Tag Archives: Colman Domingo

October 24, 2025 – GH Weekdays, Drew Pays Ronnie a Visit, Soap Suds, This Week In Reality, Weekend Watching, Watching Soon, A Rarity, An Ending, Spooky Viewing, All Dressed Up Plus a PSA, One Dozen Quotes & A Thrill

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What I Watched Today

(Weekday bites, Friday’s whole GH enchilada & media minutiae)

General Hospital

🥢 Weekday Bites…                                                                           

Monday:

Carly had wine with Jack and asked how his business trip was, even though the moss bowl🎍was probably more interested than she was. He told her about Charlotte’s visit with her father, and she said she hoped he got what he wanted from Valentin. He said he didn’t see the flowers he’d sent, and she said she had to throw them out.

Marco told Nathan that the arraignment was going to be handled by ADA Lansing-Davis. Marco saw Molly come in and went to talk to her.

Nina was brought into the courtroom and hugged Nathan. Willow was brought in, and she stared at Nina.

Michael asked why Dante thought he’d framed Willow. Dante said his grandfather’s gun had been found at Elizabeth’s and Willow said he put it there.

At the tea party, Olivia introduced Lucy to Ronnie, and Lucy immediately gave Ronnie a real estate spiel and her card, but Olivia intercepted it and said it wasn’t a business meeting. They were hoping Ronnie would make Port Charles her permanent home. Lucy said she was also the town historian. Ask her anything. Fun fact. This used to be her house when she married Monica’s husband Alan.

Tracy told Brook that she was glad to throw the party for Ronnie. What better way to demonstrate that she didn’t belong and never would?

Portia saw Elizabeth outside the Quartermaines and said she wasn’t just having morning sickness in the morning. Elizabeth asked if she told Curtis, but Portia said she wasn’t going to until she knew for sure he was the father. They went inside and Stella greeted them. Elizabeth asked, how’s the vibe? and Stella said there were a lot of ladies, tea, and tons of finger food. She hoped they were hungry.

Olivia introduced Felicia to Ronnie and said she was an Aztec princess. Ronnie curtsied, but Felicia said she gave up the title a long time ago. Tracy laughed, and Brook told her not to be mean. She suggested Tracy welcome Ronnie.

Jack asked why Carly threw out the flowers, and Carly flashed back to smashing the vase. She said they’d slipped out of her hands and shattered, and it seemed best to throw them out. He said he was afraid she was still mad about Josslyn and Vaughn, and she said he wasn’t wrong about that.

The judge said, first up, was The People vs Willow Tate, and Willow said she thought she and Nina were going to be charged together. Willow pled not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder, and they moved on to bail. Molly said Willow had a history of erratic behavior and her mother had ample means to spirit her away, but Martin said that was absurd. Willow had strong ties to the community, was a nurse, and had two children in Port Charles. She had no criminal history and the victim was there in support of her. But the judge agreed she was a definite flight risk and bail was denied.

Martin saw Lulu in the hallway, and she said she’d been covering for someone from the Port Charles Press. They’d arrived and she had to go to a tea party to meet Monica’s long lost sister. They’d been estranged, but Monica left the house and most of the estate to her. Martin said it must have made Tracy furious and that made him happy, and Lulu left for the party.

Ronnie met Portia, and Tracy told Stella that she was staying out of the way in case she got blamed for stirring the pot. Stella said she took it that Tracy wasn’t a fan, and Tracy asked, what’s not to like about a gold digging grifter? Stella said there still might be trouble. Portia and Jordan were in the same room and on the brink of open warfare. Tracy said as long as Brook couldn’t blame her.

Ronnie said Jordan was absolutely stunning (truth!) and wondered why she was single – not that there was anything wrong with that. Jordan said she’d been focused on her career, and Portia said she had a hunch Jordan wouldn’t be single long. She asked Brook if there was herbal or decaf tea and Brook went to get it.

Jack said he knew something was off, and Carly said she’d been struggling. He said he thought she understood he had no choice, and she said she thought she did, but had time to think about it. Did she really want to be with someone who was basically required to keep things from her, even if they involved the people she loved? He asked if she was ending things.

Nina said she felt terrible, but Nathan said there was nothing she could do. Focus on her own situation. Was she going to take the plea deal?

Drew wondered what the judge was thinking, and Martin said Willow would be transported to Pentenville as soon as Nina was arraigned. His hands were tied. He had to leave and suggested Willow get a lawyer to represent her at trial. He was already representing Drew, and she needed an actual criminal defense attorney, a damn good one.

On the patio, Dante told Michael that he wasn’t there as a cop, but convince him that he didn’t shoot Drew. Michael said the police had evidence that proved Willow was guilty, and Dante said Michael wasn’t there when Chase and Anna came back with the second warrant. Where did he go? Willow said he was in Elizabeth’s house. Michael said Elizabeth told him that he could wait, and Dante said he had ample opportunity to plant the gun. Michael said he didn’t. He wanted to talk to Willow about family therapy. He’d noticed that the visitation hearing was moved to January, and it was too long for the kids to go without seeing their mom. If he framed Willow, that meant he shot Drew. Did Dante think he could? Dante said between Michael and Willow, Michael had the stronger motive.

Carly said, when they met, she and Jack had an easy rapport, even though he’d been keeping secrets from her, big ones. She came to him for help with Lucky and he called in an air strike. He said he knew how important she was to him even thin, more than any woman had ever been. He’d do anything for her. She asked how he could keep her in the dark about daughter.

Felicia said Stella took no guff from difficult patients, and Ronnie said she had her share of nasty customers at the diner. Stella said she had the feeling Ronnie wasn’t a guff taker either, and Ronnie said, nope. Tracy said, et tu, Stella?

Martin found Lulu in the foyer and said she left her phone at the courthouse, but she said it wasn’t hers. She had it in her bag. He was about to leave, when Stella told them to come in and meet Monica’s sister.

Michael told Dante that Willow had every reason to shoot Drew. He’d lied to her from the beginning and slept with her mother. Dante said they’d reconciled, but Michael said maybe she had second thoughts. Dante said Michael and Drew were at odds. Drew blew up Michael’s family and was trying to get his kid, and Michael had a history of violence. Michale said he was protecting his mom and sister, and Dante said they would still use it against him. He should turn himself in. Michael said Dante gave him the same advice last time, and even though he was under 18, he was sentenced as an adult and went to Pentenville. Why would he ever take Dante’s advice again?

The judge called The People vs Nina Reeves. The charge was conspiracy to commit murder, and she asked how Nina pled. Molly said the prosecution was amending the charge to making a false statement, and Nina pled guilty. Willow asked Martin what Nina was doing.

Jack said when he and Carly started getting serious, they discussed parameters and he was clear about his work. Carly said they’d been through so much since then and she learned to trust him. She was convinced he’d never do anything to hurt her, but he did. Nothing was more important to her than her kids and he knew that, but he let Josslyn be pulled into his world and said nothing. Why didn’t he tell her that Josslyn was in danger?

Martin met Ronnie and explained he was a party crasher. He’d thought his niece left her phone at Willow’s arraignment. Stella asked how it went, but he said, not well, and Lucy asked if it was true that the gun was found in Elizabeth’s house. Elizabeth said, unfortunately, yes, and Lucy asked if she thought Willow was capable of shooting Drew. Tracy said she thought Willow would be a poisoner, but she must have thought that took too long, and Elizabeth said it wasn’t the time or place for gossip. Lucy said, it was merely conversation, and Lulu offered Portia some finger food. Elizabeth intercepted the tray and said she’d see if the other guests wanted some, and Portia looked sick. Jordan looked at Portia.

Dante said he’d never forgive himself for the part he played in Michael going to prison, but Michael said he shouldn’t have brought it up. Sorry. Dante said, don’t apologize. He knew that and wasn’t trying to upset Michael or make Michael think he didn’t believe in him, but since he’d been back from Germany, Dante had seen a different side. Michael always had the ruthless thing going on, but seemed harder and colder. Michael asked if Dante could blame him, and Dante said he couldn’t, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t worry or wonder what Michael was capable of. Maybe shooting his uncle in cold blood.

Stella told Ronnie that everything in the house told a story, and Ronnie said, if the walls could talk. Stella said she was sure the Quartermaines were happy they didn’t, and Ronnie said she got the sense that when the Quartermaines were quiet, that’s when you had to worry. Stella said it didn’t take Ronnie long to figure them out, when Martin said he was going to get while the gettin’ was good. Stella walked him out while Ronnie sipped her tea.  

Molly said the DA’s office had a plea deal that they were ready to present. In exchange for Nina pleading guilty, she’d get probation for one year and a $10,000 fine. Willow said Nina was recanting and helping the DA to save herself, and Drew yelled, bitch! How could she do this to her own daughter? The judge banged her gavel.

Jack said he didn’t tell Carly because there was nothing to tell. Josslyn was unwittingly dating an agent, but she was never Vaughn’s target or part of his mission. She was never in any danger, but he could understand why Carly was angry. Carly said it was a betrayal like no other, and he said he hated that and felt worse because he caused it. He cared about her and couldn’t lose her. Please tell him that he hadn’t. She asked him to promise one thing, and he said he’d try. She said she knew Vaughn and Josslyn broke up, so it wasn’t an issue, but in the future, if he found out Josslyn was at risk, promise he’d tell her. He promised, and she said he hadn’t lost her. She kissed him and he said, thank God. Did she want to have dinner with him tonight? She said she had a girls’ night with Donna, and he said he couldn’t beat that offer. She suggested a raincheck, and he said, absolutely, as long as they were really okay. She said they were, and he said he didn’t know how it happened, but she was his whole world. She said she felt the same, and he left.

The judge shouted for order, and Drew said Nina backstabbed her own daughter. He hoped she felt good about it. The judge said, another outburst, and she’d have him removed. Molly said Nina had signed a sworn statement, but needed to recant vocally on record. Nina asked if it was really necessary, and Nathan said she had to, for her sake and Willow’s. Nina said, on the night of September 2nd, 2025, between 9 pm and 10:33 pm, she was in her apartment at 979 Carlyle, alone. She didn’t see her daughter until later at General Hospital after Congressman Cain was shot. Willow began to cry.

Michael said if that’s how Dante thought of him, how could he stand to be in the same room? and Dante said he couldn’t ignore what he’d seen. Before the accident, Michael let Willow take the kids. Michael said Dante was ignoring what Willow had done while he was gone and was condemning him, and Dante said the old Michael was more compassionate. Michael said Willow proved herself unfit in his absence and stalked Daisy, but Dante said he didn’t have any proof that Willow targeted Daisy. Maybe he was framing her for that. Michael said he sent his newborn to another continent. Did Dante think he’d do that if he didn’t believe she was in danger? She was growing up without him. Every time Daisy’s mom sent a picture, it was like a knife in his heart. Dante said if he was so sure it was Willow, bring Daisy back, and Michael said he’d love to, but as Dante said, he had no proof. He wasn’t risking Daisy’s life like that. Even if Willow hadn’t been the one targeting Daisy, it wouldn’t matter. He could still prove his children weren’t safe with her. Dante said Willow loved those kids. She loved Wiley like her own. Michael said, letting her adopt Wiley was his first mistake. Wiley was scared and confused because of Willow. Her needs and feelings came first, even if it hurt her children. No more. Dante said it was all just a shame, and Michael said, like Dante told him, he’d changed, and so had Willow. She’d been in a downward spiral for a while. If Dante didn’t think she was capable of putting a bullet in Drew’s back, he was grossly underestimating her.

Olivia insisted that Portia try a stuffed mushroom, and Portia ate one. She said it was so good, then dashed out. Jordan followed.  

Lucy said the house was so beautiful, but felt stuffy, and Ronnie said when she fits got there, she couldn’t tell the difference between the crypt and the main house. Lulu told Lucy that she thought Ronnie had something stronger in her tea, and Lucy said they were going to grab a water for her. Ronnie said, sounds good, and Olivia asked how she was feeling. Ronnie said, good, so good, and Olivia said she knew it was a lot. Maybe Ronnie should lie down for a little bit. Ronnie said, why? They were in the middle of a party. Besides, things are gonna get fun now. She tapped on the teapot with a metal utensil, and asked, who wanted to cut loose and have fun? They could start with the music and play something less snoozy. Who was in charge of the music? She banged on the teapot again, and Tracy said, stop banging. That was her mother’s teapot, and Ronnie could break it. Ronnie said, who cares? It wasn’t a museum. It was a home, and it was her home. She laughed and said, so, ladies, please. In her home feel free to let their hair down and just do whatever they want to do. Kick off their shoes and take off whatever they wanted. She sat on the couch, took off her shoes, and said, that’s better. She put her feet up on the coffee table.

Carly called Spinelli and said she needed his help. But if he did this, he couldn’t tell anyone, not even Jason… Yes, it was that important. Please. She didn’t have anyone else to turn to… She thanked him and said she appreciated this. He needed to create a new identity for her, starting with a fake passport with a digital trail that could stand up to an extreme background check. Can he do that, please?… Don’t ask. Just make it good.

The judge said Nina was free to go. Arrangements were being made to transfer Willow to Pentenville. Willow said, this can’t be happening. It’s not fair. Nina forced her to lie. It was Nina’s idea. Nina said she was trying to help Willow, and Willow said she was going to prison because of Nina’s help. Nina said she’d explain later, but Willow said, don’t bother. It won’t matter. She hated Nina for this. Leave her alone. She was innocent and Nina should be behind bars. Drew had to help her. He said he promised, and as she was taken away, Willow said, he promised.

Dante said Michael would do anything for his kids, wouldn’t he? and Michael said he thought he knew what Dante was getting to. He was going to ask if Michael would kill for them. The answer was yes, but he thought Dante would say the same thing. Dante said it sounded like Michael would have no problem framing Willow – Lucy and Lulu almost walked in, but listened from the hallway – and Michael said if he’d shot Drew, Drew would be dead. He wished he had framed Willow. He’d make damn sure she was guilty and his children would never have to see her again. Lucy looked at Lulu.

In the foyer, Jordan asked if Portia felt better, but Portia said she felt fine. Jordan said she saw Portia run out and she seemed nauseous, but Portia said she was perfectly fine. Jordan said Portia was pregnant, wasn’t she?

Tracy said Ronnie was clearly inebriated, but Ronnie said she was relaxed. Had Tracy ever in her whole life been relaxed one time? Tracy said, not recently. She wasn’t surprised that Ronnie had a drinking problem. Ronnie said she did not have a drinking problem, but Tracy had a problem, a big problem. Did Tracy want to hear what it was? Felicia said this wasn’t going to end well, and Elizabeth said, but she couldn’t look away. Ronnie said she’d tell Tracy anyway, and Tracy said, of course (🍷). Ronnie said Tracy was uptight, frigid, and completely undersexed. She needed to go out and find herself a debaucherous, degenerate guy to take care of them for her. Stella dropped her cup and it shattered on the floor, and Ronnie laughed, flopping onto the sofa.

Tuesday:

Drew walked into Alexis’s house and said he was making her an offer she couldn’t refuse.

Kai met Curtis at Bobbie’s and said he was getting back Trina’s trust. Curtis said that would make it easier for him to ask this.

Trina and Josslyn were at the Brown Dog Bar and Josslyn said she sensed something was weighing on Trina. She was here for Trina, always. Trina said her parents were getting a divorce.

Portia said she wasn’t pregnant, but Jordan listed everything pointing to it. She asked if Curtis knew.

Tracy asked Ronnie to repeat what she’d said, but Olivia thought they got the gist. She left to get coffee, water, or anything, and Brook suggested Tracy go out for some fresh air. Ronnie said Tracy was full of hot air, and Tracy said Ronnie couldn’t speak to her like that. Ronnie said she’d speak how she wanted to in her house, and Tracy said she was three sheets to the wind. She took flowers out of a vase and was about to throw the water on Ronnie, and Ronnie said, don’t you dare.

Trina told Josslyn about Portia altering Heather’s test results. Somehow Drew found out and had been blackmailing her parents. Josslyn said there wasn’t a hole deep enough for Drew to fall into, and Trina blamed herself, but Josslyn said none of it was her fault and there was nothing she could have done to change it. Trina flashed back to telling Kai that she wished she could let them know the evidence was gone, and told Josslyn that she might have one thing that would turn it around.

Lulu came into Bobbie’s and told Curtis that she was pursuing a lead. Curtis introduced her to Kai, and she said she had a new angle on the Congressman Cain shooting. Curtis said when she was ready, he hoped she brought her article to Aurora first.

Felicia told Tracy, put the vase down, and Tracy said it wasn’t worth ruining. Ronnie said Tracy was mean spirited and abruptly sat down, saying the room was spinning. Olivia gave her water, and Tracy said she thought the party was over. Brook wanted everyone to meet Ronnie, and they did. She was a sloppy drunk who used alcohol to give her a personality. Stella said, enough, and Tracy said she was just trying to sober Ronnie up. They could all agree Ronnie Bard in this house was an insult to the Quartermaine family.

Portia said she didn’t have to answer Jordan’s questions and told her to back off. Jordan said she couldn’t pretend not to see what she saw, and Portia said, then don’t pretend. Mind her own damn business. Portia left, and Jordan called Anna. She said she was sending out the bat signal. Meet her at the Brown Dog.

Drew told Alexis that Willow was charged with premeditated murder because Nina lied, giving her fake alibi that she went along with because she thought Nina was guilty. ADA Turner made a deal Nina in exchange for recanting the alibi. Alexis said she didn’t see what this had to do with her, and Drew said Willow had been sent to Pentenville, and Alexis said that was the risk you took when you shot someone, but Drew said Willow was innocent. Michael planted the gun in her things. She didn’t have a lawyer and needed the best. He’d double Alexis’s retainer. Alexis said, absolutely not. It was never going to happen.

Curtis told Kai that he and Portia were filing for divorce. Trina had been blindsided and he was worried she’d need support. Kai said he’d do everything he could to help her get through, and Curtis said he didn’t want her to feel like she had to take sides.

Josslyn told Trina that it sounded like other things were going on, but the blackmail didn’t help. Relationships were hard and sometimes things just didn’t work out.

Anna had a glass of wine waiting for Jordan, and Jordan said she’d just found out Portia was lying to Curtis – again.

Portia saw Isaiah at the hospital and said she’d just been at a tea party from hell.

Ronnie said the room was still spinning, and Elizabeth asked if she was on any medication. Ronnie said, no, and she hadn’t had one drop of alcohol. She wasn’t drunk. They could check her tea. Felicia sniffed the cup and said, no alcohol, and Tracy said, that’s what alcoholics did – deny. Ronnie said she wasn’t drunk and had no idea what happ… Oh wait a minute. Somebody slipped her a micky.

Drew asked why Alexis didn’t want to defend Willow. Michael separated her from her kids and wasn’t it Alexis’s duty as an officer of the court to make sure justice prevailed? Alexis said she couldn’t believe his audacity when he’d kept Scout from her family. She felt sorry for Willow. Because of his selfishness and bad advice, she’d been influenced into making bad decisions, but that was on them. She didn’t want to deal with him in this mess even if he tripled her retainer. He said he had something even more valuable.

Jordan said Curtis held on to the bitter end and finally said it was over, and Anna said she wasn’t surprised. Jordan said they were filing for divorce and now this, and Anna asked what Portia was lying about. Jordan said Portia was pregnant.

Portia told Isaia that Jordan should mind her own damn business. They’d agreed to only telling Trina, but she was convinced Curtis told Jordan. Isaiah said, like she’d told him, and Portia said Curtis running to Jordan all the time made her furious, but Curtis would have custody of Jordan in the divorce and Jordan would finally leave her alone. Isaiah said he had a sure-fire way to improve her mood.

Kai said he hoped Curtis and Portia weren’t divorcing because of Drew. He knew Drew was responsible for Stella’s investigation and targeted her just to hurt Curtis. That opened his eyes to who Drew really was. He was sorry it took so long. Curtis tried to warn him, but he didn’t listen. For that, and a lot of other things, he owed Curtis an apology.

Lucas saw Lulu at Bobbie’s, and she asked him to join her. He said Elizabeth told him that there was a tea party at the Quartermaines, and he assumed she was invited. Lulu said she went briefly, and he said, tell him everything. What did Tracy do? Lulu said she wasn’t there long, but she and Lucy walked in on Michael having it out with Dante. Michael said that if he’d shot Drew, Drew would be dead, and he wished he’d framed Willow. He would have made sure she was guilty, so she never saw her children again. Lucas said, that meant Michael didn’t do it, but Lulu said Michael was so cold and calculating. He was too smart to tell a cop that he did it, but she was convinced Michael was capable of shooting Drew and framing Willow. Lucas said he thought she liked Michael, and she said, of course (🍷) she did, but who was more likely to shoot Drew in the back, Willow or Michael? Lucas said, in his opinion, Willow was more capable of violence than most people thought.

Tracy said, someone drugged Ronnie? Ridiculous. Ronnie said she’d been a waitress all of her life, and before that, she served cocktails. She learned to tell the difference between someone being drunk and someone who’d had something slipped in their drink. The drugged ones always said the same thing. They felt free, detached from their bodies like they were outside, seeing everything that was happening. That’s exactly how she felt now, like her mind was wrapped in cotton. Tracy said, drop the victim act and sleep it off, and Ronnie said she wasn’t drunk, but Tracy was working hard to convince everybody she was. Somebody wanted to humiliate her, and Tracy was the only person miserable enough to have done it and drugged her.

Anna asked if Jordan thought Curtis would stay with Portia because of the baby, and Jordan said Curtis didn’t get to raise Trina. It looked like Portia found another way to hang onto him. Anna said, then why hadn’t Portia told him that she was pregnant?

Isaiah said the renovations on his cabin were done and it looked amazing. It was the perfect weekend getaway for him and Portia. They could go on a day trip to the village, hold hands, and stroll. No one would know them or care. They could make a fire and open up a bottle of wine, and he might be persuaded to make his famous three-cheese omelet and serve her breakfast in bed. Portia said she’d love that, but wasn’t sure right now was the best time to get away together. He said if she needed to get away and be alone, he could give her the key, and she said, he’d give up his cabin time for her? He said, if she needed it, nothing would make him happier, but she said she didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to spend time with him. They kissed.

Curtis told Kai that he knew how easy it was to fall for Drew’s lies. Drew fooled him. He’d considered Drew a good friend until he saw Drew’s true colors. He’s glad Kai wasn’t taken in. Kai said he could barely look at Drew. He was ready to resign, but then Drew was shot. Was it wrong of him to keep working for someone he had zero respect for?

Lucas told Lulu that Willow needed to be a mom. She was consumed with it and blind to everything else. She needed to be with Wiley and Amelia regardless of what was best for them. Lulu said Willow thought she was what was best for them, and Lucas said she was delusional. The things she’d done to the kids were not okay just because as a mommy she decided they were. She wasn’t thinking like a mentally healthy person or a good mom. Lulu said she couldn’t disagree, and Lucas said Willow blamed Drew for not getting visitation and sleeping with her mom when he was seducing her away from Michael. As a mom, it was enough of a motive for her to shoot Drew. She was unwell and Lulu should think twice about going after Michael in the press. Carly would never forgive her, and she’d be helping a guilty woman go free.

Drew said he’d life the restraining order on Alexis and she could spend time with Scout if she agreed to defend Willow, and Alexis said he was going to use that sweet little girl as a bargaining chip? That was the textbook definition of extortion. He’d denied Scout’s family access to a child who loved and needed them and was using it to dangle in front of her so she’d do what he wanted. He didn’t care about what was good for Scout. He only cared about what was good for him. He asked what she thought Sam would want her to do.

Brook said Tracy wanted to prove Ronnie didn’t belong and spiked her tea to make sure that would happen. Tracy said she would never, and Olivia laughed. She said they all knew Tracy got Alexis drunk, then framed her for drunk driving, and Ronnie said, that’s horrible. Tracy did that to someone else? Tracy said she did not drug Ronnie, and Ronnie said she had it with Tracy. Tracy had a lot to say today. Now shut up and let her have her turn.

Lulu told Lucas that she was just trying to report the facts. She couldn’t keep the facts from the public because Carly would be upset. Whoever shot Drew needed to be brought to justice. Lucas agreed, and she said, what if the PCPD had the wrong person in custody? Lucas said Michael was a good man, and Lulu said, so was Sonny, but he could also be completely ruthless at heart. Michael was like his father.

Alexis said she couldn’t believe Drew brought Sam into it, and he asked how many times she’d criticized what he was doing and used Sam. How would Sam feel if she rejected the opportunity to spend time with Scout? Alexis said she hated him, and he said all he was asking was for her to do her job defending an innocent woman. She said that’s why she didn’t want to take the case. He’d do anything to get what he wanted and she refused to be part of it. He said she wouldn’t be dealing with him at all. Willow would call all the shots. She said, fine. She’d take the case. On one condition.

Jordan told Anna that she couldn’t say for sure if Curtis knew, and Anna asked if she thought it was possible Portia didn’t want the baby. Jordan said she had no idea, but it could definitely be the reason she was keeping the pregnancy a secret. Portia was doing what she wanted and not thinking about Curtis’s feelings. Should she?

Kai told Curtis that he liked the work and made great contacts who would consider him for a job after graduation, but it wouldn’t happen if he quit. Curtis said, then stay. He wouldn’t be a hypocrite. A lot of people hated their bosses (truth!), and if he could create a brighter future, why not stay and learn what he could. But be sure to maintain his own sense of right and wrong while he does it.

Ronnie said she tried to get along with Tracy, but from the minute they met in the crypt, where she was trying to say goodbye to her sister, Tracy had been a complete witch to her. In her letters, Monica had said Tracy was mellowing over time, but if this was an improvement, she couldn’t imagine. When Monica sent her letters, she was so impressed with the life her sister had made for herself. A big house, a loving family, she thought Monica had it so damn good, but coming here and meeting Tracy and seeing her in action, she pitied Monica. She would rather be dead broke and sleeping in the streets that put up with Tracy’s nasty insults and temper tantrums. Tracy asked if everybody was just going to stand around and let Ronnie speak to her like that, and Olivia said it was Ronnie’s house. Ronnie said Tracy treated her like someone who snuck in to steal the silver. All she ever wanted was to find out more about Monica. She had no expectations when she came there other than to share stories about her sister, who she avoided most of her life because she stupidly let her angry teenage self, with her whole 16 years of life, determine how the rest of her life was going to go. For that, Tracy attacked her every time she could. Brook was kind to organize this party for her, and it meant a lot. She thanked Brook for that, but Brook’s grandmother had used her kindness to humiliate her. Tracy wasn’t just vindictive, but she was spiteful and cruel. She wasn’t putting up with it anymore. Get out of her house and don’t come back.

Trina asked if Anna would mind her talking to Jordan, and Anna said, of course (🍷) not. She left, and Trina asked if her dad told Jordan that he was getting a divorce. Jordan said, he did. She was sorry. She knew it was hard for Trina. Trina said it was, but they still loved each other. She thought they could work things out, but it couldn’t happen if Jordan didn’t keep her distance from Trina’s dad. Jordan said she and Trina’s dad had known each other a long time, and Trina said she knew, but Jordan needed to give her mom and dad the space to realize they still had so much that tied them together.

Anna sat down across from Josslyn, who said, please sit. Anna said, so Josslyn was a WSB agent, and Josslyn nearly choked on her drink. She said that conversation is not for the Brown Dog, and Anna said Josslyn needed to tell her one thing. When she was at the Five Poppies, did she hear anyone mention the name Cesar Faison? If Josslyn did, she needed to know. Josslyn said she couldn’t tell Anna that information. She wasn’t WSB anymore. Anna said no one knew Faison better than she did. If he was somehow involved in any of this, the situation was going to get very dangerous. Not just for Josslyn, but for a lot of people. Make no mistake, Josslyn was going to need her.

Isaiah asked if that was a yes to going away this weekend, and Portia said she’d absolutely love to spend time alone with him. It would give them a chance to talk about everything going on between them.

Curtis told Kai that Drew would do everything in his power to exonerate Willow. Don’t let Drew drag him into anything illegal, and if Kai needed anything, call him.

Lulu told Lucas that Michael was raised by Sonny and seen Sonny do whatever it took to get what he wanted. It had to have an effect on who Michael was as a person. Lucas said he wasn’t a fan of Sonny’s, but Carly and Monica countered his influence, and Lulu said she hoped he was right. The last thing Michael said was that he hoped Willow never saw her kids again. He seemed to justify anything he did as long as he thought he was acting in the children’s best interest. Lucas said, if that was true, heaven help the kids. Willow was the exact same way.

Alexis said she’d represent Willow if Drew lifted the restraining orders on her, Molly, Kristina, Rocco, and Danny, but Drew said, not Danny. Alexis said Scout missed her brother. She had the right to see Sam’s kids. He said Willow needed a great lawyer and he could ask another one. He would not have that hit man’s son anywhere near his daughter. She said Danny wasn’t Jason. It was ridiculous to pretend he was. Drew said he didn’t care, and Alexis asked, what the hell was wrong with him? How could he be horrible to Sam’s kid? He said it wasn’t his kid, and she said he was a petty little man. He said it was his final offer. Scout could see everyone except Danny. Alexis said she wanted to see Scout tomorrow, and he said, fine, after she met with Willow.

Tracy said Ronnie couldn’t throw her out. They were all okay with this? Olivia said she loved Tracy, but she’d been horrible since day one. Now she drugged Ronnie’s tea. Of course (🍷) Ronnie was throwing her out. She didn’t want Tracy at the MetroCourt either. Tracy said, wow. Thanks for that. She’d been kicked out of the house before, but always made it back. Why? Unlike Ronnie, she was a Quartermaine. Olivia said, don’t start, and Tracy said she couldn’t believe her own family siding with a con artist, whom she did not drug. Brook said she loved Tracy, but Tracy did it to herself, and Tracy told Ronnie that she said it herself. She walked away from Monica. And despite all the correspondence they supposedly shared, Monica didn’t want Ronnie in her life. So didn’t she think they would have met in person if Monica wanted Ronnie in her life? What was cruel was Monica giving this beautiful house to her sister in name only and leaving the woman who spent 45 years with her a jar of relish. Tracy seemed on the edge of crying and said, Ronnie wanted to know about her sister. She was never cruel. Something was very wrong here. This was not Ronnie’s house and would never be her home… but she was going to leave now and she was going to take every framed photograph of her family and every prized possession with her. She’d call for her things in the morning. She left.  

Wednesday:

Lois went to see Sonny and said she hoped he’d show her the same grace as last time. Sonny said, after he found out she’d lied to him and the family for over 20 years.

Josslyn saw Emma outside Bobbie’s and wanted to talk. Emma said it better be good.

At Bobbie’s, Gio told Ronnie that she was the first person to order tomato juice, coconut water, and hot sauce. She said it was the perfect antidote to… a tea party. Brook said breakfast was on her after the stunt Tracy pulled, and Gio asked what Tracy did now.

Tracy woke up on Lulu’s couch and suggested Charlotte and Rocco hit the mute button. Lulu told them, keep it down. Tracy had a rough night.

On the phone, Britt said she was aware she was late. That’s why she was calling. She didn’t know when she’d be in. She’d been detained. Anna let Britt into her office, and Britt said if she lost her job, she was holding Anna responsible, but Anna said that was the least of Britt’s problems and present her with a bill for the manpower and resources used involving her supposed death.

Nathan went to Jack’s office and Jack asked where he’d been for the past seven years.

Steinmauer. Valentin was brought into the visiting area and sat across from a woman. He said when they told him that his lawyer was there, he didn’t expect her. Carly – in a dark wig and glasses – said, Barbara Saunders. She was asked to review his case and recent developments may result in his early release.

Lois said she couldn’t change what she did, but wanted to right as many wrongs as she could. So was Sonny going to invite her in or ask her to kick rocks? Sonny told her to come in and they hugged.

Josslyn said she heard Emma got her job with Dalton. She wasn’t looking to work for him, but Emma shouldn’t be either. Emma said he hadn’t tried anything, and Josslyn said, not yet. He wasn’t the average creep. He was a lot more dangerous than Emma thought and Emma needed to trust her. Emma said Josslyn was the least trustworthy person she knew. Josslyn being unreliable worked in Emma’s favor and she planned on taking full advantage of it.

Ronnie said she’d shared words of wisdom with Tracy, who didn’t take kindly to them, and Gio said he wished he’d been there. Brook said he didn’t, and Ronnie said Tracy accused her of being drunk and she knew she wasn’t drunk, but knew something was off. It hit her that her tea had been spiked. Gio said, Tracy drugged her? and Ronnie said, uh-huh.

Lulu said Tracy was staying a little while, and Charlotte asked, how long? Tracy said it was open-ended. She’d been kicked out. Charlotte stifled a laugh and wondered why, and Lulu said Tracy was a guest and they’d treat her as such. Rocco said he needed help with his French homework, and he and Charlotte went upstairs. Tracy asked if they didn’t go to school, but Lulu said it was an in-service day and they were off. Before Tracy settled in and sent out change-of-address cards, they needed to get a few things straight.

Carly said she’d like to speak to her client alone, but the guard said they needed eyeballs on the inmate all the time. Carly said her client had the right to privacy in this situation and asked if she needed to elevate the matter. The guard left, and Valentin said her credentials must be unimpeachable. She said she had help from a friend, and he said, Jack could have gotten her in with no pretense… unless she was keeping the meeting from him. Why?

Jack told Nathan that they had footage of him getting off an exit before the accident. He’d been on the phone, but no phone was found on him or in the car. Nathan said he didn’t remember, and Jack said there had been a ping from a burner phone before the accident and it was likely from the phone he’d been using. With any luck, they’d find the person he’d been talking to. Nathan asked why he was going through the trouble, and Jack said when someone resurfaced who was presumed dead, it warranted investigation, especially if it was the son of Cesar Faison.

Lois said sitting on the boardwalk in Atlantic City with Brook was one of the best days of her life, and Sonny asked if it was the first time they’d been alone. Lois nodded and he asked if they’d spoken since. She said, no. She’d never ask him for help with that, but needed help with repairing Brook’s relationship with her son. Gio was pushing away and she had to make that right.

Brook said she thought Tracy saw the tea as a chance to show that Ronnie didn’t belong, and Gio said it wasn’t just bad. It was illegal and dangerous. Ronnie thanked him for his concern, but said she was okay today and more than got back at Tracy. She evicted her. Gio said he didn’t expect that, and Brook said, neither did her grandmother. Gio said it was good to set boundaries. If you didn’t, people walked all over you.

On the deck, Rocco said he’d lied to get Charlotte away from Tracy, and Charlotte said Tracy couldn’t just order them around. He said he knew Tracy was a lot, but she could be nice, and she was just kicked out. Be easier on her.

Lulu said Tracy was welcome to stay as long as she needed to, but Charlotte and Rocco were teenagers. That meant they were loud. Tracy said she lived with Rocco and Danny. She knew their ways. Lulu said, not in quarters this close. If she couldn’t deal with their ways, it was best she found someplace else. Tracy said she wouldn’t have to deal with their ways if Ronnie Bard hadn’t gotten loaded and convinced the entire family that she was to blame.

Josslyn asked what Emma meant by taking advantage, but Emma said it was none of her business. She was done talking. Josslyn grabbed her arm and said she knew she’d screwed Emma over and it was fine that she was mad. But don’t let herself get in deeper. She wouldn’t hurt Josslyn, but she’d hurt herself. Trust her when she said Emma didn’t want to be near what Dalton was doing. Emma asked what made her so sure Dalton was bad, and Josslyn flashed back to talking to Jack. Her phone rang, and she told Emma, don’t say I didn’t warn you, and left.

Valentin asked what the state of Carly and Jack’s relationship was, and Carly said, as far as Jack was concerned, she was knee deep work and wouldn’t see him for a few days. He said, Sonny and Jason wouldn’t be happy. She must have a very good reason to see him.

Britt said told Anna that she couldn’t afford it. It was ridiculous. Was it even legal? Anna said Acting DA Turner could find a way to make it legal, or she could feed the bill to the shredder and forget about it. Britt asked how much the memory lapse would cost, and Anna said, who helped fake her death? What was she doing at the Five Poppies and who was in charge? She needed every detail.

Sonny told Lois that Gio had moved in with him and had a job at Bobbie’s, and she said knowing Gio was there made her happy. By any chance did he get a new violin? Sonny shook his head, and she said, what about school? He said, Gio didn’t want to go right now. He was figuring out who he was and what he wanted minus the input of the people who loved him and wished him well. She said she understood why he wanted her and Gloria out of his life, but music was a big part of who he was. It was a gift from Camilla. He said, Gio associated it with the lies he’d been told his whole life, and she said she couldn’t stand it. Gio was giving up something he loved, and her daughter couldn’t have a relationship with her son. The two people she loved most were hurting because of her.

Emma told Gio that Josslyn tried to convince her to quit working for Dalton, and Gio wondered if she had a good reason. Emma said she thought Josslyn wanted her job back. They’d put Dalton on the back burner for too long and it was time to show the world who he really was.

Ronnie told Brook that her son was a good kid, but Brook said she couldn’t take credit. Ronnie said Gio mentioned he’d just found out she and Dante were his parents, and Brook said, they all did, and it came out in the most traumatic way, driving a mile wide wedge between them. They were hoping if they gave Gio some space, he’d come back, but at this point, she didn’t know if he would ever let her be a part of his life.

Nathan said his mother left her past behind and Faison was dead, and Jack said so were Nathan and his sister. He got Nathan’s brain scans and there was nothing there. No trauma or lesions. Nothing that would impair his memory from the time of his supposed death until he woke up in the hospital. Nathan asked if Jack was calling him a liar, and Jack said they had reason to believe Cesar Faison’s syndicate was still in operation. Now was the time for Nathan to tell him if he was involved.

Valentin told Carly that he was content living abroad in relative peace, when Jack tried to shoot him three feet from his daughter. Carly was collateral damage when he’d tried to kill Jack and if Jack was around her daughter, she wasn’t safe. Carly said she planned on destroying Jack Brennan and asked if he wanted to help.

Nathan asked if Jack thought he was part of a syndicate run by a dead man, but Jack said he didn’t know who was running it. He’d exchange full immunity for answers, but if Nathan declined, he would charge Nathan with the same crime – conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, and treason. How would his son feel about that? Nathan said he just met his son for the first time and lost seven years of his life. Faison was a criminal who’d threatened the mother of his son and shot him. Faison was no father to him. Ask Anna. Unlike Jack, Anna knew him and would tell Jack that he’d help if he could. He was glad he met Jack because now he knew who Jack was. Jack could threaten him all he liked, but don’t push him around.

Britt said the Five Poppies was out of Anna’s jurisdiction. Anna had no right to question her about something that happened thousands of miles away. Anna said she did if it affected the safety of the people there, and Britt asked if she had evidence connecting it… She didn’t think so. It was time for Anna to let go of her delusion of being an international agent and accept the fact she’d been demoted. Anna said the reason Britt was there was because she sent Jason. He’d assumed Britt was in Croatia because she was going to die and he was willing to let her live out her last days as she saw fit. She told him that the WSB was looking at the Five Poppies and that suggested Britt’s presence wasn’t voluntary. So Jason went to rescue Britt. She wasn’t trying to take Britt down. She was trying to help her.

Lulu asked if Tracy was saying Ronnie framed her. Admit she spiked Ronnie’s drink. Tracy said she didn’t. This was the second time she’d been accused of drugging someone. Where did people think she got this stuff? Lulu said people knew she was resourceful. Was she saying it was someone else? Tracy said Ronnie over imbibed, and she was an easy scapegoat, and Lulu said Tracy had set her sights on taking Ronnie down since she came to town and had her investigate Ronnie. Ronnie lived a quiet, law-abiding life. Tracy said she didn’t believe it, and Lulu asked why she was so convinced otherwise. Tracy said she knew Monica as well as she knew herself. There was no way Monica would give Ronnie a doghouse much less the family estate. That woman was hiding something and she knew it.

Charlotte admitted that maybe she was harsh. She was jetlagged and the visit with her dad was weird. Rocco asked if she meant bad weird, but she said, just weird weird. It was good seeing him, but in a huge creepy prison, it was hard. Rocco said maybe he’d get out on good behavior, and Charlotte asked how dinner with his other family was. He said, good. Liesl and Nathan were cool. She said, what about Britt? and he said she was hard to read, but he thought she cared about her mother and brother. She asked if he noticed anything off, but he said he didn’t know Britt well enough. Why? She said when she was with her dad, he asked her to pass along a message to him. He said Rocco shouldn’t trust Britt.

Valentin said now Carly saw Jack as the son of a bitch he was. What changed her mind? Obviously, Jack had done something to one of her children. She asked what he’d do if Jack recruited his daughter, and he said he wouldn’t rest until Jack was six feet under. How long had Josslyn been a WSB operative? Carly said she thought eight months, but didn’t know how Jack lured her in, and he said there were two kinds of recruits. Those who were interested and those who had to be convinced, exploited. Those prospects were vulnerable and there was leverage – money, a misguided sense of patriotism, a personal tragedy they wanted to avenge. She said Josslyn’s boyfriend Dex was murdered, and he asked if the murderer was found. She said it was Cyrus Renault who disappeared. Josslyn left town afterward. He asked if she thought Jack possibly had something to do with it.

Lois told Sonny that she kept the secret, but could have told Brook before everyone found out and given her a chance at a real relationship with her son. Sonny said she could have also given the family a chance, and she said she was happy Gio let Sonny be a part of his life. Sonny said he thought she was leaving the past in the past and moving forward, and she said that’s what she was trying to do, but needed his help. Gio needed to stop blaming Brook. He needed to know it was all on her, but he wouldn’t talk to her. She needed Sonny to get them in the same room. He said, even if she talked to Gio, it was no guarantee it would change anything.

