Current Plots Discussion: Actually Today's Episode

[nilyank]

Lani's biggest offense is that she is boring. While that might be fine  in real life, this is a tv show where we presumably are going to be entertained. Lani fails at being interesting so when she shows up onscreen, it is like all the air has escaped from a balloon.  Eli being stuck to her as a love interest and as the only person he works with on the Salem PD, makes him unwatchable. When he is in scenes with other characters, he lights up, so the fault lies in her because she is the same boring mess with every other character.

[brisbydog]

As well as being boring, Lani unleashed a psychotic loon who had just stabbed an old man to go pursue a woman who, in said loon's eyes, had stolen her baby. That put Sarah in harm's way and Lani did not care cause Kristen is her BFF. And Eli hand waves this away. So neither of them are really good guys, but again their biggest crime is being boring. Same for Will and Sonny whose conversations are like watching paint dry except for a bit of misplaced outrage  from Sonny this week. 

[CanaryFan98]

Despite finding Elani FF material they are also the token black characters of the show they aren't going to get the same development/focus as their white counterparts so honestly this is the best that its going to get for them. That being said I agree with the others Lani is a void on this show she lacks the energy/charisma to make poor character development work and I'm just glad JJ is free from it. I do think I'd like Eli with just about anyone else though but that's not going to happen he's stuck with her. I'd feel bad if I liked him more but I don't so...

I also don't mind Xander but I preferred him as a pop up villain rather than romantic sap however the show at least isn't having everyone bend over backwards to get me to like him as opposed to Ben. Marlena, Ericole etc still hate him and rightfully so and Sarah isn't going out of her way to say they're unreasonable or how dare you hate him like Ciara would with Ben. That goes a long way.

[Rafael]

6 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

Allow me to also toss in some change....

In any piece of entertainment, whether a movie, TV show or stage play, there's the character as written, which may or may not be interesting or compelling, and then there is the actor's performance which also may or may not be compelling or interesting.

Joseph Mascolo as Stefano had a very long run on the show where his character was interesting and the performance was electrifying and entertaining as all hell. So even though Stefano did terrible things like kill, brainwash people and try to coerce women into bed with him, he was a total delight to watch. I know people who only watched Days of Our Lives because of his performance as Stefano. Doesn't mean the character was a good person.

Conversely, the character of Lani has been on the show for five years now, and I haven't been interested in a single one of her storylines. Technically she's a cop and therefore a good guy, but because of the actress' completely lifeless performance and lazy "oh right, she's still here, we forgot" writing, I wish the character much harm.

Ben is maybe the show's most prominent villain of late, with plenty of screen time and a redemption arc in full swing, but the actor makes the same two faces, can't vary his line readings and has no charisma or energy. I also think the writing is ridiculous at this point. At least before, when he was just a crazy unstable serial killer, I could go along with the story in spite of the bad acting. But now he's being expected to give a wide-ranging performance he just can't deliver on, and the entire narrative of the show has contorted to somehow make him out to be a worthwhile leading man, which as a character, he simply isn't. So I also wish him incredible amounts of harm.

Paul Telfer as Xander has been entertaining from day one. He lights up the screen with his humour and his ability to play sinister and sexy at the same time. There's a confidence in his performance and even though he doesn't have the range entirely to pull off this sympathetic love sick puppy thing, it's nice to see a different side of him and I feel like he earned his promotion to full-time character years ago. The show would have been stupid not to include him in the cast, in spite of the fact that the character has been written into a corner somewhat. He's just done too many terrible things with glee to ever be accepted by the other characters, and yet I hope that gradually over time he's able to make some more friendships and have some more love stories because Paul Telfer is an asset to the show. I still don't like the fact that he's Victor's nephew for some strange reason, or that he has hurt Brady, Marlena, Theresa, Eric and Nicole... It would be ridiculous for any of those characters to trust or like him, which again means they have to be careful about how they use him in the future. The guy has menaced the town openly and should be in prison several times over...but it's been so much fun watching him that I don't object to them finding excuses to keep him involved.

If, all of a sudden, everyone were to start loving him like he's a special pet project they're so super proud of, the way people have turned around completely with Ben, I would be rolling my eyes and annoyed. But so far they've done a decent job of developing him in a new way with Sarah and Victor.

There were actors who came on the show for bit parts, who I think had more potential than some of the long-term leads on this series. It's not about whether you're playing a good guy or bad guy, or even if the dialogue is clever. Sometimes a good entertainer manages to make something out of nothing.

TIIC have no vision for Paul telfer and they are pretty much throwing mud at wall and seeing what sticks when it comes to his character. Everytime you feel like Xander is on the verge of a breakthrough and firmly establishing the character only for the character to kinda go back to square one. .

TIIC should have cast as either Alexander Kirialis or Victor Kiriakis II and his twin. this is why I always Put the on  emphasis "staying power" . This can be achieved if the character is developed via interacting with his family . Imagine how powerful it would have been if theresa falsely accused Alexander /Victor II of rape instead of Xander ? Think of all the turmoil that would have unfolded . We would have Justin /Adrienne /Victor vs Shane /Kim /Caroline .

When Theresa did that to Xander , it was like ."uhm ,okay" and nobody gave a fig about him and off he went to jail . Telfer has the gravitas to play a formidable businessman with his own brain and a convincing rival for Philip Kiriakis . 

But instead ,he is like a bizarre hybrid of Bart/Nico  ,the DiMera /Kiriakis goons respectively ,  and EJ .

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by Rafael

[DisneyBoy]

That's a pretty apt way of describing him. He's been this sort of sidekick who can't seem to get much traction on his own terms.

[Petunia13]

2 hours ago, Rafael said:

TIIC have no vision for Paul telfer and they are pretty much throwing mud at wall and seeing what sticks when it comes to his character. Everytime you feel like Xander is on the verge of a breakthrough and firmly establishing the character only for the character to kinda go back to square one. .

