In the 1986 weekly series, Jilly is released from prison, only to discover that she's Stephanie's half-sister. And what's Stephanie's brilliant idea? To force them all to live together under the same roof and somehow magically reconcile, even though Jilly just wants to ruin her life. Then we get more convoluted family drama involving sibling rivalry, dubious paternity claims, and characters inexplicably jumping into bed with each other at the drop of a hat.
But perhaps the most infuriating aspect of Return to Eden is its complete disregard for any semblance of realism. People miraculously come back from the dead, characters make decisions that defy logic, and plot twists are more like pretzels than anything resembling a coherent story. It's like a never-ending soap opera where everyone seems to be ruled by their hormones, throwing logic and reason out the window and expecting us to swallow this nonsense with a straight face. For example, Stephanie's daughter Sarah has a thing for a man who was once suspected to be Stephanie's illegitimate son with an Arab prince when she was just 17. I mean, seriously, that plotline is as far-fetched as they come. And Jake, Greg's brother, initially shows up for revenge but can't help falling in love with Stephanie. It's like the entire cast has a collective amnesia about their motivations, constantly giving in to their base desires.
Return to Eden is a baffling and melodramatic mess of a show where the characters make ridiculous decisions, the plotlines are absurd, and logic takes a backseat to lust. It's like watching a soap opera on steroids, but without the charm. Save yourself the agony and watch something else - anything else. This show is a disaster of epic proportions, and not even the most die-hard soap opera fan could salvage it. I can't believe people actually watched this and didn't cringe themselves into oblivion.
