Ron Carlivati's first three episodes have now aired, and spoilers are coming out about upcoming plot lines. So far, I am not impressed.

I DO like the fact that he is trying to resolve the Gabi-Chad-Abby-Dario mess, and I am glad Chad and Abby are likely to get back together where they belong and Dario is leaving the canvas. And I am hopeful the Deimos murder story arc will be resolved in a way that makes sense and that we all will enjoy. And I also like that they are likely to resolve the Kayla-Tripp mess pretty soon and in a satisfying manner.

But I absolutely HATE this obsession Carlivati evidently has with doppelgangers and doubles - and the story they have started where Hattie pretends to be Marlena to try to break up her and John is ridiculous. It brings back memories for me of the fake-Rafe storyline from a few years back (which I consider the worst storyline of the last 20 years), and I have no desire or interest in seeing any repeat of that. I also have no idea why they would want to bring Bonnie back, and I hope they don't get into a parallel storyline where Bonnie gets out of prison and somehow pretends to be Adrienne or something silly like that. In the past, Judi Evans never portrayed Bonnie and Adrienne at the same time, and as far as I can recall, no character has ever commented on the similarity in their appearance. I really hope Ron can resist the temptation to suddenly make that a plot point.

I'm sure on balance and in the long run, Ron will be better than Dena, but this thing he has with doubles is pretty annoying, and I can see myself spacing through more than a few of his upcoming episodes.