Monthly Archives: February 2024

February 14, 2024 – Valentine’s Day In Port Charles, A Mother’s Day Brunch With Jewelry, Quick Thought, Valentine Pup (!) & Ashes

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Chase leads a blindfolded Brook outside in the dark. She says she doesn’t want to sound like Leo in the car, but are they there yet? He says, they will be soon. In his defense, he told the defendant to get some boots. She says, now she’s committed a crime? What did she do? He says, she’s been accused of looking too gorgeous tonight, and she says, guilty as charged. FYI, your honor, I’m wearing boots. He says, yes, designer and impractical ones, and she says, well, yeah. He helps her up a step and says, we’re here. She takes off the blindfold, and sees a table set up with a picnic basket and champagne outside the boathouse. She asks when he did all this, and he says, happy Valentine’s Day.

At The Savoy, Sasha and Maxie raise their glasses, and Maxie says, Lucy. Lucy says, what? Oh. Hi. Maxie says, they can’t cheer her up if she won’t have a good time, and Lucy asks how she can have a good time when it’s Valentine’s Day and Martin’s not returning any of her calls. Sasha says, focus on the positive – Maxie says, excellent ideaand hang out with the people who care about you. Maxie says, kicked off by a toast, and Lucy says, if they toast to love, the contents of this drink will end up in both their faces. Maxie says, that’s the spirit, and Sasha says, to friendship. Lucy and Maxie say, to friendship, and they clink glasses.

Spinelli comes into The Savoy with Cody, and Cody asks if he’s ready to have a good time. Spinelli says, of course (🍷). He’s a single man with no romantic attachments. Who knows? Tonight, he may find the woman of his dreams. Cody says, he could, and he just might. Spinelli looks over and sees Maxie, who waves to him.

Dante kisses Sam and says he got her something. She tells him, they said no gifts, and he says he knows, but he lied. She opens his gift and takes out a black leather jacket. He tells her that she said she wanted to get back into riding, so options are a good thing to have. She says she loves it and thanks him. She says, options are good when it comes to jackets, but when it comes to boyfriends – she puts the ribbon from the gift around his neck – she only has eyes for one. There’s a knock at the door, she kisses him, and he says he knew that was going to happen. She says, he knew what was going to happen, and he says he knew his cheesy lines were going to rub off on her. He opens the door and Officer Daniels is there. Dante asks, what’s up? and Daniels says he has a delivery. Danny steps into the doorway.

Willow asks Michael how the kids were tonight, and he says, great. Typical nighttime antics from Wiley, but he managed to settle down, and she says, speaking of, does he need her to… He says, no. He just checked on him. The lights were on, but he’s passed out next to his open book. She asks why kids are so cute when they’re sleeping, and he says, because they’re sleeping. She says, touché. Did he tell the kids that this wasn’t a one-time thing, that he’s home for good? He says he thought that was something they could do together, and she says, they’ll be so happy. He says he knows he is. Is she? She says, yes, and he asks if she’s sure. She says, his moving in was her idea, and he says he knows, but he doesn’t want there to be any more secrets between them or half-truths or feelings swept under the rug. He wants to put it all out there. She tells him, funny he should say that, because before they do this, there’s something she needs to get off her chest.

Curtis and Portia are about to go into the house, and Curtis says he apologizes for having PT on Valentine’s Day, but Portia says she’s just glad he could fit it in. He says, him too. Every time he goes, he gets stronger than he was the session before. She says, that’s her baby. Getting stronger and stronger every day. They go inside, and Curtis says he’s going to change real quick and then they can head out. She says, sounds like a plan, and sees a vase of red roses on the table. She says, Curtis, and he says, don’t look at him. He had nothing to do with that. She reads the note: Took Trina to the Nicholas Brothers retrospective at The Forum. Won’t be back until late. Dinner will be delivered at 8:15. Curtis says, happy anniversary to us.

In the Pine Barrens, Sonny holds a gun on Dex, who’s being held by two of his men. He tells Dex to make this easier on himself. Tell him the person Dex sold him out to. Dex says he’s not taking anyone else down with him, and Sonny cocks the gun and says, wrong answer.

Brook says, so this is what Chase was up to earlier, and he says he heard her and Leo talking about a comet passing over New York tonight. She says, Leo’s very excited. He thinks there’s some sort of Valentine’s Day magic. He says he’s with Leo. What could be more romantic than a little stargazing with champagne? Brook says, and heat lamps, and he says, just the two of them, cuddled up to see a once in a hundred-year event. She says, when he puts it that way… and he says he wanted to do something special for their first Valentine’s Day together. She says, as long as he keeps her warm, and he says, she has his word. She says she’d prefer a kiss, and he kisses her.

Sam asks Danny, what happened? and he says he’s fine, stumbling a little. She says, fine and drunk apparently, and Daniels says he caught a bunch of them with booze at the park. Sam says she thought he was in his room. He didn’t even ask if he could go out tonight. Danny asks if she would have said yes, and she says, no. He says, exactly, and Sam asks if Dante heard him leave. Dante says, no, and Danny says he snuck out on the fire escape. She asks if he’s insane. He could have gotten hurt, or worse. Daniels says, he recognized Danny from seeing them around town and decided, since it’s his first offense, he’d let Danny off with a warning. Dante and Sam thank him, and Daniels leaves. Danny says, thank God that’s over. He’s going to bed. Sam says, not until they talk about this.

Spinelli says, Cody orchestrated this meet cute, and Cody says he orchestrated nothing. He swears he had no idea Maxie and Sasha were going to be here. At their table, Maxie points out Cody and Spinelli to Sasha, and Lucy says she doesn’t begrudge couples celebrating Valentine’s Day. That’s great… Cody tells Spinelli, but since they are, it would be rude not to say hello. They go over to the table, and Cody says, good evening. Sasha says, so formal, and Maxie says hi to Spinelli. Spinelli says, gracious greetings to all, and to no one in particular. Maxie asks if the guys want to join them, but Lucy says, no. Absolutely not. This is a ladies’ night. No boys allowed. Spinelli says, understood. They’ll just head to… Cody says, the bar. They’re heading to the bar. So enjoy their night. Lucy tells him, it’s not a night. Like she said, it’s a ladies‘ night. Cody says, got that, and he and Spinelli go to the bar. Lucy says, Maxie is breaking the girls code, but Maxie says, it was just a suggestion. Geez. Lucy says, besides, she thought Maxie might need a break from Spinelli, now that they’ve moved in together. Maxie says, he hasn’t moved in, and Lucy says, are they or are they not living together in the same house? Maxie says, temporarily, while all the pipes in his apartment are getting fixed. He’s even paying rent. Sasha asks, how long before his apartment is livable again? and Maxie says she’s not sure, but whenever. Georgie loves having both of her parents under one roof. Sasha says, seems like Maxie doesn’t mind it much either.

Curtis pours the wine, and Portia says, this was so lovely of Marshall to do. He says, yes, it was. He hopes she’s not disappointed that they’re not going out. She says, is he kidding? A romantic dinner at home that she wasn’t required to cook? He says, look at her. She’s living the dream. She says she is. It’s really nice. He says he can only think of one thing nicer. Let’s celebrate our anniversary properly.

Sonny is ready to pull the trigger, when he hears something and tells Frank to check it out. Dex says he hopes Sonny makes it look like he took off. He’d rather Joss hate him. Sonny says, money is more important to Dex than Josslyn, but Dex says, that’s not true. Sonny says, stop lying, when Carly calls to Sonny. Frank and another guy bring her over, and Sonny asks what she’s doing here. She says, stopping him from killing an innocent man.

Willow says she overreacted about Michael keeping the Nina thing from her, but he says, she didn’t. She says, she did, which was hugely hypocritical given that she hid having cancer from him for months. He swallowed that betrayal and moved forward. She didn’t afford him the same grace and she’s been struggling to figure out why. He says, any luck? and she says, he’s her person. He’s the safe, stable place where she puts her trust. And with her history of being lied to and manipulated, if that trust gets broken, it cuts deep. She’s not trying to make excuses… He says he knows she’s not, and she says, but him not being honest shook the foundation for her. She knows he was doing it from a place of love and was trying to protect her, but she needs to know going forward, if something terrible happens, they’ll figure out what to do together. He says he’ll never go rogue again, and she say she’s serious. He says, so is he, and takes her hand. They’re a team. He’s so sorry that he made her feel like they weren’t.

Spinelli says he thinks the most prudent course of action is to exit, and, handing Spinelli his drink, Cody asks, why? Didn’t he say he was single and ready to mingle? Spinelli says he doesn’t remember saying it in such base terms, but that was the general idea, and Cody asks if he’s worried that Maxie is going to see him talking to other women. Spinelli asks how many times he must tell Cody; Maximista is a non-issue. Cody says, then he doesn’t see the problem.

Lucy says, okay, let’s take this opportunity to come up with some ideas for the new Face of Deception campaign, and Maxie asks if they’re at the office. She could have sworn they were at The Savoy to have some fun. Sasha says, no more work talk, but Lucy says, unfortunately, they can’t afford to take the night off. No ma’ams. Because Tracy is out to decimate them. Sasha says, Tracy wants Deception to succeed, and Lucy says, ah-ha! Then she has Sasha exactly where she wants her. Maxie says, so much for girls’ night.

On a chaise lounge under a blanket, Brook asks if Chase had any luck, but he says he’s sorry. What are the odds that both space heaters are on the fritz? She says, pretty good. Since they’re usually not used at the same time, the propane probably runs out at the same time too. He says he probably should have checked that, and she says, stop. They’ve got blankets and body heat. Come. Get under so he doesn’t freeze. He says, okay, but first, champagne. He hands her a glass and gets under the blanket with her. He says, to the most beautiful woman in the world, and she says, he’s the sweetest. He asks if this is better, and she says, much. He says he promises this will be a Valentine’s Day to remember, one they’ll tell their grandchildren about. They clink glasses, and she says, the night she got frostbite. He says, what was that? and she says, nothing. He puts his arm around her.

Sam asks if Danny knows how lucky he is that Dante’s on the force. If he’d been brought in for processing, he’d have a record right now, one that would follow him when he applied to colleges. Danny says, colleges? He’s 14. She says, exactly. Way too young to be drinking or sneaking out or lying to them in general. He could have been hurt. He says, but he wasn’t, and she says, that’s not the point. He’s too young to be drinking, period, let alone in the park. Danny says, lesson learned, okay? but she says she’ll be the judge of that. He’s grounded. Give her his phone. He says, mom, and she says, phone, now. He hands it over and asks, how long. She says she doesn’t know. Maybe until he learns enough responsibility to get it back. He says, it’s so unfair, and she says, oh well. He says, it’s so hypocritical, and she asks what that’s supposed to mean. He says, like she didn’t have a drink at his age.

Carly says, Dex is not the traitor in Sonny’s organization, and Dex says, it’s okay, but she says, it’s not okay. Sonny says he knows she wants to protect Dex for Josslyn’s sake, but he has proof. Dex admitted he’s working for somebody else, but refuses to tell him who it is. She says, listen to her. Brick believed her enough to tell her that he was here. He can’t do this. Sonny says, Dex is working for the bastard who wants to take him down. What does she want him to do? She says, he’s not, and Sonny tells his men to take her out of here now. She says, no, and shakes them off. Dex is not working for some other mob organization. He’s working for her.

Brook asks if there’s an ETA for this comet or what, and Chase says he’s sorry. They can go back into the house if she wants. He wanted to show her how special she is to him. He thinks it’s the best Valentine’s Day ever. She asks if she can be straight with him, and he says, she better. She says she doesn’t even care about Valentine’s Day. It’s just a commercial money grab to make single people feel like crap. He laughs and she asks why he’s laughing. He says, because he feels the same way, and she laughs.

Sam says, as a matter of fact, she wasn’t drinking when she was 14, and Danny says he doesn’t feel too good. Dante says, that’s understandable, and Danny says he’s going to the bathroom. Sam asks if he needs help, but he says he’s got it, and she says, he knows if he’s ever in trouble or needs a ride, he can just call her or Dante, no questions asked. Dante says, there will be questions eventually, but not off the top, and Sam says, they want to keep him safe, that’s all. Danny runs upstairs, and Sam flops on the sofa and tells Dante, have kids, they say. It will be wonderful and fulfilling, they say. He says, she wouldn’t trade it for anything, and kisses her. She says, no, she wouldn’t, but she wasn’t prepared for this. Danny’s going to be a handful. Dante says, maybe he learned from his mistake, but she says, this wasn’t just some mistake. Forget about him putting himself in physical danger. Her son lied to her. He says, more like a lie of omission though, and she asks who’s side he’s on. He says, hers. Always, just her. He kisses her hand, and she says her son lied to her, and her response was to lie right back.

In a corner of The Savoy on the phone, Lucy says, it’s her for the gazillionth time. Could he please just call her back? She really misses him. She sees a couple snuggling, throws up her hands, and heads back. Sasha says she’s glad things with Spinelli are working out, and Maxie says she wasn’t really worried about it. He’s her best friend. Sasha asks, what was it like before? and Maxie says, when they were together? It was great. It just didn’t work out. Sasha asks if she’s ever thought about trying again, and Maxie looks at Spinelli and says, once or twice.

Curtis waits in bed, the bedroom lit with candlelight, when Portia comes in. They get busy and there’s a song part.

Sonny tells his men to hold Dex, and Carly says she asked Dex to keep an eye on him. He asks why she’d do that, and she says, for him. For their children. He says he needs some privacy, and tells his men to check and see if she was followed. She says, he was getting in deep with Pikeman and didn’t have anyone to watch his back, but he says he doesn’t believe her. She says she wasn’t going to let anything happen to him. She wasn’t going to let Donna lose her father. He says, someone deposited a large amount of cash in Dex’s secret bank account this past year. It couldn’t have been her because she lost all her money when the merger fell through. She says she found a way, and he says, she’s going to do anything for her daughter’s boyfriend. She says, Dex has saved his life multiple times. Hell, he saved Ava. Why would he do that if he was working for someone else? He says, to be more convincing, and she says she knows when the deposits happened. After Dex was shot after protecting him at the warehouse and after the attack at the island. How would she know that if she wasn’t the one paying him? He says, she’s covering for someone, but she says, no, she’s not. He says, and the only people she’d be protecting are her family. It’s Michael, isn’t it?

Sasha says she had no idea Maxie was interested in Spinelli, but Maxie says she’s not. Then sometimes she is. It’s really confusing. Sasha says, it’s familiar, and Maxie says, Spinelli is a gem. His giant heart, his quirky sense of humor… Sasha says, she’d learn a new vocabulary word every day, and Maxie says, any woman would be lucky to be with Spinelli. Sasha says, why can’t that woman be her?

Sam says she was no angel when she was a kid, and Dante says, no way. Get out of town. She says she was drinking when she was 14. Worse. He says, what Danny’s doing is kind of what every teenager’s done and what parent hasn’t whitewashed their past? She says she just doesn’t like not being honest with him, and he says, but she is being honest with him. Virtually about everything, except for this one thing, so Danny doesn’t take it the wrong way and use it as permission to get drunk. She says, it’s not that she thinks he’s going to be an alcoholic or anything like that. It’s a little more than that. He’s Jason’s son, and he reminds her more and more of him every day. He says he can see that, and she says, then let’s be real. Jason was an adrenaline junkie. He took insane chances, and he was drawn to danger. And in the end, it killed him. He says, that’s not going to happen to Danny, and she says she’s no stranger to adrenaline chasing either. For different reasons than Jason, but she was wild. He takes her hands and says, the fact that she’s thinking about all this, the fact that it’s on her radar, means she’s one of the good parents. Danny’s going to be all right. Not because of what his parents did, but because of who they are. And he’s going to be right there to help her out when she needs it. Capiche? She says, capiche.

Willow says she was supposed to be apologizing to Michael, and he tells her that he heard everything she said and he’s grateful, but that doesn’t make it okay that he lied to her. He didn’t want her to be disappointed yet again, knowing how hard it was for her to try, yet again, to give Nina an opening, yet again. And to share her children with Nina… Willow says, yet again, and he says, there’s another layer to it. The relationship she has with Nina is the exact opposite of the relationship he has with his mom. His mom understands him and she’s by his side. When she’s mad, she’s still with him. It’s… She says, it’s unconditional, and he says, yeah. So him going to his dad first, that was about him. He knew it would hurt less to disappoint his father than it would to disappoint her. She says, so if she’s understanding this correctly, he hid something from her because he loves her so much, and she overreacted because she loves him so much. If the underlying factor here is love, what are they doing? He says he doesn’t know, and she says she knows their life won’t always be perfect and she knows it’s unrealistic to think they’ll never fight again – they will – but this marriage, this family, means everything to her. She wants them back to the way they were. She gets up and holds out her hand. She asks if he’s ready for bed. He takes her hand, and she leads him upstairs.

Brook says, Chase doesn’t care about Valentine’s Day? Then why did he go to all this trouble? He says he cares about her. He wanted to make tonight special because she’s such a romantic. She says, he thinks she’s romantic? and he says, of course (🍷). She wouldn’t be able to write the songs she writes without such a big heart. She says, he’s one to talk. Mr. Literal Knight in Shining Armor, ever since the moment she met him. He says, when she clocked him in the head with a beer bottle? and she says, he’s shown her how much he cares about her every day. She hopes she does the same. He says, and then some, and they kiss. She says, so they don’t need to make tonight more special like it’s a stupid date, and he says, great. Let’s go home. They get up, and he tells her, look. We see the comet streaking across the sky, and he says, maybe there’s such a thing as Valentine’s Day magic after all. She says, maybe there is.

Sonny asks if he’s right, and Carly says, Michael initially hired Dex. Sonny says, to take him down? and coming out of the woodwork, Dex says, that’s how it started, but things changed. Sonny says, what things changed? and Dex says, Michael couldn’t go through with it. He said it would cause too much pain, especially for Donna and Avery. Sonny says, but Dex stayed? and Carly says, because she asked him to. Sonny says, to spy on him? but she says, no. He has to remember how things were then. He chose Nina over his family and things were way off with Pikeman. She had to get Dex in there in case things went south. He says, she continued to let this happen because she thought he couldn’t run his own business? She thought he wasn’t strong enough to take care of himself?

Maxie tells Sasha that she doesn’t know. It’s hard to imagine loving anyone the way she loved Nathan. She’s sure Sasha feels the same way about Brando. Sasha says she did until she realized she won’t love someone the same way. It’ll be different. It has to be. That doesn’t mean it can’t be great. Maxie says she put Spinelli through the wringer more times than she can count. She can’t do that again. Sasha says, then don’t.

On the phone, Spinelli says, keep him apprised and he can come home, if need be, and Cody asks if everything is all right. Spinelli says, James isn’t sleeping. He keeps making excuses to get out of bed. Cody says, Spinelli wouldn’t know that if he hadn’t called, but now that he’s apprised, why doesn’t he maybe fill Maxie in? Spinelli says, you think? and Cody says, he is her son. Spinelli says, true, and Cody says, it’s only appropriate she’s in the loop, right? Spinelli says, that’s a valid point, and Cody says, now’s his chance, now that the girls only police has left the table. Spinelli heads for the table.

Danny comes downstairs, and Sam asks if he feels better. He says, the room stopped spinning, and she says, that’s progress. He asks if she’s still mad, and she says, no, but they’ll have a conversation about this in the morning and set some ground rules. He says, okay. Still no phone? She says, no phone, and Dante gives a glass of water to Danny. He says, have about 18 of those and he’ll feel better, and Danny thanks him. Danny says, goodnight, and starts to go upstairs. Sam says she loves him, and he says he loves her too.

Sasha goes over to Cody, and he says, all good? She says, Maxie’s explaining that James has a crush on the babysitter and that’s why he keeps getting up. Cody says he’s been there, and she says, haven’t we all? He asks, who was her first crush? and she says, Mr. Rider, her fourth-grade science teacher. He was completely oblivious. Cody says, was he though? and she says she hopes so. He says, at least teachers and babysitters are unattainable (tell that to the girl who married the band director at my high school). It’s different when your crush can actually like you back. She says, like Maxie and Spinelli, and he says, what? She says, what? and he says, it’s obvious Spinelli has feelings for Maxie, but the way she just said that… She tells him that she said nothing. She would never betray a friend’s confidence like that. He says, okey-dokey. The subject of Maxie is closed. His friend Spinelli, however, he knows Sasha would never stand by and let him put his heart on the line if he didn’t have a chance. She would discourage him, albeit subtly, from risking their friendship. Right? Sasha says, sounds like something she would do, and looks over at the table. Cody says, so, is there anything she feels the need to tell Mr. Spinelli? She says, nope. Not a thing.

Sonny says, Carly and Michael went behind his back because they thought he was weak? but she says, no. He knows better than anyone, you can’t survive in this business alone. He says he’s been surviving for 30 years. Besides, he had Brick. She says, he didn’t have Brick, and the only one around him was Nina, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to trust her. He says, so she was helping him by lying to him? and she says she was trying to protect him. He says, they haven’t seen eye to eye about Nina, and he accepted all that, but he never in his life thought she would betray him like this. She says she was trying to help him. She was not trying to betray him. And if he can’t see that, then he’s further gone than she thought. He says, don’t try to justify it because she can’t, and walks off. She yells his name, but he keeps going.

Spinelli tells Maxie that he’s going to beat a hasty retreat before Lucy accuses him of sabotaging girls’ night. Maxie says, truth? She’s having way more fun hanging out with him. He says, that makes two of them.

Sasha tells Cody, anyone who sees Maxie and Spinelli together can tell they’re a good match, but it’s hard when you’ve tried before and couldn’t make it work. He says, maybe it just wasn’t the right time. Maybe someone is missing out on something great… And by somebody, he means Maxie and Spinelli. She says, of course (🍷), and he says, obviously.

On the sofa in front of a fire, Dante says he kind of wishes he knew Sam as a kid, but she says, no, he doesn’t. He says, yeah, he does, and she says she told him she was wild. She could have eaten him for breakfast. He says, is that so? and she says, wild, but lucky for him, she’s reformed now. He says he doesn’t know how lucky that is. Reformed is good, but a little wildness is good too. She says, how wild? and he suggests they go upstairs, and she can show him. They kiss and run upstairs.

Carly asks if Dex is okay, and he says, is she? She says, yeah, and he says, Sonny would have killed him if she hadn’t shown up. He can’t believe she did.

In the car, Frank says, home or the office, boss? but Sonny says, just keep driving. He flashes back to Michael saying that he’ll always have a place in Wiley and Amelia’s life, and him saying he loves those kids. He hated being estranged for months. Michael says, it will never happen again, and he hopes Sonny chooses to be part of his life too.

Chase and Brook get busy, and Chase asks if she’s still cold. She says she’s starting to warm up, and they fall onto the bed. There’s a song part.

Willow and Michael get busy to the same song.

Portia and Curtis bask in the afterglow, and Portia says, happy anniversary, baby. He says, happy Valentine’s Day, and she says, happy everything. He kisses her and says he wanted to do that so much, and she says, her too. He says, was it worth the wait? and she nods. He says, when he thinks about everything they’ve had to overcome to get here. All the challenges and the heartbreaks. She says, they’re still stronger than ever, and he says, it tells him that they’re built to last and that together, they can get through anything. She says, anything, and they kiss.

Tomorrow, Kristina tells Blaze that Molly knows about them; Jordan says, there goes their only lead; Valentin returns; Nina asks Drew if he’s really that threatened by a little competition; and Sonny says, Michael lost it the day Michael hired Dex to destroy him.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Erika has a session with Dr. Jenn and says, everything she didn’t think was possible is happening. Jenn tells her, just yesterday she said her life was over, and we flash back to Erika saying, it’s hopeless. Erika says, it was for a while. Now she’s got the residency and it’s good pressure. She wants to surpass expectation, but she’s afraid. Jenn says, last time, she had a husband and unlimited funds and resources, and Erika says, good or bad, he encouraged her to be here. In Erika’s interview, she says, Tom was her safety net so she could walk on the highwire. We flash back to her thanking him, and she says, she no longer has a net, and it can get scary. Don’t look down. Keep going forward. She tells Jenn that her legal woes are almost wrapped up, and in her interview, she says she got a favorable ruling about the earrings, and everyone was quiet. Her feelings are hurt. She tells Jenn about the ceremony to release burdens in Spain and how she was angry, and Jenn says she thinks Erika has unresolved feelings. When she was hoping to get support, she got criticism. We flash back to that, but seriously, she could have handled it better. Erika says she wants to release to past, but thinks she’s never going to get what she’s looking for. Jenn says, closure has to come from her. Something sh*tty can happen to you and you recover.

Sutton goes to ride Santos for the first time, and Santos steals carrots from Ali’s basket, which is pretty cute. In Sutton’s interview, she says she always wanted a horse. She hasn’t had one since her summers in Texas with her grandparents. She feels like a kid again. She’s nervous, since it’s the first time, but she knows Santos now, so she can ride him. It’s like when she’s dating. She gets know someone first before she rides him. Her words, not mine. Kyle joins her, and in Kyle’s interview, she says, Sutton looks like when she was riding the mechanical bull in Vegas. We flash back to that. Sutton uses stairs to get on and off, and wow, is Santos tall. They sit down, and Sutton says she thought Spain was super fun. She was emotional though, and had a rough day when she released Merce’s ashes. It was really about letting go of her marriage. She talked to Christian afterward. In her interview, Sutton says, Christian got a big promotion, but he’ll be living out of the country and it’s a lifestyle change for her. He lives down street, and now if she falls, she’s falling by herself. Kyle asks if they’d tried couples therapy, but Sutton says, no, and Kyle tells her that she’s going therapy with Mauricio.

Kyle says, their work has been keeping them apart, and Sutton says, that’s what happened to her. Christian’s career rose and she stayed where she was. Kyle says, they started out with nothing. Mauricio had lost his job and she suggested getting real estate licenses. In Kyle’s interview, she says, she’s made sacrifices and compromises. She’s a good wife and great mom and she’s been supportive. She wants Mauricio to prioritize her like she did him. She tells Sutton that now she has the freedom to do for herself, and she doesn’t want to miss the opportunity. The kids will be gone, and she wants to have her life too. Sutton says she has to figure out the balance.

In her interview, Garcelle talks about cyberbullying and how Jax had gotten horrific messages. We flash back to the Reunion where it was discussed, and she says, Cybersmile asked if they wanted to partner. By doing that, Jax is helping himself and other kids. She and Jax do a PSA, and present their GoFundMe, while Jaid works the cue cards, although he has a hard time standing still and not making faces. In Garcelle’s interview, she says, when her kids aren’t being pains in the ass, she’s proud of them. They’re respectful, they have manners, they’re kind, and outspoken. She tells Jaid that he can get a job at SNL, and tells Jax that he’s taken the negative and made a positive out of it. She’s proud of him. She’s also glad that they discussed her needing to parent him and his brother differently. It was a big learning curve for her. Since Jaid has asked for more freedom, she agrees that he can take and Uber to meet his friends. In her interview, she says, they’re getting more independent, so she needs to put herself first. She tells Jax that she can trace the car, but she still wants him to text when he gets there.

In Sutton’s interview, she says, the heavens opened, and she has a second date with Steve. The first date is to see if they’re not fresh out of prison. After Spain, she feels like she put away a lot of baggage from her marriage and she’s ready to move on. She hopes to find love again, and thinks Spain did her good. She meets Steve at the Surly Goat and takes her Ocean Spray out of her bag. He says he likes her purse and notices it’s Celine. He wonders if Celine Dion makes purses, and Sutton plays with him for a minute, but eventually tells him it’s a designer and not the singer. In her interview, Sutton says, starting over in your 50s is super tough because… you’re 50. They play darts, and Steve decides to throw with his eyes closed, getting a near bullseye. In Sutton’s interview, she says, regardless of the outcome, it feels like a new chapter, and it feels good. Steve is also easy on the eyes. They’ll see where it goes. I agree that he’s very good looking.

In Kyle’s interview, she says, her sessions with Jamie are a source of comfort. She thought couples therapy was important because it’s been difficult to communicate. She tells Mauricio that she wants to be able to talk outside of therapy, and he says he thinks therapy is fun. She says she thinks what he’s going for is, it makes him feel good, and he says, they’re gone through a tough year. It helps him be more in tune with himself and he thinks it’s helping. He thinks they’re in a way better place. They’ve been married 27 years and they’ve never had so much going on. It’s become hard. He’s opening two offices a month, and tomorrow will be here fast. In her interview, Kyle says she’s frustrated because she doesn’t feel heard. She’s not staying in a situation she’s not happy in. She’s not accepting for herself what she wouldn’t accept for her daughters.

Annemarie is throwing a Mother’s Day Diamond & Champagne Brunch. She wants them to come together as moms and feel pampered. She also needs to talk to Crystal. She doesn’t don’t like the negative energy and needs to try and fix it once and for all. As she gets ready, Crystal tells her glam squad that she and Annemarie had conflicts, but when she went to the hospital, Annemarie was supportive and helpful. It gives her hope. Seriously though, how would it have looked if Annemarie hadn’t been supportive and helpful? Like maybe she was a monster? Dorit calls PK and tells him that Mother’s Day is coming up. She’s wondering when he’s coming back. He says, as soon as he can, but he has to be there for this deal. Besides, Mother’s Day isn’t a big deal in England. She says, it should be acknowledged, and he says – wait for it – she’s not his mother. She points out that she’s his children’s mother and would like him to make a concerted effort for them to be together for it from now on.

At Annemarie’s, there’s a magnificent spread of food porn, and in Garcelle’s interview, she says, lots of food, beautiful people, and a jeweler. It’s so Beverly Hills. I assume the jeweler is there for them to buy stuff, but if I want to go to a Tupperware party, I’ll go to a Tupperware party, not a Mother’s Day party. In Kyle’s interview, she says she doesn’t drink champagne anymore, but she’s here for the diamonds. Erika puts a massive ring on Garcelle, who asks where she’d go with that. Erika says, everywhere, and Garcelle says, for that ring, you’d have to give a BJ every day. Erika says, gladly. Annemarie tells Erika that Crystal’s been on her mind. They haven’t come to a resolution. We flash back to that whole debacle.

Sutton struggles going up Annemarie’s many steps with no handrail, and says, what’s wrong with these people? I’m with you there, sister. She’s obviously indulged slightly before arrival, and in Dorit’s interview, she says, tipsy Sutton is here to liven up the party. Erika suggests they get her to buy them stuff, and says she loves diamonds, but she doesn’t want any more fights in court. Crystal asks how Erika is feeling, and Erika says, Crystal is the only person who said she was sorry and she’s grateful. She would like some other people to say it. Annemarie asks to talk to Crystal, and in her interview, Annemarie says she doesn’t want to harbor resentment toward her. She asks how Crystal is doing, and Crystal says, her doctor told her that she needs to work out more. She thanks Annemarie for her help, and Annemarie thanks her for coming. She says she doesn’t want Crystal to mistake her passion for anger, and Crystal says, they need to be able to agree to disagree. Her intention was and is to move on, but if Annemarie is feeling something different, she has to tell her. The others watch from a distance, and Erika says, we’re not nosy. Sutton tells them to mind their biscuits. Annemarie tells Crystal that she wants to have fun, and in Crystal’s interview, she says she thought Annemarie would move on when pigs flew. She looks around, wondering where the pigs are. In Annemarie’s interview, she says she’s over it. She has to be okay to agree to disagree. Kyle says she’ll pretend to get fruit, and saunters closer. Annemarie and Crystal hug it out, and Erika announces, they’re hugging. Kyle comes back and says, breaking news, but realizes she’s been scooped, and Erika says, they’re walking toward the cheese. Dorit asks Sutton about her date, and Sutton says, they played darts and she wore jeans. She looked cute, but she got a text from him this morning that said she looked beautiful and reminding her that they haven’t kissed yet. Erika says, he wants a BJ, and the jewelry guard tries to hide his smile. Sutton says, he wants a kiss, and in her interview, she says she likes to know someone first. And get a health certificate.  

Annemarie tells the group that she and Crystal have agreed to move forward, and Erika says she’d love it if they supported each other more. She went through something tough and she’s good now, but she’s disappointed in certain people and the group as a whole wasn’t there for her. Half of her wants an apology from certain people who didn’t believe in her, but the other half thinks, if they wanted to apologize, they would have. Dorit says she doesn’t think she wasn’t supportive, and Erika brings up a comment Dorit made at Kathy’s dinner about them all being dragged into it. We flash back to that, and in Dorit’s interview, she says, Erika did not make it easy. She had no empathy, she couldn’t talk about it, and every two seconds, an article was coming out. She and Kyle blindly supported her. Kyle says she took issue with how Erika was handling it, but never doubted she didn’t know anything. Garcelle says she didn’t want Erika to fall, but she had an opinion and she’s sticking by it. Sutton says she already apologized, but she thinks she caused a lot of hurt. The blame isn’t Erika’s. We flash back to Sutton’s questioning Erika’s knowledge of Tom pocketing settlement money, and Erika says she appreciates Sutton acknowledging that. Erika starts to cry and says, it didn’t have to be this way. In Sutton’s interview, she says, seeing Erika cry made her realize that maybe Erika needed an apology from her a long time ago. Maybe they’re leaning into a better relationship. Kyle says, if Erika feels she didn’t support her enough, she’s sorry. In Erika’s interview, she says she’ll never get the apologies she wants from everyone, but she’s received a lot of closure. It went better than she expected and it’s nice that Sutton acknowledged her behavior. She didn’t think that was coming. She appreciates the acknowledgement. That’s all she wanted. She thanks them for hearing her. She has let go and she’s moving forward. Now fight about somebody else.

Next time – finally, the finale – PK extends his trip; Erika performs at a stadium; all the women see something in People that shocks them; and Mauricio says he and Kyle didn’t tell their daughters because they’re trying to protect them.

💭 Thought: Yeah, it all looks good on paper right now, but I’m waiting for Erika and Annemarie’s other shoe to fall.

🪹 Lean Wednesday…

Circle back tomorrow for soap and things that must be true because they’re on the internet. Until then, stay safe, stay looking for a positive statement before addressing the negative, and stay not looking down, but keep looking forward when you no longer have a safety net.

February 13, 2024 – Sonny Takes Dex On a Ride To the Pine Barrens, Sandoval Makes Narcissist Of the Year, Six Degrees Of Vanderpump & Mambo

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Finn comes in with a box and says he’ll put it in Gregory’s room. Gregory says he wishes Finn would let him help. He’s the one moving in and Finn and Chase are doing all the work. Finn says, that’s the way it should be. Sit down and relax. Chase comes in with a box and says he’s in agreement with that. Violet comes in with a suitcase and tells Gregory not to worry. They’ve got him covered.

Blaze asks if Kristina has any morning sickness, but Kristina says, knock on wood, she feels pretty normal. Except for the incredible fact she has a human life growing inside her. It’s pretty amazing she got pregnant on the first try. She thinks it was meant to be. Maybe her purpose was to bring Molly and TJ’s baby into this world. Blaze says, one thing’s for sure, she’s absolutely glowing, and Kristina says she thinks that might have something to do with Blaze.

Laura takes Elizabeth’s coat and says she’s glad Elizabeth called. Spending time with her is just what she needed today. She just put Ace down for a nap, so they have plenty of time to chat. Elizabeth asks how Ace is doing, and Laura says he seems fine, but she’s worried about the long-term effects of losing his mother, and Spencer of course (🍷), and the long separation from Nikolas. But for right now, he seems to be settling in just fine. Elizabeth says she knows Laura has been here before, so she probably has everything she needs, but you can never have too many diapers. She hands Laura a shopping bag, and Laura says, you really can’t, can you? She thanks Elizabeth and says, it’s so thoughtful. Elizabeth says she’s glad Ace has Laura and Doc to take care of him while Nikolas is in prison, and Laura says, with losing Spencer and Nikolas turning himself in, everything has been so hectic. Having Ace here has really helped her… This is about more than dropping off diapers, isn’t it? What’s on her mind? Elizabeth says she’s worried about Nikolas.

Ava goes to see Carly and says, her assistant said she’d be in here. Why is she working in Michael’s office? Carly says, Nina. She gave Carly a story about pipes bursting, so the Crimson offices are an off-limits construction zone. She’s trying to make Carly miss her first deadline as Editor-in-Chief, but that’s not going to happen. Ava says, that sounds complicated, but Carly says, nothing she can’t handle. What does Ava want to talk about? Ava says, it’s about the sleepover Donna and Avery have planned for the weekend, and Carly says, Donna is super excited about it. She told Donna that they could all make chocolate chip cookies. Ava says, that sounds like so much fun, but she’s afraid she’s got to cancel, and Carly asks, why? Ava says, it’s not safe for Avery to stay over.

In the car, Dex asks where they’re going, and Sonny says, the Pine Barrens. (I laugh because we all know what that means.) He has some business he’s got to take care of.

There’s a knock at Kristina’s door and she says, that must be her sister Molly. Early bird for dinner as usual. Kristina opens the door, and Molly says she knows she’s early. She’s used to it for court, and now it’s just her default setting. Kristina says, it’s not like Molly is fifteen minutes early for everything in her entire life, and takes a bakery box from her. Molly comes in and says, it’s nice to see Blaze. Is she joining them for dinner? Blaze says, no. She didn’t realize the time. She actually has to get going. Kristina says, she can stay if she wants, and Molly says, the more, the merrier. Blaze says, sure, and Molly says, they can talk about what an amazing singer she is. She and TJ are total fans. Is she performing live anytime soon? They’re dying to see her. Blaze thanks her, but says she’s actually in the recording studio right now, working on some new material. Molly says she can’t wait to hear the new music, but please tell them when she’s performing again. It would be so fun to see her. Right, Krissy? Kristina says, yes, that would be so fun. They should definitely do that.

Elizabeth says she knows it was part of her statement that she’d testify to everything she saw Nikolas do when he held Esme hostage, but she’s so afraid of testifying against him. Laura asks if Nikolas’s lawyer contacted her, and Elizabeth says, no. Why? Laura says, because Nikolas chose to plead guilty, so there won’t be a trial, and Elizabeth says, this is the first she’s hearing of this. Laura says she’s actually very proud of him. As hard as it is, she thinks it’s great her son is finally facing his crimes and accepting the consequences for it. So Elizabeth doesn’t need to worry. Her life isn’t going to be upended by a constant rehash of all the stuff that happened at Windymere. Elizabeth says she hopes his cooperation helps him at sentencing. Personally, she’s super relieved. Laura says she is too. This is really what’s best for everyone. She and Elizabeth sit on the sofa, and Laura pours them some tea. Elizabeth moves some toys and says she almost forgot how much stuff a baby needs. She’s really proud of what her boys are becoming, but she really misses them being this little. Laura says, babies have a way of making you smile, don’t they? And speaking of babies and smiles, she and Doc have decided to legally adopt Ace. Elizabeth says, what? This is huge news. Laura says, it’s absolutely huge. Obviously, this isn’t something they expected to have happen, but with Spencer being gone and they don’t know how many years Nikolas will be in prison, it seemed like the best solution. Elizabeth says she’s so happy for Laura. She knows how much Laura loves that little boy, and having legal custody of Ace is only going to protect him. although it worries her that this adoption will lead to Heather being even more fixated on Doc. Laura asks what she means, and Elizabeth says, she visited Esme’s grave recently. Laura says, Doc told her that they both ran into Heather there, but he didn’t say anything else. What happened? Elizabeth says, as crazy as she is, Heather was surprisingly warm to her because of Franco, but she did direct all of her anger at Doc. She blames him for Esme’s death.

Ava tells Carly that she and Sonny barely got under cover. They could hear the bullets hitting everywhere. It was really terrifying. She’s just glad Avery was in her room. She missed the whole thing. Not a half hour before though, she was out on the patio. She told Avery the noise was fireworks, but she’s smart. She’s worried Avery can sense something’s wrong. Carly says she understands. She knows exactly how Ava feels, but promises her that Avery is safe at her house. Ava says she knows. Carly’s house is like a fortress, right? Carly says, it is, and she really wants to keep things normal for Avery because Donna loves having her big sister over for sleepovers. Ava says, Avery loves it too. She thinks maybe she’s overreacting. She’s just worried after everything that happened in Puerto Rico. Carly asks why she’s out and about? Why doesn’t she stay home at Sonny’s under guard? Ava says, it’s hard to stay cooped up in Sonny’s penthouse with Avery. Sonny has a guard who follows her everywhere. Carly says, it sounds like Sonny’s keeping Ava as safe as he can make her, and Ava says she thinks Sonny is hiding it well in front of Avery, but he’s really on edge. Carly says, of course (🍷) he is. Someone took a shot at him in his own home. Does Sonny have any idea who’s behind the attack?

