Tag Archives: Lala Kent

April 11, 2024 – Chase Changes the Honeymoon Plans, Blame Game, VanderMoments, Shading Shannon, Dead Talk, Pet (!) Diversity & Normally

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Carly wakes up in the chair and looks over at John sleeping on the sofa.

Brook says, what if they made a mistake? but Lois says, they didn’t. Brook says, what if the style’s all wrong? but Lois says, it won’t be. Brook says, what if the lace is like a gross shade of ivory? but Lois says, that’s never going to happen. Brook says, what if they ruined Lila’s dress for nothing? and Lois says, Lila’s dress was already ruined. Unsalvageable, said the seamstress, except for the best part, which they’re putting to perfect use. So what is she really afraid of? Brook says, what if she doesn’t like it? and Lois says, if she doesn’t like her wedding dress, they’ll scrap it and find her something she loves. Because there’s nothing more important than her happiness on her wedding day. Capisce? Brook says, capisce, and Sandrine walks in with an assistant carrying a garment bag. She says, ladies, are you ready? The wedding gown of your dreams.

Curtis walks slowing into Drew’s office, and Drew says, look at him. He can’t believe this progress. It’s incredible. Curtis says he firmly believes if you do the work, you can achieve anything, and Drew says he was in Greenland with Curtis, so he’s not going to underestimate him, but walking this soon after surgery is next level. Curtis thanks him, and Drew says, and he can take a compliment. Curtis says, Trina’s been on him about absorbing good energy. It sounds a little woo-woo to him, but he’s trying. Drew says he’s happy for Curtis, and Curtis says, don’t keep him in suspense. Why is he here? Michael walks in and says, what’s going on? Drew says, let the meeting of the minds commence.

Alexis says, Nina did not just say that, and Nina asks if she denies it. Alexis says, that she’s being mean to Nina’s precious gossip slinger? Are they in second grade? Nina says, DeWitt is not just The Invader’s society columnist, and Alexis says, ugh, that title. Nina says, he got a promotion. He is now associate publisher. Alexis says she knows that. Nina reminds her of that all the time. How could she possibly forget that Nina has hired someone so incompetent? Nina asks, says who? and Alexis tells her, says me. And it’s not DeWitt’s fault that he’s going to make an ass of himself. That honor belongs to Nina.

TJ meets Marshall at a park bench, hands him a coffee, and says, good morning. Marshall says, and what a beautiful morning it is, and TJ says he has egg sandwiches too, handing Mashall a bag. Marshall says, that’s very thoughtful of him. Not that he wasn’t thrilled to get TJ’s call, but since he has the morning off, why isn’t he spending it with Molly? TJ says he considered it, but he knew how the conversation would go. Marshall asks, how’s that? TJ says, she’d thank him for wanting them to do something together, then she’d say she has an arraignment in five minutes, but she’ll make it up to him tonight. Then that would turn into her trying too hard and both of them faking it through whatever she thought of, or even worse, she stays late at the office to avoid the situation altogether. Marshall asks who they’re talking about here, because that doesn’t sound anything like TJ and Molly.

At the MetroCourt, Anna thanks Valentin for meeting her and apologizes for it being so last minute. He says, lucky for her, he had no breakfast plans, and they sit down. He says he ordered her tea and pours her some. She thanks him for being thoughtful, and he says, she called, and he came. What’s this about? She wonders if he can help her with a case, and he says he’ll always help her. What’s the case? She says, Pikeman.

Brook says she doesn’t know what she was so afraid of. The dress is perfection. Lois says, the only thing more beautiful than that dress was her in it, and Brook asks if she’s crying again. Lois says, get used to it. Her baby girl is getting married in the most magical wedding gown. Brook says she doesn’t know how Sandrine did it, but she really captured the spirit of Lila’s dress to a T. Lois says, it feels like she channeled Lila, all of her kindness and her warmth and her acceptance and her generosity, because that’s who Lila was. Brook says, Lois is so lucky she got to wear Lila’s gown, and Lois says, Brook gets to be a part of that too. Brook says, in the tiniest way, but Lois says, no. In her own way. That’s what makes it so special. Brook gets to have a piece of Lila while still being who she is. Beautiful, amazing, incredible her. Brook thanks Lois for doing this with her, and Lois says, is she kidding? Is she insane? She would have busted that door down if she hadn’t gotten an invite. Brook says, then she’s glad Lois did, and Lois says she’s so happy for Brook. And she’s happy for Chase. She’s happy for all of them really. Brook says she’s happy for them too, and they hug.

Alexis says, why doesn’t Nina just admit it. Nina hired DeWitt to piss her off. Nina says she actually does think he’s an asset, and Alexis says, and the fact he’s a colossal thorn in her side? Nina says, that’s just a perk, no doubt about it. Alexis asks, why? and Nina says, why does she enjoy steam shooting out of Alexis’s ears? Alexis says, why is she doing this? She doesn’t even work here anymore. Nina says, that’s exactly why she needed a replacement, but Alexis says, Nina didn’t need a replacement. Alexis was doing just fine and would do even better if Nina would stop breathing down her neck. Nina asks if Alexis wants people to read her publication, and Alexis asks, what kind of question is that? Everything was fine before Nina got here. Nina says, but is it better since she brought DeWitt on? Be honest about that. It is, because there’s a measurable rise in website traffic. Alexis says, and she thinks that’s because there’s a gossip column? and Nina says, yes, partially. Alexis has to court their readers. She has to give them something delicious and irresistible, so they stick around for the hard news. What she can’t do is decide what’s good for them and ram it down their throats. You have to woo them. Alexis says, what if she just quits? and Nina says, there’s the door.

Michael says, it’s good to see Curtis back on his feet, and Curtis says, it’s good to be back. He hears Jason was exonerated. Michael says, yeah. They’re all relieved about that. Curtis says, when Jason was suspected of taking shots at Sonny, he thought maybe there was a chance he tried before last summer at the MetroCourt. It’s nice to know Jason didn’t put him in that wheelchair. Drew says, he didn’t stay in that wheelchair very long though, did he? and Curtis says, no. He was lucky. He had experimental surgery and it worked. Drew says, come on. The surgery just gave him a chance to walk again. Curtis is the one who made that a reality. All the rehabs, learning how to walk again… Is Curtis kidding him? He can’t imagine what that was like for Curtis. Curtis has all his respect for making it through that and getting to the other side. Curtis thanks him and says he doubts Drew brought them here to compliment him on walking again. Why are they here?

Carly asks how John is feeling, and he says, sore. She says she bets, and he says, and very tired. She says, really? He didn’t sleep well? He says, it’s hard to get a good night’s sleep with her waking him up every couple of hours. She says she’s sorry. Should she have let him monitor his own signs of concussion? He says, is he, by the way, concussed? and she says, no. He’s bruised and bloody, but somehow, his head came out unscathed. He asks if that’s her professional opinion as his almost nurse, and she asks if he’s going to start arguing with her this early in the morning. He says he already knows it won’t do any good.

Sandrine says, Lois might surprise Brook, but Brook says, nothing her mother does surprises her. She’s well-aware of her mother’s flair, shall they say, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Lois comes in, and Sandrine tells Brook, like she said. Wearing a midi dress with a black lace overlay and a short white jacket along with pearls, Lois says, ta-da. Brook says, wow… ma… that’s… Lois says, she hates it?

Alexis tells Nina that she always says that – there’s the door – but they both know Nina needs her. Nina says, agreed. And she’s been agreeing with Alexis the whole time. Her point is, she thinks the paper would benefit if they just had DeWitt’s expertise and experience. Alexis says, no, and Nina says, that’s it. Just no. Alexis says she will not sit by and let The Invader be turned back into a tabloid, and Nina says, then don’t let it. Alexis says she’s trying, but Nina is making it very difficult. A messenger comes to the door and says he just needs a signature from Alexis. Alexis signs the form, and Nina says, you know what it’s going to say on Alexis’s tombstone? Alexis says, death by frustration? and thanks the messenger. He leaves, and Nina says, no. It’s going to say, Alexis Davis, didn’t play well with others. Alexis says, and now they’re back to the schoolyard, and Nina says, because Alexis refuses to grow up. DeWitt stays. End of discussion. She leaves, and Molly walks in. Alexis says she hates that woman, and Molly tells her, take a breath. Alexis says, how? She sucked all the air out of the room. Molly says, professional differences? and Alexis tells her, you could say that. She invites Molly in and says, tell her something wonderful that has nothing to do with this publication. Molly says she would, but she can’t. The Invader is actually why she’s here. Alexis puts her head on the desk.

TJ asks if Marshall has ever looked back at a decision and known he should have gone with his gut, and Marshall says, too many times. TJ says, when Molly pitched the idea of Kristina being both their surrogate and egg donor, his instincts were screaming, this is the wrong move. For a million reasons, but the most glaring being that Kristina’s too close. There’s no finish line. There’s no cutting ties at the end. Why? Because there couldn’t be. She’s Molly’s sister. Marshall says, and since Molly couldn’t go forward without his buy-in, that was TJ’s moment to shut it down. TJ says he should have explained why he was against it, calmly and unequivocally, before anything got too far. Instead, he went with the short-term gain of giving Molly what she wanted. Marshall says, some would call that being supportive, but TJ says he calls that being a coward. She was so wrecked. She was utterly devastated that she couldn’t get pregnant. So when she pitched the idea, he knew that for Molly, the closest thing she could have to carrying her own baby was for her sister to have it for her.

Anna tells Valentin that she and Dante were ambushed on the docks by Roman Hume. He worked for Pikeman. It’s just so strange. All roads seem to lead back to this one, ultra secretive organization that’s run by a ghost. He says, a ghost? and she says, Pikeman’s ties to the WSB are clear, but no one seems to know who’s at the top of the pyramid. So she needs information. She was hoping maybe he could provide it for her. He says, Pikeman? and she says, he was working for them as recently as last summer. He says, as an intermediary, a glorified messenger, and she asks how that job came about. He says he did some contract work for them back in the 90s, and they felt comfortable asking him to introduce them to Sonny, but whether Sonny and Pikeman did any work together after that was none of his concern. She says, okay. Maybe she can pick his brain about something else. Or someone. He asks, who? and she says, Jack Brennan.

Lois asks, what’s wrong with it? and Brook says, absolutely nothing. Lois says, well, something, but Brook says, the dress is lovely. It’s classy and elegant and tasteful… Lois says she feels a but coming, and Brook says, no buts. It’s just not really Lois’s style. Lois says, it’s just and but are exactly the same thing, and Brook asks if Lois thinks that’s her style. Lois says, to go out on a Saturday night? No, but she was under the impression that what you wear to your daughter’s wedding isn’t what you wear to go clubbing. They’re two completely different things. Brook says, it doesn’t have to be this different. What kind of nails would she even do with that? Lois says she was thinking maybe just clear, and Brook says, what? Lois says she’s the mother of the bride. She’s supposed to be understated. Brook says, there’s no supposed to be here. This isn’t a royal wedding. There areno standards she has to live up to. Brook just wants her to wear what she wants to wear. Something that makes her feel like her. Lois says, this definitely doesn’t feel like her, and Brook says she didn’t think so. Back to the drawing board. Lois tells Sandrine, let’s pull some colors, some swatches… Maybe show some skin this time. You know what? Maybe a plunging neckline. Brook says, let’s not get carried away, when Chase walks in. He asks if he missed it, and Brook says, missed what? What is he doing here? Sandrine says, there’s been a special order for the bride-to-be, and Brook asks what they’re up to. Sandrine says she was commissioned to design a dress for Brook’s honeymoon, and Brook asks if Chase really thinks that’s necessary. He says, very, and Sandrine takes out a beautiful black cocktail dress. Brook says, it’s gorgeous, and Chase asks if she likes it. Brook says she’s obsessed with it, but it’s long sleeves. Doesn’t he think she’ll be a little warm in Palm Beach? He says, they’re not going to Palm Beach.

Molly says, The Invader ran a piece on the DA’s office being opposed to the overturning of Heather Webber’s conviction, her multiple convictions of assault and homicide going back nearly twenty years. Alexis says, that would be with the metallosis diagnosis. Yes. She signed off on that. Molly says, then she knows the article cited an unnamed source, and Alexis says, yes. Molly says, mom, and Alexis says, what? Molly says, everybody at the DA’s office assumes that source is her. Alexis says, it isn’t, and Molly says, Alexis knows that, and she knows that, but her colleagues, specifically DA Scorpio, do not know that. Alexis asks what Molly wants her to do about it. The story checked out. Molly says she wants Alexis to help her prove that she’s not the one who broke confidentiality and discussed the case with a reporter, and Alexis asks how exactly Molly wants her to do that. Molly says, tell her who did.

Marshall asks if Molly knows TJ has misgivings about Kristina being the surrogate, and TJ tells him that he wouldn’t say it exactly like that, but yeah. Molly has her worries too. He thinks that’s the problem, because whenever he tells her his concerns… Marshall says, about what, besides the being too close part? and TJ says he just doesn’t think Kristina is taking the best care of herself. (Huh?) She’s out late, she’s not avoiding stress, plus the small fact that she’s out with her dad, who’s getting shot at on the regular. Marshall says, points taken. So when he brings all these things up to Molly… TJ says, she takes the position of defending Kristina, even though he knows they share the same concerns. That’s why they avoid the topic altogether. He just feels like, during this time, he and Molly should be closer together, but he just feels more and more distant from her. Marshall says, and what about Kristina? Has their relationship been affected? TJ says, how can it not be? Any time he shares a worry he has with her, she accuses him of overreacting. It’s as if Kristina is having the baby and she’s going to let them know when it’s here. He sounds ungrateful, doesn’t he? Marshall says, no. He sounds human. TJ tells him, that’s what mom said. Marshall says, smart woman, your mother.

Drew says he’s been doing some research and Floodgate Consultancy Group says, the wellness and fitness space is booming out there. They’re all across the country, but especially in the high-end areas, with both residential and urban people spending so much money not only to look good, but to feel good. Really laying the foundation for health, wellness, and longevity. Michael says he read that report too. 40 is the new 25, and with the right fitness regimen and the right products, you, too, can achieve it. Drew says, so thoughts? and Michael says he thinks it’s a good time for Aurora to diversify. Crimson and print media is still a front burner for them, but it is drying up. They need to find alternative revenue streams. He thinks dipping in to an expanding market makes sense. Curtis says, an expanding market like health and wellness, and Drew says, which is where Curtis comes in.

On the phone, Carly says she just ordered toast and eggs. She doesn’t understand what’s taking so long. John comes in, wearing only a towel, and Carly says she’ll hold. She tells John that she bets the shower felt amazing. He says, it did, and she says, it’s amazing what hot water can do, but he says, not so hot really. Carly tells the kitchen that she’s still holding, and looks at John. He says, the water never got too warm, and she says, he’s got to be kidding her. Back on the phone, she says, she’s here. She’s still here… No. She’s pretty sure there’s no food in her hotel room… What? They left the food outside the door, without knocking…?… Okay. She hangs up and says, they’ve got to be kidding her. No hot water, shoddy room service… This hotel is definitely going downhill. She opens the door just as Nina is walking by, and Nina says, oh. Good morning to you. She looks at John standing behind Carly in the towel.

Valentin tells Anna, what he remembers about Jack Brennan is, his rapid rise to director of the WSB was followed by a spectacular fall. He singlehandedly orchestrated Frisco Jones’ ouster and a year later, he was out himself. She says, he knows Jack is in Pentenville, right? and he says, yeah, thanks to her. She says, in part. She went to visit him the other day. Valentin asks, why? and she says, curiosity? Valentin hasn’t been to see him yet? Valentin says, has he been to see Jack Brennan in Pentenville? No, he has not. Why would he do that? She says, because they were close back in the day, when they were all coming up together at the WSB, but he says, no, not really. Jack Brennan did really well academically and even better with the ladies, but he was in the back of the room, not making eye contact. She says she distinctly remembers them at that pub they used to go to… The Archangel. The two of them were playing dice or something. Whatever it was, they were laughing because they’d aced an assignment that the rest of them just botched. He says, that sounds like Jack, but it doesn’t sound like him. If he was at The Archangel, he was lurking. He wasn’t hanging with the cool kids. Not like her. She was at the center of the circle. Jack was too. He thinks she probably has him mixed up with someone else. She says, he and Jack were just feeding off of each other. They were pushing each other to be better, to be smarter… He says, if anybody was pushing anybody, Anna was pushing Jack. They were the best of the best. Everybody knew that. Valentin was on the fast track to a desk job. He and Jack Brennan have never shared more than ten words together.

Alexis says she cannot and will not reveal the identity of her sources, and Molly tells her that now she’s going to say journalistic integrity. Alexis says, very good, counselor, and Molly says, that’s crazy. Leaked, privileged information is not protected speech. Whoever that source is, not only violated their professional conduct guidelines, they also jeopardized future cases. Alexis says, that sounds like a DA problem, not her problem, and Molly says, it’s a very big problem if the article affected the fairness of a trial. Alexis says, what trial? Heather’s already been convicted on multiple counts, and the DA has already refused to revisit any of those cases. And without a case on the docket, Molly can’t argue that a leak compromised anything. Molly says, she’s impossible, and Alexis says, that’s part of her charm. She holds out her wrists and asks if Molly would like to lock her up until she cracks.

Marshall says, TJ is in a tough and undesirable situation. Life hands those to us sometimes. When one was handed to him, he went for the big fix; he left his family to protect them. But had he stayed, had he gutted it out, it turns out he probably would have had a pretty decent life. TJ says, so Marshall is telling him that he made a huge mistake? but Marshall says, no. He’s saying it’s human nature, or more specifically male nature, to go for the big fix. Sometimes that’s not always the answer. Sometimes you can just let it breathe and settle, and that can be the way to go. TJ says, unfortunately, that ship has sailed, and Marhsall laughs. He says, not for the here and now. Kristina is who she is. And yes, she’s carrying TJ’s baby, and he can’t change that, he can’t erase that. But what he can do is step back and take a look at the whole picture and focus on what really matters. His relationship with Molly.

Carly closes the door and steps out in the hall, telling Nina, stalk much? Nina says, just doing her regular rounds. Carly remembers. Carly says, vividly. Although this hotel is definitely not what it used to be. Nina says, better? but Carly says, not quite. Nina says she didn’t think Carly could surprise her anymore, but she’s done it. An FBI agent? What’s Sonny going to think? Or Jason, for that matter? And poor Drew, forever the runner-up in the twin department. Carly asks if she’s finished, but Nina says she could keep at it all day. Carly looks at the food under the cloche and says she’s happy that Nina’s here. Nina says, no one could be happier than her, and Carly says she’d like to file a complaint about room service. Nina asks if Carly even has time to eat, because she seems quite busy, and Carly asks why Nina doesn’t spend less time worrying about her private life and more time managing her hotel. Nina tells Carly to enjoy the rest of her stay, and leaves. Carly pushes the cart into the room, mumbling about Nina, and John comes out fully dressed. He says, friend of hers? and Carly gives a short laugh.

Curtis says he’s listening, and Drew says, as he mentioned, the wellness/fitness space is booming. Aurora wants to move into that business, but they need someone to spearhead the initiative. Curtis says, meaning? and Michael says, someone with practical experience and knowledge of the fitness industry, a strong leader with customer service experience, and multi-level management skills. Drew says, which are skills Curtis has. The Savoy is a huge success. Curtis asks how they see Aurora moving into the business, and Michael asks what Curtis would do. Curtis says, the most practical thing might be for Aurora to buy up some of the small gyms around the country, rebrand them, and combine them into a national high-end fitness club. People are spending a lot of money in wellness. Meditation rooms, plunge baths, yoga, Pilates, physical training… A mind body connection and combined with a training-slash-fitness facility, this is a one-stop shop. It might require significant capital. Drew says, which they have… Nina walks in, saying, Drew won’t believe this. She just saw Carly… She stops when she sees the other two.

John says he gets the sense Carly and Nina don’t get along, and she says, he must be an FBI agent. He asks if she’s okay, and she says she doesn’t let Nina get to her… She tries not to let Nina get to her. He says he knows a little bit about their history, and she says, lucky him. He says he takes it there isn’t enough water under the bridge yet, and she says, there’s not enough water in the world. Sorry about the eggs. He says, it’s not her fault. Besides, coffee is the only necessary component. (Agreed.) She says, when she owned the MetroCourt, this would have never flown. If a customer complained about their food, they would redo it at no charge. She refills his coffee, and he says, she’s big on customer service. She says, it’s literally what the hospitality industry is all about, and he says, she must have had her fair share of jerks blow through here though. She says, yeah, sure, but for the most part, people were great. And she loved it. She loved making people feel happy and comfortable and special. He asks if she doesn’t get to scratch that itch running Bobbie’s, and she says, to an extent. She loves Bobbie’s – she really does – but it’s a restaurant. Full stop. In this place she got a taste of all of it, really curating a space. From the carpets to the linen to the lighting. Even the music. Putting all of those things together to create the ultimate experience. She loved it. He says, sounds like a symphony, and she says, it kind of was. He says, and she was good at it, and she says, she was great at it. He asks if she thinks she’ll ever do it again, but she says she doesn’t know. She tells people that she will, that she’s going to get her half of the MetroCourt back, but she thinks that’s just a pipe dream, The MetroCourt belongs to someone else, two someone elses. She’s just going to have to accept that.

Chase says he’s been working on a surprise for Brook, and she says, but he’s terrible at keeping secrets. Chase says, it’s true. Her mom has been helping him keep this under wraps. Lois says, guilty as charged, and Brook says, so no more Palm Beach? Chase shakes his head, and she says, please tell her that he’s not working. It’s their honeymoon. He says, they’re still going away, but there has been a change in destination. He leads her over to the loveseat, and she says, okay. As long as it’s not a downgrade, she’s in. Everyone else quietly leaves the room, and she says, so what are they talking? Miami? Charleston? Palm Springs? She’s never been to the desert. He says, think a little further away than that, and she says, like out of the US away? He nods, and she asks what he did. He says he’s marrying the woman of his dreams. No, scratch that. He never dreamed of her because he didn’t know someone this wonderful could exist, and he wants their honeymoon to be a reflection of that. He wants her to remember this trip for the rest of her life. Because she deserves it. She deserves everything. She says, he’s the sweetest man on the planet. So where on this planet is he taking her? He says, Florence, and she says, he’s kidding. He says he’s not kidding, and she says, Florence, Italy? He says, her mom told him that she wanted to go, and she says, only for her entire life. Oh my God, Florence? She jumps up and says, not only does she get to go, she gets to go with him? He asks if she’s happy, and she says, happy doesn’t even begin to cover it, and kisses him.

Molly says, so she guesses Alexis wins – again, and Alexis says, freedom of the press wins – always. Except she has no idea why she’s fighting so hard for it when it comes to this paper. Molly says, because she cares about her job and the integrity of her paper, and Alexis says, integrity the new associate publisher will undoubtedly destroy. Molly starts to leave and picks up the envelope the messenger delivered. She asks, what’s this? and Alexis says, a messenger dropped it off when she was fighting with Nina. Molly asks if she’s looked at it, but Alexis says she was too consumed with rage to care. What is it? Molly says, it’s from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and Alexis says, they’re handling her appeal. Molly says, it’s probably her decision, whether they’ll review her case, or she’ll stay disbarred. Open it. She holds it out to Alexis, who backs up, saying, no. She can’t. She tells Molly to do it, and Molly asks if she’s sure. Alexis nods, and Molly opens the envelope.

As Molly reads what’s inside, she looks sad, and Alexis says, it’s okay. It was a longshot anyway. So the appeal was denied… Molly says, they’re giving her a hearing. They set a date and everything. Alexis grabs it from her and looks at it. She says, they’re giving her a hearing, and Molly says, not just that. They’re giving her hope. This is hope. They hug and jump up and down.

Marshall says, TJ needs to find reasons for him and Molly to come together that aren’t about the baby. It’s those moments of now, those moments where it’s just the two of them. Those moments are precious too. Now, as much as he enjoyed that egg sandwich and this beautiful park… TJ says, and the incredible company of his grandson, and Marshall says, that too. Get his behind over to the store and buy all the ingredients for Molly’s favorite dinner. Just make sure it’s reheatable in case she does have to work late. Wouldn’t it be nice for Molly to come home and see her favorite meal on the table waiting on her? TJ says, Molly would love that, and Marshall says, don’t spend the next three months wringing his hands over what Kristina is or isn’t doing. Spend the next three months with his partner, being just that – partners – before they become parents. Molly is a very special woman. TJ agrees she is and thanks Marshall. They bro hug.

Chase says, mimosa for the bride-to-be, handing Brook a drink, and she thanks him. They say, cheers, and clink glasses. Brook says she can’t believe it’s true, and he says, believe it. She says, Florence… the Uffizi, the Duomo, David… He says, whoa. Who’s this David guy? She says, and they have to take a day trip to Pisa and an overnight to Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet. He says, she’s thought a lot about this, and she says, this is like a bucket list thing for her. And she can’t wait to look up all the best restaurants and they’re going to have gelato every, single day, no exceptions. Okay? He says, yes, ma’am, and she says, they’re going to drink wine at sunset in every piazza they can find. It’s going to be so incredible. He says, she’s so incredible, and they kiss. She says, they have so much planning to do. Wait. He asks, what’s wrong? and she says, a honeymoon to Florence is a lot more expensive than one stateside. The airfare alone. He says, that’s okay. He has the money for it. She asks, how? and he says he sold his truck.

Anna says, Valentin and Jack weren’t friends, but they certainly knew each other, right? He says, of course (🍷) they did, and she says, when he was working with Pikeman, in his dealings with them, did he ever get the sense Jack was involved? He says, she believes Jack Brennan was working with Pikeman? and she says she does. She can’t get him to admit it, but when Valentin was an intermediary, did anything jump out at him? He says he wishes he had something useful to offer her, but sadly, he doesn’t. She says, okay. It was worth a try. Maybe when she goes back to see him again. He says, don’t. Pikeman and Brennan are dangerous. If they’re working together, then they’re not to be messed with. She thanks him for his concern, but says she can take care of herself. He says, please do, and she thanks him for breakfast and leaves.

John opens the door for Carly and says, thanks again. She says she doesn’t think he thanked her the first time, and he says, then thank you. Not just for saving his hide on the docks, but for getting him back here and keeping an eye on him all night. She says he’s welcome, and he says, and he guesses they get to be friends, even if it’s just for a minute. She says, just for a minute? Are FBI agents not allowed to have friends? Oh. Worried he’s going to divulge classified information? He says, something like that, and she says, makes sense. But how does he know he doesn’t talk in his sleep? She leaves and he watches her walk down the hall.

Drew tells Nina, they’re at a meeting, so try back later, but Michael asks what she was going to say about his mom. And what did Nina do now? Nina says she didn’t do anything. She just thought Drew would want to know Carly moved on quickly from him and is now sleeping with everyone’s favorite FBI agent, John Cates.

Tomorrow, Tracy tells Brook, disrespecting your husband is no way to start a marriage; Maxie asks why Lucy is insisting on taking this all on herself; Alexis tells Gregory that it’s a risk she can afford; and Carly says she did something that someone isn’t going to like.

🛟 Here It Comes…

Now it’s somebody else’s fault she was a pita. Maybe she confused Fraser by answering every time the primary was asked a question.

🍸 Between Rules and Reunion…

I can’t believe anybody actually monitors who follows who. Aren’t they busy not opening restaurants and stuff?

It’s not about the pasta mirror.

🍊 Shady John…

Andy leaps with glee as he twirls his moustache.

⚰️ About Those Dead…

Like the franchise is ever going away.

Ha-ha! I thought it said giant zombie heads. Now that would be a variant.

https://screenrant.com/walking-dead-new-villain-zombies-season-1-return

Carol’s turn coming up.

https://www.cbr.com/daryl-dixon-book-of-carol-release-date-cast-news

🐕 From Around the Globe and Back…

Bollywood babies.

Backup pups.

https://people.com/meghan-trainor-stars-in-music-video-with-dogs-8629755

☔️ April Showers Bring More April Showers…

Stop by tomorrow for pre-weekend soap, the Summer smack talk promised, and shenanigans. Until then, stay safe, stay thinking twice before engaging in online debates, and stay doing the work. If you do, you can achieve anything.

April 10, 2024 – Sonny Meets Jason At the Warehouse, There Goes the Sun, Nathan’s Lane, VanderViews, He’s Toxic, This Week In Chefs, No Snow, Animal Reaction & Paris

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Getting up from the floor and gathering her clothes, Nina says, Drew has been planning something like this all along, but he asks if he needs to refresh her memory. He wasn’t the one who started all this. She says she knows, but she thinks he had this on his mental backburner since he took her magazine away and gave it to Carly. They all know how that worked out. Drew says, the only thing he’s been fantasizing about Nina is her losing all her money, losing her looks, and getting convicted of a nameless crime that gets her sent to prison, like she sent him. (Wow. Most of us would just say, was it good for you too?)

Carly puts some ice in a towel on John’s head and says he looks like he was mugged by a small army. Is he sure it was only two people? He says, yeah. Those guys might not have killed him, but this ice might. She says, it’s not that cold, and he says, it’s ice. By definition, it’s cold. He takes the ice from her and sits down, holding it himself. She says, the ice machine on this floor was broken, which is appalling, and he says, that’s what she finds appalling? A broken ice machine? She says she had to go down a floor to get the ice and it was melting by the time she got it to the towel. He says, yet, when placed against the human body, it’s still plenty cold, and she wonders if the FBI knows the only thing it takes for an agent to spill his guts is a couple of ice cubes. He says he likes to keep some things to himself, and she tells him, all she’s saying is when she ran the MetroCourt, that ice machine would have been maintained. She hands him some water, and he says he’s grateful for the medical expertise. She shakes some ibuprofen out of the bottle, gives it to him, and says she went to nursing school. She didn’t graduate, but the training was really good. When you have kids, you have little reaction time. then you have to keep it together before you get to an actual doctor. Speaking of which, please let her take him to the hospital. Or at least let her call the house doctor here. He says he’s quite happy with the care he’s received so far. He wouldn’t change a thing.

Laura tells Doc that she doesn’t want to jinx it, but she thinks Ace finally fell asleep. She told him a story, did a little singing… Maybe she’s getting the hang of his bedtime routine. Or maybe he’s just getting used to falling asleep without Esme and Spencer. She looks over at Doc, who’s concentrating on his tablet, and she says, or maybe she’s just telling herself a story.