TIIC should have cast as either Alexander Kirialis or Victor Kiriakis II and his twin. this is why I always Put the on  emphasis "staying power" . This can be achieved if the character is developed via interacting with his family . Imagine how powerful it would have been if theresa falsely accused Alexander /Victor II of rape instead of Xander ? Think of all the turmoil that would have unfolded . We would have Justin /Adrienne /Victor vs Shane /Kim /Caroline .

When Theresa did that to Xander , it was like ."uhm ,okay" and nobody gave a fig about him and off he went to jail . Telfer has the gravitas to play a formidable businessman with his own brain and a convincing rival for Philip Kiriakis . 

But instead ,he is like a bizarre hybrid of Bart/Nico  ,the DiMera /Kiriakis goons respectively ,  and EJ .

 

Yeah you’ve mentioned your wishes and hypothetical preferences for Paul Telfer/Xander a few x before. I have to disagree with the ongoing suggestions. I feel like he’s been pretty interesting and come into his own now and actually has some fans out there. 

Anyway even if I agree, which I apologize, don’t. We can’t close the barn door at this point. PT has been playing Xander for years. Campaigning on why you would cast him differently or informing us periodically won’t unring that bell. 

[Petunia13]

This Ally baby story is dregs. Rafe showed practically zero interest in adopting that child. But for some reason they are acting like he has no agency or decision making skills of his own. And Ally’s hatred of her mother and people saying that loathing is earned because she bounced from partner to partner and traveled what parent on this show hasn’t? 😂 as far as saying well Sami was hellacious as a teen so she’s getting her karma now. That’s not how this works or anything works. If that would be the case then Abigails kids will have blank checks to be monsters and should escape all accountability as well. 

I did like the Sarah and Xander reunion even though the music was 🌽 and it was weird when she flopped on the bed belly down. 

Bonnie’s a weirdo and so is Gwen. Bonnie seems to think her resemblance to Adrienne can get any of her former lovers to climb into bed with her or like her. Gwen is obsessed with getting drunk and demanding penis. 

Sarah is in her 30s and a driver and has no idea what wear sensors on brakes are 🤔 “when I brake I hear a squealing noise I don’t know what that means or even how they can fix it...” yes they replace the pads. And if you drive it too long after the squealing you hear will hear grinding or just the breaks stop working. Ugh though I just remembered the only car shop in town in Jake’s and he works like 15 minutes a month and his only other employee even less and is all brain scrambled and creepy. Maybe Xander’s idiotic idea to replace an entire car instead of paying for a few hundred dollar routine maintenance is the right idea. 

Sami looked bomb in her dress this week talking to Rafe and Sarah looked nice on her date w Xan. 

Sonny was annoying w Will and it was fucking ridiculous he was more upset w him over covering for a mere conversation his mother had with her ex husband. Than so many other betrayals and serious issues they’ve had even in the past few years #bruh. 

Edited August 9, 2020 by Petunia13

[Rafael]

16 hours ago, Petunia13 said:

Yeah you’ve mentioned your wishes and hypothetical preferences for Paul Telfer/Xander a few x before. I have to disagree with the ongoing suggestions. I feel like he’s been pretty interesting and come into his own now and actually has some fans out there. 

Anyway even if I agree, which I apologize, don’t. We can’t close the barn door at this point. PT has been playing Xander for years. Campaigning on why you would cast him differently or informing us periodically won’t unring that bell. 

Im just pointing out and highlighting how pathetic TIIC are .

Im not  even close to campaigning . 

They have a history and they dont use it.

Instead they prefer to make ish up on the fly .

Summer ,Paul,Deimos ,Tripp, Daniel and Xander .  Xander and Deimos were totally bizarre and it made no sense that Xander's dad Titus Kiriakis and Deimos werent mentioned during the 1980s when Victor returned to Greece and they pretty much mentioned his family tree going back to his grandparents . This shows it was always supposed to Victor and Alexander (Justin's father ) as the Kiriakis brothers. But nah the other writers made ish up by creating Titus and Dena took it further and added the collosal fail known as Deimos .

Same thing applies to Paul,Tripp,Summer and freaking Daniel and their half a$$ed connections to legacy characters.

Im just shocked that they found an actor with a great physique , decent gravitas and decent charisma and decided to cast him as made up quasi legacy character instead of an actual legacy characters such as Alexander Kiriakis /Victor II /JOseph Kiriakis ,all of whom we saw as babies on the canvas during the 1980s . If he had been introduced as as one of justin and adriennes elder children , it would have gone a long way in cementing paul telfer  as a permanent feature of salem and gave him more staying power . Instead , as xander , the writing has been on amd off and its preventing him from gaining permanent traction.

 

All Im doing is agreeing with Disneyboy over his analysis of Paul Telfer and his tenure on Days. 

Im suggesting that if he was cast as an actual legacy Kiriakis kid ,who happens to be Adrienne and Justin's son, Telfer would have been solidified as one of the shows leads a long time ago. 

Edited August 9, 2020 by Rafael

[Petunia13]

At this point I like Xander and don’t know any of the other dudes you mentioned. 

 

they spent the time to redeem Xan and that’s enough for me. He’s changed more than Ben I will say that. 

[howmanywords]

Paul/Xander are popular. This show will be lucky to last another year or two. I don't think Paul needed to be a legacy character to stay on the show permanently. Some of the legacy children have turned out to be duds.

[CanaryFan98]

28 minutes ago, howmanywords said:

Paul/Xander are popular. This show will be lucky to last another year or two. I don't think Paul needed to be a legacy character to stay on the show permanently. Some of the legacy children have turned out to be duds.