Dex says he doesn’t want to overstep, but did something happen he doesn’t know about? Sonny says, Brick brought him some crucial information, and Dex asks if it’s a lead on the shooter in Puerto Rico. Sonny says, not a lead, a suspect, and Dex asks if they’re going to bring him in. Sonny says, already done, and Frank gets in the driver’s seat. Sonny says his rat problem will be over soon.

Violet asks Gregory how many books he has, sounding like every single person in my life, and Gregory says, one can never have too much literature. Unless one moves into an apartment that doesn’t have a library or a study even. There may not be enough room in here for all of those. Violet says he can put some in her room if he wants, and Finn says, that’s very generous, but he thinks her stuffed animal collection might have something to say about that. Violet says she can move them. She’s just so happy grandpa’s going to be here all the time. They should have a tea party to celebrate. She tells Gregory, come on, and he struggles to get up, then sits back down. She asks, what’s wrong? and he says he just stood up a little too quickly. He just needs to rest for a moment, that’s all. Violet tells Finn, grandpa rests a lot. Is he okay? Chase suggests they give grandpa a minute. He’ll help her get everything set up. He leaves with Violet, and Gregory says, they can’t put it off any longer. They have to let Violet know he’s sick.

Kristina says she hasn’t been ice skating in so long. They went to check out the new rink that just opened, and she forgot how hard ice skating is. (I haven’t. I spent more time on my behind than on my skates.) Blaze says, Kristina’s just being modest. Kristina was so much better at it than she was. She’s still sore from all the falls she took. Molly says, sounds like they had fun though, and Kristina says, they did. Don’t listen to Allie. She’s way too hard on herself. Molly says, Allie? And Blaze says, Blaze is a stage name. Her real name is Allison. Molly says she can’t imagine having to change her name for work, but Blaze says she doesn’t mind it actually. She’s a different person when she’s on stage, so it helps her get into the right headspace. Molly says, that makes sense, and Blaze says, speaking of which, she has an early recording session tomorrow, so she really has to get going now. Molly says, it was so nice to get to know her better. She’ll be right back. She needs to wash her hands. (Methinks she’s giving them some privacy.) She leaves and Kristina walks Blaze to the door. Blaze says, her sister is really nice. Talk to her later? Kristina says, definitely, and Blaze leaves.

Elizabeth says, Heather was really brutal with Doc. She blamed him for trying to help Ryan and accused him of causing Esme’s death. She really lit into him. Laura tells her that she can’t say she’s surprised. Heather likes to lash out at people and say horrible things. But no matter how horrible Heather was, try not to let it get to her because Heather is in jail. There’s nothing she can do from there. Elizabeth says she’s glad Heather can’t do anything to them, especially Ace. She still can’t believe they’re adopting that little one. She’s so happy for Laura. Laura thanks her and says, they’re very excited about having him here fulltime. Although she can’t say she ever imagined raising another child. Elizabeth says she’s sure, although he can’t be in better hands. And if Laura ever needs a babysitter, it would be her absolute pleasure to watch that sweet boy. Laura thanks her for the offer, but she doesn’t think she’ll be taking up any of what little free time Elizabeth has. It’s very demanding to be Head Nurse at GH. Elizabeth says, not like being mayor? and they laugh. Laura says she guesses she and Doc have very busy schedules, but fortunately, they’re at a point in their careers where they have a little flexibility. And they’re both committed to giving Ace a happy and stable home. Elizabeth says, if Laura won’t let her volunteer, Aiden loves kids and he’s been babysitting, and Laura says she’ll keep that in mind. Actually, if she’s being honest, it’s good to know there’s some kind of support system there and not just her and Doc in it all alone. Elizabeth says, they’re not alone. So she’ll call them if she needs anything? They’re family. They have to stick together.

Sonny says, Dex looks a little nervous. Is he uncomfortable going to the Pine Barrens? Dex says he is, and Sonny says, what’s going to happen is not going to be easy. It never is when someone you trusted to have your back betrays you. When someone chooses money over their word, they don’t deserve to live. Dex asks if that’s what happened. Is somebody in Sonny’s organization taking bribes? Sonny says, someone has been secretly working against him for months. That’s unacceptable. Dex says, of course (🍷). He knows how important loyalty is to Sonny. Sonny says, it means everything. He does everything for his people. He treats them well and makes sure they’re taken care of. Does Dex agree with that? Dex says, of course (🍷). He’ll never forget when Sonny came back for him in that warehouse. Sonny saved his life, then took Dex into his own home so he could recover. Sonny says, and he thought that would mean more than just a quick payday, but one thing he’s learned in this business is loyalty is rare and people will always disappoint you.

Molly says, that looks promising, and Kristina says, what? Molly says, her and Allie, and Kristina says she knows what Molly is doing and they’re just friends. Molly asks if Kristina is telling her that she isn’t attracted to Blaze. Blaze is hot. Kristina says, that’s not the point, and Molly says, okay, but they look cute together and there’s definitely a vibe there. Does she not see it? Kristina says she’s thought that with a lot of people, but Molly says, not like this. She saw the little looks Blaze was giving Kristina and they make each other laugh. She’s just saying she knows putting yourself out there is hard, but it might be worth it. Kristina says she’ll take that into consideration, and Molly says, good, because she deserves somebody great. Kristina says, now Molly is being just as pushy as their mother, but Molly says, Kristina is doing this incredible thing being the surrogate for her and TJ, so she wants Kristina to be as happy as they are. Is that why she’s not pursuing things with Blaze? She doesn’t want to explain that she’s having their baby? Kristina says, Blaze already knows she’s pregnant.

Gregory says he wanted to talk to Violet, because even though he’s very excited about moving in with her and her dad and getting to spend more time with her, they may not be able to play together as much as they’d both want. Violet asks if it’s because of his leg, and he says, it’s not just his leg. He has an illness. One that isn’t going to go away. She asks if it’s contagious, and Finn says, what grandpa has will only affect him. Chase says, it’s not like getting a cold. She can’t catch this. Violet says, okay. What’s wrong with him? Gregory says he has something called ALS, and she says, Als? Finn asks if she remembers when she learned what an abbreviation is. ALS isn’t a word; it’s an abbreviation. It’s an abbreviation for a disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Violet tells him, that’s hard to say. ALS is easier. Finn agrees, and Gregory says, having this disease means they may not be able to do some of the things together that they’re used to doing. Sometimes his symptoms may be very obvious, and he doesn’t want her to be scared when she sees them. She says, like what? and he says he may have a little trouble catching his breath. Chase says, it’s like when they play tag at the park, and they chase each other for too long. That’s not scary, right? She says, no, that’s fun, and Gregory says he may sound a little funny or be clumsy or trip or fall, but he doesn’t want her to worry because he’ll always have another grown-up around him, so she’ll never have to take care of him. Violet says, that’s okay. She likes taking care of him. He thanks her and she says she’s sorry he’s sick, but her daddy can fix it, right?

Ava says, Sonny doesn’t know who’s trying to kill him, and Carly knows how he hates feeling on the defensive. Carly says she doesn’t blame Sonny for being jumpy. It’s incredibly unsettling to know someone took a shot at him and got in a place he always considered his stronghold. Ava says, that’s why it’s so awful. It just feels like no place is safe anymore. And the shooter definitely had information about Sonny’s security that only Sonny would know. Carly says, that means Sonny was betrayed by someone in his inner circle. That’s something Sonny will not tolerate.

In the Pine Barrens, Sonny tells his guys to hold onto Dex, and Dex asks what he’s doing. He asks if Sonny thinks he’s the one who betrayed him, and Sonny says he doesn’t think – he knows.

Finn tells Violet that he’d love to be able to fix grandpa more than anything in the world, but it just isn’t that simple, and Gregory says, some things just can’t be fixed. Some things you have to learn to live with. Chase says, and grandpa can still do so many things with her, but there will be times he feels a little shaky and needs to take a break and rest. Violet says, that’s okay. Her teacher says, it’s good to take breaks sometimes. But she hates being sick. She doesn’t want grandpa to feel bad. Gregory says, don’t worry. He’s not in any pain. And being around her always makes him feel better. She says, it does? and he says, always. Finn says, family makes everything better. That’s why grandpa is moving in with them. They’re all going to take care of each other. Chase says he’s going to be here as much as he can to help, and Violet says, because that’s what families do. She’s sorry Gregory is sick, but she loves him. He says he loves her too, and kisses the top of her head.

Ava says she’s sorry to drop by Laura’s unannounced. She wanted to talk to Laura if she could, but she sees Laura already has company. Elizabeth says, that’s okay. She was just getting ready to leave. She tells Laura to call her if she needs anything. She loves her. Laura says she loves Elizabeth too, and Elizabeth leaves. Ava says she wanted to discuss the gallery’s contribution to the Nurses Ball this year. She knows it’s a few months away, but it’s such an important charity and she wants to give as much as she can. The gallery is getting busy, and she doesn’t want it to fall through the cracks. Laura says, Ava doesn’t have to make excuses to come over here. She disagrees with Ava’s decision to press charges against Esme, but she also understands why Ava did it. And she’s family, so she’s always welcome here. Ava thanks her, and Laura asks if she’d like a cup of tea. Ava says she’d love a cup of tea.

Molly asks why Kristina told Blaze about the baby. She thought they’d agreed on waiting until Kristina was three months along. Kristina says she’s sorry. She told Blaze about the IUI procedure because she didn’t know if she was actually going to get pregnant on the first try, and she did, and it was a miracle. It felt wrong hiding it from Blaze, so she told her, but she promises Blaze won’t say anything to anyone. Molly says, something’s not adding up here. She keeps saying she and Blaze are just friends, but she hasn’t told any of her other friends she’s known much longer than Blaze. They must be really close for Kristina to feel the need to confide only in her. Kristina says, Molly can stop interrogating her. She and Allie are dating, all right? There, she said it. It’s out there. Molly says she knew something was going on. She’s never wrong. Kristina says, all right, but it’s new. She’s not sure where it’s going to go yet, so… Molly says, from the looks of it, it’s going pretty well. They’re clearly into each other. Kristina says she kind of forgot what that feels like, and Molly says, they look happy. So why did Kristina deny when she asked? Kristina says, it had nothing to do with Molly, she promises. Allie’s family is very religious, so they don’t know she’s gay. She’s not out, so Kristina’s been respecting her privacy. Molly says, Blaze isn’t out yet. Is Kristina okay with that?

Brick asks if he’s interrupting, and Carly says, he is, but that’s okay since it’s always so great to see him. They hug, and he says, it’s always great to see her. She asks what he’s doing here, and he says he went by the Crimson offices because he wanted to congratulate her on being Editor-in-Chief (like she earned it), but he saw a construction crew and found out she was here. Is she redecorating? She says, not exactly, and he says, don’t tell him. Nina. She says, but that’s not important. She wants to talk to him about Sonny, so come in. She closes the door and asks what he’s found out about the attempted shooting on Sonny’s island. He says, she heard about that, huh? He can’t say he’s surprised, but she knows he can’t tell her. She says she knows, but Ava was just here, and she implied there’s a traitor in Sonny’s organization. She needs to know how that affects her kids. He says, Sonny’s handling the situation as they speak. It’ll all be over soon.

Dex says, Sonny’s got the wrong guy, and Sonny says, stop lying to him. He’s not leaving this place. So it can be quick and easy or slow and painful. It’s up to him. Dex says he wasn’t working with the shooter on the island. He’s the one who alerted Sonny when the shooting started. Sonny says, maybe that was Dex’s plan all along. He wanted it both ways. He took the money to betray Sonny, then used the shooting to play hero. Dex says, what money? and Sonny shows him a phone. Sonny asks if this is how Dex stays in touch with his enemy. Now is he realizing he screwed up and got caught (which he pronounces cot)? Dex says, Sonny’s got this all wrong, but Sonny says, no, he doesn’t. Brick found two payments that were untraceable from a shell corporation that coincided with the two attacks on him. Which tells him that Dex betrayed him. Dex says, no, he didn’t. This is not what it looks like. Sonny says, then what is the second phone for? but Dex says he can’t tell Sonny that. Sonny says, he’s got a few seconds to survive, so Dex better unlock this phone so he can see for himself. He wants to know who’s paying Dex to spy on him. (Seriously? With all the talent Brick is supposed to have, he couldn’t unlock a phone or figure out who’s linked to the shell corporation?)

Finn asks if Violet has any more questions, but she says she doesn’t think so. Chase says, if she thinks of any, she can always ask them, anytime, and Gregory says, absolutely. She can talk to them about anything. She says, okay, but she thinks she needs to go process this, and Finn says he understands that. Does she want to go in her room and play? They’ll be right here if she needs them. Violet leaves, and Finn says, that was rough. Gregory asks if he thinks they overwhelmed her. That kind of thing is hard enough for adults to process, let alone a kid. Chase thinks Violet handled it okay actually, and Finn says, so does he. He knows Violet doesn’t understand what ALS is or that it’s terminal, but it’s a good first step in preparing her for what’s going to happen. He knows she’s a really smart kid and sees more than they realize, but he thinks she was just looking for some explanation about what’s been going on. Holding back tears, Gregory says he knows Finn’s right, but he hates this. He’s not going to be here to see Violet grow up and her last memories of him are going to be of him sick and in pain. It’s not fair. He was hoping for more time with her. Chase says, he will. He knows this is hard, but he’s got a lot of life left.

Molly says, Kristina shouldn’t have to hide relationships. She deserves someone who is excited to fully commit to her, not someone who’s going to treat her like their dirty little secret. Kristina says, whoa. That is not what’s going on here. Coming out is an incredibly personal decision and Allie has to do it when she’s ready. Molly says she’s sorry. She really can’t imagine what Blaze is going through. She’s lucky she doesn’t live in a time where she has to hide her relationship with TJ. That wasn’t always the case. Kristina says, no, it wasn’t, and if people didn’t approve of her relationship, would she just give up on him? Molly says, of course (🍷) not. She’s just worried about Kristina. She’s not exactly one to hide her feelings. Is she going to be okay pretending to be just friends with Blaze? Kristina says she doesn’t know. Right now, it’s casual, and if it does get more serious, they’ll figure it out, but Blaze is taking a risk too. Molly asks, how so? and Kristina says, because she’s never had a girlfriend before. She’s actually never been in a serious relationship. She’s been happy to focus on her career. Now Blaze is really happy with her and wants to take a chance and have a relationship. Blaze knows if she wants to pursue this with her, she’s got to make some changes. Molly says, changes how? Is Kristina going to have to pretend they’re just friends every time Blaze’s family visits? She can’t imagine Kristina happy like that. Kristina says she doesn’t know, but right now, they’re happy and they’re sorting through things. And at this moment, she’s fine to hold Blaze’s secret and hopes Molly can do the same. Molly says, of course (🍷). She would never out Blaze, but she does have to tell TJ.

Ava asks how Laura is doing. She knows it’s a tough time, but she’s here if Laura wants to vent or scream or throw something. Laura thanks her, but says she’s okay. Having Ace around here keeps her really busy, so it kind of forces her into the present moment. If Ace weren’t here, she might actually get lost in her grief for Spencer’s death. Ava says, Trina is handling it as best she can, but she’s having a really hard time. For Ava, seeing Trina grieve so deeply takes her back to how she felt when Kiki died. How angry she was, how lost. She’s been thinking a lot about Kiki lately. Laura says she understands. You never get over the loss of a child. The pain gets duller she thinks, but it’s always there. Ava says she had Kiki longer than Laura had Spencer, but it wasn’t long enough. A hundred years more wouldn’t have been enough. Laura says she keeps expecting him to walk through the door, and Ava says she bets. She and Spencer had their problems, but she was starting to see him through Trina’s eyes, and she could tell he was getting his life back on track. Laura says she thought so too. It’s generous of Ava to say, especially after everything Spencer put her through. She’s sure he shares some of the blame for Ava’s marriage falling apart. Ava says, he was just a hurt kid, lashing out at her and his father. She’s sorry she won’t get to see the man he was becoming. Laura cries, and says, her too. Ava says, it’s twisted, isn’t it? All this pain goes back to that one family. Ryan took Kiki from her. Esme took Spencer from Laura. Laura says she thinks Ryan played a very big part in making Esme who she was, and Ava says, that man was evil. She’s glad he’s dead. Laura says, God help her, she is too.

Carly says she always feels better that Sonny has Brick watching his back, and Brick says, his pleasure. Carly’s phone dings and she sees a text from Josslyn: May miss dinner. Can’t find Dex. TTYL. Brick says he knows she’s busy. He’ll let her get back… She says, where is Sonny? and Brick says, Sonny’s out taking care of some business, but he promises it’s under control. She asks what Sonny is going to do, and he says, don’t worry. She’s not in any danger. Sonny will always do whatever it takes to take care of his family. No matter how much it hurts. She asks if Sonny thinks Dex is the traitor.

Sonny asks, what’s the password? and Dex says, it’s a password touch ID combo. Dex touches the phone, and Sonny asks what he did. Dex says he activated a kill switch and wiped the phone. There’s nothing left on it. Sonny says, Dex just proved he’s loyal to the bankroller more than him, but Dex says he hasn’t betrayed Sonny. Sonny says, then why did he wipe the phone? What is he hiding? Dex says, the person who’s paying him isn’t out to hurt Sonny, and Sonny says, all right. Tell him his name. Dex says, it’s better for him not to know, and Sonny asks, why? He likes having a lot of friends. Sonny takes a gun from Frank and says, give him the name – now.

Kristina says she didn’t really think this through. She should have checked with Molly and TJ before talking to Allie about this. It’s their baby and they deserve to make these decisions for themselves. Molly says, it’s their baby, but it’s Kristina’s body. She completely understands Kristina needing someone else to talk to besides her about this pregnancy. Just know that neither her nor TJ will tell anybody that Blaze is gay. Kristina says he knows that. She just hopes Blaze can know she can trust Molly and TJ the same way she trusts Blaze to keep quiet about the baby. Molly says she’s sure Blaze will, and Kristina takes her hand. She says she gets that Molly has to tell TJ. All she’s asking is that Molly gives her a chance to tell Blaze first.

Ava thanks Laura for listening. She didn’t come here planning to unload on her, but she feels so much better after talking. Laura says she hopes Ava knows she’s always welcome here. And not just when she’s upset. Laura wants her to share the good times too. Ava says, let’s hope the good times get here real quickly, and Laura says she couldn’t agree more. There’s been a lot of darkness lately.

Violet comes out with a book and a blanket, and Chase asks if she’d like him to read her a bedtime story, but she says, actually, she’s going to read grandpa one. Daddy always reads to her when she’s sick, and he can use her favorite blanket. It always makes her feel better. Gregory puts the blanket across his lap and Violet snuggles next to him.

Carly leaves a message for Sonny to call her the second he gets this. Don’t do anything until he talks to her first. She tells Brick that he’s not picking up. Where is Sonny right now? Brick says, he’s probably a little preoccupied, and Carly looks like she has a headache. He says he knows this is going to be hard at first. Josslyn was so close to Dex. She says, they have to stop this, and he says, Dex had a side hustle going on. He saw the proof himself. Carly says, he has to trust her. He has to tell her where Sonny is before he makes a mistake he’ll regret for the rest of his life.

Sonny says, all he wants from Dex is the name of the person who convinced him to rat on him, and Dex says, telling him will only hurt him. Sonny says, wrong answer, and Dex says he can’t tell Sonny who it is. So do what he’s got to do.

Tomorrow, Curtis wants to celebrate his and Portia’s anniversary properly; Chase tells Brook, it will be a Valentine’s Day to remember; Spinelli is ready to meet the woman of his dreams; and Willow tells Michael that she has something to get off her chest.

Vanderpump Rules

Still at Sandoval’s birthday party, Sandoval tells Schwartz about how James said it had been the ultimate betrayal, and Schwartz says he should have just agreed. Sandoval says, James did the same thing to him, but it was way worse. James f***ed Sandoval’s ex in his bed using his condoms. Schwartz says, if Sandoval gets upset every time someone comes at him, it’s going to be a negative impact on his life.

Emo Night doesn’t seem all that emo, since everyone looks like they’re smiling and having a great time. James arrives and tells Ariana that he just left her house. It’s been six months, and Sandoval texted him out of the blue that he was having a small gathering for his birthday. He thinks it was a manipulative move. In Scheana’s interview, she says, James told people to throw tomatoes at Sandoval on TikTok, yet he’s the first person Sandoval unblocked and reached out to. Maybe he feels her friendship didn’t mean anything to him. Although after what she said on her podcast, maybe he feels like his friendship didn’t mean anything to her. James tells them how Sandoval brought up his transgression from ten years ago, and Ariana says, no one around Sandoval gives him honest feedback. He’s surrounded by people he pays. Lala says, that’s the only type that will be around him. At Sandoval’s party, he whines to friend Kyle, then bitches some more, and complains about what James did to him ten years ago.  

Ariana, Scheana, and Katie are up to DJ, and in Ariana’s interview, she says she could have a career pressing play. In James’s interview, he says he wouldn’t be caught dead pressing play on a prerecorded set. In Lala’s interview, she wonders, what band is emo anyway. Nickelback? Schwarz tells Sandoval that he’s going to Emo Night, and Sandoval says he knows being with him is a bad look. In Schwartz’s interview, he says, he feels bad, but he doesn’t have a history with the others like he and Sandoval have. We flash back to better times with the Toms, and Schwartz says, Sandoval is a doucher and everyone hates him, but you don’t come by friendships like that often, and he doesn’t want to give up on that. Scheana introduces band The 27s who are doing Good As Gold with her, and in her interview, she says she’s on Cloud 9. She never wanted to be a pop star. She preferred a Gwen Stefani or Fergie style, where she interacted with guys in a band. She’s living out her dream and it’s so fun. They do a remix of the song, which is not bad, and Schwartz shows up just afterward. He tells Scheana that he’s sorry he missed her song, and Scheana says, that’s what he gets when he chooses Sandoval; he misses the fun. At Sandoval’s party, Billie Lee brings out a cake, and in Sandoval’s interview, he says he can’t express how grateful he is to the people who stuck around. They’ve put up with so much hate for what he did. Billie had to endure transphobic remarks and threats were made against Jason. It means a lot to him. He wipes his eyes, which might tug at our hearts if he didn’t cry all the time. Billie says she’s seen him suffer not just over the break-up with Ariana, but also Raquel. Sandoval says he wants to connect, and in his interview, he says he and Raquel had been talking every couple of days. He thought because it was his birthday she’d reach out, but he’s heard nothing. He considered her his best friend. He loves and misses her. Billie says, now comes his healing. He needs to focus on himself and not a girl. That’s the journey they’re on. 😴

Katie comes over Ariana’s house, and says, the last time she was here, two Toms were here. Ariana says she came home to a quiet and empty house, and Katie says, it looks pretty neat. Ariana says, that’s because Ann’s been cleaning, and Katie asks if Anna gets paid extra for that. Anna says she wishes, and I wonder why she’s working for these cheapskates. Two women come with IVs for Katie and Ariana, and in Katie’s interview, she says she and Scheana are at a turning point. She’s committed to working on the friendship. The lights are on and someone is finally home. Ariana says she feels like Scheana has a soft spot for Schwartz, and Katie says she asked Scheana if she’s going to flip-flop. Ariana says, there are people besides Schwartz who will use Scheana, and Katie says, it makes her nervous to be close to energy drains.

Lisa goes to the closed PUMP, and in her interview, she says, they had a good run. It’s so hard to look around at an empty shell of the restaurant. She knew they were going to close for a while, but seeing it makes it more real. She calls Ken and says she wasn’t prepared. She’s wondering if they did the right thing. Ken asks if she’s changed her mind, but she says, only if it goes back to the original rent. Nothing lasts forever. She doesn’t know where they’re going to put all this stuff. Sandoval comes in bearing flowers and says he knows it’s like bringing sand to a beach. She asks how he’s doing, and he says he’s beat up from his time in New Zealand. She asks if he’s seen anyone. Has he seen Ariana? He says, they haven’t talked, and she says she has no idea why, since they’re in the same house. He should do the gentlemanly thing; give her some space and sell the house. Sandoval says, or one of them can keep it. He put money and work into it. He had his real estate agent send Ariana a letter of intent, but got radio silence. Lisa says, he’s got to move forward, and he says he’s trying to figure it out. It’s a lot for him. She says, he created it, and he says he knows he did. His close friend Ali died, and Scheana reached out, but she’d been releasing rumors about him and Billie on her podcast. She thinks something happened between them. Scheana needs to take the day off from kicking him while he’s down, as well as Raquel. She had a guy Nema (from Shahs of Sunset!) that Raquel dated on her podcast, and he was talking sexual things. If I was Lisa, I would be bringing up Sandoval’s comment about Ariana in a T-shirt, but she doesn’t. In his interview, Sandoval says, a guy Raquel dated for a short time claimed Raquel said he told her that he and Ariana had an open relationship. That’s not true. He went on to say explicit things, like Raquel was begging him to have sex on Scheana’s bed. Raquel called him afterword, and they were on the phone for quite a while. He was grossed out. Wow. After some of the nasty, nasty things this dude has said, that’s rich. He tells Lisa that he’s always been against mob mentality, but Lisa tells him that he should just say he’s sorry and that he knows he didn’t handle it in the best way. Sandoval tells Lisa that when he apologizes, they say he doesn’t mean it. He’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. He wants to move on. Like many men, he thinks moving on means forget about all the mess I just made. Sorry not sorry. It’s true and don’t do that. Lisa tells him to stop being angry, and he says, she’s attacking him. He seems to be having a different conversation than Lisa is, but not surprising when he only thinks about himself. She says she’s trying to help him. He says he’s not living the rock star dream; it’s grueling work. Lisa says he has to have remorse, and he tells her, when he cried, they called it crocodile tears. He thought about suicide. Don’t tell him what he felt. In his interview, he says he felt like he couldn’t dream of better days. Like, what’s the f***ing point? Lisa says he should have reached out. He knows how she feels about that after losing her brother, and he promised her. In Lisa’s interview, she says, after the Reunion, Sandoval assured her that if he ever had any thoughts like that, he’d reach out, but he’s not that person and he wouldn’t do that. It scares daylights out of her after losing her only sibling to suicide. She can’t hear that and do nothing. She tells him that she’ll help him move forward and asks if he thinks he can find a way back to his friendships. He says he doesn’t know, and she says, he has to have utter sensitivity and contrition. He says he understands, but I’m doubtful. I don’t think he’s Robert Chambers, but he’s definitely a high number on the scale of being a sociopath.

Lala and Ariana go shopping and talk about going to see James’s See You Next Tuesday. Ariana says she always thought James was better when he’s sober, but she can’t tell him what to do. Lala says she doesn’t think anyone who still drinks should tell someone not to. She can’t even do it or ask him to a meeting. He has to come to them. In Lala’s interview, she says she thinks being sober is beneficial for everyone. Your skin looks fantastic, you lean out, and you don’t engage with people you shouldn’t. The number of people she gave out her phone number to when she was f***ed up is insanity. Katie meets Scheana at a restaurant, and in Katie’s interview, she says she and Scheana used to be so close. We flash back to that, and Katie says she feels they both genuinely want to make it work. Spending more one-on-one time is the first thing. Scheana says she heard Katie has a date, and Katie says, he’s nice and he’s cute. In her interview, she says she gave her number to guitarist Kevin from Scheana’s band, The 27. She asks Scheana if it isn’t more fun to be a wingwoman for her than Schwartz, and Scheana apologizes for inviting him to Next Tuesday, but she felt bad. It’s the old Scheana who sees someone is being left out. She regretted it immediately. She’s happy where they’re at and doesn’t want Katie to be uncomfortable. Katie says, it’s not about her, and Scheana says she’s been working on self-realization and understanding boundaries with the people she wants to be in her life. Katie says, to carve out time for garbage people just because you have a history isn’t worth it, and Scheana says, if they don’t add value to her life, she doesn’t need them in her inner circle.

Dogs! Schwarz brings Gordo and Butters to Vanderpump Dogs for some grooming. Schwartz tells Lisa that he’s got bad news. His brother is back in rehab. He was rushed to the hospital, and they think he has cirrhosis. It’s his third time in rehab. In Schwartz’s interview, he says, Bert was used to be a ray of sunshine, but after he got jumped outside a bar, he was never the same and has a dependency on alcohol. Any form of addiction makes a brutal impact on the family. It made him rethink his moderation. Lisa asks, what’s happening with Schwartz & Sandy’s? and Schwartz says, they got unforeseen backlash. She says she doesn’t think the punishment befits the crime. Although maybe she’d feel differently if Ariana wasn’t living her best life. Schwartz says he thinks Sandoval is still reeling, and Lisa says, maybe people will always feel differently about Sandoval, but he worries her. He said he had dark thoughts. Schwartz says, Sandoval’s best friend died, but Sandoval didn’t tell him. He found out from other people. She says, it scares the life out of her. Her brother said similar things, and suddenly, it was too late. In Lisa’s interview, she says she doesn’t think there’s anyone who’s lost someone to suicide who doesn’t have regrets. Even if people think it’s foolish for her to reach out, she’ll take it rather than the alternative. They have to help him change the narrative. Schwartz says, he doesn’t make it easy, and Lisa suggests getting them all together in Tahoe. In her interview, she says she’s going to be opening a new restaurant on the division between California and Nevada. Wolf by Vanderpump is going to be the sexiest restaurant in Lake Tahoe. Lisa suggests Schwartz bring someone with him and get back in the groove, and he says he’d like to get the gang back together, but doesn’t want to force anything. He doesn’t think Ariana and Sandoval will ever be friends. Lisa says, Ariana probably will never be there if Sandoval is. She’ll tell him to shove the invite up his ass.  

The gang is all at SUR, minus the Sandoval, for James’s Next Tuesday. Lala asks if Schwartz was invited or is he popping in, and Schwartz says, popping in. In Schwartz’s interview, he says, Lala knows where to jab. Strangely, it makes him feel more welcome. He’ll take hate over indifference. She’s acknowledging his existence. He says he got Lala something, and Lala wonders if it’s a f*** you. He gives her a bottle of something called Neurotropic, and says he thought she’d appreciate it since she’s sober curious. In Lala’s interview, she says, she doesn’t recognize these things like sober curious and California sober, but do you, boo. Ariana and Katie arrive, and Schwartz says he’s going to mingle. He goes over to see James and tells James that he had a good conversation with Lisa. He kind of invited himself to Tahoe, and she wanted him to extend the invite to everyone. James says, not Sandoval, but Schwartz says, Sandoval. James says he doesn’t want to spend days feeling anger. Sandoval comes in with Kyle, and in his interview, he says he feels like he’s walking into a lion’s den. He’s taking what Lisa said to heart. He’s going to be apologetic and humble. With this group, it should be interesting. Scheana alerts everyone that Sandoval just walked in with Kyle.

Ariana says she doesn’t know why he showed up at SUR. It’s not happening. Peace out, dude. You suck. Sandoval and Kyle sit at a small table, and Sandoval says, it’s his first time having dinner here in a long time. In his interview, he says he feels like someone is going to accidently spill a drink on him on purpose. He says he talked to James on his birthday, but it didn’t go so well, and Kyle says, Scheana reached out when Ali died. Sandoval says, it was bad timing. After her podcast, he felt it was insincere. Server Jesse says, it’s been a long time. He was worried for Sandoval. He f***ed up, obviously. Sandoval says, there was a lot of collateral damage, and Jesse says, it’s been the worst. He told Sandoval why he had to unfollow him. He didn’t want to be attached to Sandoval’s decisions and choices. Sandoval says he doesn’t want to cause any extra stress and they hug it out. Kyle says, Sandoval has to deal with that all the time, and Sandoval wipes his eyes, saying he feels bad. They didn’t do anything. Schwartz didn’t do anything. Schwartz comes back to the group along with James and tells them about seeing Lisa at Vanderpump Dogs. He invited himself to Tahoe and she told him to invite everyone, so he is, including you-know-who. Katie says, why? and Ariana says she doesn’t want to interact with Schwartz. Schwartz says, it’s a complicated situation, but she doesn’t have to see him or Sandoval. Lala says, after how Schwartz was treated, why does he need to stand by Sandoval’s side? and Schwartz says, they have a beautiful friendship and right now, it sucks. Lala says, the day is going to come when he sees it. He’s going to look back and realize he should have gotten rid of Sandoval. Sandoval will devastate him. Schwartz says, it’s a work in progress, and Ariana says she gave up on Schwartz a long time ago, and her life is better without him. He’s a lost cause. Anything he says to anyone will fall on deaf ears. Schwartz says, she’s not the queen of the group. Her ego is getting too big. In Ariana’s interview, she says, Schwartz is clearly confusing strength and boundaries with ego. She’s not making decisions for anyone but herself. She doesn’t have to be around anyone she doesn’t want to be around. She says, its’ not going to be a situation where Schwartz bridges the gap and brings Sandoval back in the fold, and Schwartz says he misses the group dynamic. Ariana says, no one destroyed it but Sandoval, and Schwartz doesn’t know what to say.

Sandoval tells Kyle, this place has always been so tumultuous, and we flash back to that, and Lisa says, Villa Blanca is where you take your wife. SUR is where you take your mistress. Sandoval sees Scheana and asks to talk to her, but she says, not here. She’s going to the bathroom, and she’ll meet him in the back. In Scheana’s interview, she says, Ariana’s her best friend and she has her back. She has nothing to say to Sandoval that she hasn’t said already to his face. Why he wants to have a public conversation in SUR of all places is beyond her. Behind SUR, where so many server antics have happened over the years, Sandoval brings her a vodka/soda, but she says she’s three weeks sober. They sit down and the silence is deafening. Tom says she looks like she rode in on a Shania Twain motorcycle, and she says she was going for the Y2K look. He says he’s wearing a Y2K sweater, and Scheana says she didn’t expect to get blocked when she reached out after Avi passed. Sandoval says he wasn’t in a good place. He hasn’t been on a lot of days, and he felt like she was just doing it to say she did. Scheana says she’d think after 14 years he’d know her better. Her reaching out was genuine. She has a heart, but he hasn’t been acting like he has a heart. He says, everything he does is looked at in a negative way, and she says, if he’d honestly had remorse from the beginning, it would have been a different outcome. He says he can’t redo the past, and she suggests he apologize and be remorseful instead of doubling down and acting like a villain. He says he did apologize to her at her house, and we flash back to that. She says, not just to her, and he says he’d love to talk to Ariana. Out of everybody, she’s been less vindictive when she has every right to come after him, but she doesn’t get off on that sh*t. She doesn’t want to see him dragged to the point of… Scheana says, nobody wants to see that, but he says, it’s been relentless. He gets that there’s podcast money, but it’s too much. Scheana says she agrees and at a certain point, they stopped. She thinks he needs to humble himself. The next time he does a show, leave Schwarz and Raquel out of his songs. In her interview, Scheana says, someone needs to tell Sandoval to put the mic down. She tells him that everything he’s doing is literally the definition of a narcissist, and he suggests she look it up. She says, narcissists never admit they’re narcissists, and he says, that’s why Ariana would never say she is. Scheana tells him, that’s offensive. She has to get home to her daughter, but her advice is for him to humble himself and have humility. No one is wishing harm comes to him or Raquel. Sandoval says, after the Nema interview, he had to talk Raquel down, and Scheana tells him, but she said it. The interview wasn’t meant to attack them. They just wanted to put the truth out there. She’s not having people saying she’s making up a rumor. We flash back to Scheana telling Ariana about Raquel claiming Tom told her at Coachella that he and Ariana had an open relationship. (Trust, but verify.) In her interview, Scheana says she doesn’t know if Sandoval said it, but Raquel said it to Nema. Sandoval asks if it’s really her business, and she says, when her character is being questioned, it is. Sandoval says, it wouldn’t have been if she hadn’t brought it up to begin with, which leaves Scheana wide open to say, it wouldn’t have if Sandoval hadn’t f***ed Raquel to begin with. In Sandoval’s interview, he says, out of everyone, the loss of Scheana’s friendship is devastating. Scheana is all heart and she’s funny. He misses her. He gets more emo than Emo Night.

We see a text that says to call 988 for the Suicide Prevention Hotline.  

🍾 Once You Go Shah…

This was news to me. She and Gigi are like polar opposites.

https://www.distractify.com/p/raquel-leviss-nema-vand-relationship

🤹🏽‍♀️ Passing a Hail Mary…

Make this your stop tomorrow for soap and the 10th circle of hell that is this season of RHOBH. Until then, stay safe, stay tasting your food before seasoning it, and stay not carving out time for garbage people just because you have a history. Keep only those who add value to your life in your inner circle.

February 12, 2024 – A Major Decision Is Made About Ace, Dicey First Docking On Deck & There

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Doc comes into the living room to find Laura with Ace on her lap. He says, he’s in better spirits today, and Laura says, her too. She finally got him to sleep through the night. Their little baby has been shuttled between so many homes, and he’s not even a year yet. He says, she’ll give him all the love and stability he needs, when there’s a knock at the door. Laurah hands Ace to Doc, and opens the door to Martin, who apologizes for coming by unexpectedly. She says, that’s okay. What brings him by? He says he has some very important paperwork for her that concerns her and her grandson.

Tracy sees Gregory sitting at a table at the MetroCourt, and says, this is a nice surprise. May she join him? He says he supposes he could handle another cup of coffee before he starts packing. Today is his last day living at the MetroCourt. She says she hopes he’s not moving back to the west coast, and he says, no. He’s moving in with Finn. It seemed like the thing to do, considering. She says, congratulations. Not only will be living with his adorable granddaughter, Finn is a decent backgammon player. He won’t be bored. Suddenly, she’s hit with a roll, and turns to see Lucy behind her. Lucy says, that’s all the dough Tracy is getting out of her.

Ava nearly collides with Dex at the gallery and asks if he and Frank can’t be a little bit less conspicuous. They’re going to frighten her customers. Dex says, sorry. Sonny wanted her to have a little extra security right now. She says she thinks he and Frank are a little excessive. Doesn’t he? Trina comes in and asks if everything is okay, and Ava asks what she’s doing here. Trina says she’s all cried out. She needs a distraction. She knows Ava hired someone else. Ava says, she can come back here anytime. She’s putting up a new show and would really love Trina’s input. On phone in the hallway, Frank says, don’t worry. He has eyes on him. Sonny says, good. Don’t let him out of his sight.  

Sonny asks if Brick found something on Dex, and Brick says, yeah. Sonny’s going to want to hear this.

In the MetroCourt elevator, Drew says, Carly seems excited and happy about today, and she says she was unsure of taking over as Editor-in-Chief, but since she saved the Prinzer and Golden account, she feels like she’s getting into her groove. They came up with the best ideas last night. He says he knew she could do it. She’s going to be the best editor Crimson has ever seen. She suggests they not get ahead of themselves. First, she has to get the first issue out, but from what she’s seen, it’s going to be great. He says, she’s great, and kisses her. (Bleh.) The elevator doors open to Crimson, and there are tarps, ladders, and buckets everywhere. Carly says, what the hell?

Willow sits up on the couch and looks at the time. Michael comes in with coffee and tells her, no worries. Wiley’s off to school and Amelia’s been fed. She actually drank out of a sippy cup. He thinks she’s starting to get used to it. She says, he did all that? Why didn’t he wake her up? (Maybe she better check the kitchen to see if he cleaned up after all that.) He says he thought she could use an extra hour before work, and hands her a cup. She says, wow. It’s so nice when someone else makes the coffee. He says, she’s so not a morning person, and she says, guilty. (Same.) She didn’t mean to pass out here last night. Where did he sleep? He says, in the chair. It’s not the first time. He used to sleep there when she was sick. She says, he took such good care of her, and he says, she paid him back by getting better. She says, it was really nice having him here last night, and he says he liked it too. (He likes it! Hey, Mikey!)

Gregory asks if Tracy is okay, and Tracy says, she is a lunatic. She always thought Lucy would go off the deep end one day. At a nearby table, Robert tells Diane, oh goodie. The floor show is about to start. She laughs and says she has to cut this date short, as pleasant as it’s been. He says, date? and she says she misspoke. She doesn’t really equate omelets and toast with dates. Before they go, a colleague gifted her with two tickets to the Port Charles Ballet. Is he interested? He says he’s really not much into the ballet scene. Try Alexis. She says she has to confess, she asked Alexis first. She’s booked. He says he’ll try not to be too insulted, and she says she supposes she could have picked a more opportune time. Gregory Chase was in Alexis’s office, and he’s still mad at her about arguing the malpractice suit against his son.

