2 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

I think you're right!

And I could be dead wrong.

But there's been a TON of literary symbolism going on the past few episodes that points to Naomi being pregnant. It's the type of thing writers & readers jump onto.

Anita yelled at Tracy the other day and broke a teacup. As she flung the cup, Senator Dupree walked in just as Anita yelled, "I want more grandchildren!"

Then, at the Mardi Gras celebration following Epiphany, Naomi (of all people) "got the baby". And Naomi didn't say it once, but yelled it twice, to drive the point home, that SHE was the one who "got the baby". Anita then brought Naomi a crown, which seemed to symbolize Anita "passing something" to Naomi (the triple negative cancer gene). At the end of the episode, Naomi presented Anita with a gift, by placing the crown on Anita's head for the photograph, indicating that Naomi would be "gifting" something to Anita later (the grandbaby that Anita told Tracy she wanted).

On 1/5/2026 at 9:37 PM, Soaplovers said:

kind of feel after the show hooked Eva/Tomas up then he tossed her aside, he seemed to have lost the one aspect of his presence that worked.. his connection and rapport with Eva.

I wish the show would pull the trigger on him being a social climbing player because the way the actor is playing Tomas is a low key player trying to pretend to be the perfect boyfriend. The writing and his performance seems to be clashing.

With Ashley.. Jen Jacob isn't a bad actress and seems to play Ashley with an edge that isn't in the writing for her character 90 percent of the time. The only time where the writing and the acting come together was during that brief time she was onto Hayley and the two had that exchange at Uptown. She and Hayley had a good rapport during that exchange... but since then, the writing seems to want to portray Ashley as a Mary Sue when the actress has more back bone that conflicts with the writing.

Derek always seemed to be a throwaway char

And even that connection (by books) has been passed on to Eva and Izaiah so he's Dead Man Walking.

Don't give me reminders of Ashley being all Carrie Bradshaw. I...*shivers*. At least, this week continues to show where she really shines...as a SUPPORTING character.

It will be curious to see if Derek will just fade away or if he will turn cray-cray.

OOPS. I guess 1-7 wasn't loaded on my system yesterday.

That's fine. I don't mind rewatching 1-8 again. It had a lot of interesting bits that I wanted to rewatch again for sure.

21 minutes ago, Broderick said:

But there's been a TON of literary symbolism going on the past few episodes that points to Naomi being pregnant. It's the type of thing writers & readers jump onto.

I felt the same. It does look like just like last year in the first few months, BTG will keep doing foreshadowing into this year as well.

There's definitely a story there for Derek going to the dark side. Not out and out psycho but becoming desperate to regain Ashley-trying to create 'accidental' meet ups, the 'we can still be friends' strategy etc.

Having Greg Vaughan come on and teasing a relationship with Nicole and then having her seeing Carlton is an odd choice. I'm sure Kial will start appearing more regularly but it is a rocky start.

Agree. Like @Soaplovers mentioned, it does seem like they are still dangling that carrot out there even though Derek could have completely vanished after he finally read Ashley down the day at the hospital hub when he found out that she didn't even wait a day before she was knocking on Andre's door after finding out he didn't tell her about getting feeling in his legs again.

Well re: Kial. Got to build up that triangle. And it's harder when the writers took forever to focus back on Nicole's POV.

58 minutes ago, Broderick said:

And I could be dead wrong.

But there's been a TON of literary symbolism going on the past few episodes that points to Naomi being pregnant. It's the type of thing writers & readers jump onto.

Anita yelled at Tracy the other day and broke a teacup. As she flung the cup, Senator Dupree walked in just as Anita yelled, "I want more grandchildren!"

Then, at the Mardi Gras celebration following Epiphany, Naomi (of all people) "got the baby". And Naomi didn't say it once, but yelled it twice, to drive the point home, that SHE was the one who "got the baby". Anita then brought Naomi a crown, which seemed to symbolize Anita "passing something" to Naomi (the triple negative cancer gene). At the end of the episode, Naomi presented Anita with a gift, by placing the crown on Anita's head for the photograph, indicating that Naomi would be "gifting" something to Anita later (the grandbaby that Anita told Tracy she wanted).

I could see the show going in the direction of Naomi finding out she's pregnant when she's doing the tests for the gene. I also could see an Ellie Synder (ATWT) situation where she could possibly get an abortion because of this fear and also not wanting to put her career on hold for a baby without telling Jacob.

40 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

And even that connection (by books) has been passed on to Eva and Izaiah so he's Dead Man Walking.

Don't give me reminders of Ashley being all Carrie Bradshaw. I...*shivers*. At least, this week continues to show where she really shines...as a SUPPORTING character.

It will be curious to see if Derek will just fade away or if he will turn cray-cray.

Except we don't have the conflict/stakes of Izaiah and Eva being a couple like there was when Tomas/Eva were teased. Which is why I think either his family will disapprove of her, Tomas comes back into the picture, or Kat will make trouble.