Nicole isn't a legacy kid and she's been here for over 20 years now.

I prefer Xander as a villain but the actor/character are popular so I don't blame the show for sticking w/ what works at this point. 

He's a Kiriakis so its not like he doesn't have ties to Salem.

[Rafael]

32 minutes ago, howmanywords said:

Paul/Xander are popular. This show will be lucky to last another year or two. I don't think Paul needed to be a legacy character to stay on the show permanently. Some of the legacy children have turned out to be duds.

Like which ones exactly ? Which ones were duds exactly ? You mean Eli ? Well, thats all on Dena and the writers. 

Since all we have been getting are contrieved " legacy" characters like Daniel,Lani,Summer,Paul and Tripp ? 

The only prominent legacy kids we got this decade is Eric ,Jeannie and Sarah. Thats it . 

 

Edited August 9, 2020 by Rafael

[Rafael]

 

 

5 hours ago, Petunia13 said:

At this point I like Xander and don’t know any of the other dudes you mentioned. 

 

they spent the time to redeem Xan and that’s enough for me. He’s changed more than Ben I will say that. 

What is that gif all about anyway? Is that your way of clapping back at me or what?  

Its almost feels its like 5 years too late. Telfer should have been a established actor on the show by now given that he was introduced in 2014 . 

All they did during that time was have him be a side story in the prison break storyline , Nicole's kidnapping which was ordered by Deimos , Kristen's revenge and finally the baby switch . 

Besides ,you act like I hate Paul Telfer. I dont . I recognise his immense potential as a leading man and I think he hasnt been used   to greater effect .the only thing that works for him for now is  the Sarah Romance and scenes with Victor. Thats it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2020 by Rafael

[Rafael]

33 minutes ago, CanaryFan98 said:

Nicole isn't a legacy kid and she's been here for over 20 years now.

I prefer Xander as a villain but the actor/character are popular so I don't blame the show for sticking w/ what works at this point. 

He's a Kiriakis so its not like he doesn't have ties to Salem.

Yeah ,he is a Kiriakis sure  and there is not much substance there . For instance when Theresa accused Xander of rape ? Did it leave any repercussions? Nope. Victor didnt care and neither did Justin ,Adrienne ,Daniel and Brady and off to jail he went for a while  until the prison break storyline. Now imagine if he was cast as one of adrienne's older sons. That false rape would have had enormous impact on the cast and gone a long in helping Telfer becoming firmly established on rhe canvas given that he would have had scenes with long time vets like Justin ,Adrienne , Victor and perhaps confrontational scenes with Kim and Shane and Caroline and so on. Hell, even scenes with Sonny.

I believe in Telfer , I believe he has the necessary tools to be a mainstay character who would make an impact on the show and if he exits ,you would feel his absence. 

[howmanywords]

Let me word this differently. There are legacy kids *I* dont like. I dont have to have some connection to characters from the 80’s for me to enjoy a character. Bo and Hope are my all time favorite couple yet I cant stand Ciara. Same with Abigail.  

 

[CanaryFan98]

1 hour ago, Rafael said:

Like which ones exactly ? Which ones were duds exactly ? You mean Eli ? Well, thats all on Dena and the writers. 

Since all we have been getting are contrieved " legacy" characters like Daniel,Lani,Summer,Paul and Tripp ? 

The only prominent legacy kids we got this decade is Eric ,Jeannie and Sarah. Thats it . 

 

We saw Eric and Sarah as adults on screen before this decade though. I'll give you Theresa you could add JJ as well.

[Irlandesa]

I don't consider Eli a dud.  I consider Lani and Eli a dud as a couple but Eli?  No.

I think the thing is, it doesn't really matter if the show introduces new unrelated characters (we need these the most given how related people are), a legacy character we saw being born or a legacy character that came out of nowhere.

With all three of them, the writers are going to need to develop the characters and develop the relationships.  Just because we saw someone being born doesn't automatically mean we're going to feel the connection between the characters---especially if some of the parents aren't on screen full time.  

Having Paul T be one of Justin and Adrienne's sons or Lindsay G as Stephanie or KDP as Melissa isn't going to automatically mean better characters or better stories because the writers we have are the writers we have.  And the actors/actors charisma are doing much of the work.

[Silver Raven]

I'd sure like to know what kind of insurance Allie has, that an unemployed woman can stay in the hospital for days on end after giving birth without being hustled out to free up the bed.

 

[nilyank]

2 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

I'd sure like to know what kind of insurance Allie has, that an unemployed woman can stay in the hospital for days on end after giving birth without being hustled out to free up the bed.

 

It's call the Dimera Plan because Sami is the only one who could afford that kind of insurance. 

[Rafael]

3 hours ago, howmanywords said:

Let me word this differently. There are legacy kids *I* dont like. I dont have to have some connection to characters from the 80’s for me to enjoy a character. Bo and Hope are my all time favorite couple yet I cant stand Ciara. Same with Abigail.  

 

Oh ,yes. I get it now. 

[Bwill3133]

If I never hear the word “bully” again it would be too soon. I’m amused that these grown ass people can continue to be swayed by Sami. Rafe, Will and Lucas. She wasn’t holding a gun to your heads, you supposedly grown men. You could have told the truth at any time. Allie you have seen the bare minimum of your mothers interference. This is a woman who had your brother re-strangled to get his memory back!  That talking to Rafe was nothing. Complete overreaction by everyone. 
 

I’m loving the quad of Jake/Gabi/Chad/Gwen.  Add in Li Shin (who should be on more) and I’m good. 
 

Sonny “I’m a Kiriakis , who still lives with the man who framed my husband for murder.” You are not scary and acting entitled to that baby just grates on my last nerve. Ari is going to be upset? You shouldn’t have told her until you knew for sure. She’s going to be happier about the puppy anyway. 
 

