Category Archives: walking dead

February 1, 2023 – Willow Goes To Heaven, Moonlighting, One Season Wife, New Judge, No Consent, Dead Reviews Last, Adoption Help & Good

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Sonny and Nina wait for news on Willow. Nina wonders why she’s still in the OR, but Sonny says, the good news is, Willow’s having a healthy baby girl; their shared grandchild. (Weird how that worked out.) Curtis comes by, and he and Nina hug. He says, Drew just told him about Nina and Willow, and Nina says, Curtis, more than anyone, knows the disappointments she’s had searching for her daughter. Now her new daughter has a new daughter, and this miracle is a long time coming. He says he’s thrilled for her, and they hug again.

Stella tells Jordan that she’s not just Curtis’s aunt; she’s the officiant at his wedding to Portia. How can she stand before the Almighty, and ask Him to bless a marriage, when she knows the bride is lying to the groom? How can she be solid when she knows Portia hasn’t told Curtis that Trina might be his daughter? Portia walks in.

Spencer tells Trina that Ava was right; this changes everything. His father actually confessed on record that he thought he killed Esme. Trina says, there had to be a reason he confessed, but Spencer asks if it matters. He plays the confession again.

Esme says, her boyfriend’s father is also her baby’s father, and Nikolas says, it’s a complicated situation. He’ll answer her questions as best he can, but she has to know that she can trust him.

Elizabeth says, there’s nothing Carolyn can do for her, but Carolyn is right that she’s exhausted, and she’s too tired to listen. Carolyn says, Elizabeth won’t have to worry about seeing her again, since she’s flying back to California and out of Elizabeth’s life for as long as Elizabeth likes. Elizabeth asks if she wasn’t consulting on a case, but Carolyn says, now that she’s met the patient, she’s decided she wants nothing to do with the case, or the person who requested her help. And neither should Elizabeth.

Michael tells Josslyn, despite everything, his daughter is healthy and happy, when Carly runs in, asking, where’s her favorite new person on the planet? They all look at the new baby through the window.

Austin runs into the ER, asking, what’s going on? and Dr. Navarro says, Willow’s still hemorrhaging. Willow drifts out of herself, and sees Harmony in the clouds. Harmony holds out her arms, and tells Willow not to worry; mama is here.

Nina tells Curtis that Willow is still in the OR, and he says, Drew told him how Willow risked everything to have the baby. She has one brave daughter. Nina says, sometimes it takes more than bravery; look at Britt. He says, part of the reason he’s here is to support Nina at Britt’s memorial, and she says, he knows what a long, strange journey it’s been for her. He says he still regrets letting Valentin play them about Sasha, but she says, that’s water under the bridge. Sasha’s not her daughter, but she still considers Sasha family. Sonny says, almost a daughter. Curtis is going to know what that’s like one day. Curtis says, from his lips, but first there’s a wedding, and he’s counting on them to be in attendance.

Jordan says she knows Portia and Stella are picking up Stella’s dress, and hopes all goes well. She tells them that she should get going to Britt’s memorial, and Portia says to give Britt’s friends and family her condolences. She would have been there, but things with the wedding got backed up. Portia and Stella leave.

Spencer says, his father actually tried to kill Esme, and Trina says, so Spencer is going to use the confession to force his father to drop any claim to Esme’s baby, and let Spencer have custody. Spencer says, absolutely, and she says, what if he refuses? but Spencer says, how can he? This confession is evidence of a crime. Not only did his father seduce his ex-girlfriend, he tried to murder her. This isn’t just an accusation, but his father’s own incriminating words. He’s not the one who threw Esme off the parapet; his father did. She says, they both know Esme is a monster, and the way his father described it, it wasn’t premeditated, but a fit of rage. He says, that makes it okay? and she says, of course (🍷) not, but if he goes down that path, he’ll be deliberately destroying his father’s life; using his own words to take his child away. He asks what she’s suggesting; that he does nothing, and lets his father get away with it?

Esme says, Nikolas paid for her defense, and brought in a psychiatrist to consult on her case, who within ten minutes, just takes off. Now he informs her that she made this baby with him, her boyfriend’s father, and she’s supposed to trust him? He says, before her memory loss, she trusted him, and said there was a connection between them that they couldn’t deny. They were both in extremely vulnerable situations; Spencer had just broken up with her, and he thought his marriage was over. What they did was wrong, but they couldn’t resist. She says, if he’s the father, why would Spencer say he is?

Michael says his baby is gorgeous, and Carly says, of course (🍷) she is; it runs in the family. He says he can’t wait for Willow to see her. He wonders why he hasn’t heard from the OR, but Carly says, he’ll hear soon. Josslyn asks if he has a name for the baby, but he says, they hadn’t settled on one yet. Wiley suggested Ashoka, and he and Willow called the baby Walnut because of how she looked on the first sonogram. Josslyn says, Ashoka Walnut Corinthos is an option, but Carly is sure Michael and Willow have some alternatives in mind. Bobbie comes out, and asks Michael to come with her to meet his daughter.

Willow says, Harmony isn’t her mother, and Harmony – who’s dressed in black, which I find a weird color choice for heaven – says, in life no, but it wasn’t all a lie. No one loved Willow more than she did. Willow says, she knows what love is and isn’t, and Harmony asks if she thinks Nina loves her. Nina loves only Nina, but Harmony was there for her. When they moved from one temporary home to another, and it seemed impossible to make new friends. When Willow got lost, who found her? Who did their best to dry her tears? She calls Willow Kali, but Willow tells Harmony that her name is Willow. We see the staff in the OR working on her, and Harmony says, Willow is still her Kali.

Curtis says he’ll see Nina at the memorial, and she thanks him for his good wishes. He says, of course (🍷), and leaves. Nina thinks there should have been an update by now, but Sonny says, when Willow is in recovery, they’ll be told.

Trina says she’s not defending Nikolas, or suggesting he get away with attempted murder, but before Spencer uses the confession, ask himself why Nikolas confessed in the first place. His father’s not a fool; he must have had a reason. She loves Ava, but Ava wants Nikolas to pay for breaking her heart. This confession might not even be true. It might be another game between the two of them, and if Spencer uses this confession as leverage, he could get caught in the middle. He says, if it saves his little brother or sister, he doesn’t mind, and she says, he might not mind, but she does.

Elizabeth says, Nikolas brought Carolyn to town? and Carolyn says, he told her it was on Elizabeth’s behalf. He said she was in trouble. Elizabeth asks why Carolyn didn’t say anything when they ran into each other, and Carolyn says, Nikolas told her it was imperative Elizabeth not know. From her perspective, she was flying blind, and wanted all the facts before she went to Elizabeth. Once she’d spent time with him, it became clear that any trouble Elizabeth was in, started with Nikolas. Elizabeth asks what Nikolas told her, and Carolyn says, enough to sense that what Nikolas roped Elizabeth into doing was wrong, maybe even illegal. He said Carolyn could atone for any harm she’d done to Elizabeth in the past. He said she could use those same skills to keep someone else from remembering something that would end up hurting Elizabeth and her boys. Elizabeth says, and that someone is Esme Prince, right? and Carolyn says, yes.

Bobbie brings out the baby for Michael to hold, and Carly and Josslyn watch. They remark how little she is, but she really isn’t, so it’s weird. Michael tells the baby he’d give her anything. There’s so many people who want to meet her, starting with her mommy.

Sonny calls Carly, who tells him that they’re in the NICU visiting with the new baby. He asks if Michael is with her, and she says, he’s holding the baby; why? Sonny says, the doctors in the OR are looking for Michael, and she asks, what happened?

Willow says that she’s Willow, Michael’s fiancé, the mother of his children, but Harmony says, where they’re going, names don’t matter. There’s nothing to tie you to the past. Don’t be afraid. Come with her. Harmony holds out her hand, and I yell, go into the light, Carol Anne Willow!

On the phone, Jordan says she thinks she should attend Britt’s memorial herself. She wants Britt’s family to understand that Britt’s sacrifice won’t be in vain. Curtis says he couldn’t help but overhear. It takes a lot of courage to face Britt’s family on a day like today. She says, they deserve answers. She just wishes she had better ones to give them. He says, Obrecht has a temper, and he’d hate to see her take incoming fire, but she says, it goes with the badge. If she’d lost a child, she’d feel the same way. Curtis says, so would he.

A woman leads Stella and Portia to the dress viewing area (I have no idea what it’s called), and Portia says she’s a grown woman with a daughter in college, and her butterflies have butterflies. She suggests they start with Stella’s dress, and the woman leaves to get it. Stella wonders if there’s a reason Portia is so nervous, and Portia says, the last time she got married, she was in her 20s. She asks how many weddings Stella has been a part of, and Stella says, enough to know they’re not all the same. They all start off beautifully, with the dress, the cake, the music of course (🍷)… Portia says, it seems like something is on Stella’s mind, but she’s not saying it, which is unlike her. She seemed cheerful and supportive of the wedding until now. Has something changed?

Trina tells Spencer that she cares about that baby too. That poor thing never asked to be born, let alone have Esme and his dad as parents. He says, then she understands why he can’t just turn the other way, and why he needs to fight using any weapon he can find. His father can’t afford for this information to become public, and a judge or the police will want answers. That’s why his father is going to bow out and give him custody. She says, if that’s really his endgame, why leverage his dad? Why not go straight to the cops?

Esme asks why it isn’t possible that Spencer is the father of her baby, and Nikolas says, timing-wise makes it impossible. Esme says, Spencer disagrees, but Nikolas says, because she has no way to know he was lying. His son has a good heart, but sometimes he ends up hurting the people he wants to help. He’ll deal with his son, but right now they need to focus on the baby. Esme has other challenges she’s facing, like her precarious legal situation. The reason he brought Carolyn to see her is because he wanted to take one of those burdens off her hands. He takes out a document, and says, all she has to do is sign it, and he’ll make sure her baby is waiting, until she’s free once more.

Carly thinks she should be with Michael, but Bobbie says, Willow is getting the best care. Josslyn says, Michael can’t lose her, and they have a three-way hug.

Michael asks Sonny, what’s going on? and Sonny says, Willow’s in the OR; they’re waiting for an update. All he knows is, Willow’s a fighter, and that kind of runs in the family.

Willow’s blood pressure continues to drop, and she asks where Harmony is taking her. Harmony says, to a better place; the kind of place they’ve been searching for. A place of peace and tranquility. A place of love. Take her hand. Willow says, what about her family? but Harmony says she’s Willow’s family. Trust her. Willow takes her hand, and Harmony says, that’s my girl.

Jordan says she ran into Curtis’s Aunt Stella. She and Portia are on their way to the bridal boutique. He says, everyone’s excited. Between Aunt Stella and his father, you’d think they were going to be at the top of the cake. He apologizes, and says he didn’t mean to sound insensitive, but Jordan says she wants him to be happy. That’s why… nothing. She starts to walk away, but he says he knows her. If it’s not about the wedding, what’s wrong?

Stella says she’s going to stand before God, and Portia’s family and friends, but Portia says, our family. She used to think all she needed was her medical degree and Trina, but then Curtis came back into he life. They went from separate homes to this beautiful home of their own that they share with Trina, and were able to welcome Curtis’s dad, Stella, TJ, and Molly. She feels the more they give, the more they have. The more love, more joy, more everything. That’s why she feels this wedding isn’t just about the two of them; it’s about all of them. She gives Stella a jewelry box, and says, it’s for her. Stella opens it to find  a beautiful bracelet, and Portia says, it’s been in her family for generations. She wants Stella to wear it to the wedding, but Stella says she can’t accept this, and Portia asks, why not?

Elizabeth says, Carolyn visited Esme at Spring Ridge? and Carolyn says, Nikolas insisted. The moment she saw Esme was pregnant, and realized he wanted to silence Esme for some selfish reason, she couldn’t go along with it. She refuses to ruin someone else’s life. She knows Nikolas has been in Elizabeth’s life since high school, and been around for important events that she and Elizabeth’s dad missed out on, but trust her, Nikolas is not her friend. She doesn’t believe he has Elizabeth’s best interests at heart. She wishes she’d realized it sooner, and been straight with Elizabeth the moment she got to town. She wishes so many things. All she can say in her defense is, she’s still learning. She hopes one day she earns Elizabeth’s forgiveness. Elizabeth thanks Carolyn for telling her, and Carolyn says, you’re very welcome, Elizabeth. Elizabeth thanks Carolyn for calling her Elizabeth instead of Lizzie, and Carolyn tells her, like she said, she’s still learning.

Carly wants to be with Michael, but Bobbie says, Sonny is up there, and Josslyn points out that Nina will be there too. What’s worse, Michael facing them on his own, or them going up there, and a fight breaking out? He told them to stay with the baby. Bobbie gives them scrubs, and tells them to put smiles on their faces. They’re going in to see the baby.

Sonny tells Nina to have faith. He doesn’t think God would bring her daughter into her life to take her away. Nina says, please don’t let Willow die. Please. She has two children that need their mom. Please let Willow live.

Harmony tells Willow, just one more step, and she’ll find perfect peace.

Curtis says he knows he and Jordan are past losing the divorce papers, so what is it? She says she meant what she said. She genuinely hopes there’s a happy ending for him and Portia, and Trina. She leaves, but I don’t think Curtis is convinced she’s telling him everything.

Stella says, Portia should save the family heirloom and give it to Trina for her own wedding, but Portia says, Stella can pay it forward and give it to Trina then. Please say she’ll wear it to the wedding. Stella says, the last thing she wants to do is spoil Portia’s happiness. Portia’s right. When she marries Curtis, she marries his family, flaws and all. Portia says, Stella is flawless, but Stella says, hardly. Think of what she kept from Curtis all those years; letting him and his brother think their father was dead. Portia says, Stella thought she was doing right by her sister, and asks if she’d make the same choice if she had it to do over again. Stella says she honestly doesn’t know, and no one can make that decision for you. The woman brings Stella’s dress in, and says, showtime.

Spencer and Trina go into the chapel, and he says, if he brings the video directly to the police, it becomes a legal matter. If he takes it directly to his father, then his father backs off, it stays between them, and he becomes responsible for Esme’s baby. She says, it sounds like he has it all figured out, even though they know he’s doing this for another reason. By keeping this from the police, he’s not completely shutting the door on his dad. Part of Spencer still loves him, and knows if he uses that confession, he’ll lose his father forever.

Nikolas gives Esme the papers along with a pen, and she asks if she shouldn’t have a lawyer look at it. He says, this is a mere formality, and she says she appreciates him looking out for her and her baby, but this is all overwhelming. She’s gone from thinking Spencer is the father of her baby to finding out it’s really him, and it’s a lot to process. He says, of course (🍷). He’ll leave the paper with her and come back tomorrow. She needs to be at her best so she can clear her name and come back to her… their baby. He leaves, and Esme wonders if she can really trust him.

Josslyn, Carly, and Bobbie visit with the baby, and Bobbie says, she thinks Willow’s name is perfect. Willow trees are strong. A big, strong wind can knock down a giant oak tree, but willows can weather any storm.

Michael says, if Willow can hear him right now, she has to know how much they need her. Not just him; Wiley and their new daughter. They’re waiting for her. Waiting to take her home.

Willow hears Michael say, home. We’re waiting for you. Come back to us. Harmony says, they’re almost there, but Willow turns around.

Austin comes out, and Michael asks if Willow is okay.

Trina says, Spencer has suffered some horrible losses, but he’s also lived a pretty privileged life. Remember that. Jordan walks in, but says she can wait in the hall if they want privacy. Trina says, that’s okay. She’ll give them some time alone. She thinks Spencer and Jordan have something to discuss. Nice blindside, Trina. WTH? She leaves, and Jordan says, they do?

Stella comes out, and the dress is gorgeous, but I wonder why it’s black. I get that she’s the officiant, but maybe a dark blue would have been a better choice. Portia gets all excited, and says, now all Stella needs is some sparkle – even though the dress has white lace with rhinestone accents – and puts the bracelet on her, saying, bling it up. She says, now she knows everything is going to be perfect for her wedding day, and they look in the mirror.

Curtis sees Trina outside the chapel, and asks if everything is okay.

Jordan asks what Spencer wants to talk to her about. He holds his phone with the video on it behind his back.

Elizabeth sees Nikolas come out of the elevator, and doubles back. She looks at him like she might possibly kill him.

Esme looks at the papers, playing with the pen, and wondering why she doesn’t want to sign it. Like she said before, she lost her memory, but she’s not stupid.

Austin says, it was touch and go for a while, but Willow came through just great. Nina says she can’t believe how close they came to losing her daughter, and Michael asks if he can see her. Austin says, absolutely, she’s in ICU, Michael hugs Austin, and Michael leaves. Sonny thanks Austin, and Nina thanks him for saving Willow’s life, but Austin says he can’t take credit for something Willow’s done. Clearly, she doesn’t want to leave them just yet.

Carly says, look at them. They’re so lucky. Four generations of Spencer women. Josslyn says, it’s enough to start their own sorority, and Bobbie says, Sigma Spencer Phi. Carly gets a text that Willow is in recovery, and Josslyn tells the baby that she’s a lucky girl to be born into such an amazing sisterhood, but Carly thinks they’re the lucky ones. This little angel may not have a name yet, but hopefully she has the gift that can give her mother life.

Michael takes Willow’s hand, and says he held their beautiful baby girl. Willow did the hardest part. She carried her, kept her safe, and brought her into this world. Now all she has to do is wake up, so they can give their little girl a name.

Tomorrow, Elizabeth says, the only thing she needs protecting from is Nikolas; Spencer tells sonny that his father shouldn’t be anywhere near that child; and Heather tells Esme, not so fast.

🎥 Extra Gig…

Mama Q takes it outside Port Charles.

🐪 One and Done…

Except they didn’t do their homework. She is not the only one to exit after her freshman year. Hello? Kim Fields, Carlton Gebbia, et al.

Resting my case.

https://collider.com/real-housewives-only-lasted-one-season/#carlton-gebbia-amp-joyce-giraud-de-ohoven-mdash-lsquo-real-housewives-of-beverly-hills-rsquo-season-4

👩🏽‍⚖️ That’s Judge Eboni To You…

I’ll bet she brings down a mean gavel.

👠 And They’re Out…

Apparently, Brandi still doesn’t grasp boundaries. Why do they still entertain the antics of this lush?

⚰️ Strange Crossover…

But is there pudding?

https://screenrant.com/the-last-of-us-reviewed-walking-dead-carl/

🐕 She Needs Your Help…

IMO, two of the most important things: veterans and dogs.

https://people.com/pets/air-force-sergeant-needs-help-adopting-dog-from-deployment/

🎸 Off To Get the Band Back Together…

Take a load off tomorrow for some soap and tea. Until then, stay safe, stay gentle as a dove, but wise as a serpent, and stay not going into the light if someone wearing all black comes to meet you.

⚠️ Warning: Words that could be considered bad to some.

January 13, 2023 – Carly Confesses All To Nina, Burdensome, True Story, a Farewell, New Ultimate, Maybe Moving, VanderNext, Dead Talk, Literary Dogs (!), Quote Octet & Glory

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Trina plays cards with Curtis and Portia, and Portia asks what Trina is doing on her phone. She’s been texting all night. What’s going on? Who is she texting? Curtis says, only if she feels like sharing, and she says, sorry. She didn’t mean to be rude. It’s Spencer; he needs her. We see her text to him: Hang in there. You’re not alone.

There’s a knock at Sonny’s penthouse door, and Spencer lets in Alexis, thanking her for coming. She says, he told her it was important. What’s up? He says, take her pick. Esme’s been found, his father’s sunk to a new low, and Britt is dead. She says she’s really sorry about Britt, and he says, it’s so wrong that she’s gone, and it scares him that there’s someone out there who may be even more dangerous and unhinged than Esme is.

At the station, Jordan says she understands the position Dante is in, but this investigation needs a break. The interview with Britt Westbourne was helpful. They now know the killer’s wearing a mask, but she’s still on the loose. If he’d feel more comfortable, she can take the lead. He says, no. It’s all good. They need to get to the bottom of what happened to Britt Westbourne that night. She says, that they do, and she’s hoping his connection with the witness pays off.

Michael asks if Drew knows where his mom is, and Drew says, she’s with Nina. Michael says, this night’s already bad enough. Why would she talk to Nina of all people? Drew says, there’s something Michael needs to know, but Michael says, if it has to do with Nina, he’s out. Drew says, he gets it. Nina has made life difficult for him and Willow. Michael says, she’s been hounding them for months. She took them to court over Wiley, and said Willow was cheating on him. Nina can’t stay out of their lives no matter what they do.

Outside Willow’s room, Josslyn asks if Sonny has seen Michael, and he says he hasn’t, but he’s sure Michael is close. She says, something’s come up and she has to go, but she told Michael she’d stay with Willow, and she feels really bad leaving her. Sonny says he’ll stay with Willow. Go ahead and go. He’ll explain it to Michael. She says, okay, and leaves. Sonny goes into Willow’s room.

Nina says, before Carly starts, if this is about her upsetting Willow again, she didn’t go over there for that. Carly says, that’s not what this is about. As Nina knows, Willow is sick. Nina says, that’s why she and Sonny were at the chapel; they were praying for Willow. Carly says, praying is good, but Nina can do more to save Willow, and Nina says, anything she can do. Carly says, good, because Nina may be the only person on earth who can save Willow.

Portia says, Spencer needs her? and Trina says, he needs a friend. Portia says she didn’t realize Trina still considered Spencer a friend, and Trina says, Esme resurfaced, and Spencer found out she was pregnant – by his father – and then he lost Britt who he was very close to. It’s been a lot on him. Portia says she doesn’t doubt it, especially the pregnancy part. She’s sure Spencer has a lot to unpack. What about Josslyn and Cameron? Can’t they help him? Curtis says, they know how amazingly compassionate Trina is, and Portia says, of course (🍷) they’re extremely proud of Trina’s instinct to help someone in need. But she has a very giving and forgiving heart, and she’s going through a lot right now herself. Curtis says, he and her mother want to make sure she’s supported. She has a lot to process, like, how does she feel about Esme being caught? Trina says, honestly, she’s conflicted. For months, she wanted Esme to face the consequences of filming that video and framing her. Esme made her life hell. Portia says, of course (🍷) she would want justice, and Trina says she did, but she wanted more than justice. She wanted revenge, and part of her still does.

Alexis says, so Spencer is living here now? and he says he is. She says, enough about that. She assumes he’s been told the PCPD is no longer considering Esme as a suspect, and he says, yes, but that doesn’t mean she’s innocent of anything else. He’s learned not to underestimate Esme. She says, hard won wisdom, and he says he did speak with her though. She asks what Esme said, and adds, she’s asking as his aunt, not as an editor. He says, that’s cool either way. She didn’t know who he was. Either she’s a very convincing fake, or she’s got amnesia. Alexis says, or maybe it’s possible she committed the crimes and doesn’t remember. She thinks it’s smart that the PCPD moved on to other suspects. He says he almost wishes she was guilty, so he could stop worrying that someone is targeting Trina and their other friends. She says, Britt was incredibly brave, and he says he almost wishes she wasn’t. She put her life on the line, but if she’d just run away like the person she was protecting, she might have lived to fight another day. He doesn’t know.

Dante thanks Josslyn for coming to the station so quickly, and she says, he told her it was important on the phone. He says, it is; it’s about The Hook killer. She asks if they found her, and he says, not yet, but he was hoping she could help them out with some questions. She says she wants to do whatever she can to help, but will it take long? and he says he doesn’t know. Does she have somewhere to be? She says, actually, yes. She was with Willow. They walk into the interrogation room, and Jordan and Robert are there. Josslyn asks, what is this? and Jordan asks her to have a seat.

Sonny says, Willow looks so fragile, but he knows she’s anything but. He’s seen her take on Shiloh and Nelle to protect Wiley. She’s been in a jail cell… She’s a fighter. That’s why he knows she’s going to fight this. She has the best medical care, and Michael’s going to do everything he can to take care of her. He just wishes he knew how to take care of them both.

Michael tells Drew, Nina actually came to their house tonight and accused him of jeopardizing Willow’s health. She confused Wiley; she upset Willow. If he has to get a restraining order, he’ll get one. He’ll do everything in his power to keep Nina away from Wiley. Drew says, he does not want to do that. He and Carly think Nina could be a bone marrow match for Willow. Michael knows he’s been searching for Willow’s birth family, right? Michael says, don’t tell him that Nina is some distant relative, and Drew says, not so distant.

Nina says she’s happy to get tested, just like everyone else, but Carly says, she’s not like everyone else. She needs to get tested now, and needs to rush the results. Nina says she understands the urgency – Willow’s having a medical crisis – but why did Carly have to come to her personally? Carly says, because a family member has the best chance of success, and Nina is the most likely match. Nina says she and Willow aren’t related, but Carly says, they are. Nina asks if Carly is all right. They’re only connected through Wiley, and that’s only because Nelle was her daughter. Carly says, Nelle isn’t Nina’s only daughter. Willow is too.

Dante says, Josslyn knows Britt Westbourne was murdered recently by The Hook? and Josslyn says she does. Jordan says, Dr. Westbourne was nicked trying to defend someone else, and Dante says, the intended victim, the person Britt rescued… They have security footage from the docks, and they think they have a lead. He slides his tablet over, and Josslyn looks at it. He asks if she recognizes anyone, but she says, it’s grainy. He says, that footage was captured on Pier 54, at 11:57 pm, the night of December 31st; fifteen minutes before Britt called in the attack on Pier 55. Josslyn slides the tablet back, and asks, what’s the question? Jordan says, was Josslyn the intended victim the night Britt died?

Curtis says, it’s perfectly natural that Trina would want Esme to pay for her crimes, and Trina says, but she’s not sure she does anymore… at least not like she used to. They should have seen Esme when she showed up on the deck of the Haunted Star. She looked pathetic, soaking wet, shivering, pregnant. She looked completely vulnerable. Portia says, that night maybe, but that doesn’t mean she’s still not a threat. Curtis says, Esme drugged Oz Haggerty to the point he had to be put in a medially induced coma, and she’s still a suspect in The Hook killings. Trina says, no doubt Esme’s done some horrible things, but that was the old Esme. Portia asks if Trina believes Esme doesn’t remember what she’s done, and Trina says, that’s what the doctors think, right? Is it possible amnesia changed Esme?

Sonny tells says, he’s lost so many people in his life. His son can’t lose Willow. For Michael, the sun rises and sets in her eyes. She’s the mother of his children, his best friend, his soulmate. He knows Willow’s encouraged Michael to communicate with him; to meet him halfway. She’s never lost hope that they’re going to be a father and son again. Everybody needs her. The family needs her; he needs her. Losing her would mean there’s no hope of the family getting back together again.

Michael says, Nina is Willow’s birth mother? The woman who’s been antagonizing Willow since she was a teacher? And Harmony knew the whole time? How could she… Drew says he knows it’s a lot to take in, but Willow needs Michael. She needs Michael’s support. Carly wanted to tell her, but because time is of the essence… Michael says, Drew’s right. She needs to hear it from him.

