Category Archives: Bravo

September 23, 2022 – Three Victims One Hook, Saying Goodbye, Inclusion, Smoltz (!), Meltdown Theories, Interview Review, Ruined Punchline, Pets (!), 2X4 = Quotes & Van’s Moon

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

We see Brando’s empty garage. Sasha sits in the dark, and says, Brando? Can you hear me? Please tell me you didn’t leave. She hears the door open, and someone comes in.

Nina visits Ava, and says she looks a lot better. Ava thanks her, and Nina gives her some flowers, saying, she’s so glad Ava is out of the ICU. Ava says, if only she could get out of this hospital altogether. She can’t wait to get out of here. Nina says, all in due time, right? and sits down. She says, since Ava told her about Nikolas sleeping with Esme, it sounds like her marriage is over. So has she thought about where she’s going to go when they discharge her?

Gregory knocks at Finn’s office door, and Finn asks what brings him by. Gregory says, just checking to see how Finn is doing. He sees the photo on Finn’s phone, and asks if that’s Reiko, and Finn says, it was taken in the Mariana Islands a long time ago. (Okay, my bad on the wrong island, and also in thinking it was Hayden. I did think it must be Reiko at first, but I couldn’t figure out a connection to Elizabeth. Apparently, there is one.) Gregory asks what’s got Finn thinking about his late wife, when Nurse Andrea comes in, and tells Finn, Mr. Sanchez is prepped and ready for him. He tells Gregory that he’s sorry; this might take a while. Gregory says he’ll walk Finn out, and they leave.

Elizabeth studies the portrait she sketched, which we now know is of Reiko. She says, who are you?

At the MetroCourt bar, Diane and Alexis clink glasses, and Diane says, to Alexis. Alexis says, first of all, Diane doesn’t have to toast her, and Diane doesn’t have to drink an iced tea because she can’t drink. Diane says she wanted an iced tea, just like she wanted to celebrate her best friend, especially after, Two Victims, One Hook. Definite clickbait. Brava, Madame Editor-in-Chief. Alexis says she had her reservations at first, but there was a lot of traffic on the website, and Diane says, well deserved. She asks how Kristina is doing. What did she think of the article? Alexis says she doesn’t think Kristina even read it, and Diane asks what she means. Alexis said Kristina walked in on the attack. Is she having a hard time? Alexis says, just the opposite. She doesn’t think witnessing the attack put her in any danger at all. She did manage to keep Kristina’s name out of the article, but what if the attacker saw her, and didn’t realize Kristina didn’t see the attacker? Diane says she doesn’t like that Kristina is taking this so lightly, but she’s not surprised. She’s always been a very gutsy girl. Even witnessing an attack won’t bring her down. Alexis says, she has her mother to do that for her.

Victor says, alone at last, and Lucy says, he sent the waiter away. Does that mean the meal is over? He says, not at all, my dear. It just means now it’s time to serve themselves.

Anna and Valentin hide, and Johann comes out on deck, drinking a beer. Valentin has to sneeze, and Anna puts her hand over his nose and mouth, pushing him back against the wall. Johann hears them, and takes out his gun. He moves toward where they’re hiding.

Sasha says, Brando? but Sonny says, it’s him. Did she think he was Brando? She says she knows that’s impossible. She just can’t believe he’s gone. Sonny says, it is hard to believe. He was one of a kind. Sasha cries, and he holds her.

Ava says, she’s been thinking a lot about what happens when she’s well enough to leave GH, and Nina says, proud as she is of the MetroCourt – and she’s super proud of it – she hates the idea of Ava camping out in hotel rooms, so Ava will just have to stay with her. Ava thanks her, but says she doesn’t want charity, and definitely doesn’t want pity. Nina says, come on. They’re way past that. She thinks by now they’re fully ensconced in the girlfriend zone. And friends help each other. There’s no charity; there’s no pity. Ava says she knows, but… Nina says, Ava really doesn’t want to stay with her because she’d prefer to go back home to Windymere. But Nikolas is there.

Alexis tells Diane, she’s not sure how it happened, but somehow in warning Kristina about the potential danger, she sort of blurted out that Kristina wasn’t living up to her full potential. Diane says, music to her ears, no doubt, and Alexis says, then to add to that, she sort of blurted out that Kristina was risking her life for a dead end job. Diane says she’s sure that worked. Alexis didn’t bring up law school, did she? Alexis says, no. Kristina’s sharp; she knew what was happening. That’s her point. Kristina is too smart to be spending her life making schedules for the waitstaff. Diane says, she completely agrees, but it’s Kristina’s life. Alexis says, she’s painfully aware of that. She’ll try to do better in keeping her opinions to herself. Diane laughs like it’s the funniest thing ever, and Alexis says, yeah, good luck with that. Nikolas approaches, and says he’s glad he ran into Alexis. He needs her help.

Elizabeth looks at the sketch, and flashes back to her memory, but this time she moves the woman’s hair, and sees her face. Nurse Andrea walks up with Finn, and says, Elizabeth is off today. What’s she doing here?  

Dex walks into the garage, and Sonny says, call Gladys; they’re okay. Sasha asks how Sonny found her, and Sonny says, there are two places that Brando always wanted to be. One was with her, and the other was his garage. So he figured if she was looking for Brando, she would come here. She says, Brando really did love this place. She thinks Sonny giving it to him was the best thing that every happened to him. Sonny says, not at all – she was. Sasha starts to cry again.

Lucy says, so there’s more? and Victor says, whatever she desires. She deserves to be waited on hand and foot. He’s utterly at her service; her wish is his command. She says she can’t. This has all been so lovely, to ask for anything else would just be horrible. He says, please ask. She must promise to always be honest with him, no matter what.

Johann continues to move toward where Valentin and Anna are hiding. They go back toward the door to the deck, and Anna tells Valentin to give her his shoe. He says, no way; these things are Italian. He gives it to her anyway, and she throws it out the door so it hits something, and Johann turns around. He goes back to where he was, and as he reaches the opening in the railing, Valentin runs out the door, and kicks him into the water. They watch as he floats downstream.

Nikolas asks if they can talk, and Alexis says, about what? He says he’d rather speak in private, and Alexis looks at Diane, and they both say, Ava. Diane says, fear not. She has to be going anyway. She tells Alexis, it was lovely having half a drink with her. Go easy on Krissy, and herself. She nods to Nikolas, says, Prince, and leaves. Alexis says, there are therapy apps where he could find a marriage counselor, in person or virtually, but he says, that’s not what he wants to talk about. Alexis told him that Ava was too proud to forgive a stupid mistake. She understands the way Ava thinks – Alexis says, God help her – and clearly he and Ava have a volatile relationship. But when Ava was attacked, everything crystallized for him, and he wants Ava in his life. He doesn’t want to lose her. Alexis says she takes it Ava didn’t have the same epiphany, and he says, that’s why he needs some straight talk. Is it time to give up on his marriage?

Ava tells Nina, Windymere is huge, and she and Nikolas have lived there in the past when they’ve been estranged. Nina asks, is this like the strategy, keep your enemies close? and Ava says, something like that. Nina says, Ava told her before that she wanted to wait to pay for cheating on her. Now’s the time? She’s sure Scotty is just chomping at the bit to get Ava a generous divorce settlement. Ava says, she hasn’t spoken to Scotty about this yet, and Nina says, she’s stalling. Ava’s still in love with her husband.

Dex comes back, and Sonny says, he spoke to Gladys? Dex says, she told him to thank Sonny for finding Sasha, and Sasha says, she guesses she should go home. She just wants to stay here. Sonny tells her, stay, and tells Dex to go. Dex leaves, and Sasha says, it felt like Brando was here, working. Like any minute he would walk through that door with some part he forgot to order. He’d smile and kiss her, and say, thanks for waiting, like any other day. But Brando’s gone, no matter how many times she pretends, or wishes, or tries to convince herself this is just some horrible nightmare. She cries, and says, Brando isn’t here. He’s not anywhere. Sonny says, you know what? It’s like his son Morgan. With his dad it’s different; he got to say goodbye to his dad. But Morgan was like Brando; it was unexpected. It was sudden. One minute he’s here, and the next minute he’s gone. They didn’t even have a body to bury. He tears up, and says he has to confess something to her. A lot of times he goes into crowds, and wants to see Morgan. Sometimes the phone rings, and he thinks it’s Morgan. Sasha asks how long he felt that way, and he says, to tell her the truth, he still scans crowds for Morgan. He just wants to be able to see him one last time. His boy.

Victor asks, what does Lucy want from? Name it. She says, no, she can’t. He asked her not to ask him, so she can’t. She won’t ask him, but he also told her to wait, and she’s so bad at waiting. She was never good at it, and she’s just brimming with curiosity. She’s just always loved a man with a big plan. She’s so excited. Come on. Couldn’t he just give her a teensy weensy little hint? Please? The boat moves, and she says, what is that? Are they stopping? He says, they certainly shouldn’t be, and a man runs in. He tells Victor, there’s someone overboard, and Anna and Valentin hide near the inside exit to the room.

Diane comes into the garage, and Sonny asks what she wants. She tells him, Gladys said Sasha was here. She’d like to speak with her. Sonny says, she’s in Brando’s office, and doesn’t want to deal with anybody. Diane says she can wait. She needs to go over some legal issues that have arisen since Brando’s death. He says, it’s a hell of a time to be doing business, doesn’t she think? and she says she’s been asked to serve as interim counsel. Martin Grey is still out of town. He says, they’re dealing with Brando’s widow. Why should he trust her to represent Sasha when she grilled him on the stand? She says, believe her, she could have gone harder, and Sonny sees Dex lingering around, and yells at him to go. Dex goes outside, and Diane says, understand something; she liked Brando, a lot. She loved the fact that he came into town and rescued Carly. She loved the fact that he became a father figure to Dev Cerci, that boy Sonny was trying to keep in the country. He infiltrated Cyrus Renault’s organization, and saved Sasha. All he wanted was to make an honest living. Brando Corbin was a hero who deserved a much better hand than the one life dealt him. Sonny says, she’ll get no argument from him on that, and she says she’s not here to capitalize on tragedy. She’s just trying to do right by Brando by helping his widow at the request of her lawyer and Brando’s grieving mother. Sonny says, she expects him to ignore her grilling him on that stand at Nina’s hearing? How could she do that to him? She says she was fighting for Michael and Willow. She was doing her utmost to win the case for them, as she would for any client, no matter how ungrateful. She’s been through thick and thin with him; she’s been through good and bad. She’s protected him and his, and has done pretty much everything except dig a grave in the Pine Barrens. He says, she sided with Michael, and she says, Michael retained her to defend him in the petition by Nina for visitation. If Sonny recalls, he and Nina weren’t a couple formally at the time, so there was no conflict of interest. And it was Sonny who spontaneously volunteered to testify on Nina’s behalf. He asked Scotty to put him on the stand. She was only cross-examining him the way any halfway competent lawyer would. He says, she laid out his life for everyone to see. That’s personal to him. How can he forget that?

Ava tells Nina, in love with Nikolas? Hardly. She’s not the sort of woman who would let a man cheat on her and humiliate her and get away with it. Nina says, besides her, who knows Nikolas slept with Esme? and Ava says, just Spencer and Victor. Nina says she doubts they would throw it in Ava’s face if she decided to forgive Nikolas; she won’t. Ava asks why Nina is pushing her to get back with Nikolas, but Nina says she’s not. She just doesn’t want Ava’s pride to get in the way of her happiness. It’s Ava’s prerogative if she wants to expose Nikolas’s bad behavior or forgives him. She just wants Ava to be happy. Ava says she doesn’t know if she could live with herself if she gave Nikolas another chance. She’d be worried, wondering if it could happen again. She’s lived with that kind of betrayal in the past, and she lost her daughter because of it. Nina says, they’ve both made their share of mistakes, and they’ve both suffered, and paid terrible prices, but they’re still here. Ava says, just barely, and Nina says, she’s on the mend, and it’s pretty amazing how they both found love after everything they’ve been through. It’s kind of like a miracle. Whether or not Ava wants to forgive Nikolas is up to her. If she still loves him… Ava says, she blackmailed Nikolas into getting married in the first place, and that is hardly a foundation for everlasting commitment. She laugh/cries, and Nina says, Ava’s marriage may not have started as a love match, but it’s a love match now.

Alexis asks if Nikolas wants to give up on his marriage, and he says, no, but he’s at the end of his rope. Nothing he’s said has budged Ava, even a bit. She says, that’s because talk is cheap, and he asks if that’s the best she can do. She reminds him that he came to her. He’s more than welcome to vacate that barstool for a more nuanced commentary. He says he’s sorry. He’s just trying to figure out what to do. Does Alexis think he needs to take action? She says she doesn’t know what he should do. She doesn’t know what he did, and doesn’t want to. She’s just asking, whatever it is, will it cost Ava her pride to forgive him? He says, definitely, and she says, then he needs to give something back. He says, like what? but she says she doesn’t know. Something that shows Ava that he values his relationship with her; to put something on the line, to risk something for her. Just like he’s asking Ava to swallow her pride in order to take him back.

Elizabeth goes to Finn’s office, and tells him that she convinced Doc to hypnotize her again, since she was on the verge of remembering something. And then she did. She remembered the face of the woman at the bottom of the stairs. He says, that’s encouraging, and asks who she is, but Elizabeth says she doesn’t know. He says, she saw her face, but didn’t recognize her, and she says, she can’t place her. She has no memory of this person except for the moment on the stairs. Except she feels like the woman wasn’t a stranger. Finn’s phone dings, and Elizabeth picks it up to give it to him, and sees the photo. She stares at it, and he says, that’s Reiko, his late wife.

Anna and Valentin listen, and Victor asks if the man is sure somebody went overboard. The man says, he saw the body hit the water, and told the captain to stop. They’re circling back now. Victor says, what is he standing around here for? Help with the rescue operation. He hustles the man out, and Anna peeks in, gesturing to Lucy. Lucy runs to Victor, saying, oh my God. The man could drown. Victor has to help save him; he’s so strong. Victor says he should supervise. He won’t be long. She says she’ll be here when he gets back. Go… like the wind. He leaves, and she runs back, telling Anna and Valentin, he’s gone. They come out, and she says, wait a minute. Did they throw a man overboard? What happened to Valentin’s shoe? Valentin says, don’t worry about it, and Anna says, it’s just Johann; he never saw them. Valentin says, no one knows they’re here, but that could change at any moment. Lucy asks what they’re doing here, and Anna says, they’re rescuing her. Lucy says she doesn’t want to be rescued, and Anna says, they don’t have time for games. Victor could be back at any moment. They have to go now. Lucy says she’s not going right now, because then Victor will know she’s playing him, and probably know that Anna set her up to do this whole thing. He’s just starting to open up to her. Valentin says, obviously a scene of seduction; champagne petit fours… How does Lucy expect the scene is going to end? Lucy says, she can handle Victor. He is putty in her hand. She flashes the bracelet, and says she hasn’t felt this alive in years. She’s still got it.

Diane tells Sonny, there’s no need to keep discussing this. She would like to speak to Sasha, but if that’s not going to happen, please have Sasha give her a call. She starts to leave, but Sonny says, wait. Sasha needs a good lawyer. Diane says, good? when Sasha comes out. Diane says she’s so sorry about Brando. She was just telling Sonny how much she admired him. Sasha thanks her, and Diane says she doesn’t want to intrude on Sasha’s grief, but Martin Grey is still out of town, and he and her mother-in-law feel there might be some pressing legal issues that require Sasha’s immediate attention. So she’s been asked to serve as interim counsel, if that’s okay with Sasha. Sasha says she guesses, but what’s so important it can’t wait? Diane says, it’s a confidential matter, but Sasha says she can talk in front of Sonny. Diane says, it concerns her guardianship, and Sasha says, that’s settled. Brando… Diane says, Sasha’s agreement to avoid prison stipulates that she must have a legal guardian, and Sonny asks if Diane is saying it’s null and void. Sasha asks if she’s going to prison.

Gregory sees Alexis at the MetroCourt, and says, if it isn’t the women behind the headlines. How’s the response? She says, good and bad. She thinks the general public was glad they were alerted to the fact there’s a hook wielding maniac on the loose. The Police Commissioner is another matter. He says he’d like to hear more, and asks if she has time to join him for coffee. She says, sure. Why not?

Elizabeth says, this is Reiko? and Finn says, a long time ago. They were both with Doctors Without Borders; it was their first post. Elizabeth says, she looks so young. He doesn’t talk about her. Finn takes the phone, and says he knows. He was never able to make piece with how she died, infected with the same disease he was trying to cure. She says, Blackwoods Disease. What brings her up for Finn now? He says, a case he’s working on reminded him of something that he and Reiko went through when they were posted on the Mariana Islands. She says, near Guam, right? and he says, she amazes him. Most people don’t even know those islands exist. When they were there, they had a good friend, a good doctor; he died of a poisonous snake bite. She rubs her head, and he asks if she’s okay. Got a headache? She says, a little bit, and he says, from hypnotherapy? She says, probably. She’s so frustrated because she has these little pieces she can’t seem to put together to see the larger picture. He says, it’s okay. It’s coming. Every day she’s learning more. She says, none of it makes sense. She needs to go home and lie down for a little bit. He says he thinks she’s incredible, and kisses her. He says, she’s going to find the truth, and she leaves. In the hallway, she unfolds the sketch and looks at it.

Anna tells Lucy that she’s in way over her head. She can’t underestimate Victor. Lucy says, she knows, but listen to her. He actually told her that he has a plan. A big plan, and he wants to include her. Anna says, what plan? but Lucy says she doesn’t know because they interrupted. She’s getting thisclose to it. Valentin looks out the doorway to the deck and runs back, saying, someone’s coming. He keeps going out the other door, and Anna says, this is Lucy’s last chance. If she doesn’t come with them now, she’s on her own. Lucy says she’s fine. She’s got this, she promises. Anna leaves, and Lucy scrambles around, deciding to go behind the bar like she was making a drink. Victor brings in Johann, with a blanket around him, and Lucy asks, what happened? Victor says he’s not entirely sure. Johann went overboard, but he isn’t able to tell Victor how or why. He must have gotten a concussion when he hit the water. Lucy says, that’s awful. Drink this. She hands him a snifter of brandy, and Victor says, focus. Tell him what happened. Johann says he was on the deck. Maybe he lost his balance? Victor asks if he could have been pushed. Did he see anyone else? Johann says he doesn’t remember seeing anyone. He was… Victor says, what? and Johann says, having a drink. Lucy says, drinking on the job; that is really dangerous. She takes the brandy away from him, and Johann says, he wasn’t drunk. Victor tells him to go back to his stateroom and dry off. He’ll call the captain and see if they have a medic on board. Johann says he’s sorry for the trouble, and Victor says, they’ll deal with it later. Johann leaves, and Lucy says, poor Johann. Alcoholism is such a serious burden. She takes a sip of the brandy, and Victor says, something’s off.

Diane tells Sasha, the presiding judge needs to reevaluate the plea, and Sasha says she only agreed the first time because she trusted Brando. Now that he’s gone, it’s over for her. Diane says, legally it’s not, and Sonny says, Sasha shouldn’t have to go through this right now. Diane says she completely agrees. That’s why she’s prepared to file a continuance, pending Sasha’s approval. Sasha says, Diane has her approval, and Diane thanks her. She asks if Sasha knows where Brando kept his copy of the guardianship decree, and Sasha says, in his office. Or maybe their place; he didn’t say. Sonny asks if Sasha wants Diane to go in Brando’s office and check for the papers, and Diane says, the sooner they get this sorted, the better. Providing it’s okay with Sasha. Sasha says, it’s fine. She should go home. She’s tired. Sonny says, he’ll take her, and tells Diane, Brando’s office is in the back. Diane says, copy that; she’s on it. Sasha leaves, Sonny thanks Diane, and follows.  

Alexis says she has it on good authority that the Police Commissioner is unhappy with their article, and Gregory asks if she’s surprised. She says she’s not insensitive to Jordan’s concerns, she just considers warning the public to be for the greater good. Gregory says, it doesn’t hurt that the readership is up, does it? and she says, 30%. Most people were glad for the warning, but a small amount said The Invader was fearmongering. He says, the article he read didn’t sensationalize the crime; it just gave the facts. He was very impressed. She says, now she can sleep at night, and he laughs. He says he knows his opinion doesn’t matter, but she says, actually it does. It matters to her.

Sonny calls Nina, and says, he found Sasha. He could use her help. Nina says she’s confused. Sasha was missing? Why didn’t someone call her? Sonny says, they’re at Brando’s garage. He’s going to take Sasha home. Can she meet them there? She says, of course (🍷). She needs to be there. She’ll see him soon. Ava asks if Sasha’s okay, and Nina says, no. Sasha is definitely not okay. She should be with her. Nikolas comes in, and asks if he and Ava can talk. Ava tells Nina, go help Sasha. She’ll be okay. Nina leaves, and Ava tells Nikolas, say whatever it is he came here to say. But know that it’s going to take more than words to make things right between them. He says he knows. That’s why he brought this. He holds out an envelope.

Sasha hugs Brando’s coffee cup, and Sonny tells Dex to make sure he locks up when Diane is finished. He’s taking Sasha home. Dex asks if she’s going to be okay, and Sonny says, she has her family to take care of her. He asks if she’s ready to go, and she says, yeah; she’s done. She sets the cup down, which surprises me, and leaves with Sonny. Dex says, don’t worry. He’ll take care of things here.  

Finn looks at the photo of Reiko.

Elizabeth takes down a box from the shelf in her closet. She looks through it, and takes out a photo album. She turns the pages, and finds a loose photo of herself at a young age with another girl. On the back, it says, Sarah and Elizabeth, Mariana Islands, 1997.

Ava asks, what’s that? and Nikolas says he’s done talking. This is proof of how much he loves her.

Anna and Valentin walk out on Pier 54, and Anna says, the zodiac is docked. Are they coming after us? He says he doesn’t see any sign of a disturbance. He thinks they got away clean… except for his shoe. She says, he’ll live, and he says, she’s glowing. She calls him a smooth talker, and he says, she’s really in her element, isn’t she? She says, it’s fun working together. He says he’s sorry their rescue attempt fell flat, and she says she wanted Victor to be enamored with Lucy, but she’s still very concerned that putting her in his sight is such a risk. He says, it was her call. She didn’t want to leave. What can they do to keep an eye on the situation? If she needs them, they can help her. She says, her worry is that it’s not if, but when.

Lucy suggests she and Victor get back on track, and resume this date they’re having. He says he’s surprised she called it a date; she seemed determined to make it about business. She says she doesn’t know many business meetings she’s had where she’s been presented with diamonds. So she can safely assume this is a date. He says she doesn’t seem angry, and she says, she does feel compelled to tell him that she’s spoken for. She’s really very much in love with Marty. However, Victor is making it very difficult – she plays with his lapels, then his tie – to stay true. And she finds herself wondering what a future with Mr. Victor Cassadine looks like. He puts his hands on her shoulders, and says, well, let’s find out.

Alexis tells Gregory, this coffee is probably the last thing she needs right now. She’ll be up all night. Not that she needs an excuse. She’s still really worried about Kristina. She witnessed that attack, and that could make her a target. He asks if she’s given more thought to the idea of posting an open letter in The Invader to try and draw the killer out. Get them to give something away, some clue that could help the PCPD to catch them? Then Kristina will be safe. She says, she thinks if they engage the killer, keep them occupied, it could give the police more time to investigate. He says, start a dialogue; provide a distraction. She says, maintain balance though. She doesn’t want to give the attacker a platform, just enough rope to hang. She’s been a lawyer a long time, and she’s seen cases like this. And she doesn’t believe for one minute this killer is done.  

Diane comes out of Brando’s office, and looks through a folder, her back to the door. We see someone with a hook outside. A hooded figure comes in, and raises the hook.

On Monday, Gregory asks Alexis when they start; Ava says she’s going to need much more; Valentin tells Anna that he’s going to have to murder his own father; and Diane lies in a pool of blood.

🧰 Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye…

Still nothing that really says why he left. It didn’t sound like he wanted to though. Maybe he was just a sacrificial lamb for the hook storyline. I’m really hoping Diane isn’t.

✈️ Broadening Horizons…

The answer to my dialect question. I love these two. And whoever dresses Selina is spot-on. I love her wardrobe.

📸 Nice Of Her…

Well, I guess if Alexis likes him, he’ll grow on me.

💎 Surprise DEFCON 1…

A coupla things. Kathy was pretty pissed about the tequila. Maybe she was drunk. Then again, there are those estrangement periods with Kyle. Which I can totally understand, since I find her annoying, but Kathy is her sister. Also, weren’t there others who talked about her creating a commotion at the last bar they went to?

https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/kathy-hilton-rhobh-aspen-controversy-explained

🧛🏻‍♂️ Bloody Good…

I haven’t seen the first episode, but I watched a preview special on it, and it looked good.

https://collider.com/interview-with-the-vampire-review-anne-rice-amc/

⚰️ About That Spin-Off…

He’s got a point about revealing who lives.

https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-jeffrey-dean-morgan-dead-city-interview/

🐕 Wag That Tail…

I’d follow them. The pets, I mean.

🧙🏽 Quotes of the Week

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. – Voltaire

For it’s not light that is needed, but fire; it’s not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind and the earthquake in our hearts. – Frederick Douglass

If I was the toe that broke the camel’s back, I apologize. – Kathy Hilton, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension. – Joshua L. Liebman

Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralyzes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable – and, most of all, fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith rejoices in its God. – Henry Emerson Fosdick

The Ukrainians don’t even want to be in the Ukraine right now. – Caesar Mack’s friend April, 90 Day: The Single Life, after finding out he was traveling there

Always look at what you have left. Never look at what you have lost. – Robert H. Schuller

There is no sincerer love than the love of food. – George Bernard Shaw

🍂 Someone Turned Off the Heat…

Switching gears for the next two days, but put it in park on Monday for soap and a Deck birthday. Until then, stay safe, stay not getting distracted by the minutia, and stay remembering, talk is cheap.

September 22, 2022 – Finn Pinpoints the Toxin, Another Charming Fight At Dinner & Salsa

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Nina goes into Charlie’s and sees Sonny. She asks if he’s doing all right, and when he doesn’t answer, she says, Brando? Anything else happen? He says he and Alexis got into it with Kristina. Mostly Alexis. Kristina witnessed the attack on Brando; they’re just trying to keep her safe. Nina says, they express it in different ways, and he says, Kristina is an amazing young woman. He loves how she stands up for herself… Drew comes by, and says, sorry to interrupt. He just wanted Sonny to know how sorry he is about Brando. Sonny thanks him, and asks how Carly took the news, but Drew says he has no idea. He hasn’t spoken to her in a couple of days.  

In the hotel restaurant, Carly downloads her information to a new phone, and sees all the missed calls and messages. She says, wow; that’s a lot. She calls Josslyn, and leaves a message, saying, she’s still in Jacksonville, but she has a phone. She could have used Josslyn when she was trying to download everything from the cloud, but so far, so good. Call her when she gets this. She listens to a message from Drew, asking her to call, and then Sonny, saying, call him back. Peyton walks in, and asks why on earth Carly is still here.

Anna asks if Lucy was expecting Victor, and Maxie says, she seemed surprised to see him, so she doesn’t think so. Anna asks if she knows where they were headed, but Maxie says, no, and Valentin asks, how long ago did they leave? Maxie says, a little bit ago. To be honest, Lucy was definitely trying to get rid of Victor… Anna says, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Maxie says, let’s just say he was persistent… Okay. What’s going on, and how worried should she be?

On the Haunted Star, Victor brings Lucy over to a beautiful lunch spread, and she says, it’s too much, but he says, nonsense. For a woman such as herself, the whole world would not be enough. She says she used to believe that, then she saw the whole world, but this is amazing. She thought when he said a business lunch, he meant salads and Arnold Palmers. He says, if that’s all she expected in an afternoon with him, it’s high time they got that requited. The boat lurches, and Lucy asks, what was that? He says, it’s probably the ship unmooring, and she says, why would the ship unmoor? He says, to set sail. Soon, they’ll be miles from Port Charles.

Doc is about to leave his office, but Elizabeth is there when he opens the door. He asks if she’s all right, and she says she’s better. He says, good. He’s looking forward to picking up where they left off, but she says, that’s why she’s here. She was thinking about their session, and how she remembers the man she thinks is her father at the top of the stairs when the woman fell; that was a huge breakthrough. He says, they made a lot of progress. Unfortunately, memories can be a little tricky. The only way to verify what really happened is for her to reach out to her father. She says she will if she has to, but right now she has a better idea. But for it to work, she needs his help.

Jordan says, she’s only conferring with Portia and Finn on the toxicology report because they were Brando’s doctors, and they could be of help to this investigation. So no discussing with family or friends; no leaking to the press. She looks at Finn, and says, let’s keep this between them. Are they good? Portia says, of course (🍷), and Finn says, yes. Jordan says, good. Someone killed Brando using a poison hook. Any thoughts? Finn asks to look at the report, and Portia says, the toxin seems vaguely familiar. She just doesn’t know why. Finn says, the assailant didn’t use just any toxin. Whoever Jordan is looking for has a real imagination for murder. Most toxins are found in big cities, right? Portia says, why? Is this a country poison? Finn says, you could say that; it’s a venom. Jordan says, like venom from a snake? and he says he can’t determine the genus or species, but it’s definitely a reptile. Jordan says, and he knows this why? and he says, he’s never run into this in a modern clinical setting, but in the past, there have been warrior cultures who use venom to poison their spears; untouched and indigenous cultures still do to this day. Portia says, to protect themselves from missionaries and interlopers. Finn looks at her, and she says, what? She watches the science channels. Jordan says, but they’re not talking about ancient warfare or indigenous tribes. She’ll check the databases, but she doesn’t recall any serial killer profiles that have any of this. Portia says, so Jordan does believe this is the work of a serial killer.

Drew tells Sonny, he called Carly a couple of times yesterday; he just never heard back. He takes it they haven’t heard from her either. Sonny says, he called her; she never called him back. Drew says he’ll check in with Michael, and see if his mom reached out to him, Sonny asks if Drew has the contacts for the leadership seminar Carly went to, and Drew says he does. He’ll call Mia. She’s the leader of the program, and set the whole thing up. He’ll just tell her it’s a family emergency. He steps away, and Sonny tells Nina that he’s only worried because Carly wouldn’t ignore him in a dangerous situation. Nina says he doesn’t have to explain why he’s concerned about Carly. Neither does Drew.

Carly tells Peyton, she’s a guest at this hotel. She has every right to be here. Peyton says, this place used to have better standards, and Carly asks if she’s still working on her Gala. Or is Peyton and the other ladies who lunch meeting about community resources? What’s next? A designated picnic area for those making under six figures? Peyton says, actually, Jacksonville Beautification Guild is known for their charity work, and Carly says, when they’re not digging up souls from their eternal resting places. Peyton says, she had no idea Virginia was buried in that cemetery, and Carly says, great. Since Peyton has no vested interest either way, she can reconsider. Peyton says, she’s afraid it’s too late, and Carly asks, why? The measure to move the cemetery wasn’t unanimous. All they have to do is hold another vote.

Valentin tells Maxie, he doesn’t think there’s any reason to worry. He knew Lucy and his father were acquainted, but he didn’t realize they were lunching together these days. Anna asks if Maxie can reach her. Lucy’s not picking up her calls, and they need to have a chat. Maxie asks if this is about Deception, and they both say, yes. Valentin asks if Maxie knows when Lucy will be back. He doesn’t suppose there are any important business meetings Lucy has to be back for. Maxie says she’ll check with Lucy’s assistant, and picks up the phone. She asks if Lucy has any appointments today, and Anna tells Valentin, this is on her. She never should have done this; pushed Lucy to get information from Victor. He’s too dangerous. Valentin says he thinks Lucy can handle herself, and Anna says, what? Robert’s people wouldn’t take the case, and they’re professionals. Maxie tells the assistant to check sticky notes, scratch paper, napkins… Sometimes she writes things on there. Anna says Valentin knows his father better than her. So this unexpected lunch date, could it be because he’s figured out if Lucy has an agenda? He says, if he did, Victor certainly could.

Victor asks what Lucy thinks of the venue, and she says, the Haunted Star… it’s interesting. He says, just interesting? and she says, rather inspired. Isn’t this the very vessel that brought him to Port Charles… He says, shhh, and she says, so many, many years ago, before the dearly departed Helena Cassadine gifted it to his nemeses Luke and Laura on their wedding day? He says, of course (🍷). She literally wrote the book. She says, you bet I did. Here they are. If she didn’t know better – and she’s not saying she does know better – she would think he just abducted her. He asks if that’s a bad thing, and she says, she hasn’t been kidnapped in very a long time. She supposes she could use a refresher. He says, she’s a charmer, and pulls out her chair. She thanks him, and says, he’s a master of understatement, and sits. So do tell. What are they doing here on this particular vessel? He says he’s rented out the entire ship, so they could have no interruptions, and she says, how gracious of him. Johann walks in with champagne, and she says, she sees he brought his goombah. Hello goombah. Victor says, champagne? and she says, of course (🍷), and thanks him. She’s curious though. Do all his business lunches include bubbly and boat rides? He says, neither one of them is what he would call traditionalists. It’s one of the reasons they’ve been drawn to each other. So shall they enjoy their champagne? She says, they shall indeed, and they clink glasses. He says, they can watch the sunset over the water from the main deck, and she says, sunset. How long is this lunch? He says he’s taken the liberty of checking her schedule, and she’s free for the rest of the day. She says, he’s correct. She really doesn’t have any plans, except work. He says, and her lawyer acquaintance is still out of town, so it’s settled then. They clink glasses again, and he says, she’s all his.

Maxie tells Valentin and Anna, there’s no meeting in Lucy’s day planner, sticky notes, scratch paper, or napkins. That really doesn’t mean anything. She frequently doesn’t write things down, and just tends to show up. Anna asks if Brook caught where they were going, but Maxie says, she wasn’t in the room when Victor was here. Now that she’s thinking about it, it is really weird that Lucy actually went with him. They’re kind of in crisis mode with everything going on with Sasha, and it’s really not like Lucy.

Sonny tells Nina, of course (🍷) Drew’s concerned; he and Carly are friends. Nina says, from the look of what happened at the picnic, they’re more than friends. He says she’s mentioned that before, and she tells him, she’s just saying it again because maybe Drew’s investment in Carly’s well-being is more than he’s letting on.

On the phone, Drew says, so Carly didn’t even check in? Does Mia know what happened?… Where did the plane land?… All right. Thanks. He’ll find her. Here’s hoping she didn’t get in too much trouble.

Peyton tells Carly, the process of moving the cemetery has already begun. Carly was given ample notice, the same as the other families. Carly’s phone rings, and it’s a call from Drew, but she ignores it. She says, that’s not the point. Her mom had one burial request; to be near the water in her hometown. Peyton says, Virginia also probably wanted her grave tended to on a regular basis, and they know what happened there. Peyton wanted a healthy, happy marriage, and Carly spoiled that too. We can’t always have what we wanted. Carly says she was trying to be nice, but if Peyton wants to do it the hard way, that’s fine with her.

Elizabeth says she still hasn’t been able to recall that woman’s face, and Doc says he knows it’s frustrating. She says, if he hypnotizes her again, and they revisit that memory, she thinks what she saw will become clearer. He says, they can concentrate on recognizing those faces at their next session, but she ask if they can do it now. He says he has an appointment in ten minutes, and she says she knows it’s not an emergency, but she can’t sleep or eat. She hasn’t lost any time since their last session, but who knows when it will happen again? He says he understands; this process can really take a toll. She wonders if the man she can’t see is her father, and whoever it is, is that person still a threat to someone? She feels like they should figure out these answers as soon as possible. Please. She wouldn’t ask if she wasn’t desperate. He says he’ll cancel his appointment, and she comes in, closing the door behind her.

Jordan says she doesn’t want to jump to conclusions, especially since the hook used in Ava’s attack wasn’t poisoned… Portia says, Jordan thinks it’s the same assailant, and Jordan says, The Invader’s anonymous well-placed source seems to think so, but it’s too soon to say. A serial killer may have as few as two victims, but they’re usually defined by a cooling off period between attacks. These were very close together. Finn wonders why a perpetrator would use different methods in attacks, and Jordan says, in her analysis, whoever did this was disappointed that Ava survived, so they upped the ante to make sure their next victim didn’t. Portia says, all this pleasant chatter has given her the need to check on her daughter. Don’t worry. She won’t mention any details of the case. She wants Trina to be able to sleep at night. She leaves, and Jordan tells Finn, they’re dealing with a violent repeat offender. His modus operandi is growing more lethal. Which is why she believes whoever furnished the quote to The Invader was simply trying to warn the public. Finn says, all any of them want is to mitigate risk and injury, and she says, of course (🍷), but crucial information needs to be kept under wraps. This helps them separate the lunatics who confess from the real perpetrators that might want to toy with them. He says, they got phony confessions? and she says, since The Invader article, but they don’t know about the venom on the hook. He says, nor will they. He doesn’t want to compromise her investigation. She says, they’re all worried about their families, and he says, he imagines this hits pretty close to home. He’s seen TJ and Brando around the hospital. They got in a fight in the hallway one day, but they seemed to have gotten pretty friendly, so he guesses they worked it out. She supposes they did, and says, seeing a young man so close in age to her son, cut down in the prime of his life, makes it personal for her.

Carly says, she and Peyton can continue to escalate, or they can search for some common ground. Why doesn’t Peyton let Carly buy her a drink, and they can discuss this? Peyton asks if Carly is sure she can afford it, and Carly says, excuse me? Peyton says, they have Google here in Jacksonville too. It was nice, the hotel Carly used to own; the kinds that would attract visitors. She imagines at some point, Carly was even a leader in Port Charles society, someone who would understand the need for civic improvement. Look how the mighty have fallen. She tells the bartender to get the lady what she wants – it’s on her tab – and she leaves.

Sonny says he wants to discuss something with Nina; she needs security until they catch the guy. She says she’s fine, and he says, famous last words. She asks if she can just hire her own security, and he says, she’ll have to do a background check anyway, so just humor him. Drew comes by, and says he tried Carly again; still no answer. Sonny thanks him for trying, and Drew says, of course (🍷). He’ll see them around. He leaves, and Nina tells Sonny, he never said if he talked to Mia. Sonny says, it’s none of their business, and she says, she knows it isn’t, but Sasha is her business and she’s worried about her. He says, so is he. She’s gone through so much, and now Brando is gone. She says, Sasha needs all of their support, and he says, if Sasha needs anything, he’s here for her. Nina says, part of Sasha’s support team is Carly. So does he know when she’s going to come back from Aruba? His phone rings, and he says, let’s find out right now. He answers, and says he’s been trying to get ahold of her; he was worried. Where is she… Nina gets up to leave, and Sonny tells her, take one of the guys with her. She goes out the door, and I have the feeling she’s going to ignore that request.

Maxie says, Brook has no idea where Lucy is headed, and Valentin says, thanks for checking. Maxie tells them, Brook did say Lucy tweeted something about twenty minutes ago – follow your stars, accompanied with a jack-o-lantern emoji. Not a pumpkin, a jack-o-lantern, with no stars, in September, a month before Halloween. What does that even mean? Anna says she doesn’t know, and thanks Maxie. Valentin says, she’s been a big help. They jet, and Maxie says, Halloween… hmm.

Lucy tells Victor that Valentin is a brilliant strategist, and she’s so fortunate to be working with him. She also thinks he’s extremely handsome, and charming, and savvy, and sometimes a tad bit ruthless. She can certainly see where he gets that from. She bets Victor is so proud of him. Victor says, Valentin does take after him in some respects, but he’s afraid even family can disappoint. Lucy says, that’s horrible. She doesn’t see how Valentin could possibly disappoint him. That’s sad. He says, one would assume blood engenders unwavering loyalty, but sadly that’s not always the case, which is why it’s so important to forge other bonds; with her, for instance. He brings a covered try over to the table, and she says she couldn’t possibly eat another morsel, but she could use a power walk to work off all this amazing, delicious food. Will they be heading back to dry land soon? He says he certainly hopes not. Their afternoon is just getting started. He lifts the cover, and opens a box with a beautiful bracelet inside.  

On the phone, Maxie tells James, that was his Halloween costume last year. A pirate will be so much more fun… Of course (🍷) he can wear a fake parrot. Nina comes in, and she asks if they can talk about it later. His Aunt Nina just got here. Nina says, fake parrot? and Maxie says, like Nina has ever said no to James. They hug, and Nina says, never. She needs Maxie’s opinion. Maxie says, fall fashions, she’s Nina’s gal. Advice on her love life? Nina should know better. Nina says, no. She’s been trying to figure out the best way to help Sasha. Maxie says, in that case, she’s the last person Nina should talk to.

Sonny says, if Carly is in Jacksonville, why did she take so long to respond to her messages? She says she left her phone on the plane, and he says, she knows their numbers. Why didn’t she borrow a phone? She says she called Josslyn, and figured everybody else could wait until she got her replacement phone. What’s going on? Is everything okay with Donna and Avery? He says, the girls are fine. Brando isn’t.

