DeliaIrisFan

I just hope with one of the recent changes in the writing staff, we're done with her randomly insinuating that Nicole has a sexually adventurous alter ego named "Nikki," presumably as some sort of weird homage to OLTL and Viki/Nikki.

Oh yes, Deanna on FaceTime and that line was a highlight today, and the episode was full of those. Eva needing a liver transplant is a twist I didn't see coming. I thought with all the bleeding and what we saw of Kat in the coming attractions, she would need a transfusion. I was prepared to roll my eyes at Kat not wanting to donate blood, like when she didn't want to get genetic testing. This would be a much more significant sacrifice. More amazing acting today. I'm fascinated to see what they are going to do set-wise while the club is out of commission. Two small quibbles about hospital protocol... How did Martin get a room so quickly? Dupree connections? And why were Dana/Leslie and Izaiah hanging out in an empty, private room - during a natural disaster, no less? They were mostly blocking the bed and I just assumed they were in Eva's room until Ted said he was going to "her" room. Then they sat on the empty bed to pray! Go to the hospital chapel?

It almost makes sense if Martin wanted to demonstrate within the party that he's consolidated support from big donors. Although if the fundraiser was the night before(?) the primary, it was too late. And I think Martin would have had to go to Genoa City...he and Vernon could have stumped for a swing district WI candidate while they were there. Also, given what we can infer about Martin's politics, I don't think he would want to flaunt corporate dollars to the general public. It would have been a closed-door, invitation-only fundraiser. And it's safe to assume the "upstart" challenger (who should have been a character on the show - Izaiah?) would have been vehemently opposed to big money in politics, and called Martin out for it. Not that the show would have been able to go there on CBS now. Or, if they had run with the dropped thread of Bill challenging Martin, Bill could have been old friends/frenemies with Victor. I wouldn't mind a half hour show, and it would be much easier to keep up. Of course, that would depend on which half of the show (roughly) would be distilled to30 minutes... I had stopped watching GH regularly by some point in the late '90s, but for me the pacing on BTG is no worse than what I remember by that point. And what little I saw of Guza's work in the aughts was mostly the splashy and/or violent events; I would tune out soon afterward because everything seemed to grind to a halt in short order. If nothing else, I like BTG's events better - not least because no core family members die (although the way they focused on that precarious chandelier and the inevitable crash, arguably it should have fallen on somebody). As for BTG, for me, the first major issue with pacing/momentum (unless there was something else even earlier that I'm forgetting) was after the anniversary party and, specifically, when nothing came of the investigation into her attempt(s) on Laura's life and her violent tendencies just vanished. Wasn't Guza still around long after that? Bill and Hayley also were adrift for much of last year, again until the audience learned that she had been conning him the whole time. I feel like there is more dramatic tension baked into many of the stories now, just waiting to go. It seems like more of a conscious decision to stall some key things.

It was a really good week - so riveting that I finally caught up. The production and directing were impressive, like with the cotillion, but also the drama was there to match. DD's Nicole was so good. Eva with the blood was genuinely shocking. The dialogue is still an issue, and this week had the added awkwardness of Y&R exposition on top of the usual BTG exposition. Also the fact that the event was focused on Martin's political career when the politics still don't make any sense for 2026... And we'll have to see what happens next: I for one do not want to see a paternity story for Eva let alone a new pregnancy for Dani. There has been such really interesting conversation about this, and I tend to agree with these points although I can also see the arguments for why the show might not want a character like this to be played by a BIPOC actor. But I feel like this week demonstrated that a character like Joey isn't needed at all, and certainly not his growing family. The reveal of the "Impaler" was the previous week's big Friday cliffhanger, and Joey and Heather got all that screen time on Monday, which I feared would continue all week. I still thought he and Vanessa were unnecessary and overly prominent during the tornado, but nobody said the word "Impaler" for days and that was wonderful. And I barely remembered his family drama, because the real drama is what's been the heart of the show since day one. I was also really impressed with CM this week. I think in some ways she has suffered the most from the stilted dialogue and pop culture references. That's partly because she gets saddled with so much of the latter. Also, she has had presence and charisma from day one and she clearly has talent, so she commands scenes more than some other actors of her generation, but she has less experience than some of the veterans who can elevate weaker material further. For example, Tamara Tunie can recite paragraphs of exposition and make it sound like poetry. This week Kat got to be genuinely in the moment reacting, not trying to get out half a dozen too-clever-by-half one-liners strung together while it's her turn to talk. OMG I completely forgot about Mona's event. Why does she show up every other week to explain very involved things that happen to her off-screen? I will never be a fan of Guza and I actually prefer the story shifts that seemed to happen after he left, especially with Hayley/Bill/Dani/Andre. What I don't understand is why they refuse to tell the stories that have been set up: delaying things like poisoning that have already been set in motion, while injecting plot devices like the plasma ring (see above) that is completely out of place and makes no sense. If Derek really had to have a big, dramatic sendoff, there were at least 4 unsolved cases involving core characters still waiting to be resolved that he could have gotten involved in just as easily with similar effects for Jacob and Ashley: the aforementioned poisoning, the police corruption, Doug's murder, or Laura's hit and run.

