APN: Best & Worst of 2020

[Dallas]

Best & Worst of the APN 2020

The year is quickly coming to a close which is time to reflect about the stories that I’ve told and the highs and lows that come with all of that. There is still 1 more episode of ODaaT to be released this year and 1 final installment of Chasing Diamonds (which is already online) to be featured, but I thought I’d take a moment to review now.

Best Story
The Calimo’s Battle – One Day at a Time
This story was a front burner storyline all year long and proved to have many dramatic moments. The year began with Bob still fighting for his life after his car accident with Helen the previous year. Robbie and Natasha blamed Kim for the accident, which created a rift in the family. When Bob died, all hell broke loose as the Calimo children refused to accept that Bob left Kim with the estate and so much money. So, logically, they sued her for what they believed was rightfully theirs. Kim won the case but only because Cory, Natasha’s husband, revealed to her that Robbie had been sleeping with the very-married Brooke. Post-trial, the three continued to squabble at Roboto while Natasha’s marriage crumbled around her after she learned the truth about Cory spilling the beans to Kim. It was family drama that was rooted in history, so it gets the best story nod.

Best Story
The Baby Switch – Chasing Diamonds
Some of the released mini-series on Chasing Diamonds have multiple storylines going on, however the 5 part mini-series that aired this past summer, The Switch, mostly featured the tale of how Celeste and Houston told Stacey that her child was dead, when in fact, Celeste was raising baby Poppy as her and Mac’s daughter, Charlotte. Celeste was desperate to hold on to Mac and believed that if he knew that she miscarried, he would leave her while Houston hated that fact that the love of his life, Stacey, had a child with his father, Kent. So, together, they came up with this wicked scheme. Of course, at the end of the day, the truth came out and Stacey and Kent were reunited with baby Poppy but getting there was all of the fun.

Worst Story
Vinny’s Revenge – One Day at a Time
Don’t get me wrong, I love the twist of Vinny holding his brother, Brett, and his ex-wife, Daisy, hostage but the reason this story is my worst of the year is just because of how long it took to get there. Vinny started the year claiming he wanted to get revenge on Daisy for sleeping with Tyler while they were married but his plan didn’t take action until November! That’s 11 long months of wondering what Vinny was planning and how he was going to execute his plan. Here’s hoping he moves at a quicker pace in 2021.

Worst Story
Chase’s Revenge – Chasing Diamonds
After Chase found out that Dyhannah had coached Madison into blackmailing him to ensure he stayed away from Vivian, he came up with an idea to get back at his ex-wife. Chase showed up on Dyhannah’s doorstep and made love to her. In the aftermath, he told her that he used her and didn’t love her at all. Dyhannah was left gutted, of course, but she wasted no time spilling the beans to Viv about her one nighter with Chase, which caused more friction between Vivian and Chase. Chase should have known that sleeping with another woman, even as a form of revenge, would not have sat well with the woman who had his heart, Vivian.

Best Triangle
Robin/Adam/Helen – One Day at a Time
Adam and Helen have been through a lot over the years and this year was no different. Helen started the year still being in the coffin as Brandy, Victoria’s alter, had buried her alive to punish her for sending Dawn to the summer camp where she was raped. Adam had moved on with Robin and they planned to be married. On the day of their wedding, Shane announced he figured out that Helen was alive! Adam, in his tuxedo, dug up Helen’s grave and saved her. Robin continued to support Adam, who put their wedding on hold until he knew Helen was doing better. The wedding, again, got postponed when Dawn had an addiction problem but at the root of the cause, Adam really does love both women. Who he will end up with is anyone’s guess but it is fun to see him torn between Robin and Helen.

Best Triangle
Casper/Cole/Madi – Chasing Diamonds
The thing that was great about this triangle is that it explored Cole’s sexuality as he found himself tempted by PI, Casper while Madi was in jail for “killing” Celeste. In earlier seasons, Cole got a blow job from Brock but at the time he was stoned. Casper was also very attracted to Cole and continued to pursue him relentlessly, until Cole gave in and they had sex. Only, it didn’t just happen once. It happened over and over again. Chase discovered the affair and told Madi, who stood Cole up at the altar. It was a great twist on the traditional triangle to have Cole being torn between a man and a woman.

Worst Triangle
Dyhannah/Chase/Vivian – Chasing Diamonds
The real problem with this triangle is that neither couple truly have rooting value because the majority of their relationships happened years earlier, off screen. We get that Chase has children with both women (Deacon with Dyhannah; Madison with Vivian) but that isn’t enough to drive a triangle with drama and purpose.