Finn tells Jordan, in the spirit of full disclosure, it’s kind of personal for him too. She asks, how so? and he says, when he was just out of medical school, he accepted a Doctors Without Borders post near the Canary Islands. She says, Malaysia? That’s a very remote location, and he says, it is. He was with his wife, his late wife Reiko; she was also a doctor. They both felt very strongly that they could do some good work there. While they were on the island, a good friend, a good doctor, died a very painful death from a snake bite. So what they discovered about Brando brought it all back up.

Doc asks if the person is still there at the top of the stairs, and Elizabeth, now under hypnosis, says, yes. He says, can she see their face? and in her mind, she looks up to the next landing, but the man’s face is in the shadow. She says, not clearly, and he says, in their last session, she told him that she might know the woman at the bottom of the stairs. Can Elizabeth try to see her face again? Take her time. In her mind, she goes down the stairs, and looks closer at the woman, and Doc says, is she moving? She says, no. She still can’t see her face. He asks if she can get closer; try to see her face now… Elizabeth…?

Valentin hops over the railing of the Haunted Star, and then helps Anna. He asks, what it was they just took? and she says, it was a zodiac. He says, okay. Does she know who’s zodiac they took? She says she knows people, and he says, really? They grabbed it so quickly, he assumed they had no permission. She says, he sounds disappointed, and he says he is a little. She promises they’ll steal a boat next time. She’s really worried about Lucy. He says, his father is a despicable person, capable of horrible acts, but he’s not going to take advantage of Lucy, because he’s the type who prefers his conquests surrender to him. She says, eww! Does he honestly think Victor sailed Lucy out into the open waters with her permission? He says he thinks it’s a grand romantic gesture. As long as Victor hasn’t discovered Lucy’s deception, she’ll be fine. She says, his father is like a bloodhound, sniffing out people’s weaknesses, and Lucy… He says, practically advertises hers, and Anna says, he’s perfectly capable of exploiting her worst instincts.

Victor puts the bracelet on Lucy (it is gorgeous), and she says, it’s staggering. It’s simply stunning, and shiny, and sparkly, and some other S word. What has she done to deserve this? He says, that remains to be seen, and she says, oh. She’s not sure what kind of impression he has of her, but she’s had a colorful, imperfect past – a real page turner, if she does say so herself. But she was always, and still will be, always a lady. he says, without question. He apologizes if he implied otherwise, or if his intentions appeared anything other than… She says, honorable? and he asks her to accept this gift as merely a tangible token of the alliance they’re about to forge together. She says, an alliance, do tell, and he leans forward. He says he’s sure she’s noticed by now, he’s not a man who does things in half measures, including his plans for the future. She says, what kind of plans? and he says, something big is coming. One might even say, earth shattering. She says, tell her, is he going to be the man steering the ship, so to speak? and he tells her, let him say this right now. They’re heading into rough waters, and the only way to save all the souls on board is with him at the helm. He was hoping his ship would be crewed by fellow Cassadines, but it seems they can’t be relied upon. He needs a first mate, and thinks it could be her.

Portia asks Jordan if there’s anything else she can do to help regarding Brando’s case, and Jordan says, no, but she wanted to thank Portia for requesting the tox screen. Without it, they wouldn’t have determined Brando’s cause of death. Portia says she’s just glad she followed her instincts. Jordan says, this latest but of information is so distinct; it’s like a signature. Hopefully, it will help them identify who the killer is. Portia says, if there’s anything else she can do… and Jordan says she’ll let Portia know. Portia says, whatever it takes to get to the truth, and Jordan says she’s glad to hear they’re both on the side of truth.

Doc tells Elizabeth to answer him. Does she want to end this session? In her mind, she moves closer to the woman. The woman’s hair is covering her face, and Elizabeth bends down. Doc says he’s going to count backwards from five. When he gets to one, he’ll clap his hands, and she’ll wake. She kneels next to the woman. Five… four… three… two… Elizabeth reaches to move the woman’s hair. One. Doc claps, and Elizabeth opens her eyes. He says, nod if she’s with him, and she does. He says, she gave him a bit of a start. Is she okay? She says she knows exactly what she needs to do, and jets.

Maxie says, lately, all she’s done is hurt Sasha, not help her, and Nina asks how she can say that. Maxie says, things started going downhill when Lucy decided it would be best for Deception if Sasha took a major step back, especially as spokesmodel. She’s not blaming Lucy; she’s blaming herself. She wasn’t on fully board with the idea, but she went along with it. Nina says, they all know Sasha needs more help than she’s willing to accept, so maybe not having to focus on work is a good thing. Maxie says, yeah, but that’s not why they did it. They did it for the bottom line, not to help their friend. Yes, Sasha needs help, but what if the help she needs is a purpose, not a kiss-off? Nina says, she didn’t kiss Sasha off, and Maxie asks how Nina knows that. Nina says she knows Maxie. She doesn’t kiss people off. Maxie says, even so, they professionally pushed Sasha away when she personally needed them most. She wasn’t there at the meeting; Lucy had to do it alone. Sasha was so upset, she had another public meltdown. So now, on top of losing a child not even a year ago, Sasha lost Brando. How many times can this poor woman’s heart be shattered?

On the phone, Carly says, poor Sasha, and Gladys. How are they doing? Sonny says, devastated. They’re all doing the best they can to take care of them. Carly says, it doesn’t make sense. Brando was one of the good guys. She’s so sorry. She knows how close Brando and Sonny were becoming, and how much they both loved Mike. Sonny says, at least they’re together now, and she says, first Ava, now Brando; why? He says, Jordan thinks this nutjob might be targeting people close to him, and she says, what? She’s on the first flight home. He says, no, she’s not.

Elizabeth gets out her sketchpad, and begins to draw.

Finn looks at pictures of him and Violet on his phone. He scrolls through his photos, until he gets to a picture of himself with another man and a woman. He frowns.

Elizabeth finishes sketching, and it’s the woman in the picture with Finn. Hayden maybe?

Nina says, Maxie couldn’t have known this was going to happen. She’s been helping Sasha through this really tough period. Maxie says, but everything she does seems to make matters worse because of this company. She feels so cold-blooded. Nina says, look at it this way; she’s protecting Sasha’s livelihood during this crisis. Maxie says, there’s got to be something else she could do to help; something to show she actively supports Sasha. Nina says, there is. Do whatever Sasha needs, even if Sasha pushes her away. Maxie says, trust her. She knows what it’s like. When Nathan was killed… Nina remembers. So much needs to be done. Nina says, there’s one thing that’s going to be too difficult for Sasha and Gladys to do. Something that requires a master planner, like Maxie. Maxie says, right. This is horrible. A week ago, she was drafting a guest list for Sasha and Brando’s wedding reception. Now she’s going to use that list for his funeral.

Sonny tells Carly, the girls are safe; Josslyn too. He has around the clock security on all of them. She asks about Michael, and Sonny says, Michael gets his own security. He doesn’t need Sonny’s help, but Sonny’s looking out for him. Peyton walks into the restaurant, and Carly says, it’s really hard not coming home when there’s a homicidal maniac targeting their family. He says, she’s safer where she is, and she says she’s in Jacksonville, Florida. He says he knows he can’t stop her from coming back, and he knows she hates Jacksonville, but do him a favor. Do not come back until he gives her the all-clear. She says, he’ll keep her posted? and he says, always. She thanks him, and Peyton says, a homicidal maniac; sounds like her family needs her. It’s a pity Carly must go. Carly says she’s not going anywhere until she’s sure Virginia is going to stay where she is in that cemetery, and Peyton says, it’s not up to her. Carly gets up, and says, I know it’s been quite a few years since you knew me, Mrs. Roberts, and Peyton says, that’s no longer her name. Carly says, but she’s not impressed or intimidated by Peyton. And the one thing that hasn’t changed is, she’s still really good at raising hell. So if Peyton thinks she regretted knowing Carly then, just wait.

Lucy tells Victor, she does so love a man with plans and a vision. Can he share his nefarious plans with her? She’s excited to hear them. He’s got her curious, and she doesn’t even know what they are. He says he’d like nothing more. He just wishes he knew who he could trust. She says she did think they were building a rapport, and he says, and so they are. He pours them brandy, and says he looks forward to deepening their connection, but she has to understand, a man in his position needs to be judicious. She says, especially with his grand designs, and he says, speaking of designs… He calls Johann in, and suggests he enjoy some air outside. Johann leaves, and Victor says, alone at last.

Anna says she thinks they’ll find Valentin’s father and Lucy in the main room, and Valentin says, unless they find them in a stateroom. She says, eww! and he says, she said it herself; his father’s very persuasive. They go inside, and Anna asks if he thinks they should split up. They suddenly run, doubling back, and going down a different hallway, Valentin shutting the deck door as they pass it. Johann comes out on the deck, drinking a beer, and suddenly, Valentin needs to sneeze. Anna puts her hand over his nose and mouth, and pushes him against the wall. Johann hears them, and takes out his gun.  

Tomorrow, Sasha wonders if she’s going to prison; Elizabeth remembers the woman at the bottom of the stairs; and Victor says, Lucy must always be honest with him, no matter what.

Southern Charm

Craig goes to the bar, and Taylor tells him to stop being a diva, and not be in such a crappy mood. At the table, Naomie says, Craig is annoying, and Austen says he wishes Naomie was his ex. Shep says, that’s nice, but also weird, and in Craig’s interview, he says he’s more irritable when Naomie is around. She’s condescending, but they broke up, and she doesn’t get to tell him anything anymore. Shep suggests they go back to the house, and they go to the girls’ (and Shep’s) rental villa. In the driveway, Craig gets Austen in a headlock, and they both fall. In Austen’s interview, he says, Craig is like a f***ing bull in a china shop. He asks Craig what’s wrong with him. Naomie sits with Shep and Taylor, and in Taylor’s interview, she says, Shep acts entitled, especially when he’s drinking. He has the mentality of a twelve-year-old. Taylor says she’s going to hang out with the others, and Shep says he doesn’t like her hanging out, but she leaves anyway. Naomie tells Shep to be nice. Taylor joins Olivia and Austen in the kitchen, and Craig calls Austen. He says he went to their room, and Austen asks if he’s sure he’s got the right one. Craig says, 383. He’s got popcorn, chips, and Doritos. He knows everyone wants to come. Tell them to come. Austen hangs up, and says, shut up, Craig. Whitney joins Shep and Naomie, and asks what they’re talking about. Naomie says, Shep and Taylor, and Whitney says, Shep needs to treat Taylor better. In Shep’s interview, he says, it’s like an ongoing saga about them, and he’s not feeding that monster. He tells Whitney, at the end of the day, we’re punished for our kindnesses, and Whitney frets over the plural of kindness, thinking it doesn’t sound right. In the kitchen, Austen says, Shep is tooting his own horn, and Olivia suggests they play a drinking game. Any time Shep says, crazy or happy, they take a drink. Austen says, they don’t have enough alcohol. Shep tells Whitney, this is crazy. Everyone has an opinion. Whitney says, Shep is deflecting, and just when Olivia adds done to the drinking game, Shep says he’s done. Whitney says he’s just trying to help Shep navigate, but Shep says he doesn’t need help. Whitney begs to differ, but Shep says, he’s happy, happy, happy. Leave him alone. In Shep’s interview, he says, they’re like piranhas taking chunks from them. He tells Whitney, it’s driving him crazy, and Naomie says she thinks it’s time to go downstairs. In her interview, she says she thinks this isn’t being constructive. Shep will just get mad, and she doesn’t want Shep mad at her. They hit 12 in the drinking game, and Shep joins Taylor in the kitchen, whispering to her that it’s sick. People are attacking him for no reason. He’s never loved anyone more than he loves her. It’s insane, and he doesn’t know what to do. Taylor says, he’s freaking out, and he says, damn right. She tells him, those are her friends; they’re his friends. Try what she does – pray – which is probably the last thing Shep wanted to hear. Austen says he can’t with the whispering, calls Shep a p*ssy, and walks out. Shep follows, yelling that he can’t believe he’s sharing oxygen with Austen; he’s an a-hole. Austen says, Shep wants to control the situation, and that’s what the whispering was about. Shep says he wasn’t whispering, and Austen says he just watched Shep whispering, as we all did. Shep asks why Austen is upset about what he does, and Olivia listens in. Austen says, Shep isn’t a bad guy, and he doesn’t want to fight. Whitney suggests Shep STFU and chill, and in Austen’s interview, he says he’s done enough being Shep’s relationship counselor. Nothing he says seems to stick, and it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Whitney says he’s out of here, and they’ll revisit this in the morning.

Leva bakes with Little, and in her interview, she says, being a control freak has served her in a lot of ways, but it’s not good for the long game. That’s what motherhood teaches a person. At this point, she’s just going to show up with what’s left of her, and get things done. In St. Simon’s, things are a mess in the morning, and Olivia wants to know if she won the bet about Naomie waking up at Whitney’s villa. Venita says she has money on this, and they go to Naomie’s room. After getting nothing out of listening at the door, Venita finally knocks, and Naomie is there. Olivia says she lost, and Naomie has no idea what she’s talking about. At the hotel, Austen tells Craig, last night was explosive. First Craig at dinner, then him with Shep. Shep was going on about how he hates everyone. Craig says, that’s what happens when you yell at your girlfriend in front of people, and Austen says he thinks Shep sees his control spiraling out of his grasp. He wants to ask Taylor to quit her job. It’s like Britney Spears dad taking control of her life. Craig says, free Taylor, and Austen says, it’s like holding on to a bird too tightly. A bird lands on their balcony, and Austen says, it’s an omen. Craig says, Shep’s  spying on them with birds.

Shep says he’s bad for Taylor, and she says he has to walk away instead of yelling. He says he feels like he’s caught in the loop of a video game, and can’t get out of a level. Taylor says, her best advice is for him to set his ego aside. Say he’s rough around the edges, but willing to change. He has to control it. Everyone thinks she’s trying to defend him, but she can only take so much; it’s his thing. Venita and Olivia start making breakfast, and Naomie comes downstairs. Shep is next, and Naomie says, she’s the only one that got a full night’s sleep. Shep says, it was an unfortunate end to the night. He points to the bottle of Maker’s Mark, and says, that didn’t help. Venita says, it’ll be fine, and Naomie asks what they’re doing. Shep says, some of them are golfing, and everyone else is going shrimping; they’re going to eat what they catch. They sit for breakfast, and Naomie says, if anyone walked in, they’d think they’re normal people. Craig says he doesn’t want to golf with Shep, and Austen says, then come shrimping. In Austen’s interview, he says he just wants to chill out for the day. He doesn’t hate Shep, but he doesn’t want to be around him. Whitney arrives, and says he looks more like he’s going squirrel hunting than shrimping or golfing. Austen and Craig ride a tandem bike over to the house, and they all leave for their activities. Shep says, he and Craig will be eating crow tonight, and Naomie says, self-awareness is difficult for Craig; he doesn’t have any. And that’s the problem.

At the Let’s Go Shrimpin’ boat, Captain Cameron welcomes them, and they meet with naturalist Jeffrey. He says, they’re going to trail the net behind the boat, and drag it, and hopefully, it will scoop up the shrimp. In Austen’s interview, he says, he’s never gone shrimping… unless he went with Chelsea. We flash back to Chelsea and Austen wading in the water with nets, and Chelsea saying, Austen sucks. They’ll have to stop at Chick-Fil-A on the way home. In his interview, Austen says, no; it was crabbing. Back on the shrimpin’ boat, Austen and Craig do a Titanic pose on the bow. In Naomie’s interview, she says she doesn’t know sh*t about golf, but her ass is not going on a boat and being stuck with Craig all day. Craig tells Olivia that Naomie will always have a place in his heart, but he hated how she put him down in front of people. Olivia says, from that perspective, his outburst makes sense, and in her interview, she says, it makes Craig derail himself. Reel it in. Craig says he was crazy to go on vacation with her, and Olivia says, 100%. Shep tells Naomie, loosey, goosey, and confident, whatever that means. Whitney asks what the plans are for tonight, and Shep says, they’re going to change and have a nice dinner. Hopefully, they caught a lot of shrimps, and they’ll have a feast. As the net is brought up, seagulls try to steal shrimp. In Venita’s interview, she says she doesn’t feel like fighting. She’s getting along with everyone, but it’s eye opening. Craig doesn’t seem to be the same Craig that Naomie is talking about. The captain gives them a bucket of shrimp when they get to the dock, and they shotgun some beers.  

Back at the house after golf, Whitney and Shep talk in the kitchen, while Naomie takes a shower. Shep says he’s pleased to observe Whitney and Naomie’s relationship, and asks if they’re seeing other people. Whitney says, no labels and no rush, and Shep says, the best thing is to remain friends. Craig is driving him crazy. Whitney says, Craig is cool and funny, and then he’s the Terror of Tiny Town, screaming at everyone. Shep says, Naomie dumped Craig, and Whitney says, so there’s the ego aspect. He feels bad for her. Shep says, him too, and Whitney leaves to get dressed. The shrimpers get back, and everyone gets dressed up. Shep says, they need to get the shrimp to the chef, and thinks they should get going; everyone is getting restless. He tells them to go to the main lobby of the hotel, and they’ll be eating on the lawn behind it. Austen and Craig stroll over, and Austen says, they’re next to the beach, but they’re dressed like they’re going to a fox hunt. There’s a beautiful, candlelit table ready for them, and they meet hostess Natasha and banquet captain Davia. Davia explains it’s a fancy name for supervisor. Whitney gives props to Shep for the floral display, and Shep wonders why it’s assumed he was in charge of the flowers. Taylor says, he’s a floral guy, but he says he’s a fun-gi. He asks if Craig has been in the food and beverage industry, and Naomie says, let’s not go back there. We flash back to Craig asking her the same question last night, and Craig says, he’d be relieved if someone said they were pregnant. Olivia says, Austen told them? and they all ask if she’s pregnant. Austen says, yes, and Olivia says, just kidding.

The first course is crab cakes paired with prosecco, and I’m in. Naomie says, Shep is getting better. He now asks before taking food off your plate. The entrée is beef strip loin, and the shrimp on skewers, using the shrimp the group caught, paired with cabernet. Olivia picks up a shrimp, and says, it’s the one she named; it’s little Jerry. Craig invites everyone to a Winter Wonderland party to celebrate his company. He’s going to have cocktail hour, a catered sit-down dinner, and dancing afterwards to a ten-piece band. It’s determined that Craig and Austen would beat anyone at The Newlywed Game, and in Olivia’s interview, she says, if Craig was a woman, she’d be jealous. She’d have a lot to worry about. Venita says, they made it halfway through dinner, and no one is screaming. Naomie says, the mood is different, and Craig is being sweet. Craig says he blew his load last night, then realizes that’s not the appropriate term to use. Whitney says, this is the Craig they love, and hopes Craig can maintain it. Craig says he’ll try to stay at the table. Shep asks if he’s inviting Madison, and Craig says he is, not to f*** with Austen, but because he thinks she doesn’t care anymore. Austen says he won’t be sitting at the same table with her, and Craig says, forgiving people is the power. Naomie says he needs to apologize for yesterday, and he says he did, last night. She tells him that he wasn’t civil with her last night; she’s just saying. In Venita’s interview, she wonders if Naomie is trying to pick a fight with Craig. Keep your sh*t together. Naomie says, Craig shouldn’t have called her a psycho ex, and say she doesn’t exist without him. It’s not nice. Craig says he’ll work on being kinder, but last night, she told him how to act in a restaurant. She says she didn’t; she said, guys… Whitney tells Craig to settle down, and Naomie says she has the tools; she’s been in therapy. Craig says he should never yell at anyone, but at the end of the day, they probably shouldn’t interact too much. She’s in his past. Shep suggests they get rid of the negative, and Venita asks if they can acknowledge that this bothered Craig. In Olivia’s interview, she says, Venita is on Craig’s side, and they’ve been friends with Naomie for decades. What is she doing? Venita says, it would be helpful if they acknowledged Craig’s feelings, and Naomie says, shut up. I laugh, and Craig tells Naomie that she’s not welcome at his party. It’s one of those moments where it’s hard to believe these people are as old as they are. Naomie says she doesn’t have to be there. Craig gets up, and says he’s sorry, but this is why they don’t hang out. It brings him to a level he doesn’t like, and he doesn’t want to act like Shep, and yell at girls. He just wants to go home. He leaves, and the table gets exceptionally quiet. Venita finally tells Naomie, she’s not saying Naomie was wrong in what she said, but she was told to shut up, so she didn’t get everything out. Naomie says, what Venita did was fake as sh*t; taking Craig’s side. Venita says, Naomie could have just said she felt hurt and didn’t appreciate that. She didn’t have to say shut up.

Venita tells Naomie not to talk to her like that, but Naomie says, she needed to shut up. Venita says, Naomie has all this class, then tells her to shut up. She gets it. In Venita’s interview, she says, she and Naomie go back ten years. They played tennis all the time, and she went through Naomie’s break-up with Metul with her. They were friends. She would never talk to anyone like that. Of all people, how dare she? The last course is dessert, a lemon fruit tart with crème something, paired with port (not my favorite; skipping dessert). In Naomie’s interview, she says she thought Venita would defend her, but she guesses Venita’s friendship with Craig is better. She’s disappointed and hurt. Shep says, they both have a point, but it’s a long standing emotional issue. Venita says, tell her not to butt in, but not shut up, and Shep says, right. Let’s forget it. Austen says, they almost got to dessert, and Olivia says, they made it longer than last night. Austen says, that’s what she said. Shep says he’ll bring Craig some pudding, and asks Austen to bring a glass of port. Austen wonders how he keeps from drinking it on the way. In Olivia’s interview, she says, it would be easier to enjoy these trips if they could figure it out, but she’s still having fun… ish.

Back at the villa, Venita tells Olivia that she doesn’t want Naomie thinking she’s taking Craig’s side. She just wants Naomie to apologize, so they can be done with it. Naomie comes in, and Venita says, sit next to her.

Craig tells Shep and Austen that the Naomie factor shouldn’t be a factor. He doesn’t like acting like that. Shep says, they all have breaking points, and they’ve all seen each other break. Austen tells Craig not to let Naomie dictate his sh*t, and Craig asks, what happened after he left? Shep says, Naomie and Venita got into it. He wants no more yelling and craziness. Venita tells Naomie that she wasn’t saying Naomie was wrong; she thought Naomie was right. She was just saying, calm down. Craig’s feelings were hurt, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Naomie says, okay, but in her interview, she says, so much for loyalty. Olivia says, it’s okay. She thought they were friends. She hopes they are.

Next time – the finale – Patricia smokes a cham(pagne) bong; Shep tells Taylor that he wants to…; Craig’s Winter Wonderland party happens; and Craig says he’ll have security escort Leva out.

🥼 Putting On My Coat Of One Color…

Make a return appearance tomorrow for soap, a variety of tea and quotes, and music to soothe your soul. Until then, stay safe, stay emotionally intelligent, and stay always asking before you take the food off of someone’s plate.

September 21, 2022 – Portia Gets Brando’s Lab Results Back, Crystal Brings the Roaring 20s To Beverly Hills, Latest House, Newest Tale & Bon Twice

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

In a dressing room, someone puts makeup on Chase. Brook says, enough. He’s perfect as he is. Curtis’s voice says, ladies and gentlemen, and others… Coming to the Savoy stage is a hot new star who’s on the rise, so kick back and enjoy what you see with your eyes, and what you hear from his captivating production. Without further ado, or more introduction, put your hands together, and let the music do the talking. The audience applauds, and Brook says, they’re ready for him. Chase gets up, wearing a David Bowie type suit and sunglasses. He takes the sunglasses off, and he has makeup to match. He tells Brook, they can wait. Whereas he can’t wait another minute to be with her. He kisses her, and Lucy says, earth to Brook Lynn. Brook says, she’s sorry. Can Lucy repeat that? Maxie asks, where were you just now? and Lucy says, right. Because she certainly wasn’t here.

Finn is walking while looking at a tablet, when Chase reaches out and pulls him around the corner. Finn asks, what’s wrong with him? and Chase says, you tell me. What happened to Brando?

Curtis calls Portia from the closed club, and says, any word on Brando’s cause of death? She looks at the hospital computer, but cause of death is blank. She says, nothing yet.

Alexis meets Sonny outside Charlie’s, and says, sorry she’s late; work. He says he assumes she was up all night. Hard to stop the press when you have late-breaking news. He holds up The Invader, and the headline says: 2 VICTIMS, 1 HOOK, with a picture of the same type of spear-hook the attacker used.

On the phone at Pier 54, Anna says she has feelers out. They knew this wasn’t going to be easy. It appears to be more dangerous than she anticipated. We see someone in dark clothing, with a hook, not far behind her. She says, of course (🍷) she’s being careful. A black-gloved hand holds out the hook. Anna says, Robert, stop worrying. Take that energy and channel it into finding the person who attacked Ava and killed Brando. The gloved hand turns the hook back and forth, and Anna says she’ll be in touch. She turns, and sees the hook, then realizes it’s Jordan. Jordan says, sorry for startling her. She didn’t want to interrupt Anna’s phone call. Anna says, maybe in order to avoid any future misunderstandings, she might want to leave the sharp objects at home. Jordan says she just picked this up from the marina shop. It’s the same brand and type that was missing from the Quartermaine property. Anna takes it from her, and says, the same type used on Ava and Brando? Jordan says, that’s the theory. She’s on her way to GH to speak to the medical examiner. Anna says, if she needs any assistance, Jordan knows how to reach her. Jordan says, thanks, but the matter she needs off her plate is something she needs to handle herself.

Curtis tells Portia, as soon as he gets this mess sorted out with Jordan and the divorce papers, they will get married. She asks if there’s anything she can do to help, and he says he spoke with Jordan last night. She asks how it went, and he tells her, let’s just say, the divorce papers won’t be an issue. She says, he still didn’t answer her question. Does Jordan feel as he does? She doesn’t mean to be intrusive. He says, she isn’t. His relationship with Jordan isn’t just theirs; she’s a part of it too. He’ll tell her all about it when he sees her. She tells him, just be careful out there, and he says, always. He turns around, and Selina is there with her bodyguard. She says, it seems that things are getting dangerous in Port Charles.

Chase says, Michael called him last night and said Brando was attacked, but they thought he was going to be fine. By the time he got through to Sasha, Brando was dead, and she was in pieces. Finn says, everyone here is in shock as well. One minute, Brando was conscious and in good spirits, and the next thing you know, he was coding. Chase asks how it happened, and Finn says, they’re trying to find out. Portia sent his bloodwork to the lab to try to find the cause. Chase says, and until Finn does, if he does, Brando’s family is suffering, and that mystery is only going to add to their grief. The Invader quoted an anonymous General Hospital source, which means somebody here knows enough to talk to the press about the fact that Ava and Brando were attacked with a hook. He wants to find that person and talk to them himself, so he can find out who killed Sasha’s husband. Finn says, that’s a job for the cops, and Chase is no longer a cop.

Brook says she got the last sparkling water. They’ll have to tell the runner to get another case. She takes a sip, and wonders why the fridge in the breakroom can’t adequately chill a simple sparkling water. How can they be their best and most creative when they’re not sufficiently hydrated? Lucy says, speaking of their best… and Maxie says, they were just discussing Brando. Brook says, poor Sasha… Poor Gladys. Lucy says, it’s horrible, and poor social media response from Deception, or lack thereof, and Brook says she did draw up something. She can send it right over before they publish it. Maxie says, Brook doesn’t have to send it to her or Lucy; just send it out now. Brook asks if they don’t want to weigh in on something this sensitive regarding a partner, and Lucy says, no, that’s the point. With something this sensitive, timeliness is crucial. Brook says she just found out about Brando this morning, and Lucy says, and why is that? They called her last night. They texted her, emailed her, then called her again. Brook says she turns her phone off at night; work/life balance, right? Maxie says, that’s true, but isn’t it possible Brook is focusing more on her life, and not work? and Lucy says, like maybe 101% for life and minus 1% for work? Maxie says, they feel like maybe Brook’s heart isn’t totally with Deception, and Lucy says, like maybe it’s totally with Chase.

Alexis says she’s sorry about Brando, and Sonny says, him too. She asks, how’s Sasha? and he asks if this is on the record. He just doesn’t want to be blindsided. She says she meant to give him a heads up, but time got away from her. What can she do to make amends? He says, Sasha’s having a hard time, so maybe she can keep that in mind, and she says she’ll do her best. He says, they always agree on what’s best for their daughter, and she says, absolutely. Speaking of which, let’s go. They go into Charlie’s, where Victor is telling Kristina, in England if you mispronounce that word, you’re sent to the Tower of London, and your head’s cut off. Kristina laughs, and Victor says, it’s true. Alexis tells Sonny that she thinks they should agree on a plan of action first, and Sonny walks over to Victor and Kristina. Alexis is about to follow, when Valentin grabs her arm, and says, the two of them are going to stay out of this. She says, that’s her daughter, and he says, and Victor is her uncle; that makes him Kristina’s great uncle. He spends more time than he wants to as his father’s lieutenant. It’s better to stay on Victor’s good side, trust him. Let Sonny take care of the bad. Kristina says, Victor is so totally wrong, and Sonny asks what Victor is wrong about. Sonny and Kristina hug, and she says she was just teaching Uncle Victor the correct pronunciation of the word scone. Victor says, and he was just telling Kristina, in Europe, they call it sconn, and Sonny says, in America, his daughter’s correct. Kristina says, back work for her. She’s glad Victor enjoyed his scone. Kristina leaves, and Victor says, always a pleasure, but he must be off. Sonny says, Victor, Victor, Victor. How many times does he have to tell Victor to stay away from his family? Victor says, like it or not, Kristina is his family as well. He greets Alexis, says, ready? to Valentin, and leaves. Outside, he looks at his phone and frowns.  

Chase says, way to kick a guy when he’s down, and Finn says, sorry. He didn’t like saying it any more than Chase liked hearing it, but Chase isn’t part of this investigation. Chase says, he and Sasha bonded when they were trying to help Michael and Willow, and now she’s going through hell. There’s got to be some way he can help her. Finn says, in a way the police can’t. Does he have a lead? Is there somewhere he can go that they can’t? Chase knows the drill. Say he does some digging around and finds something. Without a badge, without a warrant, without jurisdiction, that piece of evidence gets invalidated, and it can throw the whole case out. Then Chase can really kiss his law enforcement career goodbye. Chase says, if Finn thinks he wants to solve this to make himself look good to the higher ups, he couldn’t be more wrong. He’s not angling to use Brando’s death to get his job back. Finn says he knows that. All he’s trying to say is, the PCPD needs a good cop like Chase back on the force, not out in the cold for good. Chase says, who knows when or if he’ll be reinstated. What is he supposed to do in the meantime? Finn says, be there for Sasha, but Chase says, she has plenty of people to be there and comfort her; all he has is time, and frustration. Finn says, if he was Chase, he would spend time with someone he cares about, and channel that energy into a cause that makes a difference. He knows Chase has both.

Brook says, they’re accusing her of shirking her work duties for a guy? and Lucy says, yesterday, Brook spent all morning looking at Chase wallpaper to select it for her computer screen, and somehow their call waiting music is Chase’s demo. Brook says, everyone who’s had to wait on hold has thanked her for it. Since when is it a crime to enjoy a relationship? Maxie says, she and Lucy are happy for her and Chase, and Lucy says, so, so, so happy. It’s okay to focus on her boyfriend sometimes, but Brook is spending more work time promoting Chase’s career and music. So if she doesn’t start promoting and taking care of Deception, and stop mooning over Chase and doing everything for his work and his career, then they’re going to just part ways and fire her. Maxie looks shocked, and Brook says, they want to fire her? Maxie says, no, they’re not going to fire her, and Lucy says, okay, but Brook better get her head back in the game now. Brook’s phone chimes, and she reads: Chase’s Audition 15 Minutes. Brook says, duly noted. She has to run now. Maxie says, no, where is she going? and Brook says, to get her head back in the game.

Anna says she’s guessing the matter on Jordan’s plate is the life changing information Jordan gathered on Curtis. Anna thought she wanted to disclose it to Curtis. Jordan says, her self-examination derailed after a tough question from Curtis. He asked if she was trying to hold on to their marriage. Anna asks, what gave him the idea she might be? and Jordan says, a volunteer postal worker. Anna says, okay. What did Jordan tell him? Did she lie? Jordan says, she told the truth. It just wasn’t the answer to the question he asked.

Curtis asks if there’s a poker game going on in the back he’s not aware of, and Selina says, it’s a bit early in the day for a high stakes poker game. He says, then he can’t imagine another reason she might be in his nightclub, and she says, she does have a reason. Just not a good one.  

Valentin says he hopes Victor knows what he’s doing, and Victor says, apart from a lesson in pronunciation, he was offering Kristina his professional assistance in the wake of her close brush with a murderer. Valentin says, it would be a mistake to provoke Sonny Corinthos, and Victor says he can’t believe Valentin is intimidated by a local mob kingpin. Valentin says, Sonny pursues his own ends quietly, but he’s dangerous when provoked, and Victor says, that’s why he’s keeping Valentin around, amongst other reasons. Nice seeing him. Let’s reconnect soon. Valentin says, Victor was going to give him a date when he can visit Charlotte, and Victor says he will, but right now he a more pressing issue to attend to. Adieu.

Curtis asks what Selina wants from him now, and she flashes back to Sonny saying, Chase is a good singer, a good guy, and he thinks Chase would make a good fit for The Savoy; and Selina saying she appreciates Sonny making the connection, and thinks Curtis will too. She tells Curtis, an apology. She’s seen him twice since his engagement, and he never said a word. She had to hear about it from her nephew. Apparently, that’s all anyone is talking about. He says she exaggerates, and she says, Dr. Robinson is a very lucky woman, but she wishes Curtis had shared his intentions with her. She could have connected him to a fine jeweler she knows. He asks how much that favor would have cost him, but she says, no favor; a courtesy from one partner to another. He says, partners are equal; they’re anything but. She says she’s open to expanding his role in her organization, but he says he prefers his independence. She says, independence is an illusion. She’d still like to honor his engagement. He says, she’s done enough, but she says, he doesn’t know what it is yet. Brook and Chase walk in, and Brook says she hopes they’re not late.

Jordan tells Anna, of course (🍷) she still loves Curtis. The divorce wasn’t her choice. He couldn’t forgive her from keeping too many things from him. Anna asks why Jordan is still keeping secrets, and Jordan says, if she told Curtis what she knows, it could destroy his relationship with Portia. And what does that get her? Gratitude? A second chance with him? She’s unlikely to get either. Anna says, what about her own self-respect? and Jordan says she wouldn’t be proud of herself for hurting two people in love. So she’s decided Curtis and Portia’s relationship is no longer her business. Anna says, perhaps not, but is Curtis’s happiness her business? They had a great marriage when they were together. Doesn’t Jordan still love and respect him? By withholding this information, she’s basically decided what Curtis can and can’t handle; what he should and shouldn’t know. is that fair? Valentin shows up, and Jordan tells Anna, thanks for listening. Anna says she’ll always listen, and Valentin says, forgive him for intruding, but is there something Jordan wants to tell them? Jordan says, as a matter-of-fact, she does. Be careful. They know the how of Ava and Brando’s attacks, but they don’t know the why. Which makes it harder to predict who might be the next target. She leaves.

Finn sees Portia, and asks if she isn’t off today. She says, she doesn’t know. Is it today, yesterday, tomorrow; she has no idea. He says, she never left the hospital, and she says, Britt and Terry had their hands full with the police, so she volunteered to take over. He says, she should have told him, but she says she knew he had a prior commitment with his daughter. Besides, Trina’s back in the dorm, Curtis is working late, and with everything that’s going on around here… He says, she needed the hustle and bustle of the hospital, and she says, focusing on work keeps her mind off things. Like what really happened with Brando. She went over everything; his vitals, the post op reports. He should have made a full recovery. Finn says he’s hoping the tests from the lab provide the answers, and she says, if not, maybe they can get some answers from The Invader. She read the article linking the attacks, and disclosing that a hook was used in both. She also happened to notice they cited an anonymous GH source. She wonders who spoke up.

Alexis asks what went on with Sonny and Victor, and he tells her, hold on. He goes over to the bar, and asks if Kristina is okay. She says she’s fine. Save his concern for Sasha and Gladys. Alexis says, their concern is for her right now. She witnessed the attack. They have every right to be concerned. Kristina says, Great Uncle Victor thought so too. He had some pretty good advice. Alexis says, Victor was checking up on her too? and Kristina says, he offered to hire someone to protect her after the attack on Brando. Great guy, but overreact much? Alexis says, in this situation, her Uncle Victor has it sized up correctly.

Lucy scarfs gummi bears, and Maxie tells her not to choke on her gummies. Take nice, even breaths, and breathe away her frustration over Brook. Lucy says, BLQ just might be BFE – bye forever. Maxie says, Brook is in love, and it’s not worth firing her over. They just spoke to her. Let’s give her a chance to do better. She wrests the bag of gummies from Lucy’s hand, and Lucy says, okay. Maybe they should check with the headhunters to just see if there’s some social media talent out there. Maxie asks if they can put a pin in that, and give Brook a second chance. Think of all the mistakes they’ve made for love. Victor walks in, and says, and he hazards a guess that Lucy is long overdue another chance.

Brook asks if Curtis has time for Chase’s audition. It seems like they’re interrupting. Curtis says, apparently there was a mix up. He didn’t realize there was an audition on the books today. Brook says she knew she should have come in person to confirm, and not rely on her assistant, and Chase says, Curtis seems busy. They should come back another time. Brook says she’s sure a successful entrepreneur such as Curtis can eke out two minutes to hear Chase cut loose. Curtis says, he knows from the Nurses Ball that Chase has a set of pipes on him. He could do with a refresher. He always has time for a star on the rise.

Portia tells Finn that she even saw an item on the news this morning, which means the national outfits are sniffing around. That’s all thanks to the Invader story. Whoever decided to speak to Alexis’s reporter, may have been responsible for bringing additional attention to the case, which is such a good thing. Finn says he really doubts the party in question was looking for any kind of attention, when Jordan comes around the corner. Portia says, otherwise, it would have gone on record. She’s sure this civic-minded individual’s only goal was to alert the public to a killer in their midst. Jordan says, the best of intentions. If only they didn’t threaten to disrupt an investigation that barely started. If either of them have any idea as to the identity of this civic-minded individual, please let her know.

Sonny says, he and Kristina’s mother are going to keep her safe, not Victor. Kristina says, she appreciates the concern, but focus on Molly. She had a thing with Brando. She must be feeling awful. Alexis says, Molly didn’t witness the attack, but Kristina says, she’s hardly a witness. It was dark and raining, and she’s not even sure if the attacker was a male or female.  Sonny says, Brando’s killer doesn’t know that, and Kristina says, if she’d gotten a good look, Jordan would have made her sit down with a sketch artist, and the likeness would have been posted on social media and the news outlets, and every lamppost and telephone pole in Port Charles. But there’s no posted likeness, so the attacker knows she’s not a threat. Alexis says, Kristina can’t read the lunatic’s mind. Neither can she or Kristina’s father. That’s why they talked about it, and think it’s best if she came and stayed with one of them, just for a little bit. Kristina says, hard pass, and Alexis says, it won’t matter if she takes a little break. Kristina says she’s not quitting her job, and Sonny says, no one’s suggesting that. Kristina says, PCU is back in session, and Phyllis is slammed with students at night. She’s not going to leave Phyllis hanging. Sonny says, Phyllis will understand, and Alexis says, of course (🍷) she will. Just tell Phyllis she’s scared. Kristina says she’s not scared, and Alexis says she has so much respect for Kristina’s courage; it’s so admirable. Kristina says, this has nothing to do with courage. It’s an objective evaluation of the situation. Alexis asks if Kristina really wants to risk her life for minimum wage slinging beer in a dead end job. Isn’t Kristina a manager? I would hope she’s getting more than minimum wage.

Lucy says, Victor is such a flirt, and he says, guilty as charged. He was merely referring to her wayward companion. Marvin, isn’t it? Lucy and Maxie both say, Martin, and he says, any word on a return date? Lucy says, not just yet, and he says, it’s criminal to allow such a beautiful woman to go unchaperoned. Maxie cough/laughs, and Victor asks if she’s all right. Maxie says, she’s just trying to wrap her head around Lucy and a chaperone, and Lucy says, hey! Victor tells her, don’t engage; it’s not worth it. He asks if there’s somewhere they could talk more privately, and she says she would absolutely love that, but they’re in a huge, very important business meeting. Maxie says, they are? and Lucy says, yes, they are. They were discussing the marketing of the Cunning Concealer. Maxie says, they had that meeting yesterday, and Lucy says, she’s right. They were talking about testing the Bluffing Blush. Maxie says, it passed with flying colors, and Lucy tells Victor, lunch? He says, on him, and on her way out the door, Maxie says, enjoy. Should be fun. Victor says he thought she’d never leave. Now at last he has Lucy all to himself.

