Ouch!

Did you manage to make it through this past week of chills, thrills and sucker-punch spills?

The week was so painful, I was left with head-to-toe bruises. Okay, so obviously I'm making up the bruises part, but it did take everything I had to make it through the week of chills, thrills and sucker-punch spills.

Every now and then, when I find myself frowning with fury, or worse, wishing I could reach through the screen and choke the life out of some Genoa Citian, I have to remind myself that this soap stuff is all make-believe. And that Jack, Nick, Phyllis, Daniel, Daisy, and all the rest, are just pretend people that real people play. This week I had to remind myself of that a lot.

Oh, if only I could have gotten my murderous mitts on Phyllis! I was so sick of her, I literally wanted to scream myself voiceless. Will the whitewash of this witch never end? As with many other Genoa City residents, I have known Phyllis since the very beginning. I can recite from first to finish, every dastardly deed she's actually done, along with every crime she's alleged to have committed. To think that a vicious, jealous, hateful, acid-tongued shrew like her has become the moral compass of Genoa City infuriates me to the point of nearly needing psychiatric treatment.

Talk about a fatal attraction. I don't know who is more obsessed with Sharon Newman, Adam or Phyllis. I'd hoped that once Phyllis and Nick were finished, it would finally be the end of Phyllis' constant complaining about Sharon. But, gullible me should have known the scribes weren't even close to being done milking this cantankerous cow.

I took a moment from my soap watching to pop over to the Restless Style website on my real-world Internet. I found it rather amusing that many of the charges contained in Phyllis' poison pen piece of Sharon could also be attributed to her. I also got quite a giggle out of some of Phyllis' words in the Second Time Around section: "Once I'm done with something (or someone) I'm done. Except where it concerns certain kinds of people -- phonies, manipulators, home wreckers -- people who don't care who or what they destroy in their quest for a happiness that will always elude them because they're rotten people to begin with." Hmm, maybe I'm just biased, but it sure sounds a lot like a self-appraisal to me.

Helpless, fragile, needy, men race to her rescue, are other word swords Phyllis repeatedly uses to slice and dice Sharon to ribbons. Well, though I wouldn't want to swear to it on a stack of Holy Bibles, I don't recall Sharon ever running to any of these men begging for their assistance. In the latest case, I distinctly recall Sharon going off without telling a single soul where she was headed. She had no idea Nick and Michael were going to come after her, flashing her photo to every New Orlean in sight. As for Adam, it was Phyllis who purposely tipped him to Sharon's plans, knowing he would likely go after her. And still that wasn't enough for Phyllis. She couldn't sit back and wait at home for confirmation that Sharon had willingly walked into the trap Phyllis had set. No way could she stand to be away from Sharon that long. So Adam was the excuse she used to trot after Sharon.

On the other hand, Phyllis is always running to the men or women in her life, whining for support. Don't do that, she mewled tearfully to Nick when he called her on putting Daisy ahead of her own child. And after stabbing her so-called friend in the back by helping to set Daisy free, Lauren was the very friend she ran to, ranting about, who else, Sharon, of course. When she was done, Lauren, who had recently empathized with Sharon, had done a complete about-face, trying and convicting Sharon of theft of one of Lauren's overpriced trinkets. So busy joining Phyllis in trashing Sharon, Lauren forgot all about the way Phyllis betrayed her.

Instead of writing about the evil that is Sharon, perhaps Phyllis should have written a different kind of article. One that begins something like: "My dearest Sharon, I can't stop thinking about you. When I open my eyes each morning, thoughts of you are the first to pop into my obsessed head. When my day is done, and I lay my head on my down-filled pillow, the sheep I count all have your beloved face. Whatever you have, I want. If I don't want it, I'll do my best to destroy it so you can't enjoy it. Sharon, I hate that some continue to love you despite your faults and I won't rest until all hate you as much as I pretend to."

