THUMBS UP!
GENERAL HOSPITAL
Lois Lane
Rena Sofer’s return to GH as Lois, the role she played to Emmy-winning acclaim in the mid-’90s, was high on many fans’ wish list, and hasn’t disappointed. Sofer’s sparkling presence has provided a lively shot of adrenaline to the goings-on at the Quartermaine mansion. Not only is her chemistry with Wally Kurth (Ned), Jane Elliot (Tracy) and Maurice Benard (Sonny) as vibrant and crackling as ever, but her rapport with new scene partners Amanda Setton (Brook Lynn) and Lisa LoCicero (Olivia) is just as delightful. (Sofer and Setton’s mother/daughter dynamic, in particular, is gold, at once funny and touching; kudos to Setton for so well capturing what Lois called “the Cerullo fire”.) The Ned-believes-he’s-Eddie-Maine story would have felt incomplete without an appearance by Lois, the woman who fell in love with and married Ned while she believed him to be Eddie, and Lois’s no-nonsense perspective on his identity crisis enriched that tale considerably. We’re savoring every moment of this long-awaited comeback.
Photo credit: ABC/Christine Bartolucci
THUMBS DOWN!
YOUNG AND RESTLESS
The Parent’s Trap
Victor faking signs of dementia as a means to suss out who in his inner circle might make a power grab at Newman was a tasteless twist we could have done without. After Victor displaced Victoria to reclaim the CEO title for himself, and fired Adam, perhaps Victor was wise to suspect that they, or Nate, would scheme to loosen his renewed iron grip on the company. But putting Adam, Nick and Victoria — all of whom genuinely love their father, despite their imperfect relationships with him — through the hell of thinking he may have a serious, irreversible illness was not only a despicable move on his part, it made little sense as a means to expose a rat in his midst. He gave his kids reason to question his competency; what did he think he stood to learn when they subsequently expressed concern about his fitness to run Newman? Now that Victor has dropped the ruse and fired Nate, this all seems to have been a plot device to nudge Nate back to Chancellor-Winters — hardly an end that justified the storyline means.
Photo credit: Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
THUMBS UP!
DAYS OF OUR LIVES
The Phanton Menace
Konstantin’s arrival into the house of Kiriakis has been a welcome addition to the family’s story as they grieve the loss of their patriarch, Victor. After he cozied up to Maggie by regaling her with stories of her late husband, Victor’s longtime “friend” was revealed to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing — one who’s conspiring with Theresa to bamboozle the clan out of a chunk of their millions by forging a letter that named Alex, not Xander, as Victor’s mystery son. John Kapelos was perfect casting; as Konstantin, he’s delightful and charming one minute, bitter and vindictive the next. The show gave the character a solid beef with Vic (Konstantin is angry that he wasn’t bequeathed any of Victor’s fortune, given that his own father funded the titan’s entry into the business world) and he and Theresa make unlikely but entertaining partners in crime. Their cruel ruse has made collateral damage of Justin and Alex, who were crushed by the lie that they are not father and son, raising the emotional stakes of Konstantin’s treachery. While we look forward to his eventual downfall, we’re enjoying having such a solid new villain in the Salem mix.
Photo credit: XJJohnson/jpistudios.com
APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE
We love seeing the menacing side of Cyrus come out on GH because Jeff Kober plays it so brilliantly, and we appreciated Laura’s dialogue about her own troubled youth in her reunion scenes with Charlotte…. Thank you, Y&R, for finally delivering scenes between Chance and Nina (pictured), who hadn’t interacted on screen since his return from the dead…. Heartbreaking work by Heather Tom when B&B’s Katie broke down in Eric’s arms after learning that he was dying.
Photo credit: Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
PICKY PICKY
Y&R’s Nick recognized Victor’s drawing from a book he loved as a child, one he said he “would make Dad read to me every night.” But Nick never lived with Victor when he was a kid; his parents divorced the same year he was born and he lived with Nikki before being sent off to boarding school for the majority of his formative years…. In a curious device to inspire DAYS’s Rafe to hire Wendy (both pictured) on the spot as Salem PD’s new tech person, she discovered there was no antispyware on the department’s computer system. Really? The police station? In 2023?! … GH’s Nina gifted Sonny with framed photos of Donna and Wiley from their wedding … the episode after the same framed photos could be seen behind Sonny as he sat in his office at Pozzulo’s. Also, Nina blasted Carly to Michael for having known Nelle was Nina’s daughter before Nelle died — but Carly did not make that discovery until after Nelle was deceased.
Photo credit: XJJohnson/jpistudios.com
SOD
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