Nina asks what Carly is talking about. Willow is not her daughter. Carly says she understands this is a shock. She’ll be happy to give Nina an explanation, but later. Please come to the lab… Nina says she’s not going anywhere with Carly until Carly tells her… Carly says, there’s no time, and Nina says, then talk fast. Carly says, Nina had twins, and Nina says, impossible. Carly says, no. She was in a coma. Nina says she had medical attention. Phyllis was one of her nurses. She took Nelle to Florida, and gave Nelle to the Bensons. Carly says, that was the second baby, and she’s guessing that was by design, because Madeline had to make sure she separated the babies so she could get her hands on Nina’s inheritance. Nina says she doesn’t know why Carly is doing this, but she’ll play along. If Willow was Nelle’s twin, Carly is saying Madeline handed of Willow to… Carly says, Harmony. Nina’s mother gave the baby to Harmony.  

Dante says, the person in that footage looks a lot like Josslyn, and if it is her, that means she was in the vicinity of that attack. That means she could possibly help them ID the killer. Josslyn says she’d tell them if she thought she could help, and Robert says, no need to be cagey. She’s in no trouble. Jordan says, they believe Josslyn was the victim that night. It’s curious she didn’t say anything. Dante says, they think she was the intended target the night Brando was killed. If what they suspect is right, then the killer got a second shot at her on New Year’s Eve. Jordan says, if Britt hadn’t shown up, Josslyn’s family might be planning her funeral. Robert says, they can’t protect her unless she gives them all the information. Talk to them. Diane walks in, and says, not one word.

Curtis says, whether or not Esme has amnesia, Trina can’t let her guard down. Trina says she hears them. She fully believes Esme is a psycho, but not a serial killer. Portia says she’s not clear on the laws regarding memory loss, but she doesn’t think it gives Esme a free pass. She committed crimes; she’s a criminal. She needs to face the consequences of her actions. Trina tells them, that’s what Spencer said, and she doesn’t disagree. She’s not saying she’d trust Esme again, but she’s not using Esme as a means of closure. She wants to end that chapter of her life and move on. Portia asks how letting in Spencer helps her do that.

Alexis says, Spencer was closest to Esme. She didn’t have any family; is that true? He says, just adopted siblings. They’re not close, but in due time, Esme will give birth and contribute directly to her family tree. Alexis says, and ours.

Sonny says, they’re going to do everything they can to get Willow well, so she can get back to her kids and his son. Even if he’s not invited back into the fold, it doesn’t matter. He just wants them to be together and happy. Open her eyes. She can do this. Just… Michael walks in.

Nina tells Carly, who knows how Harmony got Willow? That woman was a pathological liar. Carly says, one that tried to kill her and Alexis just to keep this secret safe, and Nina says, if Harmony wanted to keep it safe, how did Carly find out? Carly says, Harmony told her the night she died, and Nina says, Carly suspected she was Willow’s mother the night Harmony died last year? Carly says, if she’d known Willow was sick, she would have said something a lot sooner, and Nina asks if she told Willow. Carly says, no, and Nina says, good, because there is no evidence beyond a troubled woman’s sick confession on her deathbed. This is irresponsible of Carly to go out and present this as truth. She kind of understands it because of what Willow is going through right now, but she’s going to do Carly a big favor. She’s going to pretend this conversation never took place. Carly says she knows for a fact Nina is Willow’s biological mother, and Nina asks, how? Carly says she has proof.

Sonny says, Josslyn was called away, and didn’t want Willow to be alone, and Michael says he appreciates Sonny being here. Sonny says, of course (🍷). He’ll leave them alone. He leaves, and Michael sits by Willow’s bedside. He says he can hear her voice in his head, telling him to go after Sonny. Life’s too short, and he’s trying. Please don’t tell him their life is going to be cut short. He needs her. She’s his conscience, the voice in his head. And he needs to hear it out loud, even if it’s scolding him. She opens her eyes, and says she’ll remind him that he said that.

Trina says, since Rory died, Spencer’s really been there for her, and Portia says, at what cost? She’ll always be grateful Spencer did the right thing in the end, but she can never forget he lied and took Esme’s side. Trina says, he was playing her, but Portia says, not the entire time. She doesn’t get how Trina can excuse that, and let him back in. How is that moving on with her life? Curtis’s phone rings, and he says he has to check in on the club. He leaves, and Trina says she understands Portia’s concerns, but her eyes are wide open. She sees how Spencer has matured this past year. Those months in Pentenville, and now losing people he loves. It’s changed him; given him purpose. He’s committed to doing better. Portia says she’s genuinely sorry for what Spencer’s going through. The way his father betrayed him is indefensible. Trina says, Spencer’s crushed. He was really tight with Britt. And his father – the only parent he has – keeps letting him down over and over again. Portia says, one of the other reasons she’s so uncomfortable with them reconnecting. The Cassadines are dangerous, even to themselves. Everyone who goes near them ends up being burned.

Alexis says she takes it Spencer isn’t thrilled with having a new sibling. Keep in mind, it’s not the baby’s fault; the baby’s innocent. He says he’s not going to hold a grudge against a baby, and she says she knows. He’s a good one. He has forgiveness and empathy. He thanks her, and says, here’s the issue. If Esme finds a way out of this, she’s going to take that baby as far away from Port Charles as possible. Alexis says, Esme’s got some serious legal trouble pending. Even if she finds a way to get over that, Spencer’s father is resolved. He wants full custody.

In the squad room, Dante says he should have known Josslyn was going to call Diane. She’s Carly’s daughter. She’d probably never talk to the police without a lawyer present. Jordan says, Diane looks to be in fighting form, and Robert says, killer Miller. Diane comes out of the interrogation room, asking if she hears her name. Her client is ready to give a statement. They all go back in, and Jordan says, she wanted to keep this informal. Diane asks if that’s why she had Josslyn’s stepbrother call her down her and ambush her, with the District Attorney and the Commissioner. They know the rules. They can’t compel a potential witness to say anything. Robert says, there’s no need to pull out the heavy artillery; they’re just talking. Diane says, her client is ready to make a statement. The moment this turns into an interrogation, she pulls the plug. Josslyn says she was on Pier 55 at midnight on New Year’s. Someone did come at her with a hook. She doesn’t know who; she was wearing a mask. She tried to get away, but she was in heels. She fell down, and The Hook was basically on top of her. She was going to stab Josslyn, then Britt came out of nowhere, swinging her bag. Britt told her to run, and she did. Jordan asks why Josslyn didn’t come forward when she heard Britt died, and Josslyn says, she only found out about Britt a couple hours ago; they had a family emergency. Robert says, if what she’s saying is the truth, why did she engage counsel? and Diane says, first of all, it’s her constitutional right. Robert says, if she was arrested, which she wasn’t, and Diane says, it’s only a sensible idea to retain counsel. Josslyn is following her mother’s example, and the example of her Uncle Jason, who, if Robert recalls, never sat down to a police interview without the benefit of counsel. Think about all the misunderstandings they’ve avoided over the years, and look at them now, avoiding another one. Robert says, there’s really no comparison, unless she’s accusing his office of persecuting victims of crime. Diane says, not at all. She trusts him to act in good faith; just as Josslyn trusts her to ensure he does. Does Josslyn have anything to add? Josslyn says she didn’t see anything that night that could help them. She wishes she had. Dante asks if she remembers if her attacker was pregnant, and she says she doesn’t really know. She wasn’t really paying attention. She was kind of focused on The Hook, and trying to get away. Diane says she knows exactly how Josslyn feels. If she has nothing more to add… Josslyn says, no, and Robert says he’ll walk Diane out. Dante asks if Josslyn has a minute, but Diane says, only if it’s a family matter and not police business. He says, it is a family matter, and Josslyn says, it’s fine. Diane, Robert, and Jordan leave, and Dante says he’s sorry about this. Josslyn asks if it was his idea, and he says, no, but he went along with it. She says if she knew anything that could help him, he wouldn’t have to ambush her. She would have come to him herself. He says he knows. Looks like she outmaneuvered them anyway by calling Diane. She says she learned from the best, and he says she did. What was the family emergency?

Nina asks what proof Carly has that Willow is her daughter, and Carly says she ran a DNA test on the two of them. After Harmony told her that Nina was Willow’s mother, she was skeptical. So she took a few strands of hair from Willow’s hairbrush, and a glass Nina had used at Charlie’s Pub. Nina says, Carly stole her DNA, then ran an illegal DNA test without her knowledge or consent? Carly says, the results were conclusive, with a probability of 99.9%. Nina and Willow are biologically mother and daughter.

Sonny says, it’s good Drew is here. Michael needs all the support he can get, and he doesn’t want it from Sonny. Drew tells Sonny that Josslyn said she filled him in about Willow, and Sonny asks if Drew’s known all along, but Drew says, no. Willow filled him in a couple of weeks ago. Sonny says, it kills him that she didn’t loop them in, and Drew says, it’s always better to have things out in the open. Sonny wonders if he can ask Drew a question, and Drew says, yeah. Sonny says, Carly’s in the chapel right now with Nina instead of Michael and Willow. Does he know anything about that?

Spencer says, his father wants the baby, and Alexis says, he plans to sue on the grounds that she’s unfit. He says, pot meet kettle, and she says she knows. She doesn’t know the details; she doesn’t want to. She just knows he’s serious. Spencer says, with his considerable resources and no one to vouch for Esme… She says, he stands a good chance. So if Esme isn’t the killer, who is? He says he wishes he could tell her. He really thought it was Esme. She asks if Trina has any enemies, but he says, everyone loves Trina. She says, what about Portia? What about Taggert? He says he doesn’t think so. Trina’s dad and Curtis were both in law enforcement, so maybe, but why would they go after Trina instead of going after them directly? Is she looking for a scoop? She says she’s looking for the truth. She’d like the killer caught. She has to go to work; she has a conference call. Don’t tell his father that she told him about his plans. Spencer says he won’t. It was good to see her. She says, as far as vouching for Esme, is there anyone important to her, aside from that sociopath Chamberlain? He says, yes. She’s very devoted to Esme. Maybe enough to kill for her?

Portia says she’s tried to be open minded about Trina’s connection to Spencer, but his father lost her when he terrorized the kids at Windymere because he was trying to teach Spencer a lesson. Now that same man cheated on his wife, with Spencer’s girlfriend, and got her pregnant. The same girl that terrorized Ava. And don’t get her started on Victor Cassadine because… Trina says she knows. She knows Spencer’s family is messed up. Portia says, amoral is a better word for it. She doesn’t want Trina anywhere near those people. Trina says, Spencer’s not his family; he’s his own man. Portia says, he’s a two-time convicted felon, and Trina says, growing up, Portia taught her never to judge people by their worst mistake. Portia says she knows, but you also have to look at the patterns people do. Trina says she gets that Portia is just looking out for her, but please trust her judgement. Portia says she does, and Trina says she hopes one day Portia sees Spencer the way she does, but ultimately, she doesn’t have to. Because he’s not Portia’s friend; he’s hers.  

Willow asks, what happened? and Michael says, she collapsed at home, but she’s stable now. She says, Nina was in the house with Wiley… He says, Wiley is with Brook and Chase; he’s fine. She asks if Wiley saw her pass out, and he says he’s afraid so. She says, he must be terrified, and Michael says, he knows she’s sick. He doesn’t the have details, but they can explain it to them together. She asks if she’ll make it home to do that, and he says, of course (🍷). Why would she ask that? She says, he has the strangest expression on his face. What is he not telling her? He says, it’s about Nina, and she says she never wants to hear that woman’s name again.

Drew tells Sonny that he knows why Carly wanted to speak to Nina, but it’s not his place to share. Sonny says, Carly’s not here, and he needs answers. If it involves his family, he needs to know, and he suggests Drew tell him.  

Nina says she wants to see those results, and Carly says she’ll get Nina a copy. Nina says, never mind. She doesn’t know if Carly used her samples or Willow’s. She’ll get her own test. Carly says, they don’t have time. Why would she lie? Nina says she doesn’t know why Carly does the things she does. Maybe because she’s a liar. Maybe because Carly hates her, or maybe this is some bizarre revenge because she fell in love with Sonny. Carly says, Willow is dying. She has Stage IV leukemia. She needs healthy blood forming cells from a relative, and she only has one. She has Nina. Nina flashes back to her interactions with Willow over the years, both friendly and antagonistic. Carly says she knows Nina hates her and the feeling is mutual, but it’s not about them. This is about Willow. Please go get tested. Please. Nina says, Carly is a monster. Carly made her feel like the scum of the earth. She said over and over how Nina was wrecking their family. What about Nina’s family? How could Carly keep her away from her child? Carly says, Nina can lash out at her all she wants after she gets tested, and Nina says, don’t tell her what to do. Go to hell, you selfish bitch. She’s going to go save her daughter. She slams out of the chapel.

Trina tells Portia, it’s been a long day. Tell Curtis thanks for dinner. She’s not in the mood for dessert. Goodnight. Trina goes upstairs, and Curtis walks in with a couple glasses of wine. He tells Portia that he heard most of it. Does she want to talk about it? She asks if it’s that obvious, and he says he knows her face. He’s literally memorized every expression. Call it a survival tactic. She says she thought Trina put Spencer in the rearview, but she seems determined to revive their friendship. He says he wondered about that when he saw them together, and hoped it wouldn’t become a habit, and Portia says, it won’t if she has anything to say about it. He says he’s not sure she does. Trina has made it clear that she values boundaries. Portia says she wants to respect that, but she’s not going to sit back and watch Spencer worm his way back into Trina’s heart again.

Spencer says, last Esme mentioned her, Maggie was living in London, but Sam could tell Alexis more. Alexis says, her Sam? and he says he asked Sam to find Maggie Fitzgerald when he thought she could be the key to getting Esme to confess she framed Trina. But then Trina was exonerated, and he never followed up. In a letter, Maggie warned Esme against having any contact with her birth father. Alexis says, he told her Esme had no family, and he says, none that she knew of, but Esme claims Maggie knew her biological parents, but never told her. Alexis thanks him for this. Let her know if he hears anything else. A reporter took a picture of him and Trina together after Rory’s funeral. He says, they’ve been spending time together, and she says, be careful. If Trina is a target, it could put him at risk. He says he knows how to protect his own, and she says, his own. He is growing up.

Drew tells Sonny, he’s not gatekeeping family business. It’s a personal matter that involves Nina. Sonny says, Nina’s his family, and Drew says he’s sure Nina will tell him. Carly comes along, and tells Sonny to back off. Sonny asks, what’s going on? Where’s Nina?

Willow says, every time she turns around, Nina is invading their space. Making wild accusations; trying to get close to their son. Nina is toxic. Michael tells her to calm down, and she tells him to make her a promise. If she loses this battle, promise her that Nina will never have access to Wiley ever again. Nina walks in, and Willow says, get out. Leave her alone. Michael says, not now, and Willow says, not ever. She wants Nina out of this room, and out of her life for good. Nina says she’s sorry, but Willow’s life may depend on her.

On Monday, Spencer says, this baby may not know either of its parents; Sonny asks what Carly has to feel guilty about; and Michael suggests Willow hear what Nina has to say.

🚑 Heavy Weighs the Soap Crown…

I don’t think I’ve ever watched the scene in question, but it sounds pretty awful. I remember Roger Howarth being uncomfortable about Todd having been a rapist on OLTL, then going on to be an antihero.

👩🏻‍⚕️ The Real Why…

I totally get it, and she certainly went out with a bang.

🥀 Another Goodbye…

I didn’t watch the soaps he was in, but the fact he wrote The Deer Hunter makes him worthy of a mention.

https://www.soapcentral.com/young-and-restless/news/2023/0110-oscar-nominated-quinn-redeker-a-days-and-yr-alum-has-passed-away.php

🏖 But Will They Survive…?

This actually sounds somewhat interesting. Ultimate underdogs.

🩺 Flipping the Script…

It’s stretching the married part, but then again the Housewives are rarely housewives.

🍸 A Full Trailer…

Something to look forward to. If you have no life. Yeah, I’ll be watching.

⚰️ Here’s Where It Gets Complicated…

You’ll need a daily planner if you want to keep up with all of these.

https://ew.com/tv/fear-the-walking-dead-to-end-season-8/

🐕 Dogs On the Page…

For the bookworm dog lover.

🐳 Quotes of the Week

I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. – Vince Lombardi

I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?John Lennon while doing mushrooms

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man. – Benjamin Franklin

Happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. – Frederick Koenig (Well, duh, Frederick Koenig.)

Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.William Feather

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. – Harry S. Truman

Happiness is for dogs and Americans. – Liesl Obrecht (Kathleen Gati), General Hospital

🥠 Netflix and Chinese…

When it’s at the point you have to dust them, it’s time to take the decorations down. After you’re finished with whatever the next two days hold for you, take time out on Monday-really-Tuesday for some soap and what’s on Deck. Until then, stay safe, stay not eating your feelings, and stay never judging people by their worst mistake.

December 9, 2022 – Ryan Gets a Blast From the Past, Love To Hate, NJ Dish, Hot Stuff, VanderDumped, Competition, Dead Talk, DocuGlee, Critic Noms, Pets (!), a Bouquet Of Quotes & Hazy

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

On the phone, Sonny asks, how’s Donna? and Nina says, he’s missing all the fun. Donna is running circles around her and Pilar. She asks how his day is, and he says he’ll tell her all about it when he gets home. She says, they’ll be here. Donna and Pilar are having an early supper in the kitchen, but for them, she ordered a gourmet dinner for two to be delivered from the MetroCourt. He says he’ll see her when he gets home, and Dex comes to his office. Dex says he wanted to follow up on the deal Sonny mentioned; some third party who wants to use his facilities? Sonny said he might want Dex to assist him. Sonny says, that depends, and Dex says, on what? Sonny says, on what’s important to Dex; working for him, or making time with Josslyn?

Nina hums as she sets the table and pours some wine. There’s a knock at the door, and she says, it must be dinner. She opens the door, and Josslyn asks what she’s doing here.

Trina tells Rory that she doesn’t know what to say, and he says, when he was in training at the Police Academy, he had several instructors tell him that he was going to be a great cop because he’s so naturally stoic. Big emotions like this don’t come easy to him, but tonight… He guesses his feelings for her are so strong, he had to say something. And even though this is new to him, he wanted her to know how much he meant it, every single word. He loves her. Spencer watches, and tells Victor that he thinks he lost his appetite. Rory tells Trina that he didn’t know how he was actually going to feel after saying that. He feels great, but he wants her to know he doesn’t expect her to say anything in return. He got her something, and it’s not another can of soda; they’ve progressed. He wanted to get her something to symbolize how he felt. He gives her a gift bag, and she takes out a perfume (I think) box. He says, it’s called L’Amore. It seemed fitting. She says, this is… and looks up to see Spencer practically hugging the back of Rory’s chair. FYI, perfume is probably not a good choice of gift, unless you really know the person or you know that’s what they wear.

Alone in his room, Ryan says, Esme, where the hell are you? What have you gotten yourself into now? The doorknob rattles, and he goes back to his locked-in persona. Someone wearing a bathrobe comes in and closes the door. Heather says, hello… lover. They tell her that he can’t talk to her, but she bets she knows what he’s thinking. A blast from the past, right? Her and him, together again for the first time. It almost feels like a lifetime ago, but some things in life, you just can’t forget. They both know when they were bad, it was very good.

Elizabeth says, Finn went to Spoon Island? and he says, like he told her, he was looking for Esme Prince. Sha asks, what made him think Esme would be on the island of all places? and he says he was just following the trail. She says, what trail? and he says, the one that begins and ends with her. She says she doesn’t understand. How could she have led him to look for Esme on Spoon Island? He says, she was the last person to see Esme before Esme attacked her on the pier. If she hadn’t called the police first, who knows what Esme would have done? Elizabeth says, but she didn’t. They should be thankful she just ended up with a bump on her head, and leave it at that. He says, but who knows if it would have ended there? He thinks Esme went to Spoon Island, and now that he’s been there, he’s even more convinced he’s on the right track.

Heather asks if Ryan remembers how they first met; that was ages ago. Decades. But she can still see it, as if it was yesterday. She runs her hand up his arm, and stands behind his chair, feeling his chest. She says, she was hiking the Cascade Mountains. A regular nature girl on a journey to find a place for herself outside the rigid confines of middleclass society. That’s when she smelled smoke, coming out of a cabin in the middle of nowhere. And there he was, chopping wood with a hatchet. The blade gleamed in the moonlight. He always was handy with a blade. She caresses his right arm and says, such a shame to lose this hand. It was so talented in so many ways. She said her name was Hazel, and he said his name was Richard. They were both playing the same game. They found each other. Soulmates. Is it beginning to come back to you, Richie?

Rory asks Trina, what’s wrong? and follows her gaze to Spencer behind him. He says, oh, and Trina says she doesn’t understand. They said Spencer’s release was weeks away. Spencer says, it was supposed to be. Don’t let him interrupt their dinner. They’re clearly in the middle of something special. Rory says, they are, and Trina gets up, asking, what happened? How is he a free man? He says, don’t worry; he didn’t escape this time. Trina asks, what changed? and Victor says, his nephew’s exemplary behavior earned him an early release. Spencer thanks him, but says, Trina is smarter than that. He did what he always does and relied on his family to get him out of trouble.

Nina asks why Josslyn is surprised. Everyone, including Josslyn, knows that she and Sonny are involved. Josslyn walks in, and says she’s here to pick up Donna, and it was her understanding Nina isn’t allowed anywhere near her little sister. Nina says she’s happy to tell Josslyn, that information is outdated. Sonny and Carly reached a new understanding, and she had the best day with Donna. She’s in the kitchen with Pilar having an early supper. Josslyn says she’ll check in with her mom about the change in rules when she gets home, and starts to head for the kitchen, but Nina says, Sonny isn’t home from work yet. Josslyn says, shocking. The family man is too busy obstructing justice, or whatever it is he does (see? Josslyn doesn’t even know what he does), to spend time with his youngest child, so he leaves her with the girlfriend. Lucky Donna is still too young to understand where she ranks on Sonny’s list of priorities. Nina says, Sonny is on his way home right now, and she knows he’d love to see his daughter and kiss her before Josslyn takes her home to Carly, so wait a little while. She can take it if Josslyn can.

Dex tells Sonny that he didn’t go to Josslyn for help. He never meant for her to be involved. Sonny says, but she was involved, and Dex flashes back to Josslyn fixing up his bullet wound in the gatehouse. He says he doesn’t know if Josslyn saved his life, but she definitely saved his freedom. People know he works for Sonny. If Josslyn had called an ambulance or the cops, Sonny would have been investigated at the very least. Sonny asks, what’s his point? and he says, Josslyn did him a favor, and he’s grateful, but that’s as far as it goes. Sonny says, good, because he spent today cleaning up the mess Dex made when he was driving that transfer van to Pentenville. He was concerned that someone could identify Dex as the driver, so he made sure no one is going to identify Dex. Dex says he appreciates it, and promises Sonny that he learns from his mistakes. Sonny says he believes Dex means that when he says it, but like his old man used to say, some mistakes are too big to make. He opens his desk drawer, and Dex sees a gun. Sonny says, Dex is probably standing there thinking, he’s done a solid job, why is Sonny so hard on him? Dex says, something like that, and Sonny says, when he was Dex’s age, he was in debt to a guy named Joe Skully, and he would have done anything to pay him back. Joe wanted him to do a job, he was young and inexperienced, he did the job, and left a trail that could have led straight back to him. Even worse, it could have led straight from him to Joe. Dex says, obviously Sonny is still in the game, so what happened? What saved him? Sonny says he had a guardian angel. He took it upon himself to clean up after Sonny. Dex says, that was lucky, and Sonny says, luck is only going to get you so far in life. In this business, you’ve got to have brains; you need to trust your instincts. Dex says he has both, and Sonny says, think of this as a crossroads in his life. Dex is the one who’s going to have to make that call. He’s got to figure out what he’s going to hold on to, and what he’s going to let go. What matters; what doesn’t matter.

Josslyn tells Nina that she can wait until Donna’s done eating, because they both know Pilar cooked that meal, and Nina didn’t. (Not sure how that applies.) But let’s be clear, when Donna is done, they’re leaving whether Sonny is back or not. Nina suggests they go to their separate corners until the referee rings the bell for round two. Josslyn says, like a fight? Why would she want to fight Nina? She’s so grateful. Nina says, Josslyn’s idea of gratitude leaves a lot to be desired, and Josslyn says, Nina did what no one else ever could. She took Sonny away from Josslyn’s mom, and set her free. She feels a little bit sorry for Donna, but in the end, Josslyn knows she’s better off. She doesn’t have to grow up listening to her mom defend the indefensible, like Josslyn did. She watched her mom turn herself inside out for Sonny. She doesn’t have to do that anymore. She can live her life the way she wants to, and she has never had a better time. Josslyn thanks Nina, and says, out of all of Sonny’s many girlfriends, Nina might just be her favorite. Nina says, Josslyn makes it sound like she’s the latest in a long line, and Josslyn tells Nina, she said it, not her.

Spencer asks what he can say. When your grandmother is the mayor and your great uncle is Victor Cassadine. you can pretty much get yourself out of anything. Rory asks if he’s saying he mayor pulled strings to get him an early release, and Spencer says, when you have family connections, the golden rule is to never advertise who did what. Though he will say his Uncle Cyrus looked out for him when he was on the inside. Rory says, Cyrus as in Cyrus Renault? and Victor says, that unfortunate family tie came to an end the second Spencer came out of the Pentenville gates. Keeping the box with the doves out of sight, Spencer says, they’ll let Trina and Rory get back to their dinner. Good seeing Trina. They walk away, and Victor says, that was very graciously done, but Spencer is making one mistake. He’s a Cassadine, and Cassadines never quit.

Elizabeth asks what Finn found on Spoon Island, and he says, it’s more what he didn’t find when he went to Windymere. She says, he went to the house? and he says he thought Nikolas might cooperate and help him find Esme, but he had to play the big shot. Supposedly, he had some of the staff search the property, but even if they did look, they weren’t going to find Esme. She says, so he walked away empty handed, and he tells her, of course (🍷) Nikolas said he was just looking out for her best interests, but he wasn’t buying it. She asks, why not? and he says, his lips were moving.

Heather flops onto Ryan’s bed, and says, remember how they used to bundle together in the cabin on those cold winter nights, when the wolves howled outside the window. They’d howl right back at them because that’s what they were; a couple of timber wolves, too wild for all of those poor pathetic sheep out there. He’s in there, isn’t he? He might have everybody else fooled, but she knows him, inside and out. He’s not really paralyzed, is he? It’s just his way of controlling the situation. Getting everyone lulled into a false sense of security, and that’s when he’s going to strike. She knows she’s getting to him. After all, she’s his Hazel, and can affect him in ways nobody else can. She’s about to kiss him, when he says, you left me without so much as a goodbye. You broke my heart. He doesn’t think she’s ever been hurt as badly, but that can be arranged.

Finn says, he gets the sense Nikolas is only willing to cooperate when he’s in charge, and Elizabeth says, sounds like him. He says, maybe, and she asks what he means. He says he has the feeling Nikolas is hiding something.

Heather says, it speaks. She knew her mountain man was in there, just waiting to break free. Ryan talks without moving anything but his mouth, and says, she just might live to regret that… or not. She says, ooh, naughty boy. She knows he wouldn’t hurt her. He says, since when did she mind a little pain, and she says, you remembered my sweet spot, lover, but he says, there was never anything sweet about her, but that was her appeal; two of a kind. She says, like knows like, and he says he actually began to question if it ever happened at all. She seemed too good to be true, and then she disappeared without a trace. He actually wondered if he imagined the whole thing. She says, it wasn’t his imagination. She stands up and leans over him, saying, take a whiff. She still uses the same soap… all over her body… every inch. He inhales deeply, and she smacks him hard across the face.

