Dj vu all over again

At long last, the whole truth about Stitch's secret was revealed... but was Maureen entirely truthful about that fateful night? Victoria went into labor in a janitorial closet, while Sharon was alone again, naturally. And Phyllis uncovered the truth about Jack's romance with Kelly. You may think you've heard it all before, but you haven't read this week's Two Scoops!

So, we are right back to where we started just a little over a year ago. Phyllis can still do whatever she wants, and she always comes out smelling like a rose. Victor defeated Jack -- again -- as he took something that Jack loved the most. And Sharon has been left high and dry yet again with no one to love and support her. Well, at least Noah hasn't completed deserted her -- not yet anyway. Shoot, I still remember when, after Cassie died and Nick turned to Phyllis for passion and lust, a very young and immature Noah cheered for Phyllis as she pursued and seduced Nick away from the grieving Sharon. Some things never change, but let's hope that Noah has.

Like Yogi Berra once said, "It's dj vu all over again," and the hapless Sharon seemed to go back into a time warp where she was in a world without the love of her family and friends. Sure, it's been brought up once or twice that Sharon was sick at the time of her actions, when she changed Summer's paternity results, but the way Sharon's loved ones are treating her, those are just words. While it's true that what Sharon did was absolutely horrible, she was suffering from the symptoms of her bipolar disorder at the time, and she has since sought the help that she needed. Sharon's fans should feel a little cheated after the writers made promises to explain Sharon's very bizarre past behavior, only to leave her in the exact same lonely place she was in before. Fan M.G. agreed:

Why is it that no one has ever loved Sharon? Never genuinely or for long anyway. Everyone else is granted forgiveness for their wrongs. Phyllis kidnapped Michael and even (years ago) murdered a woman. Victor also has felonies on his record. Sharon, at least, has an excuse. She has always meant well. She's a bit of a bonehead. But she deserves to be loved too.

The writers seem to put Sharon in the same category as a serial killer. Hasn't it dawned on anyone that by taking everything and everyone Sharon loves away from her, she could become desperate and maybe even suicidal? Do the people who supposedly love her care so little?

But Nick's solution to everything was to run to Avery to begin full custody proceedings for Faith. He decided that Sharon was still acting irrationally because she continued to believe that she and Nick could repair the damage so they could build a life together. Well, if a rebuffed lover, who continues to hope for a reconciliation, is absolute proof that a person is delusional, Sharon will be joined by a whole lot of other people who also continue to yearn for a lost love. Sharon has always been a good mother to Faith, so how does taking her little girl away help either of them? Has Nick really been all that perfect over the years?

Sharon has been much more rational since she started taking her meds, and it's terrible that Nick wants to use Faith to punish Sharon. Nick's own family has made some really bad decisions for far worse reasons. Avery suspected that Nick was out for revenge, and she may be right. If Nick really loves Faith, he should calmly look at the love that his daughter has for Sharon, instead of having a knee-jerk reaction of ripping Faith out of her mother's arms. Fan Sharon M. agreed with me about the writer's perception of Phyllis as compared to Sharon:

I would like to see Sharon get a break. It seems everyone has conveniently forgotten about the "accident" involving Phyllis where Sharon & Drucilla falling over the cliff resulting in the death of Drucilla. To boot, this is not the only time that Phylis has gotten away with murder!

No matter what Phyllis does, she never suffers any repercussions for it. But if Sharon sneezes, she gets chastised for it, plus it's just so weird that she never seems to have any friends. And even when she does, they don't hesitate to turn on her in an instant when the chips are down. The last through-thick-or-thin friend that Sharon had was Dru. She actually had a chance to regain a friend from the past when Grace (played by The Bold and the Beautiful's Donna, the fabulous Jennifer Gareis) returned to town, but Sharon suspected that her old, dear ex-bestie had ulterior motives, such as pursuing Nick once she learned he was free, so she booted Grace out.

Seriously, Sharon needs a new friend and a new strategy. Per a quote often misattributed to Albert Einstein, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Gosh, maybe Nick wasn't so wrong about Sharon's stability after all.

But least Sharon appeared to have Mariah on her side, strangely enough. Mariah seemed to be the only one with a lick of sense in realizing that Sharon wasn't well when she did her awful deeds. Mariah was also grateful to her mother for giving her a chance when no one else would. Sharon really needs Mariah, and it's nice to see that Sharon wasn't left completely alone this time. Plus, Nikki reminded Victor that Sharon was the love of Nick's life and that it was hard to walk away from that, as they very well knew. Yogi also said, "It ain't over till it's over," and hopefully, Sharon can rebound stronger both spiritually and mentally. Her chance for a reconciliation with Nick is a long-shot at this time -- but stranger things have happen.

