What I Watched Today

(rambling, random thoughts & annoyingly detailed recaps from real time TV watching)

 

General Hospital

I want Hayden’s necklace! I have a ring that almost matches it. Occasionally they sell replicas of the jewelry from the show on the ABC website – I vote for this one.

Finn and Hayden see Brad at the hospital. He says he needs to speak to them.

After dumping the wine outside, because the drain isn’t good enough, Alexis says she can do this, and starts to go back in the house. Dante pops out of nowhere, saying he needs to asks her questions about Tom Baker. She tells him that it’s not a good time, and he says they can do it here and now or at the station.

Nathan asks Elizabeth why she thinks Franco is innocent. She says despite his past, she believes that he’s changed, and the truth always comes out. Seth comes storming in, saying that Franco killed his brother.

Franco wakes up. Roger Howarth has the best hair, even under duress. He wonders where he’s seen one of the trophies before, and who did this to him.

Going back to the bar to find her phone, Sam finds Franco’s note on the floor – the yellow piece of paper on a dark clean and bare floor –  as well. She says this isn’t happening. Au contraire, it is. She calls Kiki, and says she needs to see her right away.

At the reception desk, Amy 2.0 wonders what’s going on with “those three,” referring to Brad, Finn, and Hayden. She says it’s definitely not a love triangle.

Brad tells Finn that the serum has a lot of potential applications. Hayden says they’ve recovered, but nothing else has happened, and maybe he’s getting ahead of himself. He thinks his name should be on the patent. Finn says the only thing he cares about is that the cure is available to people who need it, but Hayden thinks it might be good PR for the hospital. Griff interrupts, and Finn suggests he and Brad talk later.

Hayden has to get to work, but Griff replaces her, asking Finn if everything is okay, and telling him that his discovery is the talk of the hospital. He thinks science owes Finn a debt. Finn just happens to need a  favor.

Alexis tells Dante that she’s pressed for time, since she needs to prepare for the bar hearing. He asks if she knows Tom Baker. She asks why he’s asking. He says her name has come up during the course of the investigation, and she wants to know in what context. He asks her where she was on December 21^st.

Nathan tells Seth there’s a warrant out for Franco’s arrest, but he’s missing. Seth suggests checking Elizabeth’s place. Nathan says there’s an APB out, but they need more evidence. Seth brings up Franco’s past character defects, but Nathan says they can’t go by his past. He storms out and Elizabeth follows. She tells him she wants to help.

Franco doesn’t know how long he’s been in the storage unit. He talks to himself, saying his abductor probably isn’t coming back. He pounds on the door but there’s a padlock on the outside. He says no one can hear him scream. Everything hurts, and he’s cold. He starts to draw with the nub of a pencil.

Kiki joins Sam. Sam shows her the paper and asks where she found it, asking for the address. Kiki gives it to her and asks why. Sam opens it, and Kiki sees the note. I’m hoping she’s feeling really stupid right about now. Kiki wants to go with her, but Sam says no.

Amy II approaches Hayden. She says she couldn’t help but overhear that Hayden almost died. Hayden says both she and Finn were almost dead, explaining that they both had the same fatal disease, but Finn was able to come up with a cure. Amy thinks it’s all incredibly romantic, but Hayden thinks it’s none of her business. Amy tells her that she and Finn are now a hot item.

Finn tells Griff about an old hockey injury that’s flaring up. He says the sports medicine doctor is at a conference, and wonders if Griff can help until he can get together a pain management plan. Griff knows from Finn’s X-rays that he has issues, and gives him a prescription for 10 pills. I assume painkillers.

Alexis says she doesn’t remember; it was over a month ago. She says if he was questioning a client, she would advise them to have counsel present. He says that she’s a lawyer, but she says she knows better than to represent herself. She tells him that Diane will be there soon if he wants to wait. He says that she’s not being accused of anything, but she refuses to answer any questions.

