detroitpiston

The last 3 episodes have been pretty solid IMO after last week ended with two snoozefests back to back. I like that Jagger has gone full Sonny vengeance mode, much more interesting and I love his teaming up with Ava. I was team Anna in their scenes he’s let the vendetta go too far and while she shouldn’t have let Valentine go free she’s right about him abusing his power with Jason. LOVED the Sonny and Carly scenes from Tuesday where she told him she wasn’t gonna clean up his mess anymore. The Jason and Carly scenes today were fantastic as well, I will always be a Jarly fan first. LW has been acting her behind off. I can’t wait for Carly to give Jagger the dragging he deserves. Great stuff with Jason and Danny as well, poor kid just wants to be with his dad. Nina vs Ava 🔥 I love their dynamic right now. They haven’t been playing this feud enough and I need more. Pigrez Hilton was not needed and I hate how they’ve rectoned Kristina into being lesbian only. I think I’m alone in liking Natalia and I feel like the outrage at her character is a bit much. Tracy’s scenes Tuesday grieving Luke with Ned and Sonny were great. Jane Elliot really has been the shining star of this regime.

I was not expecting Reis to suffocate the comatose wife with a pillow, my goodness. 😂 Sonia’s dumbass is gonna end up taking the fall for it fasho. Glad Phil is on to him stealing money already I can’t believe Sharon’s letting him play her for an idiot. Penny finally doing something interesting stealing Chelsea’s job at Peggy’s. I hope this is the beginning of a good feud. I enjoyed seeing some Slater family scenes but I’m not crazy about this Kat and Tommy story. Feels like we already did this with Sharon and Dennis and he’s such a brat. I did laugh at Tommy calling the police on Kat though. We’re gonna have to deal with another couple of months of Linda getting drunk and scream she killed Keanu aren’t we? 😔 I’m getting tired of her again.

I just watched them on Christine Taylor’s podcast and Peter Reckell said he was very open to the idea of returning for the 60th but Kristian Alfonso was very stern in saying the writing would have to be better quality. Maybe now that RC is gone she’ll reconsider.

Thank God. His Days run is more of a laughing stock than JER and Higley ever were. Terrible one trick pony who writes everything as a disastrous joke from 1986. He better not slide back to General Hospital either.

I was pleasantly surprised by Nina’s scenes today. I was expecting her to immediately want Sonny back but she stood her ground and realized she and Sonny weren’t really compatible and was okay moving on. I still think she should be more pissed at Drew but her scenes talking about him and Sonny with Maxie were great. Natalia convincing Sonny to get back in the label business to help Blaze…um okay I guess. I liked the Brook Lynn stipulation he gave her at the end. Jagger was highly annoying today yapping to Jason. Of course he missed out on capturing Valentine, what a fail FBI agent. Anna’s smugness at the end was funny but I wasn’t buying any of the Vanna nonsense. He set her stupid ass up and she fell hook line and sinker. Hopefully this is the end of this Pikeman story since the constant start and stop ruined what could’ve been an interesting plot. They have to stop regurgitating Gio’s backstory and give Lois something better to do. Lois was one of the first people Carly met in PC they could have given them a more interesting scene. I’m sick of seeing Joss and Gio at the pool barely working, get these characters into some real mess already.

Jane coming back was great, that’s been a loose end I’ve really wanted them to tie up and they did a great job with it. The scenes with her Cindy, Ian, George, and Bobby having it out in her kitchen were fantastic. I will forever hate how she did Lucy and I’m glad Cindy got to slap her a good one but Jane really did love those Beale kids as her own and suffered a lot for it. I was glad she and Bobby came to a better ending and I love that she’s actually back with Masood. Ian did all that talk about not being Cindy’s mug anymore just to go right back lol, what a loser his boys definitely get it from their dad. I kind of like Lauren and George Junior? Certainly more interesting than her and Peter who I’ve come to realize just how much I don’t really care for. I didn’t like her lashing out at Kathy the way she did either but its easy to go into the blame game when you find out your kid has a learning difficulty. Her working at the car lot is a good spot for her on canvas. Anna getting roofied is a good social story but I’m not all that interested tbh. I do like how this is being used to finally get her away from Bobby and back to Freddie who she’s always had better chemistry with.

