I like a lot of this Brandon/Amanda/Lucille/Alan/Alex thinking here as of late...it's really quite good.

To it, I might add that Brandon deliberately gave Amanda to Lucille to raise because he knew that Lucille was a sicko/psycho, and Lucille's presence would effectively neutralizing Amanda's parentage question permanently. Brandon's thought being that if Amanda is as screwed up as Lucille, why would anyone question anything? And that for a long time, Brandon's strategy worked, with Amanda being stored away in an attic and Lucille keeping her there.

That Brandon would purposely sacrifice his baby daughter Amanda to cover his tracks and preserve the Spaulding name would probably be the sickest storyline I've ever seen on any soap. Despicable and gross.

All of Amanda's warped parenting orchestrated naturally by Lucille and not Brandon removes him from culpability. Lucille stays in town to blackmail Brandon for a few decades (remember that Lucille herself lived quite well - just where did she get her stash) and must keep an eye on any threats to Amanda's well-being. This last bit already depicted on screen - Lucille's desire to see Ben dead.

Also, Lucille has known that Brandon has been alive the entire time - and it was she who drove him out of town. In Lucille's mind, Brandon has served his purpose - money. Now that she has it, he needs to leave. She's wily enough to know she can't have him murdered.

Having Alan discover this in 1995 upon his return to town (it's not something revealed during the 1980 trial) would been a hell of a retcon story to tell.

16 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

I like a lot of this Brandon/Amanda/Lucille/Alan/Alex thinking here as of late...it's really quite good.

To it, I might add that Brandon deliberately gave Amanda to Lucille to raise because he knew that Lucille was a sicko/psycho, and Lucille's presence would effectively neutralizing Amanda's parentage question permanently. Brandon's thought being that if Amanda is as screwed up as Lucille, why would anyone question anything? And that for a long time, Brandon's strategy worked, with Amanda being stored away in an attic and Lucille keeping her there.

That Brandon would purposely sacrifice his baby daughter Amanda to cover his tracks and preserve the Spaulding name would probably be the sickest storyline I've ever seen on any soap. Despicable and gross.

All of Amanda's warped parenting orchestrated naturally by Lucille and not Brandon removes him from culpability. Lucille stays in town to blackmail Brandon for a few decades (remember that Lucille herself lived quite well - just where did she get her stash) and must keep an eye on any threats to Amanda's well-being. This last bit already depicted on screen - Lucille's desire to see Ben dead.

Also, Lucille has known that Brandon has been alive the entire time - and it was she who drove him out of town. In Lucille's mind, Brandon has served his purpose - money. Now that she has it, he needs to leave. She's wily enough to know she can't have him murdered.

Having Alan discover this in 1995 upon his return to town (it's not something revealed during the 1980 trial) would been a hell of a retcon story to tell.

This sounds absolutely epic, and the perfect story for a soap. What could have been…

23 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

I like a lot of this Brandon/Amanda/Lucille/Alan/Alex thinking here as of late...it's really quite good.

To it, I might add that Brandon deliberately gave Amanda to Lucille to raise because he knew that Lucille was a sicko/psycho, and Lucille's presence would effectively neutralizing Amanda's parentage question permanently. Brandon's thought being that if Amanda is as screwed up as Lucille, why would anyone question anything? And that for a long time, Brandon's strategy worked, with Amanda being stored away in an attic and Lucille keeping her there.

That Brandon would purposely sacrifice his baby daughter Amanda to cover his tracks and preserve the Spaulding name would probably be the sickest storyline I've ever seen on any soap. Despicable and gross.

All of Amanda's warped parenting orchestrated naturally by Lucille and not Brandon removes him from culpability. Lucille stays in town to blackmail Brandon for a few decades (remember that Lucille herself lived quite well - just where did she get her stash) and must keep an eye on any threats to Amanda's well-being. This last bit already depicted on screen - Lucille's desire to see Ben dead.

Also, Lucille has known that Brandon has been alive the entire time - and it was she who drove him out of town. In Lucille's mind, Brandon has served his purpose - money. Now that she has it, he needs to leave. She's wily enough to know she can't have him murdered.

Having Alan discover this in 1995 upon his return to town (it's not something revealed during the 1980 trial) would been a hell of a retcon story to tell.

Yes, and all of this could have been revealed when they did do the storyline...only nobody gave any thought to it..."Hey, let's make Brandon Amanda's father" .."Okay, that sounds good , how? Should we research the show, read old scripts, watch old clips, investigate the timeline to somehow stitch this together using the character's personalities and backgrounds that the audience knows"..."No, let's just say it is."...."Okay, what is the fallout?"......"I don't know, we get rid of Alex, and Alan just calls Amanda his sister now?"

I think that Marland wanted Court as Ann Alden Forbes on Loving, but someone (the producer?) wanted a soap newcomer in the role

1 hour ago, soapfave06 said:

This sounds absolutely epic, and the perfect story for a soap. What could have been…

Glad that you think that - credit goes to several people on this board. Knowledge of a soap's history certainly helps!

In an effort to sate my own ego once again(!)....this entire scenario is yet another reason Amanda needs to marry Ed.

Surprisingly, Amanda takes the news about Brandon reasonably well, with poise, having had to deal with the 1980 trial in a public sphere. It is Alan and Alex who struggle the most with the news about what Brandon did to Amanda. Should Alan and Alex sympathize with or pity Amanda? Support her? Where's their support, dammit? Who coddles Alan and Alex and makes everything better for them, eh?

Amanda marries Ed (after Eve dies in a sanitarium) and becomes part of a family. AM moves in and becomes a Bauer (except now he is conflicted with working for Thorpe Enterprises, where Maureen also works! Love GL95's idea). Matthew also moves in. That Amanda becomes part of a family unit leaves Alex quite bitter, explaining her animosity toward Amanda.

29 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

Glad that you think that - credit goes to several people on this board. Knowledge of a soap's history certainly helps!

In an effort to sate my own ego once again(!)....this entire scenario is yet another reason Amanda needs to marry Ed.

Surprisingly, Amanda takes the news about Brandon reasonably well, with poise, having had to deal with the 1980 trial in a public sphere. It is Alan and Alex who struggle the most with the news about what Brandon did to Amanda. Should Alan and Alex sympathize with or pity Amanda? Support her? Where's their support, dammit? Who coddles Alan and Alex and makes everything better for them, eh?

Amanda marries Ed (after Eve dies in a sanitarium) and becomes part of a family. AM moves in and becomes a Bauer (except now he is conflicted with working for Thorpe Enterprises, where Maureen also works! Love GL95's idea). Matthew also moves in. That Amanda becomes part of a family unit leaves Alex quite bitter, explaining her animosity toward Amanda.

Phillip is interesting in this scenario too-suddenly AM (and Amanda) is in the same family unit as Rick which is in opposition to Alan/Alex. If Bloss are together and AM/Blake working at Thorpe, it also puts Ross aligned with the Bauers especially given his friendship with Ed. AM/Amanda being in this separate family unit by choice would drive Phillip insane.

I also am not opposed to AM/Blake as a power couple with AM being family to Roger by marriage, but in some ways Roger just choosing AM for his own merits would be the ultimate thing to throw in Alan's face for both Roger and AM. (The passing of the torch scenario with Roger to AM/Blake story then has even more intrigue to where even TIIC at the time give Zas the sendoff he deserved since it could become something of an umbrella story if done right and more than Holly takes care of Roger as the plot).