What I Watched Today

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

 

General Hospital

Tracy packs, putting photos into a case and talking to them, tossing AJ’s picture aside. She’s hitting the road, and taking the painting with her.

We revisit yesterday’s ending. Ned points out Samira to Officer Stick-in-the-Mud. The officer says she’s in the country illegally, but Ned produces a six-month extension on her visa. He tells the officer that his services are no longer required. Glad I didn’t bother learning his actual name.

Tracy brings roses to the crypt for Lila. She says she’s off to the land of sun and fun, and Samira isn’t even a blip on her radar. She tells Edward that for all his criticism, she’s the last one standing. They should have appreciated her. Who cares if she doesn’t meet arbitrary criteria for being a good person? AJ’s plaque falls off the crypt wall and whacks her in the head. She’s down for the count.

Officer Stick-in-the-Mud checks on the visa extension, and says it came from the highest level of government. Ned says he went to boarding school with someone that’s a high official now. Monica tells the officer that if he bothers them again, she’ll have him checking baggage for the TSA. No doubt a more thankless job than the one he has already.

Ned says that the Quartermaine cutthroat instincts are genetic. Samira asks what’s going on. Ned thinks they should finish the discussion at home. It’s time the situation is resolved, but they can’t do that without his mother.

Scotty tells Tracy it’s show time. There’s no putting it off, and she has to wake up. Suddenly, she’s with him, sitting outside a courtroom. She asks why she’s there. Nathan comes out and says she’s next.  Life vs Tracy Angelica Quartermaine is on the case roster next to the door. She walks in, asking what she’s done, and Diane asks what hasn’t she done? She asks if Tracy’s strategy is bewilderment. Scotty tells her it’s ADD and I laugh. Using a TV screen, Diane shows Tracy how she got hit in the head, and says maybe it will jog her memory. Tracy says that explains it; she’s unconscious, and Diane tells her that she’s dead. She asks what Scotty is doing there, and he tells her not to overthink it. Diane says this is where the newly departed are reviewed, and welcome to her judgement day.

Thus begins Tracy’s this-is-your-life retrospective, done through TV, laptop, tablet and phone screens.

Scotty is to present her good deeds, and Diane, her bad ones. If the good outweighs the bad, she ascends; if not, she’s reincarnated. Diane mentions that Skye Chandler is going to be pregnant soon. <snort> Tracy is concerned about Scotty being her counsel, but he tells her Lorenzo Alcazar was supposed to be poodle, and he got him out of it.

The judge enters. It’s Sonny. He gives a dimply smile from the bench.

Sonny calls the court to order. Tracy demands a mistrial. She says she wasn’t ready to die, and they all laugh. She says the judge is biased. We flash back to when she, Sonny, and I were babies, and she’s trying to get money from him. He talks about what she did to Lois, and how Lois didn’t deserve the shaft. On the bench, Sonny says he forgot about that. We all did. It was like, 30 years ago. Diane tells Tracy that the entirety of her life is going to be evidence. Scotty says Sonny is biased, but Sonny tells him the only other judge available is Anthony Zacchara, and Tracy is suddenly okay with Sonny.

Back in the real world, Kiki tells Dillon she had no idea Ned was a shark. Dillon says he’s a great white, and like a gunslinger who gave it up to be a farmer. Samira sees that the painting is gone. Monica says three guesses who took it.

Diane tells Tracy that she squandered her latest life. She’s incapable of goodness, and must be sent back. Scotty says good is relative. She’s not Heather Webber bad, but compared to her father, she seems fine. Diane says even Edward wasn’t as cruel with his words as Tracy has been. She takes us back to Alan telling Tracy that Monica is fooling around with Ned. Tracy says Alan blames others for not being able to hang on to his wife, when she’s not worth hanging on to. We move on to an argument between Monica and Tracy, see Tracy talking about Jenny to Lila, and insulting various other people. She says, for this she’s risking being Skye Chandler’s baby? Diane says let’s move on to deeds.

Tracy tells Scotty to object, but he says there’s nothing to object to. Tracy says she’s afraid of coming back as a flatworm. Scotty says the prosecution has painted his client as a heartless shrew, and thinks they should move on to her conquests. Tracy says they weren’t all bad, but Diane says her relationships haven’t furthered her personal growth. Scotty says there is a man who has inspired fulfillment and growth in her life, but it sickens him to say the name – Luke Spencer. Diane says he tricked Tracy into a fraudulent marriage, but Tracy says it turned into something else. We see a sweet scene between them, where he tells her that he loves her. Scotty says she had a real, honest love with Luke. Diane says until she couldn’t trust him, and we see Tracy telling Luke to take a hike, calling him a fractured, pathetic loser, who she’ll enjoy seeing beg to get her back. Diane says that was the end of that. Tracy tells Scotty that he’s fired.

