There is no question that I like to watch soaps with a lot of drama, otherwise they become boring and stale. However, there also needs to be a certain amount of time devoted to building up story lines or the drama becomes pointless and unbelievable. If soap writers are not careful the drama can end up driving the plot instead of the other way around. Lately Young and the Restless has been filled with this type of drama, especially since the show killed off Don Diamont's character Brad Carlton. One would think that when a show as popular as Y&R kills off such a long-running character there would be a significant lead-up to their demise and the impact of their departure would be felt by many of the shows other characters. This never really seemed to materialize at any point on the show. Brad was instead killed in a tragic accident when he fell through a frozen pond trying to save Noah's life. His death should have had a significant impact on Noah considering the fact that he was not supposed to be there in the first place, something that was apparently lost on Noah. Then again he has had a lot to deal with lately considering the state that his parents have been in.
At first Sharon seemed to be deeply affected by Brad's death because she had sent him away shortly before his tragic accident. However many things were affecting Sharon at this point so it was difficult to tell exactly how much of an impact Brad's death actually had on her, as she began unconsciously stealing random objects. This was supposed to have been both a direct result of Brad's death and the fact that she was in love with Nick, who still could not decide between her and Phyllis. At this point the writers seemed to be saying that Sharon had kleptomania, however this affliction began disappearing once she started sleeping with Nick, Jack, and Billy, behavior that resulted in pregnancy. Like most of the drama on Y&R right now, Sharon's brief affair with Billy came out of nowhere. It made absolutely no sense that Sharon and Billy would sleep together. Of course, it made about as much sense as the fact that Nick all of a sudden fell back in love with Sharon. I must have missed something along the way because I really do not know where that came from. For months Phyllis accused Nick of harboring secret feelings for Sharon, accusations Nick denied and never outwardly expressed to any degree, until they shared a kiss in Paris. Like Brad's death there was not enough lead-up to this kiss or the feelings that were supposedly attached to them. Nick should have been visibly struggling with his feelings for Sharon for a while before he ever acted on them. At that point choosing Sharon over Phyllis should have been an easy decision. I have lost count of how many times Nick has gone to Sharon to declare his undying love for her, only to decide to stay with Phyllis.
Aside from all of the drama surrounding Nick and Sharon, Nick's half-brother Adam has been creating some needless drama all on his own. At first I thought the Adam storyline was going to get interesting after his arrest and apparent blindness. I found this to be an intriguing twist to Adam's story and a possible way of redeeming his character and reuniting him with Heather. After all, her relationship with Adam is the only thing that makes her seem human. To say the least I am disappointed to see the direction this character has been taken. I had hoped that at some point we would get to see his relationship with Victor, Nikki, Victoria, and Nick evolve, but instead Adam has become another faceless villain. There seems to be almost no method to his madness, and herein lies the problem. In order for soap villains to be redeemable something has to have happened to them at some point in their lives to make them villains, something that can evoke sympathy from the viewers. The problem with Adam's character is that we know what his upbringing was like because we were introduced to both Cliff and Hope years ago. We saw how he interacted with Hope on her death bed and there was no sense of resentment or animosity in his tone or body language. And none of the stuff that has happened to him since he moved to Genoa City constitutes what he has been doing to Ashley the past few months. And while it is clear that Ashley is but a pawn in whatever twisted game he is playing, that alone does not give him a free pass for the many weeks of torture.
Of course I could go on, there is certainly more than enough drama on this show right now to dissect. Having said that, Y&R is one of my all-time favorite soap operas, I just hope this show does not get so wrapped up in creating all of this drama that they forget to lay the ground work for it. Telling a compelling story is what this show does best, and no amount of drama can replace that.
At first Sharon seemed to be deeply affected by Brad's death because she had sent him away shortly before his tragic accident. However many things were affecting Sharon at this point so it was difficult to tell exactly how much of an impact Brad's death actually had on her, as she began unconsciously stealing random objects. This was supposed to have been both a direct result of Brad's death and the fact that she was in love with Nick, who still could not decide between her and Phyllis. At this point the writers seemed to be saying that Sharon had kleptomania, however this affliction began disappearing once she started sleeping with Nick, Jack, and Billy, behavior that resulted in pregnancy. Like most of the drama on Y&R right now, Sharon's brief affair with Billy came out of nowhere. It made absolutely no sense that Sharon and Billy would sleep together. Of course, it made about as much sense as the fact that Nick all of a sudden fell back in love with Sharon. I must have missed something along the way because I really do not know where that came from. For months Phyllis accused Nick of harboring secret feelings for Sharon, accusations Nick denied and never outwardly expressed to any degree, until they shared a kiss in Paris. Like Brad's death there was not enough lead-up to this kiss or the feelings that were supposedly attached to them. Nick should have been visibly struggling with his feelings for Sharon for a while before he ever acted on them. At that point choosing Sharon over Phyllis should have been an easy decision. I have lost count of how many times Nick has gone to Sharon to declare his undying love for her, only to decide to stay with Phyllis.
Aside from all of the drama surrounding Nick and Sharon, Nick's half-brother Adam has been creating some needless drama all on his own. At first I thought the Adam storyline was going to get interesting after his arrest and apparent blindness. I found this to be an intriguing twist to Adam's story and a possible way of redeeming his character and reuniting him with Heather. After all, her relationship with Adam is the only thing that makes her seem human. To say the least I am disappointed to see the direction this character has been taken. I had hoped that at some point we would get to see his relationship with Victor, Nikki, Victoria, and Nick evolve, but instead Adam has become another faceless villain. There seems to be almost no method to his madness, and herein lies the problem. In order for soap villains to be redeemable something has to have happened to them at some point in their lives to make them villains, something that can evoke sympathy from the viewers. The problem with Adam's character is that we know what his upbringing was like because we were introduced to both Cliff and Hope years ago. We saw how he interacted with Hope on her death bed and there was no sense of resentment or animosity in his tone or body language. And none of the stuff that has happened to him since he moved to Genoa City constitutes what he has been doing to Ashley the past few months. And while it is clear that Ashley is but a pawn in whatever twisted game he is playing, that alone does not give him a free pass for the many weeks of torture.
Of course I could go on, there is certainly more than enough drama on this show right now to dissect. Having said that, Y&R is one of my all-time favorite soap operas, I just hope this show does not get so wrapped up in creating all of this drama that they forget to lay the ground work for it. Telling a compelling story is what this show does best, and no amount of drama can replace that.
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