What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Curtis and Stella sit in Kelly’s, and Stella tells Curtis that she appreciates him sitting down with her, despite their conversation the other day. He says he was angry, but he loves her; she’s family. Nothing will ever change that. But she has to stop inserting herself in his relationships. Trina walks in and Curtis asks if she’d care to join them.  

At the hospital, Jordan tells an officer that they’re going to do another sweep of the subbasement. The Bureau knows their stuff when it comes to criminals like Peter, but she’d put her money on their forensics team any day of the week. Portia walks over and asks if Jordan has time for coffee. Jordan says she’s sorry, she can’t, and Portia says she’s sure Jordan is busy with the Peter August investigation, but when she comes up for air, maybe they can get together. Jordan says she’s sorry. She can’t do this. She knows Portia and Curtis kissed.

Sonny walks into the Tan-O where Nina is polishing glasses. She says she didn’t expect him to be back so soon, and he says he didn’t expect to see her so soon. She says she asked Phyllis for a spare set of keys. The least she could do is open this place up. Sonny says, it  looks like she belongs there.

Chase hoists himself up, and stands. He says, yes. Now how about a step? He takes a step forward, and Austin sees him.  

The doorbell rings as Willow goes to get Wiley, and she yells that she’s got it. She opens the door to Harmony, who says Willow looks wonderful. Jason asks if everything is okay, because it takes 16 people to answer the door, and Willow asks what Harmony is doing there. Harmony says she came to see her grandson on his birthday, and Wiley smiles. Two things. When did Harmony start wearing such frumpy looking shoes (which is all we saw on Friday)? and I thought things were left on a good note with her and Willow.

Portia says she’s so sorry, but Jordan says Portia didn’t do anything wrong. She and Curtis are getting a divorce. She’s just exhausted. It’s been a long day, and she doesn’t have it in her to be anything but honest about how she’s feeling. Portia says, of course (🍷); she gets it. She wasn’t sure how to go about this either; how to talk to Jordan about it. She was hoping they’d chat before Jordan and Curtis spoke. She asks when he told Jordan, but Jordan says, he didn’t. She saw them together.

Trina tells Curtis that she doesn’t want to interrupt. She was picking up food before meeting her mom at the hospital. Stella says Trina isn’t interrupting anything. They were finished, and she has an errand to run. She hugs Curtis and leaves. Curtis says Portia mentioned that she told Trina about them. He has time if she wants to talk. She tells him, like she said, she can’t stay. He asks if she’s sure. It looks like there’s something on her mind.

Nina wonders if Lenny is out of surgery, but Sonny says Phyllis wanted him to tend bar, and not sit and wait with her. Nina says, it’s one less thing for her to worry about, and he says she also knows he’ll try to stop her from micromanaging the staff. Nina asks if there’s any indication of how serious Lenny’s condition may be, but Sonny says, they have to assess the growths on the pancreas before they can figure out what stage the cancer is in. Nina says, if it’s cancer, and Sonny says, yeah. Phyllis is hopeful thanks to Nina. Nina says she doesn’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse.

Harmony goes over to Wiley, and says, this must be the birthday boy. He’s gotten so big. Michael asks Brook to take Wiley to the den, and as she leaves with Wiley, Harmony says she can’t believe Wiley is three already. Willow says she can’t believe a lot of things, and Michael asks the crowd of looky-loos to give them a minute alone. Harmony say she’s sure they have questions, and Willow says, just one. Why did she come back now?

Curtis pulls out a chair for Trina and she sits. He says, maybe he’s wrong, but he thought they buried the hatchet after everything that went down with her dad. She says, they did. There’s nothing major; she’s happy for them. He wonders why he’s sensing she’s anything but happy. This thing between him and her mother is new. That’s the reason he wanted the two of them to start off on the right foot. She says, is it though? New? He asks what she means, and she says she wants to make sure that he and the Commissioner were over by time he and her mom got together. He asks what would make her think they weren’t, and she flashes back to seeing Portia help Curtis take off his wedding ring.

Portia says, Jordan saw them? and Jordan says, at The Savoy on opening night. It doesn’t matter why she was there. It was late, and things were winding down… Portia says, and she saw them kissing. She’s sorry. That has to be the worst possible way to find something like this out. Jordan says she wasn’t expecting to get an official memo, but she was caught off-guard. Portia says, of course (🍷) it did. Curtis wanted to tell Jordan himself that he was seeing someone. Jordan says she knew the two of them had kissed, but she didn’t know they were actually a couple now.