The plasma story is still so (unnecessarily) convoluted. Unless Lynette actually is dead and Lia killed her, how are we to believe that Lia is sooooo ruthless but hasn't gone after the person responsible for her predicament? And why did Jacob spend weeks "convincing" Grayson he was a dirty cop (he was not convincing) instead of just offering him immunity and making him a confidential informer to begin with? Just to name a couple of things I was preoccupied by during these scenes. I like Kat best when she's sleuthing. I hate to say this because the plasma story is such a drain but, with the connection to the clinic, etc., it could be fun for Kat and Eva to have to work together somehow in the conclusion and at least develop a mutual respect. We could use a breather from the "feud" (and endless exposition about said feud). I agree with this assessment. I probably won't stop watching, but I would be disappointed if Hayley's last stand is a bust. This week was still dicey but I am excited for the rest of May sweeps.

I agree with both of these points. I absolutely appreciate the show's production schedule/script volume do not allow for getting into the weeds of current political events. And I certainly don't expect TPTB to give the new CBS regime any more reason to focus on BTG. That said, the solution is not for Martin to go back to speechifying in meaningless platitudes that are completely divorced from our political reality. I can only imagine the show was so far ahead in scripts/bible that those first months (aside from that one line from Vernon in the first week that was probably added later) were meant to take place in a "normal" second Biden term. Or they expected to be on the air by 2024. I thought we'd finally caught up, and they even teased a really good story idea late last year, then just dropped the ball: Bill being the one to primary Martin. That wouldn't have had to rely on the 24-hour news cycle for the heart of the drama: the family dynamics, and Bill having veto power over the use of opposition research, which would be a credible workaround. I could understand if Bill had to drop out of the race because he was near death from poisoning or something, for example, but of course that story has also stagnated. Sorry, I think Bill is an incredible antagonist and am frustrated that he's not doing more, but I digress. Back to Martin, his empty rhetoric is just hard to take right now when I don't feel my real-life elected officials are doing nearly enough. And Martin thinks the way to do more is to run the Senate? That's like going from the frying pan into the fire...or from the fridge to the freezer, as it were. I really thought the show had course-corrected and was downplaying Martin's career to avoid these pitfalls, and honestly if my real-life Congressional delegation were dealing with family drama akin to the Duprees, I might be more sympathetic.

About the only other thing I can say about this week is that I agree Friday was the strongest episode. I felt badly for both June and Samantha, and that scene was earned. I also felt for Nicole earlier in the week, but that was more because Vanessa is a terrible friend and completely delusional than it was due to any real character development. As others have said, Vanessa and Joey's scenes feel like I've accidentally changed the channel to GH, and that is not a good thing. Hopefully some of the new plot twists will lead to something more compelling next week, although probably not the "will Smitty be caught breaking into his beloved mother-in-law's computer to see an org chart" cliffhanger (there's a joke in there somewhere about how many detectives and investigative reporters it takes to change a lightbulb). It would at least been semi fun if the cliffhanger had been that Ashley discovered Jacob and Smitty in the stairwell, and suspected they were having a clandestine affair. Along the lines of what I said earlier about Jacob and Naomi's trajectory, Martin and Smitty are another couple who might have benefited from having their love story play out on screen in real time. The conversations that would have led to given their respective professions would have also helped with the exposition problem (and, in particular, the problem with actors who are earlier in their careers not being well served with pages and pages of exposition that the characters have no reason to be explaining to each other).

