Christine Bartolucci/ABC; XJJohnson/jpistudios.com; Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
There are shades of the past in the current storylines of GH’s Ric (Rick Hearst, l.), DAYS’s Eric (Greg Vaughan) and Y&R’s Sharon (Sharon Case).
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” said Mark Twain. The best soap opera stories do that, too.
The dynamic between GH half sisters Molly and Kristina rhymes perfectly with the twisted one between their fathers, Ric and Sonny. Molly is just as bitter about Kristina’s relationship with their mom as Ric is re: Sonny’s life with Adela.
Sonny (to Ric): “You’re still whining about our mother giving you up and keeping me. You really want to compare who had a worse childhood?”
Ava: “Can we leave the sibling rivalry out of this? It’s ancient history.”
Hardly. Ric’s resentment of Sonny getting more love from their mom fuels his present revenge, prompting him to represent Ava against Sonny in the custody battle for Avery. He’s also wise to Sonny’s guilt in the murder of John Cates, a crime that put their mutual baby mama wrongly in jail.
Ric: “You want to help Alexis? Tell the police what really happened at the Quartermaines.’ ”
Sonny: “You love making false accusations.”
Except it’s not false. Carly gave her ex-husband an alibi, part of a long-standing pattern of bailing Sonny out for the sake of their kids or their business or his mental health. The problem is that kids grow up and call you out on that behavior.
Josslyn: “Sonny and my mom are like a rubber band. You can pull them apart but inevitably something will happen, and they snap back together.”
Gio: “Sounds romantic.”
Joss: “It would be if it wasn’t so toxic.”
Toxic is a good way to describe Lucky’s need to follow in Luke’s footsteps by abandoning his family to travel the world. GH is positioning Lucky as a hero, though, if he can save Lulu with a liver transplant.
Willow: “The prospective donor is in a dangerous place, and someone has to find him and bring him back.”
Liz: “Pretty much.”
Willow: “That’s exactly what Drew did for me.”
Tying Lucky to Drew is a stretch. Drew saving Willow (by bringing her great aunt Liesl home for a bone marrow transplant) does not make it okay for Willow to cheat on her husband with his uncle no matter how much GH tries to make Drew her savior.
Liz: “He’s always been brave. He was a Navy SEAL after all.”
Willow: “Well, I think I’ve done enough cheerleading for one day.”
Yes. Give me an E, give me an N, give me an O-U-G-H!
Family always came first for DAYS’s Stefano, but he didn’t raise any of his current kids on the canvas, so they’ve had to absorb the DiMera DNA through Stefano’s portrait. Kristen, EJ, Chad and Stefan take turns being ruthless and backstabby, but when the chips are down, they can be surprisingly supportive of each other.
Kristen’s concern for Chad regarding his “wife” Abigail was almost touching.
Kristen: “Abigail isn’t exactly champing at the bit to spend more time with you and the children, and I think that’s odd. If she does turns out to be an impostor…”
Chad: “We did a DNA test!”
Kristen: “Assuming it’s legit. I care about you. Tread carefully.”
Their half brother, EJ, was willing to have hate sex with Gabi so she could get back at Stefan, but he balked at doing it again, or letting Gabi lie about it. Is that a soft spot showing? Don’t let Stefano’s portrait see it!
Stepbrothers Eric and Brady showed the love they inherited from their fathers, Roman and John, in that honest conversation about how drinking screwed up Brady’s life, just like it did Eric’s years ago.
Brady: “Xander’s mom and I slept together.”
Eric: “I don’t judge, but what were you thinking?”
Brady: “I was on a bender. It’s over. Nothing kills romance faster than paralyzing your new lover’s daughter-in-law.”
Or your new lover framing you for that crime.
Can a ghost frame someone for a crime? On Y&R, Sharon’s hearing voices telling her to kill someone, which is exactly what happened to Ashley six months ago. Telling the same story twice in one year is lazy and repetitive but at least they gave Sharon more to do than pour coffee on the occasion of A-lister Sharon Case’s 30th anniversary.
There’s a fine line between repeating and rhyming. There are valuable layers to using history, like revisiting Neil Winters’s legacy through his children. With Lily on the outs at Chancellor, Devon offered her a soft place to land at his company — which was straight out of Neil’s playbook. Nate chimed in that it would be great for the family to work together again, but Lily said Victor is going to come through for her after he wrests the company from Billy. Au contraire, argued her brother.
Devon: “Victor is the definition of ruthless.”
Lily: “Our families have known each other for years. Devon is going to be his son-in-law!”
Devon: “He doesn’t care about stuff like that.”
Lily: “I am going to help Victor take Billy out and then he is going to reinstate me as CEO.”
Nate: “Did you get that in writing?”
No. (Neil would have.) The second generation is squabbling, with Victoria worried how the battle for Chancellor will impact the third generation. She doesn’t want the conflict between her children’s father and grandfather to upend their lives, so she offered to buy Billy out of Chancellor before Victor takes it from him.
Victoria: “I hate seeing you and my father headed for corporate combat. It never ends without casualties.”
Billy: “There’s no guarantee that will happen.”
Except for almost every past Newman v. Abbott encounter. Where’s Jack in this story? Phyllis was a good addition, but Billy needs more reinforcements if he’s going to beat The Mustache.
History actually does repeat itself on B&B. Brooke has married every man her sisters have married except for Donna’s first husband, Justin. Brooke wed Donna’s current mate, Eric, back in 1991 and walked down the aisle with both of Katie’s exes, Bill and Thorne. (She also wed her daughter Bridget’s husband, Nick Marone, but I digress.)
Brooke: “The Logans have been lucky in love.”
Katie: “Not all of us.”
Truth. Meanwhile, Taylor is dying of a vague illness which is a little too repetitive since B&B just told the same story with her former father-in-law last year. Eric also kept his “terminal” illness a secret and then didn’t die, so forgive me if I’m not too worried about Taylor getting her affairs in order. She is, however, trying to make peace with her archenemy, Brooke, just in case.
Eric: “Stranger things have happened.”
Donna (to Brooke): “You did become close to Stephanie in the end. Getting close to Taylor would be a cinch compared to that. She never tried to strangle you, or toss you in a trash can, or call you a slut from the valley.”
Ha! It’s funny that Brooke is mortal enemies with people until they’re dying and then makes peace with them just before they croak. What rhymes with “rhyme?”
Daytime!
Hey. It’s only my opinion.
