Dear readers, my title this week is from an old Little Texas song that always makes me cry. Watching the "very special Sonny episode" of GH this week, commemorating his 25 years on the show, was a delight.
We all have those pivotal moments in life where the choice we make propels our life in a totally different direction, and we all occasionally say, "What if I had made a different choice back then...?"
The Sonny-inspired fantasy of Dante (welcome home, Dominic!) being caught up in the mob, Jason kissing Ava, Sonny in a loveless marriage with Olivia, Carly still married to A.J. and heavily hitting the bottle was perfect. Maurice Benard's beautiful son Joshua James playing a young Sonny was the highlight of the fantasy episode for me. He has his Dad's brooding intensity, and he played Sonny's fatal decision to shoot Margaux's dad with tremendous conflict and turmoil brewing in his eyes. He has a future in Daytime!
It was a great concept, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It's always fun to see characters we know in a different light. I love episodes that give the GH actors a chance to play something fresh. Their versatility never ceases to amaze me. Congratulations, Maurice, on 25 wonderful years. I can hardly wait to see what they will do for his 50th soapiversary!
But back to reality. Carly's hair was found in the cold, dead hands of Mary Pat, but no one believes Carly butchered her. Ryan is weaseling and sneering his way around town, injecting himself into so many lives, none of them at all suspicious or curious about why "Kevin" is behaving so strangely. He's not even on the suspect list.
What do you suppose it will take for people to realize he's not Kevin? When he offered Ava a pill, I was talking to my TV, "Don't you take that serial killer pill, Ava..." I don't know what kind of pill Ryan gave Ava, but instead of popping it, she stirred it into Sasha's soup. I'm a little afraid Sasha will die and Kiki will be blamed for her murder, since they bickered earlier in the day. Then, Ava would have to either let Kiki go to jail or confess that she was the one who drugged Sasha.
But maybe I have it all wrong. It's hard to get inside the head of a serial killer - maybe it was just a sleeping pill, after all, and Ava will just snoop around in Sasha's room and discover her secret, that she is not really Nina's daughter, and blackmail Sasha and Valentin to keep the secret. There are so many ways this could play out!
I was hoping Laura was going to be the one to figure out the Ryan/Kevin mystery, but since Ryan dumped her (as Kevin, of course) she is no longer in the vicinity to see or hear anything incriminating. I'm over it now, and I want her and Scotty to recreate the Christmas tree scene I saw them in the first Christmas I watched GH, circa 1970-something.
Do you know what would really cheer Laura up? A visit from Lucky. When I heard Liz and Laura mention his name this week, I got giddy. I feel certain that Jonathan Jackson could free up a little time to visit his family, right? (Or maybe Greg Vaughan isn't too busy for us.)
Aiden is being bullied, and a visit from his dad might make a huge difference. On the other hand, a visit from Liz's first love might make Franco lose his mind. That would be great TV, don't you think?
I am glad GH is tackling this issue. I am glad they chose adorable little Charlotte as the bully. According to my teacher friends, Nina's over-the-top reaction is unfortunately common "My little angel would never do such a thing, you must be mistaken."
But Charlotte's usually sweet demeanor is puzzling, considering everything she has been through the past two years. Consider the fact that Charlotte has had multiple switches of parents...
She first arrived in town with Claudette, who claimed Nathan West was her dad, but no, he wasn't. Then she said that Griffin Munro was her dad, but nope, that was a lie, too. Of course, we eventually discovered that Valentin is her dad, but Claudette, the mom who raised her, fled town, and suddenly Nina and Lulu were in her life as brand-new Mommy and step-mommy. So many changes! My husband, Jeff (who pretends he doesn't watch GH), just reminded me that Charlotte and Papa were going to flee the country and escape to France at one point, too.
There's probably a lot of rage inside that little blonde heart, and it's spilling out into cruel comments to her classmates, and even now, to other adults.
I am old. When I was in school, if you got sassy with adults or bullied another kid, the teacher got out the class paddle and whipped your ass. I know that's considered barbaric now, but at the time, just the fear of that paddle and the ensuing humiliation was enough motivation to make me behave. I never actually had to be paddled for its deterrent action to work.