Gregory asks Lucy, what’s wrong with her? and Lucy says, he should be grateful. It could have been much worse, because this friend of his has systematically destroyed her life. Tracy says she gave Lucy an out. Thanks to her kind companion, she went to Martin and explained that she’d been misleading him. That Lucy was, in fact, true blue. Lucy says, gee, thank you. But her change of heart came just a little too late. Tracy says, too late for what? She starts laughing and says, this is rich. Gregory asks if he’s missing something, and Tracy says, Lucy did really sleep with Scott Baldwin.

Martin says he took the liberty of drawing up the paperwork for Laura’s petition before he left. The forms are all ready for her. When she makes her decision, just put down her John Hancock. She says, a petition for what? and he says, to legally adopt Ace.

Drew yells, who the hell is in charge here? when a man in a work uniform comes out and says, it’s not safe. They shouldn’t be here. Carly says, this is her office. What the hell is going on? Nina comes in, says she’s got this and tells the man to go about his business. She appreciates him. Drew asks, what happened? And Nina says she’s so very sorry. There was a flood a few floors above and it leaked into the walls last night. The building notified all the employees on the floor to stay home today. They didn’t get the notice? Drew says, Aurora has a lease. She can’t come in here and rip out all of their offices. Nina suggests he check the lease, because as owner of the MetroCourt, she’s allowed to address all safety and health matters. The construction team needs to get into the walls to repair the damage, and more importantly, they need to dry out the water to prevent the mold from spreading. Obviously, some of the fiber optic cables needed to be temporarily replaced, so the internet on the floor is down. But not to worry because this isn’t a long-term project. The crew should be out of here in three days or so. Carly says, and the deadline for her first issue is tomorrow. But then again, Nina knew that, didn’t she?

Tossing a folder on Sonny’s desk, Brick says he did an in-depth background check of Dex last year, and it came back clean. But now it seems like Dex came into a huge windfall twice last year, through some untraceable shell corporation. Sonny says, twice? When were these payments? Brick says, the first one was after Sonny was attacked last March. The second one was just last week, the day after Sonny and Ava were targeted on the island.

Laura tells Martin that she thinks there must be some mistake. She and Doc were only supposed to watch Ace until Nikolas gets out of jail. Martin says, come on. Nikolas confessed to kidnapping. It’s going to be quite a while before he’s even eligible for parole. He’s already been talking to Nikolas about ceding his parental claim to her. She says, he what? and he says, don’t forget, Heather Webber and their brother have ties to this little guy. Doc says he did see Heather at Esme’s grave and she seemed interested in Ace. Laura says, Cyrus got out of jail early, and God forbid Heather… Martin says, yes, God forbid. She would most likely win if they ever decided to challenge her guardianship, but he thinks the best course of action is for her to have permanent custody, and the best way for her to do that is for her to officially become Ace’s parent of record.

Tracy says she’s right about Lucy. She cannot resist Scott Baldwin. Lucy tells her, zip it. Does she want to announce that to every single person in the restaurant? Tracy asks if she thinks anyone would be surprised. Lucy has been having her tawdry affair with Scotty on the installment plan. A few years on, a few years off, and now she’s back on. She’s been sleeping with Scotty. Lucy insists she hasn’t… Well, since she and Marty broke up… Tracy says she’s not responsible for Lucy’s rebound choices. But Lucy is definitely responsible for her dry-cleaning bill. Lucy says, but Tracy is responsible for orchestrating all of this. Tracy says, Lucy had Scotty romance her with the intension of swindling her out of her Deception shares, and now Lucy is whining because she paid her back. Gregory says, perhaps she can afford to be gracious in victory, and Tracy says, really? She likes gloating. Okay, if he insists. If Martin is open to it, she would be willing to try and mend fences. Lucy says, fat chance. He’s sending all her calls to voicemail. Gregory says he spoke with Martin this morning to thank him for his help with Finn. He mentioned he was going to his sister’s to drop off… Lucy says, Laura. Perfect. She’ll know exactly how to make Marty forgive her. Thank you. Ta. She leaves, and Tracy says, ta? They sit back down, and Gregory says, Scotty was romancing her? Tracy tells him that she said he tried. Only Lucy Coe would think he had a prayer of succeeding. He asks if she’s immune to Mr. Baldwin’s charms, and she laughs. She says, charms? Once, in a spectacular moment of bad judgement, she did get close to Scotty. He says, how close? and she says, close. Blame it on the 90s. The good news is, she learned her lesson. Lucy obviously never will.

Willow asks, how many of Wiley’s magic tricks did he sit through last night? and Michael says, about four, but he is getting really good with the ball one. She says she knows, right? It was good having him back home last night. It felt right. There’s a knock at the door, and Willow opens it to Josslyn. She says she’s sorry to interrupt. She was on her way to see Dex and found this in the car. She holds out a stuffed giraffe and says, Amelia’s lovie. Willow says, there it is, and thanks her. She has to get ready for work, but Michael can make Josslyn some coffee if she wants. She goes upstairs and Josslyn says, well? Michael says, well, does she want some coffee? but she says, no, she wants the tea. Spill, please. He spent the night last night? Are things back to normal? He says, they’re taking it a day at a time. There’s still a long way to go, but they’re making progress. She says she’s happy for them and the kids. Nina is not worth them fighting. Michael says he agrees, and Josslyn says she can’t wait for Sonny to divorce Nina so she’s out of their lives. He says he saw Sonny yesterday, but he doesn’t know what Sonny is going to do about Nina. She asks, how was seeing Sonny? and he says, they talked. He thinks things are better. She says, good. When there’s friction between him and Sonny, it freaks her out and she thinks it makes things more dangerous for Dex.

Trina carries a painting and stares at a heart on it. She drops it, and says, oh no. Dex rushes over and says he’s got it.

Brick tells Sonny, the shell corporation was created for the soul purpose of funneling money to Dex. He doesn’t know who set it up, but it sure tells a story. Dex gets paid to tip them off about Sonny’s location, his enemies, and of course (🍷) to highlight his vulnerabilities. Sonny wonders why he’d do this to Josslyn, and Brick says, maybe he used Josslyn to get closer to Sonny. Sonny says, it’s genuine, and Brick says, maybe Josslyn disapproves of his life with Sonny. Sonny says, she does, and Brick says, maybe he’s going to get out of this life with her. What better way to avoid a bullet from Sonny then to set Sonny up to take one?

Nina says, Carly’s not insinuating she’s trying to sabotage Carly’s next issue of Crimson? but Carly says she’s not insinuating anything. She’s accusing Nina. This has her written all over it. She is surprised Nina would jeopardize the jobs of her former employees, the ones she claims to care so much about. Nina says, editors have back-ups of all their articles, templates, and spreads on the cloud. Carly doesn’t know this? Carly says, yes, she knows that, but coordinating all the back-ups from around the cloud could make them lose a day’s work easy, which would make the issue late to the printer, which is exactly what Nina intended. (Are we using the same cloud? It’s not that hard to find something.) Nina says her focus is on the hotel. She’s just wanting what’s best for the MetroCourt. Carly says, if she talks to Olivia, the other owner of the MetroCourt, she’ll back up Nina’s story? and Nina says she has authority to sanction emergency construction. Olivia could disagree and she could overrule Nina, but the process has already begun. It could take a few days and even more to get all the offices back together even if they stopped, and it’s certainly not cost effective. So she thinks they all know it’s best to just let the repairs play out. Then they can come back when it’s all done. Carly says she thinks she’s heard enough. Nina will be hearing from her lawyer. Until then, she has a magazine to put out. Nina says, good luck, and Drew tells Carly to go ahead. He wants to have a word with Nina. Carly says she’ll call him later and leaves. Drew tells Nina, keep playing with fire and see where it gets her. (Just a thought, but Drew probably shouldn’t be threatening his landlord.)

Robert asks if Diane thought Finn was capable of negligence, and she says, uh-uh, but it wasn’t her place to decide that. It was her job to present the strongest argument possible that Dr. Finn was guilty of negligence and let the jury decide. Of course (🍷) the jury was never able to deliberate, so they’ll never know if her argument was convincing or not. He says, fair enough. The rule of law doesn’t always make for winning friends. She says, he must have come up against that, where he has the evidence to convict, but his gut its telling them that the defendant just might be innocent. He says, unfortunately, yeah. It’s happened where an innocent person has pled out. The system isn’t always fair. She says, maybe together, they could make the system a little more fair, one day at a time.

Trina says she’s so sorry she broke the stretcher, but Ava says, that’s why they have insurance. She asks Dex to take the painting to the backroom. Her assistant will send it out for repair. He leaves with the painting, and Ava says, see that? The crisis is finished. They sit down, and Trina says, but it’s not. She starts to cry and says she can’t stop crying. It’s like everything she sees, everything she hears, reminds her of Spencer. It’s like she’s losing him all over again. And there’s a pit in her stomach and she can’t breathe. She’s gasping for air. She doesn’t know how to live with this feeling. She can’t live with this feeling. She wishes it was her who died instead of him. Ava tells her not to say things like that. She knows the feeling. When Kiki died, she was in so much pain that she didn’t want to live. She would have done absolutely anything to trade place with her, to die so she could live. But she was gone, and Ava was here, and she realized she needed to stay here for Avery. Just like Trina needs to stay here for her mom and for Curtis. She has a strong, wonderful family and they’re going to get her through this, okay? And truthfully, she’s very grateful to Spencer that he did what he did so Trina could live. Because Trina is here with her. Trina and Avery are everything to her. She holds Trina as she cries.

Laura says she guesses this is the obvious next step. She just hadn’t considered it before. What did Nikolas say? Martin tells her that Nikolas gave him permission to start the paperwork. Just be honest. Is this not something she wants to consider? She tells him that she’s not saying that. It’s just a lot to consider. He says he knows. He just wanted to make sure she was set up. The paperwork is right there. She wants to make that decision, wants to cross that bridge, she’s got everything she needs. They’ll have to forgive him. He’s got to get out of here or he won’t make his flight. He’ll be gone from Port Charles for a while. He’s only a phone call away, and he’ll come back if she needs him. She says she loves him and tells him to travel safely. Martin leaves, and Doc says, so, what are her thoughts? She says, everything her brother told them makes sense. It would be better for little Ace to have a permanent parent instead of a temporary guardian, but this is not just her decision to make. Doc says, if she wants to adopt Ace, he’s totally on board, but she says, no. We would adopt him together.

Doc tells Laura that he moved some appointments around at the hospital so they could talk, and she says she hates that he has to rearrange his schedule. He says, this is so much more important, and she says, and it came completely out of the blue, but she can’t imagine doing this without him. He says, which is why they need to spend some time with it, and there’s a knock at the door. This time, it’s Lucy, who asks if she can come in. Laura says, yeah, and Lucy says she was so sorry to hear about Spencer’s unbelievably tragic… She’s sorry. Laura thanks her, and Lucy says she was just wondering if Martin was around. She heard he was here. Doc says, Martin left just a little while ago, and Lucy says, darn it. She needs to catch up with him and he’s avoiding all her phone calls. Do they know where he went by any chance? Laura tells her that Martin said he was going to visit his mother and he was going to be gone for a while, and Lucy wonders how he can leave like that, without saying goodbye. She can’t believe Tracy Quartermaine did this to her. Okay. She did it. She did it to herself. Like she always does, right? She just thought this time it was different. She thought she was different. Why does she do this? Why does she always sabotage the very best things that happen to her? Maybe she just doesn’t deserve to be happy. Laura says, that’s ridiculous. Everyone deserves to be happy. Life is too short. Marty was just here, and he was going straight to the airport. If Lucy hurries, she might be able to catch him before he gets on the plane. Lucy hugs Laura, thanking her, and runs out the door. Laura asks Doc if that was foolish, but he says, it was generous. Which is exactly what he expects because that’s who she is. Now where were they before they were so rudely interrupted?

Gregory looks at his phone, and Tracy says, breaking story? He says, no, it’s from Finn. The move is on for this evening. She asks if he needs any help, but he says he just has a few things. Books, papers, stuff like that. She says, figures. So what brought this on? He knows how fond she is of Finn, but his place has limited space. He says he’ll manage. As to what brought this on, he’s starting to feel a little irresponsible living on his own, especially since he’s trying to make it to the big wedding… Don’t do that please. She says, do what? and he says, she’s the one person in his life who doesn’t give him that look. So don’t start now please. He doesn’t want her pity. She says she doesn’t pity him, but she thinks she does know him a little, and she thinks he has reservations about this move. Is she right? He says he doesn’t like depending on anyone, even his family. He knows Finn’s just trying to help, but he hates the idea of giving up his own agency. It’s been his greatest fear ever since he was diagnosed. He knows at some point he’s not going to have control of what his body does or even what happens to him. She says, and the move? and he says, it’s forcing him to face that reality. It feels like this might be the first part of his final chapter.

Carly tells Diane that she’s sorry to interrupt. Diane’s assistant told her that Diane would be here. She needs to talk to Diane. It’s an emergency. Robert says, that’s his ticket out of here, but Diane says, don’t you move, and asks Carly, what’s up? Carly says she’ll give Diane three guesses as to who’s trying to sabotage Crimson, and the first two don’t count.

Nina tells the construction worker that she wants all these walls checked. It’s better to replace all of them than have the mold spreading. (Having had a house flood, if indeed there had been a leak, Nina would be correct in rebuilding walls.) She asks Drew if he was on the phone with his lawyer, because everything she did just now was completely legal, so don’t be threatening her with a lawsuit. He says, she made the choice to escalate, and she’s going to have to live with the fallout, but she says, it can’t be any worse than what’s already happened to her. She lost her husband and her family and her magazine. Sure, she regrets some of the things she’s done. She’s made mistakes, just like the rest of them, but she doesn’t understand why she has to continually pay for a crime Drew and Carly committed. She’s through with the injustice and the indignity of being the pariah. Legally, she did nothing wrong, and she’s not going to take it lying down anymore. He asks if she went to prison. She doesn’t know the meaning of the words indignity and injustice. He gets in the elevator and says, but believe him, she will.

Michael tells Josslyn, it’s not like Dex is working for Sonny against his will. He insists he’s found purpose in Sonny’s organization. She says, don’t remind her, please, and he says, there’s something else. This arrangement with Dex has gotten more important lately. Dex is keeping everybody in their family safe. She asks what that means, and he says, things have gotten more dangerous lately. She asks if he’s talking about the shooting in Puerto Rico, and he says, the fact that somebody got to his dad on the island, and somehow, they were apparently able to bypass security, means they have inside access. She asks if he’s saying it’s someone inside Sonny’s organization, and he says, sometimes the simplest explanation is true. Someone who Sonny trusts sold him out.

On the phone Sonny asks if Dex has made any calls or sent any texts… All right. He’ll be in touch. He tells Brick, Frank said Dex is just doing his job, protecting Ava. He’s not jumpy, he’s just… Brick says, look, he was just presenting a theory, and Sonny says, but he’s got a lot of evidence. Brick asks what they’re going to do about this.

Drew joins Carly, who says she was just telling Diane about how Nina was trying to undermine Crimsonagain. Drew says, great. Tell him how they can strike back and teach her not to mess with them again. Robert says, this really does sound like his cue. He’ll talk to Diane later. He leaves, and Drew says, that’s probably for the best. Any talk about retaliation should be kept between attorney and client privilege, right? Carly asks, who’s talking about retaliation? She just wants to get their offices open as soon as possible, so they can get the issue out on time. He says, so Nina can sabotage the next issue? They’ve got to shut her down. Carly says, they can’t focus on Nina. She’s a distraction and she’s getting what she wants. They need to think about the magazine. His magazine. He tells her to do that. He needs to take a break. He leaves, and Diane asks why she has the feeling Carly’s frustration isn’t just with Nina, but also with Drew.

Trina tells Ava that she’s really sorry about the painting. She thought she was ready to get back to work, but she guesses not. This grief, the sadness, is it ever going to go away? Ava says, no, but it dulls and somehow you get used to it. Between Trina’s mom and Curtus, Marshall, Stella, and her, they’ll get her through it. Count on it. Dex brings them chamomile tea, telling them that Josslyn says it helps calm her down. He thought it was worth a try. They thank him, and Frank tells him, let’s go. Dex says, they’re supposed to watch Ava, but Frank says, change of plans.

Josslyn says, if there’s a traitor inside Sonny’s organization, Dex is in trouble, right? but Michael says he doesn’t know. The thing is… Willow comes back and asks if everything is okay. Josslyn says, yeah. She’s meeting Trina at the gallery, but it was so nice to see Willow. Willow says, her too, and they hug. Josslyn tells Michael that they’ll talk soon, and she leaves. Michael says, not that Willow asked, but he and Josslyn were discussing a family matter that involves Sonny. She asks if it’s something she needs to know about for the kids’ safety, but he says he doesn’t know. He promises if there’s something she needs to know, he’ll tell her. Although she has every right not to believe him. She says, of course (🍷) she believes him.

Martin waits for his flight at the airport, while Lucy goes to a desk and says, her boyfriend is on a flight to North Carolina, and she really needs to talk to him. They won’t let her through security without a boarding pass and she needs to tell him something. The clerk tells her that she can’t go through security without a boarding pass, but she says she has to apologize. Just let her run down there. She won’t delay the flight. He can send a little guard with her. He says, she can’t get through security without a ticket, and she hears Martin’s flight being announced. She says, okay, fine. She’ll buy a ticket. When’s the next flight? He asks where she’d like to go. They have a flight to Bora Bora, Duluth… She says, eww. Not Duluth. They were so rude to her. She lost an earring at a Coco Cosmetics convention, and they were not helpful at all. She puts her credit card on the counter and says, Duluth it is.

Laura says she knows Doc didn’t sign up for this, the idea of having a child. And having a baby at their age? It’s going to be a daunting task. He says she’s right, for both of them. She’s been a parent. She knows what it takes. For him, outside of a brief stint as a stepparent with Lucy, this would be a new experience for him. She says, if they become the parents of record, Ace will grow up with them. He’ll rely on them. It’s a huge responsibility. If he has any hesitation, he should say so now.

Laura brings Ace into the room, and says, from the shortest nap ever, and Doc says, all right. She asked for the truth. Here it is. He’s never felt more a part of a family as he has since he married her. He’s seen her capacity for love and her children and her grandchildren. And her love for him has opened his heart in ways he couldn’t imagine. But adopting a child at this stage of their lives is complicated. She says, it’s a little crazy, and he agrees. But it feels right. It feels like them. She says, so like them, and he says, if this is what she wants, he’s in. He’s all in. He asks what Ace thinks, and says he thinks Ace approves. They kiss.

Martin boards the flight, and the airline employee closes the door. Lucy calls to him, and yells, wait! She says, it’s too late. He’s gone. He’s really gone.

Tracy says, Gregory has a lot of decisions he’s going to have to make about his future. Some sooner rather than later. But moving in with his family doesn’t have to be something that holds him back. She comes and goes time and time again, but always ends up back at Monica’s. Why? Because as much as every single person in that house infuriates her, living under the same roof as them, it feels like… He says, home? and she says, home.

Carly tells Diane that she can’t blame Drew for hating Nina and wanting revenge for everything she’s done to him, but she wants that parasite out of her life. Diane says, that’s easier said than done. Nina has considerable resources and she’s obviously willing to devote all of them to undermining Carly. Carly says she knows. She’s still grieving her mom, and the last thing she wants to do is go to war with someone she doesn’t care anything about. And every move that Drew makes to go after Nina just keeps pulling her back into Nina’s twisted orbit.

On the phone, Drew says he wants a list of everyone that’s done business with Aurora who’s interested in working with Nina Reeves… It’s time they drew a line in the sand.

Nina asks the worker how long it will take to put all this back together, and he says, they’re making progress. They should be done in another day or two. Nina says, that won’t do at all. She wants them to take all the time they need to make sure this job is done correctly. She hands him a wad of cash and says, understood? He smiles and tips an imaginary hat.

Willow says she believes Michael regrets the way he handled things. And she believes he wanted to protect them and that’s why he did what he did. He says he should have believed she could handle it. They’re always so much stronger when they work together. He’s sorry he forgot that. She says she appreciates him giving her the space she needed to process everything, but last night having him here felt right. She’s not saying she wants everything to go back the way it was; they still have things to work out. But maybe he doesn’t go back to the main house. What if he comes home for good? He says, that would mean the world to him. Is she sure that’s what she wants? she says she’s willing to try if he is and kisses him. She says she’s really got to go, or she’ll be late. She’ll see him later. He says he’ll be home, and she leaves. He sighs with relief.

Josslyn comes to the gallery and asks Trina, how’s it going? Trina says she thinks she came back to work a little too soon, and Josslyn hugs her. Josslyn says, something smells good, and asks if that’s peppermint tea. Trina says, Josslyn’s boyfriend made it for them, and Josslyn says, Dex is here? Ava says, he was. She just missed him. He and Frank left in a hurry.

Frank brings Dex to a car and tells him, get in. Dex gets in the backseat next to Sonny and says, boss. What’s going on? Sonny says, how about you and I go for a little ride?

Tomorrow, Gregory tells Finn that he can’t put it off any longer; Molly asks Kristina if this is why she’s not pursuing things with Blaze; Brick says, it’ll all be over soon; and Dex asks if Sonny thinks he’s the one who betrayed him.

Below Deck

La Phare Bleu, Granada. Primary Rebecca tells Fraser that dinner is delicious, but they need to speed it up. Fraser asks Chef Anthony to get the next course out asap, and Anthony says, French people spend an hour on a bite of steak. In Fraser’s interview, he says he’s got to be that bitch, and finally, at 10:55, the Tomahawk steak entrée comes out, and it literally is just a bite. Rebecca wants more wine, but guest Leigh suggests water might be a good idea and it would be best to focus on that. Kyle realizes one of the stews is stacking plates while clearing, and in his interview, he says, don’t put a plate on a plate. This is not the Waffle House. There’s poached pear for dessert and guest Lyne says, it’s the best pear she ever drank. No more for her. In Anthony’s interview, he says, day one was a crazy motherf***ing day. He loves to take his time. He’s making love on the plate. Rebecca tells Fraser that everything is delicious, but they need it quicker. The guests get in the hot tub, and Barbie bitches about Cat not stocking the bar. In Barbie’s interview, she says, Cat is a sweet girl, but she’s taking her sweet time. The guests decide to let the crew off the hook and go to bed, except for the newlywed primaries Brian and Rebecca, who stay and get nakey. Barbie tells the others that she’s pretty sure they’re f***ing upstairs. In her interview, she says she promised her dad and herself that she wouldn’t hook up on the St. David, so she’s not hooking up on the St. David. In Kyle’s interview, he says he doesn’t have much trouble with the ladies. The accent turns them on. In Barbie’s interview, she says, especially not Kyle. She can barely understand what he says.  

Fraser compliments Xandi on her tablescape and asks if she’s interested in going on the kayak excursion. In Xandi’s interview, she says she doesn’t go in the sun. She’s like translucent. F***ing Twilight. She doesn’t need sun or human contact. Jared goes over priorities with the captain, and Kyle wishes Lune a happy birthday. He tells the guests that the table is ready for breakfast, and Rebecca announces to the table that she and Brian got nakey in the hot tub. In Kyle’s interview, he says, good for them, but now he has to drain it. Dirty bastards. In Sunny’s interview, she says, Jared is a complete mess, but she has to respect him as a superior. That’s what yachting is. Maybe she should tell some of the others (especially Natalya) about that. Fraser talks with Barbie and says, Cat needs to be given a sense of urgency. Fraser asks if Ben will make sure the refreshments go over to the beach and explains everything in detail. In turn, Ben tells Jared to tak the bags, but when the guests get to the beach, they have no refreshments. In Captain Kerry’s interview, he says, it’s a bit what the f***. When it’s an excursion with stews, it’s their screw up. He tells Fraser that the refreshments were forgotten, and he says he gave the information to Ben. His mistake. He thought it was done. In his interview, he says, now this is the captain’s first impression of him. He looks like an idiot because Ben didn’t do what he asked Ben to do. He stupidly trusted someone else to help facilitate his job, and it won’t happen again. Jared hustles the bags over to the beach.

In Jared’s interview, he says he was diagnosed with ADHD, but never gave the medication a chance to work. When he’s under stress, his attention is at a deficit. Once in a while he’s like, a squirrel! but then he’s right back to it. Xandi gets the bags from him and says, the party’s here. The guests do some kayaking, while back on the yacht, guests Michelle and Leigh have stayed behind and wonder if the bar is stocked. Leigh says, it could be better if she was on a steady beer diet. Fraser radios Cat and Barbie, telling them that he’s leaving for the beach and to keep checking on the guests that are still there. Fraser gets to the beach, and in his interview, he says, it’s an absolute travesty. The next time, he’ll go first. The set-up is horrific. But Kyle looks like a rugged farmer and my crops need cutting. He’ll turn this around. Barbie asks where Captain Kerry is from, and he says, southeast Asia. He shows her where he’s been on a wall map. Cat tries to find out if Barbie has checked the guest cabins, but Barbie is snippy with her, and in her interview, Cat says she doesn’t understand the attitude. In Barbie’s interview, she says, Fraser knows that she knows her job. Cat is the kind of girl who will make a burn book, but to your face, it’s all good. In Cat’s interview, she says, Barbie is giving her Regina George vibes. Fraser tells Ben that because of him, the captain now thinks he’s sh*t. In Ben’s interview, he says, Jared hasn’t worked on a big boat and he’s missing the mark. It’s just a cooler, and now he put a wave through the whole boat.

Cat tells Fraser that she doesn’t feel respected by Barbie. She wanted to get their tasks lined up, but when she asks what Barbie is doing when she’s not doing anything, Barbie asks why she wants to know. It’s disrespectful. Fraser says, her telling him is helpful to them as a team, and in Cat’s interview, she says she doesn’t want to deal with Barbie all charter. She’s stressed enough with the guests already. She doesn’t want stress with the crew. The lunch set-up is super cute with conch shells and the Cuban sandwiches are a hit. Back on the boat, Xandi shows off her sunburn and in her interview, she says, it looks like she was burned at the stake.

It’s 80s Miami night, and in her interview, Barbie says she’s from Miami and went to school for design. Now she gets to show what she does best. She loves aesthetics. Brian falls getting into the tender to go back. I only mention this because it’s pretty damn funny watching him fall on his drunken face. Fraser tells Ben that Cat finds it difficult to take direction and criticism from Barbie, and I wonder how he got that from the conversation they had. In Anthony’s interview, he says he’s bringing a Latino vibe tonight. When he was 21, he opened his first restaurant, and it had Miami vibes. It’s going to be mucho caliente tonight. Ben tells Barbie that Cat is unhappy with her. What is wrong with these people? Better question, how many times have I said that about a reality show? Barbie says she was schmoozing with the captain, but she’d worked her ass off the day before. Barbie tells Fraser that Ben told her Cat was talking sh*t about her, and Fraser wonders why Ben is meddling. Barbie tries to blame Cat, but Fraser is like, no. Ben’s been watching all day. In Fraser’s interview, he says, he doesn’t know what Ben’s game plan is in stirring the pot with the girls. He’s getting the attention he so desires. He asks Ben not to get involved with interior drama. He’s riled Barbie up and she’s fiery. In his interview, Fraser says, Ben doesn’t give a sh*t what he does to them as the interior team or the crew. F*** off and leave his girls alone.

Everyone gets ready for Miami night. The stews agree Ben is only deckhand worth checking out, if he shaved his head. I could agree that he doesn’t have the best haircut, but why so extreme? For dinner, Anthony makes Venezuelan chicken, and Cuban beef stew (Ropa Vieja), and the cutest cake ever with a flamingo sitting on top. No, not a real one. The crew dons wigs, even Captain Kerry, and they bring in the cake, singing Happy Birthday. The deckhands chat, and Kyle says, he’s been single for six years. In Jared’s interview, he says he’s separated from his daughter’s mother. His daughter is the love of his life, but he and her mother’s lives took different directions. When you love someone, you have to let them go so they can flourish and fly. He tells the other deckhands that he’s now port to port.  

This is so boring, I can’t stand it.

Anthony announces, the stove is a piece of sh*t. In Captain Kerry’s interview, he says his kids are the best kids. His son is a huge character with a big heart and sensitive, and his daughter is a firecracker. They’ve had a close bond since the children were small. He’d been gone for ten months, so when they got a little older, he found jobs where he was there more often. He’s a family man 100%. He tells Xandi that when he’d fly with his kids, he’d apologize to the people sitting around him in advance and buy everybody drinks. Xandi says, when she’s on a flight with kids, she considers birth control. Then, in the most glorious food porn moment of all, lobster benedict is served. It’s total art and I have no doubt it tastes like heaven. The captain has a docking meeting, and the deckhands pretend to listen. In the captain’s interview, he says, he hopes they’re good on the radio. It’s a tight area, and the crew isn’t familiar with the boat. There are no airbags on boats. Brian says, leaving is breaking his heart. He doesn’t want to go. Barbie tells Cat to speak to her instead of everybody on the boat, and in Cat’s interview, she says, the only person who could have told her is Fraser and she’d be shocked if he gossiped. Barbie says, if Cat has any complaints about her, she’s here. During the docking, Kyle spaces out or gets confused or something on stern and isn’t giving the distance. Captain Kerry says, he’s sh*tting himself. He’s in trouble.

Kerry flies around boat and yells for fenders. In the captain’s interview, he says he’s not getting calls back, and he’s a bee’s d*ck away from bailing out. In 20 years, he’s never been in that situation. We see each deckhand in their interview all saying the same thing – f***. It’s time for guest departure and Brian says, the food was awesome and otherworldly, and the tablescapes were on point. He gives Captain Kerry the tip envelope, and says, they also brought a bit of Texas, giving two food baskets to the deckhands and stews. Afterward, the captain says, the guests had a fabulous time, and he wants to see the deck crew in the wheelhouse. Fraser tells the stews to do a quick wash up, and Ben says, the captain was not happy with the docking. When they get to the wheelhouse, Captain Kerry says, first docking. He’s not real happy. Actually, he’s pretty pissed. He can’t have people on deck if they’re not going to tell him what’s going on. Jared says, he didn’t have it set up the way he wanted. He’s still scrambling. The captain says, not enough time isn’t an excuse. If Jared isn’t ready, tell him. He needs to know the distance since he can’t see the stern. In his interview, the captain says, Jared is used to a smaller boat, but he’ll get there. Fraser says he wants all the bathrooms to be stunning.

It’s time for the tip meeting, and Captain Kerry says he’s like a dog with two tails. The guests were happy with the food and the service was amazing. It was incredible. Well done. Excellent work. They need to eliminate the schoolboy errors, the little stuff they’re getting wrong, but he believes they’re a great team and can make the season successful. Surprisingly, even with the slow food issue, the tip is $25K or $1923 each. They clink glasses and get ready to turn the boat over. Fraser tells Cat and Barbie to meet him on the sundeck, and in his interview, he says, last year, he focused on his team as individuals, but it’s important they see the team as one. It’s not about you; it’s about us. And success calls. He tells the stews that they want to try and treat each other with respect and care, like they were all at the level of captain. Barbie says, on the first day Cat was slow, and that’s why she was talking to Cat the way she was. She wasn’t up to par. Then Ben told her that Cat had said negative things about her. She was wondering why Cat was talking about her when Cat was working at a snail’s pace. Cat says, the first day, she was stuck in the pantry with non-stop dishes. She’s levering different roles and has to change directions when asked. The last person that was a floater had the same complaint, so maybe it’s not her. Fraser says, they wouldn’t have known this if they hadn’t had this conversation. Cat could also make the decision to finish a task and then move on, because she’s doing a fluid job. Fraser thinks it’s all good, but Barbie says, Cat came down before the picnic and said they were supposed to be working. Cat says she didn’t, but we flash back and she kinda did. Barbie says, Cat needs to be sensitive about how she speaks, and Fraser says, this is going nowhere constructive and it’s getting petty. He has no time to be petty. So they can be good stews and they’re going get along. If they can’t, they’ll both be gone.

Next time, Ben says, everything he told himself that he wasn’t going to be doing, and here they are; Captain Kerry tells Anthony that they need crew food out more often and faster; and Fraser tells Barbie that she’s rude.

💭 Thoughts: This season is starting off as a real snooze. And why is it only the female deckhands seem to understand that your superior is your superior at work?

🐶 Team Ruff For the Win….

Make a U-ey back tomorrow for soap and the latest Rules. Until then, stay safe, stay taking it easy on yourself for that holiday weight gain (but maybe take it easy on the Valentine’s candy too), and stay knowing that grief and sadness might never go away, but they dull and somehow you get used to it.

February 9, 2024 – Sonny Welcomes Jagger Back, Golden Girl, His Two Cents, Miami Looks, Returning Wives, Super Info, Puppy (!) Bowlers, Nine Concise Quotes & Heart

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Willow straightens up the living room, when there’s a knock at the door. She opens the door to Michael and says, he didn’t have to knock. This is his home too.

At the Hatchet Range, Spinelli throws his hatchet, and it bounces off the target. He says he must have miscalculated his variables. Which one? Angle or centrifugal force… Maxie says they’re not here to reprogram a satellite or recode the internet, and he says, you can’t recode the internet. She says, to be honest, she didn’t know if recode was a real word. Look around. Does he see any children they’re related to? Does he hear any sounds of emotional children yelling? He shakes his head, and she asks if he sees a sign for Deception, or the sounds of highly emotional grown-ups healing? He says he does not, and she says, that means they’re not at home and she’s not at work. So let’s lighten up and not take this too seriously. He says he knows, but precision and accuracy are kind of a needed… She says, no. They’re here to have a good time and throw pieces of sharpened steel at a wall. He says, she’s right. So let the unwinding begin. She thanks him. Cody and Sasha join them, and Cody says, okey-dokey. This is fun, and he loves turning walls into kindling as much as the next guy, but what do they say to raising the stakes a little? Sasha asks what he has in mind.

Josslyn and Drew look at her phone, and he says he loves that one of Spencer. She says she couldn’t tell at the time, but looking at all of these, he was so cute. It’s no wonder everybody let him get away with all sorts of stuff. Drew suggests they take a break, but Josslyn says, it’s fine. She’s fine. He asks if she’s sure, because it’s not a race. They could come back to it after they get a snack or something. She says she doesn’t even know if she should be doing this, and Carly asks, why? Josslyn says, because her posting all of these photos of her and Spencer, it’s like she’s making it about herself. Her loss, her grief. He was her friend, and he was Laura’s family, and he was the love of Trina’s life.

At The Savoy, Dex sits at the bar, when Brick and Jordan come in. Brick says, one drink and then he’ll let her get on with her regularly scheduled life, and Jordan says, when he called in a favor from the mayor’s office, she didn’t expect it to begin and end with her and a drink. He asks, why is that? Did she see him as someone who needed zoning remediations? She says she imagines he could solve those all on his own, and he says he thinks she should consider the bigger picture. This drink is all part of the plan. She says she didn’t take him for someone who plays the long game, and while watching Dex, he says, people aren’t always what they seem.

Sonny says, Jagger Cates. It’s been a long time. John says, yet still not long enough. And it’s John now. Sonny asks if that’s on his identification, and John shows Sonny his ID. Sonny asks what he calls John, Agent Cates or my old pal, and John says, they were never pals, but maybe they can change that.

Cody says he was thinking they split into two teams. Whoever gets the most points, wins. Sasha asks what they win, and Maxie says, please not a gift certificate. She has enough junk on her fridge already. How about bragging rights until the people she brags to get bored with her bragging about her triumph? Cody says he was thinking that the losing team pays for the winning team to have a night out on the town, and Spinelli asks why everything has to boil down to a competition relying on brute strength. Cody says, ax throwing isn’t about strength. It’s about finesse and teamwork, togetherness. Sasha says, yeah, come on, Spinelli. It will be fun. Maxie asks how they separate into teams, and Cody says, obviously, the two Faces of Deception have to stick together. Sasha says, absolutely. The more they’re in sync, the better for Deception’s marketing. Maxie says, fine by her. She’s happy to do her victory dance in both their gorgeous faces. Spinelli says he sees her competitive streak hasn’t diminished, and she tells him that he wouldn’t say that if he knew how many games of Go Fish she’s purposely lost to their kid. What does he say?

Michael tells Willow that he debated with himself the whole way here. Should he knock or just let himself in? She says, that’s okay. She’s been picking up for the last half hour, then she loses track of what she’s doing, and she has to start over. He says, if she’s rethinking the invitation, that’s okay. He can just pick up the papers Drew left him and go. No harm, no foul. She says she’s not rethinking it. She’s happy he’s here. He says, so she still wants him to stay the night. She said the kids wanted him here in the morning, but is it just for tomorrow or is she asking him to come home for good?

Josslyn says she was doing the dishes and one minute, she’s totally fine and the next minute, she has tears streaming down her face. Carly says, there’s nothing wrong with that. She has to feel how she feels. Josslyn says she knows, and she knows she has her own loss to grieve, but she doesn’t know how to do that and be a support system for Trina. If she posts these photos, won’t that be shocking to Trina when she’s scrolling through social media, and bam, there’s Spencer? She doesn’t want to make things worse for her. Drew says he thinks it says a lot about her friendship with Trina that she’s being so considerate about this. When Oscar died, a lot of people reached out and told him how much they missed Oscar, and there were times when that was the only thing that got him through the day. Carly says, Trina knows that she suffered a loss too. Trina wouldn’t want her to hide it. Josslyn agrees, and Drew says, what she wrote about Spencer is straight from the heart and it’s so beautiful. It’s a message to be shared.

Brick asks Jordan to excuse him for a second. He’s going to the bar. She says, the server should be here any second, and he says, a woman such as herself should never be kept waiting. He’ll be right back. He walks up next to Dex and says, good to see him. Dex says, him too, and Brick asks if he can buy Dex a drink. Dex says, not tonight. He’s on call with Sonny, so he’s sticking to soda, but how about if he buys Brick one instead? Brick looks at the champagne behind the bar and says, what he’s planning on sipping tonight might be above Dex’s paygrade. Dex says, maybe, and puts a credit card on the bar. Let’s find out. We see it’s a platinum card.

Sonny tells Frank, this won’t take long, and Frank leaves. Sonny closes the door, and Sonny says, he and John had their problems back in the day. John says, if that’s what he wants to call them, and Sonny says, whatever you want to call it, that was a long time ago. Things change. John says, it may have been a long time ago for Sonny, but for him, it was yesterday. Sonny says he did some things back then that he regrets. Losing John’s brother… John says, after everything, Sonny can’t say his name, and Sonny says he named his son Stone as a middle name because he considered Stone family. John says, wow. Well, God help Sonny’s family. Sonny says, be careful, and John says he’s not here to talk about Stone or Karen or any part of their past. Sonny says, so what is he here to talk about? Is John here to tell him that the Feds are looking into his business, or is John coming after him? John says, nothing would make him happier than to see Sonny behind bars. They both know that’s where Sonny belongs, and they both know the reasons why. Past and present. (I wish they’d tell me. In all the years I’ve watched this show, Sonny hasn’t really done anything all that bad.) Sonny says, then stop talking about it and take his best shot. John says he’s not in Port Charles to take Sonny down. He’s here to save Sonny’s life.

Josslyn closes her tablet and says, okay then. It’s out there. Carly says, it’s a beautiful post. It really is. It captures who Spencer was and her relationship with him. Josslyn says she was really lucky to know him for so many years, although sometimes he annoyed her so much she didn’t even like him. Carly says, that means they were really friends. She really saw him; the good, bad, and everything in between. Josslyn says, yeah, but the good was really good. Carly’s phone dings and she says, oh no. Not you too. Drew asks if it’s another advertiser pulling out, and she says, Triton Luxury Hotel and Cruises. She’s not dealing with it. He says he’ll handle this one. He knows the CFO. Let him handle this. It’s going to be okay. She thanks him and he leaves. Josslyn says, Trina saw all her posts and she loved it, and Carly says, she told Josslyn. Josslyn says, now everyone is sharing their memories of Spencer and it’s great. Drew was right. Carly says, he frequently is, and it drives her crazy because sometimes she wants to be right, but since it’s Drew, it’s okay. Josslyn says, when she thinks of everything he’s done for their family and the fact he can even make Carly smile through times like this, it’s amazing. Carly says, he’s an impressive guy, and Josslyn says she’s very grateful he’s in their lives.