Sam says that there are things going on that Kiki doesn’t know about, and she has to talk to Franco alone. Kiki says that Sam hates Franco and besides, she’s pregnant. Sam says she’ll call Jason to come along, and promises that she won’t let anything happen to Franco. Kiki gives her fifteen minutes, after which she’s going to the police.

Franco sketches Elizabeth. He says he doesn’t know if he’ll make it out of there. He tried to be better for her and the boys, but doesn’t know if they’ll be together again. He flashes back to when they talked about collaborating, and says he loves her. He lies down again and falls asleep.

Seth says Elizabeth seems confused, but nice, and he’s sorry for what Tom did to her – there’s no excuse – but it doesn’t give her boyfriend the right to murder him. Elizabeth suggests they work together (my bad or I need glasses – I’d thought she was talking to Jason in the preview), but he says Franco is capable of anything. He locked Tom in a cage like a dog, and he’s guilty as sin.

Hayden tells revamped Amy that they’re only co-workers. Amy says she’s not a very good liar, despite her having been a con-woman. Hayden tells her to buzz off, and Amy apologizes, saying there’s not much going on in her own life. When she sees someone else happy, she can’t help being a cheerleader. She suggests Hayden share with Tracy, and Hayden scares her by saying Tracy is behind her. Amy says she wants to be Hayden’s friend and wonders if it’s love between her and Finn.

Finn wonders why so few pills, but Griff says he doesn’t want to overprescribe. Finn says the doctor is going to be gone for week, and Griff doubles the prescription. I don’t have an opinion here, since we have no clue what they are. I have this vision of Griff just writing “10 pills” on the script.

Alexis says she knows Dante isn’t trying to insult her, but he is. She tells him for the sake of their friendship and mutual family, they’re done. He says she knows where to find him if she changes her mind, but she says she won’t. He leaves and she slides down to the floor.

Elizabeth goes to Seth’s house and tells him that they need to talk. He says what for, since Franco killed his brother, but lets her in anyway. She says if she thought for a second that Franco did it, she wouldn’t defend him, but she needs to find the truth. She says there’s something confusing her. Something he said.

Sam goes (sans Jason) to the storage place. She calls out Franco’s name. She hears him say, “In here.”

Hayden tells Amy that there is a little something going on. Amy gets all excited, and Hayden asks her to tone it down. Amy says she’ll be the soul of discretion. Ha-ha! I guess Hayden hasn’t been around her much.

Griff has to leave, and Brad comes back to replace him. He tells Finn that he’s playing a dangerous game with his heath and his career.

Dante gets back to the station, and Nathan tells him about Elizabeth and Seth. Dante wants a search warrant for Alexis’s house. He tells Nathan what happened, and says somehow Alexis is involved.

Diane arrives at Alexis’s house. She says she has news about the hearing, but then asks if Alexis is okay. Alexis says something just happened, and doesn’t think she handled it properly. Diane has news, but Alexis says she doesn’t think she can go through with the hearing.

Elizabeth tells Seth that she heard him talk about Franco locking Tom in the cage. She knows it was confidential information, and wonders how he knew.

Kiki tries to call Sam, but her phone is dead.

Sam tells Franco that she’ll get him out. She calls Jason to bring her kit, but the call goes to voicemail. She starts to bang on the lock with a fire extinguisher.

Amy Part Two says she has the feeling that she and Hayden will be great friends. Griff tells Hayden that she must have had some great gossip, since it looks like she made Amy’s day. He says he’s glad she and Finn are feeling better, and it’s good to have them back.

Brad tells Finn he saw Griff writing the script. He says they both know about the addictive drug he’s been taking. Brad says if he’s trying to kick it, it might be harder than he realizes. He’s seen this kind of behavior before, and feels it’s his duty to disclose his suspicions. Finn asks what he wants, and Brad says now they’re getting somewhere. Wow. I thought Brad had cleaned up his act before he married Lucas.

