Line #43 YMMV/Passions


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** Ethan Crane got this a lot, as a lot of fans saw him as an asshole who treated both of his women like shit. He refused to cut bait on Gwen for her own mental well-being while refusing to allow Theresa to move on with her life (although it's often pointed out that it's Ethan's [[TheOtherDarrin second actor]] who usually gets this treatment and was more of a [[TookALevelInJerkass jerk]] than he initially was).
3	** Theresa and Gwen. Theresa's a batshit crazy stalker who can't deal with rejection, while Gwen is the poor cheated on woman who at worst, simply can't see that the man she is in love with is an asshole who doesn't love her but keeps leading her on because his reputation can't let him dump his longtime girlfriend for a crazy stalker he's fallen in love with.
4	* ArcFatigue: What ultimately killed the show. Even with its CultClassic status, even the most hardcore of fans found [[TheChrisCarterEffect the lack of any real resolutions to almost all of the show's main storylines after]] ''[[TheChrisCarterEffect years]]'' [[TheChrisCarterEffect of being displayed frustrating and eventually lost interest in following it anymore.]] Even worse, some of the storylines that had been a staple for the show (such as the star-crossed lovers Luis and Sheridan and that whole Chad and Whitney affair) fell apart, due to the "magical power" of...
5	* AssPull:
6	** The writers pull this in the series finale. It is revealed that Gwen and Rebecca once went to Vegas together to get over Ethan. While there, Gwen got drunk and married a total stranger by an Elvis impersonator, therefore making her marriage to Ethan null and void so that Ethan and Theresa can be free to marry. [[FacePalm Oh]] please!
7	** [[spoiler:Sheridan's niece Fancy Crane eventually came between her and longtime lover, Luis, her once-dead husband (and his older brother) Antonio [[UnexplainedRecovery inexplicably returns]] and picks up their relationship where they left off and the less said about the [[SeasonalRot "Vincent" fiasco]], the better.]]
8	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: When Theresa is giving birth to her son she, Gwen, and Ethan break character and start singing the theme song.
9	* BrokenBase:
10	** Fancy being introduced as Luis' new love interest. This led to some pretty nasty [[ShipToShipCombat internet board wars]] between Sheridan and Luis fans and Fancy and Luis fans.
11	** The fans who argue about Gwen and Theresa are always fighting over who's the better of the two and why. Despite Theresa having the majority of the fanbase on her side, this still happened nevertheless. Oddly enough, though, while Gwen's reputation with fans hasn't improved any over the years since the show's cancellation, Theresa's reputation has only gotten ''worse'' and there are those who feel that she isn't the heroine that we should all root for/emulate. Even her strongest of fans can't defend the fact that she used [[BedTrick sexual trickery in disguising herself as Gwen]] to sleep with Ethan to get impregnated by him, although she's not the only character to pull this in the show's history.
12	* CompleteMonster: [[DiabolicalMastermind Alistair Crane]] is the megalomaniacal BigBad driven by a [[ControlFreak need for control]]. Besides being an {{abusive\|Parents}} father and a BadBoss, he has forced his grandson to rape his granddaughter; [[DomesticAbuse physically and sexually abused his wife]]; tried to kill everyone in his family; committed several counts of rape, [[WouldHurtAChild including a 14-year-old girl]]; faked the deaths of two of his grandchildren, his daughter's lovers, his ex-wife, and her sister; left his daughter to believe that she killed her mother; arranged his daughter to have electroshock therapy; and tricked Whitney into believing she had slept with her brother. He committed most of these crimes for two reasons, to [[ItsAllAboutMe find a suitable heir]] or simply because doing things ForTheEvulz [[ItAmusedMe amused him]].
13	* DamselScrappy: Plenty of examples from this show, but Sheridan is probably the best one. There was barely a time, particularly in the early years, where she wasn't being abused, manipulated or placed in all sorts of imminent danger for a variety of reasons. It only got worse when she became pregnant and Charlie [[spoiler: (really ''Alistair'' in disguise)]] managed to knock her out by simply using a sock filled with sand.
14	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
15	** Tabitha and Timmy. While she is a snarky and quirky witch and occasional AudienceSurrogate, he was her impossibly cute dummy/assistant that only came alive for her and was like a son to her. Plus, fans loved the strong chemistry they had with one another and for providing the majority of the show's comic relief.
