Soap Operas
Yes, I do tape Days of Our Lives every day. Thanks for asking.
Just some thoughts on the way things have been going lately on the show:
Okay, I know I'm slow on the uptake at times, but it just dawned on me that this castle where Tony has his captives is the same one that Bo and Billie are headed to. The constant references to Jack being home for the holidays in today's show pretty much confirms that.
Okay let me get this straight: Kate honors the memory of her "dead" husband by trying to ruin his daughter's relationship with her son, trying to break up his brother's marriage, and trying to keep his nephew apart from his one true love. (Yes I know that last bit is more Jan's doing than anything else, but Kate certainly encourages it. Ironic given that it puts her on the same side as the little vixen who could destroy her other son's relationship.)
I like the character of Kate, but she's become so unsympathetic and one-note. Her children are all adults, for god's sake! They don't need her to arrange their lives for them. It wouldn't be so annoying if we could get some reminder of her motivation from time to time. It's obvious that she's still carries a lot of guilt for the mistakes she made when her kids were young. Would it hurt to mention that?
Would any international intelligence/spy agency like the ISA have ever hired someone as unstable as Billie Reed? She'd never pass the psych exams! I know that losing a child is a horrible thing for any parent to endure, but she shows no sign of any healing whatsoever. Apparently, she's wallowed in raw, open grief for years, and that's just not healthy. In actual time, her miscarriage was about five or six years ago. On the show, they've aged the child to teen-ager status, so that puts the death at 13-16 years ago. Yes, Billie should be missing her child, but for her to still be acting like her life is completely over and saying things like "I can't stand the thought of my baby in the ground all cold and alone" is just not healthy. She needs therapy and medications!
It's a good thing that Patrick, Brandon, Lucas, and Phillip are around. Bo, Roman, and John have become so abrasive and obnoxious that the show needs all the sensitive men it can get, especially with Jack MIA again. A little while ago, Bo had no idea where to find Billie when she was at their dead daughter's grave! Of course, Patrick found her.
I just love it when Sami totally melts down and starts throwing out her wild conspiracy theories again. It's no wonder that no one in Salem other than her family likes her. If she keeps pushing it, she very well could lose the family support, too. If I were Belle, I would have told Sami in no uncertain terms to stop the trash talking about my dad ages ago. I'm finally starting to worm to Sami and Lucas as a couple too. The pre-Thanksgiving scenes were warm and funny. I can't buy Brandon as any kind of threat to their relationship, though. He's come back as someone who is too smart and mature to still be in love with an emotional wreck like Sami.
John's in a hospital bed hopped up on pain meds and hallucinogenics and he can see that Belle doesn't really love Phillip, but Phillip himself can't? He's really become somewhat pathetic and needy as a character.
Keith asked me the other day how much longer we had to put up with asshole Shawn. Here's how I think that will play out: Shawn's drinking, which is tied to the pain from his accident and surgery, will cause another accident, which restores his memory and will most likely kill Jan. As he recovers, he and Belle grow closer and she, Hope and Maggie nurse him through his alcoholism. Just when it looks like there's hope for him and Belle again, Phillip comes back from Iraq in a coma. When Phil wakes up, Belle has to stay in their relationship out of concern for his health, which will of course eventually lead to Phil faking his condition to keep her. Kate encourages him. Brady figures it out and blows the whistle. Belle and Shawn finally make it to the altar and Jan shows up, as the latest back from the dead DiMera operative.
Of course, I may have to alter that a bit based on today's show! Mimi's found the cage! Of course, she's going to end up locked in there. Everyone will think she left town. Bonnie will think it's because of her shame over the abortion and blab that to Rex. In the meantime, Patrick will find her and rescue her from the inevitable fire that will happen because young heroines about to be burned alive is so dramatic. She gets back to town and has to deal with the aftermath of Bonnie's blabbing. At least, that's my best guess about what's going to happen.
As annoying as this new personality is, it has been nice to see Shawn rave about his dad and Billie.Everyone has been back in Salem for days now and we've only seen Alice once? Wouldn't the whole Horton clan have gathered around her for Thanksgiving? With Shawn and Jan together, Mickey and Bonnie married, and Abby not speaking to her mother, hanging the ornaments on the Horton tree ought to be interesting this year.
Seriously, wouldn't this have been a much better Thanksgiving episode for Days?
The Horton clan gathers at Alice's for a grand potluck. In the course of the day, Alice yanks a knot in Mickey's tail about Bonnie, while she consoles and encourages Maggie. She also has a heart to heart with Bonnie, telling her that she appreciates the sweet tribute that Alice's is intended to be and that she is thankful that Mickey had someone to comfort him while Maggie was gone, but that it's time for Bonnie to gracefully step out of the picture.
Next she turns to the next generations, telling Lucas and Sami to be honest and true to each other as she gives them her blessing. She calls Abby on her behavior towards Jennifer and Shawn for his general crummy attitude. She also tells him in no uncertain terms what a jerk he was to blame Belle for her "death." Doug tells him basically the same thing. Alice tells Julie that her intentions are good but her methods regarding Mickey and Bonnie aren't helping. She reminds Bo that his family needs him. Finally, she tells Jennifer to give that damn baby a name! Alice welcomes Patrick and thanks him for caring for Jennifer.
Of course there's plenty of drama from the other attendees as well. Sami reads Shawn the riot act for hurting Belle and has one of her blow ups at Bo and Hope. (Which prompts Alice to give her another talking-to.) Maggie notices Shawn's drinking, and tries to talk to him about it. When that fails, she talks to Bo and Hope. Hope asks Lucas to talk to him, prompting another one of Sami's fits. Lucas and Abby bond, and he tells her that he knows what it's like to have a lot of anger and resentment towards family members. He says he hopes she won't make the same mistakes he did when he was her age. The day ends with Julie, Maggie, and Bonnie getting into a food fight with the leftovers in the kitchen.
If I only wrote the soaps, huh?
I'm wondering if Jack will come wandering in while they're hanging his ornament on the tree....
Okay, I've tried really hard, but I just don't buy Brady and Nicole as a couple. I know they're married in real life, and I'm sure that they have a powerful attraction and great personal chemistry, but none of that comes across on TV. None. Not one bit.
Together they are boring and unbelievable. Nicole talks about how much she loves Brady and it comes off as fake. They've always tried to paint Nicole as one of those tragically flawed characters--not quite a heroine, not quite a villain--and it just doesn't work. It's the same vein of great grey characters that Sami and Kate spring from, but Nicole comes across as scheming and pathetic. She doesn't have the history and connections that Kate and Sami do, and all those attempts to give her a tragic, horrid past seem contrived. There's nothing to root for with her, which means there's nothing to root for in a Brady/Nicole coupling.
In the meantime, she's responsible for two murders (Marlena and Victor). Even if they both are still alive, she still attempted to have them killed. Besides that, she is an accomplice to Shawn's kidnapping. That's just the kind of woman I want to see paired with Brady.
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