Worst in Soaps: General Hospital, Young & Restless and More — February 2026
February was packed with big moments and emotional turmoil across all five daytime soaps — but along with the highs were some obvious lows. From the blink-and-you-missed-it pipeline of Maxie (Kirsten Storms) emerging from her coma and reuniting with her back-from-the-dead husband Nathan (Ryan Paevey) only to choose Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) over him on General Hospital to Mariah (Camryn Grimes) snatching Abby (Melissa Ordway) and Devon’s (Bryton James) kid on The Young and the Restless, we’re breaking down the worst story moves of the month from your favorite shows. (As for the stories that had us cheering in February, be sure to check those out, too!)
General Hospital: Maxie Wakes Up
Don’t get us wrong, we’re happy to have Kirsten Storms back as Maxie Jones back on the canvas. But the fast-talking fashionista’s return was farfetched even by soap standards: She just rose up out of bed after six months in a coma and strolled to the doorway fully clothed in blue jeans and a bra! “What, do I have crazy bedhead or something?” Maxie asked a stunned Felicia. How was she not hooked up to any machines? How was there no doctor or nurse monitoring her? What?!
We get that glossing over medical realities let the show get to the good stuff, which is to say, the juicy romantic conflict that awaited her in Port Charles. But curiously, that fell flat. Something felt off about the big moment of Maxie seeing Nathan, her husband, back from the dead but then picking Spinelli over him in one episode. Where was the drama? Fans know Nathan has caught feelings for Maxie’s best friend Lulu, but what are the stakes of Maxie learning Lulu and Nathan are circling if she’s already happily ensconced with Spinelli? It felt very unlike GH not to take advantage of the possibilities of a Spinelli/Maxie/Nathan/Lulu quadrangle. What was the rush to cram months of story into a week of shows?
Bold and Beautiful: Carter and Daphne’s Insta Wedding
Bold and Beautiful persists in having major characters promise to love, honor and cherish each other in an office on a moment’s notice, and it’s not romantic, believable or soapy.
Yes, Carter and Daphne’s courtship was rushed, and yes, we barely know her. But this was Carter’s first wedding, which — on a show where Ridge and Brooke have been married a combined 30 times — is a downright miracle. Carter deserved a proper build-up: A conversation with his most recent fiancée Hope about why he needs a “true love” literally every year… a heart-to-heart with his best friend Ridge about why he can’t ever be alone… heck, how about a bachelor party? Carter has never had one!
As it was, Ridge designed Daphne’s wedding dress (off screen), Zende became an officiant so he could marry them (off screen) and Carter asked a handful of Forrester workmates to help him surprise his bride (off screen). Daphne had no friends or family there, and none were mentioned. The vows included the “very long time” they had waited for this moment (four months) and how urgently they needed to start their life together “right now.” The newlyweds got the obligatory post-nuptial love scenes and basically haven’t been seen since.
Giving Carter and Daphne half of a 22-minute episode to pledge eternal love is not the way to get fans invested in this couple. Marriage is not a plot point.
Days of Our Lives: Stephanie Gets Kidnapped
How long can a show telegraph a “shocker” before it loses its effect? In the case of Stephanie’s kidnapping, five months. Her abusive ex-boyfriend Jeremy returned in September, around the same time a stalker started threatening Stephanie via her alter ego romance novelist Anastasia Sands. Jeremy was immediately pegged as the culprit, so Steve planted Stephanie and Alex’s wedding announcement in The Spectator to draw him out. An engagement gift arrived in January “from EJ” which no one checked for fingerprints or, ahem, a recording device, which of course it had.
The stalker was then able to trace Stephanie’s every step until he cornered her in her mother Kayla’s office at busy University Hospital (!) and chloroformed her with no employee, visitor or camera catching him removing her body. Stephanie woke up tied to a chair in a dingy warehouse as Kayla discovered her daughter’s bodyguard under a sheet at the hospital and Alex thanked EJ for the engagement gift he did not send. “Something is very wrong,” said Alex.
The same could be said of this storyline, which asked us to believe that Steve — a professional PI and ace ISA agent — didn’t research the “gift” from their enemy EJ, and no one on the Salem PD allowed that someone besides Jeremy could be behind the threats when an obsessive guy named Owen Kent had very publicly stalked and kidnapped Stephanie back in 2009. The only shocker here was DAYS asking us to believe that these smart professionals got played. We don’t buy it.
The Young and the Restless: Mariah Kidnaps Dominic
Ten months after Mariah left her wife Tessa and daughter Aria to go kill a stranger and hallucinate her former captor Ian Ward, she escaped the loony bin and inexplicably kidnapped Abby and Devon’s son Dominic. The premise was that since Mariah had been Dominic’s surrogate, it made sense for her to obey Ian’s ghost and take Dom because she had spoken to him as a baby “in the womb.”
The story went downhill from there. Weeks of Mariah alternately crying about wanting to be Dom’s mommy (despite the fact that she has a child) and playing “I Spy” with the poor confused kid in her car… getting arrested while practically catatonic and then released into Sharon’s custody with nothing more than an ankle monitor… turning up at Crimson Lights to sob for an entire episode and then beg forgiveness from Abby and Devon.
In what universe did this detour advance story? Tessa had already moved on with Daniel before the kidnapping fiasco, so the only result here is a (hopefully temporary) ruined Mariah and a diminished Sharon who’s supposed to be a trained therapist. More importantly, where was the entertainment value? Mariah’s journey has been all sadness and defeat, and this story dumbed down everyone around her. Memo to Abby and Devon: Save yourselves (and us) by getting a restraining order to avoid any further “drama.”
Beyond the Gates: Shanice Falls For Leslie’s Trick
Shanice is the smartest nurse at Garland Memorial, so it made no sense for her to fall into Leslie’s very obvious trap of planting underwear in Ted’s hotel room for her to find.
“Who do these tacky-ass panties belong to?” Shanice demanded after spotting the offending “butt floss” behind a pillow. She pulled out a tissue so she wouldn’t have to touch them (okay, that was funny) and her first assumption was that they were Nicole’s. That illustrated how threatened Shanice is of Ted’s ex-wife which is also a head scratcher because Shanice knows Nicole is done with Ted and is juggling two other amorous suitors.
Ted knew immediately his crackpot ex had left the panties, and begged Shanice to do the math on Leslie’s well-established methods. But Shanice was too mad. She grilled Ted on how Leslie could have gotten into his room until he reminded her that Leslie has gotten past her at the hospital more than once. Clearly, explained Ted, Leslie bribed someone for his hotel key and did this to cause trouble. Mission accomplished.
Shanice is a confident, accomplished woman who is eminently watchable and always ready with a quip. It was out of character for her to be bested by a desperate man chaser like Leslie, even just for a few episodes.
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