23 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Since most of my re-watching is through Sonny/Brenda edits Luke just seems to have so much more to do.  I would have to really watch Luke/Laura edits to judge again.  I have a hard time remembering what Laura did before Nik arrived besides the Ward House/Damian Smith murder.

There is some great stuff to explore. Her seeing the house for the first time and them hiding out there was great. I hate what Guza did to that house.

She also has a great scene with Frank Smith that I remember fondly.

Most of what Laura did was establish a community. She and the Wards go against the incinerator project the Q family is backing that would impact her neighborhood. Her friendship with Tony. But mostly it was worrying about Luke/Lucky and violence.

They also wrote a lot of just day to day stuff for her, and fun family stuff between her and Luke and Lucky until the danger overtakes everything. That peaks both with her going into emergency labor with Lulu after Frank’s goons shove her down the stairs, and then the shootout in her house. After that she kicks Luke out and they just hover there for months. I get it though, I mean her son was shot the year before. Frank’s dead and yet here they are shooting up her house.

Luke was way more in the mix. He had his club stuff with Sonny’s crew and Lucy which made him more prominent, plus all the action stories and individual relationships with Stone, Robin, etc.

Edited August 6, 20241 yr by titan1978

49 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

There is some great stuff to explore. Her seeing the house for the first time and them hiding out there was great. I hate what Guza did to that house.

She also has a great scene with Frank Smith that I remember fondly.

Most of what Laura did was establish a community. She and the Wards go against the incinerator project the Q family is backing that would impact her neighborhood. Her friendship with Tony. But mostly it was worrying about Luke/Lucky and violence.

They also wrote a lot of just day to day stuff for her, and fun family stuff between her and Luke and Lucky until the danger overtakes everything. That peaks both with her going into emergency labor with Lulu after Frank’s goons shove her down the stairs, and then the shootout in her house. After that she kicks Luke out and they just hover there for months. I get it though, I mean her son was shot the year before. Frank’s dead and yet here they are shooting up her house.

Luke was way more in the mix. He had his club stuff with Sonny’s crew and Lucy which made him more prominent, plus all the action stories and individual relationships with Stone, Robin, etc.

Thank you for so many awesome suggestions.  I'll definitely take a look since I am sure most is available

On the bolded, do you think it was intentional to keep Luke "in" with the younger crowd and Laura mostly in a more mature role interacting with the slightly "older" crowd?  Even down to her styling being a bit "older" considering Genie was still quite young?   

I am not thinking Laura should be grabbing drinks with Brenda, but I think Laura/Lois or Laura/Lucy could have had more solid friendships.  It seems like an effort was made to mature Laura, but keep Luke "hip". 

4 hours ago, carolineg said:

On the bolded, do you think it was intentional to keep Luke "in" with the younger crowd and Laura mostly in a more mature role interacting with the slightly "older" crowd?  Even down to her styling being a bit "older" considering Genie was still quite young?   

I think that putting Sonny in Luke’s orbit to keep him on the show had more to do with it than anything about Laura. They were forced to work together by Frank Smith, and with that came Stone. Luke had a real relationship with Robert, and that was the deeper connection with Robin. Once they build Luke’s, it kind of cements him in with the characters that are more likely to go out all the time. The Outback was brightly lit and more of a restaurant. Luke’s was the kind of place where illegal poker games were happening, and Stone worked there. It was a cool place to be.

Labine’s Laura was almost too good. For all the complexity in their writing, the issues of of angel Laura and hero Luke become cliches. She was his angel, and he was her hero. But they were not actually those things at their core for everybody. That got lost somewhere in middle point of their return.

In the first year or so Laura was still fiery, she could be volatile. When Lucky is shot she attacks Luke, verbally and physically, in a way that would not fly today, just like pairing them up wouldn't fly today due to the SA. But Labine’s Laura also was not as broken as Guza’s was. Even if that is based in her history, it easily veered into basket case and that wasn’t what Labine would do at all.

She was styled very much older than her age. I thought she had some heat with Sonny back then, and she was more his age than Brenda was, but that would never seem that way onscreen.

Someone in wardrobe definitely hated Genie in the 90’s. Her weight issues also gave them an excuse to dress her beyond matronly.

19 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

I think that putting Sonny in Luke’s orbit to keep him on the show had more to do with it than anything about Laura. They were forced to work together by Frank Smith, and with that came Stone. Luke had a real relationship with Robert, and that was the deeper connection with Robin. Once they build Luke’s, it kind of cements him in with the characters that are more likely to go out all the time. The Outback was brightly lit and more of a restaurant. Luke’s was the kind of place where illegal poker games were happening, and Stone worked there. It was a cool place to be.