Ronnie said she thought Gio was trying to make sense of his part in the family, and Brook said she didn’t know why he wanted to be part of the family. He knew the Quartermaines were a bunch of liars, and now he thought they’d drug your tea too. Ronnie said, what’s a family without a little dysfunction? and Brook said, that was a generous take. Ronnie said Tracy wasn’t the only Quartermaine. The rest had been so lovely since she walked in the door, including Gio, who had an open invitation to come back. The problem was, finding a way to draw him back in. Brook said she thought she may have that covered.

Emma said she thought the master key would get them in the lab, and Gio said it would have if Dalton hadn’t taken extra security measures. Between that and her grandma trying to stop them, they were up against it. She said she thought they were in luck. Her grandma had been distracted and was busy. Now what the best chance they were going to get.

Tracy told Lulu than Monica never mentioned her sister, but as soon as she died, Ronnie showed up with letters as evidence. Lulu asked if she didn’t have them looked at by a handwriting expert, and Tracy said, they could be wrong. She was getting a second opinion. She had been closer to Monica for the last two years than anyone and Michael was the center of Monica’s universe. There was no way she’d disinherit him in favor of a sister she hadn’t spoken to in a decade. The will was a forgery. Charlotte wondered what a moving truck was doing pulling into their driveway.

Britt said she didn’t need rescuing, and Anna said the evidence suggested otherwise. Britt said she’d been working in a lab on developing an exfoliant scrub, but Anna said she didn’t think they’d use a bomb to cover up a spa treatment. Britt said it was a competitive market, and Anna said they forgot to add the toxicity screening. That ran up Britt’s bill by 10K, but she’d settle for Britt telling her who she was working for. Britt flashed back to finding her meds with the note signed C, and said, that Eurocreep Pascal, but Anna said, he was the middleman. Who did he answer to? It wasn’t Cesar Faison, was it? Was her father still alive and running the Five Poppies?

Jack showed Josslyn the video of him talking to Nathan, and Josslyn asked if he thought Nathan knew something. He said, didn’t she? and she said she hardly knew Nathan, but heard he was a total Boy Scout. She didn’t think he’d do anything connected to Faison. He said, so he should take Nathan’s memory loss at face value? And she said, look at Jason, but he said, Jason’s answers were less convenient than Nathan’s.

Valentin said he assumed Josslyn felt vulnerable after Dex’s death, and Carly said, she was devastated. She told herself that Josslyn was lost in a personal vendetta, when all the time, Jack used it as a test to recruit her. Valentin said, maybe Jack pointed her in Cyrus’s direction to see how far she was willing to go and she figured it out. Carly wondered if Josslyn murdered Cyrus, but Valentin said maybe she tracked Cyrus down on her own and it was part of Jack enticing her to be a recruit. Jack couldn’t resist, especially if Josslyn finished the job herself. Carly asked if he was telling her that the man she’d been falling in love with turned her daughter into a killer.

Sonny said Lois needed to live with the possibility that things may never be the same with Gio and Brook, but she said she had to try. She was begging him to please help her make this right.

Gio asked Emma to promise that whatever they did, they did it together, and she said, obviously. She needed him for back-up. He said he preferred being her partner in crime, and they kissed.

Brook smiled, and Ronnie said she was guessing that lovely young woman was part of Brook’s plan. Brook said Emma rescued Outback. Dogs weren’t allowed in the stable, but she told Emma that Outback could stay since she figured Emma would come visit. Ronnie said, and Gio would come with her. Not bad. She guessed that Brook was Tracy’s good granddaughter.

Gio’s phone rang, and he told Emma that it was Sonny. Sonny told him that he needed to come back to the house when he got off work, and Gio asked if everything was okay. Sonny said Lois was there and it was important that Gio see her.

Lulu said, everyone knew how much Monica loved Michael. Edward left him a fortune, and she didn’t need to demonstrate her love with more money. Maybe she felt Ronnie needed both. Charlotte and Rocco brought in two big boxes, and Lulu asked what was in them. Tracy said a few items she rescued from the house, and Lulu looked out the window. She said, a few? There was a giant moving truck parked in her driveway.

Britt said she was tired of hearing that name. That man had been a blight on her entire life. Her mother was obsessed with him and ignored her. Now she might lose the only good thing she had going in her life – her job – because Anna dragged her in. She hated to disappoint Anna, but her psycho ex had nothing to do with the Five Poppies and he was dead. She answered Anna’s questions and wasn’t paying the bill. Anna could burn it or bill her, but she just wanted to move on with her life. Anna said Britt thought she was protecting herself by staying silent, but she was making herself vulnerable, and Britt said she was done. She had to see if she still had a job. Thanks for nothing. She left.  

Josslyn told Jack that she was at the Brown Dog with a friend and Anna was there. Anna made a point of interrogating her about the Five Poppies and Cesar Faison came up more than once. Jack said Anna was probably jumping at shadows. However, she did know Faison better than anyone else and they couldn’t discount that. Two of Faison’s dead children showed up in Port Charles alive while they were investigating his last project. That wasn’t a coincidence. They were connected somehow.

Valentin said maybe Jack stepped in and took care of the rest, but Carly said Josslyn was a participant in Cyrus’s death. She may not be able to get Josslyn out, but she could get Jack out of Josslyn’s life before she did something worse or he got her killed. Valentin said they couldn’t do it alone, but together they had a chance. They had the one thing that could destroy Jack. Carly asked, what? and he said, her. She was the only one Jack trusted. Anyone else he’d spot from a mile away. He’d never see it coming. She asked what she was supposed to do, and he said, the first thing was to make Jack think she loved him more than anything or anyone in the world.

Thursday:

Chase saw Michael in the steam room and asked if he saw the headlines in the Port Charles Press. The article said other suspects might be at large. Did Michael really believe Willow was capable of shooting Drew?

Cody went to the main house and introduced himself to Ronnie. She said she had to tell him that she always had a weakness for cowboys. (Nice nod to OLTL.)

Brook knocked at Lulu’s door, and Tracy opened it. Tracy told Brook that she had nothing to say to her, and slammed the door in her face.

Gio went to Sonny’s house, and Lois said she was hoping he would come. He said he almost didn’t.

At Bobbie’s, Martin told Drew that the press did a good job casting reasonable doubt on Willow. He’d do whatever possible to find her a good attorney. Drew said there was no need. He took care of it.

Willow saw Alexis in the visiting room at Pentenville and asked if Scout was okay. Alexis said she was there for Willow. She was Willow’s new attorney.

Jacinda met Kristina outside Bobbie’s and said her agency told her that Kristina requested a meeting. Kristina said she didn’t want to pry, but was going to. What did Jacinda have going on with her brother? Jacinda asked, why? and Kristina said she was concerned. She loved her brother, and he’d been through the ringer. He’d had a difficult recovery, and his ex had told the court that he’d abandoned his children. He might appear to have it all together, but deep down, he had a big heart and had been hurt badly. She was worried that he and Jacinda were getting more serious and moving too quickly.

Chase insisted Willow wasn’t a murderer, and Michael said he didn’t think they should get into this. Chase said he knew Michael and Willow had problems, but it had gone too far. An innocent woman had been arrested. Michael said Chase didn’t know Willow as well as he thought he did.

Alexis said Willow deserved the truth. Drew didn’t leaved her a choice.

Drew said Alexis agreed to defend Willow on one condition, that she be able to see Scout, and Martin said he was glad it worked out. He’d talk to the judge about lifting the restraining order. Drew said he still needed the restraining orders as leverage. He wouldn’t enforce them unless he felt Alexis wasn’t doing what she could to free Willow. Martin asked, what about the rest of the family? and Drew said, the Davis women, but not Danny or the Quartermaines. Martin said that meant Scout wouldn’t get the privilege of meeting her new great aunt. The Quartermaines had a new relationship to play with – Monica’s long lost sister Ronnie.

Ronnie said Monica had written that she was pleased the family finally found a wonderful head groom, and Cody said she loved the stable, but not every horse was hers. Ronnie said, Tracy made that clear, and Cody said the name of Tracy’s horse was Hades. Ronnie said, hard to handle, bad tempered, and bites, but Hades could stay, and Cody said he heard Tracy moved out. Ronnie said she evicted Tracy, and he said he’d gotten to know Tracy and was sorry to see her go. Ronnie said she thought Tracy would be rough to work for, but if there was another side to Tracy, she’d like to hear it. Cody said Tracy was cold, mean, and thought she was better than everybody else, but she could be extremely generous, loyal to a fault, and would literally do anything for the people she loved, and she loved Ronnie’s sister.

Brook continued to bang on the door and said, open up. She would just get louder. Tracy told her, get in here. What did she think they had to talk about? She didn’t drug Ronnie at the tea party. Brook said that wasn’t why she came, and Tracy said Brook had known Ronnie for an hour and a half and known her for her whole life. Why was Brook taking that hash slinging harridan’s word over hers?

Lois said she wanted to take the chance to clear the air, but Gio said he’d rather move on. She said she wasn’t there to explain anything. She’d heard he took time off from school and wasn’t playing music anymore. He said he was working and figuring stuff out, and she said she was worried about him. He was pushing the things he loved out of his life, like music. Music didn’t betray him and neither did Brook or Dante. The person who betrayed him was her.

Lois said he had every right to be mad at her, but she was asking him to put his anger where it belonged – on her, not Brook or Dante, and especially not on himself. Gio said he wasn’t angry, but she said, of course (🍷) he was. He said he didn’t want to be and he wasn’t mad at himself, and she asked why he was waiting tables. He said there was nothing wrong with it, and she said he should be playing concert halls or even the park. He was so incredibly talented. It would hurt Camilla to know he wasn’t playing music, but it would hurt more knowing it was because of her. He said he was still trying to make sense of his whole life, his childhood, his mom. Nothing was what he’d thought it was. She said she knew it would take time to figure all that out, but he also needed to figure out how Dante and Brook fit into his life as well. She knew he was angry, but Dante didn’t even know, and Brook gave him up because she was so young. She came to her mother for advice, and she was the one who told Brook that he’d be better off – she started to cry – if he was adopted out to a young family. She was with Brook when Brook gave birth, and giving him up for adoption was the greatest sacrifice of her life.

Brook asked Tracy, why not make peace? She wasn’t asking her to apologize for the tea party, but for treating Ronnie like dirt. Tracy said she wouldn’t give Ronnie the satisfaction, but Brook said she’d already lost her mother and grandmother. She didn’t want to lose Tracy too.

Ronnie gave Cody some snacks and said she’d gotten the recipe from her line cook, and Cody said he’d kill for the recipe. She said, tell her more about Monica, and she’d give it to him, and he said he didn’t know her as well as everybody else, but he was told that before Monica and Tracy became close, it was the clash of the titans. In the end, Tracy was Monica’s mouthpiece, bodyguard, and attack dog. She stood up to Drew Cain when Monica couldn’t do it herself. Ronnie asked why she kept hearing that name. Michael had a lot of things to say about Drew, and she was hoping he was exaggerating. Was he really as bad as Michael said? Cody said, if anything, he was much worse.

Martin said Monica left her estate to her long-lost sister, not Michael, and Drew said he didn’t realize Monica had a pattern. She cut him out of her life like she did her sister.

Jacinda told Kristina not to worry about her and Michael, and Kristina said Jacinda came to see him after his grandmother died. Jacinda said she came to offer her condolences. There was nothing serious between them, but she got why Kristina was protective. She’d do the same thing. Kristina offered to get Jacinda coffee, and they went inside. Drew said, if it wasn’t the call girl that was paid to drug him. He bet the police would love to hear about her and Kristina’s meeting of the minds.

Alexis said she agreed to defend Willow because Drew offered her access to Scout, and Willow said she was truly sorry Drew put her in this position. Scout wanted to see her aunt and brothers. Alexis said, her brothers weren’t part of the deal. At least not Danny. Willow said she’d do what she could to help change Drew’s mind about the restraining orders. She also wanted Alexis to defend her because Alexis believed she was innocent, not because she was forced to. Alexis said, coercion or not, she’d defend Willow to the best of her ability. She would listen to Willow and Willow only, but if Willow didn’t want her services, say it now.

Michael said Willow was more traumatized by Dawn of Day than anyone knew. She’d made huge mistakes. Chase asked if he honestly believed she’d shot Drew, and Michael said anything was possible. Chase said there were other suspects, and Michael said, like him. Chase said, yes. Him, his mother, and anyone else who went in and out of the Quartermaine mansion. Michael said, Willow was in and out of the mansion, but Chase said she’d moved out months ago. Michael said they hadn’t changed the locks and she was the one who’d stalked his daughter Daisy.

Lois said, giving up Gio for adoption was the hardest thing his mom ever had to do, and Gio said he thought of Camilla as his mom. Lois said he was right. Sorry. Camilla was his mother and always would be. She’d never take that away from him. He asked why the family wanted something from him that he couldn’t give. He knew Brook and Dante were his biological parents, but they weren’t much more than that. They were people he kind of knew growing up, but it wasn’t like he had a relationship with them and he wasn’t sure he wanted one.

Brook said if Tracy told Ronnie that she was sorry, Ronnie would give her another chance. She knew Tracy was angry at Monica. Tracy said she knew in her bones that Monica didn’t do that, but Brook said, don’t exile herself to make a point. A house could be replaced. She couldn’t.

Drew threatened to tell the police about Michael paying Jacinda for a fake alibi and told Kristina not to mess up the deal he’d made with her mother. Jacinda suggested he watch his step, and he said he could still press charges. She said, do it. She’d love to explain to the police how he was loaded with ketamine and hired her for the evening and night, then got caught. Next time he hired an escort – and there was always a next time – don’t do body shots in a room of people with phones. He said she didn’t want to push him, and raising her voice, she said he got a lawyer to give her $50K to stay in Australia. That wasn’t something you did when you were looking for justice. He said she knew the justice system, having been arrested three times, and she said she had a record. So big deal. He said he paid her good money to stay away, and she asked if it was taxpayer money. He said the next time he saw the police, he was pointing them straight to her.

Willow said if Alexis was willing to help, she accepted, and Alexis told her about the paper suggesting suspects had been overlooked. They had a lot of ground to cover and when she asked questions, she needed Willow to answer honestly. Did she shoot Drew? Willow said, no, and Alexis asked why the weapon was found in her belongings. Willow said, Michael put it there, and Alexis asked why he’d do that. Willow said he was framing her to keep her away from her children. Michael shot Drew, not her.

Chase said that was insane. Willow didn’t stalk Daisy. Michael asked if he remembered the night Daisy was missing, and Chase said she’d been in her bassinet the whole time, but Michael said she hadn’t. And there was the other incident after Daisy was born. There were things that never made sense. She’d been moved from her crib and was facing a different direction and wearing a different onesie. Chase said, Sasha just forgot, but Michael said, she didn’t. Then there was the first incident when Sasha was brought the wrong baby. Willow was there because of her meltdown at the courthouse. Chase asked why Michael didn’t tell him when it was happening, and Michael said he had no proof. Willow likely broke in to terrify him and Sasha. She could have easily gotten her hands on the gun.

Ronnie asked why this guy hated the family, and Cody said, after Drew seduced Willow, Monica turned on him and threw him out. He claimed all he did was fall in love. Ronnie said, with his nephew’s wife? and Cody said, exactly. After that, Drew was out for payback from Monica and the Quartermaine’s, especially Tracy. He was using his political power and money to attack them. She said, that’s a lot, and he said, there’s more. Drew went too far. He had Tracy arrested for drugging him with ketamine. She said, Tracy drugged him too?

Brook said Tracy might consider the possibility of being nicer to Ronnie, and Tracy said she wasn’t apologizing for something she didn’t do. Brook said she was asking Tracy to try and make Ronnie feel welcome, but Tracy said she couldn’t. She knew Monica did not want that woman to have that house. She wasn’t going to pretend otherwise to get along. Brook said Tracy was needlessly rude and now she was camped out in Lulu’s living room. Was that what she wanted? Tracy said if her family turned their backs on her for standing up for Monica’s wishes, so be it. At least she’d know she took a stand.

Lois said she knew Gio’s walls were up and it was all on her, but maybe someday he’d find a way to let the walls come back down. Gio said he needed to get going. He was meeting friends and stuff. Lois said, have fun, and keep his heart open to music and whatever, and he said he got it now. She never meant to hurt him. She was just doing the right thing. She said she still was. All she could do was try. Gio asked how things were with Brook, and she said, not good. He said he was sorry to hear that. He knew how close they used to be. He hoped they got back to that someday. She said, her too, and he left.

Jacinda told Drew, do your worst, and Kristina said, let it go. A public official hired a woman for her time and embarrassed himself. Let’s go. It’s a congressional scandal, nothing special. Outside, she told Jacinda that she had no idea Drew would be in there, but Jacinda said he was just a jerk. No wonder Willow took a shot at him. Kristina asked if she wanted to go somewhere else for coffee or a drink, but Jacinda said she’d take a raincheck. There was something she had to take care of. She left, and Kristina looked inside at Martin and Drew.

Willow said she prayed Drew remembered what happened the night of the shooting, and Alexis said, if he did, she hoped it was for his sake, not Willow’s. Willow asked what she meant, and Alexis said, in this instance, a sudden memory would look suspicious to the court and be exploited by the prosecution. They’ll think he was making it up to exonerate her. Willow said, so if he did remember… and Alexis said, it wouldn’t help her case. She thought she had what she needed, and they’d pick this up tomorrow. Willow thanked her and said she felt a lot better knowing Alexis was fighting for her.

Chase said Michael was being malicious, accusing Willow of stalking a baby. He had no evidence. Michael said that’s why he didn’t file charges, but it showed what Willow was capable of. Chase said, the one most capable of shooting Drew was Michael. He had more access, bigger motive, and the resources to protect himself. Willow was on her own. That was the definition of injustice. Chase walked out.

Cody told Ronnie that he didn’t know what happened at the tea party, but Tracy didn’t drug Drew. He did it to himself and when he got caught partying, he tried to put the blame on Tracy. Tracy had done a lot of things, but she didn’t do that. Ronnie asked if she should give Tracy the benefit of the doubt, and Cody said, if Tracy did drug her and she called Tracy on it, he thought Tracy would say to her face, you’re damn right and I’d do it again. Ronnie said she worked hard to get along with Tracy, and Tracy humiliated her in front of everybody. When she left, Tracy took the family photos and possession and looked like a walking estate sale. The movers left a box, and she had to call them. Cody said he’d run it over, and she thanked him. He said he was happy to help. He had to make himself look good for the new boss. He picked up the box and left.

Brook told Tracy, fine. Sit in Lulu’s house, surrounded by her pride and relics. But before she left, she needed Tracy to know she loved her and that would never change. So call her anytime. She left.

Lois called Brook.

Cody went to see Willow at Pentenville and asked how she was holding up. She said, better now. How were the kids? He said, fine, and she asked if there were any developments in the case, but he said, not yet.

Jacinda thanked Michael for meeting her at the coffee bar, and he said she wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. What happened? She said his sister Kristina asked her for coffee and to check on them, and he wondered if she’d asked about anything. Jacinda said, no. She was sweet and very protective of him. That wasn’t the problem. Drew was. He threatened to send the cops after her for drugging him. Michael said, let him. He had no proof. She said she had priors and took money from the congressman to stay out of town. Nothing seemed to touch him. Michael said he couldn’t argue with that. How could he help? She said she needed to disappear – again.

Brook went to Sonny’s, and Lois said, she came. Brook said just because she came didn’t mean she was going to stay.

Alexis met Kristina at Bobbie’s and asked what was going on. Kristina said Drew was there earlier and said the strangest thing. She should check in with Alexis before she ruined the deal. Don’t worry. She didn’t lose her temper. Alexis said she would have understood, but before they got into it, she had to tell Kristina that she was defending Willow.

Chase said he was going to investigate Drew’s shooting as a private citizen until Willow was exonerated, but Willow said, don’t. It would cause nothing but problems. He said she was his friend and he had to help, but she said, not if it cost his job. He said he’d do it on his own time, and she wondered if he’d get into trouble for undermining the DA’s case. He said he had every right and the department couldn’t stop him. She said she didn’t want him to risk his neck, but he said someone had to. A person should not go to prison for a crime they didn’t commit.

Jacinda said she knew Michael was counting on her, but she had to watch her own back, and he said running wasn’t the way to do that. They were each other’s best option, and she should stay put and stick to the original story. It was a terrible alibi, but he thought he had a solution that would work for both of them. He’d pay her to fall in love with him

Cody brought the box to Tracy and asked how she was doing. She said she was living with two teenagers. How did he think? He said she could impart her worldly wisdom on them, but she said what she wanted to impart involved duct tape and chloroform, but Lulu wouldn’t approve. How was Hades? He said, fine. Once this had blown over, she could see for herself. She said she should probably board Hades somewhere else, and he asked what was in the box. She said, Alan’s train set. He would put it out every Christmas for the children, but he was the only one who played with it. She thanked him for bringing it, and he said it wasn’t his idea. Ronnie… She said, do not extol the virtues of St. Ronnie, and he said they weren’t so different. She said she hated him for saying that, and he laughed. He said they were both strong women. Ronnie was just nicer about not letting people push her around.

Ronnie opened the door to find Drew and she said, thank you, but I have a nice relationship with the Lord. He said that’s not why he was there. Did she happen to be Veronica Bard? She said she was. How could she help him? He said the question was, how could he help her?

🫔 Friday’s Enchilada…

Brook asks when Lois got into town, and Lois says, this morning. There were a few things she needed to take care of, and Brook was at the top of her list. Brook says, the last time they saw each other in Atlantic City, they shared a nice moment. Let’s not ruin it. Lois says she knows things are still bad between them, but there’s something Brook needs to know.

Carly walks into the steam room and sees Britt lying on a bench with her eyes closed. Britt says she’d like to have another cucumber water and eucalyptus towel, and Carly wings a towel at her head. Britt sits up and asks what the hell Carly thinks she’s doing. Carly says, teaching her an important lesson – how to share.

Spinelli thanks Jason for meeting him at the Brown Dog Bar, and Jason asks what he needs. Spinelli says he was hoping Jason would be so kind as to impart his parental wisdom, and Jason asks, why? Spinelli says he has the utmost respect for Jason’s relationship with Danny despite their regrettable time apart. They seem close. Jason says, and? and Spinelli says he loves James like is own son, but now that James’s father is back, he fears James may be taken away.

Nathan visits Lulu, and she says she was wondering when she’d finally see him. He says he needs to thank her for saving his life, and they hug.

At Bobbie’s, Kristina says, Alexis is defending Willow after everything she’s done to Michael? and Alexis says, if they want to see Scout, yes. She’s going to defend Willow, and in turn, Drew will drop the restraining orders against them. Kristina says, that’s good news. She’s sick of Drew punishing them all. Alexis says, unfortunately, he’s still punishing one of them, and Kristina asks what she means. Alexis says she doesn’t want to get into details. Scout will be here any minute. But Drew refuses to drop the restraining order against Danny. Kristina asks if Danny knows, but Alexis says she didn’t have the heart to tell him or that theirs have been lifted. Kristina says she doesn’t blame Alexis, and Alexis suggests they cherish their time with Scout… and there she is. Scout walks in and Alexis hugs her and says it’s good to see her.

Jacinda asks if it isn’t suspicious that Michael happened to be with an escort when Drew was shot, and Michael says, it’s a terrible alibi, but he thinks he has a solution that will work for them both. She says she’s listening, and he says he wants to pay her to fall in love with him. She says, to be clear, her time is for rent, but her emotions are not. Maybe he needs to find another alibi.

Ronnie says she’s not into politics, but she knows she’s definitely seen Drew’s face on the news, and Drew says he wishes the reporting was more accurate. He’s doing what he can to right that. How is she settling in? She says, it’s an adjustment, and he says, everybody in the house was born with a silver spoon in their mouth except them. They have more in common than she thinks. She says, really? and he says, give him a chance to prove it to her.

Britt says she got here first. If Carly has a problem with the way she seems, Carly can leave. Carly says she owns the hotel, including the spa and steam bath. She’s not going anywhere. Britt says she gets it. Carly is rich and owns everything. But does she have to remind everyone every five minutes? Carly says she doesn’t want Britt here and can throw her out when she wants, but Britt says she doesn’t think Jason would like it.

Spinelli says, the situation with James’s father is tricky. That’s why he needs Jason’s guidance. He possesses valuable insight into what Nathan is thinking because he’s worn similar shoes. Jason says, when Danny and Jake thought they’d lost him until he came back, and Spinelli says, yeah. And in the wake of his absence, he had to rebuild the relationship with his sons and it’s gone well, right? Jason says he’d like to think so, and Spinelli says, good. That’s what he wants for him and James. He wants them to have an unbreakable bond like Jason has with Danny. What he doesn’t want is for James to be taken away by the father he already has.

Nathan says he’s been meaning to come by and see Lulu. He couldn’t talk at the arraignment because his sister needed him. Lulu says she’s glad he was there for Nina. If Britt got locked up, they could throw away the key. He says he sees her antipathy with his other sister, and she says she’s not going to let Britt ruin the moment. She can’t believe he was the guy in the crashed car. He says he’s grateful, but wishes he knew how he ended up there, and she asks how it is being back. He says, it’s hard not remembering the last seven years of his life. The last he remembers, he and Maxie were married and Maxie was pregnant. Now Maxie is gone and James has grown up. Lulu says, it’s a lot. Maxie has them spinning. He says he just wants to take care of James and make a good life. Get his old job back at the PCPD. Lulu says she wants him to get his job back, but he doesn’t need that to be a good dad to his son. James will love him no matter what. Nathan says he hopes so, but he’s not sure what he’s up against here, and she says she understands better than he thinks.

Scout says it’s been so long since she’s seen them, but Alexis says, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that they’re together and today is a Davis Girls fun day. Kristina says, except for Aunt Molly. She got stuck at work, but they can video chat with her later. Alexis asks Scout’s nanny if she thinks they can spend time alone, and the nanny says she can keep an eye on things from the counter. Alexis says she’s sure, and the nanny leaves. Alexis says she wanted to make sure to tell Scout how brave she’s been and how proud of Scout she is. She was very brave when her dad was in the hospital. Scout says she’s glad he’s home, but the police made a mistake and took Willow away. Her dad said Alexis was going to help bring her home.

Drew says he’s sure Ronnie got an earful about him and just hopes she doesn’t take what she hears at face value. The Quartermaines don’t take kindly to outsiders like them. He’s been part of the family for a long time and if they can smear his name as easily as they have, imagine what they could do to somebody like her. Ronnie says she doesn’t have to imagine. Tracy says it right to her face. He says, let him guess. Tracy says she’s not good enough to be here and says she’s an opportunist just after the Quartermaine name and fortune. She’s very quick to shame and name call, isn’t she? Ronnie says, Tracy probably just hates everybody, and Drew says she’s probably right. There’s something else they have in common – Monica.

Michael tells Jacinda that he’s sorry. Every word came out wrong. She says she hopes so, and he says he didn’t mean to imply he could buy her feelings. Quite the opposite. He really liked her the night they met. That’s why he wanted to buy her a drink. He had no idea she was… She says, that she was an escort? and he tells her that he was going to say he had no idea she was the woman involved in Drew’s ketamine scandal. Now she’s involved in something a hell of a lot bigger. If they want a believable alibi, they need to find a way to have a real relationship, something other people believe because they believe it themselves. She asks if he thinks people would believe a man like him fell for a woman like her, and he says, why wouldn’t they? She’s smart, beautiful, and magnetic. No one would be surprised that he’d be with her. The real question is, why would someone like her be with someone like him? She says, maybe because he’s sexy, intelligent, and successful, and he says, they sound pretty great and pretty believable as a couple. She says, who is she to argue? and takes out her phone. He asks what she’s doing, and she says, taking a selfie. If people are going to buy this, they need to leave a social media trail. She takes the photo.

Brook asks why Lois is at Uncle Sonny’s, and Lois says, Sonny graciously let her use this place to take care of a few things. Gio was just here. Brook asks, why? and Lois says she was giving him a gentle nudge toward her and Dante. Brook says she wishes Lois hadn’t done that, and Lois says she knows. It’s her butting in again, but she had to try. Brook says she didn’t have to do anything, but she chose to anyway, and Lois says she doesn’t want to argue. She doesn’t want to leave the country with them in a bad place. Brook asks why she’s leaving the country, and Lois says, an opportunity fell into her lap and if she takes it, she’ll be leaving the country.

Lois says, because she was with L&B Records and Miguel Morez, somebody reached out and offered her a job as tour manager, and Brook says she’s happy for her. She’s a great tour manager. Lois says she didn’t expect Brook to tell her that, but it may not even happen. Not without Brook’s blessing. Brook asks what she means, and Lois says it’s for Brook’s client, Blaze. Brook says, right. Blaze finished opening for Miguel. Lois says, Blaze did such a great job, she made an even bigger name for herself. She gained so many new fans that Miguel’s people want to capitalize on it and send her on a tour all of her own. They asked her to manage it, but she’s not taking the opportunity away from Brook. So it’s her call.

Alexis says she promises to do everything in her power to help Willow, and Scout says, good. She likes Willow and hopes Willow marries her dad for real one day. Kristina says she wants to know how Scout is doing. The last time they talked, Scout was trying out for the swim team. How did it go? Scout says she made the team, and Alexis applauds. Scout says her first meet is next Tuesday, and Alexis promises she’ll be there. Kristina says she’ll be right next to Alexis, and they’ll be cheering Scout on. Danny and Rocco come in, and Scout hugs Danny. The nanny’s beady eyes watch them.  

Drew tells Ronnie that Monica was the person who welcomed him into the family. She didn’t know anything about him, but as soon as she found out he was Alan’s son, that was all she needed. He’ll always be deeply grateful for her being there during the toughest time of his life. Ronnie says, that sounds like her sister, but not from personal experience. They were not close. He says, they weren’t very close either, at least during the last year. They’d had a serious falling out. He made some mistakes and was trying to fix them, but because Tracy interfered, Monica wouldn’t even give him a chance. He wishes he’d had the opportunity to deal with it before she died. It’s painful to have to live with for the rest of his life. He’s sure that’s something Ronnie knows all about too.

Michael tells Jacinda that Willow has been charged with Drew’s shooting, but he’s still on the suspect list. He’s much, much higher than her, so he needs her a whole lot more than she needs him. She says, true, but he gets points for being honest, and he says he’ll always be honest with her. It’s the only way to make this thing work, if they have trust, and he needs her to trust him. She says, because? and he says, if they want it to work and for people to believe them, she needs to get a different job.

Outside Bobbie’s, Danny says, whatever he did, he’s sorry, but Alexis says he didn’t do anything. Drew did. Danny asks why Drew can’t just leave them alone? and Alexis says, because he’s an ass. He agreed to lift the restraining orders on all of them, except he kept Danny’s in place. Danny asks if that means everyone can see Scout except him, and she says, yes, but it’s not going to last long. She’s going to fix it. She hates this so much, but in the meantime, they need Scout to spend time with the rest of them to balance the bad influence Drew has. Rocco says, everyone but Danny, and Alexis says she knows it’s not fair, but at the moment, they need to go by Drew’s rules. It’s unconscionable, she knows, but she’s going to take care of it. Danny says he knows she will. She always does.

Drew tells Ronnie, sorry. He’s texting his daughter’s nanny. Ronnie says, that’s fine. She can certainly see how he’d made his life in politics after the speech he gave her. He clearly has a way with words. He says he was just telling the truth. He loved Monica. That didn’t stop because they weren’t speaking. She says, one thing she knows about Monica, once she made up her mind about you, it was really hard to break through. Anyway, she’s glad they had the chance to chat. He says him too, and she says she’s sorry, but she can’t shake the feeling he came to her with an ulterior motive. He says he wouldn’t call it an ulterior motive, but there was something else he was hoping to talk to her about.

Jacinda tells Michael that she’s not saying he’s wrong. Her continuing work as an escort will give people a reason to doubt their relationship, but not having an income is not an option. She has bills to pay. He says he totally gets that, but he can get her a job that pays well, and who knows? Maybe she’ll like it more than the place she’s at right now. She says he’s going to a lot of trouble to make this work. That makes her think he has something pretty serious to cover up. She wasn’t actually with him that night, so she has no idea what he did or didn’t do. He says he didn’t shoot Drew, but he did come dangerously close. He was mad that night and drove over to confront Drew, but then he got out of his car, and it hit him. What Drew was going to do was escalate things. That’s what he always does. Nothing good would come of it and he decided to move forward, for him and for his kids, and leave Willow, Drew, and all that behind. Jacinda says, every time he talks about his kids, he lights up. She can tell how much he loves them. You’re a complicated man, Michael Corinthos, but underneath it all, you’re a good guy. He says he really wants to be, and she says, by the way, she does. He says, does what? and she says, believes him about not shooting his uncle.

Lulu tells Nathan, for her, it felt like a good night’s sleep, but for everyone else, four years had passed. Her little boy and girl were teenagers, her father was dead, and so was her Aunt Bobbie. She felt like she was living in another world, an alternate universe. Nathan says he’s really sorry, and she says, yeah, so is she. He says, that stuff messes with your head, right? and she says, it’s hard to explain the anxiety, the questions, the displacement, the guilt. Dante had to raise Rocco, and her daughter went with her father, so she knows all too well what he’s going through. He says he guesses she does. He has so much guilt about Maxie. She might be the only one who can walk him through it.

Spinelli tells Jason, before Maxie was transferred to the hospital in Boston, he promised to keep the family together and James is an integral part of the family. He needs to play this exactly right. Jason says he doesn’t know Nathan too well, but everybody thinks he’s a good guy. He’s sure Nathan will respect everyone’s feelings when he gets to know his son. Spinelli says, he’s right. Nathan is a good guy. That’s why Maxie… loved him. He was arguably the love of her life, and Nathan made it clear he still loves her. Jason says, stop. He has to stop. That was the past. Maxie loves him and James has plenty of room in his life for him and Nathan. Spinelli thanks Jason for saying that. He doesn’t want to lose James.

Carly says, funny. Britt acts like she wants as little to do with Jason as possible, yet she finds a way to drop his name in every conversation they have. Britt says, exaggerate much? and Carly says she and Jason have been best friends for a very long time. She’s in his life and that’s not going to change. Jason wouldn’t care at all if she threw Britt out of the hotel. He’s seen her be way pettier and never blinked an eye. Britt says she gets why Carly would brag about that, and Carly says she tells it like it is. Britt says Carly talks a big game, but she knows it’s driving Carly crazy that Jason flew all the way to Croatia to find her. How hard did Carly try to convince him not to go after her? She’s sure it made Carly mad that he didn’t listen, and she knows Carly is upset that Jason still can’t stop thinking about her after all this time.

Brook tells Lois that she has a lot going on right now. Gio, Chase’s job, Monica’s estate is in limbo. She could never take on a position like that, even if it was offered to her. Lois says, Brook has a lot on her plate, and Brook says she usually does. Blaze just lost her mother. Even though she and Natalia didn’t have the best relationship, she can understand why Blaze would want maternal energy around right now. Things aren’t great between her and Lois, but she trusts that Blaze will be in great hands. Lois says, that means… and Brook says, take the job. Lois has her blessing. Lois thanks her and says, that means a lot. Brook asks when she’s leaving, and Lois says, today.  

Michael says it’s likely both he and Jacinda will be called to testify at Willow’s trial. So there can’t be a traceable money trail between them. She’ll still get paid a sizeable amount, just under the table. Jacinda says, that’s fine, and Michael says, good. She needs to have a reason that she left her last job. He’ll cover her expenses, and she’ll need a legit title and position. She asks what kind of job he has in mind. Does it come with health insurance?

Alexis comes back and asks, who’s ready to order? and Scout asks, where are her brothers? Alexis says she’s sorry. They had somewhere to go. They wanted to stay and said to tell her how much they love her. Kristina says, Scout hardly saw them. They didn’t get to talk.

Drew says he loves that Monica left Ronnie the estate. Keeping the house in the family is a great way to preserve Monica’s legacy. He also understands Port Charles is not her home and she might have a life she wants to get back to. If that’s the case, he’d love the opportunity to make and offer on his family’s home. If that’s what she decides, he hopes he’s her first call. Danny and Rocco come in, and Danny tells Drew, get the hell out of our house.

Carly says she’s not surprised Jason can’t stop thinking about Britt. He’s loyal to a fault, even to the people who lie to his face. Or did she tell him what she was really up to in Croatia? Britt says, who’s asking? Carly or her WSB agent boyfriend, Jack Brennan? Carly says she doesn’t do Jack’s dirty work, and Britt says, just Jason’s. Carly says she and Jason have been through things Britt can’t even imagine. Once again, the reason alludes her for Jason putting himself on the line for Britt. Why not do something to justify his faith in her, like be a decent person? Britt says she really misses the Five Poppies spa. It was so much quieter. Carly says, then she should go back… Unless she can’t.

Spinelli tells Jason that the other day, he tried to hint that what James needs is routine and consistency in his life. In other words, James should stay with him and James’s sister, but Nathan mistook that and thought he meant that James needed him to consistently be a hands-on father. Jason tells him, all he can say is, when he came back to town, he saw Sam and Dante had built a blended family and Danny loved being a part of that family. He didn’t want to disrupt that, so who knows? Maybe Nathan will feel the same way. Spinelli says, even so, things changed with Danny and Jason is with him full-time, and Jason says, only because Sam died. Spinelli says, that’s exactly his point. What if the worst happens and Maxie doesn’t make it? What happens to his family then?

Nathan tells Lulu that he can’t stop wondering if things had been different, if he’d never left, would Maxie feel the same? Maybe to him it didn’t feel like seven years had gone by, but they had. Maybe in all that time, she fell out of love with him. Lulu says, no. Maxie never stopped loving him. She was devastated when he died and mourned for a really long time. Then she moved on with her life. In true Maxie style, she made big mistakes along the way. Nathan says he heard about it from Nina, and Lulu says, Maxie never would have gotten involved with Peter August if she hadn’t been spinning out over losing him. It took years for Maxie and Spinelli to reconnect. She loves Spinelli and he worships Maxie, but she truly thinks Nathan was the love of Maxie’s life. And when Maxie wakes up – and she will wake up – she’s going to be stunned, then thrilled that he’s alive. But if he’s wondering if Maxie will choose him or Spinelli when she comes back to him, only Maxie has the answer to that.

Lois says she’s flying to Seoul later today, and Brook says, that makes sense. Blaze has a lot of fans there. How long is the tour? Lois says, TBD. She’s adding new dates all the time. It’s part of the job description. Brook says she’s sorry. She knows things aren’t great, but she hates to think that Lois won’t be here and waiting when she’s finally ready. Lois says she’ll always be there for Brook. It doesn’t matter how long they’ve gone without speaking – days, weeks, months, God forbid years – the second Brook needs her, she’ll drop everything and come running. Lois starts to cry and says, Brook is her heart, beating outside her chest. She always has been. Brook starts to cry too, and says she needs Lois, every single day, a thousand times a day. Not an hour goes by that she doesn’t wish she could call Lois, but something in her isn’t ready to move on from this. Lois says, don’t feel bad about the way she feels. She kept a secret from Brook that wasn’t hers to keep. She swears she’s learned from her mistake. She just hopes she gets the chance to prove it to Brook someday.

Scout asks if she can come over for a sleepover, and Alexis says she’d love that, but they’d have to ask her dad. The nanny says, it’s time to go. Scout’s dad wants her home. Kristina says, they haven’t even ordered, but Alexis says, that’s okay. They’ll see each other soon. Scout says, okay. She loves them. Alexis hugs her and says she loves Scout too. She’ll see Scout at the swim meet. Kristina says, they’ll be the ones cheering the loudest, and hugs Scout. The nanny says, let’s go, and she leaves with Scout. Kristina says, what the hell was that? and Alexis suggests they not make a scene. She’s sure Drew’s little spy called and told him that Danny was here. Then their time with Scout was over before it got started.

Drew says he was just here to talk to Ronnie about adult business. It doesn’t concern Danny either. Danny says, it does. He lives there. Drew isn’t even allowed on the grounds. How did he get past the front gate? Drew says, Ronnie decides who gets to be here now, and Ronnie says, okay. Let’s just cool it, okay? She and the congressman were just having a chat, but Danny is obviously upset about something. Maybe they could discuss it and work out some kind of understanding. Rocco says, she doesn’t know Drew like they do. He’s a bad guy. He’s been keeping their sister away from them and still won’t let Danny see her. Drew says, it’s a long story, and Danny says, Drew filed restraining orders against Scout’s entire family to keep them from seeing her. Ronnie says she doesn’t understand that. The way he was talking, he seemed like someone who really values family. Why is he keeping his daughter away from hers? Drew says, Danny put Scout in danger. He kidnapped her… Danny says, that’s a lie. He was bringing her home. The doorbell rings, and Ronnie says she’ll get it. When she’s gone, Drew says he’s just about had it. They’re both entitled little punks that don’t know when to shut up. It’s time that they get something straight.

Lois opens the door, and Brook says, ma, and goes to her. They hug and cry, and Lois says, hey. When Brook was growing up it was them against the world. She hopes they’ll be that way again someday. She loves Brook so very much. Brook says she knows. Safe travels. Lois says, okay, and leaves. Brook watches as she walks away from the house.  

Nathan thanks Lulu for what she said about Maxie. Most people say if she wakes up, but Lulu said when. It helps. Lulu says she can be this confident because it happened to her. She fought her way back. Maxie is a fighter, like they are, and Maxie is going to come back for James, like she came back for Charlotte and Rocco. Nathan says he hasn’t met Charlotte yet, but Rocco’s a great kid. He’s smart, interesting, and polite. She thanks him and says she thinks so too. When did they see each other? Nathan says, they had dinner last night, and she says, him and Rocco? He says, him, Rocco, his mom, and Britt.

