Rowan

I hate Johnny, but Devin, damn. When nothing else was going to shut you down, what else was he going to have to do short of resorting to physical violence to get you to leave him alone. Was it shitty? Absolutely. Corey is a dumbass, and Marie cracked me up with her panic laced “I delivered it, TJ!”

Good God, reRon, that Abby/Stephan spoiler effin’ blows. Oh, well, no wonder MM got the hell out of there. As much as I despise it, there is a small part of me that wants to see Chad lose it on them, and then eat his heart out. I hope to everything that is holy he doesn’t slut-shame her for it. He didn’t want her if she kept the baby, so, suck it, dude. The machinations of the DiMera clan got this whole ball rolling, anyway. I get why she’s doing it. Is it going to end horribly? Well, duh. That’s Abby.

Well, I do get what you’re saying. It would be helpful if the writers added a little nuance, but that’s not going to happen. They usually leave the heavy lifting up to the actors ‘cause they suck. I mean Abby is standing her ground firmly, when it should feel shaky as hell. She has recently been diagnosed with that pesky DID after all. Can’t they give her a moment where she, even if she can’t prove it ‘cause, say Gabi destroys it, where she has a revelation because she found evidence that Gabi is setting her up. It wouldn’t alter any part of the plot, it would still be her word against Gabi. It would just go a long way in the sympathy department for me. She ain’t wrong about what’s going down, though. I do get tired of excusing certain behavior because the writing is lacking. They spend months having a character do awful basically unforgivable shit then expect the audience to just move on with a few scenes of “Oops, my bad.” They’re doing it with her, they’ll do it with Gabi. Also, I was thinking after I watched the last couple of days, Kate is so morally bankrupt. I do actually believe she loves Chad, but it’s worse to her to lose his love over the Stephan crap than to go along with a plan that destroys his happiness. Kate, mother figure of the year.

She definitely is. I think I’ve stated this before, but I just don’t hold the whole Austin thing against her. She was young and dumb. Just like I really don’t hold the whole pretending to be stalked against Gabi. They were young and stupid. She was pretty shitty in the whole EJ/Sami thing. I don’t know what the writers were thinking if they wanted her to be the resident heroine of the younger set. I’ll admit that the story where she believes in Chad and helps him when everybody thinks he’s a murderer won me back over. Yes, she was with Ben, but I’m a chemistry whore and KM and BF had it, at least to me, and that goes a long, shallow way with me in excusing the unfaithfulness. The MM came aboard and I love her Abby. I know some feel she’s too low key, but she brings a vulnerability and a warmth to Abby I really like. I really like CB as well, but I’m pissed at Gabi right now. I loved her and JJ, and I’ll always be down for a revisit of that. I just need for there to be some seed of doubt about what she’s putting out in the universe. At least some small part of her to feel remorse. Like it or not, Abby is disgusted by the things Gabby did, so that does help me get past that whole thing.

Full Disclosure: I check out the spoiler thread from time to time. So, I knew about the whole Nicole “dies”, but before we actually had confirmation on that in spoiler form, when we were just speculating about her departure, I knew when Eric gave her that damn necklace she was a goner. That’s soap 101. AS and GV play well off one another. I swear, though, at this point, I think I hear Sami blathering about EJ in my damn sleep. I love her, but I’ll be glad to put this story to bed. I do feel sorry for Abby. She’s cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, and I do think that soapily mitigates her behavior towards the townsfolk she harmed, at least somewhat. Gabi? I’m just not feeling as generous towards. PTSD? Ok, maybe, I’ll have to wait and see what they go with. They’re going to have to show some doubt or a little guilt sometime or the characters going to lose me the same as Eve did. I think she’s being heinous to people that have tried to be a friend to her. Stealing someone’s spouse away? Bad girl territory. I can live with that. But she wants to be Thomas’s Mommy now? She’s heading towards psycho woman scorned territory.

I’ve wondered about this myself. I guarantee that they both thought it was stupid. It’s just so poorly written as far as Gabi’s ability to tote a passed out Abby’s pregnant tail all around Salem. I get the feeling MM has been uncomfortable from the jump of the DID story. She went out of her way in an interview to try and explain how she approached her take on basing the Gabby character on Camilla’s Gabi. She didn’t want to offend her in any way. Then you get into her portraying Abby as scared out her mind and trying to physically get away from Stephan to 10 seconds later getting it on with him as Gabby. Then, it’s hard to wrap your head around Chad’s whole “So what if you did a bunch of heinous shit as Gabby, Abby, it wasn’t you! Nonconsensual sex with my brother? Well, I don’t like it, but, again, not you. We’ll deal. What’s that? Your pregnant from it? This changes everything! Now, I’ll bail on the one thing I should stand by you on.” I bet Camilla’s enjoying a change of pace for her character, though. At least she’s driving the action and getting to play something other than Gabi loser in love.

So I watched both Thursday’s and Friday’s episode, and Gabi is losing it. You can’t trust Kate, and pushing her too far is going to bite her. This is actually pretty good as far as watching shit escalate. I just wish that this story’s airtime didn’t feel so damn sporadic. Gabi is going to deserve every bit of the censure she receives as the result of this scheme. Dear God, do we really need to go there with all the undead. It’s so ridiculous. I do like it that multiple members of the cast are involved, though.

