If they hadn't been so fixated on the Balkan saga or Franco follies or the Dante angle for Brenda, if they'd just let Brenda naturally lead story, I think it would've worked out much better. But Guza and co. were so set in their ways about their era and the mob at that point that they couldn't see beyond it, even though Guza was clearly thrilled to have VM back. They tried to make Brenda work around those latter-day storylines, or the existence of characters like Sam, etc. But to me she just made a lot of it look small. And I say that as someone who was distinctly not a Brenda fan for a long time lol. I think Frank knows that would be the case today and it's a part of why he doesn't want her back, in addition to any personality conflict.
I thought both actors fit back into the show like a glove in 2009-2011. With the exception of the Sonny/Brenda payoff, a fair amount of which I thought was done well, as well as the Lucky/Dante relationship, it was the show that failed them. It was a failure of imagination beyond Guza II's narrow vision of the show. The same could be said for JJ last year, except unlike Guza (who showcased Lucky in very dark stories) I don't think FV was remotely interested in trying.
By
Vee ·
