enchantingmonkey

Why is Princess Gina pretending to be Hope? I've been watching most of the show on fast-forward for over a week but I've been watching Dr Rolf's scenes, and I thought Gina was done with "being" Hope. I wonder if what Dr Rolf is doing to Hope/Gina is the precursor to whatever is going on with all of these references to Stefano being alive. I'm assuming Dr Rolf has something more than Princess Gina up his sleeve. Gabi threatening to kill Julie isn't working for me at all, and I usually enjoy EvilGabi. Fun to see Marilyn McCoo. I didn't watch DAYS back then but I loved watching Solid Gold back when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

The Show did give us those scenes a couple weeks ago in which they acknowledged that the sexual nature of their relationship is like an addiction for Brady. So someone on that writing team recognizes that sex is an important part of their coupling. But Kristin has been obsessed with Brady for years now, so all of her claims of a great love are the ravings of a lunatic. I'd love to think that whatever Dr Rolf is going to do to Hope will be motivated by his fascination in human nature but I suspect the story will be total garbage. The actor does make me chuckle, though. You can decide if I'm referring to Kristian Alfonso or William Utay for yourself. Call it a blind item.

Are we sure she isn't really Stefano wearing one of Dr Rolf's masks?

Stefano only had a soft spot for Kate? What about Marlena? Didn't he refer to Marlena as his queen? Even though it was all rather unhealthy, I always thought Marlena was the love of Stefano's life. Well, at least Dr Rolf's revisionist history saved Kate's life.

Most of those Time Jump©️ spoilers don't sound much worse than anything that's happening now but maybe that's because I given up hope on the show being good again. It sounds like the show will go from being thoughtless and plot-driven to being thoughtless and plot-driven. If anything were to bother me it would be Steve/Patch being Stefano, and that's only I think there's no good reason to burden any actor with trying to embody that character. There are plenty of villains to choose from. Leave Stefano Alone!

Now hold on a second. Like his Magic Mask, perhaps Dr Rolf has designed a Magic Womb that Kristin can wear making her as capable of carrying a child as a 20-something. Just because we haven't heard about it yet doesn't mean there won't be one of those flashback scenes they use to fill in their giant plot holes.

All of the gushing and adulation from the hosts was a little annoying but, otherwise, I enjoyed the interview. When she mentioned having a natural chemistry with Eric Martsolf, I had to think back and tried to remember if there was ever a time when I believed in them as a couple but I thought Kristin's relationship with John was more believable. Kristin's relationship with Brady feels more plot driven to me. I was most interested in what she had to say about being on Housewives of Beverly Hills, as it's rare to hear anyone talk about what goes on behind the scenes with those shows.

Stacy Haiduk isn't playing Kristin with an ounce of ambiguity or vulnerability. So much of her line delivery is with a tone of condescension or contempt. I wonder if this is dictated by the writing, or if she doesn't see any redeeming qualities in the character. I'm fine with her "love" for Brady being primarily about their sex life but if they want to keep her around for awhile, it'd be nice if it seemed like she could relate to or care about another human being. Speaking of relating to another human being, where did that scene with Abe empathizing with Eve being driven by loneliness and anger come from? That was a pleasant change of pace. And for a moment there, I could see how Eve has been on such a rampage lately because she'd rather be pissed off than confront her emotional damage. Why concern yourself with healing when you can chew the scenery? So now Dr Shah is a lunatic? I guess all the foreshadowing the show could afford was the one day Dr Rolf got Dr Shah's lab. I kid, I kid! This show is a character-driven marvel.

I wondered when those wink-wink-nudge-nudge Vivian/Dorian and Eve/Blair scenes were going to show up. There was no way Ron C was going to miss out on that opportunity. Eric Martsolf actually sold me on his inner conflict over his attraction to Kristin and his realization that she's the worst thing for him. I'm not a fan of another round of Kristin and Brady but I was impressed that they allowed Brady to have a brief moment of self understanding.

I really loved all of the state-of-the-art equipment in the lab they provided for Dr Rolf. The "romance" between Xander and Sarah would be more fun if he was falling in love with her against his own will, and he was himself confused by it, rather than having him almost desperate for her approval. We know that Brady is prone to addiction, so I see his attraction to Kristin more like another drug of choice and not just simply an act of stupidity.

Here's a promo from when Rocci Chatfield was a writer on the show. Who is Julie's long lost brother, and is that Steven Schnetzer playing him???

I don't care if Julie dies but they did get me to take my finger off of the FF button to watch those flashbacks. It's always fun to see how we used to style and dress ourselves. Why did they bother with those silly scenes of Kayla using the defibrillator paddles on Kate when they could have just told us Kate was unconscious in her room? It did make me chuckle that Lauren Koslow didn't make too much of an effort to flop her body up off of the hospital bed when the paddles were applied. Just the thought of Kristian Alfonso using that ridiculous Princess Gina accent makes me groan but Dr Rolf running into Hope at the hospital actually gave me the chills.

Soaps.com says Andre Khabbazi was unavailable and Dr Shah was recast with an actor name Piter Marek.

Did they really need us to believe Victor could strangle Ben and Vivian could dig up a grave all in one episode??? Have a little respect for your audience!