Anna just looked ridiculous today. Begging Jason to hold off on giving up the evidence so Valentine would have time to run free because of…her guilt for shooting nutzo Charlotte? She lost all credibility from me when up until this point I thought the writing has been great at displaying her act with integrity. Next time she goes on a Sonny rant I will have to side eye The Nina and Drew confrontation felt weird and lacking for me and it wasn’t CM and CW’s fault. She should be way more furious and it feels like they’re moving fast with it so they can pretend it never happened. Also we’re suddenly back to Nina and Sonny talking again? I actually don’t mind them as a pair but its so out of left field after their last interactions. I can only rationalize it with Sonny’s BPD mood swings. I enjoyed Ava vs Natalia and Ava trying to get cozy with Jagger. He should definitely be sent off the show once this Pikeman story wraps though. Josslyn/Dex and Gio/Lois just felt like literal time wasting. @dc11786 I’ve been on the turn Michael into an alcoholic campaign as well. Chad Duell is not a leading man so I’d play into Michael being a trauma riddled but spoiled loser all his life who uses vices and money to not deal with anything. I know he and Willow are apparently big on facebook but I wouldn’t care, they are boring as hell so either have some fun like we were starting to get with this Drew & Willow mess or send them off the show. The show needs a real toxic pairing anyway.

Charlotte randomly being back after being gone the majority of PMs tenure feels like a play at that as well. If we’re just going back to characters regurgitating story plot in 2 second scenes like todays show has been a prime example of…I definitely won’t be sticking around for much longer.

I’m surprised they have Willow confessing to Nina so quickly. I can’t fully pin point it but the show is starting to get that generic Chris and Dan era stench back.

I don’t agree at all that they haven’t bothered to develop the relationships on screen. We’ve gotten plenty of scenes with Cindy trying to reconnect with George and the girls and them all struggling because of her abandonment. I think they’ve done well showing how it impacted them all differently, with Anna being the most open. They even touched on it recently when Cindy was hiding George’s fight clubbing, health issues and the kiss they shared which caused the girls to go cold on her again and show more support for Elaine leading into Cindy spiraling and hunching on Junior. Same with George and George JR. One of the earliest scenes was addressing how George’s issues with his own father and his age at the time Junior was born lead to him not being present and how him going off and starting a new family messed with Junior’s head. Then we saw the ramifications with Junior being a serial cheater and George forcing him to come clean to his wife to break the cycle he felt he started. Yeah things are plot heavy, its a soap it should be but I really think the show has more heart and layers than its given credit for currently.

I don’t consider Cindy’s return a flop either but she’s always been a favorite of mine and I love the Knight’s, the show is definitely better with her presence. This fling with George Junior has been 🔥 and I can’t wait for her to drag sister killer Bobby some more and figure out who Ian’s been running around talking to. Now I don’t hate the new Mitchell’s but I definitely could have done without weeks upon weeks of Billy and his clan on the front burner lol, definitely has made the show more of a chore for me. I have very much enjoyed seeing Phil get his verbal lashings these last few episodes though, I actually felt bad when he broke down crying at the end of this week. I wonder how far they go with this. I’m glad Yolande is finally getting justice against Pastor Clayton. The show has continued to do great work with this storyline I thought the scene where she finally told Denzel what happened was excellent. I’m glad the steroids storyline has finally came to a head. I think Denzel’s actor has done decent work and its nice to see a black actor leading the younger set. Now Nugget on the other hand…I was hoping he would croak and Nish would get his heart lol, can not stand that boy. Glad he told Denzel the truth about trying to kiss Amy though. Priya and Ravi are the only two on the Panesar side of the canvas I actually care for so I enjoyed them getting a bit of story again. Nish is such a bastard lol throwing her under the bus like that. I miss Bianca 😢 her running off after revealing her bipolar diagnosis was heartbreaking and its such a pain having to suffer through Sonia and Reese now that she’s gone again. Her butting into their relationship finally made them interesting. I look forward to Sharon realizing Reese stole money from her accounts and hopefully someone offs him. There was an episode a while back where Sharon expressed her guilt to Kathy for not helping Angie more with her alcoholism which then lead to her forcing Linda to go to an AA meeting and I have to shout it out because it really stuck with me. Strong writing and great acting from Tish Dean and Kellie B.