Victor tells Spencer to sit down. He said they were going to celebrate Spencer’s first night of freedom from Pentenville, so that’s exactly what they’re going to do. A little life lesson. Don’t let anyone or anything prevent him from enjoying his first breath of freedom. Spencer says he’s not ungrateful for Victor getting him out early. He never thought he was going to be out of Pentenville by New Year’s Eve, much less Christmas, but it’s difficult to celebrate when… Victor says, Spencer feels the same way about the lovely Miss Robinson? Spencer says, with all due respect, what is the point? They got here just in time to hear Rory tell Trina that he loves her. Victor says he thinks it makes all the difference in the world.

Trina says, where were they? and Rory says, they were celebrating their three-month anniversary. He hopes she likes… His phone rings, and he tells her, he’s so sorry; it’s work. He has to take it. She tells him, go, and he says, yes, Commissioner, as he goes outside. Victor tells Spencer, remember, opportunity is only lost on those who fail to seize it, and Spencer jets over to Trina, asking if he can join her. Before she can answer, he sits down, and she asks what he’s doing. He says he has a question. Can they start over?

Nina says, Josslyn’s gratitude sounds a lot like resentment. She’s guessing Josslyn talked to her mother about what happened between them today. Josslyn says, her mom never mentions Nina, and Nina says, so Josslyn doesn’t know. She and Carly were at Willow’s, and Willow fainted. Josslyn asks if Willow is okay; does Michael know? Nina says she imagines by now he does, and Josslyn asks, what happened and how is Nina involved? Nina says she went over there to talk to Willow about helping Sasha. Things got heated, Willow got upset, and passed out. Josslyn says, only Nina would pick a fight with a pregnant woman, but Nina says she didn’t pick a fight with Willow. Her point is, that for a split second, she and Carly put aside their differences to help Willow. If they’re able to do that, why can’t she and Josslyn do the same thing? Josslyn says, her mother makes her own choices; so does she. Even though she’s grateful Nina took Sonny off her mom’s hands, that doesn’t mean she likes Nina. Nina says she didn’t take Sonny off of anyone’s hands; she fell in love with him. Josslyn says, how romantic, and Nina says, the only part of it she regrets is keeping the truth from everyone. Josslyn might not understand, but Nina kept the truth from herself. She came to care for someone when everything else told her it was wrong. Josslyn flashes back to kissing Dex in her dorm room, and says, Nina is right. She can’t understand. She’s nothing like Nina. Nina asks what she’s talking about. Who said Josslyn was like her?

Sonny tells Dex, one of the hardest things he’s had to learn in his life is when to use a gun, and when to keep the safety on. It’s taken him almost a lifetime to learn that. Dex says, he had to start sometime, right? and Sonny says, yes, he did, and so does Dex. He takes out the gun, and slides it across the desk, along with a clip. Dex asks what Sonny wants him to do with it, and Sonny says, it’s his; take it. Dex puts the clip in the gun, and puts the gun in his waistband. Sonny says, so the deal Dex asked him about. He set up a meeting with a third party, and wants Dex to come with him. Dex asks what Sonny wants him to do, and Sonny says, just listen. Take orders. He’s probably not going to have to use the gun. Dex says, so Sonny just wants a little security, and Sonny says, the go-between who set up the meeting isn’t really a trusted friend or someone he’s done business with, but it’s who the contractors chose. He just wants to be prepared. Does Dex have any questions? Dex says, nope, and Sonny tosses him the car keys, saying, let’s go. Dex asks where they’re going.  

Josslyn asks if that isn’t what Nina is after; sympathy, empathy? Nina wants people to put themselves in her shoes, so they can see she had no other option but to lie. Josslyn’s not like that; she doesn’t use deceit to get what she wants. She’s nothing like Nina. Nina asks what Josslyn is talking about. She never said Josslyn was deceitful. If anything, she’s honest to a fault, and a little quick to judge people by her own high standards. Josslyn says she’s going to see if Donna is done with dessert, and Nina asks, how’s Cameron? Josslyn flashes back to telling Trina that she thought sleeping together would help her and Cameron reconnect, and be a magic fix for what she hasn’t been feeling. She tells Nina, it’s none of her business.

Trina tells Spencer, she doesn’t know. So much has happened, she doesn’t think a fresh start is even possible for them. He says he supposes that’s fair. He did what he did, and there are consequences he has to live with. She says she appreciates that he wants to try, but it’s hard for her to even think about this now, much less talk it over. He says, she’s with Rory at the PC Grill, not at Kelly’s having burgers. He knew they were in the middle of something special, and if he’d known she was going to be here with her boyfriend, celebrating, he would have insisted to his uncle that they go elsewhere, especially when he heard what Rory said to her. He wasn’t trying to eavesdrop; he practically announced it to the entire restaurant. Not that he blames Rory. If he were in Rory’s place, he’d want to tell everyone too. She says, it’s not what he thinks it is, but he says, when a guy takes you out to one of the best restaurants in town and tells you he loves you. What else could that mean?

Outside on the phone, Rory says, copy that, Commissioner. See you soon. He starts to go back in, when Victor blocks his way. Victor says he admires Rory’s dedication. Rory tries to walk around him, but Victor moves, and says, Rory swore to do the right thing. He assumes Rory knows when to stay the course, and when to call it a day. I love how with all his big plans, whatever they are, Victor still has time to meddle in a kid’s love life.

Ryan asks, what the hell was that for? and Heather says, for what he did to her Franco. He says he keeps a pretty good record of the crimes he’s committed, and the people he’s killed, and Franco Baldwin isn’t on that list. She says, don’t even mention his name. Ryan victimized her son, and what’s that old expression? One bad turn deserves another. He says, you wouldn’t blow the whistle on me, would you, Hazel… dear? and she says, I’d hate to be backed into that corner, Richie… boy.

Elizabeth tells Finn that Nikolas’s Uncle Victor is living at Windymere now. There’s bound to be something Nikolas is hiding. He says, she thinks Victor is using Spoon Island for something? and she says, Windymere isn’t just a family estate; it’s a fortress. He says, a fortress where they might be hiding Esme Prince. He thinks this is a good time to have a conversation with Jordan, but she says, he can’t. He says, why not? and she says, he’s a healer, not a detective. His place is here at GH, doing the kind of life saving work he was meant to do, not taking on a cold-blooded killer. He says he’s not taking on the killer himself. He knows that’s a job for the PCPD. She says, if Esme finds out Finn led them to her, she’s going to put him on her list, but he says he can’t let this go, not after Esme attacked her. As long as Esme is out there, she’s free to go after Elizabeth again, or her kids, or anybody else who gets in her way. She says, what about his daughter? If he doesn’t give up this search, what if Esme targets Violet? He says, it’s Violet he’s thinking about. How does he look his little girl in the eye, knowing he didn’t do what he could to put a stop to this? Come to his office. They’ll call Jordan and see what she has to say about this. They go out in the hallway, and Finn says, Elizabeth forgot something. She says, wait, but he goes back in and picks up the bottle of prenatal vitamins, taking a look at it. He remembers seeing an empty bottle of the same thing at Windymere.  

Ryan says, of all the women he’s loved, Heather was always his most vivid memory. She says she read all about him, and she’s guessing that’s a crock, but she’d love to believe it. She always knew their paths would cross again. What they had was kismet. He says, then why even dream of exposing him? and she says, don’t worry, mountain man. She wouldn’t do that. She’s just putting him on notice not to even think of adding her to his list of victims. He says, heaven forbid, and she says, heaven is not his final destination, or hers. Still, she’s sorry for walking out on him. If she’d stuck around, who knows? Maybe both their lives would have been different. Let’s just say, she owes him one. He says, according to his math, she owes him two.

Trina tells Spencer, Rory is a great guy. He’s honest, kind, and has a great start on a very solid career. Even Ava, who has very high standards, thinks she’d be crazy if she let him get away. He says, and of course (🍷) she and Ava always agree with each other. Rory comes back, and asks if everything is okay here. Spencer says, everything’s fine. Time for him to rejoin his uncle. He shakes Rory’s hand, and says, great seeing Trina. He leaves, and Rory sits down. He asks what Spencer wanted.  

Josslyn comes out of the kitchen, and Nina asks, where’s Donna? Josslyn says, Pilar is helping her wash up. As soon as they’re done, she and Donna are leaving. Sonny’s just going to have to do better with his time management. Sonny walks in with Dex, and says, he didn’t expect to find Josslyn here. What’s going on? Nina asks if Dex will be joining them, and Sonny asks what Josslyn is doing here. She says she’s here to pick up Donna. She’ll see if Donna is ready. She can’t get out of the room fast enough, and Dex says, if it’s okay with Sonny, he’s going to pass on the dinner invitation. He’s not hungry, and should probably call it an early night. Sonny says he’ll see Dex tomorrow, Dex says goodnight to Nina, and leaves. Sonny says, Nina was here alone with Josslyn. He doesn’t see any broken glass anywhere. What happened? Nina says, it’s clear Josslyn has other things on her mind, and they hug.

Trina tells Rory, Spencer just wanted to touch base since his early release from Pentenville. Obviously, she wasn’t expecting to see him tonight. Rory says, it’s unfortunate their big night got interrupted. Now he’s been called back to the station. Plus, he did tell her mom that he’d have her home early. She says, they’ll do it again with no interruptions. She picks up the bag, saying, she can’t forget her gift. She really loves it. He kisses her, and they leave holding hands. Victor says, if Trina chooses Rory over Spencer, it’s her loss. Spencer says he has to go to the restroom, and tosses the box containing the doves on the table. When he’s gone, Victor  picks up the box and puts it in his pocket.

Finn says, Elizabeth left these behind. It’s strange. He saw a bottle just like this when he went to see Nikolas. Prenatal vitamins. Are they hers?

Heather says, she owes Ryan two? How does he mean? He says, when she left him never to return, she didn’t just stomp on his heart and walk out of his life. In the years since, he’s learned that when she left, she was carrying the child they created.

Finn asks, what’s going on? Is there something Elizabeth wants to tell him? She says, just let it go, but he says he doesn’t want to. He wants to hear her voice, but if she doesn’t want to tell him, he’s fine with going to Windymere and getting answers. She says, please don’t, and he says, please don’t what? Is she pregnant?

On Monday, Drew asks Denise, where did Baby Callie come from; Willow tells Carly that she’s far from okay; and Ryan tells Heather, if something falls into the wrong hands, he’s holding her responsible.

💣 Man With a Plan…

Victor is the best at bad.

👰🏻 Still In the Bubble…

Maybe it’s me, but I still don’t see why this woman is not just employed, but celebrated, by Bravo.

How she makes new friends is also beyond me, but give it time.

🎤 Burning Down the Mic…

Housewives caught saying what they shouldn’t, and production lapping it up.

🍸 No Longer Employed…

Was this ever even in question?

🕶  Odd Combo…

I don’t know if I’ll be watching, but it’s an interesting concept. Although I could do without Brandi, another one they should dump.

⚰️ Dead In the City…

This. Looks. Wonderful.

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/maggie-and-negan-return-in-the-walking-dead-dead-city-teaser-trailer/

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

🎼 Fame Kills…

This is a bit of a stretch, considering the size of the cast. Stuff happens.

https://people.com/tv/the-price-of-glee-trailer-explores-deaths-of-naya-rivera-cory-monteith-mark-salling/

🏆 Upcoming Choices…

Nominations for the Critics’ Choice Awards.

https://ew.com/awards/leslie-jordan-ray-liotta-receive-posthumous-critics-choice-award-nominations/

🐩 Hello Pets…

And to send you off on a good note, places you can’t afford, but someone’s pet can. Hey, they deserve it.

https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/gallery/20220504139347/celebrity-pets-with-pampered-lifestyles-houses/1/

🦉 Quotes of the Week

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. – Harry S. Truman (Or you could say, Murphy was an optimist.)

No one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that they are wiser today than they were yesterday. – Alexander Pope

A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money. – W.C. Fields

My belief is that personal freedom cannot grow beyond personal responsibility. The more people that learn to be fully accountable for their lives, the more freedom each of us can enjoy and the more fulfilling all of our lives will be. – Ross Parmenter

Infinitely more important than sharing one’s material wealth is sharing the wealth of ourselves—our time and energy, our passion and commitment, and, above all, our love.William E. Simon (But a little cash never hurts.)

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. – Ray Bradbury

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. – Maya Angelou

Being dead really doesn’t make things easier. – Barbara (Geena Davis), Beetlejuice

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. – Anatole France

Social media is the devil. – Judge Star Jones, Divorce Court

🦌 Playing Reindeer Games…

Exiting stage left until Monday really Tuesday, when I’ll be back with soap and what’s on Deck. Until then, stay safe, stay within your budget, and stay remembering, opportunity is only lost on those who fail to seize it.

November 20, 2022 – The Ones Who Live, Dead Dissection, Finale Songs, Spin-Offs, Photos & Cult

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

The Walking Dead Finale

Running into the hospital with Judith, Daryl yells for help. He tells Judith that she’ll be okay. She sees a distorted view of the hospital, troopers running in, and Daryl falling. She sees a zombie headed for the doors, and rolls herself off the gurney. She pushes and pulls at the inner sliding glass doors, getting them almost shut as a zombie bounces off of them. More zombies have gathered, and as she shuts the doors the last few inches, hands poke through. They fight to get in, and she shoves a desk in front of the doors. She passes out next to Daryl as zombies pound at the glass.

A zombie advertises DoorDash, and it’s quite funny. Now that I think of it, I wonder what a commercial spot cost for this show.

Maggie and the others kill zombies a million different ways, as their group fights its way through the horde. Jules gets bitten, and Luke spikes the zombie through the head. He tells her that she’ll be okay, but that’s not going to happen, since he gets grabbed. I say, noo! as the zombies pull at him, and he sees Jules getting eaten. Carol, Maggie, Negan and the others jet through somehow, scooping up Luke in the process. I honestly don’t know how any of them could make it through this death machine, she says like this could possibly be a real life situation.

Daryl is lying on a gurney, and hears, hey, it’s me. He opens his eyes, seeing Connie, Kelly, Magna, and Yumiko gathered around Luke on another gurney. Luke’s legs are pretty much gone, and he’s crying, as we all would. Daryl tells Carol that he’s fine, and gets up, but Carol says, no, he’s not. He looks at Judith, and says, she’s lost a lot of blood. Yumiko tells Luke to stay with them, and Carol says, it took everything they had. Pamela is holed up in the gated community, and left everyone to fend for themselves. If they go after her, there are going be troopers. Daryl asks if Mercer doesn’t know people on the inside, and she says, Max thinks so, and he said he’d come back. He asks if they just wait, but she says, no. They’re going to take care of Judith, and him. Kelly starts to cry, and Yumiko takes Luke’s harmonica out of his pocket, telling him, they’ll keep the music alive. Kelly says, for him, and Connie signs, for everyone. They love him so much. Now we’re all crying, and Luke slips away. Magna takes out a knife and stabs him, but we mercifully don’t see that happen, and everyone sobs. Except Carol and Daryl, who are stoic. Daryl asks if Carol knows how to do a blood transfusion; he’s going to give Judith blood. She says, the types have to match, but he says, his goes with anybody. His brother made him sell it when he was a kid. A cover is put over Luke, and Carol sets up an IV. They hear clattering, and Magna says, they have to sweep the hospital. Everyone leaves, except Daryl, who stays to do the transfusion.

Mercer paces a cell in a prison uniform, which seems startling. Zombies shuffle by in the hallway, and he hears machine guns. Princess yells for him to get back and cover his head. She gets rid of the zombies in the way, and busts in. Max runs to Mercer, hugging him, then Princess jumps into his arms, and they kiss. He smiles, which I don’t think we’ve seen before.  

Maggie tells Negan, get ready, and he asks if her weapon is for Pamela. She doesn’t say anything, and he says, the offer still stands. She says she’s good, and zombies begin to come. Mercer is back in his gear, and Ezekiel tells them to wait. Aaron and Lydia run up, and tell them that Jerry and Elijah are still out there. They jump in a truck, and Ezekiel drives.  

The nursery is chaos, and a zombie chows down on someone. Gabriel, Eugene, and Rosita run in, and Rosita says, Coco. She sees a zombie reaching into the crib, but as she runs over, another one grabs her. But she’s mama bear now, so these undead are no match. She goes into hyper-kickass mode, and saves her baby. Eugene runs in, followed by Gabriel, who scoops up another infant. On the radio, Mercer asks if there’s an update on the kids, and Gabriel says, they found them. Mercer says, thank God.

Daryl watches Judith, and she opens her eyes. She asks, what’s happening? Where is she? He says, at the hospital, and she asks, why? Is she going to die? He says, no, but she says she feels like she is. Then she can’t find her mom, who’s finding her dad, so they can all be together. He smooths her hair, and tells her that she’s fine. She says, her mom told her this thing that she told her dad; we’re the ones… She’s suddenly out, and Daryl tells her, wake up. Carol comes back, and says, the hospital’s been breached. They’ve got to go. Daryl says, he can’t, and Rosita radios that they’re in the alley behind the hospital. They went through the horde, and their ride is f***ed. Daryl wheels the gurney to another room. He tells Judith that she’ll be okay, and locks her in. He puts another gurney in front of the door, then knocks over some shelving for good measure. He runs to the front, joining the others, and a zombie is smashing at the glass with a rock. Some zombies are already inside, and the others finally crash through, tons of them pouring in. Daryl and Carol fight them, and Daryl says, they’ve got to move. Run. He goes back to where Judith is, shoving the shelves over, and pulls he bed out. Carol radios that the hospital has been breached. They’re going out the back. When they get there, it’s another cluster of zombies, so they keep going, and find another door.

Eugene comes out of a van, shooting, and Gabriel says, back to back. Eugene says, they’ve got to find a way out. A zombie grabs Rosita, but Gabriel shoots it. Rosita suggests they go up; she’ll be behind him. They climb up a pipe on the side of a building like freaking Spiderman, but then the zombies start climbing too. Rosita gets stuck they tell her, reach up, but she falls backward, along with Coco, in a pack strapped to her stomach. She somehow pops back up, and climbs onto an overturned ambulance. Eugene tells her to jump, and jumps onto the pipe, and gets in the window. That was one heart-stopping moment.

Daryl and company rendezvous with Mercer, who helps get Judith to a safe house, where Tomi examines her. He tells Daryl that it was good he gave her blood. He’ll do what he can. He tells them to prep an IV, and clear the room. Aaron checks on Lydia, and tells her that she’ll feel it sometimes, like it’s still there. Is she okay? She nods, and says, Luke and Jules… He says he knows, and she says, it’s the same with Eli; she knows it. That’s just what happens. People die; cities fall. Things just don’t work out. People tell her they do, but they don’t. Jerry’s not coming back either, is he? Aaron says he hasn’t given up hope. They’ll  find both of them. Carol hears, but says nothing. Maggie asks if Aaron has seen Negan, but he says, not for a while, and she runs off. She finds Negan climbing the stairs with a rifle, and asks if he’s going after Pamela. He asks what it matters, as long as it’s done, and she asks, what’s his angle? He says he has no goddam angle. He’s doing this for her. If she takes Pammy out with this thing, hell will rain down on her, and she ain’t gonna come back, and she has to come back. So he’s doing it. Last night, when he was down on his knees about to lose his wife, about lose everything, he finally understood what it must have felt like. He knows he probably owes Maggie more than this, but he’s so sorry for what he took from her and her son. She takes the rifle from him, and says, you comin’?

Eugene and Max doze, and Eugene sees Rosita watching Coco sleep. He walks over, and asks if she wants to take a break, but she says she just wants to soak Coco up. He smiles, and sits with her. He says he bets she can’t wait for summer. She can finally take Coco for a swim at Oceanside. In his research on child-rearing he came across an outline of the benefits that swimming has. It builds confidence; not that Coco will have a problem. Rosita has it in spades, so it’s in Coco too. He can’t wait for summer, can she? She doesn’t say anything, and he says, when she fell… She looks at him, and he asks, where? She shakes her head, and he pulls back the collar of her shirt, seeing the bite make on her shoulder. She says, it’s okay; no crying. She doesn’t want them to know yet, so pull his sh*t together. He says he can’t, but she says, he can. She’s still right here, and he’s going to be fine. Tears shine in her eyes, but yet she smiles, and Eugene says he just loves her so much. She says she loves him, he kisses her head, and leaves. He sits with Max, and she asks if he’s all right. He says he’s completely fine.

Daryl and Carol watch Judith. She stirs, and Daryl sits on the bed. He calls her a little ass-kicker, and she says, big ass-kicker. He says, damn straight, and she says she’s fine, like he promised. What she said about her mom and dad… He asks if it’s true. Is that why she never came back? Judith says she’s sorry she didn’t tell him. She was scared he’d leave too. He says he’s right here, when they hear gunshots and yelling. Mercer tells them that people are banging at the gate, and they’re shooting anyone who climbs over. Loads people are dying, and he can’t just stand by. The truck is gassed, and can get them home. It’s not their fight; these are not their people. Ezekiel says, they are; so is Mercer. They may not think this place is worth saving, given how they were treated, but it’s worth it to him. The people are worth it. He’s not allowing them to fall without a fight. Not today. Not with him. Who else will go? Aaron says, they can do more than save themselves, and they need to. Everyone is like, let’s go, and Ezekiel tells Mercer, lead the way, brother.

Pamela stands near the gates, watching all the people yelling for her to open them. Maggie looks at her through binoculars, and tells Negan, they’re almost there. Mercer comes out, along with Carol, Daryl, and company, and a group of trooper sympathizers. Pamela says, arrest them, and everyone draws their guns. Mercer says, the people outside want in, and she says, traitor. He says, no, she is. She disappeared hundreds of citizens, and lead the dead to their doorstep. She shot a child, and now she’s left thousands to die. A herd is also coming. The people yell, let us in, and Gabriel steps forward. He says he’s opening the gate, and he’ll kill anyone who tries to stop him. Trooper Vickers says, they’ll be forced to shoot him unless he stops, and Carol says, they’ll fire back. Pamela says, shoot him, and Daryl asks what the hell she’s doing. They all deserve better than this. She built this place based on the old world, a world that f***ed people over. Pamela says, if she opens the gate, the dead will get in, not just living, and he says, if she doesn’t, they lose everything anyway. We have one enemy, and it ain’t the walking dead.

Vickers tells the troopers to lower their weapons, and says, he’s right. Give the priest the key. On your command, General Mercer. Mercer says he’s arresting Pamela for high crimes against the people of the Commonwealth. Cuff her. Maggie tells Negan, she’s getting arrested, and he says, prison like that is worse than death. Gabriel unlocks the gate, and the people swarm in. Several of them help Gabriel to close and lock it behind them, and the zombies grope through the gate, still trying to get in. Eli runs to Lydia, who says she thought she’d never see him again. Jerry calls for Nabila, and Ezekiel says, come with him. Pamela looks dazed, and moves closer to the gate, seeing zombie Lance. She moves even closer, and he grabs her, pulling her toward him. She closes her eyes, and Judith tells Pamela, you have to help them. It’s not too late; it’s never too late. Maggie shoots Lance, and says, now we’ll take this place back.

Mercer says, here’s the new plan. They’re going to get a vehicle out, and clear a path. Don’t engage with the dead any more than necessary. We see them fight their way through the horde, and Aaron saying, hold the line. Mercer says, take the vehicle out back. He’s headed for the town square, and will let them know when it’s clear. Jerry is in charge of dumping the barrels of fuel from the depot into the sewer tunnels underneath. They’ll start the PA system to draw the zombies to the Estates. Eli does some wiring, and Mercer says, it’s almost go time. Get the fuel in the sewers. They only have one shot at this. They pour out the gasoline, and everyone is wiring something or hooking something up. Max says she hopes it works, and Princess says, if it doesn’t, they’re dead.

Living Colour’s Cult of Personality plays at top volume, and the zombies pour into the Estates. When the song stops, the record player arm goes back, and two flints ignite a spark. Everything blows up, and it’s quite an explosion. It rips through the tunnels, and outside, flaming zombies drop like… well, flaming zombies. Everything burns.

Pamela whines, it’s not easy having a good time so many lives in her hands, and she had to make ugly decision. How do you pick who does the jobs no one wants? Who gets the nicer house? Carol says, they had to make an ugly decision to keep alive after everything she’s done, because they’ve all done things. They’ll figure it out. They’ll make sure of it. At least they don’t have to worry about who gets her house. They close the cell door behind them.  

Negan looks at his old Whisperer mask, and tosses it. Maggie sits across from him, and says she was thinking about what he said. She wants to thank him. She can stop wondering if he’ll ever say those words, and if she can forgive him. She knows now she can’t. Glenn was beautiful. She’ll never love anyone like that again. She remembers his smile, his goodness, and the way he made her feel. But when looks at Negan, all she sees is the bat coming down, and blood running down Glenn’s face. She hears him calling for her, and hears Negan mocking her. She can’t forgive him, even though she’s grateful that he saved her son; even though she knows he’s trying. She’s trying too, because she doesn’t want to hate him anymore. She doesn’t want to hurt like that. She doesn’t want her son to see that anybody has that kind of hold over her. If he and Annie want to stay, they’ve earned their place. But if she can’t look at him some days, work with him, or move on, that’s why. All she has are her memories, and she doesn’t want to remember Glenn like that. He nods, pain visible in his eyes, and she leaves.

There’s a big group dinner, where there’s much laughter, Landslide playing on the phonograph. DOG IS HERE!!! Yumiko toasts to Luke, and they all raise their glasses, clinking them. Daryl looks outside, and sees Negan. He nods, and Negan nods back, but keeps walking. Yumiko asks Magna if she can just say… but she doesn’t finish because Magna kisses her. Gabriel sits with Rosita, and asks if she’s okay. She says, everything is perfect. She just wants to remember this moment. She whispers something to him, and he covers her hand with his. She wipes away a tear, and Judith sees.

Carol and Maggie walk Rosita into a bedroom, and she lies on the bed next to Coco. They leave, and she cuddles with Coco, as Daryl stands in the doorway. Gabriel comes in, and kneels next to the bed. He says, receive her into Your arms of mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace. And into the glorious company of the saints and light. May her soul, and the soul of all those departed, in the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen. He takes her hand, and she kisses Coco. Gabriel says, they’ll see her again someday, and takes Coco. Eugene comes in, and sits next to the bed. He says he wouldn’t be the man he is today if he hadn’t met her. He takes her hand, and she says she’s glad it was him in the end. She closes her eyes, and he cries.

One year later. Eugene leaves flowers at Rosita’s grave plaque, and we see plaques for those who are gone. We hear Ezekiel say, my fellow citizens. They’re here together today against all odds. Eugene takes Baby Rosie from Max, and Ezekiel says, they’re here to honor those who sacrificed for them, so they could pursue a more perfect union.  Even though they’re not bonded by blood, they’re family. As Governor, Ezekiel is making Mercer his Lieutenant Governor. Princess lets out a whoop, everyone laughs, and she blows Mercer a kiss. Ezekiel says, they pledge to live by those words, and everyone applauds. He and Mercer bro hug, and Connie hugs Daryl. She signs, what’s up, cowboy? How’s the frontier? He says, quiet for now, and asks, how’s work? She signs, great. She’s keeping the new administration honest. He says, she seems happy, and she signs, she is. Lydia hugs Judith, and gives her a present. Judith asks who it’s from, and Lydia says, it’s a surprise, and leaves. Judith opens it, and finds her compass with JG engraved on it, along with a note that says: This has always helped me find my way. I’m returning it to you in the hope that it can guide you to your dreams. Thank you for letting me use it. Negan.

