So yeah, those wonderful distractions aside, I still managed to keep an eye on the best thing to happen to the soap opera genre in the many decades it’s been around. It’s a lot to cover, so I’ll only feature one highlight per week in this mega-sized recap:

Week 32 (Oct 13 – Oct 17)

I know it’s been over a month, but I am still just amazed and stunned over this! For months, we all thought Hayley was this typical scandalous “man-stealer” who infiltrated the Dupree-Hamilton family, befriended Naomi and Chelsea, only to mess around with their father, Bill Hamilton, and end up marrying him. However, as we found out during the heart of Week 32, Hayley’s a career con woman, and she’s knocked off guys she’s seduced before, with Bill being the current target. That whole “jealous of Dani” act? All for show; she could have cared less about any time Bill spent with Dani. And of course, the pregnancy was about a real as the New York Jets’ current Super Bowl chances.

So yeah, Hayley’s been slowly trying to knock off Bill, and she’s still at it–all for that big payday. It amuses the hell out of me that for as slick as Bill appears to be, he’s so stupid when it comes to Hayley. He has absolutely no clue whatsoever, and it just amuses the hell out of me. Bill will put two and two together eventually, hopefully before it’s too late.

Week 33 (Oct 20 – Oct 24)

On October 22 and 24, we were treated to yet another soap crossover! We saw Y&R’s Devon Winters visit the soap, and regarding this one, it was Ridge Forrester from The Bold and the Beautiful, another of CBS’ three soaps. I don’t watch much B&B, but I know enough to recognize some characters, especially Ridge Forrester. He first popped up on the 10/22, and it was two days later that he was shown on the phone with Dani–very fitting considering Karla Mosley was once part of B&B. When I saw Ridge on 10/22, I only had one thought: “I wouldn’t be surprised if Sheila Carter makes an appearance at some point!” Oh boy!

Week 34 (Oct 27 – Oct 31)

The ultimate highlight from Week 34 was Ted blowing up at the hospital over the sight of Carlton and Nicole together. It was both laughable and disgraceful; the guy was pulling rank on a marriage that is over and finished. Similar to how the Minnesota Vikings find new ways to lose games, Ted manages to find new ways to embarrass himself and make himself look like a bigger ass than he already is. Hell’s bells.

Week 35 (Nov 3 – Nov 7)

Week 35’s central moment was Derek being caught by Ashley standing out of his wheelchair, and Derek stated that his plan was to surprise with the news that he was healed and mobile. I hear of this a lot in real life, and nearly every time, the significant other is happily surprised. We usually see tears of joy and a hug full of love and happiness. That’s how normal people react. Ashley is not normal. Ashley, for some sick reason, saw this as a betrayal and used her victim complex (which could fill up the state of Nevada about 100 times) to act like Derek hurt her “so badly.” Even worse, Naomi is team Ashley, even berating Jacob for sympathizing Derek. Seriously, I never thought I’d see someone as supposedly level-headed as Naomi Hamilton-Hawthorne be so stupid enough to drink Ashley’s Kool-Aid.

Week 36 (Nov 11 – Nov 14)

Regarding Week 36, I decided to do a spotlight on one such character: Caroline. We have seen a lot of her on the show; she works at Bill’s firm, and she seems to be a BFF of sorts for Hayley, but from what I’ve seen, Caroline, much like the other characters, is oblivious to what Hayley’s really been planning. I did some homework on Caroline’s portrayer, Ellie Wang. She’s Singaporean-Australian, and her IMDB consists of a lot of short films, with BTG being her biggest break by far. I do love seeing Caroline appear on this soap, though it would be nice if she had an actual storyline.

Week 37 (Nov 17 – Nov 21)

And we come to the most recent full week, Week 37, and without question, the most standout moment was the latest action between Kat and Eva. Kat had been extra bitchy due to the fact that she heard Eva call Ted, “Dad.” We would see Kat eavesdrop on Martin and Eva conversing, and after Martin walks off, Kat sits across from Eva, and actually tells Eva that everyone would have been better off if Eva had never been born. Just when I think Kat can’t be anymore odious, she says that crap, and Martin just happened to hear it, and gave his despicable sister the burial she deserved. I’ve always liked Martin, but that was his greatest moment right there. I still say Martin was a bit too nice; I sure as hell wouldn’t have been.