I swear, this show. I had my preconceived notions about how I was going to feel about this Vietnam stuff. Parts of it were hit or miss, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t get honest to God choked up at that pan of the Oct 18 babies. You would think “Darkness, Darkness” playing would clue me in for it, but I was not prepared. All that innocence and potential fated for war. For me, the show stumbles under the weight that it carries from the pilot and much of the first season. I adored it. Now, I sometimes feel it’s emotionally manipulative and cheesy, but it still really touches me at times.

Man, you just know Nicole’s “death” is going to be so over the top. GV can produce every so often, but, at other times, he over does it. I’m curious to see how these scenes play out. AZ is always good for me, and that’s how I know it’s going to be sad. The whole Ericole Interrupted situation because of AZ’s preferences aside, I still enjoyed their two little mini reunions. I’m glad they had the characters declare their love of each other’s life status. I also think the whole star crossed thing they got going on works for them. It gives this couple a little more weight than it would carry for me otherwise. I’m glad their inability to get out of their own way is not what really did them in these last couple of times. I’m also glad she came back for this. Honestly, I miss having a couple that can generate some romantic heat and actually give a decent soap smooch. They did that. The only other couple who checked that box for me was Steve and Kayla.

Chloe’s new do is a definite upgrade. She looks almost looks like a new woman, but her eyes, man, they unsettle me. Like when you find something beautiful but creepy at the same time. Yeah, Sami, like Eric’s chances of avoiding chaos are any better hanging with you. I FF the hell out of Bonnie and Lucas. Brady is such a wuss. Kristen’s got some guns on her, but that sorry excuse for a pistol whipping put his lights out immediately. Wallow in your abandonment, Eve. Choke on those regrets. Call your sis for some pointers on how to deal.

I mostly love Dateline, and that includes sometimes loving to hate it, but I get not wanting to put your personal life on blast. If I was a potential talking head in a case Dateline wanted to feature, and thank the stars I live a pretty boring life, I would politely decline. I mean that shit has got to be hard both ways. Whether you’re the loved one of the deceased or you’re the loved one of the perpetrator of the crime, I can’t imagine wanting to relive that stuff on camera. The only way I think I could stomach it is if I was one of those people who felt they needed to defend someone’s innocence. I’d really have to have no doubts though, and even then, I still wouldn’t want to.

I’m guessing that since Abby doesn’t believe she’s relapsed into full blown DID, she doesn’t feel like she should be committed. Which, ok, I guess. I do get why Chad might feel like she should be, though. I’m going to puke if Stephan is who she turns to in order to avoid it. Good grief, Chad’s going to feel like such an ass when all is revealed. Also, I’m glad they are “killing” Nicole off if they can’t get AZ to return. These writers aren’t good enough to actually make you root for Eric with someone new while knowing Nicole is out there somewhere still loving him but unable to be with him. Nicole’s “death” is going to be on Brady in a way. In that he set that whole exiled her to Nashville, then negligently allowed a villain to get his hands on the blackmail recording to use against her thing in motion. He sucks.

I don’t think he tried terribly hard to save her if he tried at all. I don’t necessarily think it was his intention that she die, but I don’t think he lost sleep over her loss except where it might get him in legal trouble. That he came out of the water with his clothes and the money does give me pause, but there’s no way he could know how she’d get stuck in the plane when they ditched it. She did decide to do this crazy thing with him, in the end. He comes across as pretty damn unfeeling. The phone call from Texas proves to me that he could take her or leave her. Then, he’s apalled at her family’s behavior. He’s definitely an asshole. I do wish he’d at least gotten into some real trouble from all of the other BS he pulled. Also, why on earth did he confess to blue haired lady? I don’t get that. Did he want all of this to finally be dealt with, but couldn’t pull the trigger on it himself?

Oh, man. They are laying it on with the Eric/Nicole stuff. I sense tragedy. “Take care of Holly for me!”, all the love of my life confessing, and the kicker: Eric just totally gave her a necklace that can be used to identify the dead person when there is no body found. I may be off base with this. They could always go Nicole just disappears on him because she thinks it’s what’s best, but I’m leaning towards Nicole not making it. I’m speculating, of course. They would just never get back together so quickly complete with all straight up true love confessing without tragedy coming up. How do they keep them apart otherwise?

Nicole and Eric. Squee! So cheesy good, y’all! Her “I love you” was so good. They both looked a little haggard, but then that’s how it goes when your true love is torn from you because you betrayed your evil douchebag of a brother/ fiancé and he has dirt that could send one of you to prison 4-eva. I don’t know how all this will end, but I’m so glad that their characters got the chance to clear that business up. Also, he didn’t come right out and say it, but, damn, Jennifer was just a warm body to Eric.

I thought that, too, and I was disappointed for a second, then it segued into his flashback of seeing his parents together and it hitting him how alone she must feel, and I was like, I love young Randall. It’s adult Randall who is always so extra that it mutes some of his innate charm.