Valentin says he’s sorry; he kept Anna waiting. She says, she figured he was with his father. Anything relevant to Charlotte? He says, no. Victor keeps putting him off. Victor’s more concerned about Kristina; she witnessed Brando Corbin’s attack. Anna says, she knows; horrible. So Victor’s playing family man. He says, he’s very devoted to family, as the Cassadines define the term. They eat their young. She says, not him, and puts her hand on his chest. She says, they’re going to bring Charlotte home, and he tells her, when she says it, he almost wants to  believe it’s true. They sit, and he says, the moment he decided to have a child, from the moment Charlotte was born, her life was in danger just because she was his daughter. There were forces, people, enemies who would be tempted to use her as leverage against him. He had to be careful. He just wasn’t careful enough. His own father it turns out was more lethal than anyone. She doesn’t even know to be scared of him. He’s so frightened. Anna says, good. To be brave, sometimes you need to be frightened. Now they need to be brave. He says, why? What happened? She says, she engaged one of Robert’s contacts to surveil the so-called school where Victor is holding Charlotte. Less than 24 hours after taking the assignment, the operative wanted out. Apparently Victor’s name produces a chilling effect. So if Robert’s people are going to back out, they may be on their own. He says, they have Lucy, but she asks if now isn’t the time to reconsider Lucy’s involvement. It was one thing when Anna thought Lucy could get them in the door, but if Robert’s people aren’t going to take the job because they’re afraid of Victor, she can’t in good conscience put a civilian’s life at risk. He says, then they may have to cut her loose before she gets in deeper.

Victor says he’s worn himself out trying to reach Lucy for the last couple of days. He left messages, he sent telegrams, both the written and the singing variety. She says she didn’t get any of that. She’s going to have to fire her assistant. He suggests they do it together; it will be a bonding experience. She says she has the feeling that might be a bit of a violation of HR rules, and he says, then they’ll just have to rewrite the rules over their long-awaited lunch. She says, about that… and he says he’s sensing bad news. She says, Sasha Gilmore’s husband died; he was murdered. So she would feel uncomfortable having lunch with him. It would be tempting, but under the circumstances, not a great idea. Does he understand? He says he understands nothing of the sort.

Kristina says, that escalated quicky, and Alexis says, technically moving the conversation from Kristina’s life being threatened to her career would qualify as a de-escalation. Sonny says, they’re not here to discuss Kristina’s career; they’re here to discuss her safety. Kristina says, a subject that seems to provide her mom a segue into her life choices, and Alexis says, if Kristina had made different life choices, and take a different path, they wouldn’t be… Kristina says, a path more reputable and less dead endy? and Alexis says, she meant limited. This is a great job in the short term. Kristina says, but it’s not law school, and Sonny tells her, no one said anything about law school. Kristina says, here’s their chance, and tells Alexis, go ahead. Does Kristina embarrass her? Alexis says, of course (🍷) not, and Kristina says, Alexis just thinks she should quit her job and do something more productive. Go ahead. Say it. She’ll feel better. Sonny says, that’s enough, and Alexis says, what she meant was, she just wants Kristina to live up to her full potential. Kristina says, and working at Charlie’s is doing anything but.

Portia suggests, if Jordan wants to know who the anonymous source is, give Alexis a call, and Jordan says, so she can get a freedom of the press and we protect our sources speech from Alexis? Why waste her time? Finn says, she thinks one of the doctors here leaked the story? and Jordan says, prior to that article, it wasn’t public knowledge that Brando and Ava had been stabbed with a hook. She’s here to lay down the law with their Co-Chiefs of Staff about disclosing important details. Finn says, Jordan must have bigger priorities than tracking down the source who leaked the information for the article, and Jordan says, believe it or not, she can juggle several priorities at once. Portia asks, how much damage could acknowledging Port Charles might have a serial killer actually do to the investigation? but Jordan says, they won’t know until the damage is done. Remember when The Invader leaked Franco’s brain tumor, and Alexis tried to kill him, and almost killed Dante instead? She wanted to keep the perp guessing. Now this person has an edge, which they can exploit. A nurse tells Portia, this is for her, and hands her some papers. Portia says, it’s the test results from last night. This is Brando’s cause of death.

Selina says she hopes Brook and Chase don’t mind if she stays. She’s considering renting the club for a private party. She’d love to get a sense of the acoustics and how the music plays. Brook says, it’s up to Chase, and he says, whatever. He’s got to get used to an audience at some point. Selina thanks him, and sits down. Brook says, Chase hates her, and he asks where she got that. She says, he’s distracted, thinking about Sasha, and she’s dragging him to an audition that she doesn’t know if he wants. He says, is now the perfect time to sing? No, but does he hate her? Absolutely not. She asks if he’s sure. She know he wishes he could do something for Sasha right now. He says he can’t deny that, and she says, so they’ll go. Forget the audition, and go see Sasha. They’ll both feel better. She starts to leave, but he grabs her arm, and says, Sasha’s got Brando’s mom and Nina hovering over her. Him foisting himself on her might be more about him feeling useful than being of real use to her. Brook says, he won’t know until he tries, and he says, later. Right now, he wants to do something useful for her, for them. They kiss, and Chase sings a song I’d guess is called I’m Falling Into Place.  

Victor tells Lucy, it’s absolutely the right time for their lunch, but she says she doesn’t know if she’d be very good company. She’s so distracted worrying about Sasha. He says, fortunately he’s the master of distraction. He’ll keep her mind off these gruesome events, and focused on their shared interests; hers and his, and ways of increasing her profit potential. She says she’s always looking for a good corporate partner, and he says he thinks he can do a little better than that. Give him her undivided attention, and he may surprise her with a more than satisfactory Cassadine infusion… of capital of course (🍷). He holds out his hand.

Chase finishes his song, and everyone applauds. Brook asks what Curtis thinks, and Curtis says he thinks there’s a Savoy debut in Chase’s future. Chase says, really? and Brook says, of course (🍷) there is. He has the voice, and so much more. She kisses him, and Chase tells Selina, the kid’s got talent. She says, and he has taste, and he says, this private party of hers. The place is hers for 50… thousand. She asks if he accepts checks, but he says, sorry. Cash is king.

Valentin and Anna go to the Deception office, and Anna tells Maxie that they’re looking for Lucy, but she’s not in her office. Maxie says, they just missed her, and Valentin asks if Maxie knows where she went. Maxie tells him, they didn’t say, and Anna says, they? Maxie says, Lucy and Victor; they left together. Anna and Valentin look at each other.

Sonny says, he and Kristina’s mother only want what’s good for her, and she asks if what’s good for her includes her happiness. He says, of course (🍷) it does, and she asks if that includes Alexis too. Alexis asks, what kind of thing is that to say? and Kristina tells them, then the subject is closed. She doesn’t intend on working at Charlie’s until she dies, but right now, working here makes her happy. And she doesn’t intend on dying anytime soon – by crook or by hook. She stomps off, and Sonny tells Alexis, she’s all you. Alexis nods in agreement.

Jordan asks what the tests results say, and Finn wonders if they made the call on Brando’s cause of death. Portia says, the stab wound didn’t kill Brando. The weapon was laced with a toxin; a poison. She hands Jordan the papers.

Tomorrow, Jordan says she’s glad to hear she and Portia are both on the side of truth; Maxie asks what’s going on and how worried she should be; Nina tells Sonny, Drew’s investment is more than he’s letting on; and Carly says, if Peyton wants to do this the hard way, that’s fine with her.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

When we left last week, the women were headed to another bar at Kyle’s insistence. In the car, Kathy said, if she didn’t get in (referring to the dress code), she wouldn’t be mad. LisaR said, she’s Kathy-F***ing-Hilton. She can get in anywhere. I think that’s the crux of a lot of the problems with the world. Nobody should be able to get in anywhere on their name alone, unless they’ve come up with a cure for cancer or something equally important.

We see Aspen at peace, and the snow covered hills. It must know the women are packing to head home. Kyle asks if LisaR is almost ready, and in LisaR’s interview, she says, her head is in a fog after what happened last night. It’s worse than a hangover. They were at the club, and Kathy was having a meltdown. She’s never seen anything like this. She tells Kyle that her face is puffy; Aspen does a number on your filler. Kyle says, her face is puffy from crying, and we see a clip of her getting tissues from the bartender at Kemo Sabe. She tells LisaR that she cried at Kemo Sabe, then she cried talking to Erika. She can’t. In her interview, LisaR tells us, she’s not saying a lot. She’s still in shock. It was nothing she would have imagined coming from anyone in the group, let alone Kathy. Here’s where, were there a camera in my house, I would stare at it like Jim from The Office. In Kyle’s interview, she says, her sister doesn’t want to come out of her room. She can’t believe she’s leaving her sister behind in Aspen because she doesn’t want to go on the plane. If Kathy is this upset, somehow it will be her fault.

Everyone meets at the airport, and they get on the plane. Mauricio says he went skiing, and can’t believe he had to wait for them. LisaR says, after what she’s been through, she’s having a Bloody Mary. Erika says she doesn’t want to fight with Sutton, and Sutton says she doesn’t want to fight with Erika. Erika says, she can’t give Sutton the answers she wants, and when she screams out, it’s pure anger. She’s sorry to everybody on the receiving end. She’s f***ing mad because she doesn’t feel heard. In Sutton’s interview, she wonders why Erika is saying she’s sorry. Is the plane going down? They had good a conversation when they went snowmobiling, but can she trust it? She’s going to try, but she looked out the plane window for the smoke. Kyle says, Kathy was sleeping when they left. She’d texted, saying she wasn’t going on the plane. In Erika’s interview, she says, Kathy’s not on the plane because she had a breakdown in the nightclub, and they all saw. In Kyle’s interview, she says, everybody knows, and in Sutton’s interview, she says, Kathy asked everyone to do a conga line, but no one wanted to. The next thing she knew was Kathy was in her face, said she wanted to go home, and if Sutton didn’t go with her, she was not Kathy’s friend. In Crystal’s interview, she says, she didn’t see it, but there was a commotion. She’s known Kathy a long time, longer than most of the women, and knows how bad her behavior has been. In Diana’s interview, she says, she saw Kathy raging, screaming, mostly at Kyle. Kathy wanted to leave now, and Kyle said she wasn’t doing that; they just got here. In Dorit’s interview, she says, LisaR said she’d take Kathy home, and in LisaR’s interview, she says, it got worse in the sprinter (car). Kathy was screaming that she was going to take down NBC, Bravo, and take down the show. She was going to single-handedly ruin all of them. When they got back to Kyle’s house, it got even worse. Kathy threw her glasses on the floor, and was jumping on them, and pounding the walls. She said, she made Kyle, and she’d destroy Kyle and her family if it was the last thing she did. Why isn’t Bravo showing us this? I’d actually pay money to see this tirade. On the plane, Kyle says, she and her sisters grew up fighting. She and Kim would draw blood. In her interview, she says, LisaR was texting Erika a play-by-play, and she saw Erika’s phone. She didn’t want to go home. LisaR tells Kyle, they’ll have to talk about it at some point, and in her interview, she says, Kyle is more famous and successful than Kathy ever was. Clearly, Kathy is holding on to the anger. We see flashbacks of Mauricio talking about opening his own agency, but being concerned about the family; and Kathy telling Kyle that American Woman will show their mom in a bad light. LisaR says, it’s hard for Kathy to have it all, and then have her sister have more. LisaR tells Kyle not to worry about her sister. It’s not her problem.

LisaR and Sutton go shopping for Crystal’s birthday present, and we see a clip of Crystal inviting everyone to her 39th birthday party. She tells them, it’s going to be a Great Gatsby/Roaring 20s theme. Sutton and LisaR choose an orchid plant, and decide to have it delivered. Crystal tells Rob, the party is tomorrow, and says she’s going crazy. Rob says, it’s going to be fun, but Crystal says she has no idea. In Crystal’s interview, she says, the 20s was a beautiful era, and she wants to dress up with everybody and have a good time. She tells Rob that she’s scared. She wants to have fun, but in Aspen, there was fighting every night. In her interview, she says, they’re not going to ruin her birthday, and crosses her fingers. She suggests they get a shed to lock them in, just in case, and Rob says, they can be given time out. Kyle tells Portia that she’s unpacking then packing again. She asks Portia to find some good crystals for her. She’s going to need good energy after Aspen. In Kyle’s interview, she says she’s filming Halloween Ends. She’s going to miss Crystal’s birthday, but the last thing she wants to talk about is Aspen. Thank God she’ll be being chased by Michael Myers. She hasn’t seen or spoken to Kathy since Aspen. She thinks Kathy went from her house to a hotel, then back to L.A. She’d believed she and Kathy would never go to a bad place again. We flash back to the Reunion where Kathy was crying, and then they hugged and made up. She says she doesn’t know how she can fix this. Um… Pay for Kathy’s therapy? New pup Smokey chews on Kyle’s suitcase, then grabs a sweater, and runs out on the deck, where Kyle has to chase him around until she gets it back – with a hole in it. Once again. Pets, the great leveler. Even Kathy-F***ing-Hilton can’t do a damn thing about an unruly pet.

Erika and Dorit go to a chocolate place, and Dorit says, it would be her five-year-old’s dream come true. Erika says, it smells like heaven, and the manager (or whoever he is; I missed it) says, the thing with chocolate is, no matter what you’re going through, chocolate will make you happy. Erika says, unfortunately, she knows that, and in Dorit’s interview, she says she wanted Erika to have some fun, and what better way to lift her spirits than chocolate? In Erika’s interview, she says, chocolate is like therapy. Real therapy is expensive. She just got her bill. They put hats on to cover their hair for making chocolate, and the manager says, they’re Lucy and Ethel. They dip Oreos in pink chocolate, and make chocolate hearts. Afterward, Dorit tells the manager, their girlfriend is going to be 39, and asks if he can whip up something super special. He says, anything for them. Dorit says she knows Erika must have seen Garcelle on The Real, and Erika says, it was devastating. We see a clip of the show where Garcelle says, giving up the earrings would be a way of saying she has compassion. Dorit says she was talking to Kyle, and it seemed like if she chose to support Erika, in some way she was supporting the alleged crimes. We see a clip of Kyle telling Dorit, what Erika said was disturbing and wrong, and wondering if Dorit agrees with Erika. In her interview, Erika says she can’t deal with these chicks who wonder, what will the neighbors think? Sometimes the ones that are doing the best are hiding the most. She tells Dorit that she’s tired of being the whipping boy while others display not their best behavior. Dorit asks who she’s talking about, and in Erika’s interview, she says, this town has different rules for the hyper-elite. Kathy’s family has a lot of strength, wealth, and connections. People think twice if they want to challenge them.Erika tells Dorit, they’ve seen each other at their worst, and she’s heard things that aren’t the best. If they thinks she’s their whipping boy for the entire group, they have another thing coming.

Everyone gets ready for Crystal’s party, and Erika tells makeup artist Preston and hairstylist Clyde that she misses the old days. They toast, cheers to old school. In Sutton’s interview, she says she doesn’t really like costume parties, but she has an authentic 1920s dress, so she’s kind of excited. Garcelle tells her team that there might be dancing or there might be hair pulling. Sheree comes over while Garcelle is still upstairs, and signs her name on the gift card, saying, this is from us. Garcelle comes down the stairs, dressed in pants with suspenders that say Chanel, dark shirt, and a fedora. In Garcelle’s interview, she says, her inspiration was Josephine Baker. She feels strong, glamorous, and don’t mess with me. Sheree tells Garcelle that she kind of signed her name on the card, and Garcelle says she will f*** Sheree up. She says, they have a lot to talk about. They discussed the $750K earrings on The Real, and she taped it before Aspen. We flash back to Garcelle and Crystal talking about it prior to the taping. She tells Sheree that she hasn’t seen Erika since then, but she thought Erika was wearing the earrings in Aspen. Sheree says, it would be a hard thing to give up, but Garcelle says, stop it right now. You have other stuff. Sheree tells Garcelle, she’s just saying it would be hard, and asks what the consensus was. Garcelle says, hers was, give up the earrings. She can’t imagine Erika hasn’t seen it. In her interview, Garcelle says, everybody is talking about it, but she won’t say anything unless Erika brings it up. She says, it’s Crystal’s birthday, they’re going to celebrate, and they look the part.

Needless to type, the party looks fabulous; food and drink everywhere, a magician, a crescent moon to take a photo with, or on. In Crystal’s interview, she says, she and Rob have an affinity for the 20s. Rob had the same thing for his birthday, but it was a huge party. Because of covid, they minimized the group. She wants to leave the tension behind and give good party. Crystal is dressed in a traditional embroidered Chinese dress with a mandarin collar, but most of the women are flappers. Erika looks like a Ziegfeld Follies girl, and LisaR shows up in a tux. In LisaR’s interview, she says she wanted to be here for Crystal, but it’s hard to get past what she went through with Kathy. She’s in shock. She’s putting on a brave face, but she has PTSD. Please. Like she hasn’t given anyone PTSD. It’s not like Kathy hit her, and a fit is pitched at least every other episode. She should get a load of RHONJ. Kathy arrives, surprising everyone, and makes the rounds, acting like everything is fine. In her interview, LisaR says she’s surprised to see Kathy. She didn’t think Kathy would show, but she’s here and decked out to the nines, acting like nothing happened. It’s so f***ing weird. They all sit down for a moment, but before it gets too awkward, Crystal tells everyone to go down to the parlor, which is what she’s now calling the finished basement. We see before photos, and not a big shock, it’s amazing. In Crystal’s interview, she says, it wasn’t a small project. She doesn’t know the exact amount – she chose not to look – but they were in budget, and she’s proud of that. In her interview, LisaR says, it’s excruciatingly difficult to watch Kathy act like nothing happened. It’s building in her, and she’s super uncomfortable. If everyone knew what Kathy had said about them, they wouldn’t be happy. It’s so f***ed up on every level. We see Rob’s Wurlitzer jukebox, and he says, it’s from 1942, and rare, since they were only made for a year. He paid $30K for it, and considering how pristine it looks, I’m thinking that’s not bad. I also think Quentin Tarantino has that same jukebox.

Erika has a mint julip, and asks if Sutton wants to try it, but Sutton says she doesn’t drink bourbon even though she’s Southern. She takes a sip, and is like, yeah, no. In her interview, she says, it’s going well with Erika. Maybe the Aspen air is still with them. Maybe there’s not enough oxygen and Erika’s not thinking straight. Erika talks to Rob about reconstruction on the house, and tells him that the house she lived in with Tom was built in 1928, so she knows how it is. We flash back to her and Tom discussing redoing the grounds. She tells Sutton that she went by it the other day. It was empty, and the windows and drapes were open. She sat in her car and looked at it. She thought, all right, and drove on. There’s no returning, but she knew that when she left. She’d catalogued it as a chapter in her life, and she’s closed the book. We flash back to Erika giving the women a tour of her house, and she tells Sutton that she can’t be attached to things like that. In Erika’s interview, she says she can’t stay in a place of loss and grief. She has to transcend the negativity, the pain and suffering, and criticism. Let it go and go on to the next chapter.

Rob gets everyone’s attention, and Crystal says, it’s another year of celebrating with them, and it’s special. This is the last year of her thirties. LisaR says, what a brag, and in Diana’s interview, she says, Crystal hasn’t even had her first Botox yet. See you in ten years. I love how it’s a given she will get Botox. Crystal thanks them from her heart, and blows out the candle on the cake, which is decorated like part of a crime scene; a knife sticking out of the top, and blood cascading down it. Everyone gets a beautiful cookie decorated with their name, and Dorit asks Garcelle about The Real. Garcelle says, it’s her job, and in Dorit’s interview, she wonders if Garcelle feels guilty about throwing a grenade masquerading as a place of concern. LisaR tells Crystal that she loves her, but needs to go home. She’s still upset after what happened in Aspen, and can’t sit there. In LisaR’s interview, she says she’s trying, but she feels like she’s seen the devil, and its name is Kathy Hilton. Crystal asks if it’s that bad, and LisaR nods.

In LisaR’s interview, she says, Kathy is polished, a loving mother, a socialite, and a pillar of society. To hear these things coming out of her mouth… She can’t believe anyone would think, feel, or say that about their own family. She leaves, and Erika asks Garcelle if they can talk. Garcelle says, absolutely, and Erika says, she would have loved a heads up about The Real. She knows it was shot before Aspen, and had thought they had a nice time. Garcelle says, they did, and Erika says she thought they’d connected at dinner. Garcelle says, they did, and Erika says, they had a nice moment snowmobiling, and Garcelle could have said, hey girl, I want you to know what’s going to happen. When she saw it, she thought, here we go again. She’d rather find out from the source. Garcelle says she obviously hurt Erika’s feelings and she gets it. She’s sorry. Crystal comes back, and tells them LisaR left. Everyone is like, what? and Garcelle says, without saying goodbye? Crystal tells them, she said she had to go. She was still shaken up about what happened in Aspen. She doesn’t know what that means, but LisaR looked like she saw a ghost. In Kathy’s interview, she says, LisaR has gone through a lot, losing her mom, but she doesn’t believe what she shared with LisaR in Aspen would upset her. LisaR listened, and by no means was there any indication she was upset. If she was the toe [sic] that broke the camel’s back, she apologizes. Kathy says, LisaR is tough; they shouldn’t worry. Garcelle asks Erika to call LisaR, and Erika goes into another room, saying, in the 20s, this would be a soup can and a rope. Not quite. Apparently, she’s never seen Downton Abbey. Diana follows her, and Erika calls, but LisaR doesn’t pick up. Diana says, that’s not like her, and Erika says she thinks LisaR is mad that some behavior might get swept under the rug. They all drank and had a good time, but then Kathy got upset and wanted to leave. She saw Kathy yelling, and LisaR took her home. She thinks LisaR should tell the group what went on. In Erika’s interview, she says, LisaR was texting her as she took Kathy home. She reads some of the texts, and LisaR says she went into the sprinter, and Kathy had an absolute meltdown. Then, after they got back, LisaR texted that she’s never seen or heard anything like it. Anger, screaming, throwing things, crying. Diana tells Erika, they’ve all said ugly things, and Erika says, everybody is quick to condemn her behavior, but if they talk about her behavior, they’re going to talk about everybody in the group.  

Diana says, the Kathy she knows is put together, but not in Aspen. She was raging. She didn’t know who this person was. Erika says she doesn’t know what’s going on, and in her interview, she says, Kathy did what she did in the nightclub. They all saw it. All Kathy has to do is, admit it, apologize, and move on. Diana says, they all saw the wrath, but LisaR saw more wrath. Erika says, the sprinter wrath, then the home wrath. She thinks she feels torn. Diana says, she doesn’t want to get between two sisters. You never want to get between family. Erika says, it’s not about being sisters; it has to do with being Kathy. Erika says, LisaR has her own story, and Diana wonders why she’s not here. She makes clucking noises, and tells Erika, just saying. In Diana’s interview, she says she’s not used to a chicken LisaR. She doesn’t want to be judge and jury, but they don’t know what went down. Everyone should be held to the same standard, and bad behavior should be called out. Everyone else decides to call it a night, except for Dorit, who sits with Erika and Diana. Erika says she was having a conversation with Diana; they were talking about Aspen and Kathy’s behavior. She was running in and out, being angry. Dorit asks if they think that’s why LisaR, and Erika says, LisaR took Kathy home. It got worse in the sprinter and in Kyle’s house. Dorit says she’s never seen Kathy like that, and in her interview, Erika says, be careful of those who have a lot to protect. She has nothing to protect. She says she doesn’t know why LisaR is afraid; they’re not here to protect anybody, and she certainly hasn’t been protected. The game turns on everybody, and it’s Kathy’s turn now. Dorit says she’s afraid if Kathy is outed, Kyle will suffer the most, and Erika shrugs.

Next time, a Pretty Mess hair event; Elton John; LisaR says she’ll never forget it; Kyle feels like Kathy hates her; and LisaR tells Kathy that she’s not getting away with it.

🗯 I dunno. Maybe Kathy’s anger isn’t that far-fetched. She sent Paris to that pseudo school where they beat her. There must have been a reason Paris never told anyone until she was well into her adulthood. It doesn’t sound like Kathy was the best at parenting, but we really don’t know why. I can’t imagine she’d keep her temper under wraps at home where she can actually be herself.

🐉 This Week’s Throne Goes To…

What happened in Dragonstone this week.

⚰️ Deadly Tale…

This one was pretty creepy. The moral: Maybe you’d better listen when an old lady tells you to get out of her house.

https://www.tvinsider.com/1060992/tales-of-the-walking-dead-finale-recap-la-dona/

💃🏽 Cha-cha-cha-ing Off…

Let’s meet tomorrow for soap, Charm, and audio. Until then, stay safe, stay standing your ground, and stay not mispronouncing scone in England. If you do, you’re sent to the Tower of London, and your head’s cut off.

September 20, 2022 – Portia Suspects a Sinister Explanation, Unexpected Exit, a Scare, New Gig, Yummy Preview, Protective Bro, Revenge, The Queen’s Corgis & Breathe

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Carly puts flowers on Virginia Benson’s grave, and says, it’s been so long since she’s been here; too long. She meant to come by many times, but something always came up. Excuses, excuses, right? It seems so fitting that after everything she’s been through, she would end up here in Jacksonville with her mother.

Jordan says she doesn’t even know how to respond to this, and Curtis says, the truth would be a great start. She asks if he thinks she’d sabotage his happiness and his upcoming wedding like that? and he says, if she still had feelings for him, maybe. She says, of course (🍷) she still has feelings. They just don’t up and disappear. He’s moved on with his life, and he and his fiancé are sharing a new home now, so… He says he’s still not hearing an answer; yes or no?

Elizabeth says she’s scared, and Doc says he understands. It’s all right. He’s here with her. She was talking about the staircase. Is the woman still at the bottom? She says, yes. Elizabeth was so angry with her, telling her to stay away from her father. Now she’s not moving. Elizabeth gasps, and Doc asks what she sees.

Gregory says he knows Finn’s thoughts are with Elizabeth, and Alexis says, she’s in really good hands with Doc. Finn says he knows, but Alexis has her own stuff going on. How is Kristina? She says, Kristina’s unsettled, but she’s not hurt, and Brando seems to be out of danger, so she’s grateful. Gregory says, but it won’t stop there, will it? and Alexis says, not if the same person who attacked Brando attacked Ava. Finn says, the real question is, does the public have the right to know a lunatic is out there with a hook, and could very well strike again?

Nina says, Sonny can finally breathe, and he says, Brando is out of surgery; he’s going to be okay. She says, he’s a strong guy; it’s probably in the genes. He says, his dad loved Brando. Who wouldn’t? Brando is amazing, loyal, generous… Gladys joins them, and says, and he’s alive. She’s never been more relieved. She thought she lost him. She thought she lost her boy. Sonny says, Brando is with them right now. He’s where he belongs. He hugs Gladys.

Sasha runs out of Brando’s room, yelling, please help! She tells Brando, it’s okay, and Portia, Deanna, and another nurse run in with a crash cart. Sasha says she thought everything was okay. What’s happening? Portia tells Deanna, get her out of here, and Deanna gently pushes Sasha out the door. She tells Sasha, they need room to work, and Sasha asks, what’s happening? Please save him. Deanna closes the door, and Portia says, check his stats. The other nurse says, his pulse is 30 and dropping, and Portia says some medical stuff, and asks for lorazepam.

Carly says she couldn’t wait to get away. From Virginia, the condo, all the mistakes she made. Get to Port Charles and claim the life she knew was hers. She had it for a while. A husband, family, money, a career. Even that social status she was so fixated on. She had the right car, the right clothes, and the right address. No condo for her. She had an estate on the lake, until it all came crashing down like a house of cards. She’s fine; she’s not destitute or anything. But she’s here, back in this place; like a round trip ticket to where she started.

Jordan says, she signed the papers, put them in an envelope, and left them on her desk, and Curtis says, but they never got them. Jordan flashes back to Stella, saying, she took the papers, but doesn’t know what happened to them, and Jordan and Curtis are still married. Jordan tells Curtis that she never saw them again. They can sign new ones and move forward. It’s what she wants. He says, okay. If she says she doesn’t know what happened to the papers, he believes her. She says, hallelujah, and he says, but he does have another question. If there were no papers, and he hadn’t asked for a divorce, would they still be married? Again, Superman fighting the dinosaurs.

Stella sees TJ in his lab coat, and asks if he’s wearing his dinner attire or is dinner off. He says he meant to text her back; it’s been crazy around here. She asks if everything is all right, and he says, it is now. She knows his friend Brando… She says, of course (🍷), Mike’s cousin, and he says, they almost lost him tonight, but he pulled through. She says, thank goodness, for Brando and his family, but also for TJ. Good friends are hard to come by. He says, so are wonderful aunts.

Alexis says, on one hand, there’s the people’s right to know, and Gregory says, on the other hand, there’s getting involved in a police investigation, and everything that comes with that. Finn says, and here he thought medicine was complicated. He looks at his watch, and Gregory tells him to go meet Elizabeth. We’ve got this. Finn says he’ll check in later and leaves. Alexis asks, who is this we that Gregory is speaking of?

Doc asks if the woman is someone Elizabeth knows, and she says she thinks so. He says, but Elizabeth still can’t see her face, and Elizabeth says, no. He tells her, it’s all right; she’s safe. She’s doing great. Look up at the top of the stairs. Is someone there too? She says, yes; someone’s there. In her mind, she runs up the stairs, and sees Peter lying on the landing. She says, no! and Doc asks who else she sees.

Sonny leaves a voicemail for Carly, saying, the kids are fine. There’s a lot going down right now. Can she call him as soon as she can? A man sitting nearby says, bad news? but Sonny says, no; just the opposite, really good news. The man says, at his age, you have to wonder if there’s a difference, and Sonny laughs.

Portia says, Brando needs another round, and Deanna says, his heart rate’s plummeting. Portia says some more medical stuff, and that he has to be prepped for a dopamine drip. Outside, Sasha is looking through the window, and says, fight for us. Remember what we mean to each other. Everything they’ve been through, good and bad. There’s a song part – Sia’s Breathe Me – and Sasha goes down Brando Memory Lane. She remembers them meeting, Brando saving her after her overdose, a kiss under the mistletoe, their first time having sex in the garage. She flashes back to telling him she’s pregnant, and Brando saying he wants be part their child’s life. She remembers Liam being born, and the end of Liam’s life, telling him, Liam Mike Corbin. You were here for such a short time, but you made quite the impact. She flashes back to Brando saying he loves her, getting married in Niagara Falls, and telling him that he’s her family. He’s all the family she needs. (breathe me)

Portia says, this makes no sense. Brando was trending up after surgery. It’s like his body’s been hit by something else, and it’s wrecking his whole system. Deanna says, they’re losing him, and she says, the hell we are, and tells them to start chest compressions. Brando flatlines, and Portia says, come on, as Sasha watches.

Carly says she’s never going to escape it, is she? It doesn’t matter that she clawed her way to the top in Port Charles. In Jacksonville, she’s always going to be Caroline Benson from the wrong side of town. The tacky little wannabe, trying to pretend she belongs with the kids who go to the country club. She can hear Virginia now; be content with what you have, Caroline. It’s more than what you think. As a kid, she resented that. She took it as though Virginia wanted to hold her back; that Virginia didn’t think she was good enough to want more or better. But she understands now what Virginia meant was, she was wonderful just the way she was. She’s sorry she couldn’t hear it, for Virginia’s sake and hers.

Doc brings Elizabeth out of her hypnotic state, and she says she’s sorry. She can’t do this. She gets up, and he says, it’s all right. Is she sure she doesn’t want to try again? It seemed they were getting somewhere. She says she’s positive, and he says, they’ll pick it up again on Tuesday. She can’t get out fast enough, and closes the door behind her.

Curtis says he’s not accusing Jordan of anything. This is a legit curiosity. If things had been different… She says, yes. As far as she’s concerned, they’d still be together, but she’s not the one who ended their marriage. And it’s not an accusation or condemnation; it’s just a fact. Despite all the things that pulled them apart, she still loved him. He says he loved her too. It’s just… She says, there were things he couldn’t live with, and he says, the lies, the secrets. He knows that goes into marrying a cop, but it was bleeding into their personal life. He just never felt like he was on solid ground with her. She asks if that’s how he feels with Portia; like he’s on solid ground? He asks if she’s saying he’s not.

Gregory hands Alexis some coffee, and says, his treat. She says, big spender, and he says, that’s him. She says, he can spend a lot of money on her when they attend the panel at PCU, and he says he’s so glad she agreed to attend with him. She says, actually, she’s speaking on the panel, and he says, she just forgot to mention it? She says she’s mentioning it now, and he says, of course (🍷) she is. Always in a position of control. She says, look who’s talking. Finn, go take care pf Elizabeth. We got this. We? Who is this we? As in, we work on the paper – her paper – together? He says, she doesn’t value his opinion? and she says, when she asks  for it. All right. She’s asking for it. Don’t gloat. He tells her, stick to the facts. She doesn’t want to frighten her readers, just inform them. Appeal to their reason, not their emotions. She says, that right there is the problem; this is emotional. His son was thisclose to the boathouse where Ava was attacked. Her daughter was in the alley where Brando was hurt, so this is scary. And it’s making people angry. They need to channel those feelings into action. He says, such as? and she says, they write an open letter to whoever is terrorizing the town. They appeal to that person’s sense of vanity. He says, and then what? and she says, they wait for them to write back.

Elizabeth sees Finn, and hugs him. He asks how it went. Learn anything new? She says, she did. That she’s an excellent liar.

Sonny asks if he knows the man. He reminds Sonny of someone. The man says he gets that a lot. He’s George. And he is… Sonny says, his friends call him Sonny. He notices a racing form in George’s hands, and says, George may know his old man. He used to bet on the horses. George says, he just found it in the trash. He’s never been to a racetrack. What was his old man’s name? Sonny says, Mike, and George tells him, what he said before about good news? Don’t mind him. He’s overstayed his welcome, and should have checked out a long time ago. Sonny tells him that he shouldn’t say that. Everybody’s life matters. George asks if Sonny is a priest, and Sonny laughs. George asks, what’s so funny? and Sonny says, he’s not a priest.

Gladys asks if Nina wants to find Sasha, and join the party. Nina says, let’s do it, and they leave.  

Sasha looks at pictures of her and Brando on her phone. She says they wasted so much time together… No, actually she’s wasted it. She closes her eyes, and says, please give her another chance. Stay with her and she promises they’ll have a beautiful life together, making only happy memories. Please. She opens her eyes, and the lights dim for a moment. She says, Brando? and Portia comes out of his room.

Carly says, Virginia will never believe who she ran into; Reese’s mom, Mrs. Roberts. Of course (🍷) she goes by Mrs. Wade Honeycutt now. Carly didn’t recognize her (me neither). She has a different name, and she’s older, but there was something familiar about her. Carly remembers how she used to talk about her. Her car, how a great a tennis player she was, the amazing parties she used to have. She prays she never said the words she’s better than you, but that was the message. She was so wrong. Oh my God. She was so wrong about so many things. She’s so sorry. Sorry she didn’t see how amazing Virginia was. A light shines in Carly’s face, and a man asks what she’s doing here. She says, visiting her mom. Can he get the light out of her face? Who is he, and what is he doing here? He says he’s the night watchman, hired by the developers, and she asks, what developers? He says, she’s not from around here, is she? The land has been repurposed. The city declared eminent domain. Ugh. Don’t get me started on that. She says, they can’t just shut down a cemetery, but he says, it’s already happened. The graves in the north section have already been moved. They’ll move this section soon. She asks, why? and he says, to put in a parkway for better access to the beach. She says, can’t they just go around the cemetery to get to the beach? and he says he guesses not. She says, that’s crazy, and asks if the Jacksonville Beautification Guild is involved in any way. He says, they got the ball rolling, yeah, and she asks what’s going to happen to her mom. He says, Carly will need to move her.  

Jordan says she’s not trying to cause trouble for Curtis and Portia, but can you ever truly know a person to their absolute core? He says, maybe not, but you can sure get damn close. She says, believe it or not, she’s rooting for him. She hopes he gets everything he wants. He says he hopes the same for her.

Finn asks if Elizabeth wants to elaborate on this lying thing, and she says, Doc helped her reconnect with her memory. He says, on the staircase, and she says, not only the one from when she was a teenager, but a more recent one. He says, Peter, and she says, when her mind went there, she shut it down. Obviously, it’s not like she can tell Doc about that. Finn says, it’s his fault, but she says, no. He says he pushed Peter down the stairs, not her. If that’s preventing her from getting the help she needs… She says, he’s missing the point. She thinks the incident with Peter triggered her memory from when she was younger. He says, so she thinks she witnessed who pushed this woman down the stairs, and what happened with Peter brought it all to the surface, and she says, doesn’t he?

Sonny looks at the racing form, and tells George, his dad and Brando understood each other, despite the age difference. Or because of the age difference. That’s life. The longer you live, the more lives you touch. George’s eyes are closed, the lights dim, and he opens them. Sonny says, welcome back, and George asks Sonny, what’s his cousin’s name? Sonny says, Brando, and George says, don’t ask him how he knows, but Sonny is needed, and Sonny jets.

Sasha says, no… no, and Portia says she’s so sorry. Sasha says, no. They don’t get to take both Liam and Brando. They just don’t. Portia says, they did everything… but Sasha says, no. He was fine. He was laughing and talking. Brando wouldn’t leave her. Nina and Gladys arrive, and Gladys asks, what’s going on? Portia tells Gladys that she’s so sorry. There were complications. Her son didn’t make it. Sasha starts to cry, and Nina says, what? Portia says, she was telling Sasha, they did everything they could. Sasha falls to the floor, crying and calling out, Brando! and Nina runs to her. Everyone is crying, and I want to cry. Not that I’m particularly attached to Brando, but poor Sasha.

Sonny gets to Brando’s room, and sees everyone distraught. He says, Brando… and Nina says, she’s so sorry. Gladys tells Portia that she doesn’t understand. His eyes were open. He regained consciousness. Sonny asks, how did this happen? and Portia says, there were unforeseen complications. They might never know what really happened. Sasha says she can’t believe it. She doesn’t want to believe it. Nina says she knows how much Brando meant to Sonny, and wishes there was something she could say or do to help him. Portia goes back to Brando’s room, and Sonny says he wants to see Brando.

Gregory says, Alexis is actually going to invite a killer to write a letter to the editor? She says, it worked for Jack the Ripper, but Gregory says, except they never caught Jack the Ripper. It’s the longest cold case in history. She says, think about it. His ego wouldn’t allow him to remain silent. He was proud of his craft. He boasted about the killings. He taunted the police to the point where he dared them to catch him. He says, and she thinks she’ll have success where Scotland Yard couldn’t, and she says, it’s a different time now. Law enforcement has a lot more tools at their disposal. They’ve got DNA; they’ve got digital footprints. That sort of thing. He says, she’ll either get a Pulitzer or get indicted. He honestly doesn’t know which. She says, but he’s intrigued, and he says he is.

TJ and Stella see Curtis and Jordan, and TJ asks if everything is okay. Curtis says, they were catching up, but at the same time, Jordan says, they were consulting. TJ asks, which was it? and Jordan says, a bit of both. She was picking Curtis’s brain; drawing off those rusty P.I. skills of his. Curtis says, rusty? TJ’s mom is determined to find who tried to kill Brand. Jordan says she will. She looks at Stella, and says, even the darkest secret can’t stay secret forever. Portia runs up to TJ, and says she’s been looking for him. There’s something he needs to know.

Sonny goes into Brando’s room, and Deanna says she’s so sorry about his cousin. He thanks her, and she says, she knows it’s cold comfort, but that doesn’t make it any less true; Brando’s at peace now. He says he’s just worried about the rest of them, and she says she’ll give Sonny some time with him. The nurses leave, and Sonny tells Brando that he left them way too soon. Him, Liam, and Mike, take care of each other, up there, and he’ll take care of Sasha and Brando’s mother, and everybody else. He promises Brando that.

TJ says he should call Molly, and fumbles to find his phone. Curtis says they can take that off his plate, but he says, Molly should hear it from him. It just doesn’t make any sense. Stella says, what doesn’t? and he says, the surgery was successful. The damage to his lung was repaired, and all the bone fragments removed. And the symptoms Portia described weren’t even consistent with sepsis. Jordan asks what he thinks went wrong, but he says he doesn’t know, and leaves.

Elizabeth tells Finn, she could see the woman at the bottom of the stairs. She just couldn’t see who pushed her. He says, there’s no pressure, okay? It’s like a hike or climbing a mountain. You don’t race to the top; you take it one step at a time. She asks what he just said, and he says, mountain climbing. You put one foot in front of the other, and that’s… She says, how you reach the summit. He says, what just happened up there? and Portia runs up. She says she’s so sorry to interrupt, but she needs a consult. It’s very important. Elizabeth says, it’s okay. They can finish this later. There’s something she has to take care of anyway. She leaves.

Carly tells the watchman, she’s sorry, but this is insane. Her mom gets dug up like she’s some kind of potted plant? He says, most of the families have already made arrangements, and she asks why she wasn’t notified. He says, Virginia Benson, and takes out his phone. He says, the records on file have Jason Morgan. They reached out, but never heard back. She says, Jason is no longer with them, but she’s here, and these people aren’t going to get away with this. She strides off…

And walks right into the hotel restaurant, where Peyton is on the phone. She whips the phone out of Peyton’s hand, and Peyton says, what on earth…? Carly says, if Peyton thinks for one second her mother is leaving her resting place, she’s lost her mind.

Elizabeth knocks at Doc’s office door, and walks in. She says she thinks she remembered something.

Finn asks, what’s going on? and Portia says, it’s about Brando Corbin. He asks how Brando is doing, and she says, they lost him. Finn says, what? and she says, she’s hoping he can tell her why, handing him her tablet.  