Blaze and Kristina watch TV, Kristina’s head in Blaze’s lap. Blaze asks if Kristina is sure she’s okay with it, and Kristina says, yeah, but if Blaze isn’t into it, just change it. It’s just a movie. Blaze says, the movie is fine. She wasn’t really paying attention. Kristina asks, what’s going on? and Blaze says she keeps thinking about the whole Face of Deception thing. Is Kristina sure she’s okay with her being the Face? (Sounds like a Batman villain.) Kristina says, yeah. Blaze already shares her music with the world. Why not share her beautiful face too? Blaze says, because her mom inserted a clause keeping her private life private in every contract. And if anyone pushes against that point, she made it very clear it’s a deal breaker. Kristina says, Blaze is her public persona and Blaze is not out, but Allie, her girlfriend, is. Blaze says she’ll never get tired of hearing Kristina call her that, and Kristina says, she and her girlfriend are out to their families, to their closest friends, and the people who really matter. That’s all she really cares about. So locking down her private life is the deal Blaze made with her mom and everyone else, but as long as it doesn’t impact them and their relationship, she doesn’t see a problem with it. Blaze says, right, and Kristina says, unless the person who has a problem with it is her.

Curtis walks a little unsteadily into the bedroom, and Portia calls to him, asking where he is. He says, why doesn’t she come upstairs and find out? and she walks into the bedroom. She sees him without his cane, and says, oh my God. He says, one small step for man… Actually, it was a bunch of little steps, but one giant leap for yours truly. She says, this is huge. It’s so great not to see his cane anywhere. He says, no cane. Just him and his two legs. He sits on the bed, and she says, he’s amazing, but he says, no. She’s amazing. If it weren’t for her, he would still be stuck in some hospital bed. Or in his wheelchair still. Mad at the world, feeling sorry for himself, some version of that. That’s how his story would have ended. Because of her, he has nothing but new chapters to write. And he can’t wait – he stands up and she squeals – he can’t wait to write them with her. He takes her hands and says, thank you, my love. They kiss and she says, anytime.

Ava tosses and turns in bed. She sits up, takes her sleep mask off, and says, this is pointless. She gets up.

Jason says he owns half this warehouse, and Sonny asks if he’s taking it back. Jason says he never gave it up, but Sonny says, he deserted it. He was gone for more than two years. He lost the right to take it back. He doesn’t want to see Jason’s face. Didn’t he make that clear? Jason says, that’s why he had Diane speak to Sonny on his behalf. He still owns 50% of Corinthos Coffee. Sonny says, don’t quote his own lawyer… Jason says, their lawyer. They both trust her and what she says. Why not trust her judgement on this? Sonny says, forget Diane. Jason came to his warehouse to get an answer from him. He got his wish. This is his business, and he doesn’t want Jason anywhere near it.

Portia says she’s so proud of Curtis, and not because he made it up the stairs, but because he didn’t give in to despair. He didn’t quit. He says, truth be told, he thought about it. There were times he thought about it, and each time he thought, what would he say to Trina? She got hit with something terrible when Spencer died and it’s okay to call it quits, just curl up in a ball? It’s not him. She says, it’s not. Those words sound like a foreign language coming out of his mouth. She loves it. He says he’s a father now; he’s a son. It’s not just about him anymore. She says he did forget one thing out of that list, and he says, what’s that? She says, lover, and he says, is that so? She says she’d be a fool to let all the effort he took getting up those stairs and into their beautiful bedroom go to waste. And she’s no fool. They kiss.

John thanks Carly for the ice. He thinks it helped. Or else the bitter cold destroyed all the nerve endings in his body, so win-win. She says, he needs to keep this on his head, directing his hand back, and he says, she needs to go home to that adorable daughter of hers. Carly says, she’s great. She’s happy with her nanny. What Carly is concerned about is him having a concussion. He says he’s fine. Trust him. It will take more than a couple of shots to this hard head to do any damage. She says she doesn’t know about that. If he does have a concussion, someone needs to check on him every couple of hours to see if he’s having a hard time waking up. If he is, that means his concussion is getting worse. He says he’ll be fine, but she says, please, just let her take him to the hospital. Just think. If he’s right, he gets to say I told you so. He says he does like that, but come on. All they’re going to do is admit him and wake him up all night long. He’d rather stay here. She says, okay. She can wake people up with the best of them. She takes the pillow off a chair, sits down, and puts her feet on the coffee table. He asks what she’s doing, and she says, getting comfortable. She has to conserve her energy. She has to shake him away in a couple hours, then a couple hours after that. He says he really appreciates… She says, he’s wasting his time. She’s staying right here and she’s going to save him from himself.

Nina asks if Drew is saying he regrets this as much as she does, and he says, two people consumed by mutual, passionate hatred with no acceptable outlet? It’s better than poisoning. She says she doesn’t see a big difference, and he says, think of it like a screwed up spontaneous combustion. She says she’s going to think of it this way, as a downpayment, and he asks, what’s on layaway? She says, appoint her to the board, and he says, of Aurora? What possible sense would it make for him to appoint her to the board of Aurora? She edits Crimson. That’s her entire value to them. She says, and she makes the magazine a success. Okay. Maybe not that, but he’s close to Michael and he’s close to Willow. Find a pathway for her to get back in her daughter’s good graces. He asks if she thinks 45 minutes on his office floor commits him to dragging her out of the wreckage she made of her life. It’s going to take more than a couple of rug burns for him to lift a finger for her.

Nina says she tried to treat Michael and Willow to a surprise anniversary dinner, and they turned her down, which was humiliating. Drew says, surprise dinner, huh? Translation. Regardless of what Michael and Willow wanted, she pushed whatever she wanted on them, which is so on brand for her. She says she doesn’t care how he describes it. It felt like she was punched in the heart. Forgive her if she had to come down here and pull herself together and get a breath. Instead of sympathizing with her… He says he never will sympathize with her, and she says she knows she has a little part in this, but she thinks he took advantage of her emotional, vulnerable state. He says, she’s projecting. Taking advantage of people is her stock and trade. She tells him, shut up, and he says, let him just be clear. Her offer of an anniversary dinner when she can’t stand Michael and wishes Willow hadn’t married him, was it really just for Willow? Or was she hoping maybe they’d tell Sonny how generous she is? Does Sonny know she’s still pining for him? She goes to slap him, but he grabs her hand and says he’ll take that as a yes.

John asks, what time is it? and Carly says, almost midnight. He says, that late? She should really go home. She says, if he insists, she’ll drop him off at GH on her way, but he says, that’s not necessary. She says, it probably is, but he’d probably just be trading one problem for another, huh? He asks what she’s talking about, and she says, if he went to the hospital, the nurses would start asking him questions – she puts a blanket on him – and they’d have to call the PCPD. Then the PCPD would want to know what the heck he was doing wandering around the waterfront at that time of night. He says he wasn’t wandering around. He took a walk. She goes back to the chair, using her coat as a blanket, and says, in the most dangerous part of town at night. He says, Port Charles is a safe place, and she laughs. She says, make sure he mentions that safe part when he talks to the police because they love that kind of feedback. He says he got mugged. It’s a terrible thing, but it happens. This time it happened to him. She says, he should stick with that story. But she wants him to know that she knows he was tracking Jason.

Jason says, if Sonny doesn’t want him in his organization, he understands, but Sonny says, no. Jason doesn’t understand. He trusted Jason more than anyone and now he can’t trust him. Jason says he never gave the Feds anything on Sonny, and Sonny asks why he should believe that. Jason says, because if he had, they would have arrested Sonny. He’s been protecting Sonny this whole time. Sonny says he’s not a child. He doesn’t need protection. He needs Jason to get away from him. Otherwise, he will have to remove Jason.

Laura tells Doc that she’s concerned about how small Ace’s family is going to be. There are no siblings. He may never know Lulu and Lucky. She knows there’s Elizabeth’s boys, but they’re quite a bit older and they have their own lives. It’s really just her, him, and Ace. Doc says, and Heather, and Laura says she knows Heather likes to call herself Ace’s grandmother. He says, technically, she is Ace’s grandmother. They may not like it, but Esme was her daughter. He asks about the transfer to California, and Laura says she forgot to tell him. The DA cancelled the transfer because of her medical condition. So she’s in Pentenville for the foreseeable future. He says, unless something else occurs, and shows her the tablet. She reads: chemically induced abnormal behavior. This is really what he thinks happened to Heather, isn’t it? Does he think they would ever reopen Heather’s case after all the things that she did?

Nina says, if Drew breathes a word of this to Sonny… He says, having sex with her on his office floor isn’t something he’s going to be bragging about. He wouldn’t worry about Sonny. Sonny is a little preoccupied right now with Jason’s surprise return. She says, he can think about more than one thing at a time, and Drew says, and somehow, he isn’t thinking about her at all. She has to face it. She’s not even on Sonny’s radar right now. He doesn’t care who she’s mixing it up with. Maybe because he’s got a new roommate.

Ava calls to Sonny and asks if he’s home. She pours herself a drink, then sets it down and goes to Sonny’s bedroom. She wonders what he has that would make a person sleep. She checks in a box by his bed, but only finds an OTC pain reliever. She says, he’s got to do better than that, and goes into his bathroom. She wonders where he keeps the good stuff and looks in the vanity drawers. She finds a prescription bottle labeled Lorphenadine, and says, may cause drowsiness.

Jason tells Sonny, it doesn’t have to be this way. He’s not a threat. He’ll stay out of Sonny’s organization. All he wants is his half of the coffee business. Sonny says, and all he wants is the truth. If Jason didn’t inform on him, what was he doing with the Feds? Jason says he told Sonny everything he could, but Sonny says, Jason told him nothing. He thought it was because Ava was right there, but Ava’s not here now; it’s just them. If Jason wants Sonny to trust him, if he wants half of the business back, he’s going to have to trust Sonny. What happened to him?

Jason says, the FBI picked him up on Cassadine Island. They flew him back to Quantico. They offered him a deal. Become an informant and no charges will be filed. He took that deal because it was his best option. They didn’t want him to inform on Sonny because they knew he would never do it and it would never work. So they sent him after somebody else. Sonny asks, who? but Jason says he can’t tell Sonny. Sonny says, why? Does Jason think he’s going to go tell these people he’s a traitor? Jason says he can’t tell Sonny because it’s part of the deal. If he talks, that violates the terms of the agreement, and the charges get filed. Sonny says, was part of the deal to take a shot at him? How many times did Jason try to kil him? Jason says he never tried to kill Sonny, and Sonny says, and he’s going to believe that? Because Jason is loyal, because Jason’s his friend, his brother? Jason says, because if he tried to kill Sonny, he wouldn’t have missed.

Ava tells herself that she can’t self-medicate with somebody else’s prescription. It does cause drowsiness though, and if Sonny can handle it… She pops the top off the bottle so easily that it’s probably the most unbelievable thing ever seen on GH. She takes a pill, then says, who is she kidding? and takes another one.

Blaze tells Kristina that she wants to be fair. Having a control freak for a mom can be really helpful when it comes to her career. Kristina says, what about the rest of her life? Her real life. Blaze says, her mom tells her that she knows her better than she knows herself, and Kristina says she hates when parents say that. Blaze says, her too, but she thinks her mom says it because when she was Blaze’s age, she crossed the line a few times. And then she became a mom. Kristina says, becoming a mom certainly changes your perspective on everything, but she’s only an aunt, so… Blaze says, Kristina’s not only an anything. She thinks because her mom didn’t want her making the same mistakes she did, she became super strict. Kristina says, it kind of worked. Look at her. She’s smart and disciplined and built an incredible career for herself. It’s amazing. Blaze says, a lot of that is because she paid attention to everything her mom said when she was growing up. Her mom should be able to look at her life and know that and trust her enough to live her own life. Kristina’s parents do. Kristina doesn’t respond, and Blaze says she must have missed something. Is there a problem with her parents?

Curtis is sitting up in the bed, and Portia asks if this is the folder he wanted. He says, yes. He probably could have gotten it himself, but it would have been 2 in the morning before he got himself down the stairs and back up. She says, with the progress he’s making, he’ll be up and down those stairs in no time, and he says, the miracles of modern medicine. You doctors can fix anything. He asks if everything is okay, and she says, yeah. She’s fine. He says he sort of lost her there for a second. He wondered where she went. He thought maybe she was thinking about these bills. She says, no. Those bills are all his. He says he doesn’t know if she saw this note from Brook Lynn Quartermaine. She’s pushing him to have an invitation only event at The Savoy to showcase Blaze’s new single. He’s probably going to say yes, but he thinks he’ll let her sweat a little bit. She says, it has nothing to do with that, and he says, talk to him. She says she was at the hospital and overheard Doc and Alexis saying something about how they could use a preexisting condition to overturn a conviction. Heather Webber was diagnosed with metallosis. Basically, her artificial hip is poisoning her. And one of the symptoms of metallosis is a shift in personality. He asks if anyone is arguing that Heather Webber isn’t responsible for all those lives she took, and Portia says, that’s exactly what she’s afraid of. Someone is going to use her condition as grounds to reopen Heather’s case, and possibly set that woman free.

John says, Carly thinks he was tracking Jason. She’s getting warmer. She says, hide and seek. Really? Is that how the FBI conducts its business now? He says, his supervisors would definitely not approve of this situation, but they’re not here. So does she want to guess again? She says, okay. If he wasn’t tracking Jason, he was tracking… his lawyer. Diane Miller? He says, give the lady a cigar, and she says she doesn’t want a cigar, but she will take a very expensive glass of wine at a date to be determined. He says, deal, and she says, getting mugged isn’t generally a mood lifter, but it’s made him fun. He thanks her and says he is fun. She just doesn’t know him well enough to see it yet.

Curtis says he gets the legal argument that Heather’s condition – Portia says, metallosis – has contributed to her mental state, but she committed multiple homicides. There’s no way she should be allowed to go free. (Pointing out that we’ve been here before with Franco.) She says she prays he’s right, because Trina’s been through enough. It’s enough, this whole family. He says, but they made it through and they’re stronger than ever. She says, they are, aren’t they? They made it through together as a family. He says, she better believe it, and he’ll do whatever it takes to make her feel safe and secure and loved. She says, he just told her that he’d do whatever it takes? and he says he sure did. She says she thinks she’s going to need him to prove that.

Doc tells Laura that he couldn’t stop thinking about his conversation with Alexis about Heather and the hypotheticals that could set her free. So he did a deep dive into a database about toxicology and abnormal behavior. At first, you would think the chances of Heather’s murder conviction being overturned are inconceivable. Laura says, but then with further investigation… He says, it’s not without medical and legal precedent. She says, wow. She can’t imagine what the reaction would be to Heather going free. They know Portia Robinson, Sasha Gilmore, Dr. Obrecht, all those people are going to be outraged. As would most of the citizens of Port Charles she thinks. He says, understandably, and she says, unless it can be proven that Heather herself was victimized. And if that were the case, she thinks it would be wrong not to give her a second chance. He says, selfishly, there’s a side of him that would like to see Heather redeemed. Not released, but rehabilitated into someone functional. Someone stable that Ace could know, even have a relationship with. And if he’s being honest, he’d like to think some good could come of the harm he’s caused. She says, none of this is his fault, but he says he made one decision about his brother, and it resulted in a series of devastating events. If Ryan hadn’t gotten loose, then Heather would still be institutionalized, and her victims would still be alive. So would Spencer and Esme. They never would have even met Esme. She says she thinks he’s forgetting one thing. Ace wouldn’t be here either.

Kristina tells Blaze that she doesn’t have a problem with anyone in her family right now. Actually, it might be the first time she’s been able to say that. Her mom’s good; she’s supportive of their relationship and the surrogacy. Blaze says, what about her dad? and Kristina says, her dad’s good. He loves her unconditionally. He of course (🍷) has a dark side, but he’s loving and generous and more sensitive than people think, and he can get hurt too. She’s a little worried about her dad right now. Blaze asks if that’s because he and Nina broke up, and Kristina says, Nina’s not perfect, but he was happy with her. And since Ava moved in… Blaze says, wait. She moved in? She thought Ava was just staying there temporarily. Kristina says, so did she.

Nina says, Ava is staying with Sonny for security reasons, and Drew says, keep telling herself that. She finishes getting dressed and says, let her worry about Ava. Just figure out a way to get her closer to her daughter. And if it’s not appointing her to the board, then come up with something else. He says, even if he were to help her, Michael will never see her as anything other than a threat to his family. She lied to him about his father’s death, then sued him to get access to his child. But Willow’s got a softer heart, and he’s still friends with her. Nina says, he’ll help her plead her case to her then, and he says, maybe, but after his near-death beating he took in prison because of her, she’s going to have to make it so worth his while. (I used to find Drew kind of boring. Now he just creeps me out.)

Jason tells Sonny that Port Charles is still his home. This warehouse is still half his. He’s going to be here every day, importing coffee, totally legit. So whatever business Sonny wants to do, do it away from the warehouse, so he doesn’t have to be witness to it. Sonny asks if Jason thinks he won’t do it. He thinks Sonny won’t get rid of him? He could do it in a heartbeat. All he’s got to do is say the word, and Jason is gone. Jason says, come on. If anything happens to him, Sonny knows the cops are going to look at him first. Sonny says, don’t tell him what he knows. Know what he knows? Jason can’t be trusted and he’s going to have to get protection. From Jason. Because Jason is a traitor. Jason says, stop, and asks if Sonny is taking his meds.

Nina says, Drew will be her ally, and he says he thinks ally is a strong word for what he’ll be, but she’s a creative person. She can put her thinking cap on and come up with something that will be worth his time and effort. He picks up his shirt and says he likes this shirt. She can start by sewing the buttons back on it. He tosses the shirt to her, but she says, do his own mending, slinging it back, and she walks out.

Carly tells John that they need to order all new ice machines for this hotel. But she doesn’t need to keep going on and on about how this hotel is not great anymore. He says, it’s a nice hotel, and she says, it was, but she’s not going to bore him with all her complaints about the hotel. She puts new ice in a towel and says, what about him? Are there any other circumstances, besides being beaten up – she laughs – where he’s fun? He says he must be concussed or at least punchy. He’s said way too much already. She says she has a lot of experiences where she’s listening to things she doesn’t repeat or remember. She looks over at him and he’s asleep. She says, that’s a way to end a conversation, and turns down the lights. She gets back in the chair and says, sleep well, Agent Cates. I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours.

Portia comes out dressed in fabulous lingerie and says she guesses Curtis is still working on the bills. So she guesses she’ll just… He says, no, no, no. Not looking as good as she is. Come here. She sits on the bed next to him, and he says, in case she doesn’t remember, they never had an official honeymoon. He thinks they should do something about that as soon as possible. She kisses him and I assume they get busy, since the camera pans to the ceiling.

Laura shows Doc her phone and says, viola. You can see Ace in real  time. He’s still sleeping. Doc says, that’s amazing. She makes the same face when she sleeps. She says, maybe it runs in the family, and they sit on the sofa. He says, the picture and the sound is so pristine. Here he thought the baby monitor was the pinnacle of technological advancement. She says, it was… twenty years ago, and he laughs. He says, and when he hears people say twenty years, he thinks, oh, they’re talking about the 80s. Then he realizes… no, they’re not. She says she knows them raising a baby at this point in their lives wasn’t part of his bucket list, and he says, was it on hers? She says, no, and he says, it’s not like they’re ready to retire and they’re not exactly people who back away from life. She says, and she thinks Ace has given them so much more life, and he says, Ace has, and he loves it. And he loves her. She says she loves him too, and kisses him. He says, they took an awful lot of wrong turns and detours before they found each other, but they did. And he thinks Ace is just another unexpected… Laura says, responsibility? but he says, miracle. She says, wow. He’s really something. He says he’s a lucky man, and she says she’s a lucky woman. She puts her head on his shoulder and he puts his arm around her. Aww.

Kristina tells Blaze that she knows there’s still a security reason for Ava to be staying at Sonny’s place, but it’s just that something doesn’t feel right about it. It’s weird. Even Dante noticed, and he’s on pain meds. Blaze asks if she said or did anything, but Kristina says, no. It’s just little things. She can’t see the whole picture yet, but one thing she does know is, Ava is a Jerome. And the Jeromes love power. It’s like a drug. Blaze says, Kristina thinks she’s going to what? Make a move on Sonny’s business? Kristina says, not a move move. She’d never come at something straight on; she’s too smart for that. She’d slither in from the side or something. And she’s making herself indispensable to Kristina’s dad. She’s running interference, she’s making him drinks… Blaze says, her dad doesn’t see what she’s doing? and Kristina says, worse. He likes it. A lot.

Ava lies awake and says, may cause drowsiness, and sits up. She says, Sonny must like the taste of those. She feels absolutely nothing. Nada. They don’t help you sleep. They don’t help anything else. What do those stupid pills do? (Got it.)

Sonny tells Jason that he takes his medication every day, every dosage, like clockwork. He’s not having a breakdown. He just has to face the truth. Jason’s not who he thought. Or maybe he never was. Jason says he’s not Sonny’s enemy, and he doesn’t want any trouble. And he accepts that Sonny doesn’t trust him. Sonny doesn’t have to trust him. He’ll stay out of Sonny’s way. Sonny says, he’d better. Sonny pauses a moment and says, go ahead, take the warehouse. He can sit in it until he rots. He starts to leave, but stops and says, if you double-cross me again or I suspect you’re interfering with my business or my life… I will end you. He walks out and Jason looks concerned.

Tomorrow, Brook asks, what if they ruined Lila’s dress for nothing; Curtis asks Drew what he’s doing here; Anna asks for Valentin’s help with a case; and Alexis says, what if she just quits?

🌞 Since They Had the Day Off…

Celebrities – they’re just like us. Except for the paycheck. And the fame.

💔 Hallmark’s Loss…

As a general rule, I don’t watch romances, but I can’t imagine him not pulling in viewers.

🍸 Rehashing the Rules…

The Reunion is probably going to be a doozie, but anything would be mild compared to last year. I think.

🍼 Kentucky Shade…

I’m still trying to figure out why she settled for him in the first place.

🔪 Tonight’s Top…

Those who can’t do, watch stuff like this.

https://people.com/top-chef-recap-episode-4-buddha-lo-guest-judge-two-cheftestants-eliminated-8624517

🦣 He Shows Nothing…

Oh well. I would have liked to see a few more mammoths, giants, and such.

https://ew.com/jon-snow-game-of-thrones-sequel-shelved-kit-harington-says-8629070

🦁 An Eclipse For Everyone…

They must have thought it was a short day and an even shorter night. This is basically just a clip of zoo animals getting ready for bed, but the guy who’s being interviewed is pretty excited about it. According to him, every question is a great question. My pets couldn’t have cared less.

https://people.com/texas-zoo-animals-caught-reacting-darkness-during-eclipse-8628890

🤸‍♀️ Bringing It Off…

Join me tomorrow for soap and smack talk about the awful people on Summer House. Until then, stay safe, stay listening with all your senses, and stay never self-medicating with somebody else’s prescription.

March 8, 2024 – Old Friends Meet Again, Reunion, Secret Side Gig, Diagnosis, New Soap, Bumping Along, No Shock, Salty Talk, No You, Those Ones, The Last, Uncle Oscar, Social Pets (!), A Handful Of Quotes & Survive

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Kristina comes into the hospital with Alexis and runs over to Sam, asking if she’s okay. She’s been worried about Sam ever since she heard about Dante. Alexis says, Molly’s still at the office. Otherwise, she’d be here. How’s Dante? Sam says she has good news.

On the phone, Anna tells Chase, great, and thanks him. She asks him to let her know when forensics has any information on that hoodie… Good. Call her back. John comes in and tells Anna that he heard about Dante. How’s he doing? She says, he’s out of surgery, and John says, good. There’s been a new development. He shows her the footage of Jason on his phone, and she says, is that… Jason Morgan? He says, that footage was taken tonight from the roof of Selina Wu’s warehouse. Now they know who was shooting at Sonny.

At the gatehouse, Michael paces and says he should be at the hospital, and Willow says she’s sure pacing here will help Dante as much as pacing there would. He says, like he doesn’t already feel useless enough, and she says she meant Michael’s good thoughts are reaching Dante no matter where he is. Also, she would have said anything to get him to stop. He says he’s sorry. He doesn’t mean to make her as crazy as this is making him. She says, he has every right to be worried about his brother. In the meantime, her fellow nurses are sending her regular updates. See? She shows him her phone, and he reads, no change… no change… no change. That’s good, right? That means that he’s stable? She says, and you didn’t even go to medical school. If Dante’s condition changes – for better, or God forbid, for worse – they’ll get someone to watch the kids and head right over to GH. He says he knows she’s right, but he feels so helpless, and she takes his hand.

In the chapel, Sonny and Ava come close to kissing, but hug instead. She says, sorry, but he says, she doesn’t have to apologize. He smiles at her.

Carly comes home and starts to head upstairs, when she hears Jason say, Carly? He steps out of the shadows, and they stare at each other.

Olivia runs into the chapel and says, there he is, and Sonny asks if there’s any news on Dante. She says, yes, and it’s the best. Their son made it through surgery. Sonny hugs her and she happy cries.

Sam says, they’re getting Dante set up in ICU. She’s glad they’re here. Alexis says, anytime, and Molly says, always, hugging Sam.

There’s a knock at the gatehouse door, and Michael says, it’s Dex and Joss. Willow answers and asks them to come in. She asks if they’ve been to the hospital to see Dante, and Josslyn says, yes. They had to give Commissioner Devane a statement and then she took Dex home to change. Dex says, lucky him. No one had cleaned out his apartment yet. Michael says he can’t thank them enough for what they did at the scene, and Willow says, one of the nurses said that Dante might not have made it if they hadn’t intervened. Thank you. Michael asks if they’re here with an update, and Josslyn says, not about Dante. He was still in surgery when they left the hospital. Dex says, but they do know something about the person who shot him.

Anna takes John’s phone and says, it’s impossible… Oh my God. If this is Jason, he would never work for anyone who would hurt Sonny. John says, they know he was on the roof. They know the shots came from the roof. They know Dante Falconari left the roof to pursue two people. Assuming one of them is Morgan, where would he go? She says, to Sonny, obviously, but he’s here. Or Sam. She looks over to see Sam sitting with Kristina and Alexis, and John says, anyone else? She says, yeah. There is one other person he would run to.

Carly says, Jason, and he says, it’s me. She says, it’s really you? and he says, it’s really me. She runs to him and hugs him, crying. She says, you came back. He says he’s sorry it took so long, and she asks where he’s been. What is he wearing?… He’s bleeding. Was he shot? He says, yeah, and she asks, how bad is it? He lifts his shirt and tells her that he’d say, it’s not bad. She tells him that he always says that, and he says, the bullet passed through. He could use a bandage. He’s going to be okay. She says she has a first aid kit, but she doesn’t want to leave him, and he says he’ll be here when he gets back. She says, promise her that he’ll be standing right there when she comes back downstairs, and he says he promises. She leaves, and he walks to the couch, slowly lowering himself onto it and breathing heavily.

Olivia’s phone dings and she says, Sam just texted her Dante’s room number. Sonny says, let’s go, and tells Ava that he’ll see her later. Ava says she’s so happy about Dante, and Olivia thanks her. She and Sonny run into Nina at the door, and Nina says she heard what happened. Is Dante okay? Olivia says, he made it through surgery. They’re just going to see him in ICU. Nina says, thank God. She’s sure he’s going to be fine. Olivia says, they’re going to see him now, and Nina says, of course (🍷). Sonny brushes past her, and she tells Olivia to please give Dante her best. Olivia says she will, and follows Sonny. Nina goes into the chapel and asks Ava, what’s going on? What the hell happened tonight?

Diane goes to the reception desk, and says, maybe the nurse can help her. Alexis tells Kristina and Sam that she’ll meet them upstairs, and hands Sam a bag, saying, change of clothes, toiletries, snacks. Sam thanks her and says, it completely slipped her mind. The elevator comes, and Alexis says, call her the minute they need her. As the doors close, Kristina says, what snacks? and Sam says, they’re not for her, but Kristina says she’s eating for two. Alexis goes over to Diane, who asks if by any chance she’s seen Sonny around. She knows he’s waiting on word. Alexis says she hasn’t seen Sonny, but she did hear that Dante made it through surgery and he’s in the ICU. Diane says, excellent, and Alexis says she guesses Diane is representing Sonny’s associates who are in custody. Diane says, yeah, and she’s got to update him on the situation, so she has to find him. Excuse her. Alexis says, not so fast. Where does she think she’s going?

Dex says, when they found Dante, someone had already given him first aid. They’d elevated his legs and wrapped a sweatshirt around him as a pressure bandage. Josslyn says, there was also a phone lying next to him with a line to 911. Michael says, so the person who shot Dante also tried to help him, and Josslyn says, yes and they were also risking being recognized because Dante could have seen their face. Dex says, it looks that way, and Michael says, none of this makes any sense. Willow says, why would they shoot Dante and then call 911? and Dex says, maybe they didn’t want to go down for killing a cop? Michael says, there’s another possibility here. What if the shooter helped Dante because he knows him?

Outside the ICU, Sam hugs Olivia and Kristina hugs Sonny and asks how he is. He says he’s fine. The only damage was to his coat. She says, he’s lucky. He’s not bulletproof. He asks how she’s doing and she says, frantic at first when mom first called to tell her about Dante. He wonders if it’s too much stress for the baby, but she says, the way she sees it, with this family, the sooner the baby learns to handle stress, the better. He asks how she’s really doing, and she says, it’s interesting how your body reacts to stress when you know it’s bad for the baby. And also, pushing the stress down could make it worse. She’s just doing a lot of breathing. He smiles and says he bets she is. She says, but Dante is doing better and seeing Sonny helps, and he says, right back at her. Take care of herself, okay? She says, of course (🍷), when a nurse comes out. Olivia asks, how’s her son? and the nurse says, Mr. Falconari is in critical condition, but his vitals are stable. Sam asks if they know when he’s going to wake up, but she tells them, it’s too soon to say. She leaves, and Sam says, Sonny and Olivia are his parents; they go in first. They go in and Sam hugs Kristina.

In the ICU, Sonny says, hey, son, and Olivia says, they’re here.

Diane says she’s got to go find Sonny, but Alexis says, not until Diane tells her why she’s been avoiding her. Diane says she hasn’t really been avoiding Alexis, she just had the feeling perhaps Alexis wasn’t too thrilled with her right now. Alexis wonders if there was some sort of a knockdown, drag out fight that she blacked out, because she’s been sober for a while now and thinks she would have known. Diane says, no. She just knows Alexis wanted her to represent Finn in the malpractice case, and not only was she not able to do that, she was the plaintiff’s attorney, and she got the feeling Alexis was a little unhappy with her. Alexis says, it’s her that Diane is talking to. She hasn’t been disbarred for that long. She knows how lawyers work. She knows what they do. Diane was doing her job. It’s not personal. Diane says she’s glad to hear it, and Alexis says, if Diane was worried about this, why didn’t Diane talk to her? Diane says, normally, she wouldn’t have thought twice about that, but this is Finn they’re talking about, and she knows he’s important to Alexis. Alexis says, and Diane is important to her as well. What she was really disappointed in was that she couldn’t represent him, and she does miss mopping the floor with Diane in court. Diane laughs and says, mopping. She doesn’t think that word means what Alexis thinks it means. Anyway, if Alexis did mop the floor with her, it certainly wasn’t as often as she seems to think. Alexis says she knows exactly how often it was, which is why she misses it, and Diane says she misses going toe to toe with Alexis as well, but jurisprudence loss is journalism’s gain. Alexis says, well, journalism is about to experience another devastating loss.

