Episode 57 Morals

In plain English, these are the morals from Episode 57:

Will Cricket's stringent stranglehold on Michael finally be unstrung?

In this story, I'm staking claim to the prediction that Michael Baldwin's reformation won't be complete until he's been made a saint, the equal of Saint Christine. Already, we've conveniently forgotten that Michael wasn't in prison simply for sexual harassment but rather for attempted rape. I see this as an attempt to soften people's dislike for him. Next, I see a gradual path toward complete reformation culminating in at least a fantasy sexual escapade (if not a fully realized one) between Christine and Michael.

I'm of mixed minds about whether this is good theatre. On one hand, I think showing how complete opposites attract and how someone one has once hated can come to be loved is potentially full of sizzle. On the other hand, I think the transition has to be done in a real, believable way so that the audience can relate to it. It's not enough to simply set up the situation, since really the whole purpose of doing it is to teach one about life and life is not made up of a jumble of misremembered events where someone confuses rape with sexual harassment, etc. If it's done with real character progression, I think it could be good. I tried to set up a plausible situation in this story where Michael could put his trust in Christine and Christine could be forced to confront her unwillingness to see Michael unfairly treated, however much she might hate him. That, I think, is the kind of thing that happens in real life, or that people wish could happen, and certainly is within the realm of believability. Let's avoid the part (also in this story) about changing history in the deus ex machina style we changed Cole/Nina.

When Victoria gets wind of Cole's new project, will he be strung out to dry?

Well, it's pretty darned clear that Cole is set up to have an affair with Ashley. And though he started off pretty innocent in the wife-swappers affair (Cole/Victoria/Ryan/Nina), we're told by retroactive decree that he wasn't innocent there. So why is he a good choice to be advising Nina? I don't think he is, and I wanted to see Nina notice it at least once.

Is Ryan serious about reconciling or is he just stringing Nina along?

This whole reconciliation thing seems to put the burden on Nina. I don't see it. She's done nothing wrong--well, ok, there was the one retroactive thing with Cole, but we don't know anything about how that happened and it certainly didn't happen until there'd been lots of provocation. It's time Nina stood up for herself and just let Ryan make his decision instead of behaving like a--well, ok, like a marionette--subject to the whims of others.

What long-lost dog returns to Genoa City to pluck at our heartstrings?

Many folks on the newsgroup have united around Bartram116's claim that Bingo is now the `moral center' of Y&R, being the only living soul who has remained true to his own personality and not been subjected to the whims of recent contrived story devices that have forced characters all over the show to go in directions that don't suit their characters. Based on all this discussion about the long-forgotten Bingo, I felt it was time that Bingo made a repeat appearance.

Will Keith have Jill strung up when he learns the secret she's kept from him?

Jill is another one I'm amazed to see giving advice to Nina about her love life. First of all, Jill herself has gone after Ryan trying to tear him from his relationship at home, so I doubt her sincerity. But also, she's really bad at knowing how to manage her personal affairs and is nearly always in some kind of mess. I had to do something here.

Is Cricket serious about helping Nina or just pulling her strings?

I'm really, really tired of seeing Cricket and Nina referred to as best friends. They hardly ever talk and when they do Cricket is awful to Nina. Men sometimes stay best friends under such circumstances, and maybe the problem here is male writers, but this is not how women socialize. (Author Deborah Tannen, who has studied such matters in detail, is an excellent and entertaining reference on the matter in her books You Just Don't Understand and That's Not What I Meant.) Even though one may reasonably doubt Grace's loyalty to Sharon these days, Grace and Sharon are better examples of "best friends" for women in that they talk almost daily and wonder if they are still best friends when they have not done so. Anyway, I just wanted Nina for once to open her eyes to the bad way Cricket treats her.

That's all for Episode 57's morals. Don't miss Episode 58 and its morals!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.