I feel like the show is finally becoming everything I knew/hoped it would eventually be in those slump episodes at the end of May. So of course, we're getting a hiatus. But its good that it seems like its going to be a big finale. This all feels finale-esque- its odd since it wasn't the plan.

51

-- I really like Marnie S and of course David and Dorian separately and together but I'm over the reality show. There is too much stuff I care about & too many important beats we could be playing that the scenes now just annoy me. Dorian doing multiple takes/emotions on her lines was amusing. In a 4 day continuous model, great but not now.

--Love Michelle trying to mess with Dani & Tea's girl just not having it. The past 2 weeks were significantly less heavy on KM than we'd been getting- that's fine for balance but personally I missed her.

--Enjoyed Blair & Tea much more than I have in awhile now that they're not in Todd's hotel room plotting...I'm still not even sure what the plan was. Loved them as enemies but the relationship is past that now so I'll take whatever snark I can get.

--Not here for Bo & Nora agreeing that Matthew he was mean to Michelle. If she hadn't shoved herself front and center announcing she was the girlfriend when Nora was comforting Destiny, he wouldn't have bounced her.

--Enjoyed Clint's reaction to Matthew's where else would I be but here with Drew. Also enjoyed that Matthew is Buchanan enough to actually be offended by it but then also sort of apologized for handing him over to ultimately be arrested by Bo. Clint's the only one whose really tough on him & yet totally has his love & respect- its a good dynamic. Loved Nora shoving Bo out the door to avoid a scene.

--The Drew health scare on the whole could have packed a little more punch though. The long Matthew/Destiny hug with the other two on the outside looking in was good but they should have had a brief convo at the hospital instead of 3 for him & Michelle. Or if the goal is to show Matthew really cares, give us a cute little scene with him & Drew. I get not using child actors a ton & getting that chatty adorable little boy to play sick is probably hard but they needed something short & sweet here where we saw Drew. Instead, it felt really Michelle focused & while showing her crazy made sense, a little bit more in other beats would have went a long way on this.

--I'm obsessed with the Jeffrey twist but I'm not sure how excited I am if we're going to be doing a lot of feet close-ups.

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--I'm too upset by what they did to gorgeous Kelley Missal's hair here to comment rationally but I will try.

--Are they trying to make Nikki Kim? I like Jwoww in her small bits but she is not Kim. Or someone I want to have any sort of real story outside Shelter.

--I loved Carl-yes he's already mustache twirling but I don't care. We needed a villain- a real one, not someone we love who is occasionally bad like Clint or Dorian & Carl is working for me. I'm not even sure how I feel about Ron Raines because I'm just so full of questions! Clint was getting too close to the organization? How? Why? The Victor stuff was all obvious but I'm completely thrown by the Buchanan tie-in. Is Allison his sister or cult type sister? Does this tie back to Mitch or is someone else involved here?

--Jeffrey's way more involved than I thought and I'm happy about it. Really thought the show would backtrack and have him in the dark on a lot of it but he is here scheming in front of our eyes and it was wonderful. Obviously he cares about Viki & the Destiny thing will get more serious and that will play in but yay for him pulling stuff right under everyone's nose-- not that it seems very hard to pull the wool over on Matthew who wandered away from the locked door puzzled & then left Clint to drink alone. The boarding school plant idea works well if I don't think about time & specifics too much & I'm fine with that here.

--I wanted to care about Cutter/Natalie. I still don't really yet though.

--Loved Viki turning Clint's be a Buchanan speeches around on him. Loved how they softened to each other in the final scene.

--Dead over David shoving Blair and then dismissing the unimportant people to introduce Pa & Stepnora.

--Who cares about the matching dresses? Destiny looks 100x better than both of them. I liked how she looked amused by it- or maybe I just wanted her to be amused & was projecting that. She looked so great I don't even care that no mother would leave her recently discharged from the hospital with a first time seizure three year old alone for a night. Liked Michelle positioning herself between Matthew & Dani during the Carl intro & then immediately shifting over to be in between Matthew & Destiny like she can't decide which girl she should be more concerned with.

--I have loved every single hair/outfit/makeup they have done Natalie this season so I was sad to just not love this so much. Tea looked amazing.

Previews- the only thing that will make taking time away from the gala for Jack/Kate okay is a tattoo revelation in that sex scene. I better see one. I'm completely unspoiled but hopeful.

That would be something and it would connect to those list of names but I would think Jack would've noticed a tattoo but it could be in a strange place.

That would be something and it would connect to those list of names but I would think Jack would've noticed a tattoo but it could be in a strange place.

Well its Jack, I can buy that he maybe saw it and didn't give it very much thought. Or fine no tattoo but she has like one of the notecards- I don't know, I just think tie it in somehow.

Well its Jack, I can buy that he maybe saw it and didn't give it very much thought. Or fine no tattoo but she has like one of the notecards- I don't know, I just think tie it in somehow.

I don't think he's seen the tattoo on Victor, or has he, but I do agree they should tie it in somehow..