Ava tells Nina, Sonny and Selina were having a perfectly harmless, perfectly legal conversation, when Anna burst in with the FBI, guns blazing like some kind of raid. Nina says, how terrible, and Ava says, tell her about it. Nina says, it must have been frightening, and Ava says she guesses it was a little. Nina asks what Ava was doing there, and Ava says she thought she could be of some use. Nina asks what she was thinking, and Ava says she had to be there. She was tired of sitting on the sidelines, worrying if Avery was going to end up as collateral damage and that Sonny might… that Avery might lose her father. Nina asks what the active role was that Ava was playing, and Ava says, they had to sell the idea that Selina and Sonny were meeting with a mediator to settle their business conflicts, and Nina asks, how is Ava, the mother of one of Sonny’s children, an impartial mediator? Ava says she used to be in that world, so who better? Nina says she guesses, and Ava says, there’s no way to know if it would have worked anyway because the cops showed up, and that was that. Nina says she can sort of see why Ava did it, but what if something had gone wrong, which it kinda did, Ava could have gotten shot too or killed. Ava says she guesses she could have been. Anybody could have been. They all had to duck for cover. Nina says she’s glad Ava wasn’t. She doesn’t know what she’d do if she lost Ava.

Michael says he appreciates Dex coming back. It’s a good thing he did because he might have saved Dante’s life. Dex says, not alone. Joss did just as much as he did. Josslyn says, honestly, she thinks the only reason Dante was still alive when they got there was because of the pressure bandage. And the only reason Dante was even able to get to the hospital was because that person called 911. Willow asks if it isn’t possible that whoever helped Dante had nothing to do with the shooting, and they were a good Samaritan who had their own reason for not wanting anybody to know they were there. Dex says, they left the pier as soon as the paramedics took Dante away, but Chase and the cops were there collecting evidence, so they have the cellphone and the sweatshirt that was used as a bandage. Maybe it’s enough to track this guy down.

Carly comes back and sits on the sofa with Jason. She says she’s sorry, but she’s going to have to clean it. She puts an antiseptic cloth on the wound and Jason stifles a groan. She says she doesn’t want it to get infected. She just wants to get it clean. He says he thinks it’s clean, and presses a pad to it. She asks how he’s here. She wishes she could call her mom and ask how to help him. He says, no. Do not call Bobbie. She says she can’t. She died. He says, Bobbie’s dead? and looks like he wants to cry. Carly says, yes, already crying. There’s a knock at the door, and Anna says, police. Open the door.

Michael asks if they saw Sonny at the hospital, and Josslyn says, they saw him, he saw them, but they didn’t speak. Dex says, he was with Olivia and Sam. They were all waiting outside the trauma room while Dante was in surgery. Willow says, it was good of them to come to the house and tell Sam and Olivia what happened. She’s glad they got to see him. Josslyn says, one last time? She can’t even think about it. She cannot think about Rocco losing his father. She can’t think about Avery and Donna losing their big brother. But they all know that this could happen. Yes, Dante’s the cop and he takes risks, but they have to be honest here. This would not be happening if it wasn’t for Sonny. (Not necessarily, since he’s not the only target.)

Olivia and Sonny watch Dante, one on either side of the bed. Sonny strokes Dante’s hair and Olivia kisses Dante’s forehead.

Diane tells Alexis that she’s obviously appalled. She can’t say she’s surprised. Alexis tells her, thanks. She always knows just what to say. Diane says, yes, she does. And while a publisher does have the right to overrule an editor, but when it comes to hiring an individual journalist, it seems like a breach of trust. (I dunno. It seems kind of petty IMO. Certainly nothing to quit over.) Alexis says, Nina is all about trust, and Diane laughs. She says, an Editor-in-Chief has the right to determine who does and does not work for the paper, and Alexis says, right. If Nina had recommended a columnist, she could decide whether or not to hire said columnist. That would have been one thing. Diane says, but that’s not what happened, and Alexis says, no. She made a unilateral decision. There was no collaboration. Diane says, so what is she going to do? and Alexis says she’s going to not think about this right now. She’s going to concentrate on her daughter and helping her through this crisis. Diane says, of course (🍷). Of course (🍷) her family always takes first priority. But just so Alexis knows, she has a right to bitch about the b… boss.

In Dante’s room with Sam, Kristina says, so, bro, opening day is right around the corner. She knows he’s not going to miss that, especially since it’s the Yankees’ year. She was at the pub the other day and the game was on. This one bartender is a huge Sox fan, and they were joking around back and forth for a while. By the end of the game, she found herself rooting for them, and she thought, man, her brother is going to kill her. Since he’s been in here, it’s like the whole world’s upside down.

Nina tells Ava that she’s so worried about Sonny. Her marriage is not in the best shape right now, but she loves him. She doesn’t want anything to happen to him, and she’s terrified that whoever’s out to kill Sonny might succeed, and she doesn’t want to have to worry about Ava too. Ava says, she doesn’t have to. Rest assured, after this little misadventure, she’s laying off any derring-do in the future. Nina says, good. This is insane, right? She knows Sonny has enemies, but this? Ava says, for what it’s worth (🍷), they’re getting closer to the truth, and Nina says, wait. Does Sonny know who’s behind this? Does Ava? Ava says, no, she swears, and holds up her hand. Nina says, Ava has no idea? Come on. She needs to know who’s trying to kill her husband.

On the porch with John, Anna tells Carly to open the door, and John says, big house, other entrances. Let’s try one. They start to leave, when Carly opens the door and asks, what’s going on? Anna asks if they can come inside, but Carly says, not until they tell her what’s going on. Anna says, she’s aware Dante was shot earlier this evening, and Carly says, yes. Anna says, they’re pursuing a suspect, and Carly says, okay, but what does that have to do with her? Anna says she’ll explain. May they come inside? Carly says, yeah, and leads them into the living room. Anna says she believes Carly has met her colleague Federal Agent Cates, and Carly says, yes, hello Agent Cates. John says, Miss Spencer, and Carly says, okay. What’s this about a suspect? Anna says, she might want to sit down, and Carly says, why? What’s going on? Did something happen to one of her kids? Anna says, no. Not as far as she knows. It has nothing to do with her children. Carly says, then why does Anna want her to down? and Anna says, Jason Morgan is alive. Jason listens from upstairs.

Sam sits by Dante’s bed and kisses his hand.

Nina says, it’s obvious Ava knows more about this than she’s saying, but Ava says, if she had anything concrete to tell Nina, she would. Nina says, but she’s open to hearing theories, and Ava says, theories are just as good as random guesses right now. Just when we think we have a picture, new pieces appear, and the pieces don’t fit. Nina says, we? Sonny and her? Ava says, and Selina Wu, and Nina says she can sort of understand why Sonny isn’t telling her any of this, but she’d think Ava would realize how important this is to her. Ava says, even when things were good between Nina and Sonny, he kept Nina out of his business dealing, didn’t he? Nina says, yes, he did, but Ava isn’t in the business anymore, and Ava says she was. She knows how it works. She knows the players. She knows that it wouldn’t make sense for Sonny to confide in her about anything else, but in this particular circumstance, she’s a resource. She knows this has got to be frustrating. It has to be frustrating being on the outside looking in, but believe her, Nina doesn’t want to be on the inside… Nina says, this isn’t just about her feeling excluded. Does Ava understand, Sonny is her husband? He needs her, whether he wants to admit that or not. She can’t even support him through this. Ava says, she’s right. Sonny needs as many people in his corner as possible. Nina says, then tell her what’s going on and stop playing Switzerland and Ava says, the last thing she is right now is neutral. Nina says, then why won’t Ava help her with her husband?

Diane says, Sonny’s guards are not under arrest, either federal or local, for now. Sonny thanks her for doing that, and she says, he’s still going to have to answer some questions, make a statement. She can’t imagine Agent Cates is going to be giving him a reprieve earlier than tomorrow morning. He says, Agent Cates can wait until hell freezes over. His priority is his son. She asks, how is Dante? and Sonny says, he’s frail and defenseless, but he’s a fighter. It’s just, sometimes it’s not enough. She says, come on. After everything he’s been through, Dante’s not going to give up on this life. He thanks her and she asks, how is he? He says, she knows him. He just wants to find out who did this and take care of the situation.

Michael says he’s not saying they’re wrong… Josslyn says, but he wants her to let go of her anger for the sake of the family and because it’s not doing her any good, right? He tells her, what he was going to say is that Sonny knows he played a part in what happened to Dante. It’s got to be killing him. She says she knows it’s his son, okay? But she has trouble feeling sorry for Sonny when they have to constantly see people they love get hurt. Willow says, something she’s really started to learn since becoming a nurse, for a lot of people it’s more bearable to be angry than it is to be afraid. So while Josslyn has every right to be angry at Sonny, maybe it’s also a way to feel less afraid for Dante. Josslyn considers that and says, yeah. There was a moment on the pier with Dante where his heart stopped beating and they couldn’t get a pulse. Dex was doing chest compressions, and she was doing the rescue breathing. But he was shot in the chest and there was this voice in her head saying, what if you’re doing it wrong? What if we’re the people who kill Dante? She starts to cry, and Michael dashes over to her, hugging her.

Jason continues to listen, and Carly asks if this is some kind of a joke. Jason died in Greece. Anna says, that’s what they thought… but Carly says, stop. She doesn’t get to do that. Anna doesn’t get to show up at her house in the middle of the night and tell her Jason’s alive. She’s been grieving him every day for the past two years. Do they have proof? If they do, she wants to see it. If not, nighty-night. John says, they have proof. Does she want them to show her? He takes out his phone and hands it to her. She looks at the shot of Jason, and John says, that was taken earlier this evening, on the roof of a warehouse at 257 Water Street. They confiscated it from somebody they believe she knows – Jason makes a face – Damien Spinelli. Carly asks if they’re 100% sure Spinelli took this tonight, and Anna says, in the past four hours, yes. Carly says, and it’s real? Jason’s alive? Anna says, yes, and with her permission, they’d like to search the house for him. The look on Jason’s face says, oh, great.

Nina says, she and Ava have been through a lot. They’re friends, right? Ava says, no friend – and there haven’t been many – has been as loyal and generous to her as Nina has. Nina says, then help her with Sonny, and Ava asks if Nina has signed the divorce papers. Nina says she can’t bring herself to even look at them, let alone sign them, and Ava says, good. Then don’t. Nina says, no problem on her end, but sooner or later, Sonny is going to insist, and Ava says, don’t worry about that. They’re going to come up with a plan. Nina says, what plan would that be? and Ava says she’s going to help Nina save her marriage. Nina says, that would be amazing. She just hopes it’s not too late. Ava asks why she would think it’s too late, and Nina says she’s afraid the longer she and Sonny are apart, his feelings for her are going to fade. That he’s going to force himself to forget what they have together. Or worse, he’s going to decide to move on with someone else. Ava flashes back to almost kissing Sonny, and says, well, they just can’t let that happen. They laugh and hug each other.

Sonny finds Sam outside the ICU and says, any changes? She says she wishes. She felt like she needed to stretch her legs a little. She’s feeling pretty useless. He says, it helps Dante to know she’s here, and she says she knows. He says, she looks beat, and she says, thanks. (What every woman wants to hear.) He says he’ll stay here, and she can go home to rest, but she says she’s not leaving Dante. Sonny’s been here all night. Why doesn’t he go home and get some rest? He says he thinks he’s going to stick around for a while, and they hug. Sam goes back into the ICU, and Sonny watches through the window.

Amelia is heard crying on the baby monitor and Willow says she’d better go handle that before Amelia wakes up Wiley. Josslyn asks if she can come with Willow. She could use a hug. Willow says, of course (🍷) she can, and they go upstairs. Michael tells Dex that his sister is crazy about him, and Dex says, the feeling’s mutual. Michael says, but he’s not sure he’s going to stay? and Dex says, it’s not about what he wants; it’s about what’s best. Michael says, for who? and Dex says, for Joss. Michael tried to tell him once to go and he was right. Their lives are just too different. The best thing he can do for Joss is to just leave and stay gone.

Carly gives John his phone back, and says, they want to search her house for Jason? Anna says, they do, and Carly says she just found out he’s alive. She doesn’t know if she believes them. She doesn’t know if Spinelli gave them that footage. She doesn’t even know if it’s real. Anna says, Jason is familiar with this house, right? The layout, the security system. Carly says, yeah, but… and Anna says, could it be, he slipped inside without her knowledge? Carly says, they’re not searching her house. They don’t have her consent. They don’t have her permission. And if they don’t get the hell out of her house, she’s going to call her lawyer. John says, they asked as a courtesy. They don’t need her permission. They have a warrant. Upstairs, Jason grips his side.

On Monday, Anna says, Carly gets out of their way, or she gets arrested; Jake swears it’s not what it looks like; on the phone, Carly says, call her back as soon as possible and find a way to stop them; and Sam asks if Sonny understands what she’s asking him to do.

👟 Like An Old Shoe…

Let the good times roll.

🤫 She’s Got a Secret…

It’s a movie and she’s in it.

💉 Art and Life Combine…

Talk about ironic.

💃🏾 It’s About Time…

This sounds just like what daytime needs, a fresh resurgence. Hopefully, it won’t be opposite GH.

🤰🏼 Giving You Lala…

It’s all about that bump.

https://people.com/lala-kent-happy-pregnant-baby-bump-jumpsuit-8604953

https://www.eonline.com/news/1396532/pregnant-lala-kent-says-shes-raising-baby-no-2-with-this-person

https://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/lala-kent-reveals-her-mcdonalds-pregnancy-craving

⌛️ Comes As a Surprise To No One…

Love bubble bursting as we speak.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1396587/teresa-giudice-and-luis-ruelas-marriage-is-under-fire-in-explosive-rhonjs-season-14-trailer

🧂 Contains Less Salt…

Isn’t it ironic that for her to feel seen, there had to be less of her? I don’t know how she can possibly help her daughters feel empowered when she’s given her power away.

https://people.com/rhoslc-heather-gay-felt-pressure-before-taking-ozempic-showed-her-body-positivity-big-lie-8603562

🤼 Shot For Shot… 

Let the lawsuits commence.

⚰️ News Of the Ones…

A peek at episode 3.

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-walking-dead-the-ones-who-live-episode-3-clip-rick-grimes-jadis-bye

And already asking about Season 2.

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/will-there-be-the-walking-dead-the-ones-who-live-season-2-rick-grimes-michonne

🌁 What’s Up With Us…

Details emerge. Some people take this way too seriously.

https://www.cbr.com/new-the-last-of-us-tv-location

Mostly old news, but in case you want a refresh.

https://www.polygon.com/23634196/last-us-season-2-release-date-cast-news

The parallel world of the game.

https://screenrant.com/the-last-of-us-season-2-casting-faithful-game

🏆 Here Comes the Big One…

The nominations.

https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2024

About the show. March 10, 2024, at 7:00 PM EDT.

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/oscars-2024-watch-96th-academy-awards/story?id=107851439

My dream. Forget the award. I want one of these gift bags.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oscars-gift-bags-2024

You, too, can have an Oscar party.

https://www.thegoldknight.com/2024/03/your-2024-oscar-party-essentials.html

🐕 Sharing the Cuteness…

Pets doin’ it for the ‘Gram.

https://www.eonline.com/photos/19657/celebrity-pets-on-instagram

Some might be dated, but it doesn’t make them any less cute.

https://www.etonline.com/gallery/paws-up-celebs-show-off-their-precious-pets-117103

🦧 Quotes of the Week

Sometimes bad clothes happen to good people. – Carson Kressley, Watch What Happens Live

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.Martin Luther King, Jr.

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. – Chief Seattle (Once again, don’t step on any butterflies.)

Life is problems. Living is solving problems. – Raymond E. Feist

We must respect the past, and mistrust the present, if we wish to provide for the safety of the future. – Joseph Joubert

We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten. – Cesare Pavese

A study of economics usually reveals that the best time to buy anything is last year. – Marty Allen

🥇 A Winner In My Own Mind…

Make your mark on the weekend, then join me on Monday really Tuesday for soap and awful guests and/or crew on Deck. Until then, stay safe, stay giving from the heart and receiving graciously, and stay not turning your fear into anger. It doesn’t do you any good.

December 19, 2023 – Brennan’s Secret Is Out, Erika’s Update, A Farewell, Getting Ready, All About Emmy, Don’t Sell, Rude, Menu Reveal, Thirsty Or Not, Married, Surviving, Santa Pets (!) & Farm

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Lucy meets Doc at the PC Grill. She says, no wine? and he says he thought he’d wait to order. Aren’t Laura and Martin joining them? She says she doesn’t think they’d mind them having a pre-dinner cocktail. She could use one. It’s been a rough day… week… month… year. He says, that’s a bad time. They see Scotty sitting at the bar, and Doc says, looks like Scotty’s had a rough day as well. Before she says, it, he knows the decent thing to do is to invite him over. She says, Good God, no.

Tracy holds a snow globe and says she misses Luke so much, when Lois walks in with Brook. Tracy puts the snow globe behind her back, and Lois says she spies Tracy looking at that, but don’t worry. They won’t tell anyone that they saw her showing some Christmas spirit. Tracy asks why Brook hasn’t responded to her texts, and Brook says she was Christmas shopping with Chase and Leo and Violet. Tracy says, of course (🍷). Her phone doesn’t work in the proximity of small children. Brook says, she stops looking at it when she’s celebrating the joy of the season, and Tracy says, they have a business meeting tomorrow morning to figure out how this arrangement with Deception works. Brook says, tomorrow’s Christmas Eve, and Tracy says she’s well-aware, but now that Brook is going to be her business protégé, she’s going to have to change her priorities. Ned comes in and says, what’s that? Brook says, it’s true. She’s going back to work at Deception. Tracy says, but this time, it’s going to be different. This time, she’s going to be the boss. He asks if Lois knew about this, and she says she did, and she thinks it’s great.

There’s a knock at Ava’s door, and she opens it to Nina. Ava says she thought they were meeting at Rice Plaza to watch Avery and Donna in the Living Nativity, and Nina says she knows, but she needed to see Ava in private, without Sonny and the girls. Ava asks, why? and Nina says she needs Ava’s help before her whole world comes crashing down.

Just when you think Donna can’t get any cuter, they put her in a lamb costume. She asks if she looks okay, and Sonny says, she looks amazing. Michael joins them, and Donna asks if he’s here to watch her and Avery. He says, of course (🍷) he is. She’s going to be an amazing lamb. Donna says, Avery’s a shepherd, and he says, she’s going to be amazing too. He asks if she’s excited about being in the Living Nativity, and she nods. Cyrus approaches and says he is too.

Carly pours coffee for Sam and sees the headline about Brennan being head of the WSB on Sam’s phone. She asks if that’s the guy Sam and Dante are investigating, and Sam says, yes. He’s the new head of the WSB. Carly says, really. Because he told her that he was a security consultant. Sam says, she knows him? and Carly says, John Brennan. He’s been here in the diner a few times. He was here a half hour ago. Sam asks if he said where he was going, but Carly says, no. He got a phone call, and he took off.

At the pier, Anna says her Interpol contact is going to be here in twenty minutes, and Dante asks if she’s sure she can trust this guy. She says, absolutely. She’s confident they’re on the up and up. He says, it wouldn’t be a stretch for the head of the WSB to request interagency cooperation and make them disappear, but she says, not this time. Brennan’s been trying to ruin her life for months, but that all changes tonight. He’s going down.

Lucy tells Doc, sorry. It’s just that Scotty’s been pushing her to travel with him to Florida at Christmas to see Serina and the manatees. He says, Christmas with her daughter. What’s wrong with that? She says, nothing. She’s very tempted, but Scotty didn’t bother telling Serina about his plans and she found out Serina has a brand-new boyfriend… first Christmas and all. Fortunately for her and Serina, Scotty saw reason, and decided not to make the trip. He says he’s sure it will be nice for her and Martin to spend the holidays together, and she says, yeah. Together.

Ava says, Ned is blackmailing Nina too? and Nina says, it’s like a line is forming. If she doesn’t tell Ned information on Aurora, he’s going to tell Sonny that she’s the one who reported Carly and Drew to the SEC for insider trading. Ava says she guesses Nina better find some information that Ned will find useful, but Nina says she doesn’t have access to the inner workings of Aurora. Let’s just say in a perfect world she magically comes up with something and she tells Ned, and Michael finds out. He’s going to retaliate and tell Sonny. This is an impossible situation. Ava says, it is and she feels for Nina, but she’s got problems of her own.

Cyrus tells Sonny that he’s going to be one of the Wise Men. Melchiore, he believes, but they won’t be wearing nametags. He’s just on his way to pick up his crown and robe. Michael says, Cyrus isn’t coming anywhere near his little sister, but Sonny says, that’s all right. He’s taking care of it. Michael says, Sonny knew about this? and Sonny says he’s watching Cyrus like a hawk. No robes or crowns for him today. Cyrus asks Sonny to be reasonable. It’s a Christmas pageant. Sonny asks Michael to take Donna to the Nativity, and they leave. Cyrus says he doesn’t understand. What is the harm in him participating in the celebration of the holy season? Sonny says, celebrate on his own. He’s already been replaced. (Aww.) Laura and Martin join them, Martin wearing a robe, and Cyrus says, et tu, brother? Martin says, the name’s Melchiore, and Laura tells Cyrus, please don’t make a scene. Cyrus says he’s just surprised. Martin’s been averse to Christmas pageants ever since second grade when he tripped on the robe and knocked over the manger. Laura laughs, and Martin says he’ll make sure to watch his step this time. Laura asks if Cyrus will do this for her. Not as the mayor, but as his sister. Cyrus says he wishes them all the joys of the holiday season, and he leaves. Martin says, that’s what he’d call a Christmas miracle, and Laura suggests they be grateful he decided to play nice for whatever reason. Sonny says, thank you, Lord, for making the Wise Man swap, and Martin puts on his crown. Laura says, it looks like the other kings are gathering over there. Perhaps Martin should join them. Martin asks them to say a prayer he doesn’t trip over something, and this is over before they know it. He tells Laura to remember Lucy and Doc are waiting dinner for them, and he leaves. Laura asks if Sonny thinks Cyrus knew Avery and Donna were in the Living Nativity or it was just a coincidence, and he says he’s not sure, but he’s not taking any chances. Like he said before, he doesn’t think Cyrus killed Austin, but he’s not going to trust Cyrus anywhere near anyone he cares about.

Ava brings out the locked box and puts in the combination. It opens, and Nina says, she bought another gun? Ava says she didn’t buy it. It just appeared. She found it in the drawer the day she moved in, along with an ominous note saying, you’ll never know when you’ll need it. Nina says, so someone’s stalking her, and Ava says, or trying to frame her. They’re getting bolder.

Ned asks what Brook is thinking, and Lois tells Tracy that she’s going to need Brook all day tomorrow for last minute Christmas details. Unless of course (🍷) Tracy would like to help. There are cookies to bake, presents to wrap, and then of course (🍷), she got everybody matching PJ sets. She hopes she got Tracy the right size… Tracy says she can move the business meeting to December 26th. The pajamas? That’s a hard pass. She leaves, and Brook says, matching PJs? Really? Lois says, it worked with Tracy, didn’t it? and Ned asks if Lois has lost her mind. How can she, of all people, be happy that their daughter is giving up music to be a corporate executive. Lois tells him to use the good sense God gave him. Obviously, there’s an angle. He says, what angle? and Lois says, Brook isn’t going back to work at Deception for herself. She’s going back to outsmart Tracy and make things right with her friends.

Sam asks if Brennan said why he’s in Port Charles, and Carly tells her, he just said he was a security consultant here on business. He never said he was head of the WSB, but why would he? Sam asks if he said how long he was planning on staying, and Carly tells her, he said he’d be here for a little while. He was a little flirtatious and he seemed harmless. Does Sam know different? (Seriously? Have all those years with Sonny taught Carly nothing?) Sam says she doesn’t have all the facts, but if Carly sees him again, keep her distance and call Dante. Sam jets.

Anna tells Dante, if Forsythe hadn’t come after that report, she doesn’t know if she’d have realized she still had it. It had been stuck in that trunk for decades. But Brennan sending Forsythe is kind of like he dug his own grave. Hume listens from the shadows.

Carly looks at the article again on her phone and sets it on the table. She starts to clean up when she hears the door open. She says, we’re closed, and sees it’s Brennan. He asks if she has time for one more.

Lucy says, Doc is too compassionate for his own good, and he always has been. He says, okay. He’ll bite. What does she mean by that? She says, he really doesn’t understand that they’re completely surrounded by cutthroats and thieves, and sometimes, just sometimes, you really need to look out for number one. He says, just an observation, but it seems like she’s talking about something specific. Care to share? She says, Quartermaines. They never change their spots. He probably knows Tracy stole the company from her, but now she’s given Brook a job at Lucy’s company. This is the very woman who stole all the proprietary information on Lucy’s Deceptor, so she could give it to her grandmother to allow Tracy to file this pernicious lawsuit against them. He asks if it’s possible she’s more hurt than she is angry, but she says she’s so angry… but he’s right. She’s also very, very hurt by the whole betrayal. She trusted Brook. She let Brook in on the team and she turns out to be worse than her grandmother. Even more than Lucy imagined. He says he’s glad she’s getting these feelings off her chest, rather than keeping them bottled up inside, and she asks how he does that. He’s always such a good listener. She thanks him for letting her vent, and he says, she’s welcome. It’s what he does. Just a thought, but isn’t it better that Brook is in the office every day rather than her having to deal with Tracy day in and day out? She says, good point. She guesses she could rise above it, sort of, maybe. Try to make the best out of a bad situation. Scotty comes over to the table and says he can’t believe his ears. Is Lucy going to roll over and let Tracy win?

Lois asks if Ned really thinks she’d be encouraging their daughter to work in an office instead of following her dreams if there wasn’t a hidden agenda. Brook says, mom’s been hounding her for weeks to give in to Tracy. Once Tracy hands over the company to her, then she can give it back to Maxie and make things right. He says, if she thinks her grandmother is going to make this easy, she’s in for a very rude awakening, but Brook says she knows exactly what she’s in for. She either has to convince granny that she’s totally on board, making her completely comfortable enough to give her controlling interest, or due to their close proximity, she’ll have to dig something up in order to blackmail her with. He says, spoken like a true Quartermaine, and Lois says, not that that’s always a good thing, but in this case, Brook would be blackmailing for a worthy cause. He says, as long as her grandmother doesn’t figure it out and turn the tables, and Lois asks if he’s doubting their daughter. He says, absolutely not.

Nina asks if Ava still thinks it’s Nikolas sending her these notes, and that, and Ava says, well, who else? She left him for dead. He’s not going to let that go. Nina asks why he’d send her a gun if his plan is to attack her, and Ava says, or to frame her. For all she knows, this is the gun that killed Austin. Nina says, Ava thinks he’d go that far. That he’d come all the way here just to kill Austin to frame her for murder? Ava says she doesn’t know what to think anymore. For months, she thought Nikolas was dead and she was the one that killed him, and she thought that she could trust Austin. Nina says, she needs to calm down a bit, but Ava says she doesn’t have anyone to talk to about this. Her head has been spinning since Austin died. Nina says she thinks Ava needs a distraction. Why don’t they go to Rice Plaza? Ava says she thinks that’s a good idea. She thinks seeing Avery in that Living Nativity will make her feel better.

Michael tells Donna that she’s all set, and she thanks him for fixing it. He says, of course (🍷), and she asks if they’re going to see Wiley and Amelia on Christmas. He says, yeah, and she wonders if they can hang their stockings together. He says, it’s a great idea, but he thinks she’s going to be at her mom’s on Christmas Eve, and she says, daddy says Michael’s going to be with him and Nina on Christmas Eve. Cyrus watches from the shadows, and Michael says, he, Willow, Wiley, and Amelia and daddy and Nina. Donna tells him, daddy said this is going to be the best Christmas ever now that Nina’s part of the family.

Sonny asks how Laura is holding up, and she says she’s still worried about Charlotte. Physically, she’s on the mend, but emotionally, she’s struggling. He says he thinks she’s old enough to benefit from therapy, and Laura says she agrees. What about Anna? Has he spoken to her? He says, she’s very hard to get in touch with. She blames herself for what happened to Charlotte. Laura says, it was a terrible accident, and he says, they know that, but Anna just blames herself.

Anna tells Dante, the irony is, Brennan covered his tracks so well, he didn’t even realize he was implicated in the report. He kind of just brought this on himself. Dante’s phone rings, and he says he should take this. Hume stands in the shadows, holding a gun, and Dante asks Sam, what’s going on? She tells him, Brennan is in town. Carly saw him in Kelly’s. He must have come into town to take care of Anna himself. He asks if she can call the PCPD and tell the desk sergeant what’s going on, and she says she will. She tells him to be careful, and he says, always. He tells Anna that they have to get someplace less exposed, and they start to walk, but Hume pops out and shoots at them. They duck behind some crates.

Carly says, look who’s back, and Brennan says, apologies. That call pulled him away before he could even put in an order. Now they’re closed and he’s missed his chance. She says, he can stay. The cook is gone for the night, but she can heat up some meatloaf. It won’t be fancy… He says, simple works for him. She’s very kind.

Lucy tells Scotty that she took the deal for Maxie and Sasha’s sake. And besides, 49% of a viable company is a heck of a lot better than 100% of nothing. He says, but she gave away her ELQ tie-breaking vote, and she says she did not. It was extorted out of her by Tracy. If she hadn’t given up her precious share of ELQ, Tracy would have blown the whole deal, and she, Maxie, and Sasha would have been completely bankrupt. He says, so she’s just going to let Tracy trample over the company she built, but she says, absolutely not. She has just begun to fight back. He says, it doesn’t seem like it, and Doc says, what it seems like is Scotty rubbing salt in the wound. Maybe it’s time to head home. Scotty says, all right. He’s not going to justify having to take flack for doing his job. Doc says he doesn’t even know what that means, and I’m glad he said that because I don’t either. Scotty says he’s not going to apologize for representing Doc’s wife’s criminal brother Cyrus or for representing Elizabeth. His Liesl just won’t give him a second chance. Tracy blows in and goes to the bar, where she puts down her bag. Scotty follows and Lucy gets up, but Doc says, Lucy… Stay. She sits back down, and she asks if he isn’t going after Scotty, but he says he doesn’t care about Scotty. He cares about her. Besides, he wants to watch this.