Sonny comes out, and Deanna tells the others that they can go in now, but Gladys says she doesn’t know if she can. Sonny says, no one’s making either of them. If they want to take their time before they go in, or if they decide they don’t want to go in, that’s fine. Deanna leaves, and Sasha says she’s ready. Will Sonny come with her? He holds out his hand, and I love Sonny at this moment. He takes her in, and Gladys and Nina follow them.  

Peyton says, Carly is invading her personal space, and backing Peyton up while she talks, Carly says, and Peyton is invading the cemetery where her mother is buried, but of course (🍷) she is, because all the good people are buried at Briarcliff. She doesn’t see Peyton trying to dig that place up. Peyton says, Briarcliff is not blocking beach access, and Carly says, Peyton is unbelievable. She’s so bizarrely entitled, she actually thinks it’s her right to trample all over people, anything to get what she wants. Peyton says, I don’t know what to tell you, Caroline, and Carly says, it’s Carly. Peyton says, everything was done according to the bylaws. She’s sorry Carly is upset by this sudden shocking news. Maybe Carly should have come back and seen her mother in the last ten years or so. Do herself a favor, and hop on that flight to Aruba, and never come back. Carly says, screw Aruba. She’s staying right here and fighting for her mother. She dares Peyton to try and stop her.  

Doc says, have a seat and take a breath, but Elizabeth says she’s fine. Doc says, if he’s being candid, she doesn’t seem fine, and she tells him, Finn just said something to her, and it’s like she was struck by lightning. Doc asks what Finn said, and she tells him, Finn mentioned mountain climbing, something she used to hear a lot in Boulder. Doc says, there are a lot of mountains in Colorado, and she says, those exact words were spoken by someone else – her father. What if it was him? What if he pushed the woman down the stairs?

Alexis tells Gregory, maybe this open letter strategy is wrong. Maybe she should just write an article. Let people know the weapon used in both attacks was a hook. He says, letting people in on there being a potential serial killer is a big deal; one with reverberating consequences. She says, but there’s consequences if they sit on information. If Gregory lived in this town where this were happening to people he loved – he says, which he does – wouldn’t he want to be informed so he could be prepared? He says, and if being informed comes at the cost of a police investigation? and she says, maybe it will help the investigation. Isn’t that what they want? Assuming any of this would help. Deanna is walking by with the other nurse, and says, watching Sasha Gilmore walk into that room… she was about to say goodbye to her husband. Alexis and Gregory listen, and the other nurse says, it was just so wrong. Brando Corbin seemed fine, like he was going to be okay. Deanna says, then suddenly he wasn’t. They go into the elevator, and Alexis says she’s running with the article. Does he still object? He says, hell no. They need to nail this bastard before another family has a funeral.

Finn tells Portia that he’s happy to help, but his expertise is in infectious diseases, not forensics. She says, that’s exactly why she came to talk to him. Even the most experienced medical examiner might assume that Brando died as a result of his wound… Or they were led to think so. The symptoms he had at the time of his death… Finn says, the seizures, the coughing up blood, and she says, which came out of nowhere. They don’t track with his injuries. She can’t help but think there might be another, more sinister explanation.

Jordan hugs TJ, and asks if he talked to Molly. He nods, and she says she hates that he’s hurting. Is there anything she can do? He says, what he’s feeling is nothing compared to what Brando’s family is going through. He doesn’t understand how it happened or why it happened, and Stella says, sometimes there’s no reason. The Lord give, and the Lord taketh away. She hugs him, and suggests they pray for his friend, and for all those who loved him. They join hands, Jordan and Curtis exchanging glances before they do, and Stella says, dear Lord… Grant Brando eternal tranquility, and relief from all pain and suffering. We see Sasha bending down to Brando on the bed, and Gladys sitting on the other side; Sonny and Nina standing. Stella says, and relief from pain and suffering. Let light perpetual shine upon him, and may his soul, and all the souls of the departed, rest in peace. Amen. Sasha strokes Brando’s face.

Tomorrow, Brook asks if she’s being fired; Valentin tells Victor, it would be a mistake to provoke Sonny Corinthos; Selina says, it seems things are getting dangerous in Port Charles; and the hook strikes again.

🚑 Like You Didn’t Know Already…

About Brando’s exit.

And why… maybe.

https://soapdirt.com/why-is-brando-leaving-general-hospital/

🏥 The Long Fight…

Now we know why OG Michael keeps coming and going.

💉 Life After GH…

V.C. Andrews, the cash cow that keeps giving milk even after death. This does sound pretty good though.

🥪 Something About Sandwiches…

They look mighty tasty, but what’s with the twine wrapped around them? Do I have to unpack the sandwich?

https://www.bravotv.com/vanderpump-rules/style-living/katie-maloney-ariana-madix-show-something-about-her-sandwiches-preview

🍸 Family No More…

One question. How expensive was that whiskey?

🥊 Duking It Out Socially…

Is it me? I’m Team Joe here. Teresa has acted like a lunatic as long as Joe and Melissa have been on the show. She topped herself this season though. I think her love bubble destroyed what little brain cells she still had.

🐶 About the Dogs…

In case, like me, your first question was, what happens to the dogs?

https://www.today.com/pets/pets/queen-corgi-funeral-windsor-castle-rcna48347

👑 The lessons from the peace process are clear; whatever life throws at us, our individual responses will be all the stronger for working together and sharing the load. – Queen Elizabeth II

🍡 Blowing This Pop Stand…

Luring you back tomorrow with promises of soap, my disgust with Beverly Hills, and of course some music. Until then, stay safe, stay not making snap decisions unless you have to, and stay not keeping secrets. Because even the darkest secret can’t stay secret forever.

September 19, 2022 – Brando Answers Jordan’s Questions, Guys and Dolly’s On Deck & Conga

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Portia asks, had Jordan been honest with Curtis about everything, would they still be together right now? He says, she wasn’t, so what does it matter? but Portia says she thinks it does. Humor her. He might think it’s silly, but she needs to know this. He says, he and Jordan may still be legally married on paper, but they haven’t lived their lives together for over a year. She says, that’s not what she’s worried about, and he asks what she is worried about.

As they walk to the pool, Trina tells Josslyn, it was the best of summers; it was the worst of summers. She can’t believe it’s already over. Maybe it’ll start snowing tomorrow. She sees Josslyn is distracted, and asks if she’s thinking about Brando. Josslyn says, Brando… Ava… and whoever attacked them both. We see a guy with sunglasses is watching them.

Alexis sees Gregory at the hospital, and says, hello, professor. He says, good to see her, and asks if they’re here for the same person, pointing at Finn’s office. She says she’s here to see her friend who’s an infectious disease specialist. Him? He says, coincidentally, he’s here to grab lunch with the same infectious disease specialist. He’s early. Will she wait with him? She says, actually, she has a… sure. They sit, and he says he read the news this morning about Brando Corbin. He gathers Brando is a relation. She asks why he’d jump to that conclusion, and he says, like any good journalist, he pays attention to details. Is he correct? She says, no; he’s Kristina’s cousin. He says he’s sorry to hear what happened to Brando. He knows all too well how it feels when tragedy strikes close to home. She says, this was a lot closer than he thinks.

Finn walks Elizabeth to Doc’s office, and says, nervous? She says she has no idea what to expect when she walks in there, and he says, she’s going to do great. He’s meeting his dad for lunch, but before he goes, he’ll check in. She thanks him, and he kisses her, saying, she’s got this. He leaves, and she knocks on Doc’s office door. He tells her to come in.

Sasha kisses Brando’s hand, and says, he came back to her. She strokes his hair, and he brushes a tear from her cheek.

Sonny comes out of the elevator with Jordan, and says, they both know the same person who attacked Ava, attacked Brando. She says, he knows she can’t discuss the investigation with him, but he says, she’s the one who told him both the victims are connected to him. Can she give him anything she found out? She says he has the resources to protect himself and his family – use them. He doesn’t need any help from her. He says, they worked together before, and she says, and she made it clear when she came back to Port Charles, those days are over. He says, even if sharing information is the only way to stop a madman?

The tubes now removed, Sasha asks Brando how he’s feeling. He says he’s tired, and his throat hurts, but he doesn’t care, and she says, that’s the morphine. He says he thought it was seeing her, and she laughs, saying, that’s also the morphine. At least he’s awake love. She loves him so much. He says he loves her too, and coughs. She says she’ll see what’s taking Dr. Robinson so long, and he says, he’ll be here. She leaves, and in the hallway, she tells Nina, Brando’s awake. They hug, and Sasha asks if Nina has seen Gladys. Nina says, Gladys was feeling a little lightheaded, so she walked her to the cafeteria. Sasha says she’ll text Gladys in a minute. She needs to find Portia. Nina tells her to stay with her husband; she’ll find Portia. Sasha says she feels like their prayers were finally answered.

Jordan says, if she brings Sonny in on this case, and they catch the person, all a good defense attorney needs is a technicality to get the murderer back on the street. Sonny says, at least they’ll know who it is, and she says, her people are working on it. She’s sure he has people on it too. In the meantime, let’s hope Brando wakes up soon, and can tell them something. Nina comes by, and says she has good news. Brando’s awake. Jordan asks if he’s talking, but Nina says, Sasha didn’t mention that. She’s looking for Dr. Robinson. Jordan tells her, keep looking. She’s going to talk to Brando right now. She leaves, and Nina hugs Sonny.

Elizabeth says, she asked for this appointment, but now she doesn’t know where to start, and Doc says, there’s no right or wrong way to do this; take her time. She sits down, and says, her problem went deeper than she was admitting. Ever since she checked herself out of Shadybrook, it’s been getting worse.

Sunglasses guy watches Josslyn, and Dex walks in. Trina says, looks like Josslyn’s dumpster diving partner is here. Isn’t he the reason Josslyn was in the alley when Brando got attacked? She followed him out of Charlie’s, right? Josslyn says, yeah, except she didn’t see him there.

Portia tells Curtis, Finn is on his way to examine Brando right now, and Curtis says he supposes she wants to check in on Brando as well. She says she has a few minutes before Finn is done; long enough for him to answer her question. Is there any world where he and Jordan still would have been together? He says she knows what it’s like to be married to a cop, and she says, that you’ll have to accept there are some things you’ll never know. He says, which is what he did, except what Jordan kept from him weren’t the casual details of a case. The secrets she kept from him were personal. If she had just shared them with him, it would have strengthened their foundation, and brought them closer together. She tells him, so he’s saying, if Jordan had been honest, they wouldn’t have separated. IMO, this is kind of dumb. Like a, what if Superman fought the dinosaurs thing. It didn’t happen; it doesn’t matter.

Finn goes into Brando’s room, and Sasha says, Nina went to get Dr. Robinson, but Finn says, Nina found her. She requested a consult. He puts on gloves and asks how Brando is feeling. Brando says, peaches, and Finn tells him that he needs to take it easy. He’s still at risk for sepsis and other post-op infections. Jordan asks if she can have a word with Brando, and Finn says, when he’s done with his consult. She tells him, time is of the essence. The sooner she gets a statement, the sooner they can get the attacker off the street. Brando coughs, and Finn says, as soon as he’s done, Brando is all Jordan’s. Jordan leaves, and Finn asks if Brando is experiencing any chest pain or shortness of breath, but Brando says, nope.

Curtis tells Portia, nobody’s perfect. They all have things they don’t tell one another; if it’s an embarrassing situation from their past or a big mistake they’re not proud of. She says, true enough, and he says, but all of those things have no bearing on who they are now or where their lives are now. Maybe they forget them, and leave them buried, but what about the secrets that have a bearing on their relationship, and influence who we are to each other? Those have to be shared because every good relationship, the basis of it is honesty. Without that, they have nothing. She says, he’s right. You have to tell the truth, no matter how hard it may be. He says, it is how he feels. In reality, Jordan lied to him. Her secrets did break them up. All he can tell her is the truth of now. Does he regret the way things went down with him and Jordan? Of course (🍷) he does, but if she’s asking if he wants to be with Jordan, the answer is no. He loves Portia. He loves their life together, and can’t wait to marry her. She says, same here, and he says, good. Now can they stop with all the what ifs? She says, sounds good. She has to check on Brando. He says, just to be sure, they’re good, right? She says, they’re good, and he says, because if she needs to hear it again, he and Jordan are over. She says, does Jordan know that? and leaves.

Alexis tells Gregory, she’s not going to lie. When she found out how close Kristina was the to the attacker, her heart stopped. He says, there’s nothing more terrifying for a parent than realizing you can’t protect their kids every moment. He asks how Brando is doing, and she says, Kristina texted, and he’s out of surgery. Gregory says, that’s good news, right? Speaking of news, he was impressed with The Invader’s coverage of the attack. She says, do go on, and he says, people have a morbid fascination with these crimes, and he commends her for resisting the urge to sensationalize to sell more papers. She says, it wasn’t a difficult decision to make. These families of the victims have been through enough. It’s certainly not going to help if she turns their stories into sideshows. He says he couldn’t agree more. In fact, he has a proposition for her.

Elizabeth tells Doc, she wanted to believe so badly her problem was over, she checked herself out, but the behavior didn’t stop. He says, she’s had more incidents? and she says, at the Quartermaine picnic, she blacked out. One minute, she was alone, and the next, Nikolas was asking if she was all right. It was only 10 or 15 minutes, but she can’t account for the time in between. She could have been doing anything.

Nina’s phone rings, and she steps away to take the call. Sonny tells Jordan, now it’s just them. He gets why she doesn’t want the general public to have this information, but he’s not the general public. He needs her to protect his family, just like she needs him to figure out who did this. She says, why is that? and he says, because they’re not just talking about a psycho. This person attacked the mother of his child and his cousin. He’s not going to be left in the dark on this. She says she’s sorry, but because he was at the crime scene, he already knows too much. Finn comes out of his office, and she tells Sonny that she’s asking him not to tell anybody that Ava and Brando were attacked with a hook. He says, he won’t tell the general public, but that’s it. Finn comes over to them, and says, he’s sorry to interrupt. Brando’s all hers. Jordan thanks him, and goes in to Brando’s room.

Jordan says she’s glad see Brando is doing better. Is he up for a few questions? He says, fire away, and Sasha says she forgot to text Gladys. She’s going to be so happy. She’ll see if she can track Gladys down. She leaves, and Jordan says she’ll cut to the chase. Does he know who did this to him?

Doc tells Elizabeth, the Quartermaine picnic is a big event with a lot of people, but right before she blacked out, she was alone? She says she’d just had an argument with Finn, and he asks, what about? She says she felt like he wasn’t respecting her boundaries, and Doc asks if her other blackouts were also precipitated by an argument. She says, yes, and he asks if every time she’s blacked out, she had an argument with Finn, but she says, no. A couple of times, she’s had this memory. She’s not entirely sure what it’s about. All she knows is, it has something to do with her father.

Alexis asks, what kind of proposition? and Gregory says, PCU is sponsoring a panel about the history of ethics in journalism. She says, how niche, and he says, since she’s currently running a newspaper, he thought she might imagine herself to be part of that niche, and accompany him.

Jordan asks Brando to tell her the first thing he remembers, and he says, he walked into the alley, and someone else was there. Their back was to him, then the sky opened up. When that happens, it’s a total downpour; he could barely see. Then that person turned around, and he saw the hook. The next thing he knew… She says she’s sorry. She knows it’s difficult for him, but she has to ask. Did Brando see their face? He coughs, and says, no. It was raining and they had their hood pulled down over their face. She says, even so, could he tell if it was a man or woman? but he says, no. She asks the color of the hoodie, and he says, black. She asks if he could tell how tall they were, but he tells her, it’s hard to say. He saw them turn, he saw the hook, and it was in his chest before he could react. Portia comes in, and says, if Jordan is done, she’s like to examine her patient. Jordan says, of course (🍷). If there’s anything else Brando can think of, let her know. He says, there was a noise; like a jingling sound. She asks if he can be more specific, and he says, it sounded like when Sasha wears these bracelets that clink together. It sounded like that. She says, so he thinks this person might have been wearing jewelry? and he says, yeah; it sounded like that anyway. Does she think this will help find whoever did this?

Dex takes off his shirt, and lies back on a chaise. We see he’s wearing dog tags that jingle. Frankly, I don’t think it’s him. Mostly because that’s what they want us to think. Josslyn approaches, and asks if he forgot something. He says, probably, but can she be more specific? She hands him his sunglasses, and says, he left these at Charlie’s. He says, he wondered what happened to them. Thanks for getting them back to him. She says, actually, she tried getting them back to him yesterday. She followed him out the back exit into the alley, but didn’t see him anywhere. It’s a good thing she didn’t double back. She barely missed seeing Brando get stabbed. He says he heard about that; he’s sorry. She says she wanted to let him know the police are looking for him to find out if he saw anything. He thanks her for the heads up, but says, Dante already questioned him. It’s scary, a near-miss like that. She says, it is, and asks if he saw anything, but he says, no. Unfortunately not. If he had, he would have intervened. She says, it’s so weird, isn’t it? They were both right there in the alley, and neither one of them saw anything. He tells her, you know what they say; timing is everything. She says she feels so helpless, and so surrounded. He says, surrounded? and she says, two stabbings, and she knows both people. Both times, she was so close to the scene and couldn’t do anything to stop it. He says, she saved Ava’s life, but she says, he saved Ava’s life. He says, only because she was there. He couldn’t have done it without her. She says, he’s right, and laughs. He asks, what is it? and she says, nothing. She thought… She should go. She has to talk to Trina. He thanks her again, and we see sunglasses guy still watching. Trina asks if Josslyn is okay, and Josslyn says, she feels totally paranoid, like someone is watching her. Trina says, Josslyn has had a couple of traumatizing events that were near misses. No wonder she’s freaked out. Josslyn says, don’t look now, and Trina says, don’t look at what? Josslyn says, the man behind her; is he staring at them? Trina can look now. Trina says she sees him. The good news is, Josslyn’s not being paranoid. The bad news is, that guy is definitely staring at them.

Nina says, any news? and Sasha says, Dr. Robinson just went in. Nina asks how Sasha is doing, and Sasha says, fine. Updating Gladys gave her something to focus on. Nina says great, but how is she doing – honestly. Sasha says she’s better than she was last night. She’s been so upset about the guardianship. First at Brando for wanting to do it at all, then accepting it’s necessary to get her the help she needed. Then this happened, and all she could think about was what would she do without him? She’s barely surviving losing their baby; how would she survive losing her husband? Nina says, does Sasha know what she sees right now? and Sasha says, a train wreck? but Nina says she sees someone who’s shaken, but deep inside of her, she’s solid. Sasha says, last night, she was falling apart. Now Brando is awake, and all that matters is him getting better. She’s not going to give him any more reasons to worry about her. Nina says she knows Sasha is going to do whatever her husband needs, but no one expects her to carry all this on her own. If Sasha needs a shoulder to cry on, she’s here. Sasha takes Nina’s hand, and thanks her.

Doc says, tell him about the memory, and Elizabeth says, it comes in fragments. She’s young, maybe a teenager, and he says, like she was when she was estranged from her family. She says, yes, and he asks, what happens in the memory? and she says, there’s this woman. She reaches out, and… Elizabeth flashes back to being in the stairwell, and the woman asking what she’s doing. She grabs the woman’s arm, and tells her to stay away from her father. The woman tells her, stay out of it; her father wouldn’t want her involved. Elizabeth grabs both of the woman’s hands, and says, don’t talk about her father. She’ll see what happens if she does. Doc asks if she knows who this woman is, but Elizabeth says she doesn’t remember the woman’s face, or anything about her really. All she knows is, she’s confronting the woman over her father. She gets up, and says she doesn’t know where this memory came from or what it’s all about. Obviously, it’s something she’s buried for a really long time. And if grabbing and threatening this woman are the parts her mind is ready to show her, how bad is the stuff she can’t remember, and why is this memory coming back to her now?

Josslyn and Trina stomp over to sunglasses guy, and Josslyn asks why he’s staring at them. He takes off his sunglasses, and says, he wasn’t. She says, yes, he was, and he has 30 seconds to explain why before things escalate. He asks what her problem is, and she says, him. Was she not clear? Dex comes over, and says he’s got this, but Josslyn says, she’s got this. If she wanted his help, she’d ask for it. Sunglasses guy says, Dex heard her. This is none of his business. Dex says, sunglasses guy just made it his business. Trina says, speaking of business, and pulls Josslyn aside. She says, Josslyn’s mother doesn’t own this, and she’s making a major scene. Does Josslyn want to give Nina a reason to throw her out? Josslyn says, fine, and tells sunglasses guy, but she still wants him gone. Dex says, he’ll take it from here, and points to the door. They walk out to the hallway, and Josslyn and Trina go back to their chaises. Dex asks sunglasses guy, what happened? He was supposed to be guarding Josslyn discreetly. Sunglasses guy says he was. He doesn’t know how she caught him. Dex says, she’s got good instincts. Sunglasses guy should head out; he’ll keep watch. Sunglasses guy says, Dex has been up all night keeping an eye on he, but Dex says, it’s fine. Sunglasses guy has been made, and he’s already here. He’ll call Sonny; just go. Sunglasses guy leaves, and Dex goes over to tell Josslyn that he won’t bother her anymore. She says, great. What did Dex say to him?

Jordan sees Curtis going by, and asks him to wait. She says she’s glad she ran into him. There’s something she has to tell him.

Portia says she concurs with Finn. Brando is still at risk for infection, and they’re keeping an eye out for sepsis. But the fact he pulled through surgery and regained consciousness so quickly is a good sign. Brando tells Sasha, see that? He’ll be home in no time. She says, just when she thought she was going to have some peace and quiet, and he says, with his mother around? Sasha says, she’d turn Gladys out, and he says, not possible. She laughs, and says, wouldn’t it be great if it were? Portia says, Brando is in good spirits too; that’s even better. His blood pressure is a little elevated, so she’s ordered something to bring that back down. The nurse will be in shortly to give it to him. He says, goodie, and Sonny walks in. He asks if Brando can have another visitor, and Portia asks if Brando is up for another guest. Brando says, the more the merrier, and she tells him, let’s not to get carried away. She tells Sonny to take it easy on Brando, and he says, she’s it got it. She leaves, and Sonny says he was worried about Brando. Don’t do that again.

Doc says, if Elizabeth is willing, they could use hypnosis to retrieve the memory in its entirety. She says, if they unlock this memory, will she be able to remember what she was doing when she blacked out at the Quartermaine’s? and he says, it’s possible. Frankly, he’s more interested in the original memory. That seems to be the cause of her unexplained behavior. The sooner they uncover the cause behind that, the sooner she can heal. She says, that’s why she’s here, so… He says, they don’t have to do this today, but she says, yes, they do. She needs to know. It’s the only way she’s going to get her life back.

Gregory asks if Alexis is busy or just not interested, and she says, she’s fine. She’s happy to go with him. He says, excellent. He looks forward to the debates they’ll have about it. Finn joins them, and asks, how’s Kristina? Alexis says, hanging in, and Finn tells Gregory, sorry he’s late. He got called in for a consult on Brando. Alexis asks how he is, and Finn says, he’s awake. He’s alert and stable. She says, Kristina will be happy to hear that, and Finn says, Commissioner Ashford stopped by to ask Brando some questions. Alexis says, it’s a good sign if he’s able to answer some questions, and Gregory says, if Finn’s friend is doing so well, what’s wrong? Finn says, it seems that both Ava and Brando were attacked with a hook, and Alexis says, sorry? What did he say?

Dex tells Josslyn that he reminded sunglasses guy that sexual harassment is a crime; one that he didn’t want to find out the penalty. Trina thanks him for having their back, but he says, Joss had it handled. She knows him; he can’t help getting involved. Josslyn says, it’s nice to know there are still decent people in the world, and he says, she’s welcome. He goes back to his chaise, and she smiles.

Sonny asks if Brando saw who did this, but Brando says, like he told Commissioner Ashford, it happened so fast, it could barely register. Wrong place, wrong time. Sonny asks what Brando was doing out there, and Brando says, he went looking for Dex. He knows Sonny trusts him, and respects Sonny’s judgement… Sonny says, he trusts Brando and respects his judgement. Why was he following Dex? Brando says, they were all at Charlie’s, and he saw Dex talking to Josslyn. Dex left out the back, and not two minutes later, Josslyn went after him. He doesn’t know. Something was nagging at him to make sure she was okay. Sonny says he appreciates Brando looking out for Josslyn, and Brando says, Sonny accepted him into his family as soon as he came to Port Charles. Sonny says, Brando is definitely family, but Brando says, Sonny didn’t have to bring him in the way he did. It meant the world to him. He’ll always be there for the Sonny and the family. Sonny hopes Brando knows that’s a two-way street. Brando says he knows. Besides, he still owes Sonny for bringing Gladys back into his life. Sonny laughs, and says, it’s a lifetime debt. He hopes Brando is good for it. Brando says, he sure is, and coughs.

Curtis says he’s listening, and Jordan says, she doesn’t like the way they left things before. She wanted to say she was sorry. He says he accepts, and he said that. She says, right. She knows he’s upset with her for misplacing the divorce papers, but she doesn’t know what else to say. He tells her, what else is there to say? They should just move on. She says, the three of them? Portia’s mad at her too. He says, Portia has been busy all night. Between Trina’s party, and learning he and Jordan were still married, it’s been a crazy last few days. There’s no hard feelings. She says she hopes not. It means a lot to her that they can still be friendly even though they broke up. She really hopes they can remain in each other’s lives. He says, if that’s the case, then can they clear the air? She says, about? and he says, please tell him the truth. Was it really an accident, or did she hang on to the divorce papers on purpose?

Doc says, Elizabeth is standing in front of a door, and she says she sees it. He says, when she steps through that door, she’ll be on the stairwell, and she’ll remember what happened there. It may come back a little at a time, a little more and a little more, or it may come back all at once. Is she ready? She says she is, and he tells her that he wants her to reach out and open the door. She raises her hand as if turning a doorknob, and he says, step through. What does she see? She says, it’s just like before. She’s on the stairs with the woman. She’s grabbed the woman, and they’re arguing. She flashes back to saying, don’t talk about her father, and Doc says, what then? She says she doesn’t know, and he tells her, just relax. They were talking about the stairwell. Feel herself there. Feel the floor beneath her feet. She says she can feel it, and he asks how she feels emotionally. She says she feels… wait. We see the scene as she talks, and she says, the woman is at the bottom of the stairs now. In Elizabeth’s mind, she walks down the stairs, and she tells Doc, her arms and legs are sprawled out around her. She’s still; unconscious. Elizabeth thinks the woman is hurt. Doc asks where she is, and Elizabeth says, she’s standing right over her.  

Finn says, Kristina didn’t tell Alexis? and she says, not that part. The police did tell her to keep some details to herself, so she guesses that hook thing was one of those details. Gregory asks how Finn found out, and Finn says, he thinks he heard the Commissioner talking about it. He figured Kristina would have told Alexis. Alexis says, that’s a reasonable assumption to make, and Gregory says, so what the police are keeping from the public is, the same weapon used was used to attack both Ava Jerome and Brando Corbin. Alexis says, the same type of weapon doesn’t prove it’s the same assailant, and Gregory says, it’s a good element to establish reasonable doubt, but what’s the most logical conclusion based on what she knows? Alexis says, the most logical conclusion is, the same person was behind the attacks, and Gregory says, until they’re caught… She says, it could very well escalate, and the person will most likely do it again.

On the phone, Dex tells Sonny, they have a problem. Joss spotted Norman. Sonny says, damn it. That’s because Josslyn is just like her mother; suspicious. Does she know Norm was working for him? Dex says, no, he made sure, and Sonny says, good. Does Dex have eyes on her now? Dex says he does. He’ll keep watch until she and Trina leave. Then Sonny can have someone else pick up surveillance. Sonny says, good job, and Dex thanks him. Dex asks if there’s any update on Brando, and Sonny says, he woke up. Dex says, that’s great, and Sonny says he’ll get back to Dex when he gets out of the hospital. Keep an eye on things. Dex says, Sonny can count on him.

Jordan says, is Curtis is asking if she lost the divorce papers on purpose? and he says he knows her. He knows she’s not careless. In fact, she’s very much the opposite. If she was going to clinic out of town, she would have made sure every I was dotted, and every T was crossed. She says, even if the carbon monoxide in that basement hadn’t scrambled her brain a little, why would she avoid filing the papers? He asks if she thought he’d change his mind about the divorce, and hang on to their marriage.

Nina asks what the call was about, and Sonny says he’s just trying to keep his family safe. He’s grateful Brando is okay, but somebody is out there going after people who are close to him. He’s going to have to beef up security. She says, of course (🍷), and he says, that includes her. He doesn’t want to scare her… She says, he’s not, and he says he doesn’t want her to have second thoughts about his business and things like that. She says she knows what she’s getting herself into, and kisses him.

Sasha says she knows Brando is supposed to be taking care of her now, but she can handle her treatment and recovery. He says she shouldn’t have to do this alone, and she says she won’t let him down, she promises. He says, she never could. It’s him and her versus the world; they’re a team. And he wants to be the one looking out for her, helping her get better. Getting her back on her feet, and standing with her. He promises he’s going to heal as fast as humanly possible, and give her the amazing life she deserves. She says she’s so lucky to have him, and he says, they’re lucky to have each other. She says, she’s been thinking – he says, uh-oh – for their first wedding anniversary… She knows they’re only halfway there, but she wants then to take a long vacation somewhere beautiful. He says, anywhere with her is beautiful, and she says, and isolated. He says, that’ll be a nice change, and she says, where they can celebrate each other all day and all night. He says he likes where her head is at. March 10th can’t come fast enough. They kiss, and he starts coughing. He says he’s sorry. He didn’t mean to ruin the nice moment. He coughs some more, and when he takes his hand away from his mouth, he sees there’s blood on it. He suddenly goes into a seizure, and the alarms go off. We see his blood pressure dropping quickly.

Tomorrow, Jordan tells Stella, even the darkest secret can’t stay secret; Portia says, there’s something she needs someone to know; Sasha prays for another chance; and Doc asks who Elizabeth sees.

Below Deck Mediterranean

When we last left, Storm was dealing with a tangled pair of anchors. In Jason’s interview, he said it was dangerous work. If you get hurt, it’s not a nick; it’s an arm that’s gone.

Storm dives down, and Captain Sandy waits. When he comes back up, she tells him that he needs to tie a line on the chain. He can’t physically lift it. Kyle tells Natasha that he’d pay money to go back to bed. He was on the phone with Frank for an hour and a half last night. We see a clip of that, and the captain tells Storm nautical stuff. Storm ties the line, and the guests finish with their yoga class. Captain Sandy says they’ll use the windlass (whatever that is) to relax the chain. Courtney asks the guests how yoga was, and they say they’re relaxed. The anchor begins to come up, but it’s still not free. Storm goes back down, and fiddles with it. He comes up, and tells the captain, it’s free. She tells him, nice work, and in his interview, he says he’s seen worse tangles, like a hair scrunchie, but everything worked out. It’s all about the journey, but it was stressful. Kyle wails about Frank, and Natalya asks what he’s done today; fluff a pillow? In Natalya’s interview, she says she’s getting frustrated with Tasha and Kyle. They’re distracted, and need to get their heads in the game. In Kyle’s interview, he says, Natalya feels like she’s pulling all the weight in interior. He’s on both service and housekeeping, while Tasha is on service, and Natalya is on housekeeping. She wants to be a martyr. The guests come back, and Jason bitches about the tender being on the wrong side of the bimini, and in his interview, he says, they’re working hard, not smart. At this point, he’d rather figure out the Dewy Decimal System than figure out how to not argue with this yacht crew. He asks when was the last time we heard a joke about the Dewy Decimal System (google it), and I’d have to say, never.  

The guests have breakfast, and one asks if the chef plates the food too. Kyle says, he does everything; they just serve it with a smile. Storm gives Jason some tasks to do, and the guests rave about the food. Tasha’s boyfriend sends her annoying texts, and she tells him, not now, since he has zero respect for the fact that she’s working. Tasha tells the guests that Dave is making sushi rolls for the picnic, and Kyle says, they want to do the last day properly. Guest Shelby tells him not to last day her. Storm tells Jason that everything is all over, and Jason says, there was nowhere to put it. Storm gives him several suggestions, and says, it’s the 6th charter. He’s asked Jason not argue. In Storm’s interview, he says, that’s not how they do it. He thinks Jason likes arguing, and he’s doing more work than he wants to be doing because of Jason’s attitude.  

The guests go in the water, then sun themselves on deck. Dave makes sushi, and Kyle serves cocktails. Captain Sandy sees the pantry, and Says, it’s not good; it’s disgusting. They have to manage this chaos. She radios Tasha, and asks her to get the pantry clean. Storm tells the captain that he’s going with Courtney and Dave to the beach, and she says, there’s going to be more wind tonight. She wants the water toys in before sunset. In Storm’s interview, he says, he was thinking about the captain telling him to delegate more. He plans to name a lead deckhand. With Mzi and Courtney, he has a good team. Choosing is tough, but what makes it easy is that he’s definitely not choosing Jason. Courtney reminds Mzi that his birthday is tomorrow, but she’d set the bar high with her lap dance last season. We flash back to that, and they  load the tender for the picnic. Storm drops them off along with the supplies, and the guests get ready. In Dave’s interview, he says he’s enjoying the charter. He has a good vibe with Tasha, but he’s not putting on any pressure. He’ll keep it here, and see where it goes. Um… I guess he’s still holding out hope then? They set up on the beach, and Tasha shows Mzi and Dave how she can squeak her eyeballs, and I’m freaked out. The guests board the tender, and Courtney asks, who rule the world? They all yell, girls! and she takes off for the beach. Captain Sandy says, that’s girl power right there.

The guests are impressed with the beach and the set-up, saying, it’s beautiful, and the crew has outdone themselves. Courtney brings Mzi back to the boat, where Kyle and Natalya are decorating for the Guys and Dolly’s party, featuring pseudo Guy Fieri and Dolly Parton. Natalya says she googled Dolly Parton, and found out she owns a bar in Nashville; it’s all pink and white. In Natalya’s interview, she says she had no idea who Dolly Parton was. She doesn’t do well with going back in time. Captain Sandy stops by, and says, it’s very pink. In Courtney’s interview, she says she’s more confident driving the tender now. In the beginning, she was nervous. We flash back to that, and she says she feels like a Bond girl; a boss bitch rocking out. Dave makes sorbet on the beach, and it’s served in ice cream cones. One of the guests says, he’s an exceptional human being. Mzi says he’ll dress up with Natalya tonight; the things they do for tips. Natalya puts on four bras to get the Dolly look, and give Mzi a blonde wig and a sexy outfit. In Mzi’s interview, he says, he does not work 9 to 5.

The guests return, and Natalya and Mzi meet them in costume. Captain Sandy says she doesn’t know who Mzi is, but she loves it. Storm asks Courtney how the beach went, and she says, it was cool. The guests loved it. In Storm’s interview, he says, Courtney is a fantastic deckhand. She’s killing it. She’s had two lessons and drives the tender better than he does. If she sees something needs to be done, she does it before being asked. He has his eyes on her to be lead deckhand, but Mzi is a personal friend. He’s going to be bummed. Courtney and Storm go back to the beach to pick up the crew and the supplies. The guests get dressed up, some as Guy, some as Dolly. In Natalya’s interview, she says she’s happy with her boobs. She was called flatty Natty, then bam. The captain looks around the pantry/service area, and says, it’s not a good way to leave the boat; it’s a mess. Natalya whines to Courtney that she has to do cabins plus laundry. How come she has to do everything, while Kyle and Tasha just put out plates? She enjoys doing the setups, but it’s getting too loungy. Courtney says she knows how Natalya is feeling. It’s frustrating, but she needs to say something. Courtney tells Storm that she’s on her last nerve with Jason; he ignores her. Storm tells her, if Jason is disrespectful, come to him. Kyle tells Natalya, this charter of girls giggling is driving him up a wall. This trip is not his kind of day. Natalya says, it’s not anyone’s. Storm tells Courtney that she’s a rock star, and she goes to bed. Dave finishes the birthday cake, and the crew comes out with sparklers, singing Happy Birthday to guests Monique and Aurora. Storm tells Natalya that he needs to have a conversation with Jason, and Natalya says, if he hasn’t changed his attitude halfway through the season, he probably won’t. She’s behind him 100%.

Natalya gets in Storm’s bunk with him, and they cuddle. The guests change into more casual clothes, and Kyle serves shots. Storm asks how Natalya’s day was, and she says, as good as it could be. Kyle tells Tasha that he’s distracted. He’s constantly over-thinking Frank. He thanks her for her patience, and says, it shows what kind of a leader she is. The guests do the Worm, and ask for Purple Rains and tequilas. One complains that they’re slow making drinks, and says, this is the worst bottle service ever. They order more drinks, and ask for pizza bites or something drunk friendly. Tasha tells Kyle that she’s not waking Dave up, and asks if he can help make something. In Kyle’s interview, he says, it’s 4 in the effing morning. He wonders if these girls are aware they’re supposed to leave tomorrow. One of the guests suggests a hot tub time machine, apparently too drunk to know that’s not real. Kyle brings them nachos, and Tasha says, she’s going to bed; they can clean in the morning. Natalya stumbles to her own cabin, and the guests finally call it a night at 5:47. Kyle says, thank God, and goes to bed, leaving the dishes and whatever other mess there is.

In the morning, Natalya says, the floors need vacuuming; this needs to stop. Mzi says, the guests must have gotten lit last night, and in his interview, he says, when he was at university, they celebrated his National Birthday Week. Then it became his International Birthday Week. Every day was a different activity. He’s not sure how he feels about keeping it to one day. Captain Sandy asks who’s laptop is on the bridge, and Natalya says, it’s Tasha’s. The captain says, tell her to keep it in her cabin. She saw Natalya working this morning. The pantry is a mess, and it’s freaking her out. Natalya says, when she got up, everything was a mess, and there were dishes; she felt overwhelmed. Kyle and Tasha were only up until 3:30. Nice assumption, since it was more like 6. The captain says, this is not okay, and Natalya says, every morning, she thinks it’s like a one-off party. In Captain Sandy’s interview, she says, the pantry should never be left like that. The night person should deal with it. It should be immaculate. The floors should be clean, and the decorations put away. In Natalya’s interview, she says, maybe she shouldn’t say anything to Captain Sandy, but she’s fuming. Get it done. The captain says she’ll take care of it.

Tasha’s boyfriend sends more annoying texts, and in her interview, Captain Sandy says, this is not good. She’s witnessing Tasha slipping in areas she doesn’t normally. Come on; put things away. She sees Tasha and Kyle in the crew mess, and tells Tasha to get organized. It’s driving her insane. The pantry is a disaster. The guests begin to get up, and guest Lisa says, she’s fine. She didn’t behave like a lunatic last night. Storm asks if they had a good night, and they say, it was great. He suggests putting the jet skis in the water, and they enthusiastically agree. Tasha tells Natalya about the captain being pissed at her, and Natalya says she’s been getting up to a mess from the first night. Tasha says, she wasn’t even on the boat yesterday, and Natalya says she doesn’t have the time to do both cleaning and breakfast prep in the morning. Tasha offers to help clean, and Natalya says, she doesn’t need Tasha  to clean, but somebody needs to prep the breakfast or make sure things are clean. In Tasha’s interview, she says, the way Natalya is speaking to her isn’t respectful. She doesn’t realize the extra hours Tasha puts in to make sure the guests have everything. She does it for their tip as a team. She thinks Natalya wants to be chief stew, and is trying to make her look bad, so she looks better. Mzi takes one of the guests out on a jet ski, some use the water toys, and others loll in the water on floaties. Tasha tells Kyle, it’s the worst morning ever. Captain Sandy started screaming at her. Natalya says, they need to stay up and clean or pull for breakfast. It’s bad management style. Kyle tells her, don’t even joke. The guests sit down for their final breakfast, and Tasha and Dave blow up balloons. The captain tells Storm to get the toys in the boat, and Courtney asks Mzi to talk to Jason about putting away the jet skis. Mzi asks if she and Jason aren’t vibing, and she asks if anyone’s vibing with Jason. Mzi asks Jason to pull in what he can, so they can get going. In Mzi’s interview, he says, Jason is an asset, but he blows hot and cold. How do you control that? Since he’s easy to get along with, maybe he can help the team by dealing with Jason. Breakfast is served – mushroom eggs benedict. It doesn’t get any better than that. Captain Sandy runs into Kyle near the pantry, and says, they need to be organized. The pantry is a mess every day. There’s a stain on the floor  that’s two days old, and it makes her want to throw up when she sees it. They’re great on service, but this needs work. Natalya is always cleaning, and it’s not fair. In Kyle’s interview, he tells us that he doesn’t know what to say. What the f*** is happening? He doesn’t know.

The crew gets into their whites. Kyle tells Tasha that the captain said the pantry disgusts her, and Natalya is always the one cleaning. In his interview, he says, Natalya making verbal complaints is fishy suspicious. It’s a fish market at the moment. Tasha looks in the pantry, and says she didn’t leave this stuff here. She’s not going out tonight. She’s going to do the pantry. Kyle says he’ll do it with her. Kyle tells Natalya that she threw interior under the bus, and she says, the only person cleaning is her. He says he’s busting his ass every time to maintain things, and they get messed up. Tasha says, if the captain wants it sparkling, that’s what she’ll get. In Natalya’s interview, she admits she’s the snitch, but it was either that, or she was going to knock someone out. Their minds are elsewhere, and she’s not apologizing. Enough is enough.