 

[Rafael]

On 8/9/2020 at 8:06 PM, Irlandesa said:

I don't consider Eli a dud.  I consider Lani and Eli a dud as a couple but Eli?  No.

I think the thing is, it doesn't really matter if the show introduces new unrelated characters (we need these the most given how related people are), a legacy character we saw being born or a legacy character that came out of nowhere.

With all three of them, the writers are going to need to develop the characters and develop the relationships.  Just because we saw someone being born doesn't automatically mean we're going to feel the connection between the characters---especially if some of the parents aren't on screen full time.  

Having Paul T be one of Justin and Adrienne's sons or Lindsay G as Stephanie or KDP as Melissa isn't going to automatically mean better characters or better stories because the writers we have are the writers we have.  And the actors/actors charisma are doing much of the work.

Incase you didnt know ,Adrienne and Justin's twin sons are adopted and they aint bio Kiriakises.

 I agree that we need bio neutral characters not related to House Horton ,House DiMera ,House Kiriakis and House Brady to widen the options for romantic pairings . 

The only legacy offsprings who were /are big time disasters is  Ciara Brady and Jeremy Horton .

These are the only legacy kids who are epic fails ,even Il admit that. 

Anyway,  I have been calling for the likes of Noelle Curtis ,JT Reiber and his brother , Joy Wesley ,Benjamin Carver (adopted Carver ) ,offsprings of Marcus Hunter's , Demarquette and Artemis as adults (though wed need Nick Fallon/Chelsea/JeremyHorton to reintroduce them), Jason Welles (from last blast crew ) and so on to be reintroduced to the canvas. 

But we need to introduce these bio neutral characters who have prior history on the show in order to make it easier to reintroduce them to the audience by having them in scenes with veteran characters they somehow connected to .

Already we will establish relationships based on organic HISTORY.  Not this made-up-on -the -fly contrieved BS history like we have seen with Summer ,Daniel ,Tripp,Paul ,Quinn Hudson,Stefan and to a certain extent Xander .

The problem with this contrieved history is that the TIIC are forced to shove the character connections they want to establish down our throats and forcing us to buy what they selling like Paul /John Black being BFFs instead of John being close to Eric and Brady,the men he raised . Like Maggie /Daniel being  BFFs and her pretty much forgetting Mellisa and Sarah . Same thing with Melanie . Their bio connection was totally forced anyway. 

 

You get what Im saying? 

Trust me , organic history is the best weapon you have when it comes to reintroducing a character. Especially for a 50 something years old show.

I started watching the show around 1992 and I never saw Steve and Kayla in action. They returned in 2006 and I had no clue who they were but we had flashbacks and interactions with Bo,Jennifer,Jack ,Frankie ,Max and so on and pooof , I was instantly invested in them after learning of their connections to the canvas and the shows history. 

The show has been on air for 54 years . There is no need for contrieved familial and even interpersonal connections . They need to utilise the show's respective character's history to usher in and reintroduce fresh "new "characters. Nicholas Alamain was John's nephew ,Shawn's childhood buddy and he dated Billie and slept with Kate while she was married to Victor . Instead of exploiting this bit of history ,TIIC decided to unleash contrieved Stefan on us when it would have been simpler for Tyler Christopher or Barash to settle in and being established  by having nicholas reaquainted with Shawn and having tense scenes with Victor and Kate and proceeding to become the rival of the Kiriakises and DiMeras. 

This is why the likes of Quinn Hudson ,Stefan and Deimos and Summer didnt last long on the canvas .

 

Edited August 11, 2020 by Rafael

[Rafael]

3 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

I'd sure like to know what kind of insurance Allie has, that an unemployed woman can stay in the hospital for days on end after giving birth without being hustled out to free up the bed.

 

Perhaps sami is using the DiMera loot to pay the bill. 

[Irlandesa]

17 minutes ago, Rafael said:

Ciara Brady

Ciara has turned into an annoying character lately but given her popularity, I don't think she comes close to being a disaster.  In fact, I found her pretty interesting up until she got involved with Ben. 

19 minutes ago, Rafael said:

You get what Im saying?

I do.  At the same time, the writers we have are the writers we have.  I don't know how connected to history they are so bring on a character with more history doesn't mean they're going to mine that history.

[Rafael]

 

15 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

 

I do.  At the same time, the writers we have are the writers we have.  I don't know how connected to history they are so bring on a character with more history doesn't mean they're going to mine that history.

At this point they must mine that history because they have pretty much exhausted every plot driven trope under the sun .

Character based history is the only way to go now. 

Thats why B&B is still kicking our butts in the ratings. They use character based history quite alot while Days has relied on contrieved characters and their contrieved connections to the shows vets and plot driven stories exhausted as far back as the year 2000. 

Edited August 9, 2020 by Rafael

[SueB]

On 8/6/2020 at 1:35 PM, wurdalak said:

I had to do a Web search to learn the sexual nature of this Web platform.

PTV has a sexual nature?  Someone clue me in... I feel like I'm missing out.

[SueB]

On 8/6/2020 at 8:40 PM, sweetautumn said:

P.S. Some wardrobe choices on the show are truly bizarre (what the heck is Gabi wearing today?)  

I KNOW! It's like someone got a two-for-one sale at the S&M store when searching for Ben's restraints.  And those girls need better support or they'll be down to her navel some day.  Just saying.

[SueB]

On 8/6/2020 at 9:01 PM, Irlandesa said:

As I suspected, twins.  Twins are fun in soaps and they could be fun in 20 years....if DOOL is still around. But once gain today just re-highlighted why, as much as I appreciate how enthusiastic LA and SS are about their characters and pairing, it's just so painful how little SS brings to the table.  For instance, in their shock after they learned they were having twins, Lani said "where are we going to fit another crib?" and "how will I breast feed two babies?" with all the oomph and character as if she were asking whether or not the hospital had parking nearby.  I get shock can look different on people but couldn't she try to make it an interesting kind of shock?  LA, on the other hand, sounded breathless after each panicked question about the crib and breastfeeding which gave his reactions a humorous quality to them. It led to a mild laugh from me. 

