I think in a just world Jax and Brenda would've stayed together. But Guza ruined it a long time ago, almost twenty years ago now, so at this point I turn the page. I also think VM's last stint, for all its huge problems, made (in its final months, anyway) trying to evolve her youthful affair with Sonny into something approaching middle age and other responsibilities a very interesting focus. I think there are plenty of ways Jax could fit into that drama with Brenda as a spoiler or potential other option, if Ingo hadn't become very difficult for me to watch onscreen. I reserve the right to change my mind, lol.

8 minutes ago, carolineg said:

 I don't understand the mumbling and stuttering.  He was perfectly capable of delivering lines in the 90's. 

The same thing happened to Eric Braeden over at Y&R. When did they decide that articulating was a superfluous skill as an actor and that mumbling was apparently the best way to convey dominance? I don't get it.

 

22 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I love LW, but she has long left the station as Carly the scrappy upstart, she is a soccer mom. 

I think this is unfair to blame on LW herself. The *character* has changed but it would be the same with any other actress. I understand the nostalgia for early Carly but subsequent roles has proven SB does not have magical powers if the writing isn't there. She would be playing soccer mom too. ATWT Julia was tedious like that.

I think LW has always had a lot of grit, ever since Loving. The choice to make her Carly a soccer mom and hotelier and local town troublemaker was a choice made by Guza and co. LW plays it to the hilt, but I also think it is frankly a natural and logical evolution of Carly - she used to be white trash and now she is rich and a mob wife with multiple kids. This is what she did with it, but she's still tough as nails deep down. I don't think there's anything wrong with how she plays the role, or even in how the character has changed because the upward, corrupt trajectory makes sense for her; I think the day to day writing is often the problem. That doesn't mean I wouldn't still cut her loose and bring back Sarah Brown. Laura is great, but Sarah was a force of nature and no one has ever touched what she did. Ever. And she could still play this same stuff Laura did, but you could do new things with it or take her to different places. It's as simple as that for me.

10 minutes ago, Vee said:

I think in a just world Jax and Brenda would've stayed together. But Guza ruined it a long time ago, almost twenty years ago now, so at this point I turn the page. I also think VM's last stint, for all its huge problems, made (in its final months, anyway) trying to evolve her youthful affair with Sonny into something approaching middle age and other responsibilities a very interesting focus. I think there are plenty of ways Jax could fit into that drama with Brenda as a spoiler or potential other option, if Ingo hadn't become very difficult for me to watch onscreen. I reserve the right to change my mind, lol.

IR as a person is just problematic.  I try not to focus on it.  I think there is a lot to say about Brenda truly realizing she loves Sonny, but doesn't like him at all.  That was probably her best scene in her entire return.  First love is so tricky, and while I think Sonny/Brenda are endgame it was very realistic.  They had moved so far apart.  The love was there but it was too much time.

Jax/Brenda have always just clicked in such a more real fashion.  Jax tends to not have the same baggage as Sonny in regards to exes and kids because most of his pairings were super disposable so I am okay with Brax.  I truly believe if Brenda needed help or was in trouble Jax would be on it.  Sonny would probably talk it over with Carly before making any action.  Or send Jason 🤣

If Ingo/Jax left tomorrow, I don't think anyone would bat an eye if he said he was going to Rome to work it out with B.

8 minutes ago, FrenchBug82 said:

The same thing happened to Eric Braeden over at Y&R. When did they decide that articulating was a superfluous skill as an actor and that mumbling was apparently the best way to convey dominance? I don't get it.

 

I think this is unfair to blame on LW herself. The *character* has changed but it would be the same with any other actress. I understand the nostalgia for early Carly but subsequent roles has proven SB does not have magical powers if the writing isn't there. She would be playing soccer mom too. ATWT Julia was tedious like that.

I kinda blame LW herself.  That's how she plays it.

I don't think SJB is the be all and end all.  She failed a lot in other roles.  But she was Carly and she was great at that.  I prefer TB as Carly, but I would never argue SJB is the best Carly

LW just made Carly into something completely different.  She's great and gives it her all but she is almost playing a different character. 

