Passions Vendetta and Aftermath.

The state of this show is bad.

Fox, Kay, Miguel, Siren

Waste of space and time. The only one making any sense out of all of them is Kay. Kay makes sense. After all that Kay did to try and get Miguel, which included attempted murder and selling her soul, is it any surprise that she’d want to be with Miguel w/amnesia? Along with Theresa, Kay is the poster child for obsessed women on this show.

Miguel makes no sense. He spent the better part of 5 years obsessing after Charity, even leaving his child for Charity’s sake. So any ‘love’ he has for Kay, after spending years considering her an afterthought, his ‘feelings’ for her don’t fit. And, add into that, his ‘relationship’ with Siren, who is a complete waste of space. A murderous mermaid wasting screentime.

Until I read another MB, I couldn't put my finger on why the Siren/Miguel thing irks me.

It's because it doesn't fit with the CHARACTER of Miguel.

Miguel spent FIVE YEARS PLUS ....

fixated/obsessed/in 'wuv' with Charity.

He and Charity were going to 'wait' until their wedding night.

Yet, he's glomming all over Siren, and talking about sleeping with her like it's nothing.

I want to know WHO Miguel has slept with OUTSIDE of the rape with Kay.

He hadn't consummated his relationship with Charity by the time she left the show.

So, he's been around the world, chasing after Charity, who is his undying 'true wuv', but in between, he got some humping in with random girls?

Huh?

That's why the Siren thing doesn't fit. Because, it doesn't go remotely along with anything that Miguel has done before.

Of course, a ‘triangle’ with 2 re-casts is always a recipe for disaster. I have few complaints about NuMiguel, mainly because he was replacing a subpar actor at best in Jesse. So, if this guy had no more acting talent than Jesse, we weren’t losing anything in the role. We’d just break even, which is what we’ve done. The guy spends more time shirtless than anything else, which is no surprise, because it’s one of the few positives about him. But, he’s more ‘ studly’ than Jesse, so, in the scheme of things, we came out on the plus side with this re-cast.

But, the opposite finally has to be said of the Fox re-cast. We’ve had enough time to see him onscreen and it has to be obvious that we lost out –BIG TIME – with this re-cast.

This guy on the screen calling himself Fox isn’t Fox. He has no depth. No oomph. No Crane-ness. Nothing. He’s just a lump, and Fox was never just a lump. Once again the casting department fell down on the job. In case they didn’t know, Justin was the best male under the age of 35 on this show. They should have tried harder when finding his replacement, instead of going to same barrel of pretty no-talents that Passions is known for in the genre.

This Kay with amnesia, it’s definitely a Passions gimmick, but considering how obsessed Kay was over Miguel, I think it’s the amnesia just unearthing those real feelings.

I believe Kay to be true to what’s in her heart. Even though her ‘relationship’ with Miguel was all in her mind, it was the most consuming part of Kay’s personality for five solid years. I also think it’s telling that Kay ‘gets’ Miguel with black magic. First time, he thought she WAS Charity, and this time, the halo?

LOL

Never Kay for Kay’s sake…hmmmmmm…wonder if there’s a message there.

As for the Vendetta, what a disappointment.

We go to Rome, and get a friggin NUN w/visions?

This was the PERFECT time to bring back Passions psychic connection – Grace and/or Charity.

TWO of Grace’s children went to Rome. Did they EVER EVER MENTION GRACE?

No. I honestly don’t see how this show would ever think that bringing back Grace is plausible at this point. Grace Bennett, upon finding out her youngest daughter was a drugged out hooker, would have come back to Harmony.

If you’re doing a story with visions, psychics, battles for Good and Evil on this show, and you’re going to the place where you sent the ‘Good’ part of this show (remember, last time Miguel spoke about Charity, she was in Europe), then this was the place to bring back Grace and/or Charity.

Fancy/Noah

Noah, that shrew never remotely loved you. Move on.

I’m glad they’re broken up because Noah deserves better. The only surprise was that the entire Maya/Lena thing was a scheme cooked up by Alistair. Not a bad scheme – vintage Alistair, and it was very interesting that even though Fancy found out the truth about Alistair, she didn’t forgive Noah.

Because she didn’t want to.

NOTHING she ever knew about Noah would make her TRULY believe that he cheated with Maya. While EVERYTHING that everyone else has said about Alistair fits right in with what Noah said.

She doesn’t WANT to believe Noah. She doesn’t want to understand Noah.

She’s seen kidnappings, physical beatings, people being trapped alive, been chased by lions, and now missiles because of Alistair……

Yet, she can’t believe Noah was threatened into leaving her, and he did what he did to protect her?

