B&B June 2022 Discussion Thread

[Videnbas]

So today's episode (June 13) illustrates everything that is wrong with the current writing.

Last week they achieve a real surprise twist by bringing back Mike Guthrie (in my opinion a more rewarding twist than this whole Finn-is-dead-no-he-isn't stuff).

This week Sheila is suddenly out of jail and we didn't even get to see Sheila and Mike having a single conversation, or see how he helped her escape, or anything. I was waiting all weekend for a Sheila/Mike scene where he helped her break out of prison and where we'd get some of that old witty back and forth between them, and now suddenly it all happened OFF SCREEN? This story has so many missed beats it needs a pacemaker.

I guess it's still possible that we get to see what actually happened through flashbacks, or that we'll get more scenes with Mike down the road, but it's just as likely this was only a brief cameo and the writers once again failed to see the true potential in what could have been with Sheila and Mike back as partners in crime.

This is what they ALWAYS do - big surprise, fantastic potential, no payoff.

[Ponds]

I think the entire Eric/Donna romps are awful.  There's really nothing interesting on the show at the present time for me.

[AbcNbc247]

Is Hope ever gonna take that hat off?

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[SFK]

Yeah me too. I was actually happy for Eric, but admittedly, I'm not a longtime viewer familiar with his infidelities.

[Ponds]

It matches the rest of that atrocious outfit.  It's a Hope for the Future design!

[ranger1rg]

That hat is so bad. No one walks around all day wearing a thing like that.

[AbcNbc247]

Me neither. I think he cheated on Stephanie a few times, so it's nothing really new for him lol

 

I mean, it's L.A in June. Isn't her head all sweaty? 

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[Faulkner]

Maybe she’s bald 

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[Ponds]

I'd like to know what kind of drugs these writers are on that makes them think any intelligent person would believe this crap!

[janea4old]

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by janea4old

[janea4old]

 

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by janea4old

[Fevuh]

So I'm glad I didn't continue tuning in.  I pretty much made that decision when Sheila turned around to a guard and called him by his name.  I didn't watch back then to even know who it was - but it all boils down to the same thing.  Sheila knows all and knows everyone and will get out of everything at all times - very quickly.  To the stupidity of everyone/all characters.  It wouldn't shock me to read that Sheila actually has the "real" Finn stowed away somewhere, and the woman (Li?)?? only thinks she has the "real" Finn.  The show is beyond at some points.  I said in another post a long time ago - maybe this was normal with Soaps all along (well, partially I know that to be true - suspending reality)....but I don't think it was this bad.  I think I'm too old now and outgrew this kind of thing.  I watch old clips of World Turns or Guiding Light and think about how we slammed the show when we thought they were bad - but damn, knowing the timeframes and things and to look at old clips I think....damn that was a company of actors.  Damn that wasn't bad at all - in fact it's quite GOOD compared to this.  I saw some clips of Susan and Kim on World Turns going at each other - and the Divas on a Bus scenes...things in their latter years.  I don't know why I was disinterested at the time.  Makes me wistful.

[Videnbas]

In this case, though, it could have been a great use of history. Sheila and this particular guard go back almost 30 years. He was her faithful sidekick for a very long time. But the big letdown was not letting us see them interact or letting us see how they pulled off the prison break.

The "right" way to do this would have been to build up to the prison break slowly - letting us see Mike and Sheila reconnecting, plotting in secret, almost getting caught, figuring out a plan and carrying it out with a real possibility of failure. That would have been a riveting storyline. Not just letting all that happen off screen over the weekend and then going "oh, well, Sheila escaped".

[edgeofnik]

I'm guessing the writers thought the shock of Sheila showing up at Li's was a bigger 'bang' for the audience rather than adding more scenes that would result in the obvious. Considering B&B's tendency to over-dialogue 'why did I drink???' and repetitive scenes that don't advance the story, it's not a bad call.

And, for the record, I totally loved the Mike/Sheila friendship back in the day - especially when Mike spun the blood tests, which was an unexpected twist, because the audience never knew if the results would hold. Further proof that Sheila as a pot-stirrer for a normally bland show works far better than Sheila as psycho.

[Videnbas]

Yes, but my main objection to this "shock" approach is that choosing the surprise of Sheila at Li's (which they diluted anyway by having Baker tell the audience first) over showing her and Mike plotting her escape robs us of Sheila's POV. And that kind of turns her into a more two-dimensional villain than if we had got to see her in scenes with her old pal Mike, which would have been better in terms of character development.

Skipping the entire escape just tells me the writers don't really care about Sheila as a character beyond the shock value of having her pop up somewhere and be scary.