Current Plots Discussion II: Discussing Today's Episode and Current Storylines

[norcalgal]

6 hours ago, Sidney said:

loved all the Bope and their family scenes

Same here.  Brady family FTW!  So I guess offscreen, Chelsea is going to have a baby too?  Who’s the daddy?  And Chelsea and her baby daddy aren’t married, right?  I can’t recall any character mentioning Chelsea being married.

Nice incorporation of the Bope song lyrics into today’s dialogue, along with the “sands through the hourglass”.  Wink, wink

I don’t get how Bo could have been with Angela in heaven if he wasn’t truly dead. (This happened in Beyond Salem). 
 

 

[brisbydog]

40 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

Same here.  Brady family FTW!  So I guess offscreen, Chelsea is going to have a baby too?  Who’s the daddy?  And Chelsea and her baby daddy aren’t married, right?  I can’t recall any character mentioning Chelsea being married.

 

 

 

Her "uncle" Max Brady is the dad

[norcalgal]

19 minutes ago, brisbydog said:

Her "uncle" Max Brady is the dad

🤮

[peachmangosteen]

1 hour ago, brisbydog said:

Her "uncle" Max Brady is the dad

[CanaryFan98]

18 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Well he was also with Stephanie in the past so this tracks with him.

[DisneyBoy]

2 hours ago, norcalgal said:

I don’t get how Bo could have been with Angela in heaven if he wasn’t truly dead. (This happened in Beyond Salem). 
 

Thank You!

Today they had Shawn handwave it but....you can't be in heaven if your body is in suspended animation here on earth.

Its infuriating that even with them planning this story ahead of time, we still get swiss cheese logic.

[brisbydog]

It's amazing how tolerable Cierra is when Ben isn't with her

[WendyCR72]

4 hours ago, norcalgal said:

So I guess offscreen, Chelsea is going to have a baby too?  

Huh? I must have brain farted, because I don't recall this? (But yeah, if she is, Max must be the dad and...yuck. I know, I know. No biology. But...THEY ARE STILL LEGALLY UNCLE AND NIECE. EEEWWW!)

[4evaQuez]

6 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Huh? I must have brain farted, because I don't recall this? (But yeah, if she is, Max must be the dad and...yuck. I know, I know. No biology. But...THEY ARE STILL LEGALLY UNCLE AND NIECE. EEEWWW!)

It was mentioned in today's episode that Chelsea was pregnant by Ciara in the Ciara/Shawn/Bo scene.

In the episode where Bo was holding Kate hostage, Kate mentioned Chelsea and Max were still together.

Random aside: I decided to look at NB's Twitter because of the Behind the Scenes thread here. NB was absent from social media for quite a while, but I noticed she's reposting Xoe (Xander and Chloe apparently already have a name) content on her page. She and PT are also interacting on Twitter. It caught me off guard as I haven't seen NB promote a pairing in quite a while. I don't know what that means; maybe it means nothing. However, I thought I'll share.

 

[Retired at last]

34 minutes ago, 4evaQuez said:

It was mentioned in today's episode that Chelsea was pregnant by Ciara in the Ciara/Shawn/Bo scene.

Can we change that sentence to say, "Ciara mentioned that Chelsea was pregnant in the Ciara/Shawn/Bo scene?" I was kind of shocked at Chelsea being pregnant by Ciara!

[Artsda]

I was surprised Chelsea was suddenly on bed rest with a baby, especially since Roman said she was with them spreading Kate's ashes.

Has Chad forgot he has kids, at least we see Ciara facetiming hers. 

 

[Frozendiva]

So, whatever brain chip was inside Bo had a camera? What kind of RAM does the ISA laptop have?

The mystical Angela appears and then disappears, giving Hope the sands through the hourglass line and to still fight hard for her love. After her husband being dead for years, it seems like a lot. 

At first I thought the ISA flew Bo to Salem. Steph and Chad can go home.

Wonder if Harris will be visiting Salem. He is not needed any more.

And we see Kate on a fishing boat. I was wondering if that was going to happen.

[SouthernChick]

I enjoyed Ciara with Bo and Shawn. She is so much more likeable when she’s away from Ben.

