Against All Odds

NBC.com and JPI Studios

For genre that was created for women and for decades, catered to women, I always found it so odd that these shows’ women had seriously fallen off the map. The only thing a number of them were used for was for the occasional bitch fight and they no seemed to hold much importance. DAYS was a major culprit in this unsavory movement. Now don’t get me wrong, conflict and cattiness is one of my favorite soap opera tropes but I also love to see that balanced out with positivity and good friendships between women. In recent years, friends on DAYS became strangers that seemed to almost live in a completely different town. With the new writing regime taking control, we’ve seen old friends come together but even more importantly, we’ve seen new bonds begin to form as well.

This last week, we learned that the FBI was auctioning off ownership of Club TBD with Dario Hernandez’s arrest. This event surprisingly pitted Chloe Lane against Julie Williams in an effortlessly comical, but charmingly cute storyline. Harkening back to the lighthearted scenes of everyday life interspersed with the more soapy scenes, I don’t think there was anyone not excited to see moments like these return to DAYS. Salem is being built up as a town and community again! First off, we’d had heaping helpings of Julie and Doug Williams again, making their rounds about Salem to peek in all of their friends and family, then there was the throwback to classic DAYS history, mentioning Doug’s Place, and then an unlikely alliance between Chloe and Julie.

After a little spicy back and forth, the two women realize the only way to outbid smarmy Myron is to put all of their money together and become co-owners. After Chloe’s little speech about wanting to take full control of her own life and Julie wanting to finally put down roots again (I screamed at the “No more cruises!” gag, clearly aimed at past writers’ insistence on keeping the golden couple out of town), it was so satisfying to see them put those dreams together and win together. Positioning Julie as the owner of the local hub again will make her a hub of Salem in a sense, on top of giving Chloe a sense of importance that I haven’t seen for the character in so long. It’s crazy to think that just a little character moment like this has me so excited for the future, but that’s a major kudos to this new writing. There’s so many possibilities that can come out of this match up!

While there will obviously be bumps in the road between the two opinionated ladies, this is paving way for what can be a new, genuine female friendship in Salem. It’s so important for these shows to still push for showing these sort of stories that portray women as not just strong and independent, but capable of supporting other women as well.

There was a taste of that at the Salem PD too when Lani Price made the push for Hope Brady as commissioner. One of the times I liked Lani most was back during her Greece adventure, when she lamented over having to work twice as hard as woman of color police officer. I’d hoped to see more character development for her from there but unfortunately, that didn’t immediately shine through. However, this last week she touched upon it and finally, there was some more light behind Sal Stowers’ eyes! That enthusiasm and support even inspired Hope! My wish is that these two have more scenes together that will ultimately explore the character of Lani more than surface deep, while providing us with a senior and junior officer dynamic. It would make sense for Hope to kind of be Lani’s mentor considering how close she is to Abe! Yet another healthy female relationship to add into the mix!

Pans of the Week

NBC.com and JPI Studios

How Soon Is Now?

What I won’t stand for is the slander of Chad Dimera and Abigail Deveraux’s names!

Granted, I can understand the frustration of some when it comes to how slowly they’re moving now, however some fans have taken it a little too far! Attacking the story or the characters is one thing, but the actors now? It’s so irritating! Let it be known, Chad and Abigail are not on my pans list because of the actors but because of the story and the characters – as it should be when it comes to a fictional show.

First off, anyone with sense can see the reason why Chabby is dreamily happy right now is because their whole world is going to go down the drain very soon. When soap opera couples prove to be too happy, then soap opera viewers should know by now to be suspect. This last week, Chad and Abigail spent their time together mooning over their upcoming wedding and future together. Honestly, it got a little annoying very quickly because they deserve so much better!

I am all for the classic bait and switch, but I have been waiting for some actual drama to pop off between these two for so long. There are times when I have to give Carlivati and the writing team props for pacing out stories and taking their time to let them gestate, and unfold on the whole canvas but I can’t do it in this instance. Chabby’s happily ever after is so rampant with clichés that it just feels so heavy handed and almost artificial. That’s not the couple that I love! As I’ve mentioned before, Chad and Abigail (and Gabi Hernandez) have gone through a lot of ups and downs together, there should be no way these three can so easily fall back into their original positions.

There was this hint of conflict when Abigail thought back to how not much time had passed since Gabi had been in Chad’s bed. She did say she wanted to hold off on sex until they were married again but part of me wonders if she’s really holding back because of Gabi. Since Miller assumed the role, Abigail has become a lot more cautious and afraid of conflict, often tip toeing around major issues after suffering so many traumas after the Ben Rogers ordeal. Now with that former flame set to return, I can only wonder if this is when we’re going to see that façade fall apart like I’ve been dying for it to. I don’t necessarily need a raging Abigail sequel, but I would like for her to have to confront these issues that Ben’s torment set up in her life.

Had she not been terrified of him, she would have never left her family, never given room for Gabi to take over her life and would have never come back to have to witness it all! It’ll be great to see Chad and Abigail have to face another external conflict with Ben together, but what’ll make it even better is knowing this will only lead to those internal conflicts that have been pent up for so long to explode. I think Abigail is hiding a lot of animosity toward Chad still, and it’s very clear she has no idea what to make of her friendship with Gabi anymore. Their scenes together are so painfully awkward and no matter how much she tries to push the friend narrative, the idea of inviting Gabi to her bachelorette party pained Abigail too.

These two women need to seriously hash it out, not pussyfoot around the past to try and keep what fragments of their broken friendship remain. While Chad was a total doofus in those months with Gabi and I do want him and Abigail to really move past that together, I’m far more interested in seeing the two women find their way back to each other again. I truly appreciate them both attempting to take the high road but it’s just not realistic in this situation, not this soon either. There’s so much untapped potential here that I know this crazily smart writing team can mine and most likely will mine in time, it’s just the waiting game that’s killing the story. And me in the process.

As usual, if I missed something you really wanted to talk about or something you felt was important, let’s start a discussion! Comment below, tweet me and let’s chat!