enchantingmonkey

Right? I was going to ask if Judi Evans has always played Bonnie with such a caricature-like accent. Nails on a chalkboard! Well, today was a change of pace. It felt like a show that I didn't even know why I'm watching, as opposed to every other day this week. Not a big Chloe fan but I liked that she's actually being a voice of reason, and telling Philip he needs to do something about this mess with the Vitali family. It could be reasoned that Philip is behaving like an addict who continues to be prone to self-destructive behaviors, but the Show isn't making much effort to write it in a thoughtful way. And if Philip really believes Victor will throw him to the wolves, what about his mother? Say what you will about Kate but she's usually a fiercely protective mother. Oh, Dr Raynor! What have you gotten yourself into now? Did her dealings with Xander open the Pandora's Box of her darker side, or has she always been inclined towards questionable behavior? Who am I kidding? She's probably just a plot point. It's always nice to see someone from Springfield, USA, though. I have no idea who would want to steal Eli and Lani's babies, so I guess there was a little bit of mystery to this episode. Gabi is the only person who I can think of who hates them this much but I don't recall how her paths crossed with Dr Raynor's.

OMG, NBC sucks! Cutting off the last few minutes!?!?! I wanted to see if Marlena was finally going to "grow some balls" and tell Claire that Chuck may be Allie's rapist. Ben calling Charlie "Chuck" made me think of Peppermint Patty. Good grief, Charlie Dale! Honestly, though, I was hoping Charlie's E-VOL self would rear its ugly head, and he would put Ben in some kind of choke-hold or punch him in the throat. Poor Claire. As much as I wanted to Fast-Forward through all of Isabel Durant's scenes, I had to watch the train wreck of Claire's grandmother showing up when she's about to have sex with her boyfriend. Tamara Braun was great today. I loved how she cuddled her head against Rafe's arm when he told her he wouldn't leave her at Charlie's apartment. And, it was fun to have Kayla encounter Ava in such a vulnerable position. While it's a relief to hopefully have Tripp's name cleared as a rapist, I couldn't help but think of how Bill Bell would have dragged this drama out for months and milked it for everything that it's worth. This storyline was actually a good set-up to have me on the edge of my seat and practically throwing things at the screen in utter frustration, but in a good way.

Cady McClain uses her voice in a different way than Missy Reeves, so while I enjoy MR and sometimes imagine how she might interpret a scene, I don't think CM is a cheesy variation of Jennifer Rose Horton. McClain is simply doing her own thing, which she should. Although, I'd would agree that McClain may have been miscast as Jennifer, because I think the way they write Jennifer at this point is a mostly flaccid character. And Cady McClain plays a force to be reckoned with. Happy to see Victoria Platt again. Guiding Light was my show many moons ago, and it's nice to see anyone who reminds me of the show before it became totally un-watchable. Plus, I thought she did some good work last time she was in the Salem Universe. Okay, Cady McClain's fan club signing out!

I'm in Ohio and had to watch it on the NBC app. 20 ads for Ted Danson's new show was so annoying but the show has been good enough, lately, that I sucked it up and dealt. Marlena: "Ben, I'm sorry, do we have an appointment today?" Ben: "No, but I don't have a storyline right now, so I've come to talk about Ciara." It would have been more shocking if Ben didn't go with Marlena to check on Claire than that he did. NiceNicole whining about her relationship is such a buzzkill. Just "kill" Eric already and let the real Nicole loose. I'm just embarrassed for her at this point. Where is ORK when we need her??? Isabel Durant kinda ruined those Charlie/Claire scenes today. It would have been much more interesting to have ORK's history of Claire's mental illness talking to Charlie about his own dark thoughts. Isabel Durant's monotone line delivery is giving me fits at times. It seems like we were supposed to be rooting for John to get through to Claire but I believe that Charlie really does care about Claire, and I appreciated the messy-ness of what might happen if Claire and Charlie spent any amount of time in Claire's bedroom. Ava's hallucination was a fascinating look into her psyche. Tripp is her hero, then Charlie triumphs, and then Steve saves the day but blames everything on her. She wasn't imagining a happy ending to all of this, and it reminded me of some of the rotten dreams I wake up from in a state of horror. It might be funny if Ava is still hallucinating when Rafe is able to wake her up from her stupor.