Kiki says maybe there’s another explanation for the missing painting. Ned joins them, and asks what Tracy has done now. Dillon says she’s disappeared and taken the painting.

Tracy says that Scotty hung her immortal soul on her romantic interests. She wants Sonny to consider one of the good things she’s done. Saving Luke’s life counts, but she also gave birth to two children. We look back to when Tracy was pregnant. She says Dillon and Ned are proof she did something right. She learned to use her strength to give comfort and guidance to the Quartermaines. Diane says, until she didn’t. We see Tracy and Alan having an altercation. He tells her she’d better not ruin Monica’s party or embarrass them. Tracy asks Diane if she’s kidding. Dinner party shenanigans? Diane says that’s just a warm up. We see Tracy with Jenny in the hospital, and Edward telling her to pack her bags. The original Edward, David Lewis. Next, baby Ned tells her she has a pathetic record as a mother. She’s able to erase the rotten things she’s done to him, and she cares about only one thing in this life – herself. Omg, everyone is so young in these clips.

We see Tracy apologizing for being a disappointment to Lila, who says she never wants Tracy to go through this kind of pain again. Diane says that’s not the worst of it.

Tracy suggests they wrap it up, but Sonny says all the relevant facts have to be presented. Tracy says she runs from this memory every day and doesn’t need to see it. I’ve already guessed what it is. Edward is about to sign his changed will. (I’m right.) He says she’d do anything to get her hands on the trust fund, including go against his direct orders. He tells her that it proves she no longer loves him; if she did to begin with. He says he’s no longer her father. She says that he’s the only one who ever mattered, and he tells her to prove it, but starts to choke. He asks her to get his medication, and she just looks at him. She says then he can live long enough to sign the will; she’ll have to think about it. She tells him that all Quartermaines love each other, but there’s one thing they love more – money. She learned it at his knee – never count on people, only on money. She asks him to tear up the will as he struggles. If he tears it up, she’ll give him the medication. He keels over. Back in the courtroom, Tracy says, enough.

Tracy is alone with a spotlight on her. She says she was selfish and greedy, but then why did her family take her back? She knows she’s done good, and can do more; she can prove it. Don’t send her back as Skye’s baby or a flatworm. Send her back as her.

Ned says Tracy ordered the jet fueled and a flight plan mapped, but he’s canceled the flight. He tells them not to write Tracy off just yet. She could surprise them.

Tracy tells her father that he wins; she gives up. She knows he’s there pulling the strings and having the last word. Judge Sonny was a nice touch. She says he never forgave her, but she never forgave herself either. All she wanted was to please him and make him proud of her. She wonders what her life would have been like if she’d just been herself. Would she have made herself proud? If she only had one last chance…

Tracy opens her eyes in the crypt. She hears something moving in Edwards crypt.

Kiki asks if Tracy has a “find my family” app, and Monica says Tracy doesn’t want her family to find her. Dillon tells them that they don’t need the painting to help Samira; maybe it’s time they spent their money on something worthwhile. Samira says the monks already have buyer for painting. Dillon can’t imagine Tracy coming back with it. Tracy walks in, saying his imagination is in for a surprise. She knows what they’re thinking, and they’re not wrong. She was taking off with the painting, but recent events caused her to reevaluate things. She’s been extraordinarily blessed, and it’s time to use her gifts to help others. She values the painting, but Samira needs it more. Ned asks if she’s sure, and Dillon tells him to shut up; Tracy is having a generous impulse. Tracy says she has to start somewhere, and she’s giving up the painting. Everyone smiles, and hearts are warmed all over Soapland.

This was a wonderful retrospective, and a beautiful (early) send-off for Jane Elliot. I couldn’t help wishing they’d done the same for Anthony Geary when he left so uneventfully. Jane says she’s retiring from acting, and wants to put her energy into some other things, but I’m glad they left the door open. At least I think they did. We still have a few days to go. Her last air date is May 4^th.

On Monday, the DNA test results are in, Nelle thinks Nina should be honest and talk to Valentin, and Valentin asks if Anna is all right.

Quotes of the Week

Don’t try so hard to fit in, and certainly don’t try so hard to be different… just try hard to be you. – Zendaya Coleman

She’s transitioning. So are we. – a guest on Dr. Phil who is related to a trans woman and has a very valid point.

Being a New Yorker is always knowing where the nearest weapon is. – Me, while watching a woman in jep Lifetime movie

Stay evil, dollface. Spread the word. — Deadshot (Will Smith), Suicide Squad