14 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

  

I want to challenge all of us to say what were the 5 most important things that happened this first week.

1. Dani's slap of Hayley in front of everyone at the very end of S1E1.

It has been pointed out to me that it was a punch not a slap. Duly noted.

14 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

2. Natural approach to sex & physicality including talk, after.

3. The Fairmont Crest community at the wedding even if they were dressed in black with sour expressions on their faces & refusing to stand for the bride processional.

4. The non-lethal discharge of a handgun at the wedding.

5. Naomi's confrontation with Bill. "My father is dead."

 

1 hour ago, dc11786 said:

think that there was a missed opportunity in not making Hayley and Ashley friends through their association with Naomi. Both women (Hayley and Ashley) had access to Fairmount Crest, but were not a part of it. That gives the women are fairly unique connection as outsiders who experienced the life but weren't working in it. I think having Ashley torn between Naomi and Hayley over whether or not to go to the wedding would have grounded her more in the main story of the week. It would have also had Hayley win Ashley back over before the end of the week. It would have also given more dramatic tension to the "fall asleep scene" because you could play Ashley hiding her forgiveness for Hayley from Naomi. The new job also could have been Ashley's very quick reason not to attend the wedding. 

With this connection, you could then play a potential Jan / Hayley relationship with Jan knowing that this young woman has almost no one in the world. It would be through Jan that I would connect Leslie and Hayley (Eva would have done the hair for Hayley for her wedding with Leslie's crazy self coming in to watch the wedding from the shadows). With this, you could play the beat of Dani/Nicole learning that Eva has a connection to Hayley and playing the Dani erupting and demanding Nicole fire Eva (which obviously she wouldn't). Eva offering to leave, which endears her more to Nicole. 

I'd also focus on some of Mona's reaction to all this playing out because I get the sense that Mona is more onto Leslie than Leslie either knows or wants her to be. I could see Mona learning from Jan in passing that Leslie had come with Eva to the pre-wedding hair appointment at the country club and starting to deduce that Leslie is up to no good, but not completely spilling the beans to Nicole. Then, Eva learns that Mona has started to catch on and Eva starts to sabotage Mona's work in order to create discord between Mona and Nicole. And so on and so on. 

I wondered who Jan was. (Edit) Then I looked it up.  Jan's the name of Ashley's mother, the woman with the blonde wavy hair.  Interesting idea.

I agree with you that Mona is smart and might be more onto the scheming tendencies of Leslie, more than Leslie is aware.

Edited March 1Mar 1 by janea4old

6 minutes ago, janea4old said:

Who is Jan?  I've tried learning all the character names, but I've missed some.

I think they might've meant Caroline, who is Hayley's best friend at the office and maid of honor?

 

https://beyondthegates.fandom.com/wiki/Caroline_Lee

Edited March 1Mar 1 by te.

1 minute ago, te. said:

I think they might've meant Caroline, who is Hayley's best friend at the office and maid of honor?

While you were posting, I looked it up again, and found that Jan is Ashley's mother, and I edited my post.

2 minutes ago, janea4old said:

While you were posting, I looked it up again, and found that Jan is Ashley's mother, and I edited my post.

Ooh, that makes sense. I tried looking over the BTG fan wiki, but yeah. A lot of names floating around. 

1 hour ago, dc11786 said:

I don't know if anyone else picked up on it, but when Bill was recounting his first meeting with Dani, the mutual connection was former football player Wayne Maddux, who was the man Bill helped in the first episode. 

Oh wow, I totally missed that.  Now I have to go back and rewatch those scenes in episodes one and five.

2 hours ago, dc11786 said:

Regarding the Martin / Smitty situation, I think it will be nice to see more of the domestic situation play out with the kids and Martin's career.

I think that a huge part of the Martin / Smitty situation is that they're - or rather Martin - is trying to push themselves into a heteronormative box of being "Respectable Gays". It's an interesting storyline in itself and it ties into why Smitty is a "homemaker". I'm not sure if they'd ever go there in the current climate, but relationships not being a one-size-fits all would be an interesting route to go down but again, I doubt that would happen. 

But at one point I'd like them to at least adress that gay relationships aren't necessarily just something where one takes on the traditional "man" role and the other takes on the "woman" role. 

2 hours ago, dc11786 said:

The Dani stuff was more diverse at the end of the week which helped endear me a bit to the character. Begging Bill to come back to her was a wild twist I didn't see coming, but felt it made a lot of sense. Bill playing Dani before twisting the knife in her back was ruthless. Durrett brings out something in Mosely that makes Dani accessible to me. While her hatred and anger is justified, it is exhausting, but at least that seems intentional on Val Jean's part rather than the typical a character annoys you because the writer is out of touch. Dani is very well constructed and is driving story as a result and kept the first week moving, but I will be interested in seeing more quieter moments interspersed into the chaos for Dani in the future.

Yes to what dc11786 said about Dani: "While her hatred and anger is justified, it is exhausting, but at least that seems intentional on Val Jean's part rather than the typical a character annoys you because the writer is out of touch. Dani is very well constructed" 
I especially appreciated the idea that this intentional (unlike some writers, LOL)

Edited March 1Mar 1 by janea4old

9 hours ago, te. said:

I agree that people are being a bit hyperbolic when they say that it's "one of the greatest first weeks ever"; I guess people are still a bit high on the "new soap smell" after mostly having cancellations for the past quarter of the decade. It was a nice opening week, but there are definitively things to work out. Technically, I probably prefer Dark Shadows and Sunset Beach (I love the 90s prime time soap gloss, ngl) at least.  