Does anyone know what happened to Cary Duber? How odd that they got her friend named Cary to switch places with her. LeAnne's skin looked pretty bad, which is weird considering she had to know they'd be filming at this time. I know they had to rehash the feud between D'Andra and LeAnne but I'm hoping they can pass the baton to two others, because it's not enough fun to play out for another season. This episode would have been much better with a scene of Brandi making prank phone calls using creepy voices.

Glad that some of you enjoyed the gun-toting thug. I was disappointed they actually spent some money on a guy who looked so awkward holding a guy, and I didn't care for his line delivery. But it's so nice so see Dorian again after all these years. It's too bad there aren't any characters named Viki that she could interact with. I enjoy Susan Seaforth Hayes for what she does but I'm curious why they decided to center so much drama over the health crisis of a character who's usually a rather nasty human being. And to rely on this specific group of actors to bring life to a storyline we see once every 3-4 months. ETA: Does anyone know why they included that line from A Streetcar Named Desire? It seemed so random and pointless but maybe it was a reference to something from Vivian's past?

Robin Strasser has always been a more "showy" type of actress, from what I can remember. She was the perfect foil for Erika Slezak but Dorian felt like more of a real person when I started watching OLTL in the mid-80s. When I came back to the show towards the end of its run, Dorian was almost all cartoon. Maybe I was expecting Judith Chapman levels of scene-chewing, so I thought Strasser was fine for her first day, but this is Vivian Alamain now being played by Dorian Lord. And just like they do, wardrobe did her absolutely no favors with that outfit. Kate was the best part of the show today. I'd love it if we'd get a scene of her recounting the whole ordeal with Stefan holding her at gunpoint to someone but they've left her without any friends or family at this point.

Maybe with Dr Rolf and Vivian in town those of us who like Stefan can hope for some twisty-turny nonsense where it only looks like Stefan is dead, and Julie gets someone else's heart. With Vivian's stay being short-lived, I can see her leaving town with a presumed dead Stefan. I'll be surprised if Ron actually kills off the DiMera he created.

Yes, the whole thing with Eric and Nicole has been so drawn out that I don't even care anymore. Not to mention that Nicole is more fun when she's causing trouble. Weepy Nicole is a snooze. There was a rumor that a future storyline will enrage fans, and some were speculating it could be a Ben and Hope pairing. I could see Ron bringing back Princess Gina to try to pull that off, though. Robin Strasser is reportedly only in about 15 episodes, so it sounds like Vivian's revenge against Kate will play out rather quickly. That may not be so bad if she was directed to chew the scenery like they had Judith Chapman gobbling up everything in sight, but I was hoping to see her stick around a little longer.

If what we've been watching the last several months has been the result of the higher-ups interfering in Ron's original recipe, that means the ratings free fall can't be totally blamed on him. Interesting. It makes me wonder what he had originally written, and why they thought it necessary to change it. Because while I don't enjoy all of what Ron writes, I'm not typically bored with every story across the landscape of the show. Olivia Rose Keegan was the only reason I was still watching back towards the beginning of the summer, and now I'm only watching bits a pieces so I have some idea what you all are talking about.

It's funny to me how much I love Deidre Hall and I can't even think of one favorite Marlena moment. This should probably be in the Unpopular Opinion thread but I started watching the show because of the Demon-Possession storyline and I enjoyed every minute of it. I wasn't normally a fan of such outlandish plots, and I think I only started watching to see how stupid it was, but Deidre Hall hooked me. It helped that another favorite, Eileen Davidson, was there and Kristin was a conflicted character at the time.

Kristin waving her gun and not shooting anyone has been like a running joke. I was trying to work up a theory in my head about how this story was actually about how Kristin has come to a place of total powerlessness, hence the numerous scenes of her grabbing a gun, threatening death, yet doing nothing, but most of the story seems driven by plot and an opportunity for Arianne Zucker to be snarky, so I gave up on the theory.

I really enjoy Stacy Haiduk's Susan, so perhaps I'm just bored with Kristin's present motivations, but most of her scenes in which she explained Kristin's E-VIL plan fell flat with me. After I began rewriting the script in my head, I just watched the rest in slow fast-forward until Susan smacked Kristin upside the head with whatever that was. If they insist on making Kristin beat this dead horse once again, why not make some mention in her dialogue about how she feels caught in a vicious cycle? That's something I can empathize with! There were probably budget constraints at play but it seems like it would have been a good idea to have Maggie there, since she was the first one to see Kristin.

Ohhhhh! When we saw the season preview in the first episode, wasn't there a clip with Kelly screaming how she doesn't do coke and she isn't a slut? That would explain the "slut" part. I think it can happen anytime but it does seem like she's in enough scenes, now, that it didn't happen until during or after the season. For one of New Jersey's seasons, Danielle was intended to be a full time housewife but then they cut some of her scenes and demoted her after filming.

"Oh, my god, this is starting to get old!" Was that one of the script writers giving a wink to the audience? It amused me that Brandon Barash was playing some of his scenes like someone who'd just been bashed over the head with metal globe, while Camila Banus was pretty much acting like nothing had happened.