You didn't like when Ashley was being all vanilla spice? LOL

57 minutes ago, Vee said:

SPOILER

Pamela is on next week.

Well, I'm thankful for that.

Although I enjoy Cady as Pamela, the character is nearly irrelevant at this point. Appearing in two episodes every two-months is ridiculous. I love Cady, but she needs to either fish or cut-bait.

And I'm assuming Greg Vaughn must have been a one-and-done role. Sad, because Kial and Nicole definitely had some chemistry.

1-7

Now that I got to see it...I really don't want to jinx it, but there is so much flow and momentum going on that I love it. We will see how I feel next week to see how the show pivots and/or keeps it going. See? An A story in Anita's cancer, but little stories going on. Special note for the writers still finding ways to find unusual pairings like Randy and SPS and Vernon/Ted.

If I was annoyed by anything, it's that I can't shake that the writers are trying to downplay Dani/Andre for Dani/Bill. I continue to dislike that. That was how I felt last year when Hayley was in Andre's current place. Dani/Andre was the lightning in the bottle, but it seem there was a bias to Dani/Bill. Guess what, writers? Karla Mosley has chemistry with BOTH. It's okay to play that with both and have the audience split over it. Like a great soap triangle. Dare I say it...Jax/Brenda/Sonny? That said I still live for Dani/Vanessa scenes. I also love that we are getting an increase in Dani/Vernon scenes. It was already established that she was the apple of Vernon's eye, but their scenes were sporadic. Improvement indeed.

The meeting of the villains = WOW. I thought it was very interesting what they are setting up with Joey vs Silk Press Sheila. Mostly because it brings back the menace that Trisha can play so well from beneath the surface of SPS. And the fact they both have each other's number is VERY intriguing. Adding on the subplot of the clinic as well as Marcel/SPS alliance...and it's giving slow burn powder keg. Could SPS be the one who finds out about Doug's death?

I continue to love the C plot of the Cotillion. I do wonder if we are going to see it. Will it be our next event? And I do like how it turns on the show's theme of the Haves and Have-Nots.

Side notes:

Ted/Shanice continue to be hilarious.

Ashley continues to work as a side-character.

4 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

And I'm assuming Greg Vaughn must have been a one-and-done role. Sad, because Kial and Nicole definitely had some chemistry.

It's not. It's apparently a major new character. They're just slow-rolling him.

12 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Except we don't have the conflict/stakes of Izaiah and Eva being a couple like there was when Tomas/Eva were teased. Which is why I think either his family will disapprove of her, Tomas comes back into the picture, or Kat will make trouble.

You didn't like when Ashley was being all vanilla spice? LOL

I agree. We really don't have any stakes with Izaiah/Eva. I think I said that myself either yesterday or a few days ago. I like the writers are giving Eva/Izaiah time to grow, but it's time for some conflict for sure. It seems like the writers are still in 'build them into a couple before stakes' mode or doing what they did with Dani/Bill after the first few weeks of the show by having them be in separate stories so the audience got to know them and would feel something once their storylines converged again. Well, that last part is IF they go there with Eva/Izaiah/Kat down the road...which is what I feel is going on and why currently Eva and Kat have their own stories going on. Add on how they have completely vanished Tomas from that story as well right down to book in-jokes is just another reason I feel he will be exiting left at some point (Febuary Sweeps?). So unless they converge the plot again, I would say the Hawthornes' disapproval of Eva would have to come into play if they want any kind of conflict at the moment.

Oh, I lived for Dani's shading Ashley every chance she got. LOL!!! Ashley was one of my favorite characters when the show started and I wanted to see the good idealistic girl get her dream job and then reality kicked in. And there were so many ways to write around that that developed her character. SPS potentially framing her for Laura's second almost-death and having to clear her name. Her being onto Hayley and the fake pregnancy as someone else mentioned. Even the drama with her and Derek moving in together had sooome potential at first. But how Ashley was handled was just...smh. People winded up on Derek's side against her than her and she's the main character. That's not good.

7 minutes ago, Vee said:

It's not. It's apparently a major new character. They're just slow-rolling him.

Well, slow-rolling is the right word for it. Because we haven't seen him or even heard his name mentioned for a month and a half. I sure hope the poor actor didn't move to Atlanta for this job.

Exactly. Re: Kial. Not unusual at all. And as stated, it took the writers forever to get back around to Nicole's POV after the anniversary party. So her next story does have to build up. And nothing more soapy than a soap triangle. Outside of a psycho of course.

Carlton gives me the creeps. What's his backstory? Is he divorced or has he just been lying in wait for Nicole all these years?

3 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Carlton gives me the creeps. What's his backstory? Is he divorced or has he just been lying in wait for Nicole all these years?

I think the whole Carlton thread playing out is a feint/obstacle for more of Kial Rollins/GV. I find him desperate too. Thirsting for his partner's wife for years.

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by Vee

8 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Well, slow-rolling is the right word for it. Because we haven't seen him or even heard his name mentioned for a month and a half.

Well, no. He first debuted on 12/8. But yes, we ought to see him soon.