Episode 67 Morals

In plain English, these are the morals from Episode 67:

Will Nina receive the homecoming she expects?

I could go on and on about the things that were behind this part of the episode.

Having Trisha stay at Ryan's house while he was away was about the stupidest and most unmotivated thing I've seen a character do in a long time. It was just asking for trouble and so I had to return to it and try some different trouble.

As to the business with Nina and the gun, I'm torn: It was some of the best acting Nina's had a chance to do in a while, mostly because she's been given such terrible plotlines for so long. And yet, now we're going to have to suffer along with one of those interminable hospital recoveries. I couldn't bear that for my story, so I had her killed outright. A that point, I'd forgotten about Kurt. Later, I realized he hadn't checked in for a while, so I saw an opportunity for not only a quick-and-clean death. And (voila'), it finally leaves Nina out of the deadly circle she's been dancing with Ryan of late. (I'll come back to that.)

Finally, I wanted a chance to rant here in the Morals about all the hostility the show levels toward people who've gained a few pounds. It really, really annoys me. Nina is a beautiful person and if she was going through a depression, we didn't even see it because so much side-tracking was done by people about her weight. Then suddenly, she shows up and we're supposed to realize this is a serious depression. It's just incomprehensible. There was some wonderful dialog between Trisha and Nina--it was wonderful to have even a day of Nina showing some spine. But it's dialog that could have been written even in the absence of the gun. And now we have to worry about whether she's paralyzed. Ha! Like we haven't seen her with a dysfunctional spine before.

If Cassie goes to Kansas, will she come back?

I'm soooo tired of the whole deception Cassie is embroiled in. I don't even care any more about the fact that Grace is not her mother. I don't care if she gets back with Sharon and Nick any more. All of these characters, including Tony, just seem stupider and stupider by the day, and so it hardly matters to me which stupid person is housing Cassie. So I retreat into an AWO world where Cassie is independent and able to travel on her own, just so I can get a moment's relief.

To what lengths will Dru go to save her marriage?

The whole business with Neil and wanting another kid has gone on too long. I was so happy to hear Sid's refreshing suggestion of just telling Neil the truth. Anything to end the misery. But since they're already doing that one on the show, I thought I'd offer `another way out' just so we'd be sure of having at least something that works. Because I'm bored with this plot, too.

Comings and Goings

Frankly, I'm bored with all the plots at this point. And it probably reflects itself in the weak humor I was able to muster in this episode, which seems aimless and purposeless. It's a very weak foundation I have to work on because there is no underlying plot I really like, and so I am having a hard time right now getting into repairing or kidding about a bunch of plots that are really badly broken. For me, Y&R has recently reached a new low. What is needed isn't casual poking of fun at existing plots to needle them onto track--what is needed is some all new plots.

Originally, I had intended that AWO would be a platform for exploring alternate plots, but even then I had figured it would be something like when Joshua appeared on the scene and I would figure out things that could be done with him. But we seem to have taken most of the plots with good options and dumped them into the gutter, so that there isn't even hope unless they do some serious redirection.

Victor marrying Diane is completely stupid. It was not a natural act for Victor and has left Victor, Diane, and Jack with nothing motivated that can be done to repair things because there is no way to reasonably explain how they got there.
Joshua and Veronica are a completely dull pair. This plot has been dragged out so long that there isn't a possible outcome that hasn't been discussed to death in the interim. Plus, we have been given no reason to care about Joshua, who's just a blah guy--and we have every reason to assume that no harm can ever come to Nikki. So any drama around Veronica menacing either of these will be ho hum.
Dru, Neil, Olivia, and Malcolm have melted down into a boring mass of sludge. It will require something major to break this logjam, especially given the stubborn unwillingness of the show to entertain an interracial plotline. I did my best here to teasingly suggest a split but we need some really serious motion.
Katherine and John are almost forgotten characters to modern viewers. They haven't had personality in so long that it would be almost meaningless to give them any now.
The Dennisons are being wasted. Megan is becoming a Joani. Always present, never used. Keith is a virtual carbon copy of what John used to be--perhaps that was always the intent. He needs a new personality with some real serious vices. I suggest racism or something like that. I got excited when he tried to have Ryan fired, but he stopped short. He needs to follow in his daughter's tracks and take more matters into his own hands. Done right, he could become another old-Phyllis-like comedic character, with quirky attitudes and taking bizarre risks. But instead, he's just a cardboard stereotype of an old-fogie dad unable to make it in the modern world. Trisha is a good actress even if I detest her character. But the character is given little opportunity other than to sit and whine. At this rate, she'll be Nikki before her time.
I'm glad Heather Tom is back--I hope she doesn't regret it. I hope they give her something new to do and don't just reprise her previous ruts. If there is a still-lit ember of hope for Y&R right now, this is it. Don't let it go out...
The Ashley/Cole thing is totally unmotivated. Cole spends his time lecturing everyone else about what it takes to make a relationship work, then he throws everything in the garbage first chance he gets. We saw no work on foundation of him growing apart from Vikki. This stuff with Victoria is just being written on the fly--I'm watching more to "find out what Victoria's position is" than to see the effect of her position play out. Traditionally, Y&R has had strong characters whose actions were nearly pre-determined and it was like watching fate play out. Lately, the characters change with the wind direction, and there's no way to guess what a character will do next. This doesn't lead to an "exciting, spontaneous result", it leads to an "unbelievable mish-mash of marginal mush".
Tony's reason for caring about Grace has never been made clear--there is nothing attractive about Grace at all. Tony's source of income (the garage) could hardly pay for the things we see him do--unless maybe he repairs something very lucrative. The space shuttle? Nick is stupid. Sharon is clueless and boring. Grace is weird but not interesting. Why should we care who wins or loses in this set? The writing has completely destroyed my interest in these characters.
Michael and Phyllis. Here are two characters who had something going for them. But the new Phyllis cannot do romance. She was doing ok on intrigue, but this romance between her and Baldwin is unbelievable and makes me bored and nauseated. It destroys both her character and Michael's. Personally, I think Michael got through prison by replacing his hate for Cricket with love, and right now I think Cricket is the only one he can love. I find his attraction to anyone else unmotivated. I find his willingness to be dragged down by Phyllis unbelievable. These two, both of whom so recently offered hope for the show, are now in a deadly embrace that's killing the show.
Even Cassie, when she recently said to Grace the completely unbelievable "will you be my mommy?" and "don't let anyone take you from me" lines, was suddenly sold out from the underlying intelligence she had previously shown. Formerly, perhaps by accident, she had always seemed to see past the games of the adults and to secretly know where her place was. Now even she doesn't, which will mean more stupid antics keeping her from reaching her rightful home. Well, you know what? If she doesn't care then neither do I. So now she is home and there's no more drama even there. She's just a poor kid who had some unlucky breaks, same as always. And anyway, I like Nick and Sharon so much less of late that I can't even say for sure that she's any worse off in one place than another. All of her choices seem bad nowadays.

I could go on and on. Most of this is not criticism of the many talented actors on the show. Most of this is just criticism of the horrible way in which bad writing has been allowed to make me so uninterested in so many people.

I have always called myself a fan of the show and said that I felt it was only a bit off-track but was possible to get back on track. But of late, I'm losing hope that things are even possible to repair. Somebody tell me I'm being too grim about this, or missing some reason to be hopeful--please!

That's all for Episode 67's morals. Don't miss Episode 68 and its morals!
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