Monday's episode was interesting, at least the concept more so than the on-screen drama. I applaud the ambition, and I agree with others that the execution didn't land, in part because Jacob and Naomi are not a strong enough couple to carry a standalone episode at this time. It also reminded me of something that's occurred to me a few times over the past year: I think Jacob and Naomi should have met on-screen in the first week(s) of the show, instead of being happily married from the outset. Jacob could have debuted as the arresting officer when Dani shot up the wedding on his first day as detective, with Naomi jumping in to defend her mother. The two could have butted heads and slowly fallen for each other in the process (instead of having a C-story married-couple-fight about the whole incident and quickly making up). Most of the "flashbacks" they recreated this week could have easily fit into the drama of the show in real time. I find both characters likeable, for the most part, and I don't think the actors are bad per se, but they are among the less experienced cast members. Maybe having some sort of arc to play in the beginning would have helped them find their footing. And Jacob being introduced as an outsider learning about the Duprees' drama would have allowed for more natural exposition as he questioned witnesses about the history between Bill, Dani, Hayley, etc., which would have helped the show overall. Relatedly, this actor has at times struggled more so than some of the seasoned veterans with those extended scenes of the characters reminding each other in detail of backstory they all supposedly experienced in real time (also with the "Rashad" scenes, but that's another story). While I'm on the subject of Jacob, I think one of the biggest holes in the dynamics of his family that they're attempting to build up is the fact that we've already established the father is running an inherently corrupt department. As far as class conflict, whatever the chief of police's official salary might be (and I agree they've definitely kept the jurisdiction ambiguous), he has to be making even more under the table. Does Darlene know this? Did she think he was really in danger from criminals he was trying to bring to justice all those times when he was allegedly doing undercover work that she keeps talking about, or did she know he was probably off collecting bags or whatever? Is she actually supposed to have the moral high ground? And if the foreshadowing about Jacob in danger leads somewhere, it will be a real letdown for me if it's because of this stupid plasma story, instead of something they've laid the groundwork for from the beginning: Jacob getting too close to the truth about his father. I commented a few weeks ago that the plasma story is a poor substitute for the earned climax of the Hayley/Bill poisoning story, but I should have added that Joey hiring a corrupt cop to murder Doug is also much more worthy fodder for Jacob to be investigating.

Calling Leslie/Dana or even Hayley irredeemable was a poor choice of words on my part, especially because I didn't mean it from a moral standpoint. I'm certainly not saying the characters need to die or go to prison in order for their stories to reach a conclusion that would satisfy me. What I meant was that anyone who is capable of doing what they've already done, especially in such cold and calculating ways, is not going to stop. If anything, they would further escalate, and they're both so self-destructive in different ways that they eventually they would trip up. My issue is that the show seems to be trying to delay and/or prevent that by reducing them to this broad/bumbling "comic relief" material, but in the process we're being deprived of actual story payoff. It sounds like we're in agreement about Hayley, so I'll limit this to Leslie/Dana. I think there is more pathos there, and certainly more emotional reasons for why she does what she does that we could explore for at least a year or two (certainly for however long soap contracts are now). I'm not sure of the logistics but I could also see her coming and going on a recurring basis like a James Stenbeck or Carl Hutchins, especially now that she has the resources to fake her death, etc. To play devil's advocate, I could even argue that maybe there is an aspect to her character where she would draw the line at going after someone like Laura, whom she looks down upon, while she might tread more lightly with someone like Nicole or Anita out of self-preservation. And that could realistically extend her shelf life as a main cast member. But I'm not seeing that in how the character is written now - from my perspective, she's gone from dangerous to annoying for no reason other than so we can avoid dealing with the amazing drama the stage was all set for. I wonder if TPTB's valid concern that you lifted about how Black characters are presented may also be related to to this. I meant what I said about crediting BTG with creating breakout roles for both these actresses. BITD the (almost exclusively white) up and coming performers who burst onto the soap scene as memorable villains could go out in an on-screen blaze of glory and try their luck at primetime or movies, and worst case probably resurface on one of the 10-15 other soaps. I'm not saying either MG or TMG could not go on to even greater success, or that anyone at the show thinks that. Far from it. I'm just recognizing that, especially because of what BTG represents, if a beloved cast member whose career the show helped launch/rejuvenate was written out for story reasons and subsequently got treated badly by the industry, that would really suck. There is no easy way around that, and I also hope this didn't come out wrong...

