When the soaps get extra soapy. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the plot twists in daytime drama that left our jaws on the floor.
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00:00 "There was a great deal more to your relationship with Mark O'Day than you have admitted."
00:03 "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"
00:06 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the plot twists
00:11 and daytime drama that left our jaws on the floor.
00:14 "You really are from another planet, aren't you?"
00:16 "A star, actually."
00:17 Number 10. Lucky is alive. General Hospital.
00:21 Not only was he the beloved son of the show's ultimate supercouple,
00:25 but Lucky Spencer was coming into his own as a soap opera hero.
00:28 "You're sure everything's under control? You took on Marino, I trusted you,
00:34 I took you at your word and my boy is dead?"
00:36 When he was presumed dead in a 1999 fire, it was an aching and terrifying moment for
00:42 the Spencer family. We watched Luke and Laura grieve, process, and ultimately lash out at each
00:47 other. "I'm sure he didn't even wake up. He inhaled the smoke. Otherwise he would have been out of the
00:52 window, baby. He's a handy little guy, he's always been such a handy little guy."
00:59 The revelation that Lucky was not only alive, but trapped by the Spencer's long-time rivals,
01:04 the Cassidines, was a welcome shocker. Given how far the show had taken us down the road of their
01:08 despair, though, it was a revelation that was well-timed for maximum emotional effect.
01:13 "You won't escape."
01:14 "Well, maybe not the first time, or the time after that."
01:21 "But I'll make it eventually."
01:24 Number 9. Delia's Death - The Young and the Restless
01:27 Revolving around the drama-filled denizens of Genoa City,
01:31 The Young and the Restless had its fair share of sad storylines.
01:34 "Delia's dead. Are you telling me my daughter's...oh my..."
01:40 Delia Abbott was the very happy but very sick young daughter of Billy Abbott and Chloe Mitchell.
01:45 Audiences watched as she bravely fought against childhood leukemia, but soon another unexpected
01:50 tragedy struck the family. Delia was struck by a hit-and-run driver in 2013.
01:54 "It's awful, but it was not Billy, it was another driver. Someone else did this."
01:58 "He left her on the side of the road."
02:00 But no convenient soap opera physics or sleight of hand were called on to save her,
02:04 and her parents were left to pick up the pieces in the aftermath.
02:07 "He chose not to help her. He also left her alone.
02:10 He didn't even cry out for help. And I'm paying for my stupid mistake."
02:18 Number 8. Stefano's Return - Days of Our Lives
02:21 If there's one thing you could always count on,
02:24 it's that Stefano DiMera would find some way to escape death.
02:27 "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Where is this? For God's sake. What the hell is going on here?
02:35 Am I in a coffin?"
02:39 Leave it to Days of Our Lives to find an incredibly ingenious and completely
02:44 unexpected way to revive the longtime villain.
02:46 Viewers thought Stefano would be gone for good when Hope Brady shot him dead,
02:50 after which his original actor Joseph Mascolo retired from the role and passed away.
02:54 "A coward. Just like that banal dead husband of yours. May he rest in peace."
03:02 Not only was his subsequent revival in 2017 a shock because DiMera was alive,
03:11 but because Mascolo was still playing him.
03:13 In footage shot before his death, Mascolo was able to live on in the role even after his death.
03:19 "Say something, damn it. But then what can you really say? Because you have nothing."
03:26 Number 7. Riva's Clone - Guiding Light
03:30 "Josh Lewis. I'd like you to meet Riva Shane."
03:35 In the late 1990s, Dolly the sheep was a household name.
03:40 The successful cloning of a sheep inspired ethical debates,
03:44 cultural commentary, and even a soap opera storyline or two.
03:47 "But I don't know what to do now. What am I supposed to do now? You tell me.
03:52 You tell me what Riva would do now."
03:57 When Guiding Light tackled the subject, it did so with a particularly campy plot
04:01 involving leading lady Riva Shane. With Riva presumed dead, which admittedly happened a lot,
04:06 her husband Joshua had her cloned. In a severe case of soap opera rapid aging syndrome,
04:12 the clone Dolly went from infant to full-grown adult in record time.
04:16 "It can't be you. You can't be here now. Sorry to disappoint you, but I am.
04:24 I am back and it's over now."
04:27 It was a shocker, made possible only by time travel and some serious suspension of disbelief.
04:33 Number six. Erika's past comes back to haunt her. All My Children.
04:37 Due to their often cyclical nature, some soap operas create new plots out of old ones,
04:42 sometimes rewriting everything we thought we knew about beloved characters.
04:46 "She wanted to terminate her pregnancy. I did, but I saved the Emperor.
04:52 And I was able to give my wife the child she always wanted. You, Josh."
04:59 In 1974, All My Children's Erika Kane had an exceptionally groundbreaking and timely
05:04 storyline that saw her having an abortion. But in a 2006 reversal that made many fans angry,
05:10 a new character named Josh Madden appeared.
05:13 "I'm the one who gave you life. It doesn't matter that Erika Kane and Jeff Martin made you.
05:17 I, Greg Madden, will always be your rightful father."
05:22 With him came the bombshell that he was the result of Erika's thought-to-be terminated pregnancy.
05:27 The revelation that he was somehow transplanted into Dr. Greg Madden's wife's womb as a fetus
05:33 just didn't add up for anyone, but it was certainly unexpected.
05:37 "Stop. I'm... this is, you know, surprising. Not to mention nauseating."
05:42 "Will you check your schedule and please tell me when you plan on blowing up my life?"
