What I Watched Today

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

 

 

General Hospital

Nina is on the phone regarding a photo shoot in Morocco. Valentin says he has something to cheer her up, but a – and I miss the rest of the beginning because one of my dogs creates chaos. At least it wasn’t just when someone was revealing something I’ve been waiting years to know.

Anna goes to Hayden’s office looking for her, but Finn tells her that Hayden isn’t there. She says she’ll wait with him, and shows him the diamond. Not very spy-like to be flashing it around the way she’s doing.

Valentin brings Charlotte to see Nina at her office. Charlotte is wearing her dance costume. They’re on their way to her recital, and Valentin says that Nina is one of the reasons Charlotte took dance. Charlotte asks how long Nina studied. Nina tells her that she wanted to be a ballerina, but she got too tall when she was a teenager, and decided to concentrate on writing instead. Charlotte says she wants to be tall so she can be like Nina, even if it means not dancing. Nina tells her that even if she ends up being six feet three inches tall, she can dance. She can do whatever is in her heart, and Nina and her papa will support her. Charlotte asks, even if they’re not married anymore?

Alexis asks Julian what happened that the trial was delayed, and he tells her they were giving Winston enough time to learn his lines. She asks how that went, and he says Winston made it sound like he and Olivia-J were in a mutual crime spree. Alexis asks if the judge believed it, and Julian says Winston played his part perfectly, and it looked like he was her partner instead of an unwilling accomplice. She asks how Scotty responded, and if he cross-examined. Julian says he reserved the right to recall the witness, and thinks there’s no point in even mounting a defense.

Carly tells Jason and Sonny that the irony is, she’d always thought Sam wouldn’t understand the bond of loyalty they had, coming in late to the family. Yet she was the first one who did, and the two of them treated her like they treat the cops. She says Sonny came close to talking, but kept changing the subject. She knew he was hiding something, but never thought Jason would lie to her. Jason says he was focused on Sam, and didn’t want to get her involved. She says they’d always trusted each other, and wonders when that changed.

Nina tells Charlotte it’s complicated. Charlotte wants it to go back to the way it was, and Nina asks if she’s sure, since she likes living with Lulu and her family. Charlotte says she does, but she likes living with Nina and her papa too. Valentin tells her that grown-ups have a way of making things complicated. When he had to go away, everyone made arrangements. She went to live with Lulu, and he and Nina got a divorce. She asks if they don’t love each other anymore.

Lucy walks in on Finn and Anna. She apologizes for bothering them, but wants to know what to do about the house. She tells Finn she’ll understand if he wants to back out of the deal, and he asks why he would. She says for one, Hayden left, and it doesn’t look like she’s coming back.

Scotty tells Alexis he has plenty of witnesses, Leo’s mother for one. Julian says Olivia-Q only knows what he told her, and didn’t actually witness anything. Scotty says what about Lucas; he would know how Julian sacrificed for his family. Julian tells Scotty that Lucas is furious with him (if he’s even still on the show). Scotty suggests Sam, but Alexis says even if she was well enough to testify, she would be considered a hostile witness, and the counter cross-examination will negate any points they make. Julian has hurt them all.

Carly says she can almost excuse Sonny. He was shot, spent 24-hours in a hole, and then was drugged up in the hospital where anyone could have overheard. However, he could have said something once he came home. Sonny says it wasn’t his secret to tell, and Carly says that doesn’t fly, since Sam wanted to talk to her. She says that Jason is the one person she’d always trusted. She thought he trusted her too, and wonders why he shut her out. Jason says that things are different now; they’re different now. They know what they stand to lose.

Finn tells Lucy that there’s no reason to believe Hayden isn’t coming back, and we both look at him like he’s delusional. Lucy says she packed up, disappeared, and left her engagement ring. It doesn’t sound like she even wants to be found. Finn says he’ll find her, and when he does, they’ll move in and he’ll tear up the tennis court with his bare hands. Lucy says she’ll see him at the closing then, and leaves. Anna tells Finn she’s sorry. She didn’t know what was going on. Finn says they have a lot to work through, but they will. He just needs to find her first.

Valentin tells Charlotte that he loves Nina more now than when they were first married because he’s gotten to know her. He’s seen her courage and kindness. It’s made his love grow stronger, but marriage isn’t only about love. Charlotte says it is, and sites some fairytales. Valentin explains that fairytales don’t have community property and liens. Ha-ha! He says that when you get married, you become one person, and when he had to go away, they divorced so that there would be an equal division and his problems didn’t become Nina’s problems. Charlotte says they should just get married again, and forget about the legal problems. Nina says she should have listened to Charlotte first, but she was uncertain, and let everyone else convince her of something she didn’t believe, and she didn’t listen to her heart. Charlotte asks what her heart is telling her. Valentin says they have to go, and Charlotte invites Nina to come with them. Nina says she will.