Captain Sandy radios Storm about departure, and tells the crew, 20 minutes. The guests pack, and interior is very quiet. In Tasha’s interview, she says, the one thing she can’t stand is a snitch. There was no reason to betray her. The guests’ luggage is taken out to the tender, and the guests say their goodbyes. Co-primary Shelby says, the trip made her feel happy. They kept killing it, and she thanks the crew for making them feel at home. She gives the captain the tip envelope, and says, see them in America. Everyone waves goodbye as the ferry takes the guests to the mainland. Captain Sandy says, they’ll do the tip meeting at the docks, and asks to see Tasha on the bridge. Kyle tells Tasha, it’s just another test to see how strong she is. She can do it.

Natalya tells Courtney, sh*t is going down. Tasha got called to the bridge. In her interview, Tasha sighs, and says, Natalya is complaining about stupid things. Tasha goes to the bridge, and sits down.

To be continued…

🚙 Changing Lanes…

Pop in tomorrow for soap and whatever else I can come up with. Until then, stay safe, stay cheering for the underdog, and stay sharing secrets that have a bearing on your relationship. Because every good relationship, the basis of it is honesty.

September 16, 2022 – Sasha Gets News About Brando, Madame Mayor, Reese, a Goodbye, Jersey Talk, Won’t Be Missed, Boatmance Fail, Daryl’s Spin, But Wait, Game Of Weather, Quotes Tenfold & Dance

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Lying on a chaise with her eyes closed, Britt hears someone walking near her, and says, prosecco not champagne; do you even have to ask? Selina – is she wearing Pucci??? – says she pegged Britt as more bitter than sweet.

Dante comes to the stable, and Cody says, howdy. How was the first night in the new pad? Dante says, cut short. His cousin Brando was attacked last night. Cody says, Brando; he’s married to the model, right? Is he going to be okay? Dante says he doesn’t know. Brando is in surgery. Cody says he’s sorry to hear that. Let him know if there’s anything he can do to help. Dante asks if Cody can tell him where he was last night.

Curtis sees Jordan at the hospital, and says he’s guessing she’s here because of Brando. That’s terrible news. She says, it is. She’s got to catch this person before she strikes again. Everybody’s already on edge. He says, good luck with that, and she says, him too. He says, luck? Does he need it? She shrugs, and says, you tell me.

Gladys wonders why it’s taking so long. Why haven’t they been told anything about Brando yet? Sonny says, these things take time. They’re just going to have to stay positive. She says she’d rather be informed, and asks if he can’t do something. He’s a big shot donor here; Brando is Sonny’s family. Sonny says he’ll go check, and see what he can find out. He leaves, and Gladys goes back to Sasha, who says she can’t believe they’re here again.

Dex approaches Sonny, and Sonny asks if Dex stayed out of sight like he told him to. Dex says, Josslyn never saw him. The door was pretty secure, but he kept watching her room all night. Sonny bangs the desk, and looks like he has a headache. He says he’ll be damned if he’ll let that maniac hurt anyone he cares about again. Nina joins them, and asks if there’s any word on Brando. Sonny says he was just going to ask the nurse. How is she doing? Nina says, not great. She’s worried about Sasha, and praying for Brando. She’s okay, but not great. He says he wants her to stay that way; understand him?

Kristina brings Gladys some coffee, and asks if there’s any news. Gladys says, not yet, and thanks her. Portia approaches, and Sasha and Gladys get up.

Britt tells Selina, let’s just get this over with. Selina doesn’t want Britt hanging out with Brad. Selina says, on the contrary. She’s come to realize that Britt’s association with her nephew has its advantages. Britt says, because she helped convinced Brad to work for Selina? Not her finest hour. Selina says, but look how Bradley is thriving. Britt has proved to be a good friend to him. Britt says, one who caved under pressure, and Selina says, because she mentioned the incident in 2016? Britt was free to ignore her wishes, and risk exposure of the incident in question. The fact that Britt chose the more prudent choice, makes Selina more supportive of Britt’s friendship with her nephew. Britt says, being Selina’s errand boy is only a temporary position for Brad. She may have her hooks in him now, but she assures Selina, Brad’s his own man. Brad comes back with drinks, and says he wasn’t expecting Selina. Can he get her a mimosa? Have his.

Cody says he’s sorry about what happened to Dante’s cousin, but he didn’t have anything to do with that. Dante knows that, right? Dante says, of course (🍷) he knows Cody didn’t have anything to do with that. He’s trying to see if Cody has an alibi. Cody says, probably not, unless he can take statements from the horses. He made sure they were ready for bed, did his walk-through, and went up to his room. Dante asks if anyone can verify that, but Cody says, nope. He doesn’t have an alibi for an attack on a total stranger he’s never even met. So what now? Is the Chief of Detectives going to interrogate him personally now?

As they walk to the stable, Leo asks if Brook remembered the lumps of sugar, and she says she’s got them, but maybe she should have worn different shoes. Leo says, like cowboy boots? but she says, never… Maybe if they had fringes or studs. Leo says he bets Chase would like that, and she says, you know, smarty pants… you’re right.

Curtis tells Jordan that he already feels lucky. He’d feel luckier if those divorce papers were already signed and filed. She says she couldn’t help but notice some tension between him and Sonny at Trina’s party the other night. Is everything okay? He says, it was nothing, but she says, it didn’t look like nothing. He wonders if she’s asking as the Commissioner or as his wife, and she says, neither. She’s asking as his friend. He says, he and Sonny just had a difference of opinion about favors. Why the interest? She says, just a renewed curiosity in Sonny Corinthos’s relationships, friends and enemies. Curtis isn’t the only one Sonny’s gotten on the wrong side of lately. Both Ava and Brando have close ties to Sonny, and both were attacked. It could be a coincidence, or it could be that a pattern is emerging. He says he can’t speak to that. He lifts the Styrofoam container he’s holding, and says, Portia’s breakfast is getting cold. Jordan asks if they’re good, and he says, if she’d asked him that a couple of days ago, he’d have said, absolutely. She says, and now? and he says he’s not sure anymore.

Portia says, Dr. Chang just got done operating, and wanted her to let Sasha know that her husband made it through the surgery. Gladys says, thank God, and Sasha asks how he’s doing. Portia says, the damage was extensive, but the doctor was able to repair it. The good news is, Mr. Corbin is strong, and he’s in good health. Sasha says, and the bad news? and Portia says, there are always concerns after major surgery such as Brando’s, but she wouldn’t categorize it as bad news. These are just cautions. Sasha says, like what? and Portia says, one of the common concerns after a surgery like this would be sepsis. When chemicals released in the bloodstream to fight infection, are actually triggering inflammation. But it’s highly unlikely. They’re keeping a very close eye on him. Gladys asks if they can see him, and Portia says, family only, and only one at a time. Gladys thanks her, and Portia leaves. Sonny tells Nina that he has something to take care of. He’ll be right back. He goes over to Portia by the elevator, and says he wanted to thank her for the way she handled Sasha and his cousin Gladys. They were terrified, and she was very calm. She says, there’s no need to thank her; it’s part of her job. He says he knows, but she has a good way about her. She’s very direct, so he’s going to be direct with her right now. He wants her to tell him what the chances are of his cousin pulling through.

Dante asks what Cody did here last night. Did he call anyone? Send any emails? Cody says he watched TV. What the hell is going on here? Dante says he’s helping Cody establish an alibi. He already told Cody, he doesn’t think Cody had anything to do with the attacks. Cody says, thanks, but tell his boss to back off. Dante says, his boss isn’t going to listen to him. Mac is going to run the investigation the way he sees fit. Cody says, turning it around on him? He doesn’t need this aggravation. He doesn’t need to be on the Chief of Detectives’ radar. He just wants to do his own thing. Keep it moving. Brook comes in with Leo, and says, yoohoo, buckaroos. Dante asks, what’s going on? and Leo asks, how’s Comet today? Cody says, he’s great. He’s missing his buddy. They do a fancy handshake, and Cody says, Comet is out back. He was just going to feed him. Does Leo want to help? Leo says he has the lumps of sugar, and Cody says, let’s get to it. They leave, and Brook says she hopes they didn’t interrupt. Dante says he’s always glad to see her, and she calls him a liar. What is this she hears about him and a change of address? He says, how… Chase, and she says she does live with his mom. She’s up on all things Dante. Congratulations. It’s great he and Sam are moving in together. He says, back atcha. Her and Chase. It took them long enough. She laughs, and he says he’s got to go. Tell Cody that he’ll catch him later, and don’t sweat it.

Selina says she keeps her mind sharp, and Brad asks if he can get her some coffee, something to eat, a chaise. She says, that’s not necessary. She’s just passing through. He says, right; the high roller from Easton. Speaking in Chinese, she says, do not speak of work in front of outsiders, and he responds in kind, apologizing. He asks if she needs his assistance right now, but she says, enjoy his time off. He’ll know when she needs him. Speaking in English again, Selina says, since Britt is a cocktail aficionado, Brad must introduce her to the Green Dragon sometime. Always a pleasure. She leaves, and Britt says, the Green Dragon? Brad says, it’s a green drink, popular in China. The green liqueur makes it an acquired taste. She says, like his aunt, and he says, on the bright side, he thinks she’s starting to warm up to Britt. Britt says, Selina doesn’t like her as much as she doesn’t like Brad. They’re just useful  to her. He asks how Britt is useful to his Aunt Selina.

Jordan says she thought she and Curtis were in a good place, and he says, so did he, until he found out they were still married. She says, so this is about the divorce papers? She apologized, and he seemed to understand. He says he accepted her apology; he never said he understood. How come he didn’t hear from her when she learned about those papers? She didn’t call him or send him a message; nothing. Instead, he had to come to her. She says, bottom line, they discovered the mistake before his wedding. So it’s all good, right? He says, is it? and she asks if she’s given him reason to think otherwise. He says, actually, yes. He knows her and he know how organized she is – to a fault. Yet one of the most important documents of their lives gets lost on her watch. She says, he knows good and well what kind of time she was going through. She was very ill. He says, that’s what he’s trying to tell himself, that’s all it was, and she says, what else would it be? He asks her to answer this honestly. How does she feel about him and Portia getting married? She says she wants him to be happy, but he says, that’s not what he asked. He needs her to level with him. She knows how important honesty is to him. She asks if Portia knows that, and he asks, what does that mean?

Britt asks what Brad and Selina were talking about, and he says, just business. She says, so life as a foot soldier for auntie dearest is working out for him? and he says, things are going surprisingly well. He’s no longer feeling aimless, and he’s definitely not bored. Britt says, Selina hasn’t asked him to do anything he’s uncomfortable with, right? and he says he’s adapting. So far, he doesn’t hate it. What more can he say? She asks if he regrets working for Selina, and he says he’s fine. Why? She says she’s just checking up on her bestie.

Cody asks if Dante left, and Brook says, yeah. He said to tell Cody goodbye and don’t sweat it. What exactly is he sweating? Leo says, yeah, what is he sweating? and Cody says he made a big mistake. He broke something that’s very important to him, but – he picks up a small trophy of a horse – he thinks he fixed it. Can Leo be careful? He gives it to Leo, and Leo says, he won this? Cody says he did, when he was about Leo’s age. Brook’s phone rings, and she says she needs to change her shoes. Cody says, if she’s got to take off, he’s got Leo, and she asks if Leo is good here. Leo says, with Cody? Yeah. She leaves as she answers the phone, and Leo says, Cody won this in a competition? and Cody says, someone once told him, you earn your trophies during practice; you just pick them up at competitions. It’s kind of like winning or losing. It all comes down to how well prepared you are ahead of time. He never forgot that, and never will. Leo says, neither will he.

Sonny tells Portia, give it to him straight. Should he be preparing Sasha and Gladys? Portia says, he knows she can’t tell him this, and he says he’s not asking her to give it up; he just wants to be ready. She says she gets it, and she’ll give him this. These type of wounds can have complications. It’s not unreasonable to be prepared. Is he a praying man? He says, yes he is, and she says, prayer helps. She has every reason for cautious optimism. Now if he’ll excuse her, she’s been here all night. She’s going to grab some breakfast. He gets in the elevator with her, and says, breakfast is on him

Jordan says, people getting married should be on the same page. She and Curtis weren’t, and it was their downfall. Curtis says, that’s why this time he wanted to do it differently. He and Portia have been completely transparent with each other. Jordan tells him, if you say so, and he says, that’s the second time she’s made a comment like that. Does she think because their marriage failed, he and Portia can’t succeed, or does she just not want them to? Portia and Sonny get off the elevator.

Sonny asks Jordan if there’s any word on who attacked Brando, but she says, nothing yet. Curtis asks what Portia is up to, and she says she was just going to grab a quick bite. He hands her the container (which no doubt is cold by now), and says, quick enough? She thanks him, and he and Portia get in the elevator. Curtis says he’s sorry to hear about Sonny’s cousin, and they all say their goodbyes. Sonny says he’s not used to seeing Jordan this way, and she says, what way is that? He says, rattled, and she says, it’s been a long night, when Dante comes by. He asks how Brando is, and Sonny says, the surgery went well. Jordan says, glad to hear that, and asks if Sasha and Gladys are around. Sonny says, they were on their way to ICU, and she says she’d like to ask them a few questions, but Sonny says, that’s not a good idea. They’ve had a rough night. She’ll have to make do with him.

Brad asks, what’s up with Cody? Is Britt going to give him a second date? She says, they’re in a holding pattern, since Cody is considering leaving Port Charles, and Brad asks, why? He’s got a good job, a cushy living situation – in the Quartermaine manse, no less – and he’s dating a bombshell. Why would he want to leave? She says, the PCPD has been asking too many questions about him.

Cody teaches Leo how to sit on a saddle, and tells him to pretend he has a string in the middle of his head, pulling him up, but relax his butt in the saddle. He’s a natural. Leo says, then what? and Cody says, then you take your horse to do some tests, like different gaits. The point of the competition is to show control, your mastery of the horse. Leo asks, who taught Cody all this stuff? and Cody says, there was a horse trainer on the estate where he grew up. The trainer taught him everything he knew about horses. He was the closest thing to a father Cody had. Leo says, dad isn’t his birth father either, but he’s kind too. Cody guesses they’re both lucky, and they fist bump.

In her office, Portia asks if Curtis is going to tell her what she and Sonny walked in on, and he says, just some housekeeping with Jordan. She says, the divorce papers? and he says, among other things. She says, he didn’t, and he tells her, he’s not saying Jordan intentionally misplaced the papers, but after talking to Portia and TJ, he’s thinking it’s a possibility. She asks what TJ said, and Curtis tells her, he didn’t say anything about the divorce specifically, but it’s clear Jordan is throwing herself into work and neglecting her personal life. Portia says, maybe she’s not ready to get out there just yet. With her work, she probably has no time to sleep, much less meet someone new for a coffee date.

Dex sees Kristina by herself in the waiting area, and asks if she’s okay. She says she guesses she’s more freaked out than she’s willing to admit. She can’t believe she saw that psycho stab Brando. He asks if she saw who did it, and she says, not clearly. The alley’s not lit, and it was pouring down rain. He saw she was also probably in shock, and she asks if that’s ever happened to him. He says, the first couple times he saw action. It takes a while to learn how to focus in stressful situations. She says, it’s a good thing he was there when Ava was stabbed. She heard he was calm and collected. He says, you know how they say a swan glides on the surface, but is paddling furiously underneath? She says, so he’s not as unruffled as he seems? and he says, half of keeping your cool is faking it. She says, she’ll keep that in mind, but she’s definitely had her fill of horrible situations. He says, that’s too bad. He hopes she never has to see anything like that again, but if she does, just keep paddling.

At Brando’s room, Gladys says she’ll go in after Sasha, but Sasha tells her to go in first. Gladys thanks her, and goes inside, where Brando is hooked up to machines. Nina asks Sash what she can do, and Sasha says, tell her it won’t happen again; that she won’t lose Brando too. Nina tells her, Dr. Robinson said he’s doing fine. And think about everything Brando has to live for, Sasha being at the top of that list.

Gladys sits next to the bed, and says, it’s like when she brought him home as a newborn. She was so afraid to hurt him. This time, he’s already hurt. Tell her who hurt him. Open his big blue eyes, and tell her who put him in this bed, so she can hunt them down, and give them an ounce of the hell she’s going through.

Leo asks if there are any competitions in Port Charles, and Cody says, he’ll find out if there’s a local chapter of the Stirrup Society. It’s an organization for kids that teaches riding and sportsmanship, and how to take care of horses. Leo says, Cody already taught him all that stuff, but Cody says, Leo could learn a lot more if he took lessons with the Stirrup Society. They do riding events and competitions. Maybe he’ll take Leo to one. Leo says he’s going to tell Comet, and runs off. Brook comes back, and says, Cody is so good with him. Cody says, Leo is good with him. Leo is one of the only people he doesn’t have to pretend with. She asks if he does a lot of pretending, and he says, being the new guy in town. It’s hard to make a good impression. She says he seems to have been successful. Olivia adores him, and Sam and Dante. Britt’s not complaining… much. He says he and Dante go way back. Not many people have given him multiple chances. Sometimes it seems easier to start over than fix something that’s broken. She says she’s been there. She’s run away, but wherever she arrived, there she was. He says, damn. She has layers. She laughs, and says, that’s an understatement. She doesn’t know what he’s facing, but everyone in the house is glad he’s here. She hopes he sticks around.

Britt says, then he threatened to punch Mac, and Maxie walked in, and Brad says, wasn’t Maxie on Team Cody? She says, not anymore, and he says, as the town pariah, he’s experiencing sympathy here. Cody’s reaction makes sense. Finding out your a person of interest in a brutal attack would put anyone on edge, especially when you don’t know the victim. She says, which was her point to Maxie, but Maxie wasn’t having it.  Now she thinks Cody’s not worth Britt’s time. He says, Maxie’s cool and all, but judging from her last fiancé, she might not be the best source of romantic advice. She says, and we are? and he says, speak for herself. He just exchanged numbers with a guy at the bar earlier. The mojo is back. She asks, who says mojo? and he says, whatever. Magnetism, charisma, swagger… You know who else has swagger? She tells him, don’t say it, and he says, face it. She’s drawn to that big, brash bull of a man. So why doesn’t she just cast aside all doubt, and take Cody Bell by the horns?

Curtis tells Portia, Jordan is a busy woman, but whether or not she’s dating isn’t an indicator if she’s over him or not. Portia says, but he seems to feel like she isn’t, and he says, Portia brought it up first; tell him. Portia wonders why it even matters at this point, and he says, it would explain why he gets the sense Jordan is holding back when it comes to those papers. She says she does believe Jordan still harbors feelings for him, but she doesn’t get the sense Jordan is angling to get him back. He says, then why didn’t she file those divorce papers? and Portia says, let’s say Jordan intentionally lost the papers, and wants him back. Would that change things for him?

Dante asks Sonny, where’s Kristina? How’s she doing? Jordan says, she’s on the 10th floor. Why doesn’t he go up, and she’ll meet him there? He leaves, and Jordan asks if Sonny can tell her anything about Brando that might help. Any disgruntled employees? How’s his relationship with Sasha? Sonny says, everybody loves Brando; he doesn’t have an enemy in the world. She says, what about Cyrus Renault? Brando used to work for him at some point. He asks if she’s looking at Cyrus, and she says, she’s looking at every possible scenario, including a possible link to Sonny. Has he had any business problems lately? He says, just the normal ones, but Brando and Ava don’t work for him. She says, if he wants to help her stop this maniac, stop stonewalling. The only possible connection she can find between Brando and Ava is him.

Dex tells Kristina that he usually goes to Perks, but this place is around the corner from where he lives, so he figured, why not? After waiting in line ten minutes to overpay for a pour over coffee this big – he separates his thumb and index finger about two inches – now he knows why not. She says she knows the place he’s talking about; on the corner of 8th and Van Nyes. He says, that’s it. The most pretentious, ridiculous… Dante joins them and hugs Kristina. She tells him, Brando made it through surgery, and he says he heard. How’s she holding up? She says, it’s been rough, but Dex is helping her keep her mind off of it. Dante says, Dex is a real great guy. He seems to be everywhere these days. Dex says, that’s what he gets paid for, and Dante asks if Kristina knows he works for Sonny. She says she does, and Dante asks if one of his jobs isn’t to protect the family. Dex says he does, when called upon. No one in Dante’s family is at risk from him. Dante says, they both know that’s not entirely true, right?

Gladys comes out of Brando’s room, nods to Sasha, and Sasha goes in. Nina asks how Brando is doing, and Gladys says, he’s not in any pain that she can tell. Nina says, that’s good, and Gladys says, they’re taking it for him. She would take it all if she could. She asks how Sasha is, and Nina says, desperate not to lose him. Gladys says, that makes two of them.

Sasha takes Brando’s hand, and says, he goes to bat for everyone around him; her, Gladys, Sonny and his family. She knows it must be exhausting for him. She must be exhausting. She’s asking him to rally one more time. Fight. She needs him to fight for her. She knows he’s tired, and knows he’s hurting, but he needs to push through. Fight for her. She promises he doesn’t have to worry about her anymore. She’ll do whatever she has to, to get better for him. He deserves the best because he is the best. She believes in him. She believes in him more than she’s ever believed in anyone or anything. She kisses his hand.

Britt asks Brad why she would agree to date a man who runs at the first sign of trouble. Brad says, Cody’s still in Port Charles, and she says, for the moment, but they all leave eventually. He says, maybe Cody is different, and she says, Maxie thinks Cody’s up to no good. He says, like that’s a deal breaker. No disrespect to Maxie or anyone else, but if she likes the guy, if she thinks they might be good together, take a shot. Don’t freeze him out. She asks if he’s advising her to give Cody the benefit of the doubt, and he says, a novel concept, he knows. She thanks him for saying she’s a bombshell, and he tells her, don’t be so modest. Get her swagger on. She knows she could melt dry ice. Besides she’s always looking out for him. It’s the least he can do to thank her for it.

Leo says he told Comet their joining the Stirrup Society, and Cody says, he told Leo they could go watch; there’s a big difference. Besides, he’ll need his parents’ permission to participate. Leo tells him, they’ll say yes, especially when he explains why they should. Brook laughs, and says, she thought she was the only one who could play her dad like a fiddle. She tells Leo, competition takes a lot of training and practice. Is he ready for that? Leo says, Cody will train him, and Brook wonders if he’s asked Cody. Leo asks if Cody will train him. He already knows where he’s going to put his trophy, but he can’t do it without Cody. Cody says he won’t have to, and they hug.

Curtis says, this wasn’t the conversation he expected to have this morning, and Portia says, neither did she, but they’re in it now. What if Jordan wants him back? He says, he and Jordan loved each other, and fought hard to be together, and Portia says, that type of love doesn’t just vanish when you move on. He says, no it does not. He’ll always care for Jordan. They built a history together, but that’s exactly what it is; it’s history, it’s in the past. Portia is his future; his beautiful exciting new future. She says, he once viewed a future with Jordan, but he says, that’s before he realized they had fundamental differences. Before he learned of all the secrets she kept. This isn’t about how Jordan feels about him, it’s about how he and Portia feel about each other. He couldn’t be with Jordan because he could never build a future with someone who had a problem being truthful with him. She says, but what if Jordan was truthful with him? What if she was honest about everything? Would they still be together?

Jordan says, both of the victims are related to Sonny in some way, and Sonny says, true; Brando’s his cousin, and Ava is the mother of his child. But that could just be a coincidence. She says she doesn’t believe in coincidences. Does he? She’s doing her best here, but he’s got to help her out. He says, how? and she says, tell her what’s going on. She’s heard things aren’t going right with his business, but he says, they’re regular ups and downs; nothing major. She says, is it possible his family could be under attack? and he tells her, listen to him. Does she have any evidence to suggest that? She says, no, but why else would the person who targeted Ava also attack Brando? What if this is just the beginning?

Dante tells Kristina, he and Brando caught Dex threatening Michael in the Quartermaine stables, and Kristina asks if it’s true. Dex says, he misinterpreted something her father said, and decided to follow up. He thought he was showing initiative, but he thought wrong. Dante says, so Dex got upset that they intervened, and got upset that Brando mentioned it to Sonny. Dex says, he and Sonny worked it out; so did he and Brando. Dante says, good, and Kristina says, if dad trusts Dex, that’s good enough for her. Dante says, it’s funny. This guy is literally everywhere something happens. The picnic right after Ava got stabbed… Dex says, that’s a good thing… Dante says, the alleyway right after Brando gets stabbed… Dex asks if Dante is implying something, and Kristina asks if that offer for coffee is still on the table. Dex says, that depends, and she says, they’ll go to Perks, not the place on Van Nyes. Dex asks if he and Dante are good, and Dante says, for now. Kristina says, let’s go, and Dex leaves with her.

Sasha says she’s sorry for pushing Brando away, and she’s sorry for wasting time she should have spent being with him. She’s sorry for every time she didn’t tell him how much she loves him. She can’t lose him too. Please come back to her. She cries, and he squeezes her hand. She says, Brando? and he opens his eyes.

On Monday, Sonny says he won’t be left in the dark; Elizabeth wonders why this memory is coming back to her now; Gregory has a proposition for Alexis; and Josslyn feels like someone is watching her.

✈️ Back In the States…

Boy, is she going to have a lot of catching up to do.

💣 Blast From the Past…

I must have slept through this time period. I’m surprised I don’t remember Kari Wuhrer being on GH. She’s in my favorite movie, Beastmaster 2. Stop laughing.

🥀 Before My Time…

Another GH alum departs this life.

https://www.soapoperanews.net/2022/09/ghdays-of-our-lives-alum-mark-miller.html

💋 What Happens In Jersey…

I wouldn’t mind seeing Caroline come back.

https://okmagazine.com/p/dolores-catania-caroline-manzo-think-about-returning-rhonj/

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The old tomato.

💎 No Con For You…

They probably don’t want rotten fruit thrown at them.

Disruption On Deck…

Why are these chefs always such immature twits?

Clearly she likes toxic relationships. Case in point: Dave.

⚰️ If He Says So…

Daryl is going to be in France? Mon dieu!

https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-norman-reedus-daryl-spinoff/

📝 Post Apocalyptic Credits…

It might be fun, but no doubt it will be a lead-in for one spin-off or another.

🐉 And In Weirder News…

I wonder if the forecast was, will be raining dragon poop. Seriously, how do they deal with that in Dragonstone? Is there a big litter box?

https://people.com/tv/house-of-the-dragon-star-matt-smith-takes-over-today-weather-report/

🐬 Quotes of the Week

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself. – Harvey Fierstein

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home. – Confucius

If you’d have a drink, I’d make a lot more sense. – Nucky (Steve Buscemi), Boardwalk Empire

Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world. – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Never make someone your number one if you’re their number two. – Judge Star Jones, Divorce Court

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. – Mae West

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power. – Clint Eastwood (Before he started talking to empty chairs.)

If I can’t eat it, bang it, or bet on it, it’s not in my phone. – Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen), Two and a Half Men

There are no regrets in life. Just lessons. – Jennifer Aniston

If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. – Bruce Lee

🖥 Buffering…

Take the next two days off from whatever you did for the last five, then join me on Monday for soap and Deck antics. Until then, stay safe, stay intrepid, and stay paddling in stressful situations. Half of keeping your cool is faking it.

Today’s musical interlude is dedicated to Jennifer Coolidge.

September 15, 2022 – Brando’s Surgery Hits a Complication, Charming Trip To St. Simons, a Thought, Who’s Honeycutt & Livin’

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Drew wonders why Carly isn’t calling him back.

At a table in a restaurant in Jacksonville, Carly reads a book. A woman comes by, and says she admires Carly. It’s not often you see someone reading an actual book these days. They’re just scrolling on their phone. Carly says she can’t take credit. She lost her phone and can’t get a new one until tomorrow, so she bought the book at the airport. Although she is enjoying the digital detox. The woman apologizes for interrupting Carly’s reading, but Carly says, that’s okay, and thanks her for the compliment. The woman holds out her hand, and says she’s Mrs. Wade Honeycutt, but please call her Peyton. Carly shakes her hand, and says, she’s Carly Corinthos.

Michael meets Dex at Pier 54, and asks if there’s any progress. Dex says, Michael told him to take it slow; make sure Sonny doesn’t get suspicious. Michael says, has he? and Dex says he doesn’t think so. He’s supposed to hang around the docks, and make sure the Wu’s are sticking to their agreement. He doesn’t think it puts him in the inner circle, but it’s a step up. Michael says, a small one. Dex saved Ava’s life. What else does he have to do to earn Sonny’s trust?

Nikolas tells Sonny, do his worst. Not that it matters to Sonny, but he’s not the one who tried to kill Ava. Sonny says he knows that, and Nikolas says, Sonny believes him? Sonny says he doesn’t believe a word that comes out of Nikolas’s lying mouth, but he can’t be in two places at the same time. Ava asks what that means, and Sonny says, there’s been another attack.

Sasha asks if TJ said how long Brando was going to be in surgery, and Gladys says, a few hours at least. Sasha says, it’s only been a few minutes since they moved Brando to the OR, but it already feels like an eternity, and Kristina says, GH surgeons are the best. Brando is in good hands. Gladys says she’s positive Brando knows they’re out here waiting for him, and won’t let them down. Nina runs in and hugs Sasha, saying, Sonny called her and told her. What’s the latest on Brando? Sasha says, he’s in surgery, and she feels like she’s falling apart.

Dex says he can get something incriminating on Sonny, but he needs more time, and Michael says he hasn’t had a chance to thank Dex for what he did. He can’t stand Ava, but her daughter Avery is his little sister, so… Dex says, Joss gets more than half the credit. She was with Ava when he got there. Michael says he’s aware. What happened? What was Dex even doing there? Dex says, he had some paperwork for Sonny to sign. The front drive was full of cars, so he took the access road to park by the boathouse. When he got out of the vehicle, he heard someone screaming for help. Michael says, Josslyn told him that Dex was the one who insisted on getting Ava to the hospital, and Dex says, she was on the verge of bleeding out. He had to drive like hell, but Joss was good. She held it together, and managed to keep pressure on the wound. Michael says, those were extreme circumstances, and they had no choice but to work together, but that can never happen again.

Josslyn and Cameron sit at the edge of the pool, and Josslyn asks how Cameron’s mom is doing. He says, she doesn’t say much. She wants him and his brothers to think she’s okay, but he can tell she’s not. Josslyn asks if she’s getting help, and he says, Finn’s been around a lot. He’s been good for her. Josslyn asks if there’s anything she can do to help, and he says, her just being here helps a lot. He can’t imagine going through this without her. They kiss, and on a nearby chaise, Trina tells Rory, she never got a chance to tell him why she was at the PCPD to see Spencer. He says she doesn’t have to explain, but she says she wants to. She learned that Spencer was trying to help her the whole time. He lied about his feelings for Esme and stayed with her, hoping he could find some proof that Esme framed Trina about the sex tape. Rory says, wow. Is that why Spencer showed up at her party? To tell her the truth? She says she thinks so, but he didn’t, and Rory asks how she found out. She says, Ava told her, and that Spencer had feelings for her. He says, no guy is going to risk going to prison for somebody he doesn’t care about, and she says she was trying to talk to Spencer about it, but it was too late; he left for Pentenville, as Rory knows. Rory says, now that she knows the truth, does it change things between them?

Peyton asks what brings Carly to Jacksonville; business or pleasure? Carly says she’s not supposed to be here, but her plane was grounded due to thunderstorms in the area. Peyton says, welcome to their fair city. She apologizes for the inconvenient weather. Carly says, she wasn’t happy that her flight was canceled, but she found a great hotel, she has a great book, and she met Peyton. So far, so good. Peyton says, before Carly goes to the airport tomorrow, she might have a chance to look around their fair city, and Carly says she thinks she might. It’s been quite a few years since she’s been in Jacksonville. Peyton says, Carly has no idea what she’s missed. The Guild has sponsored quite a few projects in Jacksonville in the last ten years alone. Carly says, the Guild? and Peyton says she’s sorry. The Jacksonville Beautification Guild; they just call it The Guild. She’s a board member. Carly says, that’s impressive, and Peyton says, improving public spaces benefits everyone who lives here, especially the property owners. They’re getting ready for their Fall Gala. They take over the ballroom and the hotel grounds. It’s their biggest fundraiser, but it’s an awful lot of work. Peyton looks over at the bar, and sees a man getting romantic with a younger woman. She says, that’s Joshua Clarke. He’s married to a friend of hers, and that woman is most definitely not his daughter.

Ava says, someone else was stabbed? and Nikolas says, where? Who was it? Sonny says, his cousin Brando. He was attacked in the alley behind Charlie’s Pub. He’s in surgery now. Ava asks, how bad? and Sonny says, he’s strong; he’s going to make it. Nikolas asks if they caught the guy, but Sonny says, not yet. Ava asks what makes him think it was the same person who attacked her, and Sonny says, there are rumors the cops said the person who attacked her had a large hook. A witness said a similar hook was used on Brando. Nikolas says, a witness? Who? Sonny says, Kristina.

Sasha thanks Nina for coming, and asks her to thank Sonny for letting her know. Nina says she will, and asks how they all are. Kristina says, pretty freaked out. Why would anybody want to attack Brando? Sasha says she has no idea, and Nina asks why he was in that alley. Sasha says she doesn’t know. He just said he’d be right back, and he left. Gladys says, maybe he saw something suspicious, and went to check it out, and Sasha says, knowing Brando, she’s probably right. He probably saw someone in trouble. Gladys says, that’s who Brando is. He has to help, no matter what the cost to him personally. Sasha says, she just hopes the cost isn’t too high, and Nina and Gladys lead her to the couch. TJ comes out, and Sasha runs over to him, asking, why isn’t he in Brando’s surgery? What’s wrong?

TJ says, Brando is still in surgery. He just came to update them on his progress. Dr. Chang confirmed the hook shattered one of Brando’s ribs. A piece of that rib punctured his left lung. Gladys says, that’s why her boy was struggling to breathe, and TJ says, the good news is that Brando’s heart wasn’t affected, but the surgical team has to make sure to remove every shard of bone, and that takes time. Sasha asks, how much time? but he says, they don’t know yet. Gladys says, at least they know something. They were going crazy waiting for an update. TJ says, he thought they might be. He’s headed back to the OR. He leaves, and Nina and Gladys bring Sasha back to the couch. TJ doubles back and asks if Kristina is all by herself. Where’s Sonny?  

Ava asks if the attacker saw Kristina, and Sonny says, he ran off as soon as Kristina started screaming. She saved Brando’s life. He was going stab Brando a second time. Nikolas says, he’s sorry. He and Ava will pray for Brando’s recovery. Ava thanks Sonny for letting them know. She’s sure Sonny wants to be with his daughter now. Sonny tells her to take care. He’ll tell Avery that Ava loves her. He leaves, and outside, Sonny tells Frank, don’t move from this spot. Don’t let anybody in unless Ava says so. Frank says, copy that, and inside, Nikolas asks if Ava feels better now that she knows he didn’t try to kill her, and she says she guesses so. He asks if she wants him be guilty.

Trina says, her feelings for Rory haven’t changed, and he says, despite knowing Spencer was Team Trina all along? She says, it means a lot to her that Spencer believed in her innocence, but he still hurt her. He still lied to her every time he defended Esme. Rory says, but he didn’t mean it, and Trina says, she didn’t know that. Spencer didn’t trust her enough to tell her the truth, and that is so typical of him. He’s always getting in his own way. She’d rather be with somebody who respects her enough to be real with her. Rory says, and he’s real? and she says, really real.

Willow comes into the nook, and asks Drew if she’s interrupting, but he says he was just checking some messages. Long day? He saw that yawn. She says, actually, she just woke up from a nap. He says he didn’t know a busy nurse and mother like her had the luxury of naps, and she says she asked for a reduced schedule at the hospital, and Melanie agreed to stay with Wiley. He says, in that case, he’ll make her some tea, and tells her, have a seat. Her body is going through so much right now. He knows it’s got to be so hard. She asks, who told him?

Michael says, he hired Dex to infiltrate Sonny’s organization because of his combat experience. He’s willing to take risks, and he’s comfortable with situational ethics. Josslyn doesn’t know Dex works for him, so every encounter with her implies a lie of omission. He hates lying to his sister, and hates keeping secrets from her, so the less she sees of Dex, the better.

Sonny gets out of the elevator near the waiting area, and Kristina runs to him. They hug, and he says, it’s all right. She asks if he saw Ava, and he says he filled Frank in, and he’s guarding Ava. She asks if he still has 24 hour protection over her, and he says, Brando’s attack makes it a lot less likely that it’s personal, but… She says, he doesn’t want to stop her protection, and he says, better safe than sorry. How’s Sasha? Kristina says, scared; she’s worried sick. He says he knows Brando was appointed Sasha’s guardian. It’s a long story. He doesn’t think Sasha is in any shape deal with his attack, and Kristina says, who would be? Sonny calls walks Kristina over to the others, and tells Sasha, if she or Brando need anything, he’s here. Gladys tells him, TJ just gave them a progress report, when Jordan comes out of the elevator. Gladys asks if she caught the monster who hurt her son, and Jordan says, not yet. She just came from the crime scene; forensics is still gathering evidence. She asks if Sasha is all right, and Nina says, if she’s here to ask Sasha anything, now is not a good time, but Jordan says she needs to speak to Kristina.

Peyton sees Joshua leaving with the girl, and tells Carly that she’ll have to speak to the manager. Carly says, about what? and Peyton says, clearly she’s a call girl, plying her trade at one of the best hotels in town. It’s a disgrace. Carly says, Joshua didn’t seem to have a problem with it, and Peyton says, men are weak, and trash like that can’t wait to take advantage. Carly asks, in what universe was that young girl taking advantage? And if Peyton is right and she’s a professional, she wasn’t forcing Joshua to do anything he wasn’t willing to pay for. Peyton says, solicitation of the sex trade is a blight on any city. It brings down the property values and erodes civic pride. One of the most successful projects of the Guild was when they got to rezone Chestnut Street, and got to tear down Ruby Anderson’s house of ill repute. Carly asks if she said Ruby Anderson. They had her house torn down? Peyton says, yes, and good riddance. She said it was boarding house, but they all know what went on there. She thinks there was a real Ruby once upon a time, but that was decades ago. Carly says, Ruby Anderson was real. She should know. Ruby was her great aunt.

Trina asks if Josslyn wants to go to the Garden and get something to drink, but Josslyn says she doesn’t want to leave the pool yet. Is there any chance Cameron would get them drinks? Cameron says, sure thing, and they both ask for iced tea. He says he’ll be back, and Trina sits next to Josslyn. Josslyn says, things looked pretty intense with Rory over there, and Trina says, she told Rory that secretly Spencer was on her side all along. Josslyn doesn’t owe her another apology. It was up to Spencer to tell her how he felt about her. Josslyn says, which he never did, and she’s with Rory now. Trina says, so how much does the truth about how Spencer felt really matter? and Josslyn says, the truth always matters. Trina says she doesn’t have feelings for Spencer. They’re gone; so is he. She was found not guilty by a jury (um… not quite – we don’t know), and she’s getting on with her life without Spencer.

Drew asks Willow, told him what?  That pregnancy can be hard? He hopes he didn’t overstep. She says, that’s not what she meant, and he asks what did she mean? She says she has no idea. She has pregnancy brain, and it doesn’t help that she’s half asleep. He says he’s sorry she’s going through such a rough time, but she says, it’s worth it. She just has to get through a few more weeks, and her first trimester will be over. Tea sounds great. She’s unsteady on her feet, and he says, whoa. Is she okay? She says, the baby likes to mess with her equilibrium. He or she is definitely a handful already. He tells her, have seat and he’ll get her that tea, but she says he doesn’t have to. He says, she has a future Quartermaine in there; she deserves to be waited on hand and foot. There it is. She’s smiling. She says she was thinking, Wiley and this baby are lucky to have such a great family. They’re all so strong. Drew says, maybe sometimes too strong, but he knows Wiley and his little brother or sister don’t have to worry about that. Willow will make sure they don’t get caught up in old Quartermaine squabbles.

Ava tells Nikolas, it’s unbearable to think that the man she loves, her husband, might be capable of attacking her. He was so angry that night. He blamed her for Spencer finding out he slept with Esme. He says, she wanted Spencer to know because she wanted to hurt him, and she says, maybe she was just tired of all his secrets. He says, all he wanted was a life with her; to be happy, to love her. She says, instead, he blew it up. He was wrong and weak and stupid. He says he was all those things. When Esme fell off the parapet, he believed Ava when she said she didn’t push her despite the staff hearing them argue. He protected her without hesitation because he loves her. He has from the moment they met. He always has, and always will.