Eli was a riot for me.  His full-scale panic was great.  I hope they go lighter for these two for a while.  They've had such a hard past (... I mean, 'stillborn child' is pretty up there on the 'worst trauma ever' scale).

[SueB]

Sorry for the comment spamming.  I lost power twice and had some flooding in the basement.  Took me a while to catch up.

 

Allie: Overreacting to Will's 'betrayal'.  But her root concern - that Sami will raise the grandbaby - is valid.  
Nicole: I thought she was Team Will and I appreciate that.  I had my doubts about showing Allie the baby but liked that she suggested it might provide 'closure'.  Once Allie was considering an agency adoption, now she really was going to lose touch forever with the baby.  Whether or not to see the baby is a delicate call -- but I thought Nicole handled it well.
Sonny: *hangs head* stop being so judgey towards Will.
 

Lani & Eli: Twins.  I'm here for that.  I like them as a couple. 

Jack & Xander friendship:  At LAST, Xander has found a reliable 'mate' to give him decent advise.  Xander's instincts are just nope (new car, dinner in Paris, etc...).  But rather than be judgey/mean, Jack just steers him.

Xarah: I LOVE that he confessed his BAD idea and she took it in relative stride.  I swear, he's learning.  As for the sex scene -- well that was steamier than expected. I kept looking around, hoping my husband wouldn't enter.  

 

[brisbydog]

I watched a live stream last night with Paul Telfer and Linsey Godfrey discussing their characters. I was swilling wine at the time so my recollection isn't perfect but here are some things I remember:

Paul puts a LOT of thought into his character. Contrary to recent posts here that he is an unrelated made up character, he is very clear that Xander spent his life aspiring to be his Uncle Victor, who is a thug but disguises it behind a veneer of respectability and marriage to Maggie Horton. Paul says Xander was an out and out thug but with Sarah saw a way to emulate his uncle by replicating his life (CEO of Titan, marriage to a Horton) and along the way it turned into something real. Both actors say that they think that the couple are now solid together and conflict will come from external sources.

Linsey pointed out that there was an entire year we did not see of Xander and Sarah raising a child together and living as best friends where their relationship evolved into something much deeper. And that while he is a fuck up (her words) and makes appalling decisions, Sarah gets that he does everything from a place of wanting to make her happy. She compared him to Wesley in the Princess Bride, "As you Wish". She says Sarah has accepted that he makes dumb choices but he is her fuck up and she loves him. And as pointed out above he now tells her the weird shit that pops in his head and is self aware enough to know not to proceed now. Said him doing the headstone and wanting nothing afterwards from her was a huge deal for Sarah.

Paul said the Jack/Xander stuff evolved because Matt Ashford turned what was just a throwaway scene where Xander asked him to place an ad and Jack refused into something more by pointing out the character's history and the writers liked it and went with it. Said the bit where Jack grabbed his arm and said 'we should do this again sometime' was adlibbed by Matt. I love Matt. He always goes for more than what he is given.

They were both shocked at the scope of their reunion love scene; on paper it just said 'they make love' and they figured it was another quick kiss, fade to black deal but both were told that it was going to be a huge thing. Linsey picked the underwear and was wearing nothing but pasties for most of it. It was all choreographed but they were both surprised at how far it went, for daytime tv. They said it was the last thing they filmed last November before the show shut down prior to renewal and they said if the show was canned they were happy that is how Xarah went out. When they returned in February they filmed only a month before quarantine hit. Linsey said she lost a ton of weight and cut her hair so she will look very different in her next scenes

I'm sure I am forgetting a lot but it was neat to listen to their thoughts. They are very good friends and they care a lot about their characters and the Xarah ship.

 

[BuckeyeLou]

12 minutes ago, brisbydog said:

I watched a live stream last night with Paul Telfer and Linsey Godfrey discussing their characters. I was swilling wine at the time so my recollection isn't perfect but here are some things I remember:

Paul puts a LOT of thought into his character. Contrary to recent posts here that he is an unrelated made up character, he is very clear that Xander spent his life aspiring to be his Uncle Victor, who is a thug but disguises it behind a veneer of respectability and marriage to Maggie Horton. Paul says Xander was an out and out thug but with Sarah saw a way to emulate his uncle by replicating his life (CEO of Titan, marriage to a Horton) and along the way it turned into something real. Both actors say that they think that the couple are now solid together and conflict will come from external sources.

Linsey pointed out that there was an entire year we did not see of Xander and Sarah raising a child together and living as best friends where their relationship evolved into something much deeper. And that while he is a fuck up (her words) and makes appalling decisions, Sarah gets that he does everything from a place of wanting to make her happy. She compared him to Wesley in the Princess Bride, "As you Wish". She says Sarah has accepted that he makes dumb choices but he is her fuck up and she loves him. And as pointed out above he now tells her the weird shit that pops in his head and is self aware enough to know not to proceed now. Said him doing the headstone and wanting nothing afterwards from her was a huge deal for Sarah.

Paul said the Jack/Xander stuff evolved because Matt Ashford turned what was just a throwaway scene where Xander asked him to place an ad and Jack refused into something more by pointing out the character's history and the writers liked it and went with it. Said the bit where Jack grabbed his arm and said 'we should do this again sometime' was adlibbed by Matt. I love Matt. He always goes for more than what he is given.