Sonny asks Nina how hope can be a curse, and she says Lenny made it sound like she was setting Phyllis up for a fall. Can she trust him to keep something between them? He says, all she has to do is ask, and she says, Lenny’s hesitation had less to do with cost, and more about giving Phyllis false hope. The outcome of pancreatic cancer is often bleak. He says, often isn’t always, and she tells him, she said the same thing to Lenny. He made her promise that if they ran out of options, things they can do for him, she would do what she could to get Phyllis to recognize that. He asks if she thinks she can keep that promise, but she says she doesn’t know. Sometimes hope is the only thing that gets you through. It did for her. The hope that she’d meet her daughter kept her going for years, and she wouldn’t change it for anything. Although she knows the outcome of the search, she would have never had her grandson in her life. He says, usually when she speaks about Wiley, she has a happy smile on her face, but right now, it’s sad. She says, it’s his birthday today, and Sonny asks if they’re having a party. She says, yeah. She’s missing him.

Carly says she knew today would be full of surprises for Wiley, but she didn’t expect Harmony to be one of them. Valentin says normally, he makes a habit of studying those in his orbit, and Carly says, of course (🍷) he does. He says he has to admit to knowing next to nothing about Willow’s family history. Why was she upset when her mother showed up? Carly says, because Harmony forced Willow to join a cult where she got pregnant with the cult leader’s baby. Call her crazy, but that’s probably the reason.

Harmony says she’s tried to explain this to Willow, and Willow says, try again. Harmony says her legal situation is complicated. She testified against Shiloh, but she also pled guilty, which makes her release and parole… Willow says, forget the legal situation. Why today? (Has everyone gone stupid?) Harmony says, because Willow is her daughter, and as horrifically as she messed up, she wants to rebuild. Willow says Harmony didn’t answer her question, and Harmony says, because it’s a day for family. She was hoping that if she reached out today, Willow would be receptive. She just wants to make things better between them. Chase wheels himself in, Austin behind him, and asks if Willow invited Harmony, but Willow says, it was a surprise visit. Chase says Harmony honestly thought this was a good idea? Because as soon as you move into the Quartermaine mansion, something takes over your brain, and you can’t stay out of other people’s business.

Portia tells Jordan that she’s the absolute worst at this. She’s going to stop talking. Jordan says Portia doesn’t owe her anything, but Portia says, doesn’t she? She knows they had their issues in the beginning, but it meant a lot to her that they could be friends. Jordan says, it meant a lot to her too, and Portia say she hates that she’s a part of hurting Jordan, but Jordan says she’s not. She and Curtis ended because of them; it had nothing to do with Portia. Portia supposes it’s a pipe dream, thinking they can keep their friendship, and Jordan doesn’t see how that could work out. At least not right now. She gets in the elevator, and says, for what it’s worth (🍷) she just wants what’s best for Curtis, and if Portia makes him happy, and the two of them are honest with each other, then she and Portia are good. The doors close.

Trina tells Curtis, sorry, and asks if that was completely inappropriate. He says, nothing inappropriate about it. It’s something they have in common. To answer her question, he and Jordan were long separated before he started anything with her mom. She says, cool, and notices her order is ready. She thanks Curtis, and he asks, for what? She says, it feels good knowing him and her mom weren’t sneaking around.

Sonny says, it’s a good thing Nina was invited, and she says, it’s a great thing. She sees it as an olive branch, and it means more to her than she can say. But she’s started to question if what she’s doing is the right thing. He asks if she means being in Nixon Falls. Go back. Take the next commuter plane, and go there; join the party. There’s nothing she can do there for Phyllis in the next couple of days. She says the party is almost over and she’ll find time to be with Wiley. She wants to be there for Lenny and Phyllis… and for him. She puts her hand on his, and says, she knows how close he and Lenny have gotten in the past few months. He says he doesn’t want her to worry about him, but she says, it’s too late.  She loves her grandson, but she has enough room in her heart for him too. He’s got to know that. He says he does and kisses her.

Jason says, Harmony was a member of a cult called Dawn of Day, and Valentin says he’s heard of them. Jason says, she was infatuated with the leader, Shiloh. Willow’s father eventually left the cult, and tried to get her to leave too, and Shiloh had him killed. Carly says, and made it look like a suicide, and Valentin says, Willow didn’t know anything about it? Jason says, not until after she was forced to sleep with the guy, and Valentin asks if she was raped. Jason says, pretty much (pretty much? what does that mean?), and Carly says, he would drug the girls so they would be foggy about what was happening. Valentin says, girls plural; so this was a pattern? Carly says it was, and he asks how she knows so much about this. She says, Sonny’s daughter Kristina was one of the girls, and Jason says, Kristina wanted to join the cult. She was ready to offer herself up to Shiloh, and that’s when her family had to intervene. In the fallout, they realized Shiloh had to be taken down, and the person who made that possible is Harmony.