[Guncle Adam]

4 hours ago, Retired at last said:

Can we change that sentence to say, "Ciara mentioned that Chelsea was pregnant in the Ciara/Shawn/Bo scene?" I was kind of shocked at Chelsea being pregnant by Ciara!

[boes]

6 hours ago, brisbydog said:

It's amazing how tolerable Cierra is when Ben isn't with her

You're kinder than I am.  I still hate that obnoxious wanker of a daughter.

And for some reason, hearing her or anyone say "Little Bo" makes my skin crawl.

[Mckinnonsgirl]

Jamey Gidden’s clarification on his original tweet regarding  the Bo/Hope reunion storyline  that was nixed. 

yesterday’s show was good , loved the Brady family being together. 

Edited April 29, 2023 by Mckinnonsgirl

[DisneyBoy]

2 hours ago, boes said:

You're kinder than I am.  I still hate that obnoxious wanker of a daughter.

And for some reason, hearing her or anyone say "Little Bo" makes my skin crawl.

Yup and completely.

And her whole "I'm a mother!" bit made me roll my eyes. Seriously? Dressed like that?

Gabi is at least running a (weird) clothing line and constantly trying to land a husband. Ciara what's your excuse for the hoochie looks?

Some formula stains on an old sweatshirt and jeans would have gone a long way toward humanizing her.

[brisbydog]

I wonder if they will send Victor to Greece to see Bo and gave him die off screen there? Would be an acceptable reason for him not to be in Salem for the next little while until they air the funeral. I would think Peter R would want to be part of that too so perhaps they will wake up Bo for that 

[tribeca]

I always thought Ciara was a better character than Ben.  She still had that spoiled persona but was very loving towards her mom and brother. 
      Eric was so hungry at that breakfast he was stabbing those eggs like he was afraid they were going to run away. 
  Sloans brother had a scary vibe around him. Not sure why a doctor would throw away her career for him. 

[peachmangosteen]

4 hours ago, tribeca said:

Sloans brother had a scary vibe around him. Not sure why a doctor would throw away her career for him. 

All of that was giving abusive relationship.

[Retired at last]

I am a little curious at to why he is setting his sister up to look guilty. I still think it sounds like an accident where Sloan's mother fell. But, even if she did kill herself, it was not Chanel's fault. It was her husband's. Now, I can see why she would hate Paulina for throwing money at it to make it go away.

[brisbydog]

26 minutes ago, Retired at last said:

I am a little curious at to why he is setting his sister up to look guilty. I still think it sounds like an accident where Sloan's mother fell. But, even if she did kill herself, it was not Chanel's fault. It was her husband's. Now, I can see why she would hate Paulina for throwing money at it to make it go away.

We don't know what Sloane's dad told her. Most likely since he seems to be a sleazy predator he gave a version where Chanel was the Lolita type seducer and then Paulina the villain who covered up her mom's death.  I agree Sloane should be mostly furious at Paulina.

[peachmangosteen]

I don't think it's that's crazy that Sloane wouldn't believe Chanel's version of events. Especially since Paulina had the whole thing covered up.

[brisbydog]

15 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I don't think it's that's crazy that Sloane wouldn't believe Chanel's version of events. Especially since Paulina had the whole thing covered up.

I am firmly team Sloane and have been from day one. I already hate her brother though 

[peachmangosteen]

I was team both sides at first but now I'm over Chanel and Paulina's reaction to the whole thing. 

I wanted to like Sloan's (apparently this is the correct spelling) brother but he's giving abusive vibes. 

[brisbydog]

15 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I was team both sides at first but now I'm over Chanel and Paulina's reaction to the whole thing. 

I wanted to like Sloan's (apparently this is the correct spelling) brother but he's giving abusive vibes. 

Very much. He went from nice to anger to nice and back a few too many times 

[Retired at last]

1 hour ago, brisbydog said:

He went from nice to anger to nice and back a few too many times 

So, is this going to set up a scenario where Sloan ends up saving Chanel or Paulina from her psychotic brother and all is well? And then Sloan and Eric can have a happy ending (except for Nicole)? And the fact that no one gets one of those.

