Jump to content

Harrowing soap moments


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Soaps have had many harrowing moments over the years.  One that still evokes an emotional response is when Liz was grabbed in the park on GH.

I appreciate how much care was put into this story when it started.  BH really acted the hell out of this story, and the production was not gratuitous or pandering.  It was shocking and sad when Lucky found her, but the scene of her being grabbed was really haunting and terrifying.  Something about the scene just after, the quiet snow and the empty bench really stuck with me.

Please register in order to view this content

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 93
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

Please register in order to view this content

Lots of scenes in The Loving Murders would count, but this one's up there. I'll also nominate Gabrielle on OLTL watching Garrick Grande die and then switching him with the still-living Steve McGillis (and vice-versa). I did not expect to feel so gut-punched by that one, but here we are.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The entire finale of the Loving Murders is definitely up there. It holds up today.

A scene I will never forget, but haven't seen since it aired, was in late 2002/early 2003 on OLTL, where Mitch Laurence has basically coerced Natalie into going to bed with him to save Cristian's life. Melissa Archer is shaking and sobbing violently as she tries to undress while Mitch harangues her to get into bed and do the deed. Natalie is rescued before they can have sex, but it was incredibly unpleasant to watch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

To piggyback on what @Vee said, I found a lot of Malone's OLTL return to be grimy and unpleasant to watch. I haven't seen it since first airing but I remember being very disturbed by a scene where that retcon mother of Antonio's (poor Saundra Santiago) fell on a shard of her broken water glass, and died.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

A sequence that went on forever! That was really uncomfortable to watch.

I don't think the Mitch/Natalie scene was Malone/Griffith, but it could've been as they were ghostwriting a lot around January 2003.

Edited by Vee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I posted this over in the Shortland Street recently, just wanted to post something different in this type of thread rather than the usual few clips I might have  tried to look for, and also because I wanted to try to say something positive about the desolate landscape of current soaps.

A deeply disturbed man became obsessed with a nurse, and began to think he needed to get her wife (the woman in this clip) out of the way.  He was also a clown, outside of being a doctor, which leads to this incredibly disturbing clown mask visual. Their scenes are in the last minute. It has - even if it's not as good - a bit of that Slesar vibe to it.

Please register in order to view this content

 

For  a  Y&R moment,  since @BetterForgotten posted one - I don't know what the visual was like, but the audio of Katherine stabbing Suzanne Lynch and the screaming and screaming really freaks me the hell out. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I don't think I'll ever forget the sight of poor Maggie Horton on DAYS after she'd been bludgeoned to "death" (with a brandy bottle!) by the Salem Stalker.

This one's harrowing for two reasons: one, because of how the audience learns of Ciji Dunne's fate; and two, because Kim Lankford's vocal performance is Just. That. Bad.

Please register in order to view this content

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Not harrowing in the sense of something brutal happening, but the music, directing, and Maureen Garret dropping that damn tray as Holly walks in on Blake and Ross in bed, and Holly's despair and confusion eating her alive in real-time. One of the best soap episode openers ever.

Please register in order to view this content

 

Edited by BetterForgotten
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Holly could have coped with Ross sleeping with another woman, but her own daughter?  I think that was the part that pierced her to her core.

Meanwhile, JvD never looked yummier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Now that  Holly has been brought up, I would also add the rape scene with Roger and Holly - it genuinely makes you sick to watch. Zaslow's quiet, sure malice, and Garrett's numb terror makes  it all feel so much more real than most rape scenes on soaps.

@Khan the comment about Kim Lankford gave me a good laugh. I agree that the scene is disturbing - the slow build to us seeing Ciji's corpse is very effective.

While we're talking about Knots, I have to add Linda Fairgate's murder - the blood dripping down the shoes. You would not think one scene could kill off a 13-year old soap, but that did it. 