This was a major Failure of the writing teams who decided to cast the character in such a manner. It's unfortunate that viewers hate Abigail simply because of lazy writers. Boes, I attempted to "like" your comment multiple times, and got an error message every time. Just putting that out there. I feel a warm glow of validation that even one viewer would, against better judgement, root for MM's Abigail.

I like your interpretation of those scenes better than mine. I'm still disappointed that Jack didn't show the ferocity for his family that I wanted to see but I'll agree that it was smart of him to deal with Gwen the way he did. Agreed! She gave me what I was hoping to see from Jack on yesterday's show. Billy Flynn was so fun to watch as Chad was squirming. I loved that his eyes were tearing up a bit when Abigail turned to see if he'd been taken advantage of, and that she believed his words rather than that look in his eyes. Ugh, those scenes with Angelo were painfully cheesy at first. Thankfully, they became more interesting as details were revealed. Good point. Thanks for the laugh! Marlena has a Magical-Self-Editing tape recorder. What we heard as the playback at the end of the show wasn't what Allie actually said in her office. Okay, another little round of applause for Gwen. I don't understand why she didn't smack Abigail around with whatever her Axe-To-Grind is at this opportune moment but sleeping with Chad and using it to blackmail him has helped her Level Up as a dastardly villain. Stefano might actually give her the time of day, after he makes her clean the cobwebs from the Secret Room. Go Gwen!

It's like a Dissociative Identity Disorder with the two actresses being different personalities of the one body. Marci Miller plays her as a vulnerable, flawed human being, while Mansi is the home-wrecking, scenery-chewing monster that thinks the whole world owes her something. I can't even MM's Abigail doing half of the things that Mansi's version has done. And I'll come back again tomorrow to defend Miller's Abigail, if need be. kthanksbye.

Good point. We could assume that Charlie doesn't have extensive knowledge about what would happen in a mental hospital, and maybe his own ignorance will play into his downfall. I hadn't thought about it from that perspective. I'm happy to agree to disagree. I thought it humorous that he made his claim about doing anything for his family but basically let Gwen own him through every step of that conversation. I guess I could chalk it up to him keeping his friends close and his potential enemies closer, which would actually be a smarter move.

In her defense, her hands were tied and I'd guess it's difficult to induce the gag reflex without a finger. Charlie's plan would have been a little more believable if he'd planned on keeping Ava drugged up in his apartment, rather than sending her to the mental hospital. What happens when the drugs wear off at the mental hospital and she's able to speak coherently? I do love the Apple-Doesn't-Fall-Far-From-The-Tree dynamic between them, though. It's fascinating seeing Ava, the one usually playing the predatory role, being preyed upon by her own child. And I like that Mike Manning has his own take on a menacing charm about his character. Billy Flynn really stepped up as Chad started to realize his entire motivation for getting drunk and sleeping with Gwen was fraudulent. And while I'm at it, kudos to Marci Miller. She's so much better at making Abigail a flawed human being than the way Kate Mansi screeched through her scenes. So much good stuff today. My only complaint would be that I thought Matthew Ashford could have played his scenes with Gwen with a little more intensity. This would have been a good time to show that Jack still has a dark side. For as much as I like to snark at Gwen for being a Wannabe-Schemer, she did a great job of putting Chad between a rock and a hard place. Agreed. I'm still dying for Cady McClain to have an adversarial relationship with someone but they were fun to watch today.

I'm not saying that Chad really believes that Abigail was faking it, just that he felt wounded by her in that moment and was mentally preparing himself for having sex with Gwen. Even with Gwen's feigned reservations at play, I think Chad a gut feeling as to what was going to happen in that room with Gwen. Plus, he's drunk on cheap champagne. Yeah, what was that about? Who would have some kind of ill intent for Eli and Lani's kids? The irony being that however annoying Julie may or may not be, she found a loving husband who is absolutely devoted to her. Most people might think that something like that comes from only being a "good" person but Julie found that by being...herself. I had a random thought that Gwen made some kind of deal with Dr Rolf to get pregnant with a DiMera offspring. Otherwise, she could have just lied about having sex with Chad. He was drunk enough not to remember. She doesn't seem to have any romantic feelings for him, and it seems like Ron would want to have some long term consequences after everyone compares notes and realizes Gwen is just a lying liar who lies. Jennifer and Kate having an adult-like conversation was fun. It made me wish that for some reason they had to work together on something but mostly got on each other's nerves the entire time. I'm desperate to have Cady McClain in some kind of adversarial relationship with a strong female character, reliving those fights Rosanna had with Carly on ATWT.

