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But the only reason Carter has been dumping on her is because she was still chasing after Rick while engaged to him, basically leaving him as her backup that "I guess I'll marry if this guy I really want won't have me." This has never been about Carter preferring another race or hating on black women. Quite contrary, Carter was very into Maya, and his actions now are those of a guy who was hurt by her rejection but also now sees how conniving and gold-digging she is. If anything, Maya was the one who was slotting the black guy into second place while she chased after her dream guy - the white, blonde, rich guy.

Couldn't happen to a better (and more useless) character, as far as I'm concerned. If she hasn't clued in by now that Faison doesn't give two shits about her except for as it suits his own purposes, then she's bringing this shit on herself.

I think that people, in general, are more complex than "this person is the same race as me, so I must have their back." And while that might be a common occurrence, it's not completely universal. I think that Dayzee's attitude towards Maya was a realistic (if ugly) scenario - the person who feels that they are somehow "special" because they broke into some circle they feel would ordinarily be off limits to them (whether it be because of race, gender, what have you), and they don't want to see someone from that same background also break into that circle, because it diminishes their own "special" status to find that someone else did it, too. In Dayzee's case, I always got a major whiff of "I'm in the Forrester inner circle because I am special and they recognize that, and Maya is no me," along with a side of "Maya's not on my level, and if she starts hanging around the FC crew, they might associate me with her and think less of me." That is a sad reality in some cases. It's not pretty, but it happens.

I was still a relatively new viewer when Maya hit town, but from how I remember things... I don't think that Dayzee hated Maya at first sight. They had a history that pre-dated either woman's appearance on the show, and Dayzee was uncomfortable around Maya due to that past. Also, Caroline didn't come out of nowhere and decide she wanted Maya's man. Caroline was there first. Right when Rick met Maya, the show, out of the blue, decided to start trying to make Caroline look like some pampered, pretentious, snooty girl of privilege. The biggest example being her being upset that Rick let her think they were going out for some fancy date that ended up being volunteering. She was annoyed that she wasn't informed of the actual agenda for the evening, and that was all the show felt was needed to show that Rick "needed" the down to earth, didn't even know he was a Forrester when she met him, Maya. Maya didn't know, at first, that he was dating someone else, but she eventually found out. The whole story line was bullshit, to be honest.

Are they SORASing this pregnancy to finish it off before KM leaves? And that's pretty much all I've got from this episode. Please tell me Ridge and Caroline will be on tomorrow.

I don't know what MTV or BMP's stance on this will be, but I don't think that Knight's death should affect the future of the show. He didn't die during the show or from anything related to the show. By his own account, Knight had substance abuse issues before he was ever cast on TRW. Yes, the cast does tend to party a lot, but plenty of the cast members seem to do so without getting falling down drunk. (Diem would be a good example here, she seemed to let loose and obviously loved to dance when they went out, but she never seemed to be tossing back a crap-ton of booze or doing any drugs to party.) Maybe this should encourage production to do a better job of creating an environment where getting trashed doesn't seem to be your sole option for "fun." Throw a nice TV and blu-ray collection into the house. A shelf full of books, maybe? The house doesn't have to be dry, by any means, but don't make it so that it's the main source of entertainment. Obviously you're not going to get a ton of usable footage out of them sitting around reading, but give them some options for their down time. And if you let them have, say a poker tournament or a Scrabble tournament, you'd likely get some usable footage out of that, because these people are all generally hyper-competitive.

Maybe Fluke is now masquerading as Helena, and only one of those two was the real deal.

I agree about not showing her collapse. I think they should skip showing anything leading up to it and just maybe show TJ announcing to the rest of the group that Diem and CT had to leave due to health issues. Then maybe they can insert some talking heads from a few cast members expressing their concern and love. I know they're airing the special about Diem in early December, but they might want to consider doing something like starting an episode off with TJ announcing their departure and then essentially rerun that Diem tribute for the rest of the show. That way anyone who didn't see the special but watches the Challenge will see it. For Knight, since they were done taping before his death, maybe run a special After Show after his last episode?

