Disney/Christine Bartolucci
Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Ric (Rick Hearst) convinced Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) to do "the right thing" on General Hospital .
How do you stir the pot on a soap opera? With lots of baddies who rarely pay for their crimes.
GH’s Sonny has always been a violent thug — running drugs and guns through PC, hanging AJ from a meat hook, shooting a cop who turned out to be his son — but he loves his family and has a soft spot for the women in his life. FBI agent Cates’s vendetta against Sonny extended to his daughter Kristina, and that prompted Sonny to kill Cates in cold blood at the Quartermaine boathouse.
Enter Diane to plead Sonny’s case with police commissioner Anna.
Diane: “Sonny has no animosity towards John Cates.”
Sonny: “I hated Jagger Cates and I’m glad he’s dead.”
That’s what’s great about Sonny: He doesn’t give a damn. He has such confidence in Jason disappearing the gun, Carly giving him an alibi, Diane getting him exonerated, etc. that he will taunt Anna with the truth. Killing a federal agent seems like a tough crime to get out of, but that’s why Diane makes the big bucks.
Sonny’s half-brother Ric has a similar rap sheet (kidnapping, blackmailing, assault), so why was he so hell bent on turning in the mother of his child when he and Elizabeth saw Alexis tossing a gun off a bridge?
Liz: “Everything is not black and white. I’m pretty sure you know that.”
Ric: “I’ve waded into some areas of gray… ”
Liz: “Alexis would never kill anyone so I can’t swear she was destroying evidence.”
Ric: “Agree to disagree.”
Ric’s argument that he’s an officer of the court and it’s his obligation to report it prompted a swift “Give me a break” from Elizabeth, but they went to the PCPD to give statements anyway. Afterwards, Ric let it “slip” to Chase that Alexis would do anything for her daughters and has killed before. Pot, meet kettle.
The irony here is that slimy Ric did the right thing while upstanding Alexis did the wrong thing (by getting rid of the gun Kristina stole from Sonny). That’s going to cost Alexis as the cops close in on her for Cates’s murder which we know Sonny actually committed. Will Sonny let his ex go to jail? How big a villain is he?
Holly is a villain for money. She ran into Lucky being held hostage in Africa (small world!) and refused to help him escape because it might interfere with the bad guy she was trying to scam.
Lucky: “Dad always said you’re the best con artist he ever knew. This must be a pretty good score.”
Holly: “Yes. It would be a pity if you blew my cover. I’ll cut you in.”
Lucky: “A fortune in diamonds isn’t much good to me if I’m dead.”
Fair point. Holly’s greed won’t be as entertaining if Lucky doesn’t make it home.
What can we say about Billy’s greed on Y&R? He’s burning every bridge for power and money in Genoa City by feuding with Jack, fighting with Victor, firing Lily, and dismissing Chance after he pleaded Lily’s case.
Chance: “Loyalty is not about being a ‘yes’ man.”
That kid is growing on me. Chance arguing that he doesn’t want to be collateral damage like Nate, Devon, and Lily should have been a red flag to Billy about how many people he’s lost during his tenure at Chancellor. But, no.
Jack: “How many times do you have to fail to start taking life seriously?”
Billy: “Get out.”
Jack’s refusal to give up on his brother is very “John Abbott” but he cuts Billy too much slack. He told Lily he was hoping Billy would “outgrow his brashness” but Billy’s pushing 50, so good luck with growing. You can’t say that immature jerk doesn’t drive story, though, so carry on.
Billy’s petulant nephew, Kyle, is following in his footsteps. He’s allowed to be angry that his mother fired him, but when Jack finally apologized it wasn’t enough.
Kyle: “Mom fired me, you signed off.”
Jack: “And behind our backs you took over a rival company. You are not acknowledging your role.”
Kyle (sarcastic) : “Thanks for the apology.”
Claire wants to heal Kyle. Sure, let the girl who tried to murder the entire Newman family help you kumbaya with your parents…
Add Adam and Phyllis to this list and you’ve got a cornucopia of pot stirrers.
Phyllis (spying on Adam and Sally) : “What do you think they’re saying?”
Nick (eye rolling) : “You haven’t mastered lip reading yet?”
Phyllis: “Not yet.”
When it comes to baddies who never pay for their crimes, look no further than DAYS’s Kristen DiMera. Blackmailing, kidnapping, drugging, robbing, baby stealing… you name it, she’s done it and/or locked it in the DiMera secret room. Her Achilles heel is her daughter, Rachel, and the smidgen of love she still has for Brady — which prompts her to do things like hide the car she suspected he hit Sarah with while driving drunk.
I’m less sold on Fiona who came to Salem to 1) score Kiriakis money and 2) ruin her son Xander’s life. Fiona is the one who hit Sarah and then framed Brady for it, so it makes no sense that she now wanders around the mansion talking to herself about how to hide her crime. Her latest brainstorm was to kill her own daughter-in-law.
Fiona (placing a pillow on Sarah’s face) : “If Sarah remembers I was the one driving the car that hit her it will all be over. I can’t let that happen.”
Xander came in with an idea to hypnotize Sarah, which conveniently stopped his mum from killing his wife. Xander is a great example of a baddie who was sort of redeemed by the love of a good woman, but he can snap at any point (like when he choked Brady). Soaps need those. He’s also a bit of a scammer (!) so it’s hard to believe he doesn’t see how rotten his mother is.
Speaking of Salemites who talk out loud to inanimate objects about their crimes , there was the Fake Abigail (who’s pretending to have amnesia) chatting away with Stefano’s portrait.
Fake Abigail: “I’m lying to your son about being his dead wife. I don’t like pretending to be someone I’m not.”
Patch (entering) : “Abigail?”
Fake Abigail: “And you are?”
Patch: “Steve Johnson. I’m your uncle. I couldn’t help overhear…”
Make it stop. Good villains are smart and smart people don’t confess their crimes in loud voices with people around. It’s not believable — right, Stefano?
Sheila Carter used to talk to herself, too, but now she’s pouring water at Il Giardino, so B&B had to bring in another lunatic: Poppy’s murderous daughter.
Bill: “Luna set you up by planting evidence. There’s more. She kissed me. Twice.”
Poppy (to Luna) : “You kissed Bill?”
Yes, get upset about your daughter kissing your boyfriend, not that she framed you for murder. Credit Finn with following the clues (to the apartment where Luna had locked up his wife) after being tipped off by her behavior.
Finn: “Luna acted strangely, like she was the lady of the manor.”
Steffy: “Now she’s the lady of Cell Block C.”
Ah, the end game of the villain when a soap finally makes them pay: prison!
Hey. It’s only my opinion.
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