Okay - this is my plea to TPTB and James. E. Reilly and anyone else even remotely connected to DOOL: Please, please, PLEASE do not go there with Austin, Sami and Carrie again. NOBODY wants to see a re-hash of the same story involving Austin wanting Carrie and Sami vowing to prevent it from happening. NO ONE wants to see Sami hatching some stupid plot to get Austin again; especially not if it involves her getting pregnant with Austin's child. NO ONE wants to see Carrie be a victim of Sami's manipulations again. NO ONE wants to see Lucas get involved in the fray again either! Good lord! Do the people that steer the ship over at Days ever have an original idea? Lucas loves Sami and she loves him! THAT is what we all want to see. Lucas and Sami belong together and they should be focusing on finding a way back to each other. It's stupid and insulting to the viewers to simply drop the storyline of Sami and Lucas as a couple. We have invested too much time in watching them overcome their differences to be together and we want them together! Not Sami with Austin and Lucas with Carrie. Sheesh! I just can't figure out what the TPTB are thinking. Any other story involving the quartet - or quintet if you include Nicole - would be better. I would rather see an Austin/Carrie/Nicole triangle. That would be much more interesting to me. I wouldn't even mind the storyline so much if it were being written so that Sami was only going after Austin as a way to make Lucas jealous. It's still immature and juvenile, but at least it would be more believable than having Sami get over her love for Lucas like it was yesterday's news and hatch a stupid plot to get pregnant with Austin's child. I know that the majority of you feel as I do - the feedback that I've received confirms that. I really hope that this is simply a temporary set back on the road to a Lumi reconciliation. And by temporary, I mean a few weeks tops. If it drags on to long, and gawd forbid Sami does get pregnant; I'll be hitting the FF button. I find it sad that a month ago, this storyline was the reason I was tuning in every day and now it might be the reason why I tune out. I hope I'm wrong...
You know...if Sami were a real person, I'd tell her that Austin brings out the worst in her. I'd tell her that whenever she is around him; she becomes insecure, immature and totally phony. She starts thinking in terms of plots and manipulations and control. Having Austin in Sami's life turns her in to a shrew; one who spits out angry words, says mean things all the time and lies with the drop of a hat. If Sami were a real person, I'd tell her that Lucas is the only man for her. I'd tell her that Lucas is the one that brings out the best in her; her tenderness, her vulnerability and her sweetness. I'd tell her that Lucas is the one who makes her feel safe and loved and accepted as she is. That; when she's with him, she makes an effort to be a better person and make him proud. I'd counsel her that her relationship with Lucas is a rare one, and one worth fighting for. I'd tell her that it doesn't come around that often and when it does; you need to hang on and not let go. I'd tell her to forget her silly school-girl obsession with Austin and concentrate on what's right in front of her. I'd tell her that in my eyes, being with Lucas is equivalent to stepping forward whereas with Austin, she only regresses. I'd tell her to look in to her heart and let go of her hard feelings against her sister. Sigh...I'd tell her so many things. BUT, she is not a real person; she is merely a great character who is at the constant mercy of an uninspired writer. And unfortunately, no amount of reasoning is going to get Sami on the right track. Her behavior of late has proven that. Once again, she's back to plots and lies and harshness. I've probably invested too much time in thinking about this character, but that's how it goes when you've devoted yourself to a show for 20-odd years. Right? I'm also pretty sure that Alison Sweeney is the underlying reason why I love Samantha Gene Brady so much, and also why I will try to hang on through this turkey of a story despite my serious misgivings.
We're going to have a little history lesson today :-) I've received a lot of mail from people who don't know the history between Carrie and Sami so - in a nutshell - here goes; Sami has carried around a grudge against Carrie for many years because she blames her for a rape she endured when she was a teenager. When the character of Sami was rapid-aged and re-introduced to Days, her relationship with Carrie was not ideal, but it wasn't bad either. Carrie sincerely cared about her sister and though Sami was always envious of her sister she didn't hate her. No...Sami's desire to ruin Carrie's life was brought on by her rape - in a round-about way. If memory serves, there was a guy named Alan who had a crush on Carrie but his crush fell on the side of the 'crazy-stalker' type of crush. In an attempt to get closer to Carrie, Alan befriended Sami and acted like he was interested in her. He asked her out on a date and that night, he forced himself on her. There proceeded a long story where Carrie, Lucas and Austin embarked on a scheme to get Alan to admit what he'd done. Somehow, in the process of investigating him, they stumbled upon pictures and a shrine of Carrie and thus discovered his obsession. It was a creepy story. Anyway, when Sami found out, she came to the conclusion that it was Carrie's fault that she had been raped and she vowed to destroy Carrie's life with Austin as revenge. At the time, her reasoning seemed plausible because Sami was so messed up. She felt that Carrie was so much more beautiful and "perfect" than she herself was. (Sami was obsessed with Carrie being 'perfect' in those days). That was the point when Sami took on the "bad girl" role that she has occupied for the past 10 years and by the look of it, won't be growing out of any time soon. So there you have it!