Maxie asks if this night out includes free babysitting, and Cody says, sure. She says, and what is she potentially paying for, an entire evening or just a dinner? Cody says he was thinking four hours, enough for dinner and a movie, and Maxie says, or one night at a spa, but Cody says, the event has to be something both parties will enjoy. Spinelli says he doesn’t enjoy greasy hands poking him in the name of healing, and Maxie says, then think of something else. What about tips and parking? Someone should be writing this down. Cody says he thought a bet would be fun, not involve lawyers, and Maxie says, fine. He’s on. Spinelli asks if he might have a word with Cody, and Cody says, sure. As they step away, Cody says, no lawyers.

In the hallway, Spinelli asks what Cody is doing, and Cody says he’s helping Spinelli get a date with Maxie. Spinelli says, stop helping, and Cody asks, why? The two of them have been talking back and forth between parent mode and roommate mode for way too long. Tonight, Maxie needs to see another side of him. His sexy side. Spinelli says, his sexy side has at best been described as subtle, and Cody says he bets Spinelli’s got some moves. He’s seen how Spinelli works a keyboard. Spinelli says he doesn’t know where Cody is going with this, but please stop immediately, and Cody says, he’s an information guy, right? Does he have some incredible playlists? He bets Spinelli’s got stuff no one’s ever heard of, right? Is he an aromatherapy wiz? He’s got to have something. Spinelli says, before Cody derails his train of thoughts by detailing his failed dating profile, he was trying to relate he’s not interested in Maximista. Cody says he doesn’t believe Spinelli, and Spinelli says, so that’s it then? He says it and it must be so? Cody says, he’s a good guy, he’s a good dad, he’s a genius with tech. He’s a total catch. Why doesn’t he just go for it? Spinelli says his relationship with Maxie is purely platonic. There was a time when they tried to make it more than that, and it became very clear that they’re better off as friends. So despite Cody’s cupid-ed-ness, it’s going to stay that way. Sasha tells Maxie, in the interest of full disclosure, this isn’t the first time she’s been to a hatchet range. Spinelli watches them.

Sonny says he’s not sure he’s hearing John right. John comes into his office tossing around things that happened more than thirty years ago. John says, they were more than accusations, and Sonny says he doesn’t remember them having angel wings back then. John says, Karen did, and Sonny says, yeah, Karen did. John married her, he cheated on her, and she divorced him. He guesses none of them did right by her. John says, Sonny did a hell of a lot worse than cheating, and Sonny says, there were things he did back then that he would have done differently, but here is when John’s going to shut his mouth, because he let John come in here, get in his face, and take a couple shots because he thought John was entitled to a couple shots. But he’s done. His freebies are used up. If this were thirty years ago – and John knows this – he wouldn’t have given John this latitude. John says, he’s mellowed with age? and Sonny says he’s gotten smarter, and he doesn’t have to prove it to John. John says, that much is true, and Sonny says, then what is John doing standing here, talking about saving his life? John says, trust him. It’s nothing he wants to be doing. He’d rather see Sonny rot. That’s what he deserves, but as an FBI agent, it’s his duty to notify Sonny that he’s in danger. Sonny says, you know what? He doesn’t care. He’s doing just fine. He doesn’t need any help from the Feds. John says he guesses he’s got it wrong then, and Sonny says, he’s got what wrong? John says, imagine his concern when he and his colleagues discovered he was the target of a very public attack in an action area filled with civilians. Sonny asks if he’s talking about… John says, the MetroCourt shooting. Trust him when he says they know more than Sonny thinks. They know Curtis Ashford was a bystander, collateral damage. They know Sonny or Anna Devane may have been the intended target, but their assessment is, that bullet was meant for Sonny.

Dex says he’s been saving for a rainy day, and Brick wonders how much rain they’re going to get. It looks like Dex is fixing to build an ark. Dex says, you never know, and Brick says, that’s true, you never know. He thanks Dex for the drinks, and Dex tells him to enjoy his evening. Brick goes back to the table and says, sorry to keep Jordan waiting. It won’t happen again. The server brings them glasses of champagne, and Jordan asks what they should toast to. His secret plan? He says, they can toast to whatever she’d like – they clink glasses – and he won’t be keeping any secrets from her. She says, so much for the secret part of the plan, and he says he knows she’s only here with him because she thought she owed him a favor, but she says, that’s not true… Not entirely true. He says, that’s okay. He doesn’t mind a bit. How many chances does a guy like him get to be seen with a woman like her? Beautiful, intelligent, accomplished. He considers himself quite a lucky man, but not that lucky. But it’s all part of the plan. He smiles.

Maxie asks Sasha to tell her everything before they get back. Did she and Cody finally admit they’re crazy about each other and should be dating? Sasha says, Maxie’s romance-colored glasses are distorting her vision, and Maxie asks if she’s sure. Maybe Sasha should get herself a pair. Sasha says she and Cody did actually talk about it and they both decided it’s better they stay friends. For the time being. Maxie says, congratulations. That sounds very adult and mature of them, but she doesn’t get it. If a great guy were into her, she’d be with him in a heartbeat.

Cody says, quick question. How good is Spinelli with a hatchet? Spinelli says, how good is anyone? and Cody says he just meant Spinelli wants to have fun and not stress out about it. Okay? Spinelli says he won’t because he won’t be participating in this charade, and Cody says, what he wants to do is have kind of a firm, but loose grip on the handle. Spinelli says, that’s contradictory, and Cody says, bring it up past his ear. He doesn’t want to tilt left or right. Aim with your elbow, lead with your chest. (I do this a few times, sans hatchet, to see what he means.) Spinelli makes a feeble attempt, and Cody says, maybe he’ll find his inner Viking once they get going. He’s going to be siting this one out. Spinelli asks what that means, and Cody says, nothing. He feels an off night coming. Spinelli says, Cody’s going to cheat. That’s dishonorable. Cody says, dude, do you want a date with Maxie or not? They go back into the main room, and Cody says, ladies, pick up your hatchets and may the best team win.

Carly says, Drew was so wonderful when Josslyn’s grandmother passed away. She’s sure she could have handled it all on her own, but she didn’t have to. He was with her every step of the way. One more reason to be grateful for him. Josslyn asks if she’s okay, when Drew comes back. He says, crisis averted, and Josslyn says she’s sorry, but she has to go. She’s meeting Dex at The Savoy. Carly says she’s surprised Josslyn is up for that, and Josslyn says, so was Dex, but one of his favorite bands is playing and honestly, just being with him and listening to music is exactly what she needs right now. Drew says he hears that, and Carly and Josslyn hug. Josslyn hugs Drew and thanks him. He says, of course (🍷), and she leaves. Carly says she wishes she could spare Josslyn this kind of grief, and he suggests they add it to the list of things they want to spare their kids from. She says, it’s a long list, and he says, it’s getting longer every day. She says she appreciates what he said to Josslyn earlier. Josslyn thinks the world of him. He says he thinks the world of her too. He hopes he can always live up to her expectations. She says, if he managed to talk Triton off the ledge, he can be her hero too. He says, about that, and she asks if they’re going to extend their contract. Tell her. He says, actually, that’s up to her.

Willow says she wishes she could tell Michael, but she doesn’t know yet, and he says, that’s okay. He’ll wait as long as it takes. When… if he moves back in again, he wants her to be fully confident in her decision. She says, part of her is worried that if they rush back in and pretend nothing happened, one day they’ll end up back here in the very same position, and he says he gets it. He has the exact same fear. He doesn’t like to think about it because he dreads the thought, especially now. She says, why now? and he says, because he’s trying to put the things he wrecked back together now and do it right. Before he came here, he went to see his dad and came clean about everything. She says, that must have been difficult, and he says he owed it to Sonny to be honest, even about how he blackmailed Nina. She says, that couldn’t have been easy for Sonny to hear or for him to say, and he says, it wasn’t. It’s going to take a while for him and his dad to get back to where they were again, but at least they’re being honest with each other. She says she’s glad to hear there’s hope. Hope is where it all starts. He says, there wouldn’t have been any without her. If she hadn’t encouraged him, he wouldn’t have talked to Sonny. He thought it was a lost cause. She says, maybe she doesn’t believe in lost causes, and he says, lucky him. She says, what he did was misguided, but she knows him and nothing is more important to him than protecting her and the kids. She knows his intentions were good. He says, it’s just his methods she has a problem with, and she says, at the end of the day, it’s not what you’ve done, it’s about what you’re doing to make things right.

Sonny says, John is telling him that he’s got this string of mob hits across the country, and he thinks they’re all connected. John says, they know they’re all connected, and Sonny asks why John is talking to him. He’s a coffee importer. (Ha-ha! But I’m starting to think so.) John says, he was the target of a shooting, and Sonny says, well, the coffee business has been pretty rough the last few years; the climate changed. (A bigger ha-ha!) John says, the FBI knows the pool shooting was connected to the others. The same M.O. from the shooter, the same type of firearm, the same target profile. Sonny says, sounds like they know everything. Why don’t they go catch the guy? John says, give him a break. He knows Sonny’s not sitting around doing nothing. He’s looking for the shooter too. But John has the resources to catch this guy. Sonny says, then do it, and John says, if Sonny cooperates and tells him what he knows, they can end this quick and neat. Sonny says, Jagger, you want my help? All you’ve got to do is ask.

Drew and Carly sit across from each other with the moss bowl🎍in between them in case a referee is needed. Drew says, whenever there’s a change at the top, advertisers get a little bit nervous. He was expecting some phone calls, but there haven’t been that many. He sang her praises to the guy at Triton and explained that the hit piece Gemma wrote for the Gazette was just that, a hit piece. Carly says she hates that he has to do this for her, and he says, what? Tell the truth? She’s the right person for the job. The fact that she got Salvadore back to Deception for the cover shoot proves just that. Even Triton knew who Salvadore was. Carly says she’s not surprised, and he says he may have been a little too convincing to be honest. Drew says, Triton is going to stay at Crimson only if she’s going to be Editor-in-Chief for the long haul. She says, that was not the plan, but he says, that doesn’t mean it’s not a good plan. They show a united front, show stability. They get a little bit of growth and they’re on their way. She says she doesn’t know, and he says, she’s the right person for the job. He knows it’s early days, but he can tell she likes the work. Admit it. She says, the more she settles into the role, the more she enjoys it, but Nina’s not going to make it easy. She’s got connections in the fashion industry. Nina’s already seizing every opportunity to sabotage her. (How are they blaming Nina for this when Drew just said advertisers get nervous about a big change?) Drew says, Nina sends him to prison and nearly gets him killed, and she’s still not satisfied. Carly says, that’s because she’s Nina. She’s petty and vindictive and she’s not going to stop. He says, until they stop her. He’s going to get Michael on the phone. He bets Michael reconsiders once he hears all this. She says, reconsiders what?

Willow tells Michael that she and Drew had a chance to talk when he brought the papers. If you spend five minutes with him, you can see the kind of pain he’s in, and that pain is changing him. Michael says, he just needs some time, but she says, it’s more than that. There’s this cruel streak that wasn’t there before. He wants Nina to suffer like he suffered. Michael says, can you blame him? and she says, no, of course (🍷) not, but she also knows that payback isn’t going to help Drew heal. He says, that’s for Drew to decide. All he knows is, he can’t have any part of it. She and the kids mean more to him than anyone, and she can decide what kind of relationship she wants with Nina. He’ll accept whatever she decides. Willow says she hates what Nina did. Petty, vindictive. His mother makes Nina feel insecure and she wanted Carly out of the way. She didn’t care how much damage she did. Because at the end of the day, Nina only cares about herself. But they can’t let Nina destroy their relationship the way she’s destroyed hers with Sonny. He says he has no idea what his dad is going to do. He doesn’t even know if his dad does. She says she doesn’t want that uncertainty for them, but trust is rebuilt slowly, and they have to respect each other enough to be honest. Michael says he agrees, and she says she promises to try if he will.

Brick says he believes in positive energy. Some might call it luck. It all starts with one drink with a beautiful, gorgeous woman, but who knows what happens next? She says she’s not sure she gets it. Is he planning on winning the lottery on his way home? He says, no. It’s the little things. You get home from a long, hard day at work, and the leftovers are still good, and your favorite movie is playing. She says, so a latte from her favorite coffee shop on the house because they mixed up the order or daffodils on her birthday, and he says, see? There you go. The unexpected pleasures, like being here with her tonight.

Josslyn hugs Dex and says she’s so happy to see him. He says he saw her post about Spencer. It had to be hard to write. Is she sure she’s up for this? She says she’s fine. Fine-ish. She just wants to be with him. He says, him too, but if she changes her mind, they can go whenever. She says, okay, and he says, cranberry soda? She says, yes, and he orders.

John says, if Sonny wants to play games, fine with him. He’ll tell his boss that Sonny turned down the ask, which is what he expected. Sonny says he’s sorry John wasted his time, and John says, when they take Sonny out – which they will – he’ll have a clear conscience. Sonny says he wishes he could help John, but he can’t because he doesn’t know anything. Even if he did, why would he tell somebody who’s hated him for two decades? John says, because he’s putting all that behind him (could have fooled me). Why can’t Sonny? Sonny says he appreciates it, but this is the end of their conversation. John says, if Sonny won’t save his own skin, what about the people around him, including his esteemed colleagues who are in the line of fire? Curtis Ashford can’t walk. How does Sonny think he’s going to react when he finds out Sonny won’t do everything he can to find out who shot him?

Carly tells Drew, Willow was blindsided when she found out Michael blackmailed Nina. He’s not staying at the gatehouse. Drew says he knows, and she says, then she’s surprised. Why would he ask Michael to go after Nina? He says, because Willow was upset because Michael went behind her back instead of telling her everything Nina had done. Willow isn’t in any hurry to defend Nina. Carly says she knows that. Willow loves Drew and she’s appalled by what Nina did. He says, so why not make Nina pay? and she says she doesn’t want to make Nina pay. Focusing on Nina only gives her more power than she deserves. She doesn’t want to that. The best revenge is to make Nina irrelevant, to move on with their lives. He says, and let her get away with everything she’s done? and she says she’s not letting Nina get away with anything. She just wants to focus on what’s right for the magazine and what’s right for them. Looking a bit like a madman, Drew says he’s not sure he agrees that’s what’s best, and Carly says, is he kidding? Nina is living proof that revenge can backfire. She got everything she said she wanted. She was engaged to Sonny and found out Willow was her daughter. She could have focused on that, but instead Nina came after her. And yes, Drew was damaged in the process, but Nina was damaged. She’s all but lost Sonny and Willow too. He says, she’s got more to lose, and believe him, she will, and Carly says she understands more than he knows how he feels about Nina, but if he wants her to stay on at Crimson, he’s going to have to leave Nina alone.

Michael says he’s in 100%, and Willow says, good. He says he knows moving back in doesn’t mean they still don’t have work to do, and he’ll do all of it. She asks if it has to be all work though, and he asks what she has in mind. She says she doesn’t know. Maybe they could talk, catch up, have a glass of wine. He says he would love all that, when Wiley comes stomping down the stairs, saying, daddy. Michael asks what he’s doing awake, and Wiley says he has to show Michale his new magic trick before he goes. It’s incredible. Willow says, guess what? Daddy’s staying tonight. Wiley says, in that case, his three new magic tricks, and Michael asks if they’re all incredible. Wiley nods, and Michael says, now? Wiley says, now, and Michael says, ask his mommy. Willow says, it’s more than okay, and Wiley says, it’s really four magic tricks. Michael says he had a feeling. Lead the way. They head upstairs, and Willow says she’ll wait up until after the show.

Cody tells Sasha that they have a lot riding on this bet. He can give her some pointers if she wants. She says, sure. What’s he got? He says, the thing people don’t know about hatchet throwing is, it’s all about mind/body connection, and it’s spiritual. She laughs.

Spinelli tells Maxie, in order to come through for her, he’ll do everything in his power, including – but not limited to – prayer and soul selling. She says she really doesn’t care if they lose. She’s just happy to get out of the house. He says he’s trying to stay out of her way at home, but he can do more if she tells him. He’s so beholden to her as a tenant. She says she was worried about how their living together would work, but it’s been kind of great, right? She’s almost hoping the pipes in his apartment never get fixed. That’s crazy, right? He says, no.

Sasha says Cody should build a hatchet range on that estate he wants to buy, and he says, at Serenity? Sure. If he’s ever in a position to buy that place, first thing to go in will be a hatchet range. She asks why he’s doubting it. She knows he can make it happen. He says he sure hopes so. These good looks aren’t going to last forever. She says, there’s a lot more to him than his good looks, and he says, like what? Maxie asks if they’re going to throw the hatchet or what, and Cody tells her to chill out and wait her turn. Sasha gets a bullseye, and Maxie says, what? They’ve been hustled.

Sonny tells John, what happened to Curtis is a tragedy and whoever did that is going to pay. But he’s been around long enough to know when a Fed is trying to provoke him. John says, then let him give Sonny a warning. Whoever this shooter is, he knows Sonny’s world. He knows how Sonny moves. If he’s come for Sonny, that only means one thing. It means he’s already in Sonny’s house. So watch your back.

Dex asks Josslyn to tell him the truth. Does she really want to be here?

Brick says, so, Jordan mentioned daffodils, and she says she did, didn’t she? He asks if it’s her favorite flower and she says, it’s definitely on the list. His phone dings, and he asks her to excuse him. He looks at the phone, then looks at Dex.

Josslyn says she wants to be with Dex, and he says, here, with all these people? She says, no, and he says, then let’s get out of here. They leave as Brick watches. He gets up and tells Jordan that he hates to do this more than she knows. He has to go. He can’t tell her what a wonderful evening it was. She says, maybe their paths will cross in the future, and he says, that’s the plan. He hands her a card and says he has her number. Now she has his private line. Maybe his luck will hold. He leaves.

Sonny says, this is the last time he and John are going to be alone together like this. If John wants to talk to him, he has to call Sonny’s lawyer Diane Miller. He’ll like her. John says, so that’s it? That’s the way it’s going to be? Sonny says, that’s the way it’s going to be, and John heads for the door. Sonny says, hey, Jagger, and John says, for the last time, it’s John. Sonny says, hey, John, welcome back, and Jagger John leaves.

Michael comes downstairs, apologizing that it took so long. He doesn’t think Wiley’s magic act is quite ready for Vegas yet. He sees Willow asleep on the couch and covers her with a blanket.

Cody says, Sasha did pretty good on that last one and she says, it must have been his tutelage. Also, she comes here a lot. He says, really? He wouldn’t have pegged her as a frequent thrower. She says, it’s been a tough couple of years. Some days she would come in here and she wouldn’t even care about throwing. She could have just chopped up the furniture or anything else she could get her hands on, but she’d settle for throwing the hatchet as far as she could. He says, she means at the target, and she says, does she? They laugh and she says, a few visits later, voila. He says, thankfully, one of them had a good night. He’s sorry. He feels like his game let them down. She says she noticed that his game was off. It was almost like he didn’t want them to win.

Maxie throws, and she and Spinelli get all excited. Maxie says she doesn’t want to brag. Who is she kidding? Of course (🍷) she wants to brag. She’s on fire tonight. She tells Spinelli that it’s his turn, and Spinelli gets a bullseye. Maxie squeals and they hug. Cody gives Spinelli a thumbs up.

Drew says, if it’s that important to the moss bowl🎍and Carly, he’ll put a pause on anything to do with Nina, but he doesn’t want Carly staying at Crimson if she’s unhappy there. She says she’s not unhappy. In fact, she’s warming up to the idea of staying on as Editor-in-Chief long term. She loves the people she gets to work with, and the fashion industry is thrilling. He says, she’s going to be blown away by the artists she gets to meet, and she says she can’t wait. She just wants to stay for the right reasons. Not to get back at Nina, but to build something great with him. He says he loves the sound of that, and they hug.

Dex and Josslyn spoon in bed, and she turns to him and says she’s sorry about him missing the show. He kisses her and says he’s right where he wants to be. She goes back to being the little spoon.

Brick walks into Sonny’s office and says he found something. Someone in his organization has an offshore bank account. He counted too many zeros. Three guesses as to who it belongs to. Sonny says he just needs one. Dex?

Smelled that one coming as soon as Michael paid Dex.

On Monday, Carly needs to talk to Diane and says, it’s an emergency; Trina tells Ava that she can’t live with this family; Michael tells Josslyn, someone Sonny trusts sold him out; and Drew tells Nina, keep playing with fire and see where it gets her.

🌹 She Could Be Handing Out Roses…

At best it was just hinted at by somebody who told somebody, but it’s a great idea. I never watch these shows as I always feel embarrassed for the contestants, but I’d watch it if she was on it.

🩺 She Botched It…

And he’s a real doctor.

🌴 What They’re Wearing…

Apparently, they’ve learned something since that top photo was taken. It looks like they’re going on a picnic in outer space.

💰 Longest Hiatus Ever…

Good to hear they’re getting a second chance, since they weren’t that awful… yet. Caroline Stanbury has always been one of my favorites.

🏈 Bowlin’ It…

First, the boring stuff.

https://people.com/how-to-watch-the-2024-super-bowl-8572420

Cliff Notes version of the boring stuff.

https://www.cbsnews.com/essentials/when-does-super-bowl-start-end-2024-timeline

The fun stuff.

https://ew.com/super-bowl-2024-performers-usher-halftime-reba-mcentire-national-anthem-8546391

🐕 A Bowl Full Of Cuteness…

Not so boring when it’s puppies.

https://people.com/how-to-watch-puppy-bowl-2024-where-to-stream-8559167

I just thought it was funny that this was in the Sporting News.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/puppy-bowl-2024-schedule-time-channel-stream/2d2d79415a95fc57f37625aa

The Bowl turns 20!

https://apnews.com/article/puppy-bowl-2024-20th-anniversary-fe5ab3507eb72f24e170d1cb23c28b52

You, too, can have your own Bowler.

https://www.discovery.com/shows/puppy-bowl/adopt

A spin-off success story.

https://people.com/puppy-bowl-referee-dan-scahaner-adopts-his-first-dog-8558579

🧧 Quotes of the Week

If I don’t go into that office every day, who am I? – Freddy Rumsen (Joel Murray), Mad Men

There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.Amanda Gorman

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. – Søren Kierkegaard

What’s the matter? You guys can’t do regular crack?Judge Mathis to guys doing combo drugs, Judge Mathis

Take the attitude of a student. Never be too big to ask questions. Never know too much to learn something new. – Augustine “Og” Mandino

We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing and inclusion. – Max de Pree

Life is about making an impact, not making an income. – Kevin Kruse

Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.Potter Stewart

When she says jump, you say, I wish I could. – Peggy Biggs (Rondi Reed), Mike & Molly

🐲 Dragon In the New Year…

Enjoy a Bowl this weekend even if it’s a cereal bowl, then join me on Monday really Tuesday for soap and what’s on Deck. Until then, stay safe, stay not taking any game too seriously (unless you’re a professional player), and stay knowing the best revenge is to make someone irrelevant by moving on with your life.

February 8, 2024 – Commissioner Devane Is Reinstated, Jagger, Very Soon, 80s Fun, Her Message, Leaving Atlanta, Joining Us, Dragon New Year, Rescue Bowling & What

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Michael goes to Sonny’s office and asks if he can come in. Sonny says, sure. What’s he doing here? Michael says, they haven’t spoken since New Year’s. The longer they wait, the harder it will be to have this conversation.

Nina goes over some business with Trish at the MetroCourt, when Carly comes in. She tells Trish, dinner for two, and Trish says, her guest is waiting. She brings Carly to a table where a man introduces himself as Bryson Somebody-or-Other, and they shake hands. Obviously familiar with Bryson, Nina wonders what Carly is up to.

Drew comes to the gatehouse with paperwork for Michael, and Willow says, he’s not here, but she’ll let him know Drew dropped it off. He tells her to have a good evening, and starts to leave, but Willow says she’s glad he and Michael are on good footing again. He says, him too, and he hopes things are better between her and Michael. She says, they’re working through it, and he says, he was just trying to protect his family. Drew’s not condoning anything. He’s just saying he gets that. She says, so does she. Michael’s impulse is always to control a situation, but she would rather know the truth than be protected from it. She thinks Michael understands that now. He says he’s really glad Michael was able to put Nina behind him, and she says, from the sound of things, Drew hasn’t been able to put Nina behind him.

Gregory, Chase, and Finn sit at a table at Charlie’s discussing basketball, and Lois approaches. She says, who knew the Chase boys were such Knicks fans? She thinks they were heard all the way to the Garden. Chase says, actually, his dad was rooting for Boston, and Gregory tells him, keep it quiet. They’re in a home team bar. Lois says she doesn’t mean to interrupt their post-game wrap-up, but can she steal their dad for a minute? Chase wonders if it’s about the rehearsal dinner, but she says, that’s none of his beeswax, and they sit at another table. Chase asks why Finn is watching their dad so close, but Finn says he’s not. Chase says, Finn was sneaking looks at him the whole game. What’s going on? Finn says he thinks their dad might be worse off than he’s telling them.

At the station, Jordan says, it is with great pleasure she reinstates Anna Devane as Commissioner of the Port Charles Police Department. Welcome back, Commissioner Devane. She gives Anna her badge, and everyone applauds. Anna thanks Jordan and Dante asks if she has any words for the crew on her first official day back. She says she’s very grateful to the mayor’s department for entrusting her with this role, and she’d like to acknowledge the fact that the baton is being passed by two great Commissioners, Jordan Ashford and Mac Scorpio. It is a profound honor to guide and support the hard-working officers of the PCPD. They all share the same goal, which is to protect and serve the good citizens of Port Charles. John walks in, and Anna says, and anyone who’s not with them is against them.

Dante wonders if they can trust John, and Jordan says, Anna seems to. Let’s take our lead from her.

In the interrogation room, John says, nice office, and Anna says, hers is being decorated. He says, of course (🍷). She took the job on short notice. She says, let’s get to it, shall we? She wants him to know, the PCPD is officially running an investigation on the cache stolen from the WSB and their buyers. He says, there’s still an FBI investigation, and she says she’s aware, but the way she sees it, the crime was originally committed here in her jurisdiction, putting the community of Port Charles in harm’s way. And a possible conspirator was apprehended, here, again in her jurisdiction. So the FBI can accept a partnership with the PCPD, or respectfully get the hell out of her way.

Lois tells Gregory that the rehearsal dinner used to be referred to as the groom’s dinner, so she wants to make sure her future son-in-law is well taken care of. He says, it looks like she’s going all out. Be careful or she might upset a lifetime of him and Chase’s mother trying not to spoil him. Lois says, a little spoiling never hurt anyone. Besides, she wants to take advantage of this. It’s been a while since she’s lived so close to Brook. You never know how much time you get to spend together as a family. Gregory tells her, you can say that again.

Finn tells Chase, after Spencer’s funeral, Gregory had trouble breathing. That wasn’t the first time he had an incident. The first time was with Tracy, and it’s got him wondering, what happens when he’s alone, or what could happen. What if he falls down? What if he needs an ambulance? Chase says, all that is very concerning, but it hasn’t happened yet. They’ve been lucky. Finn says, so far. He was wondering if it’s not time for their dad to stop living on his own.

At the MetroCourt bar, Martin tells Nina that he hasn’t got long. He’s leaving town today. She says she needs his legal help, and he says, his ears must deceive him. He was unaware he’d won back her trust. She says, he hasn’t, but he owes her.

Carly says she’s glad Bryson could meet on such short notice, and he says he agreed to this dinner as a courtesy. His firm has been advertising in Crimson for years. She says, and she’d like to show her appreciation. She knows that Windsor and Golden and Crimson have both enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship, and she sees no reason for that to end. He says, here’s a reason. Her relationship is garnering bad press.

Willow asks if it isn’t enough that Drew has taken Crimson away from Nina and given it to Carly to run. Nina lived for that magazine. He asks if she’s feeling sorry for Nina, because Nina doesn’t deserve that. She says she can’t help feeling partly responsible. She didn’t tell anyone about her diagnosis, and of course (🍷) the second Carly found out, she admitted Nina was her mother, but Nina blamed Carly for keeping the secret, which is what triggered Nina to do what she did. Willow set everything in motion, now everyone is suffering. Just as the family was finally coming together, they’ve completely fallen apart. He says he’s going to stop her right there because she doesn’t need to take responsibility for Nina. Nina brought this on herself. She deserves to pay the consequences. She says her concern isn’t for Nina. Her concern is for him. Carrying a grudge, meting out punishment? That’s not him. The Drew she knows is kind and forgiving. Is that man lost forever?

Michael says he started to call Sonny a dozen times, and Sonny asks, what stopped him? Michael says he wasn’t sure Sonny would answer, and Sonny says, so he thought he’d come here, where Sonny could throw him out? Michael says, it hasn’t happened yet, and Sonny tells him, that depends on what he has to say. Michael says he came to tell Sonny that he’s sorry and he hopes Sonny can forgive him.

Drew tells Willow, people change. Maybe the old Drew died in Pentenville. Willow says, Drew didn’t deserve what happened to him, and she hates that Nina’s vengeance put him in that position, especially after he saved her life. He says, all that matters is that she’s healthy and well, and he’d do anything for her in a heartbeat. She says, that sounds like the Drew she knows and loves. Please don’t let what happened to him in Pentenville change who he is. He says, maybe everything just caught up with him. Pentenville isn’t the only time he was put behind bars under terrible circumstances. The guy she knew with the rosy outlook took work to cultivate after everything Victor did to him for years, so that people wouldn’t be uncomfortable around him, so they wouldn’t worry about him. He just was so happy being back with his family and friends, he didn’t want to look back, but the joke was on him. He just went from one hellhole to another. And the thing about the attack, he didn’t see that coming. The threats were right in front of his face, and he missed them, and that’s not him either. How did he end up on the floor of a prison shower, bleeding out? Because he let his guard down. He literally turned his back, and she can trust him that it’s never going to happen again. She says, he’s been through a lot. She has too, not as extreme as him of course (🍷), but despite all that, she still believes in the power of forgiveness. And not just for the people who wronged us, but for ourselves. He says, good for her. He’s not there yet.

Nina says she’s considering starting her own magazine, and Martin says, no doubt, something to rival her old publication. She wants to go toe to toe with Crimson. What inspired this? She says, actually, Valentin suggested it. She’s warming to the idea, but only if she can use the best features of Crimson, those she developed when she was Editor-in-Chief. He asks how she proposes to do that, and she says, that’s where he comes in. She calls hello to Brook, who comes over. Brook says she’s going to do Olivia a favor by not telling Nina exactly what she thinks of her in the middle of the restaurant she co-owns. She walks away, and Martin asks, what just happened? Nina says, her attorney couldn’t keep his big mouth shut.

Bryson tells Carly that they’re aware of public sentiment. There was already concern when their highly regarded Editor-in-Chief Nina Reeves was replaced, suddenly and without cause. You add to that the controversial article about Carly and her publisher boyfriend, at this time, they’re not convinced their brands align with where this new Crimson is going. Carly says she appreciates straight talk, so she’s just going to respond in kind. Crimson magazine has just changed hands. Their editorial mission statement still remains the same, a celebration of style, art, and provocative journalism. And the publisher and owner of Aurora Media, Drew Cain, shares her mission to maintain the impeccable quality that their readers are familiar with. And she’s confident the public is going to understand this. She knows he said he wanted to suspend advertising with them, but she wants the opportunity to explain to him why she thinks he should reconsider. They want to take what’s working with Crimson and elevate the rest. He says, that’s all great, but how is she going to do that if her photographers and designers are booking other gigs rather than staying loyal to Crimson or to her?

John says, his superiors see the benefit of working with the PCPD, and Anna says, but he doesn’t. Well, it’s not his call, is it? He says, whether he agrees or not is irrelevant. Information will be provided – Jordan and Dante come in – on a need-to-know basis, and he’ll be the one to determine what qualifies. Anna says, Detective Falconari is one of her most senior officers and she trusts him implicitly. Deputy Mayor Ashford will be reporting to Mayor Collins about all of the federal operations here in Port Charles. John says, fine, but this circle of trust doesn’t get any wider. Any leaks could have deadly applications. Anna says she thinks they all understand that. Does he want to bring them up to speed? He says, her first. What information did she go to jail to hide from him?

Sonny says, Michael told him that he withheld the truth about Nina because he didn’t want to hurt him, but he doesn’t think that’s the only reason. Michael says, Sonny is the only reason he kept quiet. When he found out Nina was the SEC informant, it was after Sonny and Nina exchanged vows. How could he say anything in that moment? It would have affected everybody there. Not just Sonny and Willow and Nina, but Wiley, Kristina, Donna. And honestly, would Sonny have believed him, or given his history with Nina, would he have thought Michael was trying to sabotage her? Sonny says, they’ll never know because Michael didn’t say anything, and Michael says he needed to get evidence first. Sonny says, Michael could have pulled him aside and tried as hard as he could, but he didn’t want to do that. Why? Michael says, because once he decided to keep quiet about what Nina did, he needed to find another way to protect his family, and Sonny says, protect them how? Michael says he leveraged the truth against Nina to keep her away from them.

Anna tells John, O’Neal claims he sold multiple weapons from the stolen WSB shipment to a single buyer. One of the weapons was the rifle used to shoot Curtis Ashford. O’Neal also claims that this client is based here in Port Charles. John says, so this shooter could be right under their nose, and Dante says, this alleged client could have resold the weapons or maybe he’s part of a larger group. John says, at this point, they lack the evidence to rule out either scenario, and Jordan says, then start with what he knows. Anna says, his turn to share information with them, and John says, four individuals have been targeted for assassination since the unmarked weapons were stolen, and there’s a common denominator. Dante says, which is what? and John says, all four individuals were high-level organized crime figures.

Michael says he recorded Martin Grey admitting Nina ordered him to turn in Carly and Drew in to the SEC, and he intended on playing the recording for Sonny, but he pleaded for Nina instead. He gave her two options. Either she admitted what she did and face the consequences, or she let him decide when and how she got to see Willow and the kids. Sonny says, he blackmailed her? and Michael says, Nina had every chance to come clean about what she did, and she didn’t. That is on her. Then Ned remembered and started to push Nina, but Nina came to him to buy Ned off. That was his second mistake. He should have just called Ned’s bluff and let him expose her if that’s what he wanted. He struck a deal with Ned to keep the peace, but it didn’t matter because Lois found out anyway, and the whole thing blew up. Sonny asks why Nina didn’t come to him instead of living a lie, and Michael says, because bottom line is, she’s guilty. And she was desperate to keep the truth from Sonny and Willow because she thought neither one of them would forgive her. Sonny says, what about Michael? Where would Michael stand with him if he did?

Carly tells Bryson not to believe everything he hears. Crimson still boasts the most sought-after collaborators in the industry. He says, they enjoyed a long and profitable relationship with Nina Reeves, but Carly is untested. He’ll be frank, they have doubts. She says she can assure him this transition will be seamless. She’s already elevated her Senior Editor to Managing Editor. The Crimson he knows, and loves is only going to get better. His phone rings and he says he has to take this. He gets up and says, they can discuss terminating their current agreement when he gets back. He leaves, and Brook comes by. She says, Carly doesn’t seem to be enjoying her dinner companion, and Carly says, it’s really hard to enjoy dinner when it can cost her 2.1 million annual. Brook says, ouch.

Martin tells Nina, to be fair, long before she had him alert the SEC to Carly and Drew’s insider trading, she had a knack for alienating people. Bryson comes over, and Nina asks how he is. What’s going on? He says, it’s a complete waste of time. Crimson without her? Unthinkable. They give each other a Hollywood kiss as Carly watches. Carly says, well, that explains it.

Lois tells Gregory that she’s happy Brook found her independence, but to be honest, that’s not how she grew up. In their house, family was a generational thing. Brook grew up with her grandparents just like Lois did, with her aunt, her uncle, her two cousins living two doors down. It’s what they call the Bensonhurst Brigade. Gregory says he’s familiar with the term, and there’s a lot to be said for that. But he’s curious. When she was growing up, did she ever find that intrusive? Lois says, waiting for the bathroom was like waiting in line for the Cyclone in Coney Island. And there were eyes on you at all times. They were loving eyes, but they were there to keep you honest. But family is family, right? And looking back, she’s got to say she’s so glad she got to know her parents and her grandparents as well as she did. Violet must really appreciate him living so close by.

Chase asks if Finn is thinking about putting their dad in a long-term care facility, and Finn says, what is he talking about? No. Chase says, Finn doesn’t want their dad to live alone. He lives in a one-bedroom apartment with Brook, so he assumes Finn is talking about his place. Finn says, things will be tight with Violet there, but he thinks he can move his office to the small bedroom. Chase says he doesn’t think their dad would care about the amount of space. The main challenge would be their dad feeling like Finn is taking away his independence.

Chase says, their dad has his challenges; there’s no two ways about it. But he’s still able to navigate them. He sees what Finn is saying about all the things that can go wrong with him living alone, but for now, that hasn’t happened. They’ll get him a watch that will send an alert when he falls. Finn says, he wants to rely on a watch, but Chase says he wants to rely on their dad. He thinks there’s a way they can keep a close eye on him without being too intrusive. Then they can step in if they see a problem. But they should let him keep his independence for as long as possible and get him a watch.

Gregory asks Lois, how was it living with her grandparents? Does she think they felt infantilized by having their kids taking care of them? She says, is he kidding her? They loved it. It kept them young. He knows the saying, it takes a village? Well, that only works if you actually have a village. And as they got older, they knew somebody was always going to be there to help them out. They really loved that, especially when it came to the TV remote and the microwave. Anyway, she has to go, but she’ll keep him posted on everything about the rehearsal dinner as soon as the vendors confirm. He says, vendors? and holds out his hand. She says, stop it with that. They’re almost family. She kisses his cheek, wipes the lipstick off, and leaves.

Brook says, Carly just took over. She’ll make her mark and then everyone will forget all about Nina Reeves. Carly says, unfortunately, she’s not off to a great start. Advertisers and contributors are threatening to cut ties with the magazine, and if she loses Bryson’s account, it could really affect the bottom line. They see Bryson tell Nina goodbye, and Brook asks what she can do, but Carly says, nothing. She doesn’t need to worry about this; this is not her problem. Brook says, of course (🍷) it is. Nina is doing everything in her power to undermine Carly. (Apparently, it doesn’t take much, since she really hasn’t done anything.) This is the same woman who let everyone believe Brook’s father turned Carly over to the SEC when he had a head injury and couldn’t even defend himself. Is she over it? Not even a little bit. Let’s do this. They can get Windsor and Golden back. They just have to be a little creative.

Nina says, as Martin can see, she’s the one with the relationships, and he says, the gentleman certainly seemed to hold her in high esteem. Nina says, Bryson is an ad rep for Windsor and Golden. For years, they were Crimson’s top advertisers, but no more. Which positions them beautifully to be one of the first ad buys in her venture. What she needs now is her staff getting compete clauses waived. Can he get around that?

Michael says, if Sonny decides to forgive Nina or if he doesn’t, it’s not for him to judge, but Sonny says, that wasn’t an answer to his question. Michael says he thinks they’re all better off without Nina in their lives, but he won’t pursue any further action to drive her away. If Willow wants to let her back in, he’ll have to live with that. Sonny says, all right. What about him? Michael says, no matter who Sonny is with, he’ll always have a place in Wiley and Amelia’s lives, and Sonny says he loves those kids. He hated being estranged all those months. Michael says, it’ll never happen again, and he hopes Sonny will choose to be a part of his life too. He can’t promise to like or trust Nina, but he can’t allow Nina to cost him his wife or his father.

Anna says, it seems to her that whoever is ordering these hits is cutting a swathe across the country. Would this be mafia power grabs or what? John says, that’s what’s puzzling. No one is stepping forward to claim responsibility. There’s been no resulting turf wars. Anna says, that would suggest it’s not business, it’s personal, and Dante asks what they’re doing to protect those who’ve been targeted. John says, they’re not in the business of protecting criminals. If they’re going to nail this perp, they can’t tip them off that they know the pattern. Dante says, so what John’s telling them is, he just wants to get his guy and to hell with saving lives?