Tracy orders a dirty martini, top shelf vodka, no such thing as too dirty. Scotty sits down near her, and she says, go away. He says, as she can see, his coat was here – he indicates the coat on the back of his stool – so if he’s going to bother her, he suggests she vamoose. She says, nothing he does has any effect on her at all, and he says, fine. She says, fine.

Ava says she’s going to see Avery and will catch up with Nina later, and Nina joins Sonny and Laura. She says, nice to see them. Rice Plaza looks amazing. Laura thanks her, like she did it all herself, and says she’s very proud of their town. It’s really good to see Nina, but she has some things she needs to attend to. She leaves, and Sonny asks why Nina is so late. She says, she and Ava had some girl talk. Why? Did he miss her? He says, always, and kisses her.

Ava says she understands Martin has to learn his Wise Man duties on the job, and Martin says he was a last-minute substitution. Michael joins them, and Ava sees Cyrus going by. She asks, what is that monster doing here? She doesn’t want him anywhere near Avery. Michael says, don’t worry. His dad took care of it. She says, good. Because she doesn’t believe that man’s conversion for a second. Ava flashes back to Sonny telling her that Austin’s boss is Cyrus Renault, and she says she knows Cyrus is as dangerous as he always was.

Carly says she’s glad Brennan is okay with meatloaf. Although it’s going to take a while to heat up. He says he hopes he’s not putting her out. He can just come back another… She says, that’s okay. She wasn’t done closing down the kitchen yet, so she’ll be right back. It’ll just take a minute. She heads for the kitchen, but says, oh, her phone, and turns around. He says, is this it? and picks it up. He sees the article about himself and tells Carly that he sees she knows his secret.

Anna and Dante draw their guns, and Hume says, there’s no way out. Give him what he wants and nobody else gets hurt. She tells Dante, that’s not Brennan, and Hume says, is she willing to add Detective Falconari to her long list of collateral damage? She says she wants to talk to Brennan, and Hume says he’s here to help her before this all gets worse. He hears her latest shooting victim is out of the hospital. Charlotte Cassadine? A child? Really? I say, really? to Hume trying to psyche Anna out. He says, all because of something that happened in the 80s? Let’s end this now. Anna tells Dante, he’s right.

Brook tells Ned that she can’t let granny push her around. The only way to deal with Tracy is to face her head on. He says, sadly, it took him a few more years before he learned that particular lesson, and she says she knows working back at Deception will temporarily take her away from her music career, but she won’t let down her clients. She’ll work 24/7. She’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that granny is out of Maxie’s company. Lois says, Maxie’s company? What about Lucy? Brook says, Lucy has made it perfectly clear she won’t work with her, and Ned says, sounds like she’s facing an uphill battle. Brook says she’s not scared. Nothing is going to stop her from making this right.

Anna says, don’t shoot. She’s coming out. She stands up with her hands in the air and puts her gun down. She says she knows where the evidence is. It’s in a safety deposit box and she has the key right here. She points to her pocket, and he says, slowly. She takes a key out of her pocket, and he says, toss it to him. She says, he knows Brennan’s just tying everything off right now. Forsythe’s dead. Does Hume think he’s going to be next? He says he’s not worried. He earns his keep. She says she’s sure that’s what Forsythe thought too, but Brennan only keeps people who are useful around him. Everyone has a sell by date. Doesn’t he think his is up? In the meantime, Dante has run around behind Hume, and clocks him in the head. Hume goes down, and Sam comes out. Dante asks what she’s doing here, and she says, checking on him. Is he okay? He cuffs Hume, and Sam says, they don’t know who this is. Dante takes out Hume’s wallet and looks at his ID. He says, Roman Hume. It says he works for Pikeman. Hume comes to, and Dante hoists him up. Anna says, where’s Brennan? and Hume says, make him a deal. Dante says, not a chance, and Anna says, they have to find Brennan before he realizes they’ve got his lieutenant. Sam says she thinks she may know where he is.

Carly says, if Brennan had told her that he was the director of the WSB, she would have thought he was a liar, and crazy. He chuckles and says he’s curious as to how she figured it out. She says she looked it up on the internet. (How is he director of the WSB? Not exactly the brightest bulb in the box.) There’s many John Brennans, but only one director of the WSB. She clicked on the link and magic! his picture popped up. Anyway, she’s going to go heat up the meatloaf. He says, Hume told him that her former son-in-law was involved. Falconari, right? The connection’s in there somewhere. She asks how he knows Dante, and he says he’s director of the WSB. If there’s something he wants to know, he knows it. Just as he made it his business to know about Sonny Corinthos, his operation, the people he holds dear. There’s just one thing he doesn’t know. What is he going to do with her?

Nina sees Michael buying cookies and says, they need to talk. In private. They walk off together.

Laura tells Ava that Avery looks adorable, and Ava says, doesn’t she? She’s been talking about her costume for weeks. Laura says, she’s taking her role so seriously, and they laugh. Ava says she knows it’s a difficult topic for both of them, but does Laura have any more information about Nikolas’s whereabouts? Laura says she doesn’t unfortunately, and Ava asks if she thinks she’ll keep looking for him. Laura says she wanted to stay in Europe and keep looking, but she got that call from Valentin about Charlotte and knew she was needed at home. Also, Doc told her that Nikolas will come home when he’s ready to face the people he left behind.

In a more private area, Michael asks what Nina wants, and Nina says, Ned knows she’s the one who tipped off the SEC. He asks what that has  to do with him, and she says, he wants information on Aurora to use against Michael and Drew, and if she gives him that information, he’ll keep taking the blame. He says, she doesn’t know anything about Aurora. What was Ned thinking? She says, he’s thinking she’ll find a way. That’s why she’s talking to him. He needs to help her get Ned off her back. He asks why he’d do that, and she says, think about it. This is like Blackmail 101. If Ned tells Sonny, Michael will have nothing to hold over her head. If he wants her to continue keeping her distance from her daughter and grandchild, he’ll help her out. He says he only kept quiet to protect Willow. She’s going to be devastated when she finds out what Nina did, but maybe it’s best to get it all over with. Nina says, all right. She’ll play his game. If Ned tells Sonny the truth, then guess what? She’ll tell Carly the truth that he knew she was the real informant this whole time and he never said anything. (Wouldn’t a better idea be to tell Willow?)

People run past, startling Ava, and Sonny says, why so jumpy? She asks if he really needs her to answer that question. First of all, they still don’t know who killed Austin. Then there’s the fact that Nikolas is alive and out there somewhere. She can only assume he’s plotting his revenge against her. He asks what she’s not telling him. Did something else happen? Donna runs up and asks if Michael is back with the cookies, and Sonny says, not yet, but he’ll be here any minute. Ava asks if Donna is having fun with Avery. They’re not too cold, are they? Donna says, no. They’re having a great time. Only one thing could make this Christmas even better. Sonny asks, what’s that? and Donna says she wants to open presents with Avery on Christmas, but Avery has to be with her mom. Can Avery and Ava come over to join them? Sonny and Ava look at each other.

Scotty says, that’s a stiff one. How come Tracy is drinking alone? She asks why he cares when he’s clearly doing the same thing, and he says he just figured she’d be at the mansion with the servants and the family. Of course (🍷) they don’t like her any more than he does. She asks if he’s been overserved. Maybe he should go home before he embarrasses himself further. He says, all right. He’s going to raise the white flag right now. It wasn’t that long ago that he was her lawyer. They thought she’d killed that guy, but his assistant had done it. Then remember? They got hot and heavy. (I don’t remember. When was this???) She says she doesn’t know what he’s talking about. That doesn’t sound like something she’d do. He says he can’t believe she’d forget the look on Lee and Gail’s face when they came in and caught them going at it on top of his desk. The look was priceless. She says, the only thing she remembers was them asking her why she was slumming with him, and he says, so she does remember. She says, correction. She’s trying not to remember. He says, why the high hat all of a sudden? She’s the one who was married to Luke, that no good, criminal jackass. She throws her drink in his face.

Carly says, Brennan has seriously miscalculated. If anything happens to her… He says he knows all about the mobster ex-husband, and she says she’s talking about the Navy SEAL boyfriend, but Sonny will kill him too. He says he was really starting to like her. Now that he’s seen how she parades under duress, he likes her even more. Sadly, they seem to be the victims of rotten luck. He takes out some brass knuckles, and she says, get away from her. She grabs something off the counter and whacks him with it. He stumbles back, as Anna and Dante come in, guns drawn. Anna says, hands where they can see them, and Brennan puts his hands up.

Ava says she knows Donna wants to be with her sister on Christmas, but her family is so big and family gatherings can be tricky. Sonny tells Donna, that’s a great idea, but why doesn’t she let the grown-ups talk? Go find Avery at the Nativity. Donna says, yay! and skips off. Ava says she knows the girls want to be together on Christmas morning, but she knows the situation is prickly. So please don’t do this for her. Sonny says he’s not doing it for her; he’s doing it for his daughters. She says, right. Of course (🍷). But they won’t stay long. She knows this is his first Christmas with Nina as husband and wife. She wouldn’t want to intrude on that. He says he doesn’t think Nina would mind at all. They’re going to have so many Christmases ahead of them.

Michael says he can explain to his mother what he did and why. Can Nina do the same thing with his father? Nina says she’s sorry. She shouldn’t have said that. It doesn’t have to be this way. Willow doesn’t need to know. Can he just make up something about Aurora so she can pass it on to Ned? It helps both of them if Sonny never finds out. Cyrus listens from the shadows, which seems to be the trend in Port Charles, and Michael says, okay, fine. He’ll take care of Ned.

Ned pours some wine, and Lois says, their marriage might not have worked out, but they did raise one hell of a daughter. He clinks her glass and says, agreed. Brook comes in and asks, what’s going on? What did she miss? Ned says, she didn’t miss anything. He and her mom were just having a nice conversation. Brook says, nice conversations and Quartermaines do not go together, and Lois says, but she’s not a Quartermaine. They were just talking about how much they love her. Brook says, is that all? and Ned hugs her while Lois smooths her hair.

Detectives arrive and Brennan is cuffed. Carly asks how Dante knew to come here, and he says, Sam told him about the conversation they had about Brennan. Carly thanks Sam, and Sam says, of course (🍷). She’s just glad they got here in time. Anna hands a detective the folder, and says, this is the evidence Brennan was so desperate to get ahold of. He asks, what’s the significance of the wallet? and she says, if he pulls back the lining, he’ll see a sequence of numbers that lead to a Swiss bank account. She goes over to Brennan and says, long time, huh? She calls him ex-director Brennan and asks if he thinks they’ll invite Frisco back to clean up his mess. He says, at least she’s been exposed as a double agent. Now everyone knows who she is. She says, that’s right, but her past can’t come back to hurt her anymore. He says, she almost killed a child. What does she have left? She says she has herself, and he says, good luck then. She’ll need it. Brennan is led out, and as he goes past Carly, he says, rotten timing? Dante says, it looked like Anna was willing to risk her life for his back there, and Anna says, if it had come to that, she would have. Brennan is right about one thing. She won’t allow anyone else to get hurt because of her mistakes.

Doc tells Lucy, as if on cue. Scott Baldwin can get under someone’s skin unlike than anyone he’s ever known.

Tracy tells Scotty that she’d say she just wasted some premium vodka, but when a better use comes along, you go for it. She walks out, and he says he’ll send her the dry-cleaning bill.

Lucy watches Tracy leave, and Doc says, don’t. Whatever she’s thinking, whatever she’s scheming, he promises her it will not end well. She says, who, me? She doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He really does worry too much. Laura comes in, and asks, was that Tracy Quartermaine she just saw storming through the parking lot? Doc says, yes, and kisses her. Lucy says, so good to see her, but she thought Martin was coming with her. Laura says she’s so sorry, but Martin is still participating in the Living Nativity at Rice Plaza. Lucy says, that’s great. When Laura asked him, she encouraged him to do it. She just didn’t think it would go so late. Laura says, sorry about that. She’s afraid he’s not going to be able to join them for dinner.

Michael gives Donna the cookies and says, she did a great job being in the Living Nativity. She asks if she can share them, and Michael says she can. She goes over to Martin, who says, it’s so nice of her to offer, and takes one.

Nina runs up to Sonny, who says he was just about to look for her. She says she’s so sorry. There was a minor crisis at the MetroCourt, but she handled everything. He asks if she’s okay, and she says, everything she could possibly ever want is right here.

Martin says, serving as a Wise Man was more arduous than he thought. Donna did a stellar job as their lamb tonight. She was better behaved than the angel. He thinks the angel had a dented halo. Cyrus watches from a distance as Martin talks to Donna.

Tomorrow, Portia asks what Spencer really knows about love; Finn tells Elizabeth that he doesn’t know what to do at this point; Charlotte asks Laura, what could he possibly be doing on Christmas Eve; and Anna tells Valentin that she can’t be part of his family.

💝 Erika Thanks You…

I still miss One Life To Livesniff…

🥀 Best At Bad…

The soap world loses a great villain.

🎄 Christmas Prepping…

How the soap stars are doin’ it.

🏆 Best In Daytime…

Daytime Emmy winners.

What you didn’t see.

The fashion. Again, so much black. Thank you, Susan Lucci.

Here, I expected black.

Daytime Emmys 2023: The Guys

🏰 We’re Not Ready…

I see her point, but I’d hate to lose that house. Oh wait. I don’t really live there.

💎 In Agreement…

I’m sure Annemarie wants to be relevant, but she came across as a bully. It’s like when you have a disorder that’s not visible, and someone says, you don’t look sick.

🍔 Something About a Menu…

Now if they’d only actually open.

🫦 Giving You Lala…

While I begrudge Ariana nothing, Lala’s not wrong. I think what’s happened is, Ariana is being looked upon as an Everywoman. I also think it’s exaggerating to say her posts are thirsty. And if they are, then she’s always been thirsty.

👰🏻‍♀️ Wishing Them Happiness…

I wouldn’t have thought of pairing them up, but they’re two of my favorite celebrities. I’m a huge 2 Broke Girls fan and I’ve loved Andrew W.K. since Party Hard. I’ve often suggested he run for President. Mazel tov!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/larryfitzmaurice/kat-dennings-andrew-wk-married-wedding-details

🤪 All Those Shrinks Can’t Be Wrong…

Some practical tips to get you through the holidaze.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/life-without-anxiety/201212/10-tips-surviving-the-holidays

🎅🏽 If All Else Fails…

Dress your pet up like Santa or one of his elves or one of his reindeer. And if you don’t have a pet, get one.

https://people.com/celebrity/santa-pets-your-cats-and-dogs-in-holiday-style/

👖 Sisterhood Of the Homebody Pants…

Join me tomorrow for soap and whatever annoyances I can point out during RHOBH. Until then, stay safe, stay recognizing the beauty in imperfections, and stay watching your step if you’re a Wise Man in a Christmas pageant.

September 8, 2023 – Cody Confronts Montague, Hot Hospital, Sisters, Arriving Soon, No Salt, VanderShare, Next House, Her Life, Best In Song, Daryl Talk, Reality Pets (!), Six Quick Quotes Plus One & Stand

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

On the phone at the MetroCourt, Nina asks if Gladys has any information for her… Then why is she calling?… She’s at the MetroCourt. She has to be here until Sonny’s hearing. She wants Gladys to listen to this. If Sasha is not home first thing tomorrow morning, she’s going to Ferncliff to find out why. Goodbye. She looks over and sees Anna at one of the tables.

Also on the phone, Anna says, there has to be something they can do… They’re saying they can’t tell her who owns this vacant house?… All right. Thank you. Nina approaches the table and says, Sonny’s hearing is today. Anna says she knows, and Nina says, Anna has so many connections, she was just wondering if she has any information on what’s going to happen to Sonny.

Carrying his guitar, Ned/Eddie walks into a music studio with Olivia and Leo. He says he can’t believe Sonny came through for him like this, and Olivia says, Sonny is many things, but he’s always a man of his word. Leo asks if they’re here, and Ned says, they’re getting closer. Olivia asks if he’s ready, and Ned says, it’s been a while. He kind of feels like he’s trying to reclaim an ancient treasure. Leo asks if it’s a treasure hunt, and Olivia says, in a way. Leo says he loves treasure hunts, and Ned says, hopefully, he’ll like what they find. Is he ready to go make some music? Leo says, yes! and Ned says, let’s go. They walk into the studio.

Worst righthand man ever Dex sits at the pier, and Josslyn asks if he’s okay. He says he screwed up, and Sonny could spend the rest of his life in prison because of him.

Anna says she’s so sorry. This has got to be so concerning to Nina, but she doesn’t have any information about Sonny. Nina says, there has to be something Anna can do. Can’t she help Diane with this case? Anna says she can’t. It’s a criminal matter, not a personal one. There’s nothing she can do. Nina says, it feels personal. Someone set Sonny up. Anna says, that’s a possibility, and Nina wonders if it’s the person who shot at him at the MetroCourt. Anna says she doesn’t know that bullet was meant for Sonny, when Ava joins them and says, that bullet was probably meant for one of them, right? It hit Curtis; the poor man’s in a wheelchair.

Portia tells Curtis that she shouldn’t be too long. She has to go to GH to pick something up. Then she thought she’d pick up some wings from Charlie’s Pub. He says, sounds good, and she says she’ll be back soon. She leaves, and Marshall comes out. He says he has to head over to The Savoy. He needs to check on these numbers. He hopes he didn’t screw something up. Curtis is sure he didn’t, but he knows it can get confusing. Marshall says, it’s harder when you’re confused to begin with, and calls to Portia, but Curtis says, she took off for GH. Marshall says, this isn’t so important it can’t wait, and Curtis says, they have to stop doing this.

Dr. Montague asks, what the hell is going on in here? And what is Cody doing here? Cody says, he’s Sasha’s psychiatrist? Of course (🍷) he is, because he’s Gladys’s pal. That’s the connection. Montague met Gladys at The Savoy in the back room at Selina Wu’s poker game. That’s where all this started, huh? You son of a bitch.

Ned tells Olivia, this producer Sonny hired is one of the best. He’s lucky to be working with him. She says she’s glad he thinks so, and he says, when Sonny mentioned this, he thought Sonny was just telling him what he wanted to hear to keep him around town. Olivia says, Sonny doesn’t do that. He’s here because Sonny knows how good he is. Ned suggests they get inside so he can thank Sonny again, but Olivia says, Sonny’s not here today. Leo asks where he is, and Ned says, his record label is paying for this recording session. After everything he’s done, he figured Sonny would be here. She says she’s sure he wanted to, but he’s got some other obligations today. Ned says, of course (🍷). Maybe he’ll make an appearance later. She says she sure hopes so.

Josslyn says, this is not Dex’s fault. If Sonny goes to prison, it’s for what Sonny did. Does he know how many times Sonny was almost caught over the years? Dex says he was the last one to have the flashdrive, but she says, it was destroyed, and he says, is she sure? They don’t know what labs are capable of putting back together. It was so stupid to throw it away in a trashcan. (Yes, it was.) She says, he couldn’t have known somebody would find it, but he says he’s been working for Sonny for a long time now. The Feds know that; the other Families know that. Any one of them could have been following him. She says, he doesn’t even know if anybody has it, and he says he goes over it again and again in his head. How could he be so careless when it came to Sonny’s freedom? She says, because of her.

Nina says, Sonny feels guilty about what happened to Curtis, and she would imagine that Anna does as well, and Ava says she only meant that… Anna says she knows what Ava meant. It’s all right. She got a very pointed message that Curtis wasn’t seeing any visitors. How is he? Ava says, Trina told her that he’s home; that he’s trying to adjust to his new life. She’s taking it very hard as well. Nina says she tried to reach out to him, but it’s not easy. Curtis has always been so active. Anna sighs and asks them to excuse her. She leaves, and Ava says she didn’t mean to upset Anna, but Nina says, they all know Ava is upset about Trina. Ava says, what about Nina? She knows Sonny’s hearing is today. How is she holding up?

Marshall asks what he did, and Curtis asks if they think because they’re whispering and giving each other signals, he hasn’t noticed that he hasn’t been alone in this house. Marshall says, they just thought Curtis might like to have somebody with him, and Curtis says he knows what they thought. He keeps being told over and over that he can get his life back to some kind of normal. Marshall wants him to go back to work at The Savoy… Marshall says he does, and Curtis says, if any of them thought he could get his life back to some kind of normal, they wouldn’t be afraid to leave him alone in his own damn house. He’s been doing fine since he’s been here. What he doesn’t want is someone watching him every minute. Marshall says, Curtis is absolutely right. Sometimes we care so much, we only think about what it is we can do for the person we love, instead of thinking about what it is that they need and want. He’ll see Curtis later. Curtis thanks him, and Marshall leaves.

Montague says, perhaps they didn’t go over the rules when Cody was admitted, so he’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Patients aren’t allowed in each other’s rooms, and Sasha in particular is very fragile. And Cody seems quite agitated. Cody says he doesn’t buy this caring shrink act Montague is doing, not for one second. And agitated? He laughs and says, no. Try mad as hell. Because he can see exactly what’s going on here. Montague knows Gladys through Selina Wu’s card game in the backroom at The Savoy. He knew Gladys was in debt to Selina Wu. Did Gladys ask him for help when Sasha tried to end her guardianship, so she could keep control of all of Sasha’s money? Is that what he’s been doing? Has he been keeping Sasha drugged so she looks unstable? How much is Gladys paying him? Huh? How much is Gladys paying him to keep Sasha drugged?

Curtis’s doorbell rings, and he wheels himself over to answer it. He opens the door to Anna.

Leo looks around and says, wow. This is so cool. We’re going to make a song, Eddie! A man says, this is the place to do it. He’s the producer, Johnny. What’s his name? Leo tells him, and looking at Ned, Johnny says, he must be Ned Quartermaine. Ned says he’s Eddie Maine, and Johnny says he’s sorry. He could have sworn… Olivia says, there must have been a mix up in the booking. Eddie’s going to be singing. Leo says, there’s so many buttons. Does every one have a different purpose? A woman sits down and says, they do everything, except dance, and Johnny says, they’re working on it. Leo says, that would be cool, and Johnny says, this is their engineer, Kira. He introduces her to Leo and Eddie/Ned, and Leo asks what the green button does. Kira says, that’s how they talk to the booth, and Ned says he’s sure Kira would love to tell him about all these buttons after the recording session. So just sit right here, be quiet, and put his listening ears on. Leo says, okay, and Johnny asks if Olivia is singing back-up, but she says she only sings at the Nurses Ball. She’s Eddie’s… friend.

Montague says, it’s not uncommon for patients at Ferncliff to see conspiracies, when in reality, none actually exist. He’s going to confer with Cody’s doctor, and he’s going to suggest a stronger dose of medication for him. Cody says, because that’s what he’s been doing to Sasha? and Montague starts to walk to the door, but Cody says, he’s not going anywhere. Montague tells Sasha, don’t worry. This gentleman – and he uses the term loosely – is obviously just confused. Sasha asks if Cody is right. Does he know Gladys?

Nina tells Ava, Sonny doesn’t let her know anything, but she wishes she knew what was going to happen. What kind of evidence could they have? Ava says, they must have something. She doesn’t think the Feds would drag somebody into court if they didn’t have evidence. But Sonny has beaten more raps than she can count. Nina asks what she’s told Avery, and Ava says she hasn’t told Avery anything, and isn’t going to if she doesn’t have to. Nina says, that’s smart, and asks how Avery is doing. Ava says, she’s good; she’s okay. She’s happy. She’s excited Nina is marrying her daddy. Nina says, that’s sweet, and Ava says, as Nina’s friend, she needs Nina to face the reality here. Even if Sonny does get out of this, it isn’t the end. Sonny’s not going to change. This is the life he has chosen. There’s always going to be something else.

Dex says, there’s no way Josslyn has any responsibility for what happened, but she says she’s the one who wanted to use the flashdrive to put Sonny away. He says, but she didn’t, and she says, because it was destroyed. They had an argument about it, remember? She wanted to use it, and he wanted to get rid of it as quickly as possible. He says he was still careless. There was no way Josslyn was actually going to use it. He doesn’t understand. Why? She says, to help her mom, and to help him. For someone in pre-med, she’s not very bright.

Anna says she knows Curtis didn’t want to see anyone, but that was a while back, so she thought, maybe now he’s home… Can she come in? He says, of course (🍷). Can he get her something? She says, no thank you, but he says, the house has been fitted for him, so he can get her a coffee or a tea or a snack. She says she’s good; she just had lunch. She thought Portia or Trina would be here. He says, oh, she came to see Portia or Trina, but she says, no. She came to see him. She just thought… He says, she thought he would have a babysitter.

Johnny asks if Ned wants to lay down a track first and do vocals separately, but Ned says, no. He’s kind of old school. He likes playing and singing. He just wants to make this demo to get a sense of the song. Maybe play around with the arrangement. Johnny asks if he brought anything, music or lyrics, but Ned says, it’s all up here – he taps his head – and in his hands. Actually, he hasn’t completed the lyrics yet, but they’re right there and he knows they’re going to come to him any  time now. He just has to figure out how the story ends. Leo tells Kira, Eddie says songs are like a story and this one is trapped in marble, like a statue. It just has to be set free. Kira says she likes that, and Johnny says, they’re here to help any way they can. How is he feeling about the vibe? Ned says, the vibe. Just a rootsy, acoustic feel. He’s just trying to get his feet wet today. He hasn’t done this for a while. Johnn says, so he’s recorded before, and Ned says he recorded a lot, back in the day. He even had his share of groupies. Leo asks if that isn’t a fish, and Ned says, yes, and there are a lot of them in the sea. Sorry. A groupie is someone who really likes your music. Leo says, oh, a fan, and Olivia says, exactly. Ned says he played this gig years ago in Houston at The Cobra. It was a packed house. He was stone cold sober, and for some reason, that night when he walked out on stage, the whole crowd just sort of faded away. He felt like it was just him all alone, and he was singing for just one person. It was that way for the entire gig. It never happened again, but he always knew that was the best performance of his life. Johnny says, let’s make this happen. See if they can get him that feeling again. He tells Kira, let’s set up the mics, and they go into the booth. Ned tells Leo that he’s going to be playing and singing in that room, and Leo says, so there’s no bleed through. He knows that. Ned says he knows Leo knows a lot, and Leo tells him, knock ‘em dead, Eddie, and they fist bump. Ned says he’ll try, and goes in the booth. Olivia asks how Leo knew that.

Curtis tells Anna that he’s sorry. That was too easy. Please have a seat. She says she doesn’t understand, and he says, his father just left a while ago, and this is the first time he’s been allowed to be alone in his own house. As a matter of fact, he thinks it’s the first time he’s been alone anywhere since the shooting. She says, that’s kind of why she’s here actually. She wanted to come see him after the surgery, but… He says he told Portia that he didn’t want to see anyone. In fact, he was pretty harsh with her and Trina. She says she can totally understand given everything he’s been through. He knows the bullet wasn’t meant for him, right? He nods, and she tells him that she just came here to say something that she’s wanted to say since it happened. She’s really sorry. She looks close to tears.

Dex says, Josslyn wanted to help him? and she says she loves him so much, and as long as he’s working for Sonny, she’s always going to worry that one day or one night she’ll lose him forever. He says, they’ve been over this, but she says, that doesn’t make it just go away. He says he doesn’t take any unnecessary chances, but she says, he could be in custody and on his way to prison had her mom not called him and warned him. He asks if that’s why she got drunk after the concert, because she’s so worried about him, and she says she hadn’t heard from him. She was stressed out and took the easy way out. Yes, she regrets that. He says she looked like she regretted it when she came in the next morning. Does she have any idea how happy he was to see her? She says she was happy to see him too, and kisses him. She tells him, stop beating himself up over something Sonny did.

Nina says she gets what Ava is saying, but she can only focus on today. Ava says she thinks Nina should force herself to think about the future. She learned that the hard way. Nina says she’s been with complicated men before, and Ava says, that’s one word for Sonny. She assumes Nina is talking about Valentin, and Nina says, yes. Ava says, they both know you need more than one word to describe those two, and Nina says, her point is? Ava says she just wants Nina to think about what she’s doing before she does it, not after. Nina says she knows what she’s doing, and what she’s going to do is marry Sonny. And no one can stop her.

Montague says, of course (🍷) he knows Gladys. Sasha was there when he met her, when he did Sasha’s evaluation. This patient is clearly confused, and now he’s confusing her. Why doesn’t he come with her? He holds out his hand, and Cody pushes it away from Sasha. He gets in between them and says, Sasha’s not going anywhere with Montague. Montague says, that’s enough. Cody gives him no choice but to get security. He heads for the door, but Cody pushes him against it, and they fight.

Ned says, check, one, two, and Johnny asks how he feels about the levels. Ned says he could use a little more guitar in the headphones, and Johnny tells him to give them the loudest chords and they’ll check it again. Ned strums, and Olivia tells Leo that she knows it’s long, but it shouldn’t be much longer now. Leo says, it takes a few times before you get something good, and she asks if Eddie taught him that, but he says, Cody. It’ll take as long as Eddie wants it to. She says, as long as Eddie wants it to, and Ned continues to play.

Curtis says, Anna’s sorry? and she says, this wouldn’t have happened… He says, this is not her fault, but she says, someone was trying to kill her. He says he’s not going to lie. He hates that this happened, and he may hate it for the rest of his life. When he found out he couldn’t move his legs and the bullet wasn’t meant for him, he hated her. He hated Sonny. But it didn’t last. She asks why he thinks, and he says, because he thought about what he used to do. He used to chase the most lethal people around, knowing they wanted to kill him, but what did he do? Does she think he went somewhere and hid? No. He lived his life. And he realized that what happened to him could have easily happened to someone because of him. So maybe it’s karma. Or maybe it just is what it is. She says, that’s incredibly gracious, and he says he just calls it as he sees it. She smiles through her tears, when Portia walks in with a to-go bag from Charlie’s. She says she was wondering whose car that was.

Dex says, even though he got the job with Sonny to spy on him for Michael, Sonny’s been really good to him. In a lot of ways, like a father. She says, a father who hung him from a meat hook, and he says he knows Sonny had his suspicions about him, but Sonny had no idea what that guy did to him. She says, so he’s okay just forgetting everything that Sonny did? and he says, it’s hard to explain. Since he’s gotten to know Sonny better… If Sonny goes to prison, it’s going to leave a hole in his life.

