Trashed houses, true colors, and terrific conversations helped make the week of November 9-13 memorable. The Young and the Restless was once again the standout soap thanks to the debut of its new co-head writing team, Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor. The show instantly felt different, but in subtle ways. It’s time to dissect the hits and misses on all five soaps: Beyond the Gates, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, General Hospital, and Y&R.
Key Takeaways
- Timon Kyle Durrett delivers a standout performance as Bill faces life-changing news on Beyond the Gates.
- Dominic shakes up Salem on DAYS, while Alexis and Tristan help advance the Brennan murder investigation on GH.
- Y&R earns Standout Soap of the Week as new co-head writers Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor make their debut.
Hits and Misses Breakdown: November 9-13, 2026
Beyond the Gates
HIT: Timon Kyle Durrett is the MVP of the week. Durrett had a lot of great material this week as Bill found out that not only was Hayley (Marquita Goings) pregnant, but that baby was his. He trashed his house. Accepted and rejected support. And brushed himself off and got back to work. And Durrett played all the emotions of a man who doesn’t like to show emotion beautifully.
MISS: Eva telling Shanice about Kat’s feelings. It was surprising when Eva (Ambyr Michelle) told Shanice (Ernestine Johnson) about Kat (Colby Nixon) struggling with her feelings about wanting Nicole (Daphnée Duplaix) and Ted (Keith D. Robinson) back together. It felt like a conversation Kat and Shanice should have been having. Or Kat and her father.
Worth a Mention: Heather (Ashley Jones) showing Vanessa (Lauren Buglioli) her true colors was jarring but fascinating. We weren’t even sure it was real at first. It was that shocking. Even after Vanessa left Uptown, we still wondered if this hadn’t been in Heather’s imagination. Hopefully that’s the end of Vanessa wanting Heather and Joey (Jon Lindstrom) to restore their sibling bond.
MORE: Here’s what’s coming up next week on Beyond the Gates.
Bold and the Beautiful
HIT: Deacon’s reaction to getting engaged to Taylor. Deacon (Sean Kanan) was so gaga over Taylor (Rebecca Budig) that he proposed to her. She rejected it, but didn’t want to break up. Well, little does the renowned psychiatrist know, but that decision opened things up for Sheila (Kimberlin Brown) to inch herself back into Deacon’s heart. Taylor suddenly changed her mind this week, and Deacon went along with the engagement. But the look on his face told a different story. This was a fun twist.
MISS: Katie rages over Bill and Brooke’s secret meetings. Don’t get us wrong. Katie (Heather Tom) deserved to go off on Bill (Don Diamont) and Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) for their secret meetings and texts. Their under-the-radar communication understandably triggered her big time. But we’re already at the throw him outta the house step? Sometimes relationship developments happen so quickly on this show.
Worth a Mention: Bill and Dylan (Sydney Bullock) finally met. How in the world did it take this long for Dylan to meet Will’s (Crew Morrow) dad?
MORE: Here’s what’s coming up next week on The Bold and the Beautiful.
Days of our Lives
HIT: Dominic’s arrival. Dominic’s arrival really shook things up in such a good way. EJ (Dan Feuerriegel) has a formidable opponent. One that he may not be able to outmaneuver. It already stirred the pot with Chad (Conner Floyd) and Belle (Martha Madison). The Kiriakis brothers were super wary of how his presence would affect them. And even Johnny (Carson Boatman) and Chanel (Raven Bowens) contemplated getting out of Dodge now that there was someone else to run DiMera. Dominic (Kyle Pryor) had that fight with Dante (Franco Lo Presti). And Dominic and Marlena (Deidre Hall) had a very interesting conversation at the mansion. The Dominic effect is real. And it’s everything so far.
MISS: EJ has no allies. One downside of Dominic’s arrival was that Rita’s (Maggie Carney) loyalties have switched to Dominic. And that left EJ with no allies whatsoever. Tony (Thaao Penghlis) and Anna (LeAnn Hunley) dance to the beat of their own drums. Cat (AnnaLynne McCord) is an ISA agent trying to get the goods on him. Sydney (Sydney Malakeh) may be the closest thing EJ has to an ally. She might want to protect him, but something tells us she’d only go so far. EJ needs one ride-or-die.
Worth a Mention: Lexie’s memorial service was mainly drama before and drama after. There was no real memorial service shown. Poor Lexie (Nikki Crawford).
MORE: Here’s what’s coming up next week on Days of our Lives.
General Hospital
HIT: Alexis and Tristan = MVPs. We’re all for plot twists that get a story moving. Tristan (Dean Geyer) was the first one to come forward with what he knew about Ava (Maura West) and Drew (Cameron Mathison). He spotted them unloading Brennan, someone or something, from the laundry cart to Drew’s car. And then Alexis showed up at the PCPD to tell what she knew. She gave the cops the motive needed to go after Drew and Ava. Great moves, especially Alexis’s statement.
MISS: Joss involves Avery in her war against Sonny. It’s a good thing that Joss (Eden McCoy) reflected and regretted what she did. But that didn’t negate her actions. She had several outs during that heated conversation with Sonny (Maurice Benard), and she didn’t take them. Instead, she doubled down and tried to get Avery (Ayla Bullington) to face the truth about her father. That was wrong on every level.
Worth a Mention: Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) was taken aback after Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) helped him realize that Ava was the one who saw a GH doctor about a tick. We’re not sure whether these two will get their shot, but we hope so. Elizabeth bending the rules for Dante, and his reaction to her generous and dangerous move, made for an adorable moment that caught us by surprise.
MORE: Here’s what’s coming up next week on General Hospital.
Young and the Restless***Standout Soap of the Week***
HIT: The new writing. So many of the new co-head writers’ conversations during their three days of episodes were keepers. Adam (Mark Grossman) finds it hard to open up to anybody, but he did to Jack (Peter Bergman). That chat was worth the price of admission. Phyllis’ (Michelle Stafford) and Nick’s (Joshua Morrow), too. They righted things between Mariah (Camryn Grimes) and Tessa (Cait Fairbanks). And they brought back romance. It was a good start to this new era.
MISS: The war for Chancellor is back. The break that we had from Billy (Jason Thompson) going after Chancellor was a welcome one. But now we’re right back there. Sigh. This has to be resolved one way or another. Let’s hope it happens quickly.
Worth a Mention: Sharon’s sass is back. It was great to see Sharon (Sharon Case) stand up to Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and let her know that a) she wasn’t about to shut the door on her. And b) she didn’t want to talk about the photo shoot or Nikki’s rivalry with Diane (Susan Walters). She needed to talk about Nick, which was another one of those good conversations.
MORE: Here’s what’s coming up next week on The Young and the Restless.
What are your personal soap hits and misses for the week?
Additional reporting by Soap Hub staff.