Chase asks what Harmony is doing there, and she says it was her grandson’s birthday, so she thought… He says, she thought wrong, totally overstepping his bounds in someone else’s house. He says, first, she causes her daughter unbearable pain, then the second she gets out of Pentenville, she’s playing messenger with Cyrus Renault. She says she wanted nothing to do with Cyrus; he forced her. Michael says Chase might not be aware of this. He only knows because Jason was somewhat involved, but Cyrus threatened Willow. That’s how he got Harmony to cooperate. Harmony says she was protecting her daughter, and Chase says, that would be a first. (Seriously. Hello? Where has this guy been that he knows zero about this?) Harmony says she’ll never make excuses for anything she did, but she loves her daughter. What she was trying to explain is, she came there today because she thought it would be a good time to reach out, and hopefully mend fences, or move in that direction at least. Chase – who doesn’t live there – tells her that she has to get out now, and she says, that’s it? He’s just going to order her out of there? He says, that’s right, and Michael finally wakes up and remembers he’s the one who lives there, saying, he knows it’s been a shock and they need time to process. It’s Willow’s call, but she doesn’t have to make the decision right now. Harmony says the last thing she wants to do is cast a shadow on today, but she’s here. The next time she’ll text, and she hopes they can see each other really soon. She puts Wiley’s gift on the table, and leaves. Chase tells Willow not to let Harmony get to her. Today is going to be a great day. It’s party time. He doesn’t know about them, but he saw some birthday cupcakes he can’t wait to eat. Willow says, her too, and remembers she left one of Wiley’s presents at the gatehouse. She’s going to go grab it. Chase says he’d go with her, but it would just slow her down. She leaves, and Austin says he thinks he needs a history lesson; he’s not entirely sure what’s going on. Chase wonders how that psycho can just show up and do that to Willow.

Willow goes into the gatehouse, and leans on the door, hyperventilating. She flashes back to Chase telling her about Jonah – who they’d thought was Wiley – dying, and how Brad found him. She sits down, puts her head in her hands and cries.

Jason says, Harmony had to confront everything she’d done wrong, almost destroying her daughter’s life. She figured the only thing she could do for Willow was step up and take the stand. She did. She took responsibility for everything and went to jail in the process. Carly says, which she absolutely deserved, and Jason tells her, he’s not saying she didn’t. He’s not defending her actions, but as much as anyone could make amends for those kinds of mistakes, he thinks Harmony did. And Harmony helped fend off Nelle when she resurfaced. She did everything in her power to let Michael keep his claim on Wiley. Monica says, obviously, it’s all up to Willow, but she thinks Harmony did something really horrible. Carly says, some things horrible, but Monica says, that she tried to make up for, not unlike a lot of people who’ve taken shelter under this roof. She looks at Valentin. Carly says, there’s also the Cyrus thing, and Valentin asks if she was in league with Cyrus. Jason says, unwillingly. They met in prison, and Cyrus threatened Willow to get Harmony to cooperate, but it’s like Monica said, it’s up to Willow, and she’s well within her rights not to want anything to do with her mom. Valentin says, she sincerely wants to make amends? and Jason says, she wants to make things right. Sometimes that works, and sometimes you just have to accept you can’t fix it. No matter how bad you want to. Jason gets up and says he’d love to stay for the party, but he can’t. He asks Carly to tell Michael and Willow; he doesn’t want to interrupt. Carly says she’s going to stick around a while, but she’ll walk Jason out, and Valentin says he’ll check on Bailey. Monica thanks Jason for coming, and says she wishes it had been more of a celebration. He says he’ll talk to her later, and she says she’ll hold him to it.

Sonny says, as much as he likes that Nina is there, she doesn’t have to stay for him. He can handle things himself. She says she knows that more than he realizes, but just because you can do something on your own, doesn’t mean you have to. He asks if he can be honest with her, and says Lenny getting sick hit him hard. When they were in the hospital in New York City, he felt this familiar pain, like a memory. Lenny went to do some tests and he went out in the hall. He saw this hat on the ground; he guesses a patient left it. He picked it up, and he was hit with a flash; not a whole memory, but the feeling that he was saying goodbye to someone. He was letting go. It really felt like he was remembering his family.

