Soap Hub looks at the Hits and Misses for the week of December 31-January 2 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
- Big emotional swings paid off. Beyond the Gates delivered powerhouse, tearjerker storytelling with Anita’s diagnosis, while GH and Y&R scored quieter but meaningful character moments.
- Timing and perspective mattered. Several misses stemmed from delayed POVs or stalled pacing.
- Family conflict drove the week. From Logan sister fallout on B&B to fractured dynamics on BTG, interpersonal fractures fueled both the strongest hits and most frustrating misses.
Top 5 Hits
5. Kyle and Victoria’s NYE conversation (Y&R). Both Kyle (Michael Mealor) and Victoria (Amelia Heinle) were alone on New Year’s Eve. And so when they ran into each other, they sat down for what turned out to be a great conversation. He explained his motives for finally letting go of Claire, which was a good move on his part. And he also tackled another painful topic: the war Victor (Eric Braeden) is waging on Jack (Peter Bergman), Jabot, and the rest of the Abbotts. He didn’t hold back. Victoria listened and explained things from her perspective. Their chat was an unexpected treat.
4. The Dimitri cliffhanger (DAYS). What’s a dramatic way to follow up a beautiful wedding? With a dramatic entrance involving someone who could, in effect, blow up the marriage only minutes after it became official. Right after Leo (Greg Rikaart) and Javi (Al Calderon) said their vows, their “I Dos,” and were on their way to The Bistro for the reception, they ran into Dimitri (Peter Porte). And then the episode was over. We knew Dimitri would return to Salem and thought he might interrupt the wedding. But doing it afterwards made the stakes higher, especially since Leo spent much of his time before the wedding angsting about not being worthy of Javi.
3. Danny and Scout (GH). This week, we all received the best gift ever. After Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) dropped Scout (Cosette Abinante) off at Alexis’s (she had talked Drew [Cameron Mathison] into letting his daughter see her family), Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) stopped by. And he and his sister got to spend much-needed holiday time together. It had been a while since they last saw each other. And it was heartbreaking when Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) made him leave because Drew’s one condition for this get-together was that Danny couldn’t be part of it.
2. Katie tells Brooke to get out (B&B). Katie (Heather Tom) and Brooke’s sibling relationship has been shattered over the use of the Logan name. It has dredged up the sisters’ painful past. During Wednesday’s episode, Katie called Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) out on stealing her husband and how much personal and public humiliation she experienced over it. The scars were clearly still there. But Katie said she chose her relationship with her sister and worked to forget the pain for the sake of their sibling bond. Brooke stood there and didn’t have much to say about that time. Ultimately, Katie told her sister to leave and that she was no longer welcome at her office, and potentially in her life.
1. Thursday’s episode (BTG). It’s incredible how this show, which hasn’t even been on the air for a year yet, has already left us so attached to the Dupree family. Anita (Tamara Tunie) found out she has breast cancer. Now we’re seeing every step of the process once someone gets the devastating news. So far, we’ve seen Anita experience a biopsy and learn that there’s such a thing as triple-negative breast cancer. The BRCA gene, too. Additionally, she’s already undergone surgery to insert a port in her chest for chemotherapy. BTG has done a great job on the educational aspects of this disease. However, it has done an even better job in terms of emotional aspects and reactions. Thursday’s episode brought that all together as we saw Anita’s family members learn about her diagnosis. To say that it was a tearjerker was an understatement. The reactions were varied and beautifully handled. And it involved the entire family, including the ex-husbands. Friday’s episode, the first one of season two, was just as good.
Top 5 Misses
5. Naomi and Chelsea take issue with their mom (BTG). Dani (Karla Mosley, Soap Hub’s 2025 Performer of the Year for BTG) turned to Bill (Timon Kyle Durrett) for help in talking to the girls about her mom’s diagnosis. And in the process, Naomi (Arielle Prepetit) and Chelsea (RhonniRose Mantilla) learned about it from Anita and Vernon (Clifton Davis). As a result, Naomi and Chelsea got mad at Dani, and that wasn’t right. They are grown women who needed to understand what their mom was experiencing instead of getting testy with her.