[DisneyBoy]

Look, Sloan is pretty and has attitude and self-esteem, and all that's good and all...

...but I really don't get this sudden push for him to be with her. People have spent years saying Nicole is a poor match for him because she's such a mess, but Sloan doesn't seem much better.

I think of all the potential matches Eric has had over the years, Sarah is probably the person he'd most likely build a stable life with, back when she was just a doctor with good judgement, but let's get real - that relationship was a snooze. I don't think anyone misses it. Eric needs not to be with someone "nice" because then he's just even more dull.

I guess people are tired of the Ericole merry-go-round (same!) but Sloan being younger Nicole without as much baggage just makes me root for her less, not more.

I'm fine with Nicole being middle-aged and complicated, because at least she's fought for and loved Eric for decades. That I can get behind.

Sloan and Eric for a while? Fine. But not too long.

[CanaryFan98]

54 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

Look, Sloan is pretty and has attitude and self-esteem, and all that's good and all...

...but I really don't get this sudden push for him to be with her. People have spent years saying Nicole is a poor match for him because she's such a mess, but Sloan doesn't seem much better.

I think of all the potential matches Eric has had over the years, Sarah is probably the person he'd most likely build a stable life with, back when she was just a doctor with good judgement, but let's get real - that relationship was a snooze. I don't think anyone misses it. Eric needs not to be with someone "nice" because then he's just even more dull.

I guess people are tired of the Ericole merry-go-round (same!) but Sloan being younger Nicole without as much baggage just makes me root for her less, not more.

I'm fine with Nicole being middle-aged and complicated, because at least she's fought for and loved Eric for decades. That I can get behind.

Sloan and Eric for a while? Fine. But not too long.

They could have put him with a nice character with a personality but soaps don't write characters with personality anymore. They're all so generic and interchangeable the fact we're talking about Sloane as a Nicole clone and not as someone entirely different tells you all you need to know.

[boes]

There's only one person Eric will ever truly be happy with and, even though it should be Nicole, it's not her, and his mom is already taken.

His perfect woman is

and eventually we all know he'd had have issues with her, too.  He'd make one helluva stepdad for her kid, though.

[4evaQuez]

1 hour ago, DisneyBoy said:

I guess people are tired of the Ericole merry-go-round (same!) but Sloan being younger Nicole without as much baggage just makes me root for her less, not more.

I'm fine with Nicole being middle-aged and complicated, because at least she's fought for and loved Eric for decades. That I can get behind.

Sloan and Eric for a while? Fine. But not too long.

 

59 minutes ago, CanaryFan98 said:

They could have put him with a nice character with a personality but soaps don't write characters with personality anymore. They're all so generic and interchangeable the fact we're talking about Sloane as a Nicole clone and not as someone entirely different tells you all you need to know.

But besides being beautiful, antagonistic blondes, and Nicole isn't actually an antagonist anymore, the comparisons between Nicole and Sloan are shallow.

Nicole is actually just now getting to a place where Sloan has been for the entirety of her run so far.  Nicole, for more than a decade, was defined by her desperation and internal loneliness which made her do truly evil things for a man. She debased herself and often acted in ways that went against her self-interest in her relationships with Daniel, Brady, Eric, EJ, and Deimos. We've only started to see Nicole act from a place of esteem recently, i.e. not sleeping with EJ because she was rejected by another man. I'd even go back a few years with the Mickey/Rachel baby switch and Nicole telling Eric the truth about "Mickey" being his child. Nicole has grown to be the antiheroine/heroine she is today over the course of 25 years.

Sloan, so far, has not debased herself for a man, groveled for a man, or schemed for a man like Nicole. Her core self isn't desperation and loneliness like Nicole but vengeance. Even with her vengeance, she's operated within the confines of the law. Her brother, Colin(?), even further confirms that Sloan will not operate outside the law to avoid losing her law degree.

Even when it comes to men, we saw Sloan leave Alex when he helped Paulina and Chanel steal from her. We saw Sloan get rightfully upset and leave Eric as a result of his transgressions of pretending to be her paralegal. The two then discussed why she came back and why she wants to be in a relationship with him. Sloan, so far, has operated from a place of esteem and self-worth that Nicole lacked for decades. 