Of course not.

Because she wants Luis.

Which brings me to Lunacy.

I don’t see it. Don’t see any chemistry. Don’t see anything that remotely compares to Shuis.

And, I’m glad that this show has the sense enough to play Luis straight. He’s been true to himself and his love for Sheridan. Luis was never Ethan. Never a mamby/pamby, wishy-washy with his feelings.

He loves Sheridan.

Period.

That’s the entire thing for Luis. His heart and soul, and NO woman will ever come close in Luis’ eyes.

Fancy is a leech, hanging on Luis like some lovesick school girl. While she hasn’t had a nanosecond of thought in dumping Noah, Luis will not do the same. Luis will be on the rebound with Fancy – nothing more. Luis doesn’t feel worthy of Sheridan’s love; that is the change right now. Luis has always thought of himself as Sheridan’s ‘ Hero’. Even after he disappointed her with the Beth/Baby Shuis fiasco, he always held onto hope that he could redeem himself in Sheridan’s eyes and become her hero again. Now that he believes Baby Shuis is dead, it reminds him of his biggest disappointment when it comes to Sheridan. The time when she needed him to be her hero, he wasn’t, and Luis will never forgive himself for letting her down.

Now, onto our Crapney.

Crapney didn’t take any tests. Didn’t even go to a hospital to take a new DNA test. They took the word of a proven snake because it suits their purposes.

It’s beyond ridiculous that this show actually thinks that de-siblingizing Crapney is going to make any difference about them being disgusting, because it won’t. They are STILL the couple who had sex WHEN THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE BROTHER AND SISTER. And nothing is ever going to change that. They were disgusting and continue to be disgusting.

Then, the ridiculousness of bringing Chad’s ‘parentage’ to light, and FIRING the people who are his parents?

Did Alistair always know?

More importantly, did LIZ know, and didn’t care? Did she keep the lie going in order to hurt Eve even more?

They fire the likes of John Reilly and Amelia Marshall, yet keep a completely useless and wasteless character like Spike?

They fire the likes of John Reilly and Amelia Marshall, giving us absolutely NO scenes together with their ‘ son’?

Could it be because they know that Divins STILL can’t act his way out of a paperbag, the parentage revelations scenes proved that once again, and any scenes with his parents would be completely one-sided? Of course it is NBC’s fault that they continue to keep him employed.

The entire Liz thing points to an even bigger problem with Passions – it’s inability to fill in the gaps using their entire cast. I couldn’t stand Liz, but there was no reason for this show to completely waste Amelia the way that it did. Not only firing her in the way that they did, but completely misusing her for the previous year and half before they did it. Last time we saw Liz, she confessed to shooting Julian and trying to kill Alistair. We don’t even know WHY she did either one of them. Alistair threatened her with something; are we to assume now, that it was that Liz KNEW Chad was her son and let him believe otherwise? Even that’s ridiculous, because what was the motive? She hated Eve that much? Did she even know that she was adopted, which would make her anger at Eve even MORE ridiculous, which it already was, when they took Liz from being Eve’s

‘sister’ to ‘half-sister’ .

It wouldn’t have taken oodles of screentime to craft a plausible and continuous storyline during those months that Liz dropped off the face of the earth. It would have been too easy for Liz to GET her ‘ revenge’ on Eve – which included getting TC to marry her and giving him the ‘ son’ he always wanted. Giving Liz a family, THE family she always wanted, would have given her even MORE motive to want to rub out Alistair for threatening to reveal her past, and would have placed her ‘choices’ in a different life.

Liz finally gets the life she always wanted, and here Alistair is threatening to take that away by revealing his hideous past with her? A past that included a child she never wanted in the first place? This wouldn’t have been a front and center storyline, but it would have been a STORYLINE. A story to fill the missing months. To see Liz in the exact same place as Eve: having to keep silent about a past with a Crane in order to have a life with TC, because Liz would know that TC would never have married her, let alone have a child with her if he had known about her and Alistair. Would have reminded him too much of Eve, and considering that he doesn’t love her, there’d be no reason for him to stay with Liz.

TC marrying Liz and having a child with her would have also given him a storyline in these lost months, because this supposed ‘ triangle’ with Eve and Julian just doesn’t hunt. There WAS a time when Eve would have gone back to TC willingly; that time has long since past. She’s moved past TC; doesn’t mean she doesn’t care for him, and will always feel guilt about her lies to TC, but she’s not in love with him anymore. She’s in love with Julian.

Ethan/Theresa ‘turning point’.