Daryl and Carol look at the Wall of the Lost in rebuilt Alexandria, and everyone around them does normal stuff. Gracie runs in and hugs Judith, and Eli hugs Aaron. Aaron tells Gabriel that he never thought they’d get back to any of this. He had hope, but they’ve been lucky. Gabriel says, it’s not luck; it’s effort. They have a lot to be proud of; family, community, our future. Maggie hugs Daryl and Carol, and says she wants to talk about the future. There’s a lot out there to find out about, and she thinks it’s time they did. It’s a beautiful day to head out. Daryl says, yeah, and tells Carol that he wishes she was coming with him. She says she knows it will be good for both of them, and he says he’s proud of her. She took Hornsby’s job and made it her own. She made everything better for her kids, and she’ll keep making it better. She says, he will too, and he says, it’s not like they’ll never see each other again. She says she’s allowed to be a little sad, and a tear rolls down her cheek. She says, he’s her best friend, he puts his arm around her, and they look at the lake.

Judith and RJ say goodbye to Daryl, and Judith says, she’ll keep an eye on Dog. Daryl tells her to keep an eye on Carol too. If he sees anything, he’ll find both her parents, and bring them home. She says, he deserves a happy ending too, and he says he’ll be back. She says he knows, and they hug. Ezekiel takes the kids, and Carol straightens Daryl’s poncho. He says he loves her, and she says she loves him too. They hug, and he gets on his bike. He looks at her, starts the engine, and heads into down the road, passing a random zombie who was apparently Greg Nicotero.  

We go heavily down Dead Memory Lane, seeing all the characters we remember and those we forgot about, as…

A match lights the darkness, and we see Rick sitting by a fire, writing a letter. In a voiceover, he says he thinks about the dead all the time, and about the living… who he lost. Elsewhere, Michonne writes in a journal that she tried to get to their kids again and again, but it was too far. But they’ve got each other; they’re connected. He says, he thinks about them all every day; their faces, what he’s learned, how she made him who he is. She says, they’ll always be together, even when they’re apart. We together is the strongest thing. We’re love, and love is endless. We are endless. He says, together we’re the pieces of a whole that keeps going with what we gave each other; one unstoppable life. You showed me that. You gave me that. Michonne looks into the fire at Rick on the other side.

Michonne is in a stable with a horse, and Rick’s meager possessions. She writes, I know your brother is back there. Just as sure as I know he’s out there. Somewhere. Not just as a part of us. He’s alive out there. She will find him. She knows he’s trying to find them.

In another place and time, and with the same possessions, Rick is on a riverbank, wearing a CRM jacket.

Michonne saddles her horse, and rides out, lopping off a zombie’s head as she rides past.

On a beach rife with zombie heads poking out of the wet sand, Rick hears a helicopter, and says, no. He tosses his bag away, and a loudspeaker says, he’s been located. He’s being instructed to surrender. Remain in place with his hands up. He spikes one of the zombie heads with a tool I use for yanking out weeds from the garden. The loudspeaker tells him, it’s like she said; there’s no escape for the living.

As Michonne rides, she says, remember what she told him. It’s what he said. Hold it in your heart. It’s true. Forever.   

We hear, we’re the ones who live, and we see all the highlights of the past seasons. Michonne rides into the fog, ready to do battle. Rick holds up his hands, looks up, and smiles.  

Judith tells TJ, we get to start over. We’re the ones who live.

There was a thank you from each cast member to the fans.

Next on the agenda, Fear the Walking Dead, Dead City, Daryl Dixon, and Rick and Michonne. The Walking Dead Universe – bigger and deader.

👩🏾‍🏫 Explaining the Dead End…

An in depth look at the ending. For those who must.

https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-finale-rick-michonne-ending-explained/

🎧 Playlisting Dead…

The cast chooses songs for the finale.

https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-finale-cast-character-playlist-songs/

⚰️ Dead Next…

About that bigger and deader universe.

https://ew.com/tv/the-walking-dead-finale-spin-offs/

📸 Dead Snaps…

Photos from behind-the-scenes.

https://ew.com/tv/the-walking-dead-behind-the-scenes-photos/

👣 Dead On My Feet…

If you got to go to the finale, you’re a lucky dead dog, but the seat in front of the TV wasn’t bad. Lots of laughing, hugging, and reminiscing, and I definitely got the vibe they’d been passing out champagne… or something. Stop in tomorrow for some soap and OG Deck. Until then, stay safe, stay embracing, or at least accepting, the change of seasons, and stay knowing, you don’t have to be bonded by blood to be a family.

November 15, 2022 – Brick Helps Out Carly, Her Reason, Final Bow, Kate Critiques, Done, Renewed, Final Talk, Ending Peek, Dog, This Little Piggy & Street

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

At the MetroCourt, Sonny gives Brick a hug, and asks, how was the flight? Brick says, smooth weather, easy check-in, but he’s hungry, and Sonny says, lunch is on him. How was Montreal? Brick says he made some progress on that front. Plus he has a few options to discuss with Sonny. Sonny says, before they talk, there’s someone he wants Brick to meet. Nina walks up, and says, gentlemen, and Sonny tells Brick, this is… Brick says, the woman who stole your heart.

Drew finds Leo outside, and asks what he’s doing. Leo says he’s collecting leaves, but he’ll go, and Drew says, Leo doesn’t have to go on his account. What’s the hurry? Is something bothering him? Leo says, everyone’s mad, but Drew says, he isn’t mad. Leo says, yes he is. He and Michael are mad at Leo’s dad. Is Drew mad at him too?

Willow finds Michael at his laptop, and says, he’s still at it. Michael asks how her nap was, and she says, good. She and the baby must have really needed the downtime. Maybe he does too. He says, later. He’s been filling himself in on bone marrow donations, and the family is already registered because of their history with cancer, but most people don’t realize how easy it is. He thinks they should organize a donor drive at GH; provide tests, and get as many people to register as possible. Hit up social media sites, and places to advertise, like Kelly’s, Charlie’s and other hot spots around town. She says, it sounds wonderful, and thanks him. He says, of course (🍷). They’re in this together. She says she’s so sorry she kept her leukemia diagnosis from him, but he says, it’s okay. They’re focusing on the future now. She says, a future with him is all that she wants, and he says he’s going to make sure it’s a healthy and happy one.

Josslyn tells Dex, do not move from this bed, and he says he owes her. She says, big time, and she plans to collect. She leaves, and just outside the door, Carly appears. She says she’s been calling and calling Josslyn, but she hasn’t answered. What the hell’s going on? Josslyn says, actually… She opens her room door, and pulls Carly inside, saying, quick. They need her help. Carly sees Dex on the bed, and looks at Josslyn.

Esme flings herself onto her bed, groaning dramatically. She’s startled by the bathroom door creaking open, and says, creepy, drafty old place. It’s probably haunted on top of that. She closes the door, and says, hear my voice, oh spirits. Scare the crap out of Nikolas; he deserves it. She doesn’t. She tells the baby, what they need is some advice from grandpa.

Jeff goes the hospital reception desk, and says he’s looking for Nurse Elizabeth Baldwin. The nurse asks, who she should say is here? and he says, her father, Jeff Webber. He turns around and sees Finn, and says, excuse me. Have we met? He holds out his hand, and Finn says, no. Jeff doesn’t know him, but Jeff knew his wife. He slept with her.

Nikolas invites Elizabeth in, and asks if she’s all right. She wonders why he’s asking, and he says he heard she was attacked at the pier last night, and was taken to GH. He’s relieved she isn’t badly injured, but should she be up and about? She says, thankfully, it was just a little bump on the head, but he already knew that. He says, he did? and she says, he must have. Would he have left her just lying on the pier if he thought she was badly hurt?

Carly says, Josslyn needs to start explaining, and Dex asks who she is. Josslyn tells him, just rest, and Carly asks, what happened to him? Josslyn says, he got shot. She found him last night on the Quartermaine grounds. She couldn’t take him to the hospital; they’d report it to the police. Carly says, they can’t have that, can they? He got shot working for Sonny, right?

Nina says she’s so happy to meet Brick. She’s heard so much about him. Sonny ask her to join them, but she says she doesn’t want to intrude. Brick says, not at all, and Nina says, she has to warn them. She may be called away on hotel business. Brick says, that’s right. She’s the new co-owner of the MetroCourt. Congratulations. Sonny tells him, Nina is also the editor of Crimson magazine, and Brick asks how she finds the time. She says she’s working on that. She knows the ins and outs of the fashion industry, but she’s still learning the ins and outs of the hospitality business. So he and Sonny go way back. Sonny says, they’ve been though a lot together, and she asks if Brick has any stories he can tell her. Brick says, actually, there was that time in Houston… but Sonny says, Brick doesn’t want to get into that. Nina says she wants to hear it, when hostess Trish approaches the table, and says, the chef wants to talk to Nina about the new tasting menu. Nina says, this won’t take long. Then she wants to hear this Houston story. She leaves, and Brick raises his eyebrows. Sonny says, what? and Brick says, she’s stunning, and Sonny looks happy. Sonny says, she makes him happy, and Brick says he’s glad to hear it, but guesses it didn’t go over well with Michael. Sonny says, when Michael and Nina cross paths, it’s trouble, and he just thinks it’s going to get worse.

Michael tells Willow, organizing a bone marrow drive is inevitably going to lead to some questions, and he knows she wants to keep her diagnosis private. She says she knows she can’t keep this a secret forever, but she wants to be her, Willow, not Willow the woman with cancer for as long as possible. He says, if she’s worried about people pitying her, don’t be. The people who love her will support her, and recognize her courage and strength. She says, they’ll still look at her differently. Admit it. When he finds out someone has cancer, what’s the first thing he thinks about when he sees them? You focus on the illness. He says, maybe if he doesn’t know them. He’s sure the people who do know her will continue to admire and delight in the things that make her herself. She says she’s just allergic to the idea of people feeling sorry for her, and he says, that’s because she’s independent, and used to doing things by herself, because growing up, she couldn’t rely on her parents, and had to handle things on her own. She says, he’s right. She had no idea how deeply that feeling’s been ingrained in her. He takes her hand and says, she’s not going to be alone ever again. Him, Wiley, and the baby, they’re family, and that’s not going to change. She says she hopes not, and he says he’ll make sure of it, and kisses her.

Jeff says, Finn’s wife? and Finn says he thinks Jeff remembers Reiko. He was on Saipan with her. Jeff says he just wasn’t expecting to see Finn, and Finn says, it’s a nasty business, isn’t it? Affairs. Finding out your wife cheated on you with sone jerk who abandons his kids. Jeff says, Finn doesn’t know everything. Is there someplace they can go to talk? Finn slugs Jeff, and tells him that he has nothing to say to him.

Elizabeth says she knows Nikolas was on that pier, and don’t tell her that she’s imagining it. Enough people have messed with her head. She doesn’t need him gaslighting her too. He says he won’t. He just didn’t know if she’d remember. She says, well, she did. She was actually on her way to see him when she ran into Esme Prince. She tried to call 9-1-1, Esme went for her phone, and she must have fallen and hit her head. The next thing she knew, Nikolas was standing over her, telling her to trust him, and then he was gone. He just left her there. Why would he do that? He says he went after Esme. He didn’t want her to get away. Elizabeth says, but she did get away, because Jordan said they’re still looking for her. He says he lost her, and she says, so he just decided to go home? Why didn’t he come back to see if she was okay? He says he heard sirens, and figured the police were on their way. They’d made eye contact, so he didn’t think she was badly hurt. She says, that’s not it. He knows something. Where is Esme?

Esme tells the baby, to be perfectly honest, she’s a little afraid of their grandfather… Maybe more than a little. She’s done her research, and he’s a dangerous man, and unpredictable, but he’s the only father she’s got, and he needs her. He may think he’s the most brilliant serial killer ever, but he’s currently in Spring Ridge, pretending to be a vegetable. Not that her situation is much of an improvement over his, but he’d be so disappointed in her. He’d have some strategy she’s overlooked; some way to turn the tables on Nikolas. So instead of asking, how do I get out, she should be asking, what would daddy do?

Drew says, Michael isn’t mad at Leo, and he’s certainly not mad at Leo. They’re buds. Leo says, they’re mad at his dad, and Drew says he’s not going to lie. They had a disagreement, but families argue from time to time. Leo says, they’ve been arguing a long time. He doesn’t want his dad going, like when his mom and dad were mad at each other. Drew says, Leo doesn’t have anything worry about. Plus, his mom and dad made up, didn’t they? Leo says, they got married again, and Drew says, that’s the cool thing about families.  They argue, make up, and still love each other. Leo says, that is cool. Can Drew and Michael make up with his dad?

Carly says, Dex is burning up, but he says he’ll be fine. She asks what he was doing at the Quartermaines, and he says he was looking for a good place to hide out, like the boathouse. That’s when he ran into Joss. Josslyn says, he was in bad shape. She couldn’t just leave him there to bleed. Carly says, she could call the police, or Sonny, and Josslyn says, hospitals have to report a gunshot wounds, and she knew the Sonny was probably the reason Dex got shot in the first place. Carly says, since he has a fever, that most likely means he has an infection. Can she take a look? She lifts his bandage, and says, yep, it’s infected. He needs antibiotics. Josslyn says she was going to get some, and Carly asks, where was she going to get them? Josslyn says she doesn’t know. She was figuring that out. Carly says, now she doesn’t have to, and Josslyn says, so Carly will help them? Carly sighs, and shakes her head.

Michael hands Willow a smoothie, and says he tested it himself. He could barely taste the cauliflower. She says, cauliflower in a smoothie, like this is unheard of, and he says, vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower are good for inflammation, and are high in folate, so it’s good for her and the baby. She says, someone has been googling cancer diets, and takes a sip. She says, not bad, and thanks him. She tells him that she’s been thinking about the idea of tracking down her biological family. Even if she finds them – and that’s a major if – how does she just show up out of the blue, and ask for a bone marrow transplant? He asks what she’d do if the situation was reversed, and she says she’d help if she could. He says, there’s your answer. There are a lot of good people out there who want to do the right thing, like she does. She says she guesses she’s jaded. People like Nina make it hard remember.

Brick says, he convinced Cortez that the price of challenging Sonny over Montreal was way too high. He’s agreed to move on. Sonny says, Brick has saved him considerable aggravation. He’s had more than enough these days. Brick asks, how’s business here? and Sonny says, stable at the moment. Brick says, what about Dex Heller, the guy he ran a check on? Did Sonny cut him loose yet? Sonny says he’s going to keep Dex around. He might even give Dex a promotion at some point. He came through for Sonny at some very crucial moments. He was loyal, and kept his mouth shut, except the last job went a little south… Brick asks if that would happen to be the prison transport that crashed, and Sonny says, Brick is on top of things, and Brick says, always. Sonny leans forward, and says, Anna got out. Dex is in the wind.

On the phone in his office, Finn says, correct. He’s reporting himself for a violation of conduct. He sees Jeff standing in the doorway, and says, please send over the form, and he’ll fill it out and return it to them. He asks what Jeff wants, and Jeff says he’s worried about Lizzy. Is she all right? He just flew in this morning and needs to know; is his daughter okay? Finn says, now he cares? and Jeff says, Finn doesn’t understand what happened. Finn says he understands Jeff had an affair with his wife, who he thought was happy in their marriage. Jeff says, she was, at first, but Reiko got lonely. She was on Saipan while Finn was on Rota. It was her first posting. Reiko sometimes got overwhelmed with the suffering they saw. She needed someone to talk to. Finn says, and Jeff was there.

Nikolas tells Elizabeth, don’t worry about Esme. He took care of her. She says, did he kill her? but he says, God no. He can’t. He won’t. Elizabeth has to trust him. She says, if he wants her to trust him, then he has to trust her. What did he do? He says he took matters into his own hands, and she says, like when he had Hayden shot? but he says he hasn’t hurt Esme; she’s fine. Elizabeth says, sounds to her like he knows where Esme is. Does he? He doesn’t say anything, and she says she’s had enough. She’s going to call the police. She takes out her phone, and he says, don’t. She asks if he’s going to make her disappear too. It would be real easy; no one knows she’s here. He asks if she thinks he’d harm her. She’s his touchstone; his one true friend. She says, just tell her – where’s Esme? He says, she’s here. He made sure she can’t hurt anyone else. Elizabeth says, that’s what prisons are for, but he says, Esme can’t go to prison. He won’t let her escape, and she’ll pay for everything she’s done, eventually. He swears on their friendship. Can’t she just leave it alone? Elizabeth says, no, she can’t. She wants to see Esme right now.

Esme hears footsteps, and says, go away. She’s on a hunger strike. Elizabeth says, Esme? and Esme jumps up. Elizabeth says, she’s pregnant? and Esme says, Elizabeth has to help her. Nikolas is crazy. He wants to kill her and her baby.

Sonny tells Brick that he got word from Dex via email. He’s laying low, but he’s going to contact Sonny as soon as he can. Nina comes back, and Sonny says, he and Brick will talk later. Nina apologizes, and says, where were they? She remembers; Houston. Sonny says, they’re done with Houston, but Brick says he doesn’t think so. They were at a game in one of these private boxes… His phone rings, and he sees it’s Carly. Sonny asks if there’s a problem, and Brick says, probably not, but he should take this. He excuses himself, and Nina says, Sonny was saved by the bell, literally. She’s going to hear this Houston story sooner or later. Brick goes around the corner, and answers his phone, saying, Carly. this is a surprise. She says, hopefully a good one, and he says, a dream come true actually. She says, he may not feel that way after he hears her request. Does he have a contact in town? He says, him. He’s at the MetroCourt. She says, he’s here? Excellent. She needs a huge favor. He says, anything for her.

Willow tells Michael, since a bone marrow transplant is her best option, and a relative is the best match, let’s do it. Let’s track down her biological family. He says, let’s get started right now, and she asks if he remembers saying she couldn’t believe anything Harmony said about her birth or her birth parents. She agrees, but there is one thing she knows for sure. Harmony was a member of the Friends for Peace and Love commune when she was a baby. They should start there.

Brick comes back to the table, and says, sorry. He has to cut this short. Nina says she hopes he’s in town long enough for them to take him out to dinner, and he says he looks forward to it. Especially continuing that Houston story. Sonny isn’t getting off that easy. He leaves, and Nina says, Brick is a charmer. Sonny says, he has a reputation. He’s a good guy, and one of the very few people Sonny trusts with his life. What’s going on with the chef? She says, they’ve reached a new understanding. Nina promises never to mention Asian fusion again, and Giselle promises not to throw any more sauce pans. Plus, Nina got a stylist to give Giselle a deal on her wedding dress. He says, a little bribery never hurts, and she says, he seems more relaxed. She knew something was bothering him. He says, things are looking up today, and she says she’s glad. Last night, she didn’t want to worry him… He asks, what’s on her mind? and she says, more of the same. She had another run-in with Michael and Willow.

Finn says, it’s that old story, huh? Sleazy mentor takes advantage of a young doctor just out of med school. Jeff says, if it makes Finn feel better, but Finn says, none of this makes him feel better. He just wants the truth. Jeff says, the truth is, he and Reiko never meant to hurt anyone. Finn says, Jeff couldn’t help himself, and Jeff says, something like that. Finn says, he understands Jeff is a cheater – Hayden’s proof of that – but Reiko wasn’t like that. Jeff says he doesn’t know what Finn wants him to say. What would make him feel better? Finn says, Jeff is looking for a quick fix. Too bad he can’t wipe out Finn’s memory. Shut him up the way he and his wife shut Elizabeth up.

Nikolas jumps between Esme and Elizabeth, and tells Esme to stand back. Leave Elizabeth alone. Esme says, thank God Elizabeth found her. Nikolas won’t listen to reason. Elizabeth says, Esme wasn’t reasonable when she attacked her on the docks, and Esme says, she’s sorry. It was a big misunderstanding. She thought Elizabeth was working with Nikolas; that Elizabeth was calling him. She was running for her life. Nikolas says, right. Elizabeth can see that Esme is fine. She has a comfortable bed, food… Elizabeth says, she’s trapped in here? and Nikolas says, she tried to escape off that terrace. He has to make sure she doesn’t put the baby in danger. Elizabeth asks how long Esme’s been here, and Esme says, he’s had her here for weeks. He and Ava tried to kill her, and when that didn’t work, he locked her up in here. Nikolas tells Elizabeth, he had to lock her up. Esme’s the one who’s been attacking people with a hook. She killed Brando and that bartender. She attacked Ava and Diane Miller, and even tried to attack him. Esme says, he’s lying, but Nikolas says, Elizabeth has to believe him.

Nina says, Willow told her to drop dead, when all she was trying to do was apologize, but Sonny suggests she leave it alone. She says she’s just trying to get them to understand she’s not a bad person, for Wiley’s sake. Willow is so cold. Nina doesn’t know what’s going on with her. He asks if they can just stick with the original plan, which was to stay clear of Michael and Willow. She says, okay. She’s sorry he can’t see Wiley either, and he says, he doesn’t like it, but it’s not forever. She says, he doesn’t really believe that, does he?

Jeff says he understands Finn is angry about Reiko, and Finn says, what he had with Reiko was years ago. What Jeff did to Elizabeth was unforgiveable. Jeff says, he and Carolyn did what they thought was best for their daughter, and Finn says, great job, dad. But Jeff and Carolyn’s little brainwashing trick didn’t stick. Elizabeth has been dealing with this for months. She was sleepwalking. She could have hurt people; she could have hurt herself. Jeff says, that’s exactly what they were afraid of 25 years ago. Lizzy was just 15. She couldn’t cope with what happened to Reiko. Finn says, so they made her forget, and shipped her off to be someone else’s problem? and Jeff says, that’s not how it was, but Finn says, that’s exactly how it was. Elizabeth thought she was delusional. She was going out of her mind trying to figure out what was wrong with her, because of what Jeff and his wife did. She’s the one who’s suffering through this.

Michael gives Willow some printouts of articles about the commune around the time she was born, and says, any luck online? She says, not yet, and he says, she can use these to compile a list of members who were there when she was born. There’s a knock at the door, and Michael opens it to Drew and Leo. He says, hello there, and Leo says, maybe Michael’s not mad at him. Michael says, Leo thought he was mad at him? and Leo says, and his dad too. Leo sees Willow, and runs in to show her the leaves he’s collected. Drew tells Michael, Leo senses the tension between them and Ned, and knew they were angry, but he reassured Leo that families argue sometimes, and it’s all good. Michael says, seems like it worked, and Drew says, but the kid’s right. They’ve been at odds with Ned for months, and they’ve got to fix that.

Josslyn says, Brick is the right guy to know, and Carly says, they’re lucky he’s in town. He’s going to text her when he’s got the meds, and she’s going to meet him. Josslyn says, he didn’t ask why she needed them? and Carly says, he’s not one to ask questions. Josslyn says, he’s probably done this a million times for Sonny, and Carly asks what Dex was doing when he got shot, but Josslyn says, he wouldn’t tell her. Carly says, and last night, when Josslyn said she was with friends, that was a lie? Josslyn says, yes, she lied, but it’s not like they tell each other everything. She didn’t know Carly was dating Drew. She saw them kissing. Carly says, her seeing Drew and Josslyn being in danger are two totally different things. Yes, she’s seeing Drew, but they have to keep it quiet. She’s not getting into that right now because they have bigger things going on. Josslyn says, that’s fine, and thanks Carly for calling Brick, and for understanding. Carly says, listen to her. She’s not here to visit. She’s here because she’s worried about Esme. She’s in town, and attacked Elizabeth last night. Josslyn says, Cam’s mom. Is she okay? Carly says, she is, but Esme got away, and no one knows where she is.

Back downstairs, Nikolas says he’s sure Elizabeth could use a drink. He knows he can. Elizabeth asks if Esme was lying, and Nikolas says, yes. The first thing she did after she escaped was come after him with a hook from the boathouse. She’s been in town for weeks. And look at her victims. Esme despised Ava. He doesn’t know why she went after Brando. Maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Elizabeth says, that’s what the police think. They think Josslyn was the intended target that night. He says, that fits. Esme hates Trina and Josslyn, and Diane and that bartender ruined her plot to frame Trina. Elizabeth asks if he really thinks Esme is a serial killer, and he says, yes. She says, all the more reason to call the police, but he says, Esme can’t go to prison; she’s pregnant. Elizabeth says, right, with his grandchild. Does Spencer even know? He says, the baby isn’t Spencer’s, and she asks, who’s the father? He walks away, and she says, oh no, he didn’t. He says, it was a huge mistake, and she says, he slept with his son’s girlfriend? What is he doing? Her phone dings, and she says she has to go. He asks what she’s going to do, but she says she doesn’t know. She heads for the door, Nikolas following, and he grabs her arm, saying, listen to him. She says, let her go, and he says he’s sorry. Let him explain. But she jets.

Esme paces, saying, she can’t believe Elizabeth walked away. She’s supposed to help people. She’s not sure if nurses take the Hippocratic Oath, but they take some sort of oath, to promise to care for those in need. She guesses for Elizabeth that only applies to people she likes or approves of. It’s fine to leave her captive. She groans and sighs, and says, if only she had some leverage. She feels her bump, and says, leverage. That’s you, Ace. She has to convince Nikolas that if he doesn’t treat her right, it’s bye-bye baby.

Willow tells Leo that they’ll make a collage tomorrow, and Leo says, see you, fist bumping Drew on the way out. Drew looks at the stack of articles, and says, Friends of Peace and Love. Wow. Michael says, it’s just something he’s working on, and Willow says, it’s a commune; she was there as a child. Drew says he didn’t mean to pry, but she says, he’s not; he’s family. She’s trying to locate her birth parents, and see if she has more family out there. He says, he’s been there. Good luck to her. She says she needs it. She doesn’t have much to go on, except Harmony’s version of what happened. Drew flashes back to Carly telling him that Harmony said Nina was Willow’s birth mother on her deathbed, then telling him, the DNA test proved otherwise. He says, Harmony was a  convincing liar, and Willow says she didn’t realize he knew her.

Dex opens his eyes, and says, Joss? She says she’s here. He needs to hydrate. He gives him some water, and he says he had this wild dream that her mother was here. She says, that was no dream; she was here. She’s getting antibiotics for him. He asks, why? and she says, because his wound is infected, but he says, why would she help him? Josslyn says, because she asked her mom to help, and he asks if Carly is okay with her helping him. Josslyn says, she doubts it, but Carly isn’t going to lecture her now while he’s spiking a fever. Besides, she’s in no position to judge. He asks, why not? and she says, he’s not the first person to get shot working for Sonny. Her mother took her chances, now Josslyn is going to take hers. He says, why bother? She thinks he’s an idiot working for Sonny. She says, he is an idiot. Now he needs to lie back down and rest. She fixes his pillow, and he says, thanks, beautiful.