Edited July 16, 20214 yr by carolineg

Over half of daytime is quietly right wing, lol. I usually ignore it. I was willing to shrug off Ingo's politics until he got hardcore Trump online and outright obnoxious, so now I feel differently. But yes, I suppose you could still use him. The drama is inherent with Brenda (and Carly) even if she is happily married to a reformed Sonny.

2 minutes ago, Vee said:

Over half of daytime is quietly right wing, lol. I usually ignore it. I was willing to shrug off Ingo's politics until he got hardcore Trump online and outright obnoxious, so now I feel differently. But yes, I suppose you could still use him. The drama is inherent with Brenda (and Carly) even if she is happily married to a reformed Sonny.

To me, Brenda would be the only reason he is viable.  On the current canvas, he really isn't.  Except for being Joss's dad, but Sonny can take that role.  Ingo is another person who rode a career on Vanessa's coattails for better or worse.  Sure, Jax is fine but would he be anywhere without having great chemistry with Brenda?  He basically extended his stay by having good chem with Laura Wright. lol  Jax isn't that amazing of a character, but he used to be the white knight you wish you could meet.

I think you could easily keep Jax around as a business and romantic rival to bounce off both Brenda and Carly and their respective love interests or other tycoons around town - I think you could also still work with the same romantic history with Jax and Carly, even with Sarah around, now. I would never have said that 20 years ago with either her or Tamara because I think when they played the role Carly was fundamentally different and it was alien to the character and nauseating for me to imagine her with Jax, but Carly has evolved a lot since then, LW and Ingo were great together and enough time has passed. And Sarah has also matured and is able to play both upscale and downscale sides of the character IMO, her time as Claudia I think proved that despite that run's unfortunate material. But I would probably only bring him in and out for short runs to do mover and shaker intrigue from time to time.

Edited July 16, 20214 yr by Vee

10 minutes ago, Vee said:

I think you could easily keep Jax around as a business and romantic rival to bounce off both Brenda and Carly and their respective love interests or other tycoons around town - I think you could also still work with the same romantic history with Jax and Carly, even with Sarah around, now. I would never have said that 20 years ago with either her or Tamara because I think when they played the role Carly was fundamentally different and it was alien to the character and nauseating for me to imagine her with Jax, but Carly has evolved a lot since then, LW and Ingo were great together and enough time has passed. And Sarah has also matured and is able to play both upscale and downscale sides of the character IMO, her time as Claudia I think proved that despite that run's unfortunate material. But I would probably only bring him in and out for short runs to do mover and shaker intrigue from time to time.

 

I thought TB and IR had chemistry.  I think he'd play off well with any Carly.   He wasn't really given a chance.

LW and IR really do sparkle and it is believable.  She just always has the Sonny albatross around her neck and it's not in Brenda way where Sonny was her first love.  It's just like fatha of my kids way.

The only reason I think Brenda/Jax are still viable is because they never fully worked things out.  Although I think the show alluded they were together when Jax returned?  

Anyway, Brax in 2003: You're a whore, Brenda.  Brax 2010: We are besties.  There was no on screen progression to this and it didn't seem like they worked it out.  It just seemed like Brenda/Jax just got over it?

The scene in 2013 where he finds out Brenda went to talk to Sonny and confronted her and told her she was so badly damaged he couldn't ever fix her was amazing.  I wish I could find it on you tube because he read her and it was brutal lol.

Edited July 16, 20214 yr by carolineg

I thought it was established that Jax and Brenda had been crossing paths a lot in Europe in the years since 2003, but I may be wrong on that.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

I thought it was established that Jax and Brenda had been crossing paths a lot in Europe in the years since 2003, but I may be wrong on that.