Nina and Ava sit down with a drink, and Ava says, believe her. She wants Sonny to beat these charges almost as much as Nina does. Nina says, it kind of seems like she doesn’t, and Ava says, of course (🍷) she does. For Nina’s sake, for Avery’s sake. She just thinks at times like these, when things are crazy and up in the air, it’s the time they make bad decisions. She just wants to make sure Nina weighs everything. Nina says she has, and Ava reminds her, the last time she walked down the aisle, she ended up turning around and running in the opposite direction because of Valentin’s lies. Nina says, Sonny hasn’t lied to her, and Ava says, of course (🍷) not. Like Nina hasn’t lied to him.

A man walks Sasha through the reception area, and the nurse says, excuse me.

In the bathroom, we see Montague, tied up and lying on the floor in his underwear. He yells for help, but his mouth has duct tape across it.

Cody angles his face so the nurse can’t see it, and she asks where he’s taking the patient, calling him Dr. Montague. He says his patient needs some stimulation from nature, so he’s taking her for a walk and some fresh air. The nurse nods, and they go out the door. Janice comes in and asks who that was leaving with a patient. Cody hustles Sasha down the hallway.

Ned sings the unfinished song about the siren he can’t see, and he’s not bad. He stops and says, sorry, man. Can they just punch in there? Johnny says, no problem. Just take it where he likes, and they’ll cut it from there. Ned sings again, but then stops, looking confused. Leo tells him, she’s like a shadow, remember? and Ned says, yeah, and thanks Leo. Johnny suggests they take it from the top, and Ned begins again.

The nurse tells Janice, that was Dr. Montague. He said the patient needed some air. Janice says, Dr. Montague would never do that. He’s not authorized to take patients out of the hospital. She goes behind the desk and says, he’s not on staff. They have to call security. She picks up the phone.

Dex tells Josslyn that he knows a lot of the things Sonny does – that they do – are illegal, but Sonny has principles. He has more values and integrity than most men who operate legally that he’s close to, and deep down, he thinks she knows that. He’s never had anyone in his life like Sonny. Sonny taught him so much about what it means to be a man. She says she guesses he’s going to the hearing then, and he says, yeah. He hopes she understands. She says she does, and thanks him for explaining what Sonny means to him. He tells her, never forget what she means to him, and kisses her.

Nina asks why Ava is doing this. Ava’s always been so supportive of her and Sonny. Ava says, but she is. She wants to support Nina. As long as she’s going forward eyes wide open. That’s all she cares about. Nina promises she is, and Ava says, good. Nina says, as far as lying to Sonny about turning in Carly and Drew to the SEC, Ava is the only one who knows now. Ava says, to the grave. So after Nina and Sonny get married, maybe the two of them want to think about moving into Windymere. Nina laughs and says, Ava knows she loves her and loves living with her, but that’s not really her idea of wedded bliss. Ava says, not living with her. Maybe Sonny wants to buy Windymere, and all of Spoon Island.

Curtis tells Portia that Anna came by to see how he was doing, and Anna says she came by to apologize. Curtis says, he told her… Portia asks, where is his father? and Curtis says, he went to The Savoy. He had to take care of some things. Portia says, and he left? and Curtis says, yes, he left. He’s fine. Portia says, of course (🍷) he’s fine, and Anna says she should probably go actually. Portia says, if she knew Anna was going to be here, she definitely would have gotten dinner for three. Let her walk Anna out. Anna says, it was good to see Curtis, and Portia tells him that she’ll be right back. Outside, Portia asks, what made Anna think it was a good idea to come here?

Janice says, they have an emergency. They need to enforce a lockdown on the entire building right away. One of their patients, Cody Bell, is wearing Dr. Montague’s clothes, and he’s trying to escape with another patient, Sasha Gilmore.

Sirens are blaring, and Cody runs out of the building with Sasha. He brings her to a car that’s waiting at the end of the driveway, and buckles her in. He says he’s going to get her out of here. She just has to trust him. He gets in the driver’s seat and takes the keys out from under the visor, saying, thank you, Sam. He starts the car, and speeds away.

Nina asks why Ava is selling Windymere, and Ava says, it’s not for publication, so don’t go blabbing. Nina says she won’t, but why? Ava says, Avery likes it, but it’s just the two of them out there. They’re isolated. Nina says, she’s selling because of Nikolas, and Ava says she has to admit she has a few bad memories, but it seems like the right thing to do now. Nina’s phone dings, and she says she has to go. Ava says she hopes she didn’t upset Nina. Please tell her that she didn’t. Nina says, Ava didn’t upset her at all. In fact, Ava made her even more certain that what she’s doing is right. As Nina leaves, Ava says, good luck to Sonny, then says, good luck to me. She signals the bartender for another martini.

Anna says she knows Curtis didn’t want to see anyone, but she doesn’t think she upset him, and Portia says, Anna upset her. If it wasn’t for Anna and Sonny, Curtis wouldn’t be in that chair right now. (It would be amusing if it turned out the bullet was actually meant for Curtis. It’s possible.) Anna says, Portia’s right. She’s sorry about that. Portia says, she’s sorry about that? She doesn’t think Anna realizes how close Curtis was to dying, and now he’s paralyzed. He could be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and Anna’s sorry about that. She guesses that makes everything better. Anna says she didn’t mean it would make it all better… Portia says, Anna and Sonny live dangerous lives. She gets it. They make deadly enemies. But then they roam around and mingle with everybody else and put everyone in danger. And in this case, they put her husband in a wheelchair. Anna says, we will find out who did this. We will. Portia asks, what good is that going to do Curtis? Please don’t come back here. Anna says she won’t, and leaves. Portia lets out a huge breath and goes back inside. She tells Curtis that Charlie’s had strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert, and he says he can’t blame Anna for this. She says she can and takes the to-go bag to the kitchen.

As Eddie/Ned sings, Curtis wheels himself to the patio door and looks out. In the studio, Leo takes Olivia’s hand, and she smiles. Josslyn and Dex sit on a crate at the pier and kiss. He takes her hand for a moment, then leaves. Ava looks at a picture of her and Avery on her phone and sips her martini. Nina paces, then leaves. Anna looks sad. Curtis sighs, and Portia puts her hand on his shoulder as they both look out.

We hear Anna’s voiced say, we will find out who did this. We will.

On Monday, Molly and TJ have a major announcement to make; Maxie says she’s going to make it happen; and Sonny says he’s got this.

🔥 Steam Heat…

The fall preview for GH.

👧 The First Kristina…

I guess I was busy or not watching or something. I remember absolutely none of this, so thanks SOD.

👄 Adding One Blair…

You’ll need to know this.

🧂 Shah Got To Be Joking…

She’ll be lucky if she doesn’t end up having to pay every time she uses RHOSL. Like greed didn’t get her where she is today – in the pokey.

🍸 Lala Rules…

Talking about next season without talking about it.

🎾 House Full Of Awful…

I’m not sure if excited is the word, but I have to admit to a bit of curiosity.

💃🏻 Just Fabulous…

I’ve been watching this for a while, and while I haven’t exactly seen a whole lot of fabulous, that’s okay. I’d rather see real than fancy.

https://screenrant.com/my-big-fat-fabulous-life-season-11-when-finale-how-many-episodes-left/

https://people.com/whitney-way-thore-talks-new-season-my-big-fat-fabulous-life-exclusive-7965327

What’s to come next week.

https://www.etonline.com/my-big-fat-fabulous-life-whitney-uncovers-the-truth-about-her-long-lost-half-sister-exclusive

🎸 The Moonman Awaits…

In case you don’t know how to watch, here are instructions.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1384936/how-to-watch-the-2023-mtv-vmas-on-tv-and-online

🏍 About That Daryl…

Norman talks Daryl.

https://ew.com/tv/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixon-preview-norman-reedus/

When and where to see Daryl.

Reviewing Daryl’s situation.

https://collider.com/the-walking-dead-daryl-dixon-review/

Bonus Daryl. I was surprised to discover how much I enjoyed this show the last time. It makes me want to, well, ride.

🐶 Bravo To Pets…

My heart will always belong to Giggy (!).

🐓 Quotes of the Week

Anything worth doing good takes a little chaos. – Flea

You can control two things: your work ethic and your attitude about anything. – Ali Krieger

If you fall, make it part of the dance. – LuAnn de Lesseps

Success seems to be connected to action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. – Conrad Hilton

Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t, pretend that you do and at some point, you will. – Venus Williams

How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?Charles de Gaulle

Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. – Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), You’ve Got Mail

💻 TikTok Made Me Do It…

Enjoy the week’s end, then join me on Monday really Tuesday for soap and teaful tidings. Until then, stay safe, stay patronizing local businesses, and stay not caring so much, you only think about what it is you can do for the person you love, instead of thinking about what it is that they need and want.

July 26, 2023 – Curtis Acts Like a Big Baby, Happy Anniversary, Paying It Forward, The Tres Amigas Reunite, Detailing, Twisty Tease, Lake Chat, Sushi Pup (!), It’s a Girl & All

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Sonny says, Nikolas is dead, and Ava killed him? She says, yeah. She killed him.

Willow folds laundry, when Michael says, busted. She says, it was worth it, and he asks if she isn’t supposed to be sleeping. She says she tried, but she couldn’t. She’s too happy to sleep.

On the phone, Sam says she’s glad Molly is getting the rest she needs, when Dante walks in. Sam says, tell Molly that she’ll see her when she gets home tomorrow. And that she loves her. She loves Kristina too. Dante asks, how’s Molly? and Sam says, she’s doing okay. She’s a little banged up, but luckily that’s it. It could have been a lot worse. She was going to check on Molly, but Kristina insists she has everything under control. She’s glad they made up before the accident. (Did I miss something?) He says, she’s a good sister, and she says, what about him? He was supposed to be home two hours ago. He looks wiped. He kisses her and says, after a shower, she’ll recognize him again. She says she’ll grab them a beer and when he comes downstairs, he can remind her of who he is.

Josslyn goes to Dex’s place, and says she knows he told her not to come, but she’s here. Did he really think… She looks around at all the candles burning, and says, if he told her not to come, who exactly was he expecting?

Portia asks what Curtis said, and he says, let me go. Literally, let him go. She says she thinks he’s talking crazy, and she’s not going to let him go. He says, it’s not her decision, it’s his, but she tells him that he doesn’t know what he’s saying right now. He tells her that he knows exactly what he’s saying. He doesn’t want to see her again.

Sonny asks what she did with the body, and she says, they thought he disappeared. Sonny looks over the parapet, but she says, no. He didn’t go into the water. Mason has the dead body. He has the evidence and he’s blackmailing her. If she doesn’t do anything he wants, he’ll expose her. Sonny says, that’s not going to happen.

Ava says she was so mad at Nikolas when he told her that he got Esme pregnant, and Sonny says he punched Nikolas in the face when Nikolas told him. That was his son’s girlfriend. Ava says, Spencer was mad too. When he got the idea to file for custody of Ace, she agreed to help him. Sonny says, by killing his father? but she says, no. Nikolas foolishly recorded a confession, taking responsibility for Esme’s death. Esme went over the turret and obviously survived, but she still had the recording and she gave it to Spencer. Sonny says, so he could blackmail his father, and she says, exactly. When Nikolas found out about it, he went crazy. He came after her and told her that he was going to take Avery away from her. Sonny says, bastard, and she says, it broke her. She lost Kiki, and she won’t lose Avery. She’ll do anything she has to, to protect her. Avery is her life.

Dante comes downstairs and says he loves that Sam is a night owl. She hands him a beer, and he says he loves when she’s lying in bed when he gets home too, but he likes that she’s here waiting for him. Sam says, he flatters himself too much. She wasn’t just worried about Molly. She’s also working on a case. Why is he home so late? He says, her first, and she says, Sasha and Cody of course (🍷). He says he’s been thinking about that too. Cody said Sasha called him Cyrus before she stabbed him, but that doesn’t make any sense. Sam says, now she’s under lock and key at Ferncliff, and he says he has the feeling she has a suspicion as to why that all happened. She says, Gladys. Remember when they ran into them at the hospital? Sasha said she was ready to end her guardianship with Gladys. Sam could tell Gladys wasn’t totally on board with that, and of course (🍷) she denied it, but why was Gladys so hell-bent on getting Cody arrested and sent to prison? And does he think it’s just a coincidence that Gladys sold Brando’s garage to a holding company controlled by Selina Wu?

Dex says, Josslyn caught him. He’ll be here soon. He kisses her, and she says, he? He says, the super. In case she didn’t notice, the power is out in the building. She says, the lights are on in the hall, but he says, auxiliary batteries. First scorching day of the year, and everybody turns their AC on full blast, and the wiring in this old building can’t take it. She asks, how long until the super fixes it? and he says, it usually takes a few hours. She says she kind of likes the candles, and he says, how about the heat? She says she’s sure they can find some way to deal with it, but first, she needs to know what’s going on. He says, the only reason he didn’t want her to come was because of the heat, and she says she hasn’t heard from him in 32 hours 46 minutes and 37 seconds, and he asks if she’s counting the hours. She says, he left her alone at the MetroCourt pool yesterday because Sonny called him. Sonny had a job for him – on his day off – and he said it would be a very safe, simple task. She didn’t hear from him until an hour ago. What’s going on? He says, it was just a surveillance job. It took longer than he expected. She says she knows there’s more. Please tell her. He says he found a dead body tonight.

Michael wonders if this is the kind of excitement Willow had in mind when she married him, but she says, it’s better. What about him? He says, being here together, folding their kids’ laundry, who’d have thought something like this could be so perfect? She says, it was one of the things she thought about when she was waiting for the bone marrow transplant, and Michael and I both say, folding laundry? She says she knows it’s silly, but it was the little things that she may never get to do that kept her up at night. She took comfort in thinking about being with him and their kids, doing the little things. Somehow, it gave her hope. She didn’t want to close her eyes because she thought she may never open them again. But she couldn’t sleep tonight because she knows now that she’s going to live, and she never wants to miss a single moment like this. He takes her hand.

Portia tells Curtis that she thinks this is too much too soon. It’s only his second day of recovery after his surgery, so… He says, this is not about the surgery. This is not about recovery. She says, but he’s asking her to leave him. It just doesn’t make any sense. He says he’s not asking, and she says she’s not leaving. She’s his wife. He says, on paper maybe, but they never consummated the marriage, so an annulment should be no problem. She says she’s not giving him an annulment. She knows he’s hurting right now, but she loves him. Big baby Curtis asks if she loved him when she found out he kissed Jordan, and she tells him, don’t do that please, but he says, no. Did she love him when she couldn’t stand to look at him for weeks on end? When was the last time they even spoke to each other before he became Curtis the victim. And when they did speak, what did they say? She says, they had an issue, yes. She wanted to make sure he didn’t still have feelings for his ex-wife, but when she saw him laying by the pool (that would be lying, but I’ll let it pass), and she thought she might lose him… He says, she thought what? Oh, this poor sucker needs me now? He has news for her – he doesn’t. He doesn’t need her pity.

Sam asks if she’s seeing something that’s not here, and Dante says, it’s not like Gladys is some criminal mastermind. Brando’s garage was sitting there, waiting to be sold. Maybe Selina Wu offered the most money for it. She says, what about when Cody and Spinelli tried to bluff Gladys into changing her witness statement? Spinelli said, Gladys wasn’t budging until Selina Wu stepped in and patched things up. Selina takes Gladys’s side, then she changes her witness statement and drops the charges against Cody? Coincidence? He says, there might be a connection, but does that mean Gladys has anything to do with Sasha stabbing Cody? Unless she’s got some proof. Sam says she doesn’t like Gladys, and he laughs. She says, Gladys just rubs her the wrong way. And before he says it, she knows as a P.I., she should never let her personal feelings get in the way of a case, but she doesn’t like Gladys. She gets the feeling Sonny doesn’t either. Maybe he only tolerates her because of Mike and Brando. He says, now Sasha, and she says, yes. He says, she knows how Sonny is with family, and she says, Dante wasn’t there when Mike went through his worst with Alzheimer’s. It killed Sonny seeing his father suffer that way. So maybe that made him more tolerant of Gladys. Dante says, it’s possible, and she says, on one hand, out of nowhere, Sasha stabs Cody. Then on the other hand, Gladys hates Cody, and tries to get him arrested and sent to prison for stealing a bracelet. Then she forms this relationship with Selina. Sam is desperate to form a connection. He says, she’s not the only one.

Portia says, Curtis told her last night in the ICU that he came to the MetroCourt pool because of something Sam said; that you never get enough time to spend with the ones you love. He told her that he loved her. Curtis says he was on heavy medication. He didn’t think… Never mind. She says, he didn’t think there was a possibility he may never walk again? but he tells her, that’s not what he was going to say. She sits on the bed, and says, he got a devastating prognosis last night. And she had to deliver it to him. She’s had to do that before with other patients, and they all react differently, but some of them react the same way he did; going on the internet, looking at all these worst-case scenarios. It just left them feeling like… He says, why doesn’t she stop telling him how he’s supposed to feel? and she says she’s trying to explain something to him. That he’s not the only spinal surgery patient to react this way, but he couldn’t be more wrong about why she’s here. She doesn’t pity him – he lets out a sigh, which he’s been doing periodically – she’s here because she loves him. He says, just stop, but she says, no, because he feels alone right now, but he’s not alone. She’s right here. Her, him, and Trina, they’re going to face this together. Big baby Curtis says, there is no way in hell that’s happening. Man, he is annoying the crap out of me.

Dex tells Josslyn that he saw this guy at the hospital. He matched the description of a guy who Sonny saw harassing Austin the night before. That might have been who Austin was talking to when Elizabeth caught him outside his office. Dex called Sonny, decided to follow him, and when he got outside, he found the guy’s body in the alley. Josslyn says (in case we didn’t get it the first time), so Sonny had Dex following Austin, then Austin had a meeting with some guy in his office, and a few minutes later, the guy was dead? Dex says, yeah. Isn’t she going to ask him? She says, ask him what? and he says, if I killed him.

Ava tells Sonny, Nikolas was enraged. He was so full of hatred. He said, by giving Spencer that recording, she had taken his baby away from him. She tried to reason with him, but he said he was going to take Avery away from her. He said he was a Cassadine, and there were place he could go where she’d never find Avery. And the last thing he said was, I’m going to tell Avery that you said goodbye. He started to leave, and she had to stop him. Sonny asks how she stopped him, and she says, there was a little statue on the table. Not thinking, she grabbed it, and she hit him. And he fell… and he was… Sonny says, dead. She nods, and he asks if she’s going to tell him how this Mason guy fits in here.

Portia says, Curtis told her that he wanted to know more about Trina. He said he wanted to get to know her better. He said… Curtis says, will she stop telling him about what he said before and listen? Listen to what he’s saying now. He will not be a burden to Trina. In fact, he thinks it’s best if he doesn’t see her again. Oh come on. It’s not like she has to tote him around, and they certainly have enough money to do whatever. Portia gets up and says, their daughter was sitting outside that ICU room for 24 hours straight. She was desperate to hear any word about how her father was doing. Trina broke down when she told Portia that the first words he said after waking up were, where’s my daughter? He has no idea how much that meant to her. She wants to be here. She wants to help him. She wants to support him. He says, parents are supposed to support their children, not the other way around. Just because he’s Trina’s father doesn’t mean she should be stuck nursing a pathetic man in a wheelchair. Portia asks if he knows how many people have suffered the same injury he has. And much worse. Some of them are in a wheelchair, yes. Some of them aren’t so lucky, but their lives are far from pathetic. They know their lives might not be what they’d once been, but they didn’t quit. They didn’t give up on their families. Is that what he’s going to do? If he can’t be the father he wants to be for Trina, then he’s not going to be a father at all?

Ava tells Sonny that she checked to see if Nikolas had a pulse, and just as she realized he didn’t, Austin started banging on the door. Sonny says, she let him in? and she says she tried to get rid of him; he wouldn’t leave. She told him that she had a business call and sent him up here to wait. She went down and got a wheelbarrow and brought Nikolas down to the tack room. She put him in a storage closet there and locked the door. She turned around, and Austin was standing there. He’d seen everything. Sonny asks if that’s when he blackmailed her, but she says, no. He helped her.

Josslyn says, Dex didn’t kill him, and he says he didn’t think she thought so, but… She says, he never would have told her anything if he had, because he wouldn’t want to lie to her. She knows he’s always going to do everything in his power to protect her. He says, everything? and she asks if the body’s still there. He says, no. He called Sonny, and Sonny told him to call the cops. She says, what? and he says he was surprised too. He figured Sonny would tell him to walk away, but Sonny told him to call the cops and tell them what happened. She asks, why? and he says he’s not sure. Maybe because it was right outside GH, and Sonny thought the surveillance cameras caught him. Maybe he wanted the body found for some reason? Either way, Dex is sure Sonny didn’t think the cop that would show up would be his son. She asks if Dante hassled him, and he says, Dante questioned him, and he told him exactly what Sonny wanted him to say. She asks if Dante thought Dex killed this guy. He’s the one who called it in. Dex says, he was just doing his job. But Dante knows he works for Sonny, and if any of Sonny’s guys had called it in, Dante would have been suspicious. He’s also very protective of Josslyn. She says she gets that, but she doesn’t need his protection. He says, Dante loves his father, but he knows a lot of what Sonny does, what he does, isn’t exactly legal. Dante’s just worried he’ll drag her into it somehow. Josslyn says, nothing and nobody is ever going to come between them, and they kiss.

Willow says, Michael helped her so much. His love was so important. Doctors talk about patients having the will to live. That’s what he and the kids gave her. He says, she fought so hard, and she says, because of him, and Wiley and Amelia. And because she was so determined to have moments like this. Deep down, she knew she might not win that battle, but she also knew that if she didn’t, Wiley and Amelia would be okay, because they had him; a father who would love them, put them first, and protect them. He says, when she wanted to talk about a future without her, he had to make himself say the things she wanted to hear. She says she remembers it was hard for him, and he says, they had to talk it through. She was weak and he had to reassure her, but never in his heart did he accept losing her. Maybe it was denial or clinging to hope, but he couldn’t imagine life without her. Now he doesn’t have to. She says, so he’s basically saying he was right all along, and he says he usually is, kissing her.

Sam asks why Dante was home late, and he says, someone reported a dead body in the alley outside GH. She says, any witnesses? and he says, one. He was sort of cooperative; he had a pretty convincing story. She says, story? Sounds like he’s not convinced. Does he know the guy? He says, Dex Heller. One of Sonny’s guys finds a dead body in the alleyway, who does she think his first call is to? She says, Sonny, and he says, right. And what does Sonny probably tell him? To walk away, right? But instead, Sonny told him to call the cops. Why would he do that? She asks if there was an ID on the body, and he says, yeah, but that’s on a need-to-know basis. She says, okay. So this on top of Cody getting stabbed. She thinks maybe they need a little distraction. I need a little distraction from the squeaky sounds their couch is making as they move around on it, and start getting busy. There’s a knock at the door, and Sam says, go away, but it’s persistent. Dante gets up, and opens the door to Cody, who says, what’s going on? Then falls inside.

Wiley is concerned that if Willow goes to his baseball game, it’s dirty and some of the kids will have germs. He doesn’t want her to get sick again. Michael says he’s amazing to be so concerned about his mom, but she’s getting stronger by the day. Willow says, the doctor told her that her immune system is getting stronger too. That’s what fights off the nasty germs. So she might not be able to come to his game next week or the week after, but she’ll definitely be there before the season’s over. Wiley says, then he’ll have his dad and his mom there, and Michael says, he sure will, but right now it’s very getting late. So finish his cookie, and then he has to go back to bed. Wiley says, it isn’t fair. Why does he have to sleep when everyone else is awake? Michael says, Amelia is asleep. Amelia starts to cry, Wiley says, uh-oh, and Willow laughs.

Curtis says, Portia is Trina’s mom. She shouldn’t want Trina tied down with him either. She’s a young woman in college. Portia should be encouraging her to get out there and live her life. She says, he can still be a part of Trina’s life. He’s still here. He says he can’t move his legs. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to walk again. He’s not the man she fell in love with, and he’s damn sure not the man who saved Trina from Victor Cassadine. And he can’t be anything less. She says, it’s just going to be different, that’s all, and he says, how? Pity? Consolation? Support? He doesn’t want any of that, least of all from his daughter. She says, they just want to be here for him, and he says he’s the one who’s living this. If she really wants to help, she’ll walk out the door and not come back.

Just a thought, but he would always be less than the man who saved Trina from Victor Cassadine. It’s not like it was going to happen again. Well, on a soap, it might, but you know what I mean. Curtis is just being a big baby, and it’s driving me nuts.

Sonny asks why Austin would want to help Ava, and she says, he tried to get her to call the cops. She convinced him that they’d never believe her; everybody knew how angry she was at Nikolas. He says, that’s for sure, and she says, after a while, Austin agreed to keep quiet, and they decided to leave Nikolas in the storage closet and decide what to do later. Then so much happened. Laura showed up here looking for Nikolas, and Ava realized she had to find a way to convince everybody he’d left town. Then she had to go to go to Portia’s wedding. She couldn’t afford to raise suspicions at all. He says, and all the while, Nikolas’s body is in the storage closet, and she says, yeah. She and Austin agreed to meet after the wedding. They decided they’d bury Nikolas in the Pine Barrens. It’s the safest place. That was the night Ryan and Heather showed up, and all hell broke loose. Austin was hooked and she shot Ryan, and Esme gave birth to Nikolas’s baby, and Heather… He says he gets it. It was a complicated night. She says, it certainly was, and then the cops came, swarming the island, looking for clues as to exactly what happened. it wasn’t long before they started to search the tack room. He says, and they found a locked storage closet, and she says she and Austin were there; they were jumping out of their skins. She tried to stall them. She told them she didn’t have a key. That wasn’t a problem for Dante though; he pried the door open with a crowbar. He says, and no Nikolas, and she says, at first she thought she didn’t kill him after all. Then a few minutes later, Mason started toying with them. He said he’d followed them out to the island that night, and he’d seen everything. Sonny says, and he took Nikolas’s body, and she says, with her DNA all over it. He’s been blackmailing her ever since. Sonny says, to spy on him.

Dante helps Cody to the sofa, and Sam asks what he’s doing out of the hospital. Cody says he checked himself out, and Dante says, they’re going to check him back in. Sam says she’s calling GH, but Cody says, no doctors, no hospital. Dante says, Cody is in rough shape, but Cody says he’s okay. He just overdid it a little. Sam says, they’re taking him back to GH, and he says he was in the hospital after Sasha stabbed him. If he goes back, it will just be worse for her, and she didn’t mean to hurt him. Sam said it herself; none of this makes any sense. Sam leaves to get the first aid kit, and Dante asks if Cody is sure he knows what he’s doing.

Amelia on her knee, Willow says she loves Wiley’s daddy so much, that’s how she knew she had to come home. She’s not going anywhere, so he has no reason to be afraid now. He asks if he can stay up all night, and Michael says, he can stay up as long as Amelia does. He tells Amelia, stay awake.

Cody’s wound is rebandaged, and he says he’s not going back to the hospital. Dante says, he has to understand something. Sasha’s already in Ferncliff for what she did to him. Him dying will make it worse for her, so maybe leaving the hospital wasn’t the greatest move. Cody says he knows. He just thought… He doesn’t know what he thought. None of this makes any sense. Sam says she doesn’t disagree with Cody, but Sasha stabbed him in front of a lot of witnesses. Her being at Ferncliff is what’s best for her and everyone else. Cody says, she doesn’t belong there, and Dante says, if that’s the case, they’ll figure that out. Oh yeah, sure they will. The same place that mistook Doc for Ryan for years. Cody says, Sasha was doing so well. She was getting stronger, then all of a sudden, out of nowhere… Sam says, Sasha is fragile, but Cody says, she isn’t fragile. She was doing so well, and it happened out of nowhere. He would bet everything he has that this has something to do with Gladys. Dante says, nothing is going to get solved tonight, and Cody needs to rest up. Cody says, he’s right. He’s sorry for crashing in on them. He’ll call a car to take him back to the Q’s. Dante and Sam make some faces at each other, and Sam rolls her eyes and goes upstairs.

Dex and Josslyn feed each other fruit (?), and she says, he still looks pretty hot. She rubs an ice cube on his chest and says, this better? He says, getting better and better. She looks hot too. He slides an ice cube up her arm to her neck and kisses her. They get busy. I’m finding this more awkwardly forced than romantic. Is this from the non-union writers?

Sonny gives Ava a martini, and she thanks him. He says he thinks she earned it. She’s been through hell. She says, it’s still there. She told him, Mason wants all the information he can get on Sonny and this Pikeman company. She told Mason that she couldn’t come up with anything, and that’s when he came up with the idea to replace Avery’s nanny with Betty. Betty said if Ava didn’t cooperate, they’d hurt her mother. She thinks they already have her. He says, nothing’s going to happen to Delia, but she says she doesn’t know if it’s going to be that easy. She knows Sonny is powerful, but Mason is genuinely afraid of these people that he works for, so they’ve got to be pretty powerful too. He says, don’t worry about it, and she says, okay, but remember the part where Mason has Nikolas’s body. She doesn’t want anything to happen to her mother, but she doesn’t want to go to prison. He says, she’s not going to prison. Her mother’s going to be safe. He’s going to take care of everything. He promises. I want a Sonny.

Curtis asks if Portia knows what he’s been thinking about the last 24 hours he’s been stuck in this bed. She says, please don’t do it, but he says he’s been thinking about what his life would have been like today if it weren’t for her lies. Even if he were stuck in a wheelchair, he would have known his daughter for twenty years now. Twenty years she took from him. She says she’s sorry. She explained to him… He says, sorry doesn’t matter now. Those years are gone because of her. He can never have them back. (I’m thinking, well, you’ve got plenty of time to catch up now…) Right now, he doesn’t give a good damn whether she wants to stay with him out of guilt, pity, or because she wants the insurance money – it ain’t happening. He doesn’t trust her. He doesn’t know her. And he doesn’t want her. Get out. He yells that he said get out, and she leaves.

Willow and Wiley are asleep on the sofa, and Michael asks if Amelia finds this memo as fascinating as he does. It’s the last one and he promises they’ll go off to Dreamland just like those two. Her mother and brother are pretty amazing. So is she. Her dad just happens to be the luckiest guy in the world.

Cody sleeps on the sofa, and Sam and Dante turn out the lights. In the hallway, Dante says he’s sorry he has a friend who thinks he can show up at any time. She tells him, stop it. Cody’s lucky to have a friend like him. Dante says, he has bad timing, and Sam says she thinks he’s going to sleep well tonight. They kiss, and she says, there’s no reason why they can’t pick up where they left off. He says, that’s the second best idea yet, picks her up, and carries her upstairs.

Dex and Josslyn get busy in bed as the candles burn down. Hey, where’s that super?

Ava leans against the parapet and remembers Sonny saying he’s going to take care of everything. He promises. She says she hopes he means that.

In his car on the phone, Sonny says he needs them to find somebody for him… Dead? Sure. Alive would be better.

