DAYS: Discussion for the month of November

[dc11786]

If rumors are true, the set up for the next chapter of the Chloe/Dan storyline has been laid.

For a while, I thought the drug storyline was going to play a much bigger part than it did. There was so much groundwork laid about the secret Emily Hudson learned before her death, and Arianna dealing drugs out of the Brady pub. It was pretty clear Arianna's drug dealer past was suppose to be the secret that Emily learned before her death. Then, Victor was revealed to be the drug lord Arianna was going to take down. This had the potential to be a big story rather than a subplot. This certainly would have involved Rafe and Sami and maybe E.J. if the Dimera/Kiriakis feud was reignited with the Dimeras and Kiriakises fight over the drug trade.

I still have faith that the show has major plans for the current storyline involving Carly and her child. When the baby switch started, the online contingent of fans pretty much slammed the story and yet it is now cited as one of the reasons for "Days" current success. I think the Carly story will play out in a similar manner where as time goes on the viewers will be fearful of where the powers that be are taking them, the powers that be will play the right beats, and the audience will be won over. One can hope, right?

I thought the major rift in the Bo/Hope conflict is that Bo KNOWS Carly's secret. So when Carly revealed she was living with her daughter on Wednesday or whenever, Bo already knew this information. So this is why Bo doesn't ask who Carly's daughter is because he knows the young lady's identity.

In her recitation of the child's departure, Carly spoke vilely of the man Lawrence forced her to give the child to. If Melanie is Carly's daughter, I would suspect Trent is the man Lawrence gave Carly's baby to.

Hope does always talk about Bo's need to be in control a lot. I think their may be subtext in the scenes, but I'm not sure if that is coming across. Bo has talked about both Zack and Chelsea with Carly, not necessarily Chelsea's connection to Zack's death, but overall I feel like everything is suppose to be built around this unresolved anger. This needs to be brought into the conversation more without beating the viewer over the head with it.

[Toups]

So we should start seeing the beginnig of their new story soon, then? Any idea when their new story is going to start?

Do you mean Meredith?

EJ taking over Victor's drug trade has to be a setup/groundwork for a story, but right now I can't see what is.

Oh I'm sure the show has something big planned for this Carly story. I'm just not on the bandwagon yet for this story - I need something to happen that will make be jump on it.

Did I miss the revelation where Carly told Bo who her daugther is? Did that happen on screen?

Really? I need to go back and watch those flashbacks then. I missed that information.

[quartermainefan]

There is a little down time now that the story is over but that's sort of typical for soaps. It's the holidays and nothing especially major will happen for the next few weeks. They will eventually find Sydney and it will be a merry christmas. 2010 you can see their stories being planned. Bo/Hope/Carly/Carly's mystery kid/Justin/Vivian seems like the big story coming. But something tells me it is time to rotate Stephanie and Nathan to the front burner. Either that or they have to go, but they have yet to have a story so I don't think they will be going. Philip and Brady I think will be front and center in 2010 also. And what is the reason they are keeping Chad and Mia? Chloe and Daniel I think will wind up back with Lucas, who may or may not also wind up with Sami, EJ and Nicole.

[Toups]

dc11786, do you mean this scene:

Carly: He (Lawrence) was so cruel. He enjoyed watching me go through so much pain. He made me take my baby and put it in that man's arms, and he smiled....

I'm not sure if I can interpret that to "Carly spoke vilely of the man Lawrence forced her to give the child to." Even the way she said "that man's arms" wasn't all that negative.

[Guest dc cubs]

Part of this could be due to the fact that Shawn Christian is currently filming a movie. Nadia said he was not at the Day of Days event because he was filming a movie in Canada. His lack of story right now could be Days scheduling around him for this commitment.

I think we will see Daniel/Chloe spun into the Bo/Carly/Justin/Hope quad. My guess is that this story will start to heat up in the new year.

I agree and think this will be the big umbrella story for 2010. Days is laying all the groundwork right now and the story will heat up next year. I admit it has been a little slow going and uneven at times. You already have Bo, Carly, Hope, Justin and Vivian involved in the story. Then there is Carly's daughter who I think is Melanie. Much more story potential if its Melanie over Mia. That would bring in Phillip and Victor. It could also involve Maggie since she and Melanie are close. As stated above, I think Daniel and Chloe will be involved as well. In Corday's first interview about CC and her coming to Days he said that Daniel would be involved in her storyline.

[PhoenixRising05]

LOL the story already has started. It's just that SC was off filming a movie so they couldn't keep up with the foreshadowing as much as they wanted to. Once he gets back to filming regularly, you will get more anvils. You being the JER fan that you are should've noticed the anvils that hit when Chloe learned she couldn't have children. Then there is this past Friday's episode with Carly providing us with a little more information. Also, she did describe putting her daughter in "that man's" arms in a very vile way. Crystal played it very angry and disgusted and also made the remark about Lawrence smiling when it happened.

The story is still in setup mode and, as dc noted, the baby switch started off much in the same way. I think the show is setting it up so that the story really exploded around the time that people are home for Christmas and New Year's. Days always does well ratings-wise then so it's smart to do that to hook people long-term.