Agreed. I was impressed by his expression of emotion. It was about more than a break up but that the woman who he cared about was ashamed of him. The Show hasn't spent a lot of time on Jake trying to fit in to the DiMera mold of a certain kind of man but enough for him to have to confront the realization that, perhaps, Kate didn't think he "measured up". The human mind is a curious machine. I liked that Chad was willing to question the validity of Abigail's mental illness, because that is something a person would actually do when they feel like they've been wronged by a person they love. Impressed that Billy Flynn didn't barely-act his way through those scenes. He actually maintained a sense of realism. I agree but I think she imagines herself as a Super Villain, as demonstrated by her conversations with the Stefano Portrait. As I've said before, though, I like that she's not the usual villain the Show uses to beguile us with plot points. That was the first time I've enjoyed Anna in quite awhile. It was nice because I loved her back when she was doing EJ's bidding.

She's on a reality show, so it's all about the outfit. *chuckle* It kinda fits with my estimation of Gwen being someone who's fumbling her way towards villainy but, yeah, the writer's hand is much more visible here than Gwen being a skilled schemer. Poor Chad. That hangover from getting drunk on cheap champagne might be worse than waking up naked next to the nanny who's been lying-like-a-rug to you for weeks/months. Did the Show pay Jon Lindstrom to come in and kiss Cady McClain? They must really like her. What did all of other actors think who had to kiss someone who wasn't their spouse? Wait, did Brady kiss Chloe? Does that mean NiceKristin can drop the phony baloney act and go back to being a narcissistic maniac? Screeching and clawing at the walls of the visiting room at the prison? So many questions, so little exposition. It's like an episode of LOST.

Charlie explained to Ava that her screaming wouldn't matter because he didn't have neighbors who could hear her. In Chad's defense, he has both Gwen and Kate lying to him, so he isn't completely wrong that something is going on around him, it's just that he's wrong about who is involved. It still sucks that he has to be a moron for Gwen's schemes to work but I appreciate that someone on the writing team has made it a little more complicated than Chad being too stupid to live. I'm still curious as to why Gwen hates Abigal but the longer they drag this on the more I doubt the actress will be able to deliver the BIG MONOLOGUE about why she hates Abigail to any kind of satisfying degree. Lauren Koslow knows how to "sell" her lines but I agree that it's utterly stupid that Kate is so worried about what Chad thinks of her that she'd be willing to behave like a guilty teenager in regards to her relationship with Jake. Kate is not a coward, and she really has no reason to be subservient to the whims of Chad's approval. Cady McClain and Marci Miller had a nice mother/daughter dynamic in those scenes.

Regardless of it being a bland shirt or not, Claire's gift to Charlie was specific to their first meeting, which feels appropriate for this point in their relationship. And didn't she mention that it wasn't as nice a gift as his concert tickets? Mike Manning demonstrated a capability for a good range of emotions with being the menacing son to SweetCharlie and back again. Tamara Braun makes me smile with her delivery of snarky lines and death stares. The only thing that gets me through all of the scenes of people attacking Tripp is the realization that truth is in the mind of the beholder, and each of those characters believes they're the one telling the truth in that moment. It's actually a little unnerving to see how people will behave whether they're truth is true or not.

The Show can't write any of their characters as being intelligent for long, because it would spoil 99% of their plot points. It's just never going to happen. I like that Ava and Tripp are both stuck in situations where people don't believe them. Charlie is never going to believe that Ava has his best interest at heart, much to her own detriment, and the Horton/Brady families are never going to believe that Tripp didn't rape Allie, much to his own detriment. So Charlie believes he can kill his own mother? Wow. Why didn't we get to see Marlena talk Rage-o-holic John down off his cliff? I wanted to see her give him a good, verbal smack down. While I understand why Allie's family all want to remove Tripp's penis, I can't help but root for Ava to rain some Hell down upon them when she gets free from SweetCharlie's clutches. Agreed. The many complications of the inter-personal relationships are the best aspect of this rape storyline. Charlie didn't admit the rape to a random stranger, but to his own mother who was questioning him. And Charlie has yet to use the word "rape", only Ava has used that word in his presence.

