Soap Tropes: Here’s Why Soap Operas Use Long Lost Twins

Soap Operas, as a genre, have several tropes that they repeatedly use. Soap Hub plans to examine them and why they’re used in a new series called — Soap Tropes. In our first delve into the delightful use of these common daytime story elements, New York Times bestselling author Alina Adams examines how the long-lost twin makes soaps unique.

Double Trouble

Once upon a time, in a land known as Pine Valley, home of the soap opera All My Children, lived a character named Kitty Shaw. Francesca James played Kitty. She was a dancer looking for her birth mother. Kitty eventually found her mother, but her mother died. Then Kitty fell in love and got married. Then Kitty died. That was 1975.

In 1978, AMC wanted to bring the popular James back. But as death had yet to become a temporary state on daytime, the show opted to have James play a brand new character, Kitty’s heretofore unknown twin sister, Kelly. The audience wasn’t fooled, however. As one viewer wrote to AMC, if they absolutely had to give Kitty a twin sister, couldn’t they have found an actress who looked even a little bit like her? Despite that rocky start, the trope soon became a staple. Here are four more examples from shows still on the air.

Sister, Sister

When The Bold and the Beautiful premiered in 1987, its leading young heroine was Caroline Spencer, played by Joanna Johnson. Caroline married the love of her life, Ridge (then Ronn Moss), in 1990. And promptly died. Ridge was totes sad. He grew a scraggly beard to demonstrate it.

In 1991, viewers learned that Caroline had a twin sister, kidnapped at birth. And here she is! Her name is Karen. She grew up in Texas. She married Connor (Scott Thompson Baker), then quickly divorced him. The most recent time we saw Karen on B&B, we figured out why. We saw Karen, her daughter, Caroline (named after the dead lookalike), and Caroline’s other mom, Danielle (Crystal Chappell).

Grease Monkey

Stefan (Brandon Barash) died on Days of our Lives. His heart got donated and everything. Gabi (Camila Banus) was totes sad. Soon, however, a lookalike appeared in Salem. It was his twin brother, Jake! To whom Vivian (Louise Sorel) didn’t remember giving birth!

Jake and Gabi gave it a try, but Ava (Tamara Braun) ended up more his speed. But then Jake died. Ava was totes sad. Soon, however, a lookalike appeared in Salem. No, not a triplet. Stefan again. We’ll never be rid of them at this rate.

Good and Evil

Ryan (Jon Lindstrom, who has some big ideas for his new novel) was an evil man on General Hospital. He kidnapped Georgie and terrorized Felicia (Kristina Wagner). Then he died. But, hey, did you know Ryan had a twin brother? Kevin? You probably did, since both have been on the air recently. One is still good, one is still evil. They also take turns being presumed dead and pretending to be the other. This is a fun family!

Little Girl Lost

When Sharon (Sharon Case) married Nicholas (Joshua Morrow) on The Young and the Restless, she didn’t tell him she’d given birth to a daughter during high school. Sharon was eventually reunited with tiny, adorable Cassie (Camryn Grimes, who recalls Cassie’s death here), and after they won custody of her from her adoptive mother, Nick adopted Cassie and raised her as his own. But then Cassie died. Sharon and Nick were totes sad. So sad that Nick had an affair with Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), which produced Summer (Allison Lanier). (So now you know whom to blame.)

Then, a few years after Cassie’s death, Sharon learned there’d been a twin sister, Mariah. Mariah and Sharon eventually grew close, to the point that Mariah now calls Sharon “mom.” But Nick is just a friend, not a father figure.

Think First

While some long-lost twin stories work better than others, they all come about due to short-sightedness. Shows kill off characters played by popular actors only to regret it down the line and need to do handsprings to bring them back to town. (Perhaps that’s why Y&R has Amanda Sinclair who’s Hilary Curtis’s long-lost twin — both portrayed by Mishael Morgan — back on the canvas next week.) It seems like that problem could be avoided if more thought was put into long-term storytelling rather than short-term shock effects.