristan Rogers, had just revealed he’s battling cancer, making his pop-in a reassuring surprise.
The set-up made sense, too. Willow had tried to gaslight Sasha into thinking she was crazy by sneaking into the Quartermaine mansion and moving baby Daisy around. But Willow underestimated Michael’s faith in Sasha; he believed her from the outset. The new parents agreed PC wasn’t safe for Sasha or Daisy (misinterpreting the threat as connected to Sonny), so Michael asked Jason to escort them to an undisclosed location. Once there, Sasha settled in to a new life with her parents. “No one is more excited than Holly and myself,” smiled Robert, name-checking Sasha’s rascally mother, Holly Sutton.
The thought of former WSB agent Robert Scorpio finally getting to know Sasha and Daisy — while also protecting them — is like a warm blanket on a cold PC night. The downside? It will be offscreen.
Bold and Beautiful: Bill Saves Liam
Bill Spencer has (finally) entered the chat. After months of being curiously MIA on Bold and Beautiful while his sons, Liam and Will, had to deal with the murderer Bill got paroled, he turned up at the hospital after Luna shot Liam.
“Getting Luna out of prison was wrong and I will regret it for the rest of my life,” lamented Bill as Liam fought for his life. Once Liam was stabilized, Bill learned his son was also battling an inoperable brain tumor. Frantic for a way to make up for the harm he’d caused, Bill searched for a cure. Whaddya know? Dr. Buckingham offered an experimental surgery with a colleague for the low, low price of one million dollars. Sold, said Dollar Bill.
“What were we going to do, sit around and wait for Liam to die?” Bill snarked to Steffy, Hope and Finn after they confronted him about the sudden surgery. As a doctor, Finn was understandably full of questions: Why was it done outside the hospital? What were the protocols? Who was the “colleague” operating on a tumor diagnosed as inoperable? Bill was vague, and then his phone beeped: The tumor was gone.
“It’s a miracle!” pronounced Finn. You can say that again.
Days of Our Lives: Johnny’s Trial Heats Up
It’s rare that jury selection gets a nod for best of the week, but we have to hand it to Days of Our Lives for the entertaining way they filled that jury box in preparation for Johnny’s trial. There was Amy explaining she couldn’t serve because her daughter was about to have a baby, chatting up fellow prospective juror Leo caring for a baby secretly birthed and abandoned by Amy’s daughter Sofia.
“Peek a boo!” Amy played with the tot, not knowing he was her own grandson. When her number was called, EJ asked Amy if she could be impartial. “No, I cannot, because you are a miserable excuse for a human being and I’d like to tear you limb from limb,” she replied. “That’s lovely,” retorted EJ. Amy got out of it, and Leo asked how. She told the truth. “What was that like?” inquired the scammer. Amy said a sweet goodbye to the baby, saying, “I feel like we formed a real bond.”
Next came Leo, who tried to get out of his civic responsibility because he’s a “journalist.” No go. EJ asked if Leo had any preconceived notions about the trial, and he said no, he’s very open-minded — he once dated a guy who wore a fedora. (Ha!) Leo was selected.
On a side note, it’s very entertaining to watch EJ and Belle crawl out of bed and make their way to opposing sides of the courtroom. Bring on the trial!
The Worst
Young and Restless: Victor Loses His Mojo
In what universe would Victor cool his heels trapped in Nice for over a month with no way out and no cell service, knowing Cane is flying back and forth to Genoa City? The Great Victor Newman has always been two steps ahead of everyone else on Y&R; a master chess player who gets what he wants. Yet there he is, meekly accepting Cane’s edict that he stay in his train car until further notice. He’s even doing crossword puzzles to pass the time.
“A four-letter word for irritant,” mused Victor as he filled in the boxes. “It has to be Cane, right?” Wrong. The Victor we know would be calling Cane something much worse than an “irritant” and demanding he get them off his damned compound to an airport immediately. The fact that Victor knows Cane is buying up property in GC and going after Chancellor makes his capitulation worse, as does Nikki’s obvious distress at being away from Victoria and Claire during Cole’s illness. (Wait till they find out Cole is dead.) With Nick now accused of killing Damian, all Victor can do is utter idle threats.
“You come after anyone in my family, or my business, and I will come after you!” he boomed. Really? When?
B&B: Where’s R.J.?
When last seen in the Fall of 2024, the son of OG’s Ridge and Brooke was working at Forrester Creations and dating Luna Nozawa. Then Luna was revealed to have killed Tom and Hollis in cold blood, and she kidnapped R.J.’s half-sister Steffy, went to jail, got pardoned, stalked Steffy, shot his former brother-in-law Liam, and died after being shot. Perhaps it’s time to let R.J. out of the Forrester cutting room — or at least mention him?
“It feels good knowing we don’t have to worry about Luna,” enthused Brooke to Ridge in July, marking the ninth month since their son had been seen, heard from, or discussed on B&B. R.J. fell in love with Luna when she worked at Forrester, which means Ridge and Brooke employed a murderer. Their son later brought her into their home for family gatherings. Isn’t that at least a conversation?
With Luna now dead (we think), it’s glaring to have zero angle from her last boyfriend— especially since he’s so closely related to everyone Luna tried to destroy.
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