The writing for the storyline involving Claire is driving me crazy. First, we saw that Kate figured out in two seconds that Philip could not be Claire's daughter because they have incompatible blood types. However, when Claire needs a blood transfusion (I've never heard of needing a transfusion simply to fight off an infection) Lexie failed to mention a single word about Phil's mismatched blood type, instead she simply said that they couldn't use his blood because of the drugs he is taking for his leg. Then, we saw that Belle was a match and therefore her blood could be used; regardless of the fact that she is taking drugs for her postpartum depression. SIGH.... Lexie then goes on to casually mention that Shawn is also a match and adds that it's not unusual. HUH? It hurts my brain to try to follow the convoluted twists and turns of the ridiculous writing sometimes. Let's just sum it up by saying... who cares ... not I! And they can dangle the "Kate-finally-gets-caught" carrot all they want, I'm not falling it. You know darn well that this business with the security guard catching Kate in the act of altering Claire's records will amount to nothing. My guess is that Victor is the person that the security guard has returned with. Who knows why...does he own the hospital?...I can't remember...Anyhow - Kate will snake out of it; you know she will. Will Victor go along with it? That's the question. I hope not but something tells me that he will buy in to Kate's ridiculousness about needing to protect Philip.
Sadly enough, I hit the FF button through Jennifer's scenes this week. I just couldn't be bothered to watch it all again. I knew that Bo and Hope and everyone else would just be trying to convince Jennifer that Jack really was dead this time and eventually; she would cave in and "accept" his death. Who knows where Jack really is; but I highly doubt that he's standing right outside the house [as the cliffhanger would have us believe]. I'm sure that it's probably something dumb; like Jennifer had a vision of Jack telling her that he's not dead - or something to that effect. I've had some email from people asking if Jack will be back by the holidays. My answer is that I hope so, but I'm sure TPTB would not have invested so much time in concocting the story of Jack's disease and Frankie's reappearance in Salem if they didn't plan on dragging it out for a while. Somehow I think that Frankie will be the one to carve the Christmas turkey this year.
Reader Feedback: Thanks to everyone who wrote in! I love reading your comments and feedback about the show and this column; so keep them coming!
From Shawna:"At first I wanted Belle and Shawn to get back together. But after seeing Mimi and Shawn together, I can honestly say that I hope that even after finding out that he's Claire's father, Shawn will still choose Mim's. They have shared a lot of loss together and it's brought them closer. They never hid the fact that they were still struggling over their lost loves, and yet they could accept the hurt and move on together. An interesting turn of events would be that Mimi miraciously got pregnant with Shawn's baby. I know Belle has always been the star of the show and Mimi in shadows, but I'm really liking Mimi a lot more than Belle at the present time. She has recognized her mistakes, asked for forgiveness and is trying to move on with her life. Belle really seems unstable right now (obviously because of her depression) and can't get her focus off of herself. She needs to grow up and face her choices. Besides, Philip's a good guy, and doesn't deserve to be hurt. I'm sure my desire to have Mimi and Shawn together is in the minority, but I will still cast my vote and say they're like white on rice; they belong together! Sami, Sami, Sami. Are you ever going to grow up?! What happened to that mighty love you shared with Lucas? How could it just go away like a vapor mist? I've never seen her give up that easy on anything. I guess she's losing her edge."
From Judi:"I have always hated Sami and I didn't want Lucas to marry her so I really got sick of all the comments of poor Sami needs to finally have some happiness, she is just misunderstood. No she is just really rotten and what is she doing now? Austin is the only friend she has so naturally when he gives her an opportunity she sabotages his company just to make Nicole look bad. Carrie has never done anything to hurt Sami - all of the bad blood was on Sami's side and she was just evil. So if Sami "still loves Lucas" why doesn't she spend more than a month grieving him leaving her and support Austin getting together with Carrie again. It would keep him away from Nic. There is not one redeeming quality in Sami and she is proving it over and over.."
From Ryan:"so now we've got a few storylines opening but with JER head writer there's no doubt he'll draw it out like he did with the stupid Island and the Georgia thing and whatever other storyline im forgetting, anyway he'll draw out Clair's parentage, Shimi, Austin/Nicole/Sami/Lucas/Carrie storylines out so long that soon people wont care about Clair, they wont care what happens to Shimi and could care less about who ends up with who in the like love hexagon or whatever shape that many people make! just like we didn't care if the islanders every made it home or if Billie and Bo ever found their daughter, and I myself am NOT looking forward to turning on Day's again, it just started to pick up and im scared it's falling right back down into the hole in which it finally struggled to pull itself out of this past year...what do we get 1 good year for every 3-4 years of bad writing? The thought of replacing DOOL with another soap has once again entered my mind..."
