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OLTL: Discussion for the week December 28


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I just don't like Destiny....at all....so I'm kinda glad to see her get the short end of the stick. I root against her. Sorry if this sounds callous, but I was totally looking forward to seeing Matthew not reciprocate her feelings. It's, I think, the ONLY time I've ever been interested in a Destiny scene. I wanted her to cry. The only thing "interesting" about Destiny is how her physical appearance is contrary to the standard soap mold (which really makes her a token) but I am not so compelled by that that I want to wave pom-poms in support of her....simply because she's "different" from the cliche. She's a pesky, pushy little busy-body who constantly pops up & gets in the way, is extremely hokey and comes off as younger than her age. Worst of all, she's boring. On personality alone, I can't think of any mid-teenage boy who would be attracted by her. She seems better suited to be a peer of Jack's or Shane's. There's nothing endearing about her at all, AFAIC. I don't need to get into how bad an actress SE because it's been mentioned here numerous times, but it just makes an already bad situation SO much worse. I can't feign putting the principal of supporting a character who happens to be a minority ahead of dismissing the fact that the character itself is just awful....and I say this as a Black viewer. They can try recasting, maybe that'll help. Who knows. But at the point I've been so underwhelmed or annoyed by the Destiny role overall that I'm not pushing for ways to salvage things with her. She's turned me off so much that my first choice would be for her to just go. I'm also not a fan of Shaun either. Even though he isn't as annoying as her, the actor playing him is almost as bad. Contrary to popular opinion though, Greg really doesn't bother me. I'm not really a fan, but I find him more tolerable than his brother and sister.

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The racial & image issues are bad enough.

Even if the character was recast a romantic triangle was never in the works otherwise the deck wouldn't be so stacked in favor of passable actress Missal who's character is allowed to be as self involved & repulsive as humanly possible but never called on it cause TPTB say so just like her parents.

It's amazing how Destiny is said to be a "pesky" "pushy" "busbody" whom viewers are "glad" to root against BECAUSE of those issues yet Dani is all of those things & then some yet she's embraced by viewers & given the world by TPTB.

And again THIS is exactly why minorities will NEVER benefit in Daytime & are better served leaving the genre for their own vehicles.

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He was/is endeared enough by her to call her a great friend (or was it best friend? I can't remember), so he can't think that she's all that bad. And he shouldn't, considering most of what she's done over the last couple of months is look out for him, and care about him, and try to make his miserable ass happy. That's why I was compelled to wave pom-poms in support her. She cared about the sad sack and wanted to see him smile again after being dealt a horrible hand. I'm not into rainbows and unicorns, and having the pink elephant in the room be overlooked. For me, the point would have been Matthew needing someone in his corner, Des being that one and only person, and over time, him realizing just how much she cares, and then something happening to make him care just as much. Yes, I know this is a teenage boy, and I wanted the issue of Des's weight to come up, as well as the race issue, but I never wanted that to be the story. I wanted that to be secondary to the main story of a boy who makes a risky decision against his parents wishes and the girl who wants to help him. Now, somewhere along the way, I can't pinpoint when exactly, they made Des into more of a nuisance than anything else, and now "the girl who wants to help him" is suddenly Danielle, and yes, forgive me if that pisses me off a bit. If SE wasn't gonna deliver the acting (and I'm not blind, I know she wasn't gonna bring it), I at least would have liked RC to deliver a story to make up for that. I would have liked a recast first, but to me, the writing would have been more important. Now, instead of what I was hoping would be a good, well-written storyline that would begin to develop a legacy character as a young adult has been thrown away in favor of this quick throw-together "couple" with a relationship built on very little.

I mean, goodness. Look no further than Dani being the one to get Matthew out of the chair. From a writing standpoint alone, that could have been a poignant scene if it had been Des instead, but it meant nothing to me because Danielle has only been on the show for two months and much of that was spent in a speeding car with deranged Michael Lowry.

I feel like I should reiterate that I think SE is a horrid actress, just to keep away the unnecessary reminders.

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Des never did stand a legit chance. And it wasnt because she is played by one of the worst actress' on soaps (and thats saying something...). She didnt stand a chance because she was a recurring player used for comical uses that they forged with Matt for a moment then brought in THE NEXT GREAT THING ALL OLTL FANS WILL LOVE! DANI! because shes just like todd! but even better because shes also like Tea! and we will love her! she gets angry and moody and upset and is emotional and kind of a bitch but has a good heart and has just been hurt. She will be shoved at us 24/7, and no matter what they wont stop. Just like Gigi. Just like Stacy.

I would love to say that just recasting des will make her count and give her a shot, because a curvy AA teenage girl in a romance with skinny white boy from a main family on a soap would be an amazing thing. But it wont happen.

I dont know if its because shes black, i cant say. But i am pretty sure the girl never stood a chance.

