35 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

That story is giving "We really don't want to punish Hayley."

Personally, I love Marquita Goings in this role and I’ll be saddened to see her leave the show. So, with that in mind, I am a bit forgiving of the writers for stalling the poisoning plot. I figure when Hayley is exposed, she’s leaving the show soon afterwards and I don’t want her to go. That being said, YES they need to advance this storyline. Hayley was revealed to be a scammer back in OCTOBER. It’s over half a year later and the only advancement in the storyline is that Lynette has come and gone and now we are back to square one — Hayley brazenly poisoning Bill’s drinks in public. 🙄

3 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

One comment regarding ATWT and that aspect of 'before & after Gunnar' for Barbara...well, different writers so yeah, Barbara was bound to be written differently. It wasn't Gunnar who caused Barbara's evolution from "doormat" ex-wife of James Stenbeck to vixen, it was the failed relationships that culminated with the breakup with Brian and seeing Brian quickly move on with Shannon, a woman Barbara dislike, that help shift Barbara to a vixen. Barbara even says this to a back from the dead James when she gloats that she's no longer a doormat, she's an even match for him. An excellent scene, written by the late great Douglas Marland.

It was 100% the great Douglas Marlard. #2 for me right behind #1 Henry Slesar.

17 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Ugh...those fantasies of Barbara's. HORRIBLE

Agreed. Barbara was beautiful, but blah at that point.

There doesn't have to be an event for stuff to happen, just better pacing of the stories.

The Bill/Hayley story should have been planned to have several reveals along the way. And when the story gains some movement-the poisoning, Lynette's arrival, there is no follow through.

Same with Leslie- the reveal that she ran over Laura was Wk1 and here we are over a year later and nothing. Now she just struts around mouthing off at everyone.

If the plan was to keep Hayley and Leslie, then the story should have been structured for that, so they had an option to keep them around in a viable way-not just delaying/forgetting stuff that happened.

My other note is the lack of triangles-that old soap staple. There's a hint of it with Hayley/Dani/Bill-but nobody is acting on it.

And Nicole/Ted/Kial/Carlton again isn't played strongly enough-Ted/Carlton are not adversaries, Nicole doesn't seem overly serious about Kial or Carlton.

Kat/Eva/Tomas was dropped as was Ashley/Derek/Andre.

Martin/Smitty, Jacob/Naomi, Joey/Vanessa, Madison/Chelsea, Eva/Isaiah don't have any third party creating conflict.

Not that every relationship should have that, but at least one strong triangle should be incorporated.

I am finally caught up on this week's episodes and they did not disappoint.

I loved the Cotillion episodes. It reminded me when my older brother was an escort for a family friend and all the rehearsals he had to go to.

I'm sad Derek died but Jen Jacob is doing a really great job. After Derek & Ashley finally broke up I began to like both characters. I loved the bickering between Derek and Leslie.

I really like Jordi Vilasuso on the show and I hope his roll continues to expand

9 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

There doesn't have to be an event for stuff to happen, just better pacing of the stories.

The Bill/Hayley story should have been planned to have several reveals along the way. And when the story gains some movement-the poisoning, Lynette's arrival, there is no follow through.

Same with Leslie- the reveal that she ran over Laura was Wk1 and here we are over a year later and nothing. Now she just struts around mouthing off at everyone.

If the plan was to keep Hayley and Leslie, then the story should have been structured for that, so they had an option to keep them around in a viable way-not just delaying/forgetting stuff that happened.

My other note is the lack of triangles-that old soap staple. There's a hint of it with Hayley/Dani/Bill-but nobody is acting on it.

And Nicole/Ted/Kial/Carlton again isn't played strongly enough-Ted/Carlton are not adversaries, Nicole doesn't seem overly serious about Kial or Carlton.

Kat/Eva/Tomas was dropped as was Ashley/Derek/Andre.

Martin/Smitty, Jacob/Naomi, Joey/Vanessa, Madison/Chelsea, Eva/Isaiah don't have any third party creating conflict.

Not that every relationship should have that, but at least one strong triangle should be incorporated.

yes to all of this! though it does seem that the show is committed to the clunky format and we may just have to live with it.

Near the beginning of today's special episode, did anyone else notice when Clifton Davis referred to Fairmont Crest as a town? I never thought Fairmont Crest was the name of the town -- I thought it was the name of the gated community, which was probably in the suburbs of an unnamed town/city in the greater DC area. Do you think Clifton Davis just misspoke? Or are tptb going to start promoting Fairmont Crest as the name of the entire town/city?

