j swift

Talk about heavy-handed.

How many times did Xander have to say, "if I were Victor's son" in one episode?

I know why I tend to overthink DAYS mysteries, because I can't believe they make it this obvious.

Also, there are like 80 people living at the Dimera house, didn't one of them see Sloan skulking about?  And it was so soapy that EJ could not find the time to open an envelope over the course of 42 minutes.

There's something funny about tuning into GH and seeing how much Wally Kurth's appearance changed in six months.

Hot take, EOB could've kept the British accent and justified it by saying she was spending more time with her father Shane in the UK while Tate was in school (like Madonna).  As it stands, I feel bad for Kimberly, isn't she supposed to be ill and that's why Theresa lives with her?  Now that the supply chain is effecting her company, I hope Kim isn't back out on the streets.  I like EOB's charisma, and I have no connection to Jen Lilly's take as being groundbreaking, so I don't mind, it seems very temporary.  And it'll allow for a refresh on Gwen.

Also, I'm still stuck on the idea that Theresa met Alex once, and now they're entwined, he's a baddie, and they're living together. 

If everything stays at this pace, I expect Tate and Holly to get married, have a baby, start a company and buy the Horton House by Thanksgiving.

8 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

The only thing Secrets has actually, is the best double entrendre line among the season's new pilot shows.

Dude, could've at least told us the line...

And the cast wasn't worth mentioning - harsh

Could be tied to either JT or Reed?

2 hours ago, dragonflies said:

I think he might be gone, looks like Li be the one Gabi killed in the DOD promo

In a recent Instagram post Remington commented how happy he was to be "back on the other side of the camera", so I think you are correct.

2 hours ago, dc11786 said:

The stance I felt Mason was taking was that his mother had committed all of those horrible crimes when she was mentally unwell, and that she should be exonerated the way that Sophia had been for murdering Channing, Jr.

That's an interesting thought that I hadn't considered.

My only counterargument would be the lack of groundwork laid for Mason's change of heart.  Certainly, by watching the hospital scene in 1988, Mason has lost sympathy for his mother's illness because she allowed him to take the blame for Mark's death, as well as being responsible for numerous other incidents with his family. If somewhere on the road to sobriety, Mason learned to have more empathy for Pamela than I would buy your take on the dinner party. 

However, my contention is not with Mason welcoming Pamela back, but whether his anger is properly justified at that moment in 1991.  Because, why are we suddenly re-adjudicating Sophia for Channing's murder?  It feels like the connection between the two women's history was a missed opportunity from when Pamela first returned for Elena's trial.  So, they shoe-horned it into the story in 1991.  It was an artful shoe-horn, but not earned in terms of establishing the motivation.

One other point need I need clarification on, because I rely on your excellent memory.  I had forgotten that Pamela knew that Cassandra was Minx's daughter before everyone else found out.  In the synopsis on the French site there's a mention that Pamela spoke to Cassandra's father.  But, that seems wrong, since I don't recall that we ever knew Cassandra's father.  And I doubt Minx would have told Pamela at the time of Cassandra's birth.  Do you think Cassandra was meant to be Scott's cousin (or sister)?  Which would be odd since the character bio said that Scott left in 1989

Episode 1658 (the reappearance of Pamela)

Pamela confides in Mason that she knows a secret concerning Cassandra. She tells him that she is the illegitimate daughter of Minx Lockridge...

Episode 1659

Mason is shocked by Pamela's revelation. She explains to him that she learnt this from Cassandra's father, who she was frequently seeing during this time.

I'm open to surprise, as long as it nothing to do with Sheila or any of the Carter clan

Also, I think interweaving the custody and inheritance story is clever.

Given that the trailer shows Xander is about to be revealed as the heir.  It is smart to set up some animosity between Maggie and Xander.  He was always one of her favorites, so it will be interesting to see if Maggie remains on the outside at Titan if she and Xander continue to clash over the custody situation with Sarah.

The fire is a canard, as I'm sure that they won't destroy the Horton house, they probably just want to modernize and shrink the set (although goodness knows how it could get any smaller).  I'm certain not to like the baby switch, and this is the most common, (and a little cruel), plot line in soaps.  But, thankfully, there are other bright spots to which I look forward.

1 hour ago, dc11786 said:

Mason brings Pamela to the dinner party after she has been released from the hospital with the help of C.C., not Mason. This has all been done offscreen, but the revelation is suppose to establish the amount of power and control C.C. exerts on those in his circle.

Agreed that it was CC who got Pamela released, with the stipulation that she had no contact with Mason (I don't recall if Kelly is even mentioned in this plan, as it is even weirder that nobody seems to care that Pammie tried to kill her - leave it to Eden to once again make it all about herself - haha).

But, I assume you understand my point that Mason's attitude toward his mother, and using her as a cudgel against CC lacks story based motivation in 1991.

Don't get me wrong, I think the dinner party episode(s) in general is excellent. Sophia really shines.  I love the part about how she struggled to be a stepmother to Mason, and her performance alone allows me to overlook these issues.  But upon reflection, the Mason stuff feels unearned, given that it's played by re-cast at that moment in the story.

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

You mean you didn't want to see the dynamic duo in Ron and Greg Rikaart in person? I'm shocked!

Honestly, I see Greg Rikaart at the supermarket in Los Feliz at least once a month, so I can wait.

6 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

I thought Megan escaped on a submarine?

You're correct, it was so quick that I forgot.  But, I think you understand my point that once Megan went vamoosh, Kristen seemed to have lost interest in running Dimera, she was more interested in the potential for Dimitri's money than her father's company.

7 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

I lived in LA I probably wouldn't have attended due to lack of my favorites attending.... I do wonder if fans have just stopped watching the show and thus the low turn out too.