Speaking of Michelle, many people online want her to be Allison's daughter

I don't think he's seen the tattoo on Victor, or has he, but I do agree they should tie it in somehow..

Speaking of Michelle, many people online want her to be Allison's daughter

I don't remember Jack seeing Victor's tattoo.

I wouldn't be totally shocked if she's tied in somehow-- it could harken back to Jeffrey being the one who was originally talking to her online & then really pushed Matthew to find her when Matthew was briefly over it after he drove to Canada (although at the same time he's seemed almost genuinely leery of her). And she has a certain kooky look that would work for Allison's daughter. But I've also been really buying her Matthew obsession as just a psycho stalker girl thing. The other way I could see it going is if in lurking around for info on/to make trouble for Dani/Destiny or at the Palace, she stumbles into some of Jeffrey's dark secret. But by the time that happens, she & Matthew are done because she's either gone too far with something with Drew or been caught in a bunch more lies and no one believes her/she gets killed. I don't know with her- it could go either way on her being connected.

Edited August 13, 201312 yr by greens_dupres

I don't remember Jack seeing Victor's tattoo.

I wouldn't be totally shocked if she's tied in somehow-- it could harken back to Jeffrey being the one who was originally talking to her online & then really pushed Matthew to find her when Matthew was briefly over it after he drove to Canada (although at the same time he's seemed almost genuinely leery of her). And she has a certain kooky look that would work for Allison's daughter. But I've also been really buying her Matthew obsession as just a psycho stalker girl thing. The other way I could see it going is if in lurking around for info on/to make trouble for Dani/Destiny or at the Palace, she stumbles into some of Jeffrey's dark secret. But by the time that happens, she & Matthew are done because she's either gone too far with something with Drew or been caught in a bunch more lies and no one believes her/she gets killed. I don't know with her- it could go either way on her being connected.

either way, i'm so excited for next week and this tweet pumps up my excitement

Jen Pepperman ‏@JenPepperman10 Aug

The new shows airing Monday are blockbuster! Can't wait for you all to see them!

1st Episode:

I looooved how much movement there was the entire duration of the show. The pacing reminded me of when the reboot first occurred.

Loved those Tea/Blair scenes. As much as I hated that there became a Todd AND a Victor, it really helps that Blair and Tea are no longer fighting over the same man.

Jefferey taking a dark turn is JUST what the character needed.

Biggest annoyance though was the crappy editing on the cussing. It was distracting and drew more attention to the edited out words imo.

Edited August 13, 201312 yr by Antoyne

Wait so Carl is so sure Victor won't be getting out again soon cause Allison has him this time. Umm, didn't she have him last time when he got out? *crickets*

Yeah, I do have a hard time fitting the Alison we know with all of this... She's always been shown as smart, but extremely unstable, and...

Still, I admit I liked the reveal, and am willing to see where it goes.

I did really enjoy the episodes. The censoring was beyond ridiculous--you can't say tits now? I wasn't even sure what one of the other words censored was. Why can't Tea say Son of a Bitch but right after they leave in Bitch? It's like they let a poor confused intern edit the swearing out for this and he simply had no idea what to censor and what not to.

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-- I really like Marnie S and of course David and Dorian separately and together but I'm over the reality show. There is too much stuff I care about & too many important beats we could be playing that the scenes now just annoy me. Dorian doing multiple takes/emotions on her lines was amusing. In a 4 day continuous model, great but not now.

--I'm obsessed with the Jeffrey twist but I'm not sure how excited I am if we're going to be doing a lot of feet close-ups. Also, I know a lot of people felt like all those Three's Company apartment character scenes early on were pointless or too much (I personally enjoyed for the most part)--- but I think having gotten a real sense of Jeffrey's dynamic with Matthew & Dani really adds to the impact of the reveal. We haven't just been told that they're friends, we really saw what looked like very real friendships on more than one occasion.

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--Jeffrey's way more involved than I thought and I'm happy about it. Really thought the show would backtrack after the big reveal and have him in the dark on a lot of it but he is here scheming (changing Clint's pills!) in front of our eyes and its awesome. Obviously he cares about Viki & the Destiny thing will get more serious and that will all play in but yay for him pulling stuff right under everyone's nose right now-- not that it seems very hard to pull the wool over on Matthew who wandered away from the locked door puzzled as though it were a confusing concept & then left Clint to drink alone. The boarding school plant idea works well if I don't think about time & specifics too much & I'm fine with that here.

I'm willing to be filled in on the details, but I admit right now the motivations don't make a lot of sense to me. Clint found out about this secret operation at some point? When, back when Matthew was in boarding school? He seems one of the characters on the show right now who could care the least about any of it. However, I still loved how the scenes played out and so am willing to have the details filled in (Hell, it already makes more sense than most of the big convulated explanations Ron used for his epic stories.)

