Tag Archives: The Real Housewives of New York City

Sep20

September 19, 2023 – Anna’s Tormenter Is Revealed, Sad Goodbyes, Reunited, Holiday Romance, This Week In NYC, Salty Talk, What House, Second Dragon, Worthy Piece & Sun

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Marshall walks into The Savoy, and N’neka tells him that this is the slowest night they’ve had in months. He says he knows it, and wonders where everybody is. She says, not here, and he tells her, it’ll pick up. It has to. Selina comes in, and he says, oh God. Not what he was hoping for.

Trina walks into the house, and Portia hugs her, and tells Curtis, look who came to visit. Trina says she comes bearing a gift to christen the new gaming system. Curtis asks if that’s the new Sudden Death, and she says, they just released it Thursday, showing him the case. He says, they’ll play head-to-head, and Portia says, three heads are better than two. Trina says, she wants to play? and Portia says, of course (🍷) she does. Trina and Curtis look at each other and laugh.

Sasha thanks Sam for the clothes, and says she feels almost human again. She thanks Dante too, and he says, no problem. She tells Cody, your turn, and Cody says he’s all right, but the others loudly disagree. He says, no need for an uprising, and Sam pushes him toward the other room, telling him that he smells.

Dex walks into Sonny’s office and says, the knock off shoe shipment arrived; no problem. (Ah-ha! Something Sonny does that’s illegal.) Sonny says he wouldn’t be too sure about that.

On the phone, Anna asks if they have an ETA on the officers… No emergency. She just wants to start cleaning up. There’s a knock at the door, startling her, and she says she thinks they’re here. She opens the door, and it’s Charlotte. She asks, is papa here?

Valentin tells Nina, stop there… go back… freeze it. She says, oh my God. It can’t be. He tells her, play it through. He wants to see what happens. She says, they know what happens, but he says he needs to see it. She hits play.

Selina tells N’neka, what a lovely night it is, and N’neka tells her that she looks stunning. Selina says, so does N’neka, but then, she always does. She introduces a man, saying, this is her good friend Silas. She tells him that Marshall is watching the club for her and Curtis, and Marshall asks what they’re having to drink. Silas says, champagne? and Selina says, excellent call. Marshall says, one bottle of champagne for Miss Wu, but Selina says, just two glasses. They won’t be staying. They’re only here for a quick drink, out of loyalty to Curtis. They’re headed to the new club, Intrigue, downtown. Marshall asks if they have gambling there, and Selina says, not that she knows of, but it’s always jam-packed. She and Silas head for a table, acting like they’re drunk already.

Curtis thanks Trina for bringing the game over. He’s definitely down to play, but why doesn’t she tell him why she really came over? She just moved back into her dorm, and he knows she’s not homesick already. She says she doesn’t have to be homesick to come home. She just wanted to hang out with him and mom. Portia comes in with a bowl of popcorn and asks, who’s winning? but Trina says, the game just finished loading. They haven’t started yet. Portia sits down and says she doesn’t know if they noticed, but video games aren’t really her thing. Trina says, understatement, and Curtis says, especially Sudden Death. Portia says she did see on here that they have virtual tours where you can check out castles in Europe. Why don’t they try that? Trina says, that sounds really amazing, but they’re trying to get all Dirty Harry with the zombies in this game. Portia says, of course (🍷). As long as they’re having fun. Trina says, before they get started, how about if she gets them some iced tea, and Curtis says, the caffeine will give him some adrenaline for the game. Trina leaves, and Portia says, it was so sweet of Trina to come by. Curtis says, she knows why Trina came by, doesn’t she? To check on them. He doesn’t mind. She raised a very special young woman.

Sonny tells Dex, the charges have been dropped against him, but that raid, his arrest, that’s just the beginning. The Feds are going to be watching every move he makes. They’re going to be tracking whoever he associates with. Does Dex know what he’s saying? Dex says, live like he’s under a microscope, and Sonny says, right. They’ve been trying to take him down for years, but never for NSA violations. This is on a whole other level. It’s just going to get more complicated, and Pikeman isn’t taking no for an answer.

Anna says, when Charlotte comes in, it’s going to be a bit of a shock. Just don’t touch anything, okay? Charlotte asks, what happened here? Where’s papa? Anna says, it looks like they had a break-in, and her father’s gone to hotel security. What is Charlotte doing here? Charlotte says she took a Ride Share, and Anna says, by herself? Charlotte says she’s 15, and Anna says she knows, but even so. Do Dante and Sam know she’s here? Charlotte says, they’re out somewhere; it’s not a big deal. She just needed to see her father.

Valentin says, play it again, but Nina says, watching it isn’t going to change what’s there. He says, maybe there’s something there, something he missed that makes a difference. Play it again. She hits play, and he covers his face with his hands. She asks what he’s going to do, and he says, nothing yet. She says she can’t just ignore this, and he says he knows she can’t. He can’t either. But this is a volatile situation. Can she let him handle this? His phone rings, and he says, Anna. Anna says, Charlotte’s here. She wants to see him. He says he’ll be right there, and tells Nina that he has to go. He says, please don’t show this to anyone else, and leaves.

Cody says, they were all right. He’s very glad to be out of that creep’s clothes. Look what he found. It was in one of Montague’s pockets. He hands Dante a prescription bottle with no label, and Dante says he’ll have to have them analyzed. Cody says he’s guessing Montague wasn’t planning on taking those pills himself, and Sam says, Montague knew he crossed a line and Sasha was his only witness. A loose end. Sasha asks what Sam is saying. Does she think Dr. Montague was going to slip her an overdose? Cody says, he had those pills on him when he found them in her room, and Sasha asks if they think he was going to kill her.

On the phone in the back hallway, N’neka says she’s at the club. They’re going to need some help down here. Asap.

Selina goes to the bar and thanks Marshall for an enchanting evening. Too bad there were so few people to enjoy it. He says he’s sure it will pick up later, but she says, from what she’s been told, it hasn’t been picking up much this past week. If he was truly loyal to his son, he’d reconsider letting her take The Savoy off his hands before it’s worthless. He says, not a chance. She’ll see. They’ll survive and thrive. She says she wouldn’t be too sure. The club doesn’t have the same draw without his son’s charm. Something Curtis obviously got from his mother. He says, she knows nothing about his family, or loyalty, or even good champagne. So why doesn’t she go over to that club she’s so excited about and see if that’s for sale? Silas joins them and asks if everything is okay here. Selina says, Mr. Ashford’s son suffered a great tragedy. He’s obviously traumatized by it. It’s best they leave him to his misery. She thanks Marshall for the champagne, and saunters out with Silas.

Trina and Curtis are deep in the game, and Portia tells Trina, watch out! but Trina says, that’s the zombie ghost that comes out to collect the bodies. Portia says, of course (), when her phone beeps. She steps away, Curtis and Trina not even noticing, and listens to a message. She tells them that she has to go out for a bit, and Trina wonders if they drove her away. Curtis asks if everything is okay, and Portia says, everything is fine. She just has to help out a friend. Trina says, sorry if they left her on the sidelines, but Portia says, don’t worry about her. Just continue playing their video game. Neutralize those zombies. She’ll be back as soon as she can. She leaves, and Trina says, mom’s the best, but she is off when it comes to video games. Curtis says, Trina inherited her gaming gene from him, and Trina says, he got that right. They go back to playing.

Olivia and Eddie/Ned walk into Olivia’s office, and Olivia asks what Nina is doing there. Nina says she was checking the wedding bookings. She was checking on the date of her wedding and didn’t want to wrestle around looking for the binder they have. She’s just checking to see what was confirmed. Olivia tells her, the binder is right over here, taking it from the credenza and handing it to Nina. She says, they’re just heading out, and Nina says she heard Eddie had a great recording session. He says, the studio was great. Be sure to thank Sonny for hooking them up. Nina says she’ll do that. Sonny was happy to help him out. Olivia tells Nina to take her time. Just lock up when she leaves. Nina tells them to have a good night, and when they leave, she gets back on the computer.

Anna tells Charlotte that she’s so sorry. She’d take Charlotte to the restaurant for hot chocolate or something, but she’s got to stay here and wait for the officers. Charlotte says she’s not a kid anymore. Anna doesn’t have to keep her amused. Anna says, my bad. Charlotte’s almost an adult. Valentin comes in and thanks Anna for calling him. He asks what Charlotte is doing here, and she says she just wanted to see him. She didn’t realize he’d be busy. There’s a knock at the door, and Valentin opens it to a couple of officers. One of them says, they had a report of a break-in.

Dante tells Sasha, they can’t say Montague wanted to kill her, but maybe he wanted to keep her unstable enough so he could move her somewhere else and keep her recovery virtually impossible. Cody says, the fact Montague was bringing the pills into Ferncliff points to something extreme, right? Doctors don’t dispense medication from their pockets. This shows he had some kind of plan. Sam says, but what exactly, and how do they prove it? Sasha says, it all started when she petitioned to end Gladys’s guardianship, and the court assigned Dr. Montague to evaluate her. Cody says, that might be a coincidence, but they know Gladys and Montague know each other from the poker game at The Savoy. And granted, Montague’s debt isn’t as deep as Gladys’s, but every gambler needs a steady cash flow. Sam says, so Gladys ropes in Montague to make Sasha appear unfit to the court, but he pushes it too far, and she winds up stabbing Cody and gets into Ferncliff. Dante says, but then, Montague’s got another problem. What happens if Sasha regains enough clarity to the point where she can link her breakdown to the pills he was giving her? He’s got to cover his tracks. He’s got to make her look, not just insane, but hopelessly addicted. Cody says, he’s at least guilty of what? Covert drugging? Wouldn’t that be considered poisoning? Dante says, it’s criminal malpractice and attempted… Sam says, again, how do they prove it?

Dex lets Rowan Hume into Sonny’s office, and Sonny tells him to have a seat. He asks Dex to stay, and asks Hume if he minds. Hume says, whatever he likes, and sits down. He says, congratulations are in order. They were all very pleased to hear about the charges being dropped. Sonny says, really? and Hume says, of course (🍷). Pikeman regrets any trouble Sonny faced, and would like to offer him this as an apology. He puts a briefcase on the desk, and Dex opens it. He turns it around to show Sonny it’s loaded with cash, and Sonny asks if this is an apology or a downpayment for another deal.

Anna tells the officers, the room was like this when they got here. As far as she can tell, nothing is missing. Her tablet and computer are here, untouched. Officer #1 says, they can send forensics if she’d like, and she says, yeah. Valentin says, this is a hotel room. Forensics is going to find a thousand different fingerprints from a thousand different guests. How helpful is that going to be? (It doesn’t say much about the MetroCourt’s cleaning staff.) Officer #1 says, it might not yield much. They can pursue this if Anna likes, but it sounds like a case of malicious mischief to him. Does she want to file a complaint, start an investigation?

Curtis says, sorry, my friend, you just got slimed, and Trina says, not fair. She’s the one who got the wolfsbane. He asks if she’s ready for the next level, and she says, Marshall told her that Curtis went to the club the other day. Curtis says he did, and she says, Marshall told her that N’neka and the whole staff were excited to see him come back. He says he’s not sure he would consider it being back, and she says, but it’s his club. Doesn’t he want to get in the swing of things again? He says, a lot’s happened… it’s obvious. It was good to get out of the house, and going back opened his eyes to a lot. Some good and some that’s hard to admit.

Portia goes to the club and asks N’neka how it’s going. N’neka says, slower than her last relationship, and Portia says she can see that. Marshall comes out, and asks, what brings Portia down here? They hug, and he asks, where’s Curtis? She says, Curtis and Trina are at the house in their video game world. It’s too loud for her, so she decided to get some air and ended up here where it’s quiet. He asks if she doesn’t have an early start to work tomorrow, and she says she does, but her head is pretty full of all the dead zombies, so she thought she’d come here and be with them in the land of the living. He asks what he can get her, when Olivia and Eddie/Ned come in. Olivia says, it’s a ghost town, and Eddie wonders, what happened to this place? The last time he was here, it was hopping.

Dante says, according to the authorities, Montague is the victim here. He was beaten and tied up. Sasha says, he had a pocket full of pills that he was going to use to OD her, and Dante says he understands that, but they have no proof. These could have come from anywhere. Sam says, and right now, it’s just their word against his. Cody says, and they’re escaped mental patients, and Dante says, Sasha is either an escapee or a kidnapping victim. Cody on the other hand, is a felon, wanted for assault and kidnapping. Sasha says, Cody didn’t kidnap her; he rescued her. They have to stop this before it gets any worse. They can turn themselves in and tell the truth.

Sonny says, Pikeman wants another go around, and Hume says, absolutely. Sonny says, another shipment, and Hume says, most definitely. And this is a peace offering. Compensation for Sonny’s trouble. Sonny tells Dex to close the briefcase and give it back to Hume. Tell his boss, it’s no deal. When he was in custody, he got a lot of questions about Pikeman. So they know what’s going on. It’s got nothing to do with his people, because they didn’t do any talking. That means it’s on Hume’s side, and that’s a problem. Hume says, nobody in Pikeman would be that careless, and Sonny asks if he can guarantee that. Hume doesn’t say anything, and Sonny says he didn’t think so. It’s a big organization. So here’s the deal. Find the leak, and until they can assure him it’s plugged (is that a double entendre?), there’s no deal. He’s not going to let the Feds use Pikeman to get him.

Dante says, turning themselves in isn’t as simple as it sounds. They need proof to back up their story, and right now they don’t have that. Sasha says, Dr. Montague injected her several times with drugs. Wouldn’t the hospital have some sort of record? Cody doubts Montague went through the proper channels for that, and Sam says, what about the medication he gave Sasha before she went to Ferncliff? Does she have the prescription that he wrote? Sasha says, he never gave her a prescription; he just handed her the pills. She makes a frustrated sound and says she can’t believe she didn’t question that. Cody tells her not to blame herself. She was betrayed by the people she trusted, and no way is that her fault. Sasha says, Cody risked everything to save her. Now he’s the one facing charges. How do they prove he’s innocent? Dante says, they might have something going for them. Mac is the Commissioner, and he thinks Mac is going to see Cody’s innocence. Cody flashes back to showing Dante that Mac is really his father.

Trina says she can’t imagine how hard it must be to go back to The Savoy, but Curtis did it. He says he’s not going to lie. It was tiring, but he’s getting stronger every day. She says, Marshall told her that he was thinking about selling The Savoy, and Curtis says, it’s nothing she needs to worry her pretty little head about. She says, but it was his dream, and I can’t believe she let that remark slide, just like I can’t believe he said it in the first place. He says, The Savoy is a special place. It’s like a home away from home in all the best ways. Just imagine throwing a party every night – good food, good music, and even better company. Walking from table to table, fraternizing with people he wouldn’t have known otherwise. It was amazing. She says, was, and he says, sadly, sometimes in life, dreams can change. And he can’t imagine that same party under this current situation. She says, but he is the club. What’s going to happen to it? He says, let’s not talk about me. Let’s talk about you. She says, Curtis… and he says, don’t get all Stella on him now. He’s her dad and he wants to hear about her. She just started school and moved into the dorms. What is she looking forward to this year? And he does want to remind her, all work and no play. Have fun sometimes. She says, funny he mentions that, because actually, there is something she’s looking forward to that has nothing to do with school. She says she’s planning on taking a trip to New York for the weekend with Spencer, and he says, that’s something he’s surprised her mom didn’t tell him. She says she hasn’t told her mom yet, and he says, yet, but she does plan on telling her. Trina says she thought she should wait until she gets closer to the trip. Curtis knows how her mom feels about Spencer. He says he definitely does. The most important thing is how Trina feels about him, and that is… Trina says she thinks she’s in love with him, and Curtis asks if she thinks Spencer feels the same way. She tells Curtis, he hasn’t said, and Curtis asks, has she? She says, no, and he says, why?

Portia asks N’neka, besides it being dead in here, what’s the emergency? and N’neka says, not what, who. Selina was in here tonight, slinking around with some trophy date. She and Marshall had a face-off. Portia says, what kind of face-off? and N’neka says she didn’t hear all of it, but voices were definitely raised, and Marshall barely held it back. Portia asks, what set him off? and N’neka says, there was tension the moment Miss Wu walked in, but when she came back from leaving Portia the message, Marshall was basically kicking her out, and saying she should buy some other club downtown. Is she trying to get her hands on this place? Portia says she thinks so. She overheard Marshall talking to Curtis about it. N’neka says she doesn’t think Curtis’s father should be pushing her. Miss Wu is not someone to be toyed with (just as I think, Miss Wu would be a cute name for a toy breed dog). Portia says she knows exactly what Selina is, and N’neka did the absolute right thing by calling her. Miss Wu is dangerous. She just doesn’t think Marshall realizes how truly dangerous she really is.

Marshall asks Eddie/Ned what he was recording, and Eddie says, it was nothing really. He was just demoing a new song. (Is demoing a weird looking word or what?) It’s only half done. Marshall asks why he hasn’t finished, and Olivia says, that’s what she keeps asking him. Eddie says, it’s easier said than done. Creating a song isn’t like writing a term paper where you just power through to finish it. He needs to wait for the spark of creativity to ignite. Marshall says, de-bop-shu-bop-shebang (or something like that). This man speaks the truth. Sometimes you got to tune into a melody. Eddie says, exactly. The song came to him unexpectedly. It was just a little fuzzy. Like he could almost catch it, but not quite. So he just has to wait for the muse to visit him again. Olivia says, the ghost of Elvis Presley, and Marshall says, if Eddie needs any clarinet, he’s there. Eddie says, he might just take Marshall up on that. He’s worked with a sax before, but he’s never worked with a clarinet. Marshall tells him, you know what they say. Once you go with a clarinet, you just never forget, and they laugh. He says he has an idea. Why doesn’t Eddie finish his song and debut it here at the club next week? It’s a challenge. Eddie says, it may be a bit of a downer to play in a house this light. Does Marshall think there will be more people here next week?

Anna says she wants the officers to pursue the formal channels. Someone should tell her what they uncover and keep her in the loop. Officer #1 says, will do, and they head out the door. Before they leave, Officer #2 tells Anna, this may seem like simple harassment, but after the arson at her house, does she think the two incidents could be related? She says she doesn’t know. Yeah… Maybe. She doesn’t know what they’re going to find in here. She doesn’t know. He says, they’ll keep her posted, and leaves. Valentin closes the door and says, they’re not safe here. Anna says, obviously, and he asks Charlotte to get on the house phone and ask the desk to move them to a new suite. Charlotte says, sure, papa, and goes to the phone. Anna tells Valentin that she’s so sorry Charlotte had to see all this. It’s probably quite scary for her. Was he able to access the security footage?

Dex tells Sonny that Hume is gone. He got in a Range Rover with New York plates and drove off. Sonny says, so tell him. What’s Dex’s take on what just happened here?  Dex says he thinks it’s above his paygrade, and Sonny asks if Dex thinks he just hired him to open doors and call him boss? You want some life, you’ve got to grab it. What’s Dex doing here anyway? He knows Dex is smart; he pays attention. He doesn’t think Sonny sees his mind is always spinning? Because he’s not the boss, he has access to people and places Sonny doesn’t. So now’s Dex’s chance to show him how he thinks as a heavyweight. If Dex wants to move up in Sonny’s world, Sonny has to know if he can trust Dex’s judgement. So tell me what you think?

Marshall says, The Savoy is in a slump, and Eddie/Ned says, that’s putting it mildly. Marshall says he wouldn’t want to play for this crowd either, but the one thing that’s been missing tonight, the one thing that’s been missing every night is his son Curtis. If Eddie’s looking for a promoter, look no further. Curtis will pack this place. He just needs to give Curtis something to promote. He’s thinking, the return of Eddie Maine? Whoo! That might be just the ticket. Marshall gets up, and says, think about that, while he sends over two drinks for Eddie and his lovely date.

Trina tells Curtis, maybe she’s not ready to say I love you first. Or maybe she’s waiting for Spencer to say it first. (That’s the one!) She doesn’t know. He asks if she’s having any doubts about Spencer, and she says, no doubts. She just feels impatient and annoyed, disappointed at times. He just does the stupidest things, but then he does the sweetest things. Curtis says he hasn’t spent much time with Spencer, but he thinks she knows from early on he wasn’t a fan. But all that changed in Greenland. He has every respect for the way he cared for Trina. And he also respects the way Spencer lights up every time she’s in the room. But all that aside, is she sure she can count on him emotionally? She says, that’s what’s hard. At first, she would have said, definitely not. But then over time, she thinks, yes. He says, she and Spencer come from two different worlds, and she asks what he means. He says, she’s responsible and practical, and she’s grounded in the real world. Spencer comes from a crazy, rich family. He doesn’t have to work a day in his life. She says, it’s not his fault he was born rich, and Curtis says, no, it’s not his fault. But he’s learned this; people with too much free time and money, tend to get into a lot of trouble.

Eddie/Ned says, his beautiful date. Marshall’s right about one thing, but does Olivia think this is a date? She says, he’s giving them free drinks. She doesn’t see why not. N’neka sets down their drinks, saying, compliments of The Savoy, and they thank her. Eddie asks what they should toast to, and Olivia says, to Marshall’s challenge. He finishes the song, and comes back and sings it here next week. He says, why not? and they clink glasses.

Portia tells Marhsall that she heard Miss Wu was sniffing around. Something about buying the club. He says, she can sniff all she wants; it’s not for sale. Curtis built this place from the ground up, and he’s not going to let Selina Wu swoop in and take it.

Trina says, Spencer’s not like that. Curtis should see him with Ace; he’s amazing. Curtis says, her mom told him that Ace is always going to be part of the equation. Is she sure she’s ready to take on a child at this point in her life? And how is Spencer going to cope if Esme decides to take Ace and leave town? How is Trina dealing with Esme after all the torture Esme put her through? Trina says she doesn’t know. There’s a lot she doesn’t know, but she does know, they don’t know what the future holds. (That’s a lot of knows.) Curtis says, true dat. Look at him. Think about Epiphany. Sometimes you just got to live in the moment. She asks what he thinks. Is this her moment?

Dex tells Sonny, his impression is, Pikeman is a very efficient operation. They have legit government contracts, but obviously have a parallel operation going. Maybe it operates through a rogue offshoot. Hume seemed surprised when Sonny suggested he consider somebody on the inside, but as far as Pikeman itself, it wouldn’t make sense for them to jeopardize everything to leak to the Feds everything about their deal with Sonny. And he agrees with Sonny. It wasn’t one of Sonny’s men. Sonny says, damn. Turn Dex on and he just goes. Thanks for the insight. Here’s the thing. The Feds arrested him on false information; false information he planted. The thing he doesn’t know is the timing of, or the extent, of the FBI investigation. Do the Feds already know they made a move with Pikeman? Or are the Feds going by what they’ve already put out there? Dex says, with all due respect, he thinks the safest option is to cut ties with Pikeman, but Sonny says, that’s a problem because Pikeman isn’t taking no for an answer. So what he did tonight was buy time. Now he has to figure out how to move forward.

Cody tells Dante, they can’t rely on Mac’s good will to beat this. He still has to uphold the law. Sam suggests they give her and Dante 24 hours to see what they can dig up, and Dante agrees. He says, they’ll go back to Port Charles, while Sasha and Cody stay here. They do have to turn themselves in at some point, but that’s not now. Sam says, they’ll be in touch tomorrow, and Cody says, he can’t thank them enough. Sasha says, thank you so much, and Sam says she only did what she thought was right. Dante tells Cody that he’s sorry… but Cody says, Dante, as always, is the rock who kept him on the straight and narrow. He thanks them both for everything, and they leave. Sasha says she can’t believe what Sam and Dante are doing for them, and Cody says, they believe in Sasha; so does he. She says she guesses all they can do now is wait and see what they turn up, and he says, they do have one other option. She says, which is? and he says, they could just disappear.

