Seasons of love

Now that we've got our couples of summer settled, why, it's time to throw in a triangle! Let's chat about the good, the bad, and the ugly in this week's Two Scoops.

We're starting to get ourselves some downright fun triangles to play with this summer! I've got some strong opinions one all of 'em, so let's get started.

First, there's the Paul/Will/Sonny triangle, or as I like to call it, The Will Sucks at Life Tour. It continued with the not-so surprising revelation that Will cheated with someone else, before Paul, in L.A. I can't really dub this one a rewrite because the way we saw Sonny go days without hearing from Will, it certain does make sense that Will was cheating. But it's definitely a write-in, and one that bums me out at that. I don't like watching the repercussions of an off-screen plot point play out when there's no reason we couldn't have seen it on screen the first time.

Alas, the write-in seems to be a way for Sonny to gracefully leave Will, which, frankly, seems very silly. Would anyone really blame Sonny if he'd left Will at any point over the last few months? No. But okay, this is how we're going to do this thing. It's very peaceful, in that mercy kill kind of way. But that doesn't mean it's not a little strange.

One one hand, Sonny was absolutely right that Will got married too young. Some people can marry their first sweetheart, but Will is not one of those people. Having a baby with his straight ex-girlfriend probably should have been Will's first clue. But Will's never been the sharpest crayon in the box. He absolutely should have taken some time to grow as a person before he settled down.

On the other hand, it's a wee bit ludicrous that Sonny should apologize for any part of that. First of all, this is a show where people actually do pressure their spouses through blackmail or violence. All Sonny did was love and respect Will with no ulterior motive whatsoever.

Second, what a dopey thing to apologize for! Next, Victor is going to apologize to Brady for forcing a life of wealth and privilege on him, or Fay is going to apologize to Nicole for cursing her to go through life with long legs and flawless skin. Oh the horror!

Still, it's to keep Sonny's good guy status intact when Freddie Smith leaves the role. And I can't help but feel that this is all letting Will off the hook way to easily -- yet another huge difference between Sami and Will. Sami got her butt dumped at the altar. Will will probably get a hug and a cookie basket from Sonny as he cradles Will's angel head to the ground on a bed of golden goose feathers.

But one who won't get the golden treatment is Theresa. She moved into the Kiriakis mansion to the thrill of exactly no one. Maggie was hilarious calling Theresa out at every turn. Suzanne Rogers is marvelous in these situations. I hope there's more. I like that Theresa gives Maggie a chance to be feisty and not nosy.

I was all about to have Theresa's side when Brady told her to go back to work because I thought he meant that day. Surely, no one expects Theresa -- or any new mom -- to work the day their newborn comes home from the hospital. But no, Theresa wants to be a full-on desperate housewife. Okay, entitlement is not a good look on anyone. But Jen Lilly's commitment to the role makes it hard to root for Theresa to get beat down forever.

Luckily, Brady was having no part of this request. Can't say that I blame him. I also fully agreed with him when he told Theresa to go look for a different job. In fact, I would love it if she went to work for Kate and took on Countess W. Something tells me she and Kate might get along well.

But alas, Theresa's new plan is to make Brady think there's something wrong with Tate in order to bring them closer. Super. This should work well.

In better news, we got ourselves a fantastic love triangle between Eric, Nicole, and Daniel! Okay, okay, we have to suspend disbelief just for a bit to entertain the idea that Nicole would actually pick the guy who hasn't even given her a first date yet over her first love, who broke up with God and put a ring on it. But if it gets Ericole back together, I'm all for it.

Better yet, it makes Nicole the main gal in a love triangle! That hasn't happened since...um...well, let's see: showed up in a wedding dress in case Brady decided not to marry Chloe, faked a pregnancy so that E.J. would forget about Sami, destroyed documents that would make it harder for Eric to go back to God....huh, nope. No love triangles where she's the prize. It's about damn time!

The second positive in this is that it will make Eric grow as a character too. I totally dug the fact that he wasn't okay with lying to Daniel, not because of the lie, but because he wasn't down with pretending that what happened between him and Nicole didn't mean anything. Interesting... Eric needs to grow some confidence and fight for Nicole. I'm really hoping that this storyline will do just that.

Finally, there's Ben/Abigail/Chad. At first, I was intrigued with Ben's reaction to Abigail cheating. Most people would behave like Sonny did and be justifiably angry. A few others would pull a Sami and set Abigail up for a big fall. But it's not too often that a character finds out he's been cheated on then sets his sights on solidifying his relationship with his habitually fickle gal pal.

But then it hit me. All of this bed hopping is a way to endure a who's-the-daddy story for Abigail. Honestly, I hope the kid is Ben's. That doesn't mean that Chabigail can't make a go of it. Kids certainly don't solidify couples forever. (Can I get an "I hear that," Roman?) But DAYS is verging on a bit too incestuous, and it would be nice for there to be a branch of the family tree that didn't involve two of the four main families in Salem.