16	** Fancy Crane, given how her pairing with Luis caught on with fans and ultimately replaced Sheridan/Luis as the default super-couple.
17	** Esme, Fancy's perpetually drunk and pill-popping best friend.
18	** Fox Crane, when played by Creator/JustinHartley. It's almost hard to believe there were a full three years of this show before he slid into town.
19	* HarsherInHindsight:
20	** Quite possibly the saddest one yet: Josh Ryan Evans died ''the same day'' that Timmy's death aired.
21	** David Bailey, the second actor to play Alistair Crane, died after drowning in his pool. His death occurred while the show was airing a story arc about other characters who were trying to kill him.
22	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: In the final episode, after accepting the grace and love of God, and confessing centuries worth of sins, Tabitha, now firmly on the side of good, watches Theresa and Ethan's wedding happily, while remembering Timothy as his hand reaches down from Heaven to hold hers, revealing that one day the two will be reunited again, along with Endora and all the people she loves in Harmony.
23	* MemeticMutation:
24	** It's Fatuh.
25	** "Wait a minute. I know what's going on here!" (Note: [[TooDumbToLive He doesn't.]])
26	* MisaimedFandom: Gwen; she does some extremely bad things that qualify as MoralEventHorizon crossing, but some fans generally justify it by pointing out that she's driven to these things by Ethan's manipulation of her. Also Theresa pretending to be her friend just to get close to Ethan.
27	* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome:
28	** ''The whole show.'' Seriously, it has an old lady ''fighting off mountain lions while water-skiing''. This is the greatest show ever!
29	** The lesbian partners-in-crime Norma Bates (a very obvious homage to [[Film/{{Psycho}} Norman Bates]]) and Edna Wallace. Norma [[CargoShip carries her "Daddy's" skull around]] and [[CompanionCube talks to it as if it were alive]], and constantly plots with Edna to kill Tabitha.
30	* MoralEventHorizon:
31	** Gwen agreeing to help her mother with the Juanita Vasquez plot, arguably.
32	** Theresa's rape of Ethan (disguising herself as Gwen and drugging his drink). Same goes for Sheridan: Fancy tries to prove to Luis that her attacker came back into her room, and to prove it, she says a button got ripped off from his shirt when she fought him off. Sheridan sees it first on the floor. She grabs it and keeps it for herself in order to try and convince Luis that Fancy is crazy and is only trying to get attention.
33	** Kay also pulled the exact same trick, only she used Hecuba to magically disguise herself as Charity to sleep with Miguel. Perhaps it's even worse in her case, as [[spoiler: she ended up pregnant as a result ''and'' announced it at Miguel and Charity's wedding. Also, naming the baby girl she had Maria Ivy after her mother's rival due to Grace showing apparent favoritism for her dead sister's orphaned niece over her may qualify, too.]]
34	* PortmanteauCoupleName: ET or Therethan (Ethan/Theresa), Shuis (Sheridan/Luis), Charguel (Charity/Miguel), Chadney (Chad/Whitney), Gram (Grace/Sam), Savy (Sam/Ivy), Juvy (Julian/Ivy), Evian (Eve/Julian), Therox (Theresa/Fox), Gwank (Gwen/Hank, but although they were never a couple, [[FanPreferredCouple fans liked the idea of the two together]]).
35	* QuirkyWork: As lampshaded in the quote on the main page by Creator/CharlieBrooker, it was certainly more outlandish than your average soap opera that mostly stays grounded in reality.[[note]]Excluding the common soap traits as bringing characters BackFromTheDead, [[SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome aging babies or young children up overnight]] and [[SoapOperaDisease giving them "incurable" diseases or dying from "simple" diseases.]][[/note]] From hilarious sendups or spoofs, including ''Literature/TheWizardOfOz'', ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'' and even ''Series/TheOsbournes'' being randomly incorporated into serious storylines, to other zaniness such as a seemingly kind old woman really being a witch with a sentient dummy and another woman using a bag of ''sugar'' to fool people into believing she's pregnant, it pushes the show [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs into new territory.]]