Jason says, Spinelli has to stay strong and positive for Maxie and the kids, and Spinelli says, he’s right. Jason says he knows how hard it is on him. If there’s anything he can do to help… Spinelli says, actually, he could talk to Nathan. Tell Nathan his story and that he knows what it’s like to want to reconnect with his son, but he held back and took it slow for Danny’s sake. Convince him it’s the right thing to do in this situation. Jason says he doesn’t know why Nathan would listen to him. He barely knows the guy. Spinelli says, Jason did save his sister’s life. That should give him an in. Jason says, okay. If it will make Spinelli feel better, he’s happy to do it. But Nathan’s not a dumb guy. He may think Spinelli sent him and think Spinelli is trying to keep him away from James. Spinelli says that should have occurred to him, and Jason says, so why not be more direct? Why not invite him over and let him see James as part of a big loving family? Then he’ll see with his own eyes how happy James is. Make Nathan a partner in parenting. Spinelli says, it’s not only wise, but surprisingly full of heart. Perhaps Jason is becoming less stone cold and a little more warm and fuzzy. Jason just looks at him, and Spinelli says, or not. They get up, and Spinelli almost hugs Jason, but Jason is like, no. Spinelli says he’ll let Jason know how it goes leaves.

Carly says they all know Britt is hiding something. Between her, Jason, and Jack, they’ll figure out her dirty little secret. Britt flashes back to the note that came with her medication, and says, this place sucks. It doesn’t even have a cold plunge. She leaves.

Kristina says, what if Drew thinks they had it planned to have Danny show up and takes Scout away from them again? and Alexis says she’ll have to make sure he knows it was a coincidence – and it was, by the way. Kristina asks, what if he doesn’t believe her? but Alexis says, Drew wants Willow acquitted and knows she’s the best person to do that. But if she fails, he’ll keep Scout away from them for good. Kristina says, if anyone can get Willow free, she can, and Alexis says, the problem is, if Willow claims she’s innocent, she has to give the jury someone else to find guilty. Kristina says, please tell her that she’s not trying to pin Drew’s shooting on Michael.

Jacinda tells Michael that she has one stipulation. She doesn’t want the job to just be her cover. She wants to actually do the job, learn something new. She’s a hard worker. Who knows? Maybe this will be her next career. Michael says, don’t worry. She’ll have full autonomy. He doesn’t want to micromanage her. He wants her to succeed here. She says, good. Then she’s in. He says, okay, and holds out his hand, but she says, please. They want this to be convincing. He says, done, and they kiss.

Drew says, Scout’s nanny told him what Danny did. He showed up at Bobbie’s earlier while Scout was there. That cannot happen again. Danny says, or what? It doesn’t matter how many restraining orders he hits them with. They’re seeing their sister. He can’t watch her every second of the day. She’s not his prisoner. Rocco says, Scout is smart and she loves them. He can’t keep them away without making her hate him. Drew says he doesn’t want to play these games with them. If he feels Scout isn’t safe here in Port Charles, he will take her and relocate to DC. How often do they think she’ll see them then? In the meantime, he’s going to have both delinquents arrested and thrown in jail, just like Danny’s dad and just like Rocco’s Uncle Lucky. Ronnie brings in Laura, who says, I beg your pardon. I believe you’re out of your depth now. You have a much bigger problem than my grandson and his brother. You’ve got me.

On Monday, Curtis says, Jordan isn’t the reason his marriage is over; Trina asks if she’s interrupting Isaiah and Portia; Kristina tells Sonny that he might not be so happy when he hears what she has to say; and Drew says, all Ronnie had to do is name her price.

🧼 All the Soap News Fit To Print…

This doesn’t surprise me one bit, and she’s blowing up on Instagram.

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/general-hospital-star-scarlett-spears-donna-will-star-as-young-glinda-in-wicked-sequel/

Failed retirement looks good on her.

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/why-failed-retiree-jane-elliot-is-thrilled-with-her-general-hospital-resurgence-as-tracy/

At first, I was leaning toward him actually being Faison, but now I’m not so sure. I don’t think evil twin, but it’s not unheard of.

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/is-nathan-really-back-on-general-hospital-fans-weigh-in-on-his-mysterious-return/

Daytime Emmy stuff.

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/the-52nd-annual-daytime-emmy-awards-the-complete-winners-list-as-it-happens-live/

https://ew.com/daytime-emmy-awards-2025-winners-list-11831588

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/photos/daytime-emmys-2025-inside-the-winners-circle-with-stars-of-general-hospital-young-and-restless-and-more/

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/photos/the-2025-daytime-emmy-awards-what-you-didnt-see-behind-the-scenes-during-and-after-the-ceremony/

💉 A Dose Of Reality…

Below Deck

The captain told Nathan that he had some people who didn’t get it, and in Nathan’s interview, he said he’d given them the benefit of the doubt first charter, but now it was looking like a joke. Primary Grant wanted something to eat at some ungodly hour and Aesha stepped in, suggesting fries. Of course, he insisted on truffle being added, but by the time they were served, he wasn’t hungry anymore. He wasn’t belligerent or even demanding, but he was idiotic and insensitive to the fact that the crew members were human. After being told no swimming, guest Jack also tumbled, or rather bounced, into the water while drunk. The guests did leave a $20K tip, $1818 each, which kinda, sorta made up for a charter of idiots. Looks like a deckhand might be headed for walking the plank though.

Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City

The Below Deck trip was planned, but Heather said she couldn’t enjoy herself on a superyacht. They were savages. Lisa was annoyed that she couldn’t bring her glam squad and tried talking smack about Angie to Heather, but Ozempic Face wasn’t having it. Heather told Meredith that Lisa was never going to own it and apologize, but Meredith preferred giving Lisa the benefit of the doubt. Todd suggested Bronwyn stop getting in the gutter and rolling around in the slime. She assumed she’d be fighting with Lisa and was setting herself up for it. Whatever happened was on her.

Housewives Wife Swap

This is what reality TV should be about – learning how other people live who aren’t you. Angie from RHOSLC swapped with Lindsay, a wife living off the grid. In the 24-hour period when the swapped wives play by their rules, Mary showed up when Lindsay was demonstrating how to gut a fish. Seeing Mary’s face was priceless and was one of the many moments that made it worth watching.

Real Housewives Of Orange County

These women should always stay high. Gina and Fancy Pants did mushrooms and romped through fields of tulips, while Shannon tried her hand at riding a plaster horse. Gina was mesmerized by clogs with flowers in them! While there weren’t any knockdown drag outs, there was plenty of behind the back gossip, which I find tedious since it’s always rehashing the same stuff over and over. In Gretchen’s interview, she said if Tamra hadn’t changed when she accepted Jesus, what made them think she’d changed now? Good point. I could see why Tony Geary moved to Amsterdam. It looks amazing and so much fun – the markets! the canals! the flowers – weed included!

Random Reality Items

I smell desperation.

Tease is right. There’s not much to see there.

Yikes. It’s so creepy that people do this.

Looks promising. I was totally surprised when I realized how much I like this show. Those who can’t do watch it on TV.

Getting some Lala.

👀 Last Weekend’s Watch…

The Perfect Neighbor. Netflix. A documentary about someone who is very far from being the perfect neighbor. When the entire neighborhood hates you, they can’t all be wrong. Racist and antagonistic, Susan Lorincz is a neighbor you don’t want to have, constantly berating the neighborhood children for being children. Hand to God, I had a downstairs neighbor like that when I lived in an apartment, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Lorincz takes things too far, fatally shooting a mother of four through a locked door and then using Florida’s Stand Your Ground law as a defense.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1424110/the-perfect-neighbor-what-happened-to-susan-lorincz-ajike-owens

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). Netflix. The reviews weren’t good, but I didn’t hate it. It is what it is. A slasher film with all the tropes. There was a more complex plot than the original, which only led to unanswered questions, but does it really matter? This is the kind of mindless film where you just kick back with your popcorn and not think too hard. Probably the best thing about it was the inclusion of actors from the original film and an amusing fantasy sequence with one of them.

https://decider.com/2025/10/17/i-know-what-you-did-last-summer-2025-digital-streaming-movie-review

https://www.splicetoday.com/moving-pictures/i-know-what-you-did-last-summer-ages-gracelessly

🔮 Watch Of the (Near) Future…

Genius casting!

https://ew.com/wicked-for-good-casts-colman-domingo-cowardly-lion-11832887

Airing November 6th, 8 pm on NBC, streaming on Peacock the following day.

https://ew.com/first-look-at-cynthia-erivo-ariana-grande-in-wicked-for-good-tv-special-exclusive-11834430

It’s almost here.

https://ew.com/welcome-to-derry-on-set-it-prequel-tracing-pennywise-origins-exclusive-11830263

👠 Over At the Frankenstein Place…

I can’t wait to read his memoir.

https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/tim-curry-makes-rare-appearance-045437579.html

🐝 Time To Buzz Off…

One of those good things that will be coming to an end.

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/yellowjackets-ending-season-4

🎃 Halloween Watch…

Obviously, best and scariest are a matter of opinion, but there are some good ones here.

https://ew.com/best-halloween-movies-streaming-11832026

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/scariest-movies-of-all-time

🐈‍⬛ Casting a Spell On You…

🍄 Omg, the mushroom Pug.

🗽 These costumes make me feel guilty for not being more ambitious.

https://nypost.com/2025/10/19/us-news/costumed-canines-strut-stuff-at-nycs-halloween-dog-parade/

https://hyperallergic.com/1050567/the-goodest-boys-of-nyc-halloween-dog-parade-2025/

🐕 And of course, ways to keep your pets safe.

🦉 Quotes of the Week

I don’t want to pinch your bubble. – Jasmine Pineda, 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?

You can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them. – Shonda Rhimes

A good character is the best tombstone. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. – Charles Spurgeon

Whatever you are, be a good one. – William Makepeace Thackeray

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. – Alice Walker

The road to success is always under construction. – Lily Tomlin

Leaders who win the respect of others are the ones who deliver more than they promise, not the ones who promise more than they can deliver.Mark A. Clement

No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has. – Henry Ward Beecher

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

Success is defined as the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. – Unknown

You can never leave footprints that last if you are always walking on tiptoe.Leymah Gbowee

We’re married now. My hell is her hell. – Mike Biggs (Billy Gardell), Mike & Molly

🪄 Magic In the Night…

Until next week, stay safe; stay keeping your pets out of the mix on Halloween; and stay not doing body shots in a room full of people with phones if you hire an escort.

September 6, 2024 – There For a Payday Not Romance, Last Dream, New Series, Fancy Move, For Lease, Heavy Edit, Mob Slam, WWDD Et Al, Be Quiet, Chinchilla Rock, Just Past 10 Quotes & Song

Standard

What I Watched Today

(rambling, random thoughts, recaps, and the whole GH enchilada on Fridays)

General Hospital

Brook listens at the living room door and says, nothing. Olivia says, no rains in Spains falling down the plains or whatever? and Ned says, falling mainly on the plain. Olivia says she doesn’t care. This whole thing is ridiculous. Brook says she can’t believe granny would hire some elitist drill instructor to fix ma’s speech, and Olivia says she’s going to kick that fancy pants nutjob out on her butt. Ned says, Lois ultimately agreed to a lesson, and Olivia says, she was coerced. Tracy comes by and asks if they’ve been lurking here this whole time. She’s getting a speech lesson, not being debriefed after an alien abduction. Robin opens the door and says, they can hear them. Come in. They’re finished for today. Brook asks Lois, how’d it go?

Jordan asks a CSI guy what he thinks, and he says, she’s right. Something to do with that tattoo might identify their John Doe. She says, that’s great news. Can he forward the photos to her too? With Commissioner Devane’s permission of course (🍷). He says, will do, and leaves. She goes into Isaiah’s room, and Sidwell’s thug peeks out from around the corner.

Dante joins Jordan, and she tells him, the photographer was just here taking photos of the tattoo. Dante says he saw. Maybe that will get them something. Did she reach the WSB? She says she’s waiting to hear from Brennan. What’s he doing back here? Shouldn’t he be upstairs with Lulu? He says, if he sits around, he’s going to lose his mind. He knows she’d want him to keep her in the loop. She asks if that means he found something. Is he closer to identifying this man?

A guard brings Holly to where Lucky is, and Lucky says, Sidwell’s not here. Holly tells the guard that she’ll be fine with this one, and the guard leaves, closing the door. She asks if Lucky is all right. She heard he was stabbed. He says he’s fine. What is she doing here? She says, don’t worry. Jenz is out inspecting the mine. He won’t find them here together. He asks why she’s at this compound. Does she need help escaping? She says she’s perfectly safe, and he says, so she’s here with Sidwell? What the hell is she doing? She says she couldn’t resist. The heart wants what it wants.

Josslyn slams into her apartment, and two seconds later, Carly says, let her in. She bangs on the door and tells Josslyn to open it. Josslyn knows she’s not going to leave. Open this door now. She’s not going anywhere. Josslyn opens the door and asks if Carly spent the night with Sonny last night. Carly says, yes, and Josslyn tells her, then there’s nothing more to say. She starts to close the door, but Carly stops her. She says, don’t shut her out. She’s not going to let her.

Elizabeth takes Ric to her office and says, they’ll have some privacy in here. He tells her, there’s not much to say. When John Cates was shot and killed last night, they saw Alexis drop a gun off the bridge into the water off of Blackstone Canyon. She was obviously trying to destroy evidence. It’s pretty simple. They need to tell the police what they saw. She says, they don’t know what they saw because it was dark, and they were kind of far away. She’s not even sure it was a gun. Alexis said it was her phone. He says, she didn’t believe that then, and she doesn’t believe it now. She even said it was a gun. She says, because that was her first impression, but right now, she’s not so sure. He says he doesn’t believe it. He never thought he’d see the day when Elizabeth Webber refused to do the right thing.

Chase asks Dex how it feels to be part of Port Charles’s finest, and Dex says, pumped, proud, nervous. Chase says, he’s got this, and Dex says, during graduation, he thought about how good it felt to be a part of something bigger, something important. Just like it felt when he joined the service. Anna comes in and asks if it’s Dex’s first shift, and he says, yes, ma’am. He’ll leave them both to it. Anna says, why doesn’t he stick around? She might need him. Chase asks, what’s up? and she says, a development in the homicide of Agent Cates.

At the penthouse, Jason says, so Sonny is missing a gun, and Sonny asks if Jason took one of his 9 millimeters. Jason says, no. Who has the combination to the lockbox? Sonny says, no one that he knows of, and Jason asks, when was the last time it was opened? Sonny says, a couple of weeks ago. He was off his medication, and he was making sure the guns were safely locked. Jason asks why he opened it now, and Sonny says, because the door where he keeps the lockbox was ajar. That’s not a priority. This is. Sonny unwraps a gun in a bandana, and Jason says, he heard about Jagger. Sonny says, that bastard isn’t going to mess with his family again. This is the only thing tying him to the murder. Get rid of it.

Tracy says, would you repeat that please? and using standard American speech, Lois says, the lesson went very well. It was really quite enlightening. Robin says she’s never had such a diligent student, and tells Lois, it was a pleasure. Lois says, the pleasure was all mine, and Tracy says, amazing. Olivia says, put her back, and Robin says, I beg your pardon? Olivia tells her to wave her wand and do her little magic voodoo witchcraft and do whatever she does. This is not the Lois Cerullo that she loves. Change her back. Lois says she’s fine. Doesn’t she sound like everyone who’s on the news? She really didn’t think she could do it, but she must have a knack or something. Olivia tells Tracy, this time you‘ve gone too far.

Carly says she knows Josslyn is upset, and Josslyn says, upset doesn’t even begin to cover it. How can Carly be so stupid and clueless? What happened to her self-respect? Is she really that desperate? Carly says, knock it off. Josslyn gets to be angry and disappointed, but doesn’t get to disrespect her. Josslyn (who can’t buy a clue) says she has to respect Carly when Carly clearly doesn’t respect herself?  Maybe just go. Carly says she’s not going anywhere. She might remind Josslyn that she’s a grown woman and makes her own choices, like she’s allowed Josslyn to do. Josslyn says, right. Like Carly would have allowed her to go back and forth with an abusive, toxic man, and she’d just sit back and watch that happen. Carly says, she’s right, but they’d talk about it. Not yell, scream, and slam doors. Josslyn says she can see Carly yelling and slamming the door or ten. Carly says, maybe, but then she would hear Josslyn out. Is Josslyn going to let her do the same?

Elizabeth says, first of all, it’s Elizabeth Baldwin, not Webber, and Ric says, slip of the tongue. She says, no. Just a sign of how long it’s been since he actually lived in Port Charles. He thinks he knows her, but he doesn’t. He asks if she’s turned to a life of crime now, and she says she’s been through a lot. She made some questionable choices that she’s had to own. She’s also learned that everything is not black and white. She’s pretty sure Ric knows that too. He says he went into some areas of grey, and she says, maybe it’s just been too long for him to know her or Alexis. Maybe he’s making assumptions off of past grievances. Alexis would never kill anyone. That much she knows. So she can’t swear that Alexis was destroying evidence. He says, maybe she doesn’t know Alexis as well as she thinks she does or maybe he knows sides of Alexis that others don’t. She says, that’s exactly her point. He hasn’t seen sides of her or Alexis in over a decade. He says, they’ll agree to disagree, and she says, what about Molly? How’s Molly going to feel when her mother gets arrested based on something her father said? He says, Molly would want to know the truth, no matter what it was, and she says, agree to disagree. He says, bottom line, a federal agent is dead and he’s an officer of the court. And he’s obligated to report any pertinent information whatsoever in regard to any kind of murder… She laughs and says, give her a break.

Dante tells Jordan that he found a cellphone on the side of the road near the site of the hit and run. It was smashed up, but the fingerprints pulled match the John Doe. It leads him to believe it’s his phone. She asks if he thinks IT can access any of the phone’s data, but he says he doesn’t know. It was pretty smashed up, so he’s not holding out much hope. She says, it would be easier if this guy would just wake up and tell us who he is.

Lucky says, Holly expects him to believe she’s actually attracted to Sidwell, and she says, why not? She’s always had a thing for bad boys. As he well knows. He says his father never strip mined the resources of a war-torn country, and she says, true. Luke was never in the same league as the darling Mr. Sidwell. But his father was a scoundrel. One of a kind. Lucky was missed at the memorial Tracy held in Amsterdam. He says he was on his way, but help was needed in the Sudan… She says, he’s so like his father, and he says, and like him, he can smell a con a mile away. Dad always said she was the best con artist he ever knew. She says, such a flatterer, and he asks her to be straight with him. This is about a payday, not a romance. It must be a pretty big score, huh? She says, yes. So it would be a pity if he blew her cover before the goods were in her pocket.

Anna says she checked the firearms registry and there are 178 nine millimeters registered to Port Charles residents, and Chase says, that’s quite a list. and Dex says, that doesn’t include the unregistered ones, and Anna says, very good point, but one of those registered ones just so happens to belong to Sonny Corinthos. Chase asks if it’s enough for a search warrant, and Anna says she’s going to try and convince Judge Windsor that it is. Dex says, if she doesn’t mind him saying, the sooner she does that, the better. If Sonny hasn’t gotten rid of the gun already, it’s only a matter of time until he does.

Jason asks if it’s unregistered, and Sonny says, there’s no way to trace it back to him, but he wants it destroyed just in case. Jason puts the gun in the back of his waistband, and Sonny says, and these too, handing him the bullet casings. Jason says, consider it done, and puts them in his pocket. Any other problems he should be aware of? Is Sonny sure nobody saw him going to the boathouse? Sonny says, no one saw him going, but there was a witness. Michael. Right after he killed Jagger, Michael was there. He’s not going to say anything. Michael let Sonny get to the main house, then he found the body. Jason says, Michael covered for him. Okay, so what’s his alibi? Sonny says, Carly. She swore she was with him. Jason says, Carly, and Sonny says, yeah. Jason asks why they didn’t call him last night, and Sonny says, it was at the Quartermaines. They needed an alibi. She didn’t know why she needed it at the time. Jason says, he didn’t tell her about Cates? and Sonny says, there was a lot going on, but she gets it. Jason says, okay. So their immediate problem is the missing gun. Sonny says, fully registered, completely legit, waiting to implicate him if it’s in the wrong hands. They’ve go to find it and they’ve got to find it fast.

Elizabeth says, Ric’s feeble excuse and shocked expression doesn’t play with her, and he says, she hasn’t lost her directness. She says, the main reason for him doing his civic duty is to stick it to Alexis. And the only reason he needs her to back him is because his take on things is a little suspect, considering how toxic his relationship is with her. He says, she’s right. He doesn’t like Alexis. Maybe they even hate each other, but you know who else Alexis hated? John Cates. Elizabeth as a mother would do nearly anything to protect her child. She says, nearly. He’s accusing Alexis of murder. He says he’s merely suggesting they go to the police and tell them what they saw, and she says, they don’t know what they saw. He says, fine. Let’s say you’re right. Alexis didn’t kill Cates. What’s the harm in coming forward and putting it on the record? She says, maybe implicating an innocent woman in a crime she had nothing to do with? and he says, if she’s so positive Alexis is innocent, why doesn’t she put her money where her mouth is. Tell the truth and let that be that.

Carly asks what Josslyn was doing at Sonny’s this morning, and Josslyn says she’d just heard Carly and Sonny had sex in Tracy’s bed. And of course (🍷) she never believed that Carly… Anyway, Carly wasn’t answering her phone and Pilar said she didn’t come home last night. Carly says, so she’s done some checking around, and Josslyn says she went to Sonny’s to prove to herself that Carly wouldn’t be there. It was like a punch in the stomach when she saw Carly coming out of that apartment. After everything Sonny did to her and their family, and the horrible ways he treated Carly, how does she go back to him?

Jason says, let’s go over it again. It had to be somebody who has access to the penthouse. Who’s been in the penthouse lately? Sonny says, Dante, Lois, Brook Lynn… There was Natalia, Pilar with Avery, but they don’t know where the lockbox is, much less the combination. Jason says, what about Ava? and Sonny says, she might have seen him use the combination once when she was living with him. As a matter of fact, Diane told him that Ava recanted her statement that Kristina tried to kill her. Does Jason know anything about that? Jason says he’ll give Sonny the short version. He saved Ava’s life last night.

Lucky says, Isaiah’s returning with back-up, and he’d advise Holly not to be here when that happens. She thanks him and says, but she’s going to finish what she started. It’s just taking her a bit longer than she’d hoped to get the combination to Jenz’s safe. Lucky asks, what’s in it? and she says, nothing he needs to concern himself with. He says, doesn’t sound sketchy at all, and she says, her plans for tonight should give Jenz the incentive that he needs. He says, but the clock’s ticking. Isaiah has probably contacted the WSB by now.

Dante looks at his phone and says, nothing on the tattoo, and Jordan says, these are his clothes, right? She takes the bag of Isaiah’s things and says, what about the labels? Can they pin down where he got them? He says, look at this. Working together again, huh? Is she getting tired of sitting on the sidelines? She says, at first. Then she gets caught up in the projects. Right now, it just feels good to be able to help somebody. He says, with everything happening with Molly, TJ, Kristina, and now Lulu, he doesn’t feel like he’s doing a whole lot to help anybody. He feels especially helpless when he’s sitting with Lulu. She says, still no change? and he says, nope. It’s not looking good either. Laura is looking for Lucky. He’s the best chance they have at a donor match. She says, knowing Laura, she will move heaven and earth, and he says, but what she has to move is in Africa and she’s got to find Lucky fast or they’re not going to be able to save Lulu.

Olivia says, Robin broke her best friend, and Lois says she’s fine, but please continue. Olivia says, Lois lives in a house with this sanctimonious snob. She’s going to tell Monica to kick Tracy out on her bloomin’ arse. Tracy says she’ll triple Robin’s fee if she can fix that one too.

Holly asks, when was the last time Lucky was back in Port Charles and saw Laura and Aiden? and he says, it’s been a while. There’s no shortage of places that need the help. She says, and only he can solve their problems, and he asks if his mother sent her here to guilt trip him. She laughs, and says, no. She just figured it must be hard for him, being away from his family for so long. He says he’s sure they’re getting along just fine without him, when they hear footsteps. Holly says, someone’s coming.

Carly says, first of all, she’s not back with Sonny. Last night was a one-time thing and she’s annoyed with herself because she let it get as far as she did. But she and Sonny understand what it was and they’re able to move on because ultimately, they mutually respect and understand each other. Josslyn says, all Sonny has done is hurt Carly over and over again, and Carly says she knows that. She and Sonny have been through a lot. They’ve survived things she prays Josslyn never has to experience. They have children together. They’re a family. It’s an unbreakable bond. Josslyn says, so she’s getting back with him, but Carly says she’s not. She just told Josslyn. She’s not getting back together with Sonny. It was a one-time thing. And she’s trying to make Josslyn understand because she wants Josslyn to know that she knows what she’s doing. She’s not trying to justify her actions, and she certainly doesn’t need Josslyn’s approval here. (No, she doesn’t, and Josslyn needs to keep her opinion to herself.) Josslyn says, Carly knows who he is and what he does, and she was finally free of all of that. She doesn’t understand. Carly says she knows, and Josslyn says, he’s a dangerous man. Carly says she knows, and Josslyn says, with a dangerous lifestyle. He attacked Dex. He would have killed Dex if Jason hadn’t stopped it. And Jagger Cates was killed here last night at the boathouse. Carly says she’s aware, and Josslyn asks if she was there when it happened. Carly says, yes. She was with Sonny. Josslyn says, oh my God, and Carly says, whatever she’s thinking, stop. Josslyn asks, did she sleep with Sonny last night or did she give him an alibi for murder?

Jason says, so once they got Ava to the police station, she admitted that Cates forced her to sign a false statement against Kristina. Sonny says he warned her not to go with him, and Jason says, Boyle came clean too. She said that Cates blackmailed her and made a deal with her to kill Ava. Sonny says, slimy piece of work. Thank God Kristina is free of him. He tried to break her. He tried to end Sonny’s family. And he failed. I won. He thanks Jason for everything, and Jason nod and says he’ll get rid of the gun and casings. Then they’re done with Jagger. There’s a knock at the door, and Jason opens it. Anna is there with Dex and another officer, and Sonny asks what brings her by. She says, warrant to search the premises, and Sonny says, for what? She says, among other things, she needs to see Sonny’s weapons.

On the phone, Sidwell’s thug says, not yet… He’ll take care of Gannon. No problem… He just needs to wait until no one is in his room. (Well, yeah. You’d think that would be a given.)

Dante says, all right. They made the serial number of John Doe’s phone. That means if they can figure out where it was purchased, they can figure out where he comes from. Jordan says, or at least where he’s been.

Josslyn says, no. She doesn’t want to know. And she doesn’t know what’s worse. Carly falling for Sonny again, or her helping him get away with murder. Carly says, she has to know… but Josslyn says she doesn’t want to hear it. Because a week ago, Carly was telling her how horrible she felt facing prison because she made a terrible choice, and how that risky last-minute decision almost cost her kids, her job, her freedom. And if that evidence against her hadn’t miraculously disappeared… Carly says she knows, but Josslyn says, she doesn’t know. Because here she is again, a few weeks later, doing it again. So whatever this is, however she’s let Sonny back in her life, she’s back to risking everything for him.

Anna says, they’ll start with the main bedroom, then go to the office. She asks if Kristina or Avery are here, and Sonny asks if they can make sure not to mess up Avery’s room because she’s just a kid. Anna tells them, go easy on the kid’s room. She doubts Sonny would stash a smoking gun in her room. Sonny asks what smoking gun she’s talking about, and she says, the one used to kill Agent Cates. Sonny says, she’s wasting her time, and Anna asks why he doesn’t make it easier for everyone and produce his registered 9-millimeter gun. Just for laughs. He says, because he doesn’t want to make it easier, and Dex says he knows where Sonny keeps his lockbox. Sonny laughs, and Anna thanks Dex. Dex walks over to the credenza, and Sonny suggests Jason go. He doesn’t want to see this play out. They’ll keep in touch. Anna says, just a minute.

At the station, Ric introduces himself to Chase, and says, we were told you’re in charge of the John Cates murder investigation. Chase says, we? when Elizabeth joins Ric and says, hi. Chase asks what this is about, and Ric says, good. They know one another. He forgot what a small community Port Charles is. Chase asks if he has information regarding the Cates investigation, and Ric says, yes, but Elizabeth says, maybe. She’s not sure… Ric says he and Elizabeth were walking in Blackstone Canyon last night and they saw something suspicious. Elizabeth says, more like odd, and Ric says, semantics. Chase asks what they saw, and Ric says, when they got to the bridge, they noticed a woman at the railing, and she had a gun, and she dropped it into the water. Chase asks if they can describe the woman, and Ric looks at Elizabeth. She says, it was Alexis Davis.

Brook asks if Lois is really into this. Does she like the way she sounds? Lois says she’s still getting used to it. It’s fun. It’s like she’s pretending to be somebody else. Now she understands why Meryl Streep always picks the roles where she has to learn accents. Robin says, yes. Meryl Streep is a wonderful role model. Emulate her by all means. Brook says, they’re talking here, and tells Lois that she doesn’t want her to feel like this is something she has to do just because of some hateful comments on Home & Heart. Lois says, that’s not the only reason, and Brook says, there are a lot of idiots who hide behind the anonymity of social media and their presumed superiority. (Truth!) She loves Lois just the way she is, and so does everybody else. Lois thanks her and they hug. Tracy tells Robin that she’s stunned by Lois’s transformation after just one lesson. Does she have a magic wand or is she just that good? Robin says, the latter. Lois is an exceptional student. She has a virtuosic ear and an aptitude for linguistic convergence. She thanks Tracy for bringing Lois to her. Tracy says, what about the other one? Bensonhurst to the bone. Robin says, anyone can overcome their beginnings. Take Tracy for example. Tracy says, come again? and Robin says, she lived abroad for many years, did she not? In Amsterdam? Tracy says, amazing. She really knows her stuff. Robin says, Tracy’s upstate New York accent has almost been completely replaced by a mid-Atlantic or transatlantic one. She can still hear traces of… New Jersey. Hoboken perhaps. Tracy says, get out, and Robin says her work here is done. She tells Lois that they’ll be in touch, and flounces out.

Sidwell comes in and Holly says she was bored without him. He says, so she came here to amuse herself while he was away, and she says, he piqued her curiosity about this one’s poker skills, so she thought she’d test them out for herself. He says, and? and she says, lost every hand, which is worse than being bored, but now he’s back. She gets up and says she’s going to get ready for their special night. Is he coming? She might need some help with her zipper. He says he’ll be there soon. He and Lucky have yet to play a hand today. He has to win his rights to keep breathing.

As Chase records the statements, he says, so when they encountered Alexis Davis, she was out for a walk? Ric says, yes, at night, and Elizabeth says, so were they. Chase says, and she told them that she just dropped her phone, and Elizabeth tells him, she said her phone had been acting up. It wasn’t taking or receiving calls, and she got frustrated, so she just dropped it in the river. Ric says, as anyone would with a phone if they can’t make phone calls, and Chase says, but they believe it was a gun? Ric says, yes, most definitely, and Chase looks at Elizabeth. He asks if she’d like to speak somewhere privately, but she says, no. Last night, she got the impression that Alexis was holding a gun. But she’d like to go on record and say that she doesn’t believe for a second that Alexis had anything to do with the death of John Cates.

Carly sits next to Josslyn on the sofa and says she’s sorry to worry her. About what happened between her and Sonny, at the time, she wasn’t thinking about long term ramifications. She just truly thought she was doing what was best for her and Sonny. Josslyn says, no, she didn’t. She put Sonny ahead of herself, again, and ahead of everybody else. Carly says, what happened was consensual. Two consenting adults. Josslyn says, right, adults. Not two teens in the back of a movie theater. She knows Carly and knows what she’s doing. Carly says, and Josslyn knows there are people in her life that she won’t give up on. People she loves, and Sonny’s one of them. With that love comes loyalty. Josslyn says, nobody who truly loves Carly would ever ask her to sacrifice herself for them. Carly says she’s not sacrificing herself for Sonny, but Josslyn says, yes, she is. If she is his alibi and he did kill Jagger Cates, then she’s an accessory to murder. Murder. She can’t lose Carly. She’s scared. She just faced this. She can’t keep doing this with Carly. She can’t keep picturing living her life without her again. Carly says, she doesn’t have to do that. She’s going to be okay. She promises. She reaches to hug Josslyn, but Josslyn pulls away. She says, Carly can’t promise her that.

Anna says she assumes Jason’s presence here means he’s back working for Sonny, and he says he and Sonny are partners in Corinthos Coffee. That’s never changed. She says she enjoyed working with him. She can see that’s over now. He says he’s the same person he always was, and she says, he needs to stay out of her way from now on. She has a job to do. He says he was actually on his way out, and she says she would think as Sonny’s righthand man, he’d want to stay. Dex brings out the lockbox and puts it on the table. Anna thanks him and asks if Sonny wants to open this or give her the combination. He says he’ll open it, and she thanks him for his cooperation. He opens the box, and she says, he appears to be missing a gun.

Tracy says, that’s done. Good riddance. Lois says, good riddance, changing Tracy’s pronunciation. Riddance. Shall they decamp to the dining room? Brook says, excellent idea, and Olivia says, indubitably. They leave, and Ned and Tracy are left alone. Ned says, hoisted by her own petard springs to mind, and follows. (I love that phrase.)

Ric and Elizabeth sign their statements, and Chase says he appreciates them both for coming down. Elizabeth says she’s sure there’s a perfectly innocent explanation for Alexis’s actions, and Ric says, they’ve done their civic duty. Now whatever happens is up to the PCPD. They leave, and in the squad room, Ric says, that wasn’t too painful. She says, then why does she feel nauseous? and he says, sorry. He thinks he left his pen in the room. It’s expensive. She says she has to get back to the hospital, and he says he’ll catch up with her later. She leaves, and Chase comes out holding Ric’s pen. He says, looking for this? and Ric says, yes. Thank you. He takes the pen and says he just… never mind. Chase asks if there’s something he wants to add, and Ric says, it’s been bothering him. Alexis was so angry about Agent Cates trying to railroad Kristina. Chase says, and? and Ric says he knows Alexis would do anything to protect her daughters. Chase says, that’s right. He’s Molly’s father. Ric says he and Alexis go way back. That’s why this is so upsetting, considering that she’s killed before… He’s sorry. He thought Chase knew. It’s in her record. Chase asks if there’s anything else he’d like to add, and Ric says, no. It’s just such a shame, especially since she just put her life back together. She got her law license back. Chase says nothing, and Ric leaves. (Oh ho, so Ric is afraid of competition too. I’m wondering if Chase is already onto Ric really wanting to stick it to Alexis.)

Carly says her actions aren’t going to affect Josslyn. She’ll make sure of that. She promises. She needs Josslyn to trust her. Josslyn says, she’s making that very hard, and Carly says she knows. There’s one more thing. She would appreciate if Josslyn didn’t share this with Dex. The last thing they need is him getting the wrong idea and bringing Josslyn in for questioning. That would not be good for either one of them. Josslyn says she’s not going to tell Dex anything. She doesn’t want him involved. He just got on the force. Carly says, good. The bottom line is, it’s her personal choice. It’s not his business or anybody else’s. Josslyn says, the sleeping with Sonny part, and Carly says, yes. She loves Josslyn and she’s going to be okay. Josslyn says she loves Carly too. It’s Carly’s loyalty to Sonny that she doesn’t love. Carly says she knows, and Josslyn says she’s scared that one day Sonny is going to ask Carly for a favor and it’s going to cost her life. Carly says, that’s not going to happen, and Josslyn says, what if it already has happened? What if this is that favor?

Anna says, they understand Sonny has a registered 9-millimeter, and Sonny says, it should be right there. She says, he hasn’t reported it missing? and he says he didn’t know it was gone until right now. She says, that’s very interesting. Agent Cates was killed with a 9-millimeter last night. Sonny says, and now it’s missing. Should he call his lawyer? She says, it’s up to him really. Everyone knows he had reason to want Cates dead. He says, it’s a good thing he has an alibi, and she says she heard. Some kind of tryst with Carly. It’s really a coincidence that he’d reconnect with her just around the time of the murder even though she insisted the two of them were over. He says, she’s going to have to talk to Carly about that, and she asks if anyone other than his ex-wife saw him around the time Cates was killed, but he says he doesn’t think there was an audience. She says, that’s a shame, because unless he can produce this registered 9-millimeter of his and they can run tests on it, there’s no way to prove that it wasn’t involved in the homicide of Agent Cates.

Back at the station, Dante comes out with a folder, and Jordan says, anything? He says, IT traced the serial number of the damaged phone. It was purchased at the airport in Nairobi. She says, that’s where Laura and Doc went to look for Lucky, and he says, that’s correct. She says, this can’t be a coincidence, and he says he agrees. That’s why they have to figure out how their John Doe is connected to Lucky.  

Sidwell shuffles the cards and says, Holly is quite the woman, isn’t she? Lucky says, she is. A poker player, she ain’t. Sidwell says he’ll try and give Lucky a bit more of a challenge, and Lucky says, bring it. Sidwell says he knows Lucky has been biding his time, waiting for his friend to arrive with help. He hates to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s not going to happen.

Sidwell’s thug quietly goes into Isaiah’s room. He walks to the bed and takes a syringe out of his pocket.

On Monday, TJ tells Ric that if he lets his anger out at Kristina right now, he’s afraid of what he’s going to do; Curtis asks if Portia is sure she wants to put her life on hold for that woman; Jordan asks what someone is doing (probably Sidwell’s thug); and Anna tells Jason that he has to come with her.

💼 Gone But Hardly Forgotten…

Sounds like he had a tough last few days. I remember Ilene Kristen talking about what a pain out of sync filming is when I went to a soap workshop.

https://www.soapsindepth.com/posts/general-hospital/adam-j-harrington-opens-up-about-his-last-days-at-gh

🎬 Living His Dream…

The best Nikolas of all the Nikolases has a new gig.

https://www.soapsindepth.com/posts/general-hospital/ghs-adam-huss-to-begin-work-on-a-new-dream-series

🍊 Please Don’t Go…

I wouldn’t put it past Fancy Pants to have a house in both places just so she could do both shows. And I hate to admit it, but I’d be interested in seeing that.

💎 It’s Avi’s Fault…

If it’s by appointment, that means you can’t afford it.

🧂 Tuning Up…

She looks like she could be related to Beyoncé. Sign me up.

👠 Fuggedaboud Those Housewives…

No receipts, proof, timelines, or screenshots for Renee. Another confession, I loved Mob Wives.

⚰️ Dead and Company…

The latest on the Daryl Dixon front.

https://undeadwalking.com/posts/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixon-season-3-changes-location-and-adds-new-cast-members-01j6yeyfw9yf

This time, the focus is not on GH’s ex-Spencer.

https://undeadwalking.com/posts/walking-dead-s-dallas-roberts-jason-butler-harner-in-monsters-the-lyle-and-erik-menendez-story-01j6dn2xsgqt

The busiest man in Dead business.

https://undeadwalking.com/posts/colman-domingo-shares-first-look-photos-of-his-new-series-the-madness-01j6kbadbrrf

🛸 Yeah, There Will Be Spoilers…

I watched this last weekend, and it wasn’t what I expected, but that wasn’t a bad thing. I love films that take place in NYC because it’s familiar territory, and you also get to see a lot of the creatures this time around. Definitely one to watch.

https://screenrant.com/a-quiet-place-day-one-leave-new-york-time/

🐹 Bringing Joy To the People…

Who doesn’t love a chinchilla wearing a crown?

https://people.com/hilarious-chinchillas-rock-tiktok-exclusive-8700508

🏹 Quotes of the Week

Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten. David Ogden Stiers

Aggressive is protecting your rights, but hurting others. Assertive is protecting your rights and not hurting others.Dr. Phil McGraw

That’s the trouble with your whole MTV, microwave dinner generation. You want it all now. You think you deserve it just because you want it? It doesn’t work like that. You have to earn it, you have to take it, you have to make it yours. but before you do that, Guy, you need to decide what it is you really want. – Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey), Swimming with Sharks

Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. – Joshua J. Marine

Hand me my bird. – Mina (Hannah Dargan), The Watchers

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. – Albert Einstein (The first guy to figure out Survivor.)

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest steppingstones to success. – Dale Carnegie

Don’t worry about being worried. You’re heading out on an adventure, and you can always change your mind along the way and try something else. – Tracy Kidder

Live your vision and demand your success. – Steve Maraboli

Our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if the other person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We must practice this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable. – Thich Nhat Hanh

When life gives you lemons, just say, f*** the lemons, and bail. – Chuck (Paul Rudd), Forgetting Sarah Marshall

🍁 Waiting For Fall To Fall…

Have a glorious, or at least above average weekend. Then circle back on Monday for soap and what’s stewing on Deck. Until then, stay safe, stay using the strength of your feelings to change your situation, and stay not reading your mom the riot act if you don’t like her choice of a one-night stand.

July 5, 2024 – Kristina Confronts Natalia, Celebration, VanderSuit, Woe Is Her, A Tease, Dead Talk, Possible Return, Responding, Almost Here, If They’re Lost, Pets (!) At the Polls, Close To 10 Quotes & Woman

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What I Watched Today

(rambling, random thoughts, recaps, and the whole GH enchilada on Fridays)

General Hospital

Drew sees Jordan at the pool, and says, she rarely leaves the Deputy Mayor’s office, so she must be undercover. She asks if she looks like she’s dressed for wearing a wire. Even her cell phone is in her locker. He says, she’s really just here to relax, and she says she is indeed. Laura asked her to take over one of the meetings for her. So many suits and so many horrible people wearing them. They were angry when they were done, but when the receptionist told them they don’t validate, she thought they were going to burst into flames. He bets she misses her old job, and she says, they do use nicer language, but after subbing for Laura at the mayor’s conference in DC and that dumpster fire of a meeting she just had, Laura told her to take the rest of the day off. For once, she took Laura up on it. What about him? He says he just took a chance to get some pool time in and take advantage of the last few days before he makes his announcement. Once he officially runs for Congress, he’s going to have to get his laps in at like 6 in the morning because the days are going to be crazy. She says, on the upside, at least he’ll probably have the pool to himself. And she’s thrilled for him, and for them when he wins. The campaign trail awaits.

