ALL: Storylines That Didn't End How You Wanted

[DeeeDee]

Actually it didn't.

The whole thing was a retcon.

It was definitely an accident.

Yep & it worked out awesome.

That's the thing.

Alex's exit wasn't the end (it was the middle).

They couldn't.

By the time she left it was great cause it meant Y&R couldn't throw her under the bus anymore (she was getting the OLTL Blair bussed).

Yep.

As did Nikki & Ashley.

Which makes sense since she was only brought back & reverse SORASED to be thrown under the bus again only this time for Giggly Heffa.

Grambo SHOULD have wanted revenge but he basically just wanted nothing to do with her.

He DID feel some happiness/vengeance when Aunt Jack ended up as Kyle's father though.

They do & it's totally not right.

SHE is Aunt Jack's soulmate NOT Giggly Heffa no matter HOW much Y&R tries to retcon it.

Yep.

She had a lot of issues & chose to leave.

Reeves.

He asked for Ryan to die when HE chose to leave.

[DRW50]

I always thought Ryan was cold and boring and kind of sanctimonious so I wasn't sorry to see him go. My guess is the last half of the 00s would have done a real number on Ryan's character so he was better off going...

[DeeeDee]

He was definitely better off gone.

Even with good writing Ryan only lasted as long as he did cause Scott Reeves was so good.

[OldSchoolSoapFan]

Actually, it was Libby Webster who had killed Fake Sky (Jeff Brown). Damian arrived in Switzerland to find Fake Sky as a means to solving the case involving his late father. Libby was Real Sky's caretaker in Switzerland all that time before she brought him to Monticello without Raven knowing at first. Yep, Real Sky was romancing simpy Valerie while Raven was left without Sky, without the mansion and without money. The good news out of this was that Raven was paired with dashing Ian Devereaux by the end of that year (1982). I loved Raven and Ian as a couple.

[OldSchoolSoapFan]

For me, one storyline that ended very chitty was on EDGE OF NIGHT in the summer of 1980: the Emily and Kirk Michaels (Draper) saga. Month after month of build-ups and twists led to a showdown at an amusement park between Kirk and two villians (Frankie and Larry). Instead of showing Kirk (Draper) getting the workout of his life by running around the park trying to outfox the disgusting duo before the fuzz come and nab the criminals after an intense shoot-out, police come and shoot Larry from a rooftop-the event happened abruptly. Seconds later, Kirk (Draper) drags his feet aimlessly to the sight of his wife, April, while Emily looks from a distance and breaks down (I felt so sorry for her--I liked Emily). I felt it was a big letdown.

[juniorz1]

Coming from someone who LOVED that Tricia story, I really think it was supposed to be an accident. But Tricia was impressionable & never comfortable in her own skin & that was in part thanks to the actress. People, including Sharon, started to question her & what she did & Tricia just didn't hold up well against the pressure. She was a kitten in a viper's den and all of them were able to convince her she did do the unthinkable, when in reality, it was just a stormy night & she didn't hear or see Tony. But it was her guilt, or rather, her lackthereof, that was her undoing. What the other characters played on was that, while Tricia didn't purposely commit this heinous act, at the same time, she didn't feel what would be considered to be the normal amount of grief when taking another human being's life. In fact, she was kind of aloof when she found out it was Tony.

Matt Clark didn't come in until later, when the lynch mob had pretty much convinced her she was a murderess and she was having trouble even believe in herself. He played on her insecurities, and confusion, and pretty much manipulated her into going crazy. However, what never made sense is it only facilitated her killing Ryan, who'd never had any interaction with Matt (and Victoria's interaction was minimal) so the whole relationship never quite fit. Either way though, that storyline would have never happened had Sabryn Genet not played the undertones of her character & her very complicated psyche so well. Funny that we never heard from Ms. Genet again.

[DRW50]

The story was very rushed. I feel like someone suggested to Rauch he needed to bring in black characters, as the roles of blacks in his run was barely even a token status (poor Vicky and that waitress, Ruth), so he paid lip service by bringing a black family in without actually doing anything with them. The actors kept leaving and being recast and Mel was just there. They seemed to think the idea of the story was enough and that the pacing didn't matter. They so quickly fell in love and then she was pregnant, and it did work in a sense, but I don't think it was worth rushing so much of the story just for that drama. I know that Taggart didn't write all that (I think Gold started the story) and I know they wanted to write Yvonna's pregnancy in but the whole thing was so fast that it was difficult to care. They also glossed over the many reasons that Mel might not want to marry this man, reasons which basically blew up in her face a few years later when he cheated with Beth, although that story was also underexplored.

I loved Rick with Abby, they took time to build up that storyline as Abby had a crush on Rick and Rick slowly fell in love with Abby. That was one of the few well-paced, emotionally powerful stories McTavish managed to do throughout her GL run (the other was probably Annie losing her mind).

[DRW50]

What worked so well in this story is there viewers were left to guess some of what was going on (did she love Tony? Did she mean to kill him?) yet the story still made sense. Tricia had always been odd. She was an awful character when she was just this teenage bimbo who made Ryan hot when he was tired of Nina, but when they started to show her struggles with the life with Ryan, from that first scene where their first time wasn't what she had expected, then her trying to deal with his rude stepson, she became more interesting. This went on for years and she became more and more disturbed. I went back and watched some of that and it's hard to believe that this ended up paving the way for rushed nonsense like Patty.

