PowerIsPower508

I could not possibly love this post any more. Firstly, I definitely hear you on the parts about how other places seem to just tow the line and love certain characters and couples that personally make me sick to my stomach. I know that people are entitled to their opinions, but some of the things I read or hear just baffle me beyond belief. This forum seems to have the most level-headed, rational posters and points of view and when friendly debates arise, they manage to stay just that - friendly. For example, I feel like I'd get stoned or burned at the stake for not agreeing just how AMAAAZZZINGGGG ♥️♥️❤️❤️❤️ Ben and Ciara are as a couple. Maybe if Ciara had kept any of the edge (might not be the right word choice, but I think you know what I mean) she had before they foolishly SORASed her into this perfect little flower, I could get onboard with it. But instead, I think both characters are being done a huge disservice, both have been watered down and it frankly sickens me enough that I mostly end up reaching right for the fast forward button on my remote. Same thing with Chad and Abigail. I liked the first Chad, the second (and current?) one has just never done it for me. Abigail? Nope. Never. 🤮 John and Marlena, too, while I'm at it. (Sorry, I tend to drift into tangents. But long story medium, the maturity and realism of this forum is what drew me to it.) ANNNYWAY... back to the Kristen stuff. I love that someone else remembers the layers they gave Eileen to play upon her first return. If I recall correctly, did or didn't her first stint in the nineties end with Kristen being switched out by Susan (with the help of Edmund) and sold into some sort of human slavery situation with a sultan? (Typing that sentence kinda reminds me why I love soaps so much lol). Or am I as nutty as our most recent version? And did they ever explain just how she got out of that situation alive? I thought it was going to actually be addressed during one Bristen scene where they'd either just finished having sex or were about to and she had a semi-breakdown about the things she went through, but never got specific and Brady just held her or the writers just got lazy... or something. It aggravates me to no end that Marlena drones on and on (and has from the start) about how EEEEVILLLL Kristen is. From the minute Kristen got pregnant in the nineties and didn't give John Marlena's sappy profession of love, Marlena was ALL OVER her. And John just let her be. Kristen was instantly vilified and went from a loving, sweet and I believe church-going woman (with friends!!) to a pariah. Backed into a corner and forced to do unspeakable things all in attempt after attempt to hold onto the life she'd been TRYING to build with John that Marlena was so hell-bent on ripping apart. If anything, I've always seen Marlena as a self-righteous, sanctimonious bully who's behavior only served as the most negative type of reinforcement to the plots and schemes Kristen was pulling. Nobody saw Kristen as the increasingly mentally unstable person she was becoming. As a therapist, one would think Marlena might have attempted to help instead of hurt her. But I guess her undying and perfect love for John and (okay, justified) hatred of all things Stefano made her professional perspective become obliterated by her personal bias. Kristen had the deck stacked against her from the minute she lost her baby and was she ever truly allowed to grieve that loss? It's sad to see what she devolved into back then, though back then it was also entertaining as hell (for me, at least). Especially when adding Vivian and Ivan into the mix. 😂 But there is a definite line that the show crossed and I don't think there's ever any coming back. Kristen should have just stayed dead and/or gone for good. I made my peace with that about the 17th time "Kristen" held Marlena at gunpoint. The writing has officially destroyed what used to be a layered, complex character. I just pray it never happens to my Kate (although at times, that hasn't been for lack of trying). 🙄🙄🙄

Couldn't agree more. I feel like the last time I could really look at the "character currently being played by Stacy Haiduk" as even remotely similar to the one I knew and loved was during Eileen's first return in 2011 (?) when she initially hooked up with Brady. She was still Kristen to me and, in a way, even slyer with the way she slid right back into Salem and made Marlena look like the crazy one. It was all running so smoothly until they had to go and give her inexplicable "feelings" for Brady. Don't get me wrong. At the beginning of Bristen, I was into it. It got under John and Marlena's skin just as intended and it was a bonus just how fully she'd managed to turn Brady and his equally dimwitted father against one another. I just can't remember where during the course of their "relationship", enough became enough and she went entirely off the deep end - drugging Eric, having sex with him dressed as somebody else, getting it on tape. Kristen makes her first appearance at the Rape Rodeo. I wouldn't be surprised if Eileen saw the trajectory of her character at that point and said "peace out" (even though, from what I remember, she had already decided not to renew her contract before that played out). And she did get her well-deserved Emmy, at least. But coming back and having Theresa's fetus stolen from her womb and implanted into her own, which I'm not even sure is physically possible, was quite a leap as far as her obsession over Brady was concerned. I mean, sure... Vivian stole Kate's eggs and gave birth to Phillip. But Vivian Alamain is... well, Vivian Alamain. 😂 😂 😂 And Grand Theft Fetus is what Vivian did multiplied by 1000 plus (what I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume are) like, at least 6 different physical impossibilities. Way way way too much by that point. I think I lurked so long because I watch a lot of shows and have a lot of opinions (sometimes unpopular), I just felt overwhelmed posting about every one of them. I figure I'm gonna start slowly and stick to one show, then maybe add another and so on... Had nothing to do with feeling unwelcome. If anything, I feel like this is the forum I should be posting on because ya'll are honest and hold no unpopular opinions back. 😁

Thank you for the warm welcome. From you and anyone else who liked my post. So glad to find someone else who agrees with me about the (what I feel is sometimes underrated and underused) acting prowess of LK. Honey, if you knew how far back my lurking days go, you would die and come back from the grave as much as Kristen and Stefano combined. Lol.