I loved the "Three's Company" scenes and agree it set Jeffrey up well--most other soaps would have had a hard time not showing Jeffrey with ominous music doing sketchy things from the get go--but I agree, I don't need to see his foot again, lol. That kinda made me laugh out loud.

Yes, I enjoyed the David/Jo/Dorian stuff--but am also not at all interested in the reality show. It also seems weird to now have these people being filmed inadvertently saying things after, in the first few weeks, we saw David secretly filming family members--a story that seems to have gone nowhere (not that I care.) I guess it may have to do with SBH leaving as co-HW but OLTL does seem to have a few more dropped stories than AMC, where everything has, IIRC basically been played out from the start.

Overall the characters are interacting and tied together so much more than they were early on. It's a shame in a way that the show was on such a roll and then they took "a break".

Agreed. Especially since I guess we probably would have gotten four or so more episodes without that silly strike.

Oh and the Dean/Tea stuff was odd simply because... well she sorta made it look like he was her date outside Shelter.

I'm pretty sure they do have some poor intern scrambling to 'bleep' these episodes way after the fact. And yeah, it was really bad in the first show of the week. Ridiculous and unnecessary. Just let 'em curse next season and clean it up for TV.

The Blair and Téa and Cutter/Clint scenes were good, but way too brief. That all needed a lot more. Blair's exit and the lines the two of them tossed at each on her way out were perfect, but you could've filled an episode with just those two drinking and bitching for the whole of their segments. Same with whatever the deal is with Cutter and Clint.

And I've said it before, but they need a lot more Matthew and Destiny. I still prefer Dani as the endgame but both of them really come alive with each other, as opposed to with Michelle.

I wish the Tea/Blair scene had been longer as well. It seemed like they went from Blair forcing herself on Tea, them starting to commiserate together, and then we cut back and Tea was back in anger mode kicking Blair out (though I liked the ending with Tea shouting to Blair asking what she was going to wear.) I coulda used a scene inbetween with them sorta loosening up.

And I've said it before, but they need a lot more Matthew and Destiny. I still prefer Dani as the endgame but both of them really come alive with each other, as opposed to with Michelle.

I'm so glad you said this because it tells me I'm not just being borderline fangirl-ish in wanting more of them. They could have gotten serious mileage out of them waiting at the hospital- it practically writes itself. Michelle did not need to come back for any reason- he could have groveled later & she could have had an opportunity to make her jealous face at the gala if they talked about Drew. Oh well, there's definitely more opportunities to play them together next season.

I think the actors who portray Matthew and Destiny definitely have chemistry. I think it makes it interesting when you keep things a bit more uncertain and open with the younger set.

Vicki and Clint's scenes were just complex and good. They both appeared anguished and pleading with each other for completely different reasons. And the love is definitely there even though Vicki feels the need to demonstrate tough love at the moment while Clint would just as soon go back to the way things were when they were good.

While I don't feel that there was as much build to the Man of the Year gala, I do anticipate some fireworks. For some reason, though, I still feel like I'm savoring little moments in scenes rather than the overall episodes and I don't know whether it's a good thing or bad thing that I seem to instantly get wrapped up in the previews rather than reflecting on the episode that just happened.

Never knew I'd be so happy to see Ron Raines. I don't know where the heck this tattoo story is going (I've stayed away from spoilers, only watching previews and MORE) but I'm interested in where they will take me on this one.

I meant to mention this in another post but I keep forgetting:

The Hair and Makeup folks at these PP Soaps must be in line for some Emmy Nominations--they do a fabulous job!

It's so refreshing after seeing people, particularly, people of color styled either horribly or with indifference on shows like Y&R for years, to see how terrific everyone's hair and makeup looks now, it's nice that it's almost a non issue (except that I just made it one )

I've been noticing things like Audio and background music and I know some had complaints early on, particularly with OLTL as it regards Shelter but I haven't noticed anything lately, has anyone else? I mean except the post production editing of the curse words (which I hope they work out a compromise rather than pull back completely from expletives).

It looks like Carl Petersen might become an arch nemesis to Clint Buchanan (actually they are looking more like enemies at this point). Good move, because the sibling rivalry between Bo and Clint can only go so far, so it's good to insert a true nemesis into the mix at this point. And OLTL doesn't mess around--the character is already mixing things up with Dorian--they don't waste time on this show.

Anyone notice that its implied that Clint's irrational behavior is due to him being drugged. Im guessing that's their out to redeem him with Viki and everyone else as he gets worse. I wonder how long has his medication been messed with

Edited August 13, 201312 yr by Cheap21

Anyone notice that its implied that Clint's irrational behavior is due to him being drugged. Im guessing that's their out to redeem him with Viki and everyone else as he gets worse. I wonder how long has his medication been messed with

That'sbeen mentioned. I think it's *partly* implied but doesn't let him off the hook completely by any means--at least I hope not. To be honest, I'm kinda confused about that plot point--I think it makes sense and ties this all in to the story--but I could see Clint acting the way he is--with the booze, etc, regardless so I'm not sue adding this very cliché soapy twist adds much.