Melgaypet

Elizabeth never knew Jason Q either. He was definitely involved with Sonny and Carly when she first knew him. Pre-Lucky's "death" she didn't interact with him all that much. She swiped an invite to the Sonny/Brenda wedding-that-wasn't and she knew Jason when he owned a motorcycle shop that Lucky worked at and where he rented an upstairs room. So that was about it.

Can we get to the part where Nina gets mad and tries to get even? I'm not excited about that, but it might be easier to take than watching her be pathetic over an asshole. Her Being Pathetic Over an Asshole quota is filled with Willow! Or, gross, is she going to figure out whatever it is that Ava's up to and that's what gets her back in Sonny's good graces? Why do I speculate? I just depress myself further. (I should say, in fairness, that I have noticed improvements. Dialogue is a bit sharper, the cast seems to mix a little more instead of being islanded, logical character beats are not being ignored quite so much.)

You're quite welcome, @UYI! I'm not sure I'd be able to see anything Max/Gabrielle-related without thinking of you. I'm sorry to hear about Bronwen Booth's death. She's not as well-remembered as some (or at least not by me) but last year was brutal for soap deaths. (Is it weird that even her name seems to fit this imaginary Roaring Twenties murder mystery I had started writing and casting in my head while watching Dan Wolek try and fail to convince Brunette Andy that he was done with Brenda? Bronwen Booth! Although maybe that's less the name of a flapper/jewel thief than a flapper/sleuth, who cheerfully solves murders in between listening to jazz and drinking cocktails and avoiding marriage to whatever wealthy and respectable man her wealthy and respectable family is pushing on her. I...don't understand my brain. Possibly it's telling me to start writing again.) Poor Andy. Blonde or brunette, she was perpetually unlucky in love. There was her abusive husband, then she always seemed to be the back-up or rebound to guys who were much more into someone else. Dan Wolek, Dylan Moody, Kevin Buchanan. Never had a pairing take off until Antonio (I loved them). Then her character got turned into a cheater off-screen and that's the last we heard of her.

Michael forgave Sonny for murdering AJ. Sonny remembers that, right? I mean, that forgiveness is part of why Michael sucks (and why this interminable revenge plot over fucking NINA of all people is ridiculous), but what the fuck? Does this show think we're all Guy Pearce from Memento? Or is the show actually Guy Pearce from Memento? ETA: Okay, embarrassing, I AM a little bit Guy Pearce from Memento, because I forgot what I originally wanted to post about, which is Molly being the ADA to try Jason and/or Sonny. This is so stupid my brain must have rejected it. I realize that, on a soap where everyone knows everyone, conflict of interest rules can't be as strict as in real life, but people can't prosecute their own freaking family members! That would be like an automatic appeal, right? IF it got as far as a conviction, which surely it would not because Diane would obviously object and even if she didn't, the judge would demand a different prosecutor.

I can't believe I haven't done any Old OLTL for over a year! Life events distracted me. Anyway, I watched the episode that aired in 34 years ago yesterday. Nothing too explosive happened. Viki's running for mayor. Clint wakes her up with breakfast in bed. Viki is cranky - she overslept for two hours b/c Clint turned off her alarm and doesn't have any appointments that morning. She suspects (so did I) that he canceled her meetings but he insists he did not. Anyway, he wants to talk and she doesn't. They argue about Roger Gordon - he accuses her more than once of wanting Roger, she's mad b/c the two of them teamed up to lie to her about something. I like this fight, it feels real. Clint's accusations feel like deflection and insecurity more than justified jealousy (although I do think the show was going for a triangle here) and Viki admits that this (whatever it is) isn't "the worst thing that ever happened to me" (Oh, Vikster, you have no idea what the worst thing is) and she might be overreacting, but she's still angry and not pretending otherwise. Viki does run into Roger Gordon (Clint calls him by both names and now I feel the urge to do so as well) and I see no heat whatsoever. Debra (Gabrielle's boring French-braided sister) and Brunette Andy are friends! It took me a while to realize who Brunette Andy was. Anyway, they bond over being into men who are still into other ladies. Cord was supposed to go on a picnic with Debra but he's all distracted b/c of Tina. Who is in San Diego with CJ. I get the feeling Tina was not actually on canvas at this point, but I'm not sure. Cord is bothered b/c he hasn't been able to get a hold of her on the phone. Debra is Understanding. I can't tell if the actress is trying to play it as swallowing her irritation or is genuinely supposed to be nothing but blandly pleasant. Anyway, Cord and Debra decide to track Tina down and burst in into some random lady's...hotel room? Tiny room for rent? Does she live here? Anyway, they come in asking for directions (weird) and don't notice her guest, whose face is covered in bandages. I thought this guy was supposed to be mysterious but Random Lady calls him Max, so no. I don't much care about Head Transplant Max, but will note for @UYI's sake that he reacts to a glamour shot of Gabrielle in the newspaper. Gabrielle is busy conspiring to break up Cord and Debra. She has a phone conversation about this with who I assume is Tina, and ends it in classic self-satisfied soap vixen fashion, cackling to herself and stretching out on her couch like a cat. I'm not sure what Gabrielle gets out of this. I know she and Tina are friends of a sort, but I doubt Gabrielle would care about this without some personal benefit. Does she hate her sister? Debra seems too boring to hate. Speaking of boring, poor Brunette Andy. She meets Dan Wolek for breakfast, taking a call for him before he shows up from Brenda, who insists she's moving out of Michael Grande's place. Brunette Andy dutifully relays this message to Dan, who starts to rush out, but catches himself and insists to Brunette Andy that he is no longer involved in Brenda's life. Unlike Debra, Brunette Andy goes for Skeptical, not Understanding. Whatever about this dud of a relationship. (Yes, I'll call it a dud after seeing like two scenes of them together.) My takeaway here is that Brunette Andy is totally miscast as a blue-collar woman. I keep mentally casting her as a socialite or like a flapper/uppercrust jewel thief in some Agatha Christie-type murder mystery. ALSO, she bears a strong rememblance to Elaine Princi's Dorian. Speaking of, Dorian and Viki have a slight, well I wouldn't even call it a tiff, since neither loses her temper, but they jab at each other over Roger Gordon (who is, I gather, working for Herb's mayoral campaign). Anyway, Brenda has the most dramatic storyline going on. Drugging! Gaslighting! An evil housekeeper! Brenda wants to move out of Michael Grande's place, and he is just as insistent that she and her son Steven stay. He wants to marry Brenda and adopt Steven. (This must be after the baby-switch was discovered, which makes me wonder why Gabrielle isn't in jail.) He and his evil housekeeper (Mrs. Byrd? I couldn't catch her name even though Grande said it several times) plot to drug Brenda into compliance with patches behind her ear, which Mrs. Byrd applies while brushing her hair. Michael Grande then easily convinces Brenda that she changed her mind about moving out. Not a very exciting episode, but interesting in it's own way. Just think of how cell phones would have changed multiple plots! Michael Grande is quite the silky, frightening-without-raising-his-voice, scheming villain. Going from the melodrama of Brenda Caught in Grande's Web to the down-to-earth drama of Clint and Viki's marital troubles, seeing how Cord will always be obsessed with Tina, to even poor Brunette Andy and Dan Wolek having a real conversation where they seem like real (if dull) people. It reminds me that for all the mockery soaps get, this genre is character-driven. It's about people and their relationships, which helps anchor even the most outlandish plots. When soap writers forget about their characters and start thinking that plot is what matters, things fall apart so quickly. We saw that happen with this very show in it's last network years.

I agree, but I also don't think anyone's asking for that? Equal focus for every character, I mean. There has always been tiers - major characters, secondary characters, minor or tertiary characters that only show up once in while, etc. The problem is when only a handful of characters dominate the show - and not just in terms of screentime, though that's a big one, but in terms of stories that the writers put the most care and effort into - and everyone else is treated like unimportant filler.

I've recently discovered that I hate Dr. Michael Easton. I hate his very blandness and lack of personality. I swear I remember liking Finn/Elizabeth before, in a tepid way, but I can only assume that was because I'd been burned by Franco/Elizabeth, a relationship straight out of a Lifetime movie but with delusions of being a Hallmark movie. Finn/Liz is not from any movie b/c the producers would have fallen asleep halfway through the pitch. I think this was triggered by the recent AJ (and kids) talk around here, which reminded me of AJ/Elizabeth and the all the potential that was lost (thrown away) there.

Remember when Sonny told Karen she must have wanted to be abused by Ray Conway as a child? Just to make her feel dirty and ashamed and unworthy of anything good because she was trying to resist his abusive controlling self? BECAUSE I FUCKING DO! I cannot, cannot, CAN NOT deal with Sonny being self-righteous about Karen with Scotty or Jagger (even if I don't buy this dude as Jagger). If Sonny has actually grown any bit of a conscience in the years since then, if he actually loves his daughters the way this show insists he does, if we are supposed to buy that he is not an utter piece of vile, misogynist shit; he doesn't get to be snippy about Karen. Not to the people who actually cared about her, because he never did. He needs to be ashamed, he needs to accept their scorn and anger as deserved.

I also wish TMZ, which defines 'scummy', didn't have this. There is no reason that the public needs to know this information. Tyler died, that's tragedy enough. What can making this public do but cause more pain to those who loved him? This is no one's business. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that this is something his family should be ashamed of or not be allowed to talk about. If his family wanted to release these details to bring awareness to addiction or mental health issues, that would be different. This is just TMZ being ghoulish. I hate it.

When I was 14, I thought Kamar/Antonio was the hottest man I’d ever seen. I was so into Antonio and Andy, I can’t even tell you. GH’s Tom/Felicia’s sex scenes had made me cringe, I watched the A-Team’s* avidly. I couldn’t stand most of Antonio’s 2000’s run, but that can’t all or even mostly be put Kamar. I enjoyed parts of Tonio/Keri, though the writing was often dire (remember Carlotta’s rage over Keri’s bad credit? lol.) And he worked very well with Talia, even if it there were echoes to the relationship with Andy. Of course, that’s when TPTB, in their infinite wisdom, killed her off and let Kamar walk. *Yes, I remember their dumb couple name, before those were really a thing. Come to think of it, this may have been the couple who introduced me to online shipping.

What I wouldn't give to have seen Stephen Nichols, Tyler Christopher, and Nicholas Chavez share the screen as three generations of Cassadines.

Apparently Jonathan Jackson has long-Covid? His wording's a little vague, but he seems to say so in on Facebook in this little vid where he's pimping some food company called Azure. https://fb.watch/oyb3c17Q5-/ ETA: Sorry if this is old news, it's the first I've heard of it.

Maybe they're trying to get Tony Geary back for that? That's all I can think of.

Bye, Roger. It's a little ironic - Austin is the kind of character I actually wanted to see Howarth play. A long-lost Quartermaine, a doctor, a very non-Todd person. (I also wondered what he'd do as a recast Tom Hardy, though maybe he's a bit too young?) But after years of Franco, the well was truly poisoned. I was no longer capable of giving a shit and I don't really need to see Roger Howarth onscreen ever again. I can wish him well in life and remember his Todd with fondness (and other feelings that are not fondness, but liking Todd Manning has never been uncomplicated) and that's enough.

Biologically? No. But Jake was adopted* by Lucky and Charlotte is the test tube rape baby of Lulu, so that's why Laura is grandma to both. *I say "adopted" b/c it's easier & shorter, but Lucky was Jake's legal father since birth and as far as I know that was never changed, even if this show pretends that Jason was an involved dad, despite the fact that before Jake was "dead"/kidnapped by Helena, he wouldn't have been able to pick Jason out of a line-up. This show has done Lucky Spencer so dirty.