(I would also add Maggie's death on Falcon Crest, which absolutely traumatized me as a child, but honestly, Falcon Crest was already dead anyway)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Agree.  KNOTS was no stranger to murder, but Linda's murder was by far the most graphic.  You could tell in that moment that the show was no longer being written or produced by people who understood the show they were working on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Oh but those "Pharleys" were very adamant that they stay together and be featured everyday (though I did like their websites and the recaps they gave each day.) I agree, they were interesting at first, but the longer it went on the more Harley became this sad sack jealous wife, the more Phillip became a dumb Josh type character torn between two women and the more Beth became a pathetic looser chasing her ex.   I think after Beth came back it would have been an interesting triangle of three "good" people trying to find a way, and I did like the "Who killed Carl" and how Harley and Beth had to work together there, but we all know Phillip would have dumped Harley to get together with Beth, Harley would have been hurt but dusted herself off and moved on, and eventually Beth and Phillip would implode. They didn't bring back one Reardon or Bauer for Mo's funeral...did anyone think they would waste money and energy on poor sad Nadine?
    • I hate to be that person, but Monday’s episode was a mess. The editing was an eyesore—felt like multiple scenes got chopped mid-way through. Anita’s singing was completely over the top. And while TT can sing, something about her performance just felt off—her voice was actually kind of grating   Leslie’s motivations make zero sense, unless we’re supposed to believe she just thrives on chaos. Her smirking while her daughter got locked out? That was straight-up cartoon villain territory. Once again, the Duprees came off like a full-on mob—especially the girls, who acted more like petty mean girls than anything else. And don’t get me started on Kat and Eva. Their dialogue was repetitive and totally unrealistic. “We have opposite fairy tales”? Seriously? Give me a break.(not that literally though, I want my episodes daily!!)
    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • Thanks. I'd forgotten about that. It is odd she wasn't asked back. Maybe they just gave up.  Harley/Philip is one of those relationships which lingered on longer than it should have. I never got the sense the show had any great interest in them together beyond the first six months or so, and there was little to no chemistry between them after that point.
    • If Leslie wanted to be super shady

      Please register in order to view this content

    • I am just so happy with the new writing. Everything feels so much more mature. The connections between plots and characters reminds me of the eighties, and I just plain old LIKE everybody. I very much enjoyed Philip's apology tour with his two exes, and both of them being gracious to him. This version of Philip is so interesting, very flawed, but trying to do better, and I do believe he wanted the brother bond with Xander very much and is hoping to get that back. Speaking of brothers, we got Xander's first ever mention of his other brother, Bo. And how interesting that Titan is also working on a cure for sepsis. If the one with Dr Russell falls through we have a back up plan. And the seamless writing continued with Sarah trying to get out of a conference and Kayla needing to get Dr Russell out of town, I love when things just make sense like that. Shout out to Xander with cucumbers on his eyes lol And under the new regime I am not hating Stalex. I think this couple was just hammered by Ron by constantly making them sleep with other people. It was hard to root for them when the writer didn't care about them as a pairing, just about getting Rob naked. I am happy to see what happens here too. Stefan got a get well card to EJ? I wonder if it had a coded HELP ME in the message. Glad Kayla turned him down. She should never forget how he used Steve as a pawn back in the day. Characters are actually remembering this stuff these days.
    • That happens sometimes on cbs/paramount. Just refresh the page and it should work.
    • In a 1997 SOD article, Ehlers mentions that she was asked to return several times, but was surprised she wasn't asked to return for her "mother's" funeral.  This was when she returned for the 60th Anniversary event. They were a really popular pairing for a few years ago.  As an older viewer, it seemed strange seeing Beth as the odd one out, but 1998 Beth was a totally different character.  She was written as a manipulative, vixen.
    • Unhappy camper! 

      Please register in order to view this content

    • It seems obvious based on the initial material that Korte was going to take another foolish run at Jason and Carly a la 2021 and hoped Mulcahey being back would make it work, as he wrote such famous material for Steve, Sarah, etc. I think a couple good dialogue scenes came out of them together very early on, but there was never any denying that Steve and Laura have never had and will never have any romantic chemistry, plus the audience doesn't want it. So they pivoted to her with that useless dayplayer (Brennan) and now here they all are, spinning their wheels doing nothing of value on the show. I do think PM had planned to do much more with Jason's sons and that rivalry/friction, but once he was gone so was Jake. I've rarely seen any of the core mob 3 feel so totally extraneous and directionless on the canvas. Not that I mind. Anything that makes Jason easier to get rid of works for me.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy