What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Anna and Sonny run into the hospital where Chase is waiting, and Sonny asks, where’s Dante? Chase says, they’re working on him now, and Sonny asks, how bad was he hurt? Chase says, he took two bullets to the chest, but Sonny says, he was wearing a bullet proof vest. They were all wearing one, weren’t they? Chase says, they think the bullets were armor piercing rounds.

On the phone as she writes, Alexis says, gunfire exchanged on waterfront… increased police presence. Okay, got it. They have this under control?… Okay. Thanks. She starts to leave the office when she runs into Nina, who’s with an unknown man. Nina says she’s glad they caught Alexis before she left, and Alexis says she’s on her way to meet a reporter… Nina says, that can wait. She has someone she wants Alexis to meet. Alexis says she’d be happy to meet him when she has the time, and Nina says, make time.

Maxie leads Sasha and Cody into her office and says she knows it’s late, so she’ll keep it brief. Cody says he appreciates both of them working around his schedule. The Qs really rely on him to keep a steady presence at their stables. Sasha says she wasn’t busy tonight anyway, and Cody says, Maxie might have had plans tonight. Sasha says, true. She and Cody would be happy to reschedule. Cody says, if she has somewhere else she needs to… Maxie says, oh my God. Stop. She knows what both of them have been up to.

Spinelli is working on the footage, when there’s a frantic knock at the door and Ava says, Spinelli, open up. Sonny sent her.

Anna asks what Chase can tell her about the shooting, but he says, nothing. He was at the station taking a statement from Miss Wu, when the sergeant notified him that someone called 911 and a man had been shot on Pier 55. That was the direction of the suspects in the warehouse shooting when Dante pursued them. So he went to the pier and found Dante. Bystanders were giving him first aid. Anna asks, what bystanders? There’s witnesses? Chase says, there were no witnesses that they know of. Dex Heller and Josslyn Jax found him, and they were keeping him alive.

In the trauma room, a doctor says, blah-blah-blah medical stuff about Dante, and Portia says, he has a severe cardio something-or-other. The other doctor says he needs medical things, and she says, got it.

Alexis goes back to her desk, and Nina says she wants Alexis to meet Adrian DeWitt. (A nod to All About Eve, whose gossip columnist was Addison DeWitt.) Adrian says he apologizes for the unexpected drop-in, and Nina says she and Adrian were having dinner and it occurred to her that the two brightest minds working in journalism should meet. Alexis says, flattering. He’s also a member of the Fourth Estate? Adrian says he is a columnist, and Nina says, a very popular column, and Adrian is looking for a new opportunity now. Alexis says, he wouldn’t by any chance be a gossip columnist, would he? and he says he prefers the term social observer. (My new dream job!) Nina says, what they decided The Invader needs, and Alexis says, Nina means, what she decided.

Cody tells Maxie not to keep them in suspense. What have they been up to, besides lots of work? Between stable handling and spokes modeling, they barely have time to… Maxie says, devise ways to put her and Spinelli together? Because they always seem to have time for that. Cody stammers and tells her that he doesn’t know what to say, and Maxie says, that would be a first. Cody says he likes to relax like anyone else. Toss back a couple of cold ones, throw some sharp objects, croon some karaoke, and if he invites Sasha and Maxie… Maxie asks Sasha to make him stop, and Sasha says she’s sorry. She was waiting for him to come up for air, but clearly, that’s not going to happen. Cody says he was just telling her… but Sasha says, the jig’s up, and Cody says, Maxie is right. They totally meddled in her love life, trying to push her and Spinelli together. Sasha says, but they swear they had the best of intentions. It’s just so obvious Maxie and Spinelli still have feelings for each other. Cody says, and it’s obvious neither one of them are going to do a damn thing about it. So they figured they’d nudge them together. Maxie says, well, it worked. She and Spinelli finally broke down and said they loved each other. Sasha says, that’s awesome, and Cody says, it’s about damn time. Maxie says, and now they’ve never been further apart.

Spinelli pushes Ava inside, looks around, and slams the door. He asks, is Sonny okay? Did the gunmen get apprehended? Does he need to delete footage? Ava says, Sonny is fine, she thinks the gunman got away, and absolutely not. Spinelli says he doesn’t understand. Why did Sonny send her? She says, he wants Spinelli to secure the footage and get it to Brick before the cops know it exists, and Spinelli says he’s already on it. But uploading and rendering twelve cameras worth of footage onto a separate server takes some time. She says, which they don’t have. How can she help?

Portia says, Dante’s trachea is deviated as long as his lung is completely collapsed, and the other doctor says more medical stuff. Portia says, his pressure’s dropping, and Dante’s lung is manually worked.

Chase tells Anna, the paramedics were already en route. They picked up Dante and he waited for units to secure the scene and came straight here. He hasn’t spoken to any doctors and doesn’t even know Dante’s current status. Anna says, so he doesn’t think it was Josslyn or Dex who called 911? when Olivia runs in with Sam, Josslyn, and Dex behind her. She asks, where’s Dante? and Sonny says, in the trauma room. She asks if Sonny has seen him, but he says he was with Anna, and she told him that Dante took a shot. Olivia asks, how was he shot? Did Sonny have anything to do with this?

Sasha says she’s so sorry. If Maxie doesn’t mind her asking, what went wrong with her and Spinelli? Maxie says, turns out, Spinelli hasn’t been totally honest with her, and Sasha asks what not totally honest means. Maxie says, he used her circumstances to orchestrate a rescue, and Cody says, and that’s bad? Maxie says, Spinelli pretended to have burst pipes so he could move into her house and pay her rent and supplement her income during a personal financial crisis. Cody says, hold on. So Spinelli conned her into letting him give her money? That bastard. Maxie says, he’s missing the point, and Cody says he guesses he did, because it sounds like he just did a Spinelli thing, which is super nice and overly complicated. Sasha tells Maxie, of course (🍷) he doesn’t get it. He’s a man. Nobody ever treats him like a damsel in distress or assumes he’s helpless when he’s not. Maxie says, she gets it, and Cody says he really doesn’t. Spinelli did a good thing. Why is she mad at him? Maxie says, if Spinelli’s pipes had actually burst, that would be one thing. But he manipulated the situation so he could give her help that she didn’t want. He was disrespecting her boundaries. Cody says, kind of like what he and Sasha did, and Maxie says, yes and no. She knows both of them meant well. Sasha says, didn’t Spinelli mean well too? and Maxie says she and her mom already had this conversation. Cody asks what Felicia had to say, and Maxie says, a lot. It’s not that she doesn’t appreciate when someone wants to help her, but she doesn’t like feeling handled, no matter how good the intentions are.

Alexis says, when they discussed having a gossip column in The Invader, she was under the impression that the idea was up for further discussion. Nina says, as she recalls, they weren’t debating the column, just who would write it, and Alexis says, life can really be so subjective sometimes. Nina says, however differently they remember that conversation, it took place before she knew Adrian was available. To have a column with Adrian’s name on the byline is going to bring a lot more eyes to the newspaper, which means more money for the groundbreaking, envelope pushing, future award-winning news, which is Alexis’s expertise. Alexis says she’ll be sure to keep that under advisement. In the meantime, she has a reporter that’s waiting for her at a crime scene… Nina says, Alexis needs to tell her why an Editor-in-Chief has to go to a crime scene herself, but in the meantime, she’ll show Adrian around, but Adrian says he’s afraid he, too, must depart. It was a pleasure meeting Alexis. Alexis nods and says, mm-hm, and he tells her that he must say, her reluctance doesn’t surprise him. High culture has long been disdainful of what it considers idle chatter. Alexis says she’s very well-aware of that, and he says, and society reportage used to be diminished disdainfully as women’s talk, if not mere escapism. It can also be an impactful and subversive tool to expose the vapidity and corruption of the upper class. Alexis says she’d love to hear more about this… and he says, so she sees, an effective society column shines the light on people of all social strata and interrogates modern behavior. And it takes a brave publication – and editor – to recognize that.

Maxie gets up, and Sasha asks if she’ll be able to forgive them. Maxie says, actually, she kind of already has, and Cody says, what about Spinelli? Does she forgive him? Maxie asks, since when are Cody and Spinelli on the same team? They hate each other. Cody says, that’s not true. Spinelli doesn’t like him… at least, he didn’t. But since their initial difficulties, which he totally admits are his fault, he’s gotten to know the guy and he’s a good dude. Kind of blindsides you. You think he’s this nerdy tech guy, and all of a sudden, there’s more. He’s a cool guy. Maxie tells him that she’s not sure anybody has said that about Spinelli before, and Cody says, he’s smart, he’s protective, he’s loyal, and honestly, he thinks the world of Maxie. How bad can he be? Sasha says, at the risk of meddling again, why don’t Maxie and Spinelli try and see if they can work things out? They both said they love each other. Maxie says, yeah, but they’ve said that before and it didn’t work out. Maybe it won’t work out again. Sasha says, maybe it will. They already love each other. Why not just see where it goes? Cody agrees, and Maxie says, okay. In that case, she has a question for the two of them. When are they going to follow their own advice?

Anna tells Olivia, Dante was shot in the line of duty, pursuing case suspect, and Olivia says, but Sonny was there too. Sonny says, not when he was shot, and Olivia says, would their son have been there at all if Sonny wasn’t there first? and Sonny looks down. She says, that’s what she thought.

More medical stuff happens with Dante, and Portia says, he needs more blood. She can’t be sure if Dante is even strong enough for surgery.