Jordan says she knows Kristina made a statement to the officer on the scene, but she wants to hear it herself in case he missed anything. Start from when she entered the alley. Kristina says, she arrived at Charlie’s for her shift, and she cut through the alley to the back entrance. Jordan asks if she usually enters through the alleyway, and Kristina says, sometimes. Jordan says, anyone else back there? and Kristina says, sometimes one of the busboys takes out the trash, and people in the neighborhood know Phyllis gives out the remaining food at the end of the night, but it was too early for anyone to be around. Jordan says, continue, and Kristina says, there was a sudden downpour. The sky just opened up and it was hard to see. She saw movement, and this guy in a dark hoodie raised his arm up… that’s when the hook caught the light. Sonny says, Kristina doesn’t have to continue, but she says she’s okay. Jordan asks if she’s sure the attacker was a man, and Kristina says, she just assumed. Jordan asks if they saw her, and Kristina says she doesn’t know. Maybe. It was raining so hard, and she was so focused on the hook, and seeing Brando lying on the ground. She was screaming, and the guy just took off. Sonny suggests Kristina take a break, and when she steps away, he asks Jordan if his daughter is in danger. Jordan says she has no reason to believe the assailant would target Kristina, and he says, they’re talking about the same guy who went after Ava. Now he’s up to two? He could go after anybody, and that includes Sonny’s daughter. Jordan says, anything’s possible, but the attacks seem to be crimes of opportunity.

Sasha says she wishes she could stop her head from spinning, and thinking about everything that could go wrong, and Nina says, it’s the waiting that’s challenging. Sasha says she just wishes she could do something.

Josslyn’s phone dings, and Trina asks if it’s Cameron. Josslyn says, it’s Avery. She’s saying goodnight – and she quotes – to the best sister ever. Trina says, that’s quite an endorsement, and Josslyn says, Avery is just happy she found her bracelet. Trina says, only the best sister would go dumpster diving, and Josslyn says, but? Trina says, but she shouldn’t have done it alone. What if she’d got stuck and couldn’t get out? Josslyn says, um… and Trina says, what? She got stuck? Josslyn says, no. She wasn’t alone. Dex was with her.

Michael asks if Dex is sure he’s the right man for the job, and Dex says, of course (🍷) he is. But the job is to pretend to work for Sonny, so he has play the part of a loyal minion, right? Michael says, as long as he remains clear on the ultimate goal, and Dex says, to tear down Sonny’s organization from the inside. Michael says, don’t get sucked into his father’s world, and Dex says he won’t, but he’s got to admit he doesn’t hate the guy. Michael says, when he first approached Dex, he said he wanted to take a dangerous man off the streets, and Dex says he still does. Taking down Sonny will make up for his mistakes. He’s not going soft. He can still do the job Michael hired him to do.

Rory finds Jordan at the hospital, and says, Dante sent him. What can he do? Sasha comes over, and asks how she can help catch Brando’s attacker? and Jordan tells Rory, take notes. She asks if Sasha knows why Brando left using the back entrance, but Sasha says, no. They were eating dessert, and Brando said he’d be right back. Jordan asks where he was going, but Sasha tells her, he didn’t say. Jordan asks if anyone else was in the pub, and Gladys says, Sonny’s guy Dex. He was talking to Josslyn. Jordan says, the PCPD didn’t get statements from either of them, and Rory says he was just with Josslyn, but she didn’t mention the attack. Gladys says, if memory serves, Josslyn left before everything got crazy, and Sonny says, wait a minute. Josslyn left before Brando was attacked?

Peyton says, Carly’s great aunt was Ruby Anderson? The Ruby? Carly says, the one and only, and Peyton asks if Carly was employed at her establishment, but Carly says, no. She met Ruby years later when she left Florida and moved to Port Charles, New York. Peyton says, Port Charles’s loss is Jacksonville’s gain, and Carly asks where she gets off judging Ruby? Or anyone? Peyton says, there are such ideas as standards, but since Carly has no idea what she’s talking about, allow her to explain. There’s a way to behave. There’s a way to conduct yourself that determines what circles you move in, and who finds you acceptable. She gets up, stepping away, and Carly says, Peyton told her that her name was Honeycutt? Peyton says, Mrs. Wade Honeycutt, and Carly gets up. She goes over to Peyton, and says, he was her second husband. Peyton asks how she knows, and Carly says, her first husband’s name was Daniel, and her daughter’s name was Charlotte Reese Roberts, and they lived on Bedlow Drive. She had a big beautiful house with a swimming pool, and she drove a Mercedes convertible. Carly thought it was so cool. Peyton says, my God. She’s Caroline Benson? She calls herself Carly? Peyton’s daughter is dead, and Carly’s using her name? Carly says, her name is Carly, and she chose it, and she’s been using it most of her adult life, but Peyton says, she wasn’t born with it. It was Reese’s nickname, her sweet, trusting daughter. The worst day of her life was when she met Carly.  She came home so excited about her new friend; she wanted Carly to come over. When Peyton talked to Carly’s mother, she knew it was a mistake. She said she was a secretary, so she’d be unable to supervise the girls; she had to work. Carly says, Peyton didn’t super very much. She was always off at some luncheon or meeting. It was the housekeeper who drove them around until Reese was old enough to do it herself. Peyton asks, how many afternoons did Carly spend at their house? How many sleepovers? Little Caroline, always so eager to fit in. She’d never have made it in her discount clothes and the wrong shoes, but her Reese was always so happy to share; they wore the same size. Carly could almost pass as a girl from a decent family, so she let Carly tag along. It made Reese happy, and Peyton didn’t see the harm in it. She didn’t see the harm until it was too late, and Carly betrayed her generosity. Until Carly seduced her husband.

Willow says she’s glad Drew’s back with his family. He’s a good influence. Drew says he doesn’t know about that, but thanks her. Michael comes in, and asks why Willow didn’t respond to any of his calls. She says she left her phone at the gatehouse. What’s wrong? He says he just heard from Kristina, and Brando is in surgery at GH.

Ava asks what Nikolas wants from her, and he says he wants her to believe in him, the way he believes in her. Their marriage started on blackmail and suspicions, but it grew into a true union of their souls. He thought she understood him like no one else could, because deep down, they’re the same. They know each other’s heart, and accept each other for who they are. They’ve both made mistakes, but the person he thought knew him best, does she believe he’d stab them and leave them to die? She says she’s not the one who broke the trust between them, and he says he thought when something broke, you fixed it. She says, not always, and he asks if she’s saying there’s no way back.

Trina says, Cam made it seem like Josslyn was alone in the dumpster, and Josslyn says, Cam assumed, and she didn’t correct him. Trina says, because she was with Dex, and Josslyn says she doesn’t understand what the look is for. Dex was doing something nice. He helped her find the bracelet. It’s no big deal. Trina says, if it wasn’t a big deal, why didn’t Josslyn tell anyone she was with Dex? Josslyn says, because she knew people would do what Trina is doing now; making it something it wasn’t. Trina says, she isn’t bothered by Dex helping Josslyn. She’s bothered by Josslyn lying about it. Josslyn says she didn’t lie; she just didn’t tell anyone. Trina asks, what’s the difference? Cameron comes back with the drinks, and asks what he missed. Does he even want to know? Josslyn shakes her head just enough so Trina sees, and Rory comes in with another officer. Trina asks if he left his phone or something, but he says, it’s police business. He needs to talk to Josslyn. Josslyn asks, why? What happened? Rory says, Brando Corbin was attacked tonight.

TJ comes out, and Sasha asks if Brando is out of surgery. How is he? TJ says, he’s sorry, but there’s been a complication.

Michael says, the attacker fled after Kristina screamed. Sonny showed up shortly after and called the paramedics. Brando is at GH. Willow says, poor Sasha. She was already struggling emotionally, and now this? She’s going to the hospital. Michael says he’ll go with her, but needs to call his mom first. Drew tells them, go; he’ll call Carly. They leave, and Drew makes the call. He says, come on, pick up.

Carly says, she’d known Payton’s husband since she was 12 years old. She didn’t know how to say no to him. Peyton says, she doesn’t make excuses for her Daniel. As she said, men are weak, and Carly was only too eager to give him what he wanted. Carly says, that’s not true, and Peyton says, he could see what she was; what she is, a greedy piece of trash. She envied Reese’s life, and thought she could get it by sleeping with her father. She’s a ridiculous tart. Peyton could laugh about it if it hadn’t broken Reese’s heart; if she hadn’t found out. She never should have been driving on the day of the accident. She was all upset, and all of it was Carly’s fault. Carly says, she was 16 years old. Peyton’s husband was in his 40s. By definition, it was his fault. Her family meant so much to Carly, she was too afraid to stop him. But she’s not Caroline Benson anymore, wearing the wrong shoes. She’s a grown woman, and doesn’t owe anything to anyone, least of all Peyton. Peyton advises Carly to get on her plane as quickly as she can. She doesn’t belong in Jacksonville. She never did. Peyton walks out.

Ava says, Nikolas isn’t the injured party here. She’s the one who was betrayed. She’s the one in the hospital bed. It’s not her fault she doesn’t trust him anymore. He asks if that trust is gone forever, but she says she doesn’t know. He says she needs rest. He’ll go. He leaves, looking back when he gets in the hallway. Ava wipes away tears.

Gladys asks TJ, what complication? Where’s her son? TJ says, Brando’s still in the OR, but his surgery has been suspended to get his blood pressure stabilized. Sasha says she wants to see him, but TJ says, he’s sorry, but that’s not possible. Brando is going to remain in the OR until Dr. Chang can resume surgery as soon as he’s stabilized. Sonny sees Dex arrive, and TJ says, they’re doing all they can.

Rory says, Josslyn was at Charlie’s Pub earlier? and she says, yes. He asks what exit she took when she left, and she says she went out the back. Trina asks, why? and she says she was following Dex Heller. Cameron says, Dex was there? Sonny’s man? Josslyn says, he was at Charlie’s with Sonny. He left his sunglasses, and she grabbed them. She tried to follow him out to give them back to him. Rory asks if she found him, and she says, no. She still has his sunglasses. Rory asks if she saw anyone in the alley, but she says, it was empty. Cameron asks if Rory thinks the guy with the hook was when Josslyn came out, and Rory says he hopes not. Josslyn says, that’s not creepy. She’s sorry she couldn’t be more helpful. Rory says, that’s okay. Maybe Mr. Heller saw something.

TJ says he has to return to the OR. Have the nurse page him if they have any other questions. While the others sit down, Sonny goes over to Dex, who says, he got Sonny’s text. Sonny says he saw Dex and Josslyn talking at Charlie’s; they seemed friendly. Dex says, it was totally innocent, and Sonny says he knows that’s true. Because if Dex tried anything, he’d kill him. He laughs, and Dex says, if Sonny wants, he’ll stay away from Josslyn, but Sonny says, that’s not what he wants. He and Josslyn seem friendly, and Josslyn seems to like Dex a little more. Can he trust Dex to discreetly keep an eye on her? Dex says, Sonny can count on him.

Tomorrow, Sasha asks what the bad news is; Curtis wonders if Jordan is asking as the Commissioner or as his wife; Brad tells Britt, if she likes the guy, take a shot; and Dante questions Cody.

Southern Charm

Paige FaceTimes Craig, who says he got a bunch cabinets in, and thinks they’ll like it. He shows her on the phone, then goes upstairs to the computer where the signal is better. She asks how the boys dinner was, and he says, it was a lot of fun until he spilled red wine on Patricia’s couch white carpet. She tells him that he needs a sippy cup. He says, then he got a text. Someone saw that Shep was still on Raya and took a screenshot; his profile is still active. Shep says he doesn’t know how to take it down. Paige says, he was smart enough to get it on there. If Craig did that, she would fly down and burn his new construction to the ground. Craig says, Taylor doesn’t hold Shep accountable.

Shep tells Taylor that he’s been thinking a lot about what she’s not happy with. The Raya thing… She says only a loser is 40 and on a dating app; he deserved what he got. She tells him, when she saw it, she was confused, and he says he’s off of it now. In Shep’s interview, he says he feels like they’re the focal point of everybody, and he’s under a microscope. Get off his back. Craig tells Paige that Shep invited them all on a trip to Georgia, and we see a clip of Shep saying he wants to take Taylor on vacation. Craig tells Paige, that’s Shep trying control everything, and Paige says, the only thing they can do is have empathy for Taylor until she wakes up and realizes she deserves better. Shep tells Taylor that he’s caused strife for her, and for himself. He got to thinking about how sometimes she gets frustrated when he goes off for a few days with the other guys. He thinks they should host a trip a somewhere, and have their friends with them. Oh yeah, that should balance things out. He suggests St. Simons Island, and she says she’s down for it. She tells him that Little Craig is the glue that keeps them together, and I can understand that. The worst thing about breaking up with someone is, you have to break up with their dog, their cat, their friends, their family, their apartment….

Whitney orders a bottle of wine while he waits for Naomie at a restaurant. When she gets there, he says he hopes the wine is up to her standards, but she says she’s not that picky. Whitney says, his father was responsible for him becoming an oenophile. He would take Whitney to tastings when he was younger, and instead of spitting it out, Whitney would gulp. His father would drive him out hammered. Naomie asks about the dinner, and he says, it was hilarious, but they tried to pin Shep down on a commitment. She says, Leva sent her a screenshot Shep’s Raya profile. It only comes up if you’re active. Whitney says, maybe it had been up a while ago, and she’s like, come on. He’s full of sh*t. He knows the profile was up when Shep was in Bermuda and dating Taylor. Whitney asks if they know Shep and Taylor were monogamous, and in Naomie’s interview, she says, it’s insane how men skirt around an issue. If you’re on an app, you’re probably trying to cheat. Whitney says he knows Shep’s been faithful for the last eight or nine months, and Naomie says, they’ve been dating for years. In her interview, she says, it’s scum of the earth behavior, and she’s not on board with it. Whitney says, you can’t force the issue. When you pressure someone, they freeze you out and go away. Naomie asks if he wants her to go away, but he says, no. I’d be really shocked if they got married, but I could see it.

Austen calls Taylor, and says he hasn’t seen her since Friendsgiving. He wants to catch up, and she suggests they go on a pre-Georgia shopping trip. In Austen’s interview, he says he feels protective over Taylor, and doesn’t want to see her walked all over. She says she’ll text him when she’s finished cleaning out her car. Meanwhile, at Shep’s house, Little Craig! Shep calls Marcie, who has Baby Edie with her. In Marcie’s interview, she says, Edie’s full name is Edith Cummings Crowe. The delivery was excruciating, but Edie is sweet, little, and innocent. She tells Shep that she wants three more, and highly recommends it, and he tells her, don’t put more pressure on him. Taylor meets Austen at a store similar to Land’s End, and he says, this store is dangerous for him. She says, they’re shopping for shrimping, golfing, and tennis, and she wants to get a gift for Shep. Austen asks why she’s shopping for him, and in his interview, he says he wants Taylor to end up with a faithful man who will treat her with respect. He’s been there when Shep hasn’t done that. They try on boots for shrimping, and Austen asks how things are with Shep. Taylor says, Shep has built walls over time, and when she calls him out, he thinks she’s attacking him. She’s trying to help him get better. Austen asks how many times he’s done that, and Taylor tells him that Shep said he wanted to work on it. Austen says he doesn’t think it has to do with walls. You build walls when you’ve had a bad experience, and don’t want to open up again. Being d*ckhead isn’t building a wall. Taylor says, valid point, but Shep says he didn’t mean it. For a long time, she let it go, but she thinks they’re getting more serious. Austen says, they’ve been dating two years, but Taylor says, it’s the beginning of working on things. Time will tell if he’s serious. She sees his heart and what an amazing human he is. Austen says he’s seen all sides of Shep, but she’s no longer just Shep’s girlfriend to him. He loves her. He tears up, and says, the way Shep talks to her breaks his heart. He just doesn’t like it. He’s been there. He’s not saying Shep is a terrible person; he loves Shep. But he does something like he did at Auldbrass, and then reels Taylor back in. She can’t justify it every time. It makes it seem like Shep can get away with anything, and there are no consequences. Shep’s a lucky man. She’s the catch of catches. He wants her to stand up more for herself, and she says, Shep definitely took advantage of her kindness, and something has to change. If it doesn’t, she has to walk away.

Leva tries get her little dog to eat some food it doesn’t want to, and I identify. Again, dogs, the great leveler. Her phone rings, and it’s Naomie. Naomie asks what Leva is bringing, but Leva says she won’t be in attendance. She decided she doesn’t think she has the bandwidth for the boys and their bullsh*t. In Leva’s interview, she says, the boys keep popping off and screaming at each other. They’re fine the next day, but they’ve stolen six hours of her happy time. The girls are drained, and the boys are off playing golf. It’s disrespectful. She wants time to relax, and have a date night. Naomie tells her to do what she needs to do.

Everyone meets at Shep’s house. Shep, Austen, and Olivia take one car, and the rest take another. Craig says, Kathryn can’t come because she has the kids, and Whitney and Naomie are coming later, but separately. In Shep’s interview, he says, St. Simons is like Hilton Head. Beautiful settings, Spanish moss, oak trees, and beaches; golf, tennis, and fishing. That’s how he grew up. He tells Olivia, everybody knows everybody; it’s quaint, and she says, until they get there. Austen says, everybody is going to hate them. In the other car, Taylor says, the girls have a villa, where Shep will also be staying, and Whitney has his own villa because he’s a princess. They talk about sending nudes, and in Craig’s interview, he says, a guy should never send an unsolicited d*ck pic, but if you’re a girl, he doesn’t think anyone would be mad. Olivia asks if Shep is going to play tennis with Taylor, and Shep says he’s not playing against Taylor in any activity for the rest of his life. We flash back to the egg debacle, and Shep says, they all do things they regret. Olivia says, 100%, but moving forward, you have to work on it. Shep says, everyone knows how he feels about Taylor. He wants her to quit her job. Austen says, that’s so dumb. That’s how Shep gets complete control. Shep insists he doesn’t want control, but he wants Taylor to travel with him. Austen says, Taylor would be relying on Shep financially. It’s so the wrong move. In Olivia’s interview, she says, this is not a step in the right direction, and it’s presumptuous. Does Taylor want to quit her job? Austen says, if she has any self-respect, she won’t do it, and in his interview, he says he’d never ask a woman to quit their job. Growing up, his mom and his aunts worked; it was their source of independence. Shep says, every time he crosses a state line he crosses his fingers and makes a wish. Austen says he’s done with Shep.

They arrive in St. Simons, and the girls are dropped off at a gorgeous rental house. Shep goes with the other guys in a golf cart to hotel, which is also impressive. Craig suggests, if the girls are going to play tennis, why don’t they get in the hot tub and drink beers? Shep doesn’t want to, and Austen calls Olivia to see what the tennis situation is. He asks, who’s playing? and Shep and Craig bicker in the background. Everyone decides to play tennis, and Naomie says she hasn’t played since high school; she’s all talk. They play doubles; Austen and Naomie against Craig and Olivia. In Craig’s interview, he says, he’s a competitive person, and good at a lot of things. Modest too, I see. He says, basketball is the only sport Austen can beat him in. In Austen’s interview, he says, Craig thinks he’s the LeBron James of everything. He’s been on courts his whole life. Play on, player. Austen and Naomie win 40 to 30, and Craig doesn’t understand it. Venita and Naomie then play against Shep and Taylor. Taylor and Shep begin by failing miserably, and Shep gets testy, but they recover, and end up winning.

Taylor wonders if the guys are jealous because Shep is with the girls. I’m wondering how that happened. Does he not want her without him there? It’s a little creepy. Everyone gets ready for dinner, and Austen tells Craig about Shep wanting Taylor to quit her job. Craig says, it’s classic textbook control. They can’t deny what’s going on. In Craig’s interview, he says he doesn’t think Shep understands the severity of what he’s asking. If Taylor loses her independence financially and has to depend on Shep, he’ll have that power over her, and it will lead to resentment. Austen drives the other guys over, and Shep says he’s like a fox in a henhouse.

They go to a restaurant called Mullet Bay, and on the way, there’s a big discussion on mullets. Their table is already set, and Shep says, nothing gets the convo going like shots and coconut shrimp. He then remarks that Austen’s butt got big, and in Austen’s interview, he says, Shep is always talking about his butt. He’s just jealous. Shep has an infatuation with his butt. In Shep’s interview, he says, Austen’s butt has gotten more bubbly and bigger. It makes him want to do leg day. Everyone is talking, and the waitress has a hard time getting the orders. When she leaves, Naomie suggests they be better about acknowledging her, and Craig asks how many years Naomie was a server; he was a bartender. In Naomie’s interview, she says she didn’t realize she had to submit her résumé in the food industry to convince them to be respectful of the waitress. (Didn’t her parents own a restaurant that she worked in?) She says she wasn’t talking to him personally, and Austen says, this is what it’s like being at the same table as your ex. Craig says, when Naomie makes generalized statements, he’s going to jump in. Austen wonders what the hell Craig is ranting about, and Craig says, Naomie challenged them on how to act. Austen says, she didn’t challenge anyone, and in Craig’s interview, he says, Naomie’s facial expressions and tone are causing him to relate this to the bad last year of their relationship. Hearing her being judgmental sets him off. Taylor says, this group has more triggers… In her interview, Naomie says she doesn’t think the problem was her yelling or being mean to Craig. It’s just how Craig is. She’s learned to control her emotions. Clearly, he hasn’t.

Whitney arrives, and asks what he missed. Naomie says, Craig yelling at her, and Shep says, he missed everything. Austen randomly tells Venita that Whitney is hung like a bull, and she literally falls backward in her chair, laughing. Craig asks Whitney to come with him to the bar for a shot, and Shep wonders what Craig is up to; he’s drinking his nuts off. Austen says, he also made a bourbon drink at the tennis court. Craig comes back, and says he thought everyone was happy, but Naomie is sitting there frowning. Turn that frown upside down. Naomie says, what would turn her frown upside down would be if Leva hadn’t told her that Craig said mean things about her at Friendsgiving. He asks what she’s talking about, and we flash back to Leva telling Naomie that Craig said she was a psycho ex-girlfriend. Naomie asks why he’d say that, and he says he didn’t. Olivia says, Leva wouldn’t make something up. She watches out for people. In his interview, Craig says, everyone calls their ex crazy. Um… not me. Well, except for the actual crazy ones. Whitney says he’d defend Naomie’s honor, but he can’t hear what Craig is saying. Nevertheless, he calls Craig an a-hole. Craig tells Naomie to move on with her life, and stop bringing him into this, and leaves the table.

Next time, golfing; catching a squid; a drinking game whenever Shep says crazy or happy in a conversation with Taylor; Shep is sick of being attacked, and screams at Austen; Naomie tells Venita to shut up; and Craig attempts to fight Austen.

🗯 I feel badly for Naomie. She did the kumbaya thing with Paige, and she certainly seems to have moved on with Whitney. Who, dumbass as he can be, is not a bad catch. Just because you don’t want to hear mean things said about you, doesn’t mean you haven’t moved on. Craig seems to be the one who can’t move on. He’s triggered by her facial expressions and tone? Come on.

🦪 Carly Finds a Purl…

I have to admit, I didn’t recognize her as Peyton. She’s definitely had some work done, but actually looks better than she did when she was younger. Or they have one hell of a lighting system.

And I thought she was known for a million and one TV movies.

🤹‍♀️ No Diggity Here…

Saunter in at your leisure tomorrow, for soap, some tea and quotable remarks, and a musical break. Until then, stay safe, stay approachable, and stay remembering, the truth always matters.  

September 14, 2022 – The Hook Attacker Strikes Again, Kyle’s Plans Are Disrupted, Kemo This Sabe, Kathy’s Meltdown Texts & Landslide

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Carly leaves the plane and goes into the airport, where she hears that, due to thunderstorms, flights have been delayed. She tells desk rep Faye that she’s going to Aruba. Does she know how long until departure? Faye says she’s sorry, but until the storm passes, Carly isn’t going anywhere.

Drew leaves another message for Carly, saying, he just finished a meeting at the Grill, and thought he’d give it another shot, but since he got voicemail, that probably means she’s still on her way to Aruba. Her message said she wanted to talk, so he’s here. Call him as soon as she can. Sam comes in with Scout, and Drew picks her up. He says, she looks so beautiful. How did she know this was exactly what he needed? Sam says, lucky guess, and Scout seconds that.

On the phone, Jordan says, again, this is a procedural question. If their service told a subscriber they had a genetic match, and the other party removed their identity from the database, is there a way to contact the individual to confirm the match? Dante comes to the door, and says, the desk sergeant said she wanted to see him. Since she’s on a call, he can come back if it’s important.

Portia says she knows Curtis is anxious to talk to Jordan again, but does he think that’s the best tactic? Not having the divorce papers signed, sealed, and delivered is an inconvenience, but his lawyer has a copy. He and Jordan can sign them again, make it official, and they can plan their wedding. He says, it’s not a matter of where or how, but why would Jordan lose that paperwork? She asks why he thinks it’s intentional. Things happen; she could have misplaced them. He says, Jordan didn’t get to be Commissioner by skipping details, and he doesn’t believe for one minute that the paperwork magically disappeared from her desk while she was recuperating. There has to be a reason why she got rid of those papers. Portia says she can think of one reason, but they’ve been down that road before, and he says, try him. She says, Jordan lost the papers because she doesn’t want a divorce. She’s still in love with him.

Nikolas asks if Ava’s sure she wants to leave Sonny’s bodyguard outside. Isn’t she afraid her loving husband is going to try and kill her again? She tells him, he says that like it’s a joke, even though his alibi of being with Elizabeth the whole time turned out to be a boldfaced lie. He says he can explain, and she says she wants the truth. Is he the one who tried to kill her the night of the Quartermaine picnic?

Sasha goes to the door at Charlie’s, and Gladys tells Sonny, talk about true love. Brando’s only been gone a minute, and she misses him already. Sonny goes over to Sasha, and says he knows she’s still getting used to the idea of guardianship, but it could have been a lot worse. She loves Brando, she trusts Brando. They’ll make decisions together instead of some court appointed officer. She can rely on Brando, always. She says she does know that.

Outside, it starts to rain, and we see the hook. Brando comes out, stops, and the hook comes down. He looks up at the dark figure holding it, and it comes down again. He screams in pain.

Jordan says she understands the need for confidentiality. When it comes to someone’s identity, you can’t be too careful. She thanks them for their help, and tells Dante, sorry about that. She was just following up on a lead. Dante says, the desk sergeant told him that she has an update on the Ava Jerome case. She says, possibly. Walk her through the inventory he did at the Quartermaine boathouse. Anything missing? He says, there was actually; a gaff, a slaughter-hook used in fishing. If a fish is too large or heavy to get into the boat, they use the hook. There’s a  rack with fishing equipment, and room for six hooks. Five were there; one was missing. The Quartermaines say the one that’s missing was the largest. She says she just received confirmation from the sergeant in CSI. Ava’s injuries were consistent with a curved implement with a barbed head. She wasn’t stabbed. She was speared with a hook.

Kristina is running in to work, when she sees the figure standing above Brando with the hook. She screams, and the figure jets. She runs over to Brando, and inside, Sonny says, stay here. Kristina continues to scream for help, as Brando gasps for air. Sonny runs out, and says, what the hell?

Nikolas asks if Ava really thinks he’s the one who tried to kill her, and she says, here’s a name he might remember – Hayden Barnes. He says his relationship with Hayden has nothing to do with what happened to her, and she asks why he lied about his alibi. He says he was protecting Elizabeth. She’s been having some mental health issues. Ava says, she heard Elizabeth was at Shadybrook for a time, and he says, she had some kind of a blackout while she was at the Quartermaines. She had no memory of where she was when Ava was attacked. Ava says she doesn’t believe for one second Elizabeth attacked her, and he says, neither does he, but if she would have told the truth, it would have looked suspicious. He didn’t want her to get the third degree from the cops, considering what she’s been through. So what Ava considers a lie, he calls protecting one of his oldest friends. Deep down in her heart, she believes him, doesn’t she? She says she believes he concocted an alibi. The question is, did he do it to protect Elizabeth or save his own skin?

Drew asks what Sam and Scout are doing here, looking so elegant, and Sam says, this was actually Scout’s idea. She got really high marks at Lila’s Kids. He says, congratulations, and Scout thanks him, saying, she was the best runner in her age group. He says, that’s his girl; no surprise to him. Sam says, tomorrow is Scout’s first day of school, and she promised her a special mother/daughter dessert; crème brûlée. And if he didn’t know, this place comes highly recommended. Scout asks if Drew will take on the first day of school, and he says, absolutely; cross his heart. Sam asks Scout to sit at their special table while she talks to her daddy, and Drew asks, what’s up? She takes him aside, and says, as he knows, their daughter adores him, and he says, he’s so thrilled to see Scout; she has no idea. He adores her too, but what did Sam want to talk about that they couldn’t discuss in front of Scout?

Carly tells Faye, she’s okay with being rerouted. She’ll take a connecting flight, or two. As long as it gets her to Aruba, so she can attend this seminar she’s booked for. Faye says, the weather in Jacksonville is the issue. No flights are currently taking off, and they won’t until the storm passes. Carly asks if she can keep them posted, and Faye says she will. Carly goes over to the waiting area, and says she can’t believe this. They’re not even trying to get them out of here. An older lady tells her, she’s in Florida during hurricane season. She embroiders as she talks, and says, the airline people are doing the best they can. She has to say, when a person is as eager to move out as Carly seems to be, it usually means they’re trying to run away from something. Or somebody.

Kristina calls for an ambulance, as Sonny tries to stop the bleeding. She tells the operator that Brando is bleeding very badly. They’re in the alley behind Charlie’s. Hurry. Gladys and Sasha come out, and Sasha screams, Brando! Gladys holds her back.

Dante tells Jordan, so Ava was stabbed with a slaughter-hook. Wow. So the next question is, is it a crime of opportunity – somebody saw the hook and decided to use it – or was Ava the target and the hook was the best available option? Jordan says, let’s start with the second theory; Ava was the intended target. He says, she’s got a ton of enemies, which means there are a lot of possibilities, and she says, they only need one – the right one. He says, when you think about how many people were at that picnic and the size of that property, it’s virtually impossible to figure out who was where at the time of the attack. She says, that means they’re going to have to do this the hard way. Go back over everyone’s statements, and see which ones hold up and which ones don’t. He says he’ll get on it right now, and she says, they don’t both have to pull an all-nighter. She knows he just moved into a new house. Doesn’t he have some unpacking to do? He says he does actually, but Sam will understand, and she says, take it from her, that’s a very slippery slope. First, it starts out with understanding. Then it’s wondering what’s taking so long. Until one day… He already knows how her story ends.

Curtis says, what he and Jordan had, ended a long time ago, and Portia says, for him maybe. But she wondered about it when Trina was first suspected of making the revenge porn against Josslyn and Cameron. He says, he remembers she was worried it was something personal with Jordan’s investigation, and she says, right, but she was mistaken. In fact, thanks to Jordan’s help, Trina is free now, but maybe Jordan doesn’t know how she feels about him. Maybe she thought she’d put things behind her and moved on, but she once thought she did the same thing too. Trust her. Curtis Ashford is a hard man to forget. TJ joins them, and tells Portia, he hates to interrupt, but Mr. Ferguson is asking for her. He says she’s the only doctor he trusts. Curtis says, can’t blame him, and Portia leaves. TJ apologizes to Curtis, but Curtis says, actually, TJ is just the person he wanted to talk to. It’s about his mom.

Sasha runs to Brando, and says, don’t leave her. Sonny says, Kristina called 9-1-1. An ambulance is on the way. He tells Gladys to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding, and Gladys tells Brando, she’s here. Sasha asks, what’s taking so long? Where’s the ambulance? We hear sirens, and Kristina says, help is on the way. Sasha tells Brando, just hold on, and cries.

Carly asks if the woman minds if she joins her, and the woman says, have a seat. Carly says, the woman implied earlier that she was running from something, but actually, she’s running to something. She’s on her way to a seminar in Aruba, where she’s going to learn how to shape her future, and discover what opportunities are out there for someone with her skills and experiences. The woman tells her, if you say so, and Carly asks what’s in the carrier; a dog or a cat? The woman says, that’s her rescue dog Gretel. She travels with Gretel wherever she goes. Gretel is a good judge of character. She likes Carly. Carly asks how she can tell, and the woman says, they’ve been together a lot of years. If Gretel didn’t like her, she’d know right away. Carly looks around and says, come on, and the woman says, nobody likes to wait, but she seems downright unsettled. Carly says she grew up in Jacksonville, and the woman says, then she already knows. 42 miles of beaches, the best fish this side of Key West, and the Gator Bowl every New Year’s Eve. What made her leave? Carly says she was just looking for something else, and the woman asks if she found it. Carly says, yeah. She thinks so. She has three beautiful daughters, and amazing son, the most adorable grandson; friends and family. The woman says, yet here she is, back where she started. Life is kind of funny that way sometimes. Carly says she has a weather app on her phone. She bets it will show her when the storm is going to end. The woman says she doesn’t need that to let her know what’s going on. Like she said, this is Florida during hurricane season. Carly digs in her bag, and says, Jacksonville’s great, but she had a tough time here. When she left, she was happy to go. Oh my God. She left her phone on the plane.

Sam says, cards on the table. She heard Drew leave that message for Carly. He says, he was returning her call. She’s on her way to Aruba. Sam says, that’s a romantic destination, and he says, she’s there to attend an executive leadership seminar. Sam says, that doesn’t mean you can’t mix business with pleasure, if the right guy shows up. He asks if she doesn’t have enough on her plate, with Dante and Rocco moving in. Congratulations, although she probably had a thousand justifications for putting it off. She says, he does know her well. She thinks what happened was, Dante was trying do what she wanted, and she was trying to do what he wanted. Drew says, and they were making each other miserable, and she says, the misunderstanding was miserable; the resolution was not. He tells her, it’s okay. She can just say it; she and Dante are happy. Sam says, they are happy, and he says he’s happy for her. They hug, and Scout asks why they’re hugging. Sam says, Drew is always going to be her dad, and they’ll always be a family. And they’re friends. Drew says, the best friends, and they always will be, but he’s got to finish this conversation with her mom. Would she mind playing her game a little longer? Maybe he can convince her mom to bring home an extra desert. Scout goes back to the table, and Sam says, he’s going to spoil her. He says, that’s what they do. They love and care for them, and set rules and boundaries, then they spoil them a little bit. She says, he does all of those things, and he says, Scout makes it easy. Adult relationships are the tricky ones. Those are a bit more complicated. She says, really? Anyone she knows?

Jordan says, Drew and Sam are two of the lucky ones who get another ride on the merry-go-round. So get out of here and live his life. That’s an order. He thanks her, and says, but first, he heard Curtis and Portia got engaged. How is she doing with that? She says she appreciates him asking, but she’s fine. It was hardly a surprise. They did buy house after all. As for her, she’s ready to start the next chapter of her life. Anything else? He says, no. He’ll get out of here. He starts to leave, and she says, sometime she’d like to pick his brain, when they’re off the clock. He says, about what? and she says, a case of mistaken identity. Or it could be no mistake at all.

Curtis says, in general, how’s TJ’s mom? and TJ says, Curtis knows his mom; working 24/7 since the night of the Quartermaine picnic. There are no leads from what he understands. Curtis says he knows how dedicated TJ’s mom can be, but sometimes work is a convenient excuse. TJ says, excuse for what? and Curtis says, not getting back out there; risk getting hurt again. TJ says he doesn’t know what Curtis wants him to say. His mom doesn’t cue him in on her personal life. The divorce was barely final when she got injured, and she spent months recuperating. Curtis says, and since then? and TJ wonders why Curtis is asking him this now. What’s going on?

Ava says, Elizabeth has no memory of what she was doing or who she was with when at the time of the attack, so she can’t incriminate Nikolas, nor can she exonerate him. He says, they’re both hot blooded people, and they’ve been left with more than a few love bites. She asks if that’s what they’re calling a brutal attack now, and he says, no matter how much they hurt each other, there’s no way in hell he’d try to kill the woman he loves, and she knows it. She says, maybe he loves her too much to try to kill her himself, but they both know that wouldn’t stop him from hiring someone else, like he did with Hayden. He says, there’s a difference with Hayden. He never loved her.

Sasha tells Brando that she’s here, and asks if he hears the sirens. She loves him so much. The EMTs arrive, and tell everyone to step back. Gladys tells Sasha to give them space, and leads her away. Sonny tells Kristina that she did good. Thank God she’s okay. Tell him what happened; talk to him. She cries as she talks, and says she was on her way to work, and cut through the alley. The sky opened up, and it started pouring rain, and she saw something moving. It was a hook. Someone was swinging it at Brando. She saw Brando fall to the ground and started screaming. He asks if she saw the attacker’s face, but she says, no. It was pouring rain and it all happened so fast. It was like a shadow that came to life, and that thing, that hook… She saw it. It flashed right before he… He tells her, it’s all right, and holds her. One of the EMTs says, they’re losing him, and Sasha scream/cries.

Carly says she hates to bother Faye again, but she left her phone on the plane. She needs to reboard the plane and find her phone. Faye says she’s sorry, but the plane has been moved. She can’t reboard. Carly says, but she needs her cellphone, and Faye says she’ll have to look for it in the airline lost and found. Carly says, only in Jacksonville. (Really? Is that really what she thinks?) Carly tells her seatmate that she left her phone on the plane, and they won’t let her back on to get it. The woman says, you young people and your cellphones. It’s like you forgot how to use your imagination. If Carly has no good memories of Jacksonville, fine, but surely she can close her eyes and think of something that makes her smile. Carly says, don’t call me Shirley flashes back to kissing Drew in the boathouse.

Drew is also flashing back to the same thing, and Sam asks, what is that smile on his face? She already knows the answer, so she doesn’t know why she’s asking. He says, let’s just say that… there’s a lot at stake, and a lot depends on timing. She asks why he just doesn’t say it. They’re talking about Carly, aren’t they?

Dante asks if the case of mistaken identity was the call Jordan was on when he walked in, and she says, yes, it was. He says, she wants his opinion as a friend; what’s this about? Her phone rings, and she asks him to wait. She answers, listens for a moment, and says, she’s on her way. She tells Dante, there was another stabbing in the alley behind Charlie’s Pub. According to an eyewitness, the weapon appeared to be a hook. He says, the same thing used on Ava, and she says she’ll fill him in on the way.

Curtis tells TJ, he’s sorry. He doesn’t mean to pry. He just wants to see that Jordan finds genuine happiness like he found with Portia, or like TJ did with Molly. TJ says he knows Curtis wants good things for his mom, but it’s been almost a year since the divorce, and all of a sudden Curtis is asking him these questions. Does Curtis know something he doesn’t know? Portia comes back before Curtis can answer.

An EMT says, Brando’s got a pulse, and Gladys says, thank you God. They get ready to put Brando in the ambulance, and Sasha says she’s his wife, and she’s coming. Gladys says she’s his mother, and Sonny asks if the officer will let them go. He and his daughter will stay and answer any questions. The officer says, that’s fine, and they leave. Sonny calls out, don’t give up hope. Brando’s a fighter. Kristina says she knows he said that for their sake, but Sonny says he meant it. Brando survived addiction and combat, and everything Cyrus Renault threw at him. He’s going to make it. He has to.

Carly smiles, and the woman says, so she did find a happy memory. It works every time. Carly says, she’s a very wise woman, and Carly bets she’s speaking from experience, and has a special someone in her life. The woman says, yes and no. She had several attempts at love, but none of them could ever stick the landing. She’s learned she’s better off loving animals. She never met a man as loyal as a dog. They never disappoint you, and certainly never bounce a check. But you young people probably don’t write checks anymore. You have everything on your phones. Carly says, since her phone on the plane, maybe she should focus on her surroundings more. Maybe there is something good in Jacksonville, thanks to her and Gretel. Faye says she has an update for passengers traveling to Aruba.

Drew asks Sam if it’s that obvious to people that he and Carly are circling around each other. She says, she’s not most people, so she can’t speak for most people, but she thinks she knows him better than most. Don’t worry. His secret not-so-secret is safe with her. He asks if Carly has said anything, and Sam tells him, not a word, but when she sees the two of them together, there’s a spark; there’s a connection. He says he just hopes the connection isn’t going to be an issue for Sam, and Sam says, as long as he and Carly can get their timing right, there’s no issue for her. For the longest time, when people asked her about Carly, she would say, Carly’s Jason’s friend, not her friend. But in Jason’s absence, she and Carly gravitated toward each other. Scout tells Sam that she can’t get past this level in her game, and Sam says she thinks she can help. She tells Drew that she’ll be right back. Drew calls Carly again, and gets voicemail. He says he thought her flight might have landed by now. Give him a call when she gets the chance.

Nikolas says, he and Ava are both flawed people, with serious errors in judgments in the past. She can keep throwing Hayden Barnes in his face just like he could throw her swapping Morgan Corinthos’s bipolar meds for placebos. Are they on a level playing field now? She says she supposes they are, and he says, let’s be honest. If she knows him at all, she knows if he wanted to kill her, he wouldn’t job it out, and he wouldn’t use a weapon. He would do it with his bare hands. She says, wow. Finally. An honest conversation between them, even if it does have fatal implications. He asks if that wasn’t what they always had and makes them so damn crazy about each other? She says, a lot of people would say they’re just plain crazy, and he says, who cares what other people think? They were made for each other. She tells him, don’t look at her like that, and he says, why not? She says she doesn’t want to want him, and he asks if she still wants him. She says, of course (🍷) she does. Does he think the pain of being stabbed hurt her more than the thought that he couldn’t keep his hands off of Esme? He says, yes, he’s a man capable of sleeping with his son’s girlfriend. He’s not proud of it, but he owns who he is. He is a cad, a rat, a liar, but would she believe him if he said he was anything else? If he tried to convince her that he was some kind of hero on a white horse? That’s not who he is. He knows it, and so does she, but they can still make some good out of this nightmare. They can’t do it apart; they can only do it together.