Liz may have moved a guy she didn't know very much about into her home, but I feel like that's at least a little better than the numerous people on this show who know bad things about someone and still move them in and give them access to their children or actively choose to have children with dangerous individuals - Carly with Franco (hell Carly consistently involving killers and criminals in her children's lives, outside of Jax), Nik with Britt, Lucky with Siobhan, Jordan with Shawn, Sam with Jason, etc. How many parents on this show aren't in some way willingly endangering their children by virtue of whom they choose to procreate with, live with, or date? I used to give Patrick credit for not wanting Jason and Sonny in Emma's life, but that ended when he refused to acknowledge that Lisa was a danger to their family. Seriously, everyone in this town is a crappy parent who makes questionable choices because of whichever way their hormones are flowing that day. I like the Liz/"Jake" chemistry, but even with that, I still don't think it was a smart idea to move a stranger into her home, but I don't think it bumps her to the bottom of the Port Charles parenting list. And, being a Liz fan aside, I want to see Jason remain "Jake" and happily ensconced with Liz for a good long time, because I fear that him getting his memories back might be the beginning of Sonny and Carly climbing back out of the hole they've dug for themselves. I'm all for anything, anything at all, that keeps those two where they belong - shut out of Michael's life and universally reviled by the whole town.

Just catching up on the week's shows. You all were right about those Ridge/Caroline scenes The look on Ridge's face when Caroline slid Rick's ring back on his finger... These two are really selling this, and not in an obvious "watch me convince you my character feels this!" kind of way. It's just there. I do wonder about Katie, too I think her getting with Ridge was basically a combination of plans A and B. I think, ideally, it would have driven Brooke and Bill so insane that Bill would have come running back to her, and Brooke would have been left alone, with Ridge and Bill both in love with Katie. Plan B was simply to marry Ridge and lord her marriage to Brooke's lifelong true love over Brooke's head for the rest of her life. Win/win. Since Bill didn't come running back to her (even when Brooke told him to), and Ridge has fallen for Caroline, Katie decided to jump start things for herself by riling Bill up and sending him out to kick Ridge's ass, convincing herself that he's fighting mostly for her (and a little bit for Caroline). Bill, who is usually smarter than this, is playing right into her hands.

You just know it would be all "we're so happy you've found Sam! You deserve some happiness after all Robin's put you through." Of course Liz's boys weren't shown at dinner, Jason didn't father either of them. If Jake was still alive, "Jake" would have been sitting there with Danny on one knee and Jake on the other, as both boys would be ridiculously attached to him and refuse to leave his side while Sam and Liz both marveled over how they aren't like that with anyone else. So Duke, who was so devoted to bringing down Julian (for Anna's miscarriage that Julian didn't cause) that he threw in with Sonny and gave him an alibi for killing AJ, the first person in town who as willing to take a chance on Duke and give him a job, is trying to claim moral superiority over Anna for locking up the psychopath who has tortured, kidnapped, stalked, and harassed her family for fucking decades? Die in nine fires, Duke.

I haven't seen the ringer thing come down gender lines as much as a likability issue. Alfonso and Charlie, for example, are these happy, easy-going, fun guys who seem to be almost universally loved. Nicole came off rather cold and up her own ass. Corbin, honestly, there were times when I felt like I was the only person who liked him, and he got a lot of crap about being a ringer. Mario got a lot of backlash, and I feel like that came down to whether people liked him or not, especially since he was competing against a well-liked football player who seemed to ooze charm.

On the first season of the American version, that wasn't John McCook, it was John O'Hurley.