They were both shocked at the scope of their reunion love scene; on paper it just said 'they make love' and they figured it was another quick kiss, fade to black deal but both were told that it was going to be a huge thing. Linsey picked the underwear and was wearing nothing but pasties for most of it. It was all choreographed but they were both surprised at how far it went, for daytime tv. They said it was the last thing they filmed last November before the show shut down prior to renewal and they said if the show was canned they were happy that is how Xarah went out. When they returned in February they filmed only a month before quarantine hit. Linsey said she lost a ton of weight and cut her hair so she will look very different in her next scenes

I'm sure I am forgetting a lot but it was neat to listen to their thoughts. They are very good friends and they care a lot about their characters and the Xarah ship.

 

Wow, thanks for posting this!  I really enjoy this couple & its neat that the actors put so much thought into their scenes & that they are friends, which really shows thru in how comfortable they are with each other.   And interesting how Paul sees Xander's role in the Kiriakis family, I like that.

[brisbydog]

Linsey said they had a safe 'squeeze' in that love scene so if either of them felt weird they had discussed before hand to squeeze the other and they would stop, she said the bare chest to bare chest thing was insane for her but she really trusts him. He said he was once told off for massaging Nicole's leg and going past the knee as that was not allowed. Coming from Europe he says they show a lot more there but he was still surprised that they were good with Sarah 'riding him' lol. I heard another interview with him where he said his first tv role was on a bad British soap where his character had a very specific genital piercing that he was not willing to get for the role, lol, so he had a penis double. Gives you an idea of what they can show over there. 

[Rafael]

 

Skins 2008

Aspiring soap scribe

Join Date: Jul 2008

 

Posts: 19763

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#4

August 7, 2020, 03:24 PM

The only people that should speak to Stefano's portrait are these,The people who interacted with him.

His loved ones
EJ
Chad
Tony
Andre "If alive"
Kristen
Kate
Rolf

His enemies
Sami
John
Marlena
Hope
Anna"

 

 

Lets not forget about Peter and Celeste . 

Anyway ,I agree with this poster.  Atleast we saw Stefano's relationships with these characters actually play out.

Why is Gabi even  talking to his photo ? 

[wurdalak]

Will wonders never cease? Nicole of all people was giving reasonable and measured advice to Allie. while Sami apologized without any apparent ulterior motive; two substantial character reversals. Predictably Allie did not listen, blinded as she was by her paranoid fantasy that the game of beach volleyball that she initiated with the baby will be continued by Will "giving" the kid to Sami. Anyway, unless there are restrictions in their State regarding adoption by same-sex spouses, Sonny and Will would BOTH be equally the parents and Will would not be able to do it unilaterally.

As for Sonny, he is also depicted as blinded, but in his case by the prospect of an Instant Magic Baby which would have solved their adoption headaches and allowed them to bypass the red tape and restrictions of the adoption process. It’s not as if the boy is the only one available on the adoption market and they can still go that route. Also, why do the characters and writers only see adopting a baby as an option? Looking for an older child might make things easier and faster since these are (unfortunately) a less desirable choice for most prospective parents and are thus relatively more readily available.

Plus, an older child might be better position to fend off a crazy-eyed Princess Ari once she gets cross because her wishes are not instantly satisfied due to the new sibling.

The Xander/Sarah love scene was exceedingly cheesy, and it kept going on and on and on (they are probably still at it!).

Soft-core porn for the afternoon crowd I guess.

I wonder how much of Poe’s "kind nepenthe" one would need to quaff in order to forget all those seedy visuals and grunts (probably a whole barrel just for the sappy song).

On 8/7/2020 at 9:30 PM, TenaciousWarrior said:

I liked the end when they went to see her baby together and Allie said, “That’s my son” while tearing up.

The common soap cliché that once a new mother sees her child, something stirs in her and that her motherly instincts are suddenly awakened.

On 8/7/2020 at 10:46 PM, Frozendiva said:

Why is Allie still at the hospital?

Another cliché from the 50s: the recent parturient as a temporary invalid. Same with Sarah not knowing anything about the basics of car brakes.

4 hours ago, SueB said:

PTV has a sexual nature?  Someone clue me in... I feel like I'm missing out.

The Web site referred to by the original poster is OnlyFans.

On 8/8/2020 at 10:45 AM, boes said:

OK....... so viewers should uniformly like, dislike, enjoy or not, based on a uniform rule?

Although I do not think that this was what @katie9918 meant in her post, I do agree that it has been settled that expressing a different opinion than one's own should not be seen as a challenge to one's right to hold varied personal views.

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by wurdalak

[brisbydog]

I was trying to think the last time I saw them put so much time into a love scene, and I think it was Steve and Kayla's first time on the roof, that was very naked and sweaty lol. Of course I skipped a few years here and there

[brisbydog]

Oh just remembered another thing Paul said last night. Linsey was complaining that Sarah has never had a scene with Chad or either of Jake/Stefan, and Paul said he would love a plot where it was Dimeras vs Kiriakis and rather than being at each other's throats, Xander and Brady et.al. would have to come together as family against a common enemy. 

[DaphneCat]

6 minutes ago, brisbydog said:

Oh just remembered another thing Paul said last night. Linsey was complaining that Sarah has never had a scene with Chad or either of Jake/Stefan, and Paul said he would love a plot where it was Dimeras vs Kiriakis and rather than being at each other's throats, Xander and Brady et.al. would have to come together as family against a common enemy. 

This.  I hate the revolving door CEO storylines for BOTH companies.  Would LOVE to see interesting realistic stories about various business dealings.

[DaphneCat]

So today, rather than join the Sami bashing club, Will acknowledged that he HAD a choice, he MADE a choice, and he's taking responsibility for that choice?  And he later said the exact same thing to his father rather than throw Sami under the bus?  Who is this person and what has he done with Will?  

