Karen,Abby and Justice.

[Jimmy Todd]

When Karen finds out that Abby owns Murakami and had defrauded her and Gary, she and Gary are determined to send her to jail. Karen did waver a bit because Abby was Sid's sister. However, is there another more potent reason to give Abby a pass? Abby saved Diana, Karen's daughter's life when Abby gave Diana her kidney. Should someone such as Mack, have reminded her of that? Should Karen herself have brought that up and said she could never bring herself to press charges?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Bad folks sometimes do stuff to look good.

I say: let her fry!

 

[Julia's Gun]

Going back to Season 4, In the same episode when Abby donated her kidney to Diana, Karen tried to thank her in the hospital, but Abby was not interested and was very angry. There was so much bad blood between them by that point over Sid's death, and Gary and Val splitting up, Abby shunned her attempt to reconclie and said something like 'Save a whale in my name, do what you like, but stay away from me because I do not like you.'

Their relationship never really recovered from that.

 

[Daniel Avery]

The show made it a point to have those two go back and forth on reasons to hate one another as well as opportunities to reconcile (or at least lay down the dueling pistols). The ground beneath them kept shifting back and forth but the rivalry had to be preserved for the sake of the show. Having those two become friends would have been akin to making JR and Cliff into golfing buddies, or Alexis and Krystle doing one another's hair.

That said, in the Murakame/Lotus Point plot, I think too much time had passed (and too many other slights had occurred) for Karen to use the Diana situation as a way of forgiving Abby. Abby's scheme to take Meg from M&K (to help Greg win that election) would have been tops on Karen and Mack's "Unforgivable Sin" List and would have cancelled out any sympathies the two may have had toward Abby. Scheming to take away Lotus Point and drill for oil on it would have scored lower on that (extensive) list than trying to take their daughter.

 

[Stillwitty]

When Karen finds out that Abby owns Murakami and had defrauded her and Gary, she and Gary are determined to send her to jail. Karen did waver a bit because Abby was Sid's sister. However, is there another more potent reason to give Abby a pass? Abby saved Diana, Karen's daughter's life when Abby gave Diana her kidney. Should someone such as Mack, have reminded her of that? Should Karen herself have brought that up and said she could never bring herself to press charges?

True. But Abby also tried to take Meg away from them and any number of other high crimes and misdemeanors. That's a hard call...

 

[Jimmy Todd]

Interesting points. Yet, Karen and Mack let Abby stay with them temporarily in the reunion, Back to the Cul-de-Sac. Shows how complex their relationship was.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Karen and Mack let Abby stay with them temporarily in the reunion, Back to the Cul-de-Sac. Shows how complex their relationship was.

Or how poorly the writers understood the dynamics of those characters. They took many liberties in that miniseries for the sake of "telling the story they wanted to tell" rather than telling a story that honored the original series.

 

[Stillwitty]

Interesting points. Yet, Karen and Mack let Abby stay with them temporarily in the reunion, Back to the Cul-de-Sac. Shows how complex their relationship was.

Yep....but then again, Karen also opened her door to at least 3 women pursuing her husband (Jill, Anne & Paula) so she really had a hard time saying No to anyone - except poor, frustrated Mack...lol

Or how poorly the writers understood the dynamics of those characters. They took many liberties in that miniseries for the sake of "telling the story they wanted to tell" rather than telling a story that honored the original series.

Agree! Absolutely ignored character arcs and personalities. Would Mack EVER speak to Karen in such a mean manner with zero regard for her feelings? What happened to Meg's red hair? And seriously, any daughter of Karen Mackenzie wouldn't dress like that until at least middle school when adolescence kicks in. Just so many little picayune things noticed...

 

[Soaplover]

In regards to the reunion movie....Maybe Mack was sick and tired of Karen being.. well.. a Karen so I could buy him finally pushing back against her. The part of the mini series I didn't like was Val being kind of a bitch. She could have had a backbone and been semi decent to everyone.. including Abby (you know the old saying.... kill them with kindness).

I remember Karen being upset and angry at Abby for somehow getting out of being charged with what she did with Lotus Point (and quite frankly I viewed Abby's move with that as a way to get back at Gary/Karen for interfering with her plans for Lotus Point) and even yelling at Abby when she Abby came to say good bye... but Abby always knew what to say to catch Karen off guard. Karen was the coyote always trying to get the road runner (Abby) and never succeeding because Abby was younger, smarter, and all around much nicer then Karen ever could be. And it was a nice way for a Have Not (Abby) to get one over a Have (Karen).

 

[Seaviewer]

Abby did explicitly say that she was not donating the kidney for Karen so it doesn't seem appropriate to use it for a pass later on, but I think that the loss of the kidney itself should have been referenced at some point, some physical problem.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

Was Abby really "nicer" than Karen, and was Karen really that much of a "Karen"?