Scotty tells Alexis she’s doing a lot of backseat litigating. Julian asks to be reminded of why they wanted a bench trial. Alexis tells him that a jury will go by emotion, but a judge has to go by the law and base a decision on reasonable doubt. She says that Olivia-Q and Ned would be thrilled to see Julian put away, because then they could have custody of Leo. She tells him that any good testimony would be outweighed by the prosecution. Scotty asks if there are any ideas, and Julian says to put him on the stand.

Jason tells Carly that he was gone for two years. When he remembered his life, he had to find a different way to live, and asks if she didn’t do the same. She asks what that has to do with him lying, and Sonny says they have different priorities now. What used to work, doesn’t anymore. Jason says he couldn’t ask her to be part of a cover-up when that’s not the life she wants to live. Carly gets it, but it makes her sad. She always knew they were there for each other, but that changed too. Jason says he didn’t mean to hurt her. She tells him that she just needs time to adjust. Sam says it’s her fault, and Carly says no one blames her. She wasn’t in her right mind; the rest of them don’t have an excuse. She thinks it was the wrong call, but she’ll get over it. Sonny makes sure that they’re all in agreement to say nothing. Jason wants to get Sam home to the kids. After they leave, Sonny asks Carly if she’s all right, and she says no.

Carly asks how Sonny would feel, and he says he’d hate it. She asks why he didn’t tell her when they got home. He says he thought she’d doubt him, and he made a mistake; he’s not perfect. She says he’s the most arrogant man she knows, and the only time he’s humble is when he wants her forgiveness. He asks if it’s working, and she says no. He says he should have said something, and she admits it’s not completely his fault, but Jason saying nothing surprised her.

Jason tells Sam that they’ll find a way to get past it. Sam doesn’t know how it happened, and doesn’t know why she didn’t ask for help. Why didn’t she trust him?

Scotty says the DA will chew Julian up and spit him out. Alexis says she’s not a fan of putting defendants on the stand, but in this case, Julian should tell his story. She has faith that he’ll do it justice.

Since we’re having a speed trial, Julian is already on the stand and talking. He tells the court about how he was forced to kill Alexis, and staged it at the docks, but had every intention of letting her go. He was going to leave the country, but Sonny ruined the plan. Then his sister stepped up her threats to involve his children, putting Leo in the hospital to prove her point. He kidnapped Sam when she was about to give birth, and then he witnessed Alexis getting handcuffed to the bridge where he was supposed to kill her. Because apparently, Olivia-J learned nothing from the first time.

Anna tells Finn that she’s sorry. He asks how she found the diamond, and she explains about it being imbedded in a keepsake given to Emma by spencer. Finn says he must have found at it at Wyndemere, and Anna says that’s what Elizabeth thought. She had it examined, but was told it isn’t part of the Berlin necklace. It was stolen by a ring of jewel thieves in Eastern Europe, where the money was used to finance larger crimes. Finn says that sounds more like it’s up Nikolas’s alley. Anna says he’s done his share of shady deals, but it’s not like she can ask him. She can question Hayden though. Finn says he doesn’t know where she is, but he’s going to find her. Anna says that it doesn’t sound like she wants to be found.

Prosecutor Will Smith says that Julian’s testimony is pure spectacle meant to manipulate the judge. Scotty objects, but it’s overruled. Will asks Julian what ultimately happened, and Julian says he shot the handcuffs off of Alexis, and blocked Olivia-J from shooting her. He got shot instead, and fell into the river. When he came to, he realized what had happened, and that Olivia had been locked up. He tried to leave town; not to avoid justice, but to put distance between himself and his family. He’d rather never see them again than see them in danger. Will mentions that he shot his sister and thought she was dead. He asks if when she returned, it had something to do with Duke Lavery. Julian tells him that she was in love with Duke, and Will says that Julian killed him. Scotty jumps up, saying that Carrrlos murdered Duke, but Will says it was by Julian’s orders. He says Julian never told the authorities that she killed Morgan, kidnapped Robin, and almost blew up the hospital with everyone in it. He did nothing to stop her, and everything to help her. There are no further questions. In redirect, Scotty asks if it isn’t true that Julian did his sister’s bidding because she was threatening him. Julian says yes, he was trying to protect his children and the woman he loves, and his devotion obscured his reason. He understands that his actions will be judged as wrong, and he might be put in prison, but if that’s what had to happen in order to protect his family, he’s okay with it. The defense rests.

