A Critic’s Review: Soap Notes from the Week of March 18 – 22

When it comes to soaps, every fan has their own opinion — and Soap Hub is no different. For five days, we sat and watched the good, the bad, and everything in between. Here, we lead with optimism. Unfortunately, we don’t always get what we want. So here’s a review of all four soap operas — Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless.

Critic’s Review

The week of March 18 – 22: Thanks to March Madness, B&B and Y&R attempted a couple of slam dunks this shortened week. Despite pre-emptions on Thursday and Friday for basketball, the CBS soaps dropped a “what if” episode and an epic Hope versus Steffy showdown on viewers. Were they successful?

Over on GH, Jason remained a man on the run while others decided to give us all whiplash with potential career pivots and epiphanies.

And, finally, on DAYS, Stefan’s antics grew wearier faster than he could move his chess piece from check to checkmate. As for The Pawn, poor John’s conscience is getting the best of him. And so much talk about miracles! It was an exhausting week of soaps all around, wasn’t it?

The Bold and The Beautiful Notes

The thing I love about this Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) and Hope (Annika Noelle) rejection story is that it stirs up much debate on screen and on social media. But it also does so much more. Sure, their friends, enemies, and family members talked about them ad nauseum for weeks, months, and sometimes it felt like years. Hope hitting the brakes yet again on his proposal finally caused some action to happen.

Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) feels 100% validated. And she wasted no time telling Hope that fact. As far as she’s concerned Hope will never ever love her brother. It’s not within her being to be able to muster that emotion for Thomas. Can Hope lust after Thomas? Yes. Love, no way, no how.

Meanwhile, Hope is validated in not wanting to get married so soon after ending her toxic marriage to Liam (Scott Clifton). Why can’t she and Thomas simply be together? Can’t Thomas be patient, why does he need that level of commitment right now? Why does this show have a need for marriage to be the be-all-end-all for every relationship?

Anyway, my “hope for the future” (pun intended) is that Hope and Thomas actually have to fight for their relationship, should they want to. There are a couple of answers I’d like to have once and for all after the dust settles: Is Dark!Thomas gone once and for all? Or is he simply dormant and waiting for the perfect time to surface? If Thomas can get through this without letting his uber-dark side out, maybe everyone can shut up about it from here on out.

Also, how will Hope react if Thomas breaks up with her (which spoilers suggest will happen)? That’s what I would like to find out. Will she be fine with it? Or will she fight for Thomas? Does Hope, in fact, really love Thomas like she says she does? That’s a question we need answered as well.

Burning Questions and Random Comments

-Since when were Liam and Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) day-drinking types of friends (at Il Giardino no less)? The size of this cast is blatant when we get scenes like this.
-I need the Liam kissing Steffy moments (there have been a couple of them) to be revealed — every time these two bring up Hope and Thomas’s Italian smooch, I’m like, hello, Liam. Hypocrite, much?
-Steffy calling Hope “Full Logan” was classic.
-Was Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) being nice to Thomas? How genuine was that niceness?

The Young and the Restless Notes

That Billy (Jason Thompson) and Ashley (Eileen Davidson) conversation in Monday’s episode of Y&R messed me up and made me feel for Ashley. She called him “bro”, referred to Tucker (Trevor St. John) as “gross”, and used terms like “epic fail.” Instead of ordering a glass of wine, a martini, or an old-fashioned, she ordered a ginger ale with a cherry. Who is this alter of Ashley’s that is protecting her? And why does she feel the need to protect her? Billy realized something was terribly wrong with her and left to go to work instead of calling someone for help. What?

Then there’s Connor (Judah Mackey). Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) and Adam (Mark Grossman) tried to help him with his diagnosis. Chelsea’s fear that her mental health issues caused her son’s condition made her hold back and talk to her son’s therapist. The father and son were able to talk to each other and share concerns, and things went okay until…Adam promised Connor could go home instead of the retreat center the therapist recommended for the next steps. Since everybody must always be mad at Adam (you can’t even spell Adam without the letters “m-a-d”), a confrontation will happen sooner rather than later unless the show would like to surprise all of us.

