carolineg

I liked today's episode. Loved the Marlena/Nicole scenes. No matter how unrealistic it was for Marlena to be her psychiatrist. I thought Ari was great! I was cracking up at Drake literally only having one line today. Why was he just sitting in a chair watching Steve threaten Konstantin. So weird lol. @j swiftI am 99% sure Maggie was in town when John/Roman showed up. I believe she was gone from 84-85. She definitely knew John as Roman and had scenes with him.

Just wanted to say Happy Holidays to everyone on this thread! Thank you for you endless insight and great discussions!

Considering the size of the sets I would say that is an accurate assessment.🤣

I want to think there is more to this Paulina story? It might end up being more serious. Because otherwise it was just silly. It would have been nice if Abe ended up being there for her as well today. As @janea4old reminded me, the Town Square is actually an indoor mall. Or has like some sort of dome over it. Seems pricey if you ask me, but I guess that's how everyone does everything out in the open without being cold.

Merry Christmas to all you lovely folks on SON! Today's episode wasn't very Christmas-y. It wasn't a horrible episode, but I do think the show could have done a happier episode with a more Christmas theme. Oh well, it's nice to have a new episode anyhow! Everyone enjoy your holiday!

If you really wanted to keep AB you could have just made her Brenda's mother instead. She needed extensive plastic surgery after the crash or something. She could still be married to the Balkan and they were scaring Brenda to make her more reliant on AB's character so when the truth came out she already needed AB too much to be mad. The Balkan then took it too far and wanted to actually kill Brenda because she was taking up too much of his wife's time and she was becoming obsessed. All of this would have been a mystery to the viewers until Suzanne actually killed the Balkan. You cut out Dante, the mobster son and baby. I am no writer, but I think you could have easily weaved a believable plot together with Suzanne actually being the presumed dead Veronica.

I think you could have still had Adrienne Barbeau. She would have just been one of the good guys and in danger because she was a mother type figure to Brenda so crazy Veronica was jealous and had to get rid of her. I really didn't think much of Hetrick one way or the other. She was okay, if not the best actress, but I didn't think she was the problem. A bigger name should have been Brenda's mother though. JH made no impact on me whether it was the pace, the acting, or the fact she never bonded with Brenda. I guess that says it all. I just have my doubts anyone could have made it work.

I think Vanessa is mostly to blame for the speed of the dead mother story. I think she waited until the very last minute to confirm she was leaving and was going back and forth about re-signing. Guza could have had a plan in place that was more thought out, but we saw in 2003 that wasn't his strong suit. You know, there was probably a pretty easy way to make Veronica the Balkan's wife instead of whatever we got. You tweak the motivation to "protecting" Brenda from Sonny, Jason, whatever the Balkan's son's name was, etc and it actually would have been a decent twist. I am fine, however, with her staying dead.

I felt like I didn't know enough about Veronica before she appeared to make a judgement. Brenda mentioned her, but only in passing until the month or so up until her appearance. I didn't think JH looked anything like Vanessa and this was the shows one chance to cast a Hispanic actress in the part. Anyhow, it felt like an unnecessary complication to the end of Brenda's run. It's not like she was really ever mentioned much again after Brenda returned. I guess the show used the disease as an issue during her 2002 return, but Brenda could have just drove off that cliff and had memory loss or something and you could have essentially told the same story.

Agreed. I laughed a few days ago when he told Theresa all his multiple romances were because he was genuinely in love. Really, Brady?

Don't even get me started on Veronica and that unnamed disease. I was only up to May 1998 in my grievances😂. The show couldn't find anything better for Brenda Barrett to do? So much time was spent on her and Jax (which I loved Jax/Brenda), but it was boring as hell. Jax was obviously always going to forgive her. Her other time was spent yelling at Jason. Julia re-appearing was probably the only bright spot. I can't really say if I felt Veronica was miscast. We knew so little about her. Obviously, looks wise she was.

Poor Stephanie and Chad! Worst couple? They are bad, but Leo/Dmitri were robbed of that honor.

Brady seems a little bit more believable as just a clueless dad. I think he cares, but has no idea how to parent a teenager. I don't know what EOB is doing. I don't think she looks too young to be his mom, but she plays Theresa like the gold digging stepmother instead of Tate's actual mother. It's weird. Maybe it's because she English and less emotional😂?

I preferred yesterday's show to today's, but I obviously prefer the John/Marlena/Steve/Kayla set over the current Hortons. The flashbacks were fabulous though.