Ava has good taste in cards. I pretty much hate picking out cards but some of those cards were super cute. And, I love Tripp wanting to fulfill his childhood dream of having a relationship with his mother, regardless of her being a part of the Psycho-of-the-Month club. It's all my kind of tragic. It was interesting that they had such an important conversation between Allie and Sami happen over a video chat, much like we might have to do while living during a pandemic, but there isn't a pandemic in Salem, USA. I was impressed with what Alison Sweeney was able to do while acting opposite a "camera" rather than an actual person. But for as much I enjoy Sami's presence in Salem, I'm a little horrified at what she'll try to do to Tripp if she decides she needs to come to town. Finally, Stephanie gets a mention. I was annoyed at how many scenes in which they neglected to mention her when she would have been mentioned in a normal family's conversation. Ohhh, okay, she's Joey's exit story, so she gets a name drop. Stephen Nichols and Lucas Adams have such great screen chemistry. I love all of their father/son moments, which is something that usually doesn't cause a blip on my radar. They really did, and it was all because of ORK. It was like she had some ability to make RSW seem like a better actor, at least more so than Victoria Konefal. And it's not that I don't like Isabel Durant, it's just that her monotone line delivery is like ORK's Claire after way too many sessions of electroshock therapy. It's like she's fallen under Ben's spell, while ORK and RSW functioned more as an unholy alliance.

Because Corday's wife thinks Galen Gering is the Ultimate Man®️. Surprised to see they got Victoria Konefal back for an episode so soon after her departure. It's probably difficult to find work during a pandemic. Poor Ben has absolutely no purpose to his life without his lurve for Ciara. This episode made me miss ORK as Claire, as she would have been the only reason I didn't FF through just about every scene. If they're going to continue the pattern for the week, hopefully tomorrow's episode will be fun and Friday's episode I should be able to watch in 20 minutes or less. Are they not setting up any BIG NYE's moment? That's unusual.

You know I had my finger on the FF button as soon as I suspected Nancy was asking her to sing. Our only hope is that Carlivati has such a crush on the actor that he's already planned out a way to keep Charlie on the canvas despite his bad deeds. Criminal behavior is basically a rite of passage for life in Salem, USA. Ohhhh, does that mean Rafe has come to announce that Eric is "dead", which will free up Nicole for storyline possibilities? Today must have been written by the one script writer that I like, because we had references to "Potter" and "Seven Fishes", both of which I had to look up. I appreciate it when I learn something new. Funny that Charlie had no knowledge of the Seven Fishes tradition. I loved all of the Charlie/Ava banter, especially that Charlie didn't have to be a total moron and believe Ava's lies, as the Show has already told us that she's pretty much been a disappoint to him as a mother. Surprised to see Will. Hate the beard. I'd love it if we get a scene of Marlena being apologetic to Sami that she didn't take her call, because I can see Marlena showing a kind of preference for Belle when she's talking to John, and showing her love for Sami when she's talking to her. People are really like that.

It's amusing to me that there's a Prophecy regarding Lyra, which to me suggests a deterministic end to all of this, yet many of the characters are worried and fretting that their choices may or may not make an impact on the circumstances. Are worries and concerns a way the mind convinces it's self of its own free will, while what's happening in the world around it has already been determined? I'm not sure if the show is actually exploring this issue, or if I'll have to make it up as I go. Does anyone have any insight into how Mrs Coulter is evading the Spectres? "Hiding her humanity" was so vague and open to interpretation that I didn't find it all a satisfying explanation. Perhaps she can't explain it herself, and said that because it sounded better than saying she didn't know how she was able to do it. It's been so long since I've read the books. I like Lyra, and find her to be charming most of the time, but I thought Lee Scoresby's claims that his life was worth only one-tenth of hers to be a little OTT. I figured it said more about him and his own self worth than the greatness of Lyra. The witches likely love her because of the Prophecy.

