Is Diane Losing her Umph?

[believeinme246]

I have long loved Diane, as played by the wonderful Carolyn Hennesey. She's strong, confident, and feisty, everything that I admire in a professional.

However, in recent years, she's become a braggart and boaster without necessarily the judgment and the brains behind it.

Case in point:

• Bragging to a stranger in a bar about how easy her case is going to be and boasting about her strategy, only to learn that she just boasted to opposing counsel.
• Telling Carly that she can't prove that she was innocent (really? We learned the principle of innocent until proven guilty in the American court system in the early grades of school), so she should plead guilty to a crime that she didn't commit by reason of insanity.
• Rather than recusing herself from a case, she's ripping into the man who retains her as his attorney.

These examples all seem contrary to the essence of who this character is. Of course, CH delightfully plays her to the hilt, but her actions have become pretty laughable and makes her seem boastful with a false sense of security. I wish the character could get back on track. To me, characterization is everything.

[Soapaholic26]

"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way" - Jessica Rabbit

Poor Diane. She can't be her bad $$ self because of SL dictates.
Your third point about recusing herself is interesting. Because Diane did say she could not represent Carly in a divorce because she was Sonny's lawyer. Did she not recuse herself because technically Sonny is not on trial?

[OLTL'69]

Yes I guess this was suppose to be vs Nina. But would in real life if a surprise like this happen would they have a partner do this part. I know we don't see any of these lawyers having partners but could they be there unseen

[OLTLBoomer]

Sonny is her client.
Sonny was placed on the stand by opposing consul.
The case is MIchael versus Nina, not Sonny, so Diane was free to cross as long as she did not break client confidentiality. And she did not. Diane said she has known him for a long time and brought up the established concussion/ TBI - Sonny is not himself and Diane would know this and established it in count that Sonny is not himself. Sonny knows this and that is why he yelled "Enough" at her. Diane made her point with Sonny's answer without damaging her client, and closed.

[qvcnut]

The lawyers rules of professional conduct allow a conflict of interest to be waived. Dianne isn’t going to risk her license without ensuring a waiver has been filed with the court, assuming a conflict even exists in this case. Dianne represents Michael in this matter not Sonny. Under the rules she owes Michael a competent representation. No conflict no issue.

[1sbkmcfan]

If I remember correctly, Diane's strategies with the last two or three "Corrinthos" cases went sideways.

[Phrynie]

My memory is pretty much the same .

[OLTL'69]

It seems she is only good at keeping Sonny and Jason out of prison. If her client is actually innocent she is at a loss. But yes the Carly "I did it but insane and the michael has to marry Mary Poppins were eye rolling bad

[Maxum]

I have long loved Diane, as played by the wonderful Carolyn Hennesey. She's strong, confident, and feisty, everything that I admire in a professional.

However, in recent years, she's become a braggart and boaster without necessarily the judgment and the brains behind it.

Case in point:

• Bragging to a stranger in a bar about how easy her case is going to be and boasting about her strategy, only to learn that she just boasted to opposing counsel.
• Telling Carly that she can't prove that she was innocent (really? We learned the principle of innocent until proven guilty in the American court system in the early grades of school), so she should plead guilty to a crime that she didn't commit by reason of insanity.
• Rather than recusing herself from a case, she's ripping into the man who retains her as his attorney.

These examples all seem contrary to the essence of who this character is. Of course, CH delightfully plays her to the hilt, but her actions have become pretty laughable and makes her seem boastful with a false sense of security. I wish the character could get back on track. To me, characterization is everything.

I don't agree. Some of her decisions are writer-based necessities, and some of your examples here are really old (Carly). I love Diane, and her record on winning cases is very good, and she gives good advice. As for bragging, Nina is the one that came in bragging, and Diane put her in her place, which I loved. Has she been written more outspoken lately, yes, but it's a soap, and if I can get more of Diane, I'm thrilled. I like to see her more than just "Lawyer-mode" all the time.

[CarnyQueen]

Diane has been thrown under the bus a few times to facilitate unrealistic plot points. Thus she bragged in a bar about her strategy (something real Diane would only do to someone like Alexis, not a stranger) and advised Carly to plead not guilty by reason of insanity to pushing pregnant Nelle when there was no evidence that Nelle had been pushed at all. That's because the writers wanted Carly in the mental institution with Ryan/Kevin. Probably the worst time Diane was thrown under the bus was when she got charges against Franco thrown out with the brain tumor stunt.

