The Best And Worst On BTG, B&B, DAYS, GH And Y&R The Week Of June 30-July 4

From Luna finally took her stalking to the next level on Bold and Beautiful to the mob war intensifying on General Hospital and Adam putting the pieces together on The Young and the Restless, here are our critics’ picks for the best and worst on soaps last week. (Note: Beyond The Gates aired repeats all week.)

The Best

Young and Restless: Adam’s On The Case

While most of the Newmans were trapped in Nice, Adam was back in Genoa City piecing together what the heck was going on. The Young and Restless scion soon realized Aristotle Dumas owned a company called Arabesque that was buying up former Chancellor divisions, local property, and the GCAC (which wasn’t even for sale). Adam’s partner Chelsea spied Holden with Cane Ashby — suspiciously back in town after six years — and her antennae went up, too.

“It seemed like Cane was giving you marching orders,” Chelsea accused Holden. “What exactly do you do for him?” Holden lied that he didn’t work for Cane; Chelsea didn’t buy it. She and Adam compared notes and pieced together that Cane had something to do with Dumas. (Spot on: Cane is Dumas.)

Adam was also on it with Victoria, who stopped by with concerns about not being able to reach their family abroad. He made the very un-Adam-like move of confiding his suspicions about Dumas with her and she thanked him for looking out for Newman Enterprises, saying it would please Victor. Adam was taken aback by the compliment and offered heartfelt wishes re: Cole’s health. The sibs almost even… hugged… but then it was back to business.

“I’m flying to Nice,” announced Adam.

General Hospital: Mob War!

It’s Sonny Corinthos vs. Jenz Sidwell in the latest round of mob violence on General Hospital, and the newcomer seems to be winning. Sidwell paid off the judge to give Sonny’s son Michael sole custody of his kids (for reasons still unknown) and just bombed Charlie’s, which is owned by Sonny’s daughter Kristina. Sidwell’s son Marco — on his way to check on his drunk mother Natalia — passed by the burning pub and rescued Kristina in a dangerous move that made Sidwell regret his attack and took so long that it cost Natalia (who had accidentally overdosed on pills and alcohol) her life.

“It’s crazy how things played out,” lamented Marco to Sidwell. Crazy doesn’t begin to cover it: Marco’s dad is now at war with Lucas’s former brother-in-law, creating dramatic complications in their new romance. Compounding that is the fact that Natalia was due to give evidence against Sonny before her death.

Shout out to Eva LaRue, who did her very best with a character brought on as a short-term homophobic wrinkle for her gay daughter Blaze and absolutely rocked her exit material. PC won’t soon forget Natalia’s gripping swan song — especially now that Marco has accused Sonny of murdering her. “This seems like the start of a mob war,” warned Lucas, citing Marco’s family on one side “and mine on the other.”

Bold and Beautiful: Luna Holds Steffy Hostage

Luna has been stalking her bio-dad Finn and his family for months, so it was a relief when she finally pulled the trigger (pun intended).

“You are going to let me see my father!” ordered Luna menacingly after luring Steffy to Hayes’s school and pulling a gun. Steffy realized Luna was the “Miss Sunshine” who had been doing art projects with her son’s class and asked where the teacher was. “She’s tied up,” gloated Luna, who indeed had Miss Dylan bound and gagged in the closet.

Back at Finn and Steffy’s house, Sheila arrived to warn them Luna was becoming unhinged. Taylor dismissed Sheila’s concern, along with her insistence that she’d been trying to steer her granddaughter in the right direction. “With your criminal history?” snorted Taylor, telling the Bold and Beautiful baddie 1) Steffy was at Hayes’s school and 2) get out.

As Sheila exited, she recognized Luna’s origami on the coffee table and raced to the school, where she found Steffy on the wrong end of Luna’s gun. Put it down, she ordered; Luna refused. “We could be a family,” the lunatic told her grandma. “We just need to make sure Steffy never stands in our way again.”

Days of Our Lives: Johnny’s Arrest Is A Family Affair

Only on soaps could a lawyer defend his own son for the crime of shooting… him.

“If you can prove your son is innocent, let’s hear it,” ordered Jada. EJ explained Johnny had showed up at his house with a gun the night he was shot, but he’d handed the weapon over and left. Jada didn’t buy it, so Johnny found himself being photographed, fingerprinted, and escorted into a sparse Days of Our Lives jail cell. Jada’s parting words? “Find a good lawyer.”

Done! EJ stepped up to represent his son and immediately blackmailed his sister Kristen into keeping her chatty daughter Rachel quiet about having seen Johnny there that night. EJ also has an in with the prosecutor: He’s dating her. “You cannot interfere in Johnny’s case,” ordered Belle. “Of course I can,” responded EJ.

So, to review: Belle is prosecuting her nephew who’s being represented by her boyfriend in a case where her mother may be called as a witness because Marlena knows what Rachel saw. And don’t discount EJ suddenly “recalling” that his hated sister had something to do with his shooting if it looks like Johnny’s going down. “Who knows what I’ll eventually remember about that night?” said EJ mischievously.

The Worst

GH: Selina Wu Leaves PC

How dare newcomer Jenz Sidwell blackmail our favorite mob moll out of town? After orchestrating the fire at Charlie’s that almost killed his own son, Sidwell realized he needed to cover his tracks. So he summoned the gangstress and told her she was about to go to war with Sonny. On the contrary, Selina retorted, she goes to great lengths to stay on Sonny’s good side. Sidwell then relayed the bad news that the guys who torched Charlie’s worked for her and she would therefore be a prime suspect.

“In other words, you set me up,” seethed Ms. Wu, adding that she had a long history with Sonny and he would believe her claims of innocence. Sidwell insinuated he had other ways of framing her so her best option was to leave town until he had taken care of Corinthos. “I guess I have a plane to catch,” rued the defeated poker queen.

Why would GH deal Selina such a bad hand? Not only is it a bummer that we ostensibly won’t be seeing Ms. Wu for the foreseeable future, but the story move damages her character because running scared is so not her. The Selina we know would have told Sonny that Sidwell framed her, and the two of them could have remade the mob map in a very interesting way. It’s a real missed opportunity that Sonny and Selina didn’t join forces against PC’s latest scourge.

B&B: Where is Bill Spencer?

His son Liam is dying, his other son Will is wearing a wire to catch the murderer Bill got pardoned, his ex-wife Brooke is finally free from Ridge and getting zoomed by Nick Marone, and Bill Spencer is nowhere.

“We aren’t the only ones in your life,” Hope reminded Liam. “You have brothers. You have a father.” Yes — a father who orchestrated the release of the lunatic currently threatening the lives of his son Will and Liam’s ex-wife Steffy. Bill has access to doctors that could help Liam, and the enormous guilt he will feel when he learns Luna has been terrorizing Liam’s loved ones during (supposedly) the last days of his life could be so powerful.

Instead, we get the same scene of Hope urging Liam to tell his family he’s dying (“I know, I know, I hear you, you’re right,” repeats Liam) and Bill’s name wasn’t even mentioned when Nick gave Brooke a pep talk about how there are other men in the world besides Ridge. (In addition to being married, Bill and Brooke had numerous affairs.)

Say what you want about ole Dollar Bill, he has always cared about his sons. “The tumor is getting larger,” warned Dr. Buckingham, adding Liam’s time left is “critical.”

Where is his dad?!