Trina and Josslyn unpack at the new apartment, while Dex brings in boxes. He asks if Josslyn is sure all this came from the one dorm room, and she says, most of it, yes. That’s why it was so comfortable. He says, when he transferred units in the army, he had one backpack and one small bag, and she says she knows he’s making a point about packing light, but that just makes her sad for him. Trina says, it does. One cute pillow, and your tent becomes a home. He says, only if it’s really cute, and she says she was thinking about turning one of her bedroom walls into a gallery wall. He says, she has the space and the light, and she says, look at him, appreciating light. And her work is done. Josslyn says, there are some tools they might need in the garage. She and Dex can grab them. She and Dex leave, and Trina opens a box, taking out the Molyneaux art book that Spencer gave her. She looks at the inscription and closes it again. Gio walks in, and it falls off her lap onto the floor.

Maxie and Brook walk into Maxie’s office, and Maxie says she knows trolls live to be nasty, but some of these comments… Brook says, are over-the-top, even for a bunch of losers who don’t have lives. Maxie says, some of the lies they’re writing about Blaze and Deception… Brook says, make you want to track them down, and Maxie says, and teach them a lesson? She doesn’t know what’s worse. The homophobic trolls who are spamming them… Brook says, or the Deception customers that feel deceived and betrayed that Blaze wasn’t transparent. Because somehow, they’re entitled to know every single thing about her life, whether she wants them to or not. Maxie says, check this one out. Deception, it’s all in the name. She guesses they kind of walked into that one. Brook says, judging from all of the similar comments, she guesses they did. Trolls aren’t a particularly imaginative bunch, are they? Maxie says, no. This is a bona fide disaster. She hates that any Deception customers would think they want Blaze to hide who she really is. Brook says, or that Deception would be anything but supportive of the LGBTQ community, and Maxie says, it goes against who they are, personally and professionally, or as a brand. Brook says she feels so terrible for Blaze. Her mother knew the truth about her and still said those things. Maxie asks how much she thinks that had to hurt, and Brook says she can’t imagine. She talked to Blaze about being open with her fans, but she just wasn’t ready. Maxie says, and Brook respected that, but let’s be honest. She wasn’t ready because of her mom. And if it was up to Natalia, Blaze would never be ready. Brook says, probably not, but Blaze deserved to decide if and when she wanted to come out. She remembers a time when outing people was a thing. She hated it then and she hates it now. Maxie says she hated every single word that came out of Natalia’s mouth, but this is between Natalia and Blaze, and they deserve the space to navigate this privately. Someone took that away from them.

Kristina knocks at Natalia’s hotel room door, and Natalia lets her in. Kristina says, if Natalia wants to hate her, fine, she can. She doesn’t like Natalia much either right now, but she’ll survive. But what Natalia has just done to her daughter, to Allie, the person she loves, is unforgivable. Natalia says she didn’t know… and Kristina says, she didn’t know what? That she was being recorded? Of course (🍷) not. At the top of the list of the things she doesn’t know, she doesn’t even know her own daughter. Allie is amazing. She’s so special. How could she do this, reduce Allie to the things she said about her? Natalia is her mother. She’s supposed to protect her. What’s wrong with her?

Dante knocks at Sonny’s office door, and Sonny says, what can I do for you, officer? Dante says he just wanted to check in on Sonny; see how he’s doing. Sonny says, he checked in. He did his duty. He can tell the Commissioner he’s doing nothing. Dante says, so Natalia, huh? He knows Sonny liked her. He took her to the wedding, and it seemed like they were having a good time. Sonny says, that doesn’t mean he didn’t hate what she said on that recording, and Dante says, that makes two of them. Sonny says, but who he despises is Ava, because it was Ava’s fault, and he’s going to hurt her in ways she doesn’t even know.

Maxie says, to be honest, she’s said some things she wouldn’t want recorded and broadcast to the world, and Brook says, not her. She’s always been thoughtful and kind. Maxie says, she’s a real angel, and Brook says, even as a joke, it’s not believable. Maxie agrees and tells her, what Natalia said is out there on the internet forever and she can’t take that back, even if she wanted to. Brook says she doesn’t know how Natalia and Blaze move past this, try to repair their relationship, if they even can. Maxie says, they need to figure out how they can turn this around. Otherwise, Natalia’s comments are going to cancel Blaze and Deception. They need to shore up the company, figure out how to turn their public image around, and save their customer base. Otherwise… Brook says, otherwise, they lose everything, for everyone, including them and their careers. Maxie says, they’ll do whatever they can to support Blaze, and Brook says she’s sensing a but. Maxie says, but with everything going on, she senses that maybe they should take a break from Blaze being the Face of Deception.

Natalia asks if Kristina is done. Or does Kristina need her to order some room service so she can keep her energy up to keep yelling? Kristina asks if she’s actually making a joke right now, but Natalia says she’s taking this very seriously. Kristina says, but in her world, gay people aren’t serious about life. They’re not serious about it at all, right? That’s what she said. The alphabet soup that they call themselves? They’re very flighty? She will give Natalia this. She packed a hell of a lot of homophobia into one sentence. Natalia says, no. It was reckless and it was wrong of her to voice her private thoughts to somebody she barely knew. Kristina asks how she could even think them to begin with, and Natalia says she didn’t grow up the way Kristina did. She can’t change that and she’s not going to apologize for having grown up in a different way than Kristina did. Kristina says, part of her life she lived with her daughter. Allie is none of the things she said. She is the hardest working woman and she’s more serious about her career than anybody Kristina knows. And flighty? She doesn’t even know where Natalia got that. Natalia says, maybe she wasn’t referring to Allie.

Gio tells Trina, must be some book. It looked like she was far away from here. She says she was just caught up in a memory, and he says, a good one he hopes. She says, Spencer gave her this book. He was really into art and not the way people say they are. He really understood how important it was. Gio says, art was something they shared then, and she puts the book back in the box. She says, it really was, and they sit on the window seat. She says, Spencer traveled too. He’d actually been to places she’d dreamed of, and she used to imagine a future with him, and now none of it will ever happen. And even though she knows he’s gone, sometimes she looks up and expects to see him coming through the door. He says, it’s like you can still feel the person you lost. Sometimes you can only feel their absence.

Dante asks what Ava did now that’s got Sonny out for her blood, and Sonny says, Natalia showed up at his place to drop off something. She got to talking to Ava, and Ava recorded the conversation, and sent it to The Invader. Dante says, Ava’s behind that recording. He gets that she’s capable of worse, but why would she even bother doing this? Sonny says, because she’s jealous that he took Natalia to the wedding, and Dante says, so he was supposed to take Ava? So she’s going to completely wipe her memory of all sorts of things the Falconaris wouldn’t be forgetting about. Sonny says, he wasn’t going to offend Connie’s family by bringing Ava to the wedding. He told Ava that and made it very clear. But now that she’s gearing up for a custody battle, she’ll do anything to hurt him. Dante says, maybe he’s right about that, and Sonny says, you want to come after me, you’re an idiot. You want to come after my daughters, you’re a dead man. Dante says he gets that Sonny is furious right now. And what Ava’s done to Kristina definitely crosses the line. Sonny says he’ll take care of it. Dante can go ahead and go. Dante says he’s not going anywhere, and Sonny asks if he has a warrant. Dante asks, for what? and Sonny says, if he doesn’t have a warrant, then Dante needs to get out of his place. Does Dante want Sonny to make him leave? Dante says he’s just been shot again, and almost died again, so maybe they can save the threats and hating each other for never. Because that’s not what they do with each other. Sonny says, Dante told him a long time ago that a guy like him couldn’t live in his law-and-order life, so get out of his life, and Dante says he’s sorry, but no. Sonny says, who is Dante to come in here and say no to him? and Dante says, his son. And he loves Sonny, unfortunately, okay? So when Sonny hurts, he hurts. He knows Sonny is full of whatever it is right now – rage, aggression, he’s ready to pop. He feels like he needs to do something. He doesn’t. And the last thing Dante needs is to walk out that door and let Sonny do something that’s going to destroy him.

Jordan asks what Scout thinks about Drew’s campaign plan, but he says, she doesn’t know yet. She asks if he doesn’t think she’ll know when she turns on the TV and sees ads that say he’s running for office, and he says he just wants to make sure he’s got things lined up before he tells her. She says, it could be a challenge, and he says, Scout isn’t running for office. It’s really important that she just gets to be a regular kid. She says, this could be a pretty unique opportunity for the both of them. He could take Scout on the road with him, and she could see a political campaign in action. Hearts are going to melt when the voters see him and Scout together. She has no doubt Scout is going to be his secret weapon in this campaign. Curtis approaches them and says, Drew had his vote, even before he knew Scout was on the ticket, and Jordan says, what did she tell him? Curtis apologizes for being late. He was on the phone with the architect. But it’s nice to see that the Deputy Mayor got started without him. She says she’ll have him know she’s off the clock, and he says, she could never resist a good strawberry daiquiri. She says, why would she? They’re even delicious when they’re virgin. Drew suggests he and Curtis get in and start doing laps before they end up with margaritas in their hands, and Jordan says she’s going to soak up the sun, enjoy her drink, and maybe order some chips and guac. Curtis says, that’s just playing dirty, and he and Drew get ready to go in the pool.

Gio says he lost his mom when he was 10, and Trina says she’s so sorry. He thanks her and says, she was a musician, a violinist. She was his first violin teacher. She was great. She was a great mom too. She says, people always say that, but when he says it, she believes it. He says, it’s really true. He and his mother were like their own little family inside this big Cerullo clan. And then one day, she was gone. She says, then you’re stuck wondering how someone could just fill up your whole world and disappear all at once, and he says, that’s how it was with his mom. He didn’t mean to get them so off-track. She tells him not to apologize. She gets it. He says he knows she does, and gets up. It’s pretty hot outside, so he thinks he’s going to grab some waters from the house. She thanks him, and he leaves.

Kristina says, so she’s the flighty gay who’s not very serious? If Natalia thinks that about her, then Natalia knows less about her than she does her own daughter, which is saying a lot. Natalia says, that’s funny, because Kristina has a whole lot to say for someone who’s just seen a teeny tiny snapshot of a decades’ long relationship with her daughter. She carried her daughter in her body. She loved her before she was even born. Kristina says, then why can’t Natalia love her right now for exactly who she is? and Natalia says she does love her. She loves her very much. Kristina says, that’s not how it works. You don’t get to love somebody by picking and choosing pieces of them that you’re going to accept and expecting them to hide away the parts of themselves you don’t approve of. Natalia says, it’s pretty easy for Kristina to stand here and lecture her about things she knows nothing about, and Kristina asks what she’s even talking about. Natalia says, let’s see where Kristina is at in about twenty years, when that baby she’s carrying is hurting, and she would do anything, even if it means them hating her, to spare them the tiniest bit of pain. She knows Kristina isn’t having this baby because she wants to be a mother. She just thinks Kristina is in for some pretty big surprises. Kristina says, Natalia doesn’t know anything about why she’s carrying this child. She’s doing this for her sister because she loves her, and she’s never been more serious about anything in her entire life.

Dante says, Sonny knows he has to stay calm and take the emotion out of it. Think while the other guy’s reacting. He wants to do something he might regret because of Ava? That’s not like him. Sonny says, it’s not like him to let Ava live under his roof, and the only reason he did it was because he needed somebody to talk to. Dante says, Sonny is going through something right now and she was there. So was Avery. Maybe it felt like Sonny had his little family. Sonny says, the Jeromes aren’t his family. His family is dead because of them. Connie was murdered… Morgan… Ava messed with his medication. And he still, for whatever reason, made sure she was safe. Dante says, it seems to be what Sonny does, and Sonny says, what Ava does is stab him in the back, again, and hurt the people closest to him.

Curtis and Drew come out of the pool, and Curtis says he knows it’s been a while since they swam laps together, but Drew is part dolphin. Drew says, Curtis used to swim laps just fine. He’s going to get it back. Curtis says, remember he said that. He’s swimming laps with Drew from now on. He’s going to get his strength back. He can’t have Drew flapping his pruney feet in his face. Drew says he loves it, but Curtis says, Drew might love it less when Curtis starts flapping him. Drew says he’ll deal with that when it happens. In the meantime, he wants to tell Curtis that his congressional campaign starts with the Quartermaines’ July 4th picnic. Curtis says, he’ll be there cheering Drew on, and Drew says he knows, and he appreciates that. He also wants Curtis to know that he appreciates all the work he’s been taking on with the wellness division rollout. It’s been pretty much all him. Curtis says, alone is fine. Fewer people to butt heads with. Drew says, whatever he’s doing is working. He locked in the flagship property and also narrowed the target markets for the rollout. Curtis asks, what can he say? He loves the work. He loves what he’s doing. But Drew needs to focus on that congressional seat. It does no good to run a great campaign only to come in second. Drew says he only plans on doing the first part of that, and Curtis says, good. Because the woman he’s running against, Chelsea Grimes, is a populist reactionary. He’s convinced she’s only running to gratify her ego and to gain a few followers. Drew says, so her idea of public service is using the public services to get more for her, and Curtis says, pretty much. So when Drew accepted that nomination, he took on the responsibility of taking that woman down, and he’s going to do everything in his power to make it happen. Drew thanks him.

Josslyn slips off a chair while taking down a smoke alarm, but Dex catches her. She thanks him, and he says, happy to help. What is she doing? She says she’s changing the battery, not the smoke alarm. This one lasts five years, so you don’t have to get up in the middle of the night and turn it off a million times. He suggests getting a real ladder, but she says, no. She almost had it. He just has to spot her. He says he’s here to help, and she says, thank God. When she said she and Trina could do this themselves, she might have been a little bit over-confident. She still thinks they can do it. They just might need another week. He asks if he’s hearing she’s happy he’s helping, even though she’s too stubborn to ask for it, and she says, her? Stubborn? He sounds crazy. It couldn’t be further from the truth.

Blaze comes to Maxie’s office, and Brook asks if she texted, but Blaze says, no. She just showed up. She hopes she’s not interrupting. Brook says, no. They were just talking… Through her tears, Blaze says she’ll keep this brief. She’s so sorry about the things her mother said, and she’s so sorry for her decision to stay closeted for so long. Brook takes her hand, and Blaze says, it’s pretty clear she’s a liability to Deception, and that’s the last thing she wants. So she resigns.

Natalia says, maybe Kristina is able to just have that baby and hand it off and move on with her life and be completely indifferent to it. But her babies were her life. They still are. There wasn’t a single day she wasn’t grateful for them, not a single day. Her children are the best part of her. She didn’t just stop loving them or caring about their happiness even though they no longer needed her for their literal survival. Kristina says, her love is limited, and she can’t love Allie for who she is, and Natalia says she’s struggling to accept something she wasn’t raised to believe in. Kristina says, that gay people existed? and Natalia says, no, that gay people were confused. She tears up and says, that there was something not right, that they chose to be the way they were. It was wrong. Kristina says, okay, but she has to know now that’s not true. There’s science and genetics. It’s proven. Natalia says, it takes time to reconcile a past with a present that’s so different from what’s ingrained. So she’s sorry she’s not doing that quickly enough for Kristina. Kristina says, it’s not that Natalia’s not doing it quick enough. It’s that she’s a bigot because she’s choosing to be a bigot. She can blame her upbringing all she wants, but the reason she’s a bigot is her. And while she’s working so hard to become a decent human being, her daughter is hurting and she is in pain, and Natalia is the reason for that.

Josslyn says she’s never going to admit she’s stubborn because she’s not, and Dex says, she wins. She’s a human willow tree. She says, let’s not go that far. She’s just saying that she can adjust her attitude to situations or new information as it presents itself. He says, good to know, and she says, no one knows everything and no one’s perfect. He says, she comes pretty close though, and moves closer to her. He’s crazy about her just the way she is. They kiss, and she says she doesn’t want to rush this. He says, him either. That’s not true. He does want to rush it, but he won’t risk messing it up. She kisses him, when Trina and Gio walk in.

Nina sees Drew talking to Curtis, and tells Jordan, good afternoon, Deputy Mayor. It’s nice to see her out of her office. Jordan says she has to admit, it’s nice seeing sunlight for a while, and Nina says she hopes Jordan is enjoying the amenities. She looks over at Drew and Curtis, and adds, the view, and Jordan says she would prefer a view with fewer ex-husbands in it, but she guesses she can’t complain. Nina says she hopes Jordan enjoys herself. She deserves it. Jordan thanks her and says she thinks so too.

Nina goes over to Drew, and says she’s sorry to interrupt, but something’s come up and she wonders if they can speak. Drew asks, what’s going on? and Nina says, Blaze’s mother made some homophobic remarks and outed Blaze in the process. Clearly, the remarks were made in private, but The Invader got ahold of them and now they are everywhere. Social media has piled on from every conceivable corner. They are desperately trying to make this into a scandal. He asks what she wants to do, and she says, as publisher, she’s already done it. She held the Crimson print run, so she could give Deception time to pull the Blaze ad and replace it with a simple two-page statement – no one cancels love. He asks what kind of a delay in publication they’re talking about, and she says, twenty-four hours, give or take. So what does he think?

Dante says he hates what’s happened to Kristina, but he’s not worried about her because she’s a fighter. She’s a protector. He guesses he could say she got that from Sonny. Sonny says, all Kristina gets from him are mistakes, his mistakes. The first mistake was letting Ava back in his life. The second mistake was letting her live in his house. All that matters is Avery and he could have found a different way to keep her safe. Dante says, okay, but if he’s saying his different way would have been something happening to Ava, how does he think that would work out for Avery if something happened to her mom? Sonny says, it would have been the best thing for everyone. Avery’s mom is like the rest of the family, but everybody judges him. But he has a code. What does Dante want? Blood on the streets? Does he want drugs everywhere? That’s the Jeromes. Dante says, what’s sad is that the Jeromes aren’t around anymore, and Sonny says, Olivia Jerome’s bomb could have been the one that killed Morgan, but it doesn’t really matter because it was Ava who messed with his medication. Dante says, Olivia was a bona fide psychopath, and Sonny says, so is Ava. She just puts a face on it. That’s what makes her more dangerous. Dante says, now they know everything she’s capable of, okay? but Sonny says, they don’t know for sure. Look what she did to Connie. Look what she did to Morgan. How does he know she’s not going to do something to Avery? Dante says, she loves Avery. She’s not going to hurt her. Sonny says, Ava is what she is, the last of the Jeromes. And he’s going to take that last cycle down.

Natalia says, Kristina has every right to question the things she said. But don’t dare ever question her love for her daughter. Kristina asks, exactly where was that love in the things Natalia said about her? She has no idea what she lost. Allie is amazing, and unlike Natalia, Kristina appreciates and accepts her for the gift she is. Natalia says she thinks she’s seen and heard enough of Kristina for a lifetime, and honestly, the only reason she let Kristina go on this long is out of respect for her father. Kristina says, but not out of respect for her own daughter? That is consistent. Natalia is right. They are done. Natalia is a prisoner of her own prejudice and wouldn’t even free herself if someone was handing her the key. Natalia says, that’s enough. Come on. Kristina picks up her bag, and Natalia says, tell her daughter that she loves her, but Kristina says, nobody needs the kind of love Natalia has, and she’s going to make sure Allie doesn’t need Natalia again for anything. She walks out.

Maxie says, Blaze has nothing to be sorry for. They’re sorry she’s going through this. Her heart hurts for Blaze. Blaze says she appreciates that, and Maxie says, they were talking though. Given everything that’s going on, they think it might be a good strategy for Blaze to pause being the Face of Deception. Brook says, they’ll hit the ground running in the fall and let everything die down a little. Blaze says she doesn’t think… Brook’s phone chimes, and she says she’s sorry. She steps away, and Blaze tells Maxie that she appreciates them trying to keep her on, but she doesn’t think it’s the right move. Brook comes back and says she’s so sorry. The label just made an announcement. They’re dropping her. Blaze says, so that’s it then. There’s no reason for her to be the Face. Not anymore. Maxie says, that’s not true at all, and Brook says, absolutely not. They believe in her. They know what she has to offer. Blaze says, which is nothing without her music. They don’t want to say it, but they know it’s true. Maxie says, what she knows is, they’ve been counted down and out several times. And Lucy has come back a miraculous and upsetting number of times. Blaze is going to love when it happens. They live for payback. That’s not Deception’s official motto, but lowkey, it really is. Blaze thanks them both, and leaves. Brook and Maxie look at each other.

Drew tells Nina, this is really a tough situation. Not only for Deception, but also Crimson. He thinks she made the right call. She says she was concerned he be worried about the cost, and he says, normally, he would be, but in this case, he’s very impressed with the compassion she’s shown Blaze. And he thinks it’s a better business decision in the long run. It’s better to hold off for 24-hours and issue a statement of tolerance, than rush to meet the deadline and walk right into a firestorm. Nina thanks him, and he thanks her. Curtis says, Nina is real good with PR. It’s no small thing. This guy – he points to Drew – could use her help with his congressional campaign. She’d be a valuable asset. Jordan says, sorry to interrupt their meeting, but Drew’s phone is blowing up. She hands it to him, and says, he got five messages in the time it took her to walk over here. He looks at it, and Jordan asks if he’s okay. He says, yeah. It’s all good. Curtis says, he’s not really selling the all-good part, and Drew laughs. He says, it’s just that the name change is now legal and official. They’re now looking at Drew Quartermaine.

Trina sings as she and Gio put pillows on the couch. He stops to listen and she stops singing. He asks why she stopped. It was great. She has a fantastic voice. She says she doesn’t know about that. She loves to sing, but she usually saves it for her shower. He says, showers usually have good acoustics, and she says, the point of hers is that it has her alone in it. He says, she’s lucky. You can’t play the violin with the water running. She says, give her a break. When it comes to music, he’s like on a completely different level. He says he doesn’t think that at all. Trina’s voice is an instrument, and if an instrument gives you joy, that’s all that matters. She tells him that he has to say that because he’s her friend, but he tells her that he doesn’t say anything about music he doesn’t mean. She asks who he listens to, and he lists several musicians and says, and of course (🍷) Roman. She says, a legend, and he says, and her? Legend category. She says, Aretha, and he says, hard to imagine anyone giving her anything but R-E-S-P-E-C-T. They laugh.

Josslyn and Dex come back with a six-pack of beer, and says, it’s to christen the place. They each take a bottle, and Gio says, absolutely. Who wants to do it? Trina says she will. To good friends, independence, and new adventures. Josslyn says, cheers, and they clink bottles.

Brook says she can’t believe Blaze’s label dropped her. (Doesn’t Lois work for a music label?) They caved in to an anonymous mob. Maxie says, a mob who’s going to move on to somebody else’s mess in a few hours. She meant what she said. She’s not giving up on Blaze and neither will Deception. Brook says, but Blaze doesn’t want to be a model. She wants to be a singer. She is a singer. Maxie says she knows. It’s her passion. Brook says she may have lost her chance to sing, but there’s no way she’s letting Blaze lose hers.

Kristina comes home to find Blaze there and asks if something happened. She’s sorry. She means, did something else happen? Blaze starts to cry and says her label dropped her. It’s over. Everything she poured her heart and soul into for years. This was the thing her mother wanted for her more than anything else and now it’s gone. Kristina holds her as she cries.

Dante says, if Sonny goes after Ava, he’s going to cut his own throat. If he wants to beat her, he’s got to pull it together. Everyone needs him to pull it together.

On Monday, Laura says she’s putting all her faith in the experts’ opinions; Dante tells Sam that this might make it look like she’s got something to hide; Sasha says, this is about a thing that can only end in disaster; and Tracy wonders, who the hell invited her?

🎉 It’s Their Day Off Too…

I’m guessing we all celebrated pretty much the same way.

https://www.soapsindepth.com/gallery/general-hospital/see-how-the-stars-celebrated-independence-day

🍸 Just a Little Thirsty…

Normally, I’d never agree with Sandoval, but yeah, she’s just trying to extend her fame. If you want to call that fame.

⚖️ Make Good Choices…

Maybe she and Rachel Raquel can get together.

https://okmagazine.com/p/brandi-glanville-no-choice-sue-bravo-health-legal-issues/

🪝 Don’t Want To Know…

This might be a little too surreal.

https://www.etonline.com/surreal-life-villa-of-secrets-trailer-teases-kim-zolciak-and-chet-hanks-hookup-228311

⚰️ All Kinds Of Dead…

The longest interview ever. Centuries in the making.

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/interview-with-the-vampire-season-2-finale-streaming-amc

https://ew.com/interview-with-the-vampire-rolin-jones-sam-reid-season-2-finale-season-3-preview-exclusive-8670980

Like we didn’t know.

https://ew.com/interview-with-the-vampire-cast-where-are-they-now-8671571

Directing the Dead.

https://undeadwalking.com/posts/lauren-cohan-to-direct-episode-of-the-walking-dead-dead-city-season-2-01j17mb26vg0

In case you missed him.

https://undeadwalking.com/posts/exclusive-andrew-lincoln-talks-the-ones-who-live-uk-release-in-this-exclusive-interview-01hyxhmh47by

Not sure why this is being rehashed. It’s a little late. Like years.

https://comicbookmovie.com/tv/amc/the-walking-dead/the-walking-dead-star-andrew-lincoln-reveals-the-moment-he-thinks-zombie-series-over-egged-the-omelette-a211820

🧹 You Can’t Keep a Good Witch Down…

I want Binx back.

https://ew.com/hocus-pocus-3-bette-midler-teases-return-winifred-8670794

👟 Get Off His Jackson…

You know what they say about opinions.

https://www.etonline.com/colman-domingo-responds-to-michael-jackson-biopic-criticism-exclusive-228383

🦸🏼‍♂️ It Won’t Be Long Now…

This looks like it’s definitely going to be the best one.

https://ew.com/deadpool-and-wolverine-cover-story-cameos-future-marvel-mutants-ryan-reynolds-hugh-jackman-8672079

https://ew.com/deadpool-and-wolverine-cameos-shawn-levy-a-lot-of-characters-8672625

https://comicbookmovie.com/deadpool/deadpool-wolverine/deadpool-wolverine-star-ryan-reynolds-teases-taylor-swift-cameo-with-new-social-media-post-a211803

🐕 Finding Them…

What to do if, God forbid, your pet got or gets lost.

* Check animal shelters not just in your direct area. Pets can travel far when scared.

* Check Craigslist in case someone found them and is looking for you or are trying to sell them.

* Put posters up ASAP all over the place with a good pic of pet and a good description with your contact info.

🐢 Bring Your Pet To Vote Day…

I think I recognize that tortoise.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2503exwrwlo

🦜 Quotes of the Week

Overcome the notion that you must be regular. It robs you of the chance to be extraordinary. – Uta Hagen

Whatever you are, try to be a good one. – William Makepeace Thackeray

Every bad situation is a blues song waiting to happen. – Amy Winehouse

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.Stephen Hawking

Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.Les Brown

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. – Marie Curie

Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music. – Jimi Hendrix

We never know when our last day on earth will be. So, love with full sincerity, believe with true faith, and hope with all of your might. Better to have lived in truth and discovered life, than to have lived half-heartedly and died long before you ever ceased breathing.  – Cristina Marrero

Why is my bowl full of non-football related foods on Superbowl Sunday? – Jay Pritchett (Ed O’Neill), Modern Family

🍔 Life Liberty and the Pursuit Of Barbecue…

Follow your happiness this weekend and join me on Monday for soap and messiness on Deck. Until then, stay safe, stay never leaving a pet in a hot car, and stay not expecting someone you love to hide away the parts of themselves you don’t approve of.

December 27, 2023 – Brook Comes To Tracy’s Defense, TempMaxie, Soap Roll Call, Her Future, But Is He, Almost Quit, News Of Us, What’s On the Eve, Holiday Pet (!) Mix & Party

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Kristina and Molly show up at Alexis’s house, and Alexis says, there they are, my pride, and most of the time, my joy. She thanks them for coming and says she knows it’s early. She asks if they want coffee, but they both say they’ve reached their limit. (I didn’t know there was a limit.) Molly asks, what’s so important she needed to see them before work? and Kristina says, her voice sounded really tense on the phone. Alexis invites them to sit down, and says she’s sorry TJ couldn’t make it, but it’s probably best they speak first, just the three of them. Molly wonders why she feels like they’ve been called to the principal’s office, but Alexis says, they’re not in any trouble… yet.

At Deception, Lucy rifles through photos and papers on her desk, mumbling, and Tracy asks if she can’t do anything quietly. TempMaxie (see below) asks if they want coffee before the senior leadership meeting, but Lucy suggests they just dive right in. Oh wait. They can’t, because the leader of their leadership meeting isn’t here. Maxie says she’s sure Brook will be here any second, and Lucy asks what kind of company Tracy and her granddaughter are running. Tracy says she lightened Lucy’s workload by 51%, which means Lucy should have 51% more time to rifle (coincidence!) through photo proofs and wrangle her spokesmodel. Lucy says, Tracy shouldn’t even be in this office, never mind breathing their rarified Deception air. Tracy says, and yet, here she is, and Lucy says, as if she could miss Tracy, but she sure would love to try.

Brook says, if her grandmother finds out she’s late for the meeting because she can’t find her… Chase says, her bag’s over there, and she thanks him. She says she’s just going to grab a coffee on the way, and he says, brewed, in her travel mug, holding it out to her. She asks if he’s psychic, and he says he doesn’t have to be; he knows her routine. She says, he’s the best. What does he have planned for his day off? He says he’s trying to find wedding venues that accommodate guests with mobility issues, and she sits next to him. He says he wants his dad to have the time of his life at their wedding, and Brook flashes back to Gregory saying that time isn’t on his side. His Christmas wish is to see his son get married to the love of his life. She tells Chase, you and me both.

Finn dashes into an exam room, where Gregory is sitting, and says he was told Gregory was in here. Does Gregory want to tell him what happened? Gregory says he’s fine. He just got a bit overheated. Finn looks at the IV bag and says, this is for aggressive fluid replacement. They don’t just give it to people who are a bit overheated. Does Gregory want to tell him what’s going on?

At Kelly’s with Felicia, Robert orders coffee, and Felicia says, nothing to eat? Is he feeling okay? He says he’s not hungry, and she says, he’s probably full because he already ate with Diane. He says, she didn’t bring him here to discuss his personal life, and she says she didn’t know that was an option, but he’s right. She’s sorry. They need to talk family. He asks if something happened with Mac, but she says, Mac is fine. There’s a mystery she wants solved before he comes back, and she needs Robert’s help.

Sasha finds Cody at the stables and says, it looks like he’s having a busy morning. He says he was just hammering out one of Comet’s old horseshoes, but he always has time for her. What’s up? She says she wasn’t sure if she could beat Comet in a contest for his attention, and he says, totally. Nobody else. What brings her by? She says she came to warn him. He’s in trouble.

Scotty goes to the counter at Kelly’s and tells the server that he hears some people try to eat their feelings. He thinks he’s going to be that guy, because he has a lot of feelings. She gives him a menu and asks what she can get him. He says, everything… from the left side of the menu. And a cup of coffee. He’ll be at his table.

Robert asks why Felicia is still on about this Cody Bell thing, and she says her instincts tell her that Cody lied about those DNA test results. He says, if that’s the case, why is his brother saddled with this jerk? and she says, Mac has a right to know if Cody is his son. She knows Cody is no choirboy, and Robert says, ya think? He hadn’t been in town five minutes, and he almost drowned Britt Westbourne. She says, there wasn’t supposed to be somebody in that pool when he parachuted into it (there wasn’t; she was near the pool and he knocked her in), and Robert tells her, let’s say for instance, he came through the front door and offered his hand and said hi, like a normal person would do. She says, it was a publicity stunt, a job he was contracted and paid for, but Robert says, it was reckless endangerment and he got arrested. She says, he apologized to Britt, and she got over it. Why can’t Robert? He says, because he knows a con man when he smells one, and she says, which proves the exact point she was trying to make. Cody came to their house over the holiday and brought all these gifts for all of them. The kids adore him, and he fit right in. Robert asks if he brought receipts for the presents, and Felicia says, he cares about their family. She can feel it. She can see it. And there’s this undeniable bond between him and Mac and James. He tells her, let’s say he believes her. If she’s right, why would Cody lie about being a part of a family he cares about?

Cody wonders how he’s in trouble, and Sasha says, after Spinelli made him leave Mac and Felicia’s on Christmas… Cody says, Spinelli didn’t make him leave, but Sasha says, Spinelli was rude, out of line, and just completely wrong. After he left, Felicia said she hates not knowing the truth about him and Mac. He says, she knows the truth… a truth. She was at the hospital when he got the DNA results. Sasha says, but he never showed Felicia the printout and she thought that was strange, and he says, Felicia is pretty invested with him being a part of the family. He guesses it makes sense that she wouldn’t accept the results. Sasha says she thinks it’s more than a case of just being disappointed. She thinks Felicia is genuinely skeptical. He says, she was a P.I. and she’s married to a cop. She’s kind of conditioned to be suspicious. She says, Maxie didn’t buy her theory, but they know she’s right. He did lie about the DNA results; he is Mac’s son. And now Felicia is wondering why he’d pretend to be the son of Leopold Taub.

Brook closes the laptop and says, about the wedding… Chase says, she hasn’t changed her mind, has she? and she says, not on your life, kissing him. He says, then what’s up? and she says, if they’re going to do everything in their power to make sure his dad has the best time on their special day, it’s going to need to happen a little faster than they anticipated.

Gregory says he was doing hot yoga on an empty stomach. Dumb idea. Finn says, yes, very dumb. Since when is he doing hot yoga? Gregory says, Finn doesn’t need to hover; the fluids are already working. Dr. Matt comes in and asks what daredevil stunt Gregory was up to this time, and Gregory says, hot yoga. They don’t call it hot for nothing. But he already has his next quest lined up. Matt says he can’t wait to hear about it and asks how Finn is. Finn says he’s fine. He’s just making sure his dad’s okay. Matt says he’s about to examine Gregory right now, if Finn will excuse them, and Finn says, of course (🍷). He’ll be right outside. Gregory says, no need, he’s fine, and Finn reluctantly leaves. In the hallway, a woman comes up to Finn and asks if Gregory is okay. Finn says, he’s fine, and asks how she knows his dad. She says she’s the yoga instructor. She’s so glad he’s all right. She’s never had anyone collapse in her class before.

Molly says she can’t take any more bad news. It’s been a rough few months. Alexis says she knows Molly’s been through a lot, and this isn’t necessarily bad news. She’s happy for Molly and TJ, that they’re soldiering on through this journey to have a baby. She knows that’s what Molly really, really wants. And Kristina, giving her the most extraordinary, generous gift. Molly says, and Kristina knows how grateful she is. Kristina says, of course (🍷). She’s honored. Alexis says she just wishes the commitment they made to each other was legally binding, but it’s not. Their surrogacy arrangement presents what could be a really big legal problem.

Chase says he thought he and Brook agreed on a summer wedding. It’s not too far away, but it still gives them time to plan. She says, too much planning’s overrated. Who says they need this whole elaborate production? He says, she said that, but she tells him, what does she know? He says, Lois told him that she used to sketch her wedding gown in her school notebook, but she says, dreams change. He says he doesn’t want to rush this. He had a quickie wedding once, and they all know how that turned out. She says, they both know why he had that quickie wedding with Willow, and those reasons have nothing to do with why they want to be together. He says he knows, but he’s only doing this one more time, and he’s doing it with her. He wants it to be special. What’s going on? She says, when his dad pulled her aside on Christmas Eve, he said his Christmas wish was to see them get married.

Gregory says, well, doc? and Matt says, at the moment, his vitals look good. Gregory says he’s not surprised. He’s feeling better already. Matt says he’s already recovering from the dehydration, and Gregory says he’s guessing Matt’s prescription for recovery is lots of rest and plenty of fluids. Matt says, it is, and he’d like to admit Gregory for observation.

Alexis says she knows Molly and Kristina have done their homework on the medical side of things and they’re clear about that. She just doesn’t know that they’re clear on the legal implications. Kristina says, well, this baby’s mother is a brilliant lawyer, and Alexis says, she is, but she’s not a specialist in family law. Molly says, true, but she can draw up a contract, and Kristina says, and she can sign it. So lawyer/contract, they’re good. Alexis says she’s not sure that’s entirely true, because there is no binding agreement that she can sign that would make that baby Molly’s.

Maxie says, everyone needs time to adjust to their new corporate reality, and Tracy says, reality, Lucy. The opposite of what’s going on in your head. Maxie says, but they do have to be professional, and Tracy says, why start now? Lucy says she knows blackmail is Tracy’s go-to, but technically, blackmail is not professional, and Maxie says, this is a critical time for Deception. A lot is at stake for everyone who works here. For people who have rent and kids and have to grocery shopping on the way home. Bottom line, they need to make this work. Lucy says, Maxie is so right, but you know what’s not working? Tracy’s powers of manipulation. Judging from the fact Brook isn’t here, her powers are a big, fat flop. Tracy says, Lucy is well-acquainted with big, fat flops, from her marriages to business ventures. She just can’t seem to stick the landing. Lucy says she knows where she’d like to stick… and Maxie says, that’s enough. She can’t believe she has to talk to them like she does her children, but five minutes of silence, both of them. This lasts about three seconds, when Lucy says, Tracy doesn’t really care about Deception at all. She’s just bored and needs a distraction. Maxie says, it doesn’t work on her kids either, and Tracy says she can think of a thousand distractions more appealing than listening to Lucy, and Lucy says, but none of them would distract Tracy from the fact she has nothing to live for since Luke died. (Ouch! That was mean.)

Sasha says she knows the whole Taub necklace scam wasn’t the only reason Cody lied about the DNA results, and he says, Mac’s a good guy. Mac doesn’t deserve a son like him. She says, that couldn’t be further from the truth, but Felicia is a good P.I., and she’s going to dig and keep digging until she discovers the truth, and the fallout from that could be massive in ways he couldn’t expect. Trust her. She speaks from personal experience. He says, that whole Nina Reeves thing, right? and she says her situation was the complete opposite from his. She was hired by Valentin Cassadine to claim she was Nina’s daughter, but looking back, she realizes she could have mitigated a lot of damage if she’d just come clean. The fact that she stayed silent and got busted made the fallout so much worse. He says, maybe he should just move to Bolivia or some other county that doesn’t extradite Americans. Coming clean is not an option, and if Felicia finds out he’s Mac’s son, he’s going to Pentenville.

Felicia says she was hoping Robert and his extraordinary skill set could help her figure out why Cody would lie about those test results, because he’s right. It doesn’t make any sense. He says, take some advice from the man with the extraordinary skill set, and leave it. She says, if he thinks she can do that, he understands her even less than he understands Cody, and he says he understood all too well what kind of a grifter Cody was when he walked into Britt’s office and found them fighting over Taub’s necklace. She asks, what about Leopold Taub? and he says, this time last year, he went to seize Taub’s necklace, the one that Victor wanted. He goes into Britt’s office and they’re both there fighting over the necklace, both claiming ownership. She asks if they ever got it sorted out, but he says he doesn’t think so. Not since it was destroyed. She wonders if Cody ever contested any of Taub’s other assets, and he says, that would be a good question for a lawyer. She looks over at Scotty and says, indeed it would.

Chase tells Brook that he can understand his dad talking about his stamina, but worrying about his death seems seriously premature. Brook says she’s just telling him what Gregory told her; he doesn’t want them waiting too long. He asks if she thinks Gregory is holding something back, but she says she doesn’t know. She’s not going to the meeting; she’s calling the office. He says she doesn’t have to do that; he’ll be fine. She should go to her meeting. The last thing they need is Tracy coming around here looking for her. She says, that’s a good point, and hugs him. They’re going to make sure they do what’s best for everyone, okay? He says, whatever that is, and she gathers up her stuff and leaves. Chase’s phone rings, and he says he’s glad Finn called. Brook just told him something… Finn says, dad’s here at the hospital. He’s okay, but he took a fall. Chase says he’s on his way.

Alexis says she should have known Molly would have done research on the child/parent security act, and Molly says she’s familiar. She hasn’t studied it. Alexis says, because it’s new, which means it can be easily challenged, and Molly says she’s aware, but it does allow for surrogacy in New York. Alexis says, it does, but the surrogate has to be using a third-party egg donor, and Kristina asks if it really makes a difference. Molly says, a big difference actually, and Alexis says, in her case, she’s not using a third-party egg donor. She’s the donor and the surrogate. In this case, it’s called a genetic surrogacy, and the contract for a genetic surrogacy is not enforceable in the state of New York. Kristina says, okay, but if genetic surrogacy isn’t enforceable in the state of New York, they’ll just get pregnant in a different state. They’ll find some other workaround. Alexis says, there are always loopholes, because Molly will tell her, regulations exist because there are precedents. Kristina says, precedents and regulations and loopholes. She’s talking to them like they’re her court case, not her children. Alexis says she’s talking to them this way because they are her children, and she wants to make sure their best interests are protected. Kristina asks if it’s their best interests, or is Alexis really just trying to protect Molly from her?