Jeff says he thought he owed Finn an explanation regarding his affair with Reiko, but he doesn’t have to justify how he and his wife chose to save their daughter 25 years ago. Finn says, Elizabeth is still dealing with this. For her, this is her present, and Finn’s a part of that. Jeff says, is he? He knows Finn has been seeing Elizabeth, but is that still true? Finn wonders why he asks, and Jeff says, Finn wasn’t in Monterey supporting Elizabeth when she needed it. What kind of relationship do they really have? He’s made mistakes, but he sacrificed his relationship with his daughter so she could live her life without the guilt she felt over Reiko. Finn says, that’s what Jeff tells himself. Even if he thought abandoning his daughter when she was 15 was best for her, where the hell has he been for the past 25 years? They see Elizabeth standing in the open doorway. Rut-roh.

Nina looks at her phone, and tells Sonny, lucky her. Giselle wants to yell at her again for her Asian fusion idea. She’ll be right back. She leaves, and Sonny looks at the email from Dex: Laying low. Will reach out when I’m able to come back.

Willow asks if Drew knows something else about Harmony, and Drew says, just that her reputation hasn’t shown her to be all that truthful. He’s sorry if he sounds disrespectful. He realizes Harmony still raised Willow, but he thinks it’s a good idea to verify everything she said about Willow’s birth parents. Willow says, so far, they don’t have a lot to go on, and Drew asks if she wants him to do some digging.  

Leo is in the woods, when he hears something beeping. He picks up a phone, and sees there’s an alert for an email from Sonny. I guess we can assume it’s Dex’s phone.

Nikolas comes into Esme’s room, and she asks, where’s Elizabeth? Did she call the cops? He says, not yet, and she says, he knows it’s just a matter of time. He doesn’t think Elizabeth would really lie for him, does he? He says, no. That’s why this ends now.

Dex says, the first night he and Josslyn met, she was so mad at him. She says, okay. She thinks his fever is spiking. He takes her hand, and says, she’s his guardian angel. Not like a sweet angel, like a warrior angel with a flaming sword. So beautiful, it hurts to look. He closes his eyes, continuing to hold her hand, and she says, it’s a good thing he’s delirious. He’ll never remember he said that… but she will.

Carly knocks at Brick’s hotel room door, and he says, Carly Corinthos. She gets more gorgeous every time he sees her. She says, it’s Carly Spencer now, and he looks so dapper as usual. She thanks him for coming through for her, and he says he’ll always be there for her. Come on in. Carly goes in, and Nina comes out from around the corner.

Tomorrow, Drew says he knows why Willow is in such a hurry; Nina wonders what Drew would think of this; Carly tells Josslyn, this is not the time to let her guard down; and Esme goes into labor… maybe.

🥪 Still Missing the BLTs…

Apparently, a knee replacement led to a Heather replacement.

🥀 Losing a Legend…

Saying goodbye to yet another veteran star of the soap screen.

https://people.com/tv/john-aniston-dead/

https://people.com/tv/days-of-our-lives-will-pay-tribute-to-john-aniston-in-his-final-episode/

Big Stew Energy…

It’s a shame she retired, but I can’t say I blame her.

🗽 You Can’t Fire Me…

I love it. She’s done because they don’t want her anymore.

💀 Still Undead…

FTWD is safe amid the rash of spin-offs.

🗯 Talking Through It…

Sounds cool, although I don’t know if it’s an historic event.

⚰️ Last Walk…

Nothing major, but spoilers included.

🐕‍🦺 And Most Important…

Don’t touch Dog.

🐷 Ending On a Sty Note…

This is the same reason I don’t want to go to an animal shelter. God knows how many I’d come home with.

https://people.com/pets/jason-momoa-brings-home-pig-after-filming-slumberland/

👓 Rereading the Room…

Stop in tomorrow for soap and a cup or two of tea. Until then, stay safe, stay thinking for yourself, and stay never mentioning Asian fusion to a temperamental chef.

November 13, 2022 – The Commonwealth Wall Is Breached, Some Talk, Vampire Season Finale & Tom’s November

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

The Walking Dead

Judith’s voiceover says, for the longest time, we were fighting to survive, trying to get back what we lost. This family, my family, we would do anything to protect each other. We’re fighting now for something else, something bigger… a new beginning. But that comes with a cost. There’s always a cost. I never got to know my mom Lori. My brother Carl dreamed of a day we would live in peace. My mom Michonne tried to hang up her sword. My dad Rick was searching for mercy. And me? I guess I’m a Grimes too. She holsters her gun. I keep thinking about something my mom told me. She looks at a copy of the Constitution, and rolls it up. TJ walks in. It was a secret saying she shared with my dad; it was like a good luck charm. For me and RJ too. I was afraid to say it out loud; afraid say so many things out loud. But we didn’t know when we started this, that this would be the day everything changed forever.

Maggie and the others gather at the train. Rosita says, let’s go now, and they get in. Princess asks Magna if anyone knows how to drive a train, and Magna says she thinks one of the prisoners used to be an engineer. They load supplies, and Negan asks if Maggie has any thoughts on how they’re taking out the bitch. She says, Pamela? and he laughs. He says he gets that others have reasons of their own for going back, but no one is safe as long as Pamela is breathing. He assumes she agrees. Together, they can get this done. They don’t need the others. She closes the storage compartment, and says, we’re not a we. She sees Herschel, and gives him a hug, telling him that she loves him. Annie hugs Negan from behind, and tells him, be careful. He says she knows him; he always is. He tells her to hold down the fort, and she says, make sure he comes back in one piece. He says, yes ma’am, and everyone says their goodbyes. Judith tells Daryl that she’s coming with them, but he says, no. They need her here. She says, that’s crap. This isn’t the future her brother wanted. It’s not what her mom and dad fought for. They want to help everyone, not just themselves, and she wants to be a part of that; to make what her family believed in real. Carol says, they’ve been focused on what’s in front of them for so long, Judith is thinking, what about after? Maybe they should all do a little more of that. Daryl says, all right, but stay with him. Judith agrees, and Daryl asks Nabila to watch RJ.

Mercer brings Eugene to Max and Yumiko, and Eugene says he’s safe thanks to Max’s brother. Max hugs Mercer, and Yumiko asks why he didn’t tell them. Mercer says, it was safer this way. Some of her people have saved his ass through the years, and he won’t forget it. They need to lay low for now. Yumiko says, the people heard them. They’re angry, and they need to push them. Mercer says he needs to gather enough troops on his side to get Pamela. Yumiko and Max can stir the people, but Eugene has to stay out of sight. A sympathetic trooper opens the door, and tells Mercer that he’s out of time. The trooper radios in some bullsh*t about Mercer taking a statement, and how Mercer will come over when he’s done. They leave, and Eugene locks the door.

Zombies claw at the train, as Rosita goes over plans with Gabriel. She says, they won’t stand out as much in the wards, and can go behind the children’s house to rescue them. Gabriel says, they will get their daughter back, and she asks if that’s his faith talking. He says, in her, yes, and she says she’s glad he’s here. Tyler tells Princess, it’s weird them ending up in a place like this again. He’s sorry about what happened. She thanks him, but says she has no time for sorries. They have to contact the guy who will help. Tyler raises some kind of antenna out of an opening in the ceiling to get reception. Connie signs that she’s glad they found him, and Kelly tells him what Connie said, adding, they’ve been looking for him since Pamela’s party. Magna says, society threw him away. He was desperate and mad, but they heard him. He says he wanted Pamela to hear, but he shouldn’t have hurt people. Connie signs, he can fix his mistakes. The governor might not have listened, but soon the people of the Commonwealth will.  

The people shout outside Pamela’s office window, and she tells Mercer, incompetence. They have no idea how he got away. Mercer says, clearly he had help. Some people are unhappy with the verdict. It’s going to take time to narrow down the suspect list. There have been reports of people going missing for a while, and they don’t have answers. Maybe this time, they’ll get lucky. She says, just do your job, Michael – startling me, since I’ve only thought of him as Mercer – before more people get hurt. He leaves, and she tells trooper Vickers, keep an eye on him. She wants a door-to-door search for Eugene, and they’re to shoot him on sight. Vickers asks if Pamela would like them to try and disperse the crowd, but Pamela says, she’ll find some bones to throw them. If things escalate, there’s a plan in place. Vickers leaves, and Pamela takes out a super-secret radio, and says, B17.

Aaron and his group continue to walk with the zombie horde, as the trooper jeeps ride around them. The zombies follow a jeep, and Aaron says, now’s their chance. Get to the trees. The message is whispered throughout the group, and they start to move to the edge. A trooper on motorcycle goes past. Lydia is used to this, but the others look freaked. The horde follows the jeeps and bikes. From the crane shot, we see the road is long.

On the train, Ezekiel sees Negan looking at him, and says, what? Negan says he never thanked Ezekiel for getting in front of the rifles. Thank you. He asks why Ezekiel did it, and Ezekiel says, a lot of reasons. Dying like a martyr is too easy. Living and making something positive out of his days, that keeps him from giving into anger over what he lost. He doesn’t want to live out whatever days he has left in bitterness. He’s not even supposed to be here. The dead came for me, and yet I smile. War came for me, and yet I smile. He opens his collar, showing Negan the tumor, and says, cancer. And yet I smile. He tries to anyway. So why did Negan tell the warden his own name instead of Ezekiel’s? Negan says, for his wife, and his kid. He wants to leave a better story than the one Ezekiel’s been telling; when it mattered, he did something right. Not to prove anything or get anything, or to save his own ass. It was to save all of them. They’re better than him, and if Ezekiel thinks he doesn’t know that, then he hasn’t been paying attention.

Judith tells Daryl and Carol that she hasn’t heard from her mom in a long time. She tried a couple of times, but nothing came back. Carol says, there could be a lot of reasons. Judith’s mom can take care of herself better than anyone Carol knows. Daryl says, her mom would be proud of her; her dad too. Judith says, Carl too? He nods, and Carol says, Judith and Carl are a lot alike. Judith says, Carl died saving people. She wishes she’d had more time with him. She wishes they had more time to just remember them. Carol says, they will, and Daryl says, when this is over, he’ll tell her every story he remembers about all the people who loved her. He puts his arm around her, and she puts her head on his shoulder.

Mercer pretends to question Yumiko, who says, he thinks she had something to do with Eugene’s escape? He says, all they know is, he’s missing, and she was the last person to talk to him. Vickers says, if she knows where he is… and Yumiko says, she would be with him, and not stuck having this conversation. The sympathetic trooper tells Mercer that an Aurora is trying to raise him on the radio, and Mercer says he’ll take in here. Yumiko is dismissed, and Mercer says he needs the room. Vickers leaves, and he answers. It’s Princess, and he tells her that they should switch to another channel; her old apartment number. He asks if she’s all right, and she says she’s fine. How’s Eugene? Mercer says, he’s safe, for now. Where is she? She says she’s on a train headed back to him. She’s bringing people; the prisoners Hornsby and Pamela disappeared. He asks what she’s planning to do, and she says, change things; take Pamela down. Will he be okay with that? He says, yeah. Get the prisoners back to him. With them as witnesses, they’ll have legal grounds to remove Pamela. He tells her to bring everyone to an access tunnel that runs along the west wall, and tells her how to get there. He says, it leads to an industrial building. He’ll be there. It’s good to hear her voice. The trooper tells him that there’s been an alert. A swarm is coming from the east.

Aaron whispers, up ahead… to the RV, and the message is passed. They gravitate toward the van, and Aaron opens the door. They start to file in, but Jules gets moved along with the horde, and Luke decides to follow her. Eli ends up outside, and Lydia grabs for him, but gets badly bitten on the arm, and lets go. Aaron pulls her inside, and the zombies clamor at the RV door.

An alarm sounds, and the troopers get ready. There’s a PA announcement for the citizens to remain inside. Lockdown is being initiated. Max finds Mercer outside, and he tells her that he’s being sent out. She says, that doesn’t change the goal, but he tells her that she doesn’t want to give these hotheads and excuse to start trouble. Wait for him. If he’s lucky, his girlfriend is coming back, and she’s bringing her friends. Vickers watches him, and he tells Max that he’s supposed to meet them at Union Station. He hugs her, and tells her to keep them hidden until he gets back. He leaves, and Vickers looks at Max, while lockdown is being initiated repeats on the loudspeaker.

In the RV, Lydia says, they can’t leave, but Aaron says, they have no choice. She says, they can’t lose him, but Aaron says, he’ll lose her. Jerry says, they’ll find him, and Aaron checks her arm. He tells her that he made it all right. This is the hardest part. She cries, and Aaron says, she’s so loved, while Jerry gets his sword. Lydia bites down on a belt, Aaron keeps the tourniquet taut, and Jerry’s sword comes down. Lydia screams.

There are guards near the entrance to the tunnel, and Negan says, they’re sitting ducks, but Princess says, Mercer will show up. Daryl says, they’re out of time, and Carol suggests they find another place to slip in. Maggie says, there are only four of them; they can take them. Rosita says, if the guards go missing, they’ll know it’s them. One of the guards gets a radio call from Mercer, who says he needs more troops to deal with the incoming swarm. One of the troopers says, including the tunnel? Are they supposed to abandon their post? Mercer tells them, stop wasting time and move, and they leave. Daryl says, let’s go, and they go to a building where Gabriel breaks the lock. Maggie opens the door, and they go inside, Daryl going last, and closing the door behind him.

Pamela literally clutches her pearls, when Vickers come in. She tells Pamela that Mercer saw his sister, then reported to the wall. He asked for additional backup for the horde; nothing unusual. Pamela asks where he called them from, and Vickers tells her. She asks if Pamela wants her to recall any of them, but Pamela says, no. She’s sure he has his reasons.  

From the lookout tower, Mercer radios Echo, asking what position they’re in. Echo says, they’re approaching now, and Mercer says, once they’re clear, double back, and work their way east. The jeeps continue to circle the horde, and a zombie jumps into the back of one of them. Theta radios Mercer, saying, they’re out of control, and Mercer asks, what happened? but Theta says, it’s unclear. Mercer hears yelling and machine guns, and looks out with binoculars. He radios all units to fall back, and regroup on him. Bring out the heavy armor. Once they regroup, they’re going to knock the hell out of this thing before it gets to their city.

Eugene paces, and hears a trooper saying, mandatory search. He bangs on the door, and says, open up. Eugene quietly slides the chain off, and gets behind the door. The trooper busts open the door, and Eugene whacks him in the head from behind. He gets the trooper down, and beats the crap out of his head. The trooper’s radio comes to life, and someone asks, Brooks, what’s your 20?

Lydia drowses as the zombies clamor outside. She wakes, and says, we have to go, but Aaron says, she lost a lot of blood. She says, they need Elijah, but Jerry says, Elijah, Luke, and Jules are all pros. They don’t need their help. Lydia insists they do, and cries. Jerry holds her, and Aaron looks sad. He tells her, don’t sweat it. She’s lost enough. Jerry says he’ll find them, and Lydia says she’s going. Jerry says, no; they’ll meet up later. I find them; I find you. Piece of cobbler. See you on the other side. He takes a deep breath, puts his hood up, goes out, and closes the door.

Maggie and the others walk through the tunnel until they come to a ladder. Maggie goes up first, and comes out in the train station. The others follow, and they slip through quietly. Daryl sees padlocks on the doors, and says, something ain’t right. Tyler says, we’re almost there, and suddenly shots ring out, and he falls.

At the tower, Mercer says he’s lost contact, when Vickers shows up with some other troopers. She says, he’s under arrest, and resistance will get him life in prison or death. Mercer tells his troopers to lower their weapons, and tells Vickers, he’ll go, but they need to fortify the city’s defenses before the swarm hits. She says, Governor Milton insists the walls will hold, but he says, this is bigger than Pamela’s bullsh*t. They need to stop the dead before it’s too late,

At the station, everyone scrambles, and there’s a gunfight. The part of the group not shooting bellies under the benches to safety. Pamela comes out, and takes a gun from a dead trooper. Trying to shoot Maggie, she hits Judith, and everything stops. Daryl tries to rouse Judith, and tells the rest that they’ve got to go. Maggie shoots the trooper next to Pamela, making her freak out. Pamela yells, you did this, and Carol says, they’ve got to go now. Daryl tells Ezekiel, throw it, and Ezekiel rips a fire extinguisher off the wall. He throws it with the strength of ten, nearly all the way to the balcony, and Daryl shoots it in midair.

On the street, Yumiko and Max see what’s going on in the station, and join the group as they come out, Daryl carrying Judith. Eugene comes out another door, and follows a trooper, knocking him out. They run down an alleyway. The zombie horde is at the city wall, and a trooper in the tower radios, where the hell is the backup? They need every available… He sees a zombie halfway up the wall, and says, Christ! They’re climbing the walls. He shoots it, but another is already on the platform. He radios that they need back up; the east gate. The rotters are climbing… Arrgh! The other troopers are like, WTF? over and over. The trooper at the top gets his face eaten, and in an ironic twist, pushes the button to open the gate. Alarms go off, and zombies stream into the Commonwealth.

Pamela fixes her makeup, clearly not reading the room. Vickers comes in, and says, the parameter has been breached. They’ve lost 15 troops; and even more civilians are dead in the Commonwealth. Pamela says, that’s not possible. They have a standard. They’re supposed to be in lockdown. Vickers says, they’re climbing the walls and flooding in, but… They can still make a stand if they hold here, and save a big portion of the city. Pamela tells her to pull the forces back, and add troops to defend her home. They’ll divert the swarm to the lower ward. Vickers says, that will leave thousands of citizens unprotected. It’s a death sentence. Pamela tells her, protect the estate, and seal the rest off.

Daryl runs at the head of the group with Judith. A truck blocks their path, and Ezekiel says, this way, leading them around a corner. As they run, trucks go past, and Ezekiel realizes they’re blocked. He tells them, fall back, and Carol says, the trucks aren’t following them. Magna says, what is that? and Connie signs, they’re not coming for us. They’ve got bigger problems. The lightbulb comes on that there’s a zombie horde in the Commonwealth, and Negan voices what’s on everyone’s mind – what the f***? Luke and Jules magically appear, and Daryl tells everyone, move. Carol says, they’ll cut them off, and they shoot and slash zombies as they run through the throng. Carol grabs Daryl, pulling him and Judith through. Judith opens her eyes slightly, says, daddy? then closes her eyes again. It’s a mess

Next time, the series finale – zombies infiltrate the house where the children are being held; Ezekiel says, people might not think this place is worth saving, but it is to him; Daryl yells for help at the infirmary; and everybody dies. Just kidding.

⚰️ Things are getting weepy already on Talking Dead, and it looks to be a great episode next week for TWD finale, starting with a red carpet at 8:30. Tonight, the guests were asked to give three words about the finale. Michael James Shaw (Mercer) said, bunnies, blood, and sherbet. Cooper Andrews (Jerry) said, eat more cobbler. And executive producer Denise Huth said, massive, ridiculous, and she thinks we’ll cry.

🧛🏼‍♂️ Final Interview For the Season…

Recapping this week’s Vampire. It was pretty gory.

https://ew.com/tv/interview-with-the-vampire-season-1-finale/

And a little scandalous.

No surprise, it’s been renewed already.

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a41936415/interview-with-the-vampire-season-2-release-date/

🤸🏽 On the Other Side…

Come take a load off tomorrow with some soap and a charter on the Med. Until then, stay safe, stay always bringing a hostess gift to a party, and stay making something positive out of your days, and not live them out in bitterness over what’s been lost.

November 11, 2022 – Laura Visits With Two Inmates, Mostly Cut, Possible Pair, Soap Son, Days Return, Ho-Ho-Ho, Too Long, More Wives, VanderNew, Daryl’s Spin, CMAs, 11 Quotes For 11/11 & Balloons

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Anna kisses Valentin, and he asks if she slept well. She says, you’d think the adrenaline rush would have kept her awake, but no. How about him? There’s a knock at the door, and Valentin answers. It’s Sonny, who says, helluva night, right?

On the phone, Josslyn tells Carly that she was with friends, and got in late, but they walked her back to her room.. Yes, she’s being careful… No she won’t be alone. We see Dex sleeping in Josslyn’s dorm room, which has one fantastic view, and looks like no dorm room in the real world.

Trina goes into Kelly’s, where Cameron is looking at his phone. She says she’d like to speak to the manager. He’s supposed to be serving, not surfing. He says he is the manager, and he’s been trying to reach Joss all morning. She asks if he’s worried, and he says, kind of. She hasn’t responded to his texts. Has Trina seen her on campus? She says, today’s her late class, but she’s sure Josslyn’s fine. Does he want her to try? He says, he’s probably overreacting. He’s just a little on edge with all the attacks that have been going on. She says, they all are, especially given the latest news. He says, so she heard Esme’s back in town? and she says, not until now.

Laura hugs Spencer, and says she’s been waiting months to do this. She can’t believe he let her get away with it. He says, she is the mayor, and sits down with her. She says, he’s looking thin, but he says, it’s probably the ill-fitting clothes. She asks if he’s doing okay, and he says, things could be worse. He’s being looked after. She says, that’s good. Who’s doing the looking after?

Austin calls Spinelli, and leaves a message, saying, maybe Spinelli could give him a call, and let him know about the favor he asked Spinelli to do for him. At the vending machine, Britt drops her change, and says, dammit. Austin says, let him, and picks it up for her. She says, that’ll teach her to polish off a bottle of Beaujolais on a school night, and he says, the French government doesn’t release the new Beaujolais until the third week in November, so technically, it’s probably a bottle of old Beaujolais. He puts the change in the machine, and asks what she’d like. She says, club soda, and he gets it for her. She thanks him, and says she didn’t know he was a wine aficionado. He says, not at all; he dated a girl in college who was. She takes a sip, and coughs. She tells him, don’t worry, she’s okay, and he says, she could have fooled him.

On the phone, Jordan tells someone to come to her office. She needs to see them right away. A guy walks right in, followed by Officer Clark, and the officer says he tried to stop him. Jordan asks who the guy is, and he shows his badge, saying, Agent Whitten with the US Marshal Service. She thanks Officer Clark, and asks him to shut the door. He leaves, and Whitten says, he’s here to talk to her… She says, let’s get something straight. She doesn’t give a damn if he’s a marshal, CIA, or one of the Avengers. Don’t barge into her office like that. Now what does he want? He says, everything she has on the Anna Devane case. He’s assuming control of the investigation.

Trina asks Cameron, where? Do the cops know? He says, they know. His mom spotted her on the pier. When she was trying to dial 9-1-1, Esme tried to grab the phone, and his mom fell and hit her head. She asks if his mom is all right, and he says, thankfully, but Esme got away, and they don’t know where she is. She’s still out there. Trina says, Esme’s graduated from torching cars and making revenge porn, to trying to kill that bartender. She’s seriously unhinged. He says, they have no idea what she’s capable of, and Trina asks if Josslyn told him Commissioner Ashford’s theory. He says, about The Hook targeting people closely related to Trina and the trial; yes. She says, Esme as the maniac? She can’t wrap her head around it. He tells her, please watch her back, and she says, him too. Does Spencer know? He says, they didn’t tell Spencer because they didn’t know Esme was back in town. They also didn’t know about The Hook’s connection to her. She says, and they were busy telling him other things? He says, Trina’s name did come up, and she says, Joss told her, especially how Spencer’s feelings were hurt when he found out she knew he’d believed in her all along, and never acknowledged it to him. Cameron asks why she didn’t, and she says she tried before he was taken to Pentenville, but by the time she reached the PCPD, he was gone. Cameron says, she knows where to find him, and he wonders what’s holding her back.

Laura says she guesses it’s his Uncle Victor pulling the strings, and Spencer says he’s had support from all of his uncles; each are useful in their own way. She says, Sonny is usually great, and he says, Uncle Martin tried like hell to get his sentence reduced. She says, he told her. He said Spencer refused to give him the name of the accomplice who helped him get an unauthorized pass from Spring Ridge. He says, she disapproves, and she says she understands him wanting to visit his mother’s grave, and she guesses he’s taken full responsibility and accepted the consequences, but whoever helped him should also face some consequences, because what they did was wrong too. He says, it seems unfair to penalize others for his decision, and asks how his great-grandmother Lesley is doing. Laura says, she’s recovering. She’s doing well, but it was so sad. They lost everything. Bit by bit, their new place on Lake Como is starting to feel like home. He says he’s glad. It’s good she’s back. It’s nice to see her. She says, him too, but he says, she shouldn’t have come here though.

Jordan says, to the best of her knowledge, Anna hasn’t crossed state lines, which puts this case under the jurisdiction of the PCPD, but Whitten says, not any longer. The mayor’s office called him in. She says, Mayor Collins called him? but he says, no. Mayor Collins is out of the country. Deputy Mayor Ashby contacted his office. Jordan says, on what grounds? and he says, the Deputy Mayor feels that city and state resources are stretched too thin. She says, what law enforcement department isn’t? She has this under control. He says, not from what he sees. A failed prisoner transport – the second in less than a year – and now she has a potential serial killer on the loose. It appears her resources are severely overtaxed. She says she’ll need confirmation confirming his jurisdiction, and he hands her some paperwork, saying, he’s not here to step on her toes; he’s here to help. From his understanding, in addition to being a WSB agent, the fugitive was also once Police Commissioner? She says, his understanding is correct, and he says, look at it this way. Relinquishing control of this investigation will avoid any appearance of impropriety for both her and her department.

Sonny asks, what happened out there? and Anna asks if Dex didn’t tell him. He says, no, and she says, Heather Webber happened. She was added to the transport at the last minute, and Dex tried to change the route so they’d go to D’Archam first and drop her, then Pentenville. She guesses the guard got suspicious, there was a struggle up front, Dex lost control of the vehicle, and crashed. After that, she doesn’t remember. Sonny says he hears the guard is still alive, so he can give them a description, and Valentin asks where Dex would go if he wanted to keep a low profile. Sonny says he doesn’t know. Dex doesn’t have many connections, and without him, Dex could be anywhere.

Dex struggles to sit up, and Josslyn says, let her help. He asks if he’s in her dorm room, and she says, good guess. He popped a stitch, then she found him not far from the house. He wasn’t completely unconscious, so she was able to get him in her car. She couldn’t take him to a hospital, so she brought him back here. He says, that was risky, but she says, not really. He looked like a drunk frat guy. He says he can’t believe she did all this for him, and she says, neither can she.

Austin and Britt go to an exam room, and she asks if he’s forgotten who’s the Chief of Staff. She gives the orders. It was nothing; she swallowed too fast. He asks her to put her hand out, and not be a difficult patient. She does, and her hand is shaking slightly. He says, they need to run some tests, but she says, no need. Too much caffeine. He says, what about the dysphasia? A first year med student can see it’s hard for her to swallow. How long has it been going on? She doesn’t say anything, and he says, it’s probably nothing, but they’ll just run a scan. He doesn’t need to tell her, the symptoms she’s exhibiting might be part of a larger neurological muscular disorder. She says she doesn’t need a test because she knows what’s going on. She has Huntington’s Disease.