4. Alexis isn’t figuring out a way around Drew’s demon tactics (GH). We need Alexis to stop trying so hard to win Willow’s case and come up with a more diabolical and effective way to deal with Drew. Understandably, she knows she must win to gain access to Scout. But what if there was another way? We hope she utilizes her considerable legal skills or her Cassadine roots to devise a way to reunite with Scout on a permanent basis and eliminate Drew as a threat.
3. Peter Blake’s return (DAYS). Casting Dan Gauthier as the new Peter Blake was a great move. So far, we’ve only gotten Peter ranting in the crypt. And now he’s in a coma. He may wake up next week. But we were hoping Peter would have a real presence and that he would stick around.
2. Mariah’s perspective comes too late (Y&R). We want to feel the pain that Mariah is experiencing. And while Camryn Grimes always does a great job on that front, it’s hard to connect to Mariah’s mental health state because we barely see her. And it’s only now, after Daniel (Michael Graziadei) and Tessa (Cait Fairbanks) have made love, that Mariah talks about how much she loves her wife. Mariah has given Tessa nothing for months. We’re finally getting the POV that we want, but it feels conveniently too late.
1. Brooke’s insistence that Logan is her name (B&B). Brooke’s insistence that Logan is her name and only her name has been frustrating to hear. Maybe if she and Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) hadn’t been so arrogant about it, the sisters could have had a slightly less contentious conversation. The show is really setting up the great and powerful Forrester Creations as Goliath, which means Katie’s little upstart fashion house is David. As much as we’re looking forward to these fashion wars, it would have been nice if this initial conflict had been more subtle.
Honorable Mentions
B&B
MISS: Is Dylan just a new Luna? Dylan (Sydney Bullock) moved into Will’s beach house because she’s living out of her car. She’s there for two seconds, and she is already giving off Luna (Lisa Yamada, Soap Hub’s 2025 Performer of the Year) vibes. What would be great here is if Electra (Laney Grace) is overreacting, and she is the one who becomes obsessed with the idea that Dylan is after Will (Crew Morrow). Electra becomes the new Luna, not Dylan. Anything to mix things up a bit.
READ: The Bold and the Beautiful recasts R.J. Forrester.
BTG
HIT: More Ted supporting Martin and Kat, please. For the past ten months, Ted (Keith D. Robinson) hasn’t played the good dad for Martin (Brandon Claybon) and Kat (Colby Muhammad). Not like he has for Eva (Ambyr Michelle). So in the wake of Anita’s cancer diagnosis. It was nice to see him visit both kids to check in and see how they were doing, handling the news.
READ: Here’s what to expect next week on Beyond the Gates.
DAYS
HIT: Ari stays strong in her Leo dislike. It’s only natural that not everybody in Javi’s family likes Leo. It appears that Rafe (Galen Gering) and Gabi (Cherie Jimenez) have come around. But Ari (Marissa Reyes) hasn’t, and that’s refreshing. Leo is a polarizing character, and he hurt her dads. So we like that Ari’s holding to her grudge.
READ: Here’s what to expect next week on Days of Our Lives.
GH
HIT: Cody & Molly. Cody (Josh Kelly) and Molly (Kristen Vaganos) finally got their act together. Although we miss TJ (Tajh Bellow), we also like Molly moving on with Cody. And his bringing New Year’s Eve to her office (well, Janine’s office) was a cute, fun, romantic way to end the year.
READ: Here’s what to expect next week on General Hospital.
Y&R
HIT: Sharon’s facial expression during Adam’s visit. Sometimes it’s the little things. When Adam (Mark Grossman) attempted to challenge Noah (Lucas Adams) on his supposed love for Sienna (Tamara Braun) and wondered whether Noah could really trust the woman, the camera cut to Sharon. Her facial expression was classic, and it made us laugh out loud. It was as if she enjoyed Adam being the one to call her son out on his so-called epic love for Sienna. That she was okay with letting Adam go to town because this was what she had been saying to her son all along. It was a quick moment, but we appreciated it from Soap Hub‘s Performer of the Year for Y&R.
READ: Here’s what to expect next week on The Young and the Restless.