Still at Kelly’s, Curtis calls Portia, but gets voicemail. Before he can leave a message, Jordan walks in. She says she’s glad she ran into him. She’s signed the divorce papers and they’re in the mail. It shouldn’t be long now. He says, as long as they understand each other, there’s no rush. She says she heard he and Portia have started to see each other.

Portia sees she missed a call from Curtis, and smiles. Stella asks if she has a minute, and Portia says, that depends. Is Stella there to pass judgement on her character again? Stella says, one of the perks of getting to a certain age is that you can pass all the judgement you want, and no one bats an eye… That was a joke. It was never her intention to make an enemy out of Portia. Believe it or not, all she wanted was for Portia and Curtis not to get hurt. She can’t help but worry it will end up that way if the two of them pursue this relationship. Portia asks why Stella would think that, and Stella flashes back to putting the envelope with Jordan’s divorce papers in her bag. She tells Portia, she has it on good authority that Curtis’s marriage isn’t over just yet.

On the terrace, Carly says when Jason was talking about fixing the damage and not being able to, he was talking about Britt. He says, it is what it is. It’s a whole set of circumstances that none of them asked for. First it was Sonny, then their territory was vulnerable, then he got arrested – she says, because Cyrus and Peter set him up – then the escape went wrong, and he couldn’t make the meeting of the Five Families mushroom risotto, and she did. She stepped up, but she also made herself a target. Them getting married is to protect the family, to protect each other. He’s choosing that, but it comes at a cost… for both of them, he knows that. She says he’s right; it does come at a cost. She knows it’s really tough for Britt because she doesn’t know all the reasons, and he says, he doesn’t want to talk about it. She says, but… and he says, but what? She’s still going to talk about it? She says he’s blaming himself for something that’s unavoidable, but it’s not his fault. He says, it doesn’t matter if it was his fault or not. Britt got hurt, and he’s the one who hurt her.

Valentin asks Brook how it’s going, and she says she and Wiley are drawing up a storm. She tells Wiley that Bailey’s going to love the picture he made her. Speaking of, did Valentin check on their Sleeping Beauty? He says he did; still sleeping, still beautiful. She asks, what’s going on in there? and he says, it’s a long, convoluted, and very sad story, but ultimately, Willow’s mother did something really terrible, and she wants to make amends for it. Brook asks if he thinks she can, but he doesn’t know. He’s never met the woman, and it’s the first he’s heard of it. It’s very easy for him to empathize, because the only thing worse than realizing you did something really terrible, is when you do something really terrible that hurts your child. She says he’s a great dad, but he says he wasn’t always that way. She says Charlotte worships him, and he says he and Charlotte’s mother Lulu fought mercilessly. They were in and out of court for years. It was an enormous strain on Charlotte to go back and forth. Court ordered visitations, social workers, and psychologists. She was caught in the middle. He never would have wanted to do that to her, but he made life so difficult. He stole time from her that she could have spent with her mother, getting to know Lulu. He doesn’t know if shell get a second chance at that, and he doesn’t know how one makes amends for that. She says it looks like he really turned his life around, at least as a father, and he says there was a moment where he realized if he didn’t change he was going to lose Charlotte, so he decided to be a better dad for Charlotte, and now Bailey cahr and bail most important things in his world. Brook tells Wiley that he’s so important to Michael and Willow, and Valentin says, they’re not the only ones. There’s someone suspiciously missing from this party. Brook says, who? and Valentin says, someone special who’s really going to enjoy talking to Wiley

Nina says, Sonny is remembering family? Anyone in particular? He says the only flashes he’s had are the blond woman in his dream, which he believes is her, and this one. She says, so he was saying goodbye to someone, and he says, the pain is real. What if he doesn’t want to remember his past because the people who love him woudn’t be there? Or his family, if he had one, is gone? She doesn’t say anything, and he asks if she’s all right. She nods, and he says, those are the few unknowns, right? She says, yeah, and he tells her that he has to open. He’s going to get cleaned up. He goes upstairs, and she asks herself, what is she doing? Her phone rings, and it’s Brook. Nina asks if something happened with the Deception deal, but Brook says, it’s nothing about work. She’s there with Wiley at his birthday party, and he wanted to say hello. Nina says she’d love to talk to Wiley, and Brook suggests she put her video camera on so Wiley can see her face.

