Vee

That's excuse enough for me to post them yet again! Here:

She stays goofy.

This was a period some of us like @carolineg and @titan1978 I think have discussed a lot - the last of the worthwhile Guza team works. They had downshifted considerably from 'Sonny the hero' over a period of time here and continued to do so, as it seemed Guza had soured on him or Maurice; more focus was given to Jason, to Jason and Carly openly acknowledging they had failed to take care of Michael or raise him right by raising him among Sonny and the mob (first by his getting shot, then by his killing Claudia and going to prison and becoming a spoiled, traumatized brat with Drew Garrett in the role), and most of all DZ/Dante here was the show's key new star, who they had kept in the wings for a year or two before casting. The material was good, rich and layered, and Dominic was very good. He was clearly Guza's new focus and fascination, along with JJ's return not long beforehand with Lucky as Dante's partner - I have said before I think they could have carried the show for years a la Luke and Scorpio. It fell apart of course by defaulting to Dante protecting Sonny even after taking a bullet. (I think they even had the neighborhood cop Dante cited turn out to be corrupt, lol) And the Brenda return saga not long after this was another example of Guza refocusing the show on Dante - he had wanted Dante and Brenda to have had an affair years before, and for Brenda's child to be Dante's son. (VM vetoed this.) But what's tragic is that this kind of intense and layered focus on nuanced male characters went away with that team and with the advent of FV/RC, for whom most 'good' male characters are just clueless stock himbos to be manipulated by fun scheming women or gay men. Almost all the life was drained out of Dante instantly at that point. He's come back from that nadir a bit since then in recent times and DZ still does great work, but he's still not in the role he once was on canvas, when he commanded the show. I'd also say (and I won't repost them now unless you ask, because I've gone over them on here way too many times) that I think Sonny's final scenes with Brenda in summer 2011, the following year, are the last great performance Maurice ever gave and the most honest Sonny has ever been with himself or anyone else. One of the last great pieces of work the longtime writing team did as well, and those are the scenes I always cite when I say there is no point in romance for Sonny ever again unless it's Brenda and it addresses what happened to their marriage.

Honestly that whole mess would've likely been stupid no matter how long RC got to play with it. For me the simple one-line answer is: Tomas in his capacity with the CIA/various intelligence agencies posed as the Alcazars at one point as part of a spy operation, and is possibly distantly related to them. That's it, he's not secretly Lorenzo or Luis Alcazar from GH. I would be happy to see Skye again (in doses) or Lila Rae, and I would be pleased to see TK return as Lorenzo. But the Tomas thing can be explained in one line of dialogue and you move on - not that it really needs to be referenced again either.

I like the Congressman Drew Q saga a lot, but any time they say that guy's name it makes me think of the infamous George Lucas 'Greedo shot first' retcon from Star Wars:

I honestly found both Ginger and Kenny painful to watch too. Could you have refashioned Ginger into a Brooke Armstrong/All About Eve type out of Melrose Place, sure, but I think the overall ensemble was way too strong at that point to be bothered.

1-4:

Part 2 of ME's exit interview. He touches on the end of John McBain and other things. Nice guy. I agree, as he says here and as I've said in the monthly threads, that Finn's exit could've been longer, darker and more drawn-out and full of high drama. But given the chaotic BTS state of the show and many other issues I can understand just brooming him out quickly, and I'm glad they did that too.

That Portia/Esme stuff was all the strike IIRC. It's not that serious.

Fantasy camp.

I agree with all of the above, but we've all talked about it before and I've rambled on at length about this so I won't belabor it. Sonny back with Brenda and taking a backseat is the only solution. I have little sympathy for Mo's position at this point. He doesn't seem to like being challenged and complains whenever story doesn't go his way, then attacks young actors who don't genuflect before him. He puts in a minimal effort onscreen and then harder story is curtailed either because he complains or struggles with playing it. I think the meds, etc. story stalled out largely because of the creative struggle BTS over vilifying Sonny again and having the town turn on him, which I thought was good material, but if he can't play that what is he willing to play? And what can he bring any consistent energy to at this point? So yes, I'd put him back with Brenda and give her most of their shared story together or separate. Let him cruise in his cushy backburner spot.

Like many characters on the show, Willow has almost no prior character to be 'out of character' against so that complaint doesn't hold water. I agree it's very simple: She's hot for Drew and has been for a long time. People are like that IRL. It's not always about logic.

The fact remains that Mulcahey's work was the only stuff that's fully engaged me with this show for years. I'll miss what we've gotten (particularly if the Drew/Willow/Nina stuff is about to hit a new peak). I couldn't care less which kind of Sonny the general audience prefers, because I don't really care about Sonny much. Watching him spiral and the town turn on him properly has worked well for me. MB is barely able to function onscreen these days anyway. Blaze I also couldn't care less about. But the turn to sympathizing with Natalia is clearly about protecting ELR's place on the show, who is yet another soap 'get' and going interest for Frank Valentini. That's not about PM. I am impressed the Drew/Willow makeout sesh went to air. I thought they'd curtail this with the writing change before it got there, as this show has such allergy to actual soap and sin among the 'good' people.

A mystery man moves along:

@Khan @DRW50

The good news there is they all remain a very online minority, dwindling more.

We shall see.

Oh, it's not that dramatic! But I take your point.

Wild as hell it took half the first page for people to mention Mac Scorpio. Robin, Maxie, Georgie and frankly Maxie's kids as well half the time. I will of course second John as I thought how Sami treated him was unbelievable when he never did anything but step up.

That just looks like a Kids in the Hall character.

I'm not saying the Matthewses serve no purpose, I'm just saying I think the period where they were dominant was relatively smaller compared to some other big sea changes in soap history. The issue was that Rauch and Lemay had no real regard for most of the family, especially Jacquie Courtney and Alice who were absolutely essential to putting over story and new characters IMO. I absolutely agree you needed them as a counterweight and also as foundational elements and key characters. Lemay's show had too few of those and was more enamored of fleeting creative heavyweights from the NY theater scene, many of whom came and went. I think if they'd had stronger Matthews characters (including Pat) to counterbalance the later found family elements you mentioned the show would be in a stronger position. Or if they'd dared to recast some of those cosmopolitan characters Lemay introduced, maybe they would've been more lasting.

LOL you and I both know this ain't shít compared to the old days. I absolutely hope you are right.