I don't see Sloan as a "younger Nicole" because Nicole at roughly Sloan's age was switching babies and attempting suicide because Daniel didn't want her. Sloan isn't even a younger version of "today's Nicole" because today's Nicole has let her bad experiences in love give her an empathy and understanding of others that the current Sloan mostly lacks. Today's Nicole can also still be impulsive and self-destructive - sleeping with Xander - in a way we haven't seen Sloan behave, yet.

Lastly, the Sarah that was with Eric was a completely different Sarah than the one that just left the canvas. Eric's Sarah was much more dramatic, confrontational, mean-spirited, and often escalated arguments on behalf of others, including Eric, because she lacked boundaries and emotional regulation. The relationship with Xander, made her childish and an I Love Lucy character. Sarah is just now becoming a mature adult who could be deemed "nice." 

[DanaMB]

4 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

..but I really don't get this sudden push for him to be with her. People have spent years saying Nicole is a poor match for him because she's such a mess, but Sloan doesn't seem much better.

To me, she actually makes Eric interesting and doesn’t seem to think she has to change who she is to be with him.  Nicole is the same old shit. 

[FilmTVGeek80]

3 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

think of all the potential matches Eric has had over the years, Sarah is probably the person he'd most likely build a stable life with, back when she was just a doctor with good judgement, but let's get real - that relationship was a snooze. I don't think anyone misses it. Eric needs not to be with someone "nice" because then he's just even more dull.

I wouldn’t say that I’m pining for them, but I didn’t think the relationship was a snooze. I think they had chemistry together and vastly preferred them to Xander/Sarah. If the show ever wanted to go there again, I’d welcome it.

I do agree with your overall point about Sloan. I think she and Eric do have chemistry together, but I do see her as very similar to a younger Nicole. I’ve also never warmed to her as an individual character. Her never-ending vendetta against Paulina and Chanel is boring. Even knowing logically she has a right to some of her anger, I don’t root for her against Chanel or Paulina, especially when she acts like Chanel is 100% in the wrong and seduced her father or blames Chanel for that grown-ass man choosing to drink his life away. Chanel did offer her a sincere apology, but there’s no changing the past and what happened with Sloane’s mother. What does she expect Chanel to do? Passively sit back and let Sloan ruin her life to appease her need for vengeance?

[brisbydog]

13 minutes ago, DanaMB said:

To me, she actually makes Eric interesting and doesn’t seem to think she has to change who she is to be with him.  Nicole is the same old shit. 

Exactly this. I've never found Eric remotely watchable until Sloan

[WendyCR72]

If we're tallying, I'm in the "OMG, bottle them as a sleeping pill for hard-core insomniacs!" camp as far as Eric/Sarah went. Dullness times infinity.

And, as I have said, I do/did like Xander/Sarah, so... *shrug*

Another example of the beauty that is "potato, potahto!" Something for everyone.

I am also enjoying Xander/Chloe as friends. It seems too soon after the Gwen/Sarah drama to be anything more to me, but I like their friendly vibe.

[nilyank]

4 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

I'm fine with Nicole being middle-aged and complicated, because at least she's fought for and loved Eric for decades. That I can get behind.

 

She had definitely not fought for Eric for decades. Whatever she may have felt for Eric, she has easily moved on to other men. Repeatedly and often.

Although she didn't have any feelings for Lucas, she still allowed herself to be bought/bribed for $5 millions to break Eric's heart and married loser Lucas.

Eric leaves town and she then married Victor for his money.

.Chase after Brady to the point that she would disfigure Chloe's face.

Slept around with Colin before he got murdered.

Tried to get together with Austin.

Slept with Roman.

Agreed to help EJ make Sami jealous which he paid her to do and when they have sex for the first time and EJ calls out Sami's name, she had no pride and wanted to continue to have a relationship with EJ. Despite all this, she would end up telling EJ that he was the love of her life.

Then it would be back to Brady and insisting that he is the one.

Back to EJ, when he bribed her to be Sydney's mom as he was furious that Sami shot him and then went off to get engaged/married to Rafe.

