This week's column has come out of a post I did recently.

Since last week's column was about whether Passions had 'Jumped the Shark', I thought this one could be a positive one, and hooks things together that I've written in other columns.

One of the best ways to describe Passions is that it's the manic/depressive of soap operas. When it's high, Passions works so well. When it doesn't work, it's absolutely hideous. And, what makes it so unbearable is that when Passions has something that doesn't work, they continue with it until it's long lived past being watchable.

So while last week I wondered if Passions had 'Jumped the Shark', this week I see all new possibilities for Passions due to spoilers and speculation on my part.

I wrote in my '10 Good Things About Passions', that one of the things in Passions' favor was that it has one of the strongest foundations of any soap on the air right now. I can't tell you how disappointing it is to look out at the daytime genre and see shows absolutely falling apart because they have no history, no depth, no substance, and can't come up with stories that GENUINELY link a great number of characters together. That's one of the best parts of daytime drama - to find the story that will have ripple effects all throughout the canvas and leave as few characters as possible untouched.

Well, in case you haven't read the spoilers, here it goes:

Passions will be back in the Jazz Club one again. The characters involved are Julian, Eve, Rebecca, TC, Liz, Fox, Whitney and Chad.

For Julian and Eve, the club will bring back all sorts of memories for them. So many memories of their past together.Julian recreating the Jazz Club is an homage to the happiest time of his life. He knows that now, in retrospect. The ritual of him going to the club and ordering two glasses of champagne is also poignant, harkening back to the first time he and Eve ever met, when he gave her a glass of champagne. This seems very much in character - the recreation of the Blue Note, after all, Julian is a Crane, and has the money to indulge himself that way. We've seen consistently throughout the history of the show, ever since we found out how Julian and Eve met that he would routinely listen to Eve's tapes - Ivy, Rebecca and even Ethan have commented on Julian's devotion to those tapes.

Throwing Rebecca into the mix is adding a firecracker. Rebecca has long been one of the smartest people in Harmony. Remember, she figured out about Sam and Ethan when the rest of Harmony was clueless. Since she can sense that this woman from Julian's past is probably going to cause her trouble, and you know that Rebecca wants to eliminate the competition...so, that will be Rebecca's subplot for awhile. My money's on Rebecca finding out the truth about Julian and Eve.

For Liz, the club is just another way to cause trouble for Eve. She knows about Eve's past, and she wants to destroy Eve's life. Bringing up the club is way to stir the pot a little.

TC ever being in the vicinity of Julian and Eve is a bad thing. I know they play him as being stupid. I prefer to believe that TC 'senses' something between Julian and Eve, but is just ignoring it - the same way that Gwen 'ignored' her gut when it came to Ethan and Theresa.

That's the older generation.

For the younger generation, the club means new beginnings.

When Whitney takes the stage for the first time, she's going to supposedly be 'home'. I never bought the crap about singing being Whitney's true love because we never saw her do it in private, away fron everyone else. But, the music will be a path that neither of her parents will want her to take: for Eve, too many bad memories...for TC, it will mean the death of HIS tennis dream, so of course, he will hate her singing, and anything associated with it, i.e. Chad. Just another reason for TC to hate Chad.

It is said that Eve will drag Whitney off the stage because she is so upset at seeing Whitney there - thus shades of Eve and her past when her mother drug her off the stage when she was young. For Eve, seeing Whitney up there is having the most painful parts of her past thrown back into her face, but it's worse this time because it's her daughter. Eve is fearful for Whitney, and because of her own lies, she can't tell Whitney WHY she feels this way, thus alienating herself from her daughter who believes that Eve is being odd and irrational. And when the gulf appears between Whitney and Eve, Lemon Liz slithers in, pretending to be so 'understanding' about it all.

I've often thought that Eve went along with TC's tennis obsession for several reasons: i) she wanted TC to be happy; ii) she knew that Whitney had a wonderful voice, but wanted to steer her away from singing and into something else. The more Whitney was into tennis, the less likely it was that she would follow Eve's path into music.

Fox will have a changing moment when Whitney sings. Like his father, he will fall in love for the first time.

I know that some people have problems with Fox 'suddenly' falling for Whitney. I don't.

JER is like another soap writer I know....when a story doesn't at first succeed, try try again.

The setup is too perfect for him to ignore. The storyline works this time, instead of the Black Hole he created when trying to do the 'classic' stories the first time. (the Black Hole was Antonio/Sheridan/Luis)

To what 'Classic' stories do I refer?

The soap opera staples of .....

' Two Brothers In Love With the Same Woman'/

' Cain and Abel'.

Take your pick, because Reilly gets the chance to do them both with this story.

It's because of these soap staples that it had to be Whitney, instead of Simone ( who had the similar background to Fox of being the afterthought in the family), as the Russell daughter that captures Fox's heart.

Reilly is setting the foundation for Chad and Fox to be longtime, earned enemies of one another.

They will be fighting over everything: their places in the Crane family; Whitney's heart, and even Julian's heart.

From what the spoilers say, Fox is going to 'pretend' to be Chad's friend, all the while scheming to make Whitney his own. On a parallel track, is Fox's growing knowledge of Julian's relationship with Eve.

Like others, I believe Fox is going to be the one to put it altogether about Chad being Julian and Eve's son. But, he'll keep quiet because that would make Chad the eldest male Crane, and Fox just got rid of Ethan - he's not about to risk Chad coming in and taking his place as 'The Heir'.