Gosh, the way Nick and Summer acted toward Sharon, you would think she was evil incarnate. It was almost as if they believed that Sharon had concocted some diabolical scheme to destroy them rather than seeing that Nick's intended had been ill at the time she had changed Summer's paternity test results. Sharon altered the results before she was put on medication for bipolar disorder. Summer had sure better hope that no one ever judges her as harshly as she has been judging Sharon. And Mariah was right that Summer's whining was getting to be too much. The way Summer talked, it was almost like she believed that Sharon had plotted to lure Phyllis up the staircase so she could throw her down the stairs. Really, Summer, grow up!

Well, at least Victor got what his heart most desired in one fell swoop when his plan to reawaken Phyllis resulted in his successful revenge against both Jack and Sharon. You know that he was licking his chops to witness Sharon's humiliation, and he watched in glee Jack's heartbreak over losing the daughter he had just recently learned to love as his own.

I have heard that people who are not happy from within themselves desire to make others as miserable as they are, and I believe that is the case with Victor. After all, misery loves company and Victor can't be all that happy about his life, or why would he be so intent on destroying others? Victor's revenge always seems to take control of his entire life and, in fact, almost seems to have a life of its own. A perfect indication of this is that the love of his life, his wife, who lives in his very own house, has become pretty much invisible and forgotten to him.

Seriously, Victor has no idea what has been going on under his own roof, and honestly, I doubt if he would much care. And the way that Nikki has been chugging the booze, she probably doesn't either. It's almost like they are living in parallel universes (sorry, I was an original Star Trek series fan). But maybe it was just another day in the life of the Newmans for them.

Victor is as much addicted to revenge on who he perceives as his enemies as Nikki is dependent on her alcohol. Whereas Nikki hurts her loved ones unintentionally, Victor's harm to his adversaries and loved ones alike is deliberate. It also stops him from seeing what's under his very nose: Nikki drowns herself in vodka to cover feeling lost and deserted by her husband. Drinking has consumed Nikki's life as much as revenge has taken over Victor's.

Unfortunately, Nikki let her guard down and ended up having to make a deal with another devil, Maureen, to keep her secret. And Maureen has only been keeping quiet as long as Nikki keeps her mouth shut about the night Stitch's father died. But Nikki slipped up and hinted at the truth about that night to Victoria, so we knew it wouldn't last?

Maureen sure did what she could to cover her tracks though. When begging and pleading with Stitch to keep her dirty little secret didn't work, she lied to Victoria about Ben cancelling their dinner plans for that night in order to keep them apart. Victoria's a smart little cookie, though, and she was able to put enough together to realize that someone other than dear Ben had killed his dad that fateful night. Only Victoria incorrectly guessed that the killer had been Kelly, which Maureen instantly denied. Or was Maureen just protecting Kelly? It's funny how Maureen will do anything to protect her daughter but always seems willing to throw Ben under a bus at any time.

But Victoria's no dummy. She figured out that Maureen had actually been the culprit that fateful night, so Maureen revealed the entire truth about her husband's death. Or was it only Maureen's version of the truth? Maureen cried that after Richard had lost his job, he'd begun drinking and physically abusing both his wife and his son. That night in the workshop, he pounded on Maureen for fixing dinner too early, so Ben came to the rescue and punched his father. A very drunk Richard then passed out, and Ben ran out of the warehouse like a bat out of...heck! So Maureen set the warehouse on fire to protect her kids from their abusive father. Wow, a big reveal in true sweeps fashion!

So, okay, Maureen, even if you believe you were being noble in safeguarding your children from their dad, please explain your cowardly act of locking Victoria in the janitorial closet to keep her from calling the cops. (And let's not forget that you also let your son take the blame all those years for the death of his father.) Maureen even made sure to throw Victoria's purse and phone in the trash before she turned on the exhaust fans to cover Victoria's screams. Then Maureen had a heart attack while on the phone.

Unfortunately, no one could hear Victoria when the EMTs arrived. After they left, Victoria started having labor pains...all alone and with no one having any idea of where she was. Bring on the crisis! That's what the November sweeps period is all about.

At least Victoria had her daydreams to keep her company while she was in labor in the closet. In her dreams, she envisioned having the perfect family life with either Ben or Billy. I personally thought it was brave and risky to redo a scene that was filmed shortly after Delia died, where Billy Miller had portrayed Billy and Cynthia Watros was still Kelly. In my opinion, no actor could bring more heart and angst to that scene than Billy Miller, although I give Burgess Jenkins credit for giving it his all. My favorite Victoria fantasy involved Reed, of course, still being played by Max Page. He's getting so big! Little did Victoria know, Billy and Stitch knew of Victoria's plight, and they were on their way to rescue her. But would they get there in time? Tune in next time!