Tracy tells Lucy not to say Luke’s name ever again, but Lucy says, Tracy doesn’t own Luke’s name, just like she never owned Luke. Tracy says, don’t, and Lucy says, Luke had many, many women in his life, and Tracy was just one of them. She barely cracked the top ten. Maxie says, don’t go there, but Lucy says, why? Why can’t she just tell the truth right to Tracy’s face? Luke was the great, true love of Tracy’s life, but does she know who the great, true love of Luke’s life was? Laura. (People who don’t even watch GH know that.) In fact, Tracy is probably just an also-ran to Holly. Tracy asks where she did her research, Wikipedia? Are they just naming exes now, because two can play that game. The great love of Lucy’s life, Doc, is so happily settled down with Laura. She guesses he doesn’t miss being burned by Lucy. Lucy says she happens to be in love with Martin now. She’s with Martin, and none of her loves married her to extort her. They didn’t stay married and try to escape from her all the time. The fact is, Tracy and Luke were in totally different countries when he died. She needs to know why Tracy did all this. Why did she steal Deception? Is it because she has more to look back on than to look forward to? Is it because her family just barely tolerates her, and when she stands looking around, she has nothing and nobody? She doesn’t see anything, is that it? She can keep doing it. She can keep scheming and using sarcasm as a distraction – Brook walks in – but you know what? Tracy is going to die just like she lived – unloved and completely unlovable. Brook says, who is Lucy to speak to her grandmother that way?

Chase says, hot yoga? Hot yoga is a challenge for people in the best of health. He did it once and it almost killed him, but Finn thinks there’s more to the story? Finn says, the instructor came with him to the hospital. She said he wasn’t just a little woozy. It seemed like he lost consciousness.

Gregory says he knows he overdid it, but is a hospital stay really necessary? and Matt says, his collapse may be the result of a temporary fluid loss… Gregory says, or? and Matt says, or this may be a new symptom of the disease.

Sasha says, even if Mac could arrest Cody for lying about the DNA results, she doesn’t believe he would, but Cody says, he wouldn’t have a choice, thanks to the lawsuit Scotty cooked up. Legally, he’s on the hook. She asks if Cody was suing the WSB for the value of Taub’s necklace? She thought he dropped that lawsuit. He says he did, but only after he was deposed and signed an affidavit saying he was Taub’s son. She says, and that is considered fraud? but he says, worse. It’s perjury. He’ll have to do time for that. She says, he may not. He broke the law for her and it turned out okay. He says he was willing to risk himself, but he doesn’t want to risk Mac. The potential scandal could impact his reputation on the force. Mac’s a good guy. He doesn’t deserve what Cody would do to his life. She asks what Cody thinks Mac would want for his life if he knew he was Cody’s father.

Felicia tells Scotty, sorry to interrupt. Does he have a minute? He says, yes. Sit down. She says, his breakfast companions might not feel the same, but he says, what breakfast companions? He’s alone again as usual. She asks if he tried again with Liesl, and he says he did. He presented his heart to her, and she threw it right against the wall. So they’re done, finished. She says she’s sorry. She respects him for trying. She thinks it’s really brave of him to put himself out there. He says he won’t be making that mistake again. He doesn’t know what went wrong with Liesl, but it was the last nail in the coffin of love for him. She says she’s really sorry to hear that. She just wanted to ask him a question, and then she’ll leave him to… whatever this is. He says, it’s breakfast, and what is her question? She says, Cody Bell, but he says, don’t bring up his name. She says, why? She thought they had a great relationship. He says he doesn’t have a problem with Cody. Cody just kind of goofed up his chances of getting back with Leisl a little bit. She asks, how so? and he says, Cody cost him a big payday.

Alexis says she’s trying to look out for both her daughter’s best interests, and Kristina says, really? She’s just focusing on the contract part of this because she thinks someone is going to violate it, that someone being her. Does Alexis just not trust she’ll abide by the terms? Alexis says, of course (🍷) she trusts Kristina. She’s just trying to look at all possible outcomes. Kristina says she appreciates Alexis advising them of the current statutes, but her concern isn’t really necessary. Alexis says she’s done research, and Molly says, she didn’t really have to go to the trouble, but Alexis says, it was no trouble really. She looks at some papers and says, do they know they can avoid any potential legal conflict between them by establishing parenthood after birth via adoption? (That’s what I was thinking.) Molly says she’ll look into it, but Alexis says, Molly doesn’t have to; she’s already done it. The first step is for Kristina to stipulate that she has no parental proprietary interest… Kristina says, Molly told her that she’d look into it, but Alexis says she can go over this. It’ll be really quick. Kristina says, no. Not for nothing, but Molly is the lawyer here, not her. (Another ouch.)

Cody says he has no idea what Mac would want when it comes to him, and Sasha says she could guess. Mac is a good guy, and she can’t see any world where Mac wouldn’t forgive him. And he’d never do anything to jeopardize Cody’s future. Cody says, what about Mac’s brother, Robert Scorpio, the DA? Not a fan. She says, that’s because Robert doesn’t know what she knows, and he says, what’s that? She says, how much has changed since he signed that affidavit. He put himself on the line for her, and she knows he hates to hear this, but she’ll forever be grateful. He says, they’ve been over this. Gratitude, no; friendship, yes. She says, speaking of friendships, he’s been a really good one. Dante and Sam… He says, they’ve been better to him, and she says, Maxie and all her kids, especially James. That little boy hero worships him. Cody says, he’s too young to know any better, but she says, maybe he knows Cody better than Cody knows himself. Cody has changed a lot, and the only way to prove that is to come clean. Today.

Felicia says, so Scotty and Cody were going to sue the WSB over Taub’s necklace? and Scotty says, yeah, but hush-hush. Nobody really knows about this, and he’s hoping Cody changes his mind. She says, so it was Cody who decided not to move forward, and he says, yes. After all the legal depositions and the filings, all the dirty work was done. She asks, why? and he says he doesn’t know why exactly, but the WSB blew up Cody’s asset and he felt Cody should be compensated. She says, so being Taub’s son would pay off big for Cody, and he says, huge, huge windfall. Why does she ask?

Brook says, Lucy knows nothing about her grandmother, which is insulting, because not only did she take Deception, she’s running it way better than Lucy ever did. And by the way, Lucy is sadly misinformed. Tracy Angelica Quartermaine is greatly loved by her whole family. A love Lucy couldn’t possibly understand how they express, because she’s nothing but a gold-digging outsider who managed to trap Brook’s great uncle into marriage for what, ten seconds? She’s been hanging around for years trading on her single share of ELQ, which Brook’s grandmother managed to get from Lucy, by the way. So now she’s out on the street, exactly where she belongs. Lucy says, Brook really has nothing to say… and Brook tells her, and by the way, Luke Spencer was the love of her grandmother’s life. She accepted him for exactly who he was, fought for him with everything she had, and stuck by him until the very end. Meanwhile, Lucy has thrown away every man who’s ever loved her, with both hands. So do not lecture her grandmother on love, because she understands it way better than Lucy ever will. Tracy looks at Brook proudly, and Lucy says, they can hold this meeting without her. She walks out, closing the door behind her, and Tracy tells Brook, thank you. Brook says she meant every word, and Tracy says, well, she’s still late. So what was more important than the meeting they had scheduled? Brook says, something happened with Chase’s father.

Matt says he wants to run some tests overnight. It could be that Gregory is no longer getting nutrients from food and water intake alone, or the collapse could have been because of his lung intake level falling below 50%, which the tests will show. If it has fallen below 50%, they’ll have to discuss options. Gregory says he’ll give Matt 24 hours to do anything he needs, but he has plans on New Year’s Eve, and nothing is going to stop him from making good on them.

Chase tells Finn, the yoga instructor isn’t a doctor. They don’t know what actually happened. Finn says he thought Chase should know. He left Chase out of the loop once before, and he promised not to let it happen again. Chase says, if dad believes he overdid it, doesn’t Finn think they should trust that? Finn says, dad’s not a doctor either, and Chase says he gets that. And he gets that facts are important, but so is faith. Finn says he doesn’t remember seeing that on the curriculum at med school, and Chase asks, doesn’t a patient’s state of mind effect their health? Finn says, of course (🍷) it does, and Chase says, then a little positivity can’t hurt. Matt comes out and asks why they don’t come in with him and their dad. He has an update.

Alexis says, when Kristina’s right, she’s right. It’s tough to know when to take off her legal hat and put on her mom hat, but either way, she’ll defend her daughters with everything she’s got, and that includes Kristina. Kristina says she’s sorry. She didn’t mean to dismiss Alexis’s legal expertise or her concern for her daughters. Alexis says, but Kristina thinks she’s overstepping, and Molly says, it’s just that, for her and TJ, this whole journey has been about hope. Now with Kristina as their surrogate, it’s also one of implicit trust. The bond between her and Krissy is stronger than all the legal protections in the world. Kristina says, they’re sisters. Nothing is ever going to make them forget that. Alexis still looks worried.

Molly and Kristina put on their coats, and Alexis says, so it looks like her concern for her daughters has been outmatched by their belief in each other. Well done. Congratulations. Kristina says, it’s the truth, and Alexis tells them that she’s not going to say another word about it. What she did say isn’t because she doesn’t believe in them, because she does with all her heart. And she’s very proud of the way they stuck up for each other, even against her. She loves them both, and she loves the way they love each other. They have a three-way hug, and Kristina and Molly leave.

Gregory asks what Chase is doing here, and Chase says, Finn called and said Gregory was in the hospital. Where else would he be? Gregory says, Finn didn’t need to call Chase; he’s fine. Finn asks Matt, is he? and Gregory says, they’re going to admit him. They’re going to run some tests. 24-hours, that’s it, then he’s out of here. He asks Matt to tell his boys not to worry, and Matt says, an overnight stay is just a precaution. Chase says, precautions are good. He’s all for precautions. Matt says, good. He’ll go take a look at Gregory’s intake paperwork. He heads for the door, and Chase thanks him and says, and take good care of his dad. His dad promised his bride a dance at his wedding this spring. Matt leaves, and Gregory says, they decided on a date? Chase says, they did, and Gregory says he didn’t think it would happen so soon. Chase says, he and Brook decided they didn’t want to wait another minute to make it official in front of the whole family. He can’t wait to marry Brook. Gregory says he’s so happy for Chase, and Chase thanks him. Chase says he just has to… follow her orders and stay out of her way, and Gregory laughs.

Felicia goes back to the table, and Robert says he got a call from the office. He’s got to go. He asks if her conversation with Baldwin was of use, and she says, and how. He asks if she still thinks Cody is Mac’s son, and she says, more than ever. He says he’s not asking for any details, but if Cody chose not to be the son of a man like Mac Scorpio, does Mac need to know? She says, Mac has a right to know, and he says, so what’s the plan? Is she going to get Cody to ‘fess up to lying about the DNA results? She says, he’s held on to this secret for a long time, so no. Robert says he’d move on. It’s going to be hell to prove. He leaves, and she says, not for me.

Cody says he can’t just come clean, and Sasha says she guesses that’s ultimately up to him, but if he does decide to admit he’s Mac’s son, she’ll be right by his side. And if he doesn’t, she’ll keep his secret forever. He thanks her, and she says, that doesn’t mean the truth won’t come out, but it won’t come from her. She looks at her phone and says she’s got to go. She’s beyond late. He thanks her for being such a good friend, and she says, he deserves nothing less, and leaves.

Tracy asks if Gregory’s all right, and Brook says, yes. Things were just complicated. Tracy says, given the circumstances, that’s an acceptable excuse for Brook’s tardiness, but if she’s going to take the helm here, she has to follow Tracy’s example and act like a leader. If Tracy is going to give her this company, she needs to start taking it seriously. Brook says, oh, I am, granny. Very seriously.

Scotty puts more syrup on his pancakes, and Lucy says, keep that up and he won’t make it through the year. He says, who cares? and she says, oh come on. Buck up. She sits down and says she has a way for both of them to end up on top. He says, that sounds physically impossible, but he’s willing to give it a shot. She says, stop, focus, and not on these plates of food please. What is this all about? He asks what she wants, and she says she’s proposing a plan where she’s restored all she’s lost, and Scotty could land a big, fat chunk of change. He says he’s listening, and she says, they’re going to be big winners in 2024. Big winners. And Tracy Quartermaine is going to lose big time. He asks how he fits in, and she says, as a groom. He asks if she could repeat that. Did she just say the word groom? She says, yes, she did. He’s going to marry Tracy and they’re going to take her for everything she’s got.

Tomorrow, TJ says he and Kristina have to set some things straight; Lucy tells Scotty to get ready, because she’s just getting started; and Sonny asks if this is where Alexis wants him to tell her that she’s wrong.

☎️ Today the Role Of…

Since regular Maxie was in the preview, I’m guessing it was nothing major.

That’s Nicole Paggi as the Temporary Maxie Recast on GH!

🥀 Our Loss Is Heaven’s Gain…

This made me miss Passions all over again.

🗽 Model Of Legacy…

Some of the forgotten Wives. I met Kristen at a radio station cocktail party years ago. It was after the season where Ramona threw the glass at her. She seemed like a nice person, and I think she should run from any facet of this franchise.

🛟 Toxicity On Deck…

I just don’t see it this way. I thought Natalya was one of the worst human beings ever, but Kyle? Kyle is just gossipy and emotional, so don’t tell him anything you don’t want anyone to know. Problem solved, and hopefully, he’ll grow out of it. Whereas Natalya was deliberately mean, Kyle just gets all in his emotions and lashes out. Captain Sandy also thought he was the root of the problem, but I’ve disagreed with her before.

🥇 But At the Time…

It’s like Jerry said in Edward Albee’s Zoo Story, sometimes it’s necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly. But geez, don’t mention his stellar final season of Fear the Walking Dead or anything.

https://people.com/colman-domingo-nearly-left-acting-after-losing-big-break-role-8420368

🌁 And the Last Shall Be Divisive…

They seem to be focusing an awful lot on it being parallel to the game, but I don’t think this stuff is confirmed. What is confirmed is it not being aired until 2025… sigh…

https://screenrant.com/the-last-of-us-season-2-divisive-story-reason/

https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/i-cant-wait-for-the-last-of-us-season-2-to-air-but-im-also-dreading-it-heres-why

There’s a blink-and-you-miss-it teaser for The Last of Us, but mostly what HBO/Max has in store for 2024.

https://gizmodo.com/last-of-us-season-2-release-it-prequel-trailer-hbo-max-1851078003

🥂 To Rock Your Eve…

Stuff to watch if you don’t want to brave the night. Like me. Been there, done that, I’m good. Dick Clark might be gone, but he’ll never be forgotten on New Year’s Eve.

https://people.com/new-years-eve-specials-2023-everything-to-know-8420122

🐕 Holiday Assortment…

Good advice all year round.

https://people.com/how-to-keep-your-pet-safe-around-the-holidays-8417416

I don’t know how I missed this, but it’s very cute.

https://people.com/pets/adoptable-animals-model-halloween-costumes/

No one can say I don’t include cats. They’re not keen on costumes though, as a general rule.

https://people.com/mandy-moore-includes-cats-in-holiday-traditions-8418338

And last, but never least, the InstaDogs of Christmas.

🍇 12 Grapes For 12 Months…

Boomerang back tomorrow for soap and some New Year amusement. Until then, stay safe, stay being on time, but not early to a party, and stay not eating the entire left side of the menu if you have a lot of feelings.

December 1, 2023 – Ava Spills To Nina, Posing, Side Gig, Shade On, VanderUpdate, Parade Pics, Windows, Finale Of Fear, More Turkey, Holiday Pets (!), Just Over 8 Quotes & Philly

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Brook walks into the nook where Lois is chopping vegetables. Lois says, there’s her girl, and Brook says, okay, but Lios says she can do better than that. Where’s her main squeeze? Brook asks if she means Chase, and Lois says, no, her other main squeeze. Yes, Chase. Brook says, he’s probably halfway to Canada by now after grandma’s tirade on marriage.

Kristina shows Molly into her apartment and tells her to stay there while she secures the necessary provisions. She leaves and comes back with two glasses and a bottle of wine. Molly is still standing by the door, and Kristina says she didn’t expect her to still be in the same position. She leads Molly to the sofa and says, talk to her. What happened? Molly says she realized she’s never been here before.

Elizabeth and Finn are having dinner at the PC Grill (the restaurant of the moment), and Elizabeth wonders if they’re celebrating a special occasion. He says, that depends, and she says, on? He says, whether you deem the calm before the storm special.

A tall, impeccably groomed, well-dressed man walks up to the counter at Kelly’s and Carly welcomes him. She asks if she can get him something, and speaking with a British accent, he says he certainly hopes so.

Sonny and Dex walk into Pozzulo’s, and Dex says, Hume would have been waiting for Sonny if they’d have let him. Sonny asks if he was alone, and Dex says, just him and his briefcase, which he can only assume was full of cash like last time. Sonny says, okay, let’s hear what Pikeman has to say, and takes out his phone.

At Windymere, va opens the door to Nina, who says she’s completely freaked out. Ava sounded frantic. What’s going on? Ava says, this arrived in the mail today, handing her the note with the picture of dead Austin.

Elizabeth says she takes it that it didn’t go well with the hospital lawyer. What’s her name again? Finn says, Dede Clark. It went fine on the surface. She talked a lot about cooperation and implied they’re all in this together on the malpractice suit, and that he could do his part just by answering some questions. She says, but underneath? and he says, the more questions she asked, the more clear it became that GH’s plan is to sacrifice him and save themselves.

Kristina says, that can’t be true, but Molly says, it is. Think about it. Whenever they hang out, Kristina comes to her place, or they meet up at mom’s or Sam’s or a restaurant somewhere. Never here. Kristina says, Molly’s never been to her apartment (neither have we), and Molly says, no. Kristina says, that is weird. Well, welcome. Molly thanks her, and Kristina says, for the record, it’s not like she’s throwing parties or entertaining. Her kitchen is essentially a barren desert. It’s easier to go out. She pours the wine, and Molly says, Kristina doesn’t have to defend herself, but Kristina says, doesn’t she? Molly is her sister and hasn’t even seen her apartment. She hopes Molly knows it’s not intentional. She now has an open invitation, any time she wants to come here, day or night. Molly says, be careful. She just might take her up on that. Kristina says, she better, and they clink glasses.

Lois tells Brook, tirade is a bit of a stretch, and Canada is not that far away. Doesn’t she think she’s being a little overdramatic? Brook says, no. After some of the things grandma said to Chase, she can’t even go there. It was mortifying. Lois says, it’s a good thing to know, nobody ever died from embarrassment, and it didn’t seem to bother Chase all that much. Brook says, he was being polite, but Brook says, or maybe he was seeing Gloria for who she is, a meddling Italian grandmother whose views on modern relationships are stuck in the 1800s. Lois says, exactly, and Brook says, she and Chase have never even discussed marriage. They just moved in together. Lois says, indicating that marriage is probably the next step, but Brook says, they’re nowhere near that step and that’s okay by her. Lois says, good to know, and Brook says, it is good. Lois tells Brook that she just said that, and Brook says, she and Chase are perfectly happy the way things are. Chase walks in with a bottle of wine, and Lois says, he made it.  

The man tells Carly that he’s in Port Charles on business, and he has a craving for a burger. The concierge at his hotel recommended this place. Carly says, he must be staying at the MetroCourt, and he says, she knows it. She says she knows it well, and he says, if he were staying somewhere else, would they also recommend Kelly’s? She says, absolutely. Kelly’s is a Port Charles institution, and they have the best burgers in town, if she does say so herself. He says, wild guess. She works here. She says she owns the place, third generation. So how does he like his burger?

Nina looks at the photo and says, is this real? Ava says, as real as it gets. Austin is dead. Nina asks, how? and Ava says, he was shot to death in Pautuck. Look. She shows Nina the envelope and says, a Port Charles postmark. It could have been sent by anyone. Nina asks if it was just the picture, but Ava says, no. It came with this sweet little note. She gives Nina the paper that says, you’re welcome, and Nina says she doesn’t understand. Ava says, join the club, and Nina says, clearly, the killer wrote this. Oh my God. Would they just assume Ava would be grateful Austin’s dead? Ava says, that’s her guess, and Nina says, she has to take this to the police. Ava snatches them back and says, no. That’s the last thing she’s going to do.

Sonny says, before Hume gets here, how long did Dex tail Austin? Dex says, only when that nanny was working for Sonny. Betty? Sonny asks if anyone called Dex on it, and Dex says, a couple of times at the hospital, he was asked what he was doing there, but he always had a cover. Sonny asks if he roughed Austin up, and Dex says, when Ava disappeared, he questioned Austin. He stonewalled, Dex put him in a headlock and told him if Ava wasn’t back, he’d be back for him. Sonny says, that could be a problem. Austin was murdered and if anyone saw Dex threaten him, they could assume he did it.

Ava says, Dante has already been out here to question her, and Nina asks, why? Because of Austin? Ava pours drinks and says, there’s so much Nina doesn’t know. Nina says, then fill her in, and Ava asks if Nina remembers walking in on her and Sonny having an intense conversation a few months ago, and Nina says, yeah. She asked what was going on, and neither of them would tell her. Ava says she was being blackmailed, and Nina asks, for what? Ava says, when Nikolas went missing, she had every reason to believe he was dead, and Nina asks her to define every reason. Ava says she thought she’d killed him, and Nina says, oh my God. Ava says, he came here, and he was in a rage. He was threatening to disappear and take Avery with him. She had to do what she had to do to stop him, and she grabbed a statue and she hit him. She just wanted to stop him, that’s all, but he fell. He stopped moving and she panicked. She thought he was dead. Nina says, thank God she was wrong, and Ava says she was trying to hide his body when Austin found her. He told her that he’d help her cover it up. Then the body disappeared, and Austin’s cousin Mason claimed he had it. He said he would bring it to the police if she didn’t do everything he told her to do. Nina says, so Austin’s cousin Mason was blackmailing Ava because she killed Nikolas, but he wasn’t actually dead? and Ava says, but Mason wasn’t acting alone. It turned out, Austin was working with him.

Dex says, after questioning Austin about Ava, he never went near him again, and Sonny says, if the cops decide Dex is a suspect – and that’s a big if – tell them that he’s not talking to anybody without his attorney present, and that includes his son Dante. Dex says, understood, and Sonny says he takes care of his people. If Dex gets picked up, he has the best representation. Dex says he appreciates that, and Sonny says, let’s hope that doesn’t happen. The less attention the cops pay to Dex, the more valuable Dex is to him.

Carly presents the man with his burger and says, tell her what he thinks. Don’t spare her feelings. He takes a bite, and she says she wants to know the real deal. He makes happy food noises and says, talk about the real deal. She says, really? and he says, it’s delicious. It’s full of flavor, perfectly cooked. She tells him to enjoy his dinner. She looks at the door and says, not again, and they turn to see a homeless man hanging around the doorway. She goes outside.

Carly tells the man that he can’t be out here, and he asks her not to call the cops, but she says, that’s not what she means. It’s too cold. He needs to come inside.

Kristina asks if Molly wants to tell her what happened, and Molly says, shoot. She had a folder at the park. It’s filled with really personal information… Kristina says she’s got it. She picked it up from the ground when they were leaving. Molly thanks her and says, she’s a life saver. Kristina says, of course (🍷), and takes the folder out of her bag, giving it to Molly. What’s in it? She doesn’t have to share that. It’s 100% her right. Molly says, no, it’s fine. Open it. Kristina looks inside and says, surrogacy candidates. She doesn’t understand. Is there something wrong with them? Molly says, there’s something wrong with her, and Kristina says, watch it. That’s my sister you’re talking about. Molly says she has this whole folder of potential new surrogates and TJ has no clue she’s even looking at them.

Lois brings out glasses and thanks Chase for the wine. She says, it’s very thoughtful of him, and he asks if she wants him to open it. She says, is the Pope Catholic? and tells him to pour while she works. She goes back to the cutting board, and Chase asks if they have a corkscrew. Brook gets it for him, and he asks what they were talking about. Lois says, you, and Brook says, you and Blaze. And how you used to sing together and now she sings alone. Speaking of which, what does he think of her new song?… Hello? Chase says he’s sorry. He got distracted. It’s amazing how Lois can do all that with those nails. Lois says, there’s nothing she can’t do with these nails.

Elizabeth says, Finn has to separate the hospital from the hospital’s lawyers. Sure, it may be a good legal strategy to use him as a scapegoat, but Portia and Terry would never, and she’s sure the Board would follow suit. He says he doesn’t know anymore. If the Muldoons can prove that the hospital somehow knew he was negligent and turned a blind eye, it’s possible they’d be liable for damages. Martin thinks GH’s best plan is to say that he was negligent, but he acted without the knowledge of the hospital. She says, but he wasn’t negligent and he’s going to explain that to a jury when he testifies. They’ll have to be sympathetic to him. He says, really? Has she met him?

Finn says, his testimony alone could tank the case, and Elizabeth tells him, says who? He tells her, says his lawyer; he said it a bunch of times. She says, that’s ridiculous, and he says, really? She says, if Martin Grey doesn’t believe in Finn, fire him, and Finn says, Martin does believe in him, but he’s also a lawyer. Good lawyers point out the landmines. This case at the core is about a grieving family who are looking for answers, and really, can you blame them? She says, of course (🍷) not, and he says, then it’s possible a jury might feel that way too. She says, and it’s possible to have empathy for the family, and realize their loss wasn’t his fault. He says he doesn’t know. He just feels that when he gets on the stand, the jury’s sympathies are going to be with the Muldoons, and the only way he can win them over is to get them to… like him. She says, he did it with her and she’s a way tougher sell. A bunch of strangers? Cakewalk. He says he doesn’t know whether to take that as a pep talk, but all he heard was, she likes him. She says, very much so.

Chase asks if Lois is sure she doesn’t need any help, but she tells him, just sit back and relax and enjoy the wine, which is very good by the way. Brook says, it’s delicious, and Chase says he’s got a guy. Lois says, he’s got a wine guy? and Brook says, it’s true. His recommendations are always on point. Lois says, good to know, and she’s very glad the two of them can join her for dinner. Chase thanks her for the invite, and she says, it gives her a chance to get to know him better. And to apologize for all things Gloria. He says, get out of here, and she says, not really apologize, because God knows she loves her mother, but she does know she could be a bit much. Brook says, a bit? and Lois says, but she means well. Her mother is a romantic. She’s in love with love, and for a woman from her generation, if you’re in love, you put a ring on it. Brook chokes on her wine.

Molly tells Kristina that she was contacted by the matching professional about looking for a new surrogate, and she was excited about getting things going again. Kristina asks if TJ felt differently, and Molly says, when she told him, he said it was too soon. Kristina says, too soon for whom? and Molly says, for him. For them, she guesses. He’s not ready to get back on that roller coaster again. Kristina asks how Molly feels about that, and Molly says, deflated… frustrated. This whole thing is bad enough, but to not be on the same page as your partner. Anyway, she ran into Dr. Navarro when she was leaving the hospital, and she says so kind and steady, and she really put things in perspective. Kristina asks what the doctor said, and Molly tells her, basically, the risk of miscarriage is the chance that you take, no matter who’s carrying the child. But when you weigh that against the chance of actually having a baby, so many people have had success through surrogacy. She wants to be one of those people. Kristina takes her hand, and Molly says, she took the meeting alone. Kristina asks if it was productive, and Molly says, it was, until mom showed up.

The homeless man tells Carly that he’d rather stay outside. He doesn’t like being around too many people. She says, at least let her bring him something to eat, and he says, really? Carly says, of course (🍷), and he says, that’d be great. Thanks. She says she’ll be right back, and if he changes his mind, the door’s open. She runs inside and goes directly to the kitchen, as the man at the counter watches.

Nina says, she didn’t know Austin well, obviously, but he seemed to really care about Ava. Ava says she thought so too. She thought Austin was someone she could trust. When he tried to convince her that he was being coerced, that he didn’t want to help his cousin, that he was trying to get her out from under the blackmail, she believed him. But Nikolas wasn’t dead, and she’s convinced Austin knew all along. Nina says she just doesn’t get it. What was his endgame? Ava says, per usual, in this underworld at least, all roads lead back to Sonny.

Dex shows Hume into Sonny’s office, and Sonny says, well? Hume says, Pikeman needs him to facilitate another shipment, and Sonny says he thought he made himself clear. He doesn’t do anything for Pikeman unless they tell him who the shooter was at the MetroCourt. Hume says, they’re not the police or the WSB. Pikeman is a manufacturer. Sonny says, that exports merchandise through his channels, and Hume says, and they’re willing – he puts his briefcase on the table and opens it – to pay double this time. We see the briefcase is crammed with stacks of bills.

Kristina asks if Alexis is trying to discourage Kristina from trying again, but Molly says, no. It was just typical mom. She wants what Molly wants. But when Molly told her about taking the meeting without tell TJ… Kristina says, technically, she did consult TJ, but Molly says, Kristina knows what she means. Mom said whatever she and TJ choose to do, they have to make the decision together, but she just has this sinking feeling that TJ might never be ready. So she went to the park to clear her head and ran into Willow and Amelia. It was nice. Willow was really sweet, and she got to hold the baby. Kristina asks if it wasn’t hard for her, and Molly says, at first, but it was so amazing to hold this tiny little human in her arms. Once she left them, she couldn’t stop thinking about how she might never have the child of her own. She wants to be a mom so badly. She starts to cry, and Kristina says she knows Molly does.

Chase asks if Brook is okay, and Brook says she will be once her mom changes the subject. Lois says, in a sec. The biggest thing Chase can take away from all of this is that Gloria obviously likes him. That’s not an easy feat because that’s not a woman you can win over very easily. And for what it’s worth (🍷), Lois likes and approves of him too. Chase says, it’s worth more than she knows, and Lois says, he makes her daughter happy. She can see it in her face. She can hear it in her voice and in the way she moves. As a mother, that’s all she could ask for. Chase says, for the record, her daughter makes him very happy too, when Lois’s phone rings. She says she has to take this and asks Brook to finish up for her. She leaves and Brook asks if Chase brought his shovel for the hole he’s going to dig, where she’s going to hide for the remainder of her days. He asks if she doesn’t think she’s being a little dramatic, and she asks why everyone keeps saying that to her… Do not answer that. She’s so, so sorry. He says, why? He’s not.

Finn says, it’s too bad they can’t clone her and have a whole jury box full of Elizabeths. She says, that’s a terrifying thought, and I laugh at the mental picture. He says, not to him, and she says, truth? He says, sure, and she says, sometimes he can be a little… He says, abrasive… guarded… socially awkward, and she tells him that she was going to say standoffish. But once people get to know him, they see what she sees. He says, and what’s that? and she says, a man of the utmost integrity; a brilliant researcher; a dedicated physician; a loving, sometimes neurotic, father. He says, sometimes? and she says, a person who really cares and a doctor who never quits on his patients… and someone who needs a little work on their maple tapping skills. He says, a lot of work, and she says, he’s saved hundreds of lives, and he has the potential to save so many more. He says, not if he loses this malpractice suit.

Carly takes a to-go bag out the homeless man and says she hopes he likes goat cheese. There are fries in there, she threw in a piece of pie, and here’s a coffee. She hands him a cup, and he thanks her. He asks if it’s okay if he sits out here and eats, and she tells him, of course (🍷), and stay as long as he likes.

She goes back inside to the counter and asks the not-homeless man if he’d like anything else. He says he thought she was going to run that guy off. Instead, she fed him. How come?

Nina asks what Sonny has to do with any of this, and Ava says, Austin and Mason were working for Cyrus Renault. Nina asks if Sonny knows, and Ava says, he’s the one who told her. Nina wonders why he didn’t say something, and Ava says, he doesn’t want Nina involved. God knows she wishes she wasn’t involved. Nina says, so Cyrus is the one who had her kidnapped? and Ava says, yes. He wanted Austin to testify for him at that hearing in Pentenville. Nina says, his hardship release. So he had Mason take Ava hostage to guarantee Austin’s testimony. Ava says, helluva guy, huh? and Nina says, Austin did what Cyrus wanted and testified to save Ava. That means Ava did mean something to him. Ava says, something maybe, but not enough.

Sonny closes the briefcase and tells Hume to take it back to his superiors along with this message – he’s out. He’s not moving anything else for Pikeman for any price. Find another harbor. Hume says he’ll relay the message, and Sonny says, you do that. Hume leaves and Dex closes the office door. Sonny says, Dex is going to have an opinion on what he just did. So what does he think? Dex says he thinks Sonny made a mistake.

Finn tells Elizabeth that he thinks the biggest question is going to be why he didn’t screen Muldoon for more tests that would have indicated the presence of cancer. She says, Finn told her that he wanted to, and Muldoon didn’t want to have any more tests. Finn says, he knows, but they might say something like he didn’t explain it to him fully, or maybe he was open to the tests and Finn just didn’t bother. She says, and what? Finn told him he was fine and pushed him out of his office? Finn tells her that they might say he got busy with his research or other patients. She says, he would never do that, and he says he knows that, and she knows that, but what if the jury doesn’t know that?

Brook says, all this marriage talk has got to be wigging Chase out, and he says he’s not wigged out. And he’s pretty certain no one says that anymore. She says her family just really loves weddings, in an unhealthy co-dependent kind of way, and he asks if she’s been to a lot of them. She says, weddings? Oh yeah. Between the Cerullos and the Falconaris, there are too many to count. He asks what they’re like, and she says, big, loud, enough food to feed an army… and the people there fighting. And the dancing. Nobody dances the tarantella like her grandma. He says he’d love to see that someday, and she says, he will. Not at their wedding… She didn’t mean that. She meant at a wedding, probably one of her gajillion family members. Is it hot in here? She fans herself and he says, she needs to relax, but she says she feels terrible. Everyone’s all up in his grill. He says, nobody’s up in his anything, and she says her grandma has probably already reserved a church for them, but they can’t blame her. It’s all she knows. The moment you turn 18, every nona keeps asking when it’s going to be your turn. So she understands it from her grandma. Or at least she’s trying to. But from her mother? That’s a completely different story.

Counter man says, not to sound callous, but he can’t imagine it’s good for business to have a homeless man hanging around outside, and Carly says, probably not. She did tell him to come inside, but he didn’t want to, so she just brought him some food. He says, that was kind of her, and she says, they wrap up all the unused food and send it to the homeless shelters, so she would have been feeding him anyway. At least this time he’s getting a hot meal. The man says he’ll pay the check when she gets a chance, and can she give this to her friend outside. He hands her some cash, and she says, thanks.

Ava tells Nina that Austin came to see her at the gallery the night he died. When she found out he’d known she was held hostage… He could have gone to Sonny. He could have gone to the cops, but he did nothing. He was silent. She was furious. They fought about it. She told him to leave and he left. Nina says, and that was the last time she saw him? and Ava says, yeah. She just doesn’t have any way to prove it. Nina asks if there aren’t cameras at the gallery. Can’t they prove Ava was there at the time Austin was shot? Ava says, the cameras in the back aren’t working, and that’s where she was most of the night, and Nina says, well, that is going to be an issue. Ava says, even if the cameras were working, she doesn’t think it would help her. That’s why she can’t bring the note and picture to the cops. They’re just going to think she hired somebody to get rid of Austin. Even dead, that man is still making trouble for her.

Sonny says, Dex thinks he should have taken the deal? and Dex says he thinks it’s better to play along than make himself an obstacle that needs to be removed. When he was in Afghanistan, there were a lot of these private security groups there. Sonny says, including Pikeman, and Dex says, these are powerful people. They have connections to all the major security ops, the CIA, the WSB. If they come at Sonny, it may be at a level he hasn’t seen before. Sonny says he appreciates Dex’s insight. He’s already considered all that, and he realizes his best move right now is to get out. He doesn’t want Pikeman investing any more in him. He’s betting that they think he’s more trouble than he’s worth and move on.

Molly says, it’s like she’s lost all self-control, but Kristina says she thinks that’s a good thing. Molly says, that she’s a human walking waterworks? and Kristina says, yes actually. For the first time, Molly’s allowing herself to feel what she feels, without trying to edit it or control it. Being a mom is hugely important to her. Molly says, it’s like she won’t be her if she doesn’t, and Kristina says, that’s really beautiful. Molly says, not if TJ won’t consider these surrogates. And she won’t have a child without him. She won’t do that to him. Kristina takes her hands, and they sit down. She says, TJ will come around. She knows he will, and when he does, let Kristina help her. Let her carry a baby for them.

Chase says he doesn’t want Brook to be mad at her on his account. He thinks she’s awesome. She says, he does? and he says, Brook obviously comes by her beauty and her spark naturally. Brook thanks him for the compliment and for just being overall amazing. How’d she get so lucky? He says he asks himself that every day… about how he got lucky, not her. (Ha-ha!) She suggests they agree they’re both lucky, and he asks what she say were the three most important moments of her life. She says, when she scored Jonas Brothers tickets in 2010, and he says he’s being serious. Humor him. She says, all right. The last time she ever saw her great-grandfather Edward; that’s a big one. The first time she ever wrote a song, and when she gained a little brother in Leo. He says he wants this moment right now to be on that list, and she asks what he’s talking about. He says, Brook Lynn Quartermaine – he gets down on one knee, taking her hands – will you marry me?

Finn pulls his chair closer to Elizabeth and says, she called him caring. She says, because he is, and he says he thinks he knows that somewhere deep down. He also doesn’t like being questioned or doubted, and when he gets defensive, he gets awkward. These jurors aren’t medical professionals, and this medical jargon thing will go right over their heads, and the only thing that’s going to resonate with them is that this man is dead, and his family is grieving. And there’s this doctor on the stand saying he did everything right. She tries to interrupt, but he says, no. What if he would have pushed harder for Muldoon to get those tests? Made him. Demanded he get that colonoscopy. Would Muldoon still be alive? She says, no one can answer that question. But what she can tell him is, all they can do as medical professionals is their best, and he did that. She knows that. So they need to teach him how to project that inward kindness outward, so the jury will believe him and maybe even like him. He asks if that’s even possible and she says she thinks… Yeah. They’ve got their work cut out for him. They kiss.

Kristina takes Molly’s hand and says she knows Molly was originally against it when she offered to be their surrogate. And admittedly, she hadn’t really thought it through, not fully. Maybe there was a part of her that wanted to swoop in and be the hero. Molly tells her, when she said that before, that was her pain talking. She was disappointed and bitter that Kristina could carry a child and she couldn’t. But that was unfair and she’s sorry. Kristina says she’s sorry Molly is going through this at all, and she’s sorry Molly lost her first baby. Molly says, it’s not Kristina’s job to fix it for them, and Kristina says she doesn’t think it is. Not at all. That’s not the way she sees it. Bringing Molly’s child into this world is something she can and truly wants to give her. Not just for Molly, but for this baby who’s going to be in this family with the most incredible parents. Molly says, she’s absolutely positive? and Kristina says, 100%, no backsies. Molly says, now she knows Kristina means business, and Kristina says she does. Molly says she has to talk to TJ about it; they have to be together on this. Kristina says, of course (🍷), and Molly says, no matter what they decide it means everything that Kristina has offered. Molly thanks her, and Kristina says she loves Molly. They hug, and Molly says she loves Kristina too.

Ava looks at the photo of dead Austin, then picks up the note and puts them both in the fireplace. She watches them burn.

Dex says, so Sonny will end his association with Pikeman and hope they cut their losses, when there’s a knock at the door. Nina comes in and says, Frank told her that she could come in. Sonny asks, what’s wrong? and Nina says she just came from Ava’s. She knows about Austin and Ava said he was working with Cyrus. More importantly, she said Cyrus still may be after Sonny. Sonny says, damn. Ava has no business telling her that. Nina says, no, she doesn’t really. The person she should hear it from is him.

Carly thanks the man for coming by, calling him Mr. Brennan (I guess he used a credit card). She hopes they see him again at Kelly’s soon, and he says he can practically guarantee it. He gathers up his things and heads for the door, when Hume comes in. He tells Brennan, we have a problem. Corinthos refuses to move any more of our shipments.

On Monday, Brook says, let’s take the topic off the table and forget it ever came up; Ned says, if he doesn’t figure out how to stop him, Michael will push him out; Molly wants TJ to hear her out first; Blaze asks if Kristina wants to celebrate; and Nina tells Sonny that she’ll do whatever she can to make sure someone comes home.

📸 Meant For More…

I never knew this. That photo doesn’t even look like him.

💣 Happier Villainy…

I still haven’t seen this, but it looks like a fun show.

💎 Shades Of Mess…

While I don’t normally side with Erika, I thought this was weird too. Denise seemed drunk. Maybe she was. Maybe there’s something we don’t know. First world problems.

🍸 Take Two…

If anyone still cares.

🍂 Goodbye Autumn…

In case you didn’t see the parade.

🎁 Switching Gears…

Another thing better seen online. You would not believe how crowded this stuff gets. The tree lighting looked insane.

⚰️ Rehashing the Dead…

All about the Fear finale. The best part – if you haven’t seen it, major spoiler – Skidmark made it! Even better, when he showed up, secretly thanks to Alicia, Daniel just asked, where have you been? No, how the hell did you appear out of thin air after disappearing for years? Or even, what are the odds? It was a great moment. It was a great finale. Nothing left unsaid.

https://ew.com/fear-the-walking-dead-series-finale-kim-dickens-interview-8402455

https://ew.com/fear-the-walking-dead-colman-domingo-reacts-to-victor-strand-finale-ending-8403734

https://ew.com/fear-the-walking-dead-showrunners-explain-alycia-debnam-carey-finale-return-8404001

🦃 Twice the Thanks…

I saw Thanksgiving for my birthday. They were giving out swag and I got a poster.

While it was a good time, and Eli Roth is a great director, this news surprised me.

https://people.com/thanksgiving-slasher-film-getting-sequel-2025-director-eli-roth-8409658

🫏 Practice Run…

Warming up for pets dressed as Santa, Santa’s elves, the Grinch, and whatever other humiliating holiday costume their pet parent can find.