From Jamison Rountree:"First of all, I KNEW Belle's baby was Shawn's, not Philip's. And I KNEW Kate would be the one to find out. And I KNEW she'd realize that she'd have to think of a way to keep everyone from finding out. I give this storyline one year to play out. Two, tops. I am over the moon that Carrie's back on the show! I started watching the show years after she left, so I was excited about seeing her for the first time. Now, at first, I was apprehensive over the fact that they said in Soap Opera Digest that their plan was to reunite Austin and Carrie, because I really wanted them to try an Austin/Nicole pairing. But eventually, I said, "All right." I never got to see them as a couple, so this should be interesting. But I am NOT looking forward to Carrie and Sami fighting over Austin, especially since NBC said that's what will be happening. I thought they were said to have made up before Carrie left the last time! Next, I'm glad to see Patrick back on-screen! And like I thought, he and Billie are a couple now, and that makes me even happier! Lastly, while Jack and Jennifer's storyline is a snooze, I give Melissa props for her powerful acting in the recent episodes."
From Annmarie:"OK, how long are they going to drag out the "Jack is dead" storyline. We already went through this twice and personally, I can't deal with it again! We all know he's not dead, just like we all knew it the last two times. It's getting worn. We also knew for the longest time that Shawn is the baby's father. So let's not drag this one out for months. And how the heck did Kate know Shawn's blood type and realize that the baby was his? I've never seen so many medical files lying out in the open like they do on Day's! The medical personnel should be fired!"
From Shel:"Please tell me that Sami is not going to seduce Austin again. That is so old. Have they forgotten about Lucas and Sami's love story? You see the way that Lucas talks to Sami, the woman he was in love with. It is disrespectable. Also Sami saying she should get pregnant with Austin's child to keep him for good. That better not be a prediction for things to come. Let Carrie and Nicole duke it out for Austin and find a way to put Sami and Lucas together. Maybe they could go on some sort of adventure and find their way back to each other. Mimi and Shawn seem to fast and forced perhaps so we will see the true love potential in Bell and Shawn. I like Mimi and Shawn but tone it down. Also Philip is driving me crazy. He is to strange hugging his wife's ex-boyfriend. Who does that? Give that boy a personality good or bad."
From Wendy:"I absolutely despise Kate!! Her so called comeuppance (sp) was L A M E!!! she was found out...and nothing...no big deal was made, just a slap on the wrist...now here she is interfering with her kids lives again...and what in 10 years she will be found out?? Just makes me ill. Sami loses everything dear to her Lucas and will. but Kate has john standing up for her, no real punishment for her...I now just FFW on the Tivo through most scenes especially with her."
From Chavonn:"Goodness, could the show be anymore predictable? Of course Kate had to find the results lying around? And, how could she tell just by looking in the folder? It would have been more believable and sincere, I guess, if they had done blood tests for a transfusion FIRST then figured out that Philip was not a match up. THEN, Kate, would wonder why and go snooping around then find out what was going on. It would have been better that way. I am very tired of Philip and belle. they never have any real conversations together unless its about Shawn and Mimi. I've noticed that the new belle is weak and pathetic. I've also noticed that when an actor is replaced, they make the character less likeable than the old one. Like on y &r, the new Victoria is weak, also, the new Mackenzie, and now the new belle. All undesirable and hard to watch. But, that's just my opinion."
From Tracy:"Regarding the Shimi love scene. I agree with Steve Wyman in saying it was one of the most romantic I've seen in a long time. It was NOT soft porn. It was no worse than Chloe and Brady's first time, or the night of Shawn and Belle in Hartley House. It was wonderful. Those who are comparing it to soft porn are the same ones making fun of their actual TALKING out their feelings rather than hiding things from each other. From what I've seen on the net, most found Shimi's first time very hot and very romantic and real. The rest are resentful that the show is going ahead with Shimi rather than having Shawn pine away for Belle into she's good and ready. That's all it is. You missed a wonderful scene and that's too bad. As for Kate, I think it's silly and stupid. Lauren is such a good actress and deserves a lot better than constant meddling. I'd rather see her go back with Victor than the crap they have her in now."
As everyone knows, former Two Scoops columnist, Sari, has decided to retire from her commentary duties. In the quest to find a replacement for her, the site is going to ask for YOUR help and input to help determine who will share writing duties with me. If you think that you have what it takes to become a Two Scoops columnist, we'd like to hear from you. Please send over a sample column along with a brief introduction message telling us about you and why you'd like to be a columnist. You can send your submissions to Dan at dan@soapcentral.com
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