Soap Hub revived its “Critics Review” column, but it has a little twist this time. We take a look at the hits and misses of the week. Here’s our assessment of the week that was in the worlds of Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless.
HITS AND MISSES
What worked, and what didn’t work? We have thoughts.
Bold and the Beautiful
Hit: Finn busts in the door and rescues Steffy, while Li chases after Luna. On soaps, characters talk and explain everything. So, it was nice to see an action-oriented ending to what turned out to be a great plot twist — sweet Luna (Lisa Yamada) actually being a broken and dangerous woman who framed her mom, murdered two people, and caged Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood). Plus, ace investigator Dr. Finnegan (Tanner Novlan) did the work the cops couldn’t do and tracked down his wife and her captor.
Miss: Bill suddenly showed support for Poppy. After her arrest, Dollar Bill (Don Diamont) barely showed up for Poppy (Romy Park). Before he told Poppy about Luna’s lunacy, he had only shown up once before to tell her he wasn’t Luna’s father. Meanwhile, back at his mansion, he hemmed and hawed about whether he should believe in Poppy’s innocence. It really showed us how the two don’t know each other at all. Before moving in together, they should have deeper conversations.
Hit: Luna was dragged away in cuffs while she begged her mom to help her. Lisa Yamada did the work, making us feel sorry for Luna as she was taken from the interrogation room. We felt bad for her because we had no doubts that she had an awful childhood. And Poppy did that. However, we didn’t want to feel sorry for her. After all, she killed two people in the process of trying to hold on to a life that wasn’t hers.
General Hospital
Miss: Sonny kills Jagger. Sonny (Maurice Benard) offing his nemesis means Michael (Chad Duell), Carly (Laura Wright), and now Jason (Steve Burton) will, of course, cover for him. And the show ended up wasting a character with so much potential. Adam J. Harrington was a great casting choice. Unfortunately, Jagger was written into a one-dimensional corner. Now, this whole story seems like a regression to old behaviors.
Hit: Nina and Ava interact again. Consider us surprised when Nina (Cynthia Watros) and Ava (Maura West) had another scene at the art gallery. Not only that, but Nina attempted to hire counsel for Ava. Unfortunately for everyone, it was Ric (Rick Hearst). And there’s a huge conflict of interest there. Is the show repairing this relationship between these fractured frenemies? Hallelujah!
Hit: Jordan gets involved in finding out John Doe’s identity. We’ve wanted more airtime for Jordan Ashford (Tanisha Harper). This week, we got plenty of that as she took it upon herself to find out the identity of the John Doe lying in a hospital bed at GH. If, at some point in the future, this turns out to be a While You Were Sleeping thing, and she falls in love with Isaiah (Sawandi Wilson) while he’s unconscious and recuperating, that would be so good. But something tells us he will wake up sooner rather than later.
Miss: Finding out who Isaiah is meant Jordan had to accept a date with Brick. Hopefully, Jordan and Brick (Stephen A. Smith) can be friends and allies, occasional dinner or drink companions, and nothing more.
Miss: Whatever Kristina said about only understanding love if you carried a baby. Huh and what? While we’re not surprised to hear this version of Kristina (Kate Mansi) utter those words, it’s beyond maddening. More than that, it’s disappointing and simply wrong.
The Young and the Restless
Miss: Adam’s strange interaction with Sally and Chelsea on September 3. Adam (Mark Grossman) desperately tried to talk with Sally (Courtney Hope). Then he seemed really bummed out about Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) going on about what a mistake they made, and he tried to talk Chelsea out of thinking she and Billy (Jason Thompson) would reconcile. It was weird.
Hit: Lucy’s teen wardrobe. We loved seeing Lucy (Lily Brooks O’Briant) looking like a teen this week to go along with her teenage angst. Her wardrobe is age-appropriate, and while she might act like she wants to hang out with the older, cool kids, what she’s wearing doesn’t look beyond her age like it did in the past.
Miss: Victor calls Nate a scheming opportunist. Honestly, we don’t get why there’s a bug up Victor’s you-know-what concerning Nate (Sean Dominic). Nate should never have worked at Newman. And now that he’s back with family, he stays in his lane and out of Victor’s way. So, why is Victor (Eric Braeden) calling him a scheming opportunist when he’s the Grand Poobah of scheming opportunists?! Victor thinks he’s the only one in Genoa City who can scheme and get away with it. The hypocrisy is almost enough to make us root for Billy Boy Abbott. Almost.
Days of Our Lives
Hit: Eric returns home and reconnects with Marlena, John, and Brady. Obviously, we missed Eric after he, Nicole (Arianne Zucker), and Jude (Oliver McLarty) left for life in Paris. And now Greg Vaughan is back for a short stint. But we love family bonding and togetherness, so seeing him reconnect with Marlena (Deidre Hall), John (Drake Hogestyn), and his brother Brady (Eric Martsolf) was fantastic.
Miss (for now): Holly discovers the consequences of Eric’s drunk driving. We haven’t yet decided whether Eric and Nicole keeping the fact Eric killed Daniel (Shawn Christian) a secret from Holly (Ashley Puzemis) was a good thing. It feels like a retcon, so it’s coming off as jarring. But, ultimately, we are here for good drama, so we’ll keep our eyes on what happens over the next week as this scenario plays out.
Hit: Gabi (Cherie Jimenez) and EJ (Daniel Feuerriegel) have revenge sex: Surprisingly, we didn’t hate it. Wish it could have stayed a secret a little longer rather than them getting busted right away. Hopefully, this story has legs. Consequences and karma may be a you-know-what, but we hope the show will give us good drama in this story from here on out.
What are your soap opera hits and misses for the last week? Let us know in the comments!
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