Sam says, it’s going to take a while. Why don’t they have a seat? Olivia says she’s not done yet. This right here, this is all too familiar. Sonny flashes back to Olivia telling him that he just shot his own son. He tells Olivia that he knows, and Olivia suggests she and Sam find someone who can give them an update. They leave, and Sonny tells Anna that Olivia blames him, and he blames himself. Anna says, Dante was pursuing a suspect, two suspects, he says, suspects that were shooting at him. The last time he saw Dante was at the gym and he told Dante to get out of his way. She says, Dante knows he didn’t mean that, and he says, can she imagine his son was still trying to protect him? He made Dante think that he didn’t want him to. Josslyn and Dex watch, and everyone looks like they’re going to cry.

Alexis tells Adrian that she’s very well-aware of gossip’s historical relevance to journalism, and she’s genuinely impressed that he’d frame his work in those terms. Adrian says, to him, those are the only acceptable terms. He has no interest in penning a scandal sheet. It is his job to help readers better understand the values of their contemporary world. And he believes that’s something that interests her as well. Is it not? She says, call her Alexis, and shakes his hand. He says he’d be honored to, and she says she’ll be in touch. He says he looks forward to it and leaves. Nina says, Alexis can say it now; Nina, you were right. Alexis says she was thinking more along the lines of, Nina, you told me I’d have final approval, and Nina asks if Alexis is telling her that she doesn’t approve of Adrian. Alexis says she doesn’t think the problem is Adrian. She rather likes him. He acquitted himself nicely. His values seem to line up with The Invader. Nina says, great… right? and Alexis says, that depends if he was just giving her a line because he wants a job. As far as the column, even Gregory thinks that it may have merit. Nina says, what about her? and Alexis says she doesn’t not think so. Nina says, so she doesn’t entirely hate the idea and she likes the columnist, or the social observer. Alexis says, true and true, and Nina says, fantastic. Then it’s settled. Alexis says, no, it’s not. What she’s not sold on is Nina.

Sasha says, take their own advice? and Cody says he thinks he already is. Sasha says, in what way? and Cody says he’s working things out with Spinelli. What advice are they supposed to take? Maxie sighs and says, tonight’s meeting is hereby postponed. She picks up her bag and heads for the door. Cody asks if she’s going to find Spinelli. He’s sorry. He shouldn’t have asked. Maxie says she appreciates their efforts as matchmakers. She really does. Cody says, no, she doesn’t, and Maxie says, no, she doesn’t. They’re fired. Cody and Sasha are like, what? and Maxie says, not from Deception, obviously, but she’s opting out of this pro bono love connection. And since they both no longer have her love life to interfere with, they can direct their collective energy elsewhere. Look inward. She leaves, closing the door behind her, and Sasha and Cody look at each other.

Spinelli and Ava stare at computer screens, and Ava says, wow. He asks if she found something, but she says, no. She just got to the part where the cavalry showed up. It’s such a shame. Sonny’s plan almost worked. He says, this is distressing, and she asks if he sees something. He says, no, absolutely the opposite. One of his feeds cut out early. She says, a malfunction? but he says, unlikely. The camera equipment is new. The most likely scenario is the camera was discovered. Thankfully, whoever found the camera won’t have access to the footage, but whoever did abscond with his equipment will likely be trying to trace it to yours truly. She says she’s sure he covered those tracks thoroughly, right? and he says he cherishes the compliment. She says, the shot came through the skylight. He had cameras on the roof, right? He says, they’d be too easy to spot, but he did have a silent camera drone circling. She says, of course (🍷) he did, and he brings it up on the screen. She says, getting closer on his face there, and they both freeze. She says, oh my God.

The phone in trauma rings, and Portia says, they’re moving him now. She tells the other doctor, they’re ready for him in the OR.

Anna goes over to Josslyn and Dex, and says, Detective Chase told her that they’re the ones who found Dante. Josslyn says, that’s right, and Anna says, they’ll have to give an official statement at some point, but right now she’d just like them to tell her everything they remember about when they first saw him. Josslyn says, Dante was alone. There was nobody else there. He was lying down and had a sweatshirt tied around him, almost like a pressure bandage. Anna says, so someone administered first aid before they got there? and Dex says, yeah, and they elevated his legs, bandaged him up, and called 911.

Chase sits with Olivia and Sam, and says he’s so sorry about this. Sam says, they still don’t know what actually happened. How was Sonny involved? He says, there was a raid on one of Selina Wu’s warehouses. He and Dante were with Commissioner Devane, Agent Cates, and some agents. They got inside. While the Commissioner and Agent Cates were questioning Miss Wu and Sonny, someone fired a high-powered rifle through the skylight. Olivia says, and Dante was hit, but Chase says, no. No one was. They believe Sonny was the intended target, but the shot missed him. He and Dante were closest to the door, so they went up to the roof to investigate. They found a sniper rifle abandoned by the skylight and they observed two suspects about 200 yards off that were running rapidly toward the waterfront. Dante told him to secure the scene and wait for back-up. Then Dante went for the suspects. Sam says, so it was him against two suspects? and Chase says, yeah, but Dante told him to secure the scene and wait for back-up. He’s sorry. Sam says, that’s okay. Chase was just doing his job and Dante was doing his. It’s not his fault.

Portia runs to the front desk, and Sam, Olivia, and Chase run there too. Sam asks Portia, how’s Dante? and Portia says, Dante is in critical condition. He’s been shot twice in the chest and they’re prepping him for surgery as they speak. Olivia asks if he’s going to live, and Portia says, they’re doing everything they possibly can to make sure that he does. Dante is wheeled out, and Olivia strokes his hair. The elevator comes, and Dante is wheeled into it.

Ava asks Spinelli if it’s possible someone tampered with the footage between the shooting and now, and he asks if she means, could someone have altered the image? She says, yeah, and he says, it’s possible, but there’s no time and no access. She says, so this is real, and he says, but how? She asks if the drone footage has been loaded on the tablet. They have to show Sonny. He says, it has, but… There’s a knock at the door and he looks at his camera and says, Maxie? Outside the door, Maxie says, let her in. She needs to talk to him. Spinelli closes his laptop, and Ava puts the tablet in her bag. He opens the door and tells Maxie, this is not a good time, as Ava dashes past Maxie. He asks her to wait, but she keeps going, and Maxie asks what Ava was doing here. What’s going on?

Nina says, Alexis is still not convinced she has the experience or vision to take The Invader to the next level? and Alexis says she’s worried the paper will turn into something she’s not comfortable with. Nina says, different doesn’t necessarily mean bad. Like she did with Crimson, she sees opportunity at The Invader. If Alexis believes she’s going to take the paper in the wrong direction, she wants Alexis to compare her first edition at Crimson with her last one. Alexis says she’s not comparing this with Crimson in terms of Nina’s success rate. She’s done very well. Alexis isn’t questioning her intuition. She’s not questioning Nina’s creativity. She knows why Julian hired her. Nina says, Julian hired her to run Crimson into the ground, and Alexis says, and Nina made it soar. She’s not disputing the figures of Nina’s circulation. Nina says, then what’s the problem? and Alexis says, the problem is, Nina has a history with people she knows well, Drew and Sonny being two of them. And that history is not so good. So what she needs to know is, how can she be sure of Nina’s motivation here? Nina says, she can’t. She’s afraid Alexis will just have to trust her. Does she think she can do that?

Sonny kneels down in the chapel and says, bless me, Father, for I have sinned. You know my sins. You know what I’ve done. I will pay for it all, but please don’t take my son. Please, Lord, let him live. Olivia walks in, kneels next to Sonny, and blesses herself.

Sasha says, since their meeting has been postponed, she’s going to go home and finish her book, and Cody asks what she’s reading. She says, Pride and Prejudice, and he says, didn’t they make that into a movie? She says, yeah, a few, and he says, cool. He guesses he’ll head home too. She says, to the stables? and he says, no. He’s probably going to head to the manse first, heat up some of Mama Q’s cooking. Maybe watch a movie. She asks, what movie? and he says he doesn’t know. Maybe Pride and Prejudice. She asks, which version? and he says, whatever’s shortest. Isn’t there a zombie one? They both start talking at the same time, and she says she really hopes Maxie and Spinelli will work through this. He says, it would be a shame if they didn’t. They’re obviously meant for each other. She says, well, goodnight, and he says he really did want to help Maxie and Spinelli. She says she knows, and he says, but this was also an opportunity to spend time with her. She says, and it was an opportunity for her to spend time with him.

Nina says, without trust, this working relationship is a non-starter, and Alexis says, if that’s the case, which one of them goes first? Alexis’s phone rings, and she says, she was just on her way… Is that confirmed?… Thanks. Nina asks, what is it?

Sam thanks Portia and the other doctor for everything, and the doctor says, they’re glad they could help him as much as they did. Portia says, Dante’s strong. He’s really fighting in there. Sam says, that’s Dante. She just wishes there was more she could do to help. She guesses they all wish that though. Portia says, it’s the waiting. It’s the worst part of it all. Time stops. Sam says she’s spent a lot of time in this hospital, mostly waiting on people that she loves, and it never gets any easier. Portia says, the surgery is going to take a while, but she’ll keep checking in with the team and make sure to update Sam and Olivia. (That’s doctor code for, go wait somewhere else.) Sam says, they’d appreciate that, thanks them again, and leaves. The other doctor says, it really doesn’t get any easier, does it? and she says, no, it doesn’t.