I have no clue who these people are, but their celebrities somewhere and they have cute pets.

https://push.abs-cbn.com/2022/12/24/celebrities-flex-their-pets-on-christmas-day-1413

🐳 Quotes of the Week

My songs will pass and be forgotten. What counts, however, is that I sang them. – Father Andrew Greeley

Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.Lou Holtz

Compassion is the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity. It is through compassion that a person achieves the highest peak and deepest reach in his or her search for self-fulfillment.Arthur Jersild

No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has. – Henry Ward Beecher

No matter who you are, we’re creatures of habit. The better your habits are, the better they will be in pressure situations. – Wayne Gretzky

The world needs a-holes. Otherwise, where would the sh*t go out? – Dusan Mirkovic (Christoph Waltz), Downsizing

If you’re going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now. – Marie Osmond (Who knew she was such a philosopher?)

Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.Ann Landers

Tomorrow I’m going to feel the pounds. – Andrei Castravet, 90 Day Fiancé, The Other Way: Pillow Talk

🐹 On the Holiday Hamster Wheel…

Take some time to stop and smell the pine needles this weekend, and join me on Monday really Tuesday for soap and that mess in the Med. Until then, stay safe, stay keeping realistic expectations of yourself and others, and stay allowing yourself to feel what you feel, without trying to edit it or control it.

September 1, 2023 – Pikeman’s Shipment Comes In, On Or Not, OC In the Shade, Jersey Peek, Indecisive, VanderNotes, Messy Med, Over, Dead Talk, Praising Pups (!), Decapod Of Quotes & Pink

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

On the phone in the elevator, Sonny says, that’s excellent news. They’ll be in touch. Cyrus’s voice says, it is not often that we get to live in and appreciate the humility of the Lord, but on days when our salvation is imminent, our faith calls us to give thanks in an especially joyful way.

We see Cyrus preaching to a group in the library, and he says, hear me when I tell you something – God is coming. And we who have waited with faith and patience and humility are privileged to bear witness. Rejoice, my brothers, rejoice! Amen. The group applauds.

Carly runs into Kelly’s, telling Josslyn that she’s sorry she’s late. She knows the concert starts soon. Josslyn says, don’t worry about it. She guesses Carly didn’t see her text. She’s not going.

Brook says, Chase isn’t joking, and he says he’s 100% serious. She says, he wants her to move in with him, and he says, yes. She says, no.

Olivia brings Ned out by the pool. It’s empty, and he says, slow night, huh? She says, not exactly. She sent everyone home. He asks, why? and she says she wanted them to be alone out here. He says, to do what exactly? and she says, remember. Ned, remember us. Remember who you used to be.

At the Bistro, Charlotte asks why Valentin has that look, and he says, what look would that be? She says, the look he gets when he’s about to tell her something she won’t like.

Maxie turns on the lights at Lulu’s house, and goes in with Georgie, James, and Felicia. Georgie says, this was her big surprise, a visit to Aunt Lulu’s house? James says he’s surprised. He thought they were going to a Woodchuck’s game. Felicia tells him that they’re going to the game soon, but right now, they’re on an amazing adventure. Georgie asks, what is this amazing adventure? and Felicia says, they’re here to explore. James says, explore what? and Felicia says, the house. Maxie says, and maybe stake out which bedroom is going to be his new room, and James says, she means… Maxie says, no more sharing. They’re moving in here. This is their new house. Funny. I don’t remember Lulu’s house being this huge. I’ll just say it. This ain’t your Lulu’s house.

On the phone at the MetroCourt, Nina says, unfortunately, that’s a question for Olivia and she’s not here, so they’ll have to wait. She tosses down the phone, looking harried, and looks up to see Sonny come in. She says, this is a nice surprise. She didn’t know he was coming here tonight. They hug, and he says, this is the best joint in town, especially the view. She says she’s glad he likes it. There’s something she really needs to talk to him about… Kristina walks in, and asks if Nina is joining them, but Nina says, no. This dinner is just for the two of them. She has to work. Olivia asked her to be on the floor tonight. She starts to leave, but Sonny asks what she had to tell him. She says she can take care of it herself. It’s really nothing. Enjoy their dinner. There’s a great steak special tonight. Sonny says, then he’s got it all. He has great steak, a gorgeous fiancé, a brilliant daughter. He’s got it all right here, right? The three of them smile.

Ned starts to leave, but Olivia tells him, wait. His daughter Brook, Ned’s daughter, is in a lot of pain right now because of something Tracy did. She ran out of the house because of his mother. He says, don’t put that on him, and she says, of course (🍷) not, but he was always the bridge between the two of them. He could always sort it out. There are people who still need him; his mother and his daughter and their son… the kid… Leo? For their sake, can he please just try?

Nina says she’ll send the waitress over, and Sonny thanks Kristina for being so supportive of him. Kristina says she genuinely likes Nina. Not everyone’s against him too. She can see how happy Nina makes him. She puts her hand on his.

Cyrus tells the group, today is the day for miracles. A time of righteousness, and yes, vengeance. But without the dark, there can be no light; and without vengeance, there can be no righteousness. So let us pray that this vengeance passes by unscathed, so that we may testify to the cleansing power of our Creator. The Warden Garten watches as he speaks, and he says, for all the world’s a cage, and we are all inmates in God’s celestial play, trying to break free from the grip of licentiousness, arrogance, and evil. As it says in Deuteronomy 23:14; for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee. Therefore shall they camp be holy that He see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee. He looks at the warden.

Willow comes into the restaurant with Wiley, who runs to Nina. She hugs him, and Sonny tells Kristina, look how happy she is.

Josslyn tells Carly that they can’t go to the concert anymore because suddenly, Dex has to do something for Sonny. Carly says, oh, and Josslyn says she hates that Carly knows exactly how she’s feeling. Carly says, so Dex has to work for Sonny and Josslyn has to make alternate plans. Been there, done that. Josslyn says, it’s not that; it’s the situation. She knows she said she was moving on and trying to put it behind her, but she hates that Dex is putting himself in danger. Carly says, that’s who Dex was when Josslyn met him. He’s a guy who takes risks, for better or worse. Josslyn says, yeah, but now he’s protecting Sonny, and taking those risks because of Carly and because of Michael. Carly says, and that’s his choice, and it’s for his protection. Josslyn says she knows. It’s just, some days are harder than others. Carly says she gets that, but if Josslyn got into this thinking she was going to change Dex, that’s not going to happen.

Chase says, Brook doesn’t want to live with him? and she says she doesn’t think he’s thought this through. He says he has, and she says, oh really? Because a whole two and a half second deliberation isn’t exactly thorough. He says, it’s not like they haven’t lived together before, and she says, exactly. That’s what she’s saying. The first time, she drove him absolutely crazy, and the second time was for Bailey. He says, the third time will be for love.

Charlotte says, Maxie and her family are living at her mom’s house? and Valentin says, her mother always loved Maxie and her children. Doesn’t she think it might be nice to have some people living in that house? It’s been sitting empty. She says, yeah, but she just wishes it was her mom coming home to live there. He says he does too, but how does she feel about Maxie and her kids moving in? She says, why bother asking her when it’s already done? and he says, the decision to rent was Dante’s. He’s just asking because he cares about her feelings, so why doesn’t she tell him? She says, it’s just another place, like all of the places she’s lived. None of them last.

James runs through the living room saying, this house is huge, and there’s a backyard. He can make a treehouse. Wait. How many rooms are there? Felicia suggests they take a reconnaissance mission and count the rooms. Ready for take-off? Let’s go. They run out, and Maxie asks Georgie, what’s going on? Doesn’t she like the house? Georgie says, of course (🍷) she likes it. She remembers playing here when she was little. It seemed even bigger then. But this is Aunt Lulu’s house.

Josslyn says she doesn’t want to change Dex. Why would Carly say that? Carly says she’s been down this road, many times. She wouldn’t be Josslyn’s mother if she didn’t want to spare Josslyn from unnecessary pain. Josslyn says she’s not in pain, and Carly says, Josslyn doesn’t have to convince her; she just has to be honest with herself. Worrying about Dex, knowing he’s always in danger, is a heavy burden. And if she decides she doesn’t want to do this anymore and doesn’t want to be a part of that life, that’s okay. She just has to admit it to herself, and then she has to tell Dex. Josslyn tells Carly not to put her history with Sonny on her. She’s just disappointed, and that doesn’t mean she wants to break up with Dex. Actually, she thinks she’s still going to go to the concert because she has a bunch of friends going. Carly says, great, and Josslyn says, don’t wait up for her. Carly says, okay, and Josslyn leaves.

Brook says, Chase knows she loves him, right? and he says, yes… She says, part of the reason she does is, he’s like a knight. When someone’s in trouble, he can’t help but want to fix it. He says, she’s not just someone. They’re in a good place, and he can see she’s hurting at home. She says she appreciates his concern, but she doesn’t think living together is what they need right now.

Nina says she’s so surprised to see Wiley. She’s glad he came. Wiley sees Sonny, and says he wants to see grandpa. Nina looks at Willow, who nods, and she brings Wiley over to Sonny. Wiley and Sonny high-five, and Kristina tells Wiley that he’s looking sharp. Wiley suggests they go to grandpa’s and have a barbecue and play baseball, but Sonny says, where he lives is kind of high up. You can’t play baseball. Nina says, but if you stand on the terrace, you can see all of Port Charles. Wiley says, really? and tells Willow, let’s all go to grandpa’s and have picnic on the terrace. Kristina can come too, and Amelia and Nina, Grandpa Sonny… Michael comes out of the elevator, and Wiley continues, mommy, daddy, and Leo too? Sonny says, he can invite anybody he wants, and Willow goes over to Michael. He asks if it’s a party, and she says, yeah. Nina was here when she arrived, then Wiley saw Sonny and went to say hello. He says, if it’s okay with her, it’s okay with him. Wiley runs to Michael, who hugs him. Michael smiles at Sonny, then realizes he’s smiling at Sonny.

Maxie tells Georgie, Aunt Lulu is her best friend, and she thinks Aunt Lulu would want them to fill this place with laughter and memories, just like the memories they made with her when she lived here. Georgie asks if it won’t make Maxie miss Aunt Lulu more if they live here, and Maxie takes her hand, saying, she’ll miss Aunt Lulu no matter where they live. That’s not going to change, but being here does make Maxie feel a teeny bit closer to her. It’s almost like she gave us a little present, right? Maxie wouldn’t have brought them here if she didn’t feel good about it. Lulu asks if she can paint her room purple, and Maxie says she can. (I painted my room purple when I was around Georgie’s age. Is that a thing when you’re a tween?) Felicia comes back with James, and he says, guess what? There’s four bedrooms, one for each of them. And he’s already picked his. Georgie says, no fair. She’s older and she gets to pick first. James says he forgot. Age before beauty. He runs off, Georgie chasing him. Felicia says she’s so glad Maxie is doing this, and Maxie says, so is she.

Ned asks what Olivia wants him to do. He’s not making any guarantees. She says she understands it. She just wants to walk him through what happened that night. He says, the night of the supposed accident, and she says, see if it comes back to him. He asks how she can walk him through it if she wasn’t here. He heard it was just Tracy and Drew who saw him fall. She leads him to the other side of the room, and says, Drew told her everything that happened. They can just give it a try. He says, all right, whatever. Lay it on him. She says, he started out over here – she walks across  the room – and he saw Drew and Tracy arguing over here. So just walk to her… slowly, and see if anything feels familiar. Okay? Is he ready? He says, ready, and starts to walk.

Brook says she and Chase are in a really good place and she wants to keep it that way, but he says, moving in isn’t going to change that. If anything, it’ll bring them closer. She says, or closer to World War III. She drove him crazy when she was just temporarily couch surfing. She’s not the neatest person. She leaves her stuff everywhere. She thrives in creative clutter. He says, so they had a few discussions about clutter, and she says, more than a few. He was counting the days until she left him to his Zen world of order. He says, then when she left, his place felt empty. He missed her, and it hasn’t felt right since she left. Make it right. Move back in with him.

Local guy Steve goes into Kelly’s, and Carly asks if he wants the usual. He says he likes what she’s done with the place. It’s gotten a lot nicer since she took over. She says, it was a personal project, and he tells her, this might not be his place to say, but he thought she should know. Her ex-husband is in for a world of trouble.

Warden Garten gestures that she wants to talk to Cyrus, and he suggests the group take a break to reflect on their redemption. Cyrus says he hopes the warden hasn’t come to stop their study. He and his friends are just trying to let go of their past so they can look toward a righteous future. She says, don’t worry. She’s not here to break up his group. She just wanted to see it for herself. She’s impressed. He says, her support means a great deal, and she says, he genuinely seems like a changed man. He says, after his heart attack, he’s come to see life in a new light. His faith was rejuvenated. She says, while she might not share his exact faith, she’s relying on him for a common cause. He says, trust him. He wants nothing but the best. He believes everything is unfolding exactly as it’s meant to be. She says, let’s hope so, and he says he has only one purpose now; to bring about God’s will on earth. She says she’d hate for him to disappoint her after all his progress, and starts to leave, but he calls to her and she stops. He says, sometimes the most unexpected alliances can lead to the most extraordinary outcomes. Who knows what a difference he and his flock together can achieve? She smiles at him, and I have no clue what to make of this.

A wooden crate stamped with the Pikeman name and logo is unloaded on the docks. Dex says, they’re late, and Gabe (?) says, sometimes there are delays. This shipment’s too important for them not to pick up. They’ll be here. Dex says, the sooner the better. The boss wants this stuff out of here. He looks out to the water using binoculars.

Nina says hi to Michael, and tells him that she’ll get them a table. She calls Trish over, and tells Wiley that it was so good to see him. They go to their table, and Wiley asks Michael if they can have Grandpa Sonny and Nina over for baseball and a barbecue. They live up too high. They can have a party with everyone at their house. Michael says, if that’s what Wiley wants, he thinks they can make it happen.

Sonny tells Kristina that he can’t believe how fast Wiley is growing. Such a nice surprise. Was that her? She says, no. She wishes she could take credit for that, but she can’t tell a lie. That was pure synchronicity. (I would have said serendipity, but okay.) Sonny asks why she wanted to meet for dinner, and she asks if she has to have a reason. He says, she always does, and she guesses that’s true. She wanted him to be the first to know that the LGBTQIA+ foundation board is complete. The Corinthos-Davis House is a go. He says, that’s fantastic, and she says she’s so excited, and she couldn’t have done it without him.

Olivia says, this is the spot where Ned fell. Drew said, Ned came rushing toward him over here, and had something really important to tell him. Nina walks in, and says she doesn’t mean to interrupt whatever they’re doing, but she heard Olivia closed the pool, and she wanted to see if everything’s okay. Olivia says she should have warned Nina. They’re just doing a little exercise. They’re trying to see if they can stimulate Eddie’s memory. Nina asks if she’s sure that’s wise, and Olivia says she thinks it could help. Nina says she knows head trauma is unpredictable and would hate for Olivia to risk anything, and Olivia thanks her, but says she thinks they’ll be okay. Nina says she doesn’t mean anything by that. She hopes their experiment works. Good luck. She strides out of the room, taking a last look at them before she goes.

Valentin says, it’s really done a number on Charlotte, all this shuffling around, moving from place to place. It can’t have been easy, and if it hurt her, he’s sorry. It’s his fault. She says she always knew he’d be with her if he could. He’s in between places, living with Anna while she was at camp. With grandma away, she can’t stay at her place with Spencer and Esme. Dante and Sam are nice, but… He says, it’s not her home. That’s what he’s always wanted to give her, a stable place to call home. Listen to him. Things are changing as they speak. She says she knows. Things are always changing. That’s the only thing that stays the same.

Maxie tells Felicia that she’s going to be totally honest. It feels really strange to be here after all this time. She knows they had to get out of that apartment, and she was putting her finances together so she could get a place. Then Tracy’s horrible lawsuit happened. So she was happy when Sam suggested they rent this place. Can Felicia imagine trying to juggle a lawsuit and a mortgage at the same time? She would have been pulling her hair out. Felicia says, Tracy Quartermaine leaves a trail of destruction wherever she goes. She doesn’t like to wish ill on anyone, but she’ll be so glad when they wipe that smug smile off Tracy’s face and win the lawsuit. And they will win, because they have the truth on their side. Maxie says she’s not so sure about that. Tracy Quartermaine is ruthless. And she’ll do anything to win, including using her own granddaughter as a spy.

Brook asks Chase if he knows the expression, be careful what you wish for; you just might get it. He says he knows it. Whatever happened to the fearless BLQ who leaps before she looks? She says, maybe she became a little more cautious because she sprained her ankle a few too many times. She has something to lose now – him. And she doesn’t want him to regret her moving in. He says he’s not going to regret it, but she says, he might. And not just because she’s messy. She does stuff. She does stupid stuff that she regrets, like getting mixed up in Tracy’s dirty tricks.

Carly says she doesn’t want to cause Steve any problems, but what does he mean, trouble? He looks around and says, it’s probably nothing, but he passed what seemed to be a staging area down by Elm, the fisherman village. It looked like Feds. They’re definitely not local. And he heard the name Corinthos.

Cyrus says, today is the day our unspoken adversary is just one step behind, and those of us who have been in his employ, willingly or not, are now called upon to awaken and cast off his infernal darkness. Wake up! Your life is waiting for you. The warden tells the guard that she wishes more inmates were as inspired as Cyrus, and she leaves. Cyrus smiles.

Nina flashes back to Ned overhearing her talking to Martin, and that she’s the one who turned Drew and Carly in to the SEC, when he’s being accused of it. Willow calls to her, and Nina goes over to their table. She asks if everything is all right. Did they get everything they ordered? Willow says, they did, and thanks her. She says, Wiley had the idea they should have a barbecue with baseball at their house. Wiley tells Nina that he has a new mitt, and Willow asks if that sounds like something Nina would like to join them for. Nina looks at Michael, who nods, and she says she’d love to go.

Kristina tells Sonny that she doesn’t want to jinx it, but she thinks Wiley might be the key to Michael and Willow accepting Nina. Sonny says, they’ve been through a lot and he thinks things are finally starting to turn. She says she’s so happy for them both, and he says he thinks she’s leading the way with this new center. He’s proud of her.

Olivia says, anything? but Ned says he doesn’t know. He’s told so often about what happened that night, he feels like he might remember… but he doesn’t. This is just another pool. She says, okay. She knew it was a long shot. He says he’s sorry to disappoint her, but she says, no. He was amazing. She thanks him so much for trying. He says she’s been pretty good to him and he’s been really hard on her. He just wants to say he’s sorry. She tells him that he’s forgiven. He says, friends? and holds out his hand. She takes it, and says, friends. For a moment, I think he’s going to kiss her.

Brook says, it’s not just about her and Chase moving in together, although that’s definitely nerve-wracking. She doesn’t have the greatest track record, and this whole situation with Tracy is just another thing she messed up. He says he’s not asking for or expecting her to be perfect. He loves her just the way she is, flaws and all. He’s not trying to rescue her. Her moving in makes sense… to him anyway. How about her? When she strips away all the worries and regrets of the past, how does she feel about it? She starts to cough.

Carly brings out Steve’s to-go bag, and says, it’s on her. He says, she doesn’t have to do that, but she says she appreciates the information he gave her. He thanks her and leaves. I like Steve. He has a pleasant way about him. Carly is about to call Sonny, when Chase runs in and asks if he can have a glass of water for Brook.

Nina asks if it would be okay if she brought Wiley over and taught him how to make a Roy Rogers. And Wiley can tell her all about his new mitt. Michael asks Wile, what do you say? and Wiley asks Willow, can he please? Willow says, all right, but just a small one. They don’t want all that sugar. Nina says, they definitely don’t, and hustles him away. Michael asks if Willow is sure she’s okay with this. She’s been having a lot of Nina lately. Willow says, it’s fine. She’s not 100% comfortable with Nina, but Wiley is. Micheal agrees, and she says, they have to start somewhere. The important thing is bringing this whole family back together.

At the bar, Nina tells Wiley, now they add the sugar free cola, and Kristina tells Sonny that they can go over there if he wants, but he says, Nina’s got it covered. He wants to hear more about her Board. She says, they have Dr. Randolph, Michael, and he knows Diane… His phone rings, and he sees it’s Carly. Kristina says he can take it, but he tells her, this is more important, and shuts his phone off. Off all the times, eh?

Cyrus says, we may be tarred with a brush whose mark can never be removed, but that does not mean we can’t contribute to God’s work. Perhaps we may never sit at the foot of His majestic throne, but we can know that our lives have not been lived in vain. There is a way for each and every one of us to do our part of the Divine work, no matter how small that part may seem. For the Lord said, the lowest among us, the most damnedest among us is capable of redemption. And he who protects the innocent is the first among men.

Another crate is put on the dock, and Dex says, they’re here. He runs down the stairs, and tells another guy that he wants everything ready for a quick transfer. His phone rings, and he tells Gabe that he’s got to take this. He’ll be back when the ship docks. Gabe says he’s got it, and Dex slips around the corner. He says, Miss Spencer? and Carly says, Josslyn told her that he was doing a job for Sonny tonight. He’s like, uh… and she says, whatever it is, get out of there. There’s going to be a raid. Dex looks out, and she asks if he can hear her. Get out of there now.

As they check out the kitchen, Felicia says she has a good feeling about Maxie being here. Almost as if the house is welcoming her. It wants Maxie to make it into a home again. Maxie says she thinks Lulu would want that too. To a new beginning, like Felicia at the hospital. Felicia says, she’s right. That came as a surprise. She never saw herself working as a volunteer at General Hospital. Maxie says she’s sure Felicia will be a lot better at it than she was. Felicia says she loves Maxie, and she’s so proud of her. She starts to cry, and Maxie hugs her, saying, don’t cry. She loves Felicia too. James calls from the other room, and Maxie and Felicia dash in. James says his room has a secret hiding spot, and Georgie says she’s got the view and the window seat. James says, Bailey can have the little room, and Georgie asks when they’re moving in. Maxie says, not soon enough. Should they go home and start packing? James and Georgie nod, and they all file out, Maxie pausing and smiling before she turns out the light.

Valentin says he knows he let Charlotte down, but she says, let’s not talk about that. He says he’s made mistakes. He’s made far more mistakes than he cares to mention. It’s taken him way to long to get her the stable life she deserves. She says she doesn’t care how long it took. She just wishes they could be together all the time. He says, they will be. He just has to get these last details in place. And until then, know this. She’s the most important person in his world. It’ll always be the two of them. She goes over to him and hugs him. She says, just the two of us, papa.

Chase brings Brook the water, and she gulps some down. She says she literally talked herself hoarse trying to come up with all the reasons she shouldn’t live with him. He says, she knows she has to take care of her throat, and she says, she does want this. She wants nothing more than to live with him. He says he knew she would see it his way eventually. He holds out his hand and says, let’s go home. They stroll out of the courtyard hand in hand.

Dex says, the boat is docking, and Carly says, forget about that. There is no time. He has to get out of there. As he’s about to go back out, floodlights come on and the Feds are there. One says, put their hands where he can see them. They’re all under arrest. Get on the ground now. All of the guys on the dock comply, but Dex remains unseen. He peeks out, sees what’s going on, and runs up the stairs.

Cyrus says, today, the Almighty will focus His cleansing vengeance on those who collaborate with our great enemy. Proverbs 2:22: The wicked shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. He smiles.

Olivia says, the least she can do is buy Ned a drink after going through that poolside psycho drama with her. He says he’ll never turn down top-shelf, and she says, there’s a little Quartermaine left in him. (I was thinking more Larry Ashton.) They go to the bar, and Nina watches.

Willow tells Wiley, that was delicious, and he says, with two cherries. She and Michael smile at each other.

Since everyone is way too happy, when Kristina starts to tell Sonny about the upcoming first Board meeting, a bunch of guys come out of the elevator approach the table. One says, Mr. Corinthos, you’re under arrest for violations of the National Security Act, and shows his badge. Kristina says, what the hell? and gets up, but one of the Feds grabs her. Sonny tells him to get his hands off of his daughter, and the arresting Fed tells Sonny, do not escalate this. Sonny says he’s not escalating nothing, when Michael comes over and says, there’s no problem here, putting his hand on Kristina’s back. Kristina says, tell them; they’re arresting dad. Sonny tells Kristina that it’s okay, and they cuff him.

Wiley asks Willow what they’re doing to grandpa. Where are they taking him? Putting him on her lap, Willow tells him, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.

Sonny tells Kristina, this is going to be cleared up, and the Feds march him to the elevator. Kristina tells Michael, do something.

Cyrus says, the Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. Upon the wicked, He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone – Sonny is led into the elevator – and horrible tempests; this shall be the portion of their cup. The elevator door closes.

On Monday Tuesday, Carly says, Michael needs to tell her the truth right now; Austin asks what Nikolas is going to do; Dex tells Josslyn that somebody turned Sonny in; Cyrus says, Drew is no longer under Sonny’s protection; and Sonny tells someone that he’s not saying anything without his lawyer present.

🧼 Not Laboring…

No GH on Monday.

🍊 Follow the Bouncing Orange…

It was pretty funny when Gina said, the next time Shannon told the story, she’d be a murderer, since she made it worse each time.

📸 What’s Wrong With This Picture…?

Where the hell is Biscuit in the post about his/her birthday?

💎 Stuck In the Middle…

It still doesn’t make any sense. What does separated, but living under the same roof even mean? Are they seeing other people? If they are, it seems like it would be difficult to work out their issues. If they’re not, then aren’t they just still married, but not getting busy? And her answer to the fan question is a non-answer.

🍸 Latest On the Ruling Class…

He must be a keeper if he hasn’t run yet.

Not a real surprise.

⚓️ A Fun Time Was Had…

I’m not sure who looks worse, the guests or the crew.

🏖 Breakup In the House…

Yeah. Nobody saw this coming.

https://www.etonline.com/summer-house-stars-carl-radke-and-lindsay-hubbard-call-off-engagement-exclusive-210637

https://stylecaster.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/1631823/why-lindsday-hubbard-carl-radke-break-up/

⚰️ On the Undead Front…

How’d they manage this?

He’s a busy dude.

🐶 Just Like Us…

Celebrities celebrating their pups.

https://people.com/halle-berry-brooke-shields-justin-theroux-and-more-celebrate-national-dog-day-7853272

🪗 Quotes of the Week

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. – Albert Einstein (The first guy to figure out Survivor.)

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. – Dale Carnegie

The expert in anything was once a beginner. – Helen Hayes

Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work. – Stephen King

The only defense against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.John Locke

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. – John Lubbock

Believe you can and you are halfway there. – Theodore Roosevelt

I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which one has overcome while trying to succeed. – Booker T. Washington

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it. – George Bernard Shaw

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

🛸 The Future Is Now…

Jump into September on Tuesday for a lotta soap and a little tea. Until then, stay safe, stay always returning your shopping cart to the proper place, and stay being careful what you wish for; you just might get it.

August 24, 2023 – Curtis (Hopefully) Learns a Lesson, Second Shift, Peacocks On the Runway & Strange

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Sonny walks into Kelly’s and goes to the counter where there are some orders waiting. He tries to steal a French fry, and Carly says, hey! He can’t do that. He puts it back (yuk!) and says, she’s no fun. She says she’s tons of fun, but if he wants French fries, he’s got to order them. He says, no, he wants information, and she says, about what? He says, her visit to Pentenville.

In her office, Portia looks at her wedding photo, when there’s a knock at the door. Ava says she comes bearing gifts, and brings in some take-out iced coffees. She says she hopes she’s not interrupting, but Portia says, anyone with caffeine and sugar is definitely not interrupting. She thanks Ava, taking a coffee, and asks, what brings her by? Ava says she was at the gallery earlier and saw Trina, and Portia says, it must be a good distraction for her. She’s so grateful Trina has an outlet. Ava says she’s so glad to have Trina back. Trina gave her an update on Curtis. That’s the reason she came by. She knows Portia has an awful lot to deal with and wants to know if there’s anything she can do.

Curtis pulls himself along the parallel bars, *PT guy Brent encouraging him. Curtis makes it to the end of the bars, and Brent helps him into his wheelchair. Curtis says he feels like he climbed Mt. Everest, and Brent says, maybe not, but he made incredible progress. He should be proud of himself. Curtis says he’ll be proud of himself when he gets out of here on his feet and goes home. Jordan stands in the doorway, and even though he’s still breathing heavily, Curtis says, let’s go again, but Brent says he thinks they should take a break. Curtis says, no way, and grabs the closest bar. Brent helps him back up.

🤷🏽‍♀️*Troy was Curtis’s PT guy, but for whatever reason, now it’s Brent. Or maybe there’s two PT guys. I can’t find any info on Brent at all.

Spencer tells Trina that he’s still going to be living with Esme and Ace at his grandmother’s place when she gets back. He honestly hasn’t given it much thought. She says, what kind of answer is that? and he says he doesn’t mean to be flippant about it, but there’s been a lot going on. He’s still trying to keep his brother safe from Esme, while he’s trying to be supportive of Trina. She says she gets that, and he says he never realized how much work taking care of a baby is. It’s a lot, so it’s been difficult for him to think about practical big picture things like where he’s going to be living as Ace gets older. She says she’s sorry. She shouldn’t have brought it up. He tells her not to apologize, and says she has every right to ask the question. He just wishes he could give her a simple, straightforward answer. She says, that’s the problem. There is no simple or straightforward answer.

At the Deception office, Lucy says, this is a disaster, and asks Maxie to just tell her how this could have happened. Maxie says, Lucy needs to calm down. She doesn’t have all the facts yet. Lucy says, they have enough to know Deception is under direct attack. Someone wants to bring them down with malicious intent. She refuses to let that happen. Gladys walks in and says, they have to talk. Maxie and Lucy both say, not now, but Gladys says, yes, now. She needs to sell Sasha’s Deception stock and she can’t. What the hell is going on?

Dante kisses Sam, and she says she’s not complaining, but what was that for? He says, just because. He was wondering, would she be down with doing him a favor? She says, he doesn’t have to kiss her to get a favor, and she says she knows that. He wasn’t kissing her to get a favor. They’re two separate things. He kisses her again, and asks if she’d mind checking on Cody at the Quartermaine’s. She says, sure, but Cody is his friend. Why doesn’t Dante check on him? Dante says, because he thinks if he checks on Cody, Cody is going to act crazier than he already is.

Cody shares a carrot with one of the horses and says, sorry, he just can’t do it. He can’t leave Sasha sitting there if she’s in trouble. He wouldn’t leave the horse with dangerous people. Not that he’s comparing Sasha to a horse, or the horse to Sasha. Although when he thinks about it, they do have some similarities. They’re both gorgeous. They’re both kind, sweet, and make people happy. Mac asks if Cody is in there, and Cody asks, what the hell do you want?

Dante says, remember when he told Sam that Gladys slapped Cody with a restraining order and he went nuts, threatening her in front of him and Mac? She says, yeah, but she wouldn’t blame anyone for having a problem with Gladys, and she doesn’t think Cody would ever hurt a woman. He says, exactly. When Cody was acting like he was going to kill Gladys, it was an act. She asks if Dante called him on it, and he says, yeah. He took Cody into the interrogation room, and he’s chucking around papers and kicking over chairs. He finally got Cody to admit that he just couldn’t get into Ferncliff to see Sasha. He’s trying to act crazy so he can get himself committed.

Brook comes into the office and asks, what’s the emergency? Maxie says, they need to prep a statement for social media pronto, and Gladys says, it can wait. She’s the one with the emergency. Maxie tells her, zip it, but Gladys says, not until they tell her what’s going on with Sasha’s stock. Why can’t she sell it? Lucy says, because Sasha is a co-owner of Deception. None of them can sell their stock because of the lawsuit. Brook asks what she’s talking about, and Maxie says, intellectual property theft. Someone’s claiming they stole the design for The Deceptor.

Mac says he was just seeing how Cody is doing, and Cody asks how Mac thinks he’s doing. He’s got two cops on his tail. Dante won’t stop texting him, and Mac’s here. They both keep waiting for him to commit a crime. Maybe he already did. Maybe he hit Gelhorn Jewelers and hid another bracelet around here. Go ahead and search. Or better yet, why doesn’t Mac go ahead and take him in. He holds out his wrists and says, arrest me, officer, making a weird face.

Portia says, it’s sweet of Ava to offer, and there is something Ava can do for her. Ava says, name it, and Portia says, Ava can tell her how Trina is really doing. Portia knows they have a special connection and she doesn’t want to pry, but she’d absolutely love Ava’s opinion. How’s Trina handling everything? Ava says she thinks under the circumstances, Trina’s doing remarkably well. But she has Spencer, and Ava knows he’s very supportive. He’s clearly helping her through this. Portia says, is he really? and Ava says, it’s hard to believe, is it? Portia says she knows Trina has feelings for Spencer, but it’s so much more complicated now with Esme and Ace coming as a package deal. And she’s worried it’s going to be too much for Trina to handle. Ava says, Spencer’s good for Trina; he makes her so happy. She lit up when he came into the gallery. Portia says, but where Spencer goes, trouble follows, and it’s the same with the whole family. Ava says, Portia doesn’t have to tell her about the Cassadine family, and they laugh. She thinks Portia should give Spencer a chance, for Trina’s sake.

Spencer tells Trina, one thing he wants to make certain of is that his little brother feels secure. He doesn’t want Ace to feel abandoned the way he did by his father. She says, but he’s not Ace’s father, and Spencer says he understands that. But while his father is God knows where, it’s kind of up to him to fill that void. He’s going to make sure his brother feels safe; he’s going to make sure his brother feels secure; and he’s going to make sure his brother feels loved, because he never had those things. He was the kid stuck all alone in a big house by himself. Sure, he had staff there to take care of him, but that’s no way to raise a child. His father was never there. Other kids had parents who tucked them into bed every night. He had Chandler. Trina asks, who’s that? and he says, Chandler was his chauffeur. Can she imagine that? He was eight years old, and his best friend in the world was the guy who was driving him around town in a limousine. They would pull up outside his school, and he would see the other kids getting out of minivans and their mothers kissing them on the cheek, and he wished with every fiber of his being that was him. All he ever really wanted was to be part of a real family. Trina says, that’s so sad, and he says, then his father pretended to be dead for three years. Who does that to their kid? His father abandoned him, and now he abandon’s Spencer’s little brother. She says she’s really sorry, and he says he just wishes he knew where his father was. A big part of him wants to believe he was forced out of Port Charles. Maybe that makes it easier to accept. She says, maybe he was. Spencer knows what Victor was capable of. Maybe he did something to Spencer’s dad. Spencer says, no. His father left them, but she says, he doesn’t know that. Why does Spencer always assume the worst of him? Spencer says, because it’s all his father has ever shown him.

Carly asks why Sonny wants to know about Pentenville, and he says, she was there to visit Drew. She says, how does he… Dex told him. He says, yep, and she says, okay. What does he want to know? He says, if she saw Gatlin-Holt, and if he was there with anyone.

Curtis introduces Jordan and Brent, and Brent asks if Jordan is Curtis’s sister. Curtis says, she’s his ex-wife, and Jordan says, it’s a pleasure to meet him. He says, same here, and they shake hands. She says she didn’t mean to interrupt, but Brent says he’s glad she did. He’s been trying to get this guy here to take a break. Jordan says, Brent must be good at his job. Curtis is making great progress. Brent says, Curtis makes him look good. It’s all about how hard their patients are willing to work. Curtis is incredibly motivated. Curtis does some bicep curls, and Brent says, Curtis may not be ready for a break, but he is. It’s nice to meet her. He leaves, and Jordan says, Curtis has really come along way with his physical therapy. He says, she came all the way down here to check on his progress? and she says, actually, no. She has some news. Someone burned down Anna’s house.

Portia says, if Spencer wasn’t making Trina happy, she’d step in, but she hates to admit Ava is right. For some reason, Trina is able to look past all the baggage that comes with Spencer. So the only thing she can really do is be there if Trina needs her. Ava says, Portia has enough to deal with. When is Curtis coming home? Portia says, it’s not really a when; it’s more of an if. At this point, she just doesn’t really know where they stand. Ava says she’s so sorry. She hopes she didn’t overstep. Portia says, no. Of course (🍷) she wants Curtis to come home as soon as he possibly can. She’s just not sure what Curtis really wants. Ava says, so she doesn’t know how much longer he’ll be in rehab? and Portia says, no. He’s dedicated to his physical therapy, but it’s about more than just his body healing. The last couple of times she visited him, it’s been tense, and he’s completely shut her out. She just feels like she’s walking on eggshells around him. If she compliments his progress, he sees that as pity. If she talks about anything else, it’s as if she’s avoiding the topic. Ava says she’s sorry. It must be very difficult. Portia says, it is. So she just tries to focus on the practical things in life, like getting the house ready. She’s just praying that Curtis comes home.

Trina says she doesn’t buy it, and Spencer says, excuse me? Trina says, about his dad. Spencer loves him. He knows there’s something good in there somewhere. She remembers hearing a few happy stories, like when he was scared to get on a horse for the first time. His dad put Spencer on his lap and said, there’s nothing to be scared of. And he stayed with Spencer on the horse for hours until the felt comfortable. He asks how she does that? Finds a way to talk him off of the ledge? She says, or a tree, and he says, she’s right. He does love his father, and what if something bad did happen to him?

Carly tells Sonny that she did see Gatlin-Holt. She doesn’t know who he was visiting. Why should Sonny care? Sonny says he doesn’t trust that guy and neither should she. He’s nothing but trouble. She says, that makes sense, and he asks what she means. She says, he’s seeing Ava. She’s a magnet for trouble.

Dante says he doesn’t know if he played it all entirely right with Cody, and Sam asks what he means. He says he shouldn’t have let Cody know that he knew what Cody was doing. He just denied it and said Dante was crazy, and either lock him up or cut him loose. She says, so he let Cody go, and he says he thinks putting Cody in prison was a worse idea. She asks what Mac’s take was on it, and he says, surprisingly, Mac said he knew where Cody was coming from. He guesses Mac had a similar situation with Cody’s mother Dominique, when she was in a mental facility and he broke in to get her out. Sam laughs and says, that still doesn’t make it a good plan. He says, Cody rarely has good plans. His concern is, this guy’s going to get himself in there, and he’s not going to be able to get out.

Cody says, Mac’s had it in for him from the beginning, so why don’t they just get it over with, and drag him down to the station. Mac says he’s concerned Cody thinks that way. It’s not true. He doesn’t think the worst of him. He knows Cody has a good heart. It just really threw him when he heard she was Dominique’s son. Cody says, why? He never really knew her. Mac says he wishes Cody had. She was a very special person. She was kind and warm and gentle. He always thought she was too trusting. Cody says, she sounds like Sasha, and Mac says, they have more in common than Cody realizes. Dominique was also sent to a mental hospital.

Sonny says he doesn’t care who Ava’s seeing, as long as it doesn’t affect Avery. He just wants to know if Carly picked up on anything when she saw Gatlin-Holt. She says she just saw him walk through the visiting area. He didn’t even stop to visit anyone. She just assumed he was taking care of a patient in the prison. He asks why she’d say that, and she says, because he had his doctor bag with him. She just assumed he was going to the infirmary.

Ava says she wishes she could offer Portia some words of wisdom, but unfortunately, she doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to healthy relationships. Portia says, and she’s not one to throw stones. To say she and Curtis were going through a rough patch before the shooting would be an understatement. He was just so hurt when she didn’t tell him that he might be Trina’s father. She doesn’t blame him. It almost destroyed their relationship. They were actually making baby steps toward healing when he was shot. But even if they hadn’t faced all those hurdles, even if they’d been blissfully happy since the wedding, she still thinks Curtis would have reacted the same way in this situation. Ava says, so Portia doesn’t think his hostility is about what happened before his injury? and Portia says, no. She thinks this is about Curtis and how vulnerable he feels. Ava knows Curtis, and knows he’s very proud. It’s as if he doesn’t want her to see him that way. He doesn’t want her to see him in a wheelchair. Ava says she imagines Curtis doesn’t want to be seen as weak or helpless, and Portia says, but he isn’t helpless. Even if he has to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, that’s not going to make her love him any less. And she’s told him that. She’s made it clear to him that she’s in this with him. She’s in it for the long haul, no matter what life throws at them. Ava says, but he’s still keeping his distance? and Portia says, yes, and it makes him pull away from her even more.

Curtis says, Jordan told him, someone burned down Anna’s house, so she must have proof it’s arson, and Jordan says, this is what they know so far. Anna went for a late-night run sometime after 10:30. She thinks she was gone about 45 minutes. When she got home and saw the flames, she called the fire department, but by the time they arrived, the whole place was engulfed. He says, so the arsonist was watching and waiting for her to leave, and at that late hour, they could have hid under the cover of darkness. No one would have even noticed. She says, exactly, and clearly they just wanted to send a message. Unlike the shooting at the MetroCourt pool, they didn’t want to kill Anna. Curtis says, they’d have to prove it’s intent to kill. The bullet that hit him was a ricochet. She asks, what’s his theory? and he says, maybe the shooter wasn’t intending to hit their target. Like the fire, maybe they were just trying to send a message. She says, and he was collateral damage.

Trina says, they don’t know something bad happened to Spencer’s father. They just have to hope his grandmother and Doc come back with answers. Spencer says, right. He walks over to one of the paintings and says, let’s get to work. He’ll help her hang these paintings for the art show. She asks if he knows how much there is to do before they get to that stage. She has to check in every painting, log in all the artist’s information, and make the tombstones. He says, the tombstones, and she says, that’s the little label that goes next to the artwork describing the piece. (I learned a new thing today! I’m surprised he didn’t know that though.) She tells him that he’s got a lot to learn. So let’s get busy. His phone dings, and he says, she wants to know if he’s coming home for dinner. Trina says, she. Esme.