Tomorrow, Curtis asks someone for a favor; Sam asks how Molly would feel if she never had kids; Felicia asks, what on earth is going on in here; Carly tells Nina that she’s going to get back every single thing she’s lost; and at Ferncliff, Sasha calls out, asking if anyone can hear her.

👨‍❤️‍👨 Still Going Strong…

I liked his Nikolas better than the other Nikolases. Nikoli? The part really suited him.

💌 Passing It On…

It’s amazing how he’s used his illness to help others, both on the show and off.

The Real Nightmare Housewives of Orange County

I saw Emily on Watch What Happens Live just before I watched this, and I dunno. She’s super thin, and claims she just used Ozempic to give her a jump start, then worked her ass off in the gym and changed her diet. She looks good, but doesn’t look like herself. The weird part is, I’d just been thinking how pretty she looks and how much like a Disney princess with those hairbands. Not anymore. She’s too slinky to be a Disney princess.

Shane gets his nose hairs waxed, and I can’t watch. Emily’s hoping everyone has a great time and relaxes at her pool party, and asks, how you can be fighting when there’s an adult Slip N Slide? Where there’s a Tamra, there’s a way. Jenn brings son Greyson to meet Taylor and her daughters Kennedy and Alexis for some boardwalk fun. In Jenn’s interview, she says, Taylor feels like they’re long lost sisters from Oklahoma. They take a ferry to the boardwalk action, and have corndogs. I think about the corndog I’m planning on eating at this year’s county fair. Taylor passes on the corndog because of her cotton candy reputation. She can just imagine. Shannon joins them.

Tamra meets Fancy Pants Heather for coffee, and wears camo pants I could live without. Fancy Pants says she felt like she was on an apology tour when they were at dinner, and Tamra says, the Jenn thing is fuzzy. Jenn assumes the stories Tamra is getting about Ryan are from a non-Fancy Pants Heather, who claims she and Ryan were just friends prior to Jenn hooking up with him. Tamra has some stupid idea about getting them together and the three of them being friends like they used to be. Jenn says, Tamra’s airing of her past dirty laundry is causing problems in her relationship, and Shannon identifies with the others discussing a relationship they’re not a part of. We flash back to various discussions about John.

Gina and Travis meet Matt and his new girlfriend, along with the kids, and in her interview, Gina says she loves having a big, blended family. The whole thing is pretty boring, as she goes blah-blah-blah about how she helped Matt since it was best for the family. She says, it wasn’t about making it go away, but learning to live with it.

Emily and Tamra meet for drinks, and I still don’t understand why Emily didn’t make a break for it while she could, since she’s now been replaced by a thinner, more swanky clone. Emily asks if Tamra’s relationship with Shannon is the same as it used to be, and Tamra says, it’s getting there. Emily tells Tamra that Fancy Pants was talking about Shannon’s relationship, and Tamra says, it makes her feel like Fancy Pants isn’t a good friend, and Shannon needs to know. Emily asks Tamra not to throw her under the bus, which is probably like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

Ryan seems supportive… The pool party commences, and Taylor suggests Jenn might like to be in a relationship without everyone else’s input. In Fancy Pants’ interview, she says she loves that Emily is assertive, but it’s off-putting when she shifts to being aggressive. Since Emily doesn’t mean it, she can get past it – usually. Like Fancy Pants has never been for real aggressive. Cue the video of her kicking everyone out of her house and pushing people aside before the entrée was even served. Jenn, dressed like she’s going to a funeral complete with hat and veil, is skeptical about being at a party with Tamra, but in Emily’s interview, she says, Tamra was drunk, and they’ve all been there. We flash back to each of them drunk to the point of more stupidity than usual. Emily not quite admits that she and Shane made sex tapes, and in Fancy Pants’ interview she said she doesn’t even like seeing herself on sitcoms.

Other Heather and Jenn have a sit down. Heather says, Jenn threatened her and was assuming she was the source of the Ryan gossip. We flash back to Tamra relaying everything to Jenn, saying, Heather told her, and Heather says, Jenn plays dumb. No surprise, the others discuss them as they watch from a distance, and Fancy Pants gives a report. In Tamra’s interview, she says, the whole reason she brought non-Fancy Pants Heather is because she wanted the three of them to talk it out. I’m not sure who she thinks she’s kidding. Nobody ever talks anything out on this show. They pretend to sometimes, but then it’s back on the merry-go-round. Heather tells Jenn that if she found out her man did what Ryan did, her heart would be broken, and in Jenn’s interview, she says, it’s not like it’s a Nancy Drew mystery, where she’s getting new information. Heather asks where her feelings are, when Shannon inserts herself, saying maybe Jenn wants to keep things between her and Ryan. (The nerve!) Emily comes by to check in, presumably as hostess, but come on. Other Heather says, Jenn isn’t standing up for herself and she loves Jenn. At this point, everyone is squeezed in there, and on the side, Taylor says she feels like she’s married to Ryan and she’s sick of him. Tamra tells Jenn that she overdrank, and apologizes. She says she just wants Jenn to be honest and strong. Jenn says she and Ryan didn’t know where things were going to end up, and they were taking some time. However, her idea of taking time wasn’t taking time with other people. What she didn’t need though, was everyone bringing it up again. In her interview, she says, the cycle is repeating itself. A Slip N Slide came out, along with a champagne gun.

This was so stupid I can’t even. The water got disgusting pretty quickly, and in Emily’s interview, she says, everyone in Orange County has a spray tan, and every pool party has brown water. Blech. Jenn makes an early exit, and in her interview, she says she’s exhausted. She can’t fake it as well as some of these people. Fancy Pants puts on a wetsuit to use the slide so her body doesn’t touch the ick. In her interview, Emily says, she’d envisioned a pool party with hot friends in bikinis. What she got was Shannon in Spanx, and Fancy Pants looking like a whale trainer at SeaWorld. It’s not Girls Gone Wild. It’s not even Cougars Gone Wild. It’s not even Grannies Gone Wild. It’s Nobody’s Gone Wild.

Jenn and Ryan go to a healer/therapist where the healer makes weird ohm-ish sounds. Their eyes are closed, but Ryan looks like he’s going to laugh, and I can’t blame him. Gina confesses in her interview that she buys jarred sauce, and tells Travis that she got approved to take the real estate exam. She’s going to shadow some agents in the meantime. In Gina’s interview, she says, passing her first exam was a confidence boost. Travis asks if she’s happy that her life took a turn, and she tells him that quitting drinking played a huge part in her processing the trauma she’d gone through. It scares her to think of being stuck in her former life because she’s so happy. Travis says, it’s a real fresh start.

Tamra and Shannon meet with Vicki for drinks and food (mostly drinks), and Vicki, who’s dating new man Michael, actually looks pretty good. Tamra was also on WWHL tonight, and she and Emily agreed that they thought Vicki would be back on the show. I don’t know if they had some inside knowledge or they were just throwing it out there, but Andy didn’t disagree. Shannon says, the tres amigas are back, and in Shannon’s interview, she says, it’s elevated to crazy fun when she gets together with Tamra and Vicki. They tequila up, and we flash back to all the shots they’ve ever had together. At least it felt that way. Shannon says she had a rocky year with Fancy Pants, but now it was better, and Tamra wonders if Fancy Pants can be trusted. Shannon says she believes Heather has a vault, but Tamra thinks otherwise. It gets confusing here, because out of the blue, Shannon tells Tamra, don’t bring it up. She and Tamra leave the table, and Shannon tells Tamra that her relationship is over if whatever-it-is is aired. Okay, they got my attention, but then…  

To be continued…

🍊 Going Deeper…

Although, how deep can it really get? This clarifies the end a little more, but not really.

https://people.com/real-housewives-of-orange-county-shannon-storms-beador-says-heather-dubrow-will-destroy-relationship-while-tamra-judge-apologies-fall-short-7566002

🍸 VanderStrange…

Lala dishes on the upcoming season.

https://people.com/lala-kent-calls-vanderpump-rules-season-11-strangest-yet-teases-twist-7566114

🚣‍♀️ With Help Like That…

This is actually a pretty fun show. They keep calling Sonja and LuAnn celebrities, so I guess they don’t get out much.

https://www.salon.com/2023/07/22/luann-and-sonja-welcome-to-crappie-lake-an-indicator-of-just-how-little-class-money-can-buy/

🐩 I Wouldn’t Normally…

While I’m not a fan of all those K’s, this pup definitely gets a heart-eyes emoji from me.

https://people.com/kim-kardashian-dog-sushi-wears-fluffy-pink-sweater-photo-7564510

🐵 Congratulations, Sully…

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes… well, this happens.

https://people.com/shock-twist-at-columbus-zoo-as-male-gorilla-gives-birth-to-baby-girl-7564204

🏰 Best and Final…

Make a return trip tomorrow for soap and teatime. Until then, stay safe, stay not occupying more space than you need on public transport, and stay not going on the internet and looking at worst case scenarios if you’ve gotten a devastating prognosis. Or probably any prognosis.

June 29, 2023 – Trina Walks Out On Spencer, Jackson, Not Guilty, Farewell, On Or Not, Fancy Feud, Andy’s Call, She’s a Tease, VanderNews, Dream Tour & Call Me

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Elizabeth goes to Finn’s place, and he says, this is a pleasant surprise. What can he do for her? She says, he invited her here, and he looks confused. While she looks for the text, Violet comes out, and says, good. Aunt Elizabeth is in time for her dinner.

While she sips a martini, Ava flashes back to slapping Austin after realizing he took Avery. There’s a knock at her door, and Austin says, they need to talk before she gets them both killed.

Drew asks if Carly is okay, and she says she can’t believe this is their last night together, possibly for three years. It just feels so wrong. He says, it’s the only choice he could make. He couldn’t look at himself in the mirror, he couldn’t be a father to Scout, he couldn’t even hold his head up if he did otherwise.

At the hospital, Portia says she knows it was short notice when she asked Esme to stop by. And she brought the baby; he’s so adorable. He’s really growing, right? Esme says she just came from work, and Spencer was supposed to pick him up from daycare, but he had other plans. Portia says, that’s actually one of the reasons she called Esme over here. There’s something she thinks they should discuss. Esme asks, what about? and Portia says, Esme and Spencer, and how they plan to co-parent Ace.

Walking into the Highsider, Spencer says, Trina and Joss came here alone? She says, they sure did. There was a bar fight, the cops had to come, and they got carded. Hopefully, this visit will be less eventful. He says, Esme certainly picked the right spot to score a black-market phone, and Trina says she’s just hoping they can find a witness who can confirm that Oz Haggerty sold one to her, but he says, this whole thing is convoluted. They already had the evidence they needed. She says she’s talking about real proof. Maybe a bartender or a waitress saw Oz negotiating with Esme; maybe even saw him giving her the phone. He thinks it’s a waste of time, but she says, they need something real. Not some made up evidence that his Uncle Victor left him. Have a little faith. He says, forgive him for not being overly optimistic that they’ll get help or cooperation from a bunch of lowlifes. Josslyn walks in with Dex, and tells Spencer, maybe you’re the wrong person to be asking.

At the bar, Dante says, to us and a well-deserved night out, where no one will ever find us, and they clink beer bottles. She says she doesn’t know, looking over at Josslyn and the others. She hates to disappoint him.

Ava says she doesn’t want to see Austin right now, but he walks in anyway. He pours himself a drink, and she says she doesn’t remember offering him one, but he says he thinks a drink is the least she can owes him after what he did for her today. She asks if he means scaring her to death; making her believe her child had been kidnapped. He says, no. He means staging an incident that got the nanny out of the way without A, getting Avery kidnapped for real, and B, not getting her nanny killed. Because make no mistake, if Mason had thought even for one second that Pilar was inhibiting her ability to spy on Sonny, Pilar would meet up with a very unfortunate accident. That’s something he can’t live with. So he made the call. He thought it was better for Pilar to lose her job than lose her life. Bottoms up. She asks what the hell he’s gotten her into.

Esme tells Portia that Spencer is Ace’s brother, not his parent. Ace’s actual father Nikolas decided to run away rather than face justice for keeping her prisoner. That leaves her as his only parent. Portia says, from a legal standpoint, Esme is absolutely correct, but sometimes the daily realities of raising a child aren’t so cut and dried. In fact, if she remembers correctly, they’re exhausting and messy. She’s been there. She been in Esme’s situation, but knows what it’s like to have somebody who’s really supporting you 100%. That was her ex-husband Marcus Taggert, and for Esme, that appears to be Spencer. He’s clearly extremely devoted to his baby brother. Esme says, Spencer does care a great deal about Ace, but when it comes to actual caregiving, sometimes Spencer is available and accommodates, but sometimes not. It’s like a constant negotiation. Portia says, that’s why she thought it might be a good idea for Esme and Spencer to take a parenting class together.

Josslyn and Dex sit with Spencer and Trina, and Josslyn says she can’t believe this place hasn’t changed at all. Spencer says he can’t believe she and Trina came in there alone, like a couple of undercover agents, trying to get dirt on Esme. Josslyn says, and here they are again, and Trina says, but this time they’re not alone. Dex says, in case they start another barroom brawl? and Trina says, they didn’t start it. Spencer asks if this is the kind of place Dex is used to, and Dex says he’s seen his fair share of place like this, especially in the service. They’re all over the world; they have their advantages. I just have to say, this bar looks nothing like the way they’re making it sound. I’ve been in actual shady bars, and they don’t look like this. Josslyn says, hopefully, they can find something real that ties Esme to Oz Haggerty, and Spencer says, something real? Josslyn says, something not fake, like the evidence his Uncle Victor left him, and Trina says, it just kind of came out. Josslyn says she knows why he’d want to use it. They all know Esme’s guilty. Spencer says, that’s kind of his point. It’s not considered framing someone if the person actually did the crime. He knows his Uncle Victor was insane, but he was also a pro. The evidence Victor gave him would hold up to scrutiny, and he feels like they’re wasting a lot of time when they already have what they need to take Esme down. Trina says, so he’s telling them that he kept the fake evidence.

Sam wonders what those four are up to, but Dante says he doesn’t give a damn. He’s off duty, and he’s with his girl at the bar of her choice. As far as he’s concerned, they’re the only ones here. They clink bottles again.

Carly tells Drew that she should have done more. She feels so responsible. Michael came to her, and he wanted her to flip on Sonny. He had proof, and he said if she testified against Sonny, the Feds would probably back off and keep Drew out of it altogether, but she couldn’t. He says, that’s because it’s not who she is. He’d never expect that. She says, but he’s not culpable. All he did was tell her about the plan to merge ELQ and Aurora. She’s the one who acted on insider information. She’s the one who’s guilty. He’s not; Sonny’s not. Sonny’s guilty of a whole bunch of other stuff… He says he doesn’t care about Sonny. His going to prison has nothing to do with her. She says, it has everything to do with her. He’s going to prison to protect her, and she doesn’t know if she can live with that.

Violet puts a vase of peonies on the coffee table, and Elizabeth says, wow. Those are gorgeous. Finn asks where she got them, and Violet says she ordered them on his phone, but they’re pink, Aunt Elizabeth’s favorite. Does she like them? Elizabeth says she loves them, and Violet says she forgot the candles. You can’t have a romantic dinner without candles. She knows she’s not supposed to light them, and asks if Finn will help her. He says he’ll light the candles, and Violet runs off to get them. Finn tells Elizabeth that clearly he and Violet need to have a long conversation about boundaries, and she says, it looks like they’ve been set up by a pintsized matchmaker. He says he guesses they’re having a date.

Drew says, what if he told Carly that his going to prison isn’t really about protecting her, and she says she’d call him a liar. He says, okay, it is about protecting her, but it’s not only about her. It’s about her children and the extended family that they share. He thinks about it like a cost benefit analysis. (Can he get more boring?) If he goes to prison, it causes the least amount of collateral damage. It’s just the logical choice. She says, this isn’t spreadsheets and algorithms. There’s nothing logical about this.

Austin says, Ava’s in this mess because of him? It’s the other way around. He’s in this mess because of her. Because she killed her husband and left him in the tack room. She says, it was an accident. She didn’t mean to kill her husband. She was just trying to keep him from taking her daughter. Austin knows that. He says, all right, but he’s dead, and she left his body out where any old body could find him, and guess who did? Mason. And now Mason’s got them exactly where he wants them. He’s in this mess because of her. If she goes down for murdering her husband, he’s going to prison as an accessory. He’ll spend the rest of his life in prison for a killing he had nothing to do with. She says, he offered to help her, and he says, because she asked. Now they’ve got all the leverage over him they could ever possibly want, unless they decide to let Mason do his thing and get them out of the way. Ava asks, enough with the they. Who is the they? Who is behind him and Mason?

Violet finishes setting the table, and says, it’s ready. Finn says he thinks she forgot a place setting. Where is she going to sit? She says, not with them. This is a date, just for the two of them. She’s going to be their server. Please have a seat. They sit on the sofa, and Violet says she’ll get the drinks. She goes to the kitchen, and Finn says, it’s been a minute since they spent time outside of work. She says, that’s why, when she got his text, she was thinking that… She knows the text was from Violet, but… never mind. He says he’d like to hear, when Violet runs in with a jar of something that looks like pink lemonade, and Finn says he’ll help her pour, taking it from her. He pours a glass for Elizabeth and himself, when there’s a knock at the door. Violet says, dinner’s here, and Finn says, she ordered dinner from his phone? She says, dessert too.

Dante says he doesn’t think he told Sam, but she did an incredible job officiating at Michael and Willow’s wedding. She asks where that came from, and he says he wanted to tell her, but they haven’t had a lot of time to sit and connect with each other because everything’s been so crazy. She looked so beautiful in that pink dress. She found a way to be appropriate and official, but smoking hot at the same time. He doesn’t know how she does it. She thanks him, and he says she was warm and loving, and made it about them, not her. She says, it was about them; it was their wedding. He says, not to him. They were saying their vows, but all he could think about was her.

Spencer tells Trina that he kept the evidence as Plan B. He saw no reason to get rid of it. Right now, Esme is being marginally cooperative. Should that ever change, or if she should regain her memories again, or revert to being her old self, or worse, take Ace and leave the country, he would at least have some recourse; something to take to the cops. Dex says, in his experience, taking evidence to law enforcement is more complicated than Spencer thinks. If Spencer shows up with this boatload of evidence, the cops will vet it. And if even one piece doesn’t hold up, Spencer will be arrested and charged with obstruction. Spencer asks, what makes you the expert, Mr. Combat Vet? If Dex is so good, if he’s such a talented soldier, why take a job opening doors for his uncle? Dex tells Josslyn, let’s go, and Josslyn says, lovely as always. Spencer gets up and says he doesn’t need Dex’s help. He punches Dex in the face, and caught off guard, Dex falls. Josslyn asks if he’s okay.

Austin tells Ava, these people aren’t like anyone she’s met before. They’re not you’re run of the mill Mafia types. They don’t care about codes or territory. They could care less about family or honor or any of that. They’re going to get what they want by any means necessary. Right now what they want is information about Pikeman from Sonny, and she’s going to get it for them. She says, they’ve made that abundantly clear, but what’s not clear is what they want her to give them. He says, give them what they’re asking for, or they’ll just keep ramping up the pressure. Or worse. They’ll get her out of the way, and come at Sonny from a different angle. She says, he’s afraid of them, isn’t he? She can see it. His fear is real, even though everything else about him has been a lie.

Drew says he knows Carly is scared, and she says she is. She’s guilty, and she can’t stop thinking it should be her. She should take the fall. He says, that would be a terrible idea, but she says, if it were her, they’d probably send her to Spring Ridge. He says, she doesn’t know that. The Feds made it pretty clear they were interested in her because of Sonny. Think about it. To save herself, she would have had to give evidence up against Sonny, which would have torn her family apart. Kristina, Avery, even Donna would have resented her for that someday. And if she didn’t give up Sonny, Joss and Michael would have blamed her for sacrificing herself for a man they think betrayed her. It was a lose-lose. She says, but none of that is his fault. It’s her mess. Outcome of her choices. She’s the one who chose to marry Sonny, to have kids with him, to have knowledge about his business. That’s on her. Why should he have to pay for it? He says, the answer is because he loves her.

Portia tells Esme that GH happens to offer parenting classes, and one starts next week. Esme says she appreciates Portia thinking of her, but she has work, and she doesn’t think Spencer… Portia says, some of the topics are just so practical. Like how to get her baby to sleep through the night, which can be extremely helpful now that she’s working. And also how to tell the difference between common baby ailments and something more serious. Esme supposes that would have come in handy when Ace had colic, and Portia says, the main thrust of the course is just to get partners on the same page, to be able to communicate effectively and set goals for the baby. She thinks that would be extremely helpful in Esme’s case. Esme says, they do have a lot of last-minute changes, and Portia says, having predictable schedules can really help with frustration and disappointment. She gets it. Things come up; adjustments need to be made. But if Esme and Spencer really do plan to work together, they can support each other in a calm and organized way. She just thinks it would be better for the both of them and especially Ace. Esme says, Portia does make some really good points, but she’s not so sure Spencer would want to take a class with her. Portia says, it doesn’t hurt to tell him. Tell him that she’s going either way, and give him the option to attend with her. He might surprise her. She gives Esme a pamphlet.

Sam asks if Dante saw that, and he says, dammit, he did. Dex says, the first one is free. The second one will cost Spencer. Josslyn tells him, relax; let it go. Spencer takes another swing, but Dex is more than ready, punching Spencer a few times before Spencer falls to the ground. Trina runs over to Spencer, and the bouncer comes out, saying, break it up. Dante says he’ll handle it. He’s an off-duty cop, and he knows these guys. The bouncer thanks him (they’re even polite!), and Dante asks if Spencer can get up. Trina tells him, just breathe, and Dante asks, what’s the problem here? Josslyn says, Spencer punched him, and Dante says he saw it. Sam says she saw it too, and Dante says, Dex could press charges on assault if he wanted to, but Dex says, they’ll just go. Dante says, that’s probably the best thing. He doesn’t know how many of them are actually over 21 anyway. Josslyn says she’ll call Trina, and leaves with Dex. Dante helps Spencer up, and says, as an ex-con, he doesn’t think Spencer wants barroom brawl on his record. Spencer, who can’t even speak yet, nods, and Dante tells him, think about that next time.

Ava says, Austin first came to town a long-lost Quartermaine. And when that didn’t pan out, he latched on to Maxie. And when that didn’t pan out, he latched on to her. All of his kindness… He was so solicitous and supportive after she was stabbed by The Hook. Was any of it sincere? Or was he just following orders? Has she ever been anything to him? Austin asks if he’s ever been anything to her, other than just her patsy.

Elizabeth asks if she can help Violet, but Violet says, no thank you. Did she like her dinner? Elizabeth says she loved it. Pizza is one of her favorites. Violet says, daddy likes it too. Sometimes they even have it twice a week. She goes to the kitchen to get dessert, and Finn says, busted. Not only does he allow his daughter open access to his phone, he resorts to bi-weekly pizza. Elizabeth says she’ll tell him a secret. Her freezer is well stocked with tater tots and chicken tenders, because sometimes that’s all you can do. And Jake wouldn’t eat anything green for years. Violet comes back, and says, we have a selection. She puts a plate of cupcakes on the table, and says, they’re not as good as Aiden’s, but they’re still yummy. Elizabeth says, Violet has to pick one first, and Violet studies the choices intently.

Spencer tells Trina, Dex has no idea the kind of havoc Esme has caused in their lives. Dex has no right jumping in and telling him what to do. Neither does Joss for that matter. Trina says, first of all, Joss is her best friend, and don’t forget she has stakes in this too. She had to agree to drop the charges against Esme, and she did it because of Spencer’s baby brother. So if he’s upset that she told Joss, and took it out on Dex… He says, no. He just doesn’t want Joss’s help, and doesn’t want her Neanderthal boyfriend’s help either. Trina says, that’s a very interesting choice of words because the only Neanderthal that threw the first punch was him, after he lied by omission about holding on to the fake evidence. He says he explained, and she says, it’s like everything in Greenland never happened. It’s like he came back and turned into this selfish entitled jerk he’s always been. She can’t stand when he does this. Maybe this is just him. Maybe this is just who he is. He says he’s sorry, but she says, no. She can’t hear another meaningless apology. She runs out, and Dante says, that did not go well. Sam says, no. She says, poor Trina, at the same time Dante says, poor Spencer.

Drew says he loves Carly, and he wishes they didn’t have to spend their last night rehashing all the things they can’t change. He wishes he could sweep her up and take her somewhere exotic and romantic, where they could go dancing all night and maybe walk on the shore at dawn, so he could tell her everything that’s in his heart. He wants them to be together. He wants them to move in together. He wants to wake up every morning with her and go to bed every night together. And instead, they’re here, but that’s okay. The world, the SEC, got in the way, but that doesn’t change how he feels about her and what he wants. They can still have that life together. It’s just getting delayed a little bit. She says she loves him too, so much. She’ll wait as long as it takes for them to have that life together, but they have tonight. Tonight is theirs. They kiss.

Finn asks how Elizabeth is adjusting to her role as head nurse, and she says she’s still finding her way. Some of her teammates are still adjusting to her new title. Sometimes she feels like she’s got this, and sometimes she wonders how Epiphany managed for so long. He says she’s absolutely got it. Their styles are different, but they both mix strength with compassion. Epiphany was kind of this force of nature, and Elizabeth is more soft-spoken, but she has a core of steel. She hopes that’s a compliment, and he says, it absolutely is. He thinks she’s… remarkable. And on top of all that, she’s a really good sport for going along with all this. She says, it’s her pleasure. She hasn’t had any pizza in weeks, so Violet planned the perfect dinner. They see Violet asleep in a chair, and Finn says, she’s exhausted. She really went all out. Elizabeth agrees, and asks if he wants help putting her to bed. He says he’d like that, and asks Violet if she’s ready for bed.

Drew and Carly slow dance as By My Side by The Paper Kites plays. He says he loves her, and she says she loves him too, and they get busy.

Behind bars, Cyrus reads from the Bible: The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted in Him and I am helped.

Dante says he guesses Spencer and Trina’s table is free, but Sam says, no. Bad juju. She’ll pass on that. Dante says he knows Spencer can be a bit of a brat sometimes, and she says, sometimes? When he was a kid, he was cute, but now… Come on. That is appalling. Dante says he feels kind of bad for Spencer. There’s nothing worse than doing something stupid and pissing off the woman that you love. And then he tries to flex, and gets his ass handed to him instead. She laughs, and he says, then his pride’s hurting and his body is physically hurting. And you know he can’t be comforted by his woman because he’s so deeply embarrassed. And then she gets even more mad, and then he blows up at her. Now he’s got to just try and grovel to her and win her back. She says, that’s very insightful. What happened to him? He says he pleads the Fifth, and she says, maybe from Trina’s perspective, you know that your guy is hurt, but you don’t know how badly, and he’s completely embarrassed himself. And that temper. You’ve got to wonder if that’s something you’re going to have to live with as long as you’re together. But right now, your guy, he’s on the ground. He’s in pain and vulnerable, and you’re torn between wanting to yell at your guy for doing that and yell at the other guy for hitting your guy. So what are you gonna do? Are you gonna… Dante says, walk out? That’s what she did. Sam says, you know what she would do? She would have taken a chair and broken it over the other guy’s back. But she knows she doesn’t have to worry about being in that position with him. She believes he has more sense than to ever start a bar fight. He says he can think of a lot of other cool stuff to do in this place besides start a bar fight, and they start to dance to the jukebox playing.

Outside, Dex says he’s sorry, but Josslyn says, he has nothing to be sorry about. He came with them to help. He told Spencer that if he uses that fake evidence, he’s the one that’s going to get arrested. And he’s right, but what does Spencer do to thank him? He sucker punches him. Again? It’s like the only time he could land one against Dex. Dex says, she’s really mad, and she says, yeah, she’s mad. Why isn’t he mad? Why is he smiling and laughing? Dex says he’s smiling because she’s beautiful, and he’s laughing because she makes him happy. He kisses her, and she says, his lip is bruised. He kisses her for even longer.

At home and obviously in pain, Spencer takes off his shirt. There’s a knock on his bedroom door, and Esme says, what happened to… She opens the door, looks at him, and says, you?

Elizabeth asks if Finn wants help with the dishes, but he says, not necessary. Especially since dinner came from a pizza box. She says, and a cupcake box, and he promises to have a talk with Violet about playing matchmaker. He loves Violet, but they can’t be together just because she wants them to. Elizabeth says, of course (🍷). There has to be more between them than that. She should get going. She picks up her bag, and says she had a really lovely time. Finn asks her to wait, and picks up the vase of flowers, saying, don’t forget these. She says, they look so pretty on his table, but he says, Violet got them for her, and pink is her favorite color. She reaches for them, and their hands touch.

Austin says, Ava thinks he’s just a sucker? Instead of going to the police like a normal person, she does that thing she does, and he just helps her cover it up like a normal person. She killed her husband. She tells him, stop saying that. She didn’t mean for him to die. He says he only has her word on that, and she says she only has his word that she can trust him; that he’s on her side. He says, if he wasn’t, he’d just let them kill her, and she asks why doesn’t he? He says, because he doesn’t want her to die, and she asks, why? He grabs her and kisses her.

Dante dips Sam, and she laughs, saying, he’s one hell of a dancer. He says, that’s easy when he has one hell of a partner. She says, one who, by the way, would never walk out on him. They kiss.

Trina finds Portia at the hospital, and hugs her. Portia says, what a wonderful surprise. It’s kind of late though, isn’t it? Trina says she was going by and decided to stop in and see how Portia is doing with… things. Portia takes Trina’s arm, they walk, and Portia says, that’s very kind of her. She and Curtis are in limbo at the moment, but when that changes, Trina will be the first to know. Trina says, it’s really hard when you have a strong connection to somebody and things happen to make you question it. Portia says she appreciates the understanding, and the visit. She thought Trina might be out with Spencer or something tonight. Trina says she wasn’t feeling it, so she decided to say her goodnights and swing by here. Portia says, lucky me.

Esme says, did Spencer fall? Did someone punch him? He asks if it matters, and she says, he blew up and ran to his room so fast, she got worried. He forgets that she was attacked in this place and Ace was kidnapped. Slams and bumps make her… He says, there’s nothing to worry about. As she can see, he’s fine. Thanks. She tells him, if you say so, and closes his door.

At Dex’s apartment, Josslyn asks if it hurts, and Dex says, a little. She says, here? touching his lips, and he says, no pain at all. She says, she should probably test it out, and kisses him. She tells him, stay down and let her take care of him, and they get busy.