For two seconds today, I thought Allie was actually going to behave like an adult.  No, she is right, she should NOT keep that child.  But then she, of course, had to ruin it by running away (like she ALWAYS does) and "assigning" her baby to someone with whom she has had absolutely no conversation.  Not to mention the fact that Nicole is married to her uncle, so not only does Nicole apparently not get a choice, neither does her uncle.  If there is ANY behavior that demonstrates this CHILD should NOT be allowed to make decisions, it would be this.

[drtslim]

10 minutes ago, DaphneCat said:

So today, rather than join the Sami bashing club, Will acknowledged that he HAD a choice, he MADE a choice, and he's taking responsibility for that choice?  And he later said the exact same thing to his father rather than throw Sami under the bus?  Who is this person and what has he done with Will?  

For two seconds today, I thought Allie was actually going to behave like an adult.  No, she is right, she should NOT keep that child.  But then she, of course, had to ruin it by running away (like she ALWAYS does) and "assigning" her baby to someone with whom she has had absolutely no conversation.  Not to mention the fact that Nicole is married to her uncle, so not only does Nicole apparently not get a choice, neither does her uncle.  If there is ANY behavior that demonstrates this CHILD should NOT be allowed to make decisions, it would be this.

Are we supposed to believe that the stupid letter is legally binding?  

Edited August 10, 2020 by drtslim

[wurdalak]

3 minutes ago, DaphneCat said:

But then she, of course, had to ruin it by running away (like she ALWAYS does) and "assigning" her baby to someone with whom she has had absolutely no conversation.  Not to mention the fact that Nicole is married to her uncle, so not only does Nicole apparently not get a choice, neither does her uncle.  If there is ANY behavior that demonstrates this CHILD should NOT be allowed to make decisions, it would be this.

Even adults are allowed to make impulsive and stupid decisions. The ones attributed to Allie are in the same order of general immaturity as many actions by Salem's older generations.

In the real world, her note would probably not stand up as sufficient to assign parental responsibility to Nicole (if only for the fact that prior consent was not expressed by either her or her husband). But who knows what might happen in Salem's topsy-turvy legal system. It's also very probable that Nicole and others will feel it their "moral duty" to fulfill the last wishes expressed by Allie before her disappearance.

It is a logical (and predictable) plot twist for the writers though; they now have a perfect set-up for a long string of catfighting, name-calling and various histrionics, not to mention the throwing of cakes, pies and assorted pastries.

A script-writing gold mine for them, which they can make us of in their sleep.

[Katy M]

3 minutes ago, wurdalak said:

In the real world, her note would probably not stand up as sufficient to assign parental responsibility to Nicole (if only for the fact that prior consent was not expressed by either her or her husband). But who knows what might happen in Salem's topsy-turvy legal system. It's also very probable that Nicole and others will feel it their "moral duty" to fulfill the last wishes expressed by Allie before her disappearance.

Sure.  Nobody can assign someone else personal responsibility.  If Eric and Nicole don't want the children they can call child services and say that Allie abandonded the baby with them. Otherwise they can try to adopt using the fairly skimpy note to bolster their attempt.  Allie would still have 30 days to change her mind, but as always they would have to go to court over it and if she were victorious, CPS would probably pay her visits for a while.

[Pearson80]

I just can't stand Allie. Nicole/Eric would be stupid to take in Sami's grandchild, given what happened between Sami. Nicole and Sydney.. This story would be so much better if it was a 16 year old Sydney leaving her child to Nicole.. Even though Allie abandoned her child the state would want the baby to go to a biological relative and his grandparents would be the most logical choice in my opinion..  Lumi taking care of their grandson, while talking about what went down between them regarding Will would be a great story.. Will and Ari could have been interwoven into the story as well, given us awesome scenes between Lumi and their descendants. I will never stop shipping Lumi.. Ron does not like character-driven stories, so, we are going to be subjected to a marathon of cat fights between Nicole and Sami.  Not to mention, Eric looking like a doofus..

Edited August 10, 2020 by Pearson80

[kitmerlot1213]

I was proud of Will when he admitted that he didn’t have to go along with his mom‘s plan but he did it anyway because he wanted to adopt the baby—very emotionally mature.  Allie on the other hand, not so much and I bet when Miss Thing left the hospital, she didn’t bother paying the bill.

I hate that the awesome Eve/Claire relationship has been reduced to Eve’s seeing her only as some sort of pawn.  Eve genuinely cared for Claire, but of course ultimately, Eve really only cares for herself.  I did appreciate that Marlena was able to see Eve’s actions for the damaged and emotionally destroyed woman she is.

 

 

[CanaryFan98]

6 hours ago, brisbydog said:

I was trying to think the last time I saw them put so much time into a love scene, and I think it was Steve and Kayla's first time on the roof, that was very naked and sweaty lol. Of course I skipped a few years here and there

MBE was 7 months pregnant too and I think they waited nearly two years before they had sex. 

[hypnotoad]

Quote

The Xander/Sarah love scene was exceedingly cheesy, and it kept going on and on and on (they are probably still at it!).

Soft-core porn for the afternoon crowd I guess.

It reminded me of the love scenes soaps used to do back in the day. I like Sarah and Xander and I think the actors have chemistry, so I was okay with it.

Quote

I hate the revolving door CEO storylines for BOTH companies.  Would LOVE to see interesting realistic stories about various business dealings.

I agree it would be a lot more interesting but I don't think Ron or anyone on the writing staff understands anything about companies or CEO's. If they did, there would be no revolving door.

I was glad Will was an adult today. Sadly Allie continues to act like she's 12 rather than 22ish.

I'm happy Eli is getting twins but sad he's having them with Lani.

Edited August 10, 2020 by hypnotoad

[TenaciousWarrior]

Lindsay Arnold was fantastic today! Loved when she held the baby and got tearful. Then she let Sami hold him. Such sweet scenes.