Brook says she doesn’t understand, and Maxie says, they’ve been served. It’s a lawsuit filed for huge damages, and if that wasn’t bad enough, their Deception stocks are frozen. Gladys says, frozen? and Lucy says, frozen. Let it go. Maxie says, the lawsuit claims the design for The Deceptor was stolen, and Lucy says, which it was not. It was 100% her idea – with a little inspiration from Marty of course (🍷) – but it was all hers. Brook asks, who filed the lawsuit? but Maxie says, they don’t know. The plaintiff is just listed as an LLC. Gladys says she doesn’t even know what those letters mean, and Maxie says, it means they don’t know who’s suing them. Gladys asks how they’re going to get the ban on selling stock lifted, and Maxie says, Gladys doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on here. They can’t sell their stocks. It’s a court order. Gladys says, then unorder it. They have to do something. She needs the damn money.

Mac says he was in love with Dominique, and he knows she would have adored Cody. The crazy thing is, he understands Cody’s impulse to want to rescue Sasha. He tried to do the same thing with Dominique, so he gets where Cody is coming from. Cody says, then why doesn’t Mac just back off and leave him alone? and Mac says, because he can’t. For a short time, he thought Cody was his son. It was a feeling he’s never had before… until it wasn’t. He has to look out for Cody. It’s what Dominique would have wanted. He’s here to help Cody, so please let him. In some really bad timing, Sam runs in.

Ava says she’s so sorry, and Portia says she just doesn’t know what else she can do. She’s trying to convince Curtis that her love for him has nothing to do with whether he can walk or not. Of course (🍷) she’s praying he gets out of that wheelchair, but if he doesn’t, it doesn’t change her love for him. Ava says, it may seem like Curtis is trying to keep his distance from her, but that’s probably just a defense mechanism. He knows he needs Portia’s support; he just doesn’t want the guilt that comes along with it. Portia asks what he has to feel guilty about. She’s the one who hurt him. Ava says she doesn’t want to play armchair psychologist here, but maybe he thinks Portia would be giving up her life to take care of him. Portia says, but she wouldn’t be giving anything up. It would be challenging to adjust to a new reality, but she just feels like that’s what marriage is about; in sickness or in health. Ava says, she’s not the one Portia needs to convince. Portia needs to go to Curtis and tell him this. Tell him how she feels. Portia says she’s tried. He’s not listening to her. Ava says, then make him listen. Tell him again. And again and again, until he hears her. Because Curtis may not be able to admit it right now, but he needs her. Ava picks up her bag and leaves, giving Portia a nod as she goes out the door.

On the phone, Dante asks if there are any updates on the fire at Anna Devane’s house… Great. Can they send him that file?… There’s a knock at the door, and he says, great. Thanks. He opens the door, and Valentin comes in. Dante says, Charlotte should be down any second, and Valentin thanks Dante for letting Charlotte stay here while Laura is out of town. Dante says, of course (🍷). She’s family, right? Rocco’s really enjoyed hanging out with her again. Valentin says, good. He figured it would be safer for her to be here than with him, and given what happened, he guesses he was right. Dante says he’s sorry about Anna’s house burning down. Where is he going to live now?

Cody says, great. Another one here to hassle him. Did Dante send Sam to do his dirty work? To hell with the both of them. He goes in the back, and Sam says, that went well. Mac says he’s worried about Cody. He’s just so combative; he won’t listen to reason. Sam says she knows. Dante told her about Cody’s meltdown at the PCPD. Mac says, he totally lost control. He was paranoid and hostile. He’s doing his best to calm Cody down, but he just won’t listen to reason. Hopefully, being at the Quartermaines will help him. The horses will be a good distraction. She says she hopes so, and he says he has to head out, but keep him in the loop. If Cody needs anything, let him know. Sam says, of course (🍷), and Mac leaves. Cody comes out and says, she got rid of the cop. Great. Now it’s her turn… She says, stop. Drop the act. She’s not going anywhere until he tells her what the hell is going on.

Sonny thanks Carly for the information and asks, how was her visit with Drew? She pours them coffee and says, he’s hanging in there. He’s much better now that he’s out of solitary confinement. She thanks him, and he asks why Drew was there in the first place. She sighs and says, he was defending an inmate, and Sonny says, sounds like Drew. She says, except it was Cyrus Renault, and he asks why Drew would want to protect that guy. She says she doesn’t know. She doesn’t understand it herself, but that’s why they’ve got to get him out of there. She’s afraid the other inmates are going to want to retaliate. He says, she doesn’t have to worry about Book, and she says, who’s Book? He says, Book’s a punk and he’s not going to bother Drew again. She says, that’s why Dex was there.

Trina says, so Esme wants Spencer to come home for dinner, and he says he’d much rather stay here with her. She says she gets it. There’s a ton of things she has to do for this exhibit, so go home and have dinner with Ace. He says, Ace’s dinner consists of a bottle. It’s not really much of a… Okay. He thanks her for understanding and says, she’s probably right. Portia runs in with a take-out bag, and says, surprise!

Sam says, Mac thinks that Cody is actually having a nervous breakdown, and Cody says, maybe he is, but she says, no. The timing is way too convenient. He can drop the act. Tell her the real story. He says, Sam… but she says, first he tried to go and see Sasha, and that failed. Then suddenly out of the blue, he wants to put himself in a straitjacket. He can’t con a con. She knows a play when she sees one. He says, then help him pull it off.

Brook asks why Gladys needs to sell Sasha’s stock, and Gladys says, it’s just that her medical bills are piling up. Brook says, doesn’t she have insurance? and Gladys says, of course (🍷), but the deductible is huge. The only way she can pay for it is to sell her stock. Maxie says, it’s not going to happen, and Gladys asks if she can’t get the lawsuit thrown out. Lucy says, obviously their lawyer is working on that, and Gladys just needs to calm down. Gladys says, they need to work faster because she can’t wait. Maxie says, she’s going to have to. Their hands are tied. It’s up to the court now. The plaintiff submitted their design process, along with them submitting theirs. Lucy says, how in the world did they get their hands on Deception’s designs? Which actually shouldn’t matter, should it? They weren’t stolen, it was all right up here; she points to her head. But now, their best-selling product is on ice, their stocks are tanking, and this is an absolute nightmare which gummies probably won’t fix. She walks out.

Valentin tells Dante that they’re still figuring things out, but in the meantime, as far as Charlotte is concerned, she’s happy here. He doesn’t see any reason to uproot her, if that’s okay with Dante. Dante says, it’s fine. They love having her. How’s Anna doing? Valentin says, it’s an emotional time. It wasn’t just her home. She lost all her possessions, the things that meant something to her, and of course (🍷) that happened after her past was exposed. Dante says, she’s been through a lot. It’s weird timing. The fire is kind of suspect when you think about it. Whoever did it must have been surveilling the house. Anna wasn’t there. Valentin wasn’t there. He heard Valentin was at ELQ that night? Valentin says he had a minor emergency that he had to take care of, and Dante says he’s sorry. What kind of emergency would be at ELQ at that time of night? Charlotte runs down the stairs and hugs Valentin. He says, mon petite, and she says she had a great day at camp. He says he can’t wait to hear all about it.

Curtis does deltoid exercises, and Brent says he hopes Curtis doesn’t mind if he points out his ex-wife is one hell of an attractive lady. Curtis asks why he’d be offended; Jordan’s a beautiful woman. Brent asks if she’s a beautiful woman who happens to be single, but Curtis says he doesn’t keep tabs on his ex-wife. Brent says he hopes she comes to visit again, and Curtis says, for Brent or for him? Brent laughs and says he’s just looking out for his patients. It makes him happy when they have visitors. And should the opportunity present itself again, perhaps he can get to know Jordan a little better. Curtis says, she’s a great lady, very complicated, and Brent says he can deal with complicated. His phone dings, and he says he needs to check in with his supervisor. A woman brings in another patient, a man who is missing both legs, has prosthetics, and walks with canes. Brent says he’ll get him started as soon as he gets back, and the man says, no rush. Brent leaves, and the man gets on the parallel bars. He walks between them, as Curtis watches, and he says, what? Is his form lacking? Curtis says, not at all. He was just wondering if he’ll ever get that far.

Spencer says he was just helping Trina get set up for her art show, and Portia says she sees. How’s Ace? Spencer says, he’s fine, and Portia says, good. Those parenting classes with Esme must really be helping. He says, they’re helping a lot, and tells Trina that he’ll let her get back to work. Enjoy her dinner. He leaves, and Portia says, sorry. She didn’t mean to intrude. She just wanted to bring Trina dinner to celebrate her first week back at the gallery. Trina says, that’s okay. She’s glad Portia’s here. She probably needed the distraction with everything she and Curtis are going through.

Cody tells Sam, guilty as charged. But he has to get into Ferncliff. It’s the only way he can help Sasha. She says, that means having himself committed, and he says, exactly. She says, he must be really crazy if he thinks that plan will work. Has he never seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Once you get in, it’s really hard to get out. He says, then help him, and she says, help him fake crazy? He says, no. Help him get committed. She laughs and says, yeah. No way.

Charlotte says she told Valentin about the CIT program, right? I think of Meatballs, and he says, the Counselor-In-Training program, yeah. She says, a bunch of her friends are doing it too, and he says, that’s great. She must be excited to see them after so much time away. She says, you know what’s weird? In some ways, her friends are so different, but in others, they’re exactly the same. He asks if she still enjoys being with them, and she says she does, but it’s hard at the end of the day when they’re being picked up by their moms. He says, she misses her mom, and she says, Dante took her to see her mom last week. She keeps hoping her mom’s going to wake up, but she never changes. He tells her, go grab her backpack. He’s hungry. They’re going to eat by the pool at the MetroCourt. She goes upstairs, and Valentin tells Dante that he really appreciates everything he’s doing for Charlotte. But if he’s going to take her to see Lulu, let him know, because it’s very upsetting to her. Dante says, it is upsetting to her, but Lulu’s her mother, and Charlotte asked him to take her. He’s going to do that every time without asking Valentin’s permission. Charlotte comes back and says she’s ready for a cheeseburger. Valentin says, let’s go, and Dante tells them to have a good time.

The other patient continues his walking, and Curtis says, his determination is impressive. He’s sitting there wondering how long it will take him to get to the man’s level. Then he thinks he’ll probably never get there. The man says, if Curtis starts comparing himself to other disabled people in terms of what he can and can’t do, he’ll drive himself crazy. Everyone’s situation is different. You have to learn which limits you can push past, and which ones you have to accept. Curtis says, that’s easier said than done. He’s still trying to wrap his brain around… He looks down at his legs and says, you know. The man says, did he have a different life than he expected? Sure. But it’s still his life, so despite the limitations, he’s going to live it to the best of his ability, and Curtis should too.

Portia tells Trina, everybody is really pulling together for Curtis. Stella is going to stay in town, and poor N’neka, she’s overwhelmed at The Savoy, so Marshall is going to help out and look for a manager to help out until Curtis gets on his… until Curtis is feeling better. Trina asks if Portia visited him today, and Portia says she tried. Trina says, visiting hours were over? Portia says, no. She drove there, but she didn’t make it out of the parking lot. She just sat there in the car for twenty minutes looking at the building. But she couldn’t do it; she couldn’t go in. She wanted to see him so badly, but every time she visits, he pushes her away, and she just couldn’t go through that again. Trina says, maybe right now, Curtis just needs space. Just let him go through his physical therapy, and he’ll come around. Portia says she’s not so sure about that, and she feels so utterly selfish. Curtis is in a wheelchair, and she’s upset because he’s pushing her away? She wants to be there for him so bad, but he doesn’t want her. She can barely hold back the tears, and says she doesn’t know what to do, and Trina says, there are no easy answers, and they hug.

Carly asks, how is Dex? and Sonny wonders why she would ask that. She says, because he’s dating her daughter, and she doesn’t want Josslyn dragged into some dangerous situation. He says, Dex is smart. Dex knows how important Josslyn is to him. He cares about her; he’s not going to let anything happen to her. Carly says, let’s hope so, and Sonny says he’s got to run. If she finds out anything else as far as Austin visiting Pentenville, let him know because Austin gets under his skin and he’s going to find out why.

Tomorrow, Brook says she could kill someone with her bare hands; Sam asks if Cody is willing to take that risk; and Tracy says she loves to win.

🩺 In Case You Were Wondering…

Apparently, Gregory’s doctor gets around. I never did see Night Shift, but I don’t think it was on very long.

🦚 Project Men…

Just five designers were left, and tonight’s challenge was flamboyant menswear, bringing back peacocking. Colman Domingo (I love him!) was the guest judge, and Elaine said, nobody peacocks better. Since the menswear challenge caused Brittany to spiral and be shown the door in her season, she was on edge, but Colman said her look was reminiscent of Victorian and 70s disco and she ended up in the top three. So did Bishme, who had the look I liked best. He explained that his character was going to a wild, wild west movie premiere, which probably described it best. Nina called Rami’s design (which was also in the top three) a draping delight. It was a different take on the tux, silky with one sleeve, a combination of masculine and feminine vibes, and something Nina had never seen before, which was saying a lot. It wasn’t my favorite, but I’m not a fan of the one-sleeve thing. In the bottom two were Prajje, who created a busy, artsy suit… or something; and Laurence, who had a Gladiator meets Outlander look. She’d had some kind of sheer shirt involved, but decided to ditch it, and I’ll bet she second guessed herself a million times after scoring low. Brandon said, Prajje’s design felt like a nutcracker waiting to get into a gay bar, and Laurence’s design looked like a confused businessman who moonlights at an S&M bar. Hey, I have no idea what’s in his mind either, but that’s what he said. I sense a theme there, but it’s not quite coherent. Prajje was out, and Rami was the big winner, although Brittany probably got the most kudos from Colman, who said he’d fight other actors to wear her design on the red carpet. Prajje took it like the champ he is, and said he felt like he’d already won.

Next time, an avant-garde design taking inspiration from architecture.

For the full scoop, go here. They have hands down the best recap.

🌃 Those Summer Nights…

Come on down tomorrow for soap, tea, words to contemplate, and music to soothe your soul. Until then, stay safe, stay always leaving them wanting more, and stay learning which limits you can push past, and which ones you have to accept. Everyone’s situation is different.

June 23, 2023 – Judge Kim Overrides Drew’s Sentence, Sketchy, Memorable, VanderFilming, Ranks On Deck, Next Fear, Back In, Other Gigs, Shark Boss, Super Rescue, Twice Three Quotes & Out

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Judge Kim sentences Drew to three years, and Carly jumps up, saying, no! You can’t do that.

Ned says, Deanna seems like a really nice person. Trust him. He doesn’t belong here. He feels fantastic. Ask the shrink. Deanna says she just needs to check his vitals, and she’ll be out of his hair, calling him Mr. Quartermaine. He says, Eddie. It’s Eddie Maine.

Doc goes over to the waiting area, and Olivia asks if she’s getting her husband back. Brook asks if her dad is going to be okay, and Doc says, those are all valid questions. He’s afraid he doesn’t know how to say this… Brook says, no. Her father really believes he’s Eddie Maine? Doc says, he doesn’t just believe it. He is Eddie Maine.

Tracy says, so Brook’s solution to rid her son of his delusions is to lean into them? and Alexis tells her, she’s simply saying, if Tracy would let Ned try to work this out on his own, in his own time without constant opposition from her – Gregory comes down the hall and ducks behind the corner, listening – it might help him get better a little faster. Tracy asks when Alexis got her therapist certification. Did they hand it out with her last sobriety chip? Alexis says, you’re impossible, and Tracy says, you’re an idiot. Alexis says, charming, and Tracy says, and by the way, you’d think Alexis’s twelve steps would teach her not to impose her neuroses on Tracy’s son. Gregory comes out, and tells Tracy, he was too much of a gentleman to say it last time, but back the hell off.

Lucy tells Sasha that she wants to apologize for bringing up all that Cody stuff earlier. She was bad, and promises to never do it again. Sasha thanks her, and Lucy says, except it would be great if… Sasha says, Lucy… and Lucy says, Cody could be just snapped up like that by somebody else. Sasha says, don’t be greedy; she has a guy. Lucy says she does, and she wouldn’t trade Marty for anything. At the beginning, it’s kind of delicious, when you’re wondering, not knowing… Sasha says she always found it torturous, but Lucy says, not her. Even as a little girl, she’d get a daisy and do that old petal pluck thing. He loves me, he loves me not… Martin shows up with a bouquet of daisies, and says, he definitely loves you, kissing her.

At The Savoy, Sonny says, nothing’s too good for the woman he’s going to marry, and he and Nina clink champagne glasses. She says, he’s making her blush; no easy task. He tells her, get used to it, when Dex walks in with Josslyn. They come over to Sonny’s table, and Dex says, it looks like they had the same idea. Josslyn asks if Sonny knows how it’s going for Drew and her mom.

Judge Kim says, one more outburst and he’ll have Carly removed, and Carly says she’s sorry, but there must be some kind of mistake. There was a deal on the table. They agreed six months in Spring Ridge, not three years. The judge says, there was a deal in place, however, sentencing is up to the court; not just duration, but location. Due to the gravity of the charges, the court has decided Andrew Cain will serve out those three years in Pentenville Penitentiary.

Tracy says, Gregory has a habit of sticking his nose in other people’s conversations, and Alexis thanks him, but says she doesn’t need defending from Tracy. She’s had years of practice. She sees Gregory has had some experience with her too. Gregory says, they just met the other day, when she was berating his son Chase, and Tracy asks if he means when she was reminding Chase of everything her granddaughter did to get him reinstated as a cop. And they’re back together, so you’re welcome. Feel free to apologize any time. He says he was hoping to clear the air when he saw her again, but after seeing how she treated his friend here, he thinks she’s entitled to something else from him. Tracy asks what that would be, and he says, a lesson in etiquette. He’d be happy to teach her free of charge. Alexis smiles.

Brook says, it’s only temporary, right? Her dad will be her dad again. Olivia says, of course (🍷) he will. He’ll be back to being impossible and lovable as ever… Right? Doc says he wishes he could tell them everything will be back to normal in no time, but he can’t. As she knows, Dr. Ashford ordered a battery of neurological tests, and the team has gone over the results. They’re dealing with a traumatic brain injury. But the neurological indicators and the behavior of the patient himself would indicate something else, something more than a simple case of memory loss. Olivia asks him to break it down, and Doc says, for everything they’ve learned about the human brain, it’s still a mystery. For some reason, Ned’s brain has superimposed over the thoughts and feelings of Ned Quartermaine, with the thoughts and feelings of…

Ned tells Deanna, Eddie Maine. M-A-I-N-E, like the state. He’s telling her, there’s nothing wrong with him – Deanna reaches into her pocket for a syringe – that some fresh air and a room of his own won’t cure. So please, get him out of here. She says, of course (🍷) she will, and injects him. He asks what she gave him, and immediately conks out.

Lucy asks how Martin knew she was thinking about daisies, and he says, it’s a lucky coincidence. He’s using her favorite flower to apologize for being so incredibly busy lately. After today, he promises his clients are going to be breathing a whole lot easier, and he can spend time on them. She says, he is a winner. He’s definitely the best lawyer in town. He says, it’s not his client’s case, but they definitely have a stake in the outcome, and Sasha asks who they are; anyone she knows? Martin flashes back to telling Nina that he’ll do everything in his power to make sure no one knows it was her who tipped off the SEC about Drew and Carly, and tells Sasha that he’s sorry. Attorney/client privilege, and he’s already said too much. What are they up to? Lucy says, Deception and more Deception, but specifically, The Deceptor. Sasha says, sales are through the roof. It seems their clients really appreciate a product that does what it promises to do. Lucy agrees, and says, she promises The Deceptor is going to change the lives of women, men, and human beings everywhere, especially the three humans sitting at this table. And to think she owes it all to him.

Sonny says he hasn’t heard anything from the courthouse, and Josslyn says she’s just glad her mom isn’t facing prison time, thanks to Drew. Nina says, it was very noble of Drew, and Josslyn says, some people know how to put aside their needs for the sake of others. Sonny asks if he can talk to Josslyn a second, and she says, sure. They step away, and Dex sits down. Nina says, they really haven’t had a chance to get to know each other. Now that she and Sonny are… Why don’t they start at the beginning. Please call her Nina. Despite what he might have heard about her, they want the same thing.

Carly asks why the judge would sentence Drew to Pentenville. He hasn’t committed a violent crime; he hasn’t committed a crime at all. This is one big mistake. Judge Kim tells Carly, sit down before I knock you down he holds her in contempt, and Drew asks her to sit. She does, and Zeke says, Miss Spencer may be out of order, but the point she made is valid. His client has admitted to insider trading. He’s taken responsibility for his actions, and the US Attorney has agreed to sentence him to a minimum-security facility; standard practice for a non-violent crime. Judge Kim says, standard practice is subject to circumstance and interpretation by the presiding judge. Zeke says, Mr. Cain is not a common criminal. He’s a respected member of the community. He’s a decorated Navy SEAL. Recently, he even worked with the government to save hostages taken by Victor Cassadine. Are all these things just going to be ignored and forgotten? The judge says, on the contrary. It’s actually because of all those things that he can’t look the other way. There aren’t two sets of laws in this community. One for the privileged – yes, that includes heroes – and one for the rest. No one is above the law. That’s why he’s having Mr. Cain taken from this courthouse and remanded to Pentenville immediately.

Zeke asks the judge to give Mr. Cain time to get his affairs in order. Mr. Cain has a family, including a young daughter, in addition to all the people at his business, Aurora Media, who depend on him. He’s not a flight risk. The SEC lawyer says, the government has no objection to counsel’s request, and Zeke says he agrees with the judge; no one is above the law. The days of privilege superseding accountability are rightly numbered. With that being said, he also believes justice without mercy is hollow and meaningless. Wouldn’t Judge Kim agree?

Martin says, Lucy is giving him way too much credit. The Deceptor is 100% her baby. The credit is 100% hers. Sasha says, Lucy just walked into the office that morning and started spinning this new idea. Could Martin have had something to do with it? Martin says he didn’t, but Lucy says, he did. Stop it. She loves the fact they did this together. Sasha says she wants details, and Lucy says, as she probably knows, every good story begins in bed. Isn’t that right, my magic man?

Tracy says, if anyone needs an etiquette class, it’s Gregory. Maybe he could get his other son to give him lessons, because Finn knows how to… Alexis says, all right. That’s enough. Take a breath. Everyone to their neutral corner. Tracy says she’ll leave Alexis to her friend, because she has real issues to deal with; her son and her family. Real issues that need real compassion. Something Gregory wouldn’t understand. Gregory says he understands a lot more than Tracy thinks. Do them both a favor and stay away from Chase. Tracy says, if he’s as smart as his son – and she means Finn, not the other one – he will stay the hell away from her. She walks off, and Gregory asks Alexis, friend of hers?

Brook says, her father’s brain wants him to be Eddie Maine? and Chase says he doesn’t understand. Ned has everything a man could want; a lobing family, a successful job, standing in the community. Why would he want to give up all that just to relive his glory days? Olivia says, this is all her fault, and Tracy joins them. Olivia says, if she’d just believed Ned about turning in Carly and Drew to the SEC. If she’d only believed him sooner… Tracy says, please. Leave it to Olivia to make this all about herself. Brook tells Olivia not to listen to her. She’s just as scared as the rest of them, but granny’s fear comes out as mean. Tracy says, scared? Her? What Ned needs is a cold splash of water and a good talking to. Olivia says, that is the last thing he needs right now, and Doc says he understands emotions are running high, but turning on each other won’t help anything. Brook says, no wonder dad wants to be Eddie Maine. Can they blame him for wanting a break from this family? She leaves, and Chase follows her.

Brook and Chase go into Ned’s room, and Brook asks if he’s okay. Deanna says she had to give him a sedative to calm him down. Deanna leaves, and Brook says, poor daddy. This whole thing started when they thought he blew the whistle on Carly and Drew. If someone else is to blame, why won’t they come forward?

Nina says she and Dex both care about Sonny. And don’t tell her it’s just a job when Dex took a bullet for him. Thank you for that, by the way. He says, boss dies, he loses his health plan, and Nina says, Dex likes him, she loves him. That makes them both Team Sonny. Now that she and Sonny are getting married, she hopes he keeps an open mind, despite what others say about her. He says, by others she means Josslyn? and she says, all she’s asking is that he reserve judgement until he realizes she wants to keep Sonny safe and happy even more than he does. He says, and she wants him to convince Joss to give her a chance.

Sonny says he’s surprised Josslyn and Dex are still together, and she asks, why? He says, she came to his office and wanted him to fire Dex. She didn’t like Dex working for him. She says, Sonny told her it was up to Dex to ask him that, and Sonny says, it was, but Dex wants to stay in the organization. He wants more than a paycheck; he wants to belong. Dex made peace with him. How about her?

Judge Kim says he’s granting Mr. Cain one week to get his affairs in order. However, he must surrender his passport and remain within the city limits of Port Charles until he turns himself in to the authorities for transport to Pentenville. Zeke thanks the judge, and Judge Kim says, should Zeke’s client not appear, he will be treated as a fugitive, and those three years in Pentenville will seem like a long weekend. This hearing is adjourned. The bailiff says, all rise, and the judge leaves. Zeke gives over Drew’s passport, and Carly hugs Drew.

Carly asks, what happened? It was supposed to be six months in Spring Ridge. Zeke says, this isn’t over. He knows with Drew’s skill set, it’s tempting to disappear, but Drew says, when he gives his word, he keeps it. Zeke leaves, and Drew says he’s going to be around here for a while, so why doesn’t Michael take his mother… Carly says she’s not leaving, but Drew says, it’s going to be a while. She says, they have seven days, and hugs him. Michael says, whatever Drew needs. If there are any resources he can provide, he’s here. Just like Drew has been for him and Willow. Michael leaves, and Carly and Drew hug some more.

Lucy says she remembers there was a half-moon shining through the window, and she was lying in Marty’s arms. It was almost like the moon was winking at her; like it knew something. She remembers thinking, this is so yummy, and maybe a little sad because they missed out on time together when they were apart. She wished they could just stop the clock. It was so interesting. All of a sudden, she guesses Martin heard her because he was awake. He said, what if there was a formula or product that could just stop time? Martin says, for heaven’s sake. He was just thinking out loud. She says, he’s being modest again. He was buzzing with so many ideas, and she fell asleep with all that going on in her head. Sasha says, and then? and Lucy says, and then, that’s the best part. Because when she woke up, she knew it wasn’t a dream. It was a product that could actually conquer time, or at least delay it. That was when The Deceptor was born, and Marty was her magic muse. Sasha says, wow, but Martin tells her, don’t dare believe what Lucy is telling her. He swears it was Lucy Coe who took a raw idea, a concept, and perfected it. She’s the one. She made it her own. She’s one sexy genius. He kisses Lucy, and she says, and he’s a handsome, sexy, gallant muse. Sasha says, all this story needs is a fairytale ending. How about it? When are they getting married? They both look at her and say, never.

Gregory says, Finn warned him that Tracy can be quite the dragon, but as Alexis can see, Tracy barely laid a claw on him. She asks if he’s okay. What Tracy said about him not dealing with any real issues was awful. She has a heart of stone, but even she wouldn’t have said that if she actually knew… He says, there’s no reason Tracy should know anything about him. But what he doesn’t understand is why Tracy came down so hard on Alexis. There’s obviously history there. What did Alexis do to her? (I literally lol.) Alexis says, it’s what Tracy did to her. Did he ever hear the expression, first hurt, then hate? That’s Tracy to a T. That’s her M.O. He says, go on. How did Tracy hurt her?

Tracy says she’s going to see her son, but Olivia says, no, she is not. Now sit down and shut up. Tracy says she’s his mother, and Olivia says she’s his wife. What he needs is love and understanding right now; the kind he can get from his daughter, not some horrendous, bitchy monologue from Tracy. Doc says he thinks they may have just gotten a window into why Ned might prefer to be Eddie Maine, and Olivia says, to get away from his mother? Tracy says, or his marriage? Doc says, let’s not look at it as an escape, but rather a journey to find his true self. Tracy rolls her eyes.

Brook says, he looks so peaceful, like all his problems are a things of the past, when Ned grabs her wrist. He says, she wants to solve his problems? Bust him out of here – now.

Drew says, seven days is like a lifetime. They just have to put it in perspective, and think about everything Willow and Michael have been through and how they live day by day. She kisses him, and says she wants more time. He says, they’ll just have to live every day, every minute like it’s their last, and create enough memories until he comes back. She says, what about Scout? and he says he’ll spend time with Scout. When he’s not with her, he’ll be with Carly. He kisses her, and she says she can’t believe this is happening. He says, let’s not think about it like three years. They’ll think about it like 36 car payments. She says she’s so sorry, but he says, it’s going to be okay. She hugs him.

Nina asks if a good relationship between her and Josslyn isn’t good for Sonny as well, and Dex says, no disrespect, but while he’s loyal to Sonny, he’s also loyal to Josslyn. and she gets to make up her own mind. Nina says, but they’re talking about peace, and that’s always a good thing. She wouldn’t even suggest for him to intervene if she didn’t think it would be helpful to everyone, including him. He says he’ll think about it, but just to be clear, he’d never let anyone hurt Mr. Corinthos or Josslyn. Nina says, or Sonny’s wife, I trust, and he says, that goes without saying. As long as she’s important to Mr. Corinthos, she’s important to him.

Josslyn tells Sonny, Dex had this job before she knew him. It’s his life and his decision. She was wrong to go behind his back to Sonny and ask Sonny to fire him. And Sonny was right to turn her down. So yeah, she has made peace with Dex working for Sonny. He says he’s glad to hear it, but that’s not the question he asked. Has she made her peace with him?

Sasha asks, what’s wrong with marriage? and Martin says, nothing, says half the population. It just so happens, he fell into the other half. Over and over again. Know what they say about baseball? Three strikes you’re out? He’s out. He asks if Lucy understands, and she says, I do. I have a history of saying I do when I wish I didn’t. What she and Marty have… He says, is perfect. Why spoil it with a prenup and a trip to Reno? He says he has a conference call, and has to leave. After that, he’s going to relax by the pool. In the meantime, Lucy should put the daisies in water. He leaves, and Sasha says she thought Lucy was the marrying kind. What changed? Lucy says, nothing. She was hoping when she said no, Marty would talk her into saying yes.

Alexis tells Gregory, then wouldn’t you know it? Chase was the arresting officer. He says he can’t believe what he’s hearing; that’s diabolical. Alexis says, Tracy thought she was saving Ned from her evil clutches. She and Ned almost got married a long time ago, and then a couple of years ago, he was married, and she was drunk, and they had a regrettable evening. Two lost souls. He says, say no more. He hopes Chase was smart enough to see through Tracy’s scheme and clear Alexis’s name. She says, it took a village, but in some way, Tracy did her a favor. She didn’t do any of the things Tracy was framing her for, but she was out of control. From that moment, she turned her life around. He says he admires her for rising from the ashes, but Tracy’s frame up could have had a very different ending. Alexis says, let it go; she’s not worth it. He says he agrees, but his son is.

Chase tells Ned that he’s a police officer, and he’s asking Ned to let go of Brook’s wrist. Brook says, he’s not hurting her, but Chase says, let her go. Ned releases her, and she says she promises, as soon as the doctors release him, she’ll take him home. He says, to Vegas? but she says he has a home in Port Charles too. He says he needs to get to Vegas, and she says she understands the need to perform; getting love back from the audience. He says, there’s nothing like it, is there? and she says she can think of some things. Like the love of the people who know you best. Your family.

Tracy says, the only journey she wants Ned taking is the one back to his senses, and Doc asks if she’s considered the possibility that in Ned’s mind, he’s being sensible. Olivia asks if he’s saying Ned being Eddie Maine is a good thing, but Tracy says, Eddie Maine isn’t real; it’s a stage name. Doc says, to her, but to Ned, Eddie Maine represents freedom, gratification, simplicity. And maybe just a touch of the fantasy he needs. Olivia says she needs Ned. She knows it might be selfish, but she just wants her husband back, warts and all, and Leo needs his father. Isn’t there any way they can coax him back? Tracy says, coax him? He needs another bump on the head.

Zeke comes back to the courtroom, and tells Drew that he’s requested a meeting with the judge. Carly asks if the judge is willing to listen to reason, and Zeke says, he is willing to listen, but only after Drew is remanded to Pentenville. Drew says, okay. As long as he’s being held accountable, and not above the law. Carly says, that could take months, or even a year, and the whole time he’ll be locked up in Pentenville. Drew says he’s been in Afghanistan. He’s a Navy SEAL. He’s not worried about Pentenville. Zeke says, the minute Drew goes to prison, he’ll be lobbying for that meeting, and Drew says, anything to expedite this, please. Zeke says, got it. He’d offer Drew a ride, but he has the feeling Drew has better things to do with his time. Drew thanks him, and Zeke says, this isn’t over. This is a significant setback. They’ll talk soon. He leaves, and Drew tells Carly, enough about him. She’s about to face a very stiff financial penalty. She says, that’s her problem, but he says, it’s their problem, and he knows how they’re going to solve it.

Josslyn says she’s working toward acceptance. Sonny is who he is, and he did what he did, and she doesn’t have the power to change that. When she’s angry at him, she hurts some of the people she loves, who also happen to love him. So she doesn’t know if that counts as making peace, but that’s the best she can do right now. He says he hopes someday they can both do better, but for now, he’ll take that. Michael comes in, and Sonny asks, what’s going on? Michael says, Josslyn texted him and said she’d be here with Dex. He wants them all to know, he just came from Drew’s hearing, and the judge gave him three years in Pentenville. Sonny says, son of a bitch, and Nina says, it wasn’t supposed to be that way. Josslyn says, oh really? How was it supposed to be?

Sasha says, it’s her fault for bringing up marriage in the first place, but Lucy tells her, don’t feel bad. She can’t believe Marty said, never. She thought if she said, never, Marty would say, my little snookums, never say never, but he didn’t say that. Sasha says, with three marriages and divorces, you can’t blame the guy for being a little gun-shy. Lucy says, maybe. According to Marty, those wives made his life a living hell, but she wishes she could exorcise it out of his head, and he’d be open to the idea of marriage again. Sasha says, Martin loves her. He’s not going anywhere. Not every guy would stay up late encouraging their partner to follow their dream, then help make that dream a reality. Lucy says, she’s right. He hasn’t asked for any share of the profit; not one single penny. Sasha says, that’s true love for you.

A text says, An electronic deposit of $50, 000 was credited to your account, and sitting with his feet in the pool, drink in hand, Martin says, every month, like clockwork. Trust me, Lucy. Marriage would only spoil everything.

Ned tells Brook, no offense, but the more he hears about her father, the less he envies him. Family life is nice and all, and he can tell she really loves the guy, but corporate life and all the ulcers that go with it, not his style. He has the feeling it’s not hers either.

Doc tells Tracy that he’s not aware of any traumatic brain injury being cured by another traumatic brain injury, and Olivia says, if Tracy is even thinking of taking a hammer to her husband… Tracy tells them, calm down. She was kidding. Olivia says, there’s nothing funny about this situation, and Tracy says, money is no object; whatever it takes. Doc says he’s in unchartered territory as well, but he knows a few experts. He’ll consult with them, and draw on every resource and database he can find. In the meantime, he does think Ned should start therapy. Tracy says, Ned or Eddie, because they’re supposed to be calling him Eddie now, right? How long do they have to buy into this fantasy? Doc says, and there’s the disconnect. Not Ned’s, hers. She can call it a fantasy, but to Ned, it’s his life. Whatever they do, don’t deny his reality. Give him space. Brook and Chase join them, and Brook says, he wants more than space. Olivia asks what he wants. Tell her. Brook says, a one-way ticket to Vegas.

Nina says, there was supposed to be a deal in place, wasn’t there? and Michael says, there was, but the judge overrode it. Josslyn says, mom must be devastated, and Sonny says he’ll reach out to Drew and help in any way he can. Michael says he already did. The US Attorney was as shocked as the rest of them. This is completely on the judge. Nina’s phone rings, and she goes to the table to answer it. She says, Ava heard… She just did… She knows. It’s awful, isn’t it?

Drew says he’s just going to get his affairs in order, and he’s going to put Aurora Media up for sale. They’ll use the proceeds to pay for Carly’s financial… She says, absolutely not. Aurora is his creation. It’s his legacy for Scout. He says, Scout is too young to care about that. She’s going to be fine; she’s got ELQ shares. He’s made other investments… Carly says she’s not going to let him give Aurora away. He’ll need it when he comes back. Whatever the penalty is, she’ll figure it out. He says he doesn’t like that, but she says she doesn’t want to think about this right now. She wants to make the most of whatever time they have left. He kisses her.

Lucy tells Sasha, okay. She’s thinking, you know how Marty planted the idea for The Deceptor in her head? Why can’t she plant the idea of wedding bells in his? Sasha says, why not? and Lucy says, okay. To the future, and may all those ex-wives and the damage they’ve done, be a thing of the past. They clink glasses.

Martin’s phone dings, and he says a text from Ex #3: You’ve been avoiding me. That’s a serious mistake. He says, oh God. He swears, the only thing worse than number two at the swimming pool is number three. He rolls over a little too far, and into the pool with his phone.

Alexis tells Gregory, don’t faint, but she’s going to the gym. Maybe they could meet for dinner afterwards. She’s thinking Thai food. He asks if she’s worried he’s going to track Tracy down and put the fear of God in her, but she says, first of all, he’s assuming Tracy fears God. Second of all, he’s too civilized for this… right? He says, Chase can hold his own, but what after she and Finn have told him, it’s clear that woman fights dirty. Alexis tells him not to sink to Tracy’s level. He has more important things to worry about. He says, there’s nothing more important than his sons.

Tracy says, her son thinks he’s a Vegas lounge lizard. This has gone on long enough. Doc can keep his therapy. She’s going old school. She starts to walk, and Brook asks where she’s going. She says, to knock some sense into Brook’s father.

Carly asks how Drew can be so calm, and he says, after weeks of uncertainty, now he knows what he’s facing. He can prioritize. He can do what means most in the time he has left. She says, they have to be strong, and he says, they will be. Seven precious days before he turns himself in. Let’s not spend another second in this courtroom. He kisses her hand, and suggests they get out of here. She looks like she might cry, and nods.

Tracy busts into Ned’s room, Brook, Chase, and Olivia following her. The bed is empty except for Ned’s pressure cuff and the links to the other medical equipment.

Josslyn says, her mom’s not responding to anything. Her phone must be off. Dex suggests they find her, and they leave. Sonny asks Michael how Carly is handling this, and Michael says, how does she think? She’s ready to go to war for Drew. Sonny says, war with who? Even if Ned’s responsible, he doesn’t even know who he is. Michael says, that’s convenient for Ned, and the worst possible outcome for Drew.

Having moved to the back of the club with the phone, Nina tells Ava that she didn’t plan for this. But now that it’s happened, there’s a tiny part of her that almost feels sorry for Carly. Ned comes into the club, and Nina says, what is Carly going to do without Drew for three long years?… She knows. She just feels awkward. Ned sees her, and comes toward her.

On Monday, Esme is afraid this is all going to fall apart; Felicia tells Robert, no matter what, don’t take no for an answer; Anna doesn’t believe her work is done; and Ned says, just the person he’s been looking for.

🚩 Flags Flying High…

Everything that makes Luis sketchy is… everything.

💎 Beverly Hills Memory Lane…

If you want to relive this sort of thing. Although the dinner party from hell is pretty entertaining. It did not benefit that psychic’s reputation.

🍸 Moving On…

You didn’t think I could let it go yet, did you? I’ve got the feeling Sandoval didn’t cancel shows because of filming. Not when he’s been giving twofers.

Who’s Your Boat Daddy…?

Captain Lee will always be my Stud of the Sea, but I have to admit, Captain Jason is quite easy on the eyes. Interesting how the Med lost viewers after the Hannah debacle.

💣 Fearsome Villain Afoot…

I wasn’t thrilled about how they made Victor so awful. Hopefully he doesn’t get eaten to even things out.

https://movieweb.com/fear-the-walking-deads-latest-trailer-reveals-the-return-of-an-old-villain/

⚰️ She’s On Again…

Carol is apparently back in the game.

🤹🏾‍♂️ Busy Guy…

And I swear he’s the voiceover on that Twizzlers ad where the guy on the beach ponders wearing white after Labor Day.

🦈 His Domain…

After zombies and the internet is evil, my third horror sub-genre favorite is giant sharks.

https://comicbook.com/horror/news/shark-week-jason-momoa-trailer-2023-streaming-details-discovery/

🐶 Real Life Superhero…

From Batman to Dogfather.

https://people.com/batman-actor-burt-ward-went-from-robin-to-dog-rescue-7547542

🧘🏽‍♀️ Quotes of the Week

People who are trying don’t vocalize it; they just do it. – John, Extreme Sisters

Hope is the destination that we seek. Love is the road that leads to hope. Courage is the motor that drives us. We travel out of darkness into faith. – Dean Koontz

A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life. – William Arthur Ward

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.Henry David Thoreau

A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts. – Joshua Reynolds

I got a lot more respect when I was dead. – Lucy Coe (Lynn Herring), General Hospital

💃🏽 Blaming It On the Bossa Nova…

Since Fear the Walking Dead is on a break, so am I, although I’ll be watching Dead City. Judging from the first episode, it looks extremely promising. But I’ll be here on Monday really Tuesday, dishing out soap and a double dose of Deck. Why does Bravo insist on being a pita? One episode a week is quite enough. Until then, stay safe, stay treating what you borrow as if it were your own, and when given the choice, stay going with love and understanding, rather than a horrendous, bitchy monologue.

