I know I'll get tomatoes for this but if they needed to recast Ashley, I wouldn't be upset if Kristen Alderson played the role. Especially when you look at the actress playing Ashley's mom. But to be fair, there is such a wide variety of soap alums if they decided to recast any of the white characters. That's part of the benefit of all the soaps being primarily white for so long. 

I just finished today's episode and I enjoyed it. I understood Jacob's side of things more than I did on Friday's episode. I can see how he felt he was softening the blow by doing it himself but he still could've coordinated with his wife to make sure it went smoothly. She's a lawyer so you'd think he'd be able to trust her.

Loved the scenes with Nicole/Sherry and Ted/Leslie. Although we now know he knows abut the affair, I don't think he knows about Eva and I do think she's his daughter. I'm curious what lengths he'll go to keep the affair a secret. This is exploding much faster than I expected. 

Another thought I had with the pacing is that maybe these are just our intro storylines. Most soaps start slow and let you get to know the characters before things start happening. Maybe the reason these stories are moving faster than we anticipated because this is our intro, just as a streaming/2025 pace. I wouldn't be surprised if come May they've already revealed most of these secrets and broken out into new stories.

Not this Attack of the Clones greenscreen roof.

2 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I know I'll get tomatoes for this but if they needed to recast Ashley, I wouldn't be upset if Kristen Alderson played the role. Especially when you look at the actress playing Ashley's mom. 

I think Kristen is a well-liked name for soap fans but lesser enough that that could work without pulling too much focus from the Black cast. I can hear the caterwauling from here if it happened though. Plus she has a new baby and is not in ATL, so I can't see it. Brittany Underwood? Maybe.

Edited March 11Mar 11 by Vee

17 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

- I'm another one who was disappointed that Ted is also a cheater. I know cheaters are a soap staple, but come on.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that Ted was seeing..or at least sleeping with...Leslie first. Then, he met Nicole at the medical conference and left Leslie for her. IF, a big IF, that's right, he didn't cheat on Nicole but had a short fling with Leslie before dating his wife. Leslie's pissed that Ted dropped her for Nicole, and she must have gotten pregnant around that time, too.

Oh, Lord...Ashley and Derek. I didn't even understand why they were in the episode. Ashley has a little more spark than Derek, but still...the energy just dies when these two characters are together. They need some sort of an edge to make them interesting.

I'm not surprised by Dani's reaction at the end. I get the feeling that Dani and Bill are that toxic couple that will NEVER truly be done with each other. They'll just torture each other over and over. If the show runs for years, I can see them actually getting back together at some point...and then breaking up again.

 

3 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I know I'll get tomatoes for this but if they needed to recast Ashley, I wouldn't be upset if Kristen Alderson played the role. 

 

Ewwwwwwww

Where is @BetterForgotten so he can throws those tomatoes.😂

2 hours ago, Vee said:

I do think Nicole turning out to be a cheater (on top of Ted and Dana's mess) or secret fetishist/nymphomaniac or danger addict would be brilliant.

Nicole/DD would be AMAZING in a Babygirl-type storyline with a young intern.

18 minutes ago, 1974mdp said:

I can see them actually getting back together at some point...and then breaking up again.

I am extremely here for their inevitable power reunion.

Forget Dani and Bill, Dani and Andre is where its at. Their booty call hook ups are so going to turn into love, just watch.

Bill is no prize. Hayley will realize that soon enough.

Edited March 11Mar 11 by kalbir

19 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Forget Dani and Bill, Dani and Andre is where its at.

Why not both?

I really hate not being able to watch live bc I’m less likely to come share my thoughts (and after 15 pages, I have so many to share), but my highlights for today’s episode are:

- Dani is a cartoon and I have no hope for her ever being a character I care about anymore. Not ruling it out, but as soon as the photo shoot started, I knew she was officially over with for me. The delusional fawning over Bill at the end sealed the deal, and let’s make sure we all understand that Bill is able to keep up his bad deeds because she is clearly attracted to toxicity and enables it. She is very a much an “I love it when a man puts me in my place” type of dumb heaux.

