Episode 50 Morals

In plain English, these are the morals from Episode 50:

Will a new breed of neighbors dash Kurt's hope for a poor folks' clinic?

This scene is just a little on the silly side, but so is everything about the Hope and Kurt situation so I didn't even know where to begin.

Lately, Hope is a kind of superwoman who is not only the equal of a sighted person, but somehow their superior. I'm all for empowering blind people through technology, through common courtesy, through special training, etc. But it's not fair to them to simply suggest that being absent a sight is a form of empowerment. Hope has always gotten along well in her own element, but required special training even to deal with Victor's kitchen appliances. She could do great in an office, but a computer that did scanning and speaking aloud would help a lot.

Kurt's idea of doing everything for free for the poor community without an organized plan for how he is going to fund his place is equally silly. He knows lots of rich people who could help, but he's not engaged in soliciting funds from them. His office may be quaint, but does it even pass health code standards? As noted by D.M. Stillwood on the newsgroup, Kurt treats children without even bothering to try to obtain permission from an adult. Perhaps that's just his way of saying that rules aren't all that important when dealing with the stereotypical underclass. There's a complete disconnect here between reality and Kurt's fantasy clinic.

Will generational differences breed only contempt between Megan and Jill?

I'm tired of the `age difference' sparring between Ryan and Trisha. If we want to talk about gaps in age that get in the way, how about the one between the writers and their typical audience? When I saw some scene a couple of weeks ago about an encyclopedia at the Dennison household, I wanted to make a point about new technology and how poorly Y&R is tracking how technology affects people's lives--especially people with above-average incomes who can afford to track that technology.

Also, of course, this is a continuation of an ongoing thread about which I have said I will defer further commentary until the end.

Will the unholy union of Michael and Phyllis lead to a new breed of villain?

I was trying to think of how to enable Michael to work his way into Phyllis's life and how to build a wall against Chris. This plotline, if played out in the way it would normally be done on the show, would run for months. I had to rearrange it completely (into a hypothetical) in order to fit it into a single episode. It loses a bit of the drama that way, but it's more modular for my purposes.

Also, I thought there should be more sizzle in the dialog between Phyllis and Michael than I've seen to date, so part of this was just about having them get to talking more interestingly. I'm not sure I totally succeeded, but it was fun trying.

That's all for Episode 50's morals. Don't miss Episode 51 and its morals!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.