So, Rebecca’s not saying anything, cause she knows it will not be what Kate and Toby want to hear, but Kate can’t have that, so she pushes until she gets what she wants, and that is to go ahead and start the fight about it. She wanted it. She got it. Sure, she wishes her Mom would just be like, “Oh, Kate, I hope this works out! I know it might carry risks, but it will be worth it!”, but she knows good and damn well that was not what her mother was feeling, so instead of letting her choke all the negativity down for at least Kevin’s movie premiere, she pushes. ‘Cause she craves the negativity. Kate is my least fav. Adult Randall is not half as endearing as kid Randall or teenage Randall. I so hope to meet teenage Beth.

At this point, I’m over ever thinking they’ll ever have her learn her lesson. She’ll do something outrageous and go down hard for it like she always does. Yet, somehow, I’ll still root for her to emerge beaten, but not broken. Allison Sweeney is magic that way. I do want some closure with the damn EJ crap. I’d love for them to walk off into the sunset together. Which kind of cracks me up, because I hated him when he raped her. The same way I hate Stephan. I try to imagine TC ever making Stephan viable to me in the same way, and I just can’t.

Nice promo. Did I just see some JJ/Gabi in that? I’m hating on her pretty hardcore right now, but I’m here for that. I’d rather have Theresa, but I’ll happily settle for a redo of their relationship. Also, I love that Chad will be helping Abby deliver the baby. I love me some old school. Please don’t tell Eric you’ve moved on, Nicole. It’s horrible, but I’d rather them have an epic reunion then have her tragically die a Salem death.

The last two days have been pretty damn good. I CAN’T! FREAKIN’! WAIT! until that stupid jerk loses his shit on Eve. I mean, he gets on my last nerve, and I know that he’s going to go all “OG Eve and the apple” to his poor trusting Adam on her, and part of me will hate that misogynistic shit, but she has this coming. Don’t let me down, Brady. Sami, never change, lady. Never change. You knew as soon as she acquiesced to Justin’s warnings, she was already mentally mapping out her entry into the mansion. Poor, Eric. Seriously. Poor, gullible, painfully earnest, kind of a doofus, yet somehow still smokin’ hot to me Eric. Nicole is probably already in love with someone else. MR and KDP did really well today playing off one another today. This show. I just can’t give it up. Dammit!

I don’t think being disappointed in both Abby and Gabi are mutually exclusive. I do realize that Abby gets a pass by her family members for all her jacked up shit, but Gabi’s will stand by her as well. She just doesn’t have nearly the same amount of familial connections in town as Abby does. I liked them both. I thought the Abby returns to find her BFF in love with her husband was handled pretty well with regards to each of the female character’s integrity. Chad’s the one who came out as less than in that whole thing for me. All the shit since then, however, is just not good for either of them.

I get what you’re saying, but Sami is a different animal altogether than Gabi. Sami’s been characterized as a screw up from way back. Gabi has been in a few scrapes here and there, but they straighten and shine her halo up every so often. However, they’ve never really had her embrace the dark side of the force like this before. So, who knows? I mean maybe I could like bad girl Gabi, as long as everybody knows she’s a bad guy. I actually look forward to Camilla getting to play the scenes when everybody finds out. I like my bad guys to be treated like crap, and then do a little good here and there, show some vulnerability, maybe try and do the right thing for love or whatever, then end up fucking it up again. It’s compelling for me. I love a good soap villain with vulnerability. I just wasn’t ready to feel that way about her, I guess.

I don’t even think that they care all that much. They just write whatever they want with no consideration for for character integrity. They don’t have the attention span to properly push an agenda. Look, Gabi will be “redeemed” somehow, just like every other “good Salemite” who does heinous, super illegal things.

It isn’t even all that unbelievable that she would be bitter and want some payback. Hell, who wouldn’t? It’s the lengths she’s going to and the completely blasé attitude she has about fucking Chad’s life up that loses me. It’s just not like her to completely disregard someone’s pain in an effort to destroy someone else, much less, actively use him in the plan. Usually, I try to get past this kind of crap when they give the character an out like they were being blackmailed or they have DID or, hey, they were greatly trespassed against. I could be ok with this if she was just going after Abby, but she’s not. She’s destroying what’s left of one child’s parent’s marriage and could be physically affecting one in the damn womb. She wants revenge? Cool. To get it she has to create all this collateral damage and she’s knowingly, sometimes gleefully making that choice. She gets no pass from me on this anymore.

Blech, Bonnie and Lucas. FF. Gabi needs to quit lying to herself. She wants the peen. She wanted it enough to hire a crazy person to pretend stalk her. Then, she wanted it enough to dump JJ and friend zone Eli. Now, she wants it enough to drug a pregnant woman and lie to her “friend” about his child. I can’t wait until he figures all this shit out. I hated that they made Abby turn into “Gabby” and all the heinous crap she pulled. Now, I hate that they’ve turned Gabi into this scheming, lying drugging revenge crazed psycho. I’ve been watching less and less and I’m ok with it.