The Best And Worst On GH, Y&R, DAYS, B&B and BTG The Week Of Nov. 10-14
From Rocco getting arrested on General Hospital and Victor besting Cane on The Young and the Restless to a surprising move by Dani on Beyond The Gates and more, here are our critics’ picks for the best and worst on soaps last week.
The Best
Days of Our Lives: The 60th Delivers!
“What could be more uplifting than celebrating the opening of a free clinic?”
Julie asked Aunt Marie as they prepared to honor the new Dr. Tom Horton wing at University Hospital. The only thing better, of course, was honoring DAYS’ 60th anniversary with a week of A-list stories, flashbacks and returns.
High on the list was Sami’s reappearance. The Brady vixen came sporting an engagement ring from Dante Vitali, a member of the Vitali mob family (which sparked an immediate background check from Rafe). Sami shared combustible scenes with the also-returned Lucas, who she forgave for kidnapping her, and EJ, who she will never forgive. “I am hosting a baby shower for Johnny and Chanel and you are not invited,” snarked Sami to her ex. Other welcome comebacks included Lani, Eli, Eric, Paul, Andrew, Will and Mike Horton.
Flashbacks highlighted the Maggie/Mickey/Laura/Bill saga, the mess that lead Marie to become a nun, and Hope’s origin story. “I walked out on Doug and my mother walked in,” eye rolled Julie, accompanied by long-ago scenes of a dying Addie asking Julie to raise Addie’s baby with Doug: Hope.
Wisely, the hospital celebration (aka the 60th) wasn’t all speeches and memories. Current drama included Jennifer threatening to take Chad’s kids, Marlena having chest pains, and Kristen and Tony mysteriously resurfacing together. And, in a moving nod to Drake Hogestyn’s 2024 death from pancreatic cancer, Belle announced John Black had bequeathed funding for the disease to the hospital.
But, as warm and fuzzy as the Horton family celebration was, Grampa Tom’s new clinic will also bring danger to Salem — because something bad is going on in that basement.
General Hospital: Rocco Gets Arrested… And Something’s Up With Britt
Who’d have thought Ned’s heart attack would lead to the police commissioner’s son being arrested?
Ned was lucky Gio found him, and luckier still that his grandson knew CPR. Britt continued Ned’s lifesaving treatment in the ambulance and they all convened at the hospital, where Gio and Emma decided to call off the break-in of Dalton’s lab they had planned for that night.
But Charlotte, Danny and Rocco went through with the Scooby-Doo caper anyway and found no evidence of the animal testing Emma had insisted was going on. Dalton came in and busted them, so Rocco drew the shady prof’s fire to protect Danny and Charlotte. He got arrested, and Dalton later falsified evidence that Rocco had destroyed his lab so the kid couldn’t make bail. Rocco’s A-list parents and grandparents (Dante, Lulu, Sonny, Laura), who were all in the courtroom, were not pleased. Neither were Gio and Emma, who decided to ‘fess up re: their involvement with the GH break-in.
Meanwhile Britt, who has murky ties to the lab, showed up in court and grew suspiciously alarmed when Rocco got hauled off in handcuffs. “That’s not supposed to happen!” she hissed cryptically. What’s not supposed to happen, Britt?
Young and Restless: Victor Bests Cane
It’s been a trying road for Cane and his now infamous AI program, but the billionaire had to know when he hired Phyllis that the renowned Y&R hacker might do him dirty.
“Aristotle Dumas is undone by his own Frankenstein monster,” laughed Adam, referring to Cane’s alias when he was secretly building his empire. (Note: Cane could always have a trick up his sleeve.) Victor told Nikki that Phyllis stole Cane’s software and sold it to him. Phyllis denied it, insisting up and down to Cane that she didn’t do it, and then kissed him (way to distract, girl!). Jack and Diane are afraid Victor will use the program to ruin Jabot, and Nikki begged her husband to leave Jack’s company alone.
The Mustache seemed to be listening. “I am teaching Cane a lesson,” he told his wife, explaining his plans to use the AI software to unravel Cane’s own company Arabesque. After all the bragging Cane has done about the program — and the terrible way things went down in Nice — you can’t say he doesn’t have it coming.
“Bravo,” Nikki applauded Victor. “I couldn’t be more pleased.”
Beyond The Gates: Dani Sacrifices For Andre
Andre was reticent about shooting the ad campaign for Forrester Creations from the minute Dani presented it, but he tried to cover. Pamela laid it on thick about what an opportunity it was for her and Dani’s business, how successful it would make them, blah blah, so Andre reluctantly agreed to pose with his new wife. But when the BTG newlyweds met at the airport to leave for L.A., Dani had other plans.
“You said this trip was worth the ‘risk,’ like there was some risk you didn’t want to talk about,” pinpointed Dani. Andre admitted that, as a photographer, he knows when models have it or they don’t, and he doesn’t have it. Dani is the “diamond” and he is the “unpolished rock,” and Andre can’t bear to ruin her comeback.
Touched that Andre was willing to swallow his fears for her, Dani canceled the shoot — but stuck with their plans to go to L.A. anyway, calling it a makeshift honeymoon. “Sounds like a destination,” agreed Andre, finally smiling.
The Worst
Bold and Beautiful: Making Fetch Happen With Carter and Daphne
Last month, Carter was desperately in love with — and engaged to — Hope. This month, he’s following Daphne around like a lap dog. What happened in between? Nothing.
That’s the problem. Carter changes women almost as often as he changes those spiffy Forrester suits, and there is zero introspection about why each relationship failed from one to the next. He went from Zoe to Paris to Quinn to Katie to Hope to Daphne without so much as a beer with his “best friend” Ridge to at least ask, is it me?
Because it is him. Carter spouts empty words to these women about loving them without B&B ever showing us why. A few weeks after Carter begged Hope to “marry me today!” he was at Il Guardino telling Daphne he’s an “admirer of her many talents,” “a super fan taking in all her talent and beauty” who wants to “get to know the different sides of her.” Why? When perfume doyenne Daphne was sniffing after Carter last summer, he dismissively pushed her away and said he was in love with Hope. What suddenly made him a “super fan” of Daphne’s?
“Carter is going to have to work to prove he’s the man for me,” Daphne told Steffy. Good! Here’s hoping they show us that work — because even on soaps fetch doesn’t just happen.
Y&R: L.A. Falls Flat
So far, despite some inspired casting choices, the story surrounding the return of Matt Clark doesn’t seem to have Y&R watchers on the edge of their seats. Setting the action in L.A. hasn’t paid off — much like setting Cane’s return in Nice was a flop — because the strange setting makes it feel like a different soap opera.
There’s recast Matt (posing as Mitch) who is married to newbie Sienna who is having an affair with a recast Noah Newman. Noah had a suspicious car accident which is being investigated by a crooked cop named Detective Burrow who is in cahoots with Matt. Mitch/Matt’s bar, aptly named The Shadow Room, is dark, his interactions are angry, and he’s out to get Noah which will hurt the only people we actually know in this story: Nick and Sharon.
“That was no accident and you damn well know it,” Sharon accused Matt, as she and Nick were demanding the baddie tell them where Noah went after he checked out of the hospital. Nick outdid his screaming ex, threatening to kill Matt.
Terrible people behaving badly who put characters we like in danger means there is little to root for in this ancillary tale. We know this story is moving back to Genoa City at some point… we just hope that point is soon!
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