Anna and Chase sit with Josslyn and Dex, and Anna says she’d like them to tell her and Chase everything that happened exactly as it happened. Everything they remember. Dex says he and Josslyn were driving back to Port Charles, and Josslyn says, and she has an app on her phone that said police scanners were reporting gunfire out on the waterfront. They assumed that meant Sonny, so they went straight to the pier. (I love how they assumed that meant Sonny. Gunshots? Yep, must be Sonny.) Anna says, Dex works for Sonny, correct? but he says, not anymore. Sonny fired him two weeks ago. Anna says, yet Dex still felt compelled to check on him, and Dex says he did. She says, okay, so what did they see when they found Dante? Josslyn says, they already told them, and Anna says she knows, but she’d like them to tell it again. Because sometimes you remember things you didn’t the first time. Josslyn says, okay. Of course (🍷). They got there and Dante was lying there. The second they got to him, it became clear that somebody had given him first aid, because he had that sweatshirt wrapped around him and his legs were elevated. Anna asks how his legs were elevated exactly, and Dex says, someone folded up a bulletproof vest and stuck it underneath his legs. Anna says, anything else? and Josslyn says, yes. There was a phone next to Dante on a call with 911. She picked it up and spoke to the operator. Anna says, she handled the phone? and Josslyn says, yes. Was she not supposed to? He was lying there bleeding and gasping for air. Anna says she’s just trying to figure out what happened. It’s clear the two of them demonstrated extraordinary presence of mind. They’re doing great. So Josslyn picked up the phone, the line is open to 911. Josslyn says, yeah, and the operator said she’d spoken to somebody else and that they’d left and that the paramedics were almost there. Then they started hearing the sirens and Chase showed up. Chase says he found Dex and Josslyn giving first aid. Shortly after he arrived, Dante’s heart stopped. Dex says, while he performed chest compressions, Joss did rescue breathing, and they got his heart started just before the paramedics got there. Then they took over. Anna thanks them and says, not only is Dante one of their finest officers, he’s also a friend. It’s clear they saved his life, and the PCPD and her personally owe them a great debt.

Olivia prays, eyes closed, holding her rosary. She sees Sonny isn’t beside her, blesses herself, and goes over to him. She says she apologizes. She was afraid. She was so afraid they were really going to lose Dante for good. She shouldn’t have called him out like that. He says, she’s not wrong. Someone was gunning for him, and their son Dante got caught in the crossfire. Again. She says, Dante was doing his duty. As a cop, he knows what that means, even if she forgets it sometimes. Sonny says, Dante was protecting him, and Olivia says, because he’s a damn good cop… and an even better son. She takes Sonny’s hand, and he says, Dante’s one of the people he can count on right now. Olivia’s phone rings and she says, it must be Ned. He’s getting all her messages at once. He tells her, go, and she heads for the door, telling Ned that she’s in the chapel right now. She opens the door and Ava is there. She walks past Ava, and Ava goes inside.

Sonny says, she’s here, and Ava says she is. He asks if she and Spinelli found something in the footage, and she says, they haven’t looked through everything yet… He says, they’ve got to find something. He’s sorry. He didn’t mean that. She says, that’s okay. She’s so sorry about Dante. Sonny must be going out of his mind. He asks why she’s here, and she says she and Spinelli found something important. It’s something he needs to see right away.

Maxie wonders why Ava was here, and Spinelli says he was just following up on a job he was doing for Sonny, and they saw something that was completely confounding. She says, something he doesn’t want to talk about? and he says, not until they can understand it, but Maxie is here now. To what does he owe the pleasure? She says she’s been thinking about things, and she thinks they should talk about how they left everything. He says he couldn’t agree more… She says, okay, she’ll go first, but he says he doesn’t think he’s up to the task just yet. She says, what is really going on? He looks like he’s seen a ghost. He says he has.

Sasha says, Cody knows better than anyone what she’s been dealing with for the past few years, and he says he knows. She says she hasn’t felt ready to move on and be involved with anybody. And she’s not sure she’s ready yet. He tells her that he’s going to say this as many times as she needs to hear it. He just likes spending time with her. So if this happens, it happens. And if it doesn’t, hell, he really wasn’t much of a catch anyway and she probably dodged a bullet. She says she hopes they can finally agree on one thing, and he says, what’s that? She says, they don’t need to find more excuses to spend time together.

Portia calls Curtis and says, no, nothing’s wrong. She just needed to hear his voice again.

Anna asks Chase, who’s running the crime scene? and he says, the PCPD. No sign of FBI yet. She says, interesting. She thought Agent Cates would be all over it. Chase says, maybe he’s busy with something else, and she says, just as well. She wants to keep it in-house for as long as they can. He says he checked with the units on the scene. Forensics is checking for evidence. They have the phone and Dante’s vest. She says her guess is, the phone’s a burner and Josslyn handled it, so it’s doubtful they’ll get anything useful off of that. However, 911 will have a recording of that call, so she’ll have tech coordinate with them. They need a copy of that. She wants to know who placed that call, who was trying to help Dante, and why.

Olivia tells Sam that she spoke to Dr. Park. It’s a little too early for an update on the surgery, but he said even though Dante is unconscious, he’s still showing a really strong will to live. He’s in there fighting for every breath. Sam says, Olivia knows Dante, stubborn to a fault, and Olivia says, he’s the worst, but Sam says, actually, the best. She and Olivia hug.