Finn says he understands Chase’s point, but he’s still uneasy about this. Gregory comes back and says, uneasy about what? Finn says, the Knicks chances of making it to the finals, and Gregory says, good luck with that. Chase asks if everything is okay with Lois, and Gregory says, yes. She was telling him about how she grew up in a multigenerational home and it got him to thinking. He’s had a couple of health scares recently. Nothing to be alarmed about, but enough to make him wonder if it’s wise to live alone. He doesn’t want to intrude on Finn, but it might make sense to be near a doctor (and Finn gets free babysitting!). Finn says he’s sure they can work something out. It would be nice to have Gregory in the apartment, someone to keep an eye on Violet in case he has an emergency at the hospital. But only if it’s something Gregory really wants. Gregory says, yes, he does. I wonder why they don’t they pool their money and get a big-ass house for everybody.

John says, sounds to him like Dante’s personal connection could be a problem, and Dante says, sounds to him like John’s personal animosity toward Sonny could be a problem. (Touché!) Anna says, everyone in this room has a personal connection to Sonny. Let’s just get that out of the way. But she thinks they also share a determination to bring whoever is behind these shootings to justice. That should be their one and only focus. Jordan says she agrees. Whoever is behind this is organized, calculated, and doesn’t care about collateral damage. Anna says, they need to be stopped before they hurt anyone else. She asks if she can have a word with John, and Jordan says she has some calls to make. She’ll be right outside if she’s needed. She leaves and Dante starts to follow, when John says, what Dante’s been told is classified. Dante leaves, and Anna asks if that was necessary. John asks if she doesn’t think he’s going to warn his old man, and she says, of course (🍷) he wants to, but he won’t. John should be the one to do that. John says, no. Tipping off Sonny Corinthos just gives him a pass for vigilante justice. Anna says, or it enables him to check in with his security and figure out how to protect himself. She understands there’s no love lost between him and Sonny, but he shouldn’t let that cloud his judgement. He asks, what’s that supposed to mean? and she says, despite his disapproval, Sonny means the world to a lot of people. Tell her. What would he think Stone would want him to do? That’s kind of what I was thinking. Why is John so pissed at Sonny when Sonny was so good to Stone?

Sonny tells Michael that sometimes he looks at Nina and still sees the woman he married. Then he thinks of Donna and how close she came to losing her mother to a prison sentence, and Drew getting close to being beaten to death in Pentenville. And Nina set all that in motion. Michael says he realizes it’s not his right to make decisions for the people he loves. So if Sonny wants to forgive Nina and let her back into his life again, it won’t affect their relationship. That is, if they still have a relationship.

Drew stares into the fire, and Willow comes downstairs. She says, sorry it took so long. Amelia is still adjusting to the sippy cup. He says he can’t believe she’s one now, and she says, her neither. She and Michael didn’t want to have a big birthday celebration, especially with everything going on. They kept it just them and the kids. Drew says he gets that. He missed out on so many birthdays with Scout. That’s time he’ll never get back. She says, but they have the rest of their lives now, and he says, her outlook is remarkable. She says she realizes some people might find her too forgiving, but she doesn’t view that as a weakness. Actually, it’s been the key to her survival. Forgiveness and gratitude have helped her over the worst things that have happened to her. She’s just so thankful to be alive and well, everything else takes a backseat to that. He says he thinks she’s one of the strongest people he knows, and she says, same. She’s standing here raising her children thanks to him. He says, she did all the work. She’s standing here because she’s a fighter. She says she didn’t fight alone. He flew across the globe and put his life on the line to bring her bone marrow donor home. Would he still do that today for her? Or would punishing Nina take precedence? He says he wouldn’t think twice. He would never turn his back on her. She says, even if she let him down, and he tells her, like he said, people change, but some things don’t. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for the people that he loves, but Nina is not one of them.

Martin says, Nina doesn’t need a lawyer. She needs a magician. Aurora’s contracts are ironclad. He’d have to be Houdini to get anybody released from something like that. Then again, it is her money, and if she wants him to waste time and energy… She says, forgive her, but he’s going to do this pro bono because she did him a favor. He broke attorney/client privilege. She could have him disbarred. He asks exactly how she’s going to do that, prove that privilege was breached. Is she going to get Michael Corinthos to sign an affidavit? Once again, she’s doing this all wrong. She’s going about it the wrong way. If she starts the conversation like that, he’s not inclined to help her. He’ll peruse the contracts and look for a loophole, some way to get her staff released. But not because of her threat… Stop grinning at him. Not because she threatened him, but because he accepts responsibility for the part he played in what happened. She says she’s glad he recognizes that. She’s focused on two things. One, she wants her staff back. He says he’s got that part, and she says, and two, she wants Crimson to eat her dust.

Brook says she’s sure Salvadore will be thrilled to accept. The entire team at Deception is thrilled with how seamlessly Carly has taken control. Bryson approaches the table, and Carly thanks Brook so much. Brook asks if she’s in his seat, and he says, is she at Deception? Carly says, Brook is Deception. She and her grandmother Tracy are the majority shareholders. Brook says, and he is? and he says he’s Bryson Daugherty. They shake hands, and Carly says, he’s Crimson’s longstanding advertising rep with Windsor and Golden. Bryson asks if he just heard her mention Salvadore, the photographer. That guy’s a phenomenal talent. Brook says she thinks so too, and he says he heard Salvadore was boycotting Crimson. Carly says she told him not to believe everything he hears. Does Brook mind if she shares the good news about the Face of Deception? Brook says, by all means, and Carly says she offered Sasha Gilmore the cover to be designed by a top designer and to be shot by Salvadore. He says, that is exciting, both for her and Deception. He tried to make a marketing deal with Lucy Coe, but they just could never agree on terms. Brook says, just like Crimson, Deception is under new management, and Carly says, which means, new opportunities. Would he like to join them and throw around some ideas? Bryson says he’s all ears and sits with them.

Nina sees Bryson shaking hands with Carly and ducks around the corner. Bryson says he looks forward to working with Carly and goes to the elevator. Carly approaches Nina and says, she’s right. The magazine industry is tough. Good thing she’s tougher. She gets in the elevator with Bryson and Brook, tossing her head like a circus pony. Martin tells Nina that he has to get going. He’s got to catch a flight, but if she needs any more legal advice, rub the lamp and he’ll be in touch. She says, wait. She just realized what she wants him to do.

Gregory says, it will be nice moving in with Finn and Violet. It will give them more time together as a family. Chase says he’s not going to lie. He’s feeling a little FOMO right now. Gregory laughs and asks if Chase is impressed that he knows what that means. Violet hipped him to it. Chase says he was impressed until Gregory said hipped, and Gregory tells Finn, if he moves in, Violet is going to start asking questions. They’re going to have to tell her about his disease. Finn says he knows. Maybe they can tell her together. Gregory says, together sounds good.

Willow walks Drew to the door and says, Michael seems more at peace now that he’s dropped his vendetta against Nina. She just wants the same thing for him. Drew says, maybe Michael’s a better man than him right now, and she says, still, she won’t stop wishing. He says, she probably won’t, tells her to take care, and leaves. Willow calls Michael, who asks if everything is okay. She says, everything’s fine. Drew brought over some paperwork for him. He thanks her and says he’ll pick it up later when he comes by to tuck the kids in. She says, or he could just stay here at the gatehouse tonight. There’s plenty of room and the kids would like waking up to him in the morning. He asks if she’s sure, and she says she’d like it too. He says, okay. He’ll see her at home.

Dante tells Anna that he’s sorry if he was out of line. He doesn’t want to be taken off this investigation, but he also doesn’t want to undermine it at the same time. They’re talking about information that could be the difference between his father living or dying. Anna asks if there’s any way around this, and Jordan says, not unless she wants to start her tenure as Commissioner under fire, but Dante says he’s not asking her to compromise herself. He’ll deal with it. Anna says, don’t. He’s worried about his father. She is too. That’s why she just pressured John to do the right thing. He says he’s not going to hold his breath. The thing is, he had information to offer up before Agent Cates took off. Jordan asks, what’s going on? and Dante says, Sonny thinks the shooter could be known to him. Jordan says, part of his organization, and Dante says, possibly. The shooter’s getting information from inside his organization. He doesn’t want Sonny left in the dark. He doesn’t want Sonny overlooking the real threat while he’s off chasing shadows.

There’s a knock at Sonny’s office door and Frank comes in. He says, there’s a federal agent here to see Sonny, and Sonny asks if he has a warrant. Frank says, no. He said he just wants a word. Sonny throws up his hands, and Frank lets John in. John says, long time, no see, Sonny, and Sonny says, Jagger Cates, and smiles. John asks if he has a minute.

Tomorrow, Brick says, Jordan needs to consider the much bigger picture; Drew says, it’s up to Carly; Willow tells Michael that maybe she doesn’t believe in lost causes; and Sonny tells John to take his best shot.

🚓 Returning From the Night Shift…

Funny. He doesn’t look like Antonio Sabato, Jr.

🚴‍♂️ He’s This-Close…

Monday, March 4th. Be there or miss Jason’s entrance.

👖 A Flock Of Gearys…

Good times in the 80s.

Check Out a Vintage Commercial Starring Multiple Anthony Gearys!

❤️‍🩹 Sharing Her Heart…

Wise words from a beautiful soul.

Kristina Wagner Shares a Beautiful Message About Grief

🍑 Atlanta’s Loss…

I can’t say I blame her. She’s too talented for this.

https://people.com/kandi-burruss-departs-real-housewives-of-atlanta-ahead-season-16-8558560

Those with the feels.

📋 Casting a Character…

No doubt she’ll be interesting.

https://people.com/the-last-of-us-catherine-ohara-joins-season-2-8558192

🐉 Year Of the Dragon…

Read all about it.

https://chinesenewyear.net

The condensed version.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/lunar-new-year-2024-illustrated-guide-intl-hnk/index.html

🐾 Tail Wagging Bowls…

Another Bowl worth watching. I got one of my cats from North Shore Animal League. I went in for a kitten, and came out with the biggest one there. He grabbed my coat and cried as I was walking by. How could I leave him? He was a great cat too. RIP Kipling.

https://ew.com/great-american-rescue-bowl-meet-precious-puppies-and-kittens-8549899

https://ew.com/watch-adorable-kittens-displaced-hawaii-fires-8558122

🏒 A Hockey Game Broke Out At This Fight…

U-turn it back tomorrow for soap and pre-Bowl shenanigans. Until then, stay safe, stay being fully present in your interactions, and stay considering belief in the power of forgiveness. Not just for the people who wronged you, but for yourself.

February 7, 2024 – A Funeral Is Held For Spencer, Thoughts, Letting It Go In Sitges & Stand

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

As Doc and Laura put a white rose on Spencer’s grave, and in a voiceover, Alexis asks how they’re expected to say goodbye to Spencer. He was so young. He was so vibrant and good (the latter being a matter of opinion). He had his whole life ahead of him, and she can’t fathom it really. And yet here they are now, all of them, having to pick up and go on without him. She doesn’t want to, and she knows none of them do either. Cyrus places a white rose on the grave, and Alexis says, so she’s been trying to figure out a way to sum up Spencer, aptly describe who he was – Sonny puts a rose with the others – as it turns out, that’s a very difficult task, because Spencer was so many things; he was complex. Ava puts a rose down, and Alexis says, as a young boy, Spencer was bewildering, precocious, precious, and fun. Trina walks to the grave with Portia, and Alexis says, he was mature beyond his years. Spencer had a knack of entertaining and aggravating them all at the same time. Before their eyes, he grew up into this confident, curious young man, magnetic really. Larger than life – Josslyn adds her rose – and he was able to captivate you with his soulfulness and his depth. At the same time, he could make you laugh so hard, you cried. Kristina arrives at the cemetery, and Alexis says, but he grew up to be strong and grounded – Josslyn hugs Trina – and he took responsibility for his choices. She was so intensely proud of him. Cameron places a rose with the others, and Alexis says she knows she’s not alone in saying she’ll miss him every day, but if they can’t hold on to Spencer in the flesh – Cameron hugs Trina – at least they can hold him in their hearts, fiercely, tightly. Alexis puts her rose down, and we hear her say, and maybe in his honor, get up to a little bit of mischief, because she knows that’s what he would have wanted for all of them. We see everyone gathered at the cemetery.

Michael wipes his shirt with a towel and picks up Wiley’s workbook, wondering how Willow makes this look so easy. Willow comes in and asks if he’s having trouble. He says he got Wiley off to school, but he forgot his workbook. He gave Amelia breakfast, and she got it all over his shirt and her hair and her face. She says, his face, and wipes it. He asks what her secret is, and she says, the secret is, there is no secret. Just be here. Have someone capable on call when you can’t be. She’s lucky that way. In a lot of ways actually. Sometimes it feels too easy to forget. He says, on days like today, it’s important to remember.

Trina says she can’t believe this is happening, and Cameron says he’s so sorry. She says she’s sorry for him too, both him and Josslyn. She doesn’t know if she said that. She loved Spencer more than anything, but the three of them had been friends since they were kids. Josslyn says hi to Cameron and asks if she can get one of those. He hugs her, and she says she’s so happy he came. He asks if she thinks he wouldn’t and she says, no. She knows he would. He says he’ll see them at Windymere, and Josslyn says she’ll be there, but Trina says she’s not sure. She doesn’t think she can handle all that. Cameron tells her to take care of herself, and she says she’ll try. He says, if she needs absolutely anything… She says she knows.

Sonny hugs Alexis and says, she was great. She says she feels like it was all a blur, but he says, she was still great. Laura joins them and says, that was a beautiful eulogy. She thanks Alexis, and Alexis says, it was an honor. Laura says, transportation to the launch is ready if they care to go, and she thanks Ava for opening up the house. Ava says, of course (🍷). She’s happy to do it. Laura says she knows a lot of people think Windymere is just a pile of rocks, but to Spencer, it was very special. It was his home for a very long time. Ava says she’ll see them there and goes over to Trina, hugging her. She asks how Trina is doing and Trina says she’s pretty numb right now, but in five minutes she’ll probably be a puddle on the floor. Ava says, that’s grief. She guesses it’s like a roller coaster. There’s so much she wants to say to Trina, but Trina says, Ava doesn’t have to say anything. Ava’s always been there for her, supported her, even when Ava had her doubts about Spencer. Ava says, he certainly proved her wrong. She’s so sorry he’s gone, but she’s here for Trina, and she’ll always be here for Trina. Portia joins them, and Ava asks if they’re coming to Windymere. Portia thanks her for the offer, but she thinks she’s taking Trina home. Ava says she understands and hugs Trina again, saying, remember, she’s just a phone call away. Ava leaves, and Portia says, unless Trina wants to go. She’ll leave that up to her. Trina says she’s tired and suggests they go home.

Elizabeth tells Cameron that it must be surreal, losing his oldest friend, and he says, oldest friend and oldest adversary. Finn says, do tell, and Elizabeth says, the competition between Spencer and Cameron is legendary, all the way back to the two of them fighting over Emma Drake. Cameron says he’s going to miss giving Spencer a hard time, and Elizabeth says she knows. Gregory says, they’re very sorry for his loss, and Finn says, whatever he needs. Cameron thanks them and tells Elizabeth that he’ll see her at home after the reception. She says, Aiden’s been baking all morning, so get ready, and Cameron leaves. Finn asks if they should head out, but Elizabeth says she just has that one thing first. He says, the offer of back-up still stands, and she says, thank you, but she’ll be fine.

Sonny asks if Dante and Sam are going to Windymere, and Dante says they are. Is Sonny? Sonny says, it’s the least he can do for his nephew, and Dante says, see him there.

Laura says she can’t tell Cameron what it does for her soul to see him here. She’s missed him. He says, it’s good to see her too, and she asks if he’s all right. He says he will be eventually, and she says she knows the feeling. The car is ready if Doc is. Doc says he’ll catch up. He needs to take care of something. Laura and Cameron leave.

Finn says, dad? and Gregory says, sorry. He was just thinking. Finn says, he doesn’t have to apologize for that, and Gregory says he wanted to be cremated, but now he doesn’t know. He thinks maybe he wants a spot of his own. The right plot, the right marker, the right words. He wants that for all of them, a place that they can gather and share memories; tell him about all the good times they’re having. Finn says, he doesn’t have to think about that right now, but Gregory says, that’s all he can think about. I think I won’t care what happens after I’m gone, since I won’t be here.

Elizabeth kneels by a grave that has no headstone, just a marker that says, Esme Prince. (Is Doc cheap?) She puts down a white rose and adjusts the sign. Doc joins her and adds another rose.

Finn says he hopes that doesn’t mean Gregory can’t talk about his ALS or what the future will look like. He can. He wants Gregory to… He just meant the burial stuff. They’re not there yet. Gregory says he knows what Finn meant. He’s getting a little cold. He thinks he’ll wait… He gasps for breath, and Finn asks, what’s wrong?

At home, Portia gives Trina a letter from the Sorbonne, and Trina opens it. She says, they’re saying they’ll save a spot for her next semester. Curtis says, that’s decent of them, and Trina says, it is, but there’s no way she’s going back to Paris. Ever. Portia says, she doesn’t have to, and Curtis says, it holds painful memories for her. They get it. Portia says she’s sure PCU can find Trina a different… but Trina says she doesn’t think they understand. Curtis asks her to help them understand, and she says she’s not going to PCU or anywhere else. School is meaningless now. Everything is. (Oh please. Not Trina being like that. I can’t.)

Laura looks through a photo album and says, such wonderful pictures. It’s really thoughtful of Ava. Ava says she can’t take too much credit. She found a cabinet full when she moved out, and Laura says, Nikolas. For all his flaws, he really loved his son. Dante joins them with Sam, and says he feels like it has to be said. He knows Laura called him, but he found no joy in arresting Nikolas. Laura says she knows that, and Sam says, at least they know Ace is being well cared for. Ava says, a silver lining, shall they call it? and Laura says she could really use one of those right now. The doorbell rings, and Ava leaves to answer it. Sam says she still can’t believe it. Spencer. Laura says, it’s like a nightmare she can’t wake up from. Sonny says, that’s why they call it the circle of life, and Alexis says, one life ends, and another begins.

Ava opens the door, and Cyrus is standing there.

Doc says he didn’t think anyone else would here. He didn’t expect to see Elizabeth here. Elizabeth says, it’s difficult, given all the pain she inflicted on Cameron, but she sent that pain right back to Esme, didn’t she? Helping Nikolas hold Esme captive… Did he arrange for the marker? He says, yes. He doesn’t think he’s ever known anyone quite as alone as Esme. When she woke at GH with no memory, no past, she was so frightened. She had no idea how she got there, who she was, and a newborn baby. He felt for her. Elizabeth says, it showed, but he tells her that he’d say his efforts ran short. She says she disagrees. He did his best to make her feel like she had a family. He says, a family she should have run screaming from, but she says, not from him. He says, maybe, but his brother for a father? And don’t get him started on Heather. Speaking of… Heather says, where is she? Where’s her baby? An officer brings her into the cemetery in shackles, and she wails, no, no, no, dropping to her knees in front of the grave. She touches the marker, saying, Esme, and wails some more.

Heather says she tried to warn Esme. She told her to forget about Spencer, get on with her life, bide her time until Heather could help her hold her little boy again. She clutches the marker and says, why? Why Spencer? That guy was never worthy of her. None of those people were. Why couldn’t Esme have listened to her? Why did she go to France? They told her that Spencer threw himself into the river and took her with him. They can’t find her. They said she could have been washed out to sea. She sobs and says, how come? She must be so cold. Elizabeth says she’s so sorry for Heather’s loss. It probably doesn’t mean much coming from her. Heather says, coming from her? and Elizabeth says, Heather probably hates her for helping Nikolas keep Esme prisoner… Heather says, quite the opposite. Elizabeth stopped Nikolas from killing Esme after the baby was born. She came forward and she told the truth, knowing what price she’d have to pay for that. She admires Elizabeth and knows why her Franco loved Elizabeth so much. It’s because of what Elizabeth did that Esme stood a fighting chance in this world. She gets up, looks at Doc, and says, Esme’s dead because of him.

Michael asks if Amelia is good, and Willow says, happily playing with Melanie. Noticing he’s looking at Wiley’s workbook, she asks if he needs help with his homework, and he says he wouldn’t be able to answer half these questions when he was Wiley’s age. She says, there’s an explanation for that. Their son is a genius. He asks what that makes him, and she says, the father of a genius. He says, nice save, and she says, he’s in a rush to get to work. He says, she noticed, and she says, hard not to. Is he still having issues with Drew? He says, they actually managed to patch things up, for the most part, and she asks, what’s the lesser part? He says Drew asked him for help in getting back at Nina. He said no.

Finn helps Gregory sit down and asks if he’s all right. Does he want Finn to call an ambulance? Still trying to catch his breath, Gregory says, no. It’ll pass. Finn says, he doesn’t know that, but Gregory says he just needs a distraction. Talk to him. Finn says, about what? and Gregory says, anything, just to take his mind off of what’s happening. Finn says, what is happening? and gasping, Gregory says, trust him. Would he do that? Finn says he offered to bring the snacks for Violet’s winter party at the school, and with labored breathing, Gregory says, sounds fun. Finn says, for Violet. Not so much for him. His first two attempts at making brownies were a disaster. That oven timer is trickier than people tell you. Elizabeth suggested he have Aiden make the brownies, so now her whole class is clamoring for his famous brownies, but they’re not really his; they’re Aiden’s. He thinks the jig is up. Gregory says, if Aiden was smart, he’d start charging Finn for his time, and Finn says, don’t think he hasn’t mentioned it. Gregory starts to breathe easier, and Finn asks if this has happened before. Gregory nods, and Finn says he wishes Gregory would have told him. Gregory says, Finn had other stuff on his mind, like ensuring he kept his job, saving lives, and Finn says, the life he wants to save most right now is Gregory’s. Is it a loss of sensation, or is it the opposite? Does he feel pain? Gregory says, it’s more like a shortness of breath and a twinge in his chest. It happened the first time not long ago. He laughs and says, Tracy came up with the cure for it. She ticked him off, on purpose, so bad, he forgot all about it. Finn says, that’s pretty on point. He’s glad Tracy was there, but he’s here now, and like it or not, they’re going to the hospital. He gets up, but Gregory says, no. They’re staying right here.

Josslyn and Cameron look at each other. She turns away, but then turns back and puts her head on his shoulder.

Sam says, Dante’s not on duty. He can grieve just like everyone else. He says he’s sorry. It’s not that simple after the latest attempt on his father’s life. She asks if he thinks it was an inside job, and he says, Sonny sure is convinced, and he may be right, but what he doesn’t know is it’s all part of a bigger investigation, centering around a shipment of illegal missing weapons. She says, weapons as in used in other crimes? He doesn’t think Sonny was the only target? He says, it’s looking that way, and now the FBI is involved, the lead investigator being John Cates. She says, Cates? Does that have anything to do with Stone? He says, it’s Stone’s older brother, and guess what? He and Sonny of course (🍷) have a long-standing beef with each other. She says, and he still hasn’t told Sonny yet, has he? So Sonny doesn’t know. In perfect soap timing, Sonny says, Sonny doesn’t know what?

Ava says, Cyrus isn’t welcome here, and he says he came for his sister. Surely, she could understand that. Laura comes out, and Ava says, it’s her call, and tells Cyrus not to call her Shirley. Laura nods, and Ava gestures Cyrus in. He thanks her, but Ava says, don’t thank her and leaves, closing the living room door behind her. Cyrus says he must admit, he wasn’t expecting quite that level of hostility, and Laura asks, how can he expect anything else?

Portia says she knows Trina is hurting right now, but she’s always found serenity and purpose in the classroom. And when she discovered art history… Trina says she gets education is important to Portia, and Portia says, it’s important to Trina. Trina says, but how does that help Spencer? He died saving her life. Curtis says, now is not the time to make any life-altering decisions, and Portia says, Spencer would want her to live her life. Trina says, but what about his life? His future? His purpose? It’s all gone. Spencer is gone and there’s nothing she can do to bring him back. Portia hugs her.

Willow asks why Michael refused to go along with Drew’s plan, and Michael says, while Drew has every right to go after Nina, he has other priorities. Willow says, be honest. He must have been tempted. He says he was, but then he thought about her and the kids. This family’s more important to him than anything. He’s not going to risk that again. Willow thanks him, not only for saying that, but for backing it up with his actions. It means a lot. He says, there’s more, isn’t there? Whatever it is, just say it. She says, it’s not just the people under this roof that need healing. He and his father need it too.

Laura says, Cyrus has hurt a lot of people. He’s committed a lot of crimes. How does he not realize that when people see him, they still see… He says, a monster? And what about her? Is that how she sees him too?

Dante tells Sonny that, it’s not just the PCPD trying to figure out who’s targeting him. Jordan and Anna are also looking into it. Sonny asks if they’re making progress… What is Dante not telling him?

Heather says her daughter might still be alive if it wasn’t for Doc, but Elizabeth says, that’s not fair. Doc tried to help Esme, as her therapist, but more importantly as her uncle. Heather says, right. She forgot. The dutiful uncle. So loyal to his psycho brother, while she did everything in the world she possibly could to keep her baby from knowing him. Elizabeth says, she can’t blame Doc for Ryan’s crimes, but Doc says, it’s all right. Let her say her piece. Heather thanks him and says, he thought he could save Ryan, didn’t he. Ha-ha. What a God complex. So convinced he could cure what ailed Ryan, he did the exact opposite. He nursed Ryan back to full strength, then unleashed him on the world again. She did everything she could to shield her daughter from that maniac, then Doc went ahead and brought Ryan back out in the world. They call her a criminal. Ha! It’s good people like him who destroy lives.

Elizabeth says, that’s Heather’s grief talking. Doc is not responsible for what his brother did or for what happened to Esme or Spencer. Heather says, Elizabeth has such a good heart, like her sweet Franco did and Elizabeth’s boys do. She’s always determined to see the best in everyone, isn’t she? But Doc knows better, doesn’t he? Come on, admit it. Every single word she just said here just now is true. The guard says, visitation time’s up, but Heather says she just needs a few more minutes, one last thing that she has to say, because her daughter can’t.

Michael says he should probably get to the office, and Willow says, now he’s in a hurry to get to work. One mention of his father is all it takes, huh? He tells her that he doesn’t know what to say, and she says, he can’t avoid Sonny forever, and it’s not like this is the first conflict they’ve had. Michael says, that’s an understatement, and she says, they’ve patched things up before. They’ll do it again. He says, last time, it took over a year to reconcile, and she says, but when it finally happened, he and Sonny were getting along great. Michael even went to the island for his wedding. He says, they had a nice time, but that was before everything blew up. He hasn’t seen or talked to his father since his grandmother’s funeral. She says, there are hurdles to clear, and he says, big hurdles. She says, then clear them. He didn’t give up on them. Don’t give up on his father. He sighs and leaves for work.

Dante says, Sonny knows the drill. He can’t tell Sonny about an ongoing investigation, but when there’s something to tell Sonny, he’ll let him know. Sonny says he has some unfinished business back at the office anyway, so he’s going to take care of it. He’ll see Dante later. Dante tells him, be safe, and Sonny says he’s on it. Sonny thanks Ava for hosting. He knows her relationship with Spencer was complicated. She says her relationship with everybody is complicated, and he says he has security for her here, so when she’s ready to leave… She says, straight back to his place, and he says he’ll see her at home. He leaves, and Dante asks if Sam thinks he messed up. She says, no. She actually thinks it’s a good thing he didn’t tell his dad about the FBI investigation. Dante says he doesn’t know if Sonny will see it that way.

Cameron asks if Josslyn remembers what a pain in the ass Spencer was, and she asks if he means in general. He says he was thinking more about when Spencer was younger, and she says, insufferable. He says, the ego on that guy, and she says, eventually, it became tolerable, and then loveable. She thinks a lot of that had to do with Cameron. Spencer really looked up to him. Cameron says, get out of here. He had everything. She says, he didn’t have a stable home and he didn’t have a lot of friends. People were naturally drawn to Cameron. It wasn’t like that for Spencer; he had to work on that. But he had a really good example in Cameron.

Gregory tells Finn to wait for Elizabeth. He’s going to call a Ride Share and go home. Finn says he thought the goal was to stick around for a while, make Chase and Brook’s wedding, and Gregory says, Finn knows it is. Finn says, then why did Gregory hide symptoms from him? but Gregory says he didn’t. Finn says, Gregory didn’t tell him either. Maybe there’s something they can do, or maybe there’s some protocol, or physical therapy. Gregory says, there’s nothing. It’s just the way this disease goes. It eats away at you, little by little. Sometimes a lot by a lot. Finn says he thought Gregory wanted his help. What’s the point in having a medical license if he can’t do something to help his own father? Gregory says, Finn doesn’t want to help him, but Finn says, of course (🍷) he does. Gregory says, Finn wants to save him, and he loves Finn for it, but Finn can’t save him. No one can. Finn asks what he can do, and Gregory says, they can have an honest, loving relationship where they don’t walk on eggshells. Finn says, where they don’t hide things from one another, and Gregory says, where they just are, father and son. Can they stand here on this sacred ground and give that to each other? Finn says, yeah, they can, and they hug.

Heather wonders what’s going to happen to her grandson, now that her daughter’s not around to protect him, and Doc says, Ace will be well taken care of. She has his word. She says, yeah, right. Just like he took care of Esme? He says, Laura loves her grandson. She can trust that he’s in good hands. She tells Elizabeth, please. She’s depending on her. Keep an eye on them. She tells Doc, do better by her grandson than he did by her daughter, or there will be hell to pay. She says she’s ready… Hold on. She tosses a rose off the grave, kisses the marker, and leaves with the guard.

Willow sits in semi-darkness, looking at family photos on her tablet.

Cyrus asks if he can escort Laura home, and she says she has a driver, but thanks him. He says, in that case, he’ll say goodbye and hope this sad occasion can be a new beginning for them. He thinks Spencer would want it that way. She says, would he? and Cyrus says he’s not the enemy. He’s her brother who cares about her and wants to do right by her. He’s confident she’ll see that one day. He leaves.

On the phone, Sonny asks what Brick has for him… Uh-huh. Let him know, because he wants to know who the traitor is. So he can be dealt with permanently.

Finn asks how it went, and Elizabeth says, it was interesting. She’ll tell him about it on the way home. Did his dad leave? He says his dad’s waiting in the car, and she asks, what’s wrong? He says he knows what’s ahead of them with ALS, at least his head does, and she says, but his heart is having a hard time catching up. He says he sees his dad struggle and it’s getting worse, and she asks if something happened. Finn says, he’s okay. It’s just… She takes his hand and says she knows. She’s sorry. He says, his dad is a hardboiled guy. He values his independence so much, but he thinks they have to face the facts. His father won’t be able to look after himself much longer.

Josslyn thanks Ava so much, and Ava says, she’s welcome. Josslyn and Cameron leave, and outside, Josslyn says she wishes they could have seen each other under less horrible circumstances. He says, him too, but he’s glad they did. How are she and Dex? She says, they’re fine. He makes her happy. Cameron says, good. That’s all he wants for anyone anymore. For the people he loves to be happy. She says, it’s a real shame they didn’t get that with Spencer.

Trina puts on her coat, and Curtis asks where she’s going. She says she’s just going to take a walk by the lake, and Portia asks if she wants some company. Trina says she won’t be long, and goes outside. She takes the turtle dove out of her pocket and remembers Spencer giving it to her. She closes her hand over it.

Drew tells Willow that it’s never going to happen again; John wants to know what information Anna and Jordan went to jail to hide from him; Finn tells Chase that he thinks it’s time for their dad to stop living on his own; and Michael hopes Sonny can forgive him.

💭 Thoughts… I’m not loving this Spencer is dead storyline. Mainly because we all know he’s coming back. Perhaps GH should have kept that fact under their hat. It’s like the reverse of everyone pretending Bobbie was alive for the good part of a year when Jaqueline Zeman passed away. It just feels weird.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Still inflicting themselves on Barcelona, Sutton tells Kyle that she lost her dad’s ashes because she moved so many times. As much as I like Sutton, I can’t imagine losing something like that in a move. Sutton cries and says she feels like she’s scattering the ashes of her marriage too. Kyle says she gets that. It’s symbolic of a big part of Sutton’s life. Sutton says she’s been angry for so long, maybe what’s inside needs to come out, and they hug. Trevor arrives, and Sutton says, they’re on a strict timeline. She and Travor put Merce’s ashes in a box, spilling some on the table. In Sutton’s interview, she says she’s realizing it’s not just Merce, but two decades of her life that she needs to let go of. It’s time to release everything, stand on her own, and be alone. It’s completely scary, but she’s strong and can do it. Trevor tells the women that his friends were happy to meet them, and Garcelle says, even Erika? We flash back to Merce is in the purse, and Trevor says, especially Erika. They get in a fancy little bus and talk about gay sex terms.

Sitges, Spain. Sutton tells Trevor not to drop Merce. He’s not in a Ziploc anymore. She tells Garcelle and Kyle, no shopping, and in her interview, Sutton says she’s prepping mentally and emotionally for the ceremony. They go to a cliff on the beach, and Sutton thanks them for putting up with her. She’s been emotional about her dad, but it’s been 20 years, and she has to release that. We flash back to her telling Dorit that her father’s suicide was tough, and they never addressed it as a family. She says she’s releasing the pain from her marriage. We flash back to Garcelle saying, Sutton gave up her power, and in Sutton’s interview, she says, at the end of their marriage, Christian called her and said she needed to get an attorney because she’d be receiving papers. She didn’t understand and she was scared, lost in the middle of nowhere by herself. Sutton tells the women that they all have things they’re holding on to, and she wants them to do this for her, even though it’s hard. In Kyle’s interview, she says she thinks the pain of Sutton’s divorce was more than she imagined, and in Garcelle’s interview, she says, Sutton has always had anger about Christian and it’s good to see her let it go. She can relate. Sutton says she’s letting all three go, and in her interview, she says, it’s so silly that she gets sad about her divorce. Christian, her dad, and Merce were three very important men in her life, and she’s about to say goodbye to all three.

Sutton and Trevor toss the ashes, and they blow back, just like with Sonja’s dog on RHONY. The women dust themselves off, and in Kyle’s interview, she says, it’s blowing in her face, her hair, and her mouth. In Garcelle’s interview, she says, it’s all over her black dress and hair, and in Erika’s interview, she says she doesn’t know this man and doesn’t want to taste this man. They say goodbye to Trevor and continue with the ritual. As each woman says what she wants to let go of, they toss their leis into the water. Garcelle says she’d like to let go of feeling alone. She has a lot of abandonment issues. She thinks not having her dad in her life contributes to how she leads her life. In her interview, Garcelle says, her dad left when she was 3, and didn’t come back in her life until she was 14. She was betrayed by the man of her dreams, and it led her to being protective of her heart. If she has to be alone, she can do that, but it doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel lonely. Crystal says, her brother is leaving. He’s moving away, probably forever. We flash back to Jeffrey saying he’s going to relocate to Thailand, and in Crystal’s interview, she says she knows he has to get away from her and their mother for a while and start his own life. She knows that’s what he needs. Annemarie (ugh) says she has a very confident exterior, but needs to do a lot of work to feel that she’s in a peaceful place. She wants to be happy. Dorit says, this is no guarantee she’s leaving the PTSD she lives with behind, but she’s going to try. We flash back to PK being an a-hole, and in Dorit’s interview, she says, maybe if she lets go of some expectations with PK, she can find release and start to heal all areas of her life. Erika says, this represents all the hurt from the last 2½ years, some of which they contributed to. She’s turned a new page, and is releasing her hurt, anger, and her old life. In her interview, Garcelle says, if they caused Erika pain, it’s because they were showing her a mirror when they felt she wasn’t compassionate. We flash back to the victims/earrings stuff, and Garcelle says, it’s a little awkward. Kyle says she wants to let go of the guilt of thinking she could have done something different with and for Lorene, with her sisters, and the group. She’s letting go of any of the things she’s held onto that hurt her. In Kyle’s interview, she says, it feels strange not be sharing what’s really weighing on her. She doesn’t know if her marriage is going to survive. When she’s ready, she’ll share. She wants to let go of the uncertainty in not having the answers to what the future holds. There’s a group hug, and Kyle thinks seeing them vulnerable and sharing these moments shows they came a long way.

They walk around, and Crystal says she’s sorry she contributed to Erika’s pain. Erika says, it’s okay. Sh*t happens. That’s how you recover. In Erika’s interview, she says she loves someone taking a chance and saying they’re sorry they misjudged her. No one else has. At least Crystal has the balls. In Sutton’s interview, she says, Merce didn’t get on her, instead, he blew over her. He was known for his great leaps, so it was good. She tells the women that tour guide Manolo is walking them to their flamenco dinner where they’re going to perform their dance. In her interview, she says, it’s not ballet, but it’s good choreography. It’s sexy. They’re taking it slow because these ladies are not dancers, except for Erika. We see a clip of them at their lesson.

Everyone gets ready, and in Erika’s interview, she says, it bothers her that she didn’t get apologies. You go to therapy to acknowledge your feelings, but wanting someone else to acknowledge how you feel isn’t going to happen, so maybe she should stop looking for it.  Kyle calls home and talks to her daughters. In her interview, she says, she feels like they’re going through a hard time, and she’s sensitive to how everyone in her family is feeling. She worries and feels like everyone is more fragile. All the women are dressed in red, except for Kyle, who’s leaning toward orange, and Sutton says she’ll photoshop it. In Dorit’s interview, she says she knows Kyle didn’t get the memo on dressing in red, but considering her other choices, thank goodness she wore orange. Dorit navigates getting to the bus in her heels, and in her interview, she says she’s spent so much time in Europe, you’d think she’d know how to walk on cobblestone in heels. At least she’ll trip in style. On the bus, they talk about signing any document their husbands put in front of them without looking at it. In Sutton’s interview, she says, Marriage 101: don’t sign a document without reading it. She doesn’t care if you marry the Pope. Kyle says she signs stuff and hopes for the best, and in Erika’s interview, she says, that’s how she got in trouble. It’s okay to trust your husband until it’s not okay to trust your husband.

Manolo serenades the women as they go into the restaurant, and In Kyle’s interview, she says she doesn’t want to perform. She doesn’t know the dance and doesn’t drink anymore. We flash back to her doing the splits on several occasions. Manolo makes a toast in Spanish, and Annemarie asks about everyone’s favorite part of the trip. Crystal says, watching Storm’s father make paella, and Kyle says, today they had honest, real moment. It was an emotional, but good moment. Erika says, it’s been a long time since she felt relaxed and good on a trip. The trip to Aspen last year was horrible. We flash back to the women saying she should show compassion for the victims, and Erika saying she doesn’t give a f*** about anyone but herself. Erika says, they’re not going home Pollyanna, but for her it’s more positive than it’s been in a long time. Annemarie says she doesn’t know the histories in the group, so it seemed cryptic to her when Erika said she was letting some things go despite what anybody had to say. She felt many of them contributed to her pain. What did she mean?

Erika says she felt mischaracterized and misunderstood. The appeal was reversed, but those things will always hurt. Garcelle says, when they were at the retreat, Erika told them that she wasn’t sure if she trusted the group, but Erika says she feels more relaxed now. Trust is earned over time, and she’s taking it step by step. In her interview, Garcelle says she sees how deeply Erika was affected by them. Although they were just asking questions, and thought Erika understood they wanted to see her side, but also wanted her to show compassion and empathy. They could have just moved on. Sutton makes a toast to Erika, and says, even though some of them didn’t receive a door invitation to Erika’s show – we see a clip of Kyle getting an invite like she won Publisher’s Clearing House – she wants to congratulate Erika on her residency. She knows it’s a big deal. They’re proud of her and they’ll all be there. In her interview, Sutton says, in elementary school, her mother made her invite the entire class to her birthday party. Erika says she remembers their support when she was on Broadway, and Sutton chartered a plane. We flash back to that, and Sutton tells her that she’s just saying she could have gotten an invite. (After chartering the jet? Yes, she should have. Maybe Erika should think about acknowledging other people’s feelings instead of being so concerned about her own.) They watch some dancing, and in Kyle’s interview, she says she’s nervous and embarrassed. There are professional performers up there. Nobody wants to see them; they want to see the professionals. Dorit says she doesn’t know if she can do it in her dress and shoes, but Erika tells her, stomp that sh*t out. The MC announces that they have VIP guests, and the women get up on stage. In Sutton’s interview, she says, it’s been emotional, but at the end of the day, she loves them. She wants them to stay happy like this forever. They’re laughing and having fun and sharing things they’ve never shared before. Getting through problems individually and as a group is so good. Friends become family, and this is her family, and she loves it. They do a few hand moves, and stamp their feet, and there’s applause. It wasn’t really dancing, but okay.