Anna asks if there was anything on the tape, but Valentin says, there was nothing there. She asks how that’s possible; there’s cameras everywhere. He says, the footage from this floor was missing, and she says, okay. So someone forged a keycard to get in here and then they wiped the surveillance tape? So they could ransack a room, destroy her clothes, and write an intimidating message on the mirror. Charlotte says, the front desk wants to speak to Valentin, and Anna says, let her deal with that. He should just take Charlotte back to Dante. He says, he’ll call her when he’s on the way back, and Anna thanks Charlotte, taking the phone. Valentin and Charlotte leave, as Anna asks if they were able to find another suite… That’s perfect. That will be fine. Valentin closes the door, and in the hallway, Charlotte says, ready, papa? but Valentin just looks at her.

Back on the computer in Olivia’s office, Nina brings up the footage again. We see Charlotte approach the door and look around. She slips in a keycard, goes in, and closes the door. Nina says, oh, Charlotte. What have you done?

Smelled that one coming.

Tomorrow, Tracy says, Brook should be thanking her; Felicia says, Cody is full of surprises; and Valentin asks what Charlotte did today.

🥀 Tributes and Remembrances…

His colleagues.

Colleagues Remember Billy Miller
Jason Thompson Pays Heartfelt Tribute to Billy Miller

His mom. So sad.

Billy Miller’s Mother Speaks Out on Her Son’s “Devastating” Passing

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 In Happier News…

It’s a shame they had no scenes together, but there’s always another day. IMO, she’s the only one who’s had real chemistry with Roger Howarth.

https://www.soapsindepth.com/posts/general-hospital/kassie-depavia-opens-up-about-her-reunion-with-roger-howarth-at-gh

☃️ At the Chalet…

I was starting to think there were no romantic holiday movies without Ryan Paevey in them.

William deVry Stars in a Romantic New Holiday Movie!

🗽 New York Minute Or Two…

This week’s RHONY. Still not loving them. Except Jenna. Jenna’s cool.

Real Housewives of New York Season 14, Episode 10 Recap: A Stupid Prank Blows up a Friendship

🧂 Some Salt For the Table…

This week’s RHOSL. Heather gets less pleasant with every episode.

Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 4, Episode 3 Recap: The Uninvited Guest

🍊 She Tried To Be Quiet…

She could possibly have been in shock, but how did they justify her being hurt, yet being caught while she was walking her dog?

https://people.com/real-housewives-of-orange-county-shannon-storms-beador-arrested-alleged-dui-hit-and-run-7971129

🐉 Enter the Dragon…

Maybe I’ll give this another go when Season 2 roles around.

https://winteriscoming.net/2023/09/18/ships-cities-night-house-of-the-dragon-season-2-set/

☠️ Advocating For Piece…

You don’t have to love or even know about the anime. I saw a giant fish in the trailer and said, I’m game. One of the better choices I’ve made. Like Pirates of the Caribbean, but better.

https://www.avclub.com/one-piece-review-tv-netflix-live-action-adaptation-1850804738

⚔️ Maintaining Parameters…

Slide into this blog tomorrow for soap and throwing stones at the glass houses of the OC. Until then, stay safe, stay never double-dipping at a party, and stay knowing that you don’t know what the future holds. Sometimes you just got to live in the moment.

Sep13

September 12, 2023 – Michael Pays a Visit To Sonny, Nepo Adam, His State, Salty Talk, NYC Yada Yada, Breakup In the House, Amusing Animals & Better Than Yours

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Finn, Elizabeth, and Violet walk into Charlie’s, and Violet yells, victory! Kristina says, is that so? and Violet says, Aunt Elizabeth and daddy beat Kelly’s, but Finn says, to be clear, the GH team beat the Kelly’s team. Kristina says, ooh, Carly’s gonna be mad, and Elizabeth says, 21 to 4. Chase and Sam come in, chanting PC – PD! respectively, followed by Michael and Willow. Kristina says, all hail the conquering heroes. She assumes this means they won also. Chase says, it was tough, but they pulled it through, and Kristina says she guesses it wasn’t the bloodbath GH inflicted on Kelly’s. Willow says, GH did sort of wipe the floor with them, and Michael says, this, coming from the nurse. She says, head cheerleader, but she’s going to play next time. Chase says, and Kristina had better too. The fire department would have wiped the floor with them if Kristina’s sister hadn’t stepped up for her brother. Sam says, guilty as charged, and turns around, showing them that she’s wearing Dante’s jersey. Kristina says, it sounds like Game of Thrones, and Sam suggests they get this party started. Drinks on Chase? Kristina says, it’s a perfect time for that. Drinks on the house. The first round’s on her. Charlie’s supports winners. Dante comes in and says he assumes they won. Chase says, they won, all right, and Dante had nothing to do with it, but Dante says he doesn’t know about that, looking at Sam’s back.

Sonny and Nina get back to the penthouse, and Nina asks what he thinks. Good to be home? He says, it’s good to be home with her, and kisses her.

Gladys walks into Ferncliff, as Janice is telling the police, then he assaulted the doctor and took his clothes. He was already on his way out with the patient before she realized who he was. She initiated lockdown protocol, but it was already too late. They were gone. The officer asks, what were the patients’ names? and she says, Sasha Gilmore and Cody Bell.

Somewhere in a wooded area, Sasha leans on Cody as they walk. He tells her to stay with him. She’s doing great. They’re almost there. They come to a cabin, and he says, okay, Sam. Let’s see if he can find the key in the woodpile. He parks Sasha against a column and digs in the pile. He says, bingo, bringing out the key, and helps her inside. He seats her on the bed and says, we made it.

Kristina brings a Shirley Temple and some seltzers for the champions, but Finn says, that might be a bit of an overstatement, and she tells him not to be modest. Violet tells him, don’t be sad. Everyone stinks sometimes. He says, hitting is just part of the game, right? There’s also the defense. The catch he made at the fence to stop the homerun. Elizabeth says, another part is running, and Finn says, at least he made it to first. They can’t all be speed demons on the bases like her. Violet asks how she got so good, and Elizabeth says she does have three boys. There’s a lot of backyard practice, especially with Jake. Talk about a speed demon. Violet wonders where Jake is; he never showed up to the game.

Willow says, Michael’s sister is so sweet, and Michael says, she cares about Willow. Willow says she just wishes everyone wouldn’t worry so much. Her numbers are great and holding steady. It was nice to be just another person today, cheering in the bleachers. GH beat the pants off of Kelly’s. It was so much fun. It felt so normal, and nothing to do with her illness. She’s glad to forget about being sick for a while. Michael says he’s glad. He just wishes he was there to share it with her. She says, he had somewhere much more important to be.

Sam asks what they’re drinking to; their win or Sonny beating the rap? Dante says, to Sonny, and he, Chase, and Sam clink beer bottles.

Sonny asks if Nina is okay, and she says she’s really flattered he’s asking about her, but she’s not the one who was dragged through the MetroCourt by the FBI and in custody for 72 hours. He says, the worst part of him getting arrested was seeing Kristina and Wiley’s faces. They were upset, and then he saw her face and it wasn’t good. She says she was scared to death. All those agents came in there, and they looked so confident. She couldn’t help but think he was going to be convicted and spend the rest of his life in prison. He says, let’s not go down that road, but she says she can’t help it. If he would have been found guilty, they would have already had their last day together and not known it. He says he’s sorry that he scared her, but she says, he doesn’t have to be sorry. It wasn’t him; it was the FBI. He says, maybe, but maybe not entirely, and she asks what he means. He says he couldn’t tell her until now. There was no chance he was going to be convicted.

Janice says, the girl at the desk was new and thought the doctor was just taking out one of her patients for some air. Gladys asks if she just said Cody Bell took Sasha, and the officer says, and she is? She says she’s Sasha Gilmore’s mother-in-law. Her name is Gladys Corbin and she’s Sasha’s guardian. Janice starts to apologize, and Gladys asks how she could let this happen. Her daughter-in-law is so vulnerable. How could Janice let Cody take her? Janice says, they didn’t let him take her. They just got away before anyone could get to them. Gladys says, not they – he. He kidnapped her. Janice says, Sasha was leaning against Mr. Bell. She didn’t seem to be struggling with him. They don’t know if he was kidnapping her, or they were escaping together.

Sasha lies on the bed, and Cody wonders what they’ve done to her. He tells her to stay with him and pulls her into a seated position. He tells her to listen to him. That Sam really pulled through for them. That car was exactly… Sasha starts to fall over, but he says she’s got to stay with him. Does she think she could drink a little something? He tries to give her a bottle of water, but she says, no. He says, it’s just a little water, but she says, no, pushing him away. He says he’s just trying to help. She needs to hydrate. She suddenly starts screaming, get away! and scoots over to he headboard, but he says he’s not trying to hurt her. She’s safe, he promises. She has to believe him.

Dante says, it’s a first for him. He’s never seen an arraignment happen that fast. Kristina says she was so worried when the judge said, Michael Corinthos Jr., you are charged with seven counts of violating federal law. She thought her heart was going to beat through her chest. Then the FBI lawyer just stood up like it was no big deal and dropped the charges. Dante says, they withdrew the charges at this time without prejudice, and Chase says, which means they can refile the charges at any point in the future. Sam says, there can’t be much of a case if they folded immediately, and Kristina says, the most important thing is, dad is home… but not without having to jump through hoops. She feels like they should sue the FBI for what they put their family through. Isn’t there a law against harassing the public while making a false arrest? There should be. Sam says she thinks they should just be glad it’s over, and Kristina says, amen to that. She leaves, and Chase says, it is odd that the FBI would make such a public arrest if they weren’t certain about the evidence. Something doesn’t add up.

Willow tells Michael, it’s behind them now. That’s good news. He says he was so worried the FBI somehow found the footage of Sonny taking the delivery from Pikeman, and she says, but they didn’t. He says, but they could have, and it would have been on him, but she tells him to stop beating himself up. He chose not to give over the evidence. He says he still paid Dex to get it; to spy on Sonny and record his business dealings. He wanted to take his father down. He’s so glad she convinced him not to do it. Can she imagine if he’d used that footage to get Sonny convicted? How could he ever face his family again? He let his self-righteous anger take over. She says, he felt betrayed by Sonny. She doesn’t like what he did, but it didn’t come out of nowhere. He says he doesn’t want his father to go to prison.

First of all, what did this Michael do with the other Michael? And secondly, not one person has thought, if the footage from the destroyed flashdrive was what caused the arrest, why wasn’t Sonny being arrested for that crime? Just asking.

Elizabeth tells Violet that Jake texted he was detained, but he’d meet them later, and Violet asks, what’s detained? Elizabeth says, it’s when something suddenly comes up and it makes you late, and Jake walks in with Charlotte. Violet says, there he is, and Charlotte’s with him. Finn says, at least they know what detained him.

Nina asks what made Sonny sure that he wouldn’t be convicted. Some of his business dealings are certainly illegal. What made him think the FBI couldn’t make a case? He says, you know the raid on the docks? When he was being hauled in, the FBI was seizing a shipment he was making, and busted a lot of his men, including Gabe. What they thought they were going to find was contraband weapons, and what they found was a shipment of shade grown Costa Rican coffee beans. She says, coffee beans, and he says, the finest. She says, so the FBI go to the docks and expect to find contraband weapons and they find coffee beans? She’s surprised the FBI would make such a big mistake, and I’m surprised not one person has laughed when Sonny has told them. He says he’s sure somebody must have given them bad information, and she asks, who gave them the bad information? He says, somebody who thought it was legit, and she asks if he’s saying he set up the FBI.

Sasha drops down to the floor and scoots to the wall, and Cody says, it’s him. It’s Cody. She begs him not to hurt her, but he says he’s not going to hurt her. He’s not Montague. He’s Cody. Look at him. She says, Cody, and he says he’s here. She asks where they are, and he says, they’re safe. Remember? They were at the hospital. He helps her up, and they sit on the bed. He says, the doctor came in just as they were getting ready to go, but they got away. Don’t worry. Montague is never going to hurt her again. No one’s ever going to touch her again. That’s a promise, but right now, she has to take a sip of water. Please. She says she can’t, but he says, whatever Montague pumped into her is starting to fade. She needs to drink something. She says, no, please, but he says, she’s going through withdrawal. She says, it hurts, and he says he knows. She’s going to have to push through that though. She says, it’s too much, but he says, don’t let Montague’s poison win. She’s going through detox right now and has to sip some of this water. She screeches that she can’t, but he says, she can. He’s right here. He’s with her. She can do this. She says she can’t, and he says, listen to him. Focus. The pain is going to ease, but right now, she has to fight to live. She screams that she doesn’t want to fight anymore, but he says she has to. If she’s not going to do it for herself, do it for Brando. Do it for Liam.

Jake brings Charlotte over to the table and says, sorry he missed the game. Elizabeth says, they missed him, but despite his absence, they still won, and Violet says, Charlotte looks so pretty. Charlotte thanks her, and Violet asks if that’s why Jake didn’t come to the game. Was he with Charlotte? Charlotte says, they were at Kelly’s, and Violet asks if they were on a date. I swear Jake is blushing.

Kristina tells Dante that she thinks it’s really cool he showed up for dad today despite being a cop. Not that she would expect anything less. Dante thanks her, and says, Sonny is his father. Cop or no cop, there’s nowhere else he would have been. Chase says, Kris is right. Dante took a chance standing by Sonny. He likes to think if his dad was going through something, he’d stand by him the same way. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Michael asks if Willow will be okay if he takes off for an hour or so, and she says, absolutely. He says, there’s something he’s got to take care of, kisses her, and leaves.

Outside Charlie’s on the phone, Willow says she misses Wiley. She’s glad he enjoyed the game. Someday that will be him sliding into home base… Whatever team he wants to be on. That’s for him to decide… She knows Olivia told him about Grandpa Sonny’s trial… Yes, daddy was very happy… They’ll see him soon… She loves him too.

Elizabeth suggests they get some sodas or lunch if they’re hungry, but Charlotte says she’s not sure she could eat any more. Jake says, they could definitely use some sodas, and they head for the bar. Violet is about to follow, but Finn stops her and asks where she’s going. She says she wants to hear about the date, and Finn asks if she wouldn’t rather talk to her Uncle Chase. She could tell him about Finn’s spectacular catch. She says, it wasn’t that spectacular, and he thanks her. Violet goes over to Chase, and Finn says, so, Jake and Charlotte Cassadine. Elizabeth says, this is the first she’s hearing about it, and he says, at least she knows what stuff he needed to do. She tells him, stop it. They’re awfully young. He says, it kind of looks like they’re on the slow boat. He wouldn’t worry about it getting heavy. She asks if that’s what he’s going to say when Violet is Jake’s age, and he says he can’t imagine Violet’s first date. She says, imagine it, because it’s going to happen sooner or later, and he says, later. Much, much later.

Chase tells Violet, Sam is the real hero for the PCPD team. Without her, they would have completely been left in the dust. Violet says, just like Aunt Elizabeth.

Finn tells Elizabeth, time goes by so fast. He’s looking at Chase, and he doesn’t know about dad. He’s glad. It gives him an extra moment to be happy. Elizabeth says, Finn should do the same. Look at all the joy around them. And doesn’t he want to bask in his spectacular catch as long as he can? He laughs.

Sasha asks what Cody knows about Brando and Liam. He has no right to use them against her. He says he knows she loved them. He knows their memories mean something to her. He knows she’d want to honor them instead of disgracing their memories like this. She says, how dare he? and he says he also knows they would want her to fight. She cries, and he says, she’s so strong. Think about all she’s survived. She needs to stay strong in order to get through this. She tells Cody, Brando said she was strong too, and Cody says, he was right. She says, he was strong, and what did it get him? Every person she’s ever loved, Brando, Liam… they’re gone. She barely even remembers her mother. Her grandmother showed her pictures, the facts and the dates, but it’s just another story. Everyone fades. She looks around and doesn’t even know where she belongs anymore. She wouldn’t have even come to Port Charles if it wasn’t to get the money for her grandmother. There’s nothing left for her here. He says, there are people who love her here. Live for them. She says, she has nobody left, but he says, she has him.

Sonny tells Nina that he didn’t plan to set the FBI up. It just happened. The target was someone else. He knew they were digging around, asking questions, and he knew they weren’t going to stop. So he let them steal what they thought they were going to find. She says, it’s not what they really wanted, and he says, nope. She says, and they didn’t know that, and he says he had Brick dummy up something that wasn’t real, and that’s what they gave to the FBI. She says she doesn’t suppose he’s going to tell her who that someone else is, and he says he doesn’t know who that someone else is, but he’s going to find out. The first plan was to just smoke them out, see what they thought of the phony intel. It was a risk, because if they came sniffing around, there was a chance he’d be in custody. But that was a chance he was willing to take. She says, Krissy and Wiley, and he says he wishes he could have told them this before, but she says she gets it. He says he can’t tell her that he won’t do it again. It’s the reality of his life. Nina tells him to stop torturing himself. She knew what she was getting into, the good and the bad, when he asked her to marry him. And she loves all of him. There are no regrets. She’s ready to share her life with his and all of its complications. If there’s anything she worries about, it’s a small price to pay for the happiness that she feels being with him. He’s about to kiss her, when there’s a knock at the door. He says, what? and Frank says, his son’s here to see him. Sonny says, let him in. He thought Dante was meeting with Sam. Michael walks in, and says, hey, dad.

Nina asks if she can get Michael anything, but he says he’s fine. He didn’t get a chance to talk to Sonny in the courtroom. Sonny says, that’s okay. He didn’t expect it. Michael says he just wanted to tell Sonny how happy he is the charges were dropped against him, and that he wasn’t alone in the courtroom. He had a lot of support. Nina says, that included Michael, and they were both very grateful for that. Nina’s phone dings, and she sees a text from Gladys: Have to see u! 911! Meet me outside, in back. Nina says she just remembered something she had to do and asks them to excuse her. She leaves, and Michael says, she got out of here pretty quick. She probably wanted to give them some time alone. Sonny shrugs and says, probably, and Michael says he’s glad. There’s something he needs to tell Sonny.

Dante brings the empties to the bar, and says he saved Kristina a trip. She thanks him and says she’s so relieved about dad. Everyone really rallied around him; even Michael came. She thought she was going to cry when she saw the look on dad’s face. Dante tells her, Michael loves Sonny, despite what he says sometimes, and she says, they weren’t too sure about that when Dante showed up at his office, accusing him of the arrest. Dante says he went in there all fired up, but he guesses he was wrong, and she says, hopefully they can just focus on mending their family now. She knows that’s what Nina wants. He says he’s not the one she has to convince, and she says she thinks Michael is going to see how good Nina is for dad. Nina brought her back from the edge a couple of times. She doesn’t know how, but Nina just pulled through. Maybe this is going to be a good omen for them. Maybe now they can just be happy together.

Chase asks if Finn slacked on his softball team. Violet tipped him off. Elizabeth says, they didn’t have a whole lot of time this year for spring training, but Chase says, she seemed to hold her own pretty well. Finn says, just wait until the PCPD plays GH, and Chase says, trust him. He’s counting down the days. Chase’s phone rings, and he says, it’s work, and steps away to take the call.

Violet tells Willow that Jake missed the game, then showed up here with Charlotte. She thinks they’re on a date. Willow asks if she’s sure it’s a date, and Violet says she wanted to ask, but daddy sent her over here. She humored him, but now she’s going to find out everything she can. Willow says she’s not sure that’s a good idea. When two people are on a date, especially if it’s a first date, it’s probably best not to bug them. Violet asks, why?

Dante meets Chase outside, and asks, what’s going on? Chase says, that was dispatch. There’s an APB out on two patients who escaped from Ferncliff. Dante says, Sasha Gilmore and Cody Bell.

Cody thanks Sasha for trying to drink some water and asks how she’s feeling. She says, not good, and he suggests she try drinking just a little bit more. He puts a blanket around her shoulders, and she asks why he’s here. Everybody else has left her, but not him. He says he’s not planning on leaving her. As long as she keeps fighting, he’ll be here alongside her.

Nina goes outside, and asks Gladys, what’s going on? What’s the emergency? Did something happen to Sasha? Gladys says, Sasha’s been kidnapped.

Michael tells Sonny that he left right after the judge dismissed the charges. It was too much for him. Too many thoughts swirling in his head. He doesn’t even know what he was thinking. It’s like he was at war with himself. He had to get out of there. He’s sorry. Sonny says, he doesn’t have to be sorry for anything. The fact that Michael was there meant everything to him. Actually, he didn’t expect it. Michael says he knows, and that’s the worst part.

Charlotte asks if Jake is sorry he missed the game, but he says, no. Is she? Did she want to go? She says she’ll catch the next one. She wants to hear more about his drawing. She’s not much of an artist, but she loves to write. She thought it would be cool to do a graphic novel. Maybe he could do some of the drawings and she could write the story? He says he could do that, and she says, but it can’t be lame like every other superhero thing. He says, no, and she says she was looking at these cool cards the other day and was thinking it would be cool to do a Middle Ages thing. He says, that could work.

Willow says, Violet knows how she doesn’t want the boys around when she’s playing dress-up or doing something very girly, but Violet says she doesn’t mind the boys being around. Willow says, well, sometimes people can get shy. What if Jake and Charlotte feel that way? She thinks it’s best to respect their privacy. Violet thinks for a moment and says, if they wanted to be private, why did they come to a restaurant?

Finn tells Elizabeth, poor Willow. Look at that glazed over look on her face. She says, Violet is just asking questions non-stop, and he says, maybe it’s better her talking to Willow than critiquing his softball performance. She says, come on, he loves it, and he says, yes, he does. She says, when he lets himself have fun, he’s actually pretty good at it.

Dante and Sam walk into their apartment, and Sam asks why they had to leave Charlie’s so quickly. Dante says, the station called Chase. They put out an APB. Cody and Sasha broke out of Ferncliff, but she knew that was going to happen, didn’t she?

Sasha says she stabbed Cody, yet still, he’s here. Why would he help her after she hurt him? He says, it wasn’t her. It was the drugs. She thought he was Cyrus Renault; it was a hallucination. She asks where they are, and he says, some place that Sam found for them. Sam helped him get in to see her, and she arranged for a car and this cabin, so they’d have a safe place to come after they broke out of Ferncliff. Sasha gets agitated, and he tells her, it’s okay. She’s safe now. She’s free. She’s free from everything Dr. Montague did to her, and he promises she’ll never have to go through anything like that again. She says she’s… and he says he gets it. Right now, she needs her rest. Does she think she can sleep? She nods, and he says he’ll be here by her side the whole time. No one’s going to hurt her. Not while he’s here. He promises.

Nina says, Sasha was kidnapped? What is Gladys talking about? Gladys says she went to Ferncliff to check on Sasha’s release, fill out any paperwork, and smooth the way to take her home. But as she drove in, she saw a cop car. Then when she got up to Sasha’s floor, a nurse is giving a statement saying that Sasha’s been kidnapped by Cody Bell.