Finn asks Anna if she thinks Hayden is gone for good. She says she doesn’t know enough to speculate, so she’s going to concentrate on the diamond case. Finn thinks Hayden’s father might be able to help, and suggests that Anna pay him a visit. He asks her not to tell him that Hayden vanished, and Anna says she won’t. She asks Finn not to tell anyone about the diamond, and he says he has no one to talk to anyway, and doubts anyone he knows has ties to an international jewelry theft.

Back from the recital, Nina tells Valentin that Charlotte was the best dancer. He asks if she’s sure she’s not biased, and she says of course she is, but Charlotte is still incredible. She can do anything she’s made up her mind to do. He asks if she can bring them back together.

In his closing argument, Will Smith says that Julian aided and abetted a fugitive who terrorized the community, and killed Morgan. He was in agreement with his sister, and supported her goals. He cares about his family, but it’s his organized crime family. Scotty responds that Julian almost died, and was willing to sacrifice his life for his family. If he’s guilty of anything, it’s loving his family too much, and that’s not a crime. The judge retires to her chambers, and the court is in recess. Alexis tells Julian that she’s sorry for what he’s gone through. He says thanks, and that he did what he had to do.

Carly tells Sonny that after his accident, Jason was different. Intellectually, she knows it, but emotionally, she has to learn it over and over. Sonny says he does too. He wanted to bring Jason into the distillery project, thinking they could work together on something legitimate, but Jason turned him down. He said it would send the wrong message, and imply it’s a front and that he’s still in the business. Sonny says it kind of hurt his feelings. Carly says she gets that his life is different now, and understands, but just when things are spiraling, and she’s feeling lost, that’s when she misses who he used to be.

Sam wonders why she didn’t remember that she could talk to Jason about anything. She’d believed their connection was so strong, they could overcome anything and anyone, but this time it failed her. She doesn’t understand why.

Anna tells Finn that Hayden’s father is only taking visits from his attorney and family members. Finn asks if she can pull rank, but she says that’s no good if he refuses to cooperate. She thinks he might be receptive to Finn, but Finn says he told her what he could. She asks what if there’s a connection between Hayden and the diamond? He thinks she’s reaching, but she says there’s only one way to find out. Take her to visit Raymond Berlin.

Julian asks Alexis what his chances are of getting released, and she says he has a chance. He says what about them getting back together, and Scotty interrupts. In what they call half an hour, and I call half a minute, the judge has reached a verdict.

Carly tells Sonny that by fixating on what she can’t have, she’s missing her blessings. Jason is still there and their friend, Sam pulled through a serious illness, and Sonny is better. She can obsess about the lie, or focus on Sonny being alive and that she loves him. He suggests she concentrate on the second one. She’s not asking that he never keep a secret again, but tells him that there’s a difference between family and business. She tells him to never keep a family secret from her again.

Jason tells Sam that nothing she did while she was sick was her fault, and she wanted to be honest. Sam wonders if the connection they shared is lost because of her. He says that’s not going to happen. She tells him that she trusts him, but not herself.

Valentin doesn’t want to build up Charlotte’s hopes that they can be a family again. He doesn’t want to pressure Nina, but she tells him that she’s made her decision. Her phone buzzes. There’s a crisis at a photo shoot she has to deal with. He says with all due respect to her photo shoot, he’s hanging on her answer. She says she’ll give it to him over dinner, where she’ll give her answer undivided attention.

Tomorrow, Nina gives Valentin her answer, the verdict is read, and Michael tells Ned he’ll have a fight on his hands.

