But finally, after Meg obtained a restraining order against Paul, he was able to convince her that he was sincere in his love, devotion, and attitude towards her.  He swore he was a man who had changed for the better. She forgave him, and they reunited. Mike (who seems hardly more than a prop now a days) tried to convince her otherwise, Holden threatened Paul with the Snyder shotgun, and apparently Emma was so angry that she has left the farm completely! But all was hearts and flowers for the couple, until Sofie Duran came along. 

I have never been a big fan of Sofie, and her loutish boyfriend Cole. They came to Oakdale last summer, and a pregnant Sofie and Gwen quickly met each other. It was obvious from their first appearance that Gwen would somehow end up with Sofie’s baby. That was the only purpose this couple was brought on screen; Cole being Gwen’s brother never seemed to be a big deal at all. When Gwen and Will moved on late last winter, Irritating Iris and Clod Cole seemed to move on too, to the general relief of many viewers. However, Sofie no only lingered on, but somewhere along the line in the spring the actress, Justine Cotsonas, was even signed to a 3 year contract. But unfortunately for her, that contract only lasted about 13 weeks. 

At first, the show seemed to be pairing Sofie with Chris; remember their walk past a vendor in the park? The two seemed to connect, and I thought that might be a nice possibility. Then she moved to Mike, and again, I was okay with that too.  Next it seemed like Barbara had taken an interest in little Sofie, and took her under her wing as a jewelry designer. For a day or two, it looked like Sofie was going to be a successful young businesswoman. But that was all it took for everything to crumble. Sofie became obsessed with Paul, her silent investor/partner, and threw away her prospects, her friendship and mentorship with Barbara, her dignity, her pride, and any independent brain cells she may still have had firing in her head.

The problem with Sofie was that she was never really a sympathetic character.  She was spineless, beaten down, tormented, and forlorn, but I don’t think she ever inspired any sympathy from viewers. This is an absolute must for a soap character to be interesting and sustainable. Even the ultimately evil James Stenbeck gained some sympathy from viewers. So why were so many viewers complaining that they just didn’t care about Sofie at all, and they couldn’t wait for her to depart? Because the writers broke Douglass Marland’s soap rule, one that I constantly promote: Don’t bring in a new character and push him/her to the forefront, while veterans are shoved aside.

Within a few weeks of Sofie’s arrival in town, we knew that her parents were death, the grandmother who raised her was dead, she and Cole were abusee and abuser in a relationship, she became a waitress and attracted Aaron’s attention (funny, he never mentions her anymore) that her boyfriend Cole was a wannabe music composer and also Gwen’s brother, and that she was pregnant. Meanwhile, other characters seemed stalled on the tracks while these threads played out.  What did the writers want viewers to see in Sofie? Maybe some frightened young girl, caught in a horrible relationship with no one to turn to, expecting a baby she couldn’t care for. But all I saw was boring.  I wanted more Will and Gwen, more Tom and Margo, more Jack and Carly, more Henry and Vienna, more Meg and Paul, more Katie and Brad—well you get my drift. The writers did what they have done with just about every newbie to arrive in town the past few years; they shoved her down our throats and expected us to swallow.

So when Sofie suddenly became sneaky and devious, a complete change in her character, she enlisted Cole to help her switch the results and make it look like Paul was the father of the baby she was now expecting. Even that didn’t go far, as Paul found Sofie dying on the floor of her hotel room.  With her last breath, she fingered Meg as her killer.  Paul overreacted, and spirited Sofie out of the hotel and onto the Fairwinds estate, where he dug a very shallow grave and buried her.  But of course, Meg told Paul afterwards that she was innocent.  And of course, Barbara was overheard threatening Sofie prior to Sofie’s demise, so she will be a suspect also.  It’s a murder, but not a mystery; my money is all on Cole as the killer.

But once again, Paul and Meg never made it to the altar. I wish they would just do it and get it over with; all these stupid interruptions are not fun, they’re not attractive, they’re not interesting, and they need to stop. Let Paul and Meg get married! Let Paul learn that the wrath of the Snyders can be horrible if he maligns Meg, and let Barbara fuss over a new daughter-in-law!  Poor Babs has lost one child, seen another move far away; she needs a little happiness! Let Meg realize that even though Paul’s last name is Ryan, his Stenbeck blood runs deep, and she will have to use all her strength to keep her man on the straight and narrow. But let’s stop these needless storyline bumps, and let’s stop force feeding us newbies!

My poll two weeks ago asked if viewers wanted Sofie to go, stay, or they didn’t care because they had stopped watching her story. Almost no one wanted her to stay, and Jason said, “I'll be cheering when Sophie goes. ATWT is utter garbage right now and the only way the show can start to recover is with the firing of EP Chris Goutman & HW Jean Passanante.”

Mason commented, “Sofie's one of the worst characters this show has ever had, but sadly, I'm a the point where I don't even really care anymore. ATWT is such a mess, it'll take a whole lot more than just getting rid of Sofie to help it.”

So this week, my poll asks you, “do you want Paul and Meg to get married?”  Vote for your choice, and add a comment if you want to!

And in response to last week’s column, Tanya had this to say, “Actually I checked into atwt last week...and have since watched every epi. And you want to know why? I like Carly/Holden together.  Always hated Carly/Jack and ff'd thru Holden/Lily - always. I like Jack away from Carly and have never liked Carly or Lily. Holden before was a background char - basically a prop for lily. I say bring on Carly and Jolden.”  Well, Tanya, since it seems like Jack is about to have meaningless sex with Janet, and Holden and nuLily have little chemistry imho, I think you are going to get your wish!

There will be no column here next week, btw, because it seems like everyone at Soaptown, from my lovely editor on down, with the exception of little old me, is packing up and heading west to attend the GH fan convention. So if you are attending, be sure to look for the Soaptown contingent, and tell them I said have fun! I’ll see you guys in two weeks.