Violet goes back to her table, and Kristina brings Willow a refill. Willow thanks her, and says she also wants to tell Kristina how relieved she is that the charges against Sonny were dropped. Kristina says, Willow has no idea. She was so relieved. She’s been pretty wound up about it, but it’s like a weight finally lifted and she can breathe again. Willow says, it was so horrible seeing those agents storm in and surround Sonny like that, and Kristina says she didn’t know what to do. Willow says, she sure seemed to know. She was right up in their faces. Kristina says, something kind of took over. It was crazy. They were there just about to grab her dad, and she wanted to do anything she could to protect him. She just wanted it to stop. Thank God Michael was there. Where is her brother? Willow says, Michael had to leave for a little while.

Sonny asks what Michael meant when he said, that’s the worst part, and Michael says, the fact that things have gotten so bad between them, Sonny wouldn’t even expect him to show up at his trial. It’s like he’s been walking this path, and suddenly, he doesn’t recognize his own footprints. (Nice!) Sonny says, Michael has every right to feel how he wants to feel. He knows he let Michael down. Michael says, that’s just it. People let people down. (I nod sagely.) That doesn’t mean you have to destroy them. Sonny says, it’s not like Michael to be talking about destroying people, and Michael says, not destroying people, destroying him. He was furious with Sonny. Ever since he was little, he always knew there was something different about them. When things got dangerous, Sonny sent them to the island. But they had no idea what the danger was or why it would suddenly appear, just that Sonny and mom were worried. So he and Morgan created games and stories. Like one time they pretended the island was Never Never Land, and they were there because Captain Hook was coming. They had swords and they’d run around the cove pretending to be Sonny’s guards. Sonny says, Morgan had a sword named Spiker. Remember that? They laugh, and Michael says, Morgan wanted to sleep with it, but mom wouldn’t let him. She said, the best place for swords was next to the bed. Sonny says, not in the bed, and Michael says he thinks they always knew why there were real guards around them all the time. And certainly by high school, they knew Corinthos Coffee wasn’t his only business. By then, he also knew one of the threats was the police, and he saw Sonny escape the law time and time again. Sonny asks what Michael came here to tell him. You know he must be thinking Michael got the flashdrive with the fake stuff on it.

Dante tells Sam, apparently, Cody jumped the doctor, stole his clothes, grabbed Sasha, and then got out of there before they locked the place down. She says, oh my God, and he says, and get this. When they got out of the building, they didn’t escape on foot. There was a car waiting for them with the keys still in it. When she plans a breakout, she plans a breakout. She asks what he wants her to say, and he says, nothing he guesses. He just hopes everything works out okay, and Cody and Sasha are safe.

Kristina says, Michael had to leave for a little while? and asks Willow, where’d he go? Willow says, he had an errand to run, and Kristina says, at this hour? Willow says she thinks she has an idea what it was and if she’s right, it’s long overdue.

Michael tells Sonny, there were times he found himself wishing Sonny would be prosecuted and convicted. He would tell himself that it was about justice, but really it was about making Sonny pay for their family falling apart. Sonny says he understands, but Michael says, he couldn’t possibly. He found himself standing there in the courtroom and realizing that the last thing he wants is for Sonny to be sent to prison. For Kristina, for Dante, for the girls, and also because Sonny is his father. He doesn’t want Sonny behind bars and doesn’t want him to suffer. And he doesn’t want to be angry with Sonny anymore. It’s exhausting. This resentment he’s been holding on to is turning him into someone he doesn’t want to be, especially with his family. The family he almost lost. He just wanted to tell Sonny that he’s very happy Sonny beat the charges. Sonny says, Michael didn’t have to tell him all that, but he appreciates it. It means a lot. He just wants Michael to know that no matter what, Michael is his son, and he loves him. Michael says he loves Sonny too, and I wait for the hug, but there isn’t one, and Michael leaves.

Nina asks Gladys, why would Cody Bell, of all people, kidnap Sasha? and Gladys says, he’s tried it once before. Probably to get revenge for her stabbing him. She had to file a restraining order to stop him. Nina says, this is the first she’s hearing about this, and Gladys says, because she did everything to protect Sasha from Cody. But he lied his way into Ferncliff, pretending to be a patient. Nina asks, how could he pretend to be a patient at Ferncliff? and Gladys says she doesn’t know. That’s what the nurse told the cops. She said, Cody grabbed Sasha and ran out with her. Nina says, Gladys told her that Sasha was trapped in Ferncliff, right? Gladys told her that Sasha’s doctor was keeping her there. Gladys had to pay ransom to get her out. How does she know Sasha didn’t just leave with Cody willingly? Maybe Cody went there not to kidnap her for revenge, but to rescue her. Gladys says, no. Cody is a thief and a liar. All he cares about is money. She thinks he was working with the doctor, following his orders when he took Sasha. Now Sasha’s in more danger than ever.

Sasha lies under the blanket and reaches over to hold Cody’s hand. She closes her eyes.

Tomorrow, Maxie asks if Brook’s learned nothing; Tracy asks if Lucy came to discuss the case, or does she want to make a deal; Mac says he assumes the FBI guy is here to discuss Sonny’s case; and Sam tells Dante, this could be the smoking gun.

💻 Returning Student…

I don’t see Josslyn ditching Dex for this guy. Although I could see Dex dumping her. She just seems to immature for him.

Joshua Benard Returns to GENERAL HOSPITAL!

In case you forgot.

Who Is Adam on GENERAL HOSPITAL?

🎤 No Interviews Please…

We’ll just forget that he was once Todd. Although mini kudos to OLTL for throwing him a save toward the end.

Trevor St. John Reveals Why He’s “Frightened” To Do Interviews

🧂 Adding Some Salt…

I had to watch this one because, Trixie Mattel and the Trixie Motel. Love them both.

https://people.com/rhoslc-recap-monica-garcia-reveals-affair-led-to-excommunication-mormon-church-7968402

What’s in a tag?

https://people.com/the-real-housewives-of-salt-lake-city-season-4-taglines-exclusive-7968376

🗽 Back In the New York Groove…

There’s a reason this season can’t find an audience. These women are the worst. Okay, maybe not the worst, but they’re definitely contenders. For sure it’s not fresh as promised.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/rhony-episode-9-recap-the-casts-emotional-rollercoaster-is-off-the-rails

The only decent Housewife on the show.

https://collider.com/rhony-season-14-jenna-health-issues/

💍 Oh Those Summer Nights…

Not that you need to know anything more about these awful people, but I have to guiltily admit, I’m looking forward to seeing the breakup play out. There’s got to be more to this story.

https://ew.com/tv/summer-house-lindsay-hubbard-carl-radke-call-off-engagement-cancel-wedding/

https://pagesix.com/2023/09/11/hurt-lindsay-hubbard-blindsided-by-carl-radkes-shady-note-to-wedding-guests/

🦥 You Can Still Haz Cheezburger…

Lots of animal amusement here.

https://animalcomedy.cheezburger.com/

🧬 We Are The AI…

Stop in tomorrow for soap and trash talking the Tres Amigas. Until then, stay safe, stay asking before you bring a plus-one, and stay not holding on to resentment or you might turn into someone you don’t want to be.

Sep6

September 5, 2023 – The Feds Question Sonny, First Day, Salty Talk, City Wives, Plathville Returns, Night Flight, Set Adoptions & Star

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Fed #1 tells Sonny that they’ve been sitting here all night. It wouldn’t be so bad if he’d just cooperate with them. All he has to do is answer a few questions. Let’s try this again. How about if they start with simple yes or no questions. Does he think he could manage to do that? He leans forward and asks if Sonny has ever done business with Pikeman Security Corp. Yes or no?

Michael walks into Sonny’s old kitchen, and Carly asks what he’s doing here. Is everything okay? After acknowledging the moss bowl🎍, he says he has something important to tell her, and it’s not good news. She asks if Willow is okay, and he says, Willow’s fine; the kids are fine. He had dinner last night at the MetroCourt with Willow and Wiley, and the FBI showed up and arrested dad. She says she knows.

Maxie says she’s going to need Lucy to calm down, and Lucy asks how she’s supposed to calm down when she feels Deception slipping through their fingertips. Maxie says she knows Lucy wants to fight Tracy’s lawsuit, claiming The Deceptor was her idea, but she thinks they should consider settling. Lucy tells her, don’t even say that. She’s put her blood, sweat, and tears into this company. She’s never going to give 75% of her beloved Deception to Tracy Quartermaine. Maxie asks if she’s thinking this through clearly, and Lucy says she’s thinking about it all the time night and day. She can’t stop. Maxie says, okay. Then she knows 25% of a viable company is a whole lot more than 100% of nothing.

Ava sees someone looking at a painting and says she’s sorry, but they’re closed. Mason says he thought she was always open for him, and she asks what he’s doing here. He says, do people really buy this junk? He swears he could do that in his sleep. She says, really? So he’s a thug and an artist too. He says he’s sorry she woke up on the wrong side of the bed  this morning. If it was him in that bed with her, he’d make damn sure she woke up on the right side with a smile on her face every morning.

Austin enters the unfamiliar house, and calls to Nikolas. He asks if Nikolas is here, but there’s no answer. He starts to look at his phone, when Nikolas comes in, and Austin asks where he’s been. Nikolas says he went for a morning jog, and Austin says, for months he’s been recovering from a traumatic head injury. Does he think that’s a good idea? Nikolas says he feels pretty good and his strength is almost back to normal. Austin says, right. And when it is, what is he going to do?

Drew dries off after a shower, and Cyrus says, they need to talk. Drew tells Cyrus that he has nothing to say, and Cyrus says he needs to warn Drew. Drew says, Cyrus told him already. Hell, damnation for eternity; he gets it. Cyrus says he’s talking about Sonny Corinthos, and Drew says, what about Sonny? Cyrus says, Drew is no longer under Sonny’s protection, and Drew asks what he’s talking about. Cyrus says, Sonny can’t even protect himself. As of last night, he’s in federal custody.

Dante comes in, and Sam hugs him. She says she’s glad he’s home. She was really worried about him. She asks if she can get him anything, but he says, uh-uh. Just this. She asks if he got any details on his father’s arrest, but he says, not a thing, and he was at the FBI office all night. They’re keeping pretty tight-lipped. They don’t want to tell the PCPD anything about that case. She says, why not? and he says he doesn’t know. Because they can. It seems like the end for his father. She tells him not to say that. She’s seen Sonny in tighter spots, and he always manages to beat the charges. He says, but this time, he doesn’t have a Jason.

Agent Wallis tells Fed #2 that he wants a full report on all the evidence seized at the pier last night, and Fed #2 says he’s on it. In their interrogation room, Fed #1 tells Sonny that Pikeman is a global contractor furnishing arms and security equipment… among other things. Come on. Sonny is an importer. If Pikeman approached him to deliver arms to a third party, it would be a very quick payday for him. Sonny says he’s a coffee importer. He’s not going to say anything unless his attorney is present.

Lucy says, so that’s it. One little hearing doesn’t go their way, and Maxie wants to cave? Maxie says she doesn’t like this any more than Lucy does, and Lucy asks, then why doesn’t Maxie want to fight? She wants to fight, but it sounds like Maxie wants to throw in the towel, and give up everything, their whole lifetime of work. Maxie says, first and foremost, she’s a mom, a single mom of three kids. And she just decided to move out of her two-bedroom apartment and into a house that’s a lot more expensive. Her financial future is tied to Deception. She has to be practical. (I kind of doubt Dante would evict her for non-payment.) Lucy says she gets it, but she just thinks Maxie is jumping the gun maybe. She says she needs gummies, looks in her purse, and says she didn’t bring gummies today, just when she needed them. Maxie says, they’re up against Tracy Quartermaine. She’s not some inexperienced grifter looking for a quick payday. Lucy says, doesn’t she know that? and Maxie says, good. Then Lucy knows how ruthless she is. She’ll do anything to win, and Maxie isn’t entirely sure she wants to play that game. They already know she used Brook, her own granddaughter, as a corporate spy. Lucy says, Maxie is right. Tracy is greedy and she’s vindictive, but somehow, Lucy doesn’t think that’s all there is to it. She thinks maybe, just maybe, Tracy is deliberately trying to get back at her. Maxie says, get back at her for what?

Mason says he really doesn’t see what Ava sees in his cousin. She doesn’t know what she’s missing in him. She says, what she’s missing is her ex-husband’s corpse. He should have delivered it to her by now. He says, let him just run out to his car and get it, and she says, he’s just hilarious. Where is it? He says, when and where and how they move Nikolas’s body is up to the boss. She says, he’s been working this out with the boss for weeks now, and Mason says he doesn’t want to get caught moving it. Then he’d have to explain to the cops that it was Ava who did him in. She says, whatever arrangements he has to make, make them. She did what he asked her to do. Now it’s time for him to honor the deal.

Nikolas says, Austin saved his life. That blow to his head put him in a coma. He doubts he would have survived a day or two, much less made a full recovery if it wasn’t for Austin. For that, Nikolas wants to thank him. He does appreciate it. Austin says, sure, happy to help. He just wants to clarify something. It’s important. He just wants… Ava never intended to kill Nikolas, right? It was just an accident. Nikolas says, accident or not, he almost died, and Austin says he understands that. Nikolas’s condition was grave and his recovery has been remarkable. It’s just that now it’s time for Ava to know about it.

Drew asks how Cyrus heard about Sonny, and Cyrus says, Drew knows how it is in here; word travels fast. He overheard some inmates say Sonny was picked up by the Feds and the shipment he was moving was confiscated. Drew says, that doesn’t sound like Sonny; he’s too smart to get caught. Cyrus says, when it comes to the Feds, they don’t mess around. Word is, Sonny is in violation of the National Security Act. Drew is ex-military. He’s a smart guy. Put two and two together. Those are some serious charges. Doesn’t he agree?

Sam tells Dante, with Jason gone, it did leave a huge hole in Sonny’s organization, but he still has Gabe, Frank, Dex, Brick, and a lot of other loyal people surrounding him. Not to mention Diane who will help him fight the charges. Dante says, but they didn’t come after him on RICO charges or racketeering. It’s violations of the NSA. It’s pretty serious. If he gets convicted, he could be in jail for the rest of his life. This is the Feds; they don’t mess around. She says she knows, but something doesn’t feel right about this. Sonny is way too careful. He would never let something like this happen. How does Dante think it happened? He says, someone snitched on him, and went on the record. Whoever it is, they gave the FBI what they needed to haul him in finally. Sam wonders who would do that, and Dante says his father has made so many enemies over the years. Maybe it’s some low-level worker who saw something they shouldn’t have seen. She says she doesn’t think so. Sonny is way too loyal to his people. They would never turn on him like that. Her gut his telling her it’s one of his enemies from outside his organization. He says, maybe, but who?

Michael asks how Carly heard about Sonny. Did Diane call her? She says, no. She was at Kelly’s last night and a regular from the docks came in. He saw the Feds down there and heard the name Corinthos. She called Sonny, and he didn’t pick up. She wasn’t going to leave that on a voicemail, so she called Dex. Michael asks if he answered, and she says, yes. She told him to get the hell out of there. She doesn’t know if he got picked up or managed to escape, but she hasn’t heard from him since. Has Michael? Michael says, no. He hasn’t either. She says, this isn’t good, and he says, obviously Dex had no time to warn him because he didn’t know until the Feds walked off the elevator at the MetroCourt. She says she needs the truth and not a cover story. If Michael changed his mind and he turned his father in to the Feds, he needs to tell her the truth right now.

Lucy tells Maxie, good grief. Who knows what Tracy would take offense to? That woman is just in a perpetual state of unhappiness. Ask her family and they’ll tell you, that woman is nothing but a big old sourpuss. Now she’s trying to inflict her nasty unhappiness on Lucy and her friends and associates. Maxie says, her motives don’t matter at this point; her evidence does. Lucy says, right, but she still thinks Tracy might have something else up her sleeve, and Maxie says, what they do know is, Tracy is alleging the designs for The Deceptor were her idea and they stole them. Lucy says, but they know, she’s a big fat liar, and Maxie says, but they also know Tracy had Brook give her the proprietary information on how they developed The Deceptor. Lucy says, that has to be, because it’s the only way Tracy could get her grubby little hands on her idea, and Maxie says, but they don’t know what evidence Tracy actually has to prove the design for The Deceptor was her idea and not Lucy’s, and that she created it first.

Michael says he could understand why Carly would suspect him of turning Sonny over to the Feds, and Willow did too. Wiley saw his grandfather being arrested by those agents and he’s really upset about it. Carly says, he shouldn’t have to see Sonny arrested. Is he okay? Michael says, he is now. They got him home, tucked him into bed, and told him that his grandfather is going to be okay. She asks what Willow said, and he says, she asked him straight out if he was responsible for Sonny’s arrest. She asks what he told Willow, and he says, the truth. He made the decision not to use the Pikeman footage, and in doing so, he gave up the whole idea of getting revenge against his father. Carly and Willow made him realize that by going after Sonny he’d be causing too much damage, especially to his siblings. She asks if he swears to her that he had nothing to do with this, and he says he swears. He gave her the footage; that was the end of it. She says she smashed that flashdrive right her in the kitchen, right in front of the moss bowl🎍 and Josslyn. But are they sure she had the only copy? Dex knocks at the door.

Sam tells Dante, regardless of who could have turned Sonny in, is he sure about the NSA charges? He tells her, it’s all rumors right now. Like he said before, the Feds are being tight-lipped about the whole thing. They don’t want to involve the PCPD because Sonny might have informants in the department. She says, he doesn’t think anyone would suspect he’d warn Sonny, does he? and he says he doesn’t know. He has to admit he’s glad he doesn’t have to answer that question. He doesn’t know what he’d do with that information if he had it, but he didn’t. He found out when his mother called him. She asks if he thinks Diane can get Sonny out of this, but he says he honestly doesn’t know. The way this is going down, the Feds are acting like they’re so confident in their case, they have the evidence to back it up.

Fed #1 says, Sonny has been the target of multiple federal investigations. He knows how this works. The only thing they want more than his lifetime conviction, is evidence of who he’s working with. Does Sonny want to tell him who that is? Diane walks in and says, seriously? Seriously? The FBI doesn’t know you don’t question anyone without counsel present? Her client isn’t going to answer any more of his questions. Fed #1 says, Sonny hasn’t answered any of his questions to begin with. The only thing he said was, he imports coffee. She says, not just coffee. The best coffee. She advises him to try it sometime – Sonny nods – and he’s done with her client. Fed #1 says, they can and will hold Mr. Corinthos for 72 hours. He won’t make bail on an NSA violation. Maybe she should explain to her client the benefits of cooperating. He leaves, and in the hallway, he tells Wallis, sorry he didn’t get anything on Sonny. Wallis says, they knew going into this thing, this guy was a pro, and Fed #1 says, damn good thing they have the evidence to back this up. Sonny Corinthos isn’t getting away this time.

Lucy tells Maxie that she doesn’t see how Tracy could have proof that she came up with the idea of The Deceptor, because it was hers; it was all hers. She came up with it. She did have encouragement from Martin, but it wasn’t like it just all of a sudden came out – go ahead and come up with this revolutionary beauty wand that makes us all look younger. Maxie says, that doesn’t mean Tracy didn’t have the same idea, but Lucy says, oh poo. There’s no way Tracy came up with the same idea she had. Maxie says, what about those gazillionaires who are always creating rockets that are going into space at the same time? It could just be out there in the ether. Lucy says, no. She’ll give Maxie this. If one of their competitors – an actual cosmetic competitor like Erica Kane with Enchantment – came up with the idea, maybe she would buy it. But no way Tracy came up with the idea. Anyway, she thinks this is personal. Maxie says, she obviously has something, because they’re standing here having this conversation. Lucy says, okay, but since when did Tracy care or know anything about beauty?

Mason says, keep your shirt on. Ava will get her husband’s body all in good time. She tells him, so he’s been saying. Where is it? He says he’ll figure out where to move it and let her know. He puts a lollipop in his mouth, and she says, when? He says, soon, but she says, that’s not good enough. She wants to know when. No more vague answers. He says, we’ll be in touch, he promises, and walks out.

Austin says, this has been a hell for Ava. Believing Nikolas is dead is like living in the torments of the damned. Nikolas says he’s sure, but he didn’t realize Austin and his ex-wife were so close. Austin flashes back to getting busy with Ava, and says, they’re not really. Nikolas says, then how does Austin know she was so tortured by his apparent death? and Austin says, they kind of went through this ordeal on Spoon Island because they were there when Heather Webber and Ryan Chamberlain were there on this rampage. Heather stabbed him with like this big fishing hook. Nikolas says, really? and Austin says, it was super painful. Nikolas asks what he was doing on the island to begin with, and Austin says he just stopped by. Nikolas says, no one drops by Spoon Island. He must have had a reason to go there.

Drew comes in the prison library, and Cyrus says, so they meet again. Drew says he appreciates the warning about Sonny. He hopes Sonny beats the charges like he’s done so many times in the past, but right now, all he wants to do is find a book. Cyrus says, before he does, he has something for Drew.

While Michael is transfixed by the moss bowl🎍, Dex thanks Carly for calling him last night. She asks where he’s been, and he says he’s been laying low. He didn’t want to go home, so he spent the night in the Q’s boathouse. Carly says, he should have called Michael or her; they were worried. Michael asks how the Feds got a copy of the Pikeman footage. Did Dex keep a backup? Dex says, of course (🍷) he didn’t keep a backup. He downloaded the footage onto an encrypted flashdrive that he gave to Michael. Michael asks, what about the original footage? and Dex says he deleted it. Michael asks if he always kept the flashdrive with him. Was there a chance it could have been copied? Dex flashes back to Josslyn handing him the pieces of the flashdrive, and telling him that Carly destroyed it. He remembers Josslyn saying later that she wishes her mom hadn’t destroyed the flashdrive. It was their one chance to turn Sonny into the Feds and they blew it. Josslyn walks in and asks what they’re all doing here.

Austin tells Nikolas, when the news broke that Ryan and Heather had escaped from Spring Ridge with Esme, the rumors were swirling that Esme was The Hook killer. Ava was her first victim, so he went to check on her, and that was good because they were all there. Nikolas says, and he was hooked by Heather trying to protect Ava, and Austin says, yes. They have that in common. They both almost died on Spoon Island. Nikolas says, Austin may well have saved Ava’s life, and Austin says, Ava’s a really good person. Nikolas says he’s not sure everyone would agree with that statement, and Austin says, she’s made her mistakes, but who hasn’t? And it’s really difficult for her right now. She blames herself for something that clearly isn’t true. So it’s time for Nikolas to go back to town, and time to tell her that he’s alive.

Cyrus takes a chess set out of a box, and tells Drew that he made it in the prison shop. He’d like Drew to have it. It’s the least he could do after Drew saved his life. Does he play? Drew says he knows the game. He hasn’t played in a while. Cyrus says he originally made it for himself. He was hoping to interest other inmates in playing with very limited success. Now he’d like Drew to have it. For his own use of course (🍷), but also in the hope Drew would agree to play him. Chess is an excellent way to see how the opposing player’s mind works. Things like, are they impulsive or methodical? How far ahead can they think? And best of all, you don’t have to like someone to play chess with them, and you may learn something worth knowing.