36	* ReplacementScrappy: Cracked Connie, Tabitha's other dummy that was brought on shortly after Timmy/Josh Ryan Evans' death. Fans ''reviled'' this new addition and she was thankfully pulled after a very short time.
37	* RetroactiveRecognition: Justin Hartley of ''Series/ThisIsUs'' got his start on the show, as did Jesse Metcalfe before he moved on to ''Series/DesperateHousewives''.
38	* RonTheDeathEater: ''Gwen, full stop.'' While she isn't ''completely'' normal or innocent, both the fans and eventually the writers looked at her as the devil from almost the beginning, although FridgeBrilliance shows that Gwen would not have been so {{Flanderiz\|ation}}ed if Theresa had not butted into the relationship to begin with (plus having someone like [[ManipulativeBastard Rebecca]] for a mother as well as an [[DisappearedDad absentee/dead father]] certainly doesn't help.) Remember that Ethan didn't even ''like'' Theresa in the beginning and thought she was a bit crazy. Charity also got this treatment, since even the writers eventually preferred Kay with Miguel.
39	%%* SoBadItsGood: The whole damn show.
40	* SoOkayItsAverage: The [=DirecTV=] episodes.
41	* SpecialEffectFailure: Magically throwing around a vase through bad compositing.
42	* {{Squick}}: When Sheridan gave birth while in captivity, Charlie (dressed as a clown) was the only one there to witness the birth and coach her on. We later learn that she was [[spoiler: really Alistair, meaning that he saw his own daughter give birth. Blegh.]]
43	* SuperCouple: Ethan/Theresa, Sam/Grace, Miguel/Charity, Sheridan/Luis.
44	* TearJerker:
45	** Gwen's utter devastation of her stillborn daughter Sarah in LA and her aborted son Nathan from the "Who's The Mommy?" storyline.
46	** Grace's [[ConvenientMiscarriage miscarriage]] of her surprise pregnancy in the aftermath of learning Ethan's true paternity. She was so heartbroken that she nearly died from her grief. [[spoiler: Then years later, it's discovered that she was killed in a train bombing orchestrated by Alistair Crane while traveling with her [[ItMakesSenseInContext fake husband and their fake son.]]]] She was one character who was mostly sympathetic and not involved in any of the underhanded dealings of the town who had received one of the saddest fates.
47	** Timmy's death, especially with [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim Josh Ryan Evans dying as well.]] His last act (giving Charity his heart) displayed that he (and by extension, Tabitha, who he served as a MoralityPet to) was GoodAllAlong and even in the years after his death, characters still reminisced about him fondly and what he meant to them.
48	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Fans would have liked to see Hank and Gwen as a couple, to give him some extra screen time, her a chance to be with someone other than [[{{Jerkass}} Ethan]] and for them both to gain some CharacterDevelopment. And let's not get started on [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter Hank, or Fox]] for that matter...
49	* UnintentionallySympathetic: Tabitha and Timmy. Yes, they were trying to stop Miguel and Charity from being intimate to the point of trying to ''kill'' her and she had done other horrible acts including [[spoiler: killing Charity's mother in a house fire]], but they only did it to both survive themselves and to not incur the wrath of "the boys in the basement", whose punishment for their failure would involve their deaths anyway or [[FateWorseThanDeath something far worse.]] [[spoiler: Plus her ultimate and genuine HeelFaceTurn (due to his afterlife presence and influence) helps a great deal with this.]]
50	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Martin Fitzgerald and Katherine Crane fit this trope to a T. Although you may feel sympathy at first for the latter regarding the ''tremendous'' amount of abuse that she suffered at the hands of Alistair and somewhat understand why the former wanted to protect her, the fact that they let their families believe that they were dead (and in Sheridan's case, manipulated into thinking that she herself had killed Martin while she was still a child) makes it difficult to do. Worse, while the Cranes inherited Katherine's abuse, causing them to (initially) grow up to be spoiled and ruthless human beings, the Lopez-Fitzgeralds were left hand-to-mouth while a heartbroken Pilar had to single-handedly support the family as a maid working for the Cranes. Even upon them returning and Pilar confronting them, Martin flat-out tells her that he no longer loves her.

Context YMMV / Passions