Sharon Case’s performance as a spiraling Sharon on Y&R had us riveted, while the flirting of GH’s Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Natalia (Eva LaRue) isn’t sitting quite so well.

The Best

Young and Restless: Sharon Hits 30

It’s a stretch that therapist Sharon would purposely go off her bipolar medication, but her resulting breakdown gave Sharon Case more to do than pour coffee on the occasion of her 30th anniversary, so we’ll take it. Her lack of meds caused Sharon to hallucinate the bloody corpse of abusive Cameron Kirsten (who Sharon killed last year with a well-placed knife to the chest) and his ghost urged her to get revenge on Daniel for the 2005 death of her daughter Cassie. 

Nick, Faith and Mariah rallied around as Sharon spiraled, watching helplessly as she lashed out at loved ones and disappeared for large swaths of time. Viewers saw Cameron’s ghost telling her that if she poisoned Daniel, it would bring her peace and Nick would fall in love with her again. “This is wrong,” Sharon repeated, while still following his instructions to break into Daniel and Heather’s apartment to plant the poison. Enter Heather, demanding to know what Sharon was doing. They fought, Heather took a fatal fall and Sharon disposed of her body. Or did she? 

Whether Heather’s death is legit or a fake-out, Case got a week’s worth of Emmy-worthy shows that she played to perfection, and fans were reminded via A+ flashbacks why Sharon Newman was the heart of the show for so long. Happy Anniversary!

Bold and Beautiful: Bill Gets His Groove Back

He’d been in storyline Siberia for years, so it was refreshing to see Dollar Bill get an old love and a new daughter to propel him back to the frontburner. Oops! Poppy was a bust and Luna was a psycho. Now Bill’s tiptoeing back to his former life, spending time with ex-wife Katie and their newly returned son Will. He’s also sharing scenes with Liam re: Spencer Publications business which was long overdue. Scenes of Katie urging Will to work at Forrester instead of Bill’s company feel like solid, organic drama going forward, as well as Bill trying to turn the clock back with Katie.  

“Let’s give Will his family again,” he pitched to his ex-wife who was like hold up. We can only hope Katie makes Bill pay for cheating on her with her sister Brooke (and marrying her!) before lining up a lucrative pre-nup and making Bill promise she can redecorate his tired black and leather bachelor pad.  

General Hospital: Strange Bedfellows, Indeed

There’s only one female character currently in jail, so naturally the PCPD threw Alexis into Heather’s cell. They squabbled over the bottom bunk, who snored the loudest, and whether Heather was going to “hook” Alexis, a reference to the murder spree that landed the wacky Webber in the slammer this time. 

That seemed like a fun detour from a serious story —  until GH cut to Somalia where Holly and Anna were also locked up together, and we saw what real jeopardy looked like. In between fighting for their lives, Robert’s exes found time to reminisce about their shared past, with Anna admitting Holly made Robert happy in a way she never could. They escaped, but Anna won’t be so kumbaya with her former rival when she learns Holly stole the bad guy’s diamonds and is hot on their trail. 

Days of our Lives: Brothers Unite

It’s been tough watching Brady being played for a fool re: the drunk-driving accident that paralyzed Sarah. The cops let Brady go, so Xander arranged for his henchman to drug Brady and then Xander broke into Brady’s room to kill him. Sarah stopped her husband by falsely claiming to Jada that she “remembered” seeing Brady behind the wheel. Jada, in turn, stopped Xander. “Now I have to live with the lie, which is so much better than living without you,” Sarah told Xander. (Is it?) 

Enter Eric to snap his stepbrother out of “I must have done it” mode. He confronted Brady at the police station, asking how he could have gotten drunk after everything he’s been through. Brady insisted he didn’t drink — he shook hands with a stranger who cut his hand, which obviously had some drug in it. (Brady didn’t figure that out until Eric questioned him.) All he remembered was waking up groggy with Xander standing by his bed. What?!, said Eric, putting the pieces together that vigilante justice was at play here.  

“Why were you really there, Xander?” wondered Eric. Go get him!

 

The Worst

GH: Sonny Betrays Kristina With Natalia

The last person that the parent of a gay child (who they love and support) would date is a homophobe — especially one whose negative views are widely known in their small town. Sonny’s one redeeming quality is that he loves his kids and would do anything for them. Natalia’s harmful words about homosexuality caused pain for Kristina and should have been the end of that dalliance, but there are Sonny and Natalia, still bouncing from restaurant to restaurant getting their flirt on. 

Also curious is that Sonny — who has a history of being attracted to strong women like Carly, Alexis and Nina — would even want to romance Natalia. The fact that Natalia’s pursuing a relationship while Sonny goes on “dates” with Carly makes her a sap, and chasing her gay daughter away with her bigoted views makes her a bad mom. 

Sonny divorced Nina because her call to the SEC hurt Carly. So how is it no big deal that Natalia hurt Kristina? 

Y&R: Nick Fails Sharon

Nick and Sharon have always been friends, co-parenting their kids together through each marriage, divorce and/or interrupted wedding. He knows her troubled history: Being busted for kleptomania, committed to a mental institution, guilty of assault and arson (she burned down the Newman ranch!) and the craziest thing of all: marrying his father Victor. So it made no sense when bipolar Sharon started acting loopy and Nick didn’t go straight to her doctor.

Yes, his ignorance worked for Sharon’s story (see above) and yes, Sharon is a master manipulator. But it would have been more logical for Nick to come in at the end when Sharon was cratering instead of wandering around Genoa City for weeks discussing what might be wrong with her with people who don’t even like her (Phyllis, Nikki, Victor…). When Nick told his family Sharon’s behavior had escalated to “beyond upset,” Victoria responded, “She has a doctor, right?”