ATWT 3 1 07

[@Oakdalian]

This episode is incredibly sad, most of all for what it indicates of the doomed path of ATWT. At best, there's the lean cast and implication that only a handful of people live in Oakdale, or Craig's boring pursuit of a third Snyder sister. The worst is clearly its ill-conceived saga of Emily's spiral into prostitution. It seems that there was no turning back from her downfall, not long into Kelly Hensley's tenure on the show. It's easy to think that Emily became a character for writers who hate women. Starting with the creepy about-face after donating an egg to Susan (and coveting baby Alison as her own for a while), a series of weird choices would define the character. She should have been Dr. Michaels' most important patient, a priority case receiving nonstop care. It's heartbreaking that Susan asks if she was raped, with no mention of that already happening a decade earlier. Maybe if she had the type of therapy that Iva and Margo got, this messy plot wouldn't have been approved. Hal's death couldn't cause this, but there's no explanation of what could. How the heck did having a child not stop her from going down this road? Saddling an actor with this for even a second just sets up the whole show to fail. On top of this, Alison had to become a porn star too. I don't understand why the Stewarts were kept around, except to be Oakdale's perpetual losers. Hopefully none of this was ever shared with Ellen!

[@2ToyBoys]

Meg working at Al's is cheaper than building a new set.

[@appouhal]

Plot Summary: Emily is sexua*ly assaulted and confesses to Dusty that she’s been escorting.

[@appouhal]

Emily’s Escort Storyline: 1:03, 10:11, 16:59, 29:43, 38:34, 46:30, 51:28 Next ATWT: 54:50

[@kellywittmann1893]

I really did not enjoy seeing a mentally unstable woman trafficked into prostitution and sexually assaulted. It's an important subject, but I'm not sure a daytime drama is the place to tackle it, and the graphic depiction seemed gratuitous. And can we stop with the cliched "shame showers" for women? Gwen just took hers a few days before Emily's!

[@Oakdalian]

I think daytime is the place to explore anything and everything, almost. The soap format has more time and opportunity for character development than any other medium. But a rushed story done on the cheap will always come across as thoughtless and irresponsible. ATWT certainly had time to explore why Emily spent years going from one bad choice to another, or at least have her work on improving. Instead we got decades of pathetic self-sabotage.