Portia came on as a principled, driven and notably no bullshít doctor. That's the version of the character I liked. (Her deception re: Trina is literally xeroxed from what Jordan did with Shawn and T.J., the same story copypasted onto two Black women the show keeps in C-story, so I can't really fault her for that.)

The show clearly dislikes Portia and/or Brook Kerr, so today we have Portia constantly crashing out instead. They seem to want us to settle for the two most wooden Black performers on the show.

Edited November 16Nov 16 by Vee

2 minutes ago, Vee said:

Portia came on as a principled, driven and notably no bullshít doctor.

It is what GH does best: lobotomise their female characters. Start out one way and then they weaken and become submissive. It's disgustingly sad that's how ABC/GH/TPTB see women on this soap.

2 hours ago, Vee said:

Portia came on as a principled, driven and notably no bullshít doctor. That's the version of the character I liked. (Her deception re: Trina is literally xeroxed from what Jordan did with Shawn and T.J., the same story copypasted onto two Black women the show keeps in C-story, so I can't really fault her for that.)

The show clearly dislikes Portia and/or Brook Kerr, so today we have Portia constantly crashing out instead. They seem to want us to settle for the two most wooden Black performers on the show.

See I don’t think they dislike Brooke Kerr or Portia. They just treat her like the one Black character they can reliably dump into endless “harboring a secret” storylines because they know BK can sell em. It’s lazy, and it lets them keep the rest of the Black cast stuck in that virtuous, sanctimoniously boring box. Portia deserves actual nuance, real backstory, and family of her own on canvas instead of being glued to Curtis and his snoozefest orbit.

I noticed that the dialogue has gotten very heavy on story regurgitation and telling the audience what is about to happen as opposed to just letting us see it. If they spent less time on writing scenes like endless plot recapping and more on actual plot and character development and understanding you’d have a much more interesting show.

I got a good chuckle out of Lulu and Dante having to watch their son be carted off to jail the same way Michael was after they convinced him to confess to killing Claudia. Good use of Finn Carr and the legacy grandkids with this lab plot. I should have known Ric and Sonny trying to make amends was only so he could screw up Rocco’s case lol.

I still have no use for Britt and it feels like she’s on everyday and in every storyline 🤢 is this how the Carly haters always feel? 😂

They missed an opportunity to tell a whole storyline with the Mayoral campaign competition. I get that Genie takes a vacation but having the whole election race take place offscreen until it was debate and voting time was a misstep. I want Laura to lose for her allegiance to Sonny. I also expect Daniel Cosgrove to be revealed as the person Jacinda was really with the night Drew was shot.

Speaking of Jacinda it feels like Frank grabbed the first cheap bland and blonde actress he could find and slotted her into Sasha’s place on canvas (who was useless herself until they finally dumped her). The scenes with Michael/Nina/Willow/Drew have been fun though. Is it bad I kind of want Michael and Nina to end up hunching? RG and CW have good chemistry.

Lucas acts like a petulant immature teenager, I’m glad Carly told him how stupid he is for moving into Wyndemere and that she whacked Josslyn for convincing him to do it too.

I like Sidwell and the teases of him and Ava but I still have no idea what the hell his villain purpose actually is. Every thing just feels very vague and he’s been on canvas for over a year at this point trying to get those docks with very little actual movement.

1 hour ago, detroitpiston said:

it feels like Frank grabbed the first cheap bland and blonde actress he could find and slotted her into Sasha’s place on canvas

"Interchangeable blondes" is straight from the Paul Rauch playbook.  (Apparently, that s.o.b. taught Frank very well, lol).

Michael fúcking Nina would be wild.

1 hour ago, detroitpiston said:

I like Sidwell and the teases of him and Ava but I still have no idea what the hell his villain purpose actually is. Every thing just feels very vague and he’s been on canvas for over a year at this point trying to get those docks with very little actual movement.

There isn't one. He's just around because Frank likes Carlo Rota, like many actors he keeps around too long. As such they slot him into every scheme that comes along.

You may be right about BK but it's still been ruinous to Portia, who was a solid and strong character IMO.

I can't really get behind the Lucas stuff because I know they are setting up bringing back Brad yet again, forcing more of Britt/Brad's double act on us and then trying to make Brad and Lucas reunite again. Whereas he and Marco are actually hot. But they all but explicitly said last week or the week before that Marco was Lucas' rebound by having Lucas ask the question.