Unaware of all her family's drama, Kelly was happily planning her new life with Jack. Because even though Jack's heart had been smashed into pieces about Summer, he was still able to move on with the new love in his life. That is, of course, if he can ever get rid of that pesky Phyllis. I mean, Jack keeps talking, talking, talking about how he needs to tell Phyllis the truth about Kelly, as much as he doesn't want to hurt her, but he continues to let any and every excuse prevent him from actually doing the dirty deed. I just learned that my daughter is not biologically mine. I have a sudden business meeting that can't wait. My cat just puked on the living room carpet. Oh wait...there are no pets in Genoa City. I guess Jack will just have to find another excuse. Drat, it was such a good one too.

Kelly says over and over again how all of her dreams will come true and how she will finally have the wonderful life that she has always wanted -- so does anyone really believe this will happen? We all know that in soapland, when a character repeats over and over about how happy he or she will be, it just won't come to pass. That should especially be obvious since Jack kept chickening out from telling Phyllis about Kelly. Jack knew that Phyllis would not take the news well, and he suspected (correctly, I'm sure) that everyone would have to pay.

But never fear! Phyllis was hot on the trail of discovering that very truth, since she found a picture of Kelly in Jack's desk drawer. Come on, Jack. It's crazy that you would think for one moment that Phyllis wouldn't figure it out eventually. Really, she should be insulted! Billy tried to hide the obvious and stated that he had been with the "tramp" (Kelly) one night only, and that consoled Phyllis for a while. That is, until Jack left his phone behind as he scurried out of the door after hearing about some business meeting, and needless to say, Phyllis just couldn't help herself. She did what almost every other red-blooded female would do (except me, of course) and took a peek at his phone where she read the text exchanges between Kelly and Jack -- and learned the truth.

Phyllis is so sneaky and conniving. Good for her! She indicated to Jack, upon his return, that she had found something and then showed him her engagement ring. Ha, I bet he thought she meant his phone...which she probably really did. Then she declared that they should not wait one more second to get married and that Kelly would be the perfect person to help them with their engagement party.

Ohhh...Jack had better look out! Phyllis is out to get Jack next, and Phyllis takes no prisoners. If Jack really knows Phyllis as well as he claims, you would think he would foresee that she would learn the truth and be furious with him once she realized he had lied. I mean, come on...it's not like Jack and Kelly have kept their budding romance a secret. In fact, I'm surprised that Phyllis didn't learn about them during her online search of the Genoa City's news. The coma must have caused her to slip a little.

Fans are applauding Gina Tognoni's take on Phyllis (if not her age.) Fan Kerri expressed:

I am not happy about the storyline so far but Gina Tognoni's Phyllis is delightful! I cannot wait to see her character really get into full swing. She is probably too young for the role, but she looks FABULOUS and she's acting up storm. Now where is Daniel? You think he'd be there by now. Doesn't Phyllis want to see her beloved Lucy? Lauren has also been keeping her distance...

And fan Colleen added:

I am absolutely loving Gina as Phyllis. However, she doesn't look old enough to be Summer's mother. In fact, she looks young enough to be Sharon's daughter!! I would really laugh if Faith turned out to be Billy's daughter. After [all], Sharon was running around, having sex willy-nilly with 3 different men when she got preggers.

Actually, Sharon's got enough problems without having Faith's paternity being questioned also. But seriously, they need to do a paternity test on both Summer and Faith just so that this never, ever has to addressed again. There are only so many times we can ride this merry-go-round before it becomes dizzily absurd. With so many questions that have been flying around regarding that very issue, they would appear to be a bunch of nitwits if they didn't do the official hospital tests now.Adam was still lurking around behind the scenes, thanks to his conveniently placed nanny-cam, which helped him keep tabs on Chelsea and Connor. To his dismay, he also learned that Billy had moved in so that the three of them could be a happy family. Needless to say, that did not make Adam happy, but thankfully, he won't be able to watch them "from beyond the grave," as Billy noted, because Chelsea discovered the camera when she knocked down Connor's balloon. xLater, Billy and Chelsea learned online through the serial number that the nanny-cam had been purchased after Adam's death. Of course, they suspected Victor had planted it. That does sound just like something Victor would do, doesn't it? For once, Victor is innocent of any wrongdoing here though. Sounds weird, doesn't it?

Welcome, Sally Kellerman as Constance Bingham! I loved Ms. Kellerman in the movie M*A*S*H* as Hot Lips Houlihan. When Adam saw the black computer screen, he realized that there was more than a glitch with the camera. So he was ready to yank off his bandages and sprint over to Chelsea's place. And his grandmother approved because she was anxiously waiting to see her grandson's face. So, was Constance the mother of Adam's mom, Hope? In that case, Sage would be Hope's sister, since she was Constance's daughter.