Oh, and there's this Bridget nonsense. I was all pumped when Abigail got a letter from Ireland. Little did I know that inside it would be another storyline write-in. As far as my merlot-soaked brain can remember, Jennifer and Abigail did live in Ireland for about six months about 15 years ago. Jen was on the run, working as a waitress -- neither of which is helpful for one who wants to hire a nanny. But apparently, Abigail has spent the last 15 years in contact with this woman and is close enough to her to cry over her illness. You would have thought with that kind of bond, we would have heard of her once before. You know, ever.

LOOSE ENDS Woo! J.J.'s working for Sonny? That's awesome! I want to hear more about that.

Oh, Adrienne. Is it good form to show up at your lover's door and cry over your husband wanting to divorce you? I'm thinking no. I'm glad that Lucas stood up for himself. But this was clearing a nice way for Lucas to bow out, which I appreciate. I want Justin and Adrienne back together. But I do not want Lucas to be roadkill in the process.

Xander appears to be slipping through seeing formal charges, and that's a-okay with me. I love the idea of having a villain with legitimate ties to Salem coming back to wreak havoc from time to time. Imagine if Xander and Kristen met?

Paige saw J.J. and Bev kissing, which should be about as surprising as catching Serena in a bad dress. You know what happened next. Paige got angry. J.J. sulked. Laurisa took this as a chance to go refill her wine glass. At least the last part was fun.

Paul waited until Rafe was out of the club before going in to talk to Sonny. Ha! I can relate! There was a time not so long ago when I, too, would have done anything I could to avoid seeing Rafe and getting a smug lecture too.

Jen sure is in Marlena's office a lot. Although, considering that all of the offices in Salem look exactly the same, it would be understandable if she just got confused. I really want this Eve vs. Jen storyline to work, mainly because I'm tired of both of these women being so involved with their children's love lives.

Will hit a new level of low last week when he threw shade Chad's way. I'm pretty sure Will and Chad have been best friends for years too. Also, Chad and Sonny's business partnership goes back to the SalemSportsFan.com days. Will "My job is to tell the truth" Horton should probably get his facts straight before he goes ruining one of the few remaining good things he has going for him.

Victor played the "my house/my rules" card with Brady, which Brady countered with a threat to move out. Um, Brady, you're a grown man and should be living in your own place by now. Unlike Stefano, Victor's always at that house. It's his place.

Clyde bugged Stefano's house, and Stefano knew nothing about it. I'm not mad, Steffie. I'm just disappointed. I expected better from you.

HOT

I'll take all of Kassie DePaiva and Meredith Scott Lynn together. I want Eve, Anne, and Theresa to go out for martinis together, and I want them to invite Tony and me.

NOT I know Daniel walks on water, but I didn't think he was powerful enough to march into Victor's house and order him around. Also, Brady "I locked a woman in a sarcophagus" Black might want to ease up on all the talk about getting the criminals out of the family. I know they both meant well, but the scene played out way too sanctimonious for my taste.

LINE OF THE WEEK Roman: "Mr Cook, you didn't text and drive, did you?" Abe: "Oh, I'm sure he pulled over." Abe and Roman were rocking my socks in their partner mode again. I love seeing these guys on the case!

Honorable mention: Xander (to Serena): "I and NOT going to tell you to shut up again." I swear, you guys, sometimes it's like Xander is actually inside my head.

RANDOM THOUGHTS I have to chuckle anytime Will gets all fussy about Sonny running into Paul. If Will's going to be that paranoid when his husband's ex is still around, he might not want to live on a soap. The only way you don't run into an ex on a soap is if you're dead.

Xander's the best-dressed arrest I've seen in a while.

Both of Jen's kids need to move out of their great-grandmother's house.

I wish Clyde and Xander would cross paths.

Was Stefano drinking iced tea out of a champagne flute?

I love Brady and Eric: The Stepbrothers Edition

Oh! I enjoyed Marlena and Chad laughing together! There's something about this friendship that interests me.

Yes! Those basketball games need to start again!

"I broke up with your mom before we got back together" is the worst defense ever.

Ben's officially a soap leading man. He threw a glass across the room and broke it. Congrats, Benny! I'll put your certificate in the mail.

I liked Hope's Fourth of July manicure.

Oh, Chadsworth. I forget that you didn't watch the show before 2009. Stefano had nothing to do with hardening Sami. Just ask your buddy Kate.

I'd have given a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream for Stefano to follow up, "I've been gone so long, I wanted to see if the old place had changed any." with "Come, Chad. Now that I'm home, let's go sit in the big room again."

Tony and I are putting together another summer blog series. The first one is up! Check out which dream girls we'd like to see return for the fiftieth anniversary!

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.