Soap Hub looks at the Hits and Misses for the week of March 2-6 in the worlds of Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless, and Beyond the Gates.
Key Takeaways
- Soaps continue to lean heavily on kidnapping as a go-to plot device, especially in Genoa City.
- Carly Corinthos dominates General Hospital with two standout moments.
- When villains are written with genuine ambiguity, the results are compelling — take B&B‘s Sheila Carter.
Top 5 Hits
5. Diane tells Victor the hard truth (Y&R). More people need to say what Diane (Susan Walters) told Victor (Eric Braeden) in Thursday’s episode: “You’re the one who created this mess for yourself!” Victor isn’t taking one second of accountability in this AI superweapon madness. But the people in his life need to keep telling him that he’s largely at fault here. Of course, Victor raised the stakes, and now the Abbotts are paying for it.
4. Sheila keeps us guessing (B&B). Kudos to Kimberlin Brown and Sheila Carter because we can’t tell if she’s playing with Deacon (Sean Kanan) and Taylor (Rebecca Budig), and she knows exactly about their connection. We would like to think she’s smarter than to truly believe that Taylor has been working wonders on Sheila and Deacon’s marriage. It feels very much like she’s playing with her food before she unleashes an all-out attack. But we’re just not sure.
3. Vanessa and Leslie showdown at Uptown (BTG). Not many residents of Fairmont Crest will back down when Leslie (Trisha Mann-Grant) tries to bulldoze right over them. But Vanessa (Lauren Buglioli) gave as good as she got. And it seemed like her words may have struck a blow or two. Vanessa doesn’t need to go high when she can go as low as Leslie can. Vanessa and Leslie’s rivalry is heating up, and it may continue as long as this Free Clinic story lasts. And that’s a beautiful thing.
2. Sarah decides to revisit Victoria’s custody with Xander (DAYS). Sarah knew what kind of man Xander was when she married him (more than once). So when their relationship blew up yet again, it didn’t make as much sense when she also refused to let Xander have any type of custody or visitation, especially supervised visitation. This week, Xander realized it’s time to live life for himself and his daughter. And while it sucks that Xander and Sarah are currently over, we’re happy that Sarah came to her senses and decided to revisit the custody situation.
1. MVP Character of the Week: Carly Corinthos (GH). Carly was partially responsible for two of the better moments on soaps this week. First, Carly (Laura Wright) and Joss (Eden McCoy) engaged in a showdown that was a long time coming. They are both strong individuals with unshakeable opinions about the world and the people in it. And they realized, in the middle of Carly’s kitchen, that they no longer truly knew each other. Not their current selves, anyway. The other great moment happened at the end of Friday’s episode. There has been something brewing between Carly and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) for a while. And they capitalized on those sparks in a big way, and we’re not mad at it. In fact, we are here for it.
Top 5 Misses
5. The reveal that Grayson is tied to the plasma ring (BTG). The issue here isn’t that Grayson (Jordi Vilasuso) is part of the plasma ring. We knew he would be almost from the day we met the lab tech. It’s just that it wasn’t a particularly surprising moment for the audience. Not like it was to Jacob (Jibre Hordges). It would have been great if the reveal were someone completely unexpected.
4. Lulu has unrealistic expectations (GH). It’s unclear what Lulu (Alexa Havins) really wanted out of telling Maxie (Kirsten Storms) that she and Nathan (Ryan Paevey) have feelings for each other. It’s great that this didn’t turn out to be a long, drawn-out secret. But we’re with Maxie. If Lulu needs her blessing, don’t hold her breath. And no amount of telling your best friend that she chose Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) will change anything. That moment didn’t play out as spectacularly as we had hoped, especially when we had recently witnessed the Carly/Joss throwdown.
3. Hope’s refusal to understand the fallout (B&B). It’s like there’s a part of Hope’s brain that won’t let her contemplate what would happen if Deacon left Sheila and hooked up with Taylor. Hope (Annika Noelle) is purposefully glossing over the potential consequences to suit her narrative. Deke (Harrison Cone) is doing that as well. But as much as Sheila says she’s the new-and-improved Sheila, everybody knows if she’s triggered, all bets are off.