Sonny says, everyone at GH is being questioned, and Anna says, what about Heather? He says, she’s been apprehended, and Anna asks where they found her. He says, Kelly’s, of all places. His phone chirps, and he says, voicemail. It didn’t even ring. Valentin says, they’re pretty remote, and Anna says, there’s no reception here. Sonny steps away, and Anna says she feels terrible about Dex. That kid out there hiding; she just wanted this to be a clean operation. He says, extractions can get complicated. Sonny’s guy knew the risks going in. She says, now he’s paying the price because of her, but Valentin says, because of Victor. Victor made her take the fall for what he did to Lucy. Dear old dad. Sonny comes back, and says, Jordan wants to talk to him at the precinct. Anna says, she suspects he helped her, and Sonny says, could be, but she can’t prove it, so this will be the last time they can have any kind of contact. He and Anna hug, and he tells her to take care of herself. She thanks him, and he says, prove her innocence, and leaves.

Spencer says, Laura is wasting her time here. There’s too much happening in Port Charles right now. She says, it’s never a waste of her time to see him. Nothing is more important to her. She has some news for him. Apparently, Esme has been spotted again in Port Charles. He asks if she’s been arrested, and Laura says, no, but the authorities are looking out for her. He says he hopes they deploy dogs, and she says, he has every right to feel betrayed, but holding on to his rage and resentment will ultimately only hurt him. He says, this isn’t just about Esme, is it? and she says, his dad told her there had been another rift between them. He won’t be in here much longer. Does he think they can all work this out together? Maybe Sundays at her house? He says, obviously, his father didn’t tell her why they’re estranged, an she says, no, but he can. What happened? He tells her, ask her son, or when they find her, ask Esme.

Josslyn tells Dex, she used her keycard to nab some medical supplies from the gym, and the locker room had most of what she needed to clean and rebandage his wound. He asks if she has a roommate, but she says, it’s taken care of. He asks, who else has a key? but she says, nobody is going to come in here. He’s fine. He says he can’t stay here, and rolls out of bed. She tells him, don’t get up, and he nearly falls over on her. She helps him back to bed, and says, he’s heavier than he looks. He says, all muscle, and she looks at the bandage. She says, no blood, so that’s good. He could have popped another stitch pulling that stunt. She hopes it’s worth working for Sonny. How much is Sonny paying Dex to get shot for him? She doesn’t see Sonny risking his life. Dex says, no comment, and she says, he needs food and hydration. If she gets something from the dining hall, does he promise to be good and stay put? He says he doesn’t want her involved, but she says, it’s too late. Besides, he has nowhere else to go. He says he does. Grab his phone, and he’ll make arrangements. She says, he didn’t have a phone, and he asks if he can borrow hers, but she says, not if he’s going to use it to call Sonny.

Whitten asks if Jordan has any leads on the individual who commandeered the van, and she says, not at the scene. He says, did the security footage from the General Hospital parking garage turn up anything? but she says, their mystery man was shy with the cameras. One of her officers did make contact during transfer. He says he’ll need to talk to that officer, and she says, he was focused on the transfer, and never even saw the driver’s face. Should he remember any details, she’ll have him meet with their sketch artist and have a composite drawn. He says, jar that memory. An ID on that driver will lead them to whoever aided Anna Devane’s escape. She says, okay, Captain Obvious. There’s a knock at the door, and Jordan says, come in. Sonny walks in, and Whitten says, Mr. Corinthos. You just saved me a trip.

Trina tells Cameron, the last time she talked to Spencer, she told him that she didn’t want to be friends. She’s not sure she can take that back. She’s not sure she wants to. Cameron says he guesses that’s up to her. If she’s moved on, more power to her. He thinks ultimately, Spencer just wants her to be happy, even if it’s with Rory. The same goes for him. She thanks him, and says, Rory is a great guy. Cameron says, they seem at ease with one another, like him and Joss. She says, he and Joss have gone through a lot in the past few months, and they’re still together. He says he thinks it’s their friendship that keeps them grounded. Because of that bond, it’s easier to find their way back to one another. Trina says, she and Rory are friends too; he’s so supportive. Cameron says he’s glad. Maybe it’s for the best Spencer never gave her that letter.

Laura says, ask Esme? What does she have to do with the rift between Spencer and his dad? Spencer tells her, that’s not for him to say, and the guard says, time’s up. Spencer says, it’s great to see her, and she asks if there’s anything he needs. He says, she came to see him. He couldn’t ask for more. Before she left, he made her a promise, and he’s sorry he let her down. She says, he didn’t let her down. What he did for Trina is the epitome of protecting the people you love. She couldn’t be more proud of him. He thanks her, and she says she’ll see him soon. He leaves, and the guard tells Laura, before she goes, there’s someone else who would like to talk to her. She asks, who? and Cyrus says, her big brother. Hello, Laura.  

Josslyn says she can’t stop Dex from asking Sonny for help, but he’s not doing it from her phone. He says he gets that she hates the guy… and she says she’ll never shake the sight of Dex hanging from a meat hook. His face all bruised, shivering with cold, all these knives laid out in front of him. And this is the man he wants to go to for help. Is she supposed to be grateful while Sonny acts all concerned and protective? No. He says he can’t stay here forever, and his options are limited. She tells him, he can send Sonny an email, but he can’t do it from her account. He says, not exactly the most expedient form of communication. (Remember when it used to be?) Just give it to him please. She brings over her laptop, and says she’s going to grab some stuff. Stay here and be good. She’ll be back soon. She leaves, and he opens the laptop.

Trina asks if Cameron is talking about the letter Spencer almost gave her at the party, and her phone rings. It’s Josslyn, and Trina asks if everything is okay. Josslyn says, everything is totally fine, but Trina says she sounds weird. Josslyn says she doesn’t want to freak Trina out, but is she planning on swinging by the room today? Trina says she’s not sure. What’s up? Josslyn says, apparently, they’re spraying for bedbugs, and Trina says, gross. She tells Cameron, they’re spraying the room for bedbugs, and Josslyn asks if she’s with Cam. Trina asks if Josslyn wants to talk to him. He’s been trying to get ahold of her. Josslyn says, tell him she’ll call him back later. She has to clear some stuff out of the room so they can spray. Trina asks if she needs help, but Josslyn says, no; she’s got it covered. Trina says, keep her posted, and Cameron asks if Josslyn didn’t want to talk to him. Trina says, it sounded like she had a lot going on.

In Josslyn’s room, Dex sends an email. In the hallway, Adam asks Josslyn if they have bedbugs, and she says, that’s the rumor. Check his mattress. He says he woudn’t know the signs. Can she show him what to look for?

Cyrus says, it’s good to see Laura. Please sit with him. She says she can’t stay. She’s still the mayor, and has some important things to attend to; no thanks to him and those Friends of Port Charles. He says, she’s still angry about the recall effort, but he has no desire to hurt her, despite her belief to the contrary. She says she does know now it wasn’t him who was behind the attempt on her and Martin’s life at the safe house last June, and he says, good. He told her. She says he did. Forgive her if she doesn’t always take him at his word. He says he forgives her. Does she know who’s behind the attack? She says, if she told him, what would he do? and he says, just send a message. She says, ahh. So much for his conversion, but he says, safeguarding his family is in line with biblical principles. It’s good to see her; she’s looking well. She tells him that she doesn’t know how to say this without sounding mean, but she didn’t come here to talk to him. He says he knows, but maybe that can change. Maybe she and Martin could visit him together. He’d love to see his brother. How is he? Laura says, Cyrus should ask him, and he says he’d like to, but she’s here and he’s not. Has something happened? She doesn’t say anything, and he says, she’s afraid he’ll use personal information to hurt Martin. She has to believe him. He’s doing everything he can to make things right with his family. Starting with his  great-nephew Spencer.

Valentin says, if Deputy Mayor Ashby is on Victor’s payroll, who knows who else could be? and Anna says, but Ashby needs definitive proof to tie her to Victor. Valentin says, it’s time we stop focusing on Victor’s guilt, and focus on proving your innocence, and she says, we? He says, of course (🍷), but she says he has to go. He says, in due time, but she says, now, today. If they get caught, he’ll go to prison too. He asks if she thinks he doesn’t know that. She’s a survivor, but how is she going to hide out here, and conduct an investigation by herself? She says, carefully. He has to go. He asks if she has any idea how much she means to him, and they touch foreheads.

Britt tells Austin, her father had Huntington’s. When she found out, she chose not to get tested. She started having hand tremors, and it turned out it was just repetitive motions disorder, but she realized it wasn’t doing her any good to hide. The fear that she might have Huntington’s was ruining her life. So she talked it through with someone she respected, and decided she needed to know one way or the other. Now she knows. He says he’s sorry, and she says, there’s no wrist brace to stave off this disease. She lives every day knowing symptoms can present at any time. He asks what kind of timeline her treating physician gave her, but she says she doesn’t have one, and he says, doctor, you need a doctor. He’s no expert, but from what he remembers about this horrible disease, she’s in the early stages, and there are protocols that can help her manage her symptoms. She says she knows her disease progresses in stages. She knows it may be able to carry on with activities for years. There are meds that can help her deal with symptoms without assistance, yada-yada. He says, it’s not yada-yada. All of those things should comfort her. She says, cut the crap. Let’s be real. There’s a bomb in her brain, and the countdown has begun.

Whitten says he’s surprised to see Sonny Corinthos easily saunter into the Police Commissioner’s office, and Jordan says, at least he knocked. <snort> She’d requested his presence before Whitten barged in. Sonny says, Whitten seems to know him, but he doesn’t know Whitten, and Whitten says, Agent Whitten with the US Marshal’s Service. Sonny asks if he should have his lawyer present, but Whitten says, no; it’s just a friendly conversation. Sonny says, no such thing from the Feds, and Whitten says he’s been going through Anna Devane’s file, and it appears she and Sonny go way back. Sonny says, so what? and Whitten says, Miss Devane is a high value fugitive. The government is anxious to sit down with her. Jordan says, he’s hoping to make a deal, and Sonny says, maybe a trade in classified information. Whitten says, Sonny would be making a friend at the Attorney General’s office if he helps them, but Sonny says he doesn’t need a friend. And if Whitten thinks he’s going to coerce Anna into giving them state secrets, he doesn’t know her at all. Whitten says, Sonny does. Just let his friend know they can offer her safe haven… if Sonny is in contact with her. Sonny says he’s not, and Whitten says, that’s a shame. His bosses say, if they can’t bring her in bring, they have to bring her down. Jordan says, no need to get combative, but Whitten says he doesn’t see the need to waste time or mince words. She says, Anna Devane is no danger to the public at large, but he says, they don’t know that. He’ll take the file with him, and have any files related to this case uploaded to his office this afternoon. He gives Sonny his card, and says, in case there’s anything he needs to know. He leaves, and Jordan says she didn’t know he’d be here when she called Sonny. Sonny rips up the card, and says, he gathered. Ambushes aren’t her style. She says, that wasn’t a bluff, was it? and Sonny says, when he told them he’d take down Anna if he couldn’t bring her in? He thinks Whitten meant every damn word.

Anna says, the best thing Valentin could do for both of them is leave. Because she would feel devastated if something happened to him. He says, why doesn’t he stick around a few more days? and she says, because if Victor realizes they’re both missing… Valentin says he’s sure Victor knows by now. He’s sure Victor knows he helped with her escape. She says, but what if Victor takes advantage of his absence, and seizes Charlotte again? and he says, she’s safe with Laura. Anna says, he just got her back. He was in hell without her. He needs to be there for her. He has to keep her safe. She’s a big girl; she can manage. He says, okay, and takes off his ring. He says, this ring has a lot of complicated feelings for him. She says, the Cassadine ring, sure, and he says, and every time he tries to get rid of it, it finds its way back to him. Will she hold on to it until they’re together again? He puts the ring in her hand, closes her fingers around it, and kisses them.  

Britt tells Austin, obviously, she covers all the bases with her patients, but she reserves the right not to waste her own precious time. Maybe she’ll get her affairs in order instead. Austin says, okay, but he thinks the way it goes is, there are horses, and then there’s a cart. She says she’s had her fill of horse idioms, and he says, how’s Cody? Does he know? She says, only her mother and Scotty know. She hasn’t told anyone else who matters. They laugh, and he says he’s just kidding. She doesn’t have to manage his feelings. She says, the irony. It’s the first time in a long time things have started to go well. He says he’s sorry, but he doesn’t see it as the end of the line for her. She says she thinks that’s something he’d say to a patient, and he says he knows she’s not his patient, but they’re both physicians, so they know there are advancements in medicine every day. And they caught this early, so maybe they can take advantage of one of them. For what it’s worth (🍷), if he had to wager between her and Huntington’s, he’s all in on her.

Josslyn tells Adan, just google bedbugs. She thinks they’re tiny dark spots on your sheets and pillowcases. He says, don’t you have to throw everything out? He’ll check just in case. He’s glad Trina is back at PCU, and they can all move on from what happened. She says she appreciates that, and he says, she deserves a drama free year. He leaves, and she says, that’s not gonna happen.

Trina says, before Joss called, Cameron was going to say something about Spencer’s letter. Does he know what Spencer wrote? Cameron says, he just said he confessed everything; why he did what he did. Not that it matters now though, right? She says, what’s done is done, and he says he has to go back to work in the kitchen. Promise him she’ll stay vigilant. They all have to watch their backs now that Esme’s around. She says, 100%. One more thing. Was Spencer confessing to playing Esme, or something else? Cameron says, for that, she’ll have to ask Spencer herself.  

Laura asks why Cyrus is bringing up Spencer, and he says, they got acquainted here. He sees great things in Spencer; a lot of her energy. She says, no. Stay away from Spencer. Cyrus shouts that he’s been protecting Spencer… and she tells him not to raise his voice. Sit down. Cyrus says, ever since he became a ward of the state. In case she didn’t notice, it’s a little dangerous in here. She tells him, sit down, and they both sit. He says, ask Spencer. Did Spencer seem okay to her? She says, he did, and Cyrus says, he’s going to make sure Spencer stays that way. He can’t promise the same for her friend Anna Devane. If she’s captured, perhaps as mayor, Laura can pull strings to make sure she doesn’t come to Pentenville. Laura asks, why? What does he know? He asks if the name Olivia Jerome means anything to her, and Laura asks if Olivia has said something. He says, only that she can’t wait to roll out the Pentenville red carpet for Anna Devane. He knows Laura doesn’t trust him, but trust this. If Anna is on the run, it’s best she stays that way.

Jordan says, if Sonny know where Anna is, let them bring her in. It’s safer that way. He asks if she thinks Anna would really be safer in Pentenville within Victor’s reach. He’s the one who set her up. Anna is lucky she has friends, them included. She says, Anna is a dear friend, but she can’t break the law outright for her. Sonny says he gets it, but she can’t turn Anna over to that hotshot agent either. She says, hell no. He only wants to impress his bosses. They can’t let that happen at the expense of Anna. He says, so they’re on the same page here. Anna is safer on her own.

On the phone, Whitten says, they find the person most likely to have helped Anna escape. Then they lean on him until he breaks. He opens a folder, and looks at Valentin’s picture. Um… When I think of Valentin, I don’t think of someone who cracks easily.

Anna says, when Valentin is back in Port Charles, he’ll be able to keep an eye on his father, and he says, if she leaves here, how will he find her? She says she’ll find him, and he tells her, be careful. She tells him to be careful too, and they kiss. He says, je t’aime, and she says, à bientôt. He leaves, and she looks at the ring and cries.

Britt tells Austin, here’s a positive. She can blame her britchiness on Huntington’s. He says, there’s the indominable spirit that everyone around here respects so much, and she asks if he missed the part where she said britch. She’s not Miss Popularity. Austin says he doesn’t think people see her the way they used to, and she asks how he knows. He says he works here. She knows how doctors and nurses are; they all talk. She’s respected. For her deep, deep compassion, even though she tries every way she can to convince everyone she doesn’t have any. She’s got a lot in her life. She’s got Brad. She’s got her mom. Maxie and her kids. Britt says, thank God James and Bailey don’t have the marker, and he says, if they did, she’d be there to support them, right? She says, of course (🍷), and he says, so maybe let everybody support her now. There’s nothing you can’t share with someone that you love.

Kiley, Josslyn’s RA, bangs on her dorm room door. She asks if Josslyn is in there. She needs to talk to her; it’s important. The door handle rattles, and Dex quietly freaks out.

The guard leads Spencer to the visitor’s room, and Spencer says he thought his time with this grandmother was up. The guard lets him in, and Spencer sees Trina. He smooths back his hair, and they kind of smile at one another.

On Monday, Josslyn says she’s not hiding anything; Ava says, this particular matter can’t wait; and Carly blocks Elizabeth from closing her door, and says, she needs to make the time.

✂️ Better Than a Poke In the Eye…

At least he has an audience to share his pain and outtakes with. For the average Joe who got cut, no one cares except his family. Maybe.

Look for GH’s Michael Blake Kruse in ‘Wakanda Forever!’

⚖️ Strange Moment…

Yeah, what was that about in the elevator? It’s kind of out of the blue.

Diane and Robert on GH? — Carolyn Hennesy Speaks Out!

🧼 Next Soap Generation…

A soap torch being passed.

Joshua Benard Returns to GENERAL HOSPITAL!

🏕 Switching Camps…

Sonny’s right hand man has a new gig.

https://people.com/tv/steve-burton-returns-to-days-of-our-lives-reprising-harris-michaels-role/

🎄 It’s Beginning To Look…

Upcoming Christmas joy from handsome guys.

Join Ryan Paevey for a Special Christmas Event!

Cameron Mathison Stars in a Romantic New Holiday Movie!

💸 Sadly, No Surprise…

I figured they’d been at it a while. Apparently, all those complaints went in the circular file. Bureaucracy at its best.

✈️ Worldly Wives…

This is old news, but I’d never heard of them. It’s kind of sad that this junk I admittedly watch has infiltrated other countries.

🍸 New Rules…

The forgot to mention, LVP’s many pets.

⚰️ Vive le Mort…

This sounds pretty interesting, even if they stole the nightclub idea from Z Nation. (Checking… yes, still bitter about it’s cancelation.)

🐎 Take Me Home…

The CMA winners.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/09/entertainment/cma-awards-winners-list

And more important, the CMA fashion.

https://www.eonline.com/photos/35290/cma-awards-2022-red-carpet-fashion

👩🏽‍💻 Quotes of the Week

Short term decisions have long term consequences. – Judge Star Jones, Divorce Court

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. – Anais Nin

We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same. – Carlos Castaneda

We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in. – Arianna Huffington

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. – Gloria Steinem

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. – John Adams

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

If people are doubting how far you can go, go so far that you can’t hear them anymore.Michele Ruiz

Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity. – W. Clement Stone

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

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. – Franklin D. Roosevelt

🌻 Pursuing Happiness…

Wrapping it up for now, but I’ll be back when the Dead are Walking. Until then, stay safe, stay thanking every veteran you meet, and stay letting people who love you support you in a crisis. There’s nothing you can’t share with someone that you love.

November 9, 2022 – Nikolas Is Attacked By The Hook, Christmas Weirdness, VanderNews, Salty Talk, All Dead, Real Good & Power

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Elizabeth tells Finn, the doctor she argued with, the one who fell down the stairs, it was Reiko. He asks if she thinks Reiko fell because of her, and she says she doesn’t just think it; she knows it’s true.

On the phone, Nikolas tells Demetrius that Esme’s not in her room. She tied her bedsheets together to make a rope, probably so she could use them to get off the ledge into an adjoining room… He looked through the entire main house, and she’s nowhere to be found.

Cody tears open the envelope, and Felicia says, well? Mac says, give him a moment, and she says, he’s right… Moment’s over. Is Mac his father? Cody says, Mac’s not his dad. Mac asks if he’s sure, and Cody says, he’s not a match. Felicia asks to see the results, but Mac tells her not to drag it out. Looking at the paper isn’t going to change what it says. Cody’s not his son. Felicia hugs Mac, and says she’s sorry. Britt asks if Cody is okay, and Cody tells Mac, congrats. The Scorpio gene pool remains pristine.

Willow tells TJ, she’s so scared. She doesn’t want to die. He hugs her, and she cries. Michael walks in, and she asks if Melanie got Wiley okay. He says, Wiley’s fine. What did he just walk in on?

Sitting in his car, Valentin says, Anna should have been here by now. He listens on a police radio, and hears about a hardware store alarm being tripped. He says, nothing about a police transport. Anna, where are you?

At the hospital on the phone, Sonny says, he hasn’t heard from them. How’d it go with Anna? Dante comes by, and asks what Sonny knows about Anna.

The transport van sits off-road with a crunched-in front, steam coming out of the hood, Dex and the guard unconscious. We see Anna, also unconscious, in the back. On the radio, a dispatcher asks, what’s their status? Dex comes to, and checks the guard’s pulse. He suggests the guard to himself a favor and stay unconscious. He gets out, struggling to walk to the passenger door on the other side. The dispatcher says, prisoner transport 2015, do you copy? She needs a status check. Dex tries to rouse Anna, saying, he needs her to wake up now. Help him out here.

Sonny tells Dante that he heard Anna was being transported to Pentenville tonight. He just wants to make sure when she gets there she’s taken care of – unofficial of course (🍷). Dante unofficially thanks him, and Sonny says, Dante knows she was set up, right? and Dante says, yes, but there’s literally nothing they can do until they get some evidence of what really happened to Lucy Coe. Sonny asks if he’s working on that, and Dante asks, what gave it away? The badge and the gun? Sonny laughs, and Dante says he was doing a witness statement, but he’s glad he ran into Sonny. He suggests they have a guys night, and Sonny says he’d love to, but isn’t Dante supposed to be spending his free time with Sam and Rocco, working on blending their families? Dante says, they’re blended up. If he can make the time, Sonny can. Sonny asks, what’s going on?

Mac thanks Cody for agreeing to the DNA test. At least now they know the truth. He tells Felicia, let’s go, but Cody tells him, hold on a sec, and Britt suggests she and Felicia give them some privacy. They leave, and Mac asks, what’s left to talk about? and Cody says, they may not be related, but Britt kept telling him how great a guy Mac is, and other than Dante, he really doesn’t have any friends here. Mac asks if he wants to go out for a beer sometime, and Cody asks if that would be so bad. Shoot some pool, go on a hike… Mac says, Cody doesn’t have to fake a friendship to spare his bruised feelings, but Cody asks why it has to be fake. According to Britt, Mac’s a good guy, and he could use a buddy. Mac says, in case he gets arrested again? and Cody says, there’s that sense of humor Britt was telling him about. What does Mac say? Should they give this friend thing a shot? Mac says, why not? They’ll go out for a beer some time. As long as Cody doesn’t feel forced. Cody says, deal.

Finn says, this memory Elizabeth has been having is about Reiko, and she’s been too afraid to tell him? She says, it’s a jumble, and all the flashes… Then she suspected her dad was involved. She was really confused, and didn’t want to burden Finn until she knew more. Now she wishes she never found out she caused Reiko’s death. He asks how she even knows anything her parents told her is true.

Michael says, none of this makes any sense. Willow is supposed to be at her OB appointment. Why is she in Dr. Randolph’s office? TJ says, there’s information Michael doesn’t know, and Michael says, whatever he needs to hear, he’ll hear from Willow. Why did he walk in on her in an empty office in the arms of another man? What exactly is going on here? She says, oh my God. Does he think she’s cheating on him with TJ?

Britt says she knows Cody was on the fence about gaining a new family. So look on the bright side. Now his life doesn’t have to change. He sees Mac and Felicia hugging, and says, yeah, bright side. Mac tells Felicia, let’s go, but she says, not so fast, tough guy.

Valentin hears a request for all available units to go to Route 31. Prisoner transport 2015 is overdue and not responding. He says, that’s Anna’s transport, and starts the car.

Dex says he needs Anna to wake up now. If she doesn’t, he has to take her to the hospital, and they’re both screwed. She says, okay, and opens her eyes. She sits up, and he asks if she knows her name. Does she remember where she is? She says she’s Anna Devane and they’re on their way to Pentenville. He looks in her eyes with his phone flashlight, and says, she hit her head, but her pupils are even. There’s a wound on her head, but it looks shallow. Other than a headache, she should be fine. She asks, what happened? and he says, the guard figured out he was a plant, and tried to grab the steering wheel. She asks if the guard is okay, and Dex says, he’s unconscious, but should be fine. She asks, where’s Heather? but he says he’s not sure. When he came to, there was no sign of the second prisoner.

Dante guesses he’s worried about Sonny, but Sonny says, there’s nothing to worry about; he’s fine. Dante says he knows Sonny’s rift with Michael has been weighing on him for a long time. This thing with Anna. Brando getting murdered. Ava and Diane attacked; that’s a lot of stuff. Sonny says he’s used to having a lot on his plate, and Dante says, Sonny doesn’t have to go it alone. He’s here to look after Sonny while Sonny is busy looking after other people. Dante’s phone rings and he steps away. Sonny looks at his phone, and says, Dex, come on. Dante walks back, telling someone to text him the details. He’s on his way. He tells Sonny that he has to go to work, and Sonny says, be careful. Dante says he will, and tells Sonny, you too.

Willow says she can’t believe Michael would ever think she’d cheat on him. Wait… Nina was in the park. She said something to him, didn’t she? Oh, that woman. He says, forget Nina. What’s going on? Willow says she’ll tell him what’s not going on; she and TJ are not having an affair. TJ says, Nina is wrong. She totally misinterpreted their friendship. Michael says, Nina told him that she’s seen them having emotional, intimate talks. What’s really going on? Willow asks TJ to give them some privacy, and he tells her, good luck. He leaves, and Michael says he knows every word coming out of Nina’s mouth is a lie, but when Sonny said Willow had been on edge, he couldn’t deny it. At first, he chalked it up to her pregnancy and a new job, but something has been off for a long time now. Whatever it is, tell him the truth. She says, he’s right. She’s been on edge for a while… because… she has leukemia.

Britt asks how Cody really is. She knows he had mixed feelings about becoming a Scorpio. He says he thinks he got what he deserves, and she asks what that means, when her phone beeps. She says she has to check on a patient, and leaves.

Felicia tells Mac, talk to her. After all these years of helping raise Robert’s daughter and her daughter, he thought he had a son of his own. It’s got to be a big disappointment. He says, it’s not like he knew Cody very well, and now he doesn’t have to worry about anything disrupting their family. It all worked out for the best. She says, so that’s it? It’s back to life as usual? Mac admits he was a little excited at the prospect of having a son, and she says she’s sorry. He says, if Cody had turned out to be his, he would have enjoyed that, but that’s not what the test results proved, and that’s okay, because he loves his life as it is. He’ll be okay. She says, maybe when they go home, they can video call Robin, and Mac’s phone rings. He answers, and says he’s on his way. He tells Felicia, there’s an issue with Anna’s transport to Pentenville, and she tells him to go; she’ll call a Ride Share. Keep her posted. He leaves, and Cody says, Mac sure took off in a hurry. She says, what’s it to him?

Finn says he remembers this. Reiko was hospitalized for some injuries; she fell down a flight of stairs. She told him that she tripped. Elizabeth says she wishes it was true. She remembers it now. She caused the fall that put Reiko in the hospital where she contracted Blackwood’s. She’s been pushing Finn away so she’d never have to know what happened, and neither would he.

Nikolas walks into the living room, and the lights won’t work. He finds broken glass on the floor, and says, that’s strange. He sees there’s no lightbulb in a nearby lamp, and says, why would this… A hooded figure enters the room, and raises a hook.  

Finn tells Elizabeth, that can’t be what happened. It doesn’t make any sense. If Reiko fell because of a fight with her, why did she claim she was alone? Why would Reiko lie to him? Elizabeth says she loves him… and he says, just say the words. She says, Reiko and her dad were having an affair.

