OLTL: Discussion for the week August 30

[IcyOne]

Viki and Dorian don't have a reason to still dislike each other either; Dorian has known for years that Viki didn't make the vote unanimous to have her dismissed from the hospital, and Viki knows that Dorian didn't kill Victor...but most of the time they still have a general distaste in their mouths where the other is concerned. When two people spend years hating each other, the original reason for the acrimony will most likely become irrelevant, while a myriad of others start to pop up to take its place. RC had no business writing Blair and Tea as friends. It wasn't fun to watch. It was sappy, heavy handed and unbelievable. At the very most, both should have just agreed to stay out of each others way.

[DRW50]

There's a certain amount of support there with Viki/Dorian when they go through bad times. In recent years the feud between them has seemed stale and petty, so I enjoy the tender moments.

With Blair/Tea it has always seemed contrived, going back to the start in 1997, because I have never seen this as any genuine feud. It has always been Tea is great, Blair is a loser. The show does not want any balance. And it is always over Todd, whereas Viki and Dorian had a variety of reasons to feud. The attempt to make Tea and Blair friends is something I didn't mind because it was at least something different, but since it is all about Todd again, there is no real emotional impact.

[Cheap21]

I hate Viki and Dorian's hating each other bc it makes no sense. They resolved theri issues YEARS ago. They've been fiends before. I cant remember why but their feud picked up again when Viki was dean of the college a few years ago and Dorian was hell bent on destroying her for no apparent reason. They've been fighting off and on ever since. Actually its mainly Dorian yelling and trying to hurt her. Viki rarely does anything to provoke or deserve any of it

[StevieM]

I just want the feud to end for good. It is all about Todd and it's perfectly clear that he genuinely loves them both. They should all be married. I honestly believe that a polygamous family is the right solution. They have the money, Tea and Blair have grown to care about each other and they definitely love the others' children. They should all be together. There will be enough conflict there to drive the story for years, without having to do another round of endless break-ups. Todd picking one or the other will just lead to a million separations and reunions, which starts to get stale after awhile. The Big Love family is the sane solution IMO.

Steve

[Eric83]

That is disgusting. I'd rather have Blair alone.

[Eric83]

He will probably be paired with Hannah, which will cause alot of drama considering Starr and Langston hate her. The whole Llanview U set is supposed to spring up alot of stories in the current months, so I am sure they will have something for Markko, at least I am hoping that's the case.

[TeamEric]

Actually shortly before the cancer story Viki was again presented as Tea's surrogate mom and main friend with Tea seeking out her advice on choosing to stay away from Todd for Danielle's sake. But RC wanted Tea completely isolated so she was given no choice but to lean on frenemy Blair. RC even spelled in an interview, the BFFs story grew from this isolated vacuum.

As for Tea endandering her daughter's life marrying Ross and Todd, compared to Blair who's exposed her children now to TWO serial killers (so far), Tea looks far better in contrast.

BOTHh Tea and Blair have been abused by Todd and both have gone back for more. Only one of them has taken the man back AFTER he's hurt HER OWN children, and that's Blair.

RC deliberately wrote Tea as weak, stupid and childish so Blair could ride to her rescue. Same as Blair was just painted too stupid to get herself out of a barely burning home so Saint John could ride to her rescue. It's constant manipulation by writers dumbing down a character to prop another.

Blair being Tea's BFF and Tea asking her to "mother" Dani is extremely obvious setup to absolve Blair of any blame when she humps a grieving Todd's bones and becomes Dani's stepmom. RC seeks to resurrect the ashes of the triangle's corpse, but this time with no bad guys. All 3 are victims of evil Eli.

[TeamEric]

Dorian and Viki have shared a complicated respect for each other but they will never fully trust each other's motives. In a crisis, they can show each other great empathy but the underlying distrust at the core of their history never will evaporate.

Could you see Dorian dying and asking Viki to raise Langston for her? Heck no, she'd rip her heart out first.

Could you see Viki years ago asking Dorian to raise Jessica for her? Over her dead body.

RC, per usual, gets a spark of an idea and ruins the burying the hatchet moments with heavy-handed material that made no sense.

[TeamEric]

I disagree. The wounds open so quickly and easily because they get patched over versus ever truly healed.