Carly tells Drew, some days and nights drag on forever, but some nights end too soon. Morning’s going to come, and he’s going to be headed to Pentenville. He says, they still have a few hours left. They don’t have to start saying goodbye just yet. She says, he has to promise her that he’s going to be careful. She knows he has the skills to protect himself, and he’ll have to prove that at first, but after that, she wants him to keep a low profile, and stay out of trouble. She wants him to be a model prisoner and do his time, and come home to her. Promise her. He says he’s going to come home to her. He promises. She kisses him.

Cyrus tells the guard, a new prisoner starts tomorrow. Cyrus knows him. He’s a friend. His name is Drew Cain.

Tomorrow, Violet doesn’t want Elizabeth to leave; Ava pushes Austin away; and Sonny wants to discuss Sasha’s future with her.

🫲 Get To Know Him…

Or refresh your memory.

👨🏽‍⚖️ Good Luck With That…

This seems like a futile effort to me. I can’t see any reason empties should be in someone’s car. Did she say she was taking them to recycling?

🥀 Another Star In Heaven…

He was a busy guy. I remember him being in a lot of things.

🧨 Soap Independence…

So does this mean GH is technically on 4th of July? That’s not Monday.

🎬 She’s the Expert…

Doubtful she didn’t want to eclipse Taylor. It’s not so much what she says, it’s her schoolmarm know-it-all fancy pants delivery.

📲 One Season Wonder…

I read this three times and still don’t get how she was harassed.

💎 She’s Gotta Wear Shades…

Maybe the next season won’t be so exhausting.

🍸 Meanwhile, In Vanderland…

She’s raking it in. For once, we got to see people reaping what they sowed.

Giving you Lala.

Jax must be jumping for joy that he was finally able to pass on the title of Worst Human Being On Earth to Sandoval.

🩰 Life In Plastic…

This is one of the coolest things ever.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1377661/allow-margot-robbie-to-give-you-a-tour-of-barbies-dream-house

🪄 Life Is Your Creation…

Make a stop here tomorrow for soap, teatime, words to ponder, and music to end the month. Until then stay safe, stay interacting with an open mind, and stay not doing stupid things and pissing off the [person] you love.

June 22, 2023 – Selina Forces a Truce, Surprise, Her Start, Again, In the OC, Wanting Spin, Unfollowed, VanderTalk, Hotel Pets (!) & Only

Standard

What I Watched Today

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

💔 In my area, GH was interrupted for the majority of the show. Normally, it annoys me, since it’s usually news we can wait for, but today I felt differently, having rooted for the rescue of those in the Titan submersible. Sadly, it was not to be, so RIP to those brave souls who died doing what they loved.

General Hospital

Sasha comes back to the table, and asks what Maxie just said. What did Maxie mean, Cody may feel something more than friendship for her? Lucy starts to talk, but Sasha says, it doesn’t matter, because she couldn’t be more wrong.

Cody tells Gladys that he and Spinelli have evidence that Gladys planted the bracelet on him; evidence that will show her testimony is bogus. Spinelli says, do the decent thing and recant, and Gladys says, or what? Cody says, or it will leave her heading upriver, not him.

Kristina says, sure, she’ll go, and Sam thanks her. Kristina says, as soon as Sam tells her what’s up, but Sam says, it’s not a good time. Kristina asks if it’s because Sam’s so busy. She’s literally sitting here alone. Sam says she’s on a job, and Kristina says, sounds fun. P.I. stuff? She looks around, and Sam says, it’s not fun; it’s important. Kristina says, adultery? Fraud? A criminal investigation? Sam says, come on, getting up, and Kristina asks where they’re going. Sam says, anywhere but here. Sam gives Spinelli a nod, and they leave.

On the phone, Finn says, they want to rule out any neurological issues before they proceed with treatment, when Gregory walks in. Finn says, let him know when they’ve got it set up, and hangs up. Gregory says, his son the doctor, and Finn asks how he is, hugging him. Gregory says, busy day? and Finn says, relentless. Good thing he’s getting the hell out of Port Charles.

Alexis walks into the hospital and sees Tracy. She asks, how’s Ned? and Tracy asks if she doesn’t mean Eddie Maine.

In an empty courtroom, Drew looks at a phone alert for Scout’s swimming lesson, when Carly walks in. She hugs him, and says she can’t believe today is the day. He says he feels a little bit like a kid waiting to hear his punishment, and she says, punishment he doesn’t deserve. He says, punishment she doesn’t deserve either, and she asks if he’s ready. He says he doesn’t know. Is anyone ever ready to sign away their freedom? She hugs him again.

As they enter the MetroCourt Gardens, Kristina asks if Sam doesn’t want her to know, or is Sam going to fill her in? Sam says she’s doing some surveillance, and Kristina says she saw Spinelli out there and Dante’s friend Cody. What are they doing with Gladys Corbin? Sam asks if Kristina knows what the P in P.I. stands for, and Kristina says, private. Sam tells her, good job, and she asks if she gets a gold star. She’ll drop it, but if Sam has a minute, she’d like some big sister time. Sam asks if everything is okay, and Kristina says, with her? Yeah. She’s worried about Molly.

Gladys says she thinks she’ll pass, but Cody says, that would be a mistake. They have her dead to rights. Gladys says, it’s going to take more than made up words to trip her up, and Cody says, she doesn’t care that they have evidence that could send her away. Gladys tells him, if said evidence actually existed, they would have turned it in by now. So why are they here with her instead of at the PCPD?

Sasha says she and Cody are just friends, and Lucy tells her, if you say so. Sasha says she does. It’s not like that between them. Lucy says, of course (🍷). No one was suggesting there was anything romantic going on. Maxie says she thinks they should get back to work, and Sasha asks, then what were they suggesting? Lucy says, just that on Sasha’s end, it might be strictly platonic, but maybe things are developing for Mr. Bell.

Gregory says, Finn’s leaving town? and Finn says, not permanently. He’s going on vacation, which he thought Gregory would get, being it was his idea. Gregory, him, Violet, Chase, Disneyworld. Ring any bells? Gregory says, as he recalls, Finn told him that it wasn’t a good time, and Finn says, it wasn’t, but now Violet is out of school, and he’s got a couple weeks coming up where he can take some time off. Gregory says, and Chase? and Finn says, it may be more difficult for him, since he’s just getting his badge back, but he’s working on it. Finn even got Violet a set of purple Mickey Mouse ears. So what does Gregory say? Gregory tells him, it sounds wonderful, but he’s afraid things have changed on his end.

Drew tells Carly that he’s been going over it in his head again and again. He knows the right thing is to accept this plea deal, but now that he’s here… She says, it’s hard, and he says, it is. She says, he doesn’t have to do this. Please? He says, it’s the only way, when Michael walks in. Carly says she told him that he didn’t have to come, but he says he wanted to. Drew says, they appreciate him being here. He knows Michael has enough on his plate with Willow and the kids. Michael says he checked all the boxes. He had breakfast with Wiley and Amelia… Or rather, Amelia watched from a rocking chair while he and Wiley ate. The nanny took Wiley to the park, he stopped by Aurora, then spent time with Willow. Drew asks how she is, and Michael says, she must be doing better, since she’s back to bossing him around. She basically insisted he come. She sends her love to both of them. Drew says he sends it right back, and Carly says, her too. Michael says, she also wanted him to tell them, it’s painfully obvious if it wasn’t for Drew, she wouldn’t even be here. Drew suggests they not think about that, but Michael says, still, it’s true, and they’re eternally grateful. Carly says, so is she, and asks, how’s Ned? Michael says he was going to check in with Ned this morning, but then Brook told him the latest. Is that right? Drew says, Ned doesn’t even remember who he is. He thinks he’s Eddie Maine. Carly says she can’t imagine how hard it is for Olivia, and Michael says he feels terrible for the family. It’s just that he can’t get past the fact that the reason they’re here, the reason Drew’s life is being blown up, is because of Ned.

Alexis says, Tracy answered her question. She stopped by to see Ned, and was told Eddie isn’t accepting visitors. Tracy says, that’s a blessing. What if he took one look at Alexis and launched into that Eddie’s Angels business? Alexis says, because she caused enough problems in his marriage, and Tracy tells her, she said it. Alexis says she’s going to be nice, and despite their history, she’s telling Tracy that she’s sorry. This must be very difficult for Tracy and her family. Tracy says, a mid-life crisis is annoying, and definitely bad for business, but this is different. This is so much worse. Her son doesn’t know her. And worse, he doesn’t know Leo. When Luke died, she thought she could withstand anything, but she honestly thinks this is more than she can handle.

Drew says he gets that Michael’s angry, and Michael says, Drew’s not? Drew says he’s very angry – they both are – but this is happening for a lot of reasons besides Ned. Zeke comes in, and Drew introduces him to Carly and Michael, saying, Michael is Josslyn’s brother. Zeke says, their daughter and sister is a wonderful woman, and Carly says, he knows Josslyn? Drew says, Zeke is Trina’s uncle, and Zeke says, Portia’s his sister. Carly says, they absolutely adore Trina, and Zeke says he hit the jackpot in the niece department. Zeke tells Drew that he spoke with the prosecutor, and he said the Feds accepted the deal. All that’s left is for the judge to sign off, Drew enters his plea, and he takes care of the rest. Michael says, what is the deal, if they don’t mind him asking? and Drew says, six months in minimum security prison, and in return, Carly doesn’t have to do any prison time. Michael says, that’s not it, is it? and Carly says, no. Zeke says, her attorney will reach out to her for the financial penalty, and Michael says, there’s no way this could blow back on his mom, is there? Zeke says, essentially, Drew is taking responsibility for the insider trading. The SEC is satisfied, and won’t throw the book at the both of them. Zeke’s phone rings, and he steps away to take the call. Michael thanks Drew so much for doing this for his mom, and Carly says she told him to change his mind; that it wasn’t a good idea. Drew says, this is the best outcome for everybody involved, and Carly says, really? The best outcome is for him to go to prison? Drew says, when you consider the alternatives, yes. Michael says he knows what Drew is giving up, and doesn’t want him to worry about anything. When he’s gone, they’ll check on Scout. He’ll keep Aurora running, and Drew’s life will be waiting for him, right where he left it, when he gets back. Drew says, coming from Michael, he believes that, and they bro hug.

Sam asks if Kristina heard from Molly, and Molly says, no, that’s the problem. Ever since Molly told them about her endometriosis, she’s been so distant. Kristina keeps reaching out of course (🍷), but either Molly doesn’t respond at all, or if she does, it’s with some lame emojis. Sam says, emojis, yeah. Molly’s doing the same thing to her. Kristina asks what they do, and Sam says, nothing?

Sasha tells Maxie and Lucy, back up. They think Cody is interested in her? Maxie tells her, that’s not what Lucy said, but Lucy says, that’s kind of exactly what she said. Sasha says, and they think she should be receptive to that? but they both say, no. Sasha says, good, and Maxie says, because Sasha’s still grieving and not ready to date, but that’s fine. Unless she is ready to date, then that’s totally fine too. Sasha says, she’s not, and Lucy says, okay. All she was saying was, Cody is a man… and Sasha is a smart, beautiful woman, and he did ride on in to rescue her at Home & Heart. Sasha says, as a friend, and Maxie says, a really caring and sweet and thoughtful friend. She really loves how Sasha brings out the chivalrous side of Cody. Because let’s be honest, he can be a little rough around the edges. Sasha says, ya think? and Maxie says, but with Sasha, he’s different. She had her reservations about Cody at first, but it turns out he’s a really great guy. Sasha says, and a very good friend, and Lucy says, for now. Sasha and Maxie both say, Lucy! and Lucy says she’s sorry; it just slipped out.

Cody says he wanted to give Gladys the chance to do the right thing for Sasha’s sake, but Gladys says, he doesn’t care about Sasha. He says, that’s where she’s wrong. Let’s face it. They both know there are details at play here that have been kept on the DL. Spinelli says, that’s intriguing. Does Gladys care to expand on those details? Gladys says, here’s the way she sees it. There are only two possible reasons Cody came to her instead of going to the police. Either he’s got butkus, and he’s trying to save his butt, or he came to this so-called evidence illegally. She’s not a betting woman, but if she was, this is a bet she can’t lose.

Gregory tells Finn that he recently accepted a job at The Invader, on their editorial board. Finn congratulates him, and says he’s glad Gregory finally made it official. He seemed to be really enjoying his time there. Gregory says he’s sorry he didn’t tell Finn sooner. Their schedules hadn’t lined up since he started. He’s still getting used to the grind of a daily newspaper. Finn says, there’s no need to apologize, but consider himself lucky that he’ll explain about the trip to Violet. She’d never let him hear the end of it. Don’t worry about it. They’ll do it next year. Gregory says, no, and Finn asks, what does that mean? Gregory says, next year’s too far away. Who knows how long Violet’s princess phase will last? Finn says, if God has mercy, not much longer, and Gregory says, they’ll have to make it sooner… but not too soon. He knows better than to ask for time off less than a month into the job. Finn says he takes it Gregory and Alexis worked things out, and Gregory says, she’s a good friend. Finn says, agreed, and Gregory says he wishes he could say the same thing about some of Finn’s other friends.

Tracy tells Alexis, they understand what’s going on, but this is hugely traumatizing for Leo. The father he loves suddenly doesn’t recognize him and wants nothing to do with him. Alexis asks how Leo is handling it, and Tracy says, not well. Who can blame him? Honestly, she thought Ned was made of sterner stuff, and Alexis asks how she means. Tracy says, Eddie Maine was an alter-ego Ned created years ago, and Alexis says she knows he wanted to be a performer, but Tracy says, he wanted to escape his real life. Alexis asks if Tracy thinks he’s doing the same thing again, and Tracy says, it’s no secret Ned is facing accusations from half his family for turning in Carly and Drew to the SEC. Add to that, he’s working overtime to try and fix the business disaster of Valentin faking his own death. Alexis asks if she’s suggesting Ned fell on purpose.

The bailiff says, all rise, court is now in session. The honorable Judge Albert Kim presiding. Judge Kim takes the bench, and tells them, be seated. This is the United States versus Cain, in which the defendant, Andrew Cain, has been charged with insider trading. How does he plead? Drew looks at Carly, gets up, and says, I plead guilty, your honor.

Finn says, Gregory is talking about Tracy, and Gregory says, ding, ding. That woman is a piece of work. Finn says, Tracy is an acquired taste, and Gregory says, you don’t acquire a taste for arsenic, you avoid it. Finn laughs, and says, that’s a little harsh. He understands Gregory’s skepticism, but believe it or not, Tracy’s been a really good friend to him. Gregory tells him, so he keeps saying, and Finn says he knows Gregory didn’t like how she treated Chase. Gregory says, when she tore into him and attacked his character? and Finn says he didn’t like it either, but to Tracy, family is everything, and in her mind, she was just looking out for her granddaughter. Gregory says, his friend needs to find another way to express herself, and Finn says, trust him. There’s more to Tracy than the prickly exterior. You just have to dig a little deeper.

Tracy tells Alexis, she’s just suggesting that deep in Ned’s psyche, he’s relishing the idea of getting away from it all, and this accident affords him that opportunity. Alexis says, that’s quite a stretch, but Tracy says, is it really? It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just him alone, but he has a family, and Olivia is beside herself and Brook is a wreck. Alexis asks what the doctors said, and Tracy tells her, they’re useless. They say, be patient, time heals, blah-blah-blah. Alexis says, sounds reasonable to her, and Tracy wonders if there’s anyone in this hospital who’s willing to go to extreme measures to turn Eddie Maine back into Ned.

Sam says she hates this for Molly, but all they can do is love her and be a safe haven for her, and Kristina says she just can’t believe this. She also can’t believe, of the three of them, she’s the only one with functional plumbing. (Are you thinking what I’m thinking?) Not a single issue. Sam says, rub it in, why doesn’t she? and Kristina says she did do some research online. She didn’t want to bother Molly with questions, but endometriosis is a really painful condition. Can Sam believe Molly’s been suffering all this time? Alone? She hates that for Molly. Sam says she hates it too.

Sasha asks if they think it’s weird she’s not ready to move on yet, but Maxie says, no. It’s not even been a year since Brando died. Not that there’s a timetable. Lucy says, not at all. She thinks it’s natural not to know how and when and if you’re able to just let go. Sasha asks if Maxie felt that way with Nathan, and Maxie says, after Nathan died, the thought of moving on without him, starting a whole new life, was the most overwhelming feeling in the entire world. Sasha says, of course (🍷) she wants that for herself, and Lucy says, but if she can’t see it yet, really, it’s okay. Maxie says, everyone grieves differently and at different paces. She’s doing great. Lucy takes Sasha’s hand, and says, she really, really is.

Gladys says, they couldn’t have lifted anything off her fitness app. She didn’t bring her phone with her to the ball. Cody asks, who leaves their phone at home? and Gladys says, someone who couldn’t fit it in her purse. Ha! The waiter clears Sam’s table, and the whatchamacallit falls on the ground. Gladys asks, what’s that? as Selina walks in with Li, and steps on it.

 Selina picks it up, and walks over to Gladys. She says, this looks like a directional microphone, and Gladys says she has no idea what that is. Selina says, it’s meant to record conversations from a distance, and Gladys asks if Cody and Spinelli recorded her. Selina asks if one of them dropped this, and Cody says, sure didn’t. Spinelli says, how fortuitous that she picked it up so no one would trip, and Selina says, they wouldn’t want that on such a lovely day, would they? Forgive her if she seems intrusive, but she’s sensing some tension between the three of them. Is everything all right? Gladys says, it was all right until these two showed up and started harassing her out of nowhere. Cody and Spinelli protest, and Cody says, nothing Selina needs to concern herself with. They know how busy she is, don’t they Gladys? Selina says, not too busy to resolve a conflict. Shall they put their heads together and come up with a solution? Cody says, that’s not necessary, but Selina says, nonsense. Have a seat over there. She’ll help them iron this out. Cody goes to sit, and Gladys thanks her, following him. Selina blocks Spinelli, and says she’ll take it from here. She tosses the microphone into the pool.

Maxie says, just think of where Sasha was at this time last year, and Lucy says, they’re so proud of her. Sasha says she almost feels like a different person, and Maxie says, she’s still herself, just stronger and wiser. Lucy says, and infinitely more resilient. Sasha says she’s so lucky to have them in her corner, and Maxie says, always. Lucy says, always, and excuses herself to use the powder room. Sasha asks if Maxie thinks anyone has as much energy as Lucy, and Maxie says, no. Her phone rings, and she tells Sasha, it’s Georgie. Sasha says she’ll hold down the fort, and Maxie steps away. Sasha looks at a photo of Brando on her phone, and says, Brando, I have come a long way, haven’t I? But it’s true; I’m still not over you. And I have to wonder if I’ll ever be. She looks up, and Dr. Montague is there.

Kristina says, it must be pretty awful to want to be a mother, then find out you can’t be, and Sam says, it’s awful, and isolating and devastating, and a million other not so fun feelings. But the good thing is, once the dust settles, Molly and TJ are going to be okay. They’re going to be able to have a family. It’s just going to be a longer, windier road to get there. Kristina says she hopes they do try to have kids another way. Molly and TJ would be the best parents. Sam asks if she’s chopped liver, and Kristina says, no. She’s a supermom. And she’s a super aunt obviously. Sam says she doesn’t know about that. Scout told her that the last time Kristina took her and Danny out to dinner, she didn’t let them have dessert afterward. Kristina says, that’s because she let them have dessert before, and Sam says, she thought that was a good idea why? Kristina says, Scout left that part out. She’s taught her niece well.

Gregory says, Finn really thinks that highly of Tracy Quartermaine? and Finn says, in a realistic and tentatively appropriate way, yes. Gregory says he trusts Finn’s judgement. He’ll reserve his and give her another chance, but he won’t put up with her demeaning his son. Finn says, as well he shouldn’t, and Gregory says, perhaps… maybe he pushed back a bit too hard. He should probably clear the air. Shouldn’t he? Finn says, no, and Gregory says, apologize for the last time they spoke, but Finn says, that will get him absolutely nowhere.

Judge Kim says he understands the prosecution has reached a deal with the defendant. The SEC lawyer says, they have, and the judge says, and both sides are in agreement with these terms? The lawyer says, that’s correct, and Zeke says, they see eye to eye on all points. Judge Kim says, that’s where they lose him. He’s reviewed the deal and the facts on the case, and he finds it a miscarriage of justice. It’s his opinion that the defendant knowingly colluded with Miss Spencer in order to drive up the stock price of Aurora Media, with the desired result being significant and personal financial gain. As such, he sees no reason why Mr. Cain shouldn’t receive the maximum penalty for his crimes.

Zeke gets up and says, the maximum penalty for these charges is twenty years, and the judge says he’s aware. Zeke says, so we – and by we, he means the defense and the prosecution – believe that a sentence of that magnitude is too harsh in a case like this. Carly looks like she might have a heart attack, and Judge Kim says he believes what they’re proposing is too lenient. Zeke says, Mr. Cain has run Aurora Media with integrity since he founded it, not a single misstep or example of shady business practices. The judge says, until now, and Zeke says, but he is a family man, just as he’s a CEO, maybe even more so. When he proposed a merger of Aurora and ELQ, it wasn’t for his personal gain as the judge suggested. It was to benefit his family’s company. In fact, the merger never even came to pass. Meaning his client never saw any of the benefits, professional or personal. Just the opposite in fact. The company lost money. So the true miscarriage of justice here would be to make an example of a man who has no history of securities fraud. He simply made an error in judgement trying to help the people he loves.

A wet Spinelli finds Sam and Kristina, and Sam asks, what happened? Kristina asks if he got pushed in the pool again, and Sam says, again? Spinelli says he thought he and Kristina had an agreement that it stayed between them, and she says, sorry. Spinelli holds up the crunched microphone, and Sam says, no. He says, courtesy of Miss Selina Wu, and Sam suggests Kristina go get a drink. Kristina leaves, and Spinelli takes her seat. Sam says, start from the beginning, and he asks if she wasn’t listening, but she says she got waylaid by Kristina. He says, they were working Gladys, just like they discussed. They were inches from success when Miss Wu just sauntered in and ruined everything.

Li hands the pool waiter some cash, and says, see to it they’re not disturbed. The waiter says he’s got it, and tells the two whole people there that he’s sorry, but they’re closing the pool for a private function. They leave, and Selina says she has a meeting shortly, so let’s not waste time. She’d hoped they could resolve this issue without requiring her intervention, but it seems her hopes were naïve. Gladys says, he started it, and Cody says, did not. Selina says, enough. She can’t have both of her favorite players at odds. Her game is a place of harmony. Make peace now. Gladys says she can’t make peace when Cody is still spreading lies about her, and Cody says, she’s trying to get him sent to prison. Selina says, this is how it’s going to work. Gladys is going to see to it that the charges against Mr. Bell are dropped. Gladys says, with all due respect, that’s not her call, and Selina says, it’s Gelhorn Jewelers’, but she’s their star witness. Without her, they don’t have a case. Amend her statement. Say she’s since remembered that the night of the Nurses Ball, the clasp on her bracelet was loose. Cody says, and what? Fell off of her wrist and into his jacket pocket? Selina says she’s confident a cater waiter from that evening will come forward and testify they found it on the floor near Cody’s things. The waiter thought it belonged to Cody, and put it in his jacket pocket for safekeeping. Matter settled. Cody says, sounds good to him, and Selina says, what about Gladys?

Sasha tells Dr. Montague, hi, and he says he was on his way out when he saw her sitting there, so he thought he’d say hello. She says she doesn’t suppose he missed the part where she was talking to the picture of her dead husband, and he says he might have noticed that. She promises she’s not losing it again, and he asks if he can sit. She says, sure, and he says he doesn’t think she’s losing it. What he observed was a grieving woman expressing her emotions in a healthy way. It’s good to let her feelings out. Just look what happened when she bottled them up after her son died. The fact that she’s allowing herself to go places she’s scared of is progress. She thanks him, and says, it means a lot. He gets up, and says he’s looking forward to their next session. She says, her too, and he leaves.

Finn says, Tracy isn’t a touchy, feely kind of person, and Gregory tells him, you don’t say. Finn tells him, he does say. She’s got zero patience for this type of thing. Gregory says, then what does he do? Chase is in love with her granddaughter. Hopefully, Chase and Brook will be together for a long time. Wouldn’t it behoove them all to get along? Finn doesn’t know what to tell him. Gregory can try to make some roads there, but Finn doesn’t think he’ll succeed. Gregory says, that sounds like a challenge, and Finn says, it most certainly was not. Gregory says, you never know. Tracy might come around. They’re both grown-ups. If he comes to her openly and honestly, why wouldn’t she respond in kind?

Alexis asks Tracy to define extreme measures, because the last time Tracy went to them, it didn’t work out so well… for her. Tracy asks if Alexis wants to rehash the past. No? What she means by extreme measures is medical equivalent of shaking him until he snaps out of it. Alexis says, that sounds possibly unethical, definitely illegal, and Tracy asks what she’d suggest. Alexis says she’d suggest a gentler route. Instead of challenging Ned’s worldview, which will just make him dig his heels in deeper, just go along with it. Let him believe he’s Eddie Maine.

Spinelli tells Sam that he’s curiously suspicious about how deferential Cody and Gladys became when Miss Wu entered the scene. Sam says, and Selina really couldn’t have wanted to be peacemaker? and he says, she wouldn’t take no for an answer. And of all people, why would she insist on wanting them to come to an understanding? Sam says, and what is the nature of Selina Wu’s relationship to Gladys, and to Cody?

Gladys says she can’t just amend her statement. She’ll look like a complete flake. And what about Sasha? What’s her daughter-in-law going to think? Cody says, that she’s the lying liar that she is? but Selina says, on the contrary. Everyone will be grateful that no one was unjustly punished. She’ll be a hero. Gladys says, fine. They’ll do it Selina’s way. Selina says, and Cody. Whatever problem he has with Gladys, he’s going to drop it. Cody says, she doesn’t understand. Sasha’s his friend… Selina says, there will be no unnecessary conflict in her games, and Cody asks why she’s protecting Gladys. Selina says, simply put, none of your business, and Cody says, have a nice day. He starts to leave, but Selina says, not so fast. She asks Li to take Gladys to the bar for a drink, and Gladys says, don’t mind if I do, walking ahead of him. Selina says, no one can know Cody works for her, and Cody says he gets it. She says, except she doesn’t think he does. If he did, he wouldn’t try to make trouble and draw unwanted attention to her business. There’s a lot of money at stake. Keep his mouth shut… or she’ll shut it for him permanently.

Maxie and Lucy come back to the table, and Lucy says she ran into a big fan of their Deception products, and boy, could that woman talk. Sasha says, unlike Lucy, and Lucy says she wants to apologize for bringing up all that Cody nonsense, but Sasha says she’s glad Lucy did. Lucy says, a few minutes ago Sasha wasn’t so glad, but Sasha says she doesn’t want to live in denial anymore. She did that before, and it sent her down a dark path. She doesn’t want to go backwards. Maxie says, that’s good to hear, and Sasha says she’s got enough to handle ending her guardianship. So as for whether or not Cody has feelings for her, it doesn’t matter. It’s clear his presence in her life makes things more complicated. Maxie says, with Gladys she means? and Sasha says, Gladys means a lot to her. Gladys has helped her in ways no one else could understand. So she’s resolved to ending her guardianship, and maintaining a relationship with Gladys.

Selina walks up behind Gladys, saying her name, and causing Gladys to nearly choke on her drink. She says, Gladys never responded to her text. Selina was worried something might have happened to her. Gladys gives her an envelope, saying, first installment. Selina says she’d hoped Gladys would pay back the entire amount, and Gladys says she will. Like she told Selina, she has to break it up into chunks. She can’t transfer a huge amount at once; Sasha will notice. Selina says, very well, but don’t forget about the interest. Which makes it in Gladys’s best interest to pay the loan back as soon as possible. Dr. Montague says, Miss Wu, and Selina says, Monty. One moment? He tells her to take her time, and she leaves with Li. Monty goes over to Gladys, and says, nice seeing her again. He couldn’t help but overhear. It sounds like she’s in a tough spot with their friend Selina. Gladys says she owes Selina money, and he says he’d be glad to help her settle her debt. She says, he’d do that for her? and he says, of course (🍷). But not without a favor in return.

Alexis says, if he thinks he’s Eddie Maine, why not treat him like he’s Eddie Maine? and Tracy says, that is the worst idea she’s ever heard. Alexis says, okay. Never mind then. Tracy says, so what Alexis is telling her is, in order to rid Ned of his delusions, they should lean into them? Alexis tells her, she’s saying, if they allow Ned to work this out on his own, without constant opposition from Tracy, maybe it would help him get over it. Tracy asks when Alexis got her therapist certification. Was that handed out with her last sobriety chip? Alexis says, she’s impossible, and Tracy says, she’s an idiot. Gregory sees them, and ducks around the corner.

Judge Kim says, committing a crime, even if it is for love of one’s family, is still a crime. However, considering the defendant’s record since founding Aurora Media, along with the fact that the merger was never finalized, he’ll allow that the maximum penalty is not warranted. Given the charges, the proposed deal of six months is still too lenient. He hereby sentences the defendant to serve three years. Surprise all around. From me too. He can go over the SEC’s head? I dunno about that.

Tomorrow, Gregory tells Tracy, back the hell off; Ned/Eddie says, they’re kidding him; Josslyn tells Sonny, it’s the best she can do right now; and Carly says, there’s been some kind of mistake.

🏥 Spreading It Thin…

The downside of working on a soap.

🛹 Thanks To the Boogaloo…

Everyone’s got to start somewhere.

🥀 Heartache Strikes Again…

Geez, this poor woman needs to catch a break.

🍊 If You’re Craving Oranges…

In case yesterday’s smack talk wasn’t enough.

🤼‍♀️ Of Course They Do…

A better show might be to lock them in a room until there’s a clear winner.

🌪 And In a Surprise Twist…

Reality worlds collide.

🍸 VanderPast and Future…

Highly doubtful this was staged, although I’d buy that producers knew about it. Especially if it was going on while they were filming. And Sandoval did already have a storyline going with the Schwartz & Sandy’s mess.

What’s to come. Kinda. Sorta. Maybe.

🐩 Permanent Guests…

I’ve actually seen the kitty at the Algonquin. Although I’m not sure which number it was.

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/hotel-pets-america

🥾 On the Beaten Path…

Finish off your week tomorrow with some soap, a pot of tea, and a side of quotes, topped off by music. Until then, stay safe, stay sharing knowledge, and stay remembering that grief has no timetable. Everyone grieves differently and at different paces.

June 9, 2023 – No Soap For You, 2 Mollys, Jersey Mess, Vandermath, VanderNew, Sink It, Dead Dates, A Farewell, Star Releases, Sharks, Cuteness, Double 4 Quotes & Love

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Well there was this:

So I did this:

💼 Ups and Downs…

She’s doing a good job so far. She’s not straying too far from the already established character.

