Y&R October 2021 Discussion Thread

[Taoboi]

Well...

 

 

Discuss...?

 

[Faulkner]

It’s absolutely ridiculous that, especially with Jack being so cognizant of his mortality post-Dina’s death, that he wouldn’t try to reach out to Keemo. It’s BS. 

[Liberty City]

We don't acknowledge Keemo.

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But we should.

[kalbir]

40 years ago this month, Victor saw Nikki climbing that pole and Genoa City would never be same. Bill Bell may not have intended for Victor and Nikki to be Y&R's supercouple but that's what they became.

Edited October 1, 2021 by kalbir

[Antoyne]

I remember Victor once called him out about Keemo subtly once a few years ago. I think I remember that. Didn’t mention him by name though.

[Forever8]

I wonder why?!

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[FrenchBug82]

The rumor generally accepted as having a grain of truth is that Bergman hated that story so much that he and therefore the power-that-be (who have no stake in this since they weren't there) find it easier to pretend it never happened (a bit like Bell regretted Malcolm/Dru cold medicine influenced (read: unconsented) sexual encounter and this wasn't addressed for decades).
That being said, one of the main families having non-white core members should be SUCH an easy layup for producers and writers if they had a genuine intent to diversify the cast.
So both stupid story-wise but also short-sighted.

[Vee]

I can understand PB finding the execution of the Keemo story dumb and silly as hell, bc a lot of it certainly reads silly. But whining about it for decades and keeping the character off the show is a bad look and not necessary. You can always build a good character from a lousy foundation, especially after so long gone.

That being said, people also claimed for years that he kiboshed the pairing with Debbi Morgan on AMC, and by all accounts upon research that is untrue. The Keemo stuff is a matter of record though.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Vee

[Forever8]

I know that. I was just being sarcastic.

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I remember Peter Bergman being on one of the first SOD podcasts and when they got to Keemo/Luan it became obvious from the tone of his voice he wasn't keen on that story. 

[Ponds]

Why didn't they kill the character off if they are never going to mention him again?  I guess they're waiting for all of us who actually saw the episodes to die.

[DramatistDreamer]

I also wonder if PB wants Jack to appear younger than he would be if that story gets resurrected.

I don't think most fans would mind a de-aging of Keemo. They might even be willing to overlook or shift some aspects of Keemo's origin story?  

Every time I read about what the character of Jack is up to, it seems like he has little to nothing going on.

[FrenchBug82]

Considering that the whole point of Keemo's existence is the fact Jack was in Vietnam during the War there is no way to de-age him. His birth is pretty fixed in time.

That said, he can easily have married in Vietnam and have had children who would be teenagers by now and could want to take advantage of having an American grandpa to study in a good US school.
It is a pretty basic and easy to implement premise if they want to bring more of the family without dwelling on Keemo himself (who wasn't a great character himself anyway and whose entire final storyline was his disgust at being attracted to a woman who once slept with his father which would limit the potential pool of romantic partners in Genoa City LOL).

Sorry. I had missed that

To be fair, it is such a weird reason to ignore a huge chunk of history that it would be hard for people who don't follow the gossip like we do to guess.

[DramatistDreamer]

Yeah, I meant that it would be playing really fast and loose with dates.

We know that some military stayed behind after the Fall of Saigon in the early 1970s. Keemo could have been born in the mid 70s. 

Let's face it, with an 8 year age difference between Bergman and Moon, it was always implausible, even then. Why dig in to a "fact" that was never accurate to begin with, when the origin story could be tinkered with and actually improved, without losing the most important element, which is the fact that there is an Abbott of Asian descent?

When they cut stick the knife in, by killing off Colleen Carlton for no good reason just to watch us get upset? What would be the fun in that?

[Paul Raven]

Have Jack say he never talks about Keemo because he felt a failure as a father. Jack could say that Keemo went off grid and he had a private investigator look for him for years but finally gave up ,accepting that Keemo didn't want to be found.

PB could'act' the hell out of that. That paves the way for a grandson or daughter to appear with a variety of backstories that could be employed.

End result-new young Asian character connected to the core.

[FrenchBug82]

And it would have the benefit of fitting how I remember the story ending. Keemo was feeling strongly about Genoa City and his father being corrupt influences and wanted to get away in order not to lose his moral compass which he felt his attraction to Mary Jo was the symbol of.
It wouldn't be a stretch at all to explain that Keemo just cut ties with his father entirely for those reasons and Jack understands and feels that guilt enough not to go against his wishes.
AND it creates potential conflict once Keemo's children want to go to the US to study and they are conflicted between their father's intense values and their exposure to a foreign country. 
So much human drama to mine without having to retcon anything!