16 hours ago, Antoyne said:

Like now is the perfect time to finally make the Haley story the A story and wrap it up somehow. It doesn’t even feel like the writers know what they even want to do with the story at this point.

Very. It can be a crazy hot summer story now that the plasma ring storyline is taking a turn, Anita's cancer as the A story is on the backburner for a moment, and the cotillion storyline is now over.

But instead, it is moving as slow as the plasma ring storyline has been moving for months. And it is the better storyline of the two and personally better written. Or was.

14 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

There's a hint of it with Hayley/Dani/Bill-but nobody is acting on it.

What hint? It has always felt like Hayley was just a plot spoiler than a person to compete.

Now...Andre/Dani/Bill on the other hand...except for a little bit at the start of this 'second season'...have given the hint of an actual soap triangle and build organic. So it confound me how when the show plays with it...and it's giving soap...they sidelined it constantly.

On 5/23/2026 at 10:36 AM, DramatistDreamer said:

but Deanna is tapping into some inner sense ("inner vision") that her dad is still alive and later turns out to be correct.

Recently Deanna did say out loud that she has good instincts and Donnell has confirmed it too. Between Kat and Deanna I wonder if the writers are going along with the jokes about black people being psychic, telepathic, or spiritually connected. Especially because even though Deanna is a light skin biracial girl she clearly prefers her black parent.

On 5/23/2026 at 2:19 PM, Aback said:

I think the reason why Joey is white, or even exists at all, is because MVJ has the hots for the actor and has some PTSD-like affection for the Sonny character. And it's clouding her judgement.

This seems like a huge leap but honestly it's show business. Stranger types of favoritism has happened.

On 5/24/2026 at 7:24 AM, Forever8 said:

I do feel like Samantha is the weak link of that set, though I do hope since summer is approaching, they'll figure something out for her.

Samantha's character is simple. She's a rich girl who's spoiled, insecure, and unsure of what she wants her future to be. It's actually a straightforward character.

23 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Same with Leslie- the reveal that she ran over Laura was Wk1 and here we are over a year later and nothing. Now she just struts around mouthing off at everyone.

There's a few soap tropes that I had hoped that BTG would at least try to avoid for a couple of years - one was the endless SORAS-ing and confusing ages (HAAAI Days of our Lives), but they kind of screwed that up from the start with casting lol. The next is that moustache-twirling villains aren't indefinitively kept around despite doing the most heinous [!@#$%^&*]. Yes, keep around the "grey" villains that have limits, but I think once you go into attempted murder you kind of need to be punished at one point. The other is that deaths are permanent, and the last one seems like they're hopefully keeping track of?

ETA: a solution to the Leslie / Laura thing could be that they can't prove she did it in criminal court, but Laura brings a civil suit and end up ruining Leslie.

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by te.

6 hours ago, te. said:

There's a few soap tropes that I had hoped that BTG would at least try

ETA: a solution to the Leslie / Laura thing could be that they can't prove she did it in criminal court, but Laura brings a civil suit and end up ruining Leslie.

😭I mentioned this months ago.

I thought it would have made sense for Leslie to use her connection to Marcel to either taint evidence, essentially, the helmet, or prove that other sets of fingerprints have touch the helmet besides Leslie (Eva's prints have got to be on there, Kat may have worn gloves when she handled the helmet but I don't remember) thus muddying the chain of evidence and creating "Reasonable Doubt". I also mentioned months ago that when Leslie is arrested, that would have been a good time for BTG to bring back Mike Davis, because he's the only lawyer that Eva could find to represent Leslie. Of course, the show makes up this silly malpractice lawsuit against Madison to bring back Mike Davis (they listen but they don't listen 😩🙄) because the show needs a good ole fashion soap opera style court case with a jury and members of the community and county in the court room gallery. I also mentioned that during this time, Leslie should spend some time behind bars in prison and maybe run into Allison but I remember a few folks poo-pooed that idea🤷🏾‍♀️but I think those scenes could be interesting. It's not a problem for Mike to show up again and Bill will roll his eyes and say "I really should have had that guy disbarred when I had the chance" as he watches Mike deliver his opening statement from the gallery. Procter & Gamble soaps had some fantastic court cases, I always loved seeing character's reactions to testimony revelations and when the judge admonishes a witness (I could imagine that happening to Kat when she tries to add in extra commentary during her testimony😂), even a bit of a reversal when on the stand, when Ted (who the defense has called as a character witness) has to admit under cross-examination the number of times Leslie has crossed the line, including the time where he wound up in bed with her and Ted reluctantly admits that he did not give consent, causing gasps from the gallery. That would be the perfect time for Leslie to urge her lawyer to put her on the stand when her lawyer Mike has been explicitly trying to avoid this but with Ted's revelations they may have no choice. Leslie, under oath is forced to admit that she and Ted never slept together that night in his hotel room because he was passed out cold. More gasps from the gallery and the camera closes in on the Duprees reactions, Nicole's face and Anita's face as she looks at Nicole's reaction with concern. When they get to the issue of the helmet, Leslie, Eva and at least another set of unidentifiable prints are on the helmet which builds Mike's case for reasonable doubt. We can see Kat's face, searching her mind to try to remember whether she wore gloves when she handled the helmet (a well placed flashback would go there).