Alexis tells Nina that the reporter she was supposed to meet on the waterfront just informed her that an officer is down. Nina says, that’s terrible. That definitely qualifies for breaking news. She’ll leave Alexis to her job. She starts to leave, and Alexis says, the officer who was shot was Dante.

Ava holds the tablet and tells Sonny, right here there’s a clear angle of one of the gunmen. Sonny says, they’ll get that to Brick, and he’ll get a name real fast, but she says, actually, that won’t be necessary. She and Spinelli were able to identify him. He says, they identified him? Who is it?

Maxie says, Spinelli saw a ghost? Where did he see it? Spinelli says, he was right there… He was sentient. He was breathing. Maxie says, he’s going to have to give her a little more to work with here, and he says, it’s impossible. It simply cannot be. She says, just tell her. What is impossible?

Sonny says, if Ava knows who it is, spit it out, but she says, some things need to be seen to be believed. She shows him the tablet.

Spinelli sits in front of the screen and says, it’s impossible, both that he’s alive and working against Sonny. Maxie asks, who exactly did he see on the screen? and Spinelli turns around.

Ava says, it’s him, isn’t it? We see the tablet screen with Jason in a freeze frame, and she says, it’s Jason.

Tomorrow, Chase tells Brook that it’s not too late to say this isn’t he life she wants; Laura suggests to Drew and Carly that they divide and conquer; John wants to see what’s on the footage; and Ava says, what if he’s come back to take Sonny out?

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills – Reunion Part 2

Holding my nose and jumping in.

Andy says, at Kyle’s Celebration of Life, she welcomed the support of the ladies (his word, not mine), but there were other points where there was a marked distance between Kyle and her friends, especially Dorit. Kyle said she was disappointed about the way Dorit handled the Kathy situation at the Reunion. We flash back, and Kyle says she felt Dorit cared more about the audience. Dorit says, that’s the most hysterical thing she ever heard. All she wanted was for Kyle to leave the Reunion being okay with Kathy, and Kathy wanted Kyle to hear her. Garcelle suggests Dorit should just admit she shouldn’t have done it, but Dorit says she’s allowed to speak on her own behalf. Andy says, Kyle is a year and a half sober, and asks how she feels. Kyle says she feels amazing, and even if alcohol isn’t a problem, when you stop drinking, something about it changes you. He wonders if Morgan’s not drinking influenced her, and Dorit thinks that’s a no, but when you hang out with people who don’t drink, you don’t drink. Andy says, some viewers thought the other women were insensitive to Kyle’s sobriety, and Garcelle says, it was in jest. Erika says, if they’d thought she had a problem, it would have been different. Dorit says, it seemed like Kyle changed a lot, but Kyle says she’s worked out since she was a teen because she had to. She was being reckless, drinking and taking drugs. She doesn’t really clarify the latter, but I assume she means too much weed. Sutton says, Kyle insinuated she had a drinking problem and an eating disorder, and we flash back to that. They circle this drain for what feels like eternity, with Kyle saying she doesn’t know if Sutton has a problem or not, but she would never say she did. Then she tries to turn the tables, asking what she ever did to Sutton to warrant what Sutton did to her at the weed dinner. Instead of asking if she was okay, Sutton acted like she did something wrong. We flash back to that, and then somehow get stuck in the Kyle/Sutton/drinking whirlpool again. Crystal says, Kyle had told them she’d had a hard year, but she wasn’t specific, and Kyle says she’d just started figuring things out for herself. Why do they feel entitled to an explanation? Sutton says, they all share what’s going on, but Kyle says, that’s not true. She’s been on the show for 13 years and has never held back. She lists all the life events she’s experienced while on the show, her resumé as it were, and says, all Sutton’s got going on is her horse and a dating coach. Give her a break. I didn’t like Kyle much to begin with, but she’s become insufferable since LVP left.  