Seth says that Tom told him about the dog cage. Elizabeth asks if Seth saw him. He says no, but he talked to him on the phone after he escaped. Tom was freaking out, and it was the last time he heard his brother’s voice. Elizabeth asks if Tom said how he escaped, but Seth said he was afraid Franco was coming after him. Elizabeth asks if he said anything about putting Franco in the cage. Seth wonders if that’s what Franco told her. She asks if Tom ever mentioned Gene’s or anyone he met there. She thinks someone else is responsible for Tom’s murder.

Diane asks if Alexis can explain, but Alexis says it won’t do any good. Oh, please, Diane is the person most on her side and a brilliant lawyer – why? Diane thinks her guilt, doubts and fear are stopping Alexis from wanting to be a lawyer again. She says Alexis just needs to relax, and fake it until she makes it. She says the judge who was supposed to chair the ethics hearing has the flu. She takes no pleasure in his distress, but he’s been replaced by someone who takes extenuating circumstances – which she suggests be the title of Alexis’s memoirs – into consideration, and thinks what’s being done to Alexis is a travesty. If she wants to reschedule, by that time, the other guy will be over the flu. Diane says Alexis is a good attorney and an upright moral person, and the law needs her. She asks aside from the jitters, if there’s any other reason why Alexis can’t make it.

Sam gets the door open. She finds Franco on the floor.

Brad says Finn is addicted to a designer drug that he no longer needs for medical purposes. He says for all he knows Finn’s plan might work, but he wants his share when the serum is patented. If he doesn’t agree, Brad will tell his superiors what’s going on.

Rebooted Amy asks if Griff has ever kept a secret, and tells him that Finn and Hayden are a couple. She adds to remember doctor/priest/patient confidentiality, but he says that’s not a thing. Amy says just don’t tell.

Finn tells Hayden that everything is cool.

Alexis is glad to have Diane in her corner. She tells Diane to go ahead without her. There’s something she needs to do first.

Dante thinks Alexis knows something. Kiki runs in. She says she thinks they’ve found Franco and Sam went after him.

Franco wakes up thinking Sam is a vison. She says she has to save his worthless ass, and he agrees. Sam asks who did this to him, and he says someone who was once good at basketball. She asks who he thinks it was, and if it’s Julian.

Seth says the sooner Elizabeth accepts that Franco killed Tom, the better. She asks him to consider that he might be wrong, and asks if he doesn’t want the murderer brought to justice. The camera pans over to a shelf full of trophies. DUN-DUN-DUNNN!

On Monday, Seth tells Elizabeth that she’s never going to see Franco again, Nina wants to do what’s best for Charlotte, and Alexis wants to cooperate.

Downton Musings

Since even with 500+ channels, there is nothing to watch on the weekend – until everything is on at the same time Sunday night – I’ve been indulging in Downton Abbey. I’m no stranger to being late to the party. I didn’t “discover” Barry Manilow until 1979 (quit laughing and listen to his songs that weren’t top 40 hits), started watching Game of Thrones in season three, and got my first microwave in 1997. I was so excited, one of my neighbors asked if I realized they’d been around for a while. (Doomed eternally to a small kitchen, I hadn’t had the space before then.) While I’d caught an episode of Downton here and there, and had a general idea of what the show was about, I’d never actually followed the series.

Last New Year’s Day, not being much good for anything except goofing around on the computer, I parked the remote on channel 13 (PBS) and watched the final day of their Downton Abbey marathon. As it neared the end, my hungover self got FOMO every time they showed the over-priced gift set, containing 52 hours of the entire series plus bonus material. The clincher was the decorative bell plaque which you cannot get in their online store; they knew what they were doing. My husband was no help, encouraging me by saying it was really for charity. Hey, it came with a set of coasters too.