Now, don't get me wrong, fans. My exasperation with Phyllis is by no means a defense of Sharon. I'm just tired of being half-blinded by the brilliant glow of Phyllis' halo and am no more hoodwinked by Phyllis and her motives than she claims to be about Sharon and hers.

One day, since no one else in Genoa City has the guts to, I'm going to write my own Restless Style-like piece featuring Phyllis and all her past and present misdeeds. Because, just my opinion, Phyllis is just as bad as she accuses Sharon of being. And while all of Genoa City seems to believe she's Mother Teresa returned to life, I'm with Adam in seeing her as the evil psycho freak she's always been and still is.

But enough about Phyllis. It's Sharon's turn now to plop her bottom in my hot seat. First, I don't fault her for believing Adam innocent of Skye's murder and wanting to help him prove it. Would I have done the same given all Adam has done? Probably not. But, if it had stopped there, I wouldn't completely condemn her. Even though the money she's spending on Adam's defense is actually Nick's money, since Sharon hasn't worked for so long, I've almost forgotten she ever did. But no matter how I arrange the pieces of this puzzle, I can't make the fact that she'd give up her children to help Adam, fit. She could have paid for his defense, which would still likely have brought on some heat from her family and friends, but appearing in love with him, moving in and doing the mattress mamba at every opportunity, well, that's a whole different story.

All Sharon's weeping over the long months of thinking Faith was lost to her forever, what was that for? It was bad enough that she ran off to New Orleans, leaving Faith behind. She claimed she had to leave town to think. But all she did was walk around grinning at Adam, treating him like her long-lost love. Instead of the man who snatched her child, wordlessly watch her suffer, and would never have told her the truth had Phyllis' interference not forced him into it. I guess she was thinking with another part of her anatomy. I hate that she's chosen to make clearing Adam's name more important than the son and daughter she brought into the world. Sometimes, when it comes to Sharon, all I can do is shake my head in stupefied disbelief and resignation that maybe those who think the only thing in her head are a bunch of rolling rocks are right.

But, on the other hand, I love the way Adam always comes to Sharon's defense no matter what. Yes, he's a slime bag who, at best, is a pretty rotten human being, and at worst, is possibly a murderer, but love him or hate him, unlike Nick and Jack, he's always going to be in her corner. Look how quickly Jack joined Phyllis on her bash-Sharon bandwagon. Which is no real surprise, after all, this is the same man who wouldn't hold it against Phyllis for trashing his own child's mother. And don't even get me started on wishy-washy, he-loves-her, he-loves-her-not Nick. How many times has he pledged his love to Sharon only to snatch it back and give it to Phyllis? As for Victor, though he has yet to weigh in on this debate, he can hate Sharon if he wants for choosing Adam, but if not for him coming up with this idea to frame Adam for a crime he hasn't committed, none of this would be happening now.

Start the music. Let's play another round of musical Daisy. This storyline just gets worse and worse. Like any judge would take a prisoner, especially one accused of kidnapping and attempted murder, and let her be moved from sofa to sofa 'til the music stops. Not only is the idea of it ridiculous, it's boring as heck watching Daniel bluster and pout like a two-year-old while Phyllis plays the martyr, willing to sacrifice her time with Summer to protect her grandchild. Not to mention stalker chick Jana's latest idea to raise Daisy's child just to keep Kevin coming around. Phyllis keeps reminding us Daisy will deliver in a few weeks. Please let her be telling the truth for once because all I want for Christmas is for this to be over.

Will someone please slap a slice of duct tape on Jill's motor mouth to stop her blabbing all the family secrets to a man she's known all of a minute? The tale from Down Under is not one of my favorites, but at least it's getting a little more interesting. Is anything we've learned about Cane grounded in the truth? This character's backstory seems to change weekly, and it has my head spinning like a top. Now we learn he had a father after all. A father who is possibly the brains behind this cattle-rustling banality. Which makes it unlikely Cane's life was ever in any real danger. And when is Cane going to grow a backbone and stop letting all these newcomers push him around? If all he can do is deliver empty threats with no teeth in them, he may as well just keep quiet and keep doing what he's told. It's time for him to step up and fight back.