Also, the reason why the reveal of Carly was a daughter was pretty ho-hum was because that isn't really a reveal. First, it was obvious Carly's secret was a kid. Who else could Carly be protecting? Second, the big reveal is who it is and what will happen to her or Carly with the revenge threat out there. That is when this story will really get going.

I find the Bo and Hope scenes very character-driven. Hope has always behaved this way when Bo kept secrets from her and also tried to control things (like he did during the kidnapping in August). Bo has always been that way and you can trace back their issues with this right back to the 80's. The show brought up the unresolved Zack issue a ton, especially in August and September. They also brought up Patrick too and even how Bo concealed evidence to help Philip in summer 2008. True, they do like to go the subtle route with the Bo and Hope scenes but they have come out and laid out the problems so it's not forced or out of left field at all.

AS for the other stories, I think the drug story is being set up to be a big story down the road. I also still think the "Emily" mystery will play a role somehow as well. Sami and Rafe will need some conflict in the future so his past will likely be that. The show has stories in place and I'm sure we will see them setup big time this month so they can really pick up over the holidays and hook viewers going into 2010.

[dc11786]

As Phoenix said, it's been in play for a little while now, but Chloe's end has sort of been in play for longer.

No, I mean Emily, Rafe's fiancee and Meredith's sister. Meredith certainly seemed to be used to facilitate the storyline. I have to wonder if this was all changed to speed up the baby switch because of Arianne Zuker's maternity leave.

I think they are hinting at an E.J./Arianna pairing which would bring Rafe, Sami, and Brady (the major baby switch players) into play.

I thought one of the scenes picked up with Carly saying, "And that's my story." or something to that effect. It happened off screen, but was purposely written that way.

I love Mark Hapka and his good guy Nathan, but him and Stephanie don't work for me. I didn't like Stephanie's manipulation of Nathan this week as it didn't seem like something Stephanie would do or had been driven to. Personally, Stephanie could join her parents and Joe in Africa or wherever they ended up and I'd be fine.

By now, Mia and Will should have caught on, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Mia may be Carly's daughter so her place on the canvas is pretty secure for the duration of this storyline. I wouldn't be surprised if the show switches gears, keeping Mia in the secret daughter plot, and moving Gabi as the object Will and Chad are fighting over.

Yes. I was going by recollection. Maybe she wasn't as angry as I remembered.

Whether or not it was obvious, it should still have been played up a bit more. Obviously, Carly was there for her child, but in that moment, it was narrowed down to two people: Mia and Melanie. This should have at least been the end of scene cliffhanger.

While I agree, I do think the show is still struggling in the delivery of the subtext. I feel like it's there, but that either the actors, or writers, are so use to "Days" plot-driven storytelling that the adjustment is hard.

I think the Emily story is finished. Maybe I'm wrong, but Meredith has been locked away so the main catalyst for the story is gone. Emily knew something that would keep Rafe from being in the FBI. His sister dealing drugs would certainly be that secret. Could they reactivate this story? Yes, but I think it's pretty much done unless it comes up again with E.J. and Arianna's work in the drug trade.

[PhoenixRising05]

I see the reveal that Carly had a daughter as similar to that of Sami learning from Rafe about Sydney being her's. It isn't the big reveal, which is why it's treated as such. In regards to the baby switch, the big stuff was Nicole vs Sami and Nicole vs EJ. The big stuff with Carly is who the daughter is, who is the father, and what will happen to her and her daughter. I also feel it would've been anticlimactic regardless because everyone knew from the minute she started talking about protecting someone that it had to be kid. Otherwise, who else would it be and why wouldn't she tell the person they were in danger? It had to be a secret child. The show obviously took the route of having Carly explain everything to Bo offscreen and to have her and Bo talk of her daughter vaguely because they want to milk the suspense, which is fine. If Days taught us anything this year, it's that people eat junk like that up.

As for Bo and Hope, if you play anymore subtext you would be risking annoying the audience. The thing that bothers me is that I've seen comments where people don't understand where Bo and Hope's problems are coming from and that boggles my mind, especially since most of these comments are from people who have watched the show for years. Even if you've only watched the past five years, their problems are evident. They stem all the way back to the 80's. Days is, for once, providing a realistic portrayal of a marriage falling apart internally due to a pile up of unresolved issues that were brought back to the surface by an event (the kidnapping of Ciara)and, yet, the show is getting feedback at times that suggests it's forced or out of character or whatever. The show mentions certain things with Bo and Hope specifically when it warranted in the scene. We've seen their issues thrown right out there. Between August-October, we got quite a bit of focus on the issues. Now it's all about Carly's secret. Days doesn't have to go overboard and continuously bombard the audience with why Bo and Hope have fallen apart. if those watching don't understand now, they never will. It's one of those cases, too, where they have to trust their audience to be smart enough to know the reasons as well, assuming many of those watching have watched for years. The funny part is I actually find more new fans understanding the conflict more then old fans, who should better understand LOL.