I am sorry you had to sit through the Tin Man saga. It's rough-for everyone lol. So, yes, Sonny was being a callous dick, but he was doing it on purpose. I am not defending him or anything, but he clarifies his actions a bit when Brenda/Sonny meet again in 1998. I won't lie. Those are probably my favorite Sonny/Brenda scenes of all time. He tells her he had to leave her in the worst, most humiliating and heartbreaking way because otherwise she would have followed him and found him and he would have let her. And there was a hit on her and she would have been on the run forever and she would have eventually died. So he did all this to save her life. In 1998 as a 15 year old I was all over it. It was a coward's way out and the last 25 years of Sonny have not helped his cause, but those scenes were fantastic. If you want to skip through Brenda's awful, awful breakdown and 6 months of cat and mouse games with Jax it happens in May 1998. Otherwise be forewarned the breakdown is the most cringey Brenda story of all time. Even worse than her possibly sleeping with Dante. And Jax/Brenda drag on (romantically) for endless amounts of time to lead to the obvious eventual reunion. IMO, GH massively wastes VM's 1 year extension on her contract, but that's an entirely different post and subject lol.

I liked today a lot less than @AbcNbc247 did lol. I wasn't crazy about the people at the Horton house, but I guess that's all the Hortons available. I don't understand why Everett was there. While I give the show a shout out for making Everett Jewish, why on Earth would Doug invite him to Christmas Eve? He doesn't know anyone in town, but he...doesn't celebrate Christmas so who cares? Theresa/Brady/Tate were okay. I don't understand why Brady/Theresa act like children and fight in front of Tate all the time. EOB is definitely struggling hard with the accent still too. Flashbacks definitely give the episode a real upgrade in my opinion. I would give it a C but flashbacks up it to a B+

You make a lot of interesting and excellent points. The more that I think about it I don't think he resented his coworker or the show exactly-as long as he got to do what he wanted. I would agree both Mo and Tony probably stayed a little too long. Mo especially. I have always said when Mo left the first time in the 90's that was the perfect ending to the character. The last 25 years have been a descent into awfulness for the Sonny character. Also, Baby Ace has a bigger spine that Valentin! Stop crying all the time! I think Tony probably resented his own failures more than the show, but Bill Eckert was a silly idea from the jump. That's not want anyone wanted to see.

It's sad he couldn't come around and embrace the situation. He was employed very well for years past getting any other roles. Even men with huge egos like MB and SBu who tried and mostly failed outside of soaps have come to accept that's how they are going to pay the bills and they will be big fish in a small pond. I guess he can be resentful in Amsterdam next to his 20 emmys.

Yes. There is nothing wrong with them and it's nice to have a happy couple, but my mind immediately starts drifting when they appear. It's strange because I thought Tripp/Wendy had chemistry in Beyond Salem 2. Wendy was just presented much differently on that show and she's lost all the cool attributes she had now. I would argue the show makes the least amount of effort in expanding Wendy's family. Li and his dad was an issue but not explored until the day before he died. It still hasn't been explored since Li's death. Did his parents come to Li's funeral? Why isn't this conflict happening in person? A phone call from China is pretty lame.

Well, yes, that's true. I have also heard the concerns came more from Genie's husband than herself, but that doesn't make it much better since she's still married to him. It seems like TG/GF worked it out enough to at least be cordial and act together though. Even if Tony hates daytime there is a reason he didn't hit it big-and it's not because he's too identifiable as Luke. I understand it must be frustrating to be boxed into one single role, but I also think he got a ton out of that one role so he can stop complaining.

Some of TG's behavior sounds abusive and awful. Other actors seem to praise him, but I wonder if they are just towing the company line. There is a difference between being passionate about the fictional character you play and actual violence. Maybe it's easier all around on set for Tony to be gone. Also, I hope you are doing much better these days! None of this behavior should have ever been accepted. I can't go into my work and start being violent and throwing things around lol. That would be a quick way to relieve myself of a job. The show might have been in a bit of a bind with Tony, but I think JDP could have been shown the door.

They are cute and perfectly nice, but I don't find them exciting at all. Wendy has lost all her spunk. Tripp needs a sassier girl to balance him out. They definitely need some conflict or adventure.

You know, there are ways to make Luke viable without being in a romance. It's just Tony's idea to make Luke an awful person with no growth. He retroactively cheats on Laura, drinks too much, goes off on adventures, and barely cares about his kids. I really wish someone pushed back more on him. TG left anyway. It was worth a try.

I think people have a right to be offended. I just still see Luke/Laura on all the anniversary covers and specials and the mainstream public hasn't seemed to cancel them. It's still considered to be the most iconic and famous GH pairing. I am just curious how the audience at large feels about it. Most posters on here seemed to be very against the pairing. I am so sorry. Thank you for your input.

I was honestly okay with Brenda ending up with Jax before Ingo ruined it. You are absolutely correct and Sonny is the worst. I just want to believe the love of Brenda will change him in the end lol. I have invested too much in this to just let it go now🤣 I don't know if I actually want to watch years of Sonny/Brenda onscreen doing the same old thing over and over. Either Sonny completely changes (doubtful) or they leave the show together. It can be when Mo leaves or when the show ends I just still want it to happen.