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Episodes up to September 20th 1999 - It’s dawned on me today that all the members of the Russell family are all playing supporting characters. Simone with Kay, Whitney with Theresa.. and Eve with Grace and their storylines. They are yet to expand on the Russell’s and give them their own story so I am looking forward to when we can see more of them. They have hinted at a possible romance between Whitney and Frank (Ethan’s private investigator) and he’s HOT. I wonder why the show didn’t decide to continue on with that? I know Chad will come in later but they could have easily given this Frank character all the same storylines they gave Chad. Now begins Tabitha’s mission to try and kill Charity which I know never ends up being successful but it will be fun to watch her try 😂 and I think we are seeing the beginnings of Timmy’s crush on Charity. Kay’s crush on Miguel is absolutely delusional and ridiculous but I have to again compliment Taylor Ann-Mountz in this role because she has surprised me more than any other cast member for being so much better in this role than I ever gave her credit for. I haven’t watched these episodes since I was about 14 so I don’t recall finding her that great in the role but she absolutely is. It seems like the show was beginning to give Hank a backstory and he apparently has some kind of secret that Luis is starting to become suspicious of but it hasn’t been revealed yet. He’s a character who should have stuck around and been a main character like the others. Sheridan is just a poor tortured soul and can’t catch a break (and never will, unfortunately). She knows she killed someone but can’t recall who or why it happened. Although, I think Pilar knows based on the conversation they had at her cottage. I am excited for that to be revealed. I am just at the point now where Theresa is about to be exposed for being Ethan’s stalker.. (Frank just revealed it to Ivy) and I am really excited about how it plays out because I honestly forgot how that ended up being addressed in the show. Did they just brush all of Theresa’s “crimes” against Ethan under the rug? I know Theresa does end up lying about having a boyfriend and will try to make excuses all the time for why her boyfriend isn’t around. I’m just gonna be happy for them to get Theresa out of that awful wig and frumpy clothes.

It’s the only time I ever kind consider skipping through scenes is when that happens. It literally takes up an entire episode sometimes but I refuse to skip scenes. I will sometimes go on my phone or do something else while a fantasy scene happens because as far as I’m concerned, if it’s not progressing the storyline then I genuinely don’t care. It does sometimes feel like it spoils the end result of the plot too though which is the worst!

Multiple characters kidnapped by Jordan Sharon and Phyllis were kidnapped (Sharon being kidnapped multiples times, atleast 3) Nick and Sharon briefly kidnapped by Dumaś (for whatever reason, I forget) Noah and Sienna were kidnapped by Matt Matt kidnapped or captured by Victor Dominic was kidnapped by Mariah Kidnapping implied for Lily and the kids Now this latest kidnapping as I spoiled above.. When does will writing team come up with something new? I’m sure I’m missing some. This is just from the last YEAR.

General observations: I am loving that these earlier episodes feel so fresh and new for its time and there was clearly a decent budget to have a vast variety of sets, which weren’t only vast but extremely DETAILED. The town of Harmony feels like a real place because of the effort that was put in and the camera work is also fantastic. This was still during the glory days of soaps though so I understand it would be foolish to expect this kind of effort in soaps now but it made me realize that even though Passions was terrible for its time, it certainly beats any of the modern soaps we have now when it just comes to the overall vibe. There was a real commitment to making it a great show, no matter how ridiculous the writing was. I wish we could return to that one day! This is kinda why I am continuing to watch. It’s not because the writing is great or even good, but I love how carefully crafted the families and characters are, and an effort was really put in to create a vibe for the town of Harmony and the rich vs the poor. Knowing that I could potentially see a completely different set as I move onto a new episode. We saw the gas station Miguel works at, the movie theatre Ethan, Gwen and Theresa were at. Even the kitchen at the chicken coup was shown. These are all just temporary sets but its still is so important when it comes to storytelling and painting a picture to the audience.

