Watching the soap reminds me of when I was in college and writing short stories & episodic screenplays where the professor would tell me 'You have strong scenes, but little action'.
I truly feel once Guza jumped ship, the pacing and action declined. I can safely say that is a big difference since he's been gone for 100 episodes.
Here is the evidence:
Joey/Vanessa/Doug - For the first 150 episodes, you had Joey basically using both Vanessa and Doug's addictions to get them under his thumb. You liked Joey/Vanessa in scenes together, you also liked Doug/Vanessa in scenes together, and the stakes were high. Once Doug was killed off, we met Donnell .. a Donnell that was determined to find out what happened to his father and not being keen on Joey. Since then, Donnell has come and gone with him accepting Joey with his sister Deanna coming in for two episodes and now gone?
Eva/Tomas/Kat - Classic triangle with two half-sisters that don't like one another, A working class guy working to climb the ladder going for the socially acceptable sister while having a good rapport/connection with the other sister. You play out the beats and right after the guy and the working class sister hook up... the triangle is killed off. Tomas/Kat are a couple while Eva was spun off into another relationship with no stakes.
Nicole/Ted/SPS - The first 60 episodes built up to the bombshell of Ted having an affair with SPS in the past and having a daughter together. The sudden recasting of Ted sort of derailed the story, but the show insisted on playing out this story for a bit before finally breaking them up.. and both Ted/Nicole are in new situations with little to no stakes with SPS just being a thorn.
Hayley - For a 150 episode, there was a thread that we finally got to see where it led on episodes 150/151 where things that didn't make sense suddenly made sense, the random comments from Derek, Ashley, Jacob, Dani, Naomi.. where it sounded as if she was a new arrival vs someone that knew the family for years (i.e. Ashley). And the pregnancy/miscarriage drama was interesting.. it was almost like playing detective and/or putting puzzle pieces together. However, after we got the full picture... the story seems to have stalled though the arrival of Lynette is promising.
One big improvement:
Derek/Ashley - Breaking them up has done wonders for both characters.. moreso for Derek than Ashley. Ashley is mixing it up with the hospital crew and having good chemistry with a new guy, whose kind of shady. Derek has mixed it up with SPS (he pushes her buttons so much), Eva, Vanessa, and Naomi more than before.
However, as others have said, there is a lot of talking and little action.
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Soaplovers ·
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