Trial and Error
Soaps have been drenched in crimes lately from rape to fraud to murder, which means in at least some of these stories' resolutions there will be at least one court scene. But after seeing so many sub-par if not downright pathetic trials over the years, I've begun to believe trial on soaps are often useless. I guess it doesn't help that I've never been able to figure out what the purpose of soap trials is. I think the problem is that the writers haven't either. Have you ever noticed how a majority of these trials are at best anti-climatic? How many trials do you remember? How many of them do you remember for their excellence? Sure, sometimes I remember parts of a trial like Another World's Grant confessing to framing Vicky for attempted murder, or One Life to Live's Karen Wolek confessing on the stand. But nine times out of ten the actual trial is of little consequence unless there is some big dramatic moment. I instead usually remember other things besides the trial. I remember Days' Sami nearly being executed, not her trial. I remember Guiding Light's Abby shooting her rapist, not what led up to it.
Granted, while a trial is unfolding, it isn't always a yawn. Sometimes based on the situation and the lives at stake, a trial can be incredibly engrossing. When As the World Turns' Margo faced the grand jury for pulling the plug on Casey, even if you could foresee what would get her off, it was amazing drama because of what it was doing to her and her family. And sometimes the story is so well told and done so realistically that it is worth it even if on the whole it didn't mean much. Many of the trials on AW in the long run meant very little but they were still tautly told stories. And yet, of all the things soaps trot out on a regular basis, I dare say trials are the worst. Paternity issues, having sex while drunk, car accidents in the rain, cancer scares, and miscarriages may have been done over and over again, but the possibilities in all cases are endless. There is always a way to make those stories new, unique, and fresh. Even murder mysteries or the onslaught of alleged serial killer stories we are being subjected to are all being told in different ways with different levels of quality to different results. But trials can only go in so many directions.
Latest Articles