Dante wonders what Sonny did to get the NSA after him, but Sam says, that’s hard to pinpoint because his organization is so complex. (Is it? Is it really?) Does he think this could all be tied to the MetroCourt shooting? He says he doesn’t know how it could be, but they can’t dismiss it, right? If Sonny goes down, it destabilizes Port Charles and leaves a gaping hole in his family. She says, a load of people would be hurt if his father went to prison, and he says, especially his family. He’s been in these clothes for far too long. He’s going to have a shower. She asks if he wants coffee or breakfast, and he says, coffee sounds good. She kisses him and says she’ll brew him a pot. Go shower. He goes upstairs, and she calls Ferncliff. She tells them who she is, and that she has medical proxy over Cody Bell. She’s calling to see how he’s doing today. The nurse tells her, Cody has been on a 24-hour watch since he’s been admitted. He hasn’t been left alone. He’s in good hands. Try not to worry. Sam thanks her and says she’ll call later for an update. She sits on the sofa and says, dammit Cody. You’ve got to tone it down. You’re not going to get to Sasha if they keep watching you.

Carly says she’s been worried all night long about Josslyn. Why didn’t she return Carly’s calls or texts? Josslyn says she’s sorry. She went to that concert, then she went out with some friends. Carly says, she didn’t come home all night long, and Josslyn says she’s sorry. She spent the night with Lori. She came home as soon as she saw the texts and the calls. Carly says, they talked about this. When she was hauled down to the PCPD, she told Josslyn that she had to keep her phone on at all times in case she needs her. Josslyn promises it won’t happen again, and asks, what the hell is going on? Michael says, the FBI busted Sonny last night for violations of the NSA, and Josslyn says, really? Why? Dex says, someone turned Sonny in, and Carly says, was it her?

Lucy tells Maxie that she just knows Tracy is doing this out of pure and total spite for her. It’s because she finally made Deception such a huge success. Maxie says, first of all, excuse me? She’s pretty sure she had something to do with that success. Lucy says, of course (🍷) she did. That goes without saying, and Sasha too. Thinking about this, if Sasha hadn’t had that unfortunate meltdown, they probably wouldn’t be in this situation, but now they have The Deceptor. It’s their only money maker and they need it, and now it’s tied up in court because of Tracy for six months. Maxie says, financially, maybe they could hold on, but only if they both agree that they’re going to win this.

Nikolas says, he can’t go back… yet, and Austin asks, why not? Nikolas says he can’t go into details, but he’s in a volatile situation. Austin says, right. Sure he is, because he knocked up his son’s girlfriend and then kept her prisoner in a tower at Windymere, and he doesn’t know if anyone’s told Nikolas, so he’ll bring Nikolas up to speed. Elizabeth Baldwin, his co-conspirator in all this, made a spirited statement to the police department. Nikolas says, that doesn’t surprise him. Elizabeth always ends up doing the right thing. Austin says, so back to the original question. Why is Nikolas staying away from Port Charles? What is it? Is he afraid he’s going to get arrested?

Josslyn asks where Sonny was arrested, and Michael says, the MetroCourt. He was there with Willow and Wiley when the Feds showed up and arrested Sonny for violations of the NSA. Does Josslyn know what that means? She says she thinks so, and Carly says, it’s really serious. Michael says, very serious. It could only mean the Feds had a copy of the Pikeman footage. Does Josslyn have any idea how they could have gotten ahold of that? She says, not from her, and he says, she was pretty determined to take Sonny down, even after he decided to back off. She says she would have turned him in, in an instant, but Dex didn’t keep a copy of the footage and gave the only copy to Michael. Michael says, and he gave it to mom, and Josslyn says, and mom destroyed it in the kitchen as she watched. Michael asks, what happened to the flashdrive after it was destroyed? and Dex says he took it. Josslyn looks at him like she’s shocked when she’s the one who gave it to him like we just saw.

Maxie tells Lucy, after their little day in court, she did some research. IP theft cases are very hard to win, but if you can prove it, they’re very lucrative. Lucy says, well, that viper Tracy thinks that she can, and Maxie says, and if she can’t, she’ll just drag this out in court for as long as it takes. Lucy says, which makes Deception just suffer, and Maxie says, Tracy will risk destroying their company if she thinks she’s not going to beat them. Which is why they can’t risk holding on if they’re just going to lose in the end. Lucy says, just stop. Is she correct in saying Maxie just wants to wave the white flag and just surrender everything to Tracy? Maxie says she knows they both hate the idea of giving in to Tracy, but yes. She thinks they should take Tracy’s deal. Lucy says, no. She’s not ready to do that. Maxie says, financially speaking, they don’t have any time, and Lucy says she realizes that. She also realizes that it’s not a walk in the park for them, but please, just give her time. She’s got to figure out what proof Tracy has that she had the idea for The Deceptor, and she knows for a fact there’s no way Tracy can prove she thought of The Deceptor first. Maxie asks, how exactly is Lucy going to do that?… Oh no. She knows that look. Lucy says she promises Maxie, she will think of something.

Nikolas says, there are a number of issues that have to be worked out before he returns to the land of the living, and Austin says he thinks he just mentioned two of the big ones. Nikolas says he’s eager to get back home, and Austin says, cool. This decade? Nikolas says he can’t wait to see Spencer, his mother, and his new son Ace. And he needs to set things right with Ava. Now if Austin will excuse him, he needs to get out of these running clothes and into a shower. He leaves the room, and Austin’s phone rings. He picks it up, and says, hey… Hello? Everything all right? Ava says, no. Actually, everything is not all right. What the hell is going on? He asks what that means, and she says, when she got to work, his creepy cousin was in her gallery. He says, not to buy art? and she says, he most definitely wasn’t here to buy art. Austin says, then what did he want? and she says, that’s just the thing. Aside from just being a creeper, she has no idea. It’s like he was checking up on her. Austin says, he’s remarkably good at that, and she says, she asked him again when she can expect to have Nikolas’s body and he was vague again. He deflected, saying he still had things to work out with the boss.

Cyrus and Drew play chess. Cyrus makes a move, and Drew makes a move. Cyrus thinks a moment, and moves his piece. Drew takes one of his pieces and knocks over Cyrus’s little horse and takes it. (Hey, I don’t play chess, okay?) Cyrus smiles.

Michael asks what Dex did with the flashdrive, and Dex says he intended to burn it. Carly asks what he means, intended? and Dex says he should have burned it, but he got derailed by work and ended up throwing it away in a public trashcan. (Once again, Dex, spy extraordinaire.) Carly asks what the hell he was thinking, and Dex says he looked at the fragments of the flashdrive; it was totally destroyed. Josslyn says, Carly did smash it pretty hard, and Dex says he doesn’t see how anyone could have gotten anything off of it. Michael says, they’re not talking about anyone; they’re talking about the federal government. If Dex was being followed, someone could have seen him throw it into the trashcan and the Feds could have retrieved it. Carly says, that’s right, and they have the technology and resources to pull footage off of the damaged flashdrive. Michael says, that footage will be all they need to slap NSA charges on Sonny, and Josslyn says, they’re getting way too ahead of themselves. They don’t even know for sure if the Feds have it. (And if the flashdrive was involved, why would they have even needed the raid?) Michael says, the flashdrive would have given them enough evidence to arrest Sonny and probably convict him. Their actions could put Sonny away for the rest of his life. Lots of soap looks all around, including the moss bowl🎍.

Dante comes downstairs looking fresh, and Sam says, perfect timing. One coffee for him. She hands him the cup, and he thanks her. He says he always kind of knew this day was coming. He hoped it wouldn’t, but it was coming. He guesses the bright side is, he wasn’t the one who had to bust his father. She says, that would be a heavy guilt to carry on his shoulders, and he says, being a cop is complicated. He has to say he’s kind of conflicted here. He knows the difference between right and wrong, but the difference can be inches or miles. He’s arrested people who were guilty who he knew would never see the inside of a jail cell. Conversely, he’s arrested people who have made terrible mistakes who ended up paying for it for the rest of their lives. When he found out Sonny was his father, their moral codes couldn’t have been more vastly different. He got to know Sonny and see the good in him, and even to understand why he did some of the things he did. He’s thinking now is maybe they’re inches apart, not miles apart. At the end of the day, Sonny is his father, so what is he going to do? Sam says, be there for him. They’ll all be there for him. Dante says he’s got to admit, part of him is hoping Sonny beats the charges one more time.

Diane says she’s seriously considering playing softball for the Corinthos Coffee team, but she hears Carly has become one hell of a pitcher for Kelly’s, and Sonny says, that’s true. She says she’s not surprised. She’s wild. She might give Sonny some competition this year. Of course (🍷) the team to beat is always General Hospital. That Elizabeth Baldwin is so nice and sweet when she takes care of patients in the hospital, but she’s brutal on the field. He says, that’s why they need her. They could use a shortstop and centerfielder. She says, okay. She’ll play centerfield. That way, at some point, she’ll be pitted against Alexis and her Invader team. She both loves and misses a good Diane/Alexis match. Fed #1 comes in, and Diane thanks him for joining them. Her client still isn’t going to answer any of his questions, unless he wants to talk softball. Fed #1 says, if Mr. Corinthos isn’t going to cooperate, there’s no use wasting her and their valuable time, and she says, good. Fed #1 says, Mr. Corinthos can return to his holding cell for 72 hours until his court arraignment. Fed #2 comes in with handcuffs, and Diane asks if cuffs are really necessary. Fed #1 nods, and as Fed #2 cuffs Sonny, Diane says she’s sorry. He’s correct. The case is going to be heard in the Federal District of New York, and these are Federal NSA charges. She won’t be able to get him off this time.

In the hallway, Fed #2 gives Wallis the report he asked for, and Wallis says, let’s see those photos. He looks at I don’t know what, and says, jackpot.

Tomorrow, Alexis tells Nina that if Sonny goes to prison, she’s vulnerable; Anna says, something’s off; Montague tells Sasha, this isn’t over until he says so; and Cody yells, let me go!

🌎 It’s a Small World After All…

It’s like when I moved to NYC and my dentist’s nurse turned out to be from my hometown in Ohio.

Laura Wright Reveals Her Wildest First Day on The Job!

🧂 Adding Some Salt…

This one started off promising, only one wild card in the bunch. Now that wild card is gone, but she passed the torch… to everyone else.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/real-housewives-of-salt-lake-city-recap-does-meredith-do-ketamine

I love a good quote.

https://ew.com/tv/real-housewives-of-salt-lake-city-season-4-premiere-recap-best-quotes/

🗽 Wives In the City…

I don’t know if this reviewer was sleeping through the first episodes, but news flash, they’ve been nasty from the jump, with the exception of Jenna. Apparently, they perceive her as the weak one just because she’s not mean.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/rhony-recap-the-casts-cruelty-to-jenna-lyons-is-unforgivable

🌻 Welcome Back…

What’s happening in Plathville. I’m not sure what’s wrong with Olivia, but even I’m growing weary of it.

https://people.com/welcome-to-plathville-recap-ethan-plath-caught-in-the-middle-moriah-olivia-7965805

The credit card debacle.

https://people.com/tv/welcome-to-plathville-family-decided-to-not-be-divided-anymore-family-first/

✈️ Old News Is Good News…

Another little gem I’m late to the party for. So much to stream, so little time.

https://decider.com/2020/05/01/into-the-night-on-netflix-stream-it-or-skip-it/

🐈 Furry Souvenirs From the Set…

Maybe that’s why they say don’t work with animals. You’ll want to take them home. That direwolf looks a lot smaller in person. Or is it pupson?

https://people.com/stars-who-adopted-pets-from-sets-chris-evans-sarah-jessica-parker-7964403

🍃 Unofficial End Of Summer…

Stop in tomorrow for soap and hating on the OC. Until then, stay safe, stay not swimming when there are riptides, and stay not saying anything unless your attorney is present.

Aug29

August 28, 2023 – Curtis Makes a Decision, Returning, The Real Ned, NYC Minute, Denial Ain’t a River, Making Merit, Magic Moment & Wine

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Elizabeth sees Finn on the roof and says, she thought she told him that this was her spot. He says, she’ll have to thumb wrestle him for it, and she sits next to him. She says, he’s been up here a lot lately. He must have something on his mind. He says he found out something yesterday and came up here to try and process it. He still can’t wrap his head around it, and doesn’t think he ever will.

Kristina goes to Alexis’s office, and Alexis asks, what brings her here? Kristina says she wanted to thank Alexis for talking to Diane. She agreed to be on the board of the Corinthos-Davis House. Alexis says she told Kristina that Diane would be a real asset, and Kristina says, she is. She’s so excited to have a lawyer of Diane’s caliber on board. But that’s not the only reason she’s here. She owes Alexis an explanation. Alexis says, for what? and Kristina says, the reason she ignored Alexis at the pool earlier.

Trina walks into Kelly’s courtyard, and Josslyn says, welcome to Kelly’s. May I take your order? Trina says, so professional, and Josslyn says, it may not be as glamorous as the art gallery, but she’s happy to help her mom. Trina says, at least Josslyn found a way to be there for her. She doesn’t know what to do for her mom. Josslyn sits down and asks if that means things still aren’t any better between Trina’s mom and Curtis. Trina says she thinks they’ve gotten worse. Curtis is still in rehab and her mom keeps trying to visit him, but he keeps pushing her away. Josslyn takes Trina’s hand and says she’s sorry, and Trina says she doesn’t know what to do. There’s got to be a way to bring them back together.

Marshall walks into Portia’s office and she thanks him for coming. He asks, what’s going on? and she says she heard from the rehab facility. He says, don’t tell him that Curtis had a setback, but she says, no, he’s fine. He’s actually getting released tomorrow. He asks if that isn’t good news, and she says, it should be, but Curtis hasn’t gotten in touch with her. She only spoke to the rehab director. And it looks like Curtis hasn’t reached out to Marshall either, so she doesn’t know what that means. Does that mean Curtis isn’t coming home?

Curtis is exercising with the medicine ball when Stella comes in. She asks what he’s doing, and he says, isn’t it obvious? She says, that he’s working out, but where’s his physical therapist? Curtis says he doesn’t need him, and Stella asks, why is that? He says, Brent taught him everything he needed to know, so now he’s just getting stronger every day. She asks if Brent knows he’s in here on his own, and he says he doesn’t know. He doesn’t care, but he’s ready to get out of here. He’s ready to go home. She says, oh no he isn’t.

Carly thanks Diane for coming to Kelly’s, and Diane says she’s at Carly’s beck and call. She asks how it’s going, and Carly says, good. She never thought she’d enjoy this place like the MetroCourt, but she does. She didn’t realize she had this emotional connection to Kelly’s. It makes her feel closer to her family, to her Aunt Ruby, to her mom… She can’t explain it. Diane says, some things never need explaining, and Carly says, the people are so down to earth. No one’s complaining there’s no beluga on the menu. Diane says, there’s no beluga on the menu? Goodbye. She laughs and says, it’s nice to see Carly and the customers happy. Carly says she’d be even happier if Drew wasn’t in prison. Diane is going to have to get him out.

Robert meets Anna at a poolside table and asks, what’s the occasion? She says she needs a favor. No questions asked.

At another table, Martin sees Lucy walk in and says, there’s his little buttercup. It is so good to see… She throws a drink in his face, and he asks what that was for. She says, not only has he been getting fifty thousand – fifty thousand – dollars every single month from that third ex-wife of his, he kept it a secret. Why did he keep it a secret? He says he doesn’t know what she’s talking about, and she says, that’s good. She knows him now, and she knows when he lies, his little ears turn red. Right now, they’re bright crimson. He says, it could be sunburn, and she says, he’s going to go with that? Spill it. He says he admits it. It’s true. Why does she care? She wonders how he can ask her that. Now she knows why he doesn’t want to marry her. He doesn’t want to give up all that beautiful money. He says, she’s one hell of a confusing creature. She didn’t want to marry him. And I quote, I am through with the institution of marriage, unquote. She says, he actually believed her? He’s an idiot. She was going for the reverse psychology thing. If she says no, then he insists they get married, and carries her off like An Officer and a Gentleman. He says he never saw that movie. He never much cared for Richard Gere actually. Who cares? That’s in the past. He loves her. She says, clearly, all that money from his ex-wife’s alimony is more important to him than love.

Anna says she has to find out if Valentin is still on Pikeman’s payroll. Robert has to use whatever connection he’s got with the Feds and any contacts from the WSB to get her some information. He says, it sounds like she’s convinced that Valentin’s being paid by them. Why doesn’t she simply tell him everything that’s been going on?

Kristina says she stopped by Alexis’s office earlier, and Esme told her that Alexis was meeting someone over by the pool. Alexis says, not the most discreet assistant. Did Esme tell Kristina what she was eating for dinner? Kristina says, when she saw Alexis there with Molly and another young woman she didn’t recognize, who she’s assuming was the surrogate – Alexis says, she was – she wanted to talk to Alexis, but thought it would be better if she stayed out of the way after her last interruption. She practically barged in on Molly and TJ when they were meeting with the surrogacy consultant, and if looks could kill… Let’s just say she made a quick exit. That, on top of the fact Molly didn’t invite her to the sushi party, and she just wanted to steer clear. Alexis says, that was probably a wise decision, and Kristina says she sort of stormed out after Alexis waved at her, so she wanted Alexis to know she wasn’t trying to avoid her. Alexis says she kind of figured something else was going on, and Kristina says, whatever is going on with her and Molly, she doesn’t want it to come between her and Alexis, because their relationship is in such a good place now and she wants it to stay that way. Alexis says she does too. Whatever’s going on between Kristina and Molly won’t affect them. Kristina thanks her.

Finn says he saw Elizabeth talking with his dad, so he’s guessing his dad told her. She says, yes, he did, and Finn says his father’s dying. It’s the first time he’s been able to say that out loud. She says she’s so sorry, and Finn says he’s sorry for his father. Not only is he dying, it’s one of the worst ways. ALS is brutal. He knows it’s coming, but he still can’t believe it’s happening to his father.

Stella says she’s sorry. She didn’t mean to sound harsh, but Curtis needs to think about this. Going home is going to be a huge adjustment. He says, Portia already made the house wheelchair accessible (that was fast), but Stella says she’s not talking about handrails and ramps. He needs to talk to his physical therapist about being discharged to make sure he’s prepared for his new reality. He says he doesn’t need a therapist to tell him how he’s feeling. He’ll get the same standard answer they give to everyone, empty words. He doesn’t need that. They don’t know who he is. She says, but she does. So talk to her.

Portia tells Marshall that she made sure the whole house can accommodate a wheelchair, but for all she knows, Curtis made other plans. Maybe he decided to move into an assisted living facility? Marshall says he can’t see Curtis doing that, and just because he hasn’t called, doesn’t mean he’s not coming home. She says, but she would have heard from him by now. She just wants to know what’s going on with him. Why won’t he reach out to her? Marshall says, she has to let Curtis do this in his own time. She has to let Curtis figure it out for himself. He’s sure Curtis is going to let her in.

Carly says, Diane has to do something, and Diane says, Carly knows she’d do almost anything to get Drew out of Pentenville. But because there was no trial, she basically doesn’t have a leg to stand on. She can’t argue for an appeal. She can’t argue that there was a procedural flaw. She can’t argue for a reduced sentence. The moment Drew took the plea deal and pled guilty, his sentence was at the absolute discretion of the judge. Carly says, so let’s find another judge.

Kristina asks, so how was the surrogate? and Alexis says, obviously, it’s a little hard to get to know a stranger in an hour, but from what Alexis could tell, she liked her. Alexis thinks she’ll be a good choice for both of them. Kristina says, that’s great. She’s so happy for Molly, and she knows Molly is going to make an amazing mother. Hopefully by then, their relationship will be back on track. Alexis says, they love each other and that’s not going to change. Kristina just needs to be a little patient. This whole infertility thing has been really overwhelming for her, but now that they have a surrogate, she’ll maybe get past her struggles. There’s a knock at the door, and Gregory comes in. He says, sorry. Not a good time? Kristina says, stay. She was just leaving. She tells Alexis, goodbye. Thank you, love you. Alexis says she loves Kristina too, and Kristina leaves. Alexis asks if Gregory wants to work on that AI piece, and he says, yes, but he’s not sure how many working days he has left.

Curtis thanks Stella for her advice and says he appreciates it. He knows what she’s trying to do, but it’s like this place is a safety net. Every time he falls, there’s somebody there to catch him, and he knows that’s not how life is. He has to get back out there and do things on his own, and can’t expect anybody to hold his hand. She says she’s not talking about that and he knows it. Of course (🍷) he’s going to get out of rehab. She just needs to know he’s ready. He says he just can’t sit here any longer. What is he supposed to do? Feel sorry for himself that he can’t walk? says, maybe that’s exactly what he needs to do. He has a right to feel sorry for himself. He has a right to be mad. This should have never happened, so he can’t just push those feelings aside. He’s got to let them out. Open the window and scream if he has to. Because if he doesn’t, it’s going to eat away at him bit by bit until it explodes or… He starts to talk, but she says she’s not done yet. It’s going to take everything he’s got to face this head-on. God has placed an obstacle in his path, and Curtis needs to show Him that he’s up for the challenge.

Robert says, they know Valentin lied about being at ELQ the night of the fire. Does Anna think he had anything to do with burning down her house? She says, Robert promised her that he wouldn’t ask any questions, and Robert says he lied. The difference between his lies and Valentin’s lies are, Valentin’s lies tend to get you killed. She says, he’s complicated, but he doesn’t do anything without a reason. She doesn’t know why he said he was at ELQ when he wasn’t. She also doesn’t know what else he’s lied about. He says, but she suspects something, and she says, what if his connection to Pikeman goes deeper? He admitted to working for them years ago as a logistics contractor. He says it ended with that, but she doesn’t buy it. What if he’s still in bed with Pikeman?

Martin says, to be fair, neither he nor Lucy has been particularly successful when it comes to marriage. She starts to interrupt, but he says, hang on for a second. Something doesn’t make sense. How on earth did she find out he’s the one getting the alimony?

Diane tells Carly, that’s not the way the law works. It’s not like you’ve gone to a doctor; you don’t like what he says. You go to General Hospital for a second opinion. This is the justice system. You can’t hand pick a judge. Carly says, but the sentence given to Drew was over-the-top and wrong. Besides, Drew agreed to six months in Spring Ridge, not three years in Pentenville. It’s cruel and unusual. Diane says she wholeheartedly agrees, and Carly says, besides, there’s nothing in Drew’s past to justify the sentence. It’s like the judge had some kind of vendetta against Drew. They have to do something. Come on. Diane says, that’s an interesting point though. She might be able to argue bias. She can go back into the judge’s past cases and see if there’s any kind of history of prejudicial behavior. Carly says, so she’ll take the case? and Diane says, that depends on who’s hiring her, Carly or Drew?

Trina says, part of this is her fault, and Josslyn asks, how is it her fault? Trina says, when she found out Curtis was her father, she lashed out at her mom. Her mom found out Curtis kissed Jordan, and was upset about how he was treating her, so she went off on Curtis. Josslyn says she still doesn’t understand how that’s on Trina, and Trina says, if she hadn’t put her mom in a vulnerable state, maybe she wouldn’t have been as angry about the kiss. He said that it meant nothing, but Trina didn’t let it go. And that’s on her. Josslyn says, it’s not. They’re responsible for their actions, not Trina. They’re adults and they’ve got to figure this out for themselves.