- The Duprees suck!! Vernon is especially infuriating. You were in the trenches during the civil rights movement, and you’re comparing your psychotic daughter getting rightly arrested for shooting up a wedding to the systemic racism you and your contemporaries were fighting against??

- Going to commercial on Martin trying to buck up to Bill made me HOLLER with laughter, ya hear?? And as ridiculous as Martin really is, I still can’t help but find him extremely sexy with that ghetto booty. I know Smitty was tapping tf outta that in better days.

- Bill is hilarious because he really does not give a damn about the Duprees and has no problem roasting them, Anita included.

- Leslie is still my favorite. I could watch her deluded ramblings all day.

- Naomi and Jacob are almost as pointless to me as Ashley and Derek are.

The obvious Dupree hypocrisy does not bother me. It is typical for a powerful family in soaps, they all contain multitudes.

3 minutes ago, Vee said:

The obvious Dupree hypocrisy does not bother me. It is typical for a powerful family in soaps, they all contain multitudes.

Absolutely, and I’ve always hated it. At age 13, I wanted the entire Brady family from DAYS to die a fiery death with no chance of revival on Melaswen.

54 minutes ago, 1974mdp said:

Oh, Lord...Ashley and Derek. I didn't even understand why they were in the episode. Ashley has a little more spark than Derek, but still...the energy just dies when these two characters are together. They need some sort of an edge to make them interesting.

And that's on the writers.  It's not like they're getting some great material and the actors aren't showing up.  The writing for them as sucked big time. 

If Naomi and Hayley were best friends, we should have more scenes with them.  They've have like what, less than a handful of scenes together? 

56 minutes ago, 1974mdp said:

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that Ted was seeing..or at least sleeping with...Leslie first. Then, he met Nicole at the medical conference and left Leslie for her. IF, a big IF, that's right, he didn't cheat on Nicole but had a short fling with Leslie before dating his wife. Leslie's pissed that Ted dropped her for Nicole, and she must have gotten pregnant around that time, too.

Oh, Lord...Ashley and Derek. I didn't even understand why they were in the episode. Ashley has a little more spark than Derek, but still...the energy just dies when these two characters are together. They need some sort of an edge to make them interesting.

I'm not surprised by Dani's reaction at the end. I get the feeling that Dani and Bill are that toxic couple that will NEVER truly be done with each other. They'll just torture each other over and over. If the show runs for years, I can see them actually getting back together at some point...and then breaking up again.

 

I also thought Eva was older than Kat and that he left Leslie for Nicole. I’m looking forward to getting a clearer timeline.

1 minute ago, Antoyne said:

I also thought Eva was older than Kat and that he left Leslie for Nicole. I’m looking forward to getting a clearer timeline.

This is my thought as well. 

6 minutes ago, All My Shadows said:

Absolutely, and I’ve always hated it. At age 13, I wanted the entire Brady family from DAYS to die a fiery death with no chance of revival on Melaswen.

Hypocritical family dynasties are the bread and butter of soaps, baby! Same with Dani.

Really, after decades with Erica Kane (or worse, the women of B&B) I just don't let Dani's bipolar shenanigans bother me only 10-11 days in. I do think she has some nuance, but I also think they're frankly feeling their way through on these characters early on and I think some stuff will either reset or cement itself over time with a lot of people (like whatever is going on with both Vanessa and Cady's character, who fill very similar functions but so far Vanessa is more entertaining). Which is why you see stuff like Dani pingponging a bit between Friday and Monday. So we'll see. I do think KM is killing it and doing great work.

The Dupree family dance party was adorable, but I will admit I badly wanted to make the dancing shot with the camera in frame my banner pic lol.

4 minutes ago, Toups said:

And that's on the writers.  It's not like they're getting some great material and the actors aren't showing up.  

The material is not great, but they aren't either. They're bad.

Edited March 11Mar 11 by Vee