I should be happy.

I should be thrilled.

As someone who has lamented the torture of Black Hole #1 for years now, I should have been overjoyed by Theresa’s ‘turning point’.

As it was, it was like so many ‘ turning points’ on Passions – anti-climactic.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want Theresa and Gwen to get a moment of ‘clarity’. I just didn’t buy the logic behind it.

Let me get this straight. Theresa has decided to give up on Ethan, now that she’s found out he was Ebait’s father, because he’ll never leave Gwen, and she can’t risk him going for custody of Ebait?

Huh?

I’d buy this IFFFFF, Theresa, with all the power in the Western World, had at least TRIED to get Jane back.

TRIED.

IF, when Alistair was in ComaLand, she decided that NOW was the time to get HER daughter back from Ethan.

She would use ALL the Crane resources to go into court, and get FULL custody of HER daughter. No more of Gwen being the mother to HER daughter.

Yet, when she got to the court, she found herself in front of one of the few judges NOT impressed by Crane money and power, and told Theresa just that. And, that Theresa’s rampant display of power made her even less likely to get custody of her daughter in the future, and that she, the judge, intended to stay on top of the case to make sure that ETHAN and GWEN retained custody of Jane.

IF THIS HAD HAPPENED, then I would understand Theresa’s reasoning. Theresa would have found out, bitterly, that even though one of the main reasons she had married Alistair, like so much else with the marriage, it had been for naught.

And, her reasoning with regards to Ebait and his custody WOULD MAKE SENSE.

As is, a woman who hasn’t so much spoken a word about getting custody of Jane, suddenly giving up her obsession for a flimsy excuse. An excuse not based in even Passions facts.

Add into it that Theresa went around acting as if this was one of the greatest sacrifices in the world, instead of realizing that BUM wasn’t worth all her trouble…only adds to the ridiculousness of this situation.

Sigh.

I only hope the actor playing Jared is more Justin Hartley and less Charles Divins in talent.

Mini-rants:

TC was in a COMA, and then had a STROKE, and NO visits from his best friend Sam? Sam’s been a good best friend up until now.

Pilar talking from both sides of her mouth with Theresa. She should have been on her knees in thanks when Theresa told her she was giving up Ethan.

Rebecca gives Julian a divorce? Huh? Even on this show, there needed to be more explanation.

Mini-raves:

Simone and Paloma – as friends, they’re terrific and fun to watch. The actresses deserve so much more.

Norma and Edna – could only work on Passions, but as a pair, they are hilarious, and are ok to bring back, from time to time.

Endorra continues to be a bright spot on this show. That little angel who plays Endorra has IT – whatever IT is, and she is a natural, with everyone, but especially with Juliette.

Biggest rant:

IMBALANCE

Imbalance by ignoring the Vets on the show. The show was at its best when there was a serious balance between Vets and the youngsters. When there was an interconnectedness not only WITHIN the core families, but BETWEEN the core families. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the lowest ratings, across the board, have happened during this freeze out of Veteran Actors.

I hope Passions gets better. I really do. But, it’s hard to have faith.

It has left the show in a great launching place. So, the ripple effects of it have been nice. However, it started two or so months ago, and the execution of it was poor. It definitely had MULTIPLE cringe-worthy moments.

For the MOST part, I'd have to go with Passion-less!

The last year and a half have been Passion-less already, but Vendetta just dug Passions even deeper into garbage.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am seeing glimpses of the REAL Passions in the last week or two. I had completely lost hope in the show in January. After the amazing New Year's episodes that ONCE AGAIN led to nothing, I just couldn't watch the show anymore.

I would be ecstatic when the few times I actually did tune in to the show, it were days with Endora and Tabitha.

For specific stories... I am completely disappointed in the fact that the Standish family seems to have been erased. While I can tolerate the whole Siren crap, I can not get past the fact that Miguel has not only GIVEN UP on Charity, but actually now wants to be with KAY!?!?! Not believable in the least, but this is Passions after all.

Vendetta was pointless... if it was supposed to bring about the ET turning point or the Chadney reveal, both could've been done at home and probably more meaningful at that. Otherwise, Vendetta served what purpose? Just a gimmick to draw people online for some advertising stunt?

It will be hard to get back to classic Passions, JER has to climb Everest, IMO, to get Passions back on track. Is the show is salvageable?

If they could erase a couple of months from the show, then yeah it is. Otherwise, this crap we've been subjected to will always leave a lasting imprint on whatever future stories come about.

Last time we saw Liz, she confessed to shooting Julian and trying to kill Alistair. We don’t even know WHY she did either one of them.