But in all honesty, most soaps opening weeks just aren't available to watch anywhere, so we have little to compare it to. Most of the soaps that launched since 1980 were short-lived on top of that (with B&B being the only survivor). 

8 hours ago, Antoyne said:

Or maybe just maybe to those people it is one of the greatest first weeks. What’s wrong with that? No need to call it hyperbolic because you don’t agree.

5 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

Thank you. Seriously, when did having an opinion become “hyperbolic?” I don’t think anyone was claiming this first week was better than sliced bread. Everyone is welcome to their opinion, and I wouldn’t say those who felt differently were “out of touch” or “blind,” they’re entitled to feel that way without dismissing how others feel. 

I saw the first weeks of The City, Port Charles, Sunset Beach, and Passions - and I stand by this having a hell of better foundation than those soaps in their first weeks. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement and change - but this is just the first week, and because daytime soaps are on 5 days a week, they have room to make changes and improvements over time if they’re wise. But, unlike those other soaps I saw the first weeks of, I feel instantly drawn and thrown into the mix here. There are characters and relationship dynamics I already care about and want to see developed further. I get a sense of the world building in Fairmont Crest. I am excited to tune back in for week #2 (which I struggled with on the other mentioned soaps). 

Overall, while there are things to be worked out (which I’ve already gone into detail about in my posts in this chain), there is great promise and potential here, and the show is off to a solid start in my opinion. 

@te. I agree and I think your assment was fair. It is the first new soap in a quarter century so people are understandably protective of this going well --- especially amid all the undue hate the show gets.

It's OK for some people to say was one of the greatest first weeks ever and it's also OK to say think that viewpoint is an exaguration. As long as contrasting options are delivered fairly and respectfully and not dismissive of others, I'm okay😄

Again, Im a huge cheerleader for BTG, but I think it's fair to express what's working/not working from one's POV.

Edited March 1Mar 1 by Planet Soap

 

1 minute ago, Planet Soap said:

It's OK for some people to say was one of the greatest first weeks ever and it's also OK to say think that viewpoint is an exaguration. As long as contrasting options are delivered fairly and respectfully I'm okay😄

Okay, here's what's different. The first opinion is about the show. The second opinion is about the first opinion & those who espouse it. 

Obviously when people in good faith are discussing any reasoned, rational opinion about the show being discussed is fair game. No foul. But, when opinions turn to being about other people in the discussion, that is very different. In this example, using myself, I am being criticized for exaggerating, when in fact, IMO, I was not. I literally think this was one of the strongest launches of a new soap I have ever seen, in my lifetime & I offered several examples of other soaps where I watched the first episode/s. 

Santa Barbara had a fairly amazing start. Port Charles, if you recall, was so different it was actually bizarre, a primetime launch where among other things one of the new batch of interns used a 3/4 inch drill to perform emergency ad hoc brain surgery on Audrey. The City was basically just the next day after the Loving murders. Sunset Beach Meg moving from Kansas to this beach town where Ben was. Generations I saw but do not remember a thing, so def not memorable. I didn't see it but people say good things about the B&B first show. Passions, also did not see. 

Now, do any of these sound to you like I was exaggerating in the comparison I made?

8 hours ago, Antoyne said:

Or maybe just maybe to those people it is one of the greatest first weeks. What’s wrong with that? No need to call it hyperbolic because you don’t agree.

I agree; this is my first-ever soap I'm experiencing from the beginning in real-time, but I've seen others (thanks to those who have archived such historic media), and I can say: this is the strongest first week we've experienced in daytime. They came out of the gates (excuse the pun) with their balls rolling, and didn't hold back.

1 hour ago, BetterForgotten said:

It was speculated MVJ was one of the writers super upset when Brad Bell got rid of the Avant’s and demoted Karla at B&B. She very clearly wanted Karla to front her own soap, and it’s clear she’s partly writing this as a star-making machine for her, at least at the beginning. 

I wonder if it's true. Thanks for sharing it, however it turns out. 

Well at least this time people are not asking others if they are "on drugs" because of their reactions. But yeah, I think I was the first one who said that this is the best week of any new show I've seen... and that was even before Friday. And I stand by my words. 

 

On 2/27/2025 at 8:35 PM, Maxim said:

This is like the strongest 1st week EVER of any show I've watched. I'm like wowed. 

 

6 minutes ago, Maxim said:

Well at least this time people are not asking others if they are "on drugs" because of their reactions. But yeah, I think I was the first one who said that this is the best week of any new show I've seen... and that was even before Friday. And I stand by my words. 

LOL!! It's like when someone says, "Am I crazy or is blah-blah true?" Because whether you're crazy or not is irrelevant to the issue. 😉🤭🥴🤣 It's just an expression, a way of using words.

Edited March 1Mar 1 by Contessa Donatella

Back to serious matters….

I think Queen Leslie/Dana is going to kill Mona as I think Mona may be the first to uncover her plans and confront her. 

Mona -