Kyle says, they’re not allowed to talk about Christian, but Sutton says, that’s a lie. And I’m wondering, if that’s the case, why did we hear all about him, Sutton’s alimony, and their marriage? Was Kyle not paying attention? Was she too stoned to notice? Kyle says, Sutton wanted her to spill what happened in her marriage, and Sutton says, they had questions. Kyle says, Sutton came on this season just to come after her, and Sutton is like, what? Kyle mimics her, and says, maybe Sutton getting a horse and having a cashmere line isn’t enough, so Sutton talks about her. Making a valiant effort, Andy says, back to the actual point, and we’re back at Kyle insinuating Sutton has a drinking problem. Someone let me off this hamster wheel. Crystal says, it was more Dorit, and Dorit says she doesn’t think Sutton has a problem. She doesn’t have evidence of it. Sutton says she doesn’t know if Dorit has a drinking problem either. She doesn’t know how many carcasses are on the floor at night. Ha-ha-ha! Andy says, the group loves a party, and Kyle’s weed dinner took things to new high. We flash back to Denise being nearly incoherent, and Andy asks what was going through their minds. Garcelle says she kept telling Denise, you can’t say that, and Andy says, a viewer suggested Denise was less mad about Erika’s threesome comment than the rumor about her hookup with Brandi. Since LisaR, Teddi, and Brandi weren’t around, she took it out on Erika. Andy moves on to Dorit, saying, at BravoCon 2022, Erika predicted Dorit and PK would be splitsville. He wonders if she was onto something, and as we watch that clip, Erika and Dorit both laugh about it. We flash back to Dorit and PK being at odds throughout the season, and Andy says, Dorit’s style transformation – dark colors, darker hair, and an usually logo-free wardrobe – led a viewer to think PK put her on a budget. As Dorit gives a ten-hour explanation why she changed her look, Andy yawns behind his cue cards. Dorit says, don’t you dare, and we flash back to the first and second time he did that. I’m guessing she’s an energy vampire. Andy says, this season, Dorit was recovering from another horrific robbery, $10K for bonuses that she left in a shopping cart. Dorit says she was on the way to give out bonuses and didn’t think she had enough cards, so she stopped at Marshall’s. This causes an uproar about her shopping in a thrift store, and she admits to loving Marshall’s and Home Goods. I’m with her here. Just because you have the money doesn’t mean you should spend it all and those stores are amazing. She says she realized she didn’t have her bag when she was at the store, and later, camera footage showed she’d been targeted and followed. Andy says, Garcelle questioned the house robbery, and Dorit says, it was a mother’s worst nightmare and Garcelle intimated it wasn’t real. Garcelle says she believes Dorit was robbed, but there were a few things that were off. Dorit says, like what?

Garcelle wonders why Dorit still had her rings, and Dorit says, they’d just gotten back from London and the things she traveled with weren’t in their normal place. Garcelle says, it was strangely kind for the robber to leave Dorit’s phone by the gate because she asked, and we flash back to that. Dorit says, she’d just had a gun held to her head with someone saying, kill her, and Garcelle says she knows the story, but Dorit says, allow her finish, because Dorit is one of those people for whom the tape must run out. Dorit wonders. what’s so unfathomable? and Garcelle says, it’s rare, but Erika says, it’s not impossible. Dorit says, it’s not that crazy, but what is crazy is the narrative Garcelle is peddling. Garcelle says, it’s her opinion. That doesn’t change Dorit’s reality. Dorit tells her, it’s a strong thing to say. It shows that Garcelle couldn’t care less. Garcelle says she’s sorry she hurt Dorit, and Andy moves on to Sutton bringing up the rumor that PK had a woman in the car when he was picked up for a DUI. Sutton says, the streets told her, and Erika asks, what streets is she running? Sutton says she got a spanking for it from PK, and Dorit says, it was mean spirited. Sutton says, insinuating she puts vodka in her coffee is mean spirited. The streets must have told Dorit. Erika says, the mean streets of Beverly Hills, and I think, that’s a great book title.

Andy mentions that Kyle said she never reads the paperwork Mauricio gives her before signing it and asks if she’s met his friend Teresa Giudice. Kyle says, her mom told her to never trust a man, but there’s so much small print and so much paper. Erika says, it’s okay to trust your partner, and Andy says, she’s not a poster child for trusting your partner. Erika says, she’s not a poster child for any of this sh*t. Andy tells Dorit that Julia Roberts was on Watch What Happens Live and said PK should have given her the necklace. We see the clip from WWHL, and Andy says, Dorit struggled with PK not being present. How are they doing? Dorit says, after filming, things got progressively worse until they were at an all-time low, but now things are better than ever. PK had been drinking a lot and it was difficult to have a clear-headed conversation with him, but he’s been sober for 49 days. It was a pivotal moment. Andy asks how Dorit felt when Kyle didn’t trust her enough to share what was going on, and Dorit shared her own life with Kyle. Dorit says she could see that there were no pictures of Mauricio on Kyle’s Instagram. Kyle says she thought Dorit would call, instead of waiting until they were on camera, but Dorit says, it was like Kyle was trying to avoid her. Kyle says, when she’s struggling, she retreats, and Dorit says, their husbands are close. Kyle wasn’t alone. Kyle says she’s been married her whole adult life and it’s painful.  They were keeping a front for the kids. She and Dorit agree that after the Reunion, they’ll take a beat, then talk.

