BTG: May 2025 Discussion Thread

[Gatecrashers]

Didn't he have a nightmare last week?

[Contessa Donatella]

Yes. He was asleep in the living room, over in the chair that is sideways to the room, but faces it & he had one of his bad dreams in the exact same way as always & as always it woke him up. Is that a thing? Are there bad dreams that for some reason always wake you?

[Tisy-Lish]

Too bad Anne Meacham is no longer living.  Wouldn't it be great to see Louise Goddard appear as Anita and Vernon's housekeeper????

[Soaplovers]

It's called being pro-active.. something that soap operas have failed to do in the last twenty to twenty five years.

The Duprees are not a compelling family.. .a lot of telling and not showing.  I'm actually more invested in the non-Dupree characters then the Duprees right now.

[janea4old]

I am entertained by the Duprees.

[EricMontreal22]

I haven't read it since high school--but it has stuck with me and is a pretty important book (as a kid I did always assumed it was related to the Wells work too

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)

[EricMontreal22]

I'm copying and pasting the entire post because, while I enjoyed the watch, I agree with every single one of your points (as I posted above I thought the dialogue tried for clever sophistication without sounding realistic throughout, in fact.)

[Taoboi]

Emphasis on the work...VANISH.

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I've discussed this at length in the monthly threads on the main A stories as established by Week 1...which Martin's secret was one of them. Most soaps would have an A story one week with all the B/C plots just orbitting about. BTG did that well itself in the first two/three weeks. But like I mentioned before one of the A stories (Dani/Bill/Hayley) they can't keep going to that at the moment since it was already overkill by the end of Month 1. The other one...the Silk Press storyline...was really the only one that has been well-paced in my opinion with twists, turns, and builds...including subplots and near-misses. But that was not going to explode before May Sweeps.

So that left Martin's secret...which as I said...started off well. I loved how it started with Martin having problems sleeping, but NO images. Then we got sounds. THEN we started to get images. And NOW those images are getting more established. But before we got all that, his storyline...which has been established to be a main one...vanished for a month and a half. While it worked for the storyline since Month 2 gave Martin (and Brandon Clayborn to grow) time to be more established...along with his family...the story of his secret could have also been a story that had a nice slow burn (which I love) to the show while having the other B/C plots orbitting it. Again, not mad at it since it allowed the audience to learn more about Martin and his family life. It also allowed for other B/C plots to grow on the audience. I also think the story development for that A story might have suffered from the writers still trying to find a rhythm that works for this show.

 

In any case, I also said that I felt they might go old school soap in May. And by old school I meant as an A story is climaxing, the writers take another story that will be the next one and start to build it up again, while also starting another plot as a C plot. And right now, we have the SilkPress storyline climaxing while Martin's nightmares (with images) have finally started to come back into play. I mentioned when I saw the promos of Martin vs Ted that hopefully the reveal would trigger Martin to the point that we FINALLY get to see what he did. So far...how Martin's been acting since the reveal, being so triggered, I still feel that is how we will see how things happened...allowing the next A story to finally take off. 

 

Fingers crossed. 

 

[Vee]

This show has many, many old school influences in how it approaches recapping, elder characters or supporting players, certain character monologues, etc. Some of that is stuff that feels straight out of the Bell formula or B&B, and some of it feels even older to me. That's not entirely a compliment or a positive nor is it a whole negative. It's a very wonky mix at times of dialogue that tries very, very hard to be hip and current - with varying degrees of success or cringe - with old-fashioned soap storytelling exposition and character monologuing. It's actually fascinating to watch, good or bad.

[Contessa Donatella]

Louise, what memories & Brooks with her! Other favorite domestics: Lucinda's butler Matthew, Ginger on GL, Vivian of course on AW. A notable butler & a notable cook at the Qs. DAYS Ivan taking care of Vivian Allamain all of those years. Oh, on AW Carl had a driver who sometimes had other duties: Ito? I recall him being Asian. I always felt sorry for Louise & Brooks when Mac & Rachel would fall out. How difficult it must have been for them with all that tension & heaven forbid they be in the room for one of their fights, which were violent & mean-spirited & loud! 

[Taoboi]

I agree. Even the discussion about cuts at the end of scenes. I'm binging THE DEFENDERS right now, and it has those cuts. Is it odd? Oh God yes. Heck, I will say it's worse than what has been discussed here because it does not bother me here and this was back in 2017/2018.

 

That said...I am starting to look forward to BTG finding their proper rhythm. 

 

 

[Soaplovers]

I think with the Silk Press Sheila/Eva/Ted/Nicole situation fully out and in the open (for the most part)... I have some predictions for May/June:

Kat/Eva/Tomas:  With the revelation that her father, who she held up as a hero, is not as perfect as he's presented himself to be.. I see Kat focusing her energy on supporting her mother and pushes Tomas away (she had mentioned to Vernon about how Tomas had asked her to step in and talk Naomi into dropping the lawsuit and how she didn't feel comfortable with that).   With Tomas pushed away from Kat.. he becomes the one individual that's nice to Eva and also feels a bit of guilt since his telling of what she confided in him to Kat ended up being the spark that made Kat resume investigating Eva.   Eva will also go to Tomas for comfort... and that will cause even more conflict/issues between herself and Kat... and Kat and Tomas.

Nicole/Ted:  As we've seen for the last 2+ months... Nicole is not anything like Dani and her response to Silk Press' bombshells proves that.  Even if she opts not to file for divorce.. I predict a messy War of the Roses type of situation.   Although she kind of bought this on herself with the bottomless pit of trust she had for Eva irregardless of the fact that she came recommended by Mona.

Martin:  I have a feeling that his memories of the being Silk Press Sheila's little brownie friend will also revive the nightmares full stop.. and May will have this be the A story with Smitty and kids affected by this secret of his from the past.  If found out.. will Smitty leave him, or will Smitty continue his unhealthy devotion to Martin (and it is unhealthy)?

 

My wishlist for May/June for the B and C stories:

 

And also, I hope we get some more focus/development on the Joey/Vanessa/Doug situation.. and also connect the threads of that threesomes to Jacob/Jacob's partner/Jacob's dad thread... and also get to see who else Joey starts to set his sights on (perhaps a Dupree.. since they're vulnerable right now).

Naomi/Jacob:  Cute couple.. but why are they together.  As the late Agnes Nixon would ask if she viewed them .. why are they together?  What is it about Naomi and Jacob's pasts pre marriage has led the two to find one another and get married?  Naomi seems a control freak... is it a way to not be like her 'weak' mother Dani so she calls the shots?  What draws Jacob to Naomi?  Is it her sense of justice and passion?  Is it the Dupree last name? 

Ashley/Derek:  The last time she was on, we finally got a bit of personality from her that isn't so perfect.  She's high strung/anal about her surroundings and her life.  Is she like this because she was a latchkey kid due to her single mother working all the time?  Is she only with Derek because he's 'simple' and 'uncomplicated'.. someone she thinks won't try to upset her routines?  As I say... I don't know if the writers/producers have the 'why' figured out for these two.. and if they can figure that out.. story can generate from that.

Edited May 8 by Soaplovers

[Gatecrashers]

Only falling or tripping dreams for me...

[YRfan23]

While Daphne D, Trisha MG, and Ambyr M are definitely in the running for an Emmy nom next year,  Brandon Claybon actually impressed me a lot too! It's just a shame we rarely see Martin and Ted in scenes together, which would have made everything more impactful! 

[Tisy-Lish]

To each his own, but I am lovin' the Duprees.   Doesn't mean the show is perfect, but the Duprees are not the problem.