Boy, that Johnny sure can tickle the ivory. Every time I tune in to GH and see the fabulously talented Brandon Barash in the same room with a piano, I get downright giddy. I absolutely love to hear him play. I still feel cheated that we never got to hear the entire symphony he wrote for Lulu with a Sharpie marker on the padded walls of the psych ward where Sonny was holding him hostage, but I'll take what I can get.
Are Johnny and Lulu (a.k.a Joe and Linda from Chicago) going to be able to avoid the long arm of the law forever? In a word, no. Lourdes, "Joe's" new piano student just saw Scott Baldwin's press conference showing photos of the two people she knows as Joe and Linda but instead being calling Johnny and Lulu. I doubt her two day old crush is enough to keep her from squealing, but hey, I have been wrong before.
It's been nice to see Johnny and Lulu interact without interference, to see the sweetness of the couple without having Anthony or Trevor busting in on them. They have a great chemistry together, and Lulu is so much more enjoyable when she isn't shrieking. I know she is traumatized, but I like the more subdued Lulu and the nurturing version of Johnny. It will be such a pity when they end up in Riker's Island.
Not only are Scott Baldwin and the PCPD frantically searching for the two of them, so are Claudia, Jason, Maxie, Spinelli, Carly, Lucky, Nikolas, Tracy, Anthony, and probably some guys at Kinko's who are hoping Lulu stops by to fax some things for Kate. Maybe even some old-timers at Kelly's who want Lulu to bring them coffee and don't realize that she has quit since they saw her in there yelling at Maxie last week. But not Kate Howard, she hasn't even noticed Lulu is missing yet.
Kate is preoccupied with other things, like trying to break up Jax and Carly's marriage. She has her handy assistant Clarice at her beck and call, which makes 3 assistants and no other staff. No writers, no photographers, proofreaders, editors, graphic layout guys, nada. Or maybe she has some slave laborers in a 3rd world country. Or maybe there is some giant magazine office in Manhattan which we are just supposed to imagine. Every time Kate says Clarice's name, I hear Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer's voice in my head saying "She dinks I'm cuuuuuute!" as he flies into the snowy air with his fake nose on. That's really the only upside to Clarice's character.
Many of you wrote this week to weigh in on the great Kate vs. Carly debate, there were strong feelings on both sides, and it was about equally divided. Many of you thought Kate was justified in trying to break up Jax and Carly's marriage because Carly embarrassed Kate in the press, and many of you think Kate is a shrew and hope Jax finally finds out Kate set out to break up his marriage.
The one sticking point for me on the 'Clarice called 2 times' fight is this; it's 2008. Anyone, at anytime, can log onto their cell phone website and look up a call log. Hey Jax! Log into your mobile phone account and see if Carly got any calls from Clarice! Problem solved in about 14 seconds. But no, Jax and Carly are still fighting over who is lying when the answer is obvious to anyone who owns a cell phone. I check my cell account daily because I talk too damn much and run out of minutes all the time.
Apparently Scott Baldwin has plenty of minutes since he seemingly didn't bother to call his son while he was off jetting around the world with his daughter Serena. Hmm...It seems to me if I just found out I had a long lost son and really wanted to get closer to him, I would have invited him to join his half-sister and I on our family vacation.
But I won't criticize too much because I love Kin Shriner I am just happy he is back on canvas. Whatever Scott Baldwin does or doesn't do is going to be good television. Scott's guess about the way things really went down is not a bad one, but the piece he is missing in this puzzle is that Logan got violent with Maxie and Lulu. A couple of clever readers reminded me that Logan had been taking some meds. Pills were found on his dresser back when he was a suspect as the Text Message Killer. Perhaps some pills he got while in Iraq caused him to snap or maybe he was supposed to be taking antidepressants for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and instead got a batch of the phony drugs floating around Port Charles?
Logan Hayes, may he rest in Soap Opera Peace, is yet another wasted character. They brought him on with a lot of fanfare and promise. In fact, they basically shoved him down our throats, and when we finally started connecting to him, Johnny came along and swept Lulu off her feet and goodbye Logan. Josh Duhon was a very versatile actor and could do tough and tender in equal measure. Not to mention his uncanny resemblance to Kin Shriner - but we never got to fully explore the Scott and Logan relationship. He was an Iraq war veteran, but we never finished up that story either.
I personally would prefer that the writers would stop bringing in new characters just to kill them off. If they can only write for 10 main characters, or ABC can only afford 10 actors - then really write for those 10 people and stop working so hard to get viewers invested in a character that will be gone in 3 months. I realize sometimes a character takes off unexpectedly - like Luke for instance - I believe he started out on a 3 week gig and here he is, still beloved 30 years later. And Spinelli wasn't scheduled to stick around this long, but we adored him, so they expanded his role. But let's look back at the likes of Jessie, Cooper, Logan, Cody, and Lainey, just to name a few. Characters that were here and gone in no time flat, and with storylines left hanging. Of course we did see a glimpse of Cody the other day when he was the 38th visitor to see Jason.
Sam got an unexpected visitor this week - Liz showed up at her door to try to convince Sam to make up with Lucky. Liz believes they are really broken up. Don't hate me, but I am still rooting for a Liz and Lucky reunion. Lucky and Sam are okay, but nothing like the magic Liz and Lucky once had. And Liz and Jason smolder together, but they aren't even allowed in the same room anymore, so that has taken a little of the charm out of that liaison. Going to see Sam was a sweet gesture from Liz - a selfless act. She was looking out for Lucky to make sure he had someone to turn to in his time of need. That's true love - putting his needs above her own, even though they aren't officially a couple anymore. It made me melt.
But, I iced back up again as soon as I saw the convoluted plot twist of Dr. Matt renting out a room at the Scorpio home. As if overprotective Uncle Mac would let some hottie move into the room next to Maxie knowing what a hoochie she is!
Speaking of hoochies, Claudia Zacharra grows on me more every day. This is a tribute to Sarah J. Brown, because when she first came back to Port Charles as another character, I was certain I wouldn't be able to get past the fact that she used to be Carly. But I actually really have. It helps that Laura Wright is such a strong Carly. But every seen Claudia is in becomes a better scene by her mere presence. She is up to her eyeballs in this murder cover up and worst, she is one of the few people left in town that doesn't know Lulu is the real killer. Rick's offer to help exonerate Johnny is both intriguing and ironic, since Carly is trying to bully Spinelli into framing Rick for Logan's murder. Carly sure can hold a grudge; it's been years since Rick had her chained up in his panic room. I thought for certain she was going to say she wanted to pin the murder on Kate. Sonny's rescue of Claudia when Anthony had her in tears moved me, too. Sonny can't bear to see a woman being abused, even when it's a woman he is not crazy about.
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Sahsa meet Sonny for drinks and say "I hate that Moose and Squirrel!" Will Spinelli tell Maxie Anthony Zacharra is after her so she will be scared enough to sleep with him again? Will Jason ever be put in a cell, or will they just chain him to a table in the interrogation room so another steady stream of visitors can stop in to say they don't know where Lulu is and want him to help seemingly oblivious to the fact he is in JAIL. Will Jax have the Montreal Police on hand to arrest Carly for breaking and entering into his private plane? Will Edward Q notice his pistol is missing hen he goes to shoot a bunny out of Lila's rose garden?