I thought she tried to kill Alistair because he raped her, and Julian because he was passed out drunk and didn't help her? I remember her telling Julian through flashbacks, but it's fuzzy.

I thought she tried to kill Alistair because he raped her, and Julian because he was passed out drunk and didn't help her? I remember her telling Julian through flashbacks, but it's fuzzy.

Her shooting Julian made NO sense...Sheridan shooting Julian while sleepwalking made more sense.

I could get behind her trying to kill Alistair. Remember, in her flashback, it was obvious Al was holding something over her head...was it Chad? Did she actually know about him? Or was it just the rape? And, if it was just the rape, then WHY hadn't she tried to kill the 2+YEARS before that she was on the show?

Liz trying to kill Julian would only make sense to me if she had found him drunk one night at the Blue Note, while looking for Eve, not realizing her sister was long gone. Julian could have been drinking away his sorrows, unaware who Liz was. She would have recognized him, and decided this was one way she could get her sister back for turning her back on her before, in Liz's eyes. So she could have flirted with Julian. And the next thing you know, they could have spent the night together...Liz's first real time. Then, Julian would have dismissed her, only wanting Eve, and she would have been very upset. And if she had had his child from all of this, and gave him up, yeah, I could see her holding enough resentment for Julian to kill him. That's how the story probably should have played out. It just doesn't make sense this way.

Great column, SIP!!

You nailed it. Vendetta and its aftermath have been Passionless.

I can't believe that so much time was wasted on Siren/Miguel/Kay/Fox with what I saw on my screen with them. I also don't care about shirtless Miguel or Fox if the story is bad. Was that Fox onscreen because he acted more like Not-Fox to me?

At this point Chad and Whitney not being siblings means nothing. They're about as interesting not being siblings as being siblings which means no interest at all to me. The only part of the story that would interest me has now been written off the show in Amelia and even John is gone although I hated Alistair and wanted him gone.

I've watched about 2 months of Luis/Fancy now and I don't like even the remote possibility that they will be a pair. I also don't like that the writers look like they're trying to make them like Sheridan and Luis by having them do similar things that Shuis did. I don't see chemistry with Luis/Fancy either but all I see is Fancy acting like someone with some kind of schoolgirl crush while hanging on to a guy that needs her hanging on to him 24/7 like he needs a hole in the head.

The T/E/G triangle should have ended a long time ago but how am I supposed to believe that one minute Theresa is still after Ethan but because of what seems like some kind of trumped up reason she's given up on him the next minute.

Alistair being the monk was another disappointment of Vendetta.

I have a hard time thinking there will be improvement on Passions when big stories are publicized but continue to disappoint. In the past year we've had the tsunami, Passions Red, and now Vendetta. What's next?

Vendetta and its aftermath have been Passion-ate. Here are my reasons:

1) Theresa/Ethan

We had the major revelation that Little Ethan is really Ethan's son, which fans have been hoping to be confirmed for the past five years. This truly evens the score with Gwen, who has two dead children with Ethan compared to Theresa's two living children with Ethan. Also, Theresa's decision to keep it a secret sets up the potential for more high drama in the future when the truth finally comes out. This also allowed for Theresa to "dump" Ethan, which sets up some happiness for Theresa that she's severely been lacking in her life for so long now. This sets the stage for the collapse of Gwen and Ethan's sham of a marriage, as Ethan deals with his jealousy over Theresa and Jared, while a cocky Gwen begins to slip up. Finally, the tables have turned, and things seem to be looking up for Theresa. The stage is set for Gwen to get cut down to size once and for all!

2) Sheridan/Luis/Fancy/Beth

The Fancy/Luis pairing is a breath of fresh air. Of course it will go nowhere because Shuis and Foah are the couples with the rooting interest, but it's nice to try out new couples. It's tiring to see the same people interact all the time. In terms of Vendetta, it also was amazingly awesome to see Beth again, as she is Passions' supreme villainess. She had lots of good material to work with, and even more crazy schemes to pull off. I cannot wait for Beth's next return! As for Sheridan, she is finally paying the price for siding with Gwen and always trashtalking Theresa. She's got the Gwen curse--she lost two children--but that's what you get when you associate with pure evil like Gwen.