Also sweet scenes with Marlena and Claire. I like that Claire was made innocent of the wedding disaster and wasn’t thrown under the bus to prop Cin. Pleasantly surprised.

[DisneyBoy]

I didn't believe a word that came out of Deidre's mouth today during her scenes complimenting her granddaughter. Marlena was very accusatory and suspicious for weeks, but now all of a sudden she's always believed in her? I think not.

I'm also annoyed that apparently Eve is happy to throw Claire under the bus. This is definitely a rewrite of their previous relationship. Claire was a sort of surrogate daughter for Eve but now all of a sudden that's been thrown out the window? And how the hell would Eve have known that Claire would be released from Bayview and then also become the Maid of Honor and then also take possession of the wedding dress, etc? How did she get into the restaurant to drug Ciara's drink without even being seen? How did she stain the wedding dress the exact same colour as Claire's nailpolish? LAZY writing.

The Allie/Sami scenes really were terrific today. Great job.

Too bad it didn't change the course of this silly story...

5 hours ago, wurdalak said:

It is a logical (and predictable) plot twist for the writers though; they now have a perfect set-up for a long string of catfighting, name-calling and various histrionics, not to mention the throwing of cakes, pies and assorted pastries.

They've done this before and they will do it again. Nicole reuniting with Brady for New Year's Eve so that Sister Kristen can show up and strip out of her nun's habit and get all up in Nicole's face was another instance.

I couldn't help but wonder if maybe they kept Belle and Sean away from Nicole and Eric's wedding because they knew if Belle was there then there would be a chance that she would tell Sami about the wedding or that once Sami showed up, she would play referee. We can't disrupt any opportunities for histrionics now can we?

 

Edit: I completely forgot to mention that I am REPULSED that the second they have married Ben and Ciara, they have him fantasizing about strangling her, but that goes without saying, right?

Who are they writing this for? The people who think that Ben is a saint certainly don't want to see it, and the people who think Ben is a disgusting murderer certainly don't want to see it either.

Edited August 11, 2020 by DisneyBoy

[wurdalak]

6 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

Edit: I completely forgot to mention that I am REPULSED that the second they have married Ben and Ciara, they have him fantasizing about strangling her, but that goes without saying, right?

It goes without saying only because he has been reconditioned by Vincent to go that way. Although since he disconnected the saline pack before it was empty, he may not have gotten the full dose of the last treatment.

Once again security at the hospital is a complete failure, with an intruder able to get in, secure scrubs and get into a patient's room to inject him with something. It's as if there is only one security agency in Salem and they have only 2 employees, to cover both the Kiriakis and DiMera mansions, as well as all public buildings like the hospital.

And regarding the hospital, is is frequent in US hospitals that the nursery would be right off the elevators? They could at least have redressed the reception set a little more to cover these with some cheap fake walls.

10 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

Who are they writing this for? The people who think that Ben is a saint certainly don't want to see it, and the people who think Ben is a disgusting murderer certainly don't want to see it either.

Edited 3 minutes ago by DisneyBoy

I think that the spectrum is not as sharply divided as you propose, between only the two extremes. I certainly do not fit in either category.

[boes]

Gosh oh golly GEE, Allie has left her baby and run off, wherever could she BE?  She can't be far, since she has no job, no money of her own, no skill set, no working brain cells and all the manners of a rabid aardvaark.  She'll be back as soon as she needs a new designer bag.

I bet she didn't leave THAT behind, or ask Nicole to care for it.

So Allie's full note reads, 

I want Nicole to have my baby.  I took her new sweater so it's only fair.  If Nicole at any time is nice to my mom then I want Ben to have the baby because he's totally HAWT.  I want Ben to have my baby work out till he has abs like his.   Tell Uncle Eric to shut it and maybe send me a couple of hundred bucks.

My Mom is the most horrible terrible awful controlling person in the whole WORLD and she can deposit my allowance as usual but she better NOT try to contact me.  Tell my Dad I forgot about him, as usual, but my automatic deposit is still the same.  Thank Grandma Kate for the cash and tell the other grandma she sucks because I didn't get a dime out of her.  

As for the rest of you, don't try to look for me, don't you DARE but remember that it's really easy to transfer money to my PayPal account.  I'll be really mad if you don't.  And if you don't then I won't even THINK of giving you the next baby I use as a bargaining chip.  If you do see me, don't SPEAK, just drop a few bucks where I can see it and then beat it.

If the baby's father, Dr. Rolf shows up, tell him I'm still waiting for that miracle anti-pimple cream he promised.

Allie.

Good GOD, Ben, you've been given ONE job, ONE job only and you can't even do that.  He should want to strangle Ciara just for the pants she was wearing today.

 

[Frozendiva]

Allie is still treating her son as though he is some sort of ice cream tub to be passed around. It was nice that she wanted to see the child and hold him, but that is it. It was stupid and dumb and young to run away and abandon the kid. And no, leaving a note asking Nicole to raise the baby was not great. Nicole may not want to - she has no idea if Allie is gone, if Allie will be using Grandma Kate's credit card to buy another plane ticket to disappear somewhere else, or what. Or if Allie will come back in a week. Sami and Lucas can foster the baby for a bit, or Social Services will need to decide. Allie just can't leave the baby in a basket at someone's door.

Marlena still probably does not fully believe Claire. It would be a lot for Eve to do all the stuff - damage the gown, steal the ring, spike the drink, etc. Claire would have been watched - maybe by Vincent or some hired help.

No cameras in the hospital to see any possible intruders? No checks on medications given? Nothing showed up in the tox screen? Or a second one?

At least Sami apologized to both her children.

Ciara had nothing else to wear but the snakeskin pants?