💍 My 90 Day Fiancé obsession continues, Before the 90 Days now added to it. This one is the most perplexing of all three shows, where we follow the cast members meeting their prospective spouses face-to-face for the first time, and I want to yell, stop this right now! about every five minutes. There’s Sean and Abby, who have a huge age gap. Nothing wrong with that, but it looks like the older Sean is bringing some insecurities along with it. Sean traveled to Haiti, where Abby was excitedly waiting, along with her best friend, who kept having to calm her down. It was super cute, as Hello Kitty would say. Abby is the sweetest girl, and I think genuinely attracted to Sean, as she has a thing for older men. While I don’t blame Sean for proceeding with caution, he’s fixated on her ex, Chris, whom she’s still friends with. In the previous episode, Sean made noises about Abby maybe wanting someone younger, but Chris looks like he’s about the same age as Sean, so either he’s not aging well and is a 20 year old who looks 50, or Sean is not making sense. Which is possible. Even though Abby and Chris don’t live in the same country, Sean is concerned that they’re still involved as more than friends. It didn’t help the situation when Abby slipped during an interview, calling Sean “Chris.” Sean wasn’t present during the interview, but no doubt saw it. While it’s possible the slip could have been Freudian, I find it unlikely. I think her head is just so full of all this stuff, she made an honest mistake. I can relate, since after nearly twenty years, I still have a hard time not calling my niece’s second husband by her first husband’s name. I have the feeling Sean won’t see it that way, and is going to totally mess up what could be a great thing. The preview for next week did not look promising.

Then there’s Paul – who we last saw waiting on the backside of nowhere in the Amazon rainforest for Karine, thinking he’d been catfished. It’s no surprise he’s been unlucky in love, since he made a trip to a place where he knows no one, that took eight hours, two planes, and two boats to get to; doesn’t know the language at all; carried so many trunks full of preventative health measures, he can barely get around; and can’t even get phone service. Luckily for him, she finally showed. Because she basically lives in a shack, reservations were made at the local hotel (I’m surprised they have one), and they prepared for him to meet her family, none of whom speak English. Up until now, Paul and Karine have communicated through translated texts. When they met, it was more than awkward, but I wondered why, if texts can be translated, they didn’t have something that digitally translated their speech, like the device in Snowpiercer. We must have the capability. I also questioned how Karine has such nice clothing, the internet, and a smartphone. In the preview for the next show, Paul talks about wanting her to get an STD and pregnancy test. While I totally get it, it’s kind of insulting that he can’t be bothered to learn, how are you? in Portuguese, yet he’s savvy enough to be concerned about getting a disease from her. Bleh.

The next huge age gap is between Darcey from the US and Jesse from Amsterdam, with Darcy being in the more mature position. However, that’s only chronologically. Jesse actually seems like a real find. A guy who’s genuinely interested in having a serious relationship with an older woman, and he’s a gorgeous fitness trainer. And also Amsterdam, a place so fine, Tony Geary retired from General Hospital to live there. Darcy looks great, and is definitely on Jesse’s appearance level, but I see why she’s single. Without mincing words, she acts batsh*t crazy emotional. She’s so concerned with how she looks and getting married, she can’t seem to focus on anything else. Like maybe a dream vacation with a fabulous guy. While there was a bit of a red flag on his end, when he insisted she keep up with him on a wicked bike ride through a park, if I was him, I’d be biking for the hills. Already frazzled from damaging one of her six-inch heels on the escalator, Darcy was barely off the plane before she started talking about marriage. And talked about it non-stop. No matter where they went, she somehow related it to them getting married. They just met for God’s sake. Has no one told her this shouldn’t be the first topic out of your mouth on what’s essentially a first date? I assume she’s been married before, since she has children (I know it’s not a requirement, but I think it would be for her), but obviously that didn’t work out, and I can guess why. She drains me just watching her. The creepiest thing was how she showed Jesse the massive rock she had bought for herself, to wear on her left ring finger in honor of their love. Um… I don’t think that’s how any of this works. When he asked her to take the vast amount of makeup she wears off before bed (she’s staying with him), I thought she would have a heart attack. Even then, she kept her lashes on. He doesn’t seem like the type of guy who is into any of that, and I’m wondering how they even clicked online. Frankly, I would have packed her into one of her many suitcases and sent her back home already. Next time, she meets his parents. And brings up marriage. His father asks her – and I quote – are you out of your f-ing mind?

There was also Cortney, who is headed for Spain to meet Spanish model Antonio, who she’s only communicated with by text – even when she was previously in Spain. She’s also been catfished before. Right away, I didn’t hold out much hope for this one, and held even less when her cyberstalking friend came up with erotic photos of him. I doubt much is going to happen with these two, and it seems like a boring story just added to fill the hour.

My main question though, is what’s with all this baby babe stuff? Can no one remember their potential fiancé’s name?

😜 On Flipping Out, Jeff brought in a guy to teach everyone baby CPR. Apparently Jeff was a little too enthusiastic, as his baby’s head fell off while he practiced. When he asked the instructor what grade he’d give them, let’s not talk about it was the response. Enough said. Jeff’s got first aid covered.