Officer Matthews asks Kristina, what about the attacker’s height; over or under six feet? She says she doesn’t know, and Sonny asks if they can stop. He’s asked a hundred different ways for her to describe the attacker, and she’s already given him everything she knows. Officer Matthews thanks them for cooperating, and walks away. Kristina thanks Sonny for that. She just wants to go to the hospital. Dante and Jordan come on the scene, and Jordan says she heard Kristina is the only eyewitness to the attack, and Sonny says, that’s true, but she’s already given her statement to the officer. Kristina says, if Jordan needs her to come down to the station tomorrow and answer any questions, she’s happy to do it, but right now she needs to get to the hospital and check on her cousin. Sonny says, they know Brando is the victim, right? and Dante says, yeah. Sonny says, they’re very tired, so they both just want to go to GH. Jordan says she gets that. They’re both free to go. Dante asks them to tell Sasha and Gladys that he’s thinking of them, and Sonny says he will.

TJ says a bunch of medical stuff, and Portia says, he’s having trouble breathing from the left side; his lung has collapsed. TJ says, he needs to decompress Brando’s lung, and Sasha and Gladys watch through the window. Gladys takes out her rosary, and Curtis says he knows they’re both scared, and they have every right to be, but the main thing to focus on now is that Brando is getting medical care. Portia and TJ are two of General Hospital’s very best. He’s in good hands. Sasha looks in at Brando, and says, he’s just so pale. She needs him so much. Brando can’t die. He just can’t. Gladys blesses herself, and prays the rosary.  

Carly says, it was nice meeting the woman and Gretel, and tells Gretel that she has a great mommy. The woman says, it was nice meeting Carly too, and Faye says, for those boarding flight 214 to Aruba, that flight has been officially canceled. There are a lot of groans from the waiting passengers, and Carly says, now what is she going to do? The woman says, looks like she’ll be spending the night as a guest of the airline. Welcome home, hon. Been there, done that. Not the welcome home part, but being a guest of the airline. I didn’t like it either. Somewhere, there’s a photo of me in Houston, giving the finger and holding up a sign that says, F-U Delta.

Sam tells Scout, there, and hands back her game. Drew says he’s got to get going, but he’s so happy that Scout’s family just keeps getting bigger. She has her and Danny, she has mom, she has Dante and Rocco, and she has him. Scout asks who he has, and Sam says, daddy has them. Drew says, that’s right. Always. Tomorrow, first day of school. He leaves, blowing Scout a kiss before going out the door. She blows one back, and he catches it.

Dante thanks Officer Matthews, and tells Jordan, Kristina saw the attack, but not the attacker’s face. She saw the weapon, and it sounds like it was this hook, the same thing that stabbed Ava Jerome. Jordan wonders how an attack on Brando fits together with Ava, but he says he doesn’t know. They have means, but no motive. She says they don’t have the time or luxury of knowing why. They need find whoever did this before they attack again.

Ava says, Nikolas isn’t playing fair, and he says he’s being honest. How is that not playing fair? She says, if he’d come in there and sworn his undying love, she would have called security and had him thrown out. But when he owns up to what a lousy rat he is, and how he can’t be trusted, it almost makes her trust him. He moves to kiss her, and she says, almost. Sonny comes in, and asks what the hell Nikolas is doing here. Ava says she told Frank to stand down. She and Nikolas had something to settle, and they’ve done that. Nikolas tells Sonny, do his worst. Not that this matters to Sonny, but he’s not the one who tried to kill Ava. Sonny says, he knows.

TJ says, he just heard from the OR. The team is ready for them. They wheel Brando out, and Sasha tells him that she loves him so much. He’ll be okay. She’ll be right here. She loves him so much. The elevator doors close and she sobs. Kristina joins them.

Tomorrow, Rory asks Trina if it changes things now that she knows the truth; Carly says she doesn’t owe someone anything; Sonny tells Ava and Nikolas that there’s been another attack; and Sasha asks TJ, what’s wrong?

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

At Kyle’s house, Kyle tells LisaR that she had to say something when Erika said alleged victims, and LisaR says, there are victims. At the rental house, Crystal says, Erika elevated thee conversation last night to something erratic, and we flash back to that. LisaR tells Kyle that Erika was so defensive, nobody could reach her. She tried when they were in the car. We see a clip of LisaR telling Erika that she could separate the legal stuff from empathy for the victims (a word with which we should play a drinking game). Erika says she acknowledged that months ago, and we see a clip of Erika telling Dorit that she won’t back down. Everyone wants her to be nice, but she’s not apologizing for sh*t. Will they apologize when all is said and done? Do they want it to be forgive and forget?  

In Kyle’s interview, she says, it’s a lot easier to walk Storm than Kathy, and we see Kathy trying to walk in boots she insists are for the snow, while she’s sliding everywhere. LisaR and Kyle get on either side of her, and Kathy says, the clerk told her they were for the snow. Kyle says,  they lied. Crystal, Sutton, and Garcelle go for breakfast, and LisaR and Kyle join them. Kyle doesn’t know where Kathy went, and in her interview, she says, ever since she was a little girl, Kathy would disappear. She feels like she’s her sister’s keeper. She can’t keep track of her. She tells the women that her feelings are hurt. When she came back to the house last night, Erika had cleared out. We see a clip of Erika packing her stuff and leaving, Dorit in attendance. LisaR says she checked in with Erika this morning, and asked if she was okay; she said, no. Dorit and Diana go to an upscale store, which Dorit deems so chic, which is her favorite word. The store manager says they don’t make more than 25 or 30 of every piece, and Dorit says she has a lot of their stuff. Erika meets them, and Kathy finally finds the breakfast group. Kyle says they’re going to Kemo Sabe, and in her interview, she says, it’s not just a store to buy hats and boots. It’s an experience. She hopes the women can get their act together and make nice for her, because they know it’s important. Dorit asks how Erika feels about going, and Erika says, she doesn’t want to go. She doesn’t want to be around them. In Erika’s interview, she says, it’s easy for the group to want her to express sympathy, but she has her own reasons. Whatever she says is scrutinized, picked apart, and thrown in her face. She doesn’t care if it’s Kyle’s favorite store. F*** these people. F*** this place. Diana says, what if it happened, and Erika had never married Tom, but she read about what happened. Wouldn’t she feel terrible? Erika says, justice needs to be served, but if she doesn’t fight for herself, she’ll get railroaded. She’s getting her ass kicked daily. Outside in the world, that’s cool, but not inside her friend circle. In Diana’s interview, she says, you can’t say you don’t care about the victims. She hopes Erika doesn’t mean it. Erika tells them the case in Chicago was dismissed, and in her interview, she says, that case was the beginning of all the bad press. It’s nice to have it squashed. She still has a lot of dragons to slay, but it feels good today. Tomorrow is another day. She wonders if anyone will say anything.

LisaR reads that the case was dismissed, and Sutton says, that’s the one she was called about, where they wanted a third party witness. Crystal says, they’re refiling it, and in her interview, she says, it was dismissed in Illinois, but that doesn’t mean it’s dismissed in other states. They’re refiling in California. It still exists. Kyle says she believes Erika didn’t know anything, but the conversation was about the victims. She wants to talk to Erika one-on-one. Still at the store, Erika says she doesn’t feel good sitting on someone’s plane who was screaming at her about the things that were dropped today. The breakfast group comes by, and Kathy tries the door, but it’s locked. The manager asks if he should unlock it, but Erika and Dorit say, no, because they’re middle schoolers. The other women drift on down the street.

In her interview, Kyle says, Kemo Sabe is a rite of passage. They’ll get a hat, get their initials out on it, adorn it with things, and set it on fire. It’s the best. Sheree meets them at the store/bar, and Crystal accepts that the hat she’s trying on is cute, but wonders where she’d wear it. As would I. In Kyle’s interview, she says she loves hats. She’s been collecting them for a long time, and couldn’t pick a favorite. They’re like her children. They order drinks, and Kathy is all excited because they have her tequila. In LisaR’s interview, she says she has a sneaking suspicion that Kathy brought it there herself, and we flash back to Kathy’s tequila tour this season. LisaR asks for her friend Kendall Jenner’s tequila, since she hasn’t tried it, and Kathy gets pissed. And I mean pissed. LisaR says she’s just trying it, and Kyle tells Kathy not to ruin the mood. In her interview, LisaR says, she has three friends who have tequilas, and that was the only one she hadn’t tasted. Kathy goes to the bar and orders her own tequila, and tells the bartender to pour it in front of everyone. She has to promote herself, since no one else will. She’s double-pissed because, not only did LisaR disrespect her, Kyle said nothing. In Kyle’s interview, she says, once Kathy is mad, it’s hard to turn it around. Kathy tells Garcelle and Crystal that she’s leaving; she’s pissed off. Just in case we didn’t know. In her interview, Kyle says, Kathy can be fun and funny, but she can also be very difficult. It bothers Kyle how much she lets it affect her, but that’s the difference between friends versus sisters. Mauricio shows up, and takes pictures of them in their hats, and they drink shots from glasses attached to a rifle. IMO, Kathy is way overreacting, but I don’t believe for a second LisaR didn’t know what she was doing. Oh, Kathy is all excited about her tequila, so I’ll make a show of drinking someone else’s. Come on.

Erika tells Diana to buy some jewelry so she can live vicariously. Diana says she likes to buy vintage; it’s also an investment. Erika is wearing the earrings in question, and in Dorit’s interview, she says, it takes a certain kind of person to put on the earrings that were the subject of last night’s conversation. In Erika’s interview, she says, why shouldn’t she wear them? They’ve been hers for 15 years, and until she’s told they’re not hers, she’ll wear them. (Note: She said on Watch What Happens Live that she no longer has them. They’re being held in limbo right now by the court.) They stop at Aspen Pie, which is a really cute pie shop/bar. Erika gets a hot toddy, and tries to order Dorit’s drink, since Dorit needed to use the facilities. Diana says she FaceTimed with the baby, who didn’t understand how mom could be on the screen and not with her. Dorit comes back, and says, Erika was only off by the short glass. In Dorit’s interview, she says she can’t give Erika a hard time, since PK struggles to get it right. In Diana’s interview, she says she tries to help people in distress, so she invited Dorit and Erika to stay with her, since they needed a safe house. At Kemo Sabe, the women get hats, and Sutton has hers set on fire. I’m like, WTF? I thought Kyle was joking. In Sutton’s interview, she says she’s never spent $500 on fire. She did almost burn Kyle’s house down, which was a lot more than $500, but they’re just trying to distress the hat, not the house. Dorit calls Kyle, and says she’s in a café with Erika and Diana. Erika doesn’t want to go to Kemo Sabe, and she feels bad leaving her. Kyle says her feelings are hurt, but they’re going to be hurt more if Dorit doesn’t come. Dorit asks Kyle not to put her in that position, and Kyle says, she took over the whole space, Dorit says, Kyle is with five girls, and Erika’s with two. In Kyle’s interview, she says, between Erika leaving, the way her sister spoke to her, and Dorit not showing up, it gives her a sick feeling, She’s hurt. She tells Dorit that it’s on her if she stays there, or comes and goes with the plan that’s been in place for months. She hangs up, and Dorit is like, hello? She goes back in the café, and says, it didn’t go good. She’s blown away. Erika pretends to be humble, and says, Dorit’s friendship with Kyle is bigger than her situation. Then she asks if anyone said anything about her lawsuit being dismissed. Dorit says, no, and 1) nice way for Erika to make this about her, and 2) it was like a one minute call with Kyle only. At Kemo Sabe, LisaR wonders what she can do to help, and Kyle says she thinks it’s selfish of Erika. She was happy to set their differences aside, but now she’s not coming, and is pulling Dorit with her. Neither one of them responded all day either. LisaR says she’s going over there, and promises she’ll be back shortly. In LisaR’s interview, she says she knows what this means to Kyle, and understands it’s important to Kyle to bring everyone back together. She just hopes they can do it.

LisaR strides down the street. In her interview, she says she doesn’t know exactly where they are, but it’s a small town. She’ll just walk, and pop into places and look in windows. Hopefully, she’ll find them. Dorit tells Erika and Diana that she doesn’t want to walk into a bunch of women who are going to be mean to her. She feels like she’s bearing the brunt of everything. Do they take overreaction classes or something? Erika sees LisaR going past, and tells Dorit, go get her. LisaR joins them, and Erika brags that her case was dismissed without prejudice. I don’t think that means what she thinks it means. I’ve watched a billion episodes of The People’s Court, and that just means they’re dropping it for now, but it can come back to haunt you at any time. It can happen for a variety of reasons. Dorit says she’s here to support her friend, and LisaR proposes they all sit together and talk calmly about everything. Kyle is hurt at the situation. They know how it is when you want to show people your happy place. Erika says she’ll show them something that happened to her that’s bigger than this sh*t. LisaR goes back to Kemo Sabe, and Kyle says she organized this private shopping event, and ordered pizza. In Kyle’s interview, she cries, and says, she shows up for everything. Can’t they show up for something she planned months in advance? LisaR says, Dorit got stuck with Erika, and Kyle says, Erika was an a-hole last night. In her interview, Kyles says, it’s unbelievably selfish in every way. Kathy says, it doesn’t feel good when people aren’t there for you. She knows what it’s like. Personally though, she would have left. Maybe Erika was embarrassed. Kyle says, she would have thought they were good enough friends that Erika would say that to her. LisaR says, they should be having this conversation with Erika, and Kyle says she has. Being honest gets you into trouble. LisaR says, nobody likes to hear the truth, especially me. In Kyle’s interview, she says, Kathy is acting like nothing happened. Sometimes you have to choose peace. LisaR tries on her hat.  

At the rental house, Garcelle is tired of waiting for Sutton to get ready. Sutton says she only took five minutes, and Garcelle asks if that was in dog years. At Kyle’s place, Kyle is still sniffling, when Dorit knocks on the door. Kyle says she doesn’t want to talk now, and Dorit says, this is breaking her heart. Kyle says she thinks of Dorit as family, and Dorit says she feels the same. That’s why she’s here. Kyle says, Erika did it to herself last night, and Dorit says she doesn’t want to be in the middle. Kyle says, she put herself there, and Dorit says, Erika was in tears. Kyle yells that she doesn’t care, and Dorit says, when someone is in pain, she wants to be there to support them, and in Kyle’s interview, she says, Dorit is telling her that she cares more about Erika’s feelings than hers. She tells Dorit that Erika packed up and left her house, and LisaR says, they need to go to dinner. She suggests they put a pin in it for now, and I hope Shannon from RHOC is taking notes. Kyle says, Erika brought this on by her behavior last night. She and Dorit start squabbling, and LisaR says, time out. Kyle goes in the bedroom, and Mauricio asks if he can say something. He’s been listening, and on behalf of PK and himself, he wants to create peace. He knows Dorit and Kyle love each other, and what’s causing the fight is an external situation. They’re both hurt, and it’s difficult to get past, but they have to move on. Thus spake Mau, bringing forth his marijuana wisdom. Dorit and Kyle hug, and in her interview, Kyle says, she and Dorit have the type of friendship where they fight, which she hates so much. They always make up, but she hates arguing with people she cares about.

They take a limo bus to a club where they have a private room. It’s set up with charcuterie trays, and Dorit wonders if they’re just having bits. LisaR says, they’re getting pizza, and Dorit says she had pizza for lunch. Oh, excuse me. In Dorit’s interview, she says she doesn’t like what happened. It doesn’t feel good, but it’s their last night in Aspen. In Kyle’s interview, she says, the argument took a lot out of her. She didn’t want to show up, and right now, she’s just keeping it together with the plan and moving forward. Kyle tells Dorit that she’s not angry, but she’s hurt at Dorit choosing to stay with Erika. Dorit says, Erika was upset; she’s a broken woman today. In Garcelle’s interview, she says she finds that hard to believe, since Erika puts on a strong front. We flash back to Erika being loud and obnoxious, and Dorit says, Erika is very upset. They talked about a of the sh*t Erika had to go through. She was tearful and broken. They all know she’s gone though it in the last year. Erika comes in with Diana, and Dorit meets Erika at the bar. Kyle asks Garcelle to talk to her; she’s feeling uncomfortable. She hates the feeling. She goes over to the bar, and asks Dorit to give them a minute. They hug, and Kyle says, she hates feeling uncomfortable with a good friend. Erika says she is Kyle’s good friend. That’s why she was so upset. Did Kyle see what happened? Kyle congratulates he, and Erika says, Kyle can see why she fought her ass off. Kyle tells Erika that she never said Erika was guilty. She should just show empathy. Erika says, to who? and Kyle says, the victims, the look on her face saying she wonders if Erika just dropped into this several day conversation. Kyle says, that doesn’t mean Erika’s to blame, and Erika says she feels like they want something from her that can’t give now. She can’t go certain places. Kyle says she doubts a lawyer would tell her not to show empathy (I’m not so sure about that), but when Erika says, they’re not her problem… Erika says she’s not responsible for cleaning this up; Girardi Keese is. It’s a legal problem, and she’s being lumped in. It’s not her responsibility. She feels badly for those legitimately wronged, and they need to be taken care of, but that won’t happen for a while. Everything is coming at her, and she’s not the most cuddly person on the planet. She inherited the problem. It’s not her problem, but it’s being thrown in her face constantly, and it’s hard. Kyle says she doesn’t want to fight, and Erika says, it’s their first blowout in seven years. Kyle says she cried so much, and Erika says she’s just trying to get through it. They hug, and in her interview, Kyle says, Erika is her friend. They don’t agree on everything, but she doesn’t want to keep arguing with someone she cares about. She’d rather make up and move on. In Garcelle’s interview, she says, Kyle and Erika talk for two minutes, and they’re good. But Erika will hold a grudge against Sutton for years. There’s obviously a double standard. Crystal tells Dorit that Erika wants her friends to have compassion for her. Why can’t she show it for the victims? Dorit asks if Crystal read the article. Not everything is always cut and dried. Crystal says, there was no misunderstanding of Erika’s position, but she’s now understanding it’s Dorit’s position. Dorit says she doesn’t know all the information, and neither does Crystal.

Crystal tells Dorit that she lives with a moral compass. She likes to know the people she surrounds herself with people who share that. Kyle plays pool, and Kathy says she wants Kyle to do the moonwalk. She moonwalks better than she plays pool. The pizza comes, and Kyle, LisaR, and Erika make fun of Erika’s tirade the night before. Sutton tells Crystal, what happened last night was not okay, but Crystal says, Erika will always think it’s okay. In Crystal’s interview, she says she’s not surprised the three of them are making fun of the situation. Erika was screaming at her all night, but if she did that, they wouldn’t make light of it today. It would go on forever. Truth! Crystal asks Sutton, what do they do? and Sutton says, at some point, they need to talk about this. In Sutton’s interview, she says, she and Erika have had this argument. She’s retired. She tells Crystal to have the argument, and she’ll speculate. Crystal and Sutton join the group, and Crystal says she feels Erika talks down to her. Why is it a problem for her to feel the way she does, when Garcelle feels the same way? Garcelle says, she and Erika have gotten into it, and Crystal asks why Erika called her an a-hole. Erika says, because she is. They’re talking about the law, not a personal relationship. Crystal asks why they have to talk about the law, and Erika says she’s done nothing but be supportive of Crystal, yet she doesn’t do enough. She’s in a legal mess, and Crystal is making it about her and her ego. Crystal asks, why not show compassion? and Erika says, she put her arms around Crystal when she was crying in Mexico. Crystal says she’s grateful for that, and we flash back to Erika telling Crystal to stick up for herself. Erika asks, what’s the real deal? If Crystal is her true supporter, why did she choose to go there last night? Crystal says she saw the article about the earrings, and Erika says, the story is a year and a half old, but Crystal says, it came up this week, and it was about showing compassion. Erika says, that case is not the same people. It was improper use of funds, and her case was dismissed. In Crystal’s interview, she says, that’s not considered a win. Erika shouldn’t be celebrating. It still exists, no matter what Erika says. Erika tells Crystal, maybe she shouldn’t have been nice to her. She can work it out from now on. Kyle says, they’re not getting anywhere tonight. They need to put a pin in it, and go to the Caribou Club. In Erika’s interview, she says, one more bar. What could possibly happen?

Later that night. In the car, Kathy says, if she doesn’t get in, have fun, but LisaR says, she’s Kathy Hilton. She could get in wearing a bathing suit. Kyle says, the dress code is very strict, and LisaR tells Kathy to get those sweatpants fired up. Kathy insists they’re not sweatpants.

Several hours later. LisaR sends texts to Erika about Kathy having a meltdown; anger, screaming, throwing things, crying. She’s locked in her room. The hatred that just came out of her toward her sister. She’s speechless. In LisaR’s interview, she says, the world thinks Kathy is somebody she’s not. The final text is from Kathy to LisaR, and says: Silence is golden. I’m staying silent.

To be continued…

🔥 Burning Hats…

Kyle’s happy place.

📲 About That Meltdown…

The texts from LisaR and Kathy.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1346343/real-housewives-of-beverly-hills-see-the-shocking-texts-sent-after-kathy-hiltons-meltdown

🎲 Call Me the Tumblin’ Dice…

Come set a spell tomorrow for soap and Charm. Until then, stay safe, stay allowing yourself to change your mind, and stay loving animals. They never disappoint you, and certainly never bounce a check.

September 13, 2022 – Curtis Finds Out He’s Still Married, Back In Port Charles, Reunion Chatter, New On the Potomac, Salty Transcript, Latest House, Another Tale, Emmy Talk & Parade

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Curtis tells Jordan, because the papers weren’t filed in the state of New York, they’re still married. That’s impossible. Stella says, nothing is impossible, and he asks what she means.

Drew gets out of the pool, and sees Marshall. He asks Marshall to wait, but Marshall says he can’t; he’s on his way to meet someone. Drew asks him to just wait one second. He owes Marshall an apology.

Carly thanks Josslyn for meeting her at Charlie’s. She didn’t want to bother her. Josslyn says, stop. Her dorm’s almost unpacked already, and Carly isn’t bothering her. They sit, and Josslyn asks if this is about Carly going to Aruba for the leadership executive seminar. She has Josslyn’s full support. Carly says she knows, but she doesn’t want Josslyn to worry about Donna and Avery. Pilar is going to be with them around clock while she’s gone. Josslyn says she plans on spending time with them too, and Carly says she appreciates that, but she knows Josslyn has had a few distractions. Dex walks in, and he and Josslyn exchange glances.

Finn says, Elizabeth changed her mind? She’s thinking of telling the police she wasn’t with Nikolas at the time of the attack? She says she doesn’t know if she was or wasn’t, and he says, she was pretty determined not to tell the police she’s been losing time. He’s curious. What changed?

Ava lies in bed sleeping. She dreams about lying there bleeding and calling for help. She wakes, and looks at Frank through the window. She closes her eyes, when Portia asks if she’s up for a visitor. Ava says, it depends.

Nikolas comes out of the elevator and sees Sonny, who says he doesn’t think Nikolas has any business there. Nikolas says, his wife is his business, and he’s damn well going to see her if he wants to. Sonny says, if he gets within five feet of Ava’s room, he’s not going to like what’s going to happen.

Mr. Taylor tells Sasha and Brando that the judge reviewed Dr. Rubin’s recommendation and the legal documents. Brando will be in charge of his wife’s finances and medical care, and have her power of attorney. The judge agrees there will be no prison time, as long as Sasha agrees to the guardianship, and commits to attend rehab and out-patient therapy. That’s very important. Once she’s entered into this guardianship, only Brando has the power to terminate it. Does she understand? Brando says, it’s completely up to her; it’s her choice. If it doesn’t feel right, they won’t do it. Gladys says, if she doesn’t take the deal, she could go to prison, but Brando says, she can not take the plea, and go to trial. She still has options. She understands that, right? So what does she want to do? Sasha picks up the papers and looks at them.

Carly asks if Josslyn wants to go over and say hi to Dex, but Josslyn says, it’s fine. Carly says, Dex seems to like her, and they saved Ava’s life; that’s kind of a big deal. Josslyn flashes back to Dex helping with Ava after she was stabbed, and Carly says, hello? Josslyn says, it’s not a big deal. They’ve talked since it happened, and it’s all good. So back to Carly. Is there anything she wants Josslyn to do to facilitate her trip?

Sasha says, according to her attorney Martin Grey, this is the best way to keep her out of prison, correct? and Brando says, yes, but if she wants to call this off, he’ll back her completely. They’ll find another way to fight the charges. She says she knows she needs help, and of course (🍷) she trusts him. It’s not easy signing her life away. Brando says he knows, and Gladys says, Brando only wants to keep her out of prison and help her heal. It’s what they all want. And this is not a permanent solution. Brando says, if Sasha decides to go ahead with the guardianship, they’ll schedule a formal check-in with Dr. Rubin and the hospital administrator every month to see how she’s feeling, and they’ll decide together to terminate the guardianship. He won’t let it go on longer than it has to; not one day. Gladys says, not soon enough for her, and Sasha asks her to bring back Mr. Taylor. She leaves, and Brando kisses Sasha’s forehead.

Nikolas says, Sonny has no jurisdiction over this hospital, or his wife, and Sonny says, for whatever reason, Ava thinks Nikolas tried to kill her, and that concerns him. He’s trying to figure out how to deal with that. Nikolas says he’ll speak with Ava. He has to make her understand, Sonny keeping him away from her isn’t helping. Sonny says, if he gets any proof Nikolas had anything to do with this, not even his Uncle Victor is going to be able to help him. The elevator opens, and Sonny asks if Nikolas is coming. Nikolas says, go to hell, and Sonny gets in the elevator. He says, one look at Ava, that’s where Nikolas is going to go.

Portia says, Ava’s BP is a little elevated; she’s a little anxious. Ava says she’s just a little distracted by that bauble on Portia’s finger, and Portia says, Curtis proposed. Ava says, congratulations, but why does Portia sound like she’s going to recite the changes in the tax code? Is she excited? Portia says she’s over the moon about it. It’s just that Trina told her that Ava blocked Nikolas from seeing her, and it didn’t seem to be the appropriate time to share the news because of everything Ava is going through. Ava says, things have gotten pretty bad. She’s even wondered if Nikolas was the one who stabbed her. Portia says, no. That’s horrible to even entertain the notion that her husband would harm her. Ava says, Nikolas has an alibi, but she still has unanswered questions, and Portia says, like what? Ava says, for one, would Elizabeth Baldwin lie to the cops to cover for Nikolas?

Elizabeth tells Finn that she was talking to Dante, and he said, most likely, Ava wasn’t targeted at random. He thinks the attacker knew her. Finn says, that’s interesting, and she tells him, just say it. He thinks it’s suspicious that Nikolas provided her with an alibi so quickly. He says, no. He’s just wondering if that changes anything for her. She says she does wonder why he leapt to her defense so quickly. Nikolas says he doesn’t think she did it, so why would she need an alibi? Unless the alibi was meant to protect Nikolas.

Stella tells Curtis, it’s just not impossible. This happens all the time. You never know what to expect. He says he supposes it was just filed improperly. What else could it be? If either one of them have a theory, he’d love to hear it. Stella says, they’re human; none of them is perfect. And she knows he’s experienced forgiveness with his father. He asks what this has to do with Marshall. Somebody at the clerk’s office made a mistake, and there should be consequences. Lives were affected, and he’s sorry, but he just can’t let this go. Jordan says she knows what happened.

Drew says, he’s been waiting to say this to Marshall for some time. He’s really sorry for setting Marshall up on that fake job interview. He should have apologized long before now. Marshall says, nobody likes to be made a fool of. He’s had a lot of time to think about it, and realizes Drew was just trying to be a good friend to his son. Drew says, Curtis has been a good friend to him, and Marshall says he can see that. He guesses if he’d been honest with Curtis all along, Drew wouldn’t have gotten dragged into Curtis’s mission to find out what he was hiding. So there it is. He guesses it’s on him. Drew says, so no hard feelings? and Marshall says, they’re all good. They shake hands, and Marshall says he doesn’t like what Drew did, but appreciates why he did it. He did it for Marshall’s family. Drew was there for Curtis when he couldn’t be.

Carly says, she emailed Josslyn the emergency numbers for the girls’ pediatrician. Sonny already has all the emergency numbers, but in case he needs help from Josslyn, he should have it. Josslyn says, Carly knows she knows most of this, right? and Carly says, this is a bad  time for her to go away. School is just starting, Ava’s still in the hospital; what was she thinking? Josslyn says, Donna and Avery are going to be fine. They have her, they have Pilar, they have Sonny. Fingers crossed, she won’t need to visit them at Sonny’s penthouse, but if she does, she’ll live. Stop stalling. This is Carly’s time. Focus on her and her career. Carly says she really wants to go to the seminar. She’s just been so untethered, since she lost her half of the hotel. She’s not used to feeling aimless, so she really wants to go and get her life back on track, in every way. She flashes back to Drew saying she doesn’t have to be afraid of him, and kissing her. Josslyn asks where she went, and Carly says she was just thinking about her next step. Josslyn says, good; keep the focus on herself. Everything is covered here, she promises. Carly says, lunch is on her, and hands Josslyn some cash, saying, here’s a little extra in case something comes up. She has to get out of here, because the day is getting away from her. They hug, and exchange I love yous. Josslyn tells her to have a wonderful trip, and Carly leaves, but runs into Sonny on her way out the door. He asks if she isn’t supposed to get going, and she says, she was just giving Josslyn some last minute information. He tells her, don’t worry about it. Pilar is at the penthouse with Donna and Avery. They’ve got this. She says she knows, but she’s probably going to call every night just to check in. He tells her, good luck, she thanks him, and leaves.

Elizabeth tells Finn, Nikolas really seems to love Ava. She can’t see Nikolas trying to kill her. Finn says, Elizabeth knows Nikolas better than he does. Why does she think he insisted on making her his alibi? She says she told Nikolas that she lost time, but maybe Nikolas couldn’t vouch for his whereabouts either. Finn says, there were a lot of people on the property that night. She doesn’t know what they saw or said to the police. His concern is, the longer she holds out, the more it will cast suspicion on Nikolas and her.

On the phone, Nikolas tells someone, a situation has come up. He needs them to get to GH right away.

Ava says, Nikolas told her that he was with Elizabeth when she was attacked, and Portia says, sounds like he has an alibi. Ava says, they’ve known each other since they were teenagers. If anybody would lie to protect Nikolas, it’s Elizabeth. Portia says she just doesn’t think Elizabeth would lie to the police about something like that, but Ava says, maybe she doesn’t know she’s lying. Maybe she’s being manipulated. Ava’s husband is capable of very bad behavior; surprisingly bad behavior. It’s true what they say; the ones you love the most, can hurt you the most. Portia should keep that in mind before she marches down the aisle.

Mr. Taylor says he understands they’ve made a decision, and Sasha says, yes, they have. She signs the papers.  

Curtis says, Jordan was there when he and Portia got engaged. It never occurred to her to say something then? Jordan says she only just found out about it. It’s her fault. She’s very sorry. He asks her to help him understand. She said she filed those papers. Jordan says she thought she had. She signed them, and put them in her outbox. After their conversation at Trina’s party, she looked through all the mail she received while she was at the clinic, and it wasn’t there. That’s when it hit her. She was going to take the envelope to the courthouse personally, but there was so much going on at the time, and she got called on another matter and didn’t go. She guesses lost track of it, and it probably ended up covered in stacks of mail, and documents on her desk. He says, okay. She still has the divorce papers; they can still file them. Can they look for them?  

On the plane, about to head for Aruba, Carly calls Drew, but she gets voicemail.

Sonny tells Dex to keep an eye on the docks, and make sure the Wu’s are sticking to their agreement. Dex says he’s got it, when Sasha comes in with Brando and Gladys. Sonny gets up, and tells Dex, that’s it for now. Sonny goes over to Brando, and Brando asks if he’d like to join them for dinner, but Sonny says he’s got some business to take care of. He asks, what’s going on here? and Gladys tells them to catch up while she orders dinner for the table. She knows what everyone likes, so do they mind if she makes selections? Sasha says, might as well get used to it, and Gladys leaves. Brando says, they actually just reached a decision with the court. Sasha doesn’t have to serve prison time. Sonny says, that’s great, and Sasha says she’ll be right back. She leaves, and Sonny asks, what’s the agreement? Brando says, to avoid a prison sentence, Sasha had to agree to a guardianship. She just signed over her entire life to him.

Josslyn picks up a to-go bag, and asks Dex if he’s got a minute. He says, sure, and she says, there’s something they need get straight.

Finn says, if the police are going to catch who did this to Ava, they probably need accurate information, and Elizabeth says, he has a good point. He says, if Nikolas is innocent, he’s got nothing to worry about, and she says, except fabricating an alibi to begin with. What’s going to happen when she tells the police that she and Nikolas weren’t together the whole time? They’re both going to become suspects. He says, it’s her call. Whatever she decides, he’s in her corner. She says, it’s a lose-lose no matter what she does. She just needs to think about it for a minute. He says he understands, but he wants her to consider, as long Ava’s attacker is on the loose, Ava’s still in danger. She says he’s right. Ava deserves to know the truth. He asks if Elizabeth is actually going to tell her.

Jordan says she doesn’t have the divorce papers, and Curtis says, she just told him that she had them in a stack of documents on her desk. She says, that was a year ago, just before she spent several months recuperating at a clinic in Albany. That envelope’s probably long gone. He tells her, this is really irresponsible, and she says, her case load was immense during that time… but that’s no excuse. Those papers were important; she should have dealt with them immediately. She complicated things for him and Portia, and she’s sorry. Stella says, life happens. Curtis should understand that, doesn’t he? Jordan says she feels terrible about it, and promises to do whatever she can to make sure their nuptials go as planned. He says he’ll have his attorney issue new copies, and they can refile, and Jordan says, that’s probably the fastest way. She’ll sign them as soon as she has them; he has her word. He says he’ll talk to her later, and leaves. Stella asks, why on earth did Jordan do that?

Portia says, Curtis is certainly nothing like Nikolas, and Ava says, of course (🍷) he’s not. She’s so sorry. She’s not too warm and fuzzy about marriage, but that doesn’t mean they can’t work out. Outside Ava’s room, Nikolas says he’s going in to see his wife, and there’s nothing Frank can do to stop him. Portia comes out, and asks Nikolas, please leave, but he says he won’t be barred from seeing his wife. She says, Ava doesn’t want to see him, and if he doesn’t leave, she’ll have GH security escort him out. He tells her, call them. She has no idea what he’s capable of. Curtis comes around the corner, and asks if there’s a problem here. He knows he didn’t just hear Nikolas threaten his fiancé. Nikolas says, his wife has been badly injured, and they’re keeping him away. What would Curtis do? Curtis says, the way he understands it, Ava doesn’t wish to see him, and Portia says, Ava’s blood pressure was spiking; that’s why she came out here. Curtis asks if Nikolas heard that. Does he wish to pick a fight in the ICU just to convince Ava that he cares? The police are already on their way, so if Nikolas doesn’t want them involved, Curtis suggests he leave. Nikolas says, this isn’t over, but leaves, and Portia says she’s going to check on Ava. She goes back in, and asks if Ava wants something to help her settle down, but Ava says she doubts it would help. She doesn’t think she’s going to get any sleep now.

Stella says, Jordan was furious with her, and has every right to be. Why on earth would Jordan take the blame for her? Jordan says she’s not excusing what Stella did, and Stella says she knows taking those papers was out of line. Jordan says she’s surprised Stella would do something like that; it’s so unlike her. But Curtis has moved on. Jordan sees no reason to undo that progress now. Stella says she can’t let Jordan take the blame for her, and Jordan says, Stella’s not; she volunteered. Curtis will be mildly annoyed with her, but he’ll accept it was an accident. She’ll sign the papers, Curtis and Portia will be married, Stella will officiate, and everything will be all right. She just doesn’t see any reason to cause problems between Stella and Curtis, or Stella and Portia. Stella says, she meant what she said when she told Curtis that Jordan is still family, and she always will be.

Josslyn thanks Dex again for helping her find Avery’s bracelet, and he says, it was an adventure. She says, it wasn’t quite as heroic as saving Ava’s life, but he stepped up. He says, literally. She’s welcome. She says she judged him hard, and that’s really embarrassing because she hates judgy people. So basically, it makes her a hypocrite. He says he didn’t make the best first impression, and she says she still thinks he’s an idiot for working for Sonny. He says, duly noted, and she tells him, she thought he’d say something like that, but she’s not telling him because she despises Sonny. She’s telling him this because Sonny wrecks people, and she doesn’t want him to be one of those people. He says, just because he doesn’t take her advice, doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate her giving it, and she says she didn’t tell anybody about him helping her out the other night; not even Cam. He says, her boyfriend, and she says, yeah. It’s just really complicated to explain, so she’d appreciate it if he could keep it just between them. Can he do that for her?

Sonny says he’s sure being Sasha’s guardian isn’t easy for her or Brando, but Brando is going to do right by Sasha. They hug, and Brando thanks him.

Portia asks how Curtis is since his little dust up with Nikolas, and he says he’s okay. How is she? She says she’s highly annoyed, but she doesn’t know why she’s surprised at another one of Nikolas’s little stunts. At least her strong, handsome fiancé showed up when he did. Everything’s fine. Did he talk to his attorney about the divorce papers? He says, that’s actually why he came here to talk to her. Apparently, there’s no record of the filing. She asks how that’s even possible, and he says he wondered the same thing, so he went to talk to Jordan. She said she thought she filed it, but as it turns out, she’d forgotten, and the paperwork must have gotten thrown away when she was at the clinic in Albany. Portia says, so he’s telling her that he’s been married to Jordan this entire time? and he says, looks that way, but don’t worry. The attorney is expediting papers as they speak. She guesses that’s a relief… isn’t it? He says, definitely, and she says, something else is going on. Something’s still bothering him. Tell her what it is. He says, Jordan’s story isn’t adding up, and it reminds him of when she was dragging her feet in signing those papers in the first place.

Jordan says, it means the world to her that Stella feels this way. She considers Stella family too. Stella says, who’d-a thunk it? She knows what it’s taken them to get this far. They had to work hard for their relationship, but she’s grown to admire, respect, and care for Jordan. And not just because she’s TJ’s mother, but because of the wonderful person she is. While she’s happy for Curtis and Portia, she hopes she and Jordan can continue to be in each other’s lives. Jordan says she’d really like that. Besides, she doesn’t have a lot of family. They’re not all lucky enough to find cousins in England. Stella says, if Jordan wants to know about her family, she should try a DNA test too, and Jordan says, maybe she will. What was the site Stella used? Stella says she’ll forward Jordan the email they sent her with her results. Aside from them saying she had another relative in Port Charles, they’re fantastic. You never know what you’ll find.

Gladys brings some cups to the table, and tells Brando that she figured they’d start with dessert first. Something sweet to lighten the mood. Where is everybody? He says, Sonny stepped away, and Sasha had to take a moment for herself, so she went to the ladies room. Gladys says she hates that it’s come to this, and he says, him too, but he’s going to do everything in his power to show Sasha that she has the strength and he has the faith for her to get through this. She smiles at him, and he says, what? She says, can’t a mother admire her son? He’s become such a good man. She knows they’ve had their differences… He says, that’s one way of putting it, and she says, she knows she handled a lot of things badly, but despite her mistakes, he overcame his struggles and grew into this big-hearted man, who not only looks out for his wayward mother, but all the people he cares about. She’s sorry she wasn’t there for him when he needed the support he’s giving Sasha, and she’s so grateful to him for letting her come back into his life and be part of the family he’s growing. She’s just so damn proud of him. He says he’s proud of her too. The past is the past. He really appreciates her stepping up for Sasha. She helped get them through their darkest times, and he’s so glad she’s in their lives. She tears up, and kisses his hand. He says he loves her, and she says she loves him too.

Sonny finds Sasha, and says, Brando told him about the guardianship. How is she feeling about that? She says she can’t even describe it. She loves and trusts Brando, but feels like an intruder in her own life. He says, her circumstances are different than his, but he gets it. You’ve got to be strong, and you’ve got to believe in yourself. Brando came into his life late, but he’s family, and if he’s family, that means she’s family. He wanted to let her know that if she needs anything ever in her life, he’s here for her. She thanks him, and he says, it looks like Gladys got some desserts to start. Does she want some? She says, let’s do it.

Marshall and Drew have lunch at the pool, and Marshall says he understands what Drew is saying. He’s talking about giving people time, and not pushing them too fast. Drew says, it’s hard to know. Are you giving people time to figure things out, or are you waiting too long? What if you miss out on something fantastic? Marshall says, if something’s meant to be, there’s always a sign. He’s glad he was able to see his sign before it was too late. He looks at this watch, and says, late. He’s got to bounce. He’ll see Drew around. They shake hands, and Drew says, Marshall can count on that. Marshall leaves, and Drew sees a message from Carly on his phone.