I really hope I'm doing this right. I'm a LONG-time lurker and first-time poster on this forum. I felt the need to chime in after binge-watching this past week's worth of episodes. This show has been transformed into an over-the-edge Kristen Dimera sideshow. While that may not have bothered me in the past (Eileen Davidson's portrayal of Kristen/Susan/etc. and the Secret Room storyline - plus Kate vs Sami - is what initially got me obsessed with DAYS to begin with), I just can't get fully onboard with the constantly overboard, over-the-top, over-the-hill sex-crazed maniac the writers have turned the character of Kristen into. No matter how many times they have Stacy Haiduk (or AZ too, this time around) loudly proclaiming "I'm Kristen Dimera!" with a perpetually unhinged Joker's grin on her face, I just can't bring myself to call her by that name. I hope I'm not in a minority here. I mean, I'm no stranger to soaps (watch DAYS and GH, watched AMC, OLTL, Sunset Beach and plenty of prime time smut). Out-there plot devices such as masks (and surgically reconstructed body parts that change shape and size with every application of said mask) - especially not in Salem, of all places - don't bother me. It's more about the fact that they've turned the character of Kristen into a one-note caricature of crazy. And not like a fox... 🦊 I know, I know... Kristen's always been a few buckles short of a straitjacket. But I don't know that I can recall her ever being shown as just. plain. STUPID. as to be running around town or even lounging around her room at the Salem Inn with her Nicole mask off for just anybody to walk in on (or for her to open the door to, in Maggie's case). It's lazy writing at the very least. [Side-note: Friday's episode was truly some epic buffoonery. Ciara and Ben, already having gotten into her room and under her bed, overhear her conversation with Kate, who also just waltzed on in, btw. Nicole/Kristen just walks out of her own room and leaves an already suspicious Kate to her own devices. Kate (live for her, btw) not only orders Ben and Ciara to leave, but then opens the door (of Kristen's room!!!) to Tony and hurriedly invites him in. Does he not have a key to the room he's living in with his "wife"? I'm amused and confused at the same time.] Back to "Kristen". On a less amused and more confused note, what exactly IS her endgame this time around? A) Brady???!!! The simpleton who clearly wants nothing to do with her or she wouldn't have to pretend to be someone else entirely (his [other] recently deceased EX, no less) in order to get his interest? Yet another example of the show relying on rape as a plot device, btw... Or B) the sudden sense of entitlement she feels toward Dimera Enterprises? Entitled to, even though she's Stefano's ADOPTED daughter and has barely spared much more than a passing glance at since as far back as I can even remember when? I don't know which is worse as far as motives go. I think I gotta pick Option A because first of all, does she really expect Brady to just accept the fact that she's been literally masquerading as Nicole for months? Driving wedges between brothers (again... yawn) so she can land him between the sheets. Second of all, hello?? Rape. Not that it would be her first time at that particular rodeo. But honestly, I get nothing from the actress in terms of why she's so head over heels for Brady other than what's below the belt. It's like she's desperate for sex. And that just cheapens the character so much more for me. She's been reduced to not much more than a rabid nymphomaniac, practically foaming at the mouth for a less-than-smart slab of beef who'd probably STILL be smart enough to kick her out of bed if he knew who/what he was really sleeping with. I don't blame the actress (although she bears more of a resemblance to Laura Horton than Kristen Dimera), but she's certainly doing the character no more favors than the writers are. OTOH I will admit that I haven't minded AZ's scenes as Kristen-as-Nicole, but that's probably more because I miss the bitchy, cutthroat Nicole Walker... who she was before she got watered down and declawed once she and Eric got back together. I've especially enjoyed her scenes with Gabi and Kate. That, however, could be more attributed to the chemistry Lauren Koslow (and AZ and Camilla Banus, to a lesser extent) has with everything she comes into contact with. Let's just say that I came to DAYS in the mid-nineties because of Eileen's Kristen... I've stuck around for this long because of LK and Kate. The woman is drop-dead beautiful and I'm convinced she looks younger now than she did back when she was being blackmailed by Sami with her hooker past. I ADORE Kate - unequivocally and unapologetically - and she never fails to entertain me. Whether she's being the overbearing Mama Bear, intruding in the lives (and especially love-lives) of her children... the shrewd and savvy shark who'll do whatever it takes to get what she wants in the boardroom and in the bedroom... and especially in the few and far between moments the writers actually let her show some vulnerability. LK's Kate will forever be my #1 woman and I hope she DOES end up taking over that CEO spot that somehow Mr. Shin can just offer to whoever at whim. Wow, I digressed... Anyway, just wanted to throw in my proverbial two cents (or more). On other fronts... - I love and have pretty much always loved Gabi at her best and at her worst (which, to me, are pretty much the same thing). I don't know how I feel about her feelings for Stefan. He deserves all the payback she initially intended on giving him (and then some) for the way he treated her back when Abigail was running around with a poor man's version of both her name and her hair. - I much preferred Tyler Christopher's Stefan to Brandon Barash's. - Couldn't care less about Rafe, Hope, Jennifer, Jack, Eve, Adrienne, Tripp, Haley, JJ, Ben, Ciara, etc... - I already miss Claire and I might not have had to FF through 95% of Wednesday's episode had she not exited the canvas. - Wish Xander would stick around longer this time (the less clothing, the better). But if he does, don't waste him on a simpering, wishy-washy princess like Sarah. I cannot STAND her. May she and Eric live miserably ever after. I wouldn't miss either holier-than-thou half of that equation if I never saw them again. I'm just gonna leave things there and hope that I posted this in the right place. Please please please correct me if I'm wrong...