The Best And Worst On GH, Y&R, DAYS, B&B and BTG The Week Of Oct. 20-24
From the surprise team-up of Carly and Valentin on General Hospital to the holes in Hayley’s “Kill Bill” plan on Beyond The Gates and Phyllis crashing Christine’s bachelorette party on The Young and the Restless, here are our critics’ picks for the best and worst on soaps last week.
The Best
Young and Restless: Phyllis Is Gonna Phyllis
The minute we heard Cricket would be having a bachelorette party before her wedding to Danny, we knew Phyllis was going to crash it — because, Phyllis.
“You’re better than this,” pleaded Lauren, trying to get her friend to leave. Phyllis went on an unhinged rant about how Cricket “stole” Danny from her and has convinced him he’s happy when he’s not. That was too much for the bride, who couldn’t resist taunting her nemesis. “When was the last time anyone looked at you the way Danny looks at me?” asked Christine, name checking Y&R’s evil Jeremy Stark as Phyllis’s last paramour. Phyllis lunged; the other ladies broke it up. “Good luck on your loser happily ever after,” spit Phyllis on her way out.
Phyllis was later spotted talking about stealing Cane’s dangerous AI program. “I will call the shots and everyone in this town will answer to me,” she vowed to herself, “and I will get everything I deserve.”
If revenge is a dish best served cold, Genoa City better buckle up.
General Hospital: Carly and Valentin Join Forces
Q: What would propel Carly to team up with Valentin (who almost killed her with poison meant for Jack Brennan)?
A: Finding out Brennan had lured her daughter Josslyn into the WSB.
So, after Carly acted like everything was hunky-dory with her beau Jack, she then hopped a plane to Steinmauer to interrogate Valentin about the man she thought she knew. Their discussion centered on what Brennan could have done to convince Joss to make such a drastic move, and the death of Joss’s boyfriend Dex at the hands of Cyrus Renault came up. Valentin suggested Joss was probably involved in Cyrus’s disappearance/death.
“Are you telling me the man I was falling in love with turned my daughter into a killer?” asked a disbelieving Carly. She doesn’t know the half of it, responded Valentin. Bottom line: Cyrus’s death was the catalyst for Joss joining the WSB whether Brennan arranged for his death or Joss killed Cyrus herself (which GH viewers know she did). Carly was horrified.
What now? Valentin said Carly can’t take Jack down alone, but together they have a chance. “You’re the only one he trusts,” Valentin counseled, adding that Brennan will never see it coming from her. “The first thing you do is make him think you love him more than anything in the world.” Game on!
Bold and Beautiful: Steffy Returns — To A Showdown With Luna
Steffy wasn’t back in L.A. a full 10 minutes before she found out Luna was alive. She parked the kids on a play date, kissed Finn, and hightailed it over to the prison.
“You heard the great news,” taunted Luna. Yes, eye rolled Steffy, how unfortunate that Li saved Luna’s life. The imprisoned girl tried to bait her stepmother with talk of how she’s going to be a mother just like Steffy and live a happy life with the father of her baby, Will Spencer.
“You’re disgusting,” remarked Steffy who was having none of it. Steffy declared that she is done looking over her shoulder worrying about Luna kidnapping her or trying to kill her (again), and will see to it that the B&B villain rots in jail for the rest of her life. “Do you really think Bill and Katie would let their grandchild be born inside a prison?” bragged the confident Luna. Steffy retorted that tricking Will into sleeping with her doesn’t make them a family, it makes Luna a predator — and she needs to stop deluding herself about ever being released.
“It’s a child,” asserted Steffy, “not an escape plan.” Who is your money on?
Days of Our Lives: Xander is Busted
It was Maggie who finally uncovered Xander’s lie that he did beat up Philip, but it came at a price.
“You and I have mortgaged everything to save the business,” she reminded him, referring to their mutual efforts to rescue Titan. Because of all the financial risks they’ve taken, Maggie asked Xander to promise that he won’t ever let her and Sarah down again. He hesitated, and Maggie guessed his reticence was about Philip’s beating. “I guess I’ve always known,” she sighed.
Sarah took over from there. “Look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t attack Philip,” she demanded. Xander said he couldn’t. Sarah went nuts, telling her husband he is an amoral monster who gets mad and hurts people: He shot Marlena, kidnapped Bonnie and Susan, and almost killed Brady and Philip — his own brother, a wounded veteran. “And then you lie about it,” she ranted before stating that the DAYS villain will never change and ordering him to leave.
Later, Sarah made a phone call. “I want to file for divorce,” she told Justin.
The Worst
Beyond The Gates: Hayley’s Black Widow Skills Need Work
We recently praised the reveal that Hayley is a con woman, saluting the shock value of how her criminal motives were unfurled and her vow to kill Bill. But last week’s BTG episodes dumbed Hayley down from a sly and seasoned scammer to an amateur who’s left a trail of clues straight to Jacob’s desk.
First up was Dani spying Hayley at Uptown Bar with “Sammy,” the supposed stranger who helped Hayley during her “miscarriage.” Vanessa informed Dani his real name is Randy and he works for Joey Armstrong, which begs the question: Why would Hayley choose an accomplice so easily identifiable as fake? Randy gave Hayley a vial of poison, which Bill later found in Hayley’s purse. “Just something I picked up at the drug store,” she deflected, before dropping some of it into Bill’s tea and ordering him to “shut up and drink it.” People don’t talk to alpha male Bill Hamilton like that. It should have made him suspicious.
And if Hayley is such a pro, how did she not suss out her new husband’s life insurance before starting to poison him? “I just need to lay my eyes on the policy,” she whispered to Randy, adding that it would be “damn ironic” if she killed Bill and wasn’t the beneficiary.
Isn’t that Black Widow 101?!
GH: Dropping Balls
The downside of GH having so many great stories percolating at once is that sometimes the pacing can suffer when the focus shifts from one tale to the next. This was the case at the end of the fun arc featuring Alexis, Ava and Kristina teaming up to hold Ric hostage in the basement until they could access the money he stole/blackmailed from them.
After Cody stumbled on Ric and released him, Ric came charging into the house to bust his captors. All anybody wanted to see was how Ric, Ava, Alexis and Kristina were going to explain Ric’s kidnapping/absence. But Molly turned up, Ric covered the truth about where he’d been, they took him to the hospital and… Ric disappeared. What did Cody tell his crush, Molly, about finding her dad? How did Ric explain ditching Willow’s case? Did Liz tell Ric the gun that shot Drew was found in her house? Did Alexis give Kristina the wake-up call she deserves about getting her act together? Will Laura smell a rat with the money Alexis siphoned from Cassadine trust?
We’re sure GH will get to (at least some of) these beats eventually, but there’s something to be said for momentum. It’s hard to be patient when all these entertaining balls have been teed up and no one’s hitting them!
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.