That Britt character and the Ugly Betty rip off RC shoved onto Patrick after Robin “died” helped drive me away from the show for years so I’m glad they rejected bringing her back, yuck. The way Sonny barged into Ava’s hotel room was directed well you could feel the tension. I love that she’s got him on sugar pills now and Jagger inserting himself at the end was good. I think Ava would be his best bet for a pairing cause him and Carly will never be it. I love Sasha being the one to catch Drew and Willow. Michael comes across like such a loser its understandable Willow wants Unc to knock her cobwebs off. Drew’s seemingly lack of guilt is hilarious as well. Cody and Sasha still need pink slips but I’m glad we’ve finally gotten the paternity reveal. JJY did good work in those scenes I’m team Portia when it comes to Laura and Heather and I’m glad she gave Laura that verbal dragging

Watched Maurice B’s latest State of Mind and he talked about this Sonny story being so difficult for him he had to take a couple of weeks off in the middle of filming and temporarily checked himself in to a center. I think this story was the right idea but from memory he’s never been able to do these Sonny off his meds and being a full out villain plots for too long and currently his performance hasn’t been great in it either. I don’t blame Frank and co for hitting the pause button. Yeah I think the show has been pretty decent since the wedding aftermath and kicked into a stronger gear with Finn’s exit. Feels like the show finally got the dynamics and storylines this regime first began setting up going in interesting directions although half the canvas still needs a purge. This is the first time I’ve found Deception drama kinda interesting since the Carly & Gia vs Laura & Liz days. I loved that Natalia was unapologetic about the way she trashed Kristina and how they went head to head finally. Blaze and Lucy/Maxie going in on Natalia was great as well. I loved the scene with Natalia and Sonny and Alexis at the coffee shop too. Alexis going after DeWitt and Ava was good as was Nina and Maxie handing DeWitt his ass. Maura West has been eating tf out of Ava’s vengeance and desperation but I do want them to up the stakes a bit. I’m curious how this Drew campaign is going to go and I hope they get a soap vet for his opponent who they’ve spent the last few weeks talking up as a viper (Sarah Joy Brown, Gina T, or an AMC lady like Alicia Minshew would be nice) Trina and Gio finally peaked my interest talking about shared grief. I want them to go deeper with him having lost his parents and how that has shaped him. That young set sorely needs a vixen and a darker male character. I kind of wish they had kept MB’s son for the summer at least he had the right angst and stronger chemistry with both Trina and Joss. I’m looking forward to this week hopefully momentum keeps going. The show really needs to find a way to work around these guarantees, especially if they’re gonna keep the cast so large. The UK soaps do a much better job.

Looking back I can appreciate the distinct brand synergy of the ABC soaps in the 00s a little more.

She’s younger than JMB but they played the same age around the same time so it’d be an easy sell. Look wise she’d be perfect to me and she has the right aura.

Wow I didn’t think he’d be gone so soon though the writing was certainly on the wall. I didn’t mind him as John on the show but these other characters were very forced and shouldn’t have stuck around as long as they did. Good luck to him but not sad he’s gone. They can off Chase next if we’re stuck with Violet.

The Ava and Sonny fallout doesn’t feel like a big sudden pivot to me. They’ve been laying the groundwork with him questioning her motives and paying her dust in favor of Natalia for a minute. Also Kristina hasn’t been keen on the dynamic either and with Sonny almost losing their relationship after beating Dex in front of her I’m not surprised he’s purging Ava out of his life the second Kristina officially declares she wants nothing to do with the woman. I think the scenes with MB and MW have been great and I’m glad Ava can finally get active with him no holds barred. I am disappointed they have Trina being so disloyal to Ava in her scenes with Joss and Gio. She didn’t even try to defend her and idk I thought they had a much closer dynamic. Kristina is so out of line trying to secure custody of Molly and TJ’s baby just in case. Hate when they do this kind of writing in surrogacy storylines and with LGBT+ pairings. At this point I wish we had just gotten a Kristina/Dex/Joss triangle instead. BrookLynn and Tracy scenes are always gold for me, I love their dynamic. Poor Finn getting his kid basically stolen by the Q’s lol. I still don’t care about Cody and Sadha (typo for Sasha but on second thought I’m keeping it, she is pretty sad energy all the time) even with Mac finally back to get the paternity reveal rolling. Give these two a pink slip next please.