Edited November 16Nov 16 by Vee

20 hours ago, titan1978 said:

To this day I still prefer Sydney Mikayla. But Tabyana was a good recast, has plenty of fire, and should be allowed to tell younger lead stories. There is no reason why Drew should not know about them being in his house and be blackmailing one or both of them.

I like them both. But I felt that Tabyana did make Trina her own. And then once Sprina really started and appeared to have that triangle with Rory, I was hoping for great things. But alas.

 

She really should be in more in right now. Joss is off being Sydney Bristow. A group with Danny, Rocco, and Charlotte is forming. There was a group forming with her, Kai, Gio, and Emma, but she was pretty much faded into the background which makes no sense since she's Joss's BFF (and roommate still?) and close to Gio. So why is she in a bubble? Okay, I know why, but WHY? 

13 minutes ago, Khan said:

"Interchangeable blondes" is straight from the Paul Rauch playbook.  (Apparently, that s.o.b. taught Frank very well, lol).

Hahahaha

4 hours ago, Vee said:

The show clearly dislikes Portia and/or Brook Kerr, so today we have Portia constantly crashing out instead. They seem to want us to settle for the two most wooden Black performers on the show.

I think they like her. It’s just like Willow- they seem to only like to write women on the verge with little variety. I think it’s part of why Laura and Carly are not used appropriately in the last couple of years, and why Alexis always makes stupid decisions. Tracy is strong but she (stupidly) is a good punching bag. Laura is no longer a basket case so they don’t use her well. Anna they recreated into a shivering, weepy mess. Britt is there to show a certain type of gay man’s idea of strong women (and I am a gay man, I know my people’s work when I see it). Carly plays it all balls to the wall. They want Cynthia Watros desperate. Ava stopped being the same kind of lead as soon as she was done being terrorized by Ryan and Esme. Of the women in actual leading stories right now they are all a version of a damsel in distress except for Joss, a recent recreation of Action Barbie Courtney.

Now do I think Donnell Turner likes acting with Kerr? Not very much. Or maybe like all the spoiled men on this show he doesn’t like the stories so he doesn’t really invest and it shows. The women on GH never get to do this! It does make me laugh that everybody can see how much he loves working with Genie Francis though. He would hitch his wagon to that icon in a second.

Do I believe Anna would be frightened if she thought Faison was alive? Yes. But we would just see the slightest of cracks. Anna used to be believably lethal (for a soap) because she kept things close to her chest and had a commanding if chilly demeanor. I have zero issues with Anna being allowed to have access to her feelings in a way she didn’t before. But she is not someone we should see shaking in fear.

11 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Britt is there to show a certain type of gay man’s idea of strong women (and I am a gay man, I know my people’s work when I see it).

DEAD.

 

12 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Of the women in actual leading stories right now they are all a version of a damsel in distress except for Joss, a recent recreation of Action Barbie Courtney.

shivers

 

12 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Now do I think Donnell Turner likes acting with Kerr? Not very much.

That's sad to hear. I've been enjoying a lot of Curtis's confrontations with Portia as of late. And while BK has been fascinating to watch spin out, I felt DT has been surprisingly hoping his own.

 

14 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Do I believe Anna would be frightened if she thought Faison was alive? Yes. But we would just see the slightest of cracks. Anna used to be believably lethal (for a soap) because she kept things close to her chest and had a commanding if chilly demeanor. I have zero issues with Anna being allowed to have access to her feelings in a way she didn’t before. But she is not someone we should see shaking in fear.

Same. Compared how she acted this past week in her Jason scenes discussing the possibility of Faison being alive to the great Faison reveal Duke mask scenes when she was in front of him with the ear-piercing scream Anna let out. That was perfect fright and so in character for her vs the whiny Anna that Finola has been giving. And I love Finola being able to show emotion as well though she can still be commanding and chilly. I feel Anna would NEVER come across as a weak damsel in distress type because she would fight, outsmart, and flirt her way out of any situation before running to someone to help her. 

I think the show struggles a bit when it comes to giving any of its characters psychological depth or believable motivations. But it's particularly pronounced when it comes to the black characters, who seem to have no pasts at all beyond a few references to the relationship dramas we've seen play out onscreen. I mean, Isaiah has been on the show for a year now, and we know literally nothing about his backstory (or even why he's so into Portia). Sawandi Wilson is a good enough actor to mostly make this work, but the character is still almost a blank slate.