The Anita scenes this week really were amazing. As far as I'm concerned, TT can take home back-to-back Emmys: for both seasons. The biopsy scenes in December were really strong, and she did so much else last year that was Emmy-worthy. I have to admit, being thankfully ignorant about the side effects of cancer treatment, I initially thought this week's turn in Anita's story seemed like it was out of left field. But the sepsis development makes total sense, and I credit the show with educating the audience about the cascading health effects cancer and its treatments can have (while also serving up some powerful drama in the process). That being said, the more "research" aka Googling I do about the plasma story, the less sense that one makes. My understanding is it's legal in the U.S. to pay for plasma, so I'm still struggling to understand what the crime is supposed to be. Is Grayson stealing plasma from the hospital lab, and potentially going to be doing the same at the clinic? Aside from the size of that bag, as has been pointed out, it apparently takes 90+ minutes to donate plasma. Wouldn't patients notice that their routine blood work is taking a lot longer than it should? Is Lia just so greedy that she doesn't want to pay enough for plasma to get a sufficient supply, or what? While I am caught up on the show/board: I have to agree 200% with these posts. The exposition-laden dialogue really is glaring, and remains my biggest issue with the show. I would be fine with a more leisurely pace if the slice of life scenes of characters talking to each other were at all lifelike. I could even swallow some plot holes - half the problem is having to hear characters explaining their flawed logic to each other in excruciating detail. Agreed, this poisoning story should have climaxed in February sweeps, in much the same way you described. I would argue this was the same problem with Dana/Leslie last year, and that's one reason why I cannot accept that Guza was any sort of lynchpin for plot/momentum. Our first introduction to Leslie was her trying to kill a complete stranger who had done nothing to her (I think that was the plan? At the very least, she had to be indifferent to whether Laura lived or died). Leslie should have grown even more desperate once she was already guilty of one attempted murder, and racked up a body count throughout the spring. And if you'd told me this time last year that the big end-of-summer cliffhanger was going to be be a kidnapping story, it would have seemed like a no-brainer to me: Leslie holding Nicole hostage after Ted continued to reject her. That would have been way more compelling than the Allison business, not to mention the kind of material you should save for the most seasoned actresses who have proven experience with heavy material. Similarly, the plasma nonsense is a contrived but also redundant excuse for much of the same drama that they could have gotten organically by bringing the "Kill Bill" story to its logical conclusion. The plasma business also has the side effect of isolating some of the less experienced cast members and/or newcomers to the show, with only each other to play off. And now we have not one but two dynamic but irredeemable villains played by breakout actresses whom this show essentially discovered. That is a remarkable problem for a daytime soap in 2026(!) to have, but also a shame because they're just spinning their wheels. Again, I hate to complain so much when I started this with well-earned praise for Anita and TT. That is the only reason I caught up on the show and board in time to post this. I definitely agree that Michele Val Jean is indispensable to the show, and any suggestion otherwise is in bad faith - not to mention ridiculous.

What is this poison even supposed to do? Bill has seemed perfectly fine, so if he died it wouldn't seem like he'd been sick. Unless it's meant to give him another stroke or something eventually and the point of lacing his tea over time was to make sure there was an undetectable amount in his system when it finally kicked in. But if that was the plan, I think Hayley ruined it that time she gave him extra.

And/or frame Dani, who has already fired a gun at him on a livestream...

