Interesting to read the different takes on Winter Fest. I enjoyed much of the wardrobe and it was nice to see all the characters interacting in one space. I don't think it's a death knell for BTG that there wasn't more drama at the event. I do think WF exemplifies some of the ongoing issues with dialogue - for months, so many characters have been talking nonstop, often in extremely forced, unnatural ways, about the most minute details of past WFs. Nothing could live up to that hype.
I'm also a white viewer grappling with the racial politics of this show, and truly hope I don't express this wrong and cause offense to anyone. I tend to think it's intentional on the writers' part that even the Duprees, as aspirational and powerful as they are supposed to be, are clearly not safe from white supremacy. And that career criminals who happen to be white are probably more likely to get away with everything than characters like Bill and Martin when they've crossed legal lines. I think it's valid (not that MVJ and her team need me to validate any of this!) to incorporate that tension into the fabric of the show.
For me, Joey's characterization takes this concept too far because it's not just that he's an omnipotent criminal who gets away with it, but he's also supposed to be charming and brilliant and irresistible (at least to Vanessa). White privilege can get a two-bit thug pretty far, in DC no less, but I think we've seen in recent years that it doesn't make anyone genuinely want to be around them. Also the way Doug was written out makes it all too gross.
I would say up until now there was humor in Hayley's dialogue, etc., but I thought after the revelation that she had been conning Bill the whole time, the show tried and mostly pulled off presenting her as formidable and savvy: the way she pegged how their relationship likely would have turned out the second she got a little older, that flash of anger at the thought of Bill going back to Dani before Hayley gets what she's worked for, etc. I was genuinely impressed with that character turn.
This week did get too cartoonish for me: Hayley increasing the dosage with clearly no understanding of how the poison even works, and then calling Randy before 911 (and before checking Bill's vital signs, and then proceeding to give away the game when he could have come to at any moment). I can chalk these few episodes up to some bad scripts and breakdowns if the rest of the trajectory makes some sense. Bill is too integral to the show (and the core character have too much grudging respect for him) to have been so completely taken in by someone as incompetent as Hayley has acted this week.
Awww I don't if I would put it quite that way, but I guess to an extent that's also true of the upper-crust main characters of other soaps. And for me Nicole has already made an indelible mark in that category. I'm not sure what to make of this latest turn in her love life, but I hope we get to see a daytime soap focus on a mature, intelligent heroine navigating relationship(s) for a while.
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DeliaIrisFan ·
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