When it comes to Portia, it would be pretty easy to give her some dialogue with Isaiah where she reflects on her past and explains how she became such a compulsive liar. It would probably have something to do with her perfectionism and the extra burden of having to be a standard bearer for black excellence in otherwise white-dominated communities like GH. It would make perfect sense why she's so guarded and feels like no one can know the real Portia. But I think there's almost no chance these writers will do the work and give her that degree of psychological realism. 

5 minutes ago, prefab1 said:

I think the show struggles a bit when it comes to giving any of its characters psychological depth or believable motivations.

The show...or THESE writers?  Cuz it is not like they did not get a good reference point two years ago as they were returning coming in.

 

6 minutes ago, prefab1 said:

But it's particularly pronounced when it comes to the black characters, who seem to have no pasts at all beyond a few references to the relationship dramas we've seen play out onscreen. I mean, Isaiah has been on the show for a year now, and we know literally nothing about his backstory (or even why he's so into Portia). Sawandi Wilson is a good enough actor to mostly make this work, but the character is still almost a blank slate.

Very. I can't believe that characters that came on because JJ finally returned as Lucky are all that's left of his return.

 

7 minutes ago, prefab1 said:

When it comes to Portia, it would be pretty easy to give her some dialogue with Isaiah where she reflects on her past and explains how she became such a compulsive liar. It would probably have something to do with her perfectionism and the extra burden of having to be a standard bearer for black excellence in otherwise white-dominated communities like GH. It would make perfect sense why she's so guarded and feels like no one can know the real Portia. But I think there's almost no chance these writers will do the work and give her that degree of psychological realism. 

I love all of this and agree. 

5 hours ago, Liberty City said:

It is what GH does best: lobotomise their female characters. Start out one way and then they weaken and become submissive. It's disgustingly sad that's how ABC/GH/TPTB see women on this soap.

It’s just as misogynistic as Guza/JFP but in a different way. It doesn’t lean into cat fights and sleaze as much, nobody is screaming whore at women’s faces for example. But it’s just as diminishing!

52 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

Very. I can't believe that characters that came on because JJ finally returned as Lucky are all that's left of his return.

It’s so ridiculous. Because they wanted Lucky to be more like Luke than police officer Lucky. So they set up the big bad going after Sonny that Lucky has already dealt with, and never put them together again! And it’s what they should have done with Kristina, making her get involved in daddy’s business instead of trying to make it seem like the show wanted to pair her with Lucky. Or worse, just have them own a boring ass bar together. Sidwell should have been threatening Liz, Aiden, Lucky, etc. It would make the already good scene we had with Laura and Sidwell even better. Isiah should also be in his sights, which could have roped Portia and Trina into the danger. A real umbrella story!

1 hour ago, prefab1 said:

When it comes to Portia, it would be pretty easy to give her some dialogue with Isaiah where she reflects on her past and explains how she became such a compulsive liar. It would probably have something to do with her perfectionism and the extra burden of having to be a standard bearer for black excellence in otherwise white-dominated communities like GH. It would make perfect sense why she's so guarded and feels like no one can know the real Portia. But I think there's almost no chance these writers will do the work and give her that degree of psychological realism. 

This would absolutely be the way to go, except maybe I would have this be after Trina confronts her. Let Portia open up to her daughter about what she was willing to compromise and compartmentalize just to succeed as a black woman with her background, her ambitions, and her intelligence being challenged.

5 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

And it’s what they should have done with Kristina, making her get involved in daddy’s business instead of trying to make it seem like the show wanted to pair her with Lucky. Or worse, just have them own a boring ass bar together. Sidwell should have been threatening Liz, Aiden, Lucky, etc. It would make the already good scene we had with Laura and Sidwell even better. Isiah should also be in his sights, which could have roped Portia and Trina into the danger. A real umbrella story!

So much this. That crossed my mind (is Kristina about to have more to play?) when they had Sonny/Kristina interact with Sidwell/Marco some episodes back. I forgot that Sidwell was behind the bombing as well as he's behind the dead judge and making Drew the fall guy if necessary. And now he's entering the ALIAS Joss storyline, too by Britt/Joss? Wow.

 

It also adds a layer to the Laura vs Sidwell scene because I actually did forget that just being happy to see Laura.   Sidwell could have been such a thorn in Lucky's side since he definitely believes in the payback. So it's odd that he was in town and did none of that. smh.

 

Another layer, too, since Isaish and Jordan were a thing. I do feel with what I said above that all things Sidwell might be slowly turning into an umbrella story though.