Finn brings Elizabeth to Ava’s room, and Elizabeth says she’ll make this quick before she loses her nerve. There’s something Ava needs to know. She can’t guarantee Nikolas was with her when Ava was attacked. Ava asks why Elizabeth wouldn’t know that, and Finn says, it’s complicated. Ava says, is it? Did Elizabeth lie to the cops or not? Elizabeth says, no. They were together, just not the entire time. Nikolas’s whereabouts can’t be fully accounted for. Ava asks if she was just going to sit on this, and Finn says, Elizabeth was hoping to gather more information before amending her statement, but she thought Ava should know now. Although it does seem like Ava has more than adequate protection. Elizabeth says she just wants Ava to be safe, but she’d appreciate it if Ava would give her some time, so she can find out all the facts. Ava says, it sounds like there’s a lot more to the story. She hopes Elizabeth finds it. Elizabeth thanks her, and she and Finn are about to leave, when Ava asks them to send Frank in. Frank says she wanted to see him, and she says, yeah. She needs him to do something for her.

Drew listens to the message, and Carly says she’s been doing some thinking. Call her when he gets this. He calls, and gets her voicemail. He says he’s sorry he missed her call. He’s here whenever she can talk.

On the plane, Carly looks at her phone, when the plane experiences turbulence. The attendant tells the passengers to secure their loose items, and make sure their seatbelts are securely fastened. Suddenly, the plane lurches.

On the phone, Jordan says she’s calling about some test results. Initially, there was a match that was a close relation, but it disappeared. She’d like to find this person. The woman on the other end says she’s sorry. They’re not allowed to disclose their customer’s personal information, and Jordan says, this is a procedural question. How is it possible there was a match, and now it’s gone? Is that a glitch in their system? The woman assures her, a glitch like that would never happen (which is a pretty bold statement, considering, computers), and Jordan asks, then how did the match disappear? The woman says, the only way the match would disappear is if the person withdrew their information from the database.

Portia tells Curtis, her patient is now fine and resting comfortably. He’s still thinking about those divorce papers, right? He says, something doesn’t feel right, and she asks what he means. He says, Jordan wouldn’t forget something like that, and he finds the idea highly unlikely that the Police Commissioner’s paperwork would be removed and thrown away. She says she sees his point, but why would Jordan tell him that if it’s not true? He says, maybe Jordan made sure those papers weren’t filed.

Finn tells Elizabeth, he thinks that went better than expected, but he’s not sure how much time they bought. She says, the memory she’s been having is at the root of everything. She needs more information on it and her blackouts before she goes to the police. He asks how she plans on getting to the bottom of things, and she says she thinks she knows what she has to do.

Sonny sits down at Brando’s table, and says, tiramisu; he loves it. He thanks them for including him.

Dex says he has no intention of telling Josslyn’s boyfriend or anyone else about their dumpster diving adventure, and she thanks him for understanding. He gets up, and she says, so they’re good. He says, they are, and heads for the back.

Frank lets Nikolas in to see Ava, and she thanks him. She says, he can step outside and close the door. She needs to have a chat with her husband.

Josslyn sees Dex left his sunglasses, and goes to find him. Brando says he needs to step out for a second, and Sasha tells him, hurry back soon.

Josslyn goes outside, and we see someone with a hook is in the darkness. Brando comes out, and we see the hook raised up.

Tomorrow, Portia says, Jordan doesn’t really know how she feels about Curtis; Nikolas asks if Ava believes him; Dante tells Jordan that he has an update on the Ava Jerome case; and Sonny says, Sasha can rely on Brando.

🍺 Now Managing Charlie’s…

I actually forget she’s on the show until I see her again. Or read one of these articles.

💎 Not Quiet…

The skinny on the RHOBH Reunion. I think LisaR is getting paranoid in her old age.

🥂 Grand Dame Drama…

I don’t watch this often, but it’s about time Ashley ditched that weird husband of hers.

https://ew.com/tv/rhop-season-7-trailer-charrisse-returns-karen-huger-drama/

🧂 That’s What Shah Said…

Not much we didn’t know before, but it doesn’t look like she was ignorant of what she was doing. Doubtful she was led into temptation by her partner like she claims.

🐉 Dragonstone’s Latest…

What happened on House of the Dragon.

https://www.avclub.com/house-of-the-dragon-review-season-1-episode-4-king-o-1849523225

⚰️ This Week’s Tale…

The good thing about this show also seems to be its flaw. I love that we’re not in Georgia anymore, and there’s some variety, but having a different story each week makes it hard to invest in the characters. We’re not going to see them again anyway. Throwing in the Alpha episode might not have done any favors either, because of such a direct tie to TWD. Although a great idea would be a separate show with the stories of what familiar characters from the Walking Dead universe were doing when everything went to literal hell.

https://bleedingcool.com/tv/tales-of-the-walking-dead-s01e05-davon-review-intense-horror-noir/

🏆 Emmy This…

The winners.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/12/entertainment/emmy-awards-winners

The best, worst, weirdest, and WTF moments.

https://mashable.com/article/emmys-2022-best-worst-moments

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-lists/emmys-2022-12-best-worst-and-most-wtf-moments-1234591496/

https://www.avclub.com/emmys-2022-best-worst-weirdest-moments-1849527708

https://ew.com/awards/emmys/emmys-2022-best-worst-moments/

And most important, the fashion.

https://www.eonline.com/photos/35026/emmys-2022-red-carpet-fashion

🎍 No Moss On Me…

Return tomorrow for soap and to see what more damage Beverly Hills can do in Aspen before they leave. Until then, stay safe, stay being the calm during the storm, and stay strong, believing in yourself.

September 12, 2022 – Sonny Questions Ava About Esme, Tenth Crew Member Steven On Deck & Cut To It

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

At the pool, Violet asks if Gregory saw her backwards somersault, and he says he did; she was great. She says, Uncle Chase taught her, and Chase says, know who taught him? Her grandpa. Gregory says, he did indeed. Chase could use a little practice. Maybe Violet could give him some pointers. Finn walks in, saying, he just ran into a buddy of his, and introduces Curtis to Gregory. Gregory says he’s heard all about Curtis’s club, The Savoy, but Finn has never taken him there. Finn says, he will, and Curtis tells Gregory, feel free to come by anytime; drinks are on him, and Finn can fend for himself. Violet says, what about her? and Curtis says he’ll open his place at lunchtime, and she can have all the Shirley Temples she can drink. Chase comes over, and congratulates Curtis on his engagement. Finn told him. Finn makes a cut-it motion, and Curtis says, the old GH grapevine. Violet says, he’s getting married? Can she come? She loves weddings.

Stella is about to knock on Jordan’s office door, when she stops. She flashes back to taking the divorce papers from Jordan’s desk. She starts to knock again, stops, and turns away, when Jordan comes out and asks if Stella is looking for her.

Selina comes into the club, and N’neka says she’s sorry; they’re closed. Selina says, the club is always open for her. She’ll have an iced tea, no sugar, while she waits for her guest to join her. N’neka says, they don’t have any iced tea (seriously?), and Selina says she’s sure it won’t take N’neka long to make some. N’neka goes in the back, and Selina sits down. Cody comes in, and thanks her for meeting with him. He holds out his hand, and says, he’s Cody Bell. He called her earlier. He’s not bleeding, so maybe that’s why she doesn’t recognize him. She says she assumes he’s not back for another beating, and he laughs, saying, definitely not. In fact, he has a proposition for her.

In the nook, Brook thanks Ned for having lunch with her, and he thanks Brook for inviting him. What’s up? She asks why everyone always assumes she has an ulterior motive, and he just looks at her. She says, fine. She has something to tell him. He says, let’s hear it, and she says she and Chase are dating now. He says, that’s great, and she says, it is? He says, isn’t it? and she says, of course (🍷) it is. Never mind. He asks if she’s happy, and she asks what he thinks. He says, if she’s happy, that’s all that matters to him. Has Chase decided on who his manager is? She asks what he’s talking about. She’s Chase’s manager just like they planned. He says, uh-oh.

Dante sees Elizabeth at the hospital, and she asks what she can do for him. He says he needs to see the ER intake records for the night Ava Jerome was stabbed. He needs to see if anyone else checked in with similar wounds. She asks if he thinks someone is running around Port Charles attacking people, and he says he doubts it. They didn’t get any calls at the PCPD, but he’s got to double-check. She says, sure, but if no one else was attacked, does that mean… He says, Ava’s attack wasn’t a random act of violence. Her attacker knew her.

Sonny asks if Ava has any idea who attacked her, but she says she doesn’t. He asks why he gets the feeling she’s not telling him something. Who is he protecting her from? She says she has no idea, and he says she’s too smart to play dumb with him. Franks says she doesn’t want Nikolas to visit. She was staying at the MetroCourt before she was attacked. Obviously, she and Nikolas are going through some problems. Does she think Nikolas would attack her?

Brook asks, what just happened here? Ned seemed happy that she and Chase were dating. He was supportive of her managing Chase’s singing career, so what changed? He says, the other day, when she and Leo were looking at all those pictures of Eddie Maine, he started to remember what it was like to work with her mom, when Lois managed him and the band. It was really tough on their relationship. She says, mom left him because he chose ELQ over family. Sound familiar? He tells her, good luck with managing Chase’s career, and she says, she and Chase share a common goal; to make him a star and rub Linc’s nose in it. Sharing interests brings a couple closer together. Like when she and Chase worked together to protect Bailey from Peter August. Something changed between them. She admits, at first, they couldn’t stand each other, but that probably had something to do with her hitting him three times. Ned says, ya think? and she says, but they got past it. He says, there’s still potential for friction, and she says, there is for all couples. He says, his point is, trying to maintain a romantic relationship while also maintaining a business relationship is hard; sometimes impossible. She says she and Chase make a good team. They could succeed at anything if they try. He says, and if they don’t?

Stella says, if this is a bad time, she can come back, but Jordan says, not at all. Why did Stella want to see her? Stella says, it’s about Curtis and his engagement to Portia, and Jordan says she hopes Stella isn’t angry that she wasn’t told right away. Stella says, no, she understands, but she and Jordan didn’t even speak about the engagement last night. Is Jordan avoiding? Jordan says, not at all. She almost witnessed the proposal for herself, but she hadn’t had a chance to congratulate Curtis and Portia. Stella asks, when she said her congratulations, how much pain was she hiding? Jordan says, the engagement was hardly a shock. They did buy a house together. Stella says, still, it had to be difficult. Jordan loved Curtis so very much. Jordan says, Curtis has moved on, and she needs to do the same. Their marriage has been over for a while after all. Stella says, about that…

Violet says she likes her Shirley Temples with two cherries instead of one, and Curtis says, duly noted. His phone rings, and he steps away to take the call. He asks N’neka, what’s up? and she says, Miss Wu is here meeting someone at the club? She told Miss Wu they were closed, but she said the club was open for her. He thanks her, and says he’ll be there as soon as he can.

Selina says she can’t imagine Cody would have an offer she might want, and he says he’s sure she remembers he’s really good at poker. She says, he fleeced her high rollers, leaving her with very unhappy patrons. As she explained that night, her players come to relax and have a good time; not loose their shirts in a few hands. He says, so her associate worked him over after she got her money back, and left him with a pathetic fifty dollars, not even enough to feed a horse in oats. She says, his point? and he says he wants in on the next game. She asks if he has the $10,000 buy-in, and he says, hear him out. She stakes him, and he’ll pay her $15,000 on the back end. He promises he won’t clean anyone out; just lighten their wallets a little bit, even though her players can afford to lose. She says, just the one game? Why? He says he needs to ride off into the sunset, and a couple bucks in his belt will help set him up in a new place. She asks if he doesn’t make a salary working for the Quartermaines at their stables, but he says he has a lot of debts to pay off; he’s still broke. She says, there’s no guarantee he’ll win. What if he loses her $15,000 and more? He laughs, and says he won’t lose. He’s a sure thing, so what does she say?

Violet wants to practice her somersault, and Finn tells her to be careful. Chase says he guesses that’s his cue, and tells her, come on, picking her up. Gregory says, when Finn was in first grade, he had the biggest crush on this little girl who sat next to him in class. Gretchen? Finn asks where this is going, and Gregory says, she wouldn’t give Finn the time of day, and he couldn’t understand why. He thought about her all the time, and did everything he could to get her to pay attention to him. The look on his face then was… Finn says, just like the look on his face now, and Gregory asks if something is going on between Finn and Elizabeth. He thought things had gotten better between them. Finn says, the other night at the Quartermaine picnic, Elizabeth admitted she has a problem.

Elizabeth tells Dante, no one else was stabbed the night of the Quartermaine picnic, and he thanks her for checking. She asks how the investigation is going, and he says, it’s still the early days. She says, it’s too bad Ava couldn’t identify her attacker, and he says, they’re still talking to everyone who went to the picnic; something will come up. She says, no one suspicious has crossed his radar? when Nikolas comes out of the elevator. Dante says, no one yet. How about her? Anything of importance she remembers from that night?

Ava says, Nikolas would never stab her, and Sonny says, really? Then why is she acting like she thinks he’s guilty, and if he is, why is she protecting him? She says, a little thing called love, but he says, she doesn’t love anybody but herself. She says, so much for playing nice, and he says, if it wasn’t for her being Avery’s mother, he’d let her and Nikolas tear each other to pieces. She says, please leave, and he asks if she wants him to take Frank with him. She gives him a look, and he says he didn’t think so. She has to come clean. What happened with Esme?

Brook says, Ned doesn’t think she can make Chase a star, and he says he’s just trying to manage her expectations. She knows better than anyone that only a small fraction of hopefuls make it in the music business. She thanks him for his support, and he says he’s just being realistic. Be honest with herself. The things she likes about Chase as a boyfriend might drive her crazy as his manager, or drive Chase crazy as her client. Just sayin’. He leaves, and she flashes back to Chase telling her that she went way too far tonight.

Violet watches a boy get out of the pool, and Chase singsongs, Violet’s got a crush. She says she doesn’t, and he says he saw the way she was looking at him getting out of the pool. She says she doesn’t have a crush on Tommy Richardson. He’s not her boyfriend. Chase singsongs, Violet and Tommy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, and she asks who he’s sitting in a tree with. Who’s his girlfriend?

Finn says he hates seeing Elizabeth suffering, and Gregory says, she’s opened up to Finn, right? Finn says, she thinks there’s something in her past that’s adversely affecting her life, and she’s asked for some help. Gregory says, that’s progress, and Finn says he wished he knew how to help her. Gregory says, if Finn needs to talk, here he is, and Finn says he appreciates Gregory. Gregory says, besides Finn, Elizabeth has a ton of family and friends; a good support system, right? Finn says, she does, but he’s not sure everyone in Elizabeth’s life has her best interest at heart.

Dante asks if there’s anything Elizabeth forgot to mention when Jordan took her statement, but she says she’s sorry; she has nothing else to add. Nikolas asks if the PCPD is any closer to finding his wife’s attacker, and Dante says, the investigation is ongoing. He thanks Elizabeth and leaves. Elizabeth looks at Nikolas, and he says, what? She says, they need to talk in private.

Cody says, how about it? Will Selina give him a seat at the table? She says, okay, fine. She’ll let him in the game, provided he works for her. He asks what she means, and she says, he talks like he can control the game’s outcome. Can he insure another player wins big too? He says, sure, as long as they’re not completely hopeless at poker. She says she’ll stake his buy-in if he follows her orders. He’s allowed to win, but she might ask him to help or hinder another player along the way. Losing his nerve? He says, they’re not just talking about one game anymore, are they? and she says, he might want to reconsider his desire to leave town, at least for now. He’ll be making more money than he ever dreamed of. He says, maybe, but he’s so not crazy about taking orders, and she says, think it over, but don’t take too long. She’s not known for her patience. She smiles at him, and leaves.

Stella says she realizes how hard she was on Jordan at first. So bullheaded, she refused to attend Jordan’s wedding to Curtis. Jordan says she did come, and it meant so much to the both of them, and Stella says, after that, she was Team Jordan all the way. Jordan says, Stella refused to give up on their marriage, even after she and Curtis separated. Unfortunately, it was already too late. She kept too much hidden from him, and it was too late to walk it back. Stella says, they were so good together, and Jordan says, except when they weren’t. But why is Stella bringing it up now? Is she opposed to Curtis’s engagement? She thought Stella liked Portia. Stella says, she does. It’s not about Portia; it’s about herself, and what she did, and how sorry she is. Jordan asks, what did she do?

Ava wonders why Sonny is asking about Esme. Isn’t she gone? To Europe? Isn’t that what the cops are saying? He tells her that she knows more about Esme’s disappearance than the cops, and she asks if he’s a mind reader now. Is it more lucrative than selling coffee, among other things? He says, he remembers when she came to him, asking him to make sure Trina’s jurors found her not guilty. He said it made more sense for him to talk to Esme, but she said his guys wouldn’t be able to find her. So when she was in surgery, and they thought she wasn’t going to make it, Nikolas acted a little strange. Ava asks, strange how? and he says, like he was hiding something. She says, but she heard he was frantic, the picture of a devoted husband, and he says, they both know better than that.

Dante meets Cody in the park, and Cody says, finally. Dante says, he told Cody that he was on the clock. What’s so urgent? Cody asks why Dante’s boss is out to get him.

Stella asks if Jordan remembers when she had that last stroke. She felt like she’d forgotten something really important. Jordan says, vaguely, but isn’t that common among stroke victims? Stella says, it is, but she finally remembered what was bothering her. She’s so sorry. You’d think by now she would have learned her lesson, but there’s no fool like an old fool. Jordan asks what she did, and Stella says she meddled in Jordan’s personal business; hers and Curtis’s. Jordan asks, how? and Stella says, it happened right here in her office. She took the envelope that contained the signed divorce papers. They were never filed. Jordan and Curtis are still married.

N’neka brings Selina’s iced tea, when Curtis walks in. Selina says, that didn’t take him long. She saw his bartender call him. He asks what she’s doing here, and who she had a meeting with, but she says, her meeting is none of his business. She stayed because she wanted to deliver a gift. He says, that she’s taking her game somewhere else? and she laughs, saying, he has a wonderful sense of humor. No. This gift is her way of thanking him for the continued use of The Savoy. She’s upgrading the club’s audio board. He says, not necessary, and she says, his live music nights are very successful. An advanced audio system can only enhance his customers’ experience. Has he thought about focusing more on local artists? She’s been hearing about a singer. He tells her that she can stop right there. Need he remind her that The Savoy is his business, not hers?  

Chase says hello to Ned, and asks if Brook is here. He texted her that he was coming over. Ned says, she is here. He’s sure she’ll be back soon. Would Chase like some iced tea? Chase says he’s good, and thanks Ned again for helping him find the right look to be a professional singer. Ned says, Brook tells him that she and Chase are a couple now, and Chase asks if this is the part where Ned tells him, if Chase hurts his daughter… Ned says, he’ll hurt Chase? He’s thinking about it. Chase promises that he only wants to make Brook happy, and Ned says, that’s not always possible in relationships, but Brook’s an adult. He was never able to keep her under glass, but he will hurt Chase badly if he hurts her, in addition to what she’ll do. Chase says, he knows better than to cross Brook. if he’s learned one thing, it’s that she can be ruthless. Brook overhears.  

Finn tells Gregory that Elizabeth is friends with Nikolas Cassadine; they were together years ago. Gregory says, it sounds like Finn doesn’t trust the guy. Did it end badly? Like he wants to hurt her? Finn says, no, but he’s the reason Hayden left town. He’s the kind of guy who’s always in it for himself first, and doesn’t care if the people around him get hurt.

Elizabeth says, there’s a chunk of time she can’t account for, after she left Finn, and before Nikolas found her, possibly the time when Ava was attacked. Nikolas says he doesn’t believe for a moment that she’s the one who stabbed Ava, and she says, when he lied to Jordan about being with her, was it to protect her, or him?

Ava tells Sonny, Nikolas couldn’t have stabbed her; he was with Elizabeth at the time. Sonny says, that’s what he told the police, and she says she’s sure Nikolas confirmed it with Elizabeth. He says, Elizabeth and Nikolas have been friends since they were teenagers, and she asks if he really believes pure as the driven snow Elizabeth would lie to the cops to protect Nikolas. He says, Elizabeth is loyal to her friends; she thinks the best of everybody. But now that they’ve established that, she could cover for Nikolas. Why does she think he stabbed her? Come on. Something happened with Esme.

Brook asks what Chase is doing here, and he says he texted her. She says, he did? Not that it matters. He says he can come back if it’s inconvenient, but Ned says, he’d like to continue their discussion. Brook told him that she’s officially his manager. Brook tries to interrupt, but Ned says, there’s a hell of a lot of pressure involved with getting a music career off the ground. It could lead to a lot of arguments. Brook asks if Ned doesn’t have somewhere else to be, and Ned says he’s not telling Chase what he doesn’t already know. It’s good to see him. He’s sure Brook will take very good care of him. Ned leaves, and Brook says, alone at last. He asks if her dad was right. Is she going to take good care of him? She says, he can count on it. She hopes Ned didn’t get in his head, and he says, Ned didn’t, but he’s been thinking the same thing, about what the music business can do to relationships. She says, the magazines are right; women end up dating their fathers. He says he’s being serious. Now that they’re dating, does she think going after Linc is still worth it?

Cody says, Dante’s boss… Dante says, Jordan Ashford? but Cody says, Mac Scorpio, and Dante says, what about him? Cody says, Mac’s been asking a lot of questions about him, treating him like a suspect in the attack at the Quartermaines. Dante says, Mac thinks Cody stabbed Ava Jerome? and Cody says, never even met her, but you know rich people; they blame the help. Dante says he’s working that case, and Mac didn’t say anything to him about bringing Cody in for questioning. Cody says, Mac didn’t talk to him directly, but he asked Britt a bunch of questions., which is ridiculous since they’ve only been on one date. Dante says, Britt said Mac thinks he’s a suspect? and Cody says, Britt said Mac asked her a bunch of questions. It’s pretty easy to fill in the blanks. He’s been all over the attack on this Jerome woman. Is Dante’s boss trying to pin it on him, so he can say he solved it? Dante says, Mac wouldn’t do that, and Cody asks if he’s being paranoid. Dante says, that depends. Has Cody done anything considered illegal? Cody says, no, hell no, and Dante says, that doesn’t seem defensive at all. Cody says, he’s the new guy in town. People tend to blame the outsider when something bad happens. Dante tells him, relax. Mac is going to follow the evidence; that’s all he’s going to do. Cody says he doesn’t want any more trouble with the police. He’s had enough already. Dante says, which proves his point exactly. Back then, Cody was guilty. Cody says, he wasn’t the only one.

Selina says she’d never presume to tell Curtis how to run his business. She just wants to lend a helping hand. He asks, why? and she says she’s invested in The Savoy’s success. Her players have grown fond of the club. It feels safe and comfortable here. He asks, why her sudden interest in music? and she flashes back to Sonny telling her that Chase is a good singer and a good guy, and he thinks Chase would be a good fit for The Savoy. She tells Curtis that she knows what she likes. Harrison Chase brought the house down when he played open mic night at The Haunted Star. Curtis says he booked Harrison Chase. His contact called and canceled. He says he was no longer Chase’s manager. She asks if he’d be willing to rebook Chase, and he asks why she cares. She says she knows a thing or two about business, and how to keep one profitable. Harrison Chase could be his big discovery, and give the club the reputation of spotlighting new talent. Think about it. She leaves, and he makes a call. He says, Jermaine, did you find it?… What?

Nikolas asks if Elizabeth really thinks he stabbed Ava, and she says she doesn’t want to think that, but why was he so quick to give them a false alibi? He says, the police don’t know the exact time of Ava’s attack. Maybe it was when they were together. She says, then why didn’t he just say that? He’s been acting suspiciously lately. He asks what he’s done since Ava’s attack. He’s protected her. He’s worried himself sick wondering if his wife is going to live or die. He’s been nothing but frustrated, since he’s concerned that the person who attacked Ava is still out there. And he feels helpless because there’s nothing he can do to try and catch him. And instead of understanding, she’s going to think the worst of him? Is that because she’s been going through so much; because her nerves are frayed? She says, wait a minute. Is he saying she’s imagining his sneaky behavior?

Finn tells Gregory, if Elizabeth had an unknown infection, he’d track it down, he’d identify it, and design a protocol. Gregory says, like he did with Harry (Chase)? and Finn says, but this psychological thing, he’s made a mess of it at times. And please don’t tell him some story about when he was five and went through every encyclopedia, trying to find a cure for the common cold. Gregory asks why he’d tell Finn that story, and Finn says, to point out how he always tries to find the right answer. Gregory says, he’ll tell Finn what he told him then. He has to learn to read before he tackles the encyclopedia. Finn says, in other words, don’t rush, and Gregory says he imagines there’s a reason Elizabeth repressed her memories. She can’t work through them until she’s truly ready to face what they are.

Ava tells Sonny, Esme was a manipulative, spiteful little viper that Nikolas let into their home without consulting her. She did everything she could to come between them; even Spencer saw her true colors. Nikolas is so stupid… Sonny says, keep going, because it’s interesting. Why was Nikolas stupid? She says, stupid because he’s a man. Like Sonny with Carly, alienating her and the family… He says, this isn’t about him; it’s about her, Nikolas, and Esme. Something is going on with Esme. Why are she and Nikolas covering it up? And why hasn’t she told the cops that she thinks her husband attacked her?

Dante tells Cody that he’s sorry. He shouldn’t have brought that up. Cody did him a solid back then. Cody says, no reason to mess up both of their lives, and Dante asks if all that’s behind Cody. Cody says, 100%. Cops don’t like him. Never have; never will. Dante says he’s a cop, and Cody says, other cops have an aversion to him. Dante says, Mac is one of the fairest cops, the fairest people, he knows. And he was a friend of Dominique Stanton’s when she was in Port Charles. Cody says, Mac told him, and Dante says, maybe that’s why he’s got interest in Cody. Cody says, maybe, but it still might be time for him to move on, and Dante asks if Cody really thinks he’s ready to go.

Jordan says, the divorce was never finalized because of Stella? and Stella says, she wanted to give Jordan and Curtis a chance to work it out. It was an unconscionable act of hubris. Jordan says, Stella had no right to play God with their marriage. What happened to the divorce papers? Stella says she doesn’t know. She suffered the stroke at Kelly’s, and everything after that is a blank. Jordan says, this is unbelievable. Stella is unbelievable. Stella says she realizes there aren’t enough apologies in the world to make this right. She would have never let it go this far, but she lost track; she lost memory. She remembers taking the envelope from Jordan’s desk, and after hearing about Curtis’s engagement to Portia, some of it came back. Jordan asks if Curtis knows, and Stella says, no. She wanted Jordan to know first, and if sometime in the future, Jordan could find it in her heart to forgive her, but she’ll understand if Jordan can’t. There’s a knock at the door, and Jordan says she’s in the middle of something. Can it wait? Curtis comes in, and says, sorry to interrupt. It’s important. He sees Stella, and asks what she’s doing here.

Elizabeth tells Nikolas not to act like she’s the crazy one, when she knows he’s hiding something. He says he doesn’t think she’s crazy, but he thinks she’s overreacting. She says, maybe she is, or maybe she’s just crazy. He wouldn’t be the first one to think so. He asks what she’s talking about. He thought when she signed herself out of Shadybrook, everything was okay. She says, something is happening to her. She can’t explain it, but her life is out of control. He asks how he can help, and hugs her. She’ll be okay, he promises. They continue to hug, and Finn walks in.

Brook asks Chase if she just heard what she thinks she heard. Now that they’re dating, he wants to back out of their deal? He says he’s not backing out; he’s just asking the question. They could have something great, but her being his manager didn’t start out so great. She asks what he means, and he says, when she asked Sonny to use his influence to book him at The Savoy? She says, she thought they got past that, and  he says, they did. He knows they’re not going to always see eye to eye… She says, so any friction between them will be her fault? but he says, no. It’s just that he doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize their relationship. So maybe they should drop this plan to get revenge on Linc. Brook says, he’s got concerns. Their relationship is new, and they don’t want to do anything to mess it up, but he’s being an idiot. Just because they’re kissing doesn’t mean they can’t get past an argument or two. It’s not a myth; they can have it all, and they will. He tells her to be honest with him. Does she really think they can make Linc look bad without letting revenge destroy them as a couple? She says, of course (🍷). They’re not fragile flowers. They’re bond isn’t going to be broken over a dirtbag like Linc. He says he likes her passion.

Cody tells Dante that he loves his job, and loved reconnecting with Dante, and making new friends, some who are driving him crazy. Honestly, he’s not ready to leave Port Charles. Dante says, good, and Cody asks if Dante wants him to stay. Dante says, it was good reconnecting with Cody too, even if he had to arrest Cody a few times. Cody promises to behave from now on, and Dante says, he’ll hold Cody to that. Meanwhile, he has to get back to work, but he promises he won’t let Cody take the fall for the attack on Ava. Cody says he has faith in Dante, and Dante laughs. He leaves, and Cody calls Selina. She asks if he has an answer for her, and he says he could use the extra cash. She says, then he’ll be her ringer in the poker games? and he says, deal him in.

Stella asks Curtis if she needs a reason to visit Jordan; she’s still family. Jordan asks what brings Curtis barreling through her door? and he says he just got off the phone with his attorney. Apparently, there’s no record of them being divorced. How does something like that happen? Jordan looks at Stella.

Ava asks if Sonny thinks it’s easy wondering if Nikolas attacked her; that she enjoys having so little faith in him. Sonny says, here’s the deal. He will not allow Avery to lose her mother. If he finds out Nikolas stabbed her, he’s not going to let that stand. Ava says she’s not going to let Nikolas get away with hurting her. She promises Sonny that.

Nikolas says he should go. They’ll talk soon. He leaves, and Finn closes the door. Finn asks if she’s okay, and she just lost her cool with Nikolas. He asks if Nikolas was being an ass, but she says, she was. She asked why he lied to Jordan about them being together when Ava was attacked, and he insisted he was just trying to help her out, but she can’t shake this feeling that there was more going on. He asks how that makes her an ass, and she says she’s known Nikolas a long time, and knows when he’s hiding something. He says, she didn’t accuse Nikolas of attacking Ava? and she says she came close, even though she doesn’t think he really did it. Then she totally overreacted when she thought he was calling her crazy. Finn says, she’s not crazy, but she says, they both know something is happening with her. She’s losing time, and thinks she has to tell the police that she doesn’t know if she and Nikolas were together at the time of the attack.

Tomorrow, Drew says he owes Marshall an apology; Josslyn asks Dex to keep it between them; and Sonny gives Nikolas a warning.

Below Deck Mediterranean

Grand Harbour Marina, Malta. Everybody snores away. Natalya grumbles about being hungover, and Mzi says he’s dying. Captain Sandy sees the wind is at 27 knots, and it concerns her. Kyle tells Natalya, 25 days left, and we flash back to last night with Frank. He says, if he could turn back time with Frank, he’d be riding Frank like a pony. He feels like a superstar. The captain calls Dave, Tasha, and Storm for a preference sheet meeting. The co-primaries are Lisa Moore and her daughter Shelby, and they’re bringing along some of Shelby’s friends for a fabulous getaway. Dave says they want several cuisines including elevated Californian, and Captain Sandy asks, what is that? He says, tacos and sushi. They also want a tapas dinner, and a surf yoga session. In Storm’s interview, he says, he’s not used to being bosun. There’s a different level of achievement and consequence. Now he has everything to lose, and if something goes wrong, it’s on him. Tasha reads, the guests also want a happy hour on the shore, two beach set-ups, a 70s party, and Shelby wants to celebrate birthdays past with crew members dressing up like Guy Fieri and Dolly Parton, her favorite celebrities. Interesting duo. In Jason’s interview, he says he loves being on a team, but people already knowing each other is not a good thing. He misses Raygan. We flash back to her working even less than he does. Tasha tells Dave that when she worked with this one girl, they used to start the day saying three things they’re grateful for. He says he’s grateful for his chief stew, and she calls him a fibber. He says he’s also grateful for his new mandolin, and in his interview, he says, not going out paid off. Everyone else feels like sh*t, and he feels like stars, roses, and sunshine. It’s good not having hangover guilt. He says he’s grateful for six hours of sleep. Captain Sandy tells the crew that the guests are boarding on anchor because of potential weather. In her interview, she says, she knows the weather will change, and if there’s a window of opportunity for them to get out and into protection, she’s going to take it. She doesn’t want to get stuck on the dock. Tasha gets constant texts from her boyfriend, and tells Natalya that Friday is both drop-off day and Mzi’s birthday. Provisions come in, and there’s nowhere to put everything. In Natalya’s interview, she says she prefers ordering when they start running out, and not just keep adding things. Tasha is the worst provisioner ever. It’s not that hard to see what they have room for. They could put orange juice on every doorstep in Australia and still have some left over.

The boat is ready for departure, they leave the dock, and Captain Sandy says, now Storm is getting it. Storm tells Jason, everything they just polished is now f***ed, and tasks Jason with unf***ing it. The captain says, the guests are coming on the tender, and calls Storm to the bridge. She tells him that they’re dropping two anchors, and in her interview, she says, the pro is that the anchor’s not going to drag; the con is, if the wind drops, the anchors can tangle. It happens to every captain every season, and she wants to make sure she’s on top of it. They double anchor, and the captain explains that it should look like a V. She tells them that they did a good job, and in Storm’s interview, he says, as a deckhand, he strived to be the best. He had to be a step ahead growing up, and it also makes it trickier for him to trust people, but it’s what you need as a bosun. He’d like to do everything himself, but that wouldn’t make him good leader. They get ready to greet the guests, and Kyle tells Dave that he’s too positive. It irritates Kyle more when he’s trying to be sad. Storm sees rails that need polishing, and Jason is busy eating. Storm tells Mzi that Jason only did 50%, and radios Jason to join him. He tells Jason that he has to take notice, and Jason says he didn’t get to that part yet. Storm says, this is where the entrance gates are, and the first thing the guests see. In Courtney’s interview, she says, Jason doesn’t know how yachting is meant to go, and he’s 35. They’ll see if this the year he learns how not to be a big d*ck.

The guests are picked up in the tender, and in Tasha’s interview, she says, the hardest thing about long distance relationships on a boat is that you don’t have enough time to keep in touch. And you miss things going on back home, like babies being born and weddings. Her granddad was a yachtie. He worked on the Queen’s boat, the Royal Yacht Britannia. He was six months on, six months off, and was one of  250 who ever served on the yacht. He wasn’t there when her dad was born, and her dad was a twin. She thinks the way she is comes from her grandma. Being in the industry makes you realize how hard it is to juggle everything. The tender arrives with the guests, and Storm helps them onto the yacht. The captain says, Tasha will show them around, and Kyle serves the welcome drinks of (I think) wine. He tells them that they can start classy, and get messy later. In his interview, he says, it’s The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. They’re like The Gilmore Girls on steroids.  Captain Sandy explains anchor stuff to Mzi and Courtney, and Kyle tells Natalya that he feels drained. Natalya says, it should be more basic tonight, and we flash back to the last charter wanting a million different cocktails. In Natalya’s interview, she says she would approach Tasha, but she doesn’t want to get on the bad books. She wants a happy, healthy team, but wonders what’s better in the long run. In Tasha’s interview, she says, Steven is the tenth member of their crew. He’s big, bald, and beautiful. (Hint: Steven is a sex toy.) We flash back to Kyle showing Steven to the guys on the last charter, and Tasha says, Steven is here to party. She calls a yoga instructor, and says, the guests want a session of stand-up paddle yoga in the morning.  For whatever reason, Tasha tells the guests about Steven without actually telling them what Steven is. One guests says they want a shot out of Steven, and another one says, they thought they take a shot with Steven. Tasha says she thinks Steven will make an appearance this evening. In Dave’s interview, he says, California elevated is deconstructed fresh food. He wants to be fun and creative this charter. The guests toast to yachting, and lunch is served. The food is pronounced godly, and they tell Tasha, the chef nailed upscale LA. Mzi goes over the beach set-up with the deckhands, and in Dave’s interview, he says he feels like he and Tasha have a new start. He fell quickly, and obviously, there’s still a bit of hope.

Mzi and Storm talk logistics about bringing things to the beach. In Storm’s interview, he says he’s got a great team, but at the same time, he can’t expect people to mirror him. The stews gets stuff together for the 70s party, and in Tasha’s interview, she says, if she had a time machine, she’d go back to the 70s. She could dance and have fun, and there would be no horrible texts constantly coming in on her phone. In Mzi’s interview, he says he feels disjointed. Storm is saying, do this; no, do that. He doesn’t mind, as long as Storm is also working. He’s sure in time Storm will learn to delegate. The guests head for the beach in the tender, and the stews set up for the 70s party. In Dave’s interview, he says, he loves doing tapas. He can put so much passion in a dish without prepping as much. He’d love to do 15 courses one one-bite wonders. On the beach, s’mores are made, and Storm tells Mzi that he’s not sure what the plan is. On the yacht, Jason helps Natalya decorate, and Captain Sandy wonders what’s taking Storm so long. It’s getting dark, and she wants them back. She finds out Storm’s radio is out of range, and asks Jason to take the wave runner and get them. In Captain Sandy’s interview, she says, it’s not a good idea for the guests to be on shore after dark. They could get into trouble coming back, and they don’t have the lighting for it. Storm should know to stay in touch. Jason breezes in and yells for Storm to bring the guests back, and in Storm’s interview, he says he knows he needs to work on time management, but don’t shout over like you’re Brad Pitt and just bought Malta. That’s not how things work. Going back, Storm tells Mzi, this is not ideal at all.

The crew all put on wigs, and Kyle makes shots. In Kyle’s interview, he says he’s constantly thinking about Frank. He makes it seem like he’s having the time of his life, but he’ll make it through. It’s not the best charter, but it’s an experience. Captain Sandy asks for a quick chat with Storm, and the guests sit down to dinner, where the table is decorated with disco balls and strobe lights. Dave tells the servers to check the plates for hair, since they’re all wearing wigs. The food is dubbed unbelievable, and it does look good. In Dave’s interview, he says, the last charter was super tough. Now everybody is getting on, and the guests are stoked. He’s better off being friends with the interior. They make his job run smoother. He respects what they do. To this day, he can’t fold a T-shirt. He can’t be a stew. Tasha wants them to be too full to stay up until 5 am. After dinner, it’s time for the dance party, and co-primary Lisa goes to bed. Co-primary Shelby tries to spin on the floor, then grabs a disco ball. Kyle says, people make him cringe. The guests ask, what’s up with Steven? and Tasha tells Kyle to get Steven ready. Kyle tells Dave, these are 11 year old girls in 25 year old bodies. He feels like they’re not that type. Tasha says, they asked, but she doesn’t know if they know Steven is a sex toy. Kyle says, when they see it, they’ll know. In Kyle’s interview, he says he can profile a person in 2.2 seconds. Tasha should not be doing this. She says, Steven is in town, and he’s filled with tequila. The guests scream, and there are no takers.

Guest Dakota says she thought Steven was a pirate, and Kyle says, this is painful to watch. One guest almost has a drink, but they’re all kind of, eww! Shelby finally removes Steven from their presence, and they go to bed. Kyle tells Jason that it was a fail, but he’d suggested Tasha not do it. He just came from the biggest high too. Jason says, with certain people, he can’t be 100% himself. He’s playing a role. In Jason’s interview, he says, the people he gets along with most aren’t working with him. The things he randomly knows because he’s interested in them aren’t anything he can share. He feels like there’s a culture gap in regard to interests. He has no common ground with anyone, and it’s a bummer. Kyle tells him, be you on your own time. Storm cuddles with Natalya in her bunk, and she wonders what’s happening with Tasha and the chef. Dave’s obsessed with her. Strom says, he’s in love, and realizes they’re done. Kyle takes his wig off, and says, now the bitch is back, tossing it on a pile of disco balls.

Storm tells Courtney that she’ll be picking up the yoga instructor. Tasha sees she has 9 messages, and calls her sister. She asks her sister to ask her boyfriend to stop sending nasty messages. She can’t deal with any more. In Natalya’s interview, she says, Tasha’s boyfriend keeps her from focusing on the main goal; doing a great job so they get a great tip. The guests go to meet the instructor on the water, and Captain Sandy tells Storm to never be out of radio range. She likes to keep a line of sight on her team just in case. That’s why she sent Jason. The minute the sun goes down, they have to be back with the guests, since they’re responsible for everybody, but he did a great job. She tells him that he can explore and scout locations, but don’t remain ashore. Trust his deckhands, and let them make mistakes. Correct them, but don’t do their job. He’s her person to rely on. In Storm’s interview, he says he’s so used to not being bosun, and being on a deck team where he’s relied on. He needs to learn to delegate. If he doesn’t have to check on them, that would be smooth. It’s his goal.

We see some yoga, and the captain says she wants to bring up one of the anchors. She thinks they might be twisting around, and tells Storm that he’ll have to dive down. Storm jumps into the water with his mask. When he comes back up, he says, it’s crossed, and Captain Sandy says, they’re totally f***ed. Storm is going back to untangle them, and in Jason’s interview, he says, it’s dangerous. Storm is going to use his own body on a sharp, heavy anchor. If the anchor cuts you, it’s not a nick; your arm’s gone. We see Storm underwater, messing with the chain.

To be continued…

🐝 Buzzing Off…

Stop by tomorrow for soap, Emmy talk and tea, and of course a little music. Until then, stay safe, stay knowing your limits, and stay knowing you can’t work through your problems until you’re truly ready to face what they are.