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Soap Opera Tropes: The Problem Kids of Daytime

Published by
Alina Adams

Soap operas are famous for their villains. Some of them are fully grown adults. Some are pint-sized. Who were the best of the worst when it comes to daytime demon seeds? Check out our favorites and see if you agree!

Days of our Lives

Rachel (Finley Rose Slater) has long passed brat levels and launched herself into full-out tiny sociopath mode. It was one thing when she was just whining for her parents to get back together. It was one thing when she stole her dad’s credit card, hired an Uber, and went to visit her mom in prison.

But when Rachel called the cops on Brady (Eric Martsolf) so she could live with Kristen (Stacy Haiduk) full-time, she proved herself diabolical. The worst part is no one is calling her out on it. Kristen thinks her precious baby is just a gifted little overachiever (even as she’s failing math — clearly the teacher’s fault for not recognizing that Rachel is an original thinker who can’t be constrained by binary right or wrong answers), and even Brady is sure that his little girl is basically good — she’s just acting up because of Kristen’s influence. So, neither one is even trying to discipline her.

The Young and the Restless

From the moment he showed up in Genoa City, Connor (Judah Mackey, who shared an important BTS) made sure he was the center of everyone’s attention. Connor can make anything about himself, including Johnny (Paxton Mishkin), learning that Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) is his biological mother. Now, Connor is playing Chelsea against Adam (Mark Grossman) to make sure he gets his own way. And that no one has any time to think about anything but Connor’s needs.

General Hospital

Spencer (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) is temporarily dead — no, it’s not a spoiler, just an assumption based on everyone in Port Charles being temporarily dead when they “die” — and he did mature once he returned from boarding school.

But he was a holy terror as a pre-teen. That Spencer (then Nicholas Bechtel) not only bossed around the adults in his life, but he also committed such good-hearted mischief like STEALING AN ELECTION for his grandmother Laura (Genie Francis), which everyone dismissed as him just being a playful scamp. Maybe he’ll be back just in time for November 2024.

One Life To Live

By the time Starr (Kristen Alderson, who is a new mom) made it to GH, she was a sad sack teen mom who’d lost her baby and the baby’s father. But when she ruled the roost at Llanview, Starr was a budding criminal in the making. She’s stolen money, blackmailed a butler, blackmailed a teacher, blackmailed her father, let piranas loose in a bathtub, hacked a database, committed perjury, and masterminded a jailbreak. All before she was old enough to drive, much less vote or drink.

Guiding Light

When Cassie (Nicole Forrester) gave up her adopted son, Will, it was so he could be raised as the prince he was born to be. Shame Will wasn’t down with the program. When Cassie got her son back, it was after he’d killed his biological father.

Once in Springfield, Will proceeded to accuse his new brother of locking him in a barn, then upped the stakes by sending RJ out onto thin ice, stole money, shoving his Uncle Edmund (David Andrew MacDonald) off a balcony, tasered Jeffrey (Bradley Cole), and attempted to kill Reva (Kim Zimmer) and Josh (Robert Newman, who most recently starred on Y&R) via a gas leak. But fans really shouldn’t have been surprised. Young Will was played by Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, whose previous role was in the remake of The Omen. Where he played the Antichrist.

Heck, Will makes Rachel and Connor look like little angels in comparison. Then again, maybe they’re only getting started.

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Published by
Alina Adams

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