The Best And Worst On BTG, B&B, DAYS, GH And Y&R The Week Of June 16-20

From l.: BTG’s Andre (Sean Freeman), Y&R’s Cane (Billy Flynn), GH’s Ava (Maura West) and B&B’s Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang)

THE BEST

Bold and Beautiful: Nick Returns — for Brooke

There was Brooke sporting lingerie in the office when in walked her tenth husband Nick Marone. “Some things never change,” he quipped admiringly. The Bold and Beautiful exes caught up re: him running Marone Industries and their son Jack, who is apparently all grown up and working at Forrester International in Paris (who knew?). Talk turned to Nick’s half brother Ridge and his reconciliation with Taylor, which looks like the reason Nick came back to L.A.

“You deserve so much better,” he scolded Brooke, decreeing that there’s something wrong with Ridge for not choosing her and treating her right. Brooke welcomed Nick’s compliments (and his sweet comment that being with her “feels like home”) until he kissed her and she pushed him away. Cue the flashbacks of their courtship and wedding set to Jack Wagner’s 2005 single “Going Back Again,” which was the soundtrack to the duo’s love affair 20 years ago.

Not surprisingly, Nick’s return did not sit well with Ridge. The terminally insecure Taylor picked up on that immediately, so Ridge downplayed his jealousy by snarking, “Everyone’s favorite sailor is back in town.”

Ahoy!

General Hospital: Port Charles Is Coming For Drew

Every show needs a villain (or two), and General Hospital has certainly gone to great lengths to craft Congressman Drew Cain into a real jerk. He has ruined Willow’s life — which she is now sleepwalking through after losing custody of her kids — and she’ll likely turn on him hard when his lies are exposed re: bribing the receptionist in Germany, telling Wiley that Michael doesn’t want him, sleeping with Nina… take your pick.

The rest of PC is on to him. Nina and Portia joined forces to vanquish Drew (which didn’t work), Tracy is knives out, Curtis teamed up with Michael to work against him, and Trina’s on the warpath. It sure seems like a whodunnit is coming, especially now that Jason’s on the case.

“Michael may have stolen those kids from their own mother, but he is not going to keep them,” sniped Drew to Jason, adding an emphatic “Quote me.” Jason returned fire with a very out-of-character diatribe telling his brother that he is poison to Wiley and Amelia and that until Willow sees it, there will be no compromise. Drew tried to one-up Jason by saying he’s always there for Sonny’s family but when was the last time Jason checked on his own kids, Danny and Jake? That was a low (albeit fair) blow, but Jason didn’t take the bait. He leaned his face into Drew’s and taunted that he will never get Michael’s children, concluding with a very pointed “Quote me.”

(And we are!)

Young and Restless: Dumas Is Cane And Lily’s Not Having It

Recasts are a fact of life on soap operas, often used to take a character in a new direction. The most recent Young and Restless shocker was Lily’s ex-husband Cane Ashby, who went from being an Australian 50-something scam artist to a 40-ish American billionaire going by the name Aristotle Dumas when Billy Flynn entered the picture.

It’s quite a stretch, which is why it was smart to have Lily call out her ex on the improbability of him secretly becoming a billionaire while also casually co-parenting their two kids (off screen) with her. “You have a double life?” she asked incredulously, berating him for lying to her every time they spoke — just like he lied when he first came to town (and pretended to be Jill’s son). Dumas, er, Cane insisted he had good reason for the six-year-long subterfuge; all would be revealed after he met the other guests. “What do you mean ‘meet’ the other guests?” snorted Lily. “You know everybody!”

Indeed, Cane has been toying with the Genoa City elite for six months, luring them to Nice under false pretenses to meet his reclusive alter-ago. Lily accused him of creating the fake name to cover illegal activity but Cane assured her that’s not the case. “The name is a lie,” he insisted, “but he is all me.”

A fact that Lily (and viewers) may need time to accept…

Days of Our Lives: Celebrating Steve

Salem was due for a celebration after John’s sad farewell, and Steve’s retirement from Black Patch offered the perfect invitation.

