The new phoenix rises

There are a lot of really annoying characters in daytime, but Belle Black-Kiriakis has to be near the top of the list.

Love General Hospital, B&B, DAYS or other soaps? Join the conversation on our SC boards! Click here to connect with fans and dive into discussions now

Hi everybody! I must say that there were a lot of things that I enjoyed about this week's show, and a couple of things I could have seriously done without, so let's discuss, shall we? The first thing I want to know is how in the H-E- double hockey sticks did Sami manage to get to the hotel room bathroom while Kate was happily hacking away the door with an ax (!), doing her best psycho mom impersonation? What floor were they on? I must say though, I did thoroughly enjoy the look on Kate's face when Sami came sauntering out of the bathroom looking just as fresh as a daisy. But of course, that just made Kate crazier than ever, demanding to know where EJ was, like Sami had hid him up under the bed or something. And then, to really play the crazy card, Kate planted herself in the doorway, and Lucas didn't quite seem to have the heart to give her the hearty shove that was needed to dislodge her crazy butt from the doorway. While I really could have done without the Sami/Lucas semi-porn sex scene, my favorite part of the week was when Lucas, like the petulant child he can be, told his mama "I'm a man!" in a pouty little voice that was really the opposite of his manly declaration. Next thing we know, we'll see him in the mirror counting chest hairs of something.

Interrupting the Sami and Lucas loving was a very timely phone call from Roman, advising them that EJ's car was found next to a cabin that was on fire and for all intents and purposes was probably a crispy critter. I got a big kick out of how gleeful Lucas was about it. I thought he was getting ready to turn a cartwheel or sing "Ding-Dong the Witch Is Dead." What irked me about the whole scene is that Sami told him about a billion times that she didn't want to come along, but in typical Lucas fashion, he insisted. Yeah, I hope when I'm engaged and pregnant my fianc takes me to watch someone burn up in a fire. That's loving. Yes, I know that Sami was supposed to set the fire, but Lucas isn't supposed to know that. Sometimes, the things that Sami and Lucas do make no sense to me, like when he asked her about moving and she said she didn't want to because of the wedding, blah, blah, blah. If it were me and I'd just tried to set up the guys across the hall to die, I would have had my bags and apartment packed before Lucas got to the "ing" of "moving."

Stephanie is a bit bitter these days, isn't she? I do like the new actress, and I think that she has given Stephanie some of the edge back that was ruined when they wrote her as being a kid obsessed about getting her parents back together. With that said, why do they have her acting like she hates Steve? I'm sure that she has to grasp the fact that the DiMeras are most definitely doing something to Steve and I'm sure that she can hear and heard her mother say that Steve had burns from electro-shock therapy, so I really don't get why she is so angry with him. It's not like he is ditching them for Billie or some other woman, this situation at this point is really out of his control. But fat lot of good that Stephanie's snap-back-into-reality talk did as far as Kayla's concerned, because then Kay started talking crazier than ever. She wants to have herself committed to the state mental hospital so she can break Steve out. Um, Kayla's a doctor, right? So that means she has to be pretty smart, right? If they are pumping high voltage into Steve, what does she think they are going to do to her? Play pinochle? Plus, she is such a fixture there, does she really think that they are not going to recognize her, even in a "disguise?" I love Steve and Kayla, but this storyline is killing me. Please, wrap it up and let's move on.

Onto Shawn and Belle. You know, there are a lot of really annoying characters in daytime, but Belle Black-Kiriakis really, really gets on my nerves. First she is just a total brat to Shawn, after he literally risked his (albeit stupid) neck for her. She doesn't want him to touch her, but he for dang sure wasn't allowed to touch anybody else, which by the way she basically accused him of over and over. She basically made him jump through every hoop she could think up, and then she jumped to the conclusion that he was sleeping with Gabby. So what does she do? The mature thing and wait for Shawn to get back so they could talk out whatever she thought was happening? NOPE!!!! She packed all of her and Claire's bags and dipped. Left a note and basically disappears. But then, while Shawn is frantically searching for Belle and his daughter, we see her quite happily walk back into the room with a brand new cell phone and charger. She called Marlena to whine and tell her that she wanted to come home, but Marlena basically told her that she was being a selfish brat and that she needed to stay there and talk to Shawn. So, Belle gives Shawn this little sorry apology, all is forgiven, and then they get their groove on with their baby in the room. Um, yuck. And like Gabby said, Shawn wants only Belle, although I have no idea why.

Now Philip is hot on their heels, thanks to some creative bugging of the Brady's front porch. I did enjoy the fact that Hope was not only on screen, but had the presence of mind to usher Marlena out of the house to discuss the kids. And I LOVED how when Hope heard the security guy in the house, thinking it was an intruder, went into super-cop mode and held him at gunpoint until he reminded her that Bo did tell her that he would be in the house.

It was about time that Billie and Lucas both read Kate the riot act, which happened after Billie found out that Philip had used her security system to spy on Bo's house. Kate seems to think that if her children had followed her advice all these years, their lives would be much happier, when in reality if she hadn't stuck her nose into their business all these years they probably wouldn't be all messed up like they are. And then there was the moment that nearly ruined the week for me: Sami finds EJ seemingly unconscious in a stall in Chez Rouge's ladies room and begins to scream her head off. Lucas jumps up from him chair, takes about three steps and just stops. Sami is still screaming by the way. I know that the actors have to, for lack of a better term, strike a pose at the end of a scene for a "tag," but couldn't they have tagged Lucas in motion, instead of letting him stand there looking stupid? Ugh, I hope this show gets it together soon. There are so many little flashes of greatness, but they need to gel together.

SPOILER ALERT!!! SKIP IF YOU ARE SPOILER FREE!!!

Okay, I am so excited!! Annie Burgstede a.k.a Willow, has been let go and her last airdate is in June. I hate to see anyone lose their jobs, especially since getting people kinda like Willow jobs is what I do for a living, but I am so happy to see this character go! Happy Days!!!!

Returning to our screens in May/summer (this is from Soap Opera Digest, so get mad at them if I'm wrong :) will be Thaao Penghlis (Tony DiMera), Steve Blackwood (Bart), Leann Hunley (Anna DiMera a.k.a. Carrie's mom) and dum-dum-dum Joseph Mascolo as the one and only Stefano DiMera. Yay, no more hairy hand in a weird oxygen tent!! I am cautiously hopeful that this will be the beginning of a new era for Days. The writing is there. The dialogue is better than it has been in the 15 years I have been watching this show, they (meaning the writing team and Ken Corday) just need to focus on good ol' classic soap and chill out with the gimmicks. I'm sorry, I just don't care about Shawn and Belle on Temptation Island or Tinda Lao or whatever the hell it's called. Keep everybody in town and let them fight or love it out there.

END OF SPOILERS

So what will happen next week? Was that EJ that Celeste made that suspicious call to? Will Kate ever let up or will they throw her in the loony bin with Steve? Adrienne Johnson-Kiriakis is supposed to return this week, so will she be able to help Steve out? Only time will tell!

Until Next Time!

Melissa

READ MORE OF THIS WEEK'S TWO SCOOPS The Bold and the Beautiful | General Hospital | The Young and the Restless

What are your thoughts on ? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.