No.  Brenda said they exchanged notes and emails but hadn't seen each other.  Jax went to Europe/Rome a couple of times to see her, but they didn't cross paths.  It was an exposition in Brenda's time in Rome in 2010 so don't worry if you missed it.  She said she got Joss's birth announcement in the mail..  Which tacky.  But my ex just sent me his daughters birth announcement so I guess that's an appropriate thing lol🤣

But it was established Brenda/Jax had not seen each other since 2003.  The only GH character she 'saw' was Robin off screen in Africa.  Where they just randomly ran into each other.  Like they fell out of touch for several years.  WHICH WOULD NEVER HAPPEN, but fine GH.  I also think it was implied she may have vaguely talked to Jason.

I am pretty sure Brenda still owes Jason the 3 million he gave her in 2003, but not sure🤣

There were SO many character threads dropped for Brenda in 2010, but I always felt Jax was the worst.  There were a few comments about betrayal but the crux of the situation was never dealt with.  I felt there were a lot of look how much chemistry we have, aren't we adorable scenes, but the meat of their development was never dealt with.   I actually thought Ingo brought in spades but Vanessa seemed bored.  IR would light up when they shared scenes.

Edited July 16, 20214 yr by carolineg

12 hours ago, Vee said:

It's not complicated. Use her to finally topple the mob. Sonny gets pushed out of the business, brought low by some foe, humbled and in doing so reunites with Brenda and chooses her. Maurice becomes a 1-2 day a week player (all he can handle now) as Sonny moves into white-collar intrigue and the scheming elder role Guza (and early on, Carlivati) had begun moving him into in the late 2000s-2010. Brenda and Lucy take the reins of Deception, Sonny's cleaner money backstops some of it while getting up to other skullduggery, and you're good. Brenda (and her now teenaged son) would be the primary star in the couple, not Sonny. When one is off the other picks up the slack. The drama of their blended children and very different worlds writes itself, too.

While we're deep in fantasy camp I'd also indiscriminately rehire Sarah Brown and Sean Kanan as Carly and A.J. to do the Alan/Monica thing going forward, since they are apparently already playing opposite each other again on some webseries on Amazon. I love Laura Wright, but if you give me a choice I would not hesitate. (I would also kill one of Sonny and Carly's many extraneous children - I can't believe they had yet another)

 

YES PLEASE!

12 hours ago, FrenchBug82 said:

The same thing happened to Eric Braeden over at Y&R. When did they decide that articulating was a superfluous skill as an actor and that mumbling was apparently the best way to convey dominance? I don't get it.

 

I think this is unfair to blame on LW herself. The *character* has changed but it would be the same with any other actress. I understand the nostalgia for early Carly but subsequent roles has proven SB does not have magical powers if the writing isn't there. She would be playing soccer mom too. ATWT Julia was tedious like that.

It's so weird MB devolved into that.  He was so good in the 90's.  I am not sure if someone told him stuttering and mumbling was the way to go or if he actively tries not to memorize his lines now.   Somedays in 2010 I had to turn up the volume on my tv because VM and MB were whispering to one another.  Like can you guys just enunciate your words clearly?  He hasn't been as bad as Mike lately, but it's a definite issue.

On 7/16/2021 at 12:11 PM, carolineg said:

It's so weird MB devolved into that.  He was so good in the 90's.  I am not sure if someone told him stuttering and mumbling was the way to go or if he actively tries not to memorize his lines now.   Somedays in 2010 I had to turn up the volume on my tv because VM and MB were whispering to one another.  Like can you guys just enunciate your words clearly?  He hasn't been as bad as Mike lately, but it's a definite issue.

That's the major reason why I had to stop watching Sonny. That and his constant attacks on glassware. 😉😂

14 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

That's the major reason why I had to stop watching Sonny. That and his constant attacks on glassware. 😉😂

The use of "whore" as a term for women he was sleeping with threw me off.  Honestly, it's so noticeable when you go back and watch old clips.  I didn't think MB was that bad until I realized how badly he's changed his acting style.  It makes it worse when you know he's capable of good work.

1 minute ago, carolineg said:

I didn't think MB was that bad until I realized how badly he's changed his acting style.  It makes it worse when you know he's capable of good work.

Yes, the same thing happened to Tony Geary.