September 7th-14th, 1999 episodes: Sheridan looks so much older during this time period and MW was only 22! I couldn’t believe it when I looked it up. They have her dressed so mature with a short Karen due which was dated even for that time period. Right now we are taking a peak into Sheridans nightmares about her past. She knows she killed someone but doesn’t know who. I think it later ends up being Katherine’s sister Rachel if I’m not mistaken but even she ends up alive later on. This is where we are starting to see the softening towards Sheridan from Luis because he feels protective and wants to save the damsel in distress. Poor Sheridan is in distress for the entire 9 years of this show 🤣 I feel like the writing for Kay was very much to portray her as a villain during this time and Charity was the heroine. Of course this changes later but the way Kay shows little to no care towards Faith and Charity being in a fire represents how selfish her motives are and I get the feeling she was supposed to have an Sami-esque vibe to her which I am actually enjoying and this young actress Taylor-Anne Mountz is honestly not as bad as I thought remembered her being. She was only 17 at this time too and she is doing great in the role. Tabitha was able to accomplish her mission of killing Faith. I wonder why they never resurrected her later on in the show. It could have brought about some good drama but they kind of just let that plot die here. Even if they brought Faith back as a recast it could have given Sam and Ivy some drama if Faith decided to stay at the Bennett house even after Grace was long gone. Oh well. I had the thought last night while watching Theresa and Ethan’s scenes at the “chicken coup” about just how crazy Theresa always was right from the start. She has terrorized Ethan and Gwen since that bucket of paint in July 1999 and it never stopped. The problem is that Theresa is so endearing as a character with her fantasies that the audience tends to justify her actions over Gwen’s who is definitely more cutthroat in her approach even though they’re both equally f*cking crazy. However, I think an argument can be made that Theresa did eventually succeed in DRIVING Gwen insane because in these episodes up until around 2003ish (Sarah’s death) Gwen was perfectly sane other than being thirsty for Ethan.

Next week

@DRW50 Yes, Ryan Mcphartlin! I liked him a lot in the role of Hank. Between him and Justin Hartley I don’t know who was hotter. His looks wasn’t the only reason I liked him though. I thought he suited the role perfectly for what Passions was at that time and I don’t understand why they didn’t hook him up with a main character. September 7th 1999 - Just a few thoughts about this episode. I won’t give a full analysis since I will do those once I have a handful of episodes under my belt instead of giving comments for every single episode. Buuuuuut… I really wanted to stop here for a second before I lose my thought because this episode in particular really stood out to me with the “fantasy” sequences JER was obsessed with doing. It really ruined the show IMO. Here in this episode we have a ton of fantasy sequences of Charity and Miguel being in love.. so we are seeing their love story play out in a fantasy sequence except it’s not actually happening in reality? And Theresa is fantasizing about being with Ethan when Gwen barges in and they have a cake fight. I just feel like this takes away from when the Theresa and Gwen confrontation actually WILL happen. And there are plenty more examples of this over the years on this show that just literally ruin an entire storyline for me. It’s like, if you’re already gonna show us all the characters reactions why should we care to keep watching to see when it ACTUALLY happens? This happened a billion times around 2002/2003ish with Eve having visions of TC finding out about her past with Julien and when the big reveal actually happened it was super underwhelming because the audience felt like it was already spoiled.

@Franko Ah, yes. This was also the beginning of JER’s kink for torturing Sheridan. She finds herself locked in a magicians coffin while on a date with Hank at the lobster shack in this episode also. I’m not disappointed to see Hank in these earlier scenes. I felt he was way too underused. Once the show locked into Luis & Sheridan and Ethan & Theresa, a lot of those “side” characters kind of fell away in the later years. I recall the tall blonde Hank (can’t remember his name) literally having chemistry with just about every young female on that show. It was a missed opportunity to explore his romantic interests!

September 1st 1999 - I miss the pacing of the earlier episodes. It felt like each member of the cast got a good amount of exposure and there wasn’t any one character that felt overexposed. I will say though, the amount of Grace/Faith in these earlier scenes were PAINFUL at times. I know that actress screen time gets reduced significantly and eventually leaves the show but I think the writing for Grace was just too corny. I mean, in this episode she is talking to herself about something terrible happening and she repeats the same crap throughout the rest of the show. Poor Dana Sparks must of been SEVERELY overworked in those days playing twin sisters. Sheridan looks stunning and I must of forgotten what happens in July/August episodes because why on earth is she on a date with Hank? Sheridan Crane is supposed to be this high profile woman. What is she doing with just a regular Joe Schmo? But Beth with her long hair in these scenes are really a marker for me for pre-crazy Beth days because we all know when she shows back up later with the short hair, sh*ts gonna hit the fan. Young Charity and Miguel are adorable. That is all.

Well Lisa Rinnas book and hot tea about Robert Kelker-Kelly was interesting, to say the least!

Are we going to actually be able to see Victoria in Milan with Summer? Or are we just gonna keep talking about it endlessly? My guess is no, because there has been no articles about Summers return to the show. I don’t see the point in making this trip to Milan such a large part of the plot if we won’t even be able to watch it on our screens.

