Y&R Episodes Discussion, Week of October 5, 2009

[classicmoment]

The virgin issue is strictly for the contrast in the to be Philip/Chloe/Billy build up.It is not a bad idea, the problem is going to be that it won't help to build this character it will only be used to drive plot, umm correction predictable lame plot I'm sure

[alphanguy74]

I didn't see it all that odd. He's supposed to be 21 or 22 isn't he? I didn't lose my virginity until I was 21, so I didn't find it that odd at all. I guess it just depeneds on one's personal experience.

[brimike]

He also said on the air that he had no intention of being a virgin, but he went right into the army/Iraq at 18. And "it" just never happened because of that, so now it's "just how it is".

I don't know. There are A LOT of problems with Y&R right now, but the whole Chance/virgin aspect is the last thing on my list of issues I have with the show.

[Juliajms]

Yes, it really is a bad idea. Maybe if Chance actually looked 20/22 it wouldn't be bad (maybe). But instead he looks 30 and it's just bizarre and a major turn off to me. The dude has been to war for pity's sake!! If I were Chloe I'd be running for the hills not looking for a opportunity to be this guy's first.

[JackPeyton]

maybe Chance just means hes a virgin to the vagina?

lol, sorry, i had to go there.

[MarkH]

I'd agree, but as Julia says (next post) he doesn't look like a 21 year old newbie. (And his role as detective doesn't support it either). Chance is a potentially very important character, and there is such a mismatch between all these different aspects of himself.

It matters, because the more fragmented and non-real he becomes, the harder it will be to base any kind of story around him. And if they fail to build a story about him, then that's another part of the P3/Chance return that is rendered "unnecessary" (per Jeanne Cooper)

I'm not sure I understood that last part...but Chance is attractive, rich, stable, employed. Women would be totally drooling around him. And, if he is a normal young man and straight, he'd be at a place where cumulative lust was making him explode...JP's next point notwithstanding. Again, it matters that he looks 30 too.

Think about two popular film depictions of this level of celibacy: "40 Days, 40 Nights" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin". Chance doesn't fit either template (horndog trying to live a better life; nerd trying to finally make an emotional connection).

LOL...well, I for one think it is HIGH TIME that the soaps DO GO THERE.

And, in terms of the "weirdness" factor of this 30 year old virgin (maybe 22 year old...but he's rich, built, attractive, personable, stable, not particularly Christian, comes from lusty jeans) would be ameliorated (and a great lesson about safer sex would be promoted) if we learned that he ... um ... was master of his domain!

[Juliajms]

It's that I can't get past that. I really don't care much about Chance at all, but when I look at him and bother to think about him, I see a 30 year old former soldier who is now a police officer...and virgin. It just doesn't compute and it sets off my "this is not a normal person" radar. If we had a 20 year old in this role, it wouldn't be an issue. Also, I think virginity isn't the turn on for woman that it is for some men. I'm sure I'm being sexist in some way, but this is my visceral reaction.

[JackPeyton]

i dont think that he looks 30.

[Juliajms]

I do and I suppose I'm also biased by having watched part of his run as Coop on GL. I can't help seeing him as an adult male. A very attractive, rich, adult male who would have had women throwing themselves at him for at least 10 years now(let's just say he looks 25). Why has he turned them all down? If he were ugly I could understand it and I'd be rooting for him to get the girl. As it stands, his virginity is inexplicable and odd.

Anyway, I agree that Y&R has much bigger problems. Among them the way this character has been developed, sexual issues aside.

[JackPeyton]

i watched his entire run as coop, i jsut dont think he looks 30.

idk, my best friend 23 and a virgin. and its not a religious thing for her at all. nor is she ugly. buys try all the time and she flirts, kiss', and stops there. shes just oing it for a personal reason. i do agree the show needs to add in his reason for being a virgin, otherwise throwing a line in about him being one is pointless and stupid.

but yes, the show has much bigger issues. tho little issues like this are a factor of bigger issues.

[Cat]

This discussion about a guy in his 20s (possibly 30! Gasp) being a virgin is most interesting. It makes me wonder... if Chance was female and a virgin, would we still be having the same debate over what a turn-off that is? (Quite apart from the fact that there seems to be no reasoning behind Chance's decision).

It also makes me think back to ER a couple of seasons back when Luka, Abby and Carter were talking about who was their first. Carter was bragging about hooking up with some hot maid when he was 13. Luka told the story about how when he dated his then-fiancee (who became his wife and later died during the war in the Balkans) "she wanted to wait, and I didn't mind." It didn't make him seem weird or abnormal.

Just wanted to say that Chloe and Liz Hendricksen are Da Awesome. I love her hair. And, weirdly, I love her scene with Clementine Ford.

Neil! Hey there stranger. BTW, Ashley's baby looks exactly the AMC baby in one of our SON poster's avatars.

This show is just a bundle of joy right now. Literally, yesterday's episode flagged up

1. Colleen's brain dead,

2. Ole Goat's ticker about to clock out,

3. Sharon "losing" her baby (and how the baby was in such bad shape that Sharon wasn't allowed to see her body ), and by extension,

4. reminding me that Ashley lost her baby on the stairs a few months back,

5. Summer possibly still in iffy shape.

[Cat]

Oh, and 6. Lily's cancer.

[Juliajms]

Since I'm not a guy or a lesbian, I really can't say about female virginity being a turnoff. I do think (just my perception) that by the age of 30 it's even abnormal for a woman to be a virgin without a clear reason. I do think society values male and female virginity in very different ways, even in modern American society. That may not be politically correct, but since the consequences of sexual activity (possible pregnancy/single motherhood/abortion) doesn't fall equally on men and women, I don't see those values changing drastically anytime soon, although obviously it has changed to some degree overtime.

[MarkH]

See, Luka's story is a beautiful one. Romantic, it is an act of respect, waiting for someone he loves from an early age. Just terrific, and gender doesn't matter.

Because I see Driscoll's Chance as 30 (but even if he is 22, I still think the fact that he's built, rich, personable, etc. matters), the thought that he has never formed a bond with anyone strong enough or long enough to reach the point of intimacy just seems like a "red flag".

It is simply a very unusual attribute given his many other attributes. It sticks out, if you'll forgive the pun.

I won't belabor it, except to say I hope the writers do something with it. Rather than a random point, I hope this is the lever into his inner life, and that it signals some kind of intimacy problems or trust problems or perfectionism problems or hostility-toward-women problems or sexuality problems or.... something.

I hope we get a better explanation. Otherwise, it is a totally random waste.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I could care less about Chance being a virgin or whatever. What bothers me most about him is his lack of a personality and how POORLY this writing regime has developed this character. I mean Nina and Phillip III's son and Jill's grandson should not be this bland and vanilla. The character has been on the show for what? 3-4 months? I still feel like all I know about him is that he's a nice guy and Chloe is using him to make Billy feel a bit jealous. There's no depth, no personality, and definitely no character there. For that alone, I blame this horrendous writing regime.