Vee

It is peanuts. As I said it does nothing to damage Sonny's bottom line or make a move on him. If Ava wanted to get away clean she should've met Natalia in public, plied her with drinks and then been able to blame it on someone like DeWitt targeting Blaze's mother. But still, what does this get her tactically? Nothing. It's just the show meandering.

This I don't remember, but Ron's insanely bitchy anniversary post 'congratulating' GH a couple years ago on IG was nuts.

A small thread:

I like Kamala, but the media has always liked to pick at her and drill down into her and her team as supposedly inept, and as a woman of color I think she faces an uphill battle in such a hyper-polarized, racist country atm which has had all its bigotry and misogyny given expanded license since Trump first came down the escalator. Still, the Beltway media circuit may now hate and resent Bidenworld even more. They would have to totally refresh overnight if Harris became the nominee, and they're not ready for that. I think Kamala Harris could serve and lead well if needed. But I hope it does not come to her having to go head to head against Trump this year (and I really don't think it will). I think that would be very tough. (I also think Buttigieg is a very skilled politician but is in no way ready.)

Towne was a complicated man but a screenwriting legend. Shampoo, The Last Detail and the imperfect but often brilliant lesbian sports drama Personal Best (a clear precursor to Challengers) stay with me especially. I do wonder if his Chinatown prequel series with David Fincher for Netflix will now happen.

That's not that unusual for the party bedwetters, though. Eventually most of them will fall in line. And again, this is all too early, too soon, the media has shot their wad too early gleeful at the thought of finally getting revenge on Boring Biden, and Trump is too stupid to not screw up more. I think the interview is just part of that. I agree he will need to do much more. And I agree they need to let Joe be Joe. But I also don't think voter concern is as strong as that of the media. Despite some polls.

Honestly: Who cares? The center sucks and is a discussion point, it has never existed onscreen. It bogs down Kristina in nothing work that only resonates offscreen vs. being active on the show. I'm ready to see the back of it.

Sure, but she should've started with that IMO. And also advanced her position in his life more before this in order to gather more ammo. But Korte wanted Hero Sonny away from Ava, so.

Two things can be true: Natalia deserves what she gets, and Ava is a villain who is doing good scheming. But this is very light work frankly. What does this do to damage Sonny or harm his bottom line? Nothing. It fúcks with his romantic life. Ava needs bigger guns.

I have reached the 'media is overplaying its hand too early' stage yet again with our Current Miseries re: Diamond Joe. It's too early, there is a lot of road left this election and they absolutely cannot shut up. They're burning the Old Joe topic out. Meanwhile Biden just booked a sit down interview with George Stephanopoulos and will surely be doing a lot more to prove he is not a dribbling invalid ready for Shady Pines. So I think in a month or two this will be burnt. Or at least I hope so. YMMV.

I will say I loved Ava telling Sonny flat-out: Don't forget who I am and what I am capable of. That is something too many in the audience have forgotten. They whine about the writing for Ava in recent months and say it's unfair but this is who Ava is, period. My issue is with how they moved her out of her cunning schemer position to one where is now weaker atm and more obviously able to be potentially picked off. There are better ways to do this, but I don't think Korte cares. I cannot believe the surrogacy is still going. Just kill the damn baby. Mansi is meant for much better than this, she's carried a lot of the show in recent months. I honestly don't care about the center and clearly the writers do not either. It has always been an invisible offscreen concept. Give her an active role in an up and coming, existing physical space on the canvas. Not working at some social work facility or tending bar.

I would still bring Justus back and blame Witness Protection. If Joe Phillips isn't too crazy online these days I'd be tempted to bring him back as another Q elder, but I can see an argument for aging Justus down a bit and making a recast a viable option for Portia. And I would recast Keesha, though my ideas there end in 'fúck with the fangurls by giving her lots of scenes with Steve'. I still wonder what the hell they had planned for Zoe that never got off the ground in the late 2000s. I think maybe she was supposed to be for teen Michael?

Eh, I'm not prepared to dump Drew now until the writing really craters for him again. But we'll see! There's plenty of Qs and Wards to add though.

I have commented many times on how idiotic it is that they brought on a Black youth named "T.J." who was not Tommy Hardy. And wasted Tequan Richmond, who I loved. But oh well. I have little time for T.J., but I would add more Black doctors among other characters. And probably bring back Maya Ward and her phantom sister.

Oh, big time. Starting with Thomas Hardy Jr.

I get the issue, but I think they did okay with that by letting Stella and co. take the reins after a certain point in the scenes. I think it does well to have a beloved character like Kevin dispense the info up front. It's a balancing act.

I think a lot of stuff really worked. But it's impossible to know what most of his stories were going to be, beyond the early stuff with Citizen Drew Q which I've really liked a lot. I suspect a lot of what we got was also watered down even before the screen - the network simply does not have the stones it used to content-wise. I've been rewatching OLTL's rape trial story from '93 in its entirety lately and it seriously holds up, but what struck me today was the subplot and backstory where Luna Moody reveals she was raped by the Klan, who burned down her New Age store in the South and killed her Black employee - the store being destroyed had been a minor backstory point for several years, I think, before this was elaborated. Would ABC/Disney let them be that explicit about who did it today? I'm not sure. Those Kevin scenes re: Marshall and systemic Black medical misdiagnosis was daring and transgressive enough. I would like to hold out hope ABC won't be satisfied with status quo when Jonathan returns and we'll see another change. Who knows. I certainly never thought Frank would be forced to let ME go after toppling Mulcahey. This is why I've always fúcking hated this cheap-ass opening. Get three Dantes and it's jackpot!

Can I ask what is known to be at UCLA from AW? Or if it's more easily, is there a link or site where I can survey what they have? I don't know how accessible it is to the public though my mother is an alumni.

It is going to be a hard fight and I personally would love to not be in this situation, but I do think we have a good shot. I will especially enjoy the media reaction if Trump loses and Biden wins, again. They're so mad.

Kristina's delusional behavior after T.J. and Molly's one argument was so ridiculous.

No, you moved it to a new thread you made, ignoring the one that already existed.

And why aren't you in the July thread?

I only have energy for one catastrophe at a time while recovering from a nasty virus, so I'm going to pivot to other less earthshattering yet unsurprising news: