Mysteriously dropped Storylines

[amybrickwallace]

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[Forever8]

Did you like the story when Brenda went broke? 

[amybrickwallace]

I don't remember that story. What year was that?

[carolineg]

Brenda would consistently called it "My Mother's Disease".  People on the internet at the time shortened it to MMD.   Even in 2002 that poor disease had no name.  

 

I sorta forgot it happened.  A lot of 1998 is spent on Brenda getting Jax back and sometimes it was not very exciting. It seemed like a lot to pile on the poor girl at the time, but it was just a silly plot point.   I didn't really take it that seriously because she had multiple people that would easily bail her out like the Q's, Ned, and Jax.  I liked Brenda trying to figure it out for herself and making her own decisions, but that's about it.  

I thought it was cute when her and Robin went to NYC to try to get Brenda a modeling job. It was nice the show acknowledged her mental breakdown in public had consequences and she had to do those car commercials as a genie lol. 

Also, I forgot about Brenda's fear of flying.  I guess she got over that?   Lol.

All in all, 1998 is just not my favorite Brenda year.  The Jax/Brenda stuff was good once it got going, but the entire year just seemed like a waste of Vanessa extending her contract.   Her best stuff was when MB briefly came back and they had scenes. 

1997-1998 after Sonny left her.  She lost her modeling job after the breakdown and a shady business manager took her money I believe?  It was something like that.  So she had to go out and find a job and she also restarted L&B.  She ended up modeling for Genie Motors in a genie outfit but then it was successful and she booked more jobs and she had money again by the time she 'died'

Edited July 17, 2021 by carolineg

[amybrickwallace]

Wow, and I was watching every day in 1997-98. I do remember that she moved into the cottage around that time - is it because her financial situation dictated that? 

[carolineg]

It has been so long and this is mostly from memory, but she bought the cottage on her own I think?  Her financial trouble came after.   I remember the scene where she found out she had lost her money occurred in the cottage and I feel like she bought the place a few months before her breakdown.  I think Robin becoming her roommate might have been partly financial though.  Brenda was acting erratic after Sonny left her, but her breakdown happened in Dec.1997 and she was pretty much fine by early Feb 1998.   She found out she was broke in Jan. 1998 I think.  I am 99% sure most of Jax/Brenda from 1998 is still on you tube.

[Forever8]

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[amybrickwallace]

GH sure got a lot of mileage out of that cottage set. After Brenda went off that bridge in 1998, I think Robin lived there alone for awhile. When she left, Nikolas took it over. I think someone else moved in there at some point.

[carolineg]

Ha ha! But it became their most successful ad of all time because duh Brenda!  Brenda's modeling career is always funny to me.  I know they went out of their way to say she was a cosmetic model only in the beginning, but her becoming the face of Cartullo?  She's 5'2 lol.  She's certainly gorgeous enough, but I am not sure it was a lifetime career and one she repeatedly says she hates, but has continued to do it for approximately 25 years.  

Robin lived there.  Then Nik, then Nik/Gia.  I can't remember who else lived there, but I know you are right.  Zander?  Anyway, they used it again in 2002-2003.  As of now, I believe Skye owns it.

ETA-Soapcentral's bio of Zander tells me it was him living in the cottage with Emily.

Edited July 17, 2021 by carolineg

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks! I actually loved that cottage set.

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[carolineg]

It was an adorable set.  They should bring it back for someone like TJ/Molly or Kristina. Or even Sasha or Brook.  I am still pissed Willow got the gatehouse.  That's rightfully Brooklyn's lol. 

[Soaplovers]

What I don't understand is why the show introduced Brenda's mom shortly before her year long extension was ending?  Was it to usher her off the show?

If so, big mistake because it was an interesting story and it helped show the audience who she was.  

 

[carolineg]

I believe it was solely to usher her off the show.  I think the show had hope Vanessa would at the last minute re-sign so it could have gone either way.  It could have been an interesting story, but I disliked it.  First, I think Veronica was miscast.  Jennifer Hetrick was fine and vaguely looked like Vanessa, but I wish they would have went with someone Hispanic to at least explain Brenda's ethnic looks.  Second, I didn't love the idea of bringing Brenda's mom back at all.  So much of the Brenda character was her growing up without a mom and being unloved.  And all of a sudden she's back and has a genetic illness?   I probably honestly would have had Brenda go out "fake dying" in violence directed toward Sonny/Jason.  The show still played that beat strongly with Sonny leaving her and her ending up dead anyway, but I think it would have been much more poignant if Sonny leaving her didn't help at all.   And it would have made more sense in 2002 why she stayed away if there was a mob threat.  Her leaving because she was "sick" didn't feel right.  Jax would have done anything for her and it was also really crappy on her part to do that to him.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, I think Brenda's mom came on only a month or so before VM left in 1998. It was revealed when VM returned in 2002 that Brenda did not have the disease her mother had.

[carolineg]

But it was a shady for awhile lol.  Jax burned the test results so I think Skye found out first that she wasn't sick and it dragged on.  It just wasn't my favorite story at all.