Curtis tells Stella, if God wanted to put an obstacle in his path, He didn’t have to take away his ability to walk. Talk about timing; right when everything was looking up. Not only did he reconnect with his father and made peace with him, he found out he has a daughter, an amazing daughter. He struggled with the fact Portia kept it a secret from him, but they were working past that. Stella says, he still has those things. He still has all those good things in his life – family. The accident didn’t take them away. Curtis says, that’s just it. It wasn’t an accident. The shooter intended to pull that trigger. It doesn’t matter if he was the intended target. He was hit and here he is, and she expects him to believe that’s God’s plan? She says, maybe this experience can enrich his life in ways he never expected. It can show how strong and resilient he is. He says he doesn’t feel strong. He can’t even walk. He can barely do anything. So much of who he is, is tied to how physical he was. Curtis, hitting the bag, rough and tumble, running in the park, but he can’t do any of that anymore. She asks if he’s saying a disabled person should just give up. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Does he know who said that? FDR. He didn’t give up. He ran this country from a wheelchair. That’s a real hero, not like the ones in the comic books Curtis used to love. Curtis has a superpower. He just doesn’t know what it is yet, but it’s in there. And until he finds out, they’re all here standing right beside him.

Marshall says he can understand where Curtis is coming from, and Portia asks what he means. He says, years ago when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, he made a tough choice. It probably wasn’t the right one, but he chose to leave his family to protect them. Portia asks if he thinks Curtis is pushing her away for the same reason, and he tells her that he can’t say for sure, but what he does know is that his son loves her. What Curtis doesn’t know is what their relationship is going to be like. He’s not just talking emotionally; he’s talking physically. She says, so Curtis is avoiding her, and Marshall says, yeah, he’s avoiding her. He’s avoiding the questions he doesn’t have the answers to yet. It’s not because Curtis doesn’t love her. It’s because he does love her.

Gregory tells Alexis that he let Finn know about his diagnosis. It’s still surreal saying he has ALS. You’d think it would have sunk in by now, but every time he says it, it hits him all over again. She asks how Finn took it, and he says, Finn usually plays everything close to the vest, but he was obviously devastated. And he only added to that by telling him that Alexis already knew. She says she and Finn ran into each other a little bit ago, and they talked about it. He asks if Finn was upset that she knew, but she says she thinks he’s more concerned about Gregory, not who was told first. He says, so hopefully it won’t damage their friendship, and she says, no, it will not. She and Finn are fine and they’re both worried about him. He thanks her again for keeping his confidence, and apologizes for putting her in that position. It wasn’t fair. He hopes she can forgive him.

Elizabeth says she knows what Finn’s dad is facing is horrible, but hopefully he can hang onto those moments of joy he has right now. Finn said he talked about going on a trip? Finn says, he wanted to take Violet to Disneyworld, but that was before his symptoms started getting worse. He thinks his father is afraid of losing his mobility, and doesn’t want Violet to see that. She says, that’s inevitable, but kids are super resilient. One day at a time. That’s what they say in AA, right? He tells her, that’s what they say, but it’s still hard to see what lies ahead. She says she knows, but his dad is still independent and still has his freedom, and Finn has to take advantage of that while he can. Don’t miss out on what’s right in front of him.

Martin wonders how Lucy got a look at the particulars of his financials, especially that alimony. That is confidential, and he’s not the kind of man who leaves documents lying around. So how on earth did she get her hands on that information? She says, well… perhaps… she went to Pine Valley and she snooped. He says, that girls trip she took with Felicia. She said they were in Llanview. Lucy says she lied. They met this guy there named Jackson Montgomery; he’s a lawyer. Martin says, oh Lord. He knows who Jackson Montgomery is. She says, they also had a look at his files. Perhaps without his permission. He says, so she was willing to break the law to get a look at his private something-something? She could have been arrested. How could she have done something like that? She says, how could she have done something like that? How could he keep this alimony thing a secret from her all this time? He says, that’s in his past. It has nothing to do with the two of them. Nothing is more important than his relationship with her. She says, okay. Give up the money. Tell his third ex-wife that he just doesn’t want that alimony anymore. No alimony ever. He says, it’s fifty thousand dollars… Is that really what she wants? She says she doesn’t know. She doesn’t think she’s free to make demands on him to give up fifty thousand dollars, especially when she’s going to be bankrupt soon.

Robert says he’ll take care of Valentin, but why doesn’t Anna just confront him directly? She says she can’t do that, and he says, because she doesn’t trust him. He often wondered what she really saw in that dude. She asks him to stop. She didn’t ask him for this. She really just wants him to find out the truth, because she doesn’t know what it is anymore. Valentin walks in and says, nobody told him they were having company, but Robert gets up and says, they don’t. He’s leaving. He goes, and Valentin asks, what’s wrong with Robert? She says, he’s a bit worried about Robin.

Diane asks if Drew knows that Carly is trying to relitigate his sentence, and Carly says, yes. He knows she wants him out of there. She was just with him earlier at Pentenville. Diane asks how he’s holding up, and Carly says, he’s Drew. He’s strong mentally and physically, so he’s not going to complain. He can survive, but that’s not the point. He shouldn’t have to. Diane says, in a standard case – and this is far from a standard case – the appeals process can take years, and it can be torturous. It’s a vicious cycle of hope and disappointment. So instead of putting Drew through all of that, the wisest course of action might be to let him finish out his sentence.

Stella asks what life at home looks like for Curtis now. Is he going to continue to do everything on his own and shut out his wife? She knows it’s hard for Portia to see him this way. Every time she comes to see him, she feels Curtis is pushing her away. Is that how it’s going to be when he gets home? He shakes his head, and says, they’d been making progress. He was on his way to talk to her at the pool when he was shot. He never got his chance. She says, but now he has a chance, and he says, once he found out he was paralyzed, he said some horrible things to Portia. He didn’t want her pity, so he was deliberately hurtful. He thought it would drive her away. She says, but it didn’t. That woman loves him unconditionally. She knows Portia was hurt, but she understood why he lashed out. We’re always toughest on the ones we love. This might be a long road, but let them ride it along with him. They love him. So let them in.

Alexis says, there is nothing to forgive, but Gregory says, it was wrong. Especially knowing she and Finn were friends. She says, what about Chase? How did he take it? Gregory looks away, and she says, ooh. He hasn’t told Chase yet. He says he will. He just keeps putting it off. Chase has been so sensitive. It practically killed him to tell Chase that he and Chase’s mother were getting divorced. He can’t imagine how he’s going to take this news. He just wants a few more days with him not knowing, so their time together isn’t about his illness. She says she understands, and he says he knows it’s been difficult, but he thanks her for respecting his wishes and staying silent about his diagnosis. It gave him more time with his family; time to be a father and grandfather, not a man with a debilitating disease. She says, again, it’s not her place to share this information and he’ll tell Chase when he’s ready.

Finn says, Elizabeth is right. He needs to focus on the present and enjoy this time with his dad. He just wishes he hadn’t wasted so damn much of it. For years he wanted nothing to do with his family; he turned his back on his father. His father never gave up on him. Elizabeth says, now it’s his turn, because Finn won’t give up on him, and Finn says he’s going to be there for his father every step of the way. She says, now’s the time to be completely honest with him. Put everything on the table. Tell Gregory how he feels guilty for shutting him out and that he wants to make up for it. Tell Gregory that he loves him.

Trina goes to Portia’s office and says she thought Portia could use some company. Portia says she sure does. It’s been such an emotional night. She hugs Trina, and Trina says she’s been having a lot of those lately. Talk to her. Portia says she’s really been dumping on Trina a lot lately, so… Trina says she wants to help Portia. What’s going on? Portia says, Marshall was here earlier and they had a pretty heavy discussion about Curtis. Trina asks if something is wrong with Curtis, but Portia says, no, he’s fine. But she heard from the rehab facility, and he’s being released tomorrow. Trina says, that’s great. She was just telling Joss that once they’re under the same roof again, she knows things will get better. Portia says, but she’s not quite sure Curtis is going to be coming back home.

Stella says, Curtis is a very proud man. She knows it’s difficult for him to be so vulnerable, but they’re not looking at him with pity, especially Portia. He needs to open his heart and let Portia in. If he can do that, maybe he’s ready to go home. He says he’s been shutting down emotionally because it’s easier than admitting how difficult this is. Sure, the physical part’s demanding, but it’s the only way he can work through this. But he knows he has to put his life back together, and it’s just going to look a little different from this angle. She asks if that means he’s ready to take on the challenge of his new reality.

Anna asks what Valentin’s been up to, and he says he was with Charlotte. They were supposed to have lunch by the pool, but she had a pizza placed she wanted him to see, so they may have ordered a large sausage and mushroom, and finished half a dozen zeppole for dessert. So he doesn’t think he’s going to be terribly hungry for dinner, but he will join her. She says, okay. He can make it up to her by ordering another glass of wine. She’s just going to go to the ladies room. She’ll be right back.

Lucy tells Martin, Deception stock is tanking, and how dare they claim she stole the whole idea of The Deceptor? She didn’t, and he knows that. She came up with the idea when they were together in bed. Remember? He was her inspiration. He says, intellectual property theft is very difficult to prove, and she says, but what if they actually prove it? They’re out of business and she’s broke. He sees Valentin walking to the door, and asks Lucy to excuse him for a second. She says, what’s more important than her? and he says, hold that thought, and dashes after Valentin.

In the hallway, Valentin asks if Martin heard back, and Martin says, yes. And it’s not good news.

Carly says, Diane thinks Drew should stay in Pentenville for three years, and Diane says, stop it. She doesn’t think Drew should stay in Pentenville. Of course (🍷) not. She’s just saying, at this point, it might be wise to let him finish out his sentence. Carly says, it’s not, and she wouldn’t ask Diane to pursue this if Drew wasn’t on board. Diane says, really? and Carly says, okay, she would, but he is. So come on. Please? Diane is the best lawyer she knows. There has to be something she can do. Diane says, there’s just not a lot to work with here. This is a federal case and it’s very tricky to get federal cases reassigned to a different judge. Carly says, can’t she pull some strings?… What about Robert? She knows things are awkward between him and Diane, but maybe he has some federal connections… Diane says, yes, things are awkward between the two of them, when Carly says, here he is. Diane says, what? and Carly says, well, hello, DA Scorpio. Robert says, good evening, ladies. He didn’t know Diane frequented this establishment. Diane says, there’s boatloads he doesn’t know about her. She starts to leave, and he says he thought he’d drop by to tell her that he got a new set of wheels. She stops and turns around.

Finn says he’s glad his dad confided in Elizabeth, and she says, he did it for Finn. He wanted Finn to be able to share the burden. Finn says, just between the two of them, there’s no one else he’d  rather share it with, and she tells him that Gregory also said he hadn’t told Chase yet. He says, it’s going to be hard, but he’ll be there to help his father. He’s really grateful to have her here in his corner. He can’t imagine doing this on his own. She says, he doesn’t have to. She’s here for him, every step of the way. They hug.

Gregory tells Alexis, what if he’s never ready to let Chase know? He keeps waiting for the right time, but Chase has been so happy lately with Brook and getting his badge back; this will crush him. She says she doesn’t think he’s giving Chase enough credit. He was raised by a helluva dad. She wants him to stop her if she’s said this before, but she’s here for him. He says, stop, and she says she’s really lucky to have him in her life. He says, stop, and she says, he’s a great writer. He says, go on, and she says, and he’s a helluva pal. He says, the feeling’s mutual, boss, and she hugs him.

Diane asks, under what circumstances would Robert buy a new car when he told her he was perfectly comfortable with the old one? He said he wasn’t good with change. Robert tells her that he thought about what she said, and she was right. He thought he’d open himself up to new possibilities. She says, out with the old, in with the new, is that it? She’s not sure it’s quite that simple, but enjoy those wheels. He asks if she’d like to come for a spin, and she says she’ll have to check her spin schedule, but she’s sure she can squeeze him in. He says he’s sure her friend Chris… What’s his name? She says, Chris is her name, and Diane is sure she wouldn’t mind. She heads for the door, and Carly says, on that other thing… Diane says, got it, and leaves.

Valentin says, the clock is ticking. He needs Martin to get this done. Martin says, it’s not that simple, but Valentin says, it is simple. He can’t take the next step until Martin gets it done. Will he get it done? Valentin walks out and goes to the table. Anna is there, and she asks, what’s with him and Martin? It seemed a little tense. Is everything okay? He says, yeah. They talked some business, nothing interesting. At least now Martin can take this off as a business expense. He’s here for her. How was her day? She says, kind of like him and Martin. Nothing interesting.

Martin asks what he can get Lucy. Is she hungry? Does she want something to eat? She does love their burgers. She says, nope. She’s not hungry. She doesn’t have an appetite. Too nervous. The hearing is tomorrow, and her entire future is riding on that hearing. This really could be the end of Deception, and the end of her.

Trina asks if Curtis said he’s not coming home, and Portia says, no, but she hasn’t heard from him. She’s worried maybe he has second thoughts about coming back. Trina says she’s sure Curtis just has a lot on his mind, being discharged. She knows he’ll come home. So she better get back to the house and make sure everything is ready. Portia says she doesn’t want Trina to get her hopes up. If Curtis does come back home, things are going to be different. It’s going to be an adjustment for all of them. Portia’s phone rings, and it’s Curtis. He asks how she is, and she says she’s okay. How is he? He says, better than he’s been in the last few weeks. He’s coming home. She says, he has no idea how happy that makes her, and he says, it’s not going to be easy, but they can make it work… together.

Tomorrow, Dr. Montague says he’s going to give Sasha something to take all her pain away; Marshall tells Curtis, there’s trouble at the club; Cyrus says he now has Sonny’s protection too; and Carly tells Michael that she’s going to come up with a way to get Drew out of Pentenville.

↪️ Circling Back…

I totally forgot she’d made an appearance before.

Kassie DePavia Returns to GENERAL HOSPITAL!

🎤 Time For a Chat…

This is a good interview show. August 31st, 3 pm.

Chat Live With Soap Star Wally Kurth!

🗽 Their City Never Sleeps…

This week’s RHONY recap.

RHONY Recap: Erin Confronts Brynn Over Divorce Comment to Abe and Tells Sai She’s Bad-Mannered for Leaving Party, Plus Jenna’s Real Name is Judith

🛟 Sinking Ship…

This guy seems like a total creeper. And I’m wondering what production meant by, they dealt with it. Did they pat her on the head and send her back to work?

Below Deck Sailing Yacht’s Gary King Denies Sexual Assault Allegation, Claims Makeup Artist is “Lying” in Deleted Instagram Comments, See His Posts

🌳 New To Me…

Apparently, this show has been on Netflix for a while, but it only recently caught my eye. I love an apocalyptic drama. While slow moving at times, I was in it for the long haul and found the payoff gratifying.

https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-netflix-original-3/

🐕 But Is He Single…?

Only the hardest of hearts could have abandoned this little nugget. And only the best dude in the world made him an immediate BFF.

https://nypost.com/video/magical-moment-abandoned-chihuahua-finds-a-new-owner/

👟 Talk To the Foot…

Come set a spell tomorrow for soap and tea without sympathy. Until then, stay safe, stay never counting your chickens before they’re hatched, and stay not complaining if there’s no beluga on the menu.

Aug23

August 22, 2023 –It’s Time For the Big Finale, A Notion, Back When, New Charm, Party In the City, Jersey Share, The Hills Are Alive, Ultimate Standout, Tastes Just Like Chicken & Bad

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Anna thanks Dante for meeting her at the station so they could talk alone, without Valentin. She asks him to show her what he has and asks if Valentin was at ELQ the night of the fire, but Dante says, he wasn’t. He says he’ll show her everything, but wants her to promise she’ll get a bodyguard. She says she’s not going to do that. She’s not allowing him to take away the one thing she has left, her privacy.

Finn heads into a meeting, and flashes back to Gregory revealing he has ALS.

Alexis comes out of the hospital elevator when her phone rings. She tells Esme that she’s headed to a meeting. What’s wrong?

Drew waits in the visitor’s room and flashes back to Cyrus saying, Drew needs some kind of family to survive behind these walls. If Drew won’t join his flock, he strongly suggests Drew find another.

Nina thanks Martin for meeting her in some obscure place outside, and he asks why they’re here. She says she didn’t want to chance someone seeing them. He asks what he can do for her, and she asks if he’s still getting pressure from the FBI and SEC to reveal the source of the insider trading tip against Carly and Drew. He asks if she means pressure to tell them it was her.

On the phone at Kelly’s, Carly tells Katrina, it’s not her fault. It’s okay. She has an appointment, but she’ll leave when Katrina gets here. Be safe. Willow walks in, and Carly gives her a hug, saying, she’s happy to see her. She’s sorry it’s been so long. Willow says, Carly never has to apologize to her after everything she’s done for them, and Carly asks if Michael and the kids are with her. Willow says, Michael is working and Olivia agreed to watch the kids. She’s on her own. Carly asks how that feels, and Willow says, good. It’s something she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to do again. Michael told her that Carly took over Kelly’s. Look what she’s done to this place. Carly says she just wanted to spruce it up a little, and Willow says, she sure did that. As I try to figure out just what she did, Carly says, it’s good to see Willow and asks what she can do for her. Willow says she’s there to see if there’s anything she can do to help Carly.

Dex listens outside Austin’s office door, as Austin tells Ava she has nothing to worry about. Ava says she is worried. She just needs to know exactly what’s going on. She’s got this con artist Betty who’s pretending to be a nanny spending time with her daughter. She’s already super worried about going to jail. Austin says, for killing Nikolas? He promises she’s not going to jail for killing Nikolas. Everything is under control. She asks, how exactly is everything under control?

Still on the phone, Alexis says, it’s working?… Good. All’s well. She’ll see Esme later. She heads for the meeting.

Meeting leader Dana asks, who would like to share first? and Finn raises his hand. He says he’s Hamilton and he’s an addict. He wants to thank Dana for her powerful message. The idea of navigating life’s challenges while dealing with addiction really resonates with him right now. He recently had some bad news about someone he loves very much. This person has been suffering and he had no idea. Had he known, he feels maybe he could have helped them, but he guesses he was so caught up in his own life. Alexis slips in, and Finn says, the fact he couldn’t help them because he didn’t know they needed help has left him feeling a little resentful. He has this good friend and she knew the truth, and she chose to keep it to herself.

Nina tells Martin, this is important to her. That’s why she was anxious to set up this meeting. He says he knows. He’s sorry. His brother Cyrus had a heart attack and he had to take care of some business for him, and it’s not like the situation is all that urgent. She says, maybe that’s him, but she needs to know if the SEC is going to be knocking on her door. He says he told her; it’s under control. Drew Cain took a plea deal. There will not be a trial, therefore, she won’t be pressured to testify. She can relax. She says, it’s really done? and he says, yes. There’s no reason Willow or Sonny should ever find out she turned in Drew and Carly.

Carly tells the kitchen, the ELQ order is almost ready. Let her know when the wings are done. Willow says she doesn’t want to take up Carly’s time. If she needs to work, that’s totally fine. Carly says, the lunch rush is over. She just has to wait for Katrina to get here, so she can go visit Drew. Willow says, she’s going to visit Drew? That’s great. Carly says, it will be great, now that he’s out of solitary confinement, and Willow asks why Drew was in solitary.

Dante says he feels that privacy should be the least of Anna’s concerns right now, and she says, don’t make her regret sharing information with him. He says he doesn’t want her to regret anything. He wants her to be safe. It’s his job to keep her safe. He cares about her. She says, if they wanted her dead, she’d be dead, and he asks what she thinks that shot was at the MetroCourt pool? Just a friendly message? One that put Curtis in a wheelchair? She has no idea whether they thought she was in that house or not. She says, if they were watching her, she’d be dead already. They would have gotten her on her run. He says, that’s another thing he doesn’t think she should be doing at that hour of the night on her own, and she says, for God’s sake, it had been a long day. She already told him that setting a fire is too clumsy. You can’t guarantee you will get your mark. But what you can do is destroy a person’s life. They can take everything away from her – her reputation, her memories, literally her home – because she believes someone is out to leave her with absolutely nothing.

Austin tells Ava, Betty collected some very valuable information on Sonny, and last night, she passed it on to Mason. She says, so his crazy cousin got what he wanted, and he says, yes. He’ll deliver the data and they’ll get on with their lives and find Nikolas’s body. She says she’ll believe it when she sees it, and he tells her, believe it. It’s going to happen. This whole nightmare will soon be over. His desk phone rings, and he says he knows. He’s sorry. Something important came up. He’s on his way. He tells Ava that he’s got to go. He promises he’ll let her know the minute he hears from Mason. Dex scoots around the corner, and they come out. She says if she doesn’t hear from him… but Austin says, she will, and they leave, as Dex – the least stealthy spy in the world – watches.

Austin says hi to Jake and Wyatt (who has had quite a growth spurt), and says he hasn’t seen them since last summer. What’s going on? Elizabeth says, they had a little laser flip incident, and Austin says, that’s not good. He suggests they go into an exam room and get a closer look. They leave and Dex follows. Honestly, worst spy ever.

Dr. Bronson introduces Gregory to TJ, and says, he’s doing a neurology rotation. TJ is going to be shadowing him with Gregory’s permission. Gregory says, absolutely. They’ve met before, and he’s heard great things about TJ from his son Finn. TJ says, it’s great to see him again, and Bronson says, TJ is going to stay for Gregory’s examination and consultation. Gregory says, of course (🍷). Having two good doctors in his corner… He knows he’ll be needing all the help he can get. Bronson tells TJ that it’s been six months since Gregory’s initial diagnosis. He went to the Mayo Clinic and they did extensive tests. Gregory says, unfortunately, there’s no doubt he has ALS, and he understands he’s in for the fight of his life. Bronson says, Gregory told him on the phone that he had another episode, and Gregory says he agreed to babysit for his granddaughter Violet and took a fall. Bronson says he’s sorry, and Gregory says, fortunately, she wasn’t in the room, but that look on her face when she found him… Bronson suggests they get started with the exam.

Finn says he knows in times of crisis there’s a possibility of using again, but he doesn’t think that’s going to help. He has someone who needs him. They need him now more than ever, and he just wants to focus on being there for them. It’s funny the things that come flooding back to you though. They didn’t want to burden him with their problem, but they were reaching out, wanting to spend more time together. He would have if he would have known. Alexis sits down, and Finn says he understands why his friend didn’t tell him what she knew. He wishes she would have. Then he would have had more time. Time is so important; time is everything. He just wants to spend every minute he can taking care of this person for as long as he can… He wants to thank them all for listening. They applaud.

In the bathroom, Cyrus looks in the mirror, and says, we know the importance of cleanliness, don’t we, God? Thank You for granting me another beautiful day. He dries his face.

Carly tells Willow that she doesn’t know the details of why Drew was in solitary confinement, but she’s hoping to find that out when she sees him. Willow says, please give him her love. She wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t risked his life in Greenland to get Liesl Obrecht back for the transplant. (Hey, where is Liesl these days?) Carly says, he’s such a good guy, and he’s helped so many people, and Willow says, it’s so unfair Drew is stuck in prison because someone was spiteful enough to turn them in. Is Carly still convinced Ned was the one who turned them in? Nina walks in and says hi to Willow and Carly. She says, the place looks really nice. The improvements Carly made look great. As I still ponder what those might be, Carly thanks her and sees Katrina. She says she has to go, and jets. Nina says she didn’t mean to drive Carly out, but Willow says, don’t worry. She didn’t.