Chase tells Austin, he feels so useless. Willow is upset, and he can’t even go to her without somebody helping him navigate this thing. Austin says, they both know that’s not true. He saw Chase in the den, standing on his own two feet, and he took a step or two. Great job, man. Chase says that’s about all he can do; a step or two, and wobbly ones. Austin asks if Willow knows, but Chase says he was hoping to make more progress before he told her. Austin says, after the surprise Willow just got, she could use a happy surprise, wobbly or not. Go to the gatehouse. Show her some steps. Give her something to smile about. Chase says he can’t walk that far by himself, and Austin supposes not. Good thing he has a doctor to lean on.

Michael goes to the gatehouse, and Willow quickly gets herself together, saying, she realized she still had to wrap the gift and couldn’t find the stupid tape. She asks if Wiley is upset, but Michael says he’s around people who love him. take as much time as she needs. She says, it’s just tape, and he says, it’s more than that. He knows how hard it’s been on her today. Whole she’s celebrating the day of Wiley’s birth, she’s also marking the anniversary of her baby’s death. It’s a lot all at once. Nobody blames her for having to take a minute. She says she was already all over the place, and she opened that door and her mom was there. She’s grieving, thinking about how she only got to hold him the one time, and there’s Harmony, the reason he even existed. She loved him so much. That doesn’t mean she loves Wiley any less, but Jonah was hers, and now he’s gone. She doesn’t know how to feel about any of it. He says, today was a hard day, and to have her mom show up on top of it… She says she wants to be happy, laugh, sing, help Wiley blow out his candles. All of a sudden, she couldn’t, so she came there to wrap a present that doesn’t exist. She’s telling him she can’t find the tape when it’s right there, because it’s not fair to anyone, especially Wiley, to see her grieve. He says, it is fair, and even if it wasn’t, it’s how she feels. That makes it real. He takes her hands, says, that’s what matters, and they hug. And then they kiss.

Jordan tells Curtis, Portia didn’t betray his trust. She figured it out for herself, and it’s okay. He says, it is? and she says her biggest motivation for signing the divorce papers was the realization that he was moving on with his life. They’re not together anymore, and it’s mostly her fault. The last thing she wants to do is hold him back now that he wants to move on. He asks if she woudn’t have signed the papers if she thought he hadn’t been ready to move on.

Portia tells Stella, she understands that the divorce papers haven’t been processed yet. That’s one of the many reasons she and Curtis decided to take things slow. If Stella has any more concerns, it’s best she speak to her nephew about them. Stella says, there’s no such thing as half divorce, and Portia says, meaning? Trina comes up the hall toward them, but they don’t see her. Stella says, meaning, don’t jump in head first. She doesn’t want to be the other woman in Curtis’s marriage, the way Portia made him the other man in hers. Trina is like, whoa.

Jason asks Carly to tell Wiley happy birthday again, and starts to leave. She says he’s way more optimistic about this Harmony thing than she is, and he asks if she’s worried. She says, isn’t he? and he says he wants to find out what she’s been up to. If it’s her family drawing her there, that’s great, but if she’s in trouble and susceptible to blackmail, it’s best they find out now.

Nina tells Brook that she doesn’t have a lot of time right now. Maybe Brook could just get Wiley on the phone and she could tell him happy birthday and that she loves him. Brook says she thinks it’s important that Wiley see Nina’s face. Things were tense there earlier and he could use a grandma pick-me-up. Nina goes over by the window, and Wiley and Brook show up on her screen. Wiley says hi, and Nina asks if he got the forklift she sent. Sonny comes in, and asks if that’s Nina’s grandson and Nina nods. Brook says, Wiley hasn’t opened his gifts yet. Brook goes on about the gifts, when Carly walks in and asks who Wiley is talking to. She comes into the frame as Sonny moves closer to Nina.

Austin helps Chase into the gatehouse. No one is there, and Chase calls to Willow. She doesn’t hear him because she and Michael are getting busy upstairs.

Tomorrow, Portia tells Stella not to go one step near her daughter, Josslyn tells Cameron that it’s more of a no thing, Austin suggests Willow is upstairs, and Sonny asks if he can see Wiley.

🤧 Not So Hot…

I promise Below Deck Med will be posted tomorrow, so the epic Lexi tirade will be done justice, but right now my allergies have me down. It looks like I’ll be needing some antibiotics. In the meantime, I’ve got to get some sleep, so stay safe, stay well, and stay not pretending to wrap a fake gift. It will only get you in trouble.