Where does Melanie belong?

So I was reading a discussion topic on one of the other soap boards about Friday's episode. They were discussing how Melanie was talking to Brady and how they wished their conversation was much longer because Brady and Melanie were friends that had previously kissed and flirted with each other awhile back. The consensus on that board was that Melanie was much more interesting when she was married to Phillip and paired up with older characters like Brady and Nathan.

Personally, I disagree. I think one of the biggest mistakes the previous head writer made was placing Melanie in the older group. It was confusing at first because she was brought on the show originally as Max Brady's (a character that was considered too old by the Hortons to date Abby) younger sister. When she married Phillip and was pregnant by him, I assumed they had aged the character a few more years or something. I didn't watch the show much at the time though.

When I tuned back in for good after the reboot, I was highly confused when I saw Melanie hanging out with Abby (whom had been de-aged) and Gabi (who had just graduated from high school). It was hard to think of Melanie as someone in her late teens/early 20s after all of her previous storylines, not to mention the fact that she worked as a nurse. I don't know much about the nursing profession, so I could be wrong on this, but aren't the youngest nurses at least twenty five years old or something?

Now after watching for a few months, I think Melanie works better with the younger crowd. Her friendship with Abby is actually kind of cute (although I prefer Chelsea as Abby's best friend) and her relationship with Chad isn't too terrible (I have some nitpicks about it though, lol). Plus now that she's been downgraded to Abby's sidekick, she's not that annoying, lol.

I actually think that Nathan was just the right age for her. He wasn't much older than her, not as old and experienced as Phillip. He was a doctor, but a really young doctor. Out of all her pairings I liked her with Nathan the best. I did actually think her relationship with Dario was really cute and was actually starting to enjoy them when they got rid of him. I know, everyone hates him because he was a Hernandez, but he was pretty good for that younger age group and he and Melanie actually worked. Other than that I really don't care where she goes, I've never been a big fan and there's really no need for her. I liked her better at first when she was a little villainess, kind of a younger version of Nicole, but they did a 180 with her and suddenly everyone LOVED her. I really hate when they do that, just change someone from a bad girl to a goody too shoes everyone kisses up to.

they dont even seem to be playing how she is now Maggie Horton's grand daughter to much any more,. I hope they back burn here for a while, she is one annoying character that I have never cared anything before. I would rather have Max and Chelsea back then her.

I'm not much of a Melanie fan, but she definitely works better in the younger set as a supporting character.

Yes, I am liking her storyline as Abby's friend and confidant much more than her storyline with Chad. They're a snoozefest. I know they're a couple in real life, but that doesn't make them any more interesting.

Frankly, I like Chad and Gabby better, they have better chem.

I agree with both of you. It's interesting that Molly and Casey's real life chemistry doesn't translate into their characters. I'm not much of a Chad fan, but I do like him better with Gabi. The Abby/Melanie dynamic is great the way it is, with the latter being there for Abby.

I know! It's so weird because I follow them both on Twitter and they're so entertaining on there. If you look at them in real life through their pics and videos, they make a great couple. I'm not sure why it doesn't translate well onscreen.

Personally I think that Chad and Abby had better chemistry. The writers just started writing them badly in order to capitalize on Casey and Molly's real life relationship. However, I don't think they should get back together.

I actually don't think Gabi and Chad have chemistry either. I love Gabi (most of the time) and I think she's gorgeous, but I think she needs someone stronger than Chad. If he's completely oblivious to Gabi manipulating him, then he probably will be oblivious if someone else tried to do it while he's dating Gabi.

The Chad and Melanie romance could have been more dramatic if they just wrote it correctly. The fact that Chad's Stefano's son needs to be addressed onscreen more. I know he doesn't want anything to do with him, but they still need more scenes of them trying to reach out to Chad. They abandoned that far too quickly. If the DiMera/Kiriakis feud was still going on, they could have turned it into this Romeo/Juliet kind of storyline, seeing as how Chad's a DiMera and Melanie's (sort of) a Kiriakis. Throw in Gabi's scheming and the fact that Chad and Melanie work for two competing companies (Countess Wilhelmina and MadWorld) and you've got a pretty interesting storyline.

I've seen some clips of Nathan and Melanie and I enjoyed them too. It's a shame they wrote him out. They made a great couple.

I honestly don't think they know what to do with Melanie. They seem to be just chem testing her everywhere,. I swear these writers couldn't write a proper coupling to save their lives!

Very true, and once they do find a great couple, they tear them apart.

I know they do the tearing apart for angst but I could sure live without other man angst. There are more things to go through in the life of a married couple then just another man or woman popping up. I mean, that's just not realistic. Most married people I know do not ever have to contend with another man or woman interfering. Life itself is angst enough for any marriage to contend with.