Dante tells Anna that he’s sorry. He didn’t mean to come at her like that. He knows it’s not easy. She says, that’s all right. She’s lucky to have a friend like him. Everyone’s been very supportive. He says, but she lost her house. It’s awful and it’s got to hurt. She says, what hurts is Curtis in a wheelchair because of her, and he says, she has to stop blaming herself for that, but she says she doesn’t. It doesn’t compare really. She’s not hurt and she has resources. Insurance is taking care of the fire. He asks how Valentin is doing, and she says, he’s very supportive of her. Dante says, he showed up to be by her side the morning after the fire? and she nods, saying, and since. He says, Valentin lied to her about working for Pikeman, but she says, Valentin didn’t lie to her. Dante says, he was dishonest, withheld the truth. Why did he tell her then? Did it come out of nowhere? She says she was putting together the pieces and he came home, and he says, Valentin realized she knew and had no choice but to come clean. They don’t have to call it a lie if she doesn’t want to, but they both know Valentin lied to her about where he was the night of the fire. She says she wants to see this proof he has.

Anna looks at Dante’s laptop, and he says, she can see Valentin’s car never showed up that night at the ELQ garage. His car wasn’t even in the area that night. Dante checked the surrounding areas and there was no sign of it at all. Also, there was no water main break; he confirmed that as well. So Valentin was in fact lying to her. She says, all right. She’ll take that into consideration. He hopes she also takes into consideration that Valentin lied to her on that specific night. She says, just because he didn’t tell her where he was doesn’t make him the arsonist, and Dante tells her, he’s not saying Valentin was, but she can’t rule him out as a person of interest. She says, that is ridiculous, and he says, is it though? Valentin finds out everything Anna knows and has to tell her that he worked for Pikeman. Anna calls Dante and he comes to the house. Maybe Valentin sees that all happen. She says, any number of people could have seen that happen, and he says, but she told him, whoever did this wants to take everything away from her. Who has motive to leave her with nothing? She says, what? and he says, could Valentin want her totally dependent on him? She says, Valentin loves her. That, she’s certain of.

Wyatt says, told Jake it wasn’t broken, but Austin says, it’s a pretty bad sprain. Jake was right to bring him. Jake says, see? and Austin says, here’s what we’re going to do. Heat, ice, alternate, and try not to move it at all for a couple of days. Wyatt asks if there isn’t some way he could heal it faster. He’s supposed to play cello in their band concert day after tomorrow. Austin asks if that’s his bow hand, and Wyatt says, yes. Austin says, that’s not going to happen, and Jake says he’s sorry; this is all his fault. He shouldn’t have talked Wyatt into going to the skate park. He messed everything up for him. Wyatt says, Jake didn’t make him do the laser flip. He even tried to talk him out of doing it again. Jake says, it was really cool though. He’s only seen one other person do it. Wyatt says, at least he did it once, and Elizabeth says, and he’ll do it again. In the hallway, Dex steps away from the door, saying, this is it. He sends a text to Gabe: All set?

Dana says, that’s all the time they have for sharing today. Could Finn lead them in the Serenity Prayer? Finn says, yes, and everyone gets up, joining hands. Finn and Alexis exchange a look, and Finn says, God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Everyone applauds, and Dana thanks Finn. She says, good luck. See you next week? He says, see you next week, and everyone leaves. He starts putting the chairs away, and Alexis asks if she can help him. He says he’s guessing she heard his share, and she says, loud and clear.

Gregory holds his palm against TJ’s, and Bronson says he wants Gregory to put on as much pressure as he can… That’s good. They’ll run more extensive diagnostic tests next week. For now, he wants to get Gregory fitted for leg braces and hand and wrist splints. He should wear them at home. Try to wear them when he sleeps to help his extremities remain stretched and in a good position. Gregory asks if he needs a cane, and Bronson says, does he? Gregory says he doesn’t think so, and Bronson says, then it’s good for now. Aside from the episodes Gregory described, he seems to be ambulatory without it. Gregory says, when the time comes, he’d prefer a cane to a wheelchair, and Bronson says he’s sure a wheelchair won’t be necessary right now, but considering the episodes he’s had, Gregory definitely shouldn’t drive. Does he need someone to drive him home? Gregory says, no. He took a car service here. After what happened with his granddaughter, he doesn’t want to put anyone else at risk. He won’t be driving anymore.

Cyrus slathers on shaving cream, and I wonder what he’s going to shave with. Oh okay. I guess Bic’s are all right to have in prison.

Nina asks if Willow is sure Carly lighting out of here didn’t have a little something to do with her, but Willow says, no. She was late for her visit with Drew in Pentenville. Nina asks how he’s doing, and Willow says she’s sure it’s miserable, but he’s such an amazing guy, always positive. She doesn’t know how he’s doing it. Nina says she’ll always be grateful to him for helping save Willow’s life, and Willow says, so will she. She’s grateful that, even in Pentenville, Drew knows he has Carly’s love and support. He’ll make it through this. Nina says, of course (🍷) he will, and Willow says, it’s an outrage that Drew was even sent to Pentenville in the first place.

Nina tells Drew that she’s sorry she’s late. Katrina’s car broke down, and she had to cover at Kelly’s until Katrina could get there. Drew says, she’s here. That’s all that matters. He loves her. She says she loves him too.

Alexis says she knows Finn’s very angry at her for not telling him, and she doesn’t blame him. He has no idea how much she wanted to tell him. She just couldn’t because Gregory was adamant about her not doing it. Finn says he understands the position Gregory put her in. He probably wouldn’t have told Finn if he hadn’t collapsed in front of Violet. Alexis says, oh, and he says, she’s okay. He can’t believe he was so caught up in his own life, he didn’t see the signs. She says, he was very good at covering them up, and Finn says, she was very good at honoring his wishes. Too good. She says she’s sorry, and he says he knows she is. He understands. He’s is a very private and persuasive man. To see him accept this… She says, his dad is very brave, and he says he knows. His dad was so excited about this trip he wanted to take. He wanted all of them to go on this trip, and Finn put him off. He could have made it work, but he didn’t. He got so caught up in everything Violet was going through, but he could have made it work. Alexis says, doesn’t Finn understand? What Gregory wanted was for them to lead a normal life, so he could watch Finn, Violet, and Chase being productive and happy. He doesn’t want them to zero in and focus on his illness. That is not how he wants to spend the rest of the time he has left. Finn says, the time he stole from him.

Gregory comes out of the elevator as Dana goes by in her wheelchair, telling a woman, just focus on today. That’s all any of them can do.

Elizabeth tells Wyatt to give his arm a rest for a few days. It was great seeing him. Wyatt says, her too, and she goes back to work. Jake says he thought Wyatt would be more mad that he couldn’t play in his concert, but Wyatt says he’s going to play. He just won’t tell anyone he fell. Gregory comes by and says he hasn’t seen Wyatt since their camping trip last summer. It looks like he had a little accident.

Anna says she didn’t realize Dante disliked Valentin quite so much, but Dante says he’s just doing his job. She says, it’s not about his job, and he says, she’s right. It’s about more than that. It’s about Charlotte. She’s staying with them right now. Lulu’s daughter. Valentin’s her dad. They love her, she loves him. He guesses what he’s saying is that Anna isn’t the only one who thinks Valentin’s changed. She says, he has changed, and Dante asks her to put herself in his shoes right now. With the facts and logic laid out as they are, is she telling him that even for a second, she wouldn’t entertain Valentin as a suspect? She says, he wouldn’t do that, but Dante says, he would. She can’t just ignore the man’s past. He’s manipulative. Anna says, wow, and Dante says, she knows it; he’s always been that way. He’s sorry. Maybe she got close to some truth. Maybe Valentin needs her totally and completely dependent on him for some reason, but can she look at him and tell him that she thinks there’s no way he could have done something like this? She says, whatever he’s lying about, it’s not that he burned down their home, and he says, her home. Why did he lie to her? She says she thinks it has something to do with Pikeman.

Cyrus dries his now clean-shaven face, and looks at least ten years younger. I’m thinking how cool his hair looks down, when he takes a shiv out of his sock and begins to cut it. Why, Cyrus? Why? Speaking of his age, since they’ve been calling him an old guy, I looked it up and he’s going to be 70. Like I always say, there’s 70 and there’s 70. For an old guy, he’s looking fit.

Mason goes into Austin’s office, and Austin asks what he’s doing here. Mason says, stay cool. It’s almost showtime. Austin asks why he’d care, and Mason says, because he has the starring role. Austin says he doesn’t; he’s already played his part. Mason says, no. It’s time for the big finale. Austin gets to deliver the flashdrive to the big boss. Austin says, no he doesn’t. He’s got appointments lined up all afternoon. Mason says, there are other doctors, when there’s a knock at the door and TJ walks in. He says, sorry. He didn’t realize he was interrupting. Austin says, he wasn’t, and Mason says he’s not a patient. He’s Austin’s cousin. They were just catching up. He introduces himself and shakes TJ’s hand. TJ says, it’s nice to meet him, and Austin says, here’s the chart, handing TJ a folder. He’s sorry he didn’t get it to TJ earlier. TJ says, not a problem, and takes the folder from Austin. He goes to the door, and stops. He asks if he and Mason have met somewhere before.

Carly says she’s just trying to understand why Drew chose to protect Cyrus Renault, and he says, some guys were coming at Cyrus. He stepped in, they fought, he got solitary. It’s as simple as that. She says, it’s not that simple, and he asks if they can drop this, but she says, no. Drew was in Port Charles when Cyrus got out of prison, and he was threatening everyone. She just doesn’t understand why he had to intervene. Why couldn’t he just walk away?

Nina says, it seems wrong that Drew was sent to Pentenville for what he did, and Willow says, he’s been so good to them, and supportive in every way. He was supposed to walk her down the aisle when she and Michael got married. She can talk to him about anything. He would listen and give her the best advice, and he never had an agenda. Nina says, and she always does. She’s sorry. Sometimes she just pushes too hard, doesn’t she? Willow says, yes, she does. But in all fairness, Drew isn’t her father and doesn’t feel like he has anything to make up for. So her guard isn’t up when she’s around him. Nina says, like it is with her, but she would like to change that, and Willow says, Nina’s marrying Sonny. Nina’s going to be a part of her life. They’re going to be seeing a lot of each other, whether they like it or not. Nina says, that’s one way to look at it, and Willow says she doesn’t want things to be so strained between them. Nina says, her neither, and Willow says, they have to find their way to some kind of relationship. Nina agrees, and Willow says, no matter what, those things take time. Ava comes in, and Willow says she’s got to get home to Wiley. Nina says, right, and Willow says, goodbye. She leaves, and Ava says, progress? Nina says she thinks maybe so.

Drew tells Carly, the guy that came for Cyrus was way younger than him. Cyrus isn’t exactly in his prime, and Drew just doesn’t have it in him to turn a blind eye to someone like that. He’s sorry, but he guesses it’s just a character flaw. She says, it is, but it’s one of the many things she loves about him. If he was the kind of guy who could watch an old man get beat up and not do anything, and just walk away, he wouldn’t be the man she loves. He says, it was kind of crazy. Cyrus was the one person he was trying to stay as far away from as possible, and now they’re bonded for life. She asks what he means, bonded for life? All he did was stop the fight. He says, after the fight, Cyrus had a heart attack and he gave Cyrus CPR. He saved Cyrus’s life.

All Cyrus’s hair lies next to the sink, and he tosses down the shiv. He pulls on his shirt, and runs his hands through his now much shorter hair, another ten years off him. He looks in the mirror and says, You work in mysterious ways – he looks up – very mysterious ways. And he’s grateful.

Mason says he doesn’t believe he and TJ have met. Then again, people are always saying he reminds them of someone. Sometimes even Vin Diesel – the lack of hair and the voice. He rubs his head and smiles. TJ says, no. He thinks they did meet before. He just can’t remember where. Mason says he really hasn’t spent that much time in Port Charles, but who knows? Austin looks grim, and TJ says, maybe he’ll figure it out. He thanks Austin for the file, and leaves. In the hallway, TJ ponders Mason, and in the office, Austin says, so Mason has met Dr. Ashford? Mason says, they may have crossed paths.

Dante says, Anna thinks Valentin is lying to her about Pikeman? She says, when Dante called her last night, when he told her that he had evidence Valentin wasn’t at ELQ the night of the fire, Valentin was in the shower. He’d just received some papers. It kind of looked like a contract, maybe a consultancy project or something. They had the Pikeman logo on them. Dante asks if she thinks he could be working for Pikeman again, but she says she doesn’t know. He says, Valentin told her that he wasn’t working for Pikeman anymore and he gets papers with the Pikeman logo on it. Could Pikeman have been behind the shooting at the MetroCourt pool? She says, they don’t know that, and he says, maybe they weren’t after her. Maybe they were after Sonny and they hired Valentin to set him up.

Alexis asks Finn to please stop being so hard on himself. His father has gotten past all of that. He says, how? He was estranged from his father for years. He looks at his daughter Violet now, and he gets to watch her grow up. And he can’t imagine, not for a moment, her not being in his life. She says, there is no value in dwelling on the past; there just isn’t. They just learned this, right here, right now. All we have is today. He says he doesn’t plan on wasting a minute of it, and she hugs him.

Alexis and Finn get out of the elevator, and both of their phones ding. Alexis says, who would have guessed they were so popular? and Finn says, back to the real world. She says she’s sorry she wasn’t able to tell him about his dad’s condition, but she’s glad he knows, and he says he’s not looking forward to helping him tell Chase. She says she hopes he tells Chase sooner than later, so Chase doesn’t resent Finn, like Finn might resent… He says he doesn’t resent her at all. He’s lucky to have her as a friend. If his dad had to tell someone about his condition other than him, he’s glad it was her. She thanks him, and he says he just wishes his dad weren’t so damn stubborn. She says, pot, kettle, and her phone rings. She tells him that she’s got to take this. It might be some kind of office crisis. It was nice while it lasted. She leaves, and he goes over to Elizabeth at the reception desk. Wyatt says, if he hadn’t tried that laser flip again, he wouldn’t have hurt his arm, and he’d be fine. Finn and Elizabeth watch Wyatt talking to Gregory, and Wyatt says he can’t let the band down. Gregory says, but the doctor told him to let his arm rest for a couple of days, so he won’t be able to practice at all, will he? Wyatt says, no, and Gregory says, if he does try to play, does he really think he’ll be able to do his best? Wyatt says, no, and Gregory says, sometimes you have to be honest with yourself about what your body can and can’t do. If he shows up and tries to play and can’t do his best, then he’d be letting everyone down. Wyatt says he never thought about it like that, and Gregory says, admitting he’s injured, even though he really wants to play, is probably the most honorable and generous thing to do in the long run. Wyatt says, Gregory is right, but he still hates it, and Gregory says he knows exactly how Wyatt feels. Wyatt thanks him, and he and Jake leave. Gregory looks at Finn and smiles.

Anna says, Valentin would never set up Sonny, and Dante says, never? She says, no… Unless he was being blackmailed. Dante says, maybe Pikeman has something on him from when he worked for them. She says, right. They could use it against him. Dante says, right, or… She says, what? and he says, she knows how much Valentin loves Charlotte. He’d do anything for his daughter. She says, what if Pikeman were threatening her? and he says, it’s a theory. It’s not going to be easy to prove. She says she just wants to prove this theory is wrong and that Valentin is clean. He says, they’d better both get digging, and she says, they need to find out what the truth is, no matter where it leads them, and she leaves.

Ava says she wanted to talk to Carly about Avery. Has Nina seen her? Nina says, she went to visit Drew. How is Ava? Ava says she’s better she thinks, and Nina says, nice to hear. One question. Are she and Sonny going to get rid of that new nanny of Avery’s? Because every time Nina sees her, she’s kind of like a… Ava says, she’s a bitch, right? Hopefully, she won’t be around too much longer. Nina says, good. One less thing to worry about with their wedding coming up and… Ava lowers her voice and says, and Drew in prison because Nina sent him there. Nina asks if she has to say that out loud. She was surprised they sent him to a place like Pentenville. Ava says, just keep hoping Sonny and Carly never find out, and Nina says, they won’t. Ava says, she seems pretty sure of herself, and Nina says she is. As long as her beautiful, intelligent friend stays quiet, the SEC is going to drop it. And no one will ever know she’s the one – she whispers – who turned in Carly and Drew.

Drew says he stayed with Cyrus until the prison doctor got there, and Carly says, so everybody in this prison knows he defended Cyrus and saved his life? He says, word travels pretty fast around here, and she says, the word is going to be, he’s Cyrus’s ally. Does that mean Cyrus’s enemies are going to target Drew? They see a guard walking through with Austin, and Carly says, what’s he doing here?

Mason paces around somewhere where there are a lot of pipes, and sees someone approach. He thanks them so much for taking the time. He really appreciates them meeting him.

The guard tells Austin, here’s his patient, and Cyrus stands up.

Tomorrow, Austin says he’s more than paid off his debt and he wants out; Gladys asks what Dr. Montague has done to her daughter-in-law; Dex has a message for someone; and Carly asks if that doesn’t put Drew in more danger.

💭 Thought: My mind goes to Cyrus being the big boss, but then some of the rest of it doesn’t make sense, like, why give away all his money? He’s also not related to Austin as far as I can figure. I suppose he could be running Pikeman, since it’s kind of like a mob organization, but again, there’s a disconnect.

🏥 His Struggle Was Real…

He’s kind of a whiner. I love how Maurice Benard is like, maybe it was you.

Sean Kanan Opens up About His Struggles Playing A.J. on GH

🍹 See Them In September…

Go back to the South on September 14th, 9 pm.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1382295/southern-charm-everything-to-know-so-far-about-season-9

https://people.com/southern-charm-season-9-trailer-exclusive-7568910

🗽 Their State Of Mind…

This week’s RHONY. I’ve been watching this peripherally, and a high point in this episode was Jessel and husband Pavit checking out $62K preschools for their toddlers. She nearly wrote that their kids were socially inept on the application because she didn’t know what the word inept meant. Pavit wasn’t sure either, but points for the good sense to look it up. People like that shouldn’t have $62K to throw away. Once again proof that the wrong people have all the money.

RHONY Recap: Brynn Flirts With Abe at His Wedding Anniversary Party With Erin and Sai Leaves Event for Lack of Food, Plus Meredith Marks & Brooks Make Their Debut

👠 Good Time Had By All… Almost…

I can’t wait until Teresa finally goes off the deep end and causes a lawsuit for Bravo. I’ll also settle for her dumping that jerk Luis.

PHOTOS: RHONJ Cast Films First Group Event for Season 14 at Jenn Fessler’s Birthday, See Who’s Returning as Sources Share What Went Down

💎 Dirt On the Diamond…

Garcelle’s speaks her truth.

Garcelle Beauvais Talks Kyle Having Most to Answer to at RHOBH Reunion, If She’ll Attend Erika’s Show, and Where she Stands With Crystal, Plus If She’ll Reconcile With Rinna

🐣 Ultimate Break-Out Star…

While this aired on Peacock a while ago, I’m just catching it on Bravo now, even if half-heartedly. This guy was definitely a standout, as the ultimate concierge and Housewives peacemaker.

Fans Think RHUGT Breakout Star Was Disrespected by Cast Member

🐕 Sounds About Right…

It was a Golden Retriever. What did they expect? I had one named Einstein. It was a false prophecy. He would watch a frisbee as it bounced off his head, and when a blimp came by once, he was mesmerized by it and wagged his tail like maybe his people were coming for him. He was also literally afraid of his own shadow. Nevertheless, he was much loved.

https://people.com/mass-couple-italy-wedding-jeopardy-pet-dog-eats-passport-7693351

🌊 Going Against the Flow…

Join me tomorrow for soap and the rotten oranges from the OC. Until then, stay safe, stay leaving a tip for Pete’s sake – you are not helping the waitstaff to a better hourly wage; you’re a cheapskate – and stay not dwelling on the past. There’s no value in it; there just isn’t.

Aug19

August 18, 2023 – Anna Discovers the Truth, PS, Back Again, Drama Chat, Ultimate Legacy, Sharing, VanderMash, The Con, From Dead To Flowers, Tasty, Unusually Cute, An Eighter Of Quotes & Never Gonna

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Sonny shows up at his old Carly’s place late at night, and she says, please tell her everyone’s okay. He says, everyone is okay, and she tells him that Donna’s been asleep for a while. He says he figured, and she says, yet here he is. He must want a favor.

Tracy sits in the nook with her head on the table and a towel over it. Eddie/Ned puts on the light, and she groans and says, whoever you are, go away. She pulls the towel off her head and ha-ha-ha! It’s Tracy with a hangover looking more disheveled than we’ve ever seen her.

Kristina says she was under the impression that things were good between her and Molly, and Molly says, they were… They are. Kristina says, but not good enough for Molly to invite her to a family gathering, but Molly says, it wasn’t a family gathering. Kristina says, except for one sister it was, and Molly says, it’s getting late and TJ’s going to be getting back… Kristina says, TJ is the one who told her about Kristina’s sushi party; the one she had for their mother, their sister, and her mother-in-law. She guesses her invitation got lost in the mail.

Getting ready for bed, Dante says his terrible day is over, and Sam says, he wouldn’t believe what happened to her tonight. He says, try him, when his phone rings. He says, Detective Falconari… You checked the surrounding areas too?… So Valentin Cassadine’s car never entered the ELQ parking garage the night Anna Devane’s townhouse burned down… Okay. He hangs up and says, why are you lying to Anna?

Anna and Valentin go into a room at the MetroCourt, and he says, it’s a lot nicer than the place she stayed last night. The MetroCourt was booked, but it’s available now. She can have it as long as she wants to. She says she guesses this is home, but he says, it’s not home; it’s just temporary. As far as hotels go, it’s pretty comfortable. She’s always liked staying in hotels. She says, but she had a home to come back to and now she doesn’t.

Gregory tries to sweep the beads from the table into his hand, but some of them end up on the floor. Finn comes in and says he’ll get that. He picks up the beads and sits next to Gregory on the couch. He asks if Gregory is okay, and Gregory says, he’s fine. He’s just tired… and clumsy. Finn asks if that’s why he fell, or is it something else? After a pause, Gregory says, it’s something else… something awful, and Finn asks if he’s sick. Gregory nods, and Finn asks if he’s been diagnosed. Gregory says, yes, and Finn says, maybe he can help. Will Gregory tell him what it is? Gregory says, ALS.

Eddie/Ned says, good evening, and Tracy says, it would have to be him. He says he never took her for someone who was a hard partier, and she holds up her hand, saying, stop talking and just leave. She reaches for a bottle of aspirin and knocks it on the floor. She groans and puts her head in her hands. Ned picks it up and says, she’s drunk as a skunk, but she says, no. She’s not drunk. She just wishes the room would stop spinning.

Anna looks through some shopping bags and tells Valentin that she doesn’t even know what she bought. What’s wrong with her? He says, her house burned down, and she says she’s been through worse. He says, that’s true, and she says she wasn’t in any danger. She was out running. Thank God Charlotte wasn’t there. She was with Dante and Sam, and Valentin was at ELQ. She needs to get it into her head that she has a lot to be thankful for, and she needs to just move on. They sit down, and Valentin says, she’s not a machine. She lost her house. It was a violation, and they can be thankful no one was killed, but she doesn’t have to pretend it doesn’t hurt. She says, it really does, and he says he’s with her. She’s going to get through this. They’re going to get through this together, and they’ll find who did this to her and stop them from doing it again. Does she trust him?

Carly says, if this is about Avery having another sleepover, she’s welcome here anytime, but Sonny says, the Avery situation is under control. Carly says she’s glad to hear that. Ava must be relieved. She was really worried about… something. He says he’s not here for a favor. Actually, he’s in a position to do her a favor. She says, no thank you.

