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According to the show's extremely detailed Wikipedia page, "In 2005, so many plotlines came to involve an element of rape that fans began to refer to that year as the 'Year of the Rapes.'" At one point, it felt like any female character (and a few men) were about to get assaulted at any moment. Most soap operas rely on sexual assault a lot more than they should, and Passions once again took regular tropes to another level.
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The characters and actual plot devices were all that mattered. But the best part about Passions, was that plot was secondary. Meaning, each episode we'd get a snippet of a character lip syncing to a really bad song. For example one day (in Passions time) all the young people of Harmony participated in a battle of the bands (I think?) and the song lasted for a whole week's worth of episodes. Each full day in the Passions universe lasted at least one week in real-life time.
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Actually tuning into show everyday was hellish because so little happens in each episode, almost like the creators never expected anyone to actually watch it every day. In fact, the show was torturous to watch during the summer when I was able to catch episodes daily. When it came to Passions, having a linear plot wasn't much of a priority. And since we're talking about diversity, the show featured not only racial diversity but there was a an actual orangutan that served as the caretaker/nurse for a character's mom. While Passions was supremely messed up in a lot of ways, I guess they deserve credit for being a little woke as far as racial diversity goes. Taking place in the fictional small coastal town of Harmony, the show's first season initially focused on the working class Mexican-Irish Lopez-Fitzgerald family and the wealthy Crane family.
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