Nina is ready to go to battle, defending Charlotte, but Lulu and Valentin are taking a more levelheaded approach. They are cooperating on Charlotte's behalf. Imagine this scenario... with Dante gone, wouldn't it be something if Valentin and Lulu bonded over parenting Charlotte? Since I refuse to accept that Nikolas is dead, that means Valentin didn't kill him.
Maybe Lucky will come home for Christmas, bring Nikolas home with him, a happy Spencer family reunion will ensue, and everyone can finally forgive Valentin. Except for Nina, who will never forgive him when she discovers that Sasha is a fake. That is, of course, unless my earlier prediction comes to pass, and Sasha is murdered before Nina has a chance to find out she's a fraud. But if Valentin started hanging out with Lulu, Nina's brain would explode.
There were so many juicy developments this week, like Finn getting a note from Hayden saying they have "unfinished business." We all know that their unfinished business is a child. Finn thinks she lost the baby, but she didn't, and he doesn't even know he is a dad. If she comes back with babe in arms, where will that leave Finn and Anna?
I liked Finn and Hayden together back in the day. You know, back when he was shooting himself up with giant vials of drugs every day and slumping to the floor. I wonder if the writers are planning to just have Hayden stop by and drop a kid off in his arms, or if she will stick around awhile?
Relationships change. For instance, Josslyn and Cameron were just pretend dating to make Oscar jealous, but now they are really starting to connect. If Oscar asked Joss to come back to him now, would she even consider it? Probably so. I fear that Cam will get his heart broken when Oscar finally confesses his illness to Josslyn.
Alexis buried Oscar in paperwork, presumably to show him that being a grownup totally sucks. Will he give in and do the medical trial on December 1? I still can't decide if the writers intend to have him saved at the last minute, or if this will be the Robin/Stone scenario where Oscar dies in Josslyn's arms. What do you think?
I also have a theory about Willow. She and Michael are in the same grief support group. Nina asked Willow if she had kids, and she hesitated, and Nina took that to mean she didn't. But what if she did? What if she is in that grief support group because she lost a child? That's my guess. I also think she and Michael will start falling for each other. But then, Nelle will somehow Nelle herself out of jail and terrorize Willow for touching her man. I think Nelle has the potential to be this generation's version of Heather Weber.
Sonny uncovered the sad secret of Margaux's dad's death, but she isn't willing to give up trying to pin it on Sonny. Do you think his charm and dimples can get her off the trail? I remember there was one FBI agent they sent to take down Sonny, years ago, who totally fell under his spell, but for the life of me, I cannot remember her name! Anyone? Anyone?
So, the big Curtis/Jordan wedding is right around the corner, and Nina has agreed to be Curtis' "best person," since Drew dropped out. The previews for next week show Aunt Stella saying hello to her old flame. I'm dying to see who it is. Stella is an odd character for me. I love her in her scenes with Mike and at the hospital, and I loathe her in the scenes with Jordan and Curtis. I dig professional Stella, but Aunt Stella drives me nuts.
Readers, don't hate me, but I have still not warmed up to Vinessa Antoine's replacement. I wish Vinessa could just come back to film the wedding scenes so I could have some sort of closure. I know that's terrible, you can call me names if you want to, but sometimes recasts don't always fit for me.
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Willow have another Port Charles career day? Who should she invite? The person who makes sure the coffee pot is never empty at Ruby's Diner but who is never behind the counter so guests have to pour their own java? Olivia Falconeri's job of bossing around busboys at Metro Court? Julian's job of standing behind the bar all day, visiting with his ex-wife and helping Brad steal a baby? Jason's job of staring down Sonny's enemies to drive fear into their hearts? Peter's job of assigning Lulu, apparently his only reporter, stories that will antagonize her friends and family? Kiki's job of visiting with Griffin in front of the hospital elevators when he comes in for disciplinary hearings? Ava's job of drinking martinis all day and occasionally dropping by the art gallery to find dead bodies with pumpkin heads? Michael's job of ELQ CEO where he never actually goes to the office unless he gets an inkling Ned is trying to take over? Nina's job of magazine editor that only ever has two employees at a time? Laura's job of running for mayor, leaving town, then running for mayor again? Margaux's job of only ever working on cases that personally affect her family, openly admitting she is out for revenge like Inigo Montoya, and still getting to keep her job? Alexis, whose sole client at present is a teenager who is unable to pay her hourly fee, as it equals, like, two months of his wages?
Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.
Tamilu
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