The women are back in Beverly Hills and back to routine. Dorit pops by (her words) Kyle’s house and asks how she and Mauricio are doing. Kyle says, good. She was seeing a therapist, and now Mauricio joined in. Dorit asks how it’s going, but Kyle says she doesn’t know. In Dorit’s interview, she says, lately, one of her best friends is as disconnected as possible. She wants to be there for Kyle. She wants Kyle to know she supports her. Kyle says, she and Mauricio never fight, but on the bad side, they’re not communicating. They’d rather not deal. We flash back to the mom/tattoo sort of argument, and Kyle says she’s more the one who has a fiery side, and Mauricio wants to be stoned peaceful. Add in traveling and their work schedules… Dorit says, traveling took a toll on her and PK, and in Kyle’s interview, she says she thinks Mauricio believes if he gives her time, she’ll get over it, but they need help. She tells Dorit that the agency is expanding and it’s like his child. He takes his energy to fix the agency’s problems, so why can he give the energy he gives to the company to them? In her interview, she says she’s supported Mauricio through everything from day one, when he had nothing, When she said they were in trouble and she needed him to work through it with her, she needed to feel it was a priority. If Mauricio puts no effort into them, they’re not going to end up together. They’ll never survive this.  

Next time, Sutton goes on date number two with Steve; Dorit wants PK home for Mother’s Day, but PK tells her that she’s not his mother; and Erika dabs at her eyes and says, it never had to be this way.

📺 Tortured By Reality TV Society…

Join me tomorrow for soap and a more relaxed atmosphere. Until then, stay safe, stay not clicking your fingers for the waitstaff, and stay never signing a document without reading it, even if it’s given to you by the Pope.

February 6, 2024 – Robert Asks Special Agent Cates For a Favor, Oops, Guess Who’s Back In Town, No Hospitality & Good

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Lucy breaks away from Scotty and says, what is this? He says, what they’ve always wanted, and kisses her again. They fall behind the hay bales.

Martin says, for the life of him, he can’t figure out why Tracy wants to suddenly unburden her conscience, but like he said, he’s not up for it right now. She wants him to say she’s right? She’s right. He’s broken up with Lucy. They’re done now. Unless of course (🍷), she wants to discuss some obscure point of law, in which case, she can call his office. Tracy says she’s the reason he and Lucy broke up.

John calls for a car to come to the station of the PCPD… He wants to transport a couple of detainees. Robert comes in and says, look what the cat dragged in – Jagger Cates. John tells him that it’s John now. It’s been a while. He looks good. Robert says, better than the last time John saw him, and John says, he beat the cancer well. He and Robin stay in touch, although it’s been a few months since they caught up. How is she? Robert says, they’re doing great, out there saving lives. Noah’s captain of the soccer team and Emma is an intern at Berkeley Astrophysics Center. John asks why it doesn’t surprise him that Robin’s daughter is a genius. He’s glad to hear they’re all doing so well. It’s good to see Robert. Robert says, him too. What brings him to Port Charles?

An officer locks Jordan and Anna in a cell, explaining that Special Agent Cates asked for them to be detained. Anna says, of course (🍷) he did, and Jordan asks if they don’t get a phone call. The officer says he’ll check on that and leaves. Jordan wonders how far Anna’s friend is going to push these obstruction charges, and Anna says, Lord knows. Jordan suggests they tell him what they know. He might be interested to learn that the buyer for the weapons is in Port Charles. Anna says, if they give him their intel, they use their leverage. If they want to be involved in this investigation, then they have to keep what they know to themselves. Jordan says, they won’t have much time to investigate while they’re being arraigned in federal court, and Anna says she’s just hoping their friends intervene. Dante comes in and says, friends like him?

On the phone in his office, Michael tells Drew that he’s glad the meeting went well… There’s no need to come back. Everyone’s gone for the day. He’s just wrapping up a few things himself… Looking forward to it. AND HE ACTAULLY SAYS GOODBYE. Unheard of on a soap phone call. Dex walks in and Michael asks what he’s doing here. Dex says, somebody tried to kill Michael’s father.

At the penthouse, Sonny thanks Brick for coming by so quickly, and Brick says, it sounded urgent. Sonny says, it is, and Brick says, whatever he needs. He knows Sonny is going through a lot right now. Sonny says he needs people he can trust.

Sitting in the interrogation room, and John tells Robert that he’s in Port Charles working on a case. Murder, attempted murder, stolen weapons. Robert says, sounds serious, and John says, it is, but on a lighter note, he hears Robert is DA now. Congratulations. Robert says, John knows him; keep moving, so to speak. Which brings him to why he’s here. He understands Anna was arrested, so after he sorts that little mess out, the three of them should get together. He knows Anna would love to see John. John says he doubts that. He’s the one who arrested her.

Anna asks, who told Dante they were in custody? and Dante says, Nikolas Cassadine is back in town and turned himself in. He brought Nikolas in for booking, and the desk sergeant told him they were down here. What’s going on? Anna says, the Feds arrested them for an obstruction charge, and he says, really? What happened with that? Jordan says, she and Anna tangled with them while following a lead, but Dante says he’ll need a little more information than that. Anna says, they tried to keep the PCPD’s hands clean while they gathered some extra information, and Dante says, right. Well, too late, right? Because here they are the PCPD jail. He can’t override the Feds, but if he’s going to help sort this out at all, they have to tell him what happened. Start from the beginning. Tell him everything. Anna says, it all started with Dante’s father.

Sonny says, someone close to him targeted him and his family in Puerto Rico, and Brick says, so he thinks the shooter is someone he knows? Sonny says, has to be, because they had to have knowledge of his island. They knew how to get through security, they knew where his men were, and they knew how they worked. That kind of information isn’t easy to get, so it’s got to be somebody he trusts. Brick says, so his theory is, someone inside was the shooter or was working with the shooter, and Sonny says, that’s the only thing he can think of. Brick says, no one on the outside would have any knowledge whatsoever of Sonny’s security plans. Hell, some of his own men don’t know. Sonny says, that’s right, and Brick wonders, who the hell can it be? He personally vetted every single person who works for Sonny. Sonny says he guesses he has to question the source, and Brick says, what?! Sonny thinks he’s behind this? Does he?

Dex tells Michael, after they realized the shooter had gotten away, Sonny didn’t want to stay on the island, so they came back to Port Charles. Michael says, everyone’s okay though, right? His dad and Ava… Avery didn’t see anything, did she? Dex says, everyone’s fine. Fortunately, Avery was in her room with her bodyguard the whole time and never even realized anything was wrong. Michael says, that’s good at least. How could someone get close enough to Sonny to shoot him in his own house with Avery there, and why is this the first he’s hearing about it? Dex says, Sonny probably didn’t tell Michael because he didn’t want to worry him, and Michael says, this is exactly why he wanted Dex to keep working for him, so Dex can tell him when things start to spiral for Sonny, and it seems like it’s happening now.

On the phone, Gregory says he needs to make an appointment with the doctor. He’s expecting Gregory’s call… Yes, he can hold. He looks into the restaurant and sees Tracy sitting with Martin.

Martin says he gets it. Tracy and Lucy don’t like each other. He understands. What he’s telling her is, if she wants to gloat, to bask in Lucy’s misfortune, she’d better have the decency to do it somewhere else. His relationship issues have nothing to do with her. She says, they do. With her and with Scotty. He says he’s telling her that he wants to be alone. It’s none of her business. She says, the trouble with Lucy started when she warned him about Lucy and Scotty. She’s the one who put it in his head that their tawdry history has a habit of repeating itself.  He asks what kind of game she’s playing, but she says she’s not playing a game; she’s trying to stop the games. She’s trying to be honest with him. She’s been manipulating him. She’s been misleading him. He says, in what way? and she says she doesn’t want to bore him with the details, but she got wind of the fact that Lucy and Scotty were plotting against her. They wanted her to fall for Scotty. He asks, why the hell would they do that? and she says she doesn’t know. She thinks it’s got something to do with Deception. When she found out, she decided to turn the tables and started manipulating them and thereby Martin. Her intention was only to get revenge on Lucy, then he got swept up in it… She’s so sorry. Martin bangs on the table and says, of all the self-centered and hateful… How could she do something like that? She says, believe her, she’s done worse. So he has a choice now that he knows the truth. He can either waste his time berating her or use it more wisely and try to get Lucy back.

Lucy sits up, her hair full of straw and her dress off one shoulder. She says, oh my God. What did I just do? Scotty sits up, looking more rumpled than usual, and says, this was amazing. At the same time, Lucy says, this was a disaster,

Martin says, Lucy’s not picking up, and Tracy asks if he expected her to jump at his call. He just broke up with her. Try again. He says, that’s the third call in a row. Obviously, she doesn’t want to talk to him, and he can’t say as he blames her. He’s an idiot. He let someone like Tracy poison their relationship. He would be surprised if she ever forgives him. Tracy says, if he gives up this easily, maybe she shouldn’t. Why doesn’t he stop wallowing and figure out a way to get her to listen to him? Martin says, do him a favor. Don’t help. She’s done enough already. Then again, he can’t stop thinking, if it’s that easy for her to turn the two of them against one another, maybe it’s not meant to be after all. She says, that’s between him and Lucy. She for one thinks he could do a lot better, but for some unfathomable reason, he’s in love with Lucy, so he deserves the truth. He says, after the damage is done. That’s what he doesn’t understand. Why? She got what she wanted. She got her revenge. She blew up his relationship with Lucy. Why confess now? She looks over at Gregory and says, why indeed.

As she zips up her dress, Lucy wonders how this just happened. How, how, how? What were they thinking? Really, what was she thinking? How in the world did she and Scotty just end up here – again? Scotty says, hang on. She’s single. He’s single. They didn’t do anything wrong. She says, right. Technically, she is single because Marty just broke up with her. But she just ended up with another man in bed… Well, it wasn’t in bed, was it? It was horizontal behind a haystack. He says, it’s a haybale, not a haystack, and she says, who cares? She just had sex with another man when the love of her life just broke up with her. She’s not particularly proud of this. He says, she’s very emotional from all those things Martin said to her. It’s not like they planned this. Lucy says, right. It just sort of happened because she was emotional and devastated and very, very, very hurt. So he’s right. He was here and it just happened. It felt familiar. Scotty says, she better be honest with herself and she sure as hell better start being honest with him, dammit.

John tells Robert, after Anna and Jordan refused to disclose whatever information they had about the unsub, he had no choice but to arrest them. They’re hiding something. Robert says he gets that John has a job to do here, but if Anna… John knows her. If she’s prepared to go to these lengths to check this out, then he’s got to know that she’s got a good reason. John says, too much is at stake here. He needs to clear this case, and both Anna and Jordan are getting in his way. Jordan ignored his warning, then she and Anna joined forces and cost him his best lead. Robert asks how they did that, and John says, the gun dealer lawyered up and isn’t talking. They admit they learned something from him, but they won’t say what. Robert says, so he thinks throwing them in jail on an obstruction charge is going to help, and John says, whatever it takes. They’re both former law enforcement. They understand time is of the essence in a case like this, but Anna is more interested in protecting Sonny Corinthos. Robert says, don’t start him on Sonny. They’re both on the same page when it comes to that guy. As the DA, he understands the position John is in. John says he appreciates that, and Robert says, but he’s going to insist John drop the charges.

Dante says he understands why Jordan wants to investigate who shot Curtis. He’s her ex-husband and she wants someone to pay. Jordan says, Curtis could be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Whoever did that to him should be behind bars. Dante says he agrees, but the problem is, the Feds told her to back off and she went and got Anna involved. Anna says she didn’t need convincing. It could have just as easily been her that day instead of Curtis. Dante says he gets it, but he wishes they’d come to him, but Jordan says, they didn’t want to involve him or anyone else in a fight with the Feds. He says, it would have been better than this. Now they’re in a cell facing serious criminal charges, and Jordan says, if they’d had just a few more minutes with the gun dealer, this would all have been a moot point. He was just on the verge of talking to them when the FBI burst in. They were so close to identifying the person who shot Curtis. Dante asks if they got anything, and Anna says, they did get one piece of intel they can use.

Brick says, Sonny thinks he’s behind this? and Sonny says, wait a minute. They’ve known each other a long time. He can always count on Brick. That’s why he asked Brick to be second in command. Brick says, and he gladly accepted the position and all it entails, and Sonny says he knows that, but he’s been in this business a long time and he knows people have a breaking point. and if Brick was ever in a position like that, he hopes Brick would come to him before he did anything he shouldn’t do. Brick says, of course (🍷) he would. They’ve been through entirely too much together for him to even think of doing something against Sonny. Sonny says he didn’t think it was Brick, but he had to make sure. With all these people that are close to him, it’s making him question everything. Brick says he understands. If he was in Sonny’s position, he’d do the same thing. Sonny says, so they’re good? and Brick says, yeah, we good. But in the spirit of honesty, he has a confession to make.

Brick says he did a favor for Jordan Ashford, and Sonny says, since when does Brick work for the cops? Brick says he doesn’t. Never have, never will. But Jordan isn’t part of the PCPD anymore. She hasn’t been a cop for a while, and now she owes him a favor, whenever he asks, no questions asked. Sonny says, somebody in the mayor’s office owing him could be good down the line, and Brick says, that’s what he was thinking, but Sonny says, it still doesn’t help them with who the rat in his organization is. Brick says, no, it doesn’t. Based on the intricacy of the attack and how easily the shooter escaped from Puerto Rico, this isn’t the result of someone just shooting off at the mouth loosely or letting some information slip. Sonny says, this wasn’t a mistake or an accident. Somebody he trusts wants him dead.

Michael says, Sonny doesn’t know Dex is here? and Dex says, he doesn’t, but Sonny is going to tell him to keep this from Michael, so he’s not going behind Sonny’s back. Between the shooting and Spencer dying so unexpectedly, Sonny’s been going non-stop. He doesn’t think Sonny’s had time to process either of those things yet. Michael says, his first instinct is to go see his father, but he doesn’t think he’s welcome in Sonny’s house right now. Dex says he can’t speak on Michael’s relationship with his father. That’s between the two of them. Michael says, that’s why he made the decision not to turn Sonny in to the Feds. He started working on their reconciliation and they made it. He thinks they did. Things were good between them in Puerto Rico. That’s why he couldn’t bring himself to tell Sonny what Nina did. It would break his heart. He also thought Sonny would take it as him saying Sonny was wrong to choose Nina over his mom. Sonny claims he’s angry with Michael because he kept quiet about what Nina did, but he’s more angry because Michael was right about Nina all along.

Anna says, as they surmised, the shooting was an attempt on Sonny’s life, but it’s a smaller piece of a much larger case, and Dante asks how she knows. She says, because the agent who arrested them gave up a piece of intel. Apparently, the Feds are investigating this string of killings committed using the cache of weapons stolen from the WSB. They believe a single person is responsible for these murders and that all the victims have something in common, but he wouldn’t give up what that something is. Dante says, they should know as well that another attempt was made on Sonny’s life a few days ago on his island, and Anna asks if anyone was hurt. Dante says, everyone’s fine, but obviously whoever this is wants to finish the job, and Jordan says, and they’re stuck in this cell, unable to help. Can he get them out of here? Dante asks, why? So they can run around town, investigating again and putting themselves in harm’s way again? Jordan says, come on. The Feds don’t want to work with anyone else on this, and Sonny isn’t their favorite person anyway. Anna says, which puts them in a better position to help, and they can’t just sit in here while someone makes an attempt on his life. Dante says he knows. He’ll talk to Robert and see if he can get them arraigned and released tonight. Anna thanks him, and he says, don’t make him regret it.

John says, not Robert too. He’s the District Attorney. He should understand better than anyone that no one can be above the law. Robert says, look at this. Something they agree on. Anna is the mother of his child. They’re always going to have each other’s backs. So he’s asking John, let them go. John says he hears Robert, but he needs to know whatever Anna and Jordan are hiding. If he lets them walk, he ends up with nothing. Robert says, if John drops the charges, he’ll get them to share whatever they know with him, and John asks if Robert really thinks he can get them to do that. Robert says, Anna responds better to those who are on her good side.

Scotty says, Lucy can deny this all she wants, but there’s something between them. That spark that they had years ago, that’s still there. So why fight it? Him being with her is like him just breathing. She says, their history says otherwise, doesn’t it? How many times did they cheat on nice, deserving people with each other? How many times did they scheme? How many lies have they told? How much damage have the done everywhere, and how many times did they try to make this – what is this? – this relationship work? Every time, they fail. He says, maybe that’s because all of that didn’t matter… until now. Now, this is their time. She says she admits she feels close to him, and she’s more of her real self with him than with anybody else, and he says, then stop fighting it. He’s about to kiss her, when Martin walks in.

Lucy asks what Martin is doing here, and he says, apparently interrupting. Scotty says, yeah, they’re busy, and Martin says he can see that. He doesn’t have to ask what they’re doing here. Lucy says, you know what? Martin doesn’t get a say. He just broke up with her, remember? He doesn’t get to say what she does. Martin says, they just broke up fifteen minutes ago. Of course (🍷) what she does still matters to him. for her information, he came here to tell her that he was wrong, that he made a mistake when he said they were over. Because it turns out, all of their problems were manufactured by Tracy Quartermaine.

Gregory meets Tracy at the bar and says he’s sorry he kept her waiting. The call took longer than he expected. She says, it’s fine, and he asks if they’re still on for dinner. She says, actually, she’d rather not, and he says, if this is about him leaving her alone for so long, he apologizes, but she says, no. She just lost her appetite. He says, something’s going on here. If she wants to deal with it all alone, he’ll go, no questions asked, but he saw that she and Martin were having a rather animated discussion and he’s here for her if she wants to talk about what happened that got her so upset. She says she doesn’t have a problem with Martin. She has a problem with him.

John says he appreciates how close Robert and Anna are, and he appreciates Robert wanting to look out for her, but nothing Robert does will matter if Jordan and Anna keep interfering in his investigation. Robert says, if John releases them to him, he’ll take personal responsibility for their supervision, and John says he hopes Robert knows what he’s doing. Fine. He’ll extend Robert this one-time professional courtesy and drop the charges against Anna and Jordan, provided he keeps them in line. Robert says he knows John is in a tough position. He owes John one. John laughs and says he’s got to admit, if he’d been told when he was running around Port Charles causing trouble that one day the DA would ask him for a favor, he never would have believed it. Robert says, people change. John should be proud of the man he’s become. Dante says, sorry to interrupt, but can he steal the DA for a minute? John says, sure, and Dante and Robert step away. Dante says he wants to talk about Anna and Jordan, and Robert says he had a little talk with the FBI and they’re going to drop the charges. Dante says, that’s great, and Robert calls to John, saying they have to get together before he leaves town. John says, looking forward to it, and Robert leaves. Dante says, they haven’t met, and introduces himself to John. John says, he’s Sonny Corinthos’s son, and Dante says, yeah. Who is he? John says he’s Special Agent John Cates.

Brick says, Sonny was right to start by looking at the people closest to him. It takes people with the right kind of knowledge to pull a job off like this. He would start off with Frank, Gabe, and Dex. Sonny says, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t find anything on Dex, but Brick says, Dex hasn’t been the most transparent person with Sonny. Sonny says, Dex has been loyal to him repeatedly. He got shot saving Sonny’s life when they were ambushed. If Tony hadn’t come back, Dex would be dead right now. He also did a really good job in Puerto Rico. Dex let him know when the guard was knocked out, and it allowed him and Ava to take cover. Brick says, there could be a simple explanation for this. Whoever’s doing this, they have to deflect attention away from themselves, right? Sonny says, maybe, and Brick says, he put the wheels in motion, so he can come to the rescue and save the day for Sonny and Ava. That way, he looks like the hero, he provides himself some cover, and ultimately Sonny feels gratitude toward him, and maybe allows him even more access into his operation. Sonny says, that sounds like smart play, but the thing is, they don’t know it’s Dex and don’t have evidence of that, do they? Brick says, Dex was coordinating with the head of security on the island. Plus, he’s the one who found the shooter’s hideout. He’s just sayin’, it fits.

Dex says he’s not telling Michael that stuff’s not important, but Sonny is more worried about keeping his family safe, and Michael says, that means finding the person behind the attack. Any leads? Dex says, Sonny’s theory is that it’s someone on the inside, and Michael says, maybe there’s a way he can help his father. Dex asks, how? and Michael says, you.

Sonny tells Brick, it’s possible Dex is a traitor, but he doesn’t really know a lot about the business. That means he would have had to get access elsewhere. Brick says, he doesn’t need to know the inner workings of the organization. He just needs to know how, where, and when Sonny is most vulnerable. Sonny says, like he told Brick before, Dex has gone above and beyond. He offered Dex a job he wouldn’t trust many people to do because it would have bound him for the rest of his life, and he didn’t even blink. He would have gone through with it if Sonny hadn’t stopped him. Brick says he gets it. Sonny likes the kid. He exposed Dex to a lot of sensitive things and he came through, but here’s the question. Is it possible what Sonny is feeling is exactly what Dex wants him to feel?

Dex says he wants to find out who’s after Sonny just as much as Michael does. Because as long as Sonny is in danger, so is his family, and he doesn’t want anything to happen to Joss or anyone she loves. He’ll do anything in his power to keep them all safe. Michael says, good, because if Sonny is right and someone on the inside is working against him, Dex is in a perfect position to find out who it is. Dex says, Sonny hasn’t asked him to look at anyone in the organization yet, but Michael says, he can be discreet. Sonny never has to know. Dex says, it’s risky. If Sonny catches him, he could assume Dex is the traitor and trying to cover his tracks. Michael says, make sure he never finds out. Dex is the best at this, and he’ll gladly pay Dex extra for the risk he’s taking.

Jordan says she thought Dante would be back with an update by now, and Anna says she’s sure he’s moving as fast as he can. Robert comes in and says, they’ve got themselves in a bit of a situation, have they? Anna says, don’t gloat, please. Did he talk to Dante? Robert says, yes. He’s got good news and bad news. Anna asks, what is it? and he says, thanks to his incredible powers of persuasion, Cates agreed to drop the charges. Anna says, that’s great, and Jordan thanks him. Anna asks, what’s the bad news? and Robert says, they have to back off this investigation. Jordan says, they were just making progress, and Anna says, they’re going to find out who’s behind this entire operation. They can’t stop now. He says, they might as well stay in this cell, because Cates isn’t going to give them another chance. They’re civilians. They have no right being involved in this business. They have no power. What are they going to do if they catch this perp? They can’t do anything with him. They may as well cooperate with Cates. Anna says, maybe she’ll do exactly that, and Jordan says, meaning? Anna says, the conversation she had with Mayor Collins last week. Laura offered her a position in her administration, but the timing wasn’t right. She thinks the timing has just changed.

Gregory says he doesn’t understand how Tracy can have a problem with him. All he’s ever done is try to be a friend to her. She says, that’s her problem. His friendship is changing her, and she doesn’t like it. He says, changing her how? and she says, ever since she met him, she’s been getting… soft. She surrenders in feuds. She compromises with the Bensonhurst brigade. She’s trying to help people she doesn’t even like. He says, making donations to grieving widows? and she says, it’s poor form to ask a lady about her finances. But if she did, it’s a direct result of his influence. Being around him is making her nice. He asks if that’s really so bad, and she tells him, that’s easy for him to say; he doesn’t have to live with the consequences. She takes a sharp breath and says, oh my God, I’m so sorry. That’s not what she meant. It came out wrong. She wasn’t thinking. He starts to laugh, barely containing himself.

Lucy asks what Tracy has to do with any of this, and Martin says, for weeks now she’s been intentionally feeding him little tidbits of information about Lucy and her history and her relationship with Scotty, because she wanted to poison the well. She wanted him to doubt Lucy, make him believe that she was being unfaithful to him. Lucy says, what? and he says, that was his reaction when she accosted him in the restaurant just now. Some kind of attempt to unburden her conscience. She mentioned something about turning the tables on Lucy and Scotty because she realized they were plotting against her. Scotty says, their plan was foolproof, and Lucy says, that conniving snake. Martin says, ya think? Because from where he’s standing, she wasn’t far off. Obviously, Lucy has been hiding parts of herself from him and Scotty’s had full access. She and Scotty have been getting closer together while they’ve been drifting apart. Lucy says, that’s not true. He knows her really well, and they’re very, very good together. She doesn’t know what this was. It was just some sort of mistake, that’s all. It was a big mistake. Martin says, the mistake was him coming here to ask her for forgiveness. It was so easy for Tracy to manipulate them. All she had to do was use Lucy’s nature against her. Lucy says, that’s not true. Please. Can they just go somewhere and talk together? She knows she can make it right. She loves him. Martin says, that’s what makes this so sad, because he loves her too. But he’s all talked out. In fact, right now he doesn’t think he ever wants to see her again. He walks out.

Dante asks if John is any relation to Stone Cates, and John says he has a son named Stone, but he thinks Dante is referring to his younger brother. Dante says, so that’s how John knows his father. He used to talk a lot about Stone. He guesses they were really close. John says, they were, and Dante asks if John and Sonny go way back then. John says, they have plenty of history, and Dante says, now John is in charge of an FBI case against his father. Robert brings in Anna and Jordan, and John says he takes it this means they accepted his terms. Anna says, actually no. She’s not stepping back from the case. She’s going to continue to investigate… as the new Police Commissioner.

Lucy tells Scotty that Martin couldn’t even stand to be in the same room with her. He couldn’t even look at her. Scotty says, so what? He wouldn’t even hear her out. She deserves better than him. Lucy says, no, she doesn’t. He just broke up with her and somehow, she ends up in Scotty’s arms, so he’s right. She’s a horrible, horrible person. He says, that’s not true. Listen to him for a second. She says, will he please just leave? and he says, Lucy… but she says, get out now. Now. Please leave. He leaves, and she sits and cries.

Gregory tries to get ahold of himself and tells Tracy that he hasn’t laughed that hard in a long time. She says she doesn’t understand what’s funny, and he says, ever since he was diagnosed with ALS, people have been tiptoeing around him, being so proper and polite and handling him with kid gloves like he’s going to break at any moment. He hates it. He didn’t realize how much he needed someone to talk to him like he wasn’t sick. He laughs some more, and she says, he knows she didn’t mean it the way it came out. He says he knows, but even she did, he’s fine with it. He may have a fatal disease, but he’s still the same Gregory on the inside. It’s just so nice to have someone talk to him like he’s normal. He appreciates it more than she knows. So no matter how nice she may become, he hopes she’ll never stop doing that. She says she’ll do her best, and he keeps laughing.

John says, since when is Anna the Police Commissioner? and she says, Mayor Collins asked her if she wanted her old position back. Anna told her that she needed to think about it, which she did, when she was stuck in the cell. And she accepted that job. John says, so she can continue to undermine his investigation, but she says, no. So she can hunt down the threat to Port Charles in her new capacity as law enforcement, and no one can stand in her way. So if you want the PCPD’s help, Special Agent Cates, you’re going to have to give us the FBI’s help in return.

Sonny says, they can’t count anyone out as a suspect. He needs Brick to look into everyone in his organization, and that includes Dex. Brick says he’ll get right on it. He knows Sonny is fond of Dex. So for Sonny’s sake, he hopes he jumped to the wrong conclusion. But this is him. Sonny knows he’s rarely wrong about stuff like this. He’ll find out if Dex is hiding something.

Michael says, the money is in Dex’s account now, and Dex says he appreciates it, but this isn’t about the money. He just wants to keep Joss and her family safe. And stay in Sonny’s good graces. If he even gets a hint that Dex came on with an ulterior motive… Michael says, he won’t. They both want the same thing here. Just find out who the threat is to Sonny and his family and report back to him. Dex says, he can count on it.

At the door, Brick asks what Sonny will do to Dex if he finds out Dex hasn’t been loyal after all, and Sonny says, he’ll make Dex beg for death. Brick nods his head and says, yeah.

Tomorrow, Ava tells someone that they’re not welcome here; Michael asks what Willow’s secret is; Cyrus tells Laura that he wasn’t expecting quite that level of hostility; and Finn wants to take Gregory to the hospital.

😳 My bad, I got my days mixed up yesterday. Probably because I desperately want this season of RHOBH over. Tonight, it’s the awful people on VPR. Well, one anyway.

Vanderpump Rules

Nice update on the new beginning credits, showing the different restaurants.

The outcast is home and poor assistant Ann has to run interference between him and Ariana. In Sandoval’s interview, he says he came back from a competition reality show after being on the receiving end of more hate than he’s ever gotten. He wanted to punish himself, penance through pain. He’s brought a bribe of athletic shoes for Schwartz, and tells Ann that things are cool between them, but in his interview, he says, things are not okay with Schwartz. Schwartz talked sh*t about him on Jax and Brittany’s podcast, and he feels betrayed. Tomorrow is his birthday, and he wants to have people over. He’s open to having Ariana there, but Ann says she doubts Ariana would want to be there. He tells Ann to text Ariana that he’ll get her a nice hotel room, and in Sandoval’s interview, a producer asks what it’s like for exes to be living in the same house. He says, stupid, and in Ariana’s interview, she says, awkward. He’s done stuff like opening her mail and got a white noise machine that’s annoyingly loud. In his interview, Sandoval says he got it because Ariana would overhear what he was talking about, and in her interview, Ariana wonders if it’s psychological warfare. Ann presents the offer to Ariana, but Ariana says, that’s not happening. She thinks it’s disrespectful and inappropriate, and if they make noise, she’s going to call the cops. In her interview, she says she’s spiraling thinking about parties Sandoval used to have. Loud music and a mess. It was disgusting and would sometimes last until 6 am. Now that they’re not together, she’s not putting up that sh*t. Ann tells Ariana, everything is great, but when she’s out of earshot, Ann says she thinks it’s weird.

Villa Rosa! Hairstylist Patrick does Lisa’s hair for the last celebration at Pump. In Lisa’s interview, she says, Pump is closing after 10 years. The rent is going up, so it’s going to be more expensive, and Ken wants to retire. Ken will be stomping around West Hollywood when he’s in his 80s, and her in her… 40s. It’s just too old. She tells Patrick, sometimes it’s good to know when to walk away.  James and Ally discuss if they’re ready to get a dog, and we see clips of James with Graham. In James’s interview, he says he doesn’t know what happened with his dog. He’s never gotten over it and he’s heartbroken. He and Ally get ready to say bye-bye to Pump.

One of Sandoval’s few remaining friends, Jason, visits, and in Sandoval’s interview, he says, since the scandal, he’s lost friends, but Jason stuck around. He’s also the band manager and kept him from being in a bad place. Jason asks about Raquel, but Sandoval says he hasn’t heard from her in a few weeks. In his interview, he says he’s still in love with Raquel and hoping to give their relationship a real chance. He tells Jason that Ariana nixed the birthday party, but Jason says, what’s she going to do? Ann says, she mentioned calling the police, and in his interview, Sandoval says, obviously, Ariana is still very upset with him. (Yeah, obviously.) She thinks what he did makes him a criminal, but he doesn’t think the police would agree. He says, what if they’re out by midnight? and Ann texts Ariana with the idea, including more than one so sorry!

Lala and Ariana meet for smoothies, and Ariana tells Lala about squelching the party idea, but Lala says, he’s allowed to have a party. Ariana says, she’ll call about a noise complaint, and Lala says, what about if she compromises and everyone is gone by a certain time? Ariana admits the suggestion was made, and Lala says, it will be easier when Ariana moves out. Ariana says she will when the house is sold, and Lala says, Sandoval is getting off on making her uncomfortable. In Ariana’s interview, she says, Sandoval wants to buy her out, but she’s not going just because he offered her a measly sum. He f***ed this up, so he doesn’t get to do that and keep it. Lala asks what new boyfriend Dan thinks, and Ariana says, he’s looking forward to her getting her own space, since they’re paying to stay somewhere when Sandoval is in town. She says she thinks Dan has opened her mind to possibilities she couldn’t see with Sandoval. In her interview, Ariana says, being with Sandoval affected her about having kids more than she thought. We flash back to Sandoval saying he wants 3 or 4 kids, and Ariana saying she wants none. She says, Dan made her realize there can be more than just a 50/50 partnership. On a day where she can only give 10%, he can give 90%.

Lisa and Ken go into Pump amid cheers, and I wonder where Pride Day will be celebrated. The guests chant, Lisa! Lisa! and she says, 10 years ago, they had a dream to create the most beautiful garden in West Hollywood. We go down Pump Memory Lane, ending with TomTom. Lisa thanks everyone for their support, and says, that’s a wrap. Let’s f***ing party. Schwartz bartends, and in his interview, he says he feels more at ease than he did 10 years ago. We flash back to him having a panic attack, and he asks Lisa how she’s feeling about closing the restaurant. She says she has mixed emotions, but if it’s not carrying its own weight, it will be a drain. Schwartz says, Sandoval tainted their Schwartz & Sandy’s brand. Their partners said, if he comes in, they’ll close the doors. He’s not welcome. In Schwartz’s interview, he says he didn’t expect Sandoval to fully check out. He could have at least come up with ideas on how to weather this storm. Lisa says she thinks it’s time for Schwartz to reevaluate things, and in her interview, she says she thinks it’s unfair to blame Sandoval totally for the failings of the business. She tells Schwartz to tell Sandoval how he feels.

Scheana goes to the recording studio and says she’s going to be DJing with Ariana and Katie on Emo Night. In Scheana’s interview, she says, it’s a huge event. They listen to emo music and if you’re sad AF, you’re supposed to be because it’s Emo Night. But you’re sad in a happy place. She wants to do Good As Gold as an emo screamo cover, and in Brock’s interview, he says he loves this version of his wife. In her interview, Scheana says, in 2019, after the negativity about her One More Time song and video, she threw in the towel and moved on. But everyone loves a good reunion tour, so guess what bitches? I’m back. I actually have Good As Gold on one of my playlists, but I forgot all about One More Time. Apparently, it was forgettable. She tells Brock that the next thing she and her therapist are working on in exposure work is having someone else watch Summer Moon. In her interview, she says she was diagnosed with post-partum OCD, which magnified her worst fears. It took her almost a year to do anything alone with her daughter. She tells Brock that she’s known Tori since she was 16 and trusts her, and Brock says he’ll take anyone she wants.

Sandoval meets Schwartz at a place they don’t own, and Sandoval drinks a non-alcoholic beer. In his interview, Sandoval says, the catalyst in him getting sober was that he knew Raquel couldn’t drink where she was. He wanted to do it with her. They make small talk for a hot minute, and Sandoval says he knows he caused collateral damage. He can feel Schwartz is angry with him, but he had to tour because Ariana didn’t pay bills for 8 months. In Sandoval’s interview, he says he’s pretty much been paying for everything, and it’s like pulling teeth to get Ariana to pay him back. He says, Schwartz hurt his feelings, saying he was living his rock star dreams. Schwartz says he was dealing with Sandoval’s sh*tshow at the bar. Had he been in Sandoval’s position, he would have at least been pitching solutions. Sandoval tries to spin it six different ways, but Schwartz says, all he should be saying is that he’s sorry. Sandoval says he understands he f***ed up and he’s sorry. He wants to move on. Scwartz says, he’s going get there, and Sandoval asks if Scwartz is sticking with him. Schwartz says he’s doing what’s best for himself. I don’t want to say I like this new Schwartz, but I’ll go with disliking him less.

Tori comes over to Scheana and Brock’s, and Scheana’s mom says she’ll be there with Tori, but she has a torn rotator cuff and can’t be doing any heavy lifting. In Scheana’s interview, she says she absolutely trusts Tori. She’s hoping her OCD brain can take a nap tonight. Brock decides to be an agitator, not seeming to grasp Scheana’s issue, and wanting it to be done with; and this frustrates Scheana even more than she is already. In Brock’s interview, he says, before Summer was born, he and Scheana were a juggernaut of getting things done. Now simple tasks are overwhelming for her, and they get nothing done. Scheana’s mom tells Brock that he needs to validate his wife’s feelings, and in her interview, Scheana says she’s hoping to get to a place where she’s not afraid to do things alone with her daughter, and not worried about something bad happening. She wants to live in the moment without thinking it might be the last moment. Her mom says she’s proud of Scheana putting in the work.

Schwartz visits James and Ally, admiring their new house. In Schwartz’s interview, he says, it’s hard not to feel the sting of losing his dream home. In Ally’s interview, she says she started an astrology business. She did Schwartz’s birth chart. She feels like he could use a little direction. She tells him that it’s the most Libra chart she’s ever seen. He’s a peacekeeper. Sandoval texts James about the birthday party, and James says, if Sandoval comes at him, he’s egging the place when he leaves.

Poor Ann has to decorate too, and Sandoval says, it’s giving him baby shower vibes. He likes it. On the way there, Ally says, it’s not too late to not do this, but James says, he’s not mending things with Sandoval. He feels he needs an apology and Sandoval needs to mean it and show he’s a friend. Ally decides to wait in the car, and in her interview, she says she doesn’t have a relationship with Sandoval, but she does care about Ariana. She doesn’t see the point in forcing a relationship with him.  Meanwhile, Katie, Ariana, Lala, Scheana, and Brock go to Emo Night.

In James’s interview, he says, the party is like a who’s who. Like, who the f*** are you people? Sandoval used to be the coolest guy. Now look. A guy named Brett comes up to James and says he has a question about the friend group situation, and James wonders, who the f*** is this guy? He tells Brett that he came to talk to Sandoval, and he and Sandoval step away from the crowd. James says, he feels like a big brother got lost. He was waiting for a text that never came. Sandoval makes time excuses, but James says he’s seen him on Instagram. Sandoval says, sorry he didn’t reach out, and James says, it’s the ultimate betrayal. Sandoval asks why he’s so angry when James hooked up with Kristen. James says, that was 10 years ago, but Sandoval insists it wasn’t. We flash back, and yep, it was. James says, Sandoval is embarrassing, and walks out. In James’s interview, he says, Sandoval is bringing up the past when he’s looking for an apology. He was made to seem crazy when Sandoval was getting his d*ck wet. He pees on the bushes outside, and from the car, Ally says, those are Ariana’s bushes too.

I watched the later airing and there was no preview.

🥃 I keep trying to watch Southern Hospitality, the poor man’s Vanderpump Rules. Or Summer House in a restaurant, if you will. But the more I watch it, the less I care about it. I checked for recaps to include here, but none were posted yet. They’re probably staring at their screens, wondering how to write about this drivel.

🧀 Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Cheese…

Join me tomorrow for soap and RHOBH – for real this time. Until then, stay safe, stay not deciding on your order at the counter, and stay remembering that sometimes it’s good to know when to walk away.

February 5, 2024 – Laura Tells Nikolas To Turn Himself In, New Captain On Deck, Nothing But the Grammys & Everyday

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

On the phone, Sonny says, listen to him. Somebody tried to take him out on his own private island, and they haven’t found out who it is yet? There’s a knock at the door, and he says he’s going to give them 24 hours to find out who it is. If they don’t, he’s going to find a new head of security. Do they understand him? He opens the door to Dante and Sam, and Sam hugs him. She says she can’t believe Spencer is gone. He says he can’t either and invites them in. Dante says he’s sorry about Spencer. He was one of a kind, right? Sonny asks how Alexis is holding up, and Sam says, mom is doing what she does best and just diving into work.

Gregory tells Alexis that he just wanted her to know he’ll be unavailable for the next several hours. He’s taking Tracy to either a late lunch or early dinner. Whatever it is, it’s in the name of future in-law solidarity. Alexis says, good. Have fun. He asks if everything is okay, but she says, no. Everything is not okay. Her nephew Spencer is dead.

On a photoshoot set, Lucy tells the assistant that she needs better hay. This is wrong, so very wrong. It’s coarse, it’s brittle, and it’s icky. The assistant says, they tried the artificial hay, but it was reading fake, so she put it back on the truck. Lucy says she doesn’t care. They’re selling rustic romance, not barnyard reality. The assistant says she’ll get right on that, and Lucy asks if Martin happened to call for her at the office, but the assistant says, no. Lucy says she really needs to let him know where to find her, and the assistant says she left him a message about the photoshoot. Lucy says, great, did she leave him all the… and she says, time, location, and her number if for any reason he can’t reach Lucy. Lucy says, while she’s still standing there, she knows what they need. Giddyap. The assistant leaves, and Lucy looks at her phone. She says, not a text. Nothing. Fine. If he’s not going to call her, then she’ll call him – again, and again, and again. Scotty walks in and says, not to worry. He’s here. She says, great. She could really use some good news, so please tell her, how’d it go with Tracy and the flowers? He says he doesn’t know; he hasn’t talked to her. Lucy says, that’s not good news, is it? and he says he can’t get Tracy to just call him. Lucy suggests he call her, but he says, that would look desperate. She says, then he can call her in a non-desperate way, and he has to make it fast. Marty is so annoyed with her, and she can’t exactly tell him about their plans to revenge on Tracy. So could he please call Tracy, and fast? He tells her, take it easy, and takes out his phone.

