Episode 126 Morals

In plain English, these are the morals from Episode 126:

Will Chet begin to crowd in on Victor and Ramona's keeping close company?

Ugh, this plot sure is dragging on with very little to show for itself. Victor's only spent a couple of short sessions talking to Ramona, and it seems to me that if he was going to apply his instant charm with her, he could have done it sooner.

Also, I wanted to note that Y&R seems to use really a lot of mechanisms in order to assure Wholesome Promiscuity^TM. By this I mean people seem no longer to actually have any real promiscuity--they just use a lot of smoke and mirrors to make you think you are seeing promiscuity. For example, Olivia isn't sleeping with Neil--Malcolm just thinks she is. Malcolm isn't sleeping with Callie, Olivia just thinks it's as bad as if he was. Meg didn't have sex with Tony--she just worried she might. Ryan didn't have sex with Vikki, Trisha just worried that he did. Or sometimes we just find people flitting quickly from married partner to married partner in order to allow them to have wholesome sex with a different committed love one on a regularly changing basis (such as with Victoria). Or we have confusion over who is married to whom, allowing sex between multiple parties at will (as between Victor and Nikki and Diane). Now on the show we're gearing up for Victor to think Nikki has been unfaithful with Brad and for Victor to get the wrong idea, and probably for Nikki to think Victor has been unfaithful, too.

A And Nick didn't have sex with Grace, he just--oh, right, well, he did, but he just "made a mistake" (literally) the first time and he "made a really bad mistake" the second time. Hmm. I guess there's some exception to the rule when there are immediate and direct and visible consequences to mistakes, as there were in the second case. The real rule must not be "no sex" but "no fun having sex". Bleah. A weird premise given how "enticing" the commercials all are. Advertisement draws in viewers with promises of steam, and then the show doesn't really deliver. I find that an odd mix.

Some of this story writing is clever--I don't mean to put it all down. But once you catch onto the game, some of it gets a little tiring. Will Rafael have no sex or will he start marrying people right and left or will people just be "confused" when they have sex with him? Ah, the suspense...

I was downright shocked recently to see Nina apparently sleeping with the soccer coach in violation of this pattern. Don't know what happened there, but it was refreshing. People do have sex and enjoy it in the real world, and it's nice to see some admission of that fact. Although I'd rather they not do it with a child involved--I think that's mostly confusing to poor young Phillip and may write more about that issue in another episode. Also, a scene with one of these lovebirds having to run out for condoms in the middle of the night would have been good, though, in order to emphasize the safe-sex need in situations like that. Alas! A missed opportunity for a Public Service Ad (PSA).

Who will crowd out whom at a company board meeting?

The fact that Ashley gave up her shares to get the painting but is still being treated as a big deal player is weighing on me. I'm waiting to see that little detail resolved. This plotline was just an attempt to underscore the dangling threads in that issue.

By the way, does anyone understand why "Raphael" spells his name in the credits with the American spelling--"ph" instead of "f"? I'm a conscientious objector on this one; the "ph" spelling doesn't seem very Spanish to me. So I'm going with the "Rafael" spelling. (And on a related note: some readers have asked also why I spell Ryan's wife's name as "Trisha" instead of "Tricia" as it appears in the show's credits. That's mostly to keep from confusing myself about her vs. Tricia Cast, the actress who plays Nina. I try to consistently use the "Tricia" spelling for Ms. Cast, and the "Trisha" spelling for the character of Ryan's wife. It's feeble, I know, but it helps keep my simple brain happier. I figure the spelling of the name of a person on the show is less consequential than the spelling of a real life person's name.)

As the crowd looks on worriedly, can the company of family save Cassie?

I'm really bugged by the overplaying of the importance of some of these little detail issues in who's living with whom and who's sleeping where. It's plain that Cassie is better off with Sharon/Nick and that should be easily demonstrable by simply determining that she is healthy, happy, and settled. If there is an issue here, it's whether she was kidnapped in order to get into this state, and it's pretty clear that no one is advancing evidence that she was. Alice doesn't dispute that she went away for a long time, and Cassie confirms the claim that Millie voluntarily gave Cassie up. That should be the end of the story. It's frustrating to watch it play out not just because Cassie's life hangs in the balance and we all want the best for her, but also because it feels like the focus is on the wrong legal elements. I don't know--maybe that's the way the courts really work, but if so, it's not a good way to be. So I decided to do something to even the score. Hope you enjoyed the turnabout.

That's all for Episode 126's morals. Don't miss Episode 127 and its morals!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.