Good scene in a bad story

[DRW50]

We've probably already had this topic before, but it's not as if we have much new to talk about anyway. If this is a duplicate feel free to lock it.

My pick would be a scene I've talked about repeatedly, in a story I despised, with two characters I despised - scene-killing teenage bimbo Kimberly, and Michael Pavel, whose days as a mafia enforcer and miscarriage-causer were ignored by the show because of how he looked in tight tops. They were in a quadrangle from hell with her mother, Rae, and her husband, Seneca (a very gross pairing, "psychological" reasons or not). 

For New Year's 1980, the foursome go the the Crystal Palace, where Michael discos to the wonderful Fame staple "Red Light" with Delia. The writing for Delia at this time could lead me to give you even more complaints, which I will spare you for the moment. Anyway, even if it's broken up in this episode, it's a delightful sequence, even moreso because of Rae and Kimberly seething with jealousy the entire time. And it's a side of Delia, and Randall Edwards, the show ignored far too often in favor of having various sanctimonious Coleridges scowling at her.

Starts about 15 minutes in.

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Edited December 1, 2022 by DRW50

[Joseph]

I Hate The Olivia/Nathan/Keesha Story but that storyline had so many amazing confrontation scenes

[j swift]

2008 DAYS when Nicole was involved in the awful Trent story.

For context, Nicole was retconned to have married Trent, Max Brady and Melanie's Brady's biological father, while she was a porn star.  He was abusive, she escaped his clutches, and they never divorced.  So, of course, with the misogynistic writing of Dena Higley, rather than focusing on Nicole's feelings about being abused and exploited, her story revolved around keeping her marriage to Trent a secret because it would have spoiled her ability to get a large divorce settlement from Victor.

Any way, at one point Trent blackmailed Nicole to collect information about Melanie.  The scene that I recall was Nicole vented to EJ about being forced to investigate Melanie, and he told her to get the information, but withhold it from Trent in order to get the upper hand.  It felt like a memorable time in soaps when two friends gave each advice, without a hidden agenda, and a character logically considered their circumstance without just reacting to suit the purposes of a plot.  It was refreshing to see a character actually use their experiences in order to grow and move forward.

Edited December 1, 2022 by j swift

[Gray Bunny]

I don't have a specific scene in mind (I know there was one at Cross Creek, outside while resting against a tree), but I remember in general during GL's Reva Clone storyline, there would be moments showing the pure agony Josh was going through as he grappled with the idea that he lost Reva (again) and now he has to deal with this clone thing that he gave the OK to create while in the midst of his bewildered depression.  

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Gray Bunny

[YRfan23]

It’s hard to pinpoint a lot of them but Passions definitely had a lot of decent scenes in most of their crazy and OTT and sometimes awful stories.

[Soaplovers]

I wouldn't say it was a good scene...but it was a good episode based on a stupid story and decision.

Nursery rhyme stalker was a bad story..and one of the results was the stupid decision to kill Jenna off.

What resulted was Jenna visiting all the people she had ties/history with (Buzz, Vanessa, Harley, Alexandra, and Holly)...with one scene having India wish she had known Jenna better with Alex stating they would have a lot to talk about.

[bboy875]

I will never understand why they ignored Jenna and Nadine's ties and histories and attached them both to Buzz's hip only to kill them both off (yes I know, wrong thread lol)  

[titan1978]

GH- I thought Genie did a fantastic job during the horrible Rick Webber storyline, and so did Tony.  Especially in the scenes where Laura remembers and starts to unravel.  He almost looked sick that he couldn’t keep it from happening, and she was near panic trying to remember it fully.

I have this issue quite a bit with Guza.  I hated the stories he put the characters through.  But they were usually well written and acted, even if I hated the premise.  Like the Nikolas/Liz affair.  JJ knocked it out of the park with all his anguish and the confrontations, even if it also ruined Lucky.

There were several excellent moments on AMC when Erica kidnapped Maria’s baby and that was maybe the worst Erica story of all time!

[Titus Andronicus]

The Alex North story on Days was terrible and a complete waste of Wayne Northrop. However, it did have one fantastic scene at the very start of the story.

Marlena wakes up in the hospital with amnesia and looks around, to John, to Roman and to Alex. All three Romans in one room.

Also, the Days back from the dead stuff was long past ridiculous at the point where Dr. Rolf came back. There was one good line, can't remember if it was Marlena or maybe even Sami who was with Rolf in conversation:

"Dr. Rolf, I thought you were dead?"

"It didn't take."

[carolineg]

I actually thought that was a pretty clever scene too if not too JER with the lack of subtlety.  

[SFK]

@DRW50 I love the dance sequence. (Reminded me of Sela Ward on Emerald Point getting down with a random dude at the bar as the Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams pumped on the jukebox.) I wasn't familiar with the s/l so I just read up on it and watched a bit of the Locher Room interview with Louise, Kelli, and Michael (who not only has great cheekbones but a bunch of RH episodes on tape in his garage).

[Vee]

I think it's some of her best work ever, and it's so underrated and forgotten today. She was spellbinding in those deranged attic wedding scenes.

[FrenchBug82]

That's the storyline I first thought of too. The story was awful and the script writing unimpressive but I have also always liked Kim Zimmer's work in this.

It was a lot harder than the usual dual roles as the clone was Reva but not quite, and that required subtle work - and talented as she is, subtle isn't usually what you got from her acting.

By the end, I was genuinely feeling bad for the clone, something I rarely felt for Reva herself.

[ChickenNuggetz92]

Sharon Case acted the hell out of the episode with Victor's faux funeral storyline in 2012 and was such a hoot to watch. The only silver lining in that mess of a story.