With the long weekend and today's preemption, I am finally caught up on the show again. The pacing and momentum seem to be getting off track again, and the dialogue still drives me up a wall sometimes. But Anita's story alone would be worth watching for me, and she's one of at least half a dozen characters I love more than any remaining character on the other soaps still on the air. I also missed a few episodes since (and including) Xmas - in part because of CBS now apparently only making 4 episodes at a time available on the website, instead of 5. I kept trying to catch up on weekends and missing episodes. So please forgive what may be some dumb observations. I know there has been a lot of criticism of the plasma story, some of which I can live with, but what's really got me scratching my head is what exactly the crime is supposed to be. I even did some googling and as far as I can tell, selling plasma is legal in the U.S. (and also a multi-billion dollar industry). Am I missing something? Even if this enterprise is flouting some of whatever regulations do exist, a nickname like "The Impaler" and the level of violence being presented seems over-the-top. I'm also struggling a bit with the direction of the Hayley/Bill story now. Like others I think Lynette is a great addition, but I fear the detour with the fake mugging is going to kill the momentum we were already losing fast. Hayley nonchalantly mentioned to Randy in passing (which shocked me, given how impatient she's been up until now) that she had temporarily stopped poisoning Bill to be on the safe side after the lab results scare. But Hayley had been lacing his tea for months, with no apparent symptoms (except that time she got frustrated and gave him more, when he almost died), and now they're going to have to start from square one? When are we actually going to get to Bill's loved ones being afraid for his health and butting heads with Hayley? And where does Bill possibly primarying Martin fit into all this, or is that just not happening? I'd rather Hayley had just gone full speed ahead with the poisoning and had Lynette figure out what Hayley and Randy were up to, and blackmail them with that. It's also frustrating because the sloppier Hayley gets, the stupider Bill looks, and his character is too awesome to be stupid. All that being said, a part of me still wants to believe the continuity error with her name being misspelled in Bill's phone, which I did not catch, will turn out to be what tips Bill or Caroline off that that's not Hayley's real name and she forgot how she spelled it since she came into their lives. And then there's the clinic story. Speaking of... This is an interesting observation, and it resonates with me somewhat, but I think my frustration with Dana/Leslie's trajectory is slightly different. Our introduction to Dana/Leslie was her trying to kill a complete stranger—not once, but twice—as only the first step in her seemingly nefarious plot against the Duprees. I don't think I care about justice for Laura, but why is such a ruthless character not a real threat to major characters, and now she's going to be sharing screen time with Derek of all characters? She has or at least had so much potential to be an iconic soap villain. Agreed. Anita mentoring the kids is the best part of the cotillion story. I guess I'm alone but I really find Anastasia and Chessie(?) one-note and grating. It's not a love-to-hate thing. And Anita and Dani engaging at their level in the middle of the country club is another example of the aforementioned ongoing problems with dialogue and sets. I agree with this mostly, but these conversations and PDAs should not be happening at the hospital. And Nicole speaking so explicitly in earshot of colleagues (in the same episode when Anita held her up as an example to the next generation of how to comport oneself in public)... On that note... Thank you for sharing your perspective, and I'm really sorry. I admit I did not pick up on this aspect when I watched those scenes, and I recognize my own white privilege in that. I also tend to be a "rule follower" myself.

These posts both speak to me. I was sad to hear of his passing, and I remember thinking Luke and his lore were cool when I started watching GH (as an adolescent who was not in any way cool). I missed what by most account what was the worst of Luke in later years. I did respect his supporting role in stories at times when he purportedly did not enjoy being on GH. I am remembering some of that now. The rape is hard to reconcile with that Luke, or with core characters I loved continuing to indulge him later on.

Anita's scenes today were really good, and TT will no doubt be amazing in this story. I don't love that they dropped that cliffhanger and didn't show her first reaction to the possibility of breast cancer was off camera. I hope the focus is on her from here on out. I'm torn because I would love to see Bill involved in politics and I want to see more of his dynamic with Martin, but on the other hand they clearly aren't going to be able to address what's actually happening. Martin's speechifying is some of the most painful dialogue this show gives us: partly because his political strategy usually sounds 10-35 years behind the times, and partly because it something my elected officials might say (except I don't think in private they act like they just realized last month there's a midterm election next year). And today didn't show signs of that changing. I find it hard to believe anything like the legislation discussed is going anywhere right now, or that Martin would be the deciding vote. Actually, I thought that Martin's congressional seat is supposed to be the Eleanor Holmes Norton DC (non-voting) district, or was that just something mentioned in reporting on the show before it went to air, like how Siobhan Ryan was off studying to be a nun when Ryan's Hope premiered? In any case, I do feel like it's been established on-screen that Joey should be buying a candidate in a swing district who has a sports betting problem. And Bill actually has a good reason to primary Martin (is that still what we're talking about?), of his own volition - if he claims the lane of the non-insider challenging the Dupree heir, as opposed to an actual outsider who wants to overturn tables, it would be mutually assured destruction as far as the Kenneth secret, which neither of them want to come out. And then Bill could end up winning while trying not to. Just my two cents.