2. Jeremy is not the stalker (DAYS). Don’t get us wrong. We love that Jeremy (Michael Roark) isn’t the stalker. We never believed he was, not for a second. Well, maybe a second. The issue here is that the writers tried way too hard to make him guilty to throw us off the scent. In reality, we never would have thought they would bring back some guy from 2009 who was still in love with Stephanie (Abigail Klein), even though he had kidnapped her before. It just feels like they could have been more subtle with the red herrings and distractions.
1. It’s apparently kidnapping season in Genoa City (Y&R). How many kidnappings need to happen to label Genoa City as the most dangerous town in the country? We still don’t really know if Victor kidnapped Lily and the twins outright, or if she knew about his plan. Kidnappings seem to be a serious go-to on Y&R. The victims should form a support group. We imagine it’ll look a lot like: Sharon (Sharon Case), Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), Sienna (Tamara Braun), Noah (Lucas Adams), Lily (Christel Khalil), Dominic (Ethan Ray Clark), and now Jack (again). After the Jack (Peter Bergman) and Lily kidnappings are resolved, let’s hope every GC resident stays safe from that kind of danger for a while.
Honorable Mentions
B&B
MISS: Deacon sleeps with Sheila but fantasizes about Taylor (B&B). Sleeping with your wife while envisioning your ex-therapist in her place is not a good look. We’re supposed to root for Deacon and Taylor, right? Look, Deacon knew who Sheila was and what she had done when he married her. He needs to figure out a classier way to handle this situation. BONUS MISS: Sheila needs to rethink her pillow talk and stop calling Deacon “daddy.” That is all.
MORE: The latest Bold and the Beautiful Comings & Goings.
BTG
MISS: Carlton’s outlook (BTG). Carlton (Robert Christopher Riley) says he gets it. But does he? He knows the boundaries that Nicole (Daphnée Duplaix) has set. She doesn’t want to go from a marriage that ended brutally to another committed relationship. But that doesn’t keep him from doing things that go expressly against those boundaries. His little visit to Vernon (Clifton Davis) was a red flag. He actually asked Nicole’s dad for permission to date his daughter. Vernon’s reaction — laughter — was classic and very appropriate.
MORE: Here’s what’s coming up next week on Beyond the Gates.
DAYS
JURY’S OUT: Lexie Carver was in that pod. Whoa. We’re going to need to process Lexie (Nikki Crawford) being the person in that pod. Lexie was always one of our favorite characters. And we’re happy that her sudden presence will provide story for Abe (James Reynolds), Paulina (Jackée Harry), and Theo (Tyler Joseph Andrews). But we were also thinking that the person in that pod could have been Abigail. Chad (soon to be Conner Floyd) is returning in April, and that would have been a great way to lure him back to town. That doesn’t mean the show won’t go there someday. We just thought that time was now.
MORE: Here’s what’s coming up next week on Days of Our Lives.
GH
MISS: Joss’s reason for becoming a WSB agent. For Joss, it all comes down to Sonny (Maurice Benard) once again. Now that she has nothing to do with her ex-stepdad, why does she even care? Carly is no longer with the man. And hasn’t been for a while. We get that trauma stays with you, and his world caused a lot of death and destruction. But why couldn’t her reason for joining the WSB simply have been about Dex (Evan Hofer)? Plus, she now knows what it’s like to kill someone and escape the consequences. She and Sonny have something in common.
MORE: Here’s what’s coming up next week on General Hospital.
Y&R
MISS: Audra decides to go after Kyle AGAIN. Kyle (Michael Mealor) and Audra (Zuleyka Silver) often show sparks between them. But it doesn’t need to happen by playing games or rising to someone else’s challenge. Couldn’t they let things happen organically, as seems to be happening already? When Kyle and Audra tag-teamed Noah, it was great. They both lit up and made a great team. Having Audra and Kyle happen organically could also have a scary consequence. It could cause Claire (Hayley Erin) to fully turn to her old tactics, which may be interesting. But Holden (Nathan Owens) and Audra hatching this scheme just so Holden can get Claire back isn’t ideal.
MORE: Here’s what’s coming up next week on The Young and the Restless.
Additional reporting by Soap Hub staff.
