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YOUNG AND RESTLESS
Booze Ruse
It’s been over 30 years since Nikki fell from a horse and turned to painkillers and alcohol for back pain. She’s fallen off the wagon numerous times since then, but was five years sober before Jordan force-fed her vodka and sent Nikki searching for her old flask. The upside of Nikki’s slip is watching Genoa City rally around their alcoholic heroine — first Lauren spending the night with her boozed-up friend and then Jack secretly agreed to help his ex-wife and fellow addict. What better way to create conflict between Nikki and Victor than by having Nikki ask her former husband — who just so happens to be Victor's longtime sworn enemy! — to be her sponsor, and then lie to Victor about it? “Just tell him,” begged Jack, to no avail. Nikki locking her office door to meet with Jack (with that flask in her drawer…) may cause her to lose her marriage, but we’re drinking in every moment of this tale, which not only draws on established history but is showcasing fan-fave vets to great effect.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES
Plight Of The Common Man
Everett Lynch arrived in Salem last fall, yet despite being in the same small town as his ex-wife, Jada, for many months, the pair has yet to cross paths. And, quite frankly, the drawn-out build to their first face-to-face encounter has gotten ridiculous. The former spouses are frequenting the same local haunts, strolling through the same Horton Square and mingling with the same crowd, while Jada and her longtime pal, Stephanie, have gotten together on multiple occasions and discussed their exes. They’ve gone on and on about their relationship fails — yet neither has ever mentioned the big “fail” they unwittingly have in common by name, or exchanged photos of their exes. With social media and smartphone camera rolls being part of everyday life, this simply doesn't pass the smell test. Sure, there have been close calls and near misses, but they've gotten tired fast. The story has been treading so much on the way to the inevitable reveal that instead of building anticipation, they're risking the audience just not caring anymore. When Jada and Everett do finally come face to face — and we're fervently hoping that's soon — the payoff in terms of narrative fireworks had better be huge.

BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL
No Faith In Hope
Imagine being a thirtysomething woman with two kids and five marriages behind you and being told by your mom that you can’t marry the father of one of your kids. This is the dilemma faced by Hope Logan, who shares a troubled past with Thomas Forrester — her former stepbrother, who is guilty of stalking and possibly murder but who is also Douglas’s father and the only man who puts Hope first. Is that enough? No, said Brooke, whose own list of exes reads like a cry for help. Missing from this story is Hope’s father Deacon, who would undoubtedly be on her side considering he’s living with murderer Sheila Carter. “I know you won’t be happy with Thomas,” cried Brooke, who’s learned nothing about happiness through eight marriages to Thomas’s father, Ridge. Watching Brooke beat the same drum over and over isn't entertaining nor does it seem to move the story forward; surely there is something for this integral character to do than lecture her adult daughter! And whatever Hope decides about her future with Thomas, we certainly hope it comes from her heart and not from the maternal peer pressure she's been subjected to.

GENERAL HOSPITAL
The Parent Sap
The story of Molly and TJ's rocky road to parenthood has been unfolding for nearly a year, and just doesn't seem to be backing the emotional punch we're sure its authors intended it to. Some of this may be the inevitable result of the period of viewer adjustment that occurs when a character is recast — and here, not one but two of the prime players (Molly and Kristina) have new faces. But that aside, it felt odd from the get-go that career-driven Molly suddenly felt like such a deep yearning to have a child. Her endometriosis was something we never saw her struggle with and was only discussed around the time of her diagnosis, lessening our emotional investment in what could have been a poignant beat (one that's relatable to many viewers). It seemed pretty clear where this was all headed, especially after their first surrogate miscarried: to Kristina carrying a child for her sister and brother-in-law, which is where we are now. We have no doubt that the show has big plans for the baby to yield a host of dramatic and emotional complications for all of the adults involved ... but given how long it's taken just to get to the point of Kristina being with child, we just wish we were closer to the juicy part of this yarn.

Y&R’s Diane feeling that her position at Jabot is threatened by her own son adds a fun wrinkle to the Jack/Diane/Kyle family dynamics… Good uses of history on B&B when Zende spoke to R.J. about how he came to join the Forrester family in the first place, and on GH when Lois reminisced about her wedding to Ned as the planning for Brook Lynn and Chase’s nuptials got underway…. Brady wearing a Basic Black-branded pullover on DAYS was a nice sartorial touch.

DAYS’s Lucas took a beating in prison for being a snitch, so for safekeeping, Harris moved him … into an unguarded room at the Brady Pub?!... Y&R’s Audra has an excellent lawsuit against Newman Enterprises after being fired by Nikki for simply acknowledging Nikki’s struggle with alcoholism. Speaking of which, all that drinking would surely trigger a flareup of Nikki’s multiple sclerosis…. GH’s Carly described herself as “an original part-owner” of Deception — and while it is true that had a stake in the company back in the day, Carly didn’t even live in Port Charles when Deception was founded! Its original owners were Lucy, Scott, Dominique and Julia.