Are the fingerprints hers? Are they Marcel's? Or someone who Marcel found to taint the evidence?

Ultimately, the jury finds Leslie "Not Guilty". Once the judge bangs her gavel after the verdict, the Duprees look around to see that Laura has disappeared. Kat and Naomi offer to try to find her.

News gets around that Leslie was found "Not Guilty". The reactions are mixed. Vanessa shakes her head in disbelief and is irritated to see that Joey only chuckles in response. Joey mentions something about Vanessa being naive about the way the wheels of "justice" and how it actually works. Mona and Jan are outside of the courthouse. Mona, in particular is angry, Jan questions whether Leslie actually could have done it and points out that she was found innocent. "Not guilty...it's a big difference", Mona corrects her.

Later, Leslie is scene with Mike and Eva at the country club. Leslie orders a bottle of their best champagne. Eva squirms under the stares and glares of the other patrons.

At the Dupree mansion, commiserations all around as Nicole is on her phone and declares that there is still no word from Laura. Anita, backed by Vernon, reminds everyone that Laura is one of the most conscientious people she knows and won't do anything rash.

Kat and Naomi are at Uptown when Laura walks in. They have been looking all over town for her and are ready to console her when Laura says she went back to the courthouse but everyone had already left, she's also been looking for Naomi and wants to discuss something with her and she thinks it needs to happen fast.

Later-

At the Dupree mansion, Nicole informs everyone that Naomi texted her to let her know that they found Laura and are discussing something, and Kat's on her way.

Caroline enters Bill's office and says "he insists on seeing you", Bill groans and says "show him in". Mike, gloating says "what a great day to be in the legal profession" to which Bill responds "I should have had you disbarred when I had the chance". Mike replies "It's not to late". Bill: "too late to do what?" Mike: "bring me back to the firm". Bill is slack-jawed. Mike: "my answering service is overflowing with clients who want to hire me...more clients for me, would be more clients for this firm...think about it" and Mike leaves. Bill heaves a deep heavy sigh.

Naomi and Laura are outside of Uptown. Naomi is on her phone. Naomi: "Can we have that done today?" she looks at the expectant face of Laura and nods. Laura breathes a sigh of relief.

Ted sits in an office. Ted: "I can't believe I'm sitting here in a therapist's office. And it's not my ex-wife's". Therapist (a Napiera Groves type) "well, I am glad that you have entrusted me to guide you on this journey. Shall we begin?" Ted, nervous, nods. Ted: "let's begin".

At the Dupree mansion-

The Duprees, Jacob, Mona, et al are gathered when Naomi enters, followed by Laura. Everyone looks sad but relieved. Anita takes Laura by the hand. Anita: "how are you?" Laura: "I am trying to deal with...all of it but thanks to Naomi, I think there may be some shred of justice that can come out of this whole situation". Vernon: "Wow, that is an optimistic way to look at things". Laura: "It may hit me later but, then again, I'm still in processing mode"-

At the country club:

Leslie, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary, tries to clink glasses with Eva.

Leslie: "Aww, Eva, one more 'gain.

Eva: "Enough mama, don't you think you've had enough? It's late, why don't we call car service?"

Leslie: "Baby, don't be a wet blanket or is it...a party pooper? In all these years, I thought I told you how to live it up?"

The maître d', followed by another man walk over to Leslie and Eva's table.

Leslie (tipsy): "Don't tell me you called a bouncer?".

Man: Leslie Dana Thomas?

Leslie: "No autographs please".

Man, hands her an envelope. Man: "You've been served". Man, processor server walks away.

Leslie has a sober expression, Eva is stunned.

At the Dupree mansion.

Kat (to Laura): I'm glad you're going to stay and have dinner.

Anita (to Laura): I was worried you wouldn't have an appetite.

Nicole, with her arms around Laura. "I know it doesn't seem like it now but, we'll find a way through this".

Laura, silent, has a faraway look on her face and a glint in her eyes.

Music cues as scene fades to black

Geez, I could write this storyline myself in one weekend.💅🏾