The Days of Our Lives episode began with Steve dreaming about his late sister Adrienne. They bantered about whether she was one of those “back-from-the-dead miracles” and then she delivered a message. “John is healed,” Adrienne assured Steve. “I’m going to watch out for him. What are sisters for?” He woke up feeling comforted, so Kayla convinced him to go to dinner at The Bistro where it turned out Stephanie, Alex, Jack and Jennifer were waiting to surprise him. Jada soon showed up to represent her late father Marcus who had been Steve’s best friend in the orphanage where they grew up together.

Stories ensued of Steve’s life, accompanied by classic flashbacks of the Patch and Kayla love story, Adrienne coming in to his life, Steve giving Jack a kidney, etc. Adrienne was the heart and soul of their family “and you were the rock,” toasted Jack, calling his brother the “original anti-hero.” Jennifer chimed in that 40 years in Salem was something to celebrate, which spelled out the actual reason for the episode: to commemorate Stephen Nichols’s 40th anniversary of his first DAYS episode. Indeed, a chyron appeared reading Happy 40th Anniversary Stephen Nichols. “We are lucky,” concluded Kayla.

Congrats to Steve, Patch and Stephen!

THE WORST

Beyond The Gates: Andre and Ashley? No.

You can’t pay for the kind of chemistry Andre and Dani have, so why is Beyond The Gates trying to convince us he has a thing for Ashley? Andre already has plenty of obstacles with the older, divorced Dani (like being her sister’s nephew) so there’s no need to add another woman to that messiness. Every time he tries to go public with their affair, Dani shuts him down.

“Can we cut the BS for one second?” Andre asked recently. “This is about Bill and the way he played you and broke your heart.” Bingo. Dani is scared of being hurt again and sensitive that someone “closer to his age” could lure Andre away if she lets him in.

That person is ostensibly Ashley, but no amount of scripted longing between Andre and Ashley across a hospital hallway can convince viewers that Dani isn’t end game. She’s in his heart the same way she’s been in his bed (yowza).

Besides, why would Andre want Ashley? She tortured her long-time boyfriend Derek for leaving dirty dishes in the sink etc. after he moved in, and got offended when Derek offered her an engagement ring (!). After she turned down his marriage proposal he accused her of playing him. “Is this a commitment for you or a test for me?” snarked Ashley.

As Anita might sing, “What’s love got to do with it?” With Ashley, nothing. But with Dani, everything. So let’s have Andre start singing that tune.

GH: Kristina Hires Cody To Seduce Ava

Are we really in for a story where … *checks notes* … Ava Jerome is made a fool of by Cody Bell on GH? The amiable prankster is fun to watch when splashing into the Metro Court pool or trading barbs with Tracy in the stables, but Casanova he is not.

“How’s the plan going?” asked Kristina after paying Cody a “small fortune” to seduce Ava (in order to ruin Ava’s relationship with Ric). If “the plan” was to ruin Kristina further, mission accomplished. She already got away with trying to kill Ava (thanks to Alexis paying off Ava and Ric to keep mum, and Liz and Lucky keeping quiet mostly out of pity for the Davis family’s loss of Sam) so her latest scheme just proves she’s 1) not grateful and 2) never learns. Roping Cody into her plan also hurts Molly since he’s the first guy her brokenhearted sister has been interested in since TJ.

But the real problem here is that seen-it-and-done-it-all Ava Jerome would never get sucked in by a broke, goofy gigolo. The last man to pull the wool over Ava’s eyes and seduce her was an actual evil genius (the erudite serial killer Ryan Chamberlain, who was posing as his twin Kevin Collins at the time), and most of her lovers have been genuine PC power players, from doctors (Silas) to mobsters (Sonny) to princes (Nikolas) to attorneys (Ric). The thought of Victor Jerome’s shrewd and savvy daughter falling for an I Love Lucy ruse like this doesn’t cut it.

Here’s hoping “the plan” turns out to be Ava catching on and Kristina getting the punishment she’s deserved since she had the psychotic brake, er break that caused her to sabotage Ric’s car.