At the MetroCourt Tracy’s phone rings with a call from Ambulance Chaser (ha-ha!). She says, he’s going to have to twist a little bit longer, when Martin walks in. She goes over to him at the bar and asks if he’s okay, but he says, actually, no. She’ll have to forgive him, but at present, he doesn’t have the will or the patience to entertain her constant insinuations about Lucy and Scotty. As he’s stated ad nauseum, Lucy’s past is none of his business. She asks if that isn’t the exact problem. Lucy never puts the past behind her, and when she gets involved with someone, Scotty starts sniffing around like he is now. Martin says, if she’s going to make the accusation, the least she can do is provide some evidence of it, and she says, he wants evidence? The other day when he and Lucy had their public dustup, Scotty bolted off, abandoned her, and went to comfort Lucy.

Jagger tells Anna and Jordan that O’Neal is in custody, and Anna says, good. She introduces Jordan to Jagger, and he says, John, please. He’s outgrown the old nickname. Jordan asks how they know each other, and Anna says, John is a friend of her daughter Robin’s. He says, tell her that she owes him an email, from six months ago (I suddenly feel guilty about several people), and Anna says she’ll mention it. Can he fill them in on this investigation? He says he’s the special agent in charge, and the two of them are interfering. His agents told Jordan to stay out of this. She should have listened.

Laura opens the door to find Nikolas holding Ace, and he says, hello, mother. She says, thank God he’s all right, and hugs him. He says he heard that Spencer… Is it true? She says, yes, Spencer’s gone, and he cries, asking, what happened? She invites him in and says, Spencer went overboard. He was on a ship on the Seine. The French authorities couldn’t find his body, but he couldn’t have survived that. He asks if it was Esme, and she says, yes. He says, which means Spencer’s dead because he took Ace. His son is dead because of him.

Tracy says, if Martin doesn’t mind her asking, what did he and Lucy fight about? but he says he does mind. That is personal, between Lucy and himself. She says, don’t tell her the two of them broke up, and he says, no, they did not. He’s so sorry to disappoint her. She says she’s sorry. She’s sorry to see what Lucy has done to him. Doesn’t he get it? Scotty and Lucy cannot stay away from each other, and worse yet, they don’t want to.

Scotty tells Lucy that he doesn’t know why Tracy cooled on him. He thought he was making progress with her. In fact, she even got a little jealous when she saw him paying attention to Lucy and her dandy of a boyfriend and their little squabble. She asks if he means when he abandoned Tracy in the middle of the MetroCourt, and he says he was worried about her. She asks, how is being worried about her endearing himself to Tracy? and he says, pardon him for thinking about her emotional well-being. She says her emotional well-being is just fine. It will be. She knows Marty is really angry, but she thinks she can convince him to work things out with her. He says, maybe she can, maybe she can’t, but she says she can, and she will. He asks if this guy is really worth it, and she says, of course (🍷) he is. They’re just hitting a rough patch. They’re really good together. He says, then he hopes they work things out, and she says, does he really? He says, no. He just wants her to be happy. He puts his hands on her shoulders, and she says she’s got to go right now. She’s got to find Marty now. Right this minute. She’s going to go look for him. He says, what about the Tracy business? and she says, don’t worry. She’ll take care of it. Stay put and she’ll be right back.

Sonny tells Dante and Sam that he briefly spoke to Trina. She’s broken up. She’s with Ava right now. Dante asks, what’s happening with that? How long is Ava staying here? Sonny says, it’s open-ended. She’s going through a lot right now, but at least they get to spend more time with Avery. Sam says she’s amazed the two of them have been able to co-exist this long, and Sonny says, Avery is happy with her mother and that’s all that matters. Dante asks, how was the family vacation on this island? and Sonny says, it had its moments. Sam says she’s got to get going, but Sonny says he wanted to offer her coffee. She says she’s good. She’s going to see her mom at The Invader. She tells Dante that she’ll see him at home, and they kiss. She says she loves him, and leaves. Dante asks if Sonny wants to tell him what’s really going on, and Sonny says, death is never easy, especially if you’re blindsided. He still can’t believe Spencer is gone. Dante says, it feels like something else is happening. Sonny’s got extra security. Was there some kind of threat? Sonny says, there was an incident on the island, and Dante asks what he means. Sonny says, somebody almost took him out.

Jordan tells John that Curtis Ashford is her ex-husband. He almost died in the shooting. John says he understands that, but neither of them are law enforcement, not anymore. They’re not even deputized. So he’s telling them, stop pursuing this. Jordan says, or he could deputize them, and Anna says, problem solved. He says, that’s not happening, and Anna asks if he doesn’t understand. She and Jordan were there when Curtis was shot. She doesn’t understand how he expects them to walk away. He says, because this is an FBI investigation, and Curtis’s shooting is only one part of something much, much bigger.

Alexis tells Gregory that they’d all have been much better off if Esme had just left town. Her nephew would be alive if she hadn’t offered Esme that job. He says, but she gave Esme a chance to prove herself, and she did. She proved to be a capable assistant, and proved to them all that she was a capable mother because of Alexis’s generosity of spirit. She says, no good deed, and he says he doesn’t believe reaching out to someone is ever a mistake, but she says, it clearly was a mistake, wasn’t it? And now they’re all well down that road to hell that she helped build. Nikolas is God knows where with Ace and Spencer is dead.

Nikolas sniffles on the couch, and Laura says, Ace is finally down for a nap. She didn’t want is son to see him so upset. He says, she means his one remaining son. He thanks her and says he wasn’t thinking. She says, they’re all in shock. She thanks God that he still has Ace. That is something to be really grateful for. It’s so good he came home. He needs to be with his family now. He says he was afraid she’d slam the door in his face, and she says she supposes she should have, after everything he’s put her through. He knows he should never have taken Ace, right? He says he knows. That’s what led to his Spencer’s death. She tells him, please sit down. This is important. She wants him to listen to her. He’s not responsible for Spencer’s death. He didn’t do that; Esme did it. Esme was trying to attack Trina, and Spencer tried to stop her. Nikolas says he knows, and Spencer lost his life in the process. He knows he didn’t put Spencer in the Seine, but his actions did put him in Esme’s crosshairs. He doesn’t even know how she could look at him right now. She says, he’s her son. She loves him. She’ll always loves him. She’ll always be here for him. Always. He thanks her and says he knows he doesn’t deserve her kindness, but she says, he does. He did the right thing by coming back here… He’s not going to stay, is he? He says he can’t. If he stays, he’ll go to prison. She says, he held a pregnant woman captive for months. Has it occurred to him maybe he belongs in prison? He says he knows it’s what he deserves, but he still has one son who needs him. He’s sorry, but he has to go. She asks if he’s kidding her. If that’s the kind of man he is, if that’s the kind of father he is, Ace would be better off without him.

Lucy goes over to Martin at the bar and says, his secretary told her where to find him. She supposes she should be glad he allowed his secretary to tell her. He says he needed a little space, and she says, does he still? He says, yeah, and she tears up and says, as he wishes. Before she goes, she just wants to say, he’s really hard to apologize to if he won’t answer her phone calls. He gets up and says he’s honestly not sure if there’s really much to say, and she says, for God’s sake, it was just a slip of the tongue. She said she loved him and she did; before that moment, during this moment, at this moment. She loves him. She doesn’t know what happened. She panicked. She made a mistake. He says, they both know how she meant it, but she says, no. Please just give her another chance. Tracy watches from her table.

Dante says he doesn’t understand. Sonny’s island is like a fortress. How did anyone get that close to him? Sonny says, they’re looking into it, and Dante asks what he means, but Sonny says he doesn’t want to talk right now. He doesn’t want any questions or anything. He’s not in the mood. Dante says he’s on Sonny’s side. Sonny knows that, right? Sonny says, really? Because it didn’t seem that way when he was being cuffed. Dante was reading him his rights. Dante says, they already talked about that. If he doesn’t want to be arrested, don’t beat people up in churches. Sonny says he’ll take that as good advice, and Dante says, Sonny’s his father, no matter what. He loves Sonny, no matter what. And he wants to help Sonny if he can. Sonny says, Dante’s right. He shouldn’t have snapped. It’s just that he doesn’t know who to trust anymore. Dante asks if he’s saying it was an inside job.

Nikolas says, Laura’s right. His taking Ace isn’t the only thing that led to Spencer’s death. The loneliness that led him to being vulnerable to Esme in the first place. Allowing him, and all of them, to believe he was dead. What kind of father does that to his little boy? Ace is better off without him. He’s going to leave Ace here with her and Doc where he belongs, and he’s going to disappear. Laura says, that’s not what she meant, and Nikolas says he’s agreeing with her. He wants Ace to have a good life. She says, yes, he deserves to have a good life – with his father. If Nikolas would just face the mistakes he’s made and take responsibility for them, it’s not too late for him to have a good life too.

Now seated at a table, Lucy tells Martin that she’s so sorry. She has been distracted and so worried about keeping eyes on Tracy and Scotty. But he has to believe her; it’s more about Tracy than Scotty. He says, this isn’t about Scotty, and she says, it isn’t? He says, it’s about her and him. It’s about them. Her moving away from him, little by little, inch by inch. It’s been quite a while now. Since Bobbie Spencer died, she’s wanted to be with someone else. With Scotty, not him. She says, it’s just because her, Bobbie, and Scotty have had a long and complicated, turbulent history, that’s all. He says, kind of a tired euphemism for a love triangle, isn’t it? It doesn’t really matter what the reason is. The simple fact is, now whenever she requires solace, her instinct is to turn to Scotty. That’s got to say something about him and Lucy, doesn’t it?

Gregory apologizes for keeping Tracy waiting, but she says, that’s okay. She’s been kept waiting longer. He sees her staring at Lucy and Martin, and says, at least she found something to keep her occupied. She laughs and says, those two? Who wouldn’t be curious? He says, given their expressions, he’d imagine they’re discussing the same subject that held him up. She asks, what would that be? and he says, she doesn’t know. He’s not sure how well she knew him, but Martin’s great nephew, Spencer Cassadine, was killed in Paris.

Alexis thanks Sam for coming, and Sam says, just tell her what she can do to help. Alexis says, it’s incumbent on her to write Spencer’s obituary, and she has no idea how to begin. Sam says, that’s a lot. She doesn’t know. He had a lot of flair. Alexis says, he did indeed, and if she has to talk about him in the past one more time, she’s going to lose it. Sam says she bets she could make Alexis smile with one word, but Alexis says she bets Sam can’t. Sam says, chupacabra, and Alexis half-smiles and says, chupacabra. She forgot about that. Sam says, and it turned out to be Heather Webber hiding in the stables, but all along they thought it was Spencer because he insisted.

Alexis asks if Sam remembers went all Phantom of the Opera at the Nurses Ball. Then there was the election tampering where he sent his chauffeur into the harbor to retrieve the stolen ballot box. Sam says she thinks that covers the big-ticket items from when he was 10. Spencer was a dramatic child. Alexis says, he never ceased to amaze her, and Sam says, damn right. Alexis says, he was brilliant kid, and he had a lot to offer. And now all they have are memories.

John says, out of professional respect for both Anna and Jordan, he’s going to bring them up to speed on a few things. If only to persuade them that they have this under control, so they can let it alone. Got it? Anna says, by all means, and John says, the weapon that was used to shoot Curtis Ashford is one of a number of unmarked weapons stolen from the WSB. Other weapons in the same cache have been used in a string of shootings throughout the US. He’s afraid that’s all he can tell them. Anna says, come on. Don’t be ridiculous. He says, she knows how much he respects her and he’s aware of Jordan’s exemplary record as Police Commissioner of Port Charles. Jordan thanks him, and he says, then again, neither of them are currently law enforcement. He can’t have them conducting their own investigation. Anna says, of course (🍷) he can’t, and he thanks her for understanding. She says, so bring them in. They can work together.

Nikolas tells Laura that it is too late for him. He made all the wrong choices, and in the process, he lost his son. She says, but Ace is still here. Instead of giving him up, do what it takes to deserve a place in his life. He says, by going to prison, and she says, he’s got to make this right. He has to fix what he can, and he has to atone for the rest of it. She’s sorry, but it’s the only way. It’s the only way for him to be the good man that he was. He says he doesn’t know if he can do that, but she says, he can try. For Ace’s sake, he’s got to. Please. They just lost Spencer. Don’t make her lose him again too.

Nikolas asks if Laura really still has faith in him, and she says, always. He says, even if he was to run away today? and she says, that would break her heart, but she would still hold out hope that he would one day find the strength to come back, to be a good father to the child he has left. He says he’s amazed she thinks he has any strength, and she cups his face in her hands, saying, she knows he does. Because she saw it in Spencer, and he got it from Nikolas. Nikolas cries and she hugs him.

On the phone, John says, thanks for letting him know, and Anna asks if his superiors need a little more convincing before bringing them in. He says, actually, he’s been informed that the two of them have blown his best lead, and Jordan says, how could they possibly… He says, Mr. O’Neal, the gun dealer they met tonight in their little citizen sting operation. He was supplying the unsub with weapons. He’s just lawyered up and he’s refusing to talk without the promise of full immunity, which his boss will not sign off on. So thanks so much for their help. Jordan says she’s sorry about that, but he says, her being sorry doesn’t do him much good right now. If they really want to help, tell him about the meeting with the dealer. Did they get anything useful from him?

Lucy admits that she’s been different since Bobbie died and tells Martin that Bobbie’s death affected her in ways she couldn’t imagine. He says, losing a loved one will do that to you, and she laughs. She says, that’s just it. They didn’t even like each other. She thinks sometimes hate is too strong of a word, but they certainly never got along. And it wasn’t just because of Scotty. There were so many other reasons. Martin says, in one way or another, Bobbie was important to her. Think about it. They saw each other at their best over the years. They got to know each other, intimately, at their worst. That forms some kind of bond. She says she guesses she never thought about it that way… Yes. He says, now you lose that person, that bond gets broken all of a sudden, you look at your life with a new sense that time really is short; that it’s precious. You get to realize the importance of letting go of something when it’s just not working anymore. She says, they’re not working?

Gregory says he’s sorry he had to be the one to tell Tracy. He didn’t realize she and Spencer were close. She says, they weren’t close. She hardly knew him. He says he doesn’t know all the details, but apparently, Esme Prince was involved. She’s also missing and presumed dead. She says, it’s all a tragedy. How’s Alexis? He says, grieving, and she says she’s sure. He says, and blaming herself, and Tracy says, for what? He says, for taking a chance on Esme. He believes Esme was making a sincere effort to be a better person. She was proving to be an excellent mother, he’s sure to everyone’s surprise. So he mourns the loss of the person she could have been if her father hadn’t manipulated her feelings, turning her into a bitter, angry young woman. Tracy looks at Lucy and Martin.

Sonny tells Dante that the shooter knew the layout and security so well, he got past the guards. He even knocked one guard out. Dante says, now he can see why Sonny thinks it’s someone from his organization, and Sonny asks if he has any ideas. Dante says, not yet, but he’ll see, and Sonny asks, what’s next, detective? Dante says, question suspects, and Sonny asks if Dante means the people closest to him, but Dante says he has to question everyone, no matter how much it hurts. Everyone is guilty until proven otherwise.

Alexis wonders how they distill the best of Spencer Cassadine in 450 words, and Sam says, just focus on the positive. Alexis says, so they leave out his teenage crime spree? and Sam says she thinks they focus on what made Spencer Spencer. His love for drama obviously. Alexis says, of all kinds, and Sam says, and his love of horseback riding. His quick quips. Alexis says, his quips and schemes. Spencer acting all shallow and spoiled, he was pretending. It wasn’t real. He was just guarded. He was fearful and he had every right to be. Then he grew up and he really opened up and allowed them to see who he really was, and he was a gift.

Martin says, now there’s this thing with Scotty, but Lucy swears it’s not what he thinks. He says, it’s something, and whatever it is tends to eclipse what they are. Or might have been. He’d be the first person to admit he hasn’t always been the most honorable man, but he loves her. How he loves her. More than any of the women he’s married. And that’s done something for him. He doesn’t want to spend too much time looking over his shoulder wondering what the hell is going on. He thinks he deserves better. She cries and says, but… He gets up and says, goodbye, Lucy. She runs to the elevator, crying, and gets in.

On the phone, Gregory says, thanks. He’ll call right now. He tells Tracy that he’s sorry. The doctor’s referring him to a specialist, and he has to get an appointment right away. She says, go ahead. Take his time. He thanks her and says he’s sorry. He didn’t realize Spencer’s death would affect her so much. She thanks him and says she’ll be fine. He leaves, and she watches Martin sitting alone.

Lucy finds Scotty sitting on a bale of hay, and he asks, for cryin’ out loud, what took her so long? He realizes she’s crying and says, uh-oh. What happened? She says, Marty broke up with her. He said… Scotty says, if he insulted Lucy, he’ll knock Martin’s teeth out and then he’ll slap a lawsuit on the dentist that fixes them. She says, no. He said he deserves better. Scotty holds her as she cries.

John says, so they did get something from their gunrunner friend, and Anna looks at Jordan, who nods. Anna says, yeah. They learned something about the unidentified subject. But rather than just give John that information… Jordan says, after which, he most certainly would discard them, and Anna says, she proposes that they have an exchange of information. Like they tell him everything they know about the dealer, and he tells them everything he knows about the unsub so far. Jordan says, everything for everything is a fair trade, and Anna says, for starters, obviously, they don’t believe Curtis was the intended target. They think it was Sonny Corinthos. He says, believe it or not, the FBI did consider the possibility that the crime boss might be a more logical target than the nightclub owner, and Anna says, there you go. And Sonny has reason to believe that whoever’s after him is still trying. So whatever he can tell them about the unsub will be incentive for Sonny to tell them what he knows. He says, they want him to provide them with intel they plan on sharing with Sonny Corinthos? The man should have been in prison decades ago. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Anna says, that’s the Sonny he remembers. That’s not the one she knows. He says, only because that’s the Sonny he shows her, and she says, perhaps, but she can keep him in line. He says, really? Because nobody’s ever been able to put a leash on Sonny Corinthos. She says, maybe she’ll be the first.

Sonny thanks Dante for coming through for him like this, and Dante says, of course (🍷). Sonny says, it hasn’t been easy with Michael and Nina… What he’s trying to say is, it’s hard to trust anyone, but he knows he can trust Dante. Dante says, Sonny’s damn right he can. And he promises this will stay between him. His phone rings and he says, it’s Laura. He asks, what’s going on? and Laura says she’s home. She needs him to come over as soon as possible. He asks if everything is okay, and she says she’s here with Nikolas. He’s ready to turn himself in.

Tracy approaches Martin’s table, and he says, stop. As he’s sure she’s observed by now, he’s not exactly in the mood for company, so he’d consider it a favor if she left him to his solitude. She says, this won’t take long, and sits down. She says she owes him the truth.

Lucy tells Scotty that she doesn’t know why, she meets a guy and he’s nice enough of a guy. Maybe the man of her dreams. And she just screws it up. She keeps screwing it up. He says, she’s being a little hard on herself, but she says, no. She thinks she’s being much too easy on herself. He says he’s not going to listen to her talk that way about herself. If Martin is too stupid to know how great she is, then to hell with him. She’s Lucy Coe, the best that there is. He kisses her.

On the phone, Sonny says, it’s him. He needs to see them right away.

John says, what about Jordan? Is she wiling to vouch for Sonny Corinthos? She says, Sonny’s been useful in the past. As for this, she trusts Anna. Anna says, it’s best for them to work together. What does he say? He says he hopes she has a good lawyer, because they’re both under arrest for obstructing a federal investigation.

Alexis reads, Spencer Cassadine is survived by his father Nikolas, his brother Ace, his grandmother, the Mayor Laura Collins, and an extended family who remember him dearly. His legacy will be the Spencer Cassadine Drama Fund, devoted to teaching theater, particularly the works of Shakespeare, to prison inmates, underserved communities, and children. To quote his favorite work of the Bard, now cracks a noble heart… She starts to cry, and Sam puts her hands on Alexis’s shoulders. Goodnight, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Alexis breaks down sobbing, and Sam puts her arms around her.

Dante asks if Nikolas understands his rights as explained to him, and Nikolas says he does. Dante says, let’s go, and Nikolas asks if he may say goodbye to his son. Dante nods, and Nikolas turns to Laura holding Ace. He tells Ace that he loves him and kisses his head. Laura says, they’ll meet him at the station, and Nikolas thanks her… for everything. He wants her to know that he’s doing this for her and for Ace and Spencer. He wants to become someone they can all be proud of. Dante leads him out, and Laura watches from the doorway.

Tomorrow, Sonny says he needs people he can trust; Tracy says she’s the reason Martin and Lucy broke up; Dex says he’ll do everything in his power to keep them all safe; and John says, Robert is insisting they drop the charges.

Below Deck – The Next Generation

I’m less than thrilled that Captain Lee was retired involuntarily. I’m guessing it could be for insurance reasons, so now I really can’t wait for Teresa Giudice to cause Bravo a lawsuit. New Captain Kerry is from Below Deck Adventure, which I watched once upon a time. It was good, but I can only watch so much Deck.

This season’s port of call is Grenada. Fraser is chief stew, and a familiar face. Just not the one I want to see. In his interview, he says he’s not going to be as easy going this time around. This year, mommy is still here for her babies, but don’t bite the tit that feeds you. The bosun is Jared, who says in his interview, being bosun is f***ing horrible and hard, but what better way to travel then on someone else’s dime while making a nickel? Ben, another familiar face and more welcome, is lead deckhand. In Ben’s interview, he says, after being a bosun, coming back as lead deckhand is a kick in the gut. We flash back to his happier bosun times. In Chef Anthony’s (aka Frenchie) interview, he says he’s going blow our mind. Cooking brings people together. Fraser wonders who else is coming to destroy his life. Stews Barbie, Xandi, Cat, and Sunny arrive, and in Barbie’s interview, she says, people think she’s snobby. She comes from a good family, but her father taught her to work. Now she works hard so she can buy all the stupid sh*t she wants. Deckhand Kyle rounds out the crew.

At the crew meeting, Captain Kerry rolls out his resume, and we see clips of his previous adventures. He tells the crew that both their physical safety and mental health us important.  He won’t pick on them for having a sulk, but don’t take his kindness for weakness. In his interview, he says he’s firm but fair. He gives a crew his respect, but if they disrespect him, they’re out of here. Hard work will be rewarded, but if you f*** around, you’re off the boat. He tells the crew that they’re going to bust it out. No baseball references for him. In Fraser’s interview, he says, last year was tough. He had two stews who didn’t get along and he gave too many chances. This year is going to be different.  

Captain Kerry wants no surprises on the boat. The captain has to be aware of everything. Communication is key. We find out everyone is single, and in Ben’s interview, he says he and Camille met up after the season, but long story short, she cheated on him. He doesn’t want to get as involved again. He’s wounded, but wiser.

At the preference sheet meeting, Captain Kerry says, their first guests are Brian and Rebecca, newlyweds, both in finance. Coming along are their oldest and dearest friends. Anthony reads that they want a multi-course dinner, and in his interview, he says, it’s a lot of pressure. He grew up being the kid no girl wanted and needed to make an impression. (Hint: The way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach.) Jared reads that guest Leanne wants an 80s dance party for her birthday, and all guests except Michelle want to take kayaks to the mangroves. In Captain Kerry’s interview, he says he loves eco-tourism. He especially loves kayaking and getting up close and personal with the mangroves. We see a clip of this, and it looks amazing. Sign me up. Jared says, the guests also want to go to the beach, and the captain says, they’re going to have their hands full. In Xandi’s interview, she says she loves housekeeping. She’d rather put her hand in a blender than make small talk. She was a chief stew for years and wants a break. Let someone else be chief bitch. In his interview, Captain Kerry says, he left working on multimillion dollar yachts to paint houses so he could be there for his kids and get himself better. I’m guessing he went back to those multimillion dollar yachts when those same kids needed to go to multimillion dollar college. In Jared’s interview, he says he has a 3½ year old daughter, but because of the distance, he only gets to do video calls. Cat places her amethyst (I think) rock on a shelf near her bunk and says, now she can feel rested. It’s early to bed for the crew.

In the morning, Fraser meets with the stews. He says, Barbie will be on service, Cat will be on the late shift, and Xandi will be on housekeeping and laundry. In Captain Kerry’s interview, he says he can’t run the boat by himself. A good crew can make a bad captain look good, and a bad crew can make a good captain look bad. The guests arrive to background music that does not fit with them at all. Think middle-aged Florida tourists being accompanied by rap music. The captain welcomes them aboard the St. David, and in his interview, he says, Grenada is stunning, but challenging. The winds are terrible. As they leave the marina, Jared seems to have difficulty telling Captain Kerry how much room he has. In Jared’s interview, he says he works in feet and needs to transfer it to meters. Doing multiplication on the fly with stress could make this go tits up. Moving right along, Jared follows his feet/meters bumbling with not being sure of how much chain to let out while anchoring. Then blames Ben for not telling him. Not a good look. In the captain’s interview, he says, the anchor can be dislodged if there’s too much chain let out.

In Anthony’s interview, he says, first lunch, first impression. It has to be amazing. We are more than chefs; we are artists. M-m-m… Asian fusion… Bao buns…. In Fraser’s interview, he says, there’s a lot of sexual energy with the guests. He thinks he’ll have a good time, but not as good as the guests will have with each other. Ben thanks Jared for throwing him under the bus, and in Ben’s interview, he says, if there’s any question, Jared should check in with the bridge. He’s giving Jared the benefit of the doubt. It’s charter one and they need to get the cobwebs out. M-m-m… lobster pad Thai. In Fraser’s interview, he says, he’s impressed with Anthony’s cooking, but the galley looks like a bomb has gone off. He thinks Anthony will perfect that, but if not, they’re f***ed. The guests jump off the boat and lounge on the swim platform, while Captain Kerry checks out the interior of the yacht, which he seems to do constantly. He tells the stews to make paper folds on the toilet paper, but everything else is fantastic. In Barbie’s interview, she says, Cat is slow and it’s annoying, and in Cat’s interview, she says she’s helping everybody. Fraser finds Cat in the crew mess crying.

Cat whimpers that it’s a big boat and a big crew, and in Fraser’s interview, he says, they need thicker skin. Cat says she doesn’t want her work to go unnoticed, and Fraser hugs her. On his way up the stairs, he mumbles that she’s not going to last. In Sunny’s interview, she says, she’s all here for learning, but it’s hard because of Ben being eye candy. In Anthony’s interview, he says he took so much time prepping, he has two hours to make four courses. In Barbie’s interview, she says she suffers from OCD, and tried everything. Crystals and sage do the trick. Ben says, day one is not off to a good start. Jared is nervous and Ben thinks it’s because he’s been out of the game. He forgot what big boats were like. He’s got to perform, or he’ll find himself on the dock. He feels dumber already when he’s around Jared.

Anthony is running late on three courses and dessert. In his interview, he says, perfection is important. Like with a woman, he needs to take time if he wants to make them happy. It’s slow going with the entrée, and primary Rebecca asks Fraser to speed it up. Fraser asks Anthony to get the entrée out as soon as possible, and Anthony says he’ll do his best. In Captain Kerry’s interview, he says, the key to management is mutual respect. He doesn’t want to micromanage, but the bosun has made a few mistakes and the chef is behind. He’s getting to know everyone, but the jury is out. If they can’t do the job, he’ll change them out. Man, it’s a mess.

This season, meditation; angst in the crew; food porn; waterfalls; a guest wants their plate set down more quietly; a disgusting hot tub; Fraser gives someone a New Year’s kiss; a murder mystery party; Fraser tells Ben not to get involved in interior drama; and Captain Kerry says, it was a total disregard for his authority.

🤷🏽‍♀️ So far, eh.

🛟 Meet the Crew…

All the deets, including their star sign.

https://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/below-deck-season-11-meet-the-cast-captain

🏆 Who, What, and WTF…

The winners. Taylor Swift and Taylor Swift.

https://www.grammy.com/news/2024-grammys-nominations-full-winners-nominees-list

Best and worst moments.

https://people.com/2024-grammys-best-moments-8558642

https://ew.com/grammys-2024-best-and-worst-moments-8558533

Most important, the fashion.

https://www.eonline.com/photos/36824/grammys-2024-celebrity-red-carpet-fashion

After the show is over and before Denny’s.

https://pagesix.com/2024/02/05/style/grammys-2024-afterparty-outfits-megan-fox-paris-jackson-and-more

And the worst dressed. Wow. There are some real head shakers here. My jury is out on Chrissy Teigen though. In the video, it actually looks kind of cute.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13044865/Grammys-2024-WORST-dressed-stars-revealed.html

🍕 Pizza My Heart…

Join me tomorrow for soap and the seemingly endless, awful season of RHOBH. Until then, stay safe, stay never pretending to be someone you are not, and stay realizing the importance of letting go of something when it’s just not working anymore.

February 2, 2024 – Two Surprise Returns, Agent Jagger, Goodbye Hello, Side Gigs, Her BFF, Closed Door, VanderScraps, Two For Ones, Grammy Stuff, Bowl Parties, Opossum Pirate, Pups In the Bowl, Two Fivers Of Quotes & Living

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Doc says he’s glad Laura is home, and she says she’s glad to be home. It took forever to get here. He asks what he can do. She says, hold her, and he does. He says he kept picturing her on that boat in the dark. He should have been there. She says, he was in the hospital, recovering. Thank God for that. And there was nothing he could do anyway. He says, there are few feelings in life like feeling helpless, and she says, when they got there, the search and rescue thing was well underway. Then at some point, Dante came over, and he said they couldn’t find them anywhere. All she could think was, it’s a mistake. It just can’t be. Not her Spencer. He says, she was in shock. She probably still is. She says she guesses. She and Trina stood on the deck of the boat for a very long time. She held onto hope so tightly, but then as the search went on, they could both feel it slipping away. He says, it’s good they were there for each other, and she says, everyone was really supportive. She starts to cry, and says, then Dante and Curtis took care of everything, every detail. She’s so grateful for that. She doesn’t know if she thanked them. He says he’s sure she did, but they’ll do it again. She says she feels like she blinked, and Nikolas was gone. Then Ace, and then Spencer. It’s like her whole family is just fading away before her eyes. He holds her as she cries.

Ava lets Nina in the penthouse, and Nina asks if she’s sure Sonny isn’t going to be home any time soon. Ava says, they got back from Puerto Rico, he got a phone call, and turned around and left. She hopes the call is about whatever’s going on in Paris. Nina says she heard about that. Ava must be worried sick about Trina. Ava says she’s beyond worried. It seems the universe decided one crisis at a time isn’t enough. She and Sonny are lucky to be alive. Nina asks, what the hell is going on? Who’s after Ava and Sonny?

Anna and Jordan hide their guns in a hotel room, and Anna sets up a camera. Jordan says, good coverage, and Anna says, all they can do is be prepared. Jordan says she hopes all of these precautions turn out to be unnecessary, and Anna says, for their target’s sake, so does she.

Carly tells the server at Bobbie’s that it looks like she has things covered, and she says, for the moment anyway. Carly says, if anything changes, don’t hesitate to call her, handing the server the keys. Until Carly hires a manager, she’s the cavalry. The server says, Carly’s got it, and Carly leaves, colliding into a good-looking guy in the doorway.

Trina is about to let herself into the dorm room when Josslyn comes out. She asks what Trina is doing here. Why isn’t she in Paris? Trina says she would have let herself in, but… She walks inside and Josslyn asks, what’s wrong? Trina says, Spencer’s dead.

Sonny knocks at Laura’s door and asks Doc if she’s back. Doc says, she is, and invites him in. Sonny asks Laura if it’s true, and she says, Spencer’s gone. They hug.

Jordan asks if Anna thinks they can count on Brennan’s information, and Anna says she thinks they can count on his opportunism. He doesn’t do anything that doesn’t work to his advantage. They’re in a position to help him, only the gun dealer is not. Jordan says, Brennan gave them the right referrals or O’Neal would have never agreed to meet them. Anna says, keep it short and sweet. If Jordan can get him talking about his clients who have bought guns from him, great. If not, they make a buy and spring their trap. Jordan says, the threat of federal charges should be enough to make him give up whoever bought the rifle used to shoot Curtis. Anna says she hopes so, and there’s a knock at the door.

Carly says she’s so sorry and asks if she spilled coffee on him, but the guy says, no. How about her? Is she okay? Carly says she’s fine. This isn’t how she wants to welcome people to her place. He says, she owns this place? and she says, yeah. He asks when she changed the name, and she says, recently. He says he used to work here when it was Kelly’s. He’s John. She says she’s embarrassed, and introduces herself. They shake hands, and she asks if it’s too late to welcome him back. He says, not at all. Thanks. It’s good to be back. She tells him to enjoy his meal, and he goes inside. Leo calls to Carly, and runs up to her, hugging her. He says he hasn’t seen her in forever, and she says, that means she gets an extra hug. Olivia suggests he go inside and look at his book. She’s going to talk to Carly about getting him some breakfast. Leo asks if they’re going to talk about extra powdered sugar on his waffles, and Olivia asks if he thinks this is her first time or what. He says, no, it isn’t, and goes inside. Carly asks, what’s up? and Olivia says, just so she knows, they’re not here just for the sugar rush. She wanted to check on Carly. Carly asks, why? and Olivia asks if she read the fashion article in the City Gazette, written by Gemma someone or other. Carly says, she came by the office and asked for a comment. Is the article out already? Olivia shows Carly her phone, and says, this morning. Carly reads, Drew Cain is leading with his heart, not with his head. This has Nina’s fingerprints written all over it. (Because no one else could possibly think that.) Olivia says, she quotes an anonymous source, and Carly says, they both know who that anonymous source is. Olivia says she wishes she could say she doesn’t agree with Carly. She was really hoping that Nina was going to try and make peace. That’s what’s best for everyone. Carly asks if that’s why Olivia kept Nina’s secret. Because it was best for everyone?

Ava says, if Dex hadn’t told her and Sonny to run for cover, she wouldn’t be sitting here telling Nina this story right now. Nina asks if Avery was with her, and Ava says, Avery was in her room. She didn’t know they were in any danger. She thought the gunfire was fireworks, thank God. Nina asks if she’s okay, and Ava says, yeah, just a couple of scratches. Nina looks at Ava’s hand and says, that’s more than a scratch. Is she in pain? Ava says, it’s fine. Like she told the doctor, it’s nothing a good, stiff drink can’t fix. Nina asks if Sonny has any idea who did this, but Ava says, nothing he’s talked about in any detail. She knows Sonny. He doesn’t really discuss his concerns. He just gets very, very, very quiet. Nina says, he doesn’t eat, he doesn’t sleep, he just moves on with the next thing. She doesn’t know how he does it. Ava says she got the feeling he thinks it’s a second attempt by the people behind Curtis’s shooting, and Nina says, that means they’re not going to stop until they succeed. Ava tells her not to worry though. She knows Sonny works with only the very best and takes every precaution. Nina says she’s just got to remind herself that he wouldn’t be where he is if he took chances, and Ava says, and he wouldn’t have been there for so long, right? Relax. She’s not going to be a widow anytime soon. Nina says she doesn’t even know if she’s still a wife.

Trina tells Josslyn, before she could even move, Esme and Spencer were in the water. They had helicopters and divers, but nobody could find them. Josslyn asks if they’re still searching, but Trina says, they can’t be rescued. It’s been too long. It’s impossible. Josslyn says, but they can bring him home? and Trina says, no. The police don’t expect to find their bodies. They think Esme and Spencer were carried out to sea. Josslyn says she’s sorry and hugs Trina.

Laura says she’s sorry she told Sonny about Spencer on the phone. It’s a horrible way to find out. He says, any way would be horrible. It’s good to face the truth. Any update from the French police? She says, they searched for the mandatory 48 hours. After that point, Spencer and Esme were presumed dead. Their bodies were taken by the current out to the English Channel. They’re just gone. She starts to cry again, and Sonny says, she’s going to be fine. Is she doing all right? Laura says he has to remind herself to breathe, and he says, if there’s anything he can do, but she says, there isn’t. He says, if something comes up… She says, it’s not going to, and Doc says, it’s good of Sonny to come by. Laura says, this is very difficult for her, and Sonny says he gets it. She says, it’s not just about Spencer. This is also about her brother. The way Sonny laid hands on him was unconscionable. Sonny says he doesn’t think Laura knows who Cyrus is, but she says she does. She knows what he’s capable of. She thought she knew Sonny. She thought he was a different man. He says he is, and she says she’s sure Cyrus goaded him, and she hopes Sonny just lost control because he nearly killed Cyrus with his bare hands. Sonny says he made a mistake. Cyrus played him. He went after him. He shouldn’t have done that. Is Cyrus worth her trouble? She says she doesn’t know, but Sonny is. Their friendship is, or that’s what she thought. She thinks they owe each other the truth, so she’s going to give it to him now. She’s had a lot of violence and bloodshed in her life and she can’t take it anymore. She won’t take it anymore, friendship or no friendship. He says he gets that, and she says she hopes he does. They hear Cyrus in the hallway saying he has every right… Doc says, impeccable timing. That must be her brother. Dex says he can’t let Cyrus in, and Doc opens the door.

Cyrus tells Sonny to call of his dog. He’s here to see his family. Laura nods, and Doc invites Cyrus in. Laura says, it’s not a good time, and Cyrus says, that’s why he’s here, so he can help his sister walk through this. Doc says he can start by respecting his sister’s wishes, and Cyrus says he has nothing but respect for his sister and the profound loss she’s suffered. Sonny asks how he found out about Spencer, and Cyrus says he watched over Spencer while he was in Pentenville, and he continued to stay abreast of his family’s movements. Sonny says, whether they wanted him to or not? and Cyrus says he laments that he wasn’t able to protect Spencer in the end and he grieves with his dear sister and for her. Sonny says, nobody wants to hear that, and Cyrus says, blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Laura says, stop it. This is not comforting her. Just go. Cyrus says he just hopes she can find some comfort knowing that there is a coming glory… She yells, stop it!

Nina says, it’s good that Ava is staying here with Sonny, and Ava says she doesn’t know how good it is, but it’s safe. There are guards everywhere. Avery’s happy being with her father. Nina says, of course (🍷). Sonny is such a great dad. Ava says, he talks about his family all the time, that’s for sure, and Nina asks if he’s said anything else. Ava says, they don’t exactly sit down at the end of the day and chat about what happened at the office, and Nina asks if he ever talks about his marriage. Ava says, no, sorry. He wouldn’t talk to her about that, of all people. She noticed he’s still wearing his wedding ring though. Nina says, that’s something. It’s easy enough to take off, so if he’s still wearing it, there must be something inside of him that says he doesn’t want to give up on their marriage. Ava says she hopes so. She really hopes that things work out for Nina and Sonny. Nina says, but…? and Ava says she just thinks Nina ought to prepare herself for a life without him, but Nina says she can’t. She can’t lose Sonny. She can’t lose his family because they’re her family too. She can’t lose Willow, Wiley, and Amelia; they’re her world. Ava says she knows, and Nina says, Ava has that beautiful gallery. Ava has Avery. Nina doesn’t have Crimson anymore, and if she loses Sonny and her daughter and her grandchildren, she has nothing.

Leo looks at his book, then looks outside at Carly and Olivia. He takes out his fidget spinner as John watches him from another table.

Olivia says she wasn’t trying to protect Nina, and Carly says, then who was she trying to protect? Because Nina was the only one who benefitted from her silence.

John comes over to Leo’s table and asks if he likes animals. Leo says he’s not supposed to talk to strangers, and John says, that’s a good rule. He taught his son the same rule, but – he sits down – he also told him that it was okay to talk to law enforcement. He shows Leo his badge and says he’s Agent John. Leo asks if he’s really from the FBI, and John says, yes, sir. Leo says, then he’s Leo Falconari, and John says, it’s nice to meet him.