Anna wonders if Heather escaped, and calls out for her. Dex says, when he came around the van, the door was open, and Anna was alone. She says, they need to find her, and asks if he has the keys. He uncuffs her, and asks if she’s injured anywhere else, but she says she’s fine; she just feels dizzy. Is he okay? He says he’ll be fine, but they need to get out of here before the cops find them. She says, and anyone else who wants her dead. They get out, and see headlights, but it’s Valentin, and Anna tells Dex, he’s with us. Valentin asks if she’s okay, and she says she’s fine; she hit her head. He says he has a police scanner in the car, and they’re on their way. They’ve got to move. Anna says, they can’t leave until they find Heather; she escaped. Valentin says, there’s no time, but Anna says, she’s dangerous. He says, the police are on their way, and they’ll take her to Pentenville where Victor wants her. Victor is going to eliminate her. She says, all right, gives Dex her thanks, and they leave.

TJ sees Sonny, and asks if there’s any chance he’s here with Nina. Sonny says he’s here by himself. Can he help TJ with anything? TJ says, no. His problem’s with Nina, and Sonny says, really? Is this about him and Willow?

Michael says, leukemia? and Willow says, that’s why she’s in Dr. Randolph’s office; Terry is her oncologist. The test results she was getting weren’t about her pregnancy; they were about her cancer. He asks how long she’s known, and she says, since maybe a week after she found out she was pregnant. TJ was the first one  to suspect it. She’s sorry she kept it from him. It’s been the hardest decision she’s ever had to live with in her life. He hugs her, and says, he’s so sorry.

Cody tells Felicia, what’s it to him? He honestly doesn’t know. Mac rushed out, and he looked upset. Mac may not be his dad, but he still cares. She says, Mac got some unsettling news about one of their good friends, and he says he’s sorry. Are they going to be okay? She says, it’s kind of him to ask, but it’s clear he was ambivalent at best at being a part of their family. She can imagine he might feel guilty, since Mac got his hopes up. He says, from what sounds like, he’s not worthy to be a part of their family, and they’re better off without him. She says, if he feels that way, then the results are for the best. Take care of himself. She means that.

Dex checks the guard again, and says, he has a pulse. Good. Now how is he going to get him to the hospital? He’s about to phone Sonny, when he hears sirens. He tells he guard, help is on the way, and limps off.

Nikolas walks through the room in the dark, the hooded figure following him. The hook comes down.

Finn says he doesn’t even remember a Jeff Webber, and Elizabeth says, all she knows is, her father and Reiko were having an affair. Her dad had a history of cheating on her mom. Finn says, he and his wife were happy, and she says she knows, and she’s really sorry. He says, so is he, touches her face, and leaves.

Willow thanks Michael, and says she’s sure he has a lot of questions. They sit down, and he says, let’s start with the obvious. How is she feeling? She says she’s scared, and he says, and the baby? She says, the baby is fine, and he says, so all the times she’s been dizzy and tired… She’s been doing chemo all by herself? She says, for the baby’s sake, she hasn’t started chemo yet. She decided to wait until the second trimester. He asks, why? even though she just told him.

Sonny tells TJ that he was hoping he didn’t have to get into this personal matter, but Willow is the mother of his grandchildren. And his son is involved, even though they’re not on good terms, and also Molly. He was hoping the TJ he knew wouldn’t jeopardize all this. TJ tells him, can we stop, please? This is all a huge misunderstanding. Nina confronted both him and Willow separately, and they made it clear they’re not having an affair, but Nina doesn’t want to believe it. Now she’s dragged Sonny into it, and he doesn’t… Sonny says, he doesn’t what? Say it. TJ says, Sonny has always been there for him, and he respects Sonny, but Nina is hell-bent on causing trouble for Michael and Willow, and doesn’t care how much trouble it’s going to cause for Sonny too.

At the crashed transport van. Mac tells Dante, the security guard is on his way to GH. He’s in good condition; no injuries except for the bump on his head. Dante asks what he said, and Mac tells him, the guard was blacked out until the paramedics arrived. Once he regained consciousness, Mac asked a few questions, but his memory is still foggy. Dante asks if he knows how the crash happened, and Mac says, the transport was supposed to stop at Pentenville first, D’Archam second. The driver drove right past the exit for Pentenville. Dante says, so the driver was a plant, and Mac says, that’s what the guard thought. He tried to stop the driver, that’s when the van spun out of control. Dante says, so this whole thing was organized to spring one of the prisoners. He can only imagine that Anna was the one to sort something like that out. Mac says, she certainly has enough contacts to call for support and stay on the run. Dante says, Anna is going to give them a real run for their money. Frankly, I think the guard should be fired. Obviously I’m on Anna’s side, but playing devil’s advocate, the guard should have waited until they got to D’Archam, and called for help while Heather was still in the van. Not try to take the wheel or shoot the driver while the van is moving.

Valentin tells Anna, they have to wait here for a minute. They can’t risk getting pulled over. She says, that’s a good strategy, and he says, thank you. She says, not even an ounce of modesty anywhere, and he says he’s good at this stuff. She says, lucky her, and asks if he thinks Dex is going to be all right. He says he thinks Dex is going to be fine. Even if the guard realizes he was a plant, the guard can’t ID him. And Sonny will take care of Dex. She thanks him for taking care of her, and he says, always, kissing her hand. He likes taking care of her. She says she hopes he’s ready for this. She thinks it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Nikolas fights back, and The Hook drops her hook. She runs out, and Nikolas collapses.  

Elizabeth leaves a message for Terry. She says she just spoke with Finn, and she really needs someone to talk to. Can Terry call her back? She flashes back to confiding in Nikolas, and looks up his contact info.

Nikolas’s phone rings, and he struggles to get up. Holding his head, he finds his phone. He uses the phone flashlight to look around, and sees the hook on the floor. He takes out a hanky – because all guys who live in castles carry them – and picks it up. He says, this is from our boathouse. You should have killed me when you had the chance, Esme. You made a big mistake.

Willow tells Michael, she did her own research, in addition to what the doctors here told her. If she were to start chemotherapy in the first trimester, it would put their baby at great risk. If she could wait to start chemo until the second trimester, that would give their baby the best chance of survival. Michael says, she’s been living with this by herself all these months? It must have been so hard on her. She says she wasn’t totally alone. The doctors here have been supportive, and TJ has been a great friend. But the decision to delay chemotherapy has come with a cost. Dr. Randolph just told her that the test results confirm her leukemia is in Stage IV. He says, okay, what’s next? and she says she’s starting chemo right away, but because of the advanced stage, Terry also wants to look into a bone marrow transplant.

Britt rubs her neck, and Cody says, you know what’s really good for a stiff neck? She says, if he’s going to offer her a massage, no thanks, but he tells her, he was going to say muscle relaxers. And he happens to know a great doctor. He gives her a cup of coffee, and tells her, it’s to say thanks. She says, for what? and he says, standing by him during all of his Maury drama. She takes a sip, and he says, it’s just a latte, not poison. She says, don’t do that. Stop trying to avoid what’s really going on here.

Willow says she’s sorry she waited so long to tell Michael, but she swears, even if he hadn’t walked in on them, she was going to tell him today. He says he believes her. It’s just… She says, he wants to know why she didn’t tell him before, and he says, they’re a team. They built a life together, with Wiley. If he said or did anything that would make her think he wouldn’t be supportive, or wouldn’t be able to handle it… She says, it’s not that. When she heard her diagnosis, and what chemo would mean for their unborn child, and the doctors here – Britt, Terry, and TJ – all wanted her to start chemo immediately. She struggled with it. Deep in her heart she knew she couldn’t face losing another baby, not after losing Jonah. She knew that wasn’t fair to Wiley; that the worst case would be that the leukemia progressed, and she woudn’t recover. But she convinced herself that it wouldn’t do much harm to delay treatment for a few weeks. She felt it was the best choice for her entire family. Michael tells her to let him make it clear; it was always her choice. He supports that today, and would have supported it then. She says she just wanted them to enjoy their time with Wiley, before things got too hard. To spare them all heartache, especially if she doesn’t have much time left… which she might not.

Sonny says he appreciates TJ warning him about Nina, but he knows her really well, and believes her heart is in the right place. TJ says, okay, but what possible good could come of telling Michael that he and Willow were having an affair? That’s absolutely the last thing Willow needs. Sonny says he saw them together, and it seemed like something was going on. He even said something to Michael. TJ says, Sonny has known him practically his entire life. Is that what Sonny thinks? He’s a cheater? Sonny says he’s not hearing TJ deny it, and TJ says he promises he and Willow aren’t romantically involved. He gives Sonny his word; that is not happening. Sonny says, something is happening, and he knows it, but TJ tells him, that’s not for him to say. He’s asking Sonny to trust him. Sonny says, if TJ tells him nothing is going on between him and Willow, he chooses to believe it, but that’s not going to be enough for Michael, and TJ knows it.

Valentin says, a lot of people are looking for Anna, and she says, Victor’s people, law enforcement, and in no time, they’ll be searching for Valentin too. He says he knows. They have to get someplace secure. They look around, and she asks what he thinks. Can they risk getting on the road now? He says he doesn’t think they have a choice. If they stay here, the police will find them in the morning, and all this will have been for nothing. He starts the car, and she touches his face.

On the phone, Dante says, he needs a BOLO posted for the two women who were being transported to Pentenville Penitentiary and D’Archam Asylum. He doesn’t believe they’re armed, but Heather Webber should be considered dangerous. The other woman, Anna Devane, is a fugitive, but not a threat. He thanks them, and tells Mac, he’s notified the highway patrol, although they don’t have much to go on since the guard didn’t give them much of a description of the driver. They don’t know if Anna and Heather are on foot or in a vehicle. Any chances of them getting a lead tonight are slim.

Cody asks what Britt thinks is going on here, and she says she thinks he’s hiding behind sugary coffee, so he doesn’t have to deal with his feelings about Mac not being his father. He says, she can’t blame him for wondering what it’s like to be part of a close knit family. For a few seconds, he thought maybe he wouldn’t be alone in this world. She says she gets that. Even though her mom drives her crazy, she doesn’t know what she’d do without her. He says, Taub might be a son of a bitch, but he’s my dad, and that is that. He’s pretty much been alone his whole life. Looking out for just him has served him well so far. She says, maybe he dodged a bullet. Family is a curse. She leaves, and he looks at the results. No huge surprise, Mac is 99.9999999999998% his father. The red herring was his willingness to let Felicia take a look.

Michael says, from now on, he and Willow are a team, no matter what comes. She says she’s sorry she didn’t tell him sooner, and he says, the important thing is, he knows now. She doesn’t have to face this alone. They’re going to get through this how they always do – together. He tells her that she’s his family, and they hug.

Dante calls Sonny, who says, he thought Dante was working. Dante says he was, but since Sonny was talking about her before, he thought he’d let Sonny know, Anna escaped, along with Heather Webber. Sonny says, Heather’s with Anna? and Dante says he guesses there was a problem with the vehicle that was supposed to take Heather to D’Archam, so she was thrown in there with Anna. The plan was to take Anna to Pentenville, then take Heather to D’Archam, but they didn’t make it that far. There was an accident and the van crashed, and he’s here on the scene right now. Sonny asks, what caused the accident? but Dante says he doesn’t know. There was some sort of struggle, but there was only a guard here when they got here; he was the only one with the vehicle. He was injured and taken to GH. Sonny says, any idea what happened? and Dante says, no, not yet, but he’s going to figure it out.

Dex goes through the woods. He leans against a tree, and checks the bullet wound in his side.

Finn sits in on the floor in his office in the dark. He looks at a picture of him and Reiko on his phone.  

Heading for the door on the phone, Nikolas says, do not let anybody off the island. That hook wielding psychopath was in the house, and he’ll be damned if he lets her get away. He walks out, slamming the door behind him.

Esme is at the docks, but hears something and hides. Elizabeth comes out, and Esme peeks at her from behind a crate.  

Tomorrow, Willow asks Michael for a favor; Victor asks if there’s any word on his son; Elizabeth says she spotted a fugitive; Dante says, Heather Webber is capable of anything; and Heather says, they’re going to get what they deserve.

🎄 Unless She’s the Grinch…

I don’t even know what to make of this, but God help me, I’ll probably watch it.

🍸 VanderDating…

Who’s zooming who.

🧂 Passing the Salt…

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know, not wanted to know, or were indifferent to about this season.

https://allaboutthetea.com/category/reality-tv-shows/real-housewives-of-salt-lake-city/

⚰️ What He Said…

The Walking Dead family weighs in on the finale.

https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-finale-norman-reedus-everybody-dies/

👭🏻 Sisterly Reality…

This is the best show! Like Sweet Home Oklahoma was, it’s fun without being mean. They’re sort of like the Kardashians would be if they were a million times more relatable, and actually worked.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1353089/the-culpo-sisters-tease-relationships-highs-and-lows-on-new-reality-series

👀 On Amazon Watch…

Check in with me tomorrow, for some soap and smack talk about possibly the worst reality show ever, Winter House (interchangeable with Summer House). Until then, stay safe, stay being clear-sighted, and stay not hiding behind sugary coffee, so you don’t have to deal with your feelings.

November 8, 2022 – Terry Gives Willow the Test Results, Toughing It Out, Talk Dead To Me, New Materials, Honoring Leslie & Rights

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

On the phone, Britt makes a doctor’s appointment for herself, telling them that she’s having symptoms. Sam knocks at the door, and asks if it’s a good time. Britt says, that depends. Is one of those folders for her? Sam says, yep, and Britt tells her to come in. She asks if Sam knows where that necklace came from.

Cody tells Deanna that he’s at the hospital for some test results; a paternity test. She says she’ll be right back, and Mac and Felicia come out of the elevator.

Finn says he’s glad Elizabeth is back, and she invites him in. She tells him, there was no medical conference. She went to Monterey. She wanted to find out what was going on with her, and saw her parents.

In the hospital elevator, Anna tells the guard, she doesn’t understand. Why is she here? She’s supposed to be transferred to Pentenville. He says he’s just following orders. Dr. Finn insisted she come here for something called a phlebotomy treatment. As they get out of the elevator, Anna smiles.

Esme puts her sheet rope over the balcony wall. She says she has to do this. Nikolas cannot keep them locked up here.

Nikolas says he had no idea Laura was back, and she asks if he’s not glad to see her, hugging him. He says, of course (🍷) he is, and asks Victor, what is this about Charlotte? Victor says he was just informed that Charlotte’s not on the school grounds. He’s worried about her. Laura says, no need to worry. She brought Charlotte home with her. She had to do it; Charlotte missed her family. Victor says, that’s such a relief, but what about Valentin? He was on his way to Switzerland to visit her. She says, he’s home too, and she’s sure he’ll be getting in touch with Victor very soon.

In the park, Sonny says, Michael doesn’t need to know anything, and no surprise, Michael walks up, and says, he doesn’t need to know anything about what? Sonny’s phone rings, and he sees it’s Valentin.

At the hospital, Valentin wonders if he’s going to voicemail, and says, Sonny, Anna’s being transferred to Pentenville tonight. They need to act now.

Michael asks what Sonny and Nina are hiding now.

Terry tells Willow, her leukemia is in Stage IV, and TJ takes her hand. Willow says, so her cancer is advancing more rapidly than they thought, and Terry says she’s so sorry. Willow says she’s in her second trimester now. The risks to her baby are much lower, and she’s ready to start chemo at any time. Terry and TJ exchange glances, and Willow says, what? Did she wait too long? Will she die before her baby can be born?

Michael says he found them bothering his family, but Sonny says, they were going on a nice walk through the park. Wiley and Willow just happened to be there. Michael says, they should have kept on walking, instead of trying to maneuver Nina into spending time with Wiley. Ugh. Michael has become an unsufferable, unreasonable dolt. Nina tells him, don’t be ridiculous. Sonny would never do that. Michael says, she has no idea what Sonny would do. Nina was denied visitation with Wiley… Nina says she’s well-aware of that, and Sonny says, they’re not going to go against Michael’s wishes when it comes to Wiley. Sonny’s phone beeps, and he says he’s got to take care of this. Michael asks if it’s an assassination, or plain old racketeering, and Sonny says, why? Is Michael wearing a wire? He asks if Nina is okay, and she tells him to go. Sonny steps away, and Nina says she doesn’t expect Michael to be civil to her, but he should show his father more respect.

Willow asks if her leukemia is so advanced that she won’t live to bear this child, but Terry says, that’s not her prognosis. Regression is still within reach in Stage IV. They just have to work more aggressively, combining chemo with other treatments. Willow asks how it will affect her baby, and Terry says she’ll map out a course of treatment with the greatest chance of success, while minimizing the risks to them both. Willow thanks her. That’s what she’d hoped Terry would say. TJ says, they’re here for her, and Terry asks if she has any questions. Willow says, no, and thanks Terry. She says, Michael will be here soon, and Terry asks if that means Willow is ready to tell Michael that she has cancer.

Elizabeth tells Finn, she went to Monterey to see if she could find out what’s causing these panic attacks, and sleepwalking, and losing time, and all of this mess. He says, okay, and she says, that’s it? She lied to him. He says, right now, he’s glad she’s still talking to him, and she asks if he already knew. He says he knew something was off; he just didn’t know what. He figured if she wanted his help or input, she’d ask. She says she didn’t want to shut him out, and he says he gets it. Sometimes we need to figure these things out on our own. So how was seeing her parents? Did she get the answers she needs? She says, yes. She now knows what happened on those stairs.

Victor says he’s so relieved Charlotte is all right, and Laura says, so is she. He says he does question the wisdom in taking her out of school so close to exams, but Laura says, exams are weeks away, and besides, the poor thing was so homesick. He says, lucky for Charlotte, Laura was there to come to her rescue, and Laura says, yes. She’s just like him. She’ll protect her family with everything she’s got. Nikolas says, speaking of family, how is Lesley? and Laura says, she’s recovering nicely after that mysterious fire destroyed their home. Nikolas asks if they ever discovered what caused it, and Laura says, apparently, it was an accident, or at least looked an awful lot like one. At any rate, his grandmother and Marcello send their love to him. Nikolas says, please send them his, and Laura says, he has a phone. He can do it himself. She came here to have a conversation with her son, and she’d like to have it privately. Victor says he has some business to attend to on the mainland, and I suddenly wonder, what does Victor pretend to do? Which leads to my eternal question, what does Sonny really do in the mob? Victor says, perhaps he’ll run into Valentin. He and his son have a lot to catch up on.

The guard takes Anna into an exam room, and tells her, have a seat. She hops onto the table, and a doctor comes in. He asks the guard to uncuff his patient, and we see his ID has Finn’s name, but Valentin’s picture. Anna smiles at Valentin as the guard uncuffs her.

As she opens the envelope, Britt says she didn’t expect such a fast turnaround. Sam thanks her, and says, the necklace Britt found in Peter’s safe deposit box was pretty high profile back in the 80s. There weren’t many necklaces around worth 35 million dollars. Britt says, how much? and Sam says, 35 million. Of course (🍷) Mr. Moskovich, the jeweler who examined the necklace, said, that’s just a ballpark figure. Britt says, that’s a helluva ballpark, and Sam says, if the real price is even close to that, Britt is going to be able to retire in style. Britt says, only if the necklace is legally hers, and Sam says, that is where things go malarky. She wasn’t able to find an official bill of sale, but she was able to locate the last known owner. Britt says, anyone she knows? and Sam says, Leopold Taub.

Mac paces, wondering what’s taking so long. He knows it’s officially Cody’s test… but Cody says, Mac has a vested interest, and Felicia says, they all do. Deanna tells Cody that she’s sorry. There’s some huge backlog in the lab. Cody says he doesn’t suppose she can track down those results; he’s going a little crazy not knowing. She says she’ll go to the lab personally, and he thanks her.

Valentin says he’d like privacy to examine his patient, and since we all know how non-existent lax the security is at GH, the guard leaves. Anna and Valentin kiss, and she says, he’s not actually going to draw her blood, is he? He says, no. A real nurse will be by to take care of that. He talked Finn into ordering a legitimate phlebotomy treatment. That way, the PCPD would be forced into bringing her here before taking her to Pentenville. She says, that’s brilliant. What’s the plan to get her out of here?

Laura tells Nikolas that Victor was using Charlotte as leverage. She was practically being held prisoner in that boarding school. She and Doc had to help Valentin break her out. He asks if Charlotte is all right, and Laura says, she is. She’s thrilled to be home, and determined not to have anything to do with Victor. He says, Uncle Victor has his own agenda, and she says, he does, and he doesn’t care who he uses or destroys to get it done. Look at poor Anna. She went up against Victor, and now she’s been framed for the possible murder of Lucy Coe.

Terry tells Willow, it’s time to begin chemo as soon as possible, and bone marrow transplants have been successful in treating leukemia. TJ says, survival rates have increased significantly in the past few years alone, and Willow says, it depends on the kind of bone marrow transplants she gets. Terry agrees, and says, in Willow’s case she’ll need an allogenic transplant, which requires healthy blood cells from a donor. Willow asks if it will work if the donor isn’t related to her, and Terry says, a donor that’s related provides the closest match, but unrelated donors can work too. Willow says she hopes that’s true, because to the best of her knowledge, she has no living relatives.

Nina says, Sonny loves Michael. Why can’t he see that? Michael says, Sonny abandoned his family. How can he respect a man like that? Nina says, it’s just like a broken record. Who is he to be so judgmental? Sonny’s reached out to him time and again, and Michael spits in his face. It’s like Michael lives his life to look down on other people. No wonder Willow turned to someone else. Sonny comes back, and says, what’s wrong now? Michael says, Nina is trying to drive a wedge between him and Willow by claiming Willow is cheating on him. She’s slipping. If she’s going to make something up, she’ll have to do better than that. Sonny says, she’s not making it up. He saw Willow and TJ together himself.

Sam says she found a description of the necklace, matching the one Britt has in her possession, in a profile piece on Taub and his collection. According to the article, Taub allowed the necklace to be worn on the runway during Paris Fashion Week in 1989. It just hasn’t been seen since. Britt says she knows Taub and Faison were working together around that time. Any chance Taub could have sold it to her father? Sam says she couldn’t find any record of the necklace changing hands. Then Taub died, and Dominique auctioned off his collection, but the necklace wasn’t included. Either she took it or Faison bought it before Taub died. Britt says, or more likely, her father stole it.

Felicia asks if Cody has seen any good movies lately, but Cody says, not really. Felicia says she’ll get some coffee, and asks if Cody wants some, but Cody says he’s jumpy enough. She tells Mac, talk to him, and leaves. Mac asks if Cody has ever been to Australia, but Cody says, not yet. Mac says, it’s a great place; he grew up there. He spent his youth roaming the Outback from dawn to dusk. Cody says he’s done his fair share of hiking. Any good mountains in the Outback? Mac says, some, nothing like in the states. But Uluru is a sight to behold. Cody says, oh yeah? and it gets awkward again.

Laura says she knows Nikolas knows this, but it bears repeating. His Uncle Victor could turn on him at any moment. On him, on Spencer, on anybody. Nikolas says, all the more reason to stay on his good side. He’s been playing Cassadine politics his entire life. Trust him. He’s handling this. She asks, where’s Ava? and he says, their attempts at reconciliation didn’t work. They’re moving forward with the divorce. She says she’s so sorry. She’d hoped they’d be able to work it out. He says, so did he, and she asks if it’s possible his Uncle Victor had a hand in the breakup of his marriage. Nikolas flashes back to saying, Victor wants him to choose his life over Ava, and Victor saying, it’s not really a choice. How can he be with Ava if he’s dead? Nikolas tells Laura, Victor had nothing to do with it. It was all his fault. She asks, how? and he says he… cheated on his wife.

Terry says, first, they have to determine Willow’s HLA, and Willow says, her human leukocyte antigen. It’s like your blood type, only more specific. It’s important to match her donors with her HLA so her body won’t reject any blood cells. Terry says, her HLA will be run against candidates in the match registry, a database of people willing to donate bone marrow. She’ll order the testing now, and personally put a rush on it. Willow thanks Terry for keeping her mind off her misery by keeping her mind on the medicine, and Terry says, neat trick, isn’t it? TJ says he’ll stay with Willow, Terry tells her, hang tight, and leaves. Willow says she thought at worst, maybe things had progressed to Stage III, but she guesses she skipped over that. Stage IV doesn’t sound so bad until… you remember there’s no Stage V. TJ tells her, whatever she’s feeling, just let it out, and she says she can’t die. She can’t leave Wiley. She can’t leave Michael. He says, she’s not going anywhere, but she tells him, he can’t say that; no one can say that. She cries, and says, what’s going to happen to her and her baby? He holds her while she sobs.  

Michael says, Willow and TJ, come on, and Sonny says he saw them together himself. Willow and TJ. Nina says, and Wiley. They’d just got done seeing them before Michael got there. Something is definitely going on here. Michael says he was here with Willow and Wiley, when TJ ran into them. He’s their friend. It’s not surprising they’re not familiar with friendship. Nina says, it’s not the first time she’s seen TJ with Willow, and Michael says, considering TJ’s a doctor and Willow’s a nurse, and they work at the same hospital… but Nina says, not just at the hospital; at the hotel. Michael says, in a room? Did they walk in on TJ and Willow, the same way his mom walked in on them at the Haunted Star? He knows Willow; she wouldn’t do this to him. Nina says, why not? She did it to Chase. Michael says, this is about revenge. They’re just making up lies. Sonny says, neither of them wants this to be true, and Nina says, that’s what Michael overheard his father saying; Sonny didn’t want to tell Michael anything. Michael says, she just let it slip, huh? He tells Sonny to open his eyes and see Nina for who she really is. She enjoys hurting people who are stupid enough to believe her. He’s telling Sonny this for what he hopes is the last time; Nina is poison. Sonny moves closer to Michael, and says, I would be very careful about what you’re about to say next.

Valentin says, Anna will be the only prisoner on the transport.  One of Sonny’s guys will be the driver. He’ll drive to a rest stop on Route 31; there’s a black pick-up truck there. Look under the driver’s side floormat for the ignition key. He’s left some cash in the glovebox. She thanks him, and says, once she’s out, she’ll be able to find evidence that proves Victor has framed her. He says, she’ll be on the run; not only from the authorities, but from Victor and his crew. Is she going to be all right? She says, yeah. He needs to look after Charlotte, and keep a surreptitious eye on his father. He says he hopes Sonny’s people don’t screw this up somehow, but she says, Sonny will come through for her. It’s very interesting, Valentin and Sonny working together. He says, she can thank Felicia for that, and she says, he got Felicia involved? He says, she asks as if he could have kept Felicia out of it. He’s got to go before the nurse gets here. She thanks him, and he kisses her. He says, he’ll see her on the other side, she repeats it back to him, and he leaves.

Finn says, it must have been a shock, Elizabeth seeing her parents, and she says, it was. She had no intention of seeing them. She just wanted to go into the house, to see if she could find clues as to why this has been happening, and suddenly, they were there. She wanted to run out, but she realized she couldn’t go on without knowing. So she told them what she’d been remembering about the stairs, struggling with the woman, and the woman falling. He asks if they knew what she was talking about, and she says, they did. When she was 15, she found her father with another woman, another doctor. He says, the one she told to stay away from her father? and she says, yes. She and the woman argued, and it happened really fast, and she fell. She didn’t mean to… He says, of course (🍷) she didn’t. Does she know what happened to this woman? Elizabeth says, she died. It was her fault.

