Yes, of course, it may seem many of us here are complaining. Yes, count me in as one of those who do think this is dragging too long. I do get your point, though, ASpotAbove, that if it moved too fast, we would not be too happy either. The show needs suspense, action, drama.
But see, to me, in order for a storyline to succeed, whether faster or slower, there has to be great writing. To be fair, the new writers have done a good job, most of the time. Except for the timeline of Bo's return and death (too much happened in 24 hours), and now, this story with Abby and Ben. Don't even get me started on Sami, as in my opinion, she brings nothing to the show and should've stayed gone dreaming about the looooooove of her life EEEEEJJJJ!.
But the rest has been pretty good. Yes, the acting (Kayla, Hope, Steve, Abby, even Ben... wow, creepy !), has been great.
But Abigail getting kidnapped for how long now ? And in order to slow the pace, the writers (and us) have to let go of some basic logic : where does she go the bathroom, why is she not on the bed, where did Ben find the midwife, doesn't anyone ever see or hear anything ? Plus, the writers have Abigail act like a brainless woman. Yes, again, she's in pain, I get that. But like many said, she could have done so many things with the darn phone. But to see her constantly dropping it just when she's about to succeed. One only wants to roll one's eyes ! It's beyond annoying. Same with Rafe. He's usually so sharp and now, he's so slow it's frustrating. I catch myself yelling at my TV : Come on, man, do something !
Add to this the fact that Chad has amnesia and can't remember why he fought with Ben. This is just too much. Seriously. Too much to make a good, riveting storyline.