This Ridge/Caroline thing has really surprised me. I really liked Rick/Caroline, and when it seemed like they were going to be throwing trouble at them (in the form of first Maya and then Ridge), I wasn't happy, and couldn't imagine wanting it to end any way other than back to Rick/Caroline. Now, though? I want Ridge/Caroline and will be so pissed if we don't get them as a couple. TK and LG just have that "it" that you can't write, can't force, and can't ignore. The show would be crazy to squander that. I could have gone for a Caroline/Carter hook up back during that whole online show thing, when she was doing all the wacky antics to get Maya and Carter together, but that ship has sailed. It would be such a disappointment after the build up we've seen to Ridge/Caroline.

I think the show is really equally about the stars and the pros these days, and I think that's OK, It's a natural by-product of having a relatively stable rotation of the same group of pros (with some rotating in and out here and there). In some cases, the pros are more well known than the stars (especially to long time viewers). And the pros get a trophy too, winning is for both of them, and it's just as much a testament to the pro's choreography, teaching skills, and personality as it is to the star's dancing and likability. Look how much the show points out how many times Derek has won, for example. It matters. These are professional, competitive dancers, and they want to win. I have no problem with that. I was thrilled Alfonso won. He was just so good all season, and he could always make you smile. He and Witney were just so damn fun and drama-free. And I love their initial reaction - just a quiet hug of relief and happiness.

I think that, for women, any job where you're going to be on camera, age and appearance matter. Yes, there are some women in journalism (both straight journalism and entertainment reporting) who have managed to transcend their age and carry on for decades, but those are the exceptions. And, when you're still trying to break into the industry, it certainly helps to be younger.

I assume the explanation is on Ron's Twitter feed. It's like DVD extras except crappy and petulant. I had the impression that she really wanted to do Samtrick for a while, so I've been chalking it up to her really wanting this to work now that she got it.

Eh, it's a standard soap trope, the only way I'd find it "gross" is if the body in question was gross, to me. I don't want to see Sonny's moobs, for example. I find Shawn loathsome, but if he wants to wander around in a towel, I'm not going to hate. My main point was just how is it gross for Liz to admire a guy's body when he's walking around her house without a shirt? It's not like she set up shop on the other side of the bathroom wall and drilled a hole so she could ogle him unseen while he showers. He was in her living room without a shirt on. I think it's just gotten out of hand that Liz cannot do anything without it somehow being the worst thing ever. Hey, a guy she's attracted to was shirtless in her presence, and she enjoyed the view. What's the harm? As far as they both currently know, they're single. He wasn't wearing a wedding ring when he was hit, nobody claimed him, so it's not a completely unreasonable assumption that he's single.

Sam has little to no rooting value left for me these days, but if Patrick turns out to be Faison, thank God Sam didn't sleep with him. We've already had the "was Sam raped by Franco?" story not all that long ago, we certainly don't need "Sam slept with someone she thought was Patrick but turned out to be creepy ass Faison."

Those Liz/"Jake" scenes, to me, were fairly standard, classic soap. How often have we seen a character see someone they're becoming interested in come out of the shower not fully clothed? If it wasn't Liz, I'm guessing it wouldn't have been so appalling. As someone who likes Liz and likes both BH and BM (and sees the rather obvious chemistry between the two of them), I liked them. I'll take that kind of thing any day over pretty much anything else on this show that doesn't include Michael telling Carly and Sonny how much they suck. Is he Embalmed Toonces now?

Caroline, at least, seemed sure, from the start, that he'd get over it and want to work things out with her, so I can see her accepting it, because it's what she expected. Add in that she's feeling guilty and confused over her feelings for Ridge, and I can see her not stopping to think that Rick is playing her. Ridge, on the other hand, should smell a rat. I assume it won't be long before Maya arranges for Ridge to find out about Rick's plan. She may pretend to Rick's face that she's fine with whatever he needs to do, but she's not going to be happy with Caroline being in position as Rick's wife, when she thinks that she's entitled to that role. So if she can find some way to make sure Caroline knows Rick's sleeping with her while keeping her own hands clean (and letting Ridge dirty his hands), she'll jump on it.

