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Nicole is going to start ordering escorts at some point. Vernon does entirely too much and it's annoying. Of course his clinginess to Anita has been evident for some time now this storyline has really brought it out. Kat wasn't rude to Shanice, but her tone was still superior and somewhat judgemental. Meanwhile her boyfriend has practically blackmailed himself into being partner which is very low grade and she doesn't even know it.

Love the ATWT comparison. When Anita collapsed a fade into the galactic 80s closing theme from ATWT would have fit perfectly.

When he met with Jan to talk I thought he was going to work his way up to seducing her as a way of getting revenge. He seemed a little disappointed when she said she was seeing someone and then pivoted towards telling Ashley's business. Jan is such a Derek cheerleader it was giving "then you marry him, Mama!".

That crimped, wavy hairstyle makes Leslie a little more menacing, IMO. Her craziness is a more dangerous Nikki Parker type of crazy (although Nikki was pretty nuts), but in some ways it seems like she enjoys arguing with Shanice more than she actually wants Ted. After all she has been having a good time with Marcel.

Smh at Tomas calling Nicole hot in front of Kat.

How classic is a fainting cliffhanger? So 70s/80s soap.

I didn't feel bad for Vanessa when they guy went off on her because she is long overdue for a chewing out even if it was from a random stranger. And Hayley sitting in the corner being entertained was everything. Nicole has no business being indignant that Ted is moving on. He granted her the divorce like she wanted and it's not like he didn't ask for another chance.

Had to catch up last night because I missed Tuesday and Wednesday. Leslie is playing a dangerous game over having her name on the clinic. Joey is not the one to play with and she's definitely going to overplay her hand. Nicole just might take advantage of Vanessa's escort service. She looked interested when she was staring at the card and was surprisingly approving of Vanessa running the service. With all that said, Nicole has no room to be bothered by Ted seeing Shanice since she wanted the divorce. Speaking of Shanice, her read of Anastasia was epic. Dani treated Andre different when they got home from the club after the Hamilton celebration. Something tells me that Dani is going to do something really stupid while Andre is away and it probably will involve Billy Goat. Hayley is increasingly pissed off and that hallucination seeing Dani makes me think that Dani will end up on his kill list. Leslie is definitely going to end up being blamed for whatever happens to Bill because she is so public about her disdain for him. Kat being angry at Ted loving his children equally is ridiculous (when he said "all my children" thought of AMC). She has to the right not to embrace Eva, but the notion that only her and Martin are entitled to the same sort of love is absurd. Chelsea is going to lose Madison messing around with drugs. Not sure if something bad will happen to Jacob on this undercover assignment but he definitely looked like he was in over his head after Elon explained the details.

I do agree that the show has found it's rhythm. It feels like "This is Beyond The Gates" much like when you tune into the other soaps and feel " This is The Young and The Restless" or "This is The Bold and the Beautiful", What was not working was scaled back (Ashley/Derek) and it's good to see that a writing team can concede when something is working instead of pushing it.

Derek looked like he wanted to hit Grayson upside the head. Telling Jan was a really passive aggressive move and the way Derek smirked after he told Jan was giving villain. Naomi is definitely lying about her results. "Your top's on backwards" was the line of the episode and probably the best Ashley line so far.

There is a day of service for MLK Day where I live and it's a very White area. Over in Los Angeles there is the Kingdom Day Parade. With the NAACP involved with the show they probably wanted some sort of observance and I think this was a sensible decision.

Hayley's nasty, backhanded comment to Dani was excellent soap. Dani really walked into it though because she shouldn't have sought Bill out in the first place. Eva did a solid for Ted, but Kat couldn't say thank you and keep it moving.

Dani once again is running to Bill for no good reason. She does not need to lean on him when she has a husband. Meanwhile, Hayley wants to kill Bill, but is still indignant over his connection to Dani. Hayley is King Magazine, Dani is Essence and a King Magazine thot does not like be depriortized for some bougie Essence model.

Drunk Nicole was a good view of the character being vulnerable. It is very wasted with Carlton, though and he sort of faded a bit in those scenes because he's still underdeveloped. Vernon was barely acting like a father in this episode and his attitude was nonchalant when Anita was upset with him for not telling her about Dani. Dani is his daughter too, but he is very caught up in the "Anita Show" as he called it. For the first time Elon acted like a decent father and not like a chastising, judgemental pain.

That part was a stretch. No man is ever going to talk to his best friend if said best friend moves in on his former wife. Bro code or not men just don't operate that way. Even women don't forgive and forget that sort of thing.

So far the characters viewers have complained about the most have seen changes. Derek downgraded and Ashley is more supporting. Tomas could end up taking a nasty fall courtesy of Val, lol. "OMG Bill! I heard a loud crash and when I rushed in all these heavy file boxes were on top of Tomas!".

Was glad that Dani didn't fawn over Bill and set at least somewhat of a boundary by saying his daughters are who need him not her. Andre putting him in his place was such good, traditional soap.

Lindstrom is listed with the recurring players so I guess he's just in the credits and not on contract. Everything flowed very well today and I really like how family is written believably. The ending scene was done very well with Nicole comforting Dani as a good sister would. The last time I was moved by a siblings scene was on Y&R when Jack and Ashley had to reveal to Traci that her fiance was a lunatic, but much of the credit there went to the players moreso than the writing.

Those contact pictures of Vernon and Anita that were on their kids and grandkids phones were hilariously serious. Just a small observation. Kat is not wrong to be upset and scared, but ignoring her grandmother's call was selfish. That character is hard to root for at times. The Mardi Gras scenes were wonderful. The way that this show pays homage to Black culture is admirable and very necessary in this era.

Leslie is probably going to be a problem for Joey because she picked up on something being suspect about him wanting to name the clinic after Doug. Martin got Tyrell all the way together for being such a follower behind Jessica. Martin was two seconds off of saying "Little boy, hush up!".

Vanessa has always lived behind the gates because she mentioned how she would sneak Doug into her parents house when they were young.

I mentioned while ago I found it problematic writing that a white man had control over so many Black people on the first majority Black soap. Yes. Her main claim to fame was Stella in "A Streetcar Named Desire" which she won an Academy Award for.

The reveal is going to be dragged out so giving Lindstrom a contract was probably a fair option for his time even if Joey is set to end up off the canvas eventually. EON gave Kim Hunter a contract to play the loony Nola Madison for an arc.

Eye roll at Vanessa running to tell Joey about Nicole's business. And despite Doug's issues, Joey is totally delusional for saying that he's better than Doug.

Joey in the opening credits has me like.