I live in Los Angeles, less than a mile from the event, and I didn't attend because I have no need for a signed postcard, and I knew the teaser trailer would be on YouTube

Here's Mason's final scene with Pamela in 1988, before the dinner party in 1991. 

Mason has been shot after Ben Clark takes the family hostage (this is the denouement of the writer's strike story where Mason was falsely accused of killing Mark McCormick after his skull was found, but really Pamela had killed Hal Clark, Ben's brother and her former lover, then Mason goes to investigate the nunnery where the bones were buried, and he is presumed dead in a fire, but really has a head injury and turns into Sonny).

Watch this and tell me why three years later, Mason would break his Mother out of the mental hospital, dress her up and bring her to dinner at CC's house (with Kelly, whom Pamela tried to throw off of a roof). 

The strike may have created the opportunity for a silly story, but at least Mason got some insight before his head injury.

Also, why do Scott and Heather find the weirdest time to have romantic banter? "Pamela killed my uncle and my dad just held her a gunpoint. By the way, you're awfully sweet, Heather"

Here's my wild guess - she's the daughter of Veronica and Josh Landers

This pic confirms my concerns that it doesn't look well attended, especially for the venue, and given that it was free

In retrospect, why did Mother Blaisdel tape her son's phone conversations? Was she worried he would sell out her molasses cookie recipe?

I just noticed that Stephan Nichols wore the patch to Day of Days

Talk about committing to the bit!

Thank goodness Lucas is getting out of jail.

And, is that Holly on a ventilator?

26 minutes ago, chrisml said:

I think the Dobsons are responsible for the problems

Agreed.

In retrospect, using Pamela as the linchpin of their comeback with the Dinner Party episodes feels like they're saying to New World and NBC, "see, I told you should've let us cast Marj Dusay as Pamela."

Only, to write her off a week later and damage Kelly, Mason, and Eden in the process.

On a positive note (always an optimist), I like the idea of Paulina getting into a story with Stefan (it feels fresh when they mix up scene partners), the Pawn memories look intriguing (as long it's not another retcon), and I'm happy we got confirmation that Xander is the true heir.

An interesting lack of Tate and Holly, given the fanfare of their arrival.  Were the actor's present at the event?

And it is nice to see Blake Barris not playing his annual role as a ghost.

The Prince Albert story was thankfully very short, and it was no worse than this Jaws rip-off with Joe and Siobhan from 1979

As we've discussed in the prior illustrated print ad and promo threads, NBC daytime was the worst of the three when it came to marketing.  From the inconsistent identity for their commercials, to the illustrated print ads that often looks like they were meant for Mad Magazine, it just wasn't good.  Which is a shame, because they couldn't benefit from some of the unique stories that they were telling.  There were memorable individual ads, but never a great overall campaign.  I mean, ABC effectively "stole" the concept of Love in the Afternoon that was created by the NBC ad team, and they ran with it for years.  Meanwhile, Linda Dano's dragging around her partner on a dance floor like a dog on a rainy day.

https://youtu.be/-kHBu9hLHLo?si=V8El1iijxP4LFWOf

Hopefully, it is hard to get the perspective from this angle, but the crowd looks sparse in most of the social media posts.  Certainly, for the size of the venue.

It is hard for me to estimate the degree to which Dobson's return or Gordon Thompson is to blame, but it always felt like the final recast hurt the character.  Watching Gordon play Mason, it is difficult for me not to be distracted by the similarities to Adam Carrington, especially because they were both rich men with daddy-issues. 

But, it feels like there are two things missing. 

(1) When Mason remarried Julia, there is a lovely scene where Mason and CC come to a peaceful resolution.  This feels like a one of the elements that the Dobson's missed by not reviewing what occurred in the years they were away.  So, when Mason brings Pamela to the dinner party which signals the beginning of the new Dobson era, it feels unmotivated given recent events (and using Pamela to out Cassandra as Lockridge was totally random).  There was still plenty of conflict to mine without regressing the character. Also, Terry's Mason and Carrington's Kelly shared a bond, so it felt cruel to bring the woman who terrorized Kelly back into the house just to make CC angry.  

(2) Gordon's Mason is remarkably sillier, and certainly less sanctimonious, than Lane's (to be fair, the silliness began earlier with the Sonny story).   But, I think that I was reminded of Adam because he only plays Mason's bombast, there's none of the depth that came from Mason's struggle with addiction.  Lane gave Mason a vulnerability because I felt his struggle to be better a father to Samantha than CC was to him.  Gordon came across as more romantic, but not as conflicted.

Stefan and Gabi need a cause.

The whole idea that they want everyone's voting shares would make sense if we knew the issue for which the board is voting.  For example, if EJ wanted the board to fund Dr. Rolf's Youth Serum, and Stefan wanted them to back his idea to build Dimera Mobile Mausoleums, then we would know what they're fighting about (of course, Kristin would pitch low cost latex masks or pre-fab underground tunnels).  BTW, she quickly dropped her desire for power in the company once Megan died.

As it stands, I have no idea who to root for in this argument.  Because both parties seem ill-suited to run the company, and there's no logical reason that they couldn't manage it together. 

We never see them actually go to the office.  Unlike, Titan, it is still unclear what their company does (shipping?, drugs?, films?)  There's never been a scene where one man was an impediment to the other.  And, everyone seems to have forgotten that the mansion only belongs to the CEO, so they'll all still be rich and have a house no matter who wins the vote.

Where's the conflict? When is this stupid vote going to happen? And, while Tate's whining about not seeing his Dad in two years, has Gabi even FaceTimed her daughter since she moved to New Zealand?