Best Quadrangle
Max/Paige/Andrew/Abby – One Day at a Time
The younger set in Twin Peaks took center stage this year with Max and Abby coming up with a wicked plan to break up Andrew and Abby, who had fallen in love. Their plan was simple: to have Paige witness a kiss between Andrew and Abby. It worked like a charm! Paige saw the kiss and dumped Andrew cold. Andrew moved on to find sex with his teacher Albertinah, which left Abby livid while Max got his wish and started dating Paige. By year’s end, however, Andrew seemingly figured out the truth about Max and Abby’s plan and prepared to tell Paige the sorted details. It was a fun story with many twists and turns and will seemingly carry on into the new year.

Best Secret
Cheresa’s paternity – One Day at a Time
This story was a slow burn but it was featured all year. Meggan and Brad learned the truth early on in the year and after Brad confronted his parents, he realized that no one could ever know the truth about Cheresa because he was worried about how his family would be impacted. So, he blackmailed Meggan into silence. Meggan, meanwhile, struggled with the secret because she was hired by Chris and Trenyce to find their biological daughter. After Cheresa slipped and fell into the river, she was at death’s door. Meggan decided that Chris and Trey should know the truth before Cheresa died and told them that Cheresa was their daughter! At the same time, Brad told Greg and Brooke that the truth was coming out. Chaos erupted between Chris, Trenyce, Brooke and Greg while Cheresa struggled for her life. In the end, Cheresa survived, Brooke was arrested and Chris and Trenyce longed to get to their daughter. It was an action packed umbrella story that kept all the beats going.

Best Secret
Lucinda & Dane’s Past – Chasing Diamonds
The ending of the mini-series, the Switch, saw one of the most shocking twists in Chasing Diamonds history. The majority of the arch, Lucinda had been carrying around a golden locket with a picture of a man and a baby inside. Sabine, meanwhile, was in New York living with Nathan Lockhart, who was revealed to be Lucinda’s long-lost son, Levi. At the same time, Dane Ashby was in Kelsey Lake doing business with Mac. Grant, who was writing Lucinda’s memoir, wondered if Kent was really Lucinda’s other son, but that proved to be incorrect. Most fans suspected that Dane was really Levi/Nathan’s father, but a conversation between Dane and Lucinda proved that Mac, not Levi, was really Dane’s son, meaning that Mac isn’t a true Rockwell after all. The twist was cleverly timed and revealed, and will drive many stories to come.

What are your thoughts about some of the best and worst things that happened on ODaaT & CD this past year? Sound off below!
Dzkw

[Michael]

I love these features! And it's fun that you have multiple series to pull from in making your selections.

I have to agree with both Best Secret choices. Those were strong setups with a lot of potential for ripple effects and generating even more story going forward. It's always great when one story in a soap naturally segues into another one. I said this in your most recent episode's thread, but it's also interesting to explore the heartbreak for Trenyce and Chris of realizing that Cheresa is a grown woman with very real attachments to the Lawsons, whether or not the way they originally obtained her was right. And I thought it was fun how you leaned into the most obvious thing in CD and had them wondering if Kent could be a Rockwell. It's the kind of thing TV soaps tend to ignore, but it was a fun and slightly horrifying red herring, and clearing the possibility so smoothly was a smart move.

I also must say that I agree with both your picks for Worst Story, mostly for the reasons you listed! Vinny huffing and puffing about getting revenge all year was annoying, but I still have no idea what his plan is or why he had to go through all these convoluted steps to get to where he is now. He had no way of knowing an avalanche was coming, so if he was going to kidnap Daisy from the Gravity launch, he could've taken her at any time beforehand -- the avalanche provided cover, but he didn't know it was going to happen, so he would've had to come up with his own cover, anyway. And other than him having lost his mind, I can't piece together why he had to be a designer in order to pull off a kidnapping! The wickedness of his overall plot is fun, but it felt like he was making the pieces up as he went along and it all just happened to work out. I am curious to see Daisy and Brett become allies, though.

Chase's "revenge" in CD didn't work for me for the exact reasons you pointed out -- did he expect Dyhannah NOT to blab to Vivian?! -- but I think there's an underlying part of him that convinced himself he was sleeping with Dyhannah just to make her hurt, but he really wanted to do it and needed justification.

The baby switch was a nice, tight story arc that I thought really served the miniseries format well, so that was definitely a high point with regards to plotting.

Thanks for doing these! They're always fun to check out.