Dear readers, I have one question for you... Can a girl just watch her soaps? I know the world is collapsing around us, and we as a nation are debating high crimes and misdemeanors, but do they have to do it the one hour a day when our soap is on?
I just moved from California to Florida, and I thought I was free from that. On the West Coast, General Hospital aired at 1:00 p.m. Pacific, and it seemed like every day, some breaking news story would hit at exactly that time. When I moved to the Eastern Time Zone, I thought I was finally safe from preemptions, but this week, I think GH was interrupted in every time zone, at least one day.
Friday, I caught the last 30 minutes and had to go online later that night to try to just see the beginning. What did happen when Anna walked in on Finn and Hayden lounging on her sofa while Hayden was wearing nothing but Finn's shirt? Juicy.
The past few weeks for me have been disconcerting -- uprooting a life and starting over in a new place, driving 2,600 miles with my husband and my dog in a car piled with our stuff, and the one thing that felt like home every night in every hotel we stayed in along the way was GH on Hulu, getting to see my familiar old friends and track their shenanigans. It brought me comfort. Is that weird to say? Probably, but it's true.
And what a week it has been. Nikolas is most definitely alive, and now, one of the worst secret-keepers in Port Charles knows. Carly is not known for her ability to not randomly blurt things out. Like Lulu, who had to ensure everyone knew Sasha was a liar, Carly will feel a burning desire to tell Laura her son is alive if Nikolas doesn't come clean soon.
People keep asking me if I like the new Nikolas or if I'm disappointed that he isn't Tyler. To my recollection, this is the fourth incarnation of Nikolas (Coltin Scott, Nick Stabile, Tyler Christopher, and presently Marcus Colomo), and I have liked them all, although Tyler is my hands-down favorite. Just like Jonathan Jackson is my hands-down favorite Lucky Spencer, but man, Greg Vaughan and Jacob Young were pretty amazing, too!
Soaps have recasts, and sometimes we click with them and sometimes not, but after seeing what happened to Days of our Lives this week, I am just thankful we have a Nikolas recast to debate at all!
Can you imagine if we woke up tomorrow and heard that the entire cast of GH had been fired and that the future of GH was at risk? I want to hug all the Days of our Lives fans this week. I am still in mourning Ryan's Hope, All My Children, and One Life to Live.
But back to this week. One of my very favorite moments this week was Sonny taking Avery to visit Ava. The two of them finally bonding, if only for a moment, about the history of mental illness in their family was touching. Of course, one of the key reasons Ava was committed was because she thought she saw the presumed-dead Nikolas, and alas -- she did, but no one knows that yet.
Once it comes to light, will they be friends or foes? They parted ways as friends, but as Ava noted, she traded her pretty face for testifying against Valentin, so we don't yet know if Nikolas will forgive her or if she will be on his grudge list.
Will he succeed in finding the codicil and reclaiming his empire? As I recall, the empire was in pretty bad shape when Nikolas was last in control of it. You at least have to give Valentin credit for bolstering the family fortune.
I know Valentin is supposed to be the bad guy and Nikolas is supposed to be the good guy, but while Nikolas has been gone, I have fallen hard for Valentin. He's just the sort of fictional character I love -- a beaten-down, stuttering hunchback, a shell of a man, who finds confidence and redemption in love. James Patrick Stuart is a dream and makes this character laced with good and evil endearing and lovable, even when he acts on his worst impulses. He faked a daughter for Nina because he loves her and wanted to give her what she wanted most, not to, say, scam her fortune. A man who would go to any lengths to win the woman he loves is a man I can adore even if he's not real. And the way he loves Charlotte is so heartwarming. I have to admit another of my favorite moments this week was when she bit Cassandra.
New Nikolas hasn't had enough scenes yet for me to see the full range of what he has to offer. But I'll tell you what he has done; he's brought out the tiger underneath Jax's charming demeanor. I've rarely ever seen Ingo having to act so angry in all of the years I've been watching him. I mean, he was like Jax fighting with Sonny over Brenda pissed off. I mean, come on, Nikolas, you used his credit card for a prison break for Cassandra? Bad form!