Andy says, Erika gave up fighting for Lent, but there were a few old grudges she couldn’t give up on. We flash back to the new same old Erika, and he says, everyone loves a comeback. He congratulates her on her Vegas residency and her special, Bet It All on Blonde, and we see a clip from the latter. He brings up Sutton saying tickets were $7, and Sutton says she was joking, but they might be in the balcony. Clearly, she hasn’t paid to see any kind of show in decades. Andy asks if she was being a showman, and she says, yes. He asks why Erika let Denise get a rise out of her when she’d given up fighting for Lent, and Erika says, she was looking for it. Sutton asks if she feels bad in retrospect, but Erika says, absolutely not. Andy says, Erika was spotted in Vegas with an old friend of Tom’s, and the headlines said he was her sugar daddy, but Erika says, he’s her private lawyer. Andy says, she didn’t want to show empathy for the victims of Tom’s scamming because it might make her seem guilty or complicit, and Erika says, when you’re in a legal process, and told not to comment either way, when you can’t respond the way others think you should, it looks like you have no empathy. Andy says she met with a group of people who were victims, and Erika says she was advised to do it by her counsel. She thought it was important that they saw her as a person, not through the lens of a reality show. She found out a lot, like how one of her paychecks in a client’s trust fund. Andy says, Tom has dementia, but was considered competent to stand trial. Erika says, competent under the law and a medical diagnosis are two different things, and Crystal says, the standard length of survival after diagnosis is 9 years. According to what Erika told them, the disease would have been too progressed for him to be able to stand trial. It seems strange. Erika says, if Crystal means she thinks he’s faking it, just say it, but Crystal says she doesn’t know if he’s faking it, but it was surprising to her. They talked about it 4 years ago. Andy lets it slip, no doubt on purpose, that Kathy is joining them. We see her get out of the limo in her PJs and slippers.

While getting made up backstage, Kathy says Mauricio is doing Dancing with the Stars (Scheana! Scheana!) and she thinks it will be good for Kyle’s healing. Kyle isn’t impulsive and she didn’t decide in a few months. She thinks Kyle’s been deciding for the last three or four years. She shouldn’t say that, but she did.

Andy says, when Sutton was left out of Magic Mike in Vegas, she and her pants had a magic meltdown. We flash back over Sutton’s name ‘em season, and Sutton says she didn’t know the show was like that. He asks what she was reacting to, and she delicately says, the simulation of cunnilingus. Erika asks if she likes it IRL, and then says she’s joking, but we all know she’s inappropriate on purpose. Andy says, Sutton was convinced the elevator was timed, and Sutton says, it seemed suspect in the moment, an opportunity to humiliate her. We flash back, and it does seem like Erika reacted pretty quickly, telling Sutton it was an opportunity for her to apologize. Erika says, Sutton threw a fit at Magic Mike, embarrassing her, and Andy says, later, Sutton said she was upset because her ex was moving to another country. Sutton says, Christian said she and James were moving as well and he gets what he wants. Garcelle says she realized how much hold Christian still has on Sutton, and Sutton says, had. She told him that she and James were staying here. It took courage, but he agreed. Andy says, that’s huge for her, and Sutton says she’s changed over the course of the show. Andy says, many women tell him that the show gave them a voice, and Sutton says, Kyle claims all she has is cashmere and a horse. Kyle makes a face.

Kyle says, it’s a joke, but Sutton says, it’s not true and Kyle hurt her feelings. She has her store, and her new business is a big deal. Kyle says, Sutton doesn’t talk about her personal life. She didn’t talk about the Uber driver. Sutton surprisingly doesn’t correct Kyle, since it was her personal driver, but she says she’s not revealing his name when she hasn’t told her children. Andy says, Sutton revealed that her monthly alimony is $300K on WWHL, and while some applauded, some said she was gloating. He asks what Annemarie, who’s been looking bored AF, thinks, and she says, in her world, they don’t talk about money. She has wealthy and famous friends, but they don’t talk about it. Everyone can do what they want, but in her world, they don’t do that. Andy asks about Kyle and Sutton’s friendship because we haven’t beat that dead horse enough, and Sutton says, any chance Kyle got, she said their friendship was a farce. They had a great private conversation before the weed dinner, privately, but when the camera is on, Kyle’s not a good friend. Kyle says, her kids were asking if her rings were from Mauricio because he cheated, but Sutton says she didn’t say that. Kyle says, Garcelle did from a conversation that she and Sutton had, and Sutton says, they were both hot that night. We flash back and Andy says, Kyle’s visit to Sutton did not go well. Kyle says, it started fine until Sutton started to tell her, name ‘em. She seemed off. Andy says, when Teddi was on WWHL, she said she thought Sutton kept vodka in her purse, and a viewer said Teddi is doing Kyle’s dirty work now. Sutton says, Kyle didn’t have her back, and has been relentlessly mean to her this season. Kyle asks, where? and Sutton tells her, as Denise would say, watch the show.

Next week – the Reunion concludes (thank you, God) – Kathy makes an appearance; more on Kyle’s relationships with Mauricio and Morgan; Andy asks Erika who’s most afraid of Kathy; and Sutton has a medical emergency where Andy says, you’re really shaking, and waves a cue card at her, as Garcelle suggests they call someone. Remind me never to be around these people if I need medical help.

🍵 A Watched Pot Does Too Boil…

Join me tomorrow for soap and a mixture of entertainment. Until then, stay safe, stay wiping down equipment at the gym after you use it, and stay remembering that different doesn’t necessarily mean bad.