She’s lucky she didn’t kill someone.

👠 Jersey Devils…

They still don’t totally explain it. So like, what happened the next time Frankie and Louie spoke? Or haven’t they?

https://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/frank-catania-shares-why-frankie-stopped-working-for-luis-ruelas

Where they are now.

https://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/rhonj-season-13-finale-recap-cast-updates

This one doesn’t live in the real world with the rest of us. I don’t blame Andy for losing his sh*t. It was like, STFU already.

About that text.

And the rest.

🍸 Trying To Recover…

I don’t think there is a future for her on the show. At least, I hope not.

I guess, but I can’t imagine she didn’t want to smack Rachel’s bobblehead face. I thought she was restrained.

https://people.com/lala-kent-regrets-attacking-raquel-leviss-at-vanderpump-rules-reunion-7510310

Giving you more Lala.

https://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/raquels-big-secret-on-vanderpump-rules-reunion-lala-reacts

She’ll be fine. She dodged a narcissistic bullet.

https://extratv.com/2023/06/08/ariana-madix-reveals-plans-for-the-future-and-thoughts-on-marriage-after-scandoval/

She was so funny on WWHL.

🎁 Just What We Need…

I still want more episodes of Overserved, but I’ll take what I can get. After I take a million showers to get the smell of the Reunion off.

⛵️ Aye, Aye, Captain…

She’s right. That boat needs to die. I’m sure Glenn and Colin are having a grand old time holding it together with duct tape and bubble gum, but it almost tanked the season.

⚰️ Moving Dead…

Updates on both Dead City’s premiere and Fear the Walking Dead’s mid-season finale.

https://screenrant.com/fear-the-walking-dead-season-8-episode-6-airtime-change/

🥀 She’ll Be Missed…

I love this show, and was so sad to hear this.

https://people.com/bling-empire-anna-shay-dead-7508300

👽 When the Force Will Be With You…

Updates on Star Wars releases.

https://ew.com/movies/star-wars-movie-tv-show-release-dates/

🦈 Doo-Doo Doo-Doo-Doo-Doo…

Cue the music.

https://people.com/sharkfest-2023-how-to-watch-sharkfest-7509679

🦙 Take a Deep Breath…

Some relief from all the nasty, awful reality this week.

https://paradepets.com/pet-news/cute-animals

☄️ Quotes of the Week

Some people think only intellect counts: knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to get by, knowing how to identify an advantage and seize it. But the functions of intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy. – Dean Koontz

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.  — John Powell

The border to eternity is never ahead of us. It runs parallel to life and can be crossed over at any moment by old and young. – Reinhard Bonnke

A mathematical formula for happiness: Reality divided by Expectations. There were two ways to be happy: improve your reality or lower your expectations.Jodi Picoult (I vote for lowering expectations.)

Even while we kill and punish we must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves—to wish that he were not bad, to hope that he may, in this world or another, be cured: in fact, to wish his good. That is what is meant in the Bible by loving him: wishing his good, not feeling fond of him nor saying he is nice when he is not. – C.S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity

I can tell you, without diversity, creativity remains stagnant.Edward Enninful

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. – Plato

That wasn’t karaoke. It was you, a jukebox, and a bar full of angry people. – Mike Biggs (Billy Gardell), Mike & Molly

🕺🏽 Curly Shuffling Away…

Tune in for a chance of Fear on Sunday, and on Monday really Tuesday for soap and double the Deck. Until then, stay safe, stay respecting your elders no matter how old you are, and stay making sure that when you’re singing karaoke, you’re really at karaoke.

May 5, 2023 – Lots Of Action In Greenland, Behind It, Her Why, Happy Anniversary, Almost, Snub Drama, It’s Her, Closing, VanderKarma, Baby Off Deck, Accused, Brave Pets (!), 10 Quotes To Ponder & Listen

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Sonny says, they heard about Willow; how’s she doing? Carly says, Michael’s with her now, and Nina asks, what happened? Carly says, she collapsed. They’re waiting to hear from Dr. Randolph, but they talked to TJ, and her condition has deteriorated. Nina asks, how bad? and Carly says, hopefully, they can find Nina’s Aunt Liesl, and Drew can bring her back here in time to have the bone marrow transplant. But in the meantime, Willow has to stay in the hospital.

Michael thanks Willow for agreeing to stay, and she says, the whole, if you go home you might not make it argument was pretty persuasive. Michael says he guesses he pulled out all the stops, and Willow says, he made her see she needs a controlled environment for now, so she can go home to him and their kids later. She’s fighting with everything she has to stay with their family.

Somewhere in Greenland. Trina asks if Jordan can hear her, and Jordan says she can. Where is Trina? Trina says, on the Haunted Star with Spencer and Ace, and Jordan says, they have to get off that boat now. Trina says, they know, but… Jordan says, no buts. There are drones on the way with orders to drop bombs on the entire island. They have no way to stop them. Take the baby and get to the seaplane before it’s too late. Spencer says, he can’t leave his grandmother behind, and Trina says, or Curtis. She asks Jordan, what about the others? and Jordan says, every second counts. Take the baby, and get off that island. Spencer tells Trina to take Ace and get to the seaplane; he’ll look for the others. She says, what if he runs into Victor, or his guards? She’s not leaving him. Felicia takes the phone, and tells Spencer, they both know his grandmother would want him and Ace to be safe. Jordan says, exactly. Their job is to get themselves and the baby to that plane before it takes off.

Holly tells Victor to drop his gun, but he asks why he would do that. Especially if she’s going to drop her gun and let him pass. Holly asks why she would do that? Obviously, he’d shoot her if she did. Obrecht says, stop talking, and shoot him, and Victor puts Obrecht in front of him, saying, be careful or she might shoot Liesl. Obrecht tells her not to worry about that, and shoot him, but Victor says, what about poor Willow? She’ll die. Obrecht says she’ll instruct Holly how to harvest her marrow. Now pull the trigger! Victor holds up the cannister, and says, if anything happens to him, they all die. This makes no sense, since if he’s dead, he can’t release it, never mind the sunlight part, but we’ll let that pass.

Anna looks at Valentin through the window of the isolation room, and calls to him. He says, she’s not real; she’s an illusion. She’s just like Helena; he’s imagining her. She says, no, she’s here. She’s absolutely real. He has to hang on.

Alone in her office, Portia says, God, if You can hear me, please keep Trina and Curtis safe. Just bring my family home. There’s a knock at the door, and she says, come in. Elizabeth says she hopes she’s not interrupting. She just wanted to check on Portia. Portia says, Marshall was here with her earlier, but she sent him home because he needs his rest. Elizabeth says, he’s not the only one, and Portia says she knows. She’s so tired, but she can’t stop thinking, what if she never sees Trina and Curtis again?

Laura tells Curtis, wait a minute. The display on this computer… The program it’s running; she’s seen that before. He asks, where? and we see a map on the screen with a spot that says, Target Area. She says, forty years ago, in another underground bunker, also owned by Mikkos Cassadine. She sits, and says, look at this. He says, it’s a map of the mid-Atlantic states, and she says, it’s all the same. He says, same as what? and she says she thinks there might be another weather machine.

Trina says, they hear what Jordan is saying, but the others have to be warned. Robert says, he promises they’ll tell everyone in the bunker about the drone strike, and Felicia says, they have to get to the seaplane now. Otherwise, they’re putting themselves and Ace in grave danger. Spencer says, they’re right, and Trina tells Jordan, please tell her mom and dad she loves them. Jordan says she will, but they can tell them themselves when they get home. Now get herself to the plane. Good luck, and stay safe. Spencer says, they have to hurry. They can do this. Trina says, together.

Portia says, it’s one thing for Trina not to speak to her. She guesses Trina is angry; she should be. She’ll take the silence, but for Trina to listen to Spencer, someone who’s been known to hurt every single person who’s cared about him… Elizabeth says, Spencer can be difficult, and Portia says, all she was trying to do was give Trina some time and space to process everything that had happened, and now the window she might have had to make things right is gone forever? Elizabeth says, no, and Portia says she doesn’t know why she waited. Why didn’t she just go to Trina, and do everything in her power to make things right when she had the chance? Elizabeth says, Trina is as big-hearted as she is stubborn. When she comes back, they’ll be able to work things out. There’s another knock at the door, and Portia says, come in. Jordan walks in, and Portia asks if there’s any word. Jordan says, they just heard from Trina and Spencer.

Anna calls to Valentin, and tells him to focus. Look at her. He says, the real Anna’s in the hospital. His father shot her. She told him to come and get Victor. Anna says she knows she told him that, but she came after him. He looks at her, and says he wishes she were really here, so he could hold her against him one last time; tell her how much he loves her. He cries, and she says she loves him too. Listen. She loves him. That’s why she’s here. To help him. She’s going to get him out of there. He says, no, she can’t.

Robert calls to Agent Hursley (I’ve been spelling it wrong), and Hursley says, it’s brave of Robert to speak to him without a lawyer present. Robert says, unless Hursley is here to tell him that the Bureau now realizes how stupid it is to bomb an island with ten people on it, get out of his face. Hursley says, but he’s on orders to stay and monitor the situation, and Robert says, do it where he can’t see him. Hursley says, let’s keep each other posted, shall we? and walks off. Robert tells Felicia that he’s going to talk to this director himself, and see if he can get through to him, and leaves.

Curtis tells Laura that he’s heard stories that the Cassadines had a machine that could control the climate. He thought it was just an urban legend. Laura says, no, it wasn’t. It was absolutely real. It was based on something called carbonic snow. The weather machine was capable of creating an artificial blizzard in a targeted area, and in the summer of 1981, Mikkos Cassadine aimed that thing right at the city of Port Charles. A group of them – Luke, Robert, Tiffany Hill, and Laura – managed to stop him. That weather machine was destroyed, but this is the same program. He says, the computer’s from the same era. If it’s the same program, is it hooked up to another weather machine?

Sasha arrives at the hospital, and goes over to Sonny and Nina. She says, Brook told her that Willow was here, and Sonny hugs her. She turns to Nina, and Nina says she’s so scared. They hug, and Josslyn and Carly see them while walking down the hall. Josslyn says, Michael is not going to like that Sonny and Nina are here, and Carly says she hopes they have sense enough to keep their distance. Nina thanks Sasha, who asks, how is Willow? Nina says, the updates are not good. Her condition is deteriorating. Sasha says she knows this must be agony for Nina; for everyone. Is there any word on Liesl? Nina shakes her head.

Holly tells Victor, give up. Back-up is on the way; there’s nowhere to run. He says, come on. That old trick. She disappoints him. Holly says, it’s not a trick, and he says she’s wasting her time here. Just let him go, and she can get on with looking for her son Ethan. Apparently, he didn’t get the memo, and she says, Ethan’s perfectly fine, thank you. She found out about the auction – sick little affair that it was – and Ethan is now safe and far from his reach. He failed – again. He says, it doesn’t matter. Once he releases this pathogen, it has an 80% mortality rate, and he’s the only one with the antidote. Holly says, at this point, why bother? and he says, why bother try to save the world? Why bother living? She asks, what’s to live for? For him? Bearing in mind his unfortunate condition. He asks what she means by that, and she says she would have thought by now he’d have figured out that it was her who arranged for the little addition to his cocktail. Obrecht says, she’s not too good at it. He’s still alive and kicking. Holly says, alive, yes. Kicking? Not so much. She’s glad they’re finally face to face, because she really wanted him to know it was her. Obrecht says, she doesn’t mean… and Holly says, no more heirs for Uncle Victor. In fact, he can’t even try, can he? Victor says, you bitch! and aims his gun at her, but Drew pops out of nowhere, grabs Victor’s arm, and karate chops his neck. Victor falls face down in the snow.

Carly goes into Willow’s room, and says she doesn’t want to interrupt. Michael asks, what’s up? and she says, Sonny and Nina are here. Michael asks if she can tell them… but Willow says, wait.

Drew checks Victor’s pulse, when Holly calls to him. Obrecht also lies in the snow, and Drew says, no, no, no! Holly asks if Obrecht can hear her, and when she takes her hand away from Obrecht’s head, there’s blood on it.

Valentin says, Anna can’t open that door; he’s infected. She says she knows. They’re here to help him. He asks, where’s Victor and Obrecht? They have the cure. She says she doesn’t know; the others are looking for them. He says, the others? Oh God. She tells him not to worry about them. She’s going to try and find him a hazmat suit or something that they can put on him, and get him to safety. She’ll be right back. He says, no, don’t go, but she says, there’s no use arguing. They don’t have time. He says, it’s already too late.

Curtis says, they could be looking at an electronic ghost. An old program that started up when the computer booted up. As long as it’s not connected to an actual weather machine, it’s harmless. She says, except Mikkos Cassadine was never harmless; he was relentless. He was obsessed and absolutely thorough, and he knew there were agencies, including the WSB tracking him, trying to stop him. Curtis says, seems like a guy like that would have back-up, and she says she thinks he’s right. He says, that would explain this, indicating all the machinery. He says, why would someone like Mikkos Cassadine equip a bunker in literally the middle of nowhere without telling his brother? So he could retreat if he needed to with two weapons; two ways to hold the world hostage. The pathogen and the weather machine. This is real and it’s running. They have to stop it. He’ll find a way to cut the power. He starts looking around, but she says, don’t do that. They can kill the power to this computer, but that doesn’t mean they’ve killed the power to the weather machine. He says, she’s right. If they interrupt the power, the computer might shut down, lock them out entirely, and they’ll never find them. She says, it’s calibrated its target… the same as last time. He says, Port Charles.

Jordan tells Portia, Trina and Spencer agreed to head straight to the plane. With any luck, they should be home before daybreak. She moves toward the door, but turns, and says, Trina said to tell Portia that she loves her. Portia thanks Jordan, and Elizabeth looks outside. She says, is that snow? Man, I’ll bet longtime watchers are going out of their minds. Portia says, oh my goodness, and they all look out the window.

Sonny asks if they can just go, but Nina wants to stay a while longer. Just in case. Michael comes by, and Sonny asks how he’s doing. Michael says he’s okay, all things considered. He says, Nina… and she says she’s not here to cause trouble. He says, no. Willow wants to see her.

Drew says, come on, Liesl. Please. Holly says, she’s got a pulse, and asks if Obrecht can hear her. Drew asks, how bad is it? and we see Victor’s hand move.

Curtis says, there must be a way to stop the process, and Laura says, it’s already begun. (Where is Spinelli when you need him?) It will only get worse as it slowly works its way up to full power. The longer the machine is in operation, the greater the devastation will be. Curtis says, they have to try something. He has an idea. He pulls the keyboard over, and types. He says, suspend operations, and hits enter. He reads, to terminate functions, enter chemical formula and operation. Chemical formula for what? She says, carbonic snow. She told him, that’s how the machine works. It creates a blizzard by using carbonic snow. He says, who has the formula for carbonic snow? and Laura says she does.

Trina follows Spencer, who’s carrying Ace, and she asks if he’s sure this is the right way. He says, they’re heading east. She says she didn’t take him for a Boy Scout, and he says he learned it in prep school. They hear something, and he says, someone’s coming. She says, maybe it’s Curtis, but he says, maybe it’s not. They duck down behind a rock with this amazingly good baby, and Victor stumbles past, carrying the cannister. He says, Uncle Victor still has the pathogen, and Trina wonders where Curtis is. He says he doesn’t know, but he has to go after Victor. She says, he can’t.

Felicia says, any luck? and Robert says, yeah, all bad. Hursley was right about one thing; this new director is definitely not going to take any of his calls. Anybody he managed to get through to pretty much said the same thing. She says, they have to follow protocol in the even of a bioterror threat; she got the same drill. He says, they’re dealing with ten people here, as far as the Bureau’s concerned, and not billions. She says, even if those ten people are their friends, and he says, speaking of which, he was hoping to have heard from Anna by now. Felicia says, well, she’s a little busy.

Valentin asks Anna to please tell Charlotte how sorry he is, and that he loves her. And she was always the best thing in his life. Anna says, she still is, and he says he should have known better. When he looked into Alex’s eyes, he should have known she wasn’t Anna, because there’s no kindness there. Anna has compassion in her eyes. Even all those years ago when she rejected his affection, she still knew his heart, and she still had compassion in her eyes. He wishes he could have held onto that. Then Alex couldn’t have poisoned what they had. But she did, and he let her, and he wishes he hadn’t let anger and spite control him. Because then they might have found each other sooner, and he could have been the man he is with her. He likes the man he is with her, so if this is how he dies… Anna says, no, this is not how he dies, but he says, it’s okay, because she redeemed him. Thank you. I love you, Anna Devane. I’ll always love you. He chokes, and she calls his name.

Carly tells Willow that she’ll check on Wiley and Amelia, and make sure Tracy and Brook aren’t teaching them any bad habits. Nina walks in, and says, Michael told her that Willow wanted to see her. Willow says she did, and thanks Carly for everything. Carly says, remember, she needs to rest; no excitement. She leaves, and Nina asks how Willow is feeling. Willow says, the fluids are helping, and Nina says, that’s good. Willow says she wants Nina to do something for her, and Nina says, name it. Willow says, leave Carly alone.

Holly tells Drew, it’s not a bullet wound; she must have hit her head when she fell. Drew says he needs Obrecht to open her eyes, and she moans. He tells her to take it easy, and he and Holly start to help her up. She says, where’s that vile insect? and Drew says, wait. He’s gone. He’s gone, and so is the cannister. He might be headed back to the Haunted Star. Holly says, she’ll go. Get Liesl to the plane. Obrecht says, nein. Valentin is dying. He needs the antidote.

Victor walks into the main salon, and asks, what happened? Where’s Spencer? Goon32 says, some guy showed up out of nowhere. They did their best to fight him off. He took out Ivan, the only guy with a name and knocked him out. Victor says, what about Sir Ace? I make a mental note to name my next pet Sir Ace, and Goon32 says he checked the stateroom; both he and the nanny are gone. Victor says, the hell with the nanny. Find his nephews… Wait. Get the ship underway first. They’re leaving, with or without his family. He puts down the cannister and rubs his head.

Trina says, Spencer can’t go after Victor. They agreed to get Ace to the plane. That’s the plan. Now let’s go before one of Victor’s men sees us. He says, you go. He’s not going to let his Uncle Victor escape. Not when he has a pathogen that he intends to release and kill half the planet. Take his brother and go. He’ll be right behind her. He hands her the baby, and she asks if he promises. He says he does, kisses her, and jets.

Jordan says, snow in May, and Elizabeth says, it happens. The last time was three years ago – Aiden even did a report on it – but this is especially bizarre because it was in the 70s this afternoon. Portia tells her, what she said about Aiden’s report makes her think about Trina. All the reports and homework they helped the kids with over the years… until Trina said she was old enough and could do it by herself. They’re both mothers, so she knows they understand, but even though Trina’s in college, she’s always going to be Portia’s little baby girl. When she looks at Trina, she sees this little trace of a grin that she had when she was in her terrible twos. They laugh, and Portia says, sometimes she thinks Trina never grew out of them. But that smile. No matter how old Trina gets, that’s what she’s going to see. They watch the snow fall.

Laura says, right after they stopped Mikkos, she found the formula in the stateroom, and she studied it as she was falling asleep (as we all would). When she woke up, she realized no one should ever have access to that information, so they burned the paper, but the formula is seared into her memory. Robert was always afraid about that. He was afraid if someone found out, that they might come after her for it. She flashes back to when we were all children, and a very young Robert says, it’s not the kind of information she should have rattling around in her head. It could be dangerous. Laura tells Curtis, but this might be the very thing that saves everyone.

Anna stands in front of Valentin and says his name. She touches his face, and he asks what she’s doing. She can’t be in here. She says she knows, and he asks why she’d do that. She says, because she loves him. He says he’s contagious (something not even hinted at before); he’s infected. She caresses his face.

Laura types, and Curtis says, that was over forty years ago. How sure is she that she memorized that formula exactly? If she gets it wrong, the whole system could lock them out. They’ve got one shot at this. She says she knows. Does he trust her? He says, absolutely. She hits enter, and some beeping happens. She says, it worked! and they hug.

Victor slugs back a drink, and says, Valentin’s not his son after what he did to him. But Victor supposes he’ll just have to take his chances with the rest of humanity. He finishes the drink, and says, right. Let’s get this pathogen somewhere safe and the antidote somewhere safe. He opens the cannister, looks inside, and says, no!

Drew helps Obrecht stand upright, and tells her, take it easy. She says she stole the antidote when Victor wasn’t looking. I’m not sure how, since he had a death grip on that cannister, but she’s pretty resourceful. She says, if he releases the pathogen, there’s an 80% chance he’ll be killing himself as well. Drew asks if that wouldn’t stop him, and she says, Victor is both an idealist and an extremist. The Cassadines are willing to go down with the ship, so to speak.

Curtis leads Laura through the ship, gun drawn. Holly pops out, and Laura stops him from shooting her. She says, it’s Holly. What’s she doing here? What’s going on? Holly hands Laura a phone and says, she needs to call Robert and Jordan. Tell them Victor’s getting away. He’s got the pathogen with him. Last she saw, he was heading toward the Haunted Star. Where’s Valentin?

Valentin asks what Anna has done, but she says she doesn’t know. She thought she could find some kind of suit or protection. She just didn’t want him to be alone. He says he doesn’t know if dying together is all it’s cracked up to be, and she laughs. She tells him to look at her. She wants to tell him about someone; Valentin Cassadine. He’s a man who’s not going to die in some obscene plot of his father’s, because he – you – have a destiny. He’s going to be an even greater father to Charlotte. He’s going to be her partner. Because he knows her darkness. He knows what she’s capable of, and he’s capable of those things too. She knows it sounds a little twisted, but it’s not really, because she thinks that kind of connection elevates them in a way. It allows them to love the people they love, without any kind of restraint or restriction. She cries, and says, including each other. She thinks that’s why she came into this room. He says, but she’ll die, and she says, not necessarily. There’s a 20% chance she’s immune to this thing. She can beat those odds, and she’s willing to risk them just to be with him.

Sonny and Sasha stare at Willow’s closed door, and Sasha says she’s sure everything is fine. He says, really? and she says, no, but they haven’t heard any yelling yet, and Nina hasn’t bolted out of the room in tears. Sonny says he appreciates her optimism, but when his dad was at Turning Woods, he hated to wait. They’d pace back and forth and wait. They’d hold his hand, and wait. He just felt hopeless. She says, even though he didn’t know Sonny was there, she thinks Sonny just being there helped Mike. Sonny says he hopes so.

Josslyn doesn’t see what Willow could possibly have to say to Nina, and Michael says, maybe it was a mistake letting Nina in there. Carly says, he did what his wife wanted him to, and he says, his wife. He and Willow are married. He just wishes the day hadn’t been so hard on her. Carly says, next time, she promises to wait until after the reception to be called in for questioning, and he says, what next time? She says, birthdays, anniversaries, vow renewal. He has a lifetime of celebrations ahead; she knows it. As for his wedding day? Willow doesn’t regret a second of it. He says, even now?

Nina says, Willow wants what? and Willow says she wants Nina and Carly to make peace. Nina says she can try, and Willow says she knows Nina and Carly will never be friends, or even friendly, but promise she’ll at least keep her distance? Stop keeping score of who wronged who when, and just let it all go. Nina doesn’t say anything, and Willow says, wow. Nina hasn’t changed at all when she claims to care about her? Nina says, no, she cares about Willow a great deal… Willow says, then promise her. Whether she survives this or not, Nina will drop her vendetta against Carly.

Jordan comes out with Portia, and asks Robert if there’s any word. He says, not yet, when Jordan’s phone rings. Curtis says, it’s him; he’s got her on speakerphone. Jordan says she’s putting him on speaker, and Portia asks if Trina is with him. He says, not at the moment, but he’s seen her. She’s okay. Jordan says, he’s got to get out of there. The WSB has ordered a drone strike on the island. Curtis and Laura both say, what?! and Jordan says, they can’t risk the pathogen getting released on the world. The drones are already on their way. Curtis says, but the pathogen isn’t here, and Robert asks, where is it? Laura says, they ran into Holly, and she said he was trying to escape on the Haunted Star, and he took the pathogen with him. Bombing the island is not going to do any good. They’ve got to stop the airstrike. Robert yells over to Hursley, and says, tell his boss to call off this airstrike. Hursley says, for the millionth time… and Robert says, change in circumstances. Victor’s left the island, and he’s taken the pathogen with him. All they’re doing now is killing innocent people, and helping Victor escape.

Nina tells Willow, okay. She won’t get into it with Carly anymore. Michael walks in, and Willow thanks Nina. Michael says, Willow needs her rest, and Nina tells Willow, she’s not perfect. She makes mistakes all the time. She’s going to try to be a better person. If there’s anything else Willow needs, just ask. Willow says, keep her promise.

Robert hassles Hursley while he’s on the phone, telling him to hurry up. Jordan tells Curtis and Laura that the drones are on their way. They don’t know exactly when the strike will happen, but it could be any time. They need to get out of there. Robert joins them, and says, Laura, you’re okay. The Bureau listened this time. The strike’s been called off. Everyone looks relieved, and Laura says, what about Victor?

Victor locks the cannister again, and says, Liesl double-crossed him. He is not having a very good day. He has another drink, and hears someone come in. He says, they need to turn the ship around. They’re going back. Spencer says he doesn’t take orders from Victor anymore, and Victor says he thought Spencer might come crawling back. If Spencer thinks he’s going to forgive… Spencer says he’s not here for forgiveness. It’s over, uncle.

Outside, Trina finds Curtis and Laura, and says, thank God she found them. Curtis asks what she’s doing here, and Trina says, they have to get out of here; there’s going to be an airstrike. Curtis says, they know all about the airstrike. They’ve got it under control. Laura says, it’s okay. They got in contact with the WSB. They told them that Victor’s trying to escape on the Haunted Star. Curtis says, the airstrike has been redirected, and Trina says, redirected where? Curtis says, the new target is the Haunted Star, and Trina says, but Spencer’s on that ship.

Victor says, now calm down, dear boy, and Spencer says, he’s not Victor’s boy. He walks up to Victor, and says, give him the pathogen, and they can both walk out of here alive. Victor says, how dare Spencer threaten him? He’s the head of their family. This is finished when he says it’s finished. Spencer tells him, he said, give him the pathogen. Hand it over. Victor says, Spencer will have to rip it out of his cold, dead fingers, and Spencer says, fine. He spins Victor around, cracking Victor’s head on the bar. Victor drops to the floor. Well if it was that easy, why didn’t Spencer do this long ago?

Nina comes out of Willow’s room, as Carly and Josslyn are walking toward it. Carly’s phone rings, and it’s Drew. Wow. These calls are going to cost a fortune. He asks if Carly can hear him, and she asks if he’s okay. What happened?

Michael asks, how was Willow’s talk with Nina? Did Willow get what she wanted out of her? Willow says she hopes so. Who knows? She wants to believe Nina’s sincere. Carly bursts in, and says, there’s someone who wants to talk to Willow, handing her the phone. Drew says, Willow? and she asks if he’s all right. He says, not only is he okay… Obrecht says she’s okay too. Not that anyone has asked. Willow says, Dr. Obrecht… Aunt Liesl. She’s so glad Obrecht is all right. Obrecht says, they’re on their way back. Then Willow can literally suck the life from her bones. Carly says, they can’t wait, and Drew says, he and Obrecht are on their way back. He’s not sure who’s joining them, but everyone should be back soon. Carly says she can’t wait to see him, and he says, him too. He and Obrecht move on.

Valentin says, Anna, and she says she loves him too. The door opens, and Anna says, get out. You’ll get infected. Holly says, kind of her to care, but don’t worry. She’s got the antidote. She holds up the vial, and Valentin smiles.

Hursley says, their satellite has eyes on the Haunted Star. It’s on the move. Robert says, Victor is trying to escape, and Hursley’s guys are going to stop him.

Spencer checks Victor’s pulse and says he’s glad he didn’t kill Victor, but that might not be a good thing. He bends down to get the cannister, and suddenly looks up.

Trina, Curtis, and Laura all look up, and Laura says, Victor’s on the Haunted Star, and Trina says, they have to call the WSB. Suddenly, the sky lights up, and Laura gasps.

On Monday, Michael says, that’s not going to happen, but Willow says, he doesn’t know that; Dante tells Carly that he thinks they have a case; and a body is recovered from the wreckage.

❄️ Building an Island…

It’s definitely impressive.

🤸🏽‍♀️ Pursuing Other Goals…

You can’t blame her. It must get old after a while when you have other things on your to-do list.

💐 Celebrating Amy…

A bouquet of gossip makes the perfect gift.

🎭 Close to Quitting…

It took me a while to warm up to her, since I really liked the other Trina, but she’s really made the part her own.

👠 From Her Arsenal…

Maybe Veronica is a psycho.

📠 Common Denominator…

Normally, I wouldn’t waste space on this harpy, but it struck me how she leaves a trail of unhappiness no matter which side of the Housewives fence she’s on. And if everyone else is an a-hole, maybe it’s time to look in the mirror.

🥀 Bringing Down the Curtain…

But where will everyone go on Gay Pride Day? Does she have to close down half of her name as well? Has James gone back to drinking heavily yet?

https://people.com/food/lisa-vanderpumps-la-restaurant-pump-is-closing-down/

🍸 The Karma Keeps On Comin’…

Check out the empty seats photo. I would say it’s sad, but it’s just not. He’s a pig.

Another gem from the Most Awful Human Being On the Planet. Maybe. He has a contender now.

She’ll give Howie some Lala and a run for his money. He’d better brush up on his VanderKnowledge.

👶🏻 Ahoy, Little Matey…

That kid looks full of mischief already. And he does kind of look like Chef Ben.

💸 Real Housewives Of Deadbeat…

I love the attorney’s pic.

🐕 Don’t Touch the Dog…

It’s about time for a salute to the ones who made it.

https://the-line-up.com/final-pets-horror-movies

🔥 Quotes of the Week

Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us. – Susan L. Taylor

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. – Mark Twain

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.Wayne Dyer

Never confuse movement with action. – Ernest Hemingway

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle

Honest towards ourselves and towards anyone else who is our friend; brave towards the enemy; magnanimous towards the defeated; polite always: this is how the four cardinal virtues want us to act.Friedrich Nietzsche

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.Henry Ford

The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you. – B. B. King (They can’t take integrity away from you either.)

People are making apocalypse jokes like there’s no tomorrow. – Ellie (Bella Ramsey), The Last of Us

🏃🏾‍♀️ Going Ahead and Jumping…

Boomerang back on Monday really Tuesday for soap, what’s on Deck, and the nightmare that won’t stop, Summer House. Until then, stay safe, stay not taking the last cup of coffee without making more, and stay letting it all go. Stop keeping score of who wronged who.