I want Jax to find a love interest. I thought it was going to be Nina, but at present, she still thinks Valentin is innocent of Sasha' ruse, but eventually, it will come to light. Will Nina run to Jax? If so, I'm okay with that.
I saw some crazy mad chemistry between Valentin and Anna this week when she rescued Charlotte from the evil Cassandra Pierce. And it was a stark reminder of what a great team Anna and Jason make. If only he weren't a hit man thug, he could be the star of the PCPD as a cop.
Imagine this: the truth comes out about Valentin, both with what he did to Nikolas and his role in Sasha's deception. Nina flees to Jax's place for solace. Anna sees Finn, Hayden, and Violet in a happy family circle and realizes they are meant to be a family. Valentin and Anna fall into bed together in a mutual round of pity sex. End scene.
I don't mind big breakups and blowups if it means couples can be realigned with the people they belong with. For instance, Kim Nero is leaving town, and I get the impression that Dranco is not going with her. With all those big speeches about the water spitting him out and such, I think he has come to the conclusion he owes Franco his life. He's staying. He's having the procedure. I can feel it coming. Kim is going to San Diego alone.
I don't like the way Kim and Charlie left things. They had a pretty tender little relationship at the start, and I wished they could have parted peacefully. But I'm glad she's leaving. Not because I dislike Tamara Braun. Au contraire, I loved her as Carly, and I thought she played the hell out of the crazy things they wrote for Kim. I wasn't crazy about the way the writers took a confident doctor and turned her into a date rapist, but that mess wasn't Tamara's fault.
But they made her irredeemably crazy. She's going to need some serious grief counseling to be a normal, functioning human again. I say wait six months and bring her back as a totally new character. Maybe a redhead this time. Make her Kim's evil twin, coming to claim Oscar's share of the Quartermaine fortune or something. Or maybe The Young and the Restless can snap her up, as they seem to like GH actors in Genoa City.
Also, I'm glad that her leaving town completely frees up Julian to be with Alexis. I know half of you will hate me for saying that because you feel his past is unforgiveable. But I don't see the world in black and white. Julian was not abusive to Alexis by choice; he was being directed by a lunatic and thought he was protecting her. Just like now, he's trying to frame Brad because he thinks he is saving Lucas. I am still rooting for a Julexis reunion, as messy and intense as it may be to get there. Neil is a fine character, but I am just not that deeply invested in his pairing with Alexis.
If she lives after drinking rat poison for a month. Seriously, can this just be over, and can they put Kiefer's sister in jail with Sam and Nelle? At least they don't have to worry about Cassandra anymore -- one would assume that pieces of her are floating in the Port Charles river. But this is GH, and I definitely saw Robert, Anna, and Faison all blow up before, and yet they lived, so I am not counting Cassandra out.
Another moment this week I really loved was Sonny having a man-to-man talk with Cameron. That boy needs a dad, and all of his father figures have been AWOL, so it's good of Sonny to step up.
When Franco has the procedure and comes back home, will Cameron be nicer to him than he was before? Will we see Aiden and Jake again? I mean, seriously, where does Elizabeth hide those boys?
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will GH be preempted until 2020? Will Kim's newly open apartment be a great place for Molly and T.J. to start their lives together? Will Alexis' doctors find the cure for being rat-poisoned? Will Franco have the procedure and wake up as Franco, or will he be a whole new character who doesn't know anyone in town? Will Cameron ever dare give Josslyn booze again, or does he value his life? Will Sonny's kind attitude toward Ava end the day she checks out of the hospital, or is this a new era of peace and harmony just in time for the holiday season? Will Laura ever notice that Kevin is AWOL? Will she remember to check how many hands he has when he gets home?
Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.
Tamilu
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