Labine’s Laura was almost too good. For all the complexity in their writing, the issues of of angel Laura and hero Luke become cliches. She was his angel, and he was her hero. But they were not actually those things at their core for everybody. That got lost somewhere in middle point of their return.

In the first year or so Laura was still fiery, she could be volatile. When Lucky is shot she attacks Luke, verbally and physically, in a way that would not fly today, just like pairing them up wouldn't fly today due to the SA. But Labine’s Laura also was not as broken as Guza’s was. Even if that is based in her history, it easily veered into basket case and that wasn’t what Labine would do at all.

She was styled very much older than her age. I thought she had some heat with Sonny back then, and she was more his age than Brenda was, but that would never seem that way onscreen.

I always thought Luke was moved in to help redeem Sonny along with Brenda obviously.  Luke's was cool and to me it just made Laura seem so much more of a homebody because she was barely there.  

Laura on her return just felt like she outgrew Luke.  They still loved one another, but just weren't that compatible anymore.  

I don't know if I ever thought Laura/Sonny had chemistry.   I was so lost in a Brenda/Sonny haze I probably could not comprehend such a thing.  Lol.  They always worked off one another well though.  She could be very fiery with him when pissed off.

Laura was always styled old.  It's hard to believe she was only in her early? 30's at the time.  I know she gained weight like @BetterForgotten said, but I also think Genie preferred that style of wardrobe.  The flowy, earth mother style was popular in the mid 90's, but most of the other cast members (even Bobbie, Lucy, Felicia, etc) went with tighter fitting options.  I also think there is something more wholesomely, naturally beautiful about Genie Francis/Laura that didn't exactly fit in the sexier 90's if that makes sense. 

Yeah Luke had this weird pilgrim look and Laura was styled like a matronly wife.

Speaking of Luke, at 2:24:07 during the train crash story Luke makes this odd remark that he never wanted to be a father, and that it was Laura's idea. He says was only a sperm donor. He adds that Leslie is handling raising LuLu, and Lucky is married so Luke's fathering days are over. He comes off completely disinterested as a father to Lulu in the following scenes, only to be worried upon hearing Lucky is on the train. Even Skye had to correct him.

This was a far cry from the proud dad Luke that we got in the '90s. The determination of (I'm guessing Tony Geary) to strip the character down into a nihilistic but comical con man was pathetic.

https://youtu.be/QDleI27VkP4?si=LB0deEEca3pspQZX

Edited August 8, 20241 yr by Planet Soap

7 hours ago, Planet Soap said:

Yeah Luke had this weird pilgrim look and Laura was styled like a matronly wife.

Speaking of Luke, at 2:24:07 during the train crash story Luke makes this odd remark that he never wanted to be a father, and that it was Laura's idea. He says was only a sperm donor. He adds that Leslie is handling raising LuLu, and Lucky is married so Luke's fathering days are over. He comes off completely disinterested as a father to Lulu in the following scenes, only to be worried upon hearing Lucky is on the train. Even Skye had to correct him.

This was a far cry from the proud dad Luke that we got in the '90s. The determination of (I'm guessing Tony Geary) to strip the character down into a nihilistic but comical con man was pathetic.

https://youtu.be/QDleI27VkP4?si=LB0deEEca3pspQZX

I hate that characterization. And Genie wasn’t there to push back, to ask why would Laura accept that? Part of the push and pull of their connection onscreen and off was he had a partner that also protected her character and grounded him. Left fully to his own devices and this is what we got.

At the moment, it was easy to buy stuff like that as how broken he had become after what happened to Laura. The problem was he latched onto it as a truth from the beginning instead of an excuse for how he was behaving without her and because of the guilt he felt for his part in her breakdown.

Hell, Helena was dressed sexier than Laura ever was in the 90’s!

Very older looking

Geary dressed better as Bill Eckhart

Edited August 9, 20241 yr by Planet Soap

1 minute ago, Planet Soap said:

Very older looking

A piece of Tony Geary’s soul dies every time he’s confronted with this iteration of Luke. 

I think the late 90s (image from 1998) was Luke's best look. Shaved rather than shaggy head. 

Edited August 9, 20241 yr by Planet Soap

That earring! Instant turn off.

It's a little too midlife crisis for my taste.

Back then, the only time I felt Laura was well dressed and styled was right around Lucky’s dead storyline. She had flattering bangs, her character was with Stefan and she was dressing up more. You know the show felt so too because right around this time she all of a sudden had a new round of photos taken that ended up in soap mags for months.

5 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

That earring! Instant turn off.

Reminds me of Mr. Clean