Days: January 2021 Discussion Thread

[Faulkner]

LOL no. You are so waiting for some bro-cest, aren’t you?  

Edited January 29, 2021 by Faulkner

[Soapsuds]

@Faulkner I like Adams but his acting is just average. I still recall his horrible acting during the Kayla storyline that's why I posted his shirtless pic when you said he was good. He's not good with dramatic scenes. But at least he's not a diva like others on the show.

[Faulkner]

I thought he really committed today, which was a welcome change for him. I usually don’t think much of him. He’s been very “deer in the headlights” for most of this rape story.

[AbcNbc247]

I think Lucas Adams has definitely improved as an actor since he first started on the show. He does do better in some scenes than in others, and today proved that. He and Mike Manning do bring out the best in each other though. Their last scene together was pretty good as well.

[Antoyne]

I had to fast forward through Ben and notClaire. I just couldn't sit through it.

 

Nicole and Rafe was nice. I've always enjoyed them as friends and I'm glad the show has remembered it.

 

Charlie and Tripp wasn't bad either.

 

I realized today that Allie is blood related to both Shawn and Belle, with Belle being her aunt and Shawn being her cousin. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Antoyne

[te.]

 

Watching this week now and I agree. I don't mind the concept of Marlena as a psychiatrist trying to talk Kristen down from one of her stupid impulses, or for that matter begrudingly accepting Brady and Kristen getting married due to not wanting to jeopardise her relationship with her stepson, but actual comforting friend? Hell to the no. Marlena should always be wary of Kristen and there should be an awkwardness there.

 

Ooof. I wouldn't mind some of the basicness of this.

 

(I like how DAYS' threads inevitably turn into thirst traps)

Edited January 30, 2021 by te.

[carolineg]

Honestly, that's on DH too.  She doesn't play it like Marlena is wary with Kristen at all.  She did at first with SH, but hasn't lately.  I don't really understand why Ron would throw away one of Kristen's most important relationships/rivalries to make them friends.  And Kristen really doesn't seem like the type of person to just drop her LIFELONG hatred of Marlena just because she loves stupid Brady.  Kristen has just lost everything that made her special.  It's not all SH's fault, it's mostly the writing, but she just seems really miscast as Kristen now.

[te.]

Honestly, I think it's also down the break-neck speed at which the show is produced - it doesn't really give the actors room to act out more than the script they're given since they're given no time to prep or even think about what they're acting out. Look at Marci Miller - she's suddenly well-recieved because Abby is finally written with some spunk, but again in the past she acted out what was on the page. It's not as if she suddenly turned into a better actress, she's just finally written better and is able to act that out. It's the same thing for Stacy Haiduk - she's not a bad actress, but with little direction she has no real choice but to take the scripts as they are and act them out.

 

The production really just gives them extreme restrictions on what they are able to do.

Edited January 30, 2021 by te.

[Vee]

It's partly the speed, I'm sure, but Ron also loves to do these kind of scenes or stories where unlikely or oppositional pairings come together in a time of crisis and outright embrace and sometimes become BFFs. He did it with Téa and Blair on OLTL during the former's fake cancer storyline, and given their history it only really worked there and on the online show because the actresses are close IRL and had such great chemistry playing off each other. But when on GH, he had Robin Mattson's psychotic Heather Webber being played for pathos by confiding in and hugging little Rafe Kovich Jr. who she barely knew? Or various incidents with Franco or Obrecht or whoever else? Come on. And it's always to service one specific character he loves and not the other.

 

I think Haiduk is a brilliant actress - I'll never forget her cameo in HBO's Sharp Objects with Amy Adams, where she was unrecognizable and spellbinding in a very brief scene. If anyone could pick up from Eileen it's her. But reforming Kristen to this point, which it seems is what Ron wants to do, puts any recast at a severe disadvantage because it's making Kristen unrecognizable.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Vee

[Forever8]

I remember Ron attempting to have Sam and Carly on GH trying to be "Frenemies" during his tenure too. 

[carolineg]

 

 

Yeah, I definitely see the point about the speed.  And I definitely don't think SH is a bad actress I just don't think she 'gets' Kristen in the way she seem to 'get' Susan.  ED would have played those scenes so differently.  Kristen seems so pathetic right now and I never found ED's Kristen pathetic even when she was doing pathetic things.

I also think MM has actually improved as an actress.  She is definitely putting more energy into her scenes.  The writing is better, but she was very lifeless before.

I actually don't mind Kristen/Marlena coming together in a time of crisis per se.  My problem is that it basically came out of the blue-one day they hated each other, the next Kristen and Marlena made up on Mother's Day.  There was no evolution of how it came about.  Just a handful of scenes of them being nicer to one another.  It progressed too quickly and now they are too close.  Even John seems much more wary of Kristen and he would be the one I would think would give her more of a chance.  But again, Marlena was someone who was taking care of Stefano after he lost his memory like an idiot, so maybe she is just the most forgiving person on the planet.  It just seems so dumb that Ron brings in all these short term villains to bust up Jarlena and they don't use the one they have on canvas that would make sense.  More so than Stevano, Gina, or Diana Coleville.

[te.]

I mean, as always, the overall plotting wasn't great, but this is pretty much how Kristen and Marlena should be played:

 

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I just can't imagine SH delivering that "sweetie, honey" line in the way ED does.

[koos]

Haiduk is good on prime time, but on soaps she seems to only play desperate and unhinged with a hint of weakness. I actually don't mind her Kristen unless she's waving a gun around or having an anxiety attack.

[YRBB]

 

LOL! But let's not oversimplify it. Marlena's motivation was more her extreme guilt at causing Stefano's amnesia/paralysis than forgiving him and she was very wary about what she was doing. Not to mention, she was actually correct about him (until he regained his memory, that is). I thought her atoning was a great story.

 

 

Absolutely. ED is too idiosyncratic, unique of an actress to really make it fair to anyone replacing her lol 

[carolineg]

Lol!  I know there was more to the Stefano stuff but I always thought it was extreme.  She can feel guilty but maybe not invite your former psycho stalker into your home?  It actually increased his obsession in the end but I liked it too. I wont complain too much.  It was just very nice and forgiving of her since Stefano basically caused 90% of her life problems lol. So I guess she can forgive kristen.