Already watched Blair & Skye "sharing" Max, no thanks.

Ditto I'd prefer Tea alone to any Big Love scenario.

[DRW50]

Viki's only role in the story was to push the idea of Todd/Tea being soulmates. Viki looked like a fool, encouraging Tea to get together with a man who helped kill one of her unborn grandchildren and who kept her daughter's mental problems a secret for months because he was too busy raping and mentally toying with Marty, who was supposed to be Viki's close friend. None of this had anything to do with helping Tea, IMO, and the whole story tanked, with the show first needing to suddenly make Ross into an abusive monster and then drop the whole thing until they could find a way to regain audience sympathy for Tea, which was the cancer story.

It's easy to look better when you were off the show for eight years. In the time that Tea has been on the show, she has repeatedly enabled a rapist and a murderer and has done her best to ensure that this man gets to raise children -- even manipulating said children and causing them pain so that Todd could be freed from prison. During the time Tea was off the show, she had a relationship with a man she described as terrifying and terrorizing.

Both of these women are very sad. The main difference is that Tea is deified because the show sees her as the person who makes Todd shine -- although apparently no one has told TSJ this. Blair is just a plot device who will never mean anything to Todd.

Tea used to go on and on about how Starr was like her real daughter. So unless she doesn't actually care about Starr (which wouldn't exactly surprise me), then she is as bad as Blair.

Tea did not have a child until last year's retcon, so I don't really know what to say about her mothering skills. Other than that her daughter was miserable in a boarding school while Tea was obsessed with Todd.

I would say this actually puts Blair in a terrible position, not absolves her of blame. Blair will have the most to lose. She will be desperate and feel foolish and be written as an interloper and a predator who can never really match up to Tea, and someone who can only be satisfied if she acts as a pretender.

Tea will be absolved of all of this. She will be a totally innocent victim of Eli's plans and return to a big melodramatic reaction as we are invited to weep for her yet again.

[TeamEric]

Blair was painted a loser in comparison to Tina, Luna and Marty long before Tea showed up. Tea was away nearly a decade during which time Marty II and Evangeline painted Blair as a loser.

When it's that many writing regimes and so many different women, it's obviously cannon to TPTB.

[DRW50]

Even if she was (although only when Tea showed up did they have Blair as a racist, and say that Blair should not even be allowed to raise children), that doesn't change that this feud was always about propping Tea.

[TeamEric]

Actually, this spring Viki's advice to Tea was to continue to put her daughter first above Todd and not reconcile with him.

Blair gets all self-righteous over Todd's bad behavior unless it personally benefits her ala attacking Asa or gaining revenge on Max. Tea will defend Todd's bad behavior from prison, regardless.

Tea at least found the strength to stay away from Todd for many years. Blair can never go long without getting all in his business. Otherwise, both are very sad in their inability to stop loving such a damaged man.

I don't see Blair in a terrible position at all. I wish I did because I frankly cannot tolerate her. But RC has given Blair a total free pass reminding us daily she walks with the halo of Tea's blessing.

[DRW50]

I guess we can just agree to disagree. This story is pure garbage and Todd is garbage. There's probably no point in the two of us going over which female has been most degraded by the sick fantasies of those in charge of OLTL and ABC Daytime.

[TeamEric]

And Tina threw in Blair's face she was not fit to raise a dog and was furious Cord allowed CJ and Sarah anywhere near her. Luna wanted Blair nowhere near Al, too. This not fit to raise a child attack goes back years before Tea entered.

TPTB hope fans will blame Blair's female adversary versus turn and attack them for viewing her as such a perpetual loser.

Blair's eternal victimhood at the hands of multiple psychos is TPTB reinforcing she's a pathetic, gullible loser. And lest not forget Tea's been thrown under the stupidity bus along with her. Kelly is the only female coming out smelling like the smart cookie to sniff out evil Eli.

Anyhoo, being a pathetic loser is how TPTB view Blair and they refuse to allow her any real character growth. Just like Viki is always the sainted heroine and victim of Dorian's schemes. Just as it's canon Todd's happiness is always fleeting.

TPTB refusing to let these characters break these canons is a major problem with ALL ABC soaps. Fans never see any sea change at all.