Jordan lets O’Neal in, and he puts his case on the bed. He starts to frisk her, and she asks if it’s necessary. He says, can’t be too careful, and she says she wants to make a buy, not commit a robbery. He says, it’s for someone’s capacity, not their intentions. He’s covering all his bases. She says, no kidding. Buy her dinner first? He says, no wire, no gun. Good start. So who referred her? She says, Maloy, but he already knows that, and he asks how she knows Maloy. She says, book club. Him?… Yeah. That’s what she thought. It’s probably neither of their business. He moves his case to the credenza and opens it. He says he’s got a <insert complicated gun description> gun with the longest fair fight sniper shot in history. (This sounds like an oxymoron, but I swear that’s what he said.) He hands it to her, and she looks it over. She says, let’s talk price, and he says, it’s not a negotiation. She says, since when? and he says, if she wants quality and confidentiality, this thing’s untraceable. She’ll never know where it came from, and he’ll never know how she chose to use it. So, is it an agreement or not?

Trina tells Josslyn that she heard the sirens from police boats and turned away from Spencer just for a second. He was saying something, then he gasped, and when she turned around, he had the strangest look on his face. He looked surprised and he had fear in his eyes. Then she saw Esme with the needle and then Esme tried to come for her. Somehow, Spencer found enough strength to grab her, and they both went in the water.

Jordan says, all right, let’s do this, and hands the gun back to O’Neal. She takes out her phone and asks, what’s the routing number for the wire transfer? He says, it has to be an encrypted transaction, and she says, fine. Give her whatever device he wants to use, and she’ll make the transfer. He says he prefers human touch, and she says she’s aware. He says, she can make the transfer directly to his accountant, and she says, how quaint. Is he outside? Is he on his way here? O’Neal says he’s afraid not. They’re going to him.

Leo says his mom is outside arguing with Aunt Carly, and John asks, what makes him think they’re arguing? Leo says, the way they’re standing and what they do with their arms, and John looks outside. He says, kind of like a threat display from an animal, and Leo says, humans are animals. John says, that is very true. What kind of animals are in Leo’s book? Leo says, all kinds, and John asks if there are bears in there. Leo asks if he likes bears, and John says he does. Bears are smart and they’re strong. He wouldn’t want to meet one in the wild, but he likes reading about them.

Olivia tells Carly that Drew had already gone to prison. Carly’s accounts had already been frozen. Nothing she knew could have changed any of that. All she could do was stop the damage Nina had already done from going even further. Carly says, and the fact Olivia and Ned were also victims of Nina’s lies didn’t matter, but Olivia says, of course (🍷) it mattered. Carly asks if Olivia’s forgotten how furious she was at her for accusing Ned, because she hasn’t. Olivia says she hasn’t forgotten. She thinks about it every day. Carly says, then why would she shield the woman who was actually responsible? Nina stood back and let Ned take the blame.

Ava says she never, not in a million years, would have predicted that Drew would remove Nina from Crimson and replace her with Carly. Nina says, he’s not the same person as he was before he went to prison. He’s harder. Ava says putting Carly in a position Nina has held successfully for years adds a lot of uncertainty and risk to Crimson for no good reason. Nina says, making her suffer is reason enough in Drew’s book, and Ava says, he’s making choices he’s going to regret, that’s for sure. Nina thanks her, and Ava says, she’s welcome. She’s just stating the obvious here. Nina says she appreciates that, but she’s thinking, Ava doesn’t always agree with her choices, but she understands Nina’s reasoning behind it and doesn’t make her suffer. Ava doesn’t punish her for them. Ava says, nobody in this room has a monopoly on bad choices, and Nina says she’s very grateful for Ava’s friendship and her loyalty. She loves Ava so much and thanks her. Ava says she loves Nina too, and she’s welcome. Nina says she shouldn’t be bothering Ava about this. She’s worried about Trina. Ava says she can listen to Nina and worry at the same time, and Nina says, and she’s still coming down from being shot at and attacked. Ava says, the first time somebody shoots at you, it does come as a bit of a surprise, but with time and experience, you kind of get used to people trying to kill you. Nina laughs and says she’s very impressed by Ava’s resilience, more than she’ll ever know, but she must have been afraid in Puerto Rico. Avery could have lost both of her parents. She can’t always look out for Sonny anymore, no matter how much she wants to. Ava has to promise her that she and Sonny will always look out for each other.

Trina tells Josslyn, when they were in Greenland, and Spencer went missing, everyone lost hope. Not her. She didn’t believe he was gone. Josslyn says, and now? and holding back tears, Trina says she wants to believe so badly, but something tells her that this time there won’t be a happy ending.

Doc holds open the door, and Cyrus says he meant no harm. He gives them his word. Sonny says, they all know what that means. Let him walk out with Cyrus. Sonny tells Laura that he’ll call her, and Cyrus says, Laura may not believe in his spiritual awakening, but he prays she believes this. He cared about Spencer as he cares about her. Sonny says, that’s nice. Let’s go. Sonny steers Cyrus out, and in the hallway, Cyrus shakes him off. He says he gave Sonny a pass on the assault charges, but just the one. He’s a believer, not a saint. Sonny says, that makes two of them.

Josslyn asks what Trina is going to do. Is she going to stay here? Is she going back to Paris? Maybe Josslyn could take some time off… Trina says she doesn’t think she could go back to Paris ever again, and Josslyn says she doesn’t want a new roommate. Trina should come live with her again. Trina says she appreciates it, but she’s going to live with her parents and she’s going to take a semester off. She can’t even think about school. All of this seems so trivial. Like, what’s even important anymore? Josslyn says she understands. It’s hard to act like there’s a tomorrow when you lose someone you love. Trina asks if that’s what it was like when Josslyn lost Oscar, and Josslyn says, kind of, but he was sick, so it was peaceful in the end. It’s different than what Trina just went through. But the way you feel like you can’t breathe and the way your heart actually hurts – she tears up – that’s the same. They both cry, and Trina says she feels like it took so long for her and Spencer to finally be together. Then they finally were, and they were in a happy place. Then, like in a heartbeat, all of that was over. She and Josslyn hug.

Olivia tells Carly that she and Ned looked at the situation and made a judgement call. Exposing Nina wasn’t going to help anybody fix anything. And a huge blow-up would have just made everything so much worse. Carly says, so that’s what she and Ned decided, and Olivia says, he took a little convincing, but… She looks inside, seeing Leo with John, and tells Carly, hold on a second. She goes inside, directly to Leo’s table, where he’s reading to John from his book. Olivia says, pretty friendly, huh? and Leo says, this is John. Olivia says hello to John and suggests Leo wash his hands before his waffle gets here. Leo leaves, and John stands up. He says, he’s a great kid, and Olivia says, yeah. He says, he’s on the spectrum? and she says, he has ASD, yeah. He says, so does his son. He’s sorry for approaching her boy, but he could tell Leo was getting agitated watching her and Carly. She says she should have realized he could see them out there and it would bother him, but John says, it’s fine. He thinks he distracted Leo. She says, looks like he did and thanks him. She asks, how old is his son? and he says, he’s grown now, and living independently. She says, so he’s doing well? and John says, he’s doing great. His phone rings, and he asks her to excuse him for a moment. She says, of course (🍷), and he steps away.

John asks, what’s the word?… Nobody moves until he gets there. He dashes out of the diner.

Jordan says, everyone and their cat knows you don’t go to a second location, and he says, suit yourself. He starts to pack up, and she says, there’s got to be a way they can make this happen, right here, right now. He says, it’s unusual for a customer to make this hard a sell. Why does this deal need to happen before he leaves this room? She says she thought she was paying for confidentiality, and he says, at the moment, he doesn’t know what she’s paying him for. She says, that’s too bad. Sorry they couldn’t get this done. She’s about to reach behind a chair pillow for a gun, but he grabs her and says, they’re not done until she tells him who she really is. Anna comes out of nowhere and says, remove your hand or I’ll remove it for you. O’Neal lets go of Jordan and puts his hands up.

As they approach the penthouse, Sonny asks Dex if he’s talked to Josslyn, but Dex says, not recently. Sonny says, Dex should go to her because she should hear about Spencer from him. Go ahead. He has a lot of protection. Dex leaves, and Sonny goes inside. Ava jumps up, and Sonny asks if she’s all right. She says, yeah. She just wasn’t expecting him back so soon. He asks if she has a problem with him being back, but she says, no. She’s just a little jumpy, for obvious reasons. When he left in such a hurry, was that about Trina and Spencer? He says, it turns out, Spencer’s dead, Ava says, oh no, and Nina walks out.

Nina says she’s so sorry, and Ava says, Trina. Sonny tells her, Trina’s safe, and Nina asks, what happened to Spencer? Sonny says, he went over the side of a boat in Paris, he and Esme, and Nina says she knows he loved his nephew. She can’t imagine what he’s going through right now. He says he can’t do this right now.

Doc gives Laura a mug of what I hope is whiskey, and says, this will help her keep up her strength. A little edge cutter was in order. She says she already regrets losing her cool with Cyrus, but the conversation with Sonny was long overdue. He tells her not to beat herself up over Cyrus. What happened was understandable, especially given the loss she’s feeling. She says, but she’s not the only one, is she? Esme was his niece. She knows he did everything he could for her. He says, they both did, and Laura says, the way she was with Ace, she’s never going to believe that was an act. He says, it wasn’t. Esme’s love for Ace was genuine and maybe the only pure emotion she felt in her life. When Nikolas took Ace away, she was isolated, afraid, angry, and she chose the worst possible course of action. Laura says she was the one who talked Esme into turning herself in for breaking into Windymere. If she hadn’t… He says, there is no way she could have predicted that would happen. She didn’t know that Esme had regained her memory, and there was no way to know Nikolas would come back and convince Spencer to let him run away with Ace. There was no way she could know that. He hopes she’s hearing him when he says that. She says, if she’s being honest, all she can hear is silence in a house that used to be filled with voices. He puts his arm around her and she puts her head on his shoulder.

Carly tells Olivia that Leo’s order is next up, and she did tell them extra powdered sugar. Olivia says, for what it’s worth (🍷), she’s going to crush at Crimson. She’s wicked smart, nobody can match her instincts, and she makes being a leader look easy. That’s why the employees at the MetroCourt are so loyal to her. And she’s going to make a whole new generation of customers fall in love with Bobbie’s. Carly thanks her for saying that, and Olivia says, it’s the truth. Which she’ll never hide from Carly in the future.

O’Neal says, his other clients don’t behave this way, and Anna says, they’re not his other clients. Sit. He sits on the edge of the bed and says, they’re not so different as they keep telling themselves. There must be something in the water here. Anna says she’s under no illusion as to who or what she is, and Jordan asks what he means, there must be something in the water here? He says he doesn’t mean anything, and she says, they’re not the only ones in Port Charles buying from him, are they? He says he can’t talk about his clients. It’ll end his business. Anna says, Einstein, your business is over. He’s been peddling guns stolen from the WSB. So he has a choice to make. He’s either going to tell them what they want to know, or he waits for the Bureau to get here and then they’ll pick him up. They’re not going to sweep this under the rug. He asks what they want to know, and Jordan says, they need to know the names of every person who purchased a weapon from that WSB shipment. The door busts in, and John comes in with some men, saying, freeze. Jordan says, guns down, and they all aim their guns at one another, except for O’Neal, still on the bed with his hands up. He says, don’t shoot, and John says, FBI. Drop your weapons now.

Nina says she didn’t want to make Sonny’s night worse by being here. That’s not what she wanted. She walks out of the apartment, and Ava says she’s sorry. She knows how he feels about Nina being here. He says, it doesn’t matter. Nothing really matters. She says, Spencer. She’s so sorry. That’s just terrible. Trina must be absolutely gutted. She’s going to call her. She puts her hand on Sonny’s shoulder, he thanks her, and she leaves.

Josslyn asks if Cam knows, and Trina says she doubts it. The word hasn’t gotten out yet. Josslyn says, they’ve got to tell him, and makes the call. She says she’s here with Trina and they have to tell him something. She starts to cry and says, they need him to hear it from them.

Olivia asks if Leo wants to say goodbye to his Aunt Carly. She’s got to get to work. He asks if they’re done arguing, and Carly says, sometimes friends disagree. Olivia says she and Carly haven’t been on the same wavelength for a while, but maybe pretty soon they can try to fix that. Carly says she thinks they’ve already started, and Leo says he can tell. Their body language is better. Carly says, you know what? He’s right. Olivia says, how’s this for body language? and hugs Leo. Carly pulls them in for a three-way hug.

Anna says she and her colleague are going to lower their weapons, and John says, do that, nice and slow. O’Neal gets up and says he’s just a bystander. Anna, Jordan, and John say, shut up, and O’Neal says, okay, sitting back down. Anna says she takes it John is the agent in charge, and he asks if she doesn’t recognize him. Anna says, wait… Jagger? and John smiles.

Laura looks at a photo of young Spencer on her phone, when there’s a knock at the door. Laura opens it, and Nikolas is standing there with Ace. He says, hello, mother, and Laura cries tears of joy.

On Monday, Laura asks if it’s occurred to Nikolas that he belongs in prison; Lucy asks Martin for another chance; Anna suggests they bring the case in together; and Dante asks Sonny if it was an inside job.

🪪 Something Old Is Something New…

So far, I’m thinking we should keep him.

🚑 Coming and Going…

The circle of soap life.

🤹‍♂️ No Idle Hands Here…

Teaching, directing, kicking ass as a spy. Is there nothing she can’t do?

Boogieing down for mental health.

🐶 Whiskey A Go-Go…

Including this because, dog.

🍑 They Hear Her Knocking…

IRL this makes sense, but in Bravoland, anything can happen.

🍸 Extra Rules…

Maybe she’s hoping for screen time since no one wants to film with him.

Totally understandable.

⚰️ Premiere Of Ones…

So be sure to watch the premiere before the premiere.

https://undeadwalking.com/posts/amc-amc-presents-the-walking-dead-the-ones-who-live-premiere-event

🏆 One Grammy Coming Up…

If you just want the basics.

https://ew.com/2024-grammys-everything-we-know-8431969

Or the whole shebang.

https://live.grammy.com

🏈 Don’t Try This At Home…

 Super Bowl party fails.

Super Bowl party mistakes. These could go for any party.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/big-game/big-game-parties/game-day-party-mistakes

Real Bowl blunders.

🦡 He Was Hungry…

The opossum is always the last one they suspect.

https://people.com/opossum-caught-on-camera-stealing-birthday-cookie-delivery-8557650

🐕 Best Bowl Of All…

The Ravens and the pups.

https://www.discovery.com/shows/puppy-bowl/see/baltimore-ravens-hang-out-with-rescue-puppies-for-puppy-bowl-xx-

Up for adoption.

https://www.discovery.com/shows/puppy-bowl/see/adoptables

Guest appearances!

🐬 Quotes of the Week

Take your camera, and take your selfie stick, and take your dogs, and get the f*** out of here. – crazy Karen neighbor, Neighborhood Wars

You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training. – Tom Hopkins

At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable. – Christopher Reeve

There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man (and woman) which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus. – Blaise Pascal

Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts. – John Wooden

You’re no scientist. You’re just crazy. – Yoon Chae-ok (Han So-hee), Gyeonsueong Creature

Judge a person by their questions rather than their answers. – Voltaire

Babies are supposed to cry and throw a fit. Not you. – Amanda Halterman, 1000-Lb. Sisters

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself. – Lucille Ball

Geometry made me its bitch. – Vince (Louis Mustillo), Mike & Molly (I so relate.)

🎤 Accepting All the Grammys…

Go out and live real life, then join me on Monday really Tuesday for soap and perhaps a little Deck talk. Until then, stay safe, stay away from doom scrolling, and stay never going to a second location. Everyone and their cat knows that.

February 1, 2024 – Felicia Advocates For Adam, Coney, See Ya, Doubles, On His Way, About Emmy, Feelings, Dragon Girl, Saturday Night Cast, Be Your Dog’s Valentine & Groove

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Laura stands on the deck of the French Haunted Star when Dante comes out. She asks if he’s spoken to the French authorities, and he says he did. They’re very thorough and very professional. She tells him, just say it. Where is Spencer?

Trina sits in her stateroom, flashing back to the struggle with Esme, when Portia and Curtis come in. Trina hugs Portia and takes Curtis’s hand.

Felicia finds Josslyn at the hospital and says she heard Josslyn’s friend Adam needs a patient advocate.

Nurse Willow tells Adam that she has a friend of his outside, and he says, if she’s talking about Josslyn… She says she isn’t. She’s talking about this. She brings in his guitar and he smiles. He says he wasn’t sure what happened to it, and she says, they were keeping it for him. He thanks her, but she says, thank Josslyn. She was the one who brought it from the park the night he was admitted. She thought he might want it. Killjoy Mr. Wright aka Adam’s father comes to the door and says he was hoping Adam had outgrown this thing. It’s time he got his priorities straight.

Lois asks Chase and Brook if they can imagine anything more appropriate or beautiful than St. Anthony’s in Bensonhurst. The entire neighborhood will be there. All the Cerullos and the Falconaris and Father Tom. He does a great service. (Yeah, but isn’t Aunt Gloria not allowed near that church anymore?) Brook says, they already asked Gregory to officiate, and Lois says, not to worry. Father Tom is very liberal. She’s sure he would have no problem sharing the pulpit. So have they thought about the reception? Brook says, one idea is a yacht, and Lois says, that is romantic in theory. It’s risky in practice. The night of her second wedding to Ned – the one that was actually sanctioned by the church, as opposed to the quickie one where she thought she was marrying Eddie Maine – they had a yacht cruise. The ship ran aground and almost sank with the entire wedding party and family and friends on board. Chase says, so they should be looking at venues on dry land, and Lois says, but some risks are worth taking. Could they imagine a moonlight cruise off Coney Island? They can welcome all of the guests on board under the Brooklyn Bridge, and they can sail around Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. And when everybody’s ready to disembark, they can send them off with popcorn. Doesn’t that sound spectacular? (It sounds like, one of these things is not like the others.) Gregory says, spectacular, and Chase tells her, he has to say, they’re… Brook says, speechless, but Tracy says she’s not.

At Crimson, Drew asks Carly how it’s going, and she says, ask her in a couple of days because they’re in the middle of putting out the first issue of the magazine with her name on it. Her head is spinning. He says, with her here and Nina gone, Crimson has already improved, but Carly says she doesn’t know about that. She despises Nina, but Nina knew a lot more than she does about putting a magazine out. He says, Nina learned on the job. She’s going to learn on the job too. She’s a natural leader, runs a big company, and she’s got great taste, if he does say so himself. It’s only a matter of time before she surpasses Nina. She says she loves his confidence, and he says, nobody is even going to remember Nina ran this place. She says, Nina who? and they kiss. He says, the best business decision he ever made was making her Editor-in-Chief of Crimson. (I just had a thought, have the angry shareholders started calling yet? They might still be smarting from the merger debacle.) Michael walks in and asks if Drew has a minute.

Felicia tells Josslyn, after Carly called, she took a look at Adam’s recent psyche evaluation, and it turns out it’s up to him if he wants to go home or go back to school or stay here at General Hospital for observation. Josslyn says she thinks Adam just wants to live his life and not feel like he’s one big disappointment. Can Felicia help him? Felicia says she’ll do her best. There’s no underestimating the hold a parent has on a child.

Lois says, before Tracy insists the wedding be at this house with a bunch of snooty waiters and unnecessary etiquette, she wants Tracy to think about what Brook and Chase want. Tracy flashes back to Gregory saying, no more petty fighting with Lois and Olivia about the reception and arguing with Ned about anything. All that matters is that those two beautiful souls belong together, and we do everything to make that happen. He asks if they understand each other, and she says, they do. Lois tells Tracy, because this is supposed to be a celebration, and celebrations are supposed to be fun. She knows it’s important to have gorgeous flowers and beautiful table settings, but that is not as important as the food and the music and the dancing, especially the dancing. Because what’s really important is for the bride and the groom to enjoy the occasion. And what is more enjoyable than for Brook to be married in her neighborhood, surrounded by the people who’ve known her and loved her for her entire life? Brook tells Tracy, say something, and Tracy says she couldn’t agree more.

Dante tells Laura, the police found the captain locked in a closet, unconscious. When he came to, he confirmed Spencer chartered the boat to cruise the river to the English Channel. When the boat left the pier, he found an American woman on deck. She said she was lost, but he didn’t believe her. When he tried to take her into custody, she fought back and smacked him in the head with a fire extinguisher. Laura asks if the captain was able to ID her, and Dante says, he picked out Esme’s picture right away. She asks, what about the search for Spencer? and he says, they have every boat at their disposal in the water, searching. So far there’s no sign of Esme or Spencer. She says, then they can still be alive, and Dante says, yeah. He’ll check in again and see if there’s any updates. She thanks him, he says, of course (🍷), and leaves.

Trina asks, when did they get here? and Portia says, they just arrived. Ned Quartermaine kindly let them borrow the ELQ jet and they came as soon as they heard Esme was on her way to Paris. Curtis says, Laura and Dante are coordinating with the French police. He promises they’re doing all they can to rescue Spencer. Trina says she knows Spencer is alive, and Portia asks, so what happened? The police told them that Esme tried to stab Spencer with a needle. Trina says, she ambushed him from behind. Whatever drug she was using was so powerful, he couldn’t even stand. Then Esme tried to come for her and tried to inject her with the needle. Then Spencer grabbed her and they both went over the side… He saved her life like he did in Greenland. Curtis says, thank God for that, and Trina says she thought she lost him then too. Then he came back to her, so – Laura comes in – she just knows in her heart that he’s alive still. Laura tells her to trust her heart.

Michael congratulates Carly on the new job, and she thanks him. He says, the MetroCourt’s loss is Crimson’s gain. She says, don’t worry. She’s definitely getting her half of the MetroCourt back one day, with her own money. She’s not going to take loans from anyone. So until then, she’s just going to enjoy her time at Crimson. Michael says, she’ll knock it out of the ballpark, and she thanks him for the vote of confidence. But that’s not why he’s here, is it? He says, no. He was looking for Drew. His office said he was here. Drew suggests they relocate, but Carly says she’s going to GH because she thinks Josslyn could use some back-up. She hugs Drew, saying, take it easy on him, in his ear. She leaves, and Drew says, it’s late. Anything Michael needs to say to him, he can say to him in the morning. Michale says he’s afraid not. He’s resigning.

Mr. Wright says, this has got to go, trying to take Adam’s guitar, but Adam says, no, it doesn’t. Willow says, he’s upsetting the patient. Please wait outside. Wright tells Adam that they have far more important things to discuss than his musical hobby, like the reason he’s here in this hospital. Josslyn walks in with Felicia, and Wright says, then moving on to the many lies Adam’s told. Adam owes him that. Josslyn says, Adam doesn’t owe him anything, and Wright tells Willow that he thought he made it clear that this young woman was not to be allowed near his son. Felicia tells him, please do what Nurse Corinthos says and wait outside, and Wright asks who she is. She says she’s Felicia Scorpio. She’s on staff here as a patient advocate and she needs to talk to Adam, just the two of them.

Lois says she’s sorry. She doesn’t think she heard correctly. Did Tracy just agree with her? Tracy says, as mother of the bride, Lois is traditionally hostess of the wedding and the reception. She knows their tastes differ and Quartermaine traditions are not necessarily right for everyone. Lois says she always thought Tracy was too snooty to see past her own stuck-up nose, but clearly, she was wrong. Tracy says, live and learn, and Brook asks if she and Chase can have a word with grandmother privately. Gregory says, of course (🍷). Shall we? Lois says, delighted, and they leave, Gregory closing the door. Tracy says, now that they’re all on the same page, the wedding can proceed. The ceremony at St. Anthony’s in Bensonhurst, the festival hall of their choosing for the reception, and the streamers, balloons, and bunting in whatever color palette Brook’s mother desires. No need for them to thank her. Brook says, thank her? They were counting on her to say no.

Portia asks if Laura has any news, and Laura says, Dante is with the police now, but no word yet. Trina says she knows they’ll find him, and Laura asks if Trina can just tell her what happened and what Esme thought she was going to accomplish. Trina says, Esme wanted to take Spencer hostage to force Nikolas out of hiding and trade him for Ace, but Laura says, Esme’s a tiny little girl. How could she possibly overpower Spencer? Did she have a gun? Curtis says, that’s why she planned to drug him, and Trina tells them, Esme said the drug would make Spencer docile, but it didn’t work. He found a way to fight it, and then Esme came for her with the needle, and he grabbed her. That’s how she knows he loves her, and she knows he’s alive. Dante comes in, and Laura asks if there’s an update, but Dante says he’s sorry. He doesn’t have good news.

Tracy says she doesn’t understand. She thought Brook was on board with her mother’s vision. Brook asks if Tracy knows how many weddings she’s been to at St. Anthony’s. Don’t misunderstand. They’ve all been beautiful and a lot of fun, but as much as she loves the old neighborhood, she doesn’t want to be married there. Chase says he and Brook met in Port Charles. They fell in love here and the people they love and are closest to live here. Brook says, they want a Port Charles wedding. Whether they have the reception here at the house or at The Savoy or at the MetroCourt ballroom, they just want it to be in a place that has meaning for them as a couple. Chase says, it’s not that he doesn’t want to get to know Brook’s family in Bensonhurst. He does. Brook says, just not on their wedding day. They want it to be a day to celebrate their love, not a meet and greet with the Falconari and Cerullo clans. Tracy says, if that’s the way she feels, why doesn’t she tell her mother? and Brook says, because she’s her ma’s only child and she’s a daughter. A big neighborhood wedding is like a rite of passage. Her ma has always been rebellious, but when it came to marrying her dad, they did the ceremony in Bensonhurst. Tracy says she remembers the stories, running around Brooklyn in their wedding attire, hoping to make it to the church on time, and Brook says, now it’s her mother’s turn to be mother of the bride. To have all the uncles and cousins and nonnas congratulate her. And since she divorced Brook’s dad and raised Brook as a single mom, it’s an even bigger deal for her. Tracy says, so maybe Brook should defer to her wishes? and Chase says, she’s got a point. Brook says she doesn’t want to hurt her mom’s feelings, but she just wants their wedding to be their wedding. Tracy says, it will be. She promises.

Michael hands Drew his resignation and says he’s happy for his mom. He knows she’ll make Crimson even better, but Drew fired Nina and hired his mom without even asking him. He knows it’s Drew’s call, but as somebody who’s been handling the day-to-day for years, he should have at least been consulted. Drew says, like Michael shared the inside information about Nina with him? and Michael says he found out Nina tipped off the SEC at their wedding reception. He was on the phone call with his source when he looked over and saw Nina dancing with Willow and his son. Drew says he understands it’s complicated, and Michael says, that’s why he needed proof. He recorded Martin Grey admitting to everything. He went to his father. He was going to play him the recording and expose Nina; get her out of his father’s life, Willow’s life, and his kids’ life, once and for all. Drew says, Michael doesn’t have to explain it. He didn’t want to break Sonny’s heart. Michael says he and his father had been estranged ever since he chose Nina over Michael’s mom and his family. They finally reconciled, so if Michael was to go over to him and basically say, see? I was right. Nina’s a liar and you were a fool to choose her over us, he felt it would break their relationship for good. Drew says, he could have found a gentler way to bring it to him, but Michael says, no matter how he would have said it, that’s what Sonny would have heard. That’s what he heard when Michael told him the truth finally. Drew says, Sonny blames Michael as much as he blames Nina, and Michael says, if not more. That’s for him and his father to work out, or not. The point is, he owed it to Drew to let him know everything and he didn’t. He’ll stick around and help with the transition as long as Drew needs him, until he can find someone he trusts with the position. Michael starts to leave, but Drew says, wait. The truth is, his anger was misdirected toward Michael. Nina is the one who caused all the harm. Now that Carly is here in her place, the books are balanced. Michael asks what he’s saying, and Drew tells him that he’s saying he wants Michael here. But with new ground rules in place.

Wright says his son doesn’t need an advocate. He has his father. Josslyn asks how that’s worked out, and Wright says, if she doesn’t leave now, he’ll call security. Carly arrives and says, no, he won’t. Wright asks who she is, and she says she’s Josslyn’s mother. And instead of insulting her daughter, why isn’t he thanking her for saving his son’s life? Felicia says, if they’d all just step outside and give her a moment alone with Adam, but Wright says he’s staying. Willow says, Adam? and Adam says he’d like to talk to the advocate. Willow says, he heard his son. He needs to leave. Or should she call security? Wright tells Adam that he’ll be right outside, and Josslyn says she’ll be right outside too, in case Adam needs her. Everyone leaves, and Adam asks Felicia, what happens now? She says, it’s his life. He’s been given a second chance to live it. How he does so is up to him.

Dante says, the authorities are dragging the river. They’ve got divers out there and helicopters along the shoreline, but the currents are stronger the closer the river gets to the Channel. Trina says, there must be something more they can do to rescue Spencer, but Dante says, the problem is this. They’ve been in the water for more than 24 hours now. Given the temperature and whatever Esme gave to Spencer, they’re no longer calling this a rescue mission; they’re calling it recovery. Trina says she doesn’t care what they call it, recovery or rescue. What matters is they get Spencer back. Dante tells Trina and Laura that he’s so sorry. Spencer is now presumed dead. Laura starts to cry, and Trina says, they’re wrong. He’s alive. She knows he is. She runs out, crying.

Portia asks if Curtis minds, and he says, of course (🍷) not. Go after their daughter. She runs after Trina, and Curtis tells Laura that Spencer was her grandson and he’s very sorry. She thanks him, and Curtis asks who Dante’s contact is at the local police. Dante says, Captain Auboire. She has a command station set up on the bridge. She can give him all the details. Curtis says he’s going to need to hear that so he can relay it to Trina when she’s ready. He leaves, and Dante asks Laura if there’s anything he can do. She says, find her grandson, and he says he wishes he could. She says she knows. She knows Dante would bring him back if he could. They all would. But nothing can be done. She sobs and Dante puts his hand on her shoulder.

Felicia says, Adam tried to end his life. She and his medical team are going to make sure he knows they’re going to continue to support him even after he walks out the door. He’s not alone. He has help. All he has to do is ask for it.

In the hallway, Josslyn says, there’s something Wright needs to know. When she found Adam in the park, he was clutching the thing he loves most, that guitar. Does he know what she likes to think? That even when he was out of it and about to drift off forever, he heard music, and it gave him a reason to live. He believes he’s doing what’s best for his son, but what’s best for Adam is for his father to see him and accept him for who he is.

Tracy asks Lois and Gregory to join them, and Lois makes a beeline for Brook, while Gregory asks if Tracy is okay. She says, no thanks to him. Agreeing with Lois took years off her life. Lois says she doesn’t want them to worry about a thing. The cost of the boat and the food… she’s going to foot the bill. Tracy says she’s footing the bill. And on further review, she’s decided the wedding is going to take place here in Port Charles. Formal attire, flowers by Genevieve, string quartet, and French champagne. Lois asks if that’s really what they want, and Chase says, as much as he wants to meet Lois’s extended family, he and Brook are based here, and this is where they would like to have the wedding. Brook says, a formal reception with flowers and champagne and a string quartet sounds beautiful, and Lois says, beautiful, yeah, but where’s the fun? Tracy says she’s so glad Lois brought that up, because it’s the night before the wedding when the fun really happens.

Portia finds Trina on deck, and Trina asks how she’s supposed to walk away from him. How can she let him go? Portia hugs her.

Brook and Chase both say, Coney Island? and Tracy says, it may not be the proper venue for the wedding, but it’s perfect for the rehearsal dinner. Lois says, of course (🍷). Why didn’t she think of that? Tracy says, nail polish remover. Silent killer. They can recreate all the outer borough charm right on the wharf. They can hire a carnival… and rockers. Whatever. Lois says, that’s true, but Tracy could do even better than that, right? Because why recreate Coney Island, when they could have the real thing? Chase says, the rehearsal dinner is the night before the ceremony, and Brook says, they can’t get everybody down there and back to Port Charles. Lois says, is she sure? What does Tracy think? Tracy says, they can charter buses, and Lois says, buses? What about jets? Tracy is a fancy shmancy cosmeticsy old lady. She can fly everybody down there and back in one night. She can rent out the whole park. Lois can just see it now. Waiters on roller skates handing out pigs in blankets, the Salt N Sizzle, the sideshow, and oh! The Cyclone. Gregory says he’d pay money to see Tracy on The Slingshot, and Lois says, and maybe they can get the groom to serenade the bride on the beach. Brook looks at Chase, and Lois says, what? No. They’re going to tell her that they hate it? Brook says, she couldn’t be more wrong, and Chase says, they love it. Lois says, they do? and Brook hugs her. Gregory and Tracy go into the foyer.

Felicia says, Adam would like to see Josslyn now, and Josslyn goes to his room. She says, looking for her? and Adam says, the nurse told him that it was her who brought his guitar from the park to the hospital. She says she knew he’d want it, and he says, but she didn’t know if he’d be around to use it. She says, no, but she hoped, and he thanks her. She says, it wasn’t a big deal, and he says, not just about the guitar. For him. He tried to kill himself. If it hadn’t been for her, he would have. She says she was just doing what a friend does, and he says, even after everything, the way he treated her, she can still say that. She says she just did, and she promises to keep on saying it as long as he promises to hear it.

Wright tells Felicia that he still needs to see his son, when Josslyn comes back with Adam and his guitar. Wright says, oh good, he’s dressed. Enough talk. They’re going home. Adam says, no, he’s not.

Drew says he needs to know that he can trust Michael. That was never an issue before. Michael always had his back and he always had Michael’s back. He’s not blaming Michael for making the choice to protect his family, but he’s saying Michael has to remember he’s family too. Michael asks how he rebuilds that trust. Where does he start? Drew says, him firing Nina and putting Carly in her place, that’s just the beginning, and Michael asks if he’s planning more changes at Aurora. Drew says he’s planning more changes for Nina. He’s going to make her pay for every single day she kept him away from his daughter, for every scar he carried with him when he walked away from Pentenville. That woman thinks she’s lost everything. She has no idea. She’s going to keep losing until she’s alone, as broke, and as empty as she deserves to be. So is Michael with him? Ugh. I’m not liking this new, dark Drew. I wasn’t exactly a Drew fan to begin with, but he’s kind of creepy now.

Laura tells Dante that she knows better than to play with what ifs. She knows it’s not going to change anything, but she can’t stop herself. What if Spencer had just refused to give Ace to his father? Or what if when Esme finished in court, she just took her son and went back home? Then they would all just be in Port Charles tonight, wouldn’t they? And Spencer and Trina would be together. They’d be young and in love and in Paris. She cries and says, instead, they have this. She can’t imagine a world without Spencer. She just can’t.

Portia tells Trina to take her jacket, but Trina says, no. Portia says she doesn’t want Trina to get cold, but Trina says she doesn’t care. Think about how cold the water is. Spencer loved to swim, but he hated the cold. She remembers when they were at the cabin, and he couldn’t wait to make a fire… At the cabin. That’s when Esme showed her true colors. Why didn’t they pay attention? Why didn’t they get away from her then? Even Spencer… especially Spencer. Portia says, Esme can’t hurt anyone anymore. Spencer saw to that. He really was a hero. She suggests getting Trina home, since there’s really nothing they can do here now, and Trina says she’ll meet Portia at the stateroom. Portia leaves, and Trina asks Spencer, how do I do it? How do I say goodbye?

Lois says she got carried away and suggested a wedding and reception that’s very similar to… Brook looks at her, and she says, okay, almost identical to her wedding to Brook’s father… and her cousin Teresa’s… and her cousin Angela’s… All right, and to Luciana Falconari’s, which all happened this past year. Brook says, and they were all beautiful, and Lois says, yes, and Brook’s wedding will be beautiful too. As long as it’s the wedding of Brook’s dreams, not hers. Brook says she loves Lois, and Lois says she loves Brook too. Brook says, as long as they have their families wishing them well… Chase says, their wedding will be perfect. Lois agrees.

Gregory says, Tracy never ceases to amaze him. She has all sorts of hidden talents when she lets herself show them. She says, sometimes all she needs is a little encouragement. However, there is no amount of encouragement that will ever get her on anything called The Slingshot. He says he begs to differ. If he can get Alexis into a parachute, he can get her onto The Slingshot. (See below.)

Wright says, don’t be foolish. Adam’s proven he can’t be trusted on his own. After some time home with family, he can enroll in another college. Get a fresh start. Adam says he’s going back to PCU. He’s got unfinished business there. Besides, there’s a really great music department there. Wright asks, who will pay the tuition? and Felicia says, with his musical talent, perhaps PCU will want to recruit Adam. Adam says, or he’ll get a job, put himself through school, and Wright says, this is a mistake, but Adam says, it’s his to make. He has his dad’s phone number, and his dad has his. Whenever he feels like talking, they’ll talk. Wright looks disgusted, and leaves. Josslyn hugs Adam, and he says he’s not complaining, but what was that for? She says, for being you, and Carly looks on proudly.

Michael says, if regaining Drew’s trust means pursuing a vendetta against Nina, he’s sorry, but the answer’s no. Drew asks if Michael thinks he’s being too hard on her, but Michael says, it’s not worth what he stands to lose. He already went behind Willow’s back in order to protect her from her mother, and it nearly cost him his family. He can’t do that again. He wants Nina to lose everything, but he can’t be involved in making that happen. Drew had better start screening for a CEO. Drew says he already has his CEO. Michael just proved it right now. Michael asks if this was a test, and Drew says he told Michael what he was planning. Michael declined to be involved and he respects Michael’s reasons and respects his honesty. That’s what they need. They need transparency. Collaboration can’t happen without it. He rips up Michael’s resignation and says he expects to see Michael at his desk first thing in the morning.

Portia asks what the police had to say, and Curtis says, they’re going to extend the search for the next 48 hours. If they don’t find anything, they’re going to assume Spencer and Esme’s bodies were swept out into the English Channel and lost. She says, any idea on the odds of recovering their bodies? and he says, less than 50%. He doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, if they don’t find the body, Trina will never accept Spencer’s gone. If they do find the body, she’s going to insist on viewing it. He just doesn’t want her to see Spencer that way. He wants to spare her that. Portia says she wanted Spencer out of Trina’s life. He brought trouble and she wanted to protect Trina from all of that. But the thought of that young man losing his life saving Trina’s and how Trina’s feeling tonight… She didn’t want it to happen like this. She cries and says, not this way.

Laura and Dante go out on deck, and Laura goes over to Trina. Trina asks if Doc is okay, and Laura says, he still has a headache. Other than that, he’s fine. Trina says she knows Laura wants to get home soon, so she promises she won’t be long, but Laura tells her to take as much time as she needs. She kisses Trina on the forehead, and she and Dante go back inside. Trina flashes back over her and Spencer being in Paris before Esme came along, and there’s a song part. She says, this isn’t goodbye. Somehow, some way…

We see the turtle dove washed up on a rocky shore.

Tomorrow, Olivia says, it’s best for everyone; Laura says, we owe each other the truth; Trina says, this time it won’t be a happy ending; and Ava tells Nina to prepare herself for a life without him (presumably Sonny).

🛟 Sweeping Down the Seine…

Never fear, Spencer is making a series for Netflix. This doesn’t say much about his ex-partner in crime. Only that yesterday was her last day on screen. My hopes of Spencer and Esme both having lost their memories and being stuck in a Blue Lagoon scenario are officially dashed.

🤸‍♀️ Stunts On the Water…

This sounds like fun, and kudos to Avery Pohl for being her own stunt double.

The Secrets Behind GH’s Paris Fight Scenes!

🛵 He’s Getting There…

No definitive date, but the speculation is late February/early March.

🏆 Variations In Category…

The Daytime Emmys make a few changes.

🍹 Some Type Of Way…

Checking in on how everyone feels. Even though it’s probably the least important thing in the history of the world.

🐉 When Worlds Collide…

Seasons are so sparse now, she can probably take on a few more projects and have spare time.

https://ew.com/supergirl-casting-milly-alcock-house-of-the-dragon-8549512

🗽 Live From New York…

This sounds promising.

https://ew.com/snl-1975-movie-cast-and-real-people-8551014

❣️ Ahead Of the Pack…

No shame in having your dog as your date. As a matter of fact, it’s probably better than a lot of human dates.

https://www.dailypaws.com/gear-apparel/pet-gifts/dog-valentines-day-gifts

https://www.dogtopia.com/blog/how-to-celebrate-valentines-day-with-your-dog

🏃🏽‍♀️ One February A-Leaping…

Check in tomorrow for soap, amusement, knowledge, and as always, music. Until then, stay safe, stay refraining from posting every moment of your life on social media, and stay not playing with what ifs. They won’t change anything.