Some really nice date scenes today with Ric and Liz @Taoboi. I’m not getting my hopes up though but I will enjoy whatever they give me with them.

38 minutes ago, StevieM said:

Unlike many, I liked the idea of Nathan coming back while Maxie was in a coma and resuming his old life while she wasn't around. It felt different than the same cliched story that we had all seen on soap operas so many times.

But what you said was the problem. There wasn’t really a story to play because they intended Maxie be there the whole time. So it just stalled out, and instead of Nathan having scenes rebuilding like that was the actual story it just went nowhere.

I'm not at all against Dante staying as Police Commissioner. It brings his recurring issues about his professional life vs personal life re: Sonny/nowMichael to the forefront. And that story...especially right now...just writes itself.

9 hours ago, titan1978 said:

I saw some rumors that it is a health issue but not specified. I hope she is okay.

As do I. So I will take it that Anna will be in France for the foreseeable future. And now Jason's exit storyline writes itself if he goes after her/Faison.

26 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

Some really nice date scenes today with Ric and Liz @Taoboi. I’m not getting my hopes up though but I will enjoy whatever they give me with them.

Thank you!! I knew about the dress, but I still was wondering if they would show it. So excited. BUT not too much. hehe.

13 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

But what you said was the problem. There wasn’t really a story to play because they intended Maxie be there the whole time. So it just stalled out, and instead of Nathan having scenes rebuilding like that was the actual story it just went nowhere.

And for all my shade at said story...THAT would have been interesting to watch. Nathan trying to rebuild his life while using Spinelli and James to play the 'Is it really Nathan?' angle.

Sidenote....that is part of the reason I loved Lulu's return story. It was more interesting to watch Lulu struggle with the fact that she was in a coma for four years and missed so much. From deaths to her children growing up to the love of her life finding someone and losing her. AB was selling that, and she did it soooo well. Even for scenes where it was clear it was not written on the page or the scene Lulu would be in. Even her vs BLQ as her second story had layers stringing from that angle. It was just sad that it felt like EK and CVE differed on that...perfering to go for a more straight-forward (or should I say slantedly written) story of a feud.

Credits for Tuesday, February 17, 2026:

Created by: Frank & Doris Hursley
Executive producer: Frank Valentini
Head writers: Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten
Writers: Suzanne Flynn; Scott Sickles and Cathy Lepard
Director: Gary Tomlin

Nathan's return has been consistent with his last run. Nothing too deep; the actor just tries to be polite and emote empathy and lets his scene partners do all the work. There's nothing there, there's never been anything there, so not surprising the writers chose not to bother to explore anything.

If Nathan turns out to be the big bad, it ain't going to work. A polite, befuddled bad guy? They better be ready with the rewrites.

Ohhh Willow and Sidwell teaming up? That's fun.