How Would You .... No. 10, Summer Cliffhanger

JasonDíSpeech

JasonDíSpeech

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So...the Friday show which was to leave us hanging for two weeks was something of a letdown. (And I'm being nice there.)

So, what might you have done to keep viewers clamouring for the next episode?

I'd definitely have revealed the kidnapper (but that's a no-brainer). And made it someone big & unexpected, with a connection to Victor (so he still looks believably guilty). Somebody like Vivian, Xander, Ernesto, or Owen Kent.

Chad/Abby the reveal should have happened right at the end of the episode, OR Chad should have figured out André's duplicity and been headed to confront him at the end of the episode. Something.

Justin should have been ousted as the DA and replaced by Aiden in the first act, and Adrienne could have been consoling (mostly innocently) him when Lucas walked in in the final act. (It would be slightly ambiguous to viewers...then again, I'm not sure the writers want us to care about Lucas, Adrienne, or Justin at all, with how little we see them).

Rafe/Hope could have had their mind-boggling sexy time, only to get a knock on the door. Rafe answers it and says..."Oh my god, what are you doing in Salem...?"
 
Jason, thank you! I was trying and trying to come up with a #10, and yours is perfect!
Also, I like nearly all your scenarios. Good ones.

I definitely would have left OUT the sexcapade between Hope & Rafe. Just NO. So unnecessary.

Kat's idea of seeing Tate is also good. We should have seen him, and perhaps heard a woman's voice on the phone with her "boss", noting she has arrived, what next, and then being shocked over what she is told. "No, You cannot be serious".

The last few minutes is when the various cliffhangers should have been shown, so I would have had someone call Chad, one of his own men, who talked to someone else at the airport/airline, and there was no such person as Jen Thomas on the flight originally. Chad recognizes the set up, mutters "Andre"

Kayla passes out by the nurses' station, as Steve arrives.

Maggie gets a call from the hospital asking her to come in for a consult.

At some prison, it is exercise yard time, Clyde & Xander are talking together as Orpheus comes up to them.
 
Loving everyone's ideas!

I would have revealed Tate and his kidnapper. I actually would have had it turn out to be Kristen and Summer, who happen to be half sisters. Summer is holding Tate in some large mansion and the butler mentions her sister. In walks Kristen with her signature smirk.

Hope and Rafe would have been relegated to 1 scene, 2 tops. Dinner and a movie and that's it! They get interrupted and Rafe leaves. Shawn comes over and spends the rest of the episode with his mom. This is meant to be the "light" in the middle of the darkness of the rest of the episode.

We see the back of Abby in a nice bedroom somewhere as Chad and Jennifer are devastated. Bonus points if they actually could have gotten Kate Mansi (Abby) to pretape this one scene. Then we could see her face too. Just to show she is alive.

Belle is on her way to pick up Claire and take her to see Shawn and Hope. A black gloved hand covers her mouth from behind and she passes out and is seemingly kidnapped. Her phone falls to the ground as we see an incoming call from Shawn.

At state prison, we see Xander flashing back to Jeannie T accusing him of rape and having him arrested. He is still furious. Mutters that she will pay one day. A familiar voice says "patience my friend we will all get what we want". Camera pans to Clyde. Another familiar voice says "we certainly will" as the camera pans to Orpheus. Cue the villain music. As we see Orpheus smiling at a photo of John, Marlena, Belle and Brady. Camera focuses in on Belle. END
 
All of these ideas sound great, and the multiple cliffhangers would have definitely given most viewers at least one reason to anticipate the show returning after two weeks.

As others have mentioned, Tate should have been shown, either by himself (in a playpen), or somebody with him just off screen on the phone. That story last aired earlier in the week and then just like most of the stories created by this regime, was left hanging for a few weeks. More than likely, the ending will be anticlimatic the way it dragged on.

I like the idea of Chad and Jennifer finding out about Abigail's death (or non-death) at the end of the episode instead of towards the beginning. They could have saved Jennifer's scenes with Jack after the show returned from the hiatus as it was so disappointing anyway and they wasted one of Jack's episodes when the others were so good. After Chad and Jennifer realize Abby's fate, the camera could have panned towards a young woman in a bedroom somewhere to give viewers the idea that Abby is not dead, but we don't know any details yet about where she is at or what happened to her.

Hope and Rafe could have had their date night, but had been interrupted by Roman halfway through the episode about Aiden being the new D.A. It should not have been the ending that day.

Finally, I like the idea of a teaser about the villains that should have been part of the cliffhanger.
 
Hope walks into the small park off the Town Square, looked shocked, and blurts out: "OMG, I thought you were dead!" Two weeks later, a dog who looks just like Pookie scampers by her.

Victor gets a call from University Hospital. After apparently hearing a voice on the other end, he yells, "OMG, Maggie!" Two weeks later, it's revealed that without her smart phone, Maggie had run up a big bill on her room phone talking to Summer.

Chad checks his voice mail and exclaims: "News about Abigail." In the first episode two weeks later, he's shown discovering that the message was Sami calling to tell him that he was a doodyhead to marry such a tramp.

Hope gets a call from Roman who's saying: "Dammit, Hope, Aiden's talking about your secrets to the press over at the Pub." After the Olympics, a panicked, Hope rushes there and learns that Aiden is saying that she is still fixated on Bo, eats crackers in bed, and has a tattoo of Spongebob Squarepants on the small of her back.
 
An F3 or F4 tornado approaches Salem. The residents (ALL of them not just the 2 or 3 in a bubble together) are preparing for the worst after an evacuation order to report to shelters. The police, Black Patch, and others are searching in teams for people still in their homes; medical personnel are frantically evacuating patients to the bomb shelter basement of the hospital, the older folks are preparing the basement at St. Luke's, others are gathering supplies (JJ breaks the windows in all the stores to gather books for people to read).

There is fear and urgency everywhere, arguments, fistfights, all kinds of high drama, and all are affected. Several people can't be located - Jennifer, Chad and baby Thomas, Marlena, Sonny, Gabi and Ari, Deimos. Searches are underway for all of the missing (except Deimos). Cut to the tornado hitting a nearby prison and several prisoners escaping through the damaged gates while corrections officers are looking for a missing cat (after conferring via Skype with Carrie and Rafe about possible places to search before the phones were knocked out).

The escaped prisoners include four people with ties to Salem, three of which plan to return to seek revenge and one (Eric) who is going back to help with possible injuries from the tornado or cat scratches from the search. Just as they prepare to head out, the tornado hits, three take cover and Eric is injured by a flying stethoscope (probably Daniel's).

The leading edge of the tornado hits first at the Horton cabin, injuring several resident raccoons that failed to heed the take shelter warning. As it moves toward the town, we see Ciara looking toward it with scared face (which is the same as her happy face and sad face), while screaming is heard in the background. The lighting and electricity sputter then total blackness.
 
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