While Fox would like to align himself with Alistair against Chad, he knows that Al wouldn't approve of his relationship/feelings for Whitney - so, he knows he can't trust Al at all.

While I agree with those who say that even if Chad is the eldest Crane, Alistair would never allow anyone part -Black to control the Crane Empire. Tis true, but I don't think Alistair is going to be around forever. Not that he'll die, but he can easily become 'incapacitated' by a stroke or some illness, thus the control of the Crane Empire will go to Julian, and it will definitely be a battle between the brothers for the father's ear and heart.

I agree with another poster who believes that Chadney's 'familial relations' will be revealed on their wedding day - probably by Fox. Reilly loves revealing scandalous information during church ceremonies...and this would be a classic to rival the DOOL revelation of Marlena and John's affair at Belle's christening.

Julian has already admitted his love for his son with Eve. That child is to him what Ethan is to Ivy - the only child of LOVE they have. Fox will be the also-ran with Julian too.

Whitney will believe Chad to be her brother long enough to enter into a serious relationship with Fox.

Of course, I do believe Chadney will be revealed to NOT be brother and sister - but, that's down the road....and by that time, Whitney will love Fox.

This triangle can go back and forth for awhile - especially on Passions. All the pieces of the puzzle are there
I don't mean wierd, Passions-like, stretch the boundaries stuff that they specialize in on this show. But, real, true, classic soap opera material that is RIGHT THERE. On paper, it's utterly classic soap that would go on for years on a normal soap, let alone Passions.

The outline is absolutely perfect

Now, let's add some other spoilers into this...

Theresa and Julian will be involved in a bitter custody fight over Ebait.

I believe Fox is going to offer to marry Theresa. He genuinely likes Theresa, and think she's a good mother to Ebait. Plus, he'd like to stick it to Julian and Ivy, who will be livid about the marriage. Add into it, it will give him a chance to be near Theresa's bestest friend, Whitney, and the marriage doesn't look to have many downsides.

Once married, it's quite possible that Theresa and Fox can develop romantic feelings for one another....which adds another level to the story...

Would Theresa work against Fox in his pursuit of Whitney because she wants Fox for herself?

Is water wet?

Plus, there's always been that 'vibe' between Theresa and Chad. I believed totally that Donn Swaby's Chad was Theresa's true soulmate. So, why wouldn't it be possible for Theresa, trying to 'help' Chad deal with his new family, that their feelings could 'grow' into something more also.

Fox and Theresa's marriage will drive Ethan insane with jealousy, which should explode his marriage to Gwen finally.

At every turn, there is good story. No matter what decision is made, it will have a ripple effect on the others. Stories rooted in character and history. These people are in one another's lives genuinely; no contrivance or crack-induced science fiction writing is necessary. ANYTHING is plausible with this group - which makes the writing possibilities absolutely astounding. These are romantic entanglements that could go on for years...LOL

What will the adults say?

How can Eve tell Whitney NO on Fox when she loves Julian?
What can Julian tell Fox? Would he tell his son to turn away from love or go for it? Fight for it?
TC will be in his own personal hell: not one, but TWO sons of Julian Crane involved with his 'Princess'.

The story has more than mere potential....it's soap opera gold.

This is the past coming to the present and affecting the future. Whatever you want to say about James Reilly, THIS is an outstanding achievement, and no other soap comes close to having something remotely like this.

There's only one problem:

CHARLES DIVINS

He's the stick in the mud for a possibly excellent story. He has no chemistry with Brook Kerr. He's horrible. And, NOBODY is going to convince me that THIS Chad is any match for Justin's Fox. Not gonna happen. Imagine him in scenes with Ben Masters - totally laughable.

The story of Chad Harris CRANE is one that was going to get MORE complicated as time went on...NOT less. Chad is not a filler character, like Hank Bennett or John Hastings. Chad's 'romance' with Whitney is the least of his story. Chad is NOT a supporting character in this section of the show. He is a LEAD character. His story lies in being The Black Crane - a story of a man who grew up with nothing, was thrown away deliberately by his grandfather, only to find out that he was a member of one of the richest families in the world. You need an actor that can portray all that complexity. Heck, at the very basic, you need to find someone that makes you feel Chad's pain and angst in wanting to have Whitney with him. Charles Divins is NOT that actor. He's had long enough. He's had enough truly dramatic material for the character of Chad to prove or disprove that he can handle the far more difficult storyline material that is to come.

Mr. Divins has FAILED every test to prove that he can handle the future stories of Chad Harris. It is inconceivable to me that anyone who monitors this program for NBC can sit there and say with a straight face that they think Divins is going to be able to go toe-to-toe with Justin Hartley, or that he won't be blown away by any and all scenes with Ben Masters. Passions is sitting on a goldmine that they can GENUINELY milk for years. Every piece of the puzzle is set up on the board. It's like watching the Sesame Street skit, ' Which one of these doesn't belong?' The obvious answer is Mr. Divins. They need to re-cast Chad with someone who can ACT, and will ADD to this story...not take away from it.
 

Looking at these spoilers and trying to make a few educated guesses, I am very Passion-ate about the short and long-term potential for these stories on Passions. But keeping someone in the position of a major player; someone who is supposed to anchor this story and obviously doesn't have the talent to support the story, will undermine the potency of this story, and could possibly turn it into a Passion-less problem for the show.