The more things change ...

... the more they stay the same.

Is it me, or are the citizens of Pine Valley stuck on a hamster wheel?

David Hayward. He left because what was once a thriving, multi-faceted character had turned into a mustache-twirling cartoon bad guy. No facets. No layers. Just evil for evil's sake, which had become a total bore. It was a waste of a fine actor's talents. And then he was gone.

Fast forward. Now he's back. And I, along with many other fans, was so excited about his return. Great actor once again united with a potentially great role. New headwriter. Fresh start. Endless possibilities.

But what do we have? A man obsessed with the daughter he never really knew to the point he has turned Amanda into a whore and Krystal into an addict. Once again he's a mustache-twirling bad guy bent on getting revenge against a man (JR) who didn't do a damn thing to him. News flash, David. JR isn't responsible for the tornado. It's all Zach's fault, remember?

JR Chandler. How many years now have we been forced to watch him walk around, in and out of a bottle, pining over Babe? Putting aside the fact that Babe was certainly not worth all that devotion … it’s enough already. The heir to the Chandler fortune has been burdened with his mother’s heart. The ruthlessness of Adam colliding with the compassion of Dixie. Fearlessness battling with an inner desire to be a decent guy. That makes the potential of this character also endless. The warring factions within him make him compelling. But do we get to see any of that played out? No. Just more of the same.

He’s drunk and mean. He’s sober and sorry. He’s obsessed with pleasing daddy (or destroying him, depending on the day) and he’s obsessed with his dead wife. But for me, the big question is why? Seems to me like he and Babe had far more bad days than good ones. And let’s not forget about the day he loved her so much he tried to kill her. Theirs was no great love story. It’s just another example of how soap writers don’t know how to tell a good love story anymore.

Unless a couple comes along that can create their own romance …

Enter Zach Slater. In one corner is the wife who has his heart. In the other corner, a pair of fluttering eyelashes that have his attention. A different damsel in distress; a new sob story; a fresh batch of tears ... but the same old trap. He's been there so often, you'd think he would recognize the signs by now.

Zach is one of the few characters who have a chance to realize a large part of his potential. He gets to be dark and ominous, but also loving and generous. He can be the villain and the hero in the same storyline. But that is due more to the portrayer’s skill than the ability of the writers to script something worthy of him. Instead he is forced to replay the same scenes over and over, like something out of “Groundhog Day.” How refreshing it would be to see this intelligent, resourceful man learn from the mistakes of the past instead of repeating them with alarming ease.

Bianca Montgomery. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Big brown eyes and a cold, selfish heart. Clueless and self-serving, taking what she wants now with no worry about what it will cost tomorrow. She has always been a supporter of Kendall only as long as it didn't interfere with her own wants or needs (or those of anybody she deemed more important).

They try to pass her off as some wise old soul who has nothing but love in her heart for the masses, but that's not who she is. She's the kind of woman who would show up on her sister's doorstep with no warning with a baby on board that just happens to have been fathered by her big-hearted, generous (and apparently stupid) brother-in-law. Nobody gets a heads up phone call. No respect for the fact that Zach and Kendall were trying to enjoy some much-deserved and long-awaited private time. So what? Bianca needed to get it off her chest so she could feel better. The rest of the world, including Kendall and Zach, be damned.

Then she moved into Kendall's house and started playing house with the new love of her life, which gave her a front row seat to Zach's suffering at the loss of his wife. So what did she do when the sister she betrayed woke up? She rushed in and dropped a baby bomb on her. Maybe she was just trying to get Kendall to flatline so she could save her. Who knows? Maybe she’s got Father Clarence on speed dial and she wanted to give him a little work.

All I know is I’m glad she and Reese are out of Kendall’s house. I only wish Zach had sent them packing before Kendall came home. But, that would have given him a chance to show growth as a character, and that is apparently forbidden. Why? Because the more things change … the more they stay the same.