3) Chad and Whitney

This was a perfect character arc for Whitney. When the story began, she was half-crazy because of the church and her committing incest. She manages to find redemption even though she's been seduced by evil, and manages to help stop Alistair. She is rewarded by being reunited with the man of her dreams. I've always been a Chadney fan, so I was delighted with their reunion. However, now that they are back together, it's time to either break them up again, or write them out. As for the aftermath, it's just a shame Liz was written out so soon because they truly could have milked the story for another few months, and then maybe had Liz go off the show by getting arrested for the attempted murders of Alistair and Julian. As for the new mystery surrounding Chadney, I'm intrigued, but I have a feeling it will be like the Paloma mystery from last fall, when all it turned out to be was that she and Roberto were smuggling prescription drugs for the eldery. Interesting idea, but not really for Passions.

4) Pure Camp

The chalice itself and its powers were fun...I love when Passions uses special effects. The lesbian riot was awesome, as was the Simone/Paloma kiss. I love these two. I'd definitely support a romantic pairing if Paloma ever realized she was bisexual. Edna and Norma rock, as always. I don't think they should be on as frequently as Tabitha, but it's fun to have them back for a few weeks every few months and have them do amazing things. Ditto for Esme--she was so fun in Rome. The mystery of the art was good, too. I like the DaVinci Code similarities.

4) Tabitha and The Quadrangle

Tabitha and Endora are obviously the best part of this story. I love Foxay, and I love the new Fox, so I still like this story. But ever since Miguel came back, Kay has turned into the trashy whore she used to be when Charity was around. It's hard to root for her when she's being such an idiot. As for Siren, she rocks! I love how she dishes it right back to Kay. Kay needs to know she can't have it both ways with Miguel and Fox. I totally support Siren going after whichever man Kay's not currently with. I think Siren's a great actress, and I love the humour, supernatural aspects, and the fact that she's a mermaid.

Problems:

-Grace should have come back in Rome

-The Jessica/Spike story gets lamer by the second--I hope she gets arrested for the serial killings

-Theresa and Ethan's reunion is further delayed

Otherwise, I'm enjoying Passions so much. Then again, I'm not a nitpicker and don't complain about stupid things. I've also never stopped liking Passions, even through stupid stories like anything starring Danica Stewart.

It has left the show in a great launching place. So, the ripple effects of it have been nice. However, it started two or so months ago, and the execution of it was poor. It definitely had MULTIPLE cringe-worthy moments.

For the MOST part, I'd have to go with Passion-less!

The thing is, it could have encompassed ALL the cast, if they had just used a bit of imagination and brought back the Standish women. It could have been almost a pronouncement of returning to Old Passions.

The thing is, it could have encompassed ALL the cast, if they had just used a bit of imagination and brought back the Standish women. It could have been almost a pronouncement of returning to Old Passions.

I absolutely agree with that!

Passion-less for me.

The main reason: TIIC pimped this story as a SERIOUS plot. It should've been treated with the campiness "Hell in a Closet" had.

Eh, "Vendetta" and its aftermath have returned the show back to "classic" Passions. It took the end of "Vendetta" to do it but I'm definitely rejoicing that my show is BACK! Friday's show was pure camp and entertainment. I almost had to look at my calendar and realize it WASN'T the year 2000.

We've gotten back the vets

We've gotten back the camp

We're seeing fresh stories beginning (Theresa and Jared, LUCY (which I believe IS great ) and it's just great

"Passions" has been on FIRE these past two weeks. And it's just going to get better and better and better!

EDIT: I do agree that Vendetta should have been used to bring back Grace and Charity. Big-ticket stories like Vendetta almost COMMAND the return of old faces like those two. It makes the event that much huger.

I would say it was overall Passionless.

It had its moments like the Lesbien revolt, Luis and Fancy, etc but overall it was disappointing. It should have involved the whole cast and was never consistent.

Like everyone else, the best part is we are seeing shades of the Passions of old this week and, for me, Passions is back.

As it was, the return of Grace and Charity wouldn't have made sense at all. Vendetta had no mention of the Standish women, while Tabitha never mentioned it at all... did she? I skipped 90% of the episodes so I wouldn't know

If Passions wanted to attempt some DaVinci knock off, it just had to be COMPLETELY centered around the mythology and history of the Standish women instead of being some stupid plot that looks like it was inspired by Alias' Sloane/Rambaldi.

As it was, the return of Grace and Charity wouldn't have made sense at all. Vendetta had no mention of the Standish women, while Tabitha never mentioned it at all... did she? I skipped 90% of the episodes so I wouldn't know

If Passions wanted to attempt some DaVinci knock off, it just had to be COMPLETELY centered around the mythology and history of the Standish women instead of being some stupid plot that looks like it was inspired by Alias' Sloane/Rambaldi.

I think, Days, the whole point was that "Vendetta" should have written in Grace and Charity, as part of the story arc.