I’m thinking about starting Passions from the beginning (well, September 1999) because I watched July and August many times already. I may post my thoughts here as I go back and re-watch all these old episodes. I need something to numb my brain for awhile while I’m laid off from work. If anyone wants to join me in rewatching and discussing old episodes I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts!

So now that I see the real story we are being cheated out of is a Kyle/Audra/Noah triangle.. can we ship Sienna back to L.A? Or atleast put her in an age appropriate triangle with Nick and Sharon or something. Audra has chemistry with both Kyle and Noah. There is real potential there.

i have been a notorious Phyllis hater for pretty much my entire soap watching life but even I am feeling the need to root for her in this storyline because someone explain to me WHY half the cast is hating on Phyllis and acting like she’s some power hungry b*tch but continue to support Victor who has done 100x worst than Phyllis has ever done. All she’s done is take a stupid company and no one will shut up about it. I get really annoyed when one character gets centred out by majority of the cast when most of them have no room to throw any stones. They did this to Sharon years ago too and I hated it then and I hate it now.

I don’t know this Stephanie character but I of course know Malcolm. I just know this return is gonna be about something so stupid though it’s hard to get excited. Malcolm is still Lilys biological daddy though right? I guess if they’re bringing him back to be apart of Lilys storyline it could work

😂 JG doing everything and anything to hold onto his job. I won’t complain about having Malcolm back though. Hey, Josh if you really wanna impress us being back Victoria Rowell. Thanks!

I’ve been enjoying having characters pop up in the middle of the episode too. It adds an element of surprise when you didn’t really expect them to be on that day. Also, we are finally getting a good variety of sets again.. I will give credit where credit is due. The storylines itself are still absolute garbage but I will acknowledge minor improvements when I see them

Joshua and Sharon already confirmed in their interview this past month that the show is going in the direction of Shick once again but it’s a slow build. I doubt anything will come of this Burrows and Sharon interaction other than friendship. I have not always been a big MO fan, like at all.. but she is kind of impressing me with this storyline and it’s just been a nice welcome change to have Devon and Abby back and getting to see the Chancellor mansion again. The same characters and sets all the time get super boring. Also can we do something about Billy and Sally? I don’t like these two together at alllllll.

I love Stacy Haiduk and I loved her as Patty and even Emily Peterson (I wish they could have kept that character around for a real romance with Jack). However I’m torn about this news because there have been way too many villains on this show lately.. it’s super unrealistic even for a soap to have a new psycho villain pop up every few months and not even get proper resolution for any of them. It’s dumb.

Abby is a Newman but you’d hardly know it based on Nick and Victors non reaction to Dominic being kidnapped. I liked the scenes of Nick comforting Sharon over the news about Mariah kidnapping the child but why didn’t his mind immediately go to Abby and her well being? And where is Victor in all of this?

Electric as mother and son on Days? Cause I know we can’t be talking about right now.. There is no sexual chemistry between them. It’s so awkward. Sharon making them sandwiches and the family acting like this is Noah’s little girl friend from school coming over to have dinner with the family is SO CRINGE. This woman is in her 50s what on earth is she doing with this little pampered boy?

I must be in the minority here because as someone who historically has hated Phyllis since she was a shameless home-wrecker in 2006, I am actually rooting for her in this situation because to me, the Newman clan is even more dreadful when they’re all ganging up on someone and it’s always nice to see them get knocked down a few pegs. I still think these storylines make no f*cking sense, but I’ll root for Phyllis in this instance if it means the Newmans lose for awhile. I loved the storyline that MTS suggested in one of her interviews about all the Newmans losing everything for awhile and having to be homeless or live in a dingy motel, like that show Schitts Creek (which is what she compared it to). That would be great to watch, and the humour that could come out of it? It would be something different and fun.

Oh wouldn’t that be just what we need right now. Sharon getting kidnapped again on top of all the other kidnappings happening this year 😂 honestly wouldn’t shock me at this point.

Sharon looked really pretty yesterday with that sparkly jacket thing she had on. I’ve always liked her fashion until this new wardrobe lady took over. She does such a great job with everyone else’s looks except Sharon’s. They dress her so matronly lately. It’s definitely a hit or miss

The Chancellor mansion today compared to that September 1998 episode they aired during the Holidays. Ouffff what a downgrade! No doubt about that. Do those sets even still exist today I wonder? What even happens to them? The large dining/party room Kay had along with that large outdoor area with a pool. I’m going to assume that stuff is all long gone. I just wonder what happens with it.