Also this week, it was Three Vipers versus Jordan (vipers were Jordan’s words, not mine). I did like that Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), Victoria (Amelia Heinle), and Claire (Hayley Erin) wanted to obtain closure with Jordan (Colleen Zenk) against Victor’s (Eric Braeden) wishes, of course. But, honestly, what kind of closure would someone like Jordan ever give anyone? None. And she ended up taking that so-called lethal concoction anyway and we’re left wondering if the vipers let her rot or got her some help.

All in all, to give us Ashley’s struggles, Connor’s sessions, and Jordan’s swallowing of the toxin on two of the three days this week it was a lot to handle. It could have been triggering for some. It was mostly good drama, but all very deep, dark, painful stories to throw at us all at once.

Y&R’s “What If” Episode

On Wednesday, Claire’s “What If” episode took over, which was a lot, too (Soap Hub wondered what if more soaps did what if episodes).

However, seeing Mariah (Camryn Grimes) and Cassie (also Camryn Grimes) together at the table was great! It was interesting to see how Claire/Eve (Hayley Erin) saw this whole world. Apparently, Summer (Allison Lanier) was Sharon (Sharon Case) and Nick’s (Joshua Morrow) kid? They didn’t really come out and say it, but I think we were supposed to assume.

And, of course, Adam was on the outside looking in. In fact, Claire/Eve turned him in to the cops twice. While nothing came of it, it was enough for Victor to turn his back on him for good. He got a job at the club and was fully ostracized from the family. He was forced to serve them champagne. Is this what we’re supposed to expect to happen eventually?

Adam did mention that Eve has this darkness about her — is that what this whole dream was about at least from a viewer’s perspective? She can blend in as much as she wants but she’ll always have this darkness about her simmering underneath that will eventually work its way out?

General Hospital Notes

On GH, do not look away even for a second or something will change. Last week, Drew (Cameron Mathison) and Carly (Laura Wright) were done in a split second. This week:

• Thanks to Diane, Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) is about to kick journalism to the curb to jump back into her much favored legal profession. I approve of this. I don’t know why she languished at The Invader for so long when she made such a brilliant lawyer.
• Drew has already offered Nina (Cynthia Watros) Crimson back. I don’t know if she’ll take it, but I hope Nina and Sasha (Sofia Mattsson) will run it together. Or will Maxie (Kirsten Storms) head back to Crimson? Something is brewing there.
• Both Sasha and Cody (Josh Kelly) quit Deception — Lucy (Lynn Herring) must find a new face. Is Blaze (Jacqueline Grace Lopez) that face? Does Blaze have that edginess she’s looking for? I don’t know. But to me, Sasha could be wholesome, edgy, anything she wants to be. She’s that gorgeous.
• Jason (Steve Burton) and Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) played 20 questions in a bid for a quick father-and-son get-to-know-you session. These were all questions Jason should know already.
• Heather (Alley Mills) is about to get a new personality courtesy of a procedure replacing the tainted hip replacement. Will that negate all the crimes, misdemeanors, and murders she’s committed in the past? Let’s hope not, Laura (Genie Francis)! Laura needs to step away from the criminal and towards someone as pure as snow — maybe Ace (Joey and Jay Clay)?
• Sonny (Maurice Benard) is persona non grata with Anna (Finola Hughes). Wow. Those two have had a chill relationship for a while now. Guess that’s over.

The lesson here is with new headwriters, do not miss a week, they are putting new things into place, moving things around, reverting things back to the way they used to be, making moves, eliminating things at a certain point, (righting a bunch of wrongs), and making decisions that are going to make all of our heads spin. Most of it seems to be hinging on the return of Jason but, also, Deception suddenly imploded and we’ll have to see what’s happening there.