I know a lot of fans would prefer to see Kevin and Chloe remain as friends, but I actually enjoy these two together and am going against the grain and hoping for a romance. I won't truly be able to judge their chemistry until they actually have a first kiss, but my fingers are crossed that they could generate some surprising heat. I know I would prefer them together than seeing him taken in by lying, manipulative Jana.

Abby, you go, girlfriend! Abby continues to rate right up there with Billy on my most liked list. I was cheering when she kicked Daniel's deadbeat butt out the door. I can't believe he would come to her and tell her he wanted things to go back to the way they were, but keep mum about the fact that he'd just moved psycho chick into his two-inch-by-two-inch room until after he'd bedded her.

And lastly, winding up the ouch factor, it was Wild Wild West day in Genoa City, officially nicknamed the city of the sucker punch. Cowardly lion awards go to Hogan for punching Jeff, Daniel for socking Kevin, and Jack for slugging Adam. As for Phyllis and Sharon's chocolate fountain frolic, I only wished Sharon could have shoved Phyllis all the way into the fountain.

Okay, I've done what I came here to do, which was deliver my biased opinions. And now, please enjoy the opinions of some of your fellow soapies. Clearly, viewers are hopping mad about the Adam-Sharon pairing, because an overwhelming majority of them expressed views identical to fan Karlie's below.

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I can't even express how sickened I am at what the writers have done to Sharon's character with this offensive Adam pairing. Do the writers truly hate the Sharon character that much that they've gone to these lengths to completely annihilate her character? No woman would choose to be with the man that stole her child and deceived her for months about it! Adam never would have told her the truth, so where exactly in this repulsive storyline is there a "love story"? After 25 years of watching this soap, I'm completely disgusted that the writers are insulting long-time viewers this much. Sharon would NEVER choose Adam over Faith and Noah's love. She claims to love Nick one minute, then sleeps with Adam the next, then flips and says she loves Nick and she wants her family back, then flips back to shacking up with Adumb?! Are they kidding me or what?! No, I'm done with this show for now. And MAB is no champion of women's rights as these storylines have set women back at least 50 years. I'm repulsed by the show and they've lost yet another viewer. -- Karlie

For fans of Sharon and Nick, this past week was just painful to watch. I put down my pom-poms, and retired from team Sharon. Does Sharon really believe all will be forgiven when it is found out Adam did not kill Skye? Adam should have already been in jail for his past crimes, so maybe this thing with Skye would have been karma. Sharon needs long deep counseling. Nick would not be a good parent if he didn't seek full custody of his child, with Sharon only being allowed supervised visits. -- April

I absolutely love the character of Adam. He is the perfect shade of gray, because when he is good he is totally selfless with Sharon and when he is bad he is kickin' the butts of some of the major players. People need someone on the canvas to shake up Victor's world and that of Jack Abbott's. I love Sharon and Adam and think they have the potential of being a major super couple. Y&R, keep it comin'. -- Norma

I keep hoping evil will get its due, but that never seems to happen on the Y&R. Now Phyllis is the "voice" of Y&R and friends with Lauren, Micheal, and more, getting nothing but support from all. I almost wish they could redeem Adam as they've done with Kevin and Michael, just so Sharon can end up on top for once! Sharon may be a fool, but she has never willfully victimized anyone like Phyllis has. -- Jennifer

Funny parallel: Phyllis saying that the mother who opens her door to the evil person who kidnaps a child is as evil as him. So what does that make Phyllis? Is it okay to invite a woman who kidnaps you and your friends in, as long as she didn't kidnap children? Phyllis isn't wrong, Sharon's actions are pretty perverse (which is why I find them soapy delicious, probably), but Phyllis is no better. Both are making highly questionable decisions based on emotion and being manipulated by people they think they can handle but probably can't. -- Annie

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