[DeeeDee]

That was Victoria's fault. Matt was dead by then

[DeeeDee]

Tricia was HATED until she began to go crazy.

Sabryn was genius though cause she underplayed with just the right neurotic edge to keep the character entertaining.

A big part is that Kay.

She wasn't a genius as a HW but she is definitely the most underrated.

[YRBB]

Actually it didn't.

The whole thing was a retcon.

Interesting... I still like it. It sounds just like what Sharon would do to poor, demented Tricia! In all seriousness, though, I guess I just don't see why it's a retcon. Even if Tricia didn't do it on purpose, the others' reaction could still have been planned to always be what it was, i.e. accuse her. Unless you mean that the accusations were a part of the characters' retcon of events, if that makes any sense lol

Yep & it worked out awesome.

Yep.

One can never forget those diner meetings or Tricia trying to suffocate herself or seeing dead Matt talk to her.

Which makes sense since she was only brought back & reverse SORASED to be thrown under the bus again only this time for Giggly Heffa.

I was gonna say that--and, for some reason, being thrown under the bus for Phylisssshhhhssssss seems so much worse than anything else they could do

Yep.

She had a lot of issues & chose to leave.

Reeves.

He asked for Ryan to die when HE chose to leave.

Again, this is very interesting. It changes (or dillutes) the perception of a story when you know all this backstage stuff. I cannot believe Reeves asks for his character to die--but I guess it makes it easier to accept that they killed him now. Same with Nina, because I just never got why they wrote her out.

Ouch, though--both Reeves and Cast gone during the same year? And, soon after, Malcolm? Painful

Coming from someone who LOVED that Tricia story, I really think it was supposed to be an accident. But Tricia was impressionable & never comfortable in her own skin & that was in part thanks to the actress. People, including Sharon, started to question her & what she did & Tricia just didn't hold up well against the pressure. She was a kitten in a viper's den and all of them were able to convince her she did do the unthinkable, when in reality, it was just a stormy night & she didn't hear or see Tony. But it was her guilt, or rather, her lackthereof, that was her undoing. What the other characters played on was that, while Tricia didn't purposely commit this heinous act, at the same time, she didn't feel what would be considered to be the normal amount of grief when taking another human being's life. In fact, she was kind of aloof when she found out it was Tony.

Matt Clark didn't come in until later, when the lynch mob had pretty much convinced her she was a murderess and she was having trouble even believe in herself. He played on her insecurities, and confusion, and pretty much manipulated her into going crazy. However, what never made sense is it only facilitated her killing Ryan, who'd never had any interaction with Matt (and Victoria's interaction was minimal) so the whole relationship never quite fit. Either way though, that storyline would have never happened had Sabryn Genet not played the undertones of her character & her very complicated psyche so well. Funny that we never heard from Ms. Genet again.

Tricia was HATED until she began to go crazy.

She was? LOL I had no idea. I really liked her from early on (well, not 1997, but you know what I mean lol)

A big part is that Kay.

She wasn't a genius as a HW but she is definitely the most underrated.

I think her biggest achievement is that she is the only HW until now who managed to at least come close to what Y&R was before her. And that's no easy thing considering who wrote before her

[YRBB]

That was that open-endedness I was talking about.

I mean, you always had the suspicion she wanted Tony. She then kisses him passionately and you're left to figure it out yourself. Same with Tony's death. Maybe, in the end, she never was supposed to be a killer but it was great that they played with it.

[DeeeDee]

Nope.

That actually was completely out of the blue.

It was completely an accident.

Y&R tried to retcon it but it was unsuccessful.

[YRBB]

But, I did. Have the suspicion. Same with other members of my family while watching the episodes. Granted, it may have been an actress thing, very subtle. I expected her to lunge at Tony for a long time, it was bound to happen.

You mean they were really planning to say it was actually murder? But backed off. Wow. That I do not agree with, at all. But playing with the suspicion--didn't mind it one bit.

This is fun though, I usually don't find myself disagreeing with you on anything

[DeeeDee]

Because Y&R tried to make her culpable AFTER the fact when that CLEARLY wasn't supported by how the accident originally happened.

It was dark & Tricia didn't see or hear Tony.

It wasn't until much later that Y&R tried to imply that Tricia COULD HAVE done it on purpose but none of it works cause the scene itself makes it beyond clear it was an accident.

No.

The others accusations made perfect sense.

It was Y&R trying to retcon Tricia's innocence that was the retcon.

That was the best part.

Sabryn & Ric had SO much chemistry (even after he died).

She actually had more chemistry with him (and others)than she did with Scott.

It wouldn't have been so bad had Y&R actually DEALT with their relationship fairly but it was clear from the moment Ed recast her with Susan that Diane was gonna be bussed & she was. Thoroughly.

And not just for Giggly Heffa but for EVERYONE (Victor, Nikki, Jack, Ashley, Brad, Paul, John).

The only one she wasn't bussed for was Michael (and even that's debatable).

Yep.

After 10 years he was ready to go & asked Y&R to kill Ryan which they did.

TOTALLY.

Yep.

Nina (and Tricia Cast) were beloved & Sabryn was HORRIBLE when she first started.

She only started getting the slightest bit of sympathy from fans when Phillip was mean to her.

She did.

Again she wasn't a genius, she definitely played favorites & was not afraid of bussing characters (Ashley, Diane, Liv, Paul, Neil) that didn't deserve it.

But her Y&R was the best post Bill Y&R & best soap overall bar none.