Burning GH Questions and Random Comments

-I love the way Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) talks to Nina. He tells her the truth, especially about Sonny. He has Sonny’s number regarding what he does to women once he’s done with them. And he knows that he’s not worthy of Nina either.

-My favorite quote of the week came when Valentin reminded Nina of who she was. And I hope she uses these words for strength when she needs to use them.

Well, you’re Nina Reeves. And Nina Reeves is a a marvel, a survivor, a rule breaker, Crimson, your life, everything you are you’ve spun into gold and it’s my greatest hope to you that you remember that.

Valentin Cassadine, Wednesday, March 20, 2024

-Speaking of Sonny, are they setting him and Kristina (Kate Mansi) up for a fall at some point? They keep talking about how he’s the only one she can rely on. What happens when that’s not true? Drama happens.

-Joss (Eden McCoy) and Dex (Evan Hofer) broke up. That gave me whiplash as well. It was one conversation. Until then, I thought they were headed for a stint on the run with them against the world. What interested me was Joss’s conversation with her mom and how different their perspectives were. And how, naturally, Joss was way more naive than Carly was. I was shocked that she didn’t know how far Jason had gone for Sonny and how far Dex would go. I just assumed this entire time she knew.

-Here’s my weekly, Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) better be okay wish. Because he’s still in a coma.

Days of Our Lives Notes

It’s hard to watch John (Drake Hogestyn) punish himself for something he doesn’t remember. I don’t blame him for that death for reasons. One being, that we don’t know for sure he really did kill Catherina. Nobody knows the true story, not even Konstantin (John Kapelos). Two, John was The Pawn, mind-controlled to do whatever he was told. He had no choice. Three, it’s been 30 years roughly? Everything feels disconnected when they talk about it even though John Kapelos does his best to make Konstantin’s pain palpable and present. I don’t think John needs to get on any plane to Aria, Greece to turn himself in. He needs to stay in Salem where Marlena (Deidre Hall) can help him come to terms with his painful past once and for all.

Can we talk about the state of the DiMera brothers? Or should we say Stefan’s (Brandon Barash) state (he was one of three Salem men in crisis this week)? To be fair, he was mostly inebriated this week. He was spiraling, understandably. Stefan struck a crazy deal with EJ (Daniel Feuerriegel) where he would give the Salem DA everything he owned if he helped him get out of town. EJ eventually said yes and made arrangements for war zones as well as frozen tundra territories like Siberia. Clothed and afraid, Stefan did his best to skip out on EJ’s Terrible Travel Itinerary and stopped at Ava’s where he ran into Harris.

After Harris (Steve Burton) outed Stefan shooting him to Ava (Tamara Braun), and Stefan outed him and Ava sleeping together to Harris, Stefan headed to Chad (Billy Flynn) at The Spectator. Stefan seeking Chad in the first place was weird. Then the drunk DiMera said he loved Chad and that he was proud of him and my head almost exploded. These aren’t brothers who do that. Eric and Brady do that (please see below). And don’t get me started on Stefan apologizing for what he did to Abigail.

It all ended with EJ and Stefan playing for everything and a sweet deal at the police station. Suddenly, Stefan, who’d been pretty pathetic all week long, prevailed. I don’t know. It was all so odd.

Burning DAYS Questions and Random Comments

Why doesn’t Ava Vitali get to go down for The Bistro drug dealing?

I am super happy Eric (Greg Vaughan) and Brady (Eric Martsolf) remembered they are brothers and we got a great scene with Brady being unsure of his parenting skills and Eric hyping him up and asking him to be Jude’s godfather.

Chad keeps talking about Abby. Should we be reading into that?

I’m excited for the next week of DAYS with Jude’s christening and more Holly (Ashley Puzemis) and Tate (Jamie Martin Mann).

Why was there so much talk about Paulina’s (Jackée Harry) miracle? And not enough talk about Abe’s (James Reynolds) memories returning?

Do you know who needs a story? Kayla. We see her acting as a doctor and listening to Steve. But I’d like to see Mary Beth Evans do more, please.

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