As for Meredith, I think they stashed her away to use her again. She can easily escape and she will be even more angry because she was locked away. I doubt that is over. Sami and Rafe will need a conflict once the baby stuff is over. They already set up his mysterious past. I don't think that is just going to go away. They also still hint at Arianna's problems really impacting Rafe. I saw that in their scenes this week. I would be shocked if Rafe's past/Meredith/Emily was never brought back to the surface again.

[quartermainefan]

Caught on?!? These two have so little charisma, they would be lucky if they could catch a cold. I have never seen two such dull nothings on DOOL and I actually honestly believe Charity Rahmer put more effort into her work (incompetent as it was) than these two.

[Guest dc cubs]

I'll be one of the first to admit that the teen set on Days is pretty weak. In particular Dylan Patton as Will and Taylor S. as Mia. IMO, Casey Diedrick as Chad is the strongest of the three but that isn't saying much. It's still early to tell about the new teen Gabi Hernandez but the actress is already better than Dylan or Taylor.

[PhoenixRising05]

Taylor and Dylan have had some good performances, especially in the Spring. When they got isolated from the older characters in summer, they fell off and never have recovered. Taylor still has a good performance here or there, usually with Ari or Suzanne. Dylan, on the other hand, has been a mess. He did do ok this week when he learned about Sydney and in his scenes with Chad though.

Diedrick is great but I can't say anything yet about Rodriguez as Gabi. She's shown she is ok with the material she has had so far but let's see how she does with heavy material like Dylan, Casey, and Taylor have had to play before declaring her better then anyone.

[dc11786]

Did I expect a huge promo shouting: "Find out Carly's secret this week"? No, but I don't like the fact that it wasn't presented as a revelation. I didn't expect Bo to be surprised by the revelation, but I expected the powers that be to treat it as a revelation to the audience, not part of the conversation, given it is pertinent (and important) information for a current storyline.

It was an important beat and "Days," recently, does the beats in the story, but in this case the "audience learns Carly has a daughter" beat was skipped.

One of the things that I've come to admire about James E. Reilly is that he understood the nature of soap opera. Scenes should be written in a way that anyone could understand what is going on, yet still progresses the story in a way that the daily viewer is entertained. The soap stigma has always been "You can turn in after years of not watching and pick up what is going on." While non-viewers consider this a negative, it's what has maintained the genre for as long as it has. In recent years, streamlining the story to important moments and eliminating the build-up, even down to the individual scene, has hurt the show. It doesn't need to be done ad nauseam, but it should be done in a way that the audience sees that the characters are acting the same way throughout the story.

With all that said, I'm not advocating JER style fake outs and prolonged story interruptions merely to keep the revelation from happening, but rather emphasisizing the importance of exposition in every scene.

It very well may be revisited, but stuff has been dropped. There were hints of Owen having a twin brother, but that was dropped when the story seemed to shift in the direction with the introduction of Nathan. I feel like the Emily stuff has been resolved, but I may be wrong.

I definitely worded my previous statement incorrectly. I meant to say that, given the amount of story build up, they should have developed enough substantial story time to warrant a story in their own orbit. The problem is they have no chemistry and neither actor has much presence.

I think both Patton and Spreitler have their moments, but both are still learning and don't seem capable of carrying the story. They seem more suited as supporting characters.

[JackPeyton]

i think the reason the scene with bo and carly played out the way it did was because all this time bo has knowen carlys secret. he isnt shocked or surprised to lean she has a child or that that child is living with maggie. so why some big revelation?

[YRBB]

Sami's been doing her fair share of slapping lately. She's slapped half the town. It's fabulous!

As a matter of fact, I think everyone should line up and just be slapped by Sami. Bitch can throw one!

[PhoenixRising05]

I understand your concerns and didn't mean to come off harsh.

All I'm saying is that I feel what your suggesting is treating the audience like idiots and I feel like the show has done a great deal of what you said already. How many times do we need to go over Bo and Hope's problems and why they feel the way they do currently onscreen? We did it for three months and I'm sure we will do it more once Bo and Hope have yet another sit down about their problems that doesn't focus on Carly and her secret. The characters have been acting the same way through. It's all been very consistent and in character. All one has to do is look back at past history and look at the past few months since August to see that.

I also agree with JackPeyton. There was nothing to hype, especially since Bo knew and it's not like anyone else can be told right now. I know people who don't even read spoilers or come online and they all already knew Carly's secret was a son or daughter even before we got scenes with Mia which could suggest she is related to Carly. There was no need to make it some grand moment. The grand moment will be who it is and who the father is. If the show treats those revelations as nothing special, then we have issues. Otherwise, expecting the show to treat what many already assumed as something big just makes little sense, at least to me. Besides, it was still a shocking moment in how it was played. The beat was played. Not everything has to be some huge moment. Every story is different and this story is one in which the big moments are the who it is and who is the father and what happens because of it. It's not just the mere fact that she had a child because pretty much the whole world had that pegged from the moment she started talking about a secret and protecting someone other then Bo LOL.

As I said, you may have a point about the Emily/Meredith stuff being dropped if not for the fact that Sami and Rafe will need a conflict once the baby stuff settles. There really is nothing else to use at the moment but his past. As for Owen, there were reasons why that was dropped and even that could be revisited.