Sam wonders what’s up, but Dante says, it’s nothing that can’t wait. But there is something that can’t wait. Sam asks, what? and he says, this, and kisses her. No matter what kind of day he has, he knows when he gets to see her, everything’s going to be okay. She says, he stole her line, and he says, it’s his line because he just said it. She tells him that she was going to say, when she has a day where she thinks she won’t be able to sleep at night, she thinks about coming in here and getting into bed with him and turning out the lights, and everything else just melts away. They kiss, and he says, maybe the should talk a little bit before they turn out the lights. Her first. She says, he can go first, but he says, she knows how rock-paper-scissors work. She says, since she was twelve, and they play. She picks rock and he picks scissors, and rock beats scissors. She says, her crazy day. Where does she start? Molly and Kristina are headed for World War III.

Molly says, this is so typical, and Kristina says, Molly not inviting her to something? She agrees. Molly says, no. Kristina’s reaction. Is she not allowed to have a dinner party and invite who she wants? Kristina says, Molly invited everyone in the family but her, and Molly says, fine, she’ll say it; Kristina wasn’t invited. But despite what Kristina always thinks, it wasn’t about her. It was about Molly and TJ. She wanted to share the good news with mom and Sam and Jordan that they found a surrogate.

Finn says, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and Gregory says, yeah. Finn says, there are other conditions that have the same early symptoms. Is he certain? Gregory says, yes. When he told Finn he was going to Milwaukee for a seminar, he was actually in Rochester at the Mayo Clinic. They did extensive testing and the results were conclusive. Finn says, that trip was over six months ago. He’s known all this time? Gregory says he’s sorry. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Finn. Finn asks, why not?

Anna comes out from her shower, and sees Valentin pouring some wine. She says, he read her mind, and he asks what they’re going to toast to, handing her a glass. She says she has no idea, and he says, then to us. To our future together, which can only get less complicated and less dangerous. She says she’d like to believe that, and they clink glasses. He says, she may not believe it now, but they have a lot to be grateful for, and she promises not to keep wallowing in self-pity. He says, it’s not self-pity. She’s been traumatized and she’s dealing with some very powerful emotions. She’ll work through them. She says, and they’re going to find out who’s behind this, and he says, yes, but in the meantime, he has something to talk to her about. It’s something important. He’s going to buy season tickets to the ballet in New York. Charlotte still loves dance, and he knows she does too, so why doesn’t he buy three tickets? She can join them. She says her house just burned to the ground, and someone is trying to kill her, and he’s talking about Swan Lake. He says he can’t think of anything he’d rather do than spend time with the two women he loves most in this world. And he likes Swan Lake. She says she likes it too, and he’s about to kiss her, when there’s a knock at the door. Anna wonders who it is, and he opens it to Martin. Anna says, it’s a bit late for a business call, and Valentin says, whatever this is, he’ll deal with it quickly. He goes out into the hall with Martin and closes the door.

Tracy tosses a couple of pills in her mouth and drinks some water. Ned says, Leo told him that a guy like him needs 15½ cups of water a day, and she says, Leo’s a very smart kid. She can’t tell him how grateful she is Leo’s not here now. She holds her head, and Ned says, she doesn’t seem very experienced at this sort of thing. She says, if by that he means she doesn’t look like someone who gets drunk all the time, she didn’t get drunk this time. He says, she didn’t? and she says, no, she did not. Well, she did, but it wasn’t her fault. Somebody insisted on putting too much alcohol in those Mai Tais at the MetroCourt pool… ugh. He asks if some old bartender was trying to loosen her up for her dough, but she says, no. Actually, it was not some old bartender trying to loosen her up; it was Ned’s daughter. Not that he even acknowledges that he has one. She rubs her forehead.

Finn says he doesn’t understand. Gregory didn’t think he could handle it? Gregory says, it wasn’t Finn; it was him. After all these years, they were finally getting to spend time together as a family; Finn, his brother, Violet, and him. It was so special. Finn says, it is, and Gregory says, the big stuff, Christmas and Halloween with Violet; and the little things, him bringing over muffins from Eckert’s or showing Violet videos of Uncle Chase singing. Finn says, it wouldn’t have changed, but Gregory says, of course (🍷) it would. It will. It already has. When he looks at Finn, he can see it in Finn’s eyes, he knows what this disease does. Finn knows he’s dying.

Sonny says, Carly’s not even going to listen to him? and she asks if he can’t listen to her. Did he not hear her down at the police station? He says, that was different. He was there to help Ned and she was there, so he thought he’d help her. She says, he decided she needed help. He didn’t listen to her. He says, and when she turned him down, she spent the night there. She says, and she was fine with that. She can take care of herself. He says he’s sure she can, and she says, it’s taken a while, but they’re both moving on. They respect each other and want each other to be happy. And as he can see, there’s no For Sale sign in the front yard because Kelly’s is doing great. She’s going to take care of herself on her own, so whatever his favor is, no thank you; she doesn’t want it.

Dante asks why Molly didn’t invite Kristina, and Sam says, because she was revealing her big news that she and TJ had found a surrogate who was perfect. She thinks Molly didn’t want to hurt Kristina’s feelings. He says he understands that. It is Molly’s decision. Sam says she understands that too. She also understands Kristina being hurt. She’s sorry. She shouldn’t be going on like this. He asks, why? and she says, because of the situation he and Lulu had with Maxie. He says, that’s okay. It was a long time ago. TJ and Molly have to realize this is a big decision. You can’t take this lightly. She asks if he thinks Molly’s making the right choice by not having Kristina be the surrogate.

Kristina says, that’s great. She hadn’t realized Molly and TJ were even interviewing surrogates yet. Molly says, they wanted to keep it quiet, and Kristina says she gets that. She’s sure mom, Sam, and Jordan were thrilled to hear the news. Molly says, they were very happy for her and TJ. This is what they want. Kristina says she knows, and Molly says, the woman they found is perfect, and she’s willing to go through the process right away. Kristina says, that’s very exciting, and Kristina says, it is. After everything they’ve gone through, there’s still a good chance she and TJ could have a child within the next year. Kristina says she’s happy Molly is so happy, and Molly says she planned on telling her first thing tomorrow. Kristina says, just not tonight with the rest of the family, and Molly says she wanted it to be a happy occasion. She knew mom, Sam, and Jordan would be happy for them. Kristina says, and she wouldn’t? She would have spoiled all that? Molly says she doesn’t know. They’ve been getting along so well, but she didn’t want to take the chance that tonight would turn into a discussion about why they turned to a surrogate instead of Kristina. Kristina says, now that everyone is gone and Molly brought it up, why are they paying a stranger to have their baby when she was willing to do it?

Finn says, six months. They could have done so many things. Gregory says, the last six months have been perfect. What he didn’t want was to be a burden to Finn, or have Finn spend time with him out of some sense of obligation. Finn says, that wouldn’t have happened, but Gregory says, of course (🍷) it would. He knows Finn and Chase. He’s so proud of both of them, and he and Finn finally got the time to know each other. Finn says, that’s meant everything to him. He’s the one who’s sorry. He’s sorry for costing them all that time. Gregory says, there’s no need to rehash that now. Getting to know Finn and getting to understand and appreciate his incredible accomplishments over the years has been so rewarding for him. Finn and his brother make it almost impossible for him not to be one of those obnoxious bragging fathers. Finn says he’s one of those too, when it comes to Violet, and Gregory says, Violet, what a gift she is. Every single moment he spends with his granddaughter is even better than he imagined. Finn says, she pretty much thinks her grandfather’s the greatest guy in the world, and Gregory asks how she’s going to feel when all he can do is sit and stare at her, when he can’t even speak her name?

Ned asks, why would Brook give Tracy too much booze? and Tracy says, Brook’s up to something and she should have known the minute she saw the fire eater. He says, fire eater? and she says, it was a luau, with tiki torches and leis. He says, sounds like fun, and she says, he would think so. She should have gone right back down to the lobby and ordered a car. He says, it sounds like maybe she had a lot of fun. What’s wrong with that? She rubs her temples, and says, that’s all he ever thinks of; having fun and being Eddie Maine. Anything to avoid facing the reality of his life.

Valentin says, Martin understands this is critical, and Martin says he does. Valentin asks if he’d act like it, and Martin says, his fee, as exorbitant as it is, grants him 24-hour access, but doesn’t give him or any other client the right to abuse him. Valentin says, point taken. He has a lot on his mind. Martin says he understands, and yes, it’s hot off the wire. He gives Valentin an envelope, and Valentin checks out some paperwork inside. He says, looks good, and thanks Martin, opening the door. Martin says, he’s welcome. Although why he insisted on doing this tonight instead of first thing tomorrow morning makes no sense to him. Anna hears that part, and Valentin goes inside and sets down the envelope. Anna asks if it’s important, but he says, not really. Why Martin insisted on coming by in the middle of the night makes no sense to him.

Ned says, Tracy wants him to face the reality of his life, which means she wants him to ride around in limousines and pretend to be some hotshot tax dodging executive. She says, it’s a start. Or he could just stop singing on street corners, and running around all night to sleazy bars, and getting arrested for fighting. He asks if it’s embarrassing to her somehow, and she says, it’s embarrassing to the whole family. He says, so it’s best to just shut Eddie up? and she says, he’s not Eddie. He says, and she wants to prove that by having someone strap him to a table and have electricity shot through his head. She says, what? and he says, I’m on to you, lady. He overheard her tell Olivia that she wants him committed.

Carly says she doesn’t know if Sonny knows this, but Drew is in solitary confinement. Sonny says he knows, and Carly says, of course (🍷) he knows; he’s protecting Drew. She’s really worried about him. She knows he went through worse in Crete, but still. Sonny says, he’s been through a lot. He’ll get through this. She asks if Sonny thinks he can get a message to Drew, and he says he might be able to do better than that.

Finn says, Gregory has to give Violet more credit. She constantly surprises him by how much she understands. Gregory says he hopes Finn is right, and Finn asks what the doctors told him in terms of prognosis. Gregory says, luckily, he was still in the first stage when he went to the Mayo Clinic; muscle cramps and occasional difficulty walking. Finn says, and now? and Gregory says, it’s progressed. His hands cramp more frequently than before. Finn asks, what happened tonight? and Gregory says he was trying to help Violet make some bracelets. He could barely hold on to the thread. He doesn’t think she noticed, but then she got up to get some clasps from her bedroom and he tried to stand up to shake out his hands, and that’s when he fell. Thank God she wasn’t here to see it. Finn says, but she came back in, and Gregory says he told her he tripped over the coffee table (he did not; he said it was probably a bead on the floor). She had to watch him struggle to get back up on the couch. He knows he can’t hide his disease any longer, and he’s so ashamed about tonight.

Molly says she’s so glad she didn’t invite Kristina tonight, and Kristina says, she’s made that perfectly clear. Just answer the question. Why would she rather a stranger have her baby as a surrogate, when her own sister offered to do it for her months ago? Molly says, with a surrogate, they sign a legal, binding document, and Kristina says she knows how it works; she rents out her womb and throws in her egg at a discount. Molly says, both sides benefit. She gets money she needs for her family, and they get the child they want. Kristina says, the child they want; there it is. As opposed to the child she’s offering to give them that they clearly do not want. Molly says, the surrogate is performing a service, not racing around town working on some pie-in-the-sky project, and letting everyone know she’s saving her poor sister from her own infertility. Kristina says, if Molly has some stranger as her surrogate, she’s not even going to be related to the baby.

Sam says she’s sorry. She shouldn’t have put Dante on the spot like that. It’s a really confusing situation. He says he gets it, and stop apologizing. They’ll be playing rock-paper-scissors all night long. It’s a personal thing for Molly and TJ, that’s all. He’s sure Kristina had the best of intentions when she offered to be their surrogate. Sam says she understands that, but Kristina and Molly haven’t been close lately. He says he knows she loves her sisters and wants to fix all kinds of things for them, but maybe this one… She says she should let them work it out for themselves. He says, maybe, and she says, he’s right. Now it’s his turn. Spill. He says, it was just kind of a regular weird day, and Cody shows up at the station while Gladys is there, filing a restraining order against Cody on Sasha’s behalf. Cody loses his mind completely in the middle of the squad room, saying, Gladys is the one having Sasha drugged. He lost it. He went crazy, and Dante and Mac had to restrain him. She asks if he had to arrest Cody, but he says, not this time. Those two hate each other. She says, Cody and Gladys? Definitely. He says, and the whole time this is happening, he’s investigating Anna’s townhouse burning down.

Valentin asks if Anna left him some hot water, but she says she feels like the MetroCourt has an unlimited supply. He says, give him five minutes, and goes to the shower. She’s about to look at the envelope, when her phone rings. Dante says, sorry to call so late, but there’s something he thought she should know. He had one of their tech guys look at the ELQ security footage from the night her house burned. Valentin’s car never exited or entered the ELQ parking garage. He had them check the surrounding area to see if the car was parked somewhere else too, but they got nothing. She says she sees, and he says, Valentin told her the reason he went to ELQ was, there was a water main break and he was concerned about the mainframe computer? She says, that’s right, and he says, there was no water main break. She says, thanks for that information, and listens to hear if the shower is still running. She takes the envelope, and looks at the papers inside. It’s an invoice or something with Pikeman’s letterhead.

Tracy says she did ask Olivia to commit Ned, and he says, because he embarrasses her? She says, because this can’t go on. She thought just maybe if he was in a hospital, they could help him stop faking this ridiculous… He says he’s not faking anything. He is Eddie Maine. And by the way, he didn’t ask to be in this house. They all want him here. So he’s trying to make them understand he can’t choose to be who he is. He’s Eddie Maine and there’s nothing he can do about it. She says, okay. He’s Eddie Maine, but she’s Ned Quartermaine’s mother, and she’s never going to stop fighting for her son.

Finn says, Gregory has nothing to be ashamed of, but Gregory says he does. He’s so selfish to put his daughter at risk. Finn says, that’s okay, but Gregory says, no. He shouldn’t have agreed to watch her alone tonight. Somehow, he convinced himself he’d be okay. Finn says, it turned out okay, but Gregory says he had no right to take that risk. The other night, he went to one of those hatchet throwing places and he did it. Maybe it’s human nature, but he thinks he’s been trying to convince himself that he can beat this thing, or at least hold it off, but that’s just denial. He needs to stop that before he puts someone else in danger like he did Violet. Finn says, it’s happening to Gregory and he has to figure it out on his own, and Gregory says he needs to stop driving. He shouldn’t have been driving this long. Finn says, so stop driving. No one’s going to judge him for how he’s handled this so far. No one’s going to judge him. Finn wishes he’d had someone to talk to besides his doctor. Doing this all on his own all this time must have been hell. Gregory says, Alexis knows. She was snooping around and they got in a big argument, and he collapsed. He had to tell her. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Finn. He didn’t want to see the look on Finn’s face that he’s seeing right now.

Carly asks if this is the favor Sonny came over here to talk to her about, and he says, before she turns him down, hear him out. She says she’s listening, and he says, when he got news of Drew’s situation, he did some digging and he has a connection with someone who could arrange for Drew to get out of solitary early. So when he’s released, she’ll be able to go see him. She asks if Drew is going to owe anybody anything, but he says, absolutely not. She asks what it’s costing him, and he says, from the look on her face, it means everything to him. She sits next to him on the sofa and says, Drew’s going to wonder why the sudden change. He says, when she talks to him, just tell him no strings attached. It’s just a gift from him. She says, he knows Sonny is protecting him. She doesn’t know how he’s going to feel about this. Sonny says, it’s not a gift to him; it’s a gift to her. She asks if there are any stipulations for her if she accepts.

Sam comes back in the bedroom and says, it looks like Dante’s rotten day is still with him. He says, it’s just hitting close to home this one, and she says, and he can’t get into specifics. He says he can tell her that Valentin is being dishonest with Anna, and she laughs, saying, when has Valentin ever been honest? He says, she’s right, but it’s weird. Valentin really cared about Anna, and she cares about him. He told her all this pretty surprising stuff, then he lies about where he was the other night. Sam says she’s not that surprised about it. She knows he lives a complicated life. Who knows what he’s got going on? Dante says, he wants to know what Valentin’s got going on because his daughter’s in the room down the hall.

Anna lies awake, but pretends to sleep when Valentin gets into bed. He turns out the light, and she opens her eyes. She says, he lied to her.

Gregory says he understands. Finn’s a doctor; one of the best. He knows all about this hideous disease. Finn knows what it’s going to do to him. Finn says he looks at Gregory now, and he looks fine; he looks good. Gregory says, that’s what’s so hard to grasp. He looks in the mirror, he feels good, but he knows this thing is in there somewhere. Finn says he also sees the man he grew up with. The man who used to toss him so high in the air, and he was never once afraid Gregory wouldn’t catch him. Gregory says he remembers that guy too. As you get older, try to hang on to that self-image as long as you can. The thought that he’ll be less than that for Finn, for Violet… Finn says, never less. He’s still that man, and he will always be that man, no matter what happens. Gregory thanks him for that, and Finn says, he knows what Gregory is facing, so there’s no point in trying to tell him no, because he’ll be by Gregory’s side every step of the way from here on out. Gregory tells him, do what you have to do, but he has one favor to ask, and Finn says, anything. Gregory says, help me tell your brother. Because he’s afraid it’s going to crush Chase. Finn says, it will, and they’ll be there for him. He tells Gregory that he loves him and starts to cry. Gregory says he loves Finn too, and they hug.

Ned asks if loving her son means locking him away somewhere, and Tracy says, stop being so dramatic. If he overheard her saying that, he also overheard Olivia refuse. And she’s his… She has final say. He says, but he’s watched Tracy. She can be very persuasive. What’s to stop her from changing Olivia’s mind about putting him away? She says, answer her something. If he’s so worried about them having him put away, why is he still here? Why isn’t he at Sonny’s? He says, Sonny is a nice enough guy, but too many goombahs around. Tracy says, there it is. She knew it. You are in there, Ned. Somewhere.

Sonny says, there’s no strings attached in there for Carly either, but he’s sure Drew is going to be happy to get out of that little cell. He wants to be clear, this is for her – or not. It’s her decision. She says, he’s unbelievable, and he says, yes. She says, he came to the police station the other night and he was so offended when she said he couldn’t help her. He came up with a favor he knew she couldn’t turn down. He says, maybe he’s just being nice, and she says, yeah, he is, but he still wins. He asks if that’s a yes, and she says, yes, please get Drew out of solitary. He says, all right, and gets up. He’ll let her know when it’s done. He heads for the door, and she says, thank you. He says, you’re welcome, and leaves.

Molly says, that was mean, even for Kristina, and Kristina says, that came out wrong. Molly says she thinks Kristina said exactly what she meant, and Kristina says, fine. If they’re saying what they really mean, why doesn’t Molly say what she really means. She would rather have a baby from a stranger than one from her own sister. Molly says, yes, and it’s true she might not be biologically related to the baby, but TJ will be, and that baby is going to be created for them as a result of their love for each other. Kristina says, if she had the baby for Molly… Molly says, if she did, it would be a gift for my sister, and no one would ever be allowed to forget it. Kristina says, wow. She guesses she never realized how selfish and insecure Molly is. She leaves.

Sam says, Charlotte is Rocco’s sister, so she and Dante need to find a way to get along with Valentin. Dante says he knows, and he’s glad she’s here with them, especially with a threat to Anna. She says, burning down someone’s house is definitely a threat. Any theory on why Valentin would lie to Anna? He says, not yet. He never really trusted that guy. She says, as much as they don’t trust him, she really does believe Valentin loves Charlotte, and she doesn’t think he’d ever do anything to hurt her. Dante says he agrees. Intentionally, he wouldn’t hurt her, and he probably loves Anna. She says, but he doesn’t think Anna trusts him, and he says, no, and neither can they.

Valentin asks what Anna said, and she glances at the Pikeman envelope as she turns to him and says, he lied to her. He said he was going to be five minutes, and he was way closer to fifteen. He says he’s sorry; the water felt good. He kisses her, and she says she’s so exhausted. He says, so sleep, and kisses her forehead. They turn back to back, but their eyes stay open.

Tomorrow, Carly tells someone that she’ll be there; Anna tells Valentin, it’s unsettling when someone you know is acting strangely; Sonny says, maybe we should just call this off; and Cyrus tells someone, we meet again.

💣 GH FYI: Mason did say the boss was a woman. So I’m not crazy. Well, maybe I am, but I didn’t imagine that. The theory is that there are already enough female villains on the canvas – i.e. Selina and Gladys – so they changed the boss to a man. Still, just a wee bit insulting to viewers’ intelligence.

👨‍👧‍👧 One Of the Boys…

Jake pops back before they can excuse his absence with back to school.

Hudson West Returns to GENERAL HOSPITAL!

🗽 Discuss Amongst Yourselves…

The new RHONY cast talks about their favorite subject – themselves.

Real Housewives of New York Open Up About Season 14 Reboot

🦕 Old New York…

Well, if the Countess says it’s cool, it can’t possibly be uncool. But did they get the yacht?

Luann de Lesseps Promises ‘Good Drama’ on Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip

🦘 Not Down Under…

More on the Deck drama that rocked the franchise. I actually tried to catch this episode the other night, but came in too late. And I’m not desperate enough to hunt it down on Peacock. Not yet anyway. João ended up as one of the replacements, much to the mini distress of Aesha.

Aesha Scott Shares What Didn’t Air on Below Deck as Producer Addresses Luke & Laura’s Firings and Reveals Team’s “Valiant Effort” to Intervene, Plus Captain Jason Speaks

🍸 VanderBreak Is Officially Over…

I couldn’t figure out how Graham was bait here, but we know she’s prone to flights of fantasy.

Raquel Leviss Accuses LVP of Not Genuinely Caring, Claims James Taught Dog Graham to Bite, & Dog Was Used as “Bait” for Vanderpump Rules Return, Slams “Villain Narrative,” Plus Talks Family & Podcast Plans, & Death Threats

I’ll definitely be getting Ariana’s new book. I requested and got Fancy AF Cocktails for Christmas after it came out, but this looks a whole lot juicier better. I dunno about Scheana’s music, although I have to admit Good As Gold is on one of my playlists.

Brock Davies Fires Back at Raquel’s Podcast Interview as Ariana Madix Announces New Book Will Cover ‘Scandoval’ Drama & Relationship With Tom Sandoval, Plus Scheana Releases Music About Scandal

The minutiae.

Kristen Doute Claims Raquel Leviss Was “Telling Some Truths” After She Alleges James is “Violent,” Denies Being Silenced With Pump Rules Spinoff as Raquel Reacts to Kristen’s Shocking Comments

🎪 More Bravo Than You Can Shake a Stick At…

All the guests at BravoCon 2023.

Full List of BravoCon 2023 Bravolebs Revealed

💐 Not Those Flowers, Lizzie…

This looks suspiciously like a V.C. Andrews book.

https://undeadwalking.com/2023/08/04/alycia-debnam-carey-lost-flowers-alice-hart/

🌍 Padma Is the New Waldo…

Where in the world is she?

https://www.padmalakshmi.com/taste-the-nation

🐙 Behold the Unusual…

I want them all.

https://www.alwayspets.com/s/cutest-unusual-pets-754c25d1fa0043c2

🐚 Quotes of the Week

Immature love says, I love you because I need you. Mature love says, I need you because I love you. – Erich Fromm

If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes. – John Wooden

What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will. – Epictetus

Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death. – Albert Einstein

You can’t make somebody your number one if you’re always their number two. – Judge Star Jones, Divorce Court

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – C.S. Lewis

It’s not easy having a good time. Even smiling makes my face ache. – Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), The Rocky Horror Picture Show

🧋 Drinking the Milkshakes In My Yard…

Let’s reconvene on Monday really Tuesday for soap and whatever tea I can pull out of a hat. Until then, stay safe, stay living your best life as your best self, even if it’s only in your mind, and stay never judging how someone is handling their illness.