If, like myself, you’re unfamiliar with the show, it’s reminiscent of The Thornbirds, but there are more characters who are wealthy, instead of just Barbara Stanwyck, and it’s a million times longer. It’s got that same roller coaster feel though, and when things are going well, you just know the rug is going to get pulled out from under the whole thing any minute. There are all the standard requirements of a soap opera: a core family, bitches, villains, super couples, and the longsuffering. It’s soap of the utmost magnitude, Masterpiece Theatre soap. It has more ups and downs than your favorite roller coaster – a character getting left at the altar one minute and the family estate being saved from foreclosure the next. And it has Maggie Smith, with Shirley MacLaine guest starring. It has Elizabeth McGovern too, but I’m not sure how she ended up in the mix. We need an American immediately! I know, we’ll get that girl whose last memorable film was in 1980! And we’ll throw in a microwave while we’re at it. Not that she isn’t lovely and a wonderful actress; it just surprised me.

Sometimes things are worth the hype and this is one of those things. The story is gripping, the characters are intriguing; the casting and acting are on point. The costumes are to die for, and that house, that phenomenal house. One of the bonus features includes some behind-the-scenes footage of the cast on location there, with Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) talking about how in awe they were of the place.

Since God forbid I should miss an episode of The Real Housewives of Anywhere, I’ve been watching it on the weekends, casting aside all Lifetime and Chiller movies, as well as my email. I’m in the middle of season three now, and I’m sure I’ll get the shakes when it starts getting close to the end. After that, I’ll watch the DVDs with the bonus material, and then maybe cry a little and eat some ice cream. At least the weekdays break things up. Before Mad Men’s final episode, AMC had a nearly week-long marathon of the entire series, and I saw most of it, getting very little sleep. Afterward, I felt lost, and longing for the 60s again, even though I barely remember them and was too young for any real fun. Since my obsessions often cost me money, I have a couple of props, bought at auction after the show ended.

The upside was a satisfying ending to the series, which Downton Abbey also has, although I think Six Feet Under wins Best. Ending. Ever. And even though I already do know the ending to this one, I won’t enjoy Downton any less.

Proof positive that I do watch more than trash on Bravo. Although no matter how you lather it, it’s still soap.

Randomness

Married to Medicine is now on Friday night? And Grimm is now on at 8 pm, opposite it? Thanks a lot.

So sad to hear about Mary Tyler Moore’s passing. Even with all the celebrities dropping like flies – no doubt to get away from the Internet and all its angry people – that was a real surprise. I’ll bet Dick Van Dyke never thought he was going to outlive her. He still seems to be in pretty good shape, but geez, I’d watch out if I were him.

If you haven’t seen HBO’s Beware the Slenderman, give it a look. In 2009, Eric Knudson created the online boogeyman for a forum called Something Awful. A tall, faceless ghoul in a suit who terrorizes children (as adults, we call him the mortgage holder), Slenderman subsequently took on a life of his own, most notably on the website Creepypasta, becoming an urban legend, with many contributors adding to his infamy. In 2014, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, both 12-year-olds at the time, stabbed their classmate, Payton Leutnor, and left her for dead. Their idea was to sacrifice her, so that Slenderman would spare them and their families, and they would go live in his mansion in a forest 300 miles away. Fortunately, Payton survived, and after much deliberation, her two attackers will be tried as adults. Since the part of the brain that understands consequences for actions isn’t fully developed until age 25, and both girls have been diagnosed with mental disorders, I find this a little disconcerting. The film is fascinating though, giving us Slenderman’s history, as well as interviews with the two girls’ parents (Payton’s family chose not to participate) and videos of their questioning. I’ve always loved true crime, and truth being stranger than fiction, this one is about as strange as it gets.

Quotes of the Week

At my age, one must ration one’s excitement. – Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith), Downton Abbey

It would be wrong to think that you’re always right and correct and perfect and brilliant. Self-doubt is the thing that drives you to try to improve yourself. — Helen Mirren, Esquire, August 2011

I’m woke, but I gotta live my life too. – Carlotta Brown (Queen Latifah), Star