Vee

I'll get there eventually lol. I know she does move back and is embroiled in the final storyline in some way, but I'm not going to speak out of turn on it. I wouldn't want to opine about that blind but I agree that barring any financial ups and downs for her, Abby moving back to the neighborhood at that point might kind of be like what's been discussed in the Melrose Place thread about the implausibility of Amanda, etc. still living in that complex after becoming the CEO of an advertising agency. This season hits different for me vs. S5, which I previously thought was a considerable level up from S4 (which I also felt that way about for it vs. 3, lol). Maybe it's the next level beauty of Lotus Point and the intricacy of that setup and how it draws people like Karen into the workplace too, and how much more functional, candid, mature and fun Gary and Abby's renewed marriage is (so far), and maybe the slow exploration of Sumner's character as well as he begins to lose his armor. Season 5 was excellent, but this may be better for me so far (even if Laura's and to a degree Sumner's role is definitely smaller atm). I know there's a lot of opinions about the latter half of it though I know no details, but we'll get there when we get there. I am about to wrap ep 10, so then I have to compile a lot of thoughts lol.

I thought it was common knowledge Clink/Boom was all Guza.

An illuminating profile with Pine Valley's own: As always, you can find a non-paywalled copy here c/o archive.is.

I can't speak to later at all, but Abby still feels like one to me after the long absence in Season 6 - I think it's the deep ties to Karen and the boys, Sid, her kids' roots there, etc. that do it. Gary is the same, especially since Karen, Laura and Val have all more recently renewed their association and friendship with Gary after a realistic period of estrangement in Season 4 and for Karen some of S5.

What??

That actually goes way back to the beginning (though I'm sure you know this better than I); Olivia came onto the show plagued by nightmares and often would go to Abby (or when staying there, Val) upon waking. She kept having them for ages, although I was also a bit surprised that the Olivia who has noticeably physically matured since last season would crawl into bed with Abby again. I too thought it was a deliberate parallel and a suggestion of her having a premonition; I loved that moment. The magic of the cul-de-sac and neighborhood arena for all the characters still hasn't faded - the Thanksgiving scenes in Episode 9 were wonderfully heartfelt and unforced. I'll try to cover as much of this stuff from the last 10 eps and the very end of Season 5 more as I can soon, though I've talked about a fair bit already. (It's notable that I believe Thanksgiving may have been Abby's first officially attended event in the cul-de-sac since Season 3 - she's stayed away years.)

I will have a lot to say about the first act of Season 6 soon enough, but I will say that the end of Episode 8 is a killer. Putting aside how hard it is to watch JVA in this material because everything is on her face, and Abby's genuinely sad and sympathetic reaction to the news about Val losing the babies in spite of everything (a moment virtually every other primetime soap I can recall would've played for camp bitchery), the final phone call from one of Easton/whoever's associates asking for 'the father's blood type' for 'the children in question' is so, so creepy. Donna Mills was so right to make them change the story and do it this way, and it still is just as effective and chilling if not far moreso, because Abby, who couldn't stomach Wolfbridge, would never have intended this either and has suddenly found herself trapped inside of this plot. The mounting confusion and then horror in Mills' eyes is just great, and it's through that that Abby can become an audience identification character in this story on a certain level, because they've been in on it for a few episodes ahead of her. The mindfuck on this reveal for a live audience back in the day must have been insane. Also, Val's infamous creepy doctor looks a lot like Larry Drake a.k.a. Dr. Giggles.

So was I. GH was only saved in 2012 by a Hail Mary from Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati, and by ABC realizing their substitute shows did not cut it. The CBS soaps are plugging along only via inertia and international sales.

Dr. Nate suddenly being a business tycoon is just laughable. This show is Monopoly.

IMO Dark Shadows could've potentially survived in some form if Dan Curtis had been willing to modernize and merge its style with that of conventional daytime rhythms and romances of the period. He didn't do that because he was a showman and impresario first, not a showrunner. He was always chasing the next big hype in any project (his future cult classic Burnt Offerings is pretty much a more star-laden and violent retelling of Night of Dark Shadows) and it was a part of the show; investing in any real couples or characters beyond the monster set like Barnabas, Julia, Angelique, Quentin, etc. was not happening. The closest parallel to what DS could've become was and remains Edge of Night, which regularly told gothic, occasionally supernaturally-tinged mysteries and had a very unique flair and atmosphere but retained a core canvas of characters with popular couples and ongoing subplots in the present day world. There was a way to allow it to survive, but Curtis simply didn't build it for that. OTOH, more people in the mainstream remember DS and option it for future material today than Edge of Night, so what does that tell you?