Sonny says he’s been patient with Michael up until now, but he’s done with Michael talking trash about Nina. If Michael doesn’t want to listen, don’t listen, but he and Michael both know Willow’s been on edge. Michael says, they’ve both been on edge because of Nina’s continued harassment. We all go, huh? and Nina says she’s not harassing them; she barely sees them. And she’s not imaging this. Something is going on with Willow and TJ. Michael just needs to find out what it is. Michael tells her, just stay away from his family, and stomps off like the baby man he is. Nina tells Sonny, she’s so sorry she told Michael; she didn’t mean to, but he kept coming at her. Sonny says he believes her. Michael has a way of getting under people’s skin. She thanks him for not seeing the worst in her, and he says he sees someone who’s strong, passionate, vulnerable, and that he loves very much. She says, Michael’s made a huge mistake turning his back on Sonny.

Britt looks at some paperwork, and Sam says, as she can see, Mr. Moskovich did recognize some of the diamonds, mainly for the color and clarity. But Moskovich said, four of the gems come from one of the most famous diamonds in the world – the Ice Princess. Told ya!

Finn says, what Elizabeth is describing sounds like an accident. She didn’t mean to push the woman, did she? She says, no, and he says, she didn’t die from her injuries, did she? Elizabeth says, there were complications at the hospital, and she died as the result of an infection. But she wouldn’t have been there in the first place had Elizabeth not confronted her. Finn says, she’s not to blame for any of this. He’s so sorry she went through something so horrible at such a young age; especially something that would traumatize her so deeply, she would block it out. She says she didn’t block it out. Her parents went out of their way to keep her from remembering. He asks what that means, and she says, her dad prescribed her sedatives, and her mother, being a psychologist, coached her to lock away the memory. He asks why they would do that, and she says she was having nightmares and sleepwalking. Sound familiar? They claimed they were worried she was going to hurt herself, but instead of helping her through it, they just taught her to forget. The were worried her being around her dad would be a trigger, so they sent her away. He says, for 25 years? and she says she hesitates to call them her parents, since clearly they don’t know how to raise a child. He says he’s so sorry. He doesn’t even know what to say. She says, they abandoned her. They threw her away, and it was all for nothing because she remembered anyway. She was terrified for her sanity, and thought she was a danger to her kids, all because they wanted to keep a secret.

Felicia asks Valentin if everything went okay, and he says, as long as Sonny keeps up his end. She says she’s sure he will, and he says, then they can wish Anna safe travels. She says, amen to that, and they go their separate ways.

The guard tells Anna, time to go, and the nurse says, she’s all yours.

Finn says, Elizabeth has been through a lot in the past few days. She might want to talk to someone like Doc just to sort things out. She says, that’s a good idea, and he says he thought he was going to get a fight, but she says, not this time. This time she knows she needs more help. She thanks him for being supportive, but he says, she doesn’t need to thank him. She says she does. He’s an amazing man. He’s been patient with her when she has no right to his kindness. He asks where this is coming from. Of course (🍷) she has the right. She’s amazing; he loves her. As for the accident, he understands her feeling guilty, but she’s not to blame. He’d never blame her for something that was clearly a tragic accident. She says, there’s something else he doesn’t know; something she’s been scared to tell him. Because once he hears it, he’ll never look at her like this again.

Willow tells TJ, she can’t bear the thought of Wiley growing up without her. And Michael. He’s already lost so much. To lose another child… She doesn’t want to leave them. TJ says, that’s why she’s going to fight this, and why they’re going to win. She says, what if it’s too late? She thought she could control what was happening to her; that she could tell cancer to wait a few weeks, like there wouldn’t be any consequences. Now she’s paying the price. What was she thinking? How could she be so stupid? He says, she was thinking about her unborn child. Chemo attacks fast growing cells, and that’s pretty much all that’s happening the first trimester. Fast growing cells forming organs, and bones, and muscles. She was faced with a terrible choice, and she chose to protect her child. That is not stupidity; it’s love.

The guard brings Anna to the van, and says he’s officially signing the prisoner over. Dex says he’ll take it from here, and the guard leaves. He tells Anna, he’s Dex. He’ll be her ride this evening.

Britt tells Sam, isn’t it crazy that she might own a piece of that famous diamond? Does Sam know how it was broken up? Sam says, no, but she’s sure she can find out, and Britt wonders if it has something to do with the famous curse. Sam says she doesn’t believe in curses, but anything’s possible. She tells Britt that she’ll be in touch, and leaves.

Laura says, Nikolas cheated on Ava? and he says he’s afraid so. She says she knows how much he loves Ava, and she knows he wouldn’t do anything… Nikolas says, to hurt her? Sometimes he thinks that’s all they do to each other. Laura says, tell her what happened, and he tells her, all he can say is, he made a stupid mistake; one Ava can’t forgive. She says, Ava’s made some big mistakes too. Maybe if he gives her some time, she’ll come around. He says, not this time, and he can’t blame her. She says, why? What happened? He says, the bottom line is, he didn’t have enough faith in their love. He thought their marriage was over. He was tempted, and he betrayed everything he and Ava had. She asks if he has feelings for this other woman, and he says, God no. He wishes he’d never met her. He swears he’s learned his lesson, and the woman in question will not be causing any more problems. Laura says she’s so sorry, and hugs him.

Cody says, he doesn’t get the glamping thing, and Mac says he knows what Cody means. Why not stay in a hotel? Britt comes out of the elevator, and Cody says, when you’re on the ground in a tent, there’s nothing like it. He asks Mac to excuse him, and runs over to Britt. Felicia comes back, and says, he’s sure in a hurry. No luck? Mac says, actually, he thinks they’re making progress.

Britt asks why Cody is here, and he says, the results of his paternity test are in. He hasn’t seen them yet, because apparently the lab is swamped. She says, how dare they? Since he’s here, Sam found out some interesting info about that necklace. She showed it to a jeweler, and he said it could be worth – are you ready? – 35 million. He asks if Sam found out how Peter ended up with the necklace, and she says, not yet. But it just so happens, Cody might have more of a claim to the necklace than she does.

Dex uncuffs Anna, and tells her to get in the van. She does, and Dex is about to close the door, when a guard tells him, hold up. He brings out Heather, and says, she’s coming with him. Dex says he was told there was only going to be one prisoner, but the guard says, interdepartmental cooperation, handing Dex some paperwork. Heather says, Anna! sticking her head in the van. Looks like we’re carpooling. How nice. We’ll have time to catch up.

Nikolas says, Port Charles isn’t the same without Laura, and she thanks him. She hugs him, and says, it means more than he knows. She does have her work cut out for her, but she’s more than up to the challenge. As a matter-of-fact, heaven help the guy who tries to get in her way.

Britt says, her father may have stolen the necklace from Taub, so if in fact Cody is his heir, the necklace belongs to him. He says, imagine that, when Deanna comes back, and says she sweet talked the people at the lab, and got his results. She gives him the envelope, and he thanks her. Mac and Felicia walk over, and Cody says he guesses this is it. He tears the envelope open, and Felicia says, well? Mac says, give him a moment, and she says, he’s right… Moment’s over. Is Mac Cody’s father?

Willow tells TJ, she knew she’d have to do this at some point, tell Michael that she’s sick. But she thought there would be good news too. Now he’s going to know she kept it from him, and he might lose her and the baby. TJ says, Michael loves her more than enough to understand why she waited, but she’s going to need all the help she can get. So let her family and friends be there for her through this. She says she’s so scared. She doesn’t want to die. They hug, and Michael walks in.

Elizabeth says, this is really hard, but Finn says, whatever it is, they’ll face it together. She says, all of this happened in the Mariana Islands. Her parents were there with Doctors Without Borders. He says he was posted there, back in ’97. He was with Reiko. Were they there at the same time? She says, the doctor who she argued with, the one who fell down the stairs, was Reiko.  

Nikolas comes into the north tower, and sees the window open. He goes out, and sees the sheets, and says, Esme, the way Seinfeld used to say, Newman.

Esme sneaks around Windymere. She almost goes out the patio door, but says, no. Nikolas is not going to get away with this.

Sonny walks into the hospital, and Victor asks, what brings him to GH? No apparent gunshot wound. He hopes Sonny’s not ill. Sonny says he’s here to see a friend, and make sure she’s okay, and Victor says, Sonny’s generosity of spirit knows no bounds. Sonny says he takes care of his friends. Victor would be wise to remember that.

Heather says, it just so happens she’s a model inmate, but she’s sure that doesn’t surprise Anna. Anna says, it shocks the hell out of her, to be honest, and Heather says she doesn’t know why. Anna knows she strives for excellence in everything she does. She’s discovered – and this is going to help Anna where she’s going as well – that when you stop trying to escape, people treat you better. She even gets to go to arts and crafts now. Anna asks if she’s making syringes out of paper clips and pipe cleaners, but Heather says, no. She’s making a pillow shaped like a frog. Isn’t that delightful? Up front, the guard says, the transport van from the prison for the criminally insane should be maintained better. But no; it broke down. Dex says he knows because the guard is here, and the guard says he’s going to be late getting home.. He points out that Dex missed the turn for Pentenville, and Dex says, that’s because he’s dropping them at D’Archam first. The guard says, they’re not supposed to deviate from protocol, but Dex says, this is the route they’re taking. The guard says, no, it’s not; turn around. Dex says, just let him do his job, and the guard takes out his gun. The van swerves as Dex struggles with him. In the back, Heather says, do you mind? She has a delicate constitution. We hear a shot as the van flips.

Tomorrow, TJ asks Sonny to trust him; Britt says, maybe Cody dodged a bullet; Valentin wonders where Anna is; and Michael asks, what’s going on here?

💐 Sending Well Wishes…

Another soap star gets the long haul.

⚰️ Tidbits Of the Dead…

About the best ending line of an episode ever. This was also discussed on Talking Dead last Sunday.

https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-mercer-different-ending/

Smacking myself in the head, since now that I know it’s her, I can hear it.

https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-yvette-nicole-brown-cameo-outpost-22/

🦄 Dark Release…

The lowdown on the upcoming season, and finale, of His Dark Materials.

https://collider.com/his-dark-materials-season-3-trailer-release-date-series-finale-plot/

And what’s life without cool CGI animals? TBH, that’s mostly why I watch this one. I could live without that nasty monkey though.

https://ew.com/tv/his-dark-materials-season-3-mulefa-photos/

🕺🏻 Deserving Of Tribute…

A sweet homage to a sweeter man.

https://people.com/tv/leslie-jordan-the-masked-singer-tribute/

👟 Just Doing It…

Come back on the morrow for soap and who knows what shenanigans. Until then, stay safe, stay balancing formal education with common sense and a dash of street smarts, and stay letting your family and friends be there for you when you need all the help you can get.

November 6, 2022 – Mercer Delivers the Best Line In an Episode Ever, a Thought, Latest Vampire & Wither

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

The Walking Dead

Judith’s voiceover says, the world is dark and broken, but we’re not. Not yet. We stare into the face of death every day, until one day, that face is our own. How do we come back from that? My dad wanted mercy to prevail. If we lose that, we lose everything.

Negan and the others work clearing the tracks, as Nameless Boss watches. Kelly signs to Magna that there are two around the perimeter, and four inside. Princess tells Ezekiel, that’s Tyler Davis from the rail yard, and he asks if that isn’t the guy who took Max hostage. She tells him, she didn’t say she liked it, but he’s got balls. Ezekiel watches him, and Magna tells Negan, two on the perimeter, four inside. Negan writes something on the back of the map, and looks around. Ezekiel walks over, and says, the map. A trooper tells Annie to move, and diverts Negan’s focus. Negan walks over, and asks what a person has to do to get a break. The trooper asks what he said, calling him prisoner, but Negan says, not for him; for his wife. The trooper says, the Commonwealth doesn’t  recognize any unions here, but Negan says he’s not talking about the Commonwealth. He’s talking about the trooper. Another trooper comes over, and asks if there’s a problem. The first trooper says, just a prisoner mouthing off, and needing to be reminded of his place. Annie runs over to them, but the trooper knocks her down. She pops back up, and struggles with him, but the second trooper gets Negan down and holds a gun to his face.

Daryl and Carol watch from a distance.

Aaron, Jerry, Elijah, and Lydia have stopped the wagon to kill a zombie. Aaron tells them to stay alert. They don’t know if this is a one-time thing, or there are more of those things out here. He hears something, and Lydia says, it’s a human, not a walker. Aaron tells Lydia and Elijah to stay and protect the wagon. He and Jerry draw their swords, and walk toward the sound. Aaron says, come out now, and Luke and Jules appear. There are hugs all around, and Aaron says, it’s a pleasant surprise. They already know Lydia, and he introduces Elijah. He tells Luke and Jules, they were head to Oceanside if they want to join, but Luke says, it’s gone. Some guys in white gear showed up. Aaron says, the Commonwealth, and Julies says, they took over. Aaron says, they made a deal with the Commonwealth, but Jerry says, the deal must have changed because they’re being tracked. Jules says, if they’re found, they’re dead, and Luke suggests getting as far away as possible.

On the stand, Pamela says, it was the worst day of her life. Her trusted colleague Mercer was with her, and took her to the morgue. All she wanted was to hold her son, to keep him safe, but he was gone. There was nothing she could do. She cries, and says, Eugene took him from her. Eugene killed her boy, and this murderer needs to pay. There are rumblings from the gallery, and Yumiko objects, asking that it be stricken from the record, but the judge says, denied. Eugene tells Yumiko that there’s nothing they can do to dissuade the judge, who is a proverbial brick wall. Yumiko says, it’s not the judge they have to get to; it’s the people. Eugene looks at Max, and Yumiko gets up. She asks Pamela to tell them about the lottery. What does it mean to her? Pamela says, it means opportunity; hope for a better future. Yumiko says, or it’s a lie – there are murmurs from the crowd – just like Pamela’s son said. The prosecution objects, and the judge sustains it. Yumiko says, yes or no? It was on the recording; they all heard it. There’s a reaction from the gallery again, and Yumiko says, answer the question, governor. Pamela says, that wasn’t her son. She knows his voice, and that’s not it. The tape has been altered. Yumiko asks if Pamela actually expects them to believe it was altered. That someone… Pamela says, not someone; Yumiko’s client. He admitted that he played it, and caused chaos; not her son. A woman yells, free Eugene!

Daryl tells Maggie, it’s bad. He doesn’t think they’ll all make it. Carol says, they saw the adults, but not the kids, and Maggie says, they have to go in. Daryl says, they can’t, but Gabriel says, the Commonwealth turned their home into a prison after they promised to give it back. Daryl signs to Connie, you and me, down sh*t tunnel, and Connie signs that she’s going with Daryl. Daryl says, they’re going down into the sewer. Rosita wants to come, but Carol says, since she’s a sharpshooter, she should stay. They can keep in touch by radio. Maggie, Connie, Daryl, and Carol leave.

Ezekiel sees Tyler at mealtime, and he and Negan sit by him. Ezekiel says he knows Tyler stood up to Pamela, and wonders if Tyler wants out as much as they do. Tyler says he wants to live, but Negan says, this is not living; they’re barely surviving. Ezekiel says, they can take control, but Tyler asks if he doesn’t think it’s been tried. The same thing always happens; people who shouldn’t die, do. They have two choices; survival or that. They got a taste of it today. Try this, and they all die. Ezekiel says, or try it, and they all live. They’ve only got each other. If they lose faith in that and the idea they can change this – two troopers walk in – they’re as good as dead anyway. The troopers go over to Negan, and tell him, get up. He says, nope. Not until they tell him where his wife is. The grab him and take him out. Tyler tells Ezekiel, you’re on your own.

Negan is taken to a room where he’s told to sit. Nameless Boss tells a trooper – the same one who Negan asked for a break – that his transfer has been denied. The trooper says, his brother is sick, and Nameless Boss says, then the trooper should have told him directly instead of going around him and asking for a transfer. His duty’s been extended for six months. Negan sees the trooper make a fist, and the wheels turn in his head. Nameless Boss tells Negan they found this after Negan tussled with the guards, and hands him the map. Negan says, cool, and Nameless Boss says, what is it? Negan says, a poor man’s tic-tac-toe? He doesn’t know. Nameless Boss says, someone is keeping track of the guards; when they come and go, and how many are on a shift. Negan asks what that has to do with him, and Nameless Boss says, when the prisoners got here, he thought Negan was a leader, but he has other priorities. Real leaders cut themselves off from others because of what they do. Other people don’t have the stomach for it, and the ones that do are the real threats. There’s a threat in their midst, and he thinks it’s one of Negan’s people. Negan says, other than his wife, all these people hate him. He doesn’t know anything. Nameless Boss says he bets Negan can find out, and Negan says he bets he can’t. He hands back the map, and Nameless Boss says, that’s not really an option. Unless he’d rather not see his pregnant wife again.

A trooper lets Negan in to see Annie, and he sits on the bed. He asks if she’s okay, and not hurt, and she says she thinks he got the worst of it. He asks, how’s the little one? and she says, the baby kicked her so hard, she almost rolled off the bed. He says, going to be a badass like their mama, and Annie says, they’re going get out. He says, he knows; he’s working on it. She asks if that’s what he was doing on the tracks; working it his way. He tells her, old habits die hard, and she says, they can’t. They have to get to safety. He says he’d never risk them. Don’t worry. She says, that bad, huh? and he laughs. He says he’s known men like Nameless Boss his whole life. He used to be him. She says, no wonder everyone hated him, and he says, no sh*t. He’ll handle him. She says, sure. If she doesn’t do it first.

Daryl and Connie drop down into the sewer and look around with flashlights. He signs, is she okay? and she says, so-so. Is he okay? He says he’s good, and Carol radios that she and Maggie are good. Daryl says, them too, and signs to Connie that Maggie and Carol are here too. She signs, this will work? and he says, yes. They walk into an adjoining tunnel. In another area, Maggie removes the grating to the street.

Maggie and Carol sneak into one of their old houses, and go upstairs. A trooper is patrolling, and they stay out of sight. They hear him coming their way, and ambush him, Carol whacking him in the head with the butt of her gun. They drag him away.

Luke tells the others that they were behind the houses. He wanted to stay and fight, but Rachel wasn’t having any of it. He said, no way they were leaving them there, but she insisted they go, and warn everybody; tell them what’s coming. Jules says, they haven’t seen them since, and Luke says, they should have stayed. Jerry says, he found them, and now he has them. Aaron says, they were heading to Alexandria, and Lydia says, troopers are coming. They duck down, and Elijah says, they can’t outrun them. A bunch of zombies are headed for them on the other side, and Lydia looks at a body nearby. We all know what she’s thinking.

In his cell, the crowd chanting outside, Eugene says, Yumiko’s nerves mystify him. Does she hear what he hears? She got through to them. Yumiko says, that was the point, but there are still troopers doing Pamela’s bidding. If the troopers aren’t on their side, it doesn’t matter. Eugene says, she’s inspired an uprising, but she says, it might not be fast enough. Max asks if she’s saying they might lose, and Yumiko says she doesn’t think the people can stop it. Max asks, what happens next? and puts her hand on Eugene’s through the bars. Eugene says, perhaps this time they should accept the situation he finds himself in, but Max says, no. Eugene says, they knew this could come, and probably would come. He tears up, and says, they must prepare… if he’s declared guilty… let the troopers escort him to his… He starts to cry, and Yumiko says, Max’s brother commands respect here. If Max can get him on their side and to admit Pamela is corrupt in public… Max says, if he was going to, he would have when Princess was taken, and Yumiko asks if he knows. Pamela silos people off against each other. Eugene asks if Max thinks she could talk to Mercer, but she says, his men won’t let her near his office. Yumiko says, he might talk to her.

Mercer radios his men about a rendezvous, and walks into his office to find Yumiko. He says, she shouldn’t be here, and she says she came to convince him to do the right thing. He says, she should leave. He’s sure she doesn’t want to be late for the judge. She says, it doesn’t matter. They’re going to lose; she knows that. The man who Mercer’s sister loves is going to die, and her other friends might die too. Pamela’s men took them God knows where. Princess is with them. He says he knows, and Yumiko says she doesn’t believe he doesn’t care, and neither does his sister. She needs him to testify against Pamela in public to save Eugene. He says, doing what she’s asking won’t change a thing, but she says, people seeing him speak truth to power will. He says he has to get back, and she storms out.

Maggie and Carol hide in a janitorial closet with the unconscious trooper. Maggie peeks out at the troopers getting ready. She tells Carol that she hears Herschel’s voice; I want to be better. I want to do better. Sometimes she thinks it wasn’t fair to bring him into this world. Was she being selfish? Carol hugs her, and says, no. After Sophia and Henry, she felt that way, but she doesn’t believe it’s selfish to miss them and want them to come back. Maggie agrees, and Carol says, Maggie will try to make the world better because of him; that’s hope. They will find him.

Negan and Ezekiel shovel dirt, and Ezekiel asks if Negan is going to tell him what happened with the warden (i.e. Nameless Boss). Negan says he got put on latrine duty, and Ezekiel tells him not to go rouge again. They needed that map. Negan says he doesn’t really need to hear that sh*t again, and Ezekiel says, because he agreed to work with Negan, Negan thinks they’re friends now, but they’re not. He hasn’t forgotten for one minute what Negan took. Henry and his brother Benjamin were his family, and apologizing changes nothing, not for him. If it works out, and they get out of here, Negan doesn’t deserve a brand new life. He damn sure doesn’t deserve to be a father. Negan says he will be a father. Ezekiel can go ahead and live in the past. You do you, and I’ll do me, and you know what? I’m gonna do it for my kid. Negan walks away.

Nameless Boss gets up, and says, so. You got a name for me? Negan stands in front of him.

Outside, a zombie is tangled in vines, and Connie signs to Daryl, what’s going on? He stabs it in the head, and he signs, she’s scared too? She nods, puts her hand on his shoulder, and they move forward.

The judge thanks the prosecutor for him closing remarks, and says, they’re to be entered into public record. She asks if the defense rests, and Eugene says he’d like to address the court. Yumiko starts to protest, but he says, please, and the judge says she’ll allow it. He gets up, and says, the way he sees it, he was living on borrowed time for the past decade. Someone like him should have met their Maker on the first day the world fell apart. And he would have, if not for the aid of friends. Friends who have not only changed him, but the hearts and minds of so many others beyond here. He’s certain his fate won’t discourage them from keeping that going, and helping others find the courage to do what’s right. We see Mercer’s reaction off and on throughout Eugene’s speech. Eugene says, he was not always a good man. He fell in with a posse who thrived on downright unseemly acts, and he looked the other way. He valued order and safety above all other things. Then he realized, even though he wasn’t the one swinging the bat, nevertheless, he had blood on his hands. He knew his inaction made him culpable, and he hated himself. Then he did something in his own little way that changed the world. He learned that one person can do that. Sometimes all it takes is one person to do that. Thank you. That is all. He sits, and Yumiko says, the defense rests. In a surprise to no one, the judge says, the Commonwealth finds Eugene guilty of murder in the first degree. There will be a public execution in one hour. Pam is escorted out, and Max watches as Eugene is taken away.

Troopers rouse the railway workers, and tell them to get up and get outside. They move everybody along, and Ezekiel and Annie are both dragged out. Everyone is herded to the windmill, and Nameless Boss says, a traitor is in their in midst. Someone who thinks he’s above the rules. They bring out Negan, who looks pretty beat up, and Nameless Boss says, a prisoner has admitted to spearheading a rebellion. Any co-conspirators will be given the benefit of the doubt. He trusts they weren’t acting of their own free will. Only Negan will be punished, but it’s important they’re all here to see and to remember. Annie breaks away, but a trooper grabs her before she gets to Negan. Negan tells her, it’s okay. He loves her. Nameless Boss tells him to get on his knees. This is what happens when you don’t know your place. (I can hear Minister Mason from Snowpiercer saying, be a shoe!) Annie says, don’t let him. Listen to her. The troopers aim their guns, and Nameless Boss says, ready… aim… There are no martyrs here. He grabs Annie, dragging her up front, and Negan says, that’s not their deal. Nameless Boss says, he’ll feel this punishment, and Negan says, that’s not what he said. Ezekiel looks like he’s going to explode, and Negan says, take him; just him. Nameless Boss says, ready, and Negan sees that same trooper again. He says, you. You have a family. Don’t do this. Please. Nameless Boss repeats, ready, and Ezekiel walks to the front. Negan asks what he’s doing, and Ezekiel says he doesn’t know.

Princess goes up, and one by one, people start joining them, including Tyler. Nameless Boss says, he admires the bravery of the prisoners… Shoot them all. The troopers cock their guns, and Ezekiel says, they don’t have to do this. The world is broken; we don’t have to be. Our favorite trooper puts down his gun, then walks over to Nameless Boss. He’s about to shoot, and another trooper raises his gun, but the first trooper is faster, and kills him. Nameless Boss grabs Kelly, but he suddenly drops to the ground. We’re all like, what just happened? and then we see, Daryl is here!

Maggie hears Hershel yell for help. She kicks in the door to the room his cries are coming from, and Carol shoots the guard before he can react. Maggie asks if Herschel is okay, and he says he is. She hugs him, and Rosita comes in. She asks if Coco is here, but Herschel says he doesn’t know where she is, and Rosita runs out.

A zombie herd walks, Aaron’s group walking with them, using the covered-in-guts method. Jeeps patrol the perimeter of the herd, and shine searchlights into it. The group gravitates together, and a knife is dropped. Somehow, it’s swiftly retrieved, but it’s unclear by who. Or what.

Negan is about to go all Lucille on Nameless Boss, when Rosita runs up, saying, don’t kill him. She grabs Nameless Boss’s collar, and asks where her daughter is. Nameless Boss laughs, and she punches him in the face. She grabs the dead-now-zombie trooper, and drags him over, putting his face a few inches from Nameless Boss’s face. He says, she’ll lose everything, and she lets go of the zombie. Now it’s my turn to laugh as Nameless Boss screams while his eyeballs get pulled from his head.

Eugene is brought into the hall, wearing a hood. He’s walked through a series of hallways, and they stop. A trooper takes his hood off, and he stands in front of Mercer. His handcuffs are removed, and Mercer says, time to f*** sh*t up.

I cheer in my head.

Next time – two episodes left – Negan says, it’s not safe while Pamela is still breathing; Pamela wants to join the search for Eugene; and Mercer talks to Princess.

💭 What a great episode ending. What a great hero Mercer is.

🧛🏽‍♂️ Gives Great Vampire…

This show is so beautifully done, even if sad at times. The sets and costumes alone are worth watching for.

https://ew.com/tv/recaps/interview-with-the-vampire-season-1-episode-6/

Spoilers for the finale here.

https://wherever-i-look.com/tv-series/interview-with-the-vampire-season-1-episode-7-finale-recap-review-with-spoilers

🧐 I Spy With My Little Eye…

Moving on to Thanksgiving. You remember that holiday, don’t you? Apparently advertisers don’t, since I’m hearing Christmas carols in commercials already. Come on down for soap and yachting on the Med tomorrow. Until then, stay safe, stay enjoying the season you’re in before rushing to the next one, and stay changing the world by doing something in your own little way. Just because the world is broken, doesn’t mean we have to be.