But no, Constance only believed Adam was her grandson, Gabriel. After all, his face had been badly burned in a fire. From the coming "next on" clips, it appears that Adam and Gabriel were in the same accident, where one man made it out alive and the other didn't, and Constance mistakenly believed that her grandson, Gabriel, survived. Only Sage knew better. When the doctor performed his surgery, he reconstructed Adam's face to look like Gabriel's. It was truly "uncanny." Now Adam no longer needs that tiresome nanny-cam because he will be able to come and go as he pleases in Genoa City, and no one will be the wiser. What a novel idea, and I can't wait to see more.

In the meantime, Victor paid Chelsea a visit to invite her to a special family dinner to honor Summer's return to the fold, I guess. Billy probably correctly suspected that it was more to celebrate Jack's downfall, which he was not willing to witness -- which was just as well since he wasn't invited anyway. Victor was not the least bit pleased to learn that "Billy Boy" had moved in with Chelsea. With his triumph over both Sharon and Jack, why do I suspect that Victor might just target Billy next? Once Adam returns, it's almost a shoe-in. I can just picture Victor and Adam conspiring together so that Adam can regain his place in Chelsea's life. Victor probably feels that Billy hasn't paid a big enough price for marrying Victoria and ruining her life anyway. I am sure Victor will be out to get him.

That Colin is such a sneak! He hinted to Hilary in almost every which way that he knew about her relationship with Devon, which had Hilary guessing and wondering. She didn't look too worried, though, not even after Neil suggested that they invite Devon's special lady over for a dinner so they could meet her. Hilary even told Neil that they should. What?! Hilary does realize that she's the special lady in question, right? Maybe Hilary's become so good at her lies and fairytales that she almost believes them herself. Or maybe she just feels love will conquer all?

After Stitch indicated that Abby had never really been in love, because, after all, the real world wasn't always pretty with everything tied up in a nice little bow, Devon tried to relate to her what real love was. Devon claimed that love was dangerous where it could pick you up and whip you around like a rag doll...but you always knew that someone would be there to catch you. Hey, I like that! That's a pretty accurate description. Hey, Devon could have asked Abby to pretend to be his special lady at Neil and Hilary's dinner, but a spark may have just flared between the ex-Naked Heiress and Detective Harding -- if the detective can get over his aversion to the Newman "princess."

Joe Clark was still causing problems for Dylan and Avery, and he even admitted that it may be for personal reasons. After all, what did the "glorified barista" have to offer Avery to prove that he was worthy of her? To show that she had no feelings for Joe at all, Avery slapped him...so he kissed her. Yeah, Joe is not one of those types of guys that can be ignored. When he enters a room, ladies' heads turn.

According to Joe, Avery only bailed on him because he had neglected her. Could he be right? Did Avery just turn to Dylan to try to get Joe to pay attention to her? Could an unreciprocated passion for her ex still be pent-up inside her? Can Joe still take Avery to a place where no other man could possibly reach? Avery denied that she still had feelings for Joe, though, and she insisted that the kiss would never happen again. My biggest question for this twisted triangle: why on earth would Joe think he would still be welcomed at Dylan's coffee shop? I demand answers!

Kevin found Michael at his office and pleaded with Kevin to tell Lauren the truth about his cancer. However, Michael refused to do so until he learned a definitive answer regarding his condition. It's so frustrating to see Michael and Lauren always lie to each other in the name of love and protection. If Michael won't be honest with Lauren, I am glad that he has Kevin in his corner. The brothers have been through so much together, and they have always been there for one another. With a mother like Gloria, the siblings were forced to form a bond that has been great to watch.

Other notable (or humorous) items that happened during the week:

Nikki actually gave Victoria excellent advice: Nikki told her not to listen to Abby. Listen to your mother, Vicky!

It was pretty clever writing when, after Phyllis noted that Billy was "as evasive and slippery as ever," Billy observed that Phyllis was "as paranoid and suspicious as ever." In both cases, I'd say that's pretty accurate.

I loved that Jack and Kelly had to remind the viewers why Jack called Phyllis "Red." It's because of her fiery temper, of course, now that her hair color is no longer the flaming red that we used to see. Of course.

Jack was dead on when he stated that quantum physics was uncomplicated when compared to Phyllis.

Paul and Christine decided to renew their "Let's Make a Baby" project. Enough said.

Kevin had yet another colorful quip when he stated that he would get out of Lauren's "very well-groomed hair."

Mariah and Kevin are still bringing it, and it warmed my heart to see a life's survivor, Mariah, try to be a friend to Kevin. I still love these two together, and it's nice seeing two soap characters not bother to pull any punches with each other. As long as they stay honest with one another, they will continue to be a joy to watch.

Kudos to Amelia Heinle for her terrific scenes as she went into labor in the janitorial closet. She showed again why she deserved the Daytime Emmy award for Best Supporting Actress last year. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she were nominated for an award again for this year. You can bet that I have already placed her on my list of potential picks for a win for the next awards.

Until next time, please stay tuned.

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