Scott Bakula is a pretty classy and humble guy, so this reads like a very classy and humble hard diss to me lol. After months of the new show ducking and weaving around if he might do it:

Shades of Lotus Point. Is this dude outside??

They were allegedly lured onboard by someone in the state government. DOJ should look in this, it has to be illegal in some way. Meanwhile:

Too late:

Intriguing - thanks!

I like Olivia a lot, who's easily the most skilled of the younger set but was also a cute kid, and I've always liked Michael and Eric (and now feel guilty as they've grown into attractive young men). Jason the Immortal One never seems to grow at all but we rarely see him, lol. Brian I have no opinion on except for his being the bratty kid from Tremors and a few recent MST3K episodes who's okay enough, but I know he is replaced by David Silver very shortly so we'll see if he develops a personality. That is a good idea. The absence is glaring, and I say that as someone who cannot tolerate Charlene Tilton for longer than ninety seconds at a time (which is three times as long as she can act on-camera). I understand why they divorced themselves more from Dallas, but I like the connective tissue to be used when it can. I did like when they addressed it in Season 5 where Val claims she and Lucy are doing great to try to lift Karen's spirits over Diana, then Karen asks how long it's been since they've talked and Val admits it's been nine months - that felt real. I look forward to the next and I assume last crossover episode, also the first in a long while, which will be next season for me. I'm only up to ep 8, so I don't yet understand why Scott Easton, who I believe is supposed to be a lobbyist Abby secured from inside Sumner's campaign to further her interests there (which leads to a discussion of how Abby in early S6 has seemingly sublimated her aborted sexual relationship with Greg into power games of corporate dominance after having recommitted herself more honestly to Gary, but that's a topic for when I cover the last 10 or so eps), is clearly the man starting to mastermind the theft here. Why would a political lobbyist stick his neck out on what is essentially human trafficking for a business interest? He's not Wolfbridge. But obviously I don't know the full story yet (and there is a whole weird subplot with some murders or whatever that is beginning to build in an interesting way).

I will differ on this one. I think kids are part of the fabric of any soap, but especially a show like Knots where it was centered around a cul-de-sac/neighborhood and around families and couples, some with kids. I think it adds to the texture when you just see them living life, growing up. The difference here is the schedule and arena. Knots (thus far) has given more attention to those kind of characters than most primetime soaps I know of ever did vs. the glamorous or simply adult leads, largely because it was baked in for the show from the pilot - Karen's children, Laura being a parent, etc. They're part of the package here unlike many primetime soaps, just like any more critic-palatable 'non-soap' network family drama of the last 30-40 years (Parenthood, Picket Fences, This is Us; take your choice). OTOH, plenty of daytime soaps in the last 20 years have taken it way too far with the kids, partly I suspect because it's been alleged (and I believe it) that the networks, fearful of the perceived shrinking/conservative audience base for soaps, often will only rubber-stamp baby stories over anything too edgy. That's how you end up with shows like GH today or AMC 1.0 near the end, where there's a gaggle of children you can't remember the names of flocking around every young woman in sight who shouldn't have so many, and you just want them to stop shrieking and get out. (I'll never forget that endless sequence with Alicia Minshew and Sarah Glendening on AMC where their collected onscreen kids chased them around a set for two separate segments in a scene that did not seem scripted or controlled.) Ellen Wheeler's Mormon GL was the same.

She's always a pleasure to watch in those rare episodes available online featuring her character, part of a bygone era for ATWT even well before it ended. Best thoughts to her and hers.

Meanwhile, re: DeSantis' latest disgusting trafficking stunt:

The Dem messaging on Graham's (strategically) stupid, stupid announcement has been very strong.

I enjoy Bernthal, I like Schrader's work and the original film and it's an interesting idea for a kind of movie update (and I do think he works in the role in a very different way), but a sequel TV series? I can't imagine a good reason for that. I'm happy Cheryl Dunye and Gregg Araki are getting high profile work to direct for it, but that's where my interest ends.