But then there was Daniel and she really, really wanted him to the point that she lied and said that Jennifer deliberately caused her to lose her already dead baby.

That was a decade that Eric's name wasn't even a thought in her head.

Father Eric comes, and she would still get involved, engaged with the following men: Daniel, Deimos, Brady, Xander, Rafe and EJ.

Sure when Eric is in town, she would try to ruin his life by getting near him. Nicole is the absolutely the worst thing that has ever happened to him and he is just too damn blind to realize it. Nicole is the WORST.

 

[brisbydog]

1 hour ago, WendyCR72 said:

If we're tallying, I'm in the "OMG, bottle them as a sleeping pill for hard-core insomniacs!" as far as Eric/Sarah went. Dullness times infinity.

And, as I have said, I do/did like Xander/Sarah, so... *shrug*

Another example of the beauty that is "potato, potahto!" Something for everyone.

I am also enjoying Xander/Chloe as friends. It seems too soon after the Gwen/Sarah drama to be anything more to me, but I like their friendly vibe.

Exactly me too. I can't commit to Chloe as more than friends as we know Sarah is returning with that baby 

Sarah was boring with both Eric and Rex because they were all vanilla. They need a partner with the opposite vibe

[tribeca]

I like sIngle Eric. I like dating Eric.  I just like Eric. 

[FilmTVGeek80]

26 minutes ago, nilyank said:

Father Eric comes, and she would still get involved, engaged with the following men: Daniel, Deimos, Brady, Xander, Rafe and EJ.

Sure when Eric is in town, she would try to ruin his life by getting near him. Nicole is the absolutely the worst thing that has ever happened to him and he is just too damn blind to realize it. Nicole is the WORST.

 

She barely mentioned him for years because the character was off-screen and was barely mentioned by anyone, including his twin. As you mention he was Father Eric, so that’s why she was with some of those other men and not immediately repaired with him when he came back. I believe Deimos happened when Eric was in prison for accidentally killing Daniel - Nicole’s fiancé - while drunk driving. Ultimately, she dumped Brady for Eric. Xander blackmailed her into marriage and repeatedly tried to force her to have sex with him. The only time she did sleep with Xander was years later while she was drunk as hell and reaching the end of her rope since Eric was an absentee husband. Rafe happened after she and Eric divorced and, like with Brady, she ultimately dumped him for Eric.

Most of your recap doesn’t actually get into how exactly Nicole has ruined his life. It makes it seem like Nicole is the absolute worst while innocent Eric was completely blameless and didn’t contribute to some of their issues. I love the character of Eric, but if you stacked up their mistakes, during the course of their relationship, Eric’s are worse. She cheated on him a couple of times. The worst thing she did was lie to him about his child (but she ultimately fessed up without being forced to.) He accused her of raping him and killed her fiance. 

[DisneyBoy]

Yeah, that whole "you raped me!!" stuff was brutal. And then afterwards, when he knew it was really Kristen, and got together with Nicole, and she destroyed the evidence to keep him from backpedaling into priesthood again, he was awful to her all over again.

...but then she in turn was awful to him about Daaaaaanieeeellll!!!!! 🙄

There's just waaay too much passion/anger/running away/leaping into relationships with other people going on, year after year, for these two to NOT be the OTP, warts and all.

And the writing has been all about keeping couples apart instead of growing them through the course of their relationships anyway...so I don't fault them for barely being together.

[SouthernChick]

Baby or no baby, I don’t want Eric and Nicole together. They both have better chemistry with other people.

[peachmangosteen]

Today was pretty good.

Belle and EJ still have pretty magnetic chem. 

[SouthernChick]

EJ and Belle have good chemistry, but I don’t want her to cheat again. Maybe they can have a fun friendship similar to Xander and Chloe?

Was I supposed to feel sorry for Harris as he was wistfully looking at a photo of him and Hope? Dude, your “relationship” with her was 48 hours. Get over it.

[Artsda]

Chad rememberd he had children. Doug and Julie, 96 years old Doug is babysitting?

Enjoy Belle and EJ scenes so much. 

[Frozendiva]

Kate really attracts fish. Another fish boat and no help making a call for rescue.

Now Andrew wants Harris to sort of redeem himself by finding missing Kate?