January 18, 2023 – Carly Begins Her Apology Tour, Delusional, She’s Still Here, Après Prison, Bravoverse Toxicity, Victor Moonlights, Exotic Pets (!) & Outside

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Paris, France. Valentin and Anna are making out on the couch when there’s a knock at the door. She says, it must be his contact, draws her gun, and opens the door. A beautiful blonde woman breezes past her, saying, Valentin, mon amour, and kisses him.

At Spring Ridge, Esme says, there must be a mistake. She tried to explain to the judge… The guard says, someone will be here shortly to escort her to her room, and Esme sits down, putting her head in her hands. Heather smooths Esme’s hair, and says, it’ll be all right, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be all right now.

A phone with an alert from The Invader says: NEWS: Judge Holloway ordered Esme Prince to be remanded to Spring Ridge Minimum Security Prison until her trial is concluded. Ms. Prince faces… Spencer looks up from his table at Kelly’s, and thanks Ava for coming. He says he wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d blown off his request to meet. She says she considered it, and he asks why she came. She says, he knows what killed the cat, doesn’t he? She saw the news about Esme going to Spring Ridge. Does he want to throw a party? He says he wants something else, and she asks, what’s that? He says, someone he can trust.

Nina checks in at the hospital reception desk, telling the nurse that she’s here for a follow-up test to see if she’s a suitable match for bone marrow. How long does it take for her to find out she’s a match for Willow Tate, and where do they want her? The nurse says she’ll be right with her, and steps away. Sonny says he knows Nina is amped up, and she has every right to be, but she needs to slow it down, because she’s still processing the fact she’s Willow’s mother. Nina says, a fact Carly kept from her, and he says, but there is a possibility Nina will give Willow what she wants, and save her life. Nina just has a lot going on right now. She says she can handle it, and she can handle a lot more. She still can’t wrap her head around it. Yesterday, Willow was not her friend, and now she’s the daughter Nina didn’t know… She just can’t lose her.

Willow tells TJ that she let Dr. Navarro know she’s ready to have the baby. Whether that means inducing labor or having a C-section, she’s ready to move forward. TJ says, that’s such a relief, but Willow says she’s still worried about potential risks to the baby by having her prematurely. He asks, what changed her mind? and she says she doesn’t want to just give birth to this baby; she wants to raise her. She looks at Michael, and says, giving birth so she can get a bone marrow transplant increases the chance she’ll survive, so that’s what she wants to do. TJ says he’s not questioning her decision, but he doesn’t want them to get ahead of themselves. Willow says she knows. They still need to get confirmation that the woman who’s her biological… that Nina is a match, and they can go ahead with the transplant. TJ’s phone beeps, and he says, Nina just arrived for her follow-up test. Keep the faith. He’ll do everything else. Willow thanks him, and he leaves. She tells Michael that she still can’t believe it. After all the friction with Nina in her life, their whole family may depend on her. He says he can’t help thinking if they’d known sooner, this whole thing would have been over. Carly looks into the room window.

Valentin says he thinks some introductions are in order, and introduces Anna to Renee Levesque. Anna says, Valentin didn’t do her justice. She was expecting a little sewer rat. In French, Renee says, Valentin called her a rat? and he says, certainly not. He said she was a cataphile. He tells Anna that there’s a way Renee can help them find Lucy.

Heather says, she’s Esme’s m… mate, as in friend. Consider her an ally; Esme’s one woman support group. They’re all in this together at Spring Ridge. All of them are alike… misunderstood, lonely, lost… locked up. Esme says, unfortunately, that’s her, lost and locked up. She thought maybe Heather knew who she was, and why she’s locked up in this place, and Heather says she wishes she could tell Esme. She really has no memory at all of her past? Esme says, not one, and Heather says, that would explain it. Esme says, explain what? and Heather suggests they begin with introductions. She’s Heather. She shakes Esme’s hand, and Esme says she’s been told her name is Esme. Heather says, that’s a pretty name, from the French. It means beloved, loved. Esme says, Heather knows more than she does, and Heather says, she knows whoever gave Esme that special name must have loved her very much. Esme says, if they loved her so much, where are they now when she really needs them? and Heather says, who knows? Maybe they’re closer than she thinks. Esme says, they certainly weren’t there in the courthouse when the judge called her a menace to society, and sent her to come here. Heather says she sees Esme’s pregnant. Does she know how far along she is? Heather would guess her third trimester. She knows this isn’t a great prison, but it sure beats being sent to Pentenville, or the D’Archam nuthouse. Esme tells her, if you say so, and Heather invites her to sit down. Get to know each other better. They have all the time in the world.

Ava says she assumes Spencer wanted to meet to discuss the future of his family estate, and he says, Windymere. What about it? She says she thought his father or Uncle Victor would have told him. She plans to make Windymere the grand prize when she divorces Nikolas. He says, really? and she says, that wasn’t the reaction she anticipated. He says he admits there was a time when the family estate mattered a great deal to him, but now it’s more of a reminder of… She says, a reminder of what? Esme? He says, it isn’t Esme that he cares about; it’s the baby she’s carrying. Ava knows the baby is his father’s, and he knows the baby is his father’s, but Esme does not. She says, his father knows, and Spencer says, which is exactly why they have to make sure he never has the opportunity to ruin another life the way he ruined theirs.

Sonny says he refuses to believe Nina discovered she has a daughter, and she’s going to lose her. And he’s going to move heaven and earth to make sure Willow and that baby make it through this. She says she knows he can do anything he puts his mind to, but this is all on her, and whether or not she matches with Willow. TJ comes out, and asks if Nina is ready to have her blood drawn. She says she is, and asks if he’s doing it, but he says, the nurse will do the honors, but he wants to be there as Willow’s friend to supervise. Does she have a problem with that? Nina says, no, she doesn’t… Does he have a problem with it? She just wants to say again that she’s sorry… He says, someone’s life is at stake; his friend’s life. That’s all that matters. Nina agrees, and he asks her to follow him.

Michael asks what Carly is doing here, and she says she got all the way home, and realized she was taking the coward’s way out, so she came back. He says, not now. Nina is waiting for a test to confirm if she’s a bone marrow transplant match. She says, thank God, and he says, the point is, he doesn’t want anything upsetting Willow right now. Carly says, and the last thing Willow needs is her. She understands. Willow says, wait. She tells Carly, they’ve learned the hard way that keeping silent does the most harm, and Carly says, that’s why she’s back; to tell Willow that she’s really, really sorry. If she could go back to the night she found out Nina was Willow’s birth mother. If she knew then what she knows now… Michael says, so it’s Willow’s fault for keeping her condition a secret? but Carly says, no. She’s not second guessing or blaming. If she was in Willow’s shoes, she would have done the same thing. She would have done whatever it took to save her baby. Willow says, it’s the hardest decision she ever had to make, and Carly says she’s in awe of Willow’s courage, but if she’d known what Willow was facing, Willow has to believe she never would have kept secret who Willow’s birth mother was. Willow says, even if it was Nina? The woman who took everything from Carly?

In an exam room, Nina asks TJ why they have to do another test? Didn’t the cheek swab confirm she was a match? He says, the cheek swab was only an indicator she might be a match. Once they take her blood sample, they can compare it with Willow’s, and that will definitively tell them if she’s a match. Nina says, and then Willow will get a bone marrow transplant, and she’ll start to heal, and she’ll be able to have the baby. Sonny says he knows she’s excited, but they have to let TJ and the nurse do their job first. He asks TJ to give them a second, and TJ leaves with the nurse. Sonny tells Nina that Donna always gets a lollipop before she gets a shot. Is there anything he can do for her to take care of her? She says she doesn’t need a lollipop, but she does need him to do something. He says, name it, and she says, be happy for her.

Ava says, there was a time she had faith in Spencer’s father, and Spencer says, look where that faith has gotten her. He cheated on her with Spencer’s ex-girlfriend. She says, not that she believes in their marriage now, but there was a time she did. If that makes her a fool for love, so be it. At least she was happy for a time. Some people never even get that. He says, when he came back to town, he thought she was the root of all evil, and she says she knows; he was quite vocal on the subject. He says he knows now it was wrong. He thought, if only he could break up Ava and his father’s marriage, everything with him and his father would fall into place. Now he realizes the problem was never Ava; it was his father. She says, there’s no question Nikolas wronged them both, but he didn’t do all that damage on his own. He had a little help, from Esme.

Heather takes some yarn from a basket, and tells Esme, this is what we call occupational therapy. We make friendship bracelets. She pushes the basket toward Esme, saying, try it, but Esme pushes the basket away. Esme says, according to the cops and the staff at General Hospital, she has no friends. Heather says, that’s okay. Esme can have the one she’s making when she’s done with it. A gift from one new friend to another. Esme says, ever since she woke up in that hospital bed, she’s been treated like a criminal, or like this baby inside of her is some ticking time bomb, but Heather says, not anymore. She’s not going to let that happen. Esme says she doesn’t understand. They just met. Why does Heather care what happens to her?

Anna says, cataphile, that’s impressive. Did Renee go to school for that; the history and layout of prison catacombs? Renee says, but of course (🍷). She went to the school of hard knocks. She and Valentin learned together – she takes his arm – combing the catacombs at night. They’d pop up and have their pick of the finest jewelry shops in Paris. Anna asks what they did during the day, and Renee says, what the Parisians do better than anyone, and laughs. Valentin extracts himself, and says, as nice as it is to see Renee again, a woman’s life is at stake, and every second counts. He hands her a folder, and Renee says, they’ll keep it about business. Anna says, they need access to the compound. They need to gain entry, so they can get in and extract their prisoner, and then they need to get out. They’ll need to make a getaway. Valentin asks if Renee thinks it can be done, but she says, sadly, no…  except by the greatest cataphile of them all – moi. Anna asks if that means she’s willing to help them, and Renee says, for Valentin, she’ll do anything. She knows exactly which branch of the mines will afford them access to the compound. Anna says, Renee called them mines? and Renee says, it’s a common mistake to call them catacombs. The truth is, it’s a network of 15th century subterranean mines connected by large galleries. For their purposes, all that matters is she gets them where they want to go without detection. Valentin asks where she’s going, and she says, to make arrangements. Don’t worry. She’ll be back. She kisses him on both cheeks, leaving red lipstick prints. She leaves, and Anna says she’ll just clean him up a little bit, and wipes the lipstick off.

Heather says, Esme is right not to trust just anyone. Shows she has good breeding. She must come from good people. Esme tells her, if you say so. Then again, why should she trust Heather? Heather says, that’s my girl, and Esme asks what that means. Heather says she just meant, If they stick together, they can help each other. Most Ridgeans are harmless enough, but every place gets their share of riff-raff. Esme says, like who? and Heather says, like Ryan Chamberlain. She needs to avoid him at all costs. Esme tells her, Dr. Collins said he had a twin named Ryan, and he couldn’t hurt a fly, and Heather says, Ryan appears to be suffering from a physical condition that’s left him a bit declawed. But trust her. Stay away from him. He’s as sick as they come. Esme says, what about Heather? What did she do to end up in here? Heather says she loved too much. First, it was about her sons. One of them is in the slammer, and the other is six feet under. Esme says she’s sorry to hear that. Is there anyone else? Heather says, yes, a daughter; her one and only.

Spencer tells Ava, Esme is anything but an innocent victim. And even if it’s proven she’s not a killer, she’s no more fit to raise a child than his father is. That’s why he’s hoping to hire Diane Miller to sue for custody. She says, he wants custody, even though the child isn’t his? and he says, yes. It may not be his child, but it will be his half-sibling; his flesh and blood. That baby will be the only innocent person in this family, and if there’s any hope of salvaging something good out of all the pain and lies his father has inflicted on them, it lies with that baby. She asks, what was Diane’s reaction? and he says, Diane told him it’s a long shot, but she would consider going to war for him. Ava says, Diane’s no fool. If she thinks there’s a chance… She asks if he’s told his father his intentions, but Spencer says, he’ll know when the time is right. She asks what Trina thinks of his plan, but he doesn’t answer. She says, he hasn’t told Trina either, has he?

Carly tells Willow that Nina didn’t take anything from her. Sonny made his choices, and the MetroCourt is just real estate. She has her family, and Willow and her baby are a part of that family. She’d never knowingly put Willow at risk. Michael says, but she did by keeping the truth from Willow, and Carly says she was just trying to protect Willow. She was so worried about the harm Nina would cause, and she knew if Nina wormed her way into Willow’s life, she wouldn’t stop there. Michael says, just call it what it is. It was revenge. Carly says, it was not, and Willow says she needs to talk to Carly alone. Michael says, anything for her, and leaves. Carly sits down, and says, it’s just them. Say what she needs to say; don’t hold back. Willow says, don’t worry. She won’t.

Sonny says he’s happy for Nina. He just starts thinking about Carly and how she kept that secret from Nina and Willow, when it could have been life and death. Nina says, let her make this clear. She has no intentions of forgiving and forgetting what Carly did to her, but right now it’s about saving her daughter. Her whole life, she wanted a child. She thought she had a chance with Sasha, but that was just a cruel lie. Then she found out Nelle was her daughter after she was dead. It’s like this incredible gift was given to her; she gets to be a mother. And no matter how Willow feels about her, no matter their history, Willow needs her. Sonny says, Willow is lucky to have her, but Nina says she’s lucky to have Willow even more. She needs Willow just as much. TJ and the nurse come back, and TJ asks if they’re good to go. Sonny says, they’re good, and leaves. Nina says, let’s do this, and hops onto the examining table.  

Willow says, for not one minute does she believe Carly would deliberately hurt her, but it wasn’t Carly’s decision to make. Once Carly found out who her mother was, Carly owed it to Willow to tell her; to trust her to be able to handle it. She’s not made of glass. She lost a child and thought she’d die with him, but she didn’t. She found the strength to go on. And if it’s not too late, she prays she has the strength to live for Michael, Wiley, and their new baby. Carly says, Willow is right. She did the very thing she’d hate if it were done to her. She didn’t trust Willow to stand up for herself. She asks if Willow can find it in her heart to forgive her, and Willow says she’s forgiven Carly already. (Pfft!) Carly thanks her, and says she’s so sorry. She’s so grateful for Willow, and loves Willow as if she was her own daughter. She’s going to let Willow get some rest. If there’s anything she needs… Willow asks if Carly will stop by the house, and give Wiley a hug. Carly says she can do that. She truly prays that Nina comes through for Willow and the baby. Willow says, so does she.

Valentin gives Anna a glass of wine, and tells her, before she says anything, there’s nothing going on between him and Renee. Anna says she knows. Not now, but in the past. He says, remember the smash and grab robberies he told her about that he engineered in Prague, Berlin, Milan, Paris of course (🍷)? Renee was a key part of the operation because of her understanding about the catacombs. He thinks it was for the thrill; she enjoyed being a rule breaker. She says, and him? and he says, it was an opportunity to make a large sum of money by separating some very rich people from their baubles. He’s never claimed to be a choir boy. However, he’s made some very generous donations to charity, and the high end jewelry stores were heavily insured. She says, so it’s a victimless crime, but he tells her, he wouldn’t say that. But there are far uglier ways to make money. She says, and Renee? and he tells her, like he said, she was in it for the thrill, but there was never a real connection; not like he has with her. She says she just wonders if they can trust her. It’s not jealousy, but he’s climbed out of the catacombs into the light, and she wonders if Renee is in it for an easy score or to break some more rules. He says, Lucy’s life is at stake. There’s no time to find anyone else, at least not with Renee’s skills. So how does she want to play this?

Outside, somewhere in Paris, Gavin says, they took their sweet time getting there. It’s freezing. We see he’s meeting Renee, and she hands him some cash. She asks if this will keep him warm. There’s more where this came from. Does he still work for Victor Cassadine? He says, who? and she says, askMonsieur Cassadine what it’s worth to him to have his son and Anna served up en brochette.

Heather tells Esme that her little girl was taken from her when she was just a baby. Esme says she wishes someone would take hers, but Heather tells her, don’t ever say that. Getting her little girl back, and keeping her safe and happy is all she lives for. She grabs Esme’s hand, and says, there’s nothing she wouldn’t do… Esme says, Heather is hurting her, and Heather says she’s sorry. Esme asks the guard if her room is ready, but Heather says, don’t leave yet. They’ve just begun to get acquainted.

There’s a knock at Willow’s door, and Sonny says he got her message that she wanted to see him. She says she can’t believe she’s saying this, but how’s Nina?

Michael goes to the chapel, and kneels down, then gets hit by a lightning bolt. He says he’s not asking for him. He’s asking for Wiley and the baby and Willow. He knows there’s going to be a lot of baggage dealing with Nina as Willow’s mother in the future, but that’s next week’s problem. For today, please let them be a match. Just… give Willow a chance. That’s all he’s asking. He hears the door open, and Carly is there.

In French, Renee tells Valentin, it’s all been arranged. She’ll lead them tomorrow through the underground network. Through the twists and turns until they reach the compound. From there, they can find the prisoner and set her free. He says he knew he could count on her. What did he tell Anna? She’s one of a kind. Anna tells him, she’s everything he said she’d be, and more so. Renee says, just like old times. N’c’est pas, mon amour? She touches his face, and asks Anna if they’re in this together.

Spencer tells Ava, looping Trina in would only complicate her life, which is something he’s done plenty of already. She says, he can’t have it both ways. He can’t try to renew his friendship with Trina, and keep her in the dark about such a big move. Or hasn’t he learned anything from the last time, when he came back to town with Esme? He asks if Ava really thinks he should tell Trina, and she says she does. Tell her, and let her make the choice if she wants to be involved. He says, she’s right, but he didn’t ask her here to get advice. She says, then what? She knows Diane is expensive, but he certainly doesn’t need her money or approval. He says, if he’s going to go up against his father, he can’t do it alone.

Heather follows Esme to the other side of the room, and says she’s sorry if she came on too strong. Seeing Esme in the family way pushed her buttons. Does she know if it’s a boy or a girl? Has she picked any names? Esme says she just met Heather, and what she decides to do with this baby is strictly her business. Does Heather understand? Heather says she understands completely. That baby isn’t just an inconvenience to Esme, no matter how she tries to pretend. Esme cares about her child. Almost as much as Heather cares about hers.

Carly says she’ll keep her distance, but Michael says, Willow needs all of their prayers. She tells him that he keeps saying what Willow needs; what about him? Does he have room in his heart for her?

Valentin tells Anna, they have to move quickly before Victor learns of their plan and moves Lucy to another location. It’s now or never. Anna looks at Renee, and says, then it’s now.

Michael says he knows what Carly wants to hear, but he can’t deal with her right now. All that matters is Willow, and he needs to be with her. He walks out.

Willow says she doesn’t know if there will be a happy ending for her, but Sonny tells her, don’t say that. She’s going have beautiful baby, and get much better. Trust him. She says, even he can’t guarantee that. So if it turns out she’s not here for her family, she needs him and Michael to stop being enemies; become father and son again. She’s not saying it will be easy. Sonny will have to earn it, but please do whatever he can to win Michael’s forgiveness. Because she knows Michael needs him, and Sonny needs Michael. He takes her hand, and says he’s going to do what he can. Take care of his grandchild, understand him? She nods, and Sonny leaves.  

Ava says, Diane already warned Spencer that he’s in for a fight. She knows Nikolas, and he won’t hesitate to play dirty when it comes to the custody of his child. Spencer says he’s ready. After all, his father taught him all those same dirty tricks. She says she admires his initiative, but he’s right. He’s going to need all the help he can get. He’s going to have to count on somebody who’s willing to get down and dirty too. Spencer asks if she has anyone in mind, and she points to herself.

The guard says, Esme’s room is ready, and Esme jets. Heather says she knows it’s just Esme’s hormones talking. She understands what Esme is going through. The guard escorts Esme down the hall, and Heather yells that she’ll be here when Esme needs her. She goes back to the table, and yells, wait. Esme forgot her bracelet. She clutches the bracelet to her chest.

TJ comes back to the exam room, and says he thought Nina would be long gone by now. He personally made sure the lab has her bloodwork, so there’s nothing more she can do until they get the results. She says she just wanted to know what’s next. She knows she’s going to be a match. Does he know how soon Willow can get her transplant? He says, nothing can happen until Willow gives birth. After that, she’ll go through another round of chemotherapy to kill the diseased cells. After that, they take stem cells from Nina, and inject them in Willow’s bloodstream. Nina says, okay, and then? and he says, if all goes well, Willow will produce healthy new blood cells. Nina says, all has to go well.

Michael goes back to Willow’s room, and asks if there’s any news. Is Nina a match? She says, nothing yet, and he tells her that he said a prayer for her and the baby. She says she needs all the prayers she can get, and he says, that’s what he told his mom. Willow might be able to forgive her, but he’s not sure he can. They hug.

Carly is in the chapel when Sonny walks in.

Tomorrow, Curtis says they’d like Marshall’s help with the ceremony; Josslyn says she’d never make Spencer choose sides, but clearly he already has; Dex says, the sooner this is over for him, the better; and Sonny says, Carly might be able to lie to herself, but not to him.

😵 Wow…

There are no words. It’s scary that some people can’t separate reality from fiction.

💋 Overstaying Her Welcome Now…

Andy hopes she comes back. I don’t.

Yet one more weighs in.

🧂 Kind Of Late…

If they’re worried about her mental health, it’s probably not a good idea to wait six and a half years.

☠️ Most Toxic…

Another matter of opinion. While Jax is definitely the worst human being on earth, why weren’t Teresa and Melissa on this list? Or Teresa and Joe #2? Or Teresa and that Solo cup?

👰🏾 Look Who’s Officiating Now…

And doing the Electric Slide.

https://people.com/movies/anika-noni-rose-marries-jason-dirden-colman-domin/

🦔 Besides the Usual…

A capybara and a fennec fox please.

https://www.journiest.com/bizarre-pets-around-the-world-2547432805.html

🍩 Time To Make the Donuts…

Come for a visit tomorrow, where there will be soap and a selection of fine tea. Until then, stay safe, stay disagreeing respectfully, and stay not doing the very thing you’d hate if it were done to you.

March 20, 2022 – Meeting With a Warlord, Dead Guesting, Returning, Lance’s Hint, Dead Synopsis, Dead End, Spinning Under Water & Window

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

The Walking Dead

In the woods, some zombies toddle around and snarl. Elijah and Marco are on the wall at Hilltop, and Elijah shoots one with an arrow. He asks where they’re at, and Marco says, eight to nine; he’s still winning. Lydia comes by, and Elijah says, her too? She says she talked to Maggie, and he asks what she said. Lydia tells him, not much. Maggie just gave her directions to the closest Commonwealth checkpoint. Elijah says, a lot of people changed their minds, but she’ll be back, right? She says she thinks so, and goes out the gate. He asks if she needs an escort. It’s a long walk, and she might get bored. They hear a horse coming, and Elijah looks through the binoculars and sees Jesse from the Commonwealth. He calls out, rider coming. Nobody we know. Marco says, hold or we’ll shoot, but Jesse is bleeding, and falls off his horse. He lies on the ground, coughing, and Lydia runs to him. She says, he’s been shot. Get help. Jesse says, don’t… They’re slaughtering them… Liars. He hands her a map, says, you’ve got to go, and dies.

Maggie tells Lydia, she’s not going. Someone sent him, or it’s a trap. Lydia says she doesn’t think it’s a trick, but Maggie says, even if it wasn’t, they can’t go up against another group without people to fight. Elijah says, being outnumbered never stopped them before, but Maggie says, it should have; they’re barely holding on. Lydia says, that sounds like the group Jesse was talking about too. It’s the kind of group her mother would have targeted, and she helped. She’s not letting that happen to someone else. Maggie asks if Lydia’s not leaving, and Lydia says she is, but she has to help these people first. Lydia, Elijah, and Marco load the car, and Maggie comes out. She holds her hand out for the keys, and says, Lydia can take over at the halfway mark. Herschel runs out, and asks Maggie, how long this time? and she asks what she always says. He tells her, as long as it takes, and she tells him to hold down the fort.  

Maggie drives, and Lydia asks why she doesn’t want help from the Commonwealth. Maggie says, they can get by without it, but Lydia asks why they should just get by. Maggie says, it’s just temporary. Before the Fall, she lived on a farm with her family. Corporate developers tried to buy them out, but her dad kept saying no. Then there was a bad drought, and the developers offered them three times what the farm was worth. The developers knew they were desperate, but also knew the drought would end. All they had to do was outlast them. They dropped off food to help out the livestock, but her dad let it rot. He said they were being tested. The drought ended, and they got back on their feet, and the developers never bothered them again. Lydia asks why Maggie’s father let it rot, and Maggie tells her, he said if they were seen taking it, the developers would know they needed it. Elijah says, the cattle were hungry, but Maggie says, they didn’t lose any. They made it through. Lydia says, they got by. She was forced to get by her whole life. She was told it makes you stronger and wiser, but it doesn’t; it hurts. Maggie asks what Lydia would have done, and Lydia says, asked everyone what they wanted instead of deciding for them. Maggie says, the people of the Commonwealth haven’t been tested in ten years. Does she want to be there when they are? Lydia says she just wants things to be the same every day, and Maggie asks if Elijah agrees. Elijah says, with most of it, yeah. They suddenly skid to a stop, three troopers blocking the road.  

The get out, and realize they’re facing zombie troopers, and put them down. Maggie takes a closer look, and says, the knife slashed through the neck guard. She finds another has been shot between the armor. A man yells to them in the distance, and as he gets closer, Maggie says, it’s Aaron.  

One week ago. Aaron goes into the church where Gabriel is preaching about the prodigal son. He says, the son squandered his riches, and found his soul empty. He was in need, and begged forgiveness from his father. His father embraced him, saying, his son was dead, and is now alive. He was lost, now he was found. He says, there were a lot of stunned faces when he asked them to sit by a stranger this morning. A lot of awkwardness, stiff backs, and clenched butt cheeks. They laugh, and he says, those who were out in the wasteland knew it didn’t matter if they were strangers; they were forced to see the humanity in each other, and strangers became more than friends. Strangers became family. Why was it that way out there, but not in here? Romans 3:23 tells us, we’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It’s the thread that binds them together. If they strip away the superficial labels, they’ll see the person by their side as they see themselves in the mirror; the way they were before the world fell. It can’t be like it is now. They must remember the thread. It’s what makes them try. It’s what makes them forgive. It’s what makes them return from peril. It’s what makes us, us.

After the service, Aaron sits with Gabriel in the pews. He tells Gabriel that it was great, but he was expecting more fire and brimstone. Gabriel looks happy. Gabriel says he thinks he might be. In the beginning, he was going through the motions, but then it was like a switch flipped, and he wasn’t. He could hear Him again. Aaron says, that hell they went through feels like it wasn’t real; like it was a nightmare or something. Gabriel asks, what about Alexandria? and Aaron says, the Commonwealth is giving them more manpower and resources to rebuild, and while they’re finishing, they asked if he would help with their immigration initiative. Gabriel says they didn’t seem keen on immigrants when they came, and Aaron says, they weren’t, but when the found out he’d worked for an NGO, and was good at reaching out to people who need help, they asked him to work on their policies. Gabriel says, the Lord’s work, and Aaron says, yeah, that’s why he’s here. There’s a group of about 40 living in an apartment complex near Westborough, Virginia. He offered to help, and they thought it would be good if Gabriel tagged along. Gabriel asks, why? and Aaron says, it’s a religious group so… There are hostiles in the territory, but his boss Carlson will be with them. He’s a little… His heart’s in the right place. Jesse comes in, and tells Aaron that Carlson is ready when he is, and Aaron asks what Gabriel says. Gabriel asks what Aaron knows about these people, and Aaron says, according to the scouts, they’re a friendly group of settlers.

Carlson and his group stand in a clearing, looking at the apartment building. Carlton asks if they feel that rush of dopamine and adrenaline. It’s just the anticipation that they’re going to change lives. They’re going to make the world better than it was yesterday. Aaron says, Carlton told him they were just friendly settlers, but it doesn’t look friendly. Carlton says, what if they aren’t? If they’re angry, it just means they’re afraid, but when they meet Aaron, the won’t be. He can’t wait to watch Aaron and Gabriel do their thing. Gabriel asks Aaron if Carlton is going in, and Aaron says, he usually does, but doesn’t do the talking. There will be backup nearby. Gabriel looks at some troopers putting up a tent, and asks if they’re setting up camp. Carlson joins them, and Aaron says, the troopers aren’t coming with them, are they? but Carlson says, they don’t want to spook the natives. He tests the radio, and the trooper a few feet behind him copies. He tells Aaron, it’s all good. Gabriel looks at the building and says he’s not doing this. Places like that usually have an old man with a shotgun is looking for an excuse to shoot someone who stepped on his lawn. It practically screams, do not disturb. Aaron says, it might be better to leave them alone, and Carlson wonders if Aaron has pre-game jitters. Gabriel says Carlson’s plan is sh*t; he doesn’t want to die. Carlson says they’ve done this before, and will do it again, and Gabriel asks what the largest group was. Carlson says, four, and Gabriel says, there’s 40 in there. With that many people, all it takes is one nervous guy with an itchy trigger finger. Aaron says Gabriel is right, but Carlson says, it’s not up for discussion. They need to trust that he knows what he’s doing. Gabriel says, fine, and takes his collar off. Carlson says he needs to wear it; it’s part of his costume, but Gabriel says, this is how this is going to go…

They walk to the building, and Aaron loudly introduces himself. He says he comes from a community called the Commonwealth, and they’d like to extend friendship. They’re the people who left these where they would find them. He holds up a bag of rations, and says, since they were gone, he assumes they did. They have more back at camp. He asks if there’s anyone he could speak face-to-face with. There’s banging on the door from the inside, and a guy opens it. A woman comes out, dressed kind of barbarian, and says, weapons. They remove their weapons, and she walks around taking them, and looking everyone over. She looks at Aaron’s arm, and he says, it’s kind of a bitch to take off. She nods, and asks if it’s just the four of them. Aaron says, there’s a group of peacekeepers nearby waiting for them to check in, and she says, sounds scary. They follow her inside, and the door closes. One of the men locks the ton of humongous locks on it, and it’s kind of dark. They’re frisked and the woman says, can’t be too safe. Last door to the right. Aaron asks, what’s down there? and she smiles. She keeps walking, and they follow another guy, seeing various people hanging out along the way. The guy takes Aaron’s bag, leaving it in the hallway, and knocks on an apartment. They go inside, and a man sits at a desk, his back to them, and says, seats. They sit, and the door closes. The man turns around, and it’s Michael Biehn… er, warlord Ian. Aaron tells him, like he said outside, they come from the Commonwealth. It’s a bit like the old world. Their population is 50,000, they have a functioning government, protective walls, housing, restaurants, and two movie theaters. Ian says, and soldiers, and a church. Why did Gabriel lose his collar? Gabriel says he wanted Ian to see who he was before learning what he was, and Ian says, they tell him their place is like the old world. If they have a church, then they have hookers too; gambling and a sh*t side of town. Gabriel says he hasn’t seen that, and Aaron asks if he can have his bag back. He’d like to show Ian something. Ian nods, and someone gets the bag. Aaron takes out his cellphone, and gives it to Ian, who looks at pictures of the Commonwealth. Aaron says, that’s where they live. When people see it, they want to live there. Ian says, they’ll just be let in; it’s that easy. Aaron says, it’s not easy. There’s a screening process… Ian says, an audition. Let him get his tap dancing shoes. He asks where they’re located, but Carlson says they can’t tell him. Ian asks, why? Because Carlson says so? Carlson says, that’s right, and Ian says, then why is he talking to Aaron? Do him a favor, and look in the back corner. One of Ian’s men puts on a light, and we see skulls in a glass cabinet. Ian says, raiders, murderers, rapists, a few cannibals; all of them sat in the same seats they’re sitting in. Most were wolves dressed as sheep, and all meant his people harm. He tells Carlson, so Mr. Head Wolf, Carlson knows where Ian lives, but he doesn’t know where Carlson lives. How dumb would he be to let them go? He asks  Carlson’s name, and he says, Toby Carlson. Ian shoots in the air, and tells Carlson to get on his knees, and everyone else, their asses stay in in their chairs. He aims his gun at Carlson, now on his knees, and says, answer his question. How dumb would he be to let them go when they know where his home is? Carlson is all shaky, and says, it would be dumb. Ian says, yes it would. Carlson reminds him of Ol’ Billy Johnson. He came to them a few years ago, promising them wealth and prosperity, but he wasn’t bringing them to the Promised Land. He just wanted to get them out in the open, so his raiders could kill them. He ended up on the shelf because he thought Ian was stupid. Does Carlson think he’s stupid? Carlson says, no, and Ian says, because he has plenty of room on the shelf next to Billy. Carlson says he doesn’t want to be on the shelf, and doesn’t think Ian is stupid. Ian says, show him where their raiding party is or bodies will hit the floor starting with Jesse. Aaron asks if they look like raiders, and Ian says, wolves dressed as sheep. They have no idea of his responsibilities to this place and its people. They’ve entrusted him with their very souls. Why did they come, and what do they want? Gabriel says, exactly. Why would they want anything from them? This place is a sh*thole. Why would they want it? Ian says, meat, and Aaron asks if he thinks they’re cannibals. Cannibals with prepackaged MRE’s? All they’ve done is given them food and water. They’re not starving because of the Commonwealth. Is that real or a lie? Gabriel says, those are also real soldiers in the pictures. If they don’t come back, the soldiers will come and kill them. Aaron says, or nobody has to die. Let them go, and they won’t bother them again; he promises. Ian says, what a day. What a goddam day. They’ll leave and will never come back… Carlson jumps up, grabs Ian’s gun, and shoots Ian, wounding him, and kills his men. Gabriel asks what he did, and Carlson says, his job. Aaron says, he was going to let them go, but Carlson says, shut up. Lock the door, and he’ll be back.

One week and one hour ago. Carlson goes to Lance’s office, and says, he got his call; what’s up? Lance offers Carlson a drink, but Carlson says, he’s four years sober. What’s wrong? Lance says, he got Milton to agree to being communal with some of the hick towns, and he used some of the resources to send convoy, but scouts hijacked the troopers who were guarding it. They’re all dead, and all evidence leads to an apartment complex, where the leader dresses like a general. They’re also religious, and have mass on Sundays and Tuesdays. Carlson asks what he’s missing. He’s some warlord. Just snuff him out, and if Lance assumes the worst, send in a squad to cut them down, then send in a company to raze the building. Lance says, if he asks for troops, there’s no way Milton won’t notice. He needs a surgical solution. Carlson says he doesn’t do that anymore, but Lance says he needs the former CIA guy; he needs an assassin. Carlson says he likes being retired. He gets up, he meditates, he gets to go out and find people who need help, and gives them a second chance. It’s Zen. Lance says, it can be taken from him, and Carlson moves closer to Lance. He asks if Lance is tired of living, and stirs Lance’s drink with his finger, and puts the finger in his mouth. Lance says, most of the dead troopers were kids in their 20s. This is on him, and he needs to make it right. Carlson says, okay. What is Lance thinking? Lance asks how Aaron is, and Carlson says, great. Aaron easily connects with people, which makes his job easier. Lance says, and what about his buddy? Carlson says, Gabriel? and Lance tells him, go in and make contact with the priest. Go to the apartment complex, and get them to let their guard down. When they do, and let them in to see the big chief, he wants Carlson to do what he does. He doesn’t have to tell the others about the plan. They’ll fall in line. Everyone does.

Back to now, troopers take bodies out, and Carlson tells them, sweep the rear. Ian sits on the floor, leaning up against a column, and Carlson asks him where the guns and cargo are that they hijacked and massacred their soldiers for? Ian says he has no idea what Carlson is talking about, and Carlson hits Ian with his gun. He says, there were three sets of tracks that all led here. Try again. Ian says, the caravan was like that when they found it, but Carlson says, Ian just lied to him, and hits him again. Ian punches him back, and troopers run over. Aaron yells, stop! and moves forward, and Carlson tells the troopers, cuff him.  They take Aaron away, and Ian says, hey, d*ckless, those found weapons… Carlson shoots him, fatally this time. Carlson says, ready for shelf, warlord? Top shelf, center, right above Billy. How does that sound? All that talk, and he died so quick. Carlson kicks the dead Ian, and does some crazy loud yelling. Aaron is stunned, and Carlson says, don’t look at him like that. He was a damn animal. Aaron says, they’re supposed to be helping people, and Carlson says, they are. This is the other side; snuffing out threats. That’s how they make the world safe. They hear a horse whinny and gallop away, and run outside to see Jesse getting the hell out of there. A trooper shoots him, but he keeps on going, and Aaron pops the trooper in the face. Carlson draws his gun, and is about to shoot Aaron, but his gun only clicks. Carlson says, interesting. Let’s go. Aaron isn’t about to budge, when there are gunshots. Carlson becomes distracted, and Aaron jets. Several troopers run up to Carlson, and one tells him, a trooper is dead inside. Carlson goes in, and says, he turns his back one minute… He takes the dead trooper’s gun, and tells another to get him the trooper’s armor.

Back at Aaron meeting Maggie, she asks if he thinks the people at the complex are lying about the stolen shipment. He says he doesn’t know, and she shows him the map, telling him, this is the best way in. He asks where she got the map, and she says, he gave it to the guy who rode to Hilltop. Aaron says, no, he didn’t, and she says, then who did?

12 hours before. Jesse finds some horses, and starts to unleash one, but Negan appears, and says, don’t move. How many are there? Jesse says, twelve, and Negan asks what they’re armed with. Jesse says, machine guns. He didn’t know… Annie joins Negan, and he asks what the people look like. She says, there’s a priest, and a guy with a spiked arm, and Negan says, Gabriel and Aaron. Jesse asks if he knows them. They came from the Commonwealth, and this is not what he signed up for. Negan tells him, shut up, and takes out a map. He tells Jesse to go to Hilltop, and ask for Maggie. Talk to her and no one else. Tell her that Aaron and Gabriel are in trouble.

Carlson tells Aaron, this is other side; snuffing out threats. This is how they make world safe. Jesse takes the horse, and Carlson and Aaron run outside. Inside, the trooper guarding Gabriel goes down, and Gabriel says, Negan? Negan unties him, and Annie says, they’ve got to go. They hear gunshots, and slip away. The troopers come in and see their dead comrade. Carlson comes in, and says, he turns his back for a minute…

In trooper armor, Carlson tastes some whiskey with his finger, and grabs a bullhorn. He says, residents of complex, you have been deemed enemies of the Commonwealth. One of them has stolen from them. That cannot stand. Their warlord is dead, but the good news is, they can make things right. Give them what’s theirs and they’ll leave. Inside, Gabriel asks where the weapons are, but Annie doesn’t know. Negan says, if she says they don’t have them, he believes her, but Gabriel says he’s praying they stole them. Without the weapons, they’re dead. Carlson isn’t going to let them leave alive. Two guys stand on the edge of the roof, hands on their heads, and look down. It’s a pretty long way, and Carlson asks where the weapons are, but the first guy says he doesn’t know. Carlson says he believes him, and kicks him over the edge. He asks the other guy, and says, how about him? The guy shakes his head, and Carlson pats him on the back, then pushes him off. Inside, they hear screaming and a thud, then more screaming, yelling, and thuds. Carlson gets back on the bullhorn, and says, your people have let you down. He tells the troopers to hit each room, and kill anyone who won’t talk. The troopers go inside, and Annie tells the their group that they need to stick together. Forget about giving up or begging for forgiveness. Ian is dead, but he’s not the first leader they had. He wasn’t what kept them together. They did, and they did it by working together as a family. Their family is scattered all over the building, but they know this place better than those a-holes do, and they’re coming out on top. On the side, Negan tells her, that was pretty good, but the Commonwealth they took out their best. Annie says, but they needed to hear it.

Carlson gets on the radio, and asks Hodges to come in. Standing over a dead Hodges, Maggie takes the radio, and shuts it off, putting it on her belt. She and Elijah sneak up the stairs, and Aaron closes the door behind them.

Next time, Lance says, this place works because everyone plays their part, and If they can’t or won’t is when the system breaks down, and we can’t let that happen; Carlson says, find the guns or they’ll burn this place to the ground; and Mercer says, that’s a fight they’re not going to win.

⚔️ The Warlord Speaks…

I love Michael Biehn, so it was a real treat to see him on TWD, albeit briefly. Grindhouse is one of my all-time favorite films. On Talking Dead, he said his favorite line was the one about the tap shoes. Mine too. I literally lol’d. The delivery was perfection.

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-walking-dead-michael-biehn-warlord-ross-marquand-interview-season-11-episode-13/

🏍 He’ll Be Riding Back…

He’s a hardy one, our Daryl.

https://ew.com/tv/the-walking-dead-norman-reedus-schedules-return-to-work-after-concussion/

💰 Glimpsing Gold…

Lance is a man of many secrets to be sure.

https://screenrant.com/walking-dead-lance-hornsby-gold-coin-commonwealth-hint/

⚰️ Finale Of the Finale…

What’s to come in the Walking Deadverse.

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-walking-dead-final-season-11-part-2-finale-episode-16-synopsis-god/

🚣🏾‍♂️ No Treading For Him…

When things get stagnant, it’s time to split.

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a39483787/fear-the-walking-dead-end-colman-domingo/

🌏 Keep On Spinning…

At first I thought, is it April 1st already?

Apparently not.

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/fear-the-walking-dead-spinoff-special-dead-in-the-water-nick-stahl-amc-plus-premiere-date/

🦢 Feather Ball Time…

Stop by tomorrow for soap and Deck doings. Until then, stay safe, stay controlled, and stay helping people and giving second chances, but leave the snuffing out of threats to the professionals.