But Diane in the visitation hearing was back to her true character and a glory to behold. Sure, there were things in that hearing that probably weren't realistic. (One thing is Scotty claiming the hearing was all about morals and character. That's not true. The hearing is solely about whether the benefit to Wiley Corinthos of spending time with his grandmother outweighs his parents' concerns and decision to bar her.)

Diane very skillfully led Nina to, in her own words, reveal that she is a selfish person who doesn't care about the feelings of others and lies like a rug because that is what she believes is standard behavior. Diane let Sonny, in his own words, paint himself as a mentally befuddled man who became besotted by a nutter and gave no thought to his own family. Diane exposed how many children were affected by Nina's antics -- it was fabulous how she named every single one of Sonny's kids and even asked him directly about Rocco.

Sonny, with his flat voice and angry "you know I did, Diane" responses showed like he had contempt for the procedure but also looked like he was angry and unwell mentally.

Diane, when her voice broke toward the end and she called him "Sonny," showed that she was one of the many people who grieved for him in Nixon Falls.

As for Sonny being mad at Diane and not wanting to keep her on as his lawyer -- let him fire her. The next time he's got law enforcement breathing down his neck and he needs to keep his butt out of jail, who will be he calling? If Ava decides to file for sole custody of Avery, who would Sonny be calling?

It would be a hoot if Ava turned the tables on Sonny and Nina and said to a family court judge, "My daughter's father has started a romantic relationship with the mentally unstable woman who forced her premature birth and kidnapped her -- that shows he is mentally unfit and puts his sexual needs over our daughter. Give me full custody."

[eileenregina]

I am quite sure that there would be many attorneys who could represent Sonny if he really needed one. Diane is not the only mob attorney in the world. However, with their tight budget I am sure they would not be hiring another actor at this time and I am sure that Sonny is really not phased by anything Diane did and is okay with it.

[DayRose]

I love Diane so much but I have to admit that she has lost her touch. I realize it's not her fault but the fault of plot driven storylines. As long as stories are written to advance the plot and not written for the character we will keep getting our favorites written in a way that we feel is out of character. It's very sad because so many viewers are like me and have been watching for a long time. We know the characters very well and we know how the would react and handle different situations.

[Francophile]

I have long loved Diane, as played by the wonderful Carolyn Hennesey. She's strong, confident, and feisty, everything that I admire in a professional.
However….[*]Rather than recusing herself from a case, she's ripping into the man who retains her as his attorney.[/LIST]These examples all seem contrary to the essence of who this character is. Of course, CH delightfully plays her to the hilt, but her actions have become pretty laughable and makes her seem boastful with a false sense of security. I wish the character could get back on track. To me, characterization is everything.

I totally agree that the plot-driven writing is on the verge of ruining Diane! I also found it ludicrous that Diane didn’t refer Michael to another attorney. Sonny is her main client, and it just came off wrong to me!

And the character assassination is not just reserved for her - Drew has taken so many hits, he is bleeding out onscreen! He really should become a radio talk-show host. All he does is lend an ear to pretty much everyone to whom he comes in contact. Whenever I see him now I think of the show/character FRASIER, and I picture Drew saying, “I’m listening.” Apparently that is the only reason why he was brought back to PC! smh

[Manninglover87]

There is no conflict of interest in soaps. I’ve seen lawyers defend their own families or prosecutors try cases involving their family. For instance, Scott tried Lulu for killing his son.

[Francophile]

Manninglover87 Well, I’m not saying it’s a conflict of interest per se, but Sonny definitely butters Diane’s bread with the legal business he hands her, so it would be logical for Sonny to expect loyalty from her (like he has from other employees).

[parker joe]

Is it really that hard to look brilliant when handed a slam dunk case? It didn't sound like she had even prepared Michael to testify. And if all she was going to do was regurgitate the Intruder article, what is she billing Michael for?

I would not be surprised if Sonny fired her. She openly questioned his mental state.

[Manninglover87]

I think she had every intention of Michael testifying. The questions she asked him did not seem to come out of the blue. She seemed to know exactly what she would ask him before the hearing. I think the only thing she didn’t expect was that Scott would call him first.

[CarnyQueen]

I think Diane did prepare both Michael and Willow to testify and planned to call them to testify about how they welcomed Nina into their son's life, how she repaid them by telling Wiley that mommy isn't his real mommy, and how she came to their house and played with their son and listened to Michael talk about his grief for his father and never mentioned that Sonny was alive. She didn't expect the Claudia Zacchara line of question, since it was completely irrelevant (and actually makes Michael look like a victim of the craziness Sonny brought into his life). But Diane did quickly regroup -- she went up to the judge and plunked down Michael's criminal record and Nelle's much, much, much lengthier one.