BTG: August 2025 Discussion Thread

[Soaplovers]

Dani makes everything about herself.   She's a classic narcissist and it has been hinted by other characters that she has always pulled this stunt before.

[Joseph]

Ok, I'm 90% sure Hayley faked the miscarriage just can't figure out why

[GLATWT88]

If she didn't fake it, then Hayley has got to be one of the dumbest characters on the show. Her reason for denying the ultrasound the first time doesn't make any sense. Plotting to have Randy there after she confronts Dani clearly shows she premeditated that whole fiasco. Now whether she was actually pregnant at any point between telling Bill, her first scare, and the supposed miscarriage is unknown, but I don't think she was ever pregnant. 

[dragonflies]

LOL not even remotely accurate

 

Dani has a heart, Narcissist's do NOT 

You actually described Hayley to a "T"

[Soaplovers]

Therapists and USA Today would disagree.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2023/09/19/narcissism-and-breakups-can-a-narcissist-feel-heartbroken/70888597007/

[DeeVee]

The whole Hayley pregnancy story makes no sense to me. 

Dani immediately pronouncing the pregnancy a fake seemed like just another part of her obsession with Bill. But then she turns out to be right? Why? Why would Hayley lie about being pregnant? She had already landed Bill. When they were first married and she thought she might be pregnant, both she and Bill acted at first like it was unwelcome news, that neither was really interested in having kids.

MAYBE when she first thought she was pregnant she went to the doctor and the doctor told her not only are you not pregnant, you can't ever have kids. And she cooked this up to make it look like it's Dani's fault that she'll never have kids?

But if that's the case, why the whole thing about her tripping on the box when Dani wasn't even around?

I'm out.

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[Chris B]

I really enjoyed this past week and the teases of what could come this fall. I 100% agree that they dropped the ball on showing Haley's POV (which could've easily been fixed by showing her friendship with Caroline) but I can't say they didn't win me over this week with the tease of a connection to Randy. There are so many places they can take this! Is Randy a relative or ex-lover of hers? Is Haley connected to Joey somehow and this is all a plot from Joey to make sure he has something on Bill? They definitely gave me enough to make me intrigued. I also think this finally takes Haley more into the villainess route which I like. We were long overdue for movement in this story.

I also really enjoyed the scenes with Elon and Jacob on Thursday. I understand both men's side of things which is something I love that this show does. Not everything is black and white and I feel like with them being cops that adds another dimension to this story.

The Vanessa story is finally picking up the pace which makes me happy. I need her to get the A story treatment. Lauren Buglioli was an excellent find and is a chemistry magnet. It's time for them to invest more fully in her. I want Vanessa and Doug to get a house set and I'm ready to see the kids as well. 

The weakest part of the week was obviously the Ashley/Derek stuff. Derek works outside of Ashley so I was disappointed when they squashed the potential romance with Shanice. For Ashley, I don't think she works with Andre either but I do love her as Naomi's friend and I love the idea she knows Haley is up to something. I'd focus her character more on that and less on trying to find love. If they want to give her a love interest they need to cast someone new. I think Dani/Andre is the money couple and if they keep going with this Ashley stuff it's going to turn viewers off from Andre being with Dani.

 

[ranger1rg]

I hear you on this, but weren't we told that Hayley was really close with Bill's daughters and his entire family? How did Hayley enter this villain phase while she was so close to Naomi and Chelsea?

This storyline is a mess.

[Joseph]

My take: It was A Ectopic Pregnancy, she would lose the baby anyways so she decided to milk it while she could and use the miscarriage to "pacify" Dani

[Tisy-Lish]

One big mistake BTG has made is not giving Hayley a talk-to character.  They should have cast her mother, or sister, or someone with whom Hayley can express her wants and needs -- which would have allowed the viewers to know her motivation.  Hayley could be BTG's version of Erica Kane, Lisa Miller, or Rachel Davis -- but those three wonderful bad-girls all had mothers to talk to, and who would set them straight occasionally.  

BTG has two "big-bad" villains (Joey and Leslie). But the show also needs a couple of low-key trouble-makers, who are less over-the-top and can be a presence for years and years on the show.  Perhaps a Rachel/Lisa type, and a John Dixon/Roger Thorpe type.  

Edited August 9 by Tisy-Lish

[All My Shadows]

I never realized it before, but this is exactly correct. She needs the put-upon mother figure to be her anchor and occasional conscience. I know people like to believe that BTG is above a lot of classic soap tropes (and it’s a hard disagree on that for me), but there’s a reason why some of those tropes have lasted through the ages.

Dani is the younger sibling in a very wealthy family. Those people are almost always narcissists, and she is the textbook example rather than the exception to the rule. Any time she gives a damn about anyone else, it’s “Nice to see Dani with…” and “Nice to see Dani show concern for…” That’s bc all we ever see the spoiled btch do is get drunk and cry about her own disaster of a life!

I couldn’t really hear during the preview for next week, but did we get confirmation that June is Sam and Tyrell’s birth mother?

[Chris B]

Well she was able to keep her affair with Bill a secret so I wouldn't put it past her. It's also possible that she inserted herself in their lives as part of an overall plot. All we know is that she is basically this poor little orphan that the Hamilton's took in. How can we trust her backstory when she's a proven liar?

[Tisy-Lish]

Many soap-opera tropes (the moustache-twirling super villain, multiple returns from the dead, evil doppelgängers, campiness, etc.) have been harmful to the genre. And I support BTG's efforts to avoid those. But other soap tropes (those that are classic and archetypal) actually enhance the drama and contribute positively to the genre.  The "social-climbing daughter with the long-suffering working-class mother" is a trope that simply works. Over the decades, it has driven up ratings on multiple soaps, and the viewers always seem to love that dynamic. Plus, that dynamic helps explain and humanize the bad-girl, and helps the audience to understand and empathize with her.  

Edited August 9 by Tisy-Lish

[Paul Raven]

This Hayley faking pregnancy story might have worked down the line when issues had arisen in the marriage.

Maybe one of he kids is in an accident and Bill/Dani draw closer.

Dani gets involved with a man Bill doesn't trust and Hayley is jealous of her husband's obsession with this.

Something in Hayley's past comes to light and Bill is disenchanted.

Any/all of these could lead to Hayley faking a baby as she's scared Bil might leave her/

A year/18 months down the line.

Not less than 6 months in.

I am intrigued however by the Randy/Hayley connection at this point.

 

[melanatedbtgfan]

I hate to be "that person" but the way the scriptwriting is set up, it seems that Dani is the one that's supposed to be the Erica Kane type of the show.