bantering

Abigail crying to Paige seemed strangely terrible. I've actually thought KM's crying with EJ when he's turning her down was okay. She gets this look of shock, while kind of unhinged, that sort of effectively shows her devastation at being dumped. Sure, she seems kind of nuts to me, but the crying about not getting sex seems real enough in execution anyway. But when she's not getting turned down for a mistress position or she can't get sex from the biggest, baddest Dimera of them all her crying suddenly turns really bad. Weird.

I have to admit the scene between Sami and Jordan was a little odd. Sometimes they write in these random scenes where Sami goes off on somebody, and I'm not sure why. Is the show trying to keep the Rafe option open? Why do all of the women on this show suddenly show a personality when they're acting opposite Sami but can't seem to find one when they're talking to Rafe?

What was bizarre about the photoshopped picture scene is that Abby was staring into the stars dreaming big fantasies over a picture of Ben and another girl. I think I'm more used to seeing someone on a soap stare into the stars after photoshopping herself into the picture with the guy she likes. Maybe Abigail hasn't seen enough Alicia Silverstone movies to know how fantasizing is supposed to work.

Does Abigail consider Ben not up to a certain status she'd prefer? Is that why she wants him to model?

I suppose I'm perplexed as to why Gabi simply didn't follow Kate and Sami's advice if it was the river incident Gabi was worried about. By that point, all 3 had committed to it. Might as well let Kate and Sami protect you rather than taking matters into your own hands with a gun. Or, alternatively, go to Rafe. I'm sure he would have understood why she agreed to dump the body since Nick had tried to rape her. And Rafe has a tendency to throw out his police badge when it comes to protecting people he likes. Gabi had so many options. Geez, even EJ would have helped her. (Not that I think EJ cares about her that much, but he would have helped her out because of her association with Will, Sonny, Sami, and Ari.)

If Rafe knew what Gabi did, why didn't Gabi just go to Rafe from the beginning when Nick started blackmailing her????? Did the writers forget this plot point?

I thought Gabi got cleared during the Melanie incident? Didn't Rafe get her out of the jam somehow? Or am I misremembering? Didn't Rafe know? I thought he did and just let her go on her merry way about it.

The writers could have involved Rafe much more so in Gabi's storyline early on, but instead they had him hanging with Jordan all the time. And yet we still don't know what her secret is.

I wonder if Marlena will give Kate the stink-eye. Marlena never seems to judge Kate as harshly for the same crimes.

If KM played her character in a comedic way (like sometimes Sami, NIcole, and Kate are played from time to time) maybe we'd get more entertainment out of Abigail. The fact that Abigail is so deadly serious about everything she does makes her seem weirder than the average desperate woman on a soap.

Is Abigail trying to figure out whether Ben is in the Witness Protection Program? Who wants to photoshop the guy she likes with another pretty girl into a photo? Ben looked nice in his new shirt. I guess he was trying to prove to Abigail that he's not actually homeless or unemployed? Did EJ forget to tell Gabi not to tell Marlena what she, Kate, and Sami did? I figured maybe he wouldn't want Marlena knowing that info either. Or was he okay with Gabi telling Marlena for her own sanity, even if it meant Marlena was inevitably going to give Sami the stink-eye? I was confused by that. So, essentially Nick was blackmailing Gabi about the Melanie thing, right? Was that some kind of "twist"? I'm trying to fit the pieces together, but I'm getting whiplash from Gabi's personality changes. Nonetheless, I do think CB did an excellent job with her confession scenes and was putting in the necessary effort to try and make Gabi seem less dumb -- although the writing has done her no help.

Ugh, Nicole. During the wacko baby storyline, I at least thought she had some sincerity to her, however misguided she might have been. Now I just think she's super fake. I think CB sold her scenes, but I was probably looking at her the same way Hope was. Gabi's sense of logic is baffling.

I can't believe the British guy and Adrian's wife actually thought they were being discreet. Don't they lock their doors when they're doing it?

It`s a little baffling to me as to why Daniel is so boring. He`s given a fair amount of material to shine, but yet so much dullness ensues from him. I think even Rafe might be more interesting. Well, at least Rafe has a well-groomed face on his side.

Nicole does seem less pathetic when she's scheming for money. When she tries showing remorse in private, she seems kind of boring. I don't know if she's annoying, but since she's determined to do the wrong thing anyway, looking up to the sky to ask God for clarification on what she should do seems kind of pointless to me.

Objectively, I think AZ is a good actress. But I pretty much have no reaction to any of her pairings. Whether that's because of a chemistry issue or something else, I'm not sure. There is a part of me that can see why she's stuck on soaps even though she has strong technical skills. I thought she and EJ were okay, but I really think I watched EJole because of him. And I watched EJabby because of him.