Thumbs Up!/Thumbs Down! B&B DAYS GH Y&R

YOUNG AND RESTLESS
Seeing The (Gas)light
Ashley letting Tucker mess with her mind doesn’t jibe with the strength we’ve watched her attain through years of adversity, having fought her way back from a brain tumor and two nervous breakdowns. Tucker and Ash’s quickie marriage fell apart on their Parisian honeymoon, where a vicious argument resulted in Tucker smashing a glass and telling her to go to hell, a scene Y&R replays over and over (and over), making it hard to accept his insistence that his behavior wasn’t violent. Ashley’s response to Tucker is that he’s gaslighting her to punish her for siding with her family in the Jabot/Glacade battle, but privately she’s questioning her sanity. As of now we don’t know who is telling the truth (as Traci said, there are “three sides to every story”), but whether Tucker is making Ashley go crazy or Ashley is actually going crazy over a man not only insults this character, but feels tone-deaf as a storyline crafted daytime’s mostly female audience — especially in 2024. Here’s hoping that however this plot resolves, Ashley’s fortitude is acknowledged and honored.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES
Rules of Engagement
There’s a big bright spot on DAYS OF OUR LIVES: the reunited Johnny and Chanel. The fun, feel-good couple were never better than when Johnny blurted out that he and his former wife should remarry while they were lying in bed. Chanel was on board. That is, if he asked her “properly”. After agreeing that Valentine’s Day would be the perfect date, Johnny got on bended knee and delivered a proposal that was sweet, romantic and totally them. “You deserve the world, and I intend to give it to you, because you are the world to me,” Johnny told her. “Will you marry me?” Portrayers Carson Boatman and Raven Bowens gave utterly charming performances as Chanel eagerly accepted, and Johnny slipped a temporary ring on her finger – the Italian signet ring Stefano had given him when he graduated high school. Of course, Johnny promised Chanel a classic diamond as soon as he had the chance to get one (a promise he soon made good on). The proposal was a welcome break from all the heavy stories DAYS is telling at the moment (Holly’s overdose, Nicole mourning her “dead” baby, etc.) and a gift to fans of this adorable duo.

BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL
Beach, Please
It’s so refreshing to see Don Diamont’s Bill Spencer out of storyline mothballs and romancing someone whose last name isn’t Logan! Romy Park is a delightful add to the canvas as Poppy, and she and Diamont have a sparkling chemistry. As the characters get reacquainted with their long-ago attraction fully intact, the beach house shenanigans that unfolded between Poppy and Bill provided welcome humor when the duo realized mid-romp that her daughter, Luna, was getting busy with R.J. in the next room. (“That was awkward,” groaned Poppy. Ya think?!) But their repeated conversations about how Bill and Poppy had a memorable one-night stand 20 ago and how Poppy raised 20-year-old Luna with no father in the picture really diminish Bill’s intelligence. How can a man who has been surprised with two adult children he never knew about not crunch the numbers and realize he could be Luna’s dad? His insistence to Liam that he “knows everything he needs to know” about Poppy after two dates makes him look foolish, which has never been Dollar Bill’s M.O. and only undercuts our ability to fully get into what’s burgeoning between Bill and Poppy. There’s potential here for a strong match, and we’re crossing our fingers that the show capitalizes on it.

BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL
Beach, Please
It’s so refreshing to see Don Diamont’s Bill Spencer out of storyline mothballs and romancing someone whose last name isn’t Logan! Romy Park is a delightful add to the canvas as Poppy, and she and Diamont have a sparkling chemistry. As the characters get reacquainted with their long-ago attraction fully intact, the beach house shenanigans that unfolded between Poppy and Bill provided welcome humor when the duo realized mid-romp that her daughter, Luna, was getting busy with R.J. in the next room. (“That was awkward,” groaned Poppy. Ya think?!) But their repeated conversations about how Bill and Poppy had a memorable one-night stand 20 ago and how Poppy raised 20-year-old Luna with no father in the picture really diminish Bill’s intelligence. How can a man who has been surprised with two adult children he never knew about not crunch the numbers and realize he could be Luna’s dad? His insistence to Liam that he “knows everything he needs to know” about Poppy after two dates makes him look foolish, which has never been Dollar Bill’s M.O. and only undercuts our ability to fully get into what’s burgeoning between Bill and Poppy. There’s potential here for a strong match, and we’re crossing our fingers that the show capitalizes on it.

GENERAL HOSPITAL
Malpractice Makes Imperfect
Malpractice suits could bring all sorts of drama to the medical community of Port Charles but the tale GH is telling with Finn just hasn't packed a punch. The show made it hard to invest from the start by having the case involve a patient fans never met (RIP, Mr. Muldoon, we quite literally hardly knew ye) and never saw Finn interact with. Likewise, Muldoon's death had no impact on any characters fans care about, further ensuring the low emotional stakes of this yarn. If the deceased was someone important to the canvas, someone whose death caused ripple effects of agony in an established family, say, or tested an important relationship of Finn's, or pitted hospital staffers against one another in a significant way, we could see the narrative value of introducing a malpractice case. But in lieu of any such building blocks, the story was doomed to an insularity that is counter to the best soap storytelling practices. As Finn's legal travails continued, spending weeks on the issue of who would represent Finn in court was not exactly scintillating, and we could think of a thousand things we'd rather see Elizabeth doing than being on "stand by your man" duty 24/7 as she waxes on about what a great doctor he is and works to help him clear his name. Now that the case is headed to court, we're mostly just rooting for a swift resolution.

Avery Pohl has been fantastic as Esme-with-her-memory-back on GH, as has Cynthia Watros as she plays a Nina whose life is in freefall…. Beth Maitland’s (Traci) grounding presence as Ashley’s supportive sister has been a boon to the arc unfolding with Ash on Y&R.... With Gabi off camera on DAYS, we were glad the show addressed on-air that Stefan had told her about his faux affair with Ava....

... But DAYS’s Rafe, who isn't in on the charade, had curiously little reaction to Harris telling him that Ava was hooking up with Stefan, given that Stefan is married to Gabi, Rafe’s sister!.... Y&R’s Jack assured Diane that she deserved to be co-CEO over Kyle because “it was her time to shine” — but does that actually make her qualified for the role, one Kyle has successfully held in the past?!.... When B&B’s Eric surveyed the family photos in the living room there were two framed shots of Ridge but none of Eric’s other children (Rick, Bridget, Felicia, Kristen or Thorne)…. Maxie’s financial woes on GH make little sense. Are we meant to believe that between late husband Nathan’s pension, Spinelli’s financial contribution to Georgie’s upbringing and whatever money wealthy Peter surely bequeathed to James, not to mention her salaried position at Deception, she’s amassed that much credit card debt?!