Xander/Sarah could actually be interesting if we were watching Xander's love for Sarah make him awfully bad at scheming, and Philip always being one step ahead of them because of it, but it feels like Xander and Sarah are supposed to be so cute together and smarter than everyone else. I'm crossing all of my fingers and toes that Philip is telling Sarah he has feelings for her in hope that she'll tell Xander, which will motivate Xander to get himself fired from Titan. Even though I'm not a big fan of JKJ's acting choices, I really don't want him to be a total moron in this storyline. It was cute seeing Philip read that poem to Chloe with Jay Kenneth Johnson not overacting the scene. Refreshing, actually. NiceKristen and NiceBonnie are painfully boring. I hate that I dislike Bonnie so much this time around, because I've been watching Judi Evans since the 80s and she's one of the few actresses I still get to watch from that era.

It was so bad. I think I could have done better. The funny thing would be if Dr Rolf was doing an experiment to see if Kristin and Chad were stupid enough to believe that picture actually happened...and they are. She's a different interpretation of Jennifer but I love her being here. If anything, I think Jennifer is too tame of a character for Cady McClain. I don't know why but whole thing with Lucas and Jennifer going to find Saul made me think of an episode of Three's Company, where Janet (Lucas) and Chrissy (Jennifer) spend their entire time trying to correct the tiniest of misunderstandings. Can Gwen receiving Kate's Christmas gift finally push this Kate/Gwen rivalry I've been waiting for to No-Holds-Barred. I want a blood bath! *giggle* How many episodes are we getting next week? They're already on Christmas Eve!

That seems likely. I kept waiting for Tamara Braun to show some sign of vulnerability towards Charlie but she really didn't, and as much as I wanted to see it happen, I think it demonstrates how Charlie is just as damaged as his mother. Those Ava/Charlie scenes were some of the best the show has done in quite some time. This would make the story more interesting and more ambiguous with Charlie believing Allie wanted to have sex with him, and Allie still being certain that there was a point at which she said, "No" and it meant, "No". Was this the first time we've seen the Kiriakis Throne Room at John Aniston's home? It seemed a little roomier than the set the show usually uses when Aniston isn't there. The Steve/Tripp scenes were really good, too, because a young man Tripp's age would totally believe he'd be able to manage his mother, while Steve would know that Ava isn't manageable but would indulge Tripp in his fantasy. This is probably some of the best writing I've seen the Show give Stephen Nichols since I started watching.

Allie shouldn't be the second coming of Sami, though. It makes to me that she would imagine herself to be like her mother but she falls short at almost every turn. Much like Gwen talking to Stefano's portrait and imagining herself to be this dastardly villain, while her schemes are falling apart left and right. I appreciated the juxtaposition of Nicole's celebratory tone when realizing Allie wasn't going to be facing charges for a crime she did commit with Allie almost gleefully explaining how her civil suit will make Tripp pay for a crime he claims he didn't commit. There was so much going on the Charlie/Ava scenes that I could barely care what was going on with the rest of the characters. If Ava has always referred to Tripp as "my son", that would explain a lot if Charlie is also her son. In defense of the actor, it makes some sense to me, now, that the whole SweetCharlie routine felt more like a simulation of a sweet guy than an actual sweet guy. If they're actually going to explore what happens to a person after the structured existence of four years in prison, then the wooden line delivery of the actor who plays Joey might start to work for me. It's possible that's what he's doing now and I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt but that's primarily because I recall not liking him before. I'm really hoping they do something with how his perceived notion of how much better life would be after prison isn't as great as he imagined, as I've seen a documentary that was an interesting exploration of this.

I love Louise Sorel but I'm curious to see what Linda Dano will do with Vivian. I don't recall ever watching Dano being as shamelessly OTT as Robin Strasser can be, so I'm open to the possibility of her making some interesting choices. It is amusing that some actors/actresses aren't even given the benefit of the doubt before their scenes air. It reminds me of some organizations chastising movies based on subject matter before the films are released for public viewing.

Today's wooden line readings reminded me of why I didn't care for the actor the first time around.