Watching JJ’s interview with SB and BA now. I hope Korte gives him good material and they let him play with Genie Francis heavy like he clearly wants. The filming schedule and dialogue page count talk is always interesting to me, I think JJ will be able to adjust. As for the Lulu recast discussion I like the idea of Marci Miller but I kind of want Leven Rambin who used to be Lily and her twin Ava on AMC back in the day. She did an interview recently and said she’d be interested in doing a soap again and she has that JMB quality to me.

Oh they just bought a few more months of guaranteed viewing from me with this one.

Sam gave Carly another good dragging lol I see they were paying attention to the audience feedback. LW played those scenes great you could feel the guilt all over Carly. I kind of want Jagger dead at this point. Actively pursuing Carly when you’re holding her freedom over Jason’s head is just gross. When this Pikeman stuff activates I hope he’s the next to take a bullet. Anna and Valentine’s cat and mouse game continues to be fun they’ve made me a fan. I feel like Chase and Brook Lynn are always on and a big part of me is tired of seeing them and confused as to why they’ve been made the shows big couple. I am enjoying Finn’s spiral though. Tracy was great today with Violet, the sniffing salt and getting picture proof of Finn on his bender. ME’s gotta be a goner soon.

They are running the bus back and forth on Finn lol, yikes. Great scenes with Terri, Porsha and Liz and ME is giving good effort. The Mac, Felicia, Anna and Robert scenes were great. Mac has definitely been a missing vet piece and yeah Felicia is lucky he’s stuck around considering what a bum mother she was. Glad they let Sam be mad at Jason and can’t wait for her and Carly to go at it again over Jason being gone to protect her. The Jarly scenes were pretty nice as well I really like the Nina and Maxie friendship I don’t care about Joss and her crew. I wish they would bring back Emma or Lila Rae so she can get a rival. Its so boring when soaps put younger characters in too friendly group dynamics.

Great Carly and Sam scenes today, bringing up Morgan was a valid low blow but they both got good digs in. Anna and Valentine have good chemistry and I enjoy her and Jason working together but Jagger’s an idiot at this point. Sasha and Cody continue to sleep induce and IDK wtf Kin Shriner was doing in those Scott and Lucy scenes.

GV’s Lucky was a dud. A lot of it was the writing but GV was so…generic I guess is the best way to describe it. Typical mid JFP recast. I’d rather they bring back someone else. I would love a Ted King/Alcazar return

Starting to feel like we’re getting a late in life lesbian story with Tracy and Stella and I’m here for it. Literally the only interesting scenes today.

Rebecca Herbst killed it Monday. Loved Elizabeth dumping Finn and Jason coming to make sure she was alright and getting her out of there, then their scenes at the Metro Court pool were great as well. I’ve said it before but the show has been foolish not to be playing Liason and JaSam more during this Burton return and I hope this is the beginning of a course correction. Binged the last couple of weeks this past weekend and the episodes where the Pikeman story finally got in gear again put some heat back into the show for me but they keep dropping the ball when the focus shifts and the other stories on canvas just aren’t as interesting. The Anna and Jason scenes of her trying to get him to turn on Sonny then figuring out Valentine is the big bad specifically were fantastic. I loved Carly and Sonny’s scenes too, the one in the Metro Court lobby (honestly didn’t know that part of the set still existed) and the one at her house where he begs her to believe he didn’t put a hit on Jason were really good. Ava recording Natalia being problematic was also hilarious and I enjoy that they have been writing Natalia a little more directly cutting with Kristina now. When this regime has focused the writing on the characters who were mainstays during the 97-12 era they shine. Everything else with the exception of Lois/Ava/Nina/Drew has been bland or a stinker for me which is really bad for a show with such a large rotating cast. The fact that a lot of these characters are four+ years deep into being on canvas and have very few distinct qualities that make them interesting to watch says a lot about the way Frank has run things.