05:47 Number five. Karen's testimony. One Life to Live.
05:50 "He, uh, enjoyed reminding me about the past."
05:54 "Reminding you how?"
05:56 "He would, um... he said he was never going to let me forget it."
06:01 Karen Wolok arrived on the scene in 1976, providing Landview, Pennsylvania,
06:05 with a dose of much-needed adrenaline. Blackmailed into sex work by her former lover Marco,
06:11 Karen's secrets were exposed in a blistering courtroom scene. Racked with guilt, she couldn't
06:16 keep her secret life hidden once Marco was murdered and she was cross-examined in court.
06:20 "I begged... excuse me. I begged him not to go to L.A."
06:25 "No, no, no. Did you pay him? Did you go?"
06:27 "No, I did not pay him! I didn't have the financial means to pay him!"
06:30 Her emotional testimony saw her raked over the coals,
06:33 burying her soul to the entire town and to her husband Larry.
06:36 It was a striking moment that destroyed Karen's marriage and forced her to rebuild her life.
06:41 But it was the performance of actress Judith Light that made sure no one ever forgot it.
06:46 "If you would stop lying to this court!"
06:49 "I am not lying! I came here to see justice, son! Vicki Riley didn't kill anybody! Why can't you understand that?!"
06:57 Number 4. Metro Court Hostage Crisis. General Hospital.
07:01 One thing Port Charles residents never could avoid was a catastrophic event putting all their lives in danger.
07:06 "You lay a hand on her, and I will kill you."
07:10 "I'm not the one living on borrowed time. But if you want to survive this,
07:14 you might want to counsel your friend on the benefits of compliance."
07:17 When almost everyone in town was held hostage by a group of masked gunmen in the lobby of
07:21 the Metro Court Hotel, it wasn't clear at first who was responsible. But the revelation that Jerry
07:26 Jax, the troublemaking younger brother of Jasper Jax, was behind it all made a lot of sense in retrospect.
07:32 "I think a time lapse is in order. Come here, you!"
07:35 "Really?"
07:42 The last time we saw him, he was a criminal and money launderer who skipped town after being
07:46 arrested. His return set in motion events that would forever change the show. Most of all,
07:52 the crisis saw longtime character Alan Quartermain suffer a fatal heart attack.
07:56 "Rest is critical."
07:57 "I'm gonna pull through you. See, I've got this great doctor."
08:02 "Hello. I'm not dead yet."
08:06 Number 3. Molaswine Island. Days of Our Lives.
08:16 Sometimes when the ratings dwindle, the cast does too. In the early 2000s,
08:21 Days of Our Lives was hemorrhaging viewers, and something needed to be done.
08:25 So, longtime actors were fired en masse as the Salem Stalker dispatched characters left and right.
08:31 Dr. Marlena Evans was revealed to be the killer, which was crazy enough,
08:35 but the big reveal set a new standard for soap opera retcons.
08:39 "Remember when Carly Manning was buried alive?"
08:41 "Of course I remember. Vivienne Allamean drugged her.
08:44 That drug simulated death. It fooled everyone. Now maybe something like that happened to us."
08:50 Not only was everyone alive and their respective actors brought back, but they all had been
08:55 kidnapped by Andre DiMera and were being held captive on an island called Molaswine. You know,
08:59 it's like New Salem, but backwards.
09:01 "And I heard this, this noise, and then, uh, it began falling.
09:06 And the next thing I knew, I was, I was in Salem Place. Here. Here."
09:11 Number 2. BJ's Heart. General Hospital.
09:14 "Hey, you know, this is gonna hurt, but I have to take you out of here.
09:17 Oh my goodness."
09:23 A sudden school van crash left Bobby Spencer and Dr. Tony Jones' beloved daughter Barbara Jean
09:28 brain-dead. Knowing that there's a girl at General Hospital in need of a heart transplant,
09:32 Tony convinces Bobby that BJ's heart should go to her.
09:35 "There is a little girl upstairs that has a chance at a healthy, normal life,
09:41 and this is her chance. It's her only chance. Why are you doing this?"
09:45 But that's not even the half of it. The child is BJ's cousin Maxie. When his brother Frisco and
09:50 his wife Felicia find out that their child's miracle comes at the expense of their niece's life,
09:54 their happiness is short-lived.
09:56 "Oh, God. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for Jean's heart."
10:06 It's a tearful and heartbreaking moment of realization between parents whose prayers
10:10 have been answered and parents whose worst fears are coming true.
10:13 #1. Marlena's Possession - Days of Our Lives
10:32 Dr. Marlena Evans has been guilty of many things, but surely deadly attacks by a wild panther and
10:38 a swarm of bees couldn't be laid at her doorstep, right? Wrong.
10:41 "You're right, Kristen. Everything you suspected is true. The prophecy is true."
10:52 When Days of Our Lives introduced its wacky ratings-grabbing demonic possession storyline,
10:57 no one could believe they were going there. But not only did they go there,
11:01 they gave Marlena a host of supernatural abilities that wreaked havoc on every single character in
11:06 Salem. The show and its visual effects department took the opportunity to go full exorcist.
11:22 Outlandish as it was, it's gone down in history as a high point for the show,
11:26 and may be one of the reasons it survived so long.
11:30 "Stop it!" "Does that disgust you? Well, you disgust me."
11:39 What was your favorite soapy surprise? Sound off in the comments.
11:44 "Lots more where that came from. But you know that, don't you?"
11:48 Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo,
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