Doug and Julie are looking after Chad’s kids? Aren’t they a little old? Chad can’t afford a temp nanny?

I liked Belle and EJ. At least he had nothing to do with the Bo tale.

 

 

[DisneyBoy]

1 hour ago, Artsda said:

Chad rememberd he had children. Doug and Julie, 96 years old Doug is babysitting?

Enjoy Belle and EJ scenes so much. 

I'm going to hope that his kids are very well behaved (and secretly afraid of Julie).

Did she sell off the restaurant by the way?

[4evaQuez]

I genuinely loved today's episode.

Alex, when he's not being written like a horndog or a 1980's Miami Vice character, actually works for me. I used to like his scenes with Allie, and I'm currently liking his scenes with Chanel and Gwen. It was shocking to see him being honest and urging Gwen to be honest, as well. I have no interest in an Alex/Stephanie redux, so I'm certain these kind words will be rescinded soon. For now, I actually saw what I thought could be a young romantic male lead in today's episode.

I liked that two completely nonintegrated storylines are merging with Xander/Chloe's friendship and Talia(Bakery Girl)/Colin/Paulina/Chanel. Xander and/or Chloe are obviously going to help connect Talia and Colin together.

Chloe/Brady/Xander/Leo worked so well for me today. I love seeing Chloe be petty and the high-five between Xoe was everything, including Brady's annoyance. While I usually don't like physical violence on Soaps - I know, I know. I'm watching the wrong genre. I actually liked seeing Brady and Xander puffing their chests and getting in each other's faces. I wished Victor could be in the background because he's always despised how Chloe can cause chaos in the Kiriakis family. I also loved how the scene kept getting bigger with more characters. I half expected Gwen and Phyllis to show up.

I wish the show had done more with Allie and Rafe's relationship when Allie was on the show. It's odd that Allie has had three fathers in her life: Rafe, EJ and Lucas. All three were mostly absent from her run. Lucas because of prison, but the show didn't do much with her relationships with EJ or Rafe either. Allie sending Rafe a photo makes sense if you understand Allie and Rafe's history from the early 2010s. It doesn't really make sense if you only watched their history from the past year.

That being said, I liked Chanel seeing the photo, and that led to a vulnerable Chanel and Talia taking advantage of her. I know a similar storyline caused outrage on Young and the Restless a decade ago, but I'm intrigued with how far Talia will go for Colin. Again, I hope they don't completely redeem Talia.

It felt strange hearing Gwen say "Aunt Kayla." It felt out of character for her. I'm interested in what a Kayla / Gwen interaction would be as I can't think of the two interacting.

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by 4evaQuez

[FnkyChkn34]

Why did Talia have to do the entire episode in her underwear?  That was a bizarre costume choice...

[norcalgal]

11 hours ago, 4evaQuez said:

It felt strange hearing Gwen say "Aunt Kayla." It felt out of character for her. 

I didn’t and won’t watch, but I hope Kayla immediately interjected and explicitly told Gwen “I don’t want you calling me Aunt. We don’t have that kind of relationship and never will.”

[KBrownie]

2 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

I didn’t and won’t watch, but I hope Kayla immediately interjected and explicitly told Gwen “I don’t want you calling me Aunt. We don’t have that kind of relationship and never will.”

The reference to "Aunt Kayla" just felt like another lame attempt to try and force the character of Gwen to mean something.  They wrote Jack out, so now they are trying to use Kayla to give her a tie to someone, a reason to exist.  Never mind the fact that Kayla has ONLY acknowledged Gwen's existence in relation to staunchly supporting Abigail and/or Jennifer AGAINST Gwen.  Kayla has certainly never acknowledged her as her niece/family when she always did with Abigail and JJ.  Hell, neither has Steve.  But now Gwen is throwing out "Aunt Kayla" as if they have any sort of familial relationship. Like she actually GAF that Kayla is alive.  It was just yet another clunky way to try and tie the character to someone important and relevant since Jack is no longer around to be used and abused to do that particular bit of heavy lifting.

But I wouldn't put it past this show to ignore the past and pretend like Kayla, Steve, and Gwen are such close family now.