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I didn't ever expect Destiny and Matthew to be a couple, so I'm not disappointed they aren't, but I'm disappointed at what Matthew's story has become. The rapid lurch in writing would not bother me as much if I thought Dani/Matthew were a better couple, or if Dani were such a fascinating character that she needs all this endless attention. In that horribly written fight scene at the diner, she was as bad as SE, if not worse. At least the girl who plays Destiny is generally limited to material which asks for less. I feel like most of what made the Matthew story work was all shoehorned into a quick ending (he instantly forgave his parents, he can walk again, he's thrown out of Clint's house so there will be no moments where he's torn between his parents and Clint) so we can get another generic teen romance.

I just hope that if Matthew/Dani aren't the popular pairing they expect, they will not trash Matthew to make her look better, as so many have been trashed to prop her mother.

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Right. I just saw Destiny as a part of Matthew's story, a part of what made him stand out. He no longer has a story. He is, like so many others on the show, property of the awful trio, and no one ever really comes out of those vile three with their character intact.

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wow, you guys are weird in the way you talk about everything but the main event!!! Today was a monumental moment for soaps, and I gave up looking for comments after 5 pages!

I really have to say the people at OLTL are to be commended for going the distance with Kish. It was only a couple of years ago Nuke at ATWT were facing boycotts and had to pan away from kisses.

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We really have come a long way in only two years...a very long way. OLTL can't be praised enough for what they gave us today in those scenes, and the best part about it is that, yeah, non-OLTLers who might watch it on YouTube or hear about through Perez will watch it and appreciate it, but the people who've been watching the story for months now will have a deeper appreciation because there was actual some substantial buildup to it. It was everything I wanted their first time together to be, and more! There was thrusting!

The way they lied together afterwards, with Ol's arm tucked safely around Kyle...just perfect. ScEv and BC are so into these characters, and they got every look and every touch just right. They looked like they could lie there in that bed forever.

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My thing is I feel I've seen the Matthew/Destiny sort of storyline on TV almost as many times as I've seen a story with kids who look like Matthew and Danielle. From day one with them in the gym, I projected a year or more into the future. I knew where and how far this story could go - Matthew falls for heavyset black girl after trying to woo the stick-thin popular girl (at that time, it was fellow student Becca). Okay. But for it to work and be more than cookie-cutter "TV diversity" it had to be exceptionally well-written and acted. It wasn't. And it played as cliche as anything with Matthew and Dani, except I find Matthew and Dani's material much more vibrant, earnest and fiery between the two teen actors. With something as basic as the material for all three teens, chemistry is everything.

I watched Cristian and Jessica; I saw lots of soaps' other interracial teen romances in the last twenty years. Many are/were wonderful, but I think they also sometimes can fall prey to their own pitfalls of rote storytelling. Matthew and Destiny was pure rote to me, as much as if not moreso than Matt and Dani, because the actor (Edmonds) couldn't make it happen, couldn't delineate or differentiate it as its own beast. That's why no one cared for Dena Higley's abortive attempt at Cris/Jess Part 2 with "Starr and Dayplayer Ricky." Everyone looked at little Ricky with his pubes mustache-face and said 'who the [!@#$%^&*] are you?' It was a bootleg of a counterfeit of Emily and Juan on GH. And people hated Emily and Juan, which was cliche even back then.

I would like to see the story continue with a proper recast and Matthew with both girls, but I can't fault them for going with talent, whatever any of us think of Danielle. Yeah, I think they've oversold her. But I also like her and I especially like her with Matthew. I didn't expect to. And I just don't care to watch Shenell Edmonds continue to struggle to act just for the sake of a paper-thin character who would be far better served recast. What little I still enjoy about Destiny has very little to do with SE and everything to do with what they give her on the page.

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I guess it shows that if you don't cave to a bigoted mindset then you can get away with more. A lot of the time these shows just give in and don't realize they will have to keep giving more and more ground. It ends up with something like Otalia, where they were not even allowed to do more than put their forehads together.

It probably helps that OLTL is not a show which gets a lot of attention, but this does make me wonder what the CBS soaps could have done if they'd had the guts.

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I like Oliver but hate Kyle. People want to go on and on about the endless propping for Todd/Tea but these two are just as bad. They did a 180 with Kyle's writing. It wasnt that long ago where he was trashing and blackmailing Roxy. He was taking advantage of Jessica's illness for his own selfish means and blackmailing Natalie and Jared in the process. Now Roxy is his #1 cheerleader and all is forgiven. Layla is Oliver's #1 fag hag even though he lied to her and used her for months. Along with Cris and other characters, the have a whole line of cheerleaders telling us just how wonderful they are. I cant get behind Kyle bc of the blatant change in his character to support this pairing. I still see him for the pathetic loser who is also a selfish, blackmailer. He was borderline going into mini-villian territory and now he's all of a sudden written like a hero. If Oliver had to be gay, Id rather they kill off Kyle and get someone new

As for Nick, he's such a whiny little bitch. Very annoying and another part that makes this triangle unbearable. Im not finding anything about him sympathetic or rootable and the way he's acting, it had me questioning whether he had his attacked staged in order to cling onto Kyle. At the end of the day, I dont even care bc Im not invested in him or this story

And what people dont like her now bc she's black? It has little to do with her race. If she were played by a white girl, the issues with her would still remain and she'd still be disliked
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