I think what's dangerous about Sadie (to those of us who want one of the other two to win) is that she not only has what is likely a similar voting base to Bristol's (which got her to the finale, as well), but she can really dance and is winning over fans that way as well. Bristol could not move like Sadie can, so while she rode her fan base to the finale, once it was down to her and two other dancers, she fell off, because the rest of the votes were only split over two other dancers. I think it's generally easier for those big built-in fan bases to get someone to the finale as opposed to winning it, because during the rest of the season, the people voting for other dancers are spread out over a larger number. Just to throw some random numbers together to illustrate - if Dancer A is getting 25% of the total votes all season long, that's great right up until the time there are only 3 left, because then it's less than their "fair share" of the votes, and at least one of the other two is going to get more than she does, possibly both will. The worst Dancer B can do and still beat Dancer C is around 38%, and that is still a big margin over Dancer A's 25%. The issue with Sadie is that her dancing and performance quality has gotten better as the season goes on, so she's likely picked up voters along the way. So if she started out at 25%, she could be up to enough of the fan vote to win it by now. There really is a legit chance she can win. It'll be interesting to see where Janel places. My gut says 3rd. Back when they did the immunity week, I thought it was done to keep her in, because she wasn't pulling the fan votes she needed. Obviously, she picked up enough to make it to the finale, but I wonder how much of her making it through is based on her scores (didn't Tom say she's had the most perfect scores of the cast this season?). My guess is that she pulled in just enough support to squeak into the final 3, but that'll be it.

The cynicism in the comments on that article, yeesh! My first instinct in reading it was that he loved her, he knew she was nearing the end, and the two of them had talked about marriage, so he wanted to be able to give that to her. He also wanted to marry her years ago, and maybe he felt like even if it could only now be a marriage counted in days (or hours), he still wanted to marry her. And I took her turning him down to be that she didn't want to be married like this. The people on there saying if he wanted to marry her he had plenty of time before she got sick - well, we don't know, for sure, how long they were together or whether they were. We know that he wanted to marry her back during their first relationship, and she didn't think they were ready (or, at least, she wasn't ready). this isn't something he came out of the blue with. And it's not like she had been pining and waiting for years for him to marry her and he refused until right this minute. Also, I think it's kind of cute and sweet that when she said "I don't like rubies," he came back the next day with an entirely different ring. I'd imagine that it made her smile, and I'm guessing that was his ultimate goal.

The beginning of their relationship is perfection. Just the way he looks at her... I swear, I was beginning to think I was the only one who loved Ian on PC. (And I even liked Ian/Lucy.) And, yes, I hated Patrick. Damn "Brown Penny" shit. Definitely one of my favorites. I still remember him all flustered and nervous, playing with those straps hanging down her shoulders. Zach could never stop touching Kendall, and TK did so well portraying that. With all the paparazzi and tabloid coverage the Forrester and Logan clans seem to endure (i.e. everyone in creation knowing all about Hope's love life), how is it that we haven't seen things like reporters questioning why Katie doesn't have a real damn engagement ring yet? The man's family business has some in house jewelry designers, and he still can't manage to put an engagement ring on her finger?

I think they mean in terms of viewer votes in the finale, that the freestyle is the deciding factor. And I think that's accurate. You've got a lot of potential voters who were voting for someone who has been eliminated during the season, so if they vote in the finale, it's likely going to be because someones FS wowed them. There are also those who don't vote every week but vote in the finale. Again, those are likely to be for whoever wowed them the most in the FS. Then there might be those who are torn between 2 or more couples, and they wait and see what the FS shows them. There have been a decent number of times in the past season where someone who maybe wasn't the best dancer all season came out and wowed the audience with their FS, or the star who everyone thought was going to win came out with a lackluster FS and lost. This season, possibly more than any other, I've seen a lot of people saying "I like all of the couples left, I'd be happy with any of them winning." I'd imagine that, for those viewers, their votes would likely come down to the FS round. The judges' scores have always generally been fairly equal for the FS round (save a few instances where they had to acknowledge an obvious difference), so it's never been that the FS wins it with the judges, but I think it's always been said that it is what wins it with the fans.