Aug15

August 14, 2023 – Olivia Accepts Ned As Eddie, Off Screen Time, Big Apple Wives, Parting Is No Sorrow, VanderFlip, Talking Off Deck, Bubble Bear & Too Cool

Posted on by
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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Olivia sets out towels on the chaise lounges, when Dante comes in and asks if she doesn’t have people to do that for her. She says she does, but doing it herself keeps her busy and keeps her from constantly worrying. He says, about Ned? and she says she misses him. Even when they were at the PCPD last night, it felt all kinds of wrong. Dante says, Ned didn’t want to come with them. Sonny’s got him; he’ll be fine. She says she knows and knows she can trust Sonny. She’s just got to come to terms with the fact that she lost her husband. He asks if she’s going to give up on Ned.

Ned walks in while Sonny is on the phone with Selina. Sonny says, she can’t go over there conducting business without letting him know first. Does she understand what he’s saying? Are they clear? After holding his head a moment, Ned walks to the door, and Sonny asks where he’s going. Ned says he needs some coffee, but Sonny says, they have coffee here. He’ll have Garciella make him a fresh… Ned says he needs some space, and leaves.

Carly walks into Sonny’s old kitchen with Josslyn and says she can’t believe Josslyn had her phone off. The moss bowl🎍disapproves, and Josslyn says she’s sorry. Carly says, what if there had been an emergency? What if Michael and Willow needed her? What if Donna needed her? What if the moss bowl🎍needed her? Josslyn says she knows. She woke up this morning to all of Carly’s texts and voicemails and freaked out. She can’t stop thinking about how she left Carly at the PCPD overnight. Carly says she’s the one who got in a bar fight, and Josslyn asks if Carly wants to tell her about that. What was she doing at the Highsider?

Dex tells Sonny that Betty’s on her way up, and Sonny says he wants Dex to listen and stay out of sight. Outside, Betty tells the guard that she’s here to see Sonny, and he knocks on the door. Sonny opens it, and tells Betty to come in. He says he appreciates her coming by before she went to Windymere to pick up Avery. She says, it’s her pleasure, as Dex listens in. Whatever she can do to make Sonny and Ava’s life easier. Sonny says he appreciates that, and she says she hopes everything is all right with Avery and her. Sonny says, Avery is great. So far, so good. She seems to be getting along with Betty. Betty says she’s so happy to hear that. Avery’s adorable and they’ve been having fun. Sonny says, good, because there’s been a change in plans.

The firemen are combing Anna’s house, when Valentin walks in. He tells her that the fire department and the police are wrapping things up. He passed along her appreciation for doing what they could to save her townhouse. She sits on the stairs looking at a framed photo, and he says he thinks they should go. She says she knows; there’s nothing left here. She runs her hands over the photo, and we see it’s Robin and Emma. She says, there’s nothing left of her life.

Betty asks, what’s changed? and Sonny says, she’s taking Avery to camp today, right? She says, that was her plan. She’s picking up Avery from Windymere this morning, then take her to day camp. He asks when camp is finished, and she says, three. Then she’ll bring Avery back here, if that’s okay with him. He asks if she’s going to stay with Avery until it’s finished, and she says she was planning to, unless he or Ava need her to do something for them. He tells her to stay with Avery. He has a business meeting he can’t miss and won’t be back until after five. So stay with Avery until he gets back. Can she do that for him? She says, of course (🍷). She looks forward to the time she gets to spend with Avery. She’s such a sweetheart. Dex continues to listen, and Sonny says, she’s clear on what Ava needs her to do, right? It was funny. He was worried to change nannies because Avery’s so attached to Pilar, but Betty seems so sweet, and Avery seems to be taken with her. She says she knows how hard change can be for a child, so she’s glad to hear Avery is adjusting so well. Sonny says he’ll see her around five, and she leaves. Dex comes back out.

Austin goes into his office, and Mason is behind the door. He says, hey, cuz, and Austin says, why is he always here? Mason says, good morning to him too, closing the door, and Austin says he doesn’t want Mason here. What does he want this time? Mason says, one of the reasons the boss paid for Austin to go to medical school was so he’d be available to them, and right now, he’s in need. Austin says, no, he’s not. He patched Mason up last night. It wasn’t a serious injury. There was no need for him to come back. Mason says, tell that to his headache. He just needs something for the pain, and he’s still seeing double from when that blonde conked him last night.

Carly says, it all started when she went to the MetroCourt last night to see Olivia, and Josslyn says, how was that? She knows they’ve been having a hard time. Carly says, it was weird. Olivia is in her old office. Josslyn says, that’s tough. She’s sorry. At least Nina didn’t take advantage of that opportunity to steal that again. Carly tells her that Olivia said she’d never let that happen… She misses the MetroCourt. She misses her staff. She misses the day to day problems and all the excitement that comes with it. She misses the guests. It made her more determined than ever to get her hotel back, and she will. Josslyn says she has no doubt, and Carly says, she and Olivia were hanging out and reminiscing about the day they met. Olivia is going through so much with Ned, and she’s worried about Drew. They needed a distraction, so they went to the Highsider. Josslyn asks if she found her distraction before the cops showed up, and Carly says, things got really crazy really quickly, but it wasn’t their fault.

Olivia tells Dante, of course (🍷) she hasn’t given up on Ned. How could she? He’s Leo’s father. He says, she can’t just do this for Leo, and she says she’s doing it for their family. For Leo’s sake as much as hers, she has to figure out who Eddie is. She doesn’t know what’s going on in that head of his. He may never go back to being Ned. Dante says, wow. Does she think she can accept that? She says she doesn’t know. It kind of freaks her out. She looks at him and expects to see Ned, and all she sees is Eddie. He’s all Eddie now. Ned has completely disappeared and she has to figure out a way of living with that, so that he’s not fighting against her and she’s not trying to completely control him. Dante’s phone rings, and he tells her, it’s the station, sorry, but she tells him not to apologize. Take it. He steps away and asks, what’s up?… What happened?… He’s on his way. He tells Olivia, there was a fire in Anna’s townhome last night, and she asks if everyone is okay. He says he doesn’t know. He’ll let her know. He hugs her, and she thanks him for rescuing her last night. He tells her, good luck with Eddie, and leaves.

Valentin says he shouldn’t have gone to ELQ last night, and sits next to Anna. She says, he can’t blame himself for this, but he says he should have been here with her. She says, he didn’t know this was going to happen. He has a business to run. He can’t babysit her all the time. He says, this could have ended very badly. She could have been upstairs sleeping in bed. She says she wasn’t. She went for a run, thank God. He says, they got lucky, but she says she doesn’t know. He asks what that means, and she says she doesn’t know if the arsonist was outside, waiting for her to leave or they assumed she was asleep upstairs. He says, let’s hope for the former. He doesn’t much like the sound of the second one. This whole thing started when his father outed her past as a double agent, and he got what he wanted. Someone has made her a target of their revenge.

Sonny says that he wants all eyes on Betty, especially when she’s with Avery, and Dex says, absolutely. He hands Sonny a small envelope, and Sonny asks if it’s from Brick. Dex says, yes. It arrived this morning. Sonny takes out a flashdrive, and Dex asks what it is. Sonny says, a special present, for Betty. There’s a lot of information on this flashdrive, fabricated by Brick, none of it accurate, and Betty is going to find it. Dex asks how they make sure she gets her hands on it, and Sonny says, Betty is going to be here with Avery for a few hours, and she’s not going to resist searching the place. And she’s going to be pleasantly surprised at what she finds on Sonny’s computer – false Pikeman data. Dex says, then what? and Sonny says, she’s going to bring it to Mason and Austin, and they’re going to bring it to whoever they work for.

Carly tells Josslyn, when they got the Highsider, Ned was there, and she wanted to find out for herself if he’d lost his memory and really thought he was Eddie. Josslyn asks if he remembered turning her into the SEC, and Carly says, no, but Olivia gave her some alone time with him. That’s when some guy came up to Olivia and wouldn’t take no for an answer and kept grabbing her. Josslyn says, ew! And that’s when Carly stepped in? Carly says, no. Ned jumped in before she could, and that’s when the fight started. Josslyn says she doesn’t understand. Why were Carly, Ned, and Olivia arrested, when someone else started it? Carly says she doesn’t know. When the cops showed up, the guy must have snuck out the back. Olivia was really upset about that, and got a little aggressive with one of the cops, and that’s when they got arrested. Josslyn says, never a dull moment. She’s so sorry for leaving Carly there all night. She feels so bad. Carly tells her not to worry about it. Honestly, she could have left earlier if she’d let Sonny sign her out. Josslyn asks why she didn’t. She thought Carly was all let’s forgive and forget when it comes to Sonny. So much so, she has Dex watching him and reporting back to Michael. She doesn’t understand. If Carly cares about him, why wouldn’t she let him help her?

Anna tells Valentin that Victor put a target on her back. He’s probably smiling up at all the hell he sent her. Valentin says, even from beyond the grave, he won’t stop inflicting pain, and Anna says, in the beginning, she thought his motive was to get her kicked out of the WSB, but she thinks it was a lot bigger than that. She hurt a lot of people. He says, she paid for that, but she says she doesn’t know. People suffered because of what she did. He can’t deny that. People died, and who did they leave behind? Children, lovers… How did it affect them? One life touches a lot of people, and someone out there wants her to pay for what she did. Obviously, she doesn’t blame them for wanting that. He tells her, stop. Don’t say that. She doesn’t deserve any of this. Whoever is after her, whatever they think they’ve lost, it does not justify revenge. She says, since when?

While distributing menu cards, Olivia finds Ned in the pool area, and says she’s surprised to see him here this morning. Same outfit he had on at the bar last night, huh? He says he doesn’t have too many changes of clothes over at Sonny’s, but he’s glad she’s here. She asks, why? What’s going on? He says he wanted to see her, but didn’t want to run the risk of going to the house and bumping into Tracy. She says, Tracy can be a lot to take first thing in the morning, and he says he can only imagine. So how is she doing after last night? She says she’s doing okay, but she wouldn’t have been if he hadn’t stepped in and defended her from that creep, so she thanks him for that. He says, don’t mention it, and she asks how he is. He says he’s okay, and she says, the guy landed a few good punches on Ned; he hit Ned pretty hard. Ned says he’s definitely feeling it this morning, and she suggests getting him some ice, but he says he’s fine. He’s just glad she’s okay. She says she’s glad he’s okay too, and he says he should get going. She says, Eddie… wait.

Carly tells Josslyn, watching out for Sonny, and making sure his businesses are stable, is very different from accepting help from him. Josslyn asks, why is it different? She doesn’t understand. Carly says, they’ve talked about this. Sonny has got to stay strong. If he loses power, they’re no longer safe. Josslyn says, they’re not married anymore, so why would that affect her? and Carly says she agrees. In a normal situation, it shouldn’t affect her, but she already told Josslyn, because of who Sonny is, they’re all affected. If Sonny is weak, then his kids and everyone around him are targets. That includes Donna, Avery, Michael, Josslyn, Dante, her… especially her. (Um… and Kristina?) Josslyn says she just doesn’t like that Carly has to protect him, and Carly says she gets that, but Josslyn needs to understand, this is the way things are, and she and Sonny will always be connected. Josslyn says, so that’s why she wants Dex and Michael working together to protect him, and Carly says, yes, exactly. Josslyn asks if that’s the only reason.

Sonny tells Dex, Ava got herself in a complicated situation. She’s being blackmailed by Austin’s cousin Mason. He doesn’t want to bore Dex with the details. Dex says he understands, but does Sonny think Austin is in on the blackmailing? Sonny says, Ava doesn’t think so, but he’s not 100% sure Austin is innocent in all this. So he had Brick run intel on Austin, Mason, and Betty. They’re from Pautuck. Mason and Austin are cousins; Betty used to work for Mason’s family’s trucking company. They sold out a few years ago. It’s unknown who bought it out, but it was purchased through a shell company; no criminal record. Dex says, so Mason blackmailed Ava into hiring Betty as Avery’s new nanny, giving her access to Sonny and the penthouse, and Sonny says, yeah. Here’s the thing. Betty doesn’t know Ava came clean with him, and Ava thinks Mason and Austin are working for somebody else. Dex says, any idea who? and Sonny says, somebody who wants information on his Pikeman deal.

Mason asks if Austin is going to give him something for this headache, when Betty slips into the office. Austin says, this is not a clubhouse. He’s actually a doctor and actually has patients to see. So they’re going to have to have their little treehouse meeting some other place. Betty says she has business to discuss with both of them, and Mason says, Austin might be the fancy doctor with a medical degree and all, but he’s just an employee like the rest of them and does as the boss tells him. Speaking of which, does Betty have good news for them? She says, better than good. She’s taking Sonny’s daughter to day camp this morning, then back to his penthouse. Sonny will be away at a business meeting. That should give her two hours to get some information on Pikeman. Mason says, didn’t he tell Austin that it was worth it to get Betty in there?

Anna says, Valentin understands this though. He wanted revenge on her for years. He says, but then he realized it was her sister Alex all along, and she says, but revenge feels like the answer – that’s her point – but it’s not. It feels like it’s going to take away the pain, but sometimes it really just magnifies the whole thing. He says, it certainly did with him, and she says, someone out there is hurting, maybe because of the decisions she made. And putting a target on her back, burning her house down, makes it feel righteous because of the things she did in her past. Dante arrives and tells Anna that he’s so sorry. She thanks him, and he says he’s glad she’s not hurt. He says hello to Valentin, and tells Anna that he knows his timing can’t be worse, but if she’s feeling up to it, he could use a statement. She says, protocol, she gets it, and he says he’ll give her a lift to the station. She says, that’d be great, and Valentin says he’ll go with her, but she says she can handle this on her own. He asks, why? and she says she’ll see him later, leaving with Dante.

Sonny says, Brick filled the flashdrive with all kinds of false information, and Dex asks if it will be convincing enough. Sonny says, Brick is the best at what he does. Mason and Betty are going to think it’s the real deal and deliver it to their boss. Dex asks how feeding them false information helps Sonny, and Sonny says, Brick installed sophisticated tracking software. So whoever has access to this flashdrive is going to allow Brick entry into their records and their network. Once he finds out who these Pautuck yahoos are reporting to, he’s going to take care of them and their boss. Dex says, so they have to make sure Betty finds that flashdrive, and Sonny says he has to make sure she doesn’t know he’s leading her to it. Dex asks, what’s the plan? and Sonny says he’s going to take Donna over to Carly’s, and since there’s not going to be anybody here when Betty brings Avery from camp, Dex is going to handle what happens next.

Austin says, this is so great. Betty having access to Sonny’s penthouse, she’ll have hours there by herself, and can gather up all the information she can find and pass it on to the boss. Then his favorite part, the two of them gone and out of his and Ava’s life for good. He walks to the door, and Mason says, for a person who went to medical school and became a doctor, Austin is pretty dumb. Why on earth would he ever let Austin go when he still has use for him? Austin wonders how he knew Mason was going to say that, and Mason says, because Austin delivered the grand prize – Ava and her little kid. That gave the boss major leverage on Sonny. Austin says, the last thing he wanted was Ava involved in this, and definitely didn’t want her child involved, but Betty says, too late for that. Mason says he knows Austin. Play the hero for Ava all he wants, but in the end, he’s still about himself.

Carly tells Josslyn that she knows her stance on Sonny is confusing and hypocritical, but their lives are intertwined, and that’s a fact. Josslyn says she understands, and Carly says, and they share a child, one they love and adore. And all their other kids. There’s Josslyn and Michael and Dante and Kristina (oh, she remembered). And Morgan. The loss of a child, they’ll be bonded over that forever. There’s so much that she and Sonny share. Josslyn says she knows that. That still doesn’t mean it’s not impossible for Carly. Carly laughs, and says, yeah, it’s hard. It’s hard, but they’re moving forward in their relationship. Sonny’s going to marry Nina; she’s with Drew. She’s just focusing on the future. It’s all she can do. Josslyn says she just doesn’t know how Carly is doing that with him, and Carly says, because she has to. She doesn’t have a choice. This is where they are. And being in a never-ending war with Sonny is not productive and it’s not healthy. Josslyn says she doesn’t think this is healthy for Carly. She doesn’t think Sonny is healthy for any of them. Carly says she knows everything that has happened and everything they’ve been through, but at the end of the day, Sonny is still family and they can’t forget that.

Ned asks Olivia if this is another pitch to get him into therapy or to bond with the Quartermaines. Because if it is, she can save her breath. She says, on the contrary; it’s the opposite of that. She knows it took her a little while to get her head around this, but she realizes it now. He’s not Ned anymore; he’s Eddie. He says he’s surprised to hear her say that, and she tells him, as much as she’d like to wrestle him to the ground and force him back to being Ned, she can’t do that. He’s not Ned anymore. He says, no, he’s not, and she says, he’s changed, and he’s got to be true to how he feels and who he is now. And he’s not hurting anybody by living as Eddie, so… He says he’s hurting her and he’s sorry. And he’s sorry for hurting Leo, and Brook, and even Tracy. But if he’s being honest with himself, he has to live as him, Eddie, because that’s all he knows how to be. She says, and she’s got to respect that.

At the station, Dante tells Anna, according to the fire chief’s report, the physical evidence found at her house indicates it was arson. Some kind of flammable liquid was ignited. She was at the house when it happened? She shakes her head and says, she’d gone for this short run; she needed to clear her head. He says she didn’t see anything or anyone suspicious, right? and she says, no. He says he was at her house around 10:30 last night, and she told him that Valentin went to ELQ. She says, there was a water main break, and it was threatening the mainframe computer, and he asks what time Valentin came back. She says, Valentin didn’t come back to her house last night, and he asks if Valentin spent the night at ELQ, but she says she doesn’t know. She didn’t see him until this morning. Dante asks what time he went over to ELQ, but she says she’s not sure. Obviously, it was before Dante turned up. What is he getting at? He says he’s just covering all the bases. She knows how this works. She says she does, and he says he’s just got to make a quick call. He’ll be right back. In the hallway, he makes a call and asks if they can pull the security footage from the ELQ parking garage for last night. He’s trying to find out when Valentin Cassadine’s car entered the parking lot, and if it ever left… And report this back to him only please. He goes back in and tells Anna, let’s find out who had motive for that fire.

Carly thanks Sonny for bringing Donna to the house, so she didn’t have to go all the way to his place. He says he’ll take any time he can with Donna and the moss bowl🎍. Carly has raised a smart and independent young lady. She says, they both have, and Donna couldn’t stop telling her about how much fun Sonny’s sleepover was last night. He says, they had a great time. What about her? The moss bowl🎍 laughs, and he asks if she enjoyed her time in jail. She says, no, she didn’t. He says, then why didn’t she let him sign her out? Was it her pride?

Eddie/Ned thanks Olivia for respecting him. He gets that this is really hard on her. She says, it hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure, and he says he wants to apologize for disappearing on her yesterday. She was being really nice and supportive, and listening to him play his music. And when she went to get him something to drink, he snuck off. He’s sorry for not letting her know he was leaving. She thanks him for saying that, and says she knows it hasn’t been easy on him either. She was afraid she was smothering him or hovering… He says, no. It had nothing to do with her. He was actually freaking out, thinking about what Tracy had said about having him committed. She asks if he didn’t believe her when she said she’d never let that happen, and he says he was just afraid Tracy might have changed her mind. She’s a force of nature.

Dante says, when he was at Anna’s house, they were talking about who would want her dead, and if there’s any connection between Pikeman and the sudden power shift at the WSB. She says, something about this fire feels different to her. She doesn’t think the WSB or Pikeman had anything to do with it. Starting a fire is too sloppy for the Bureau. Like, if an agent wanted to kill her, they had ample opportunity to do it. When she went for her run, a sniper could have easily taken her out. He says, like they tried to at the MetroCourt pool, and she says, or she could have been hit by a car. He knows as well as she does that there are people at the Bureau who would take the fall for that; make it look like an accident. Those are their tactics. They both know that’s how they would have got it done. If she was a priority, she’d be dead by now. They’re not going to start a fire in an empty house. He asks if she’s ready to take the WSB off the table as a suspect, but she says she doesn’t know. But to her, in her gut, this feels like revenge, plain and simple.

Anna tells Dante, once The Sun got ahold of the story that she was a traitor at one point, they made it public knowledge. And it’s true. Some people suffered for decisions she made. She thinks there’s someone out there who she hurt, and they want payback. Dante says he thinks she’s been carrying this guilt around for a long time, and maybe it’s messing with her head a little bit, clouding her thoughts. She says, there’s a lot of processing going on, but her thoughts are clear, and he says, okay. Maybe she has to see someone within the WSB trying to get rid of her. She says she told him, starting a fire is too sloppy for the Bureau, but he says, it’s deliberately sloppy, right? If someone in the WSB wanted to make it look like they wanted to get rid of her, they wouldn’t follow procedure. They would cover their tracks. And what better way than setting her house on fire to get revenge, to send a message? She says, it could be anyone within that community, and he says, that’s what makes this so dangerous. But she knows better than anyone about intelligence and espionage. You build something up, make it look like something else. She says she used that strategy in a few black ops missions, and he says, him too. Create an illusion. Make something look spontaneous when it’s really taken tons of planning and logistics to pull it off. She looks far away, and he says, what? She says, logistics, and he says, it goes hand-in-hand with trying to keep your enemy off your trail, right? She gets up and says she’s told him everything about the fire. She’s kind of tired and right now she’s homeless. She’s got to get over to the MetroCourt and book a room. He says, let him call his mom; she can get Anna a room. She says, that’s okay. She appreciates it, but she’s got some things to take care of first. He thanks her for coming in, and says he’s really sorry for the things that have been happening to her. She says she knows, and thanks him. She leaves, and his phone rings. He asks what they’ve got… Valentin’s car never made to the ELQ parking garage? Are they sure about that?

Ned tells Olivia, admit it. She thinks Tracy’s right. He’s crazy and belongs in a looney bin. She says she never thinks Tracy’s right, so let’s get that straight, but he did clonk his head pretty hard when he fell at the pool. So maybe her kneejerk reaction was to think maybe he knocked something loose, but that’s not what she thinks anymore. He thanks her for the reassurance, because he’s not that CEO business guy she says he was, and he’s never going to be. She says she sees that now. She knows it’s taken her some time to get her head around that, but she accepts he’s someone else now. He says he’s Eddie Maine, and she says she knows. And even if she thought that one good jolt of electroshock therapy would bring her husband back to her, she could never do that to him. He thanks her, and she says, and another thing. She would never have him committed for being someone new. She gave him her word on that and her word is gold. He says, is that so? and she says, yeah. She’s a Bensonhurst girl. She always keeps her word. She walks off with the tray of menu cards, and he looks bemused.

Carly says, this isn’t about pride, and Sonny tells her, all he’s saying is that she didn’t have to stay at the PCPD. He was willing to sign her out. She says she can’t let him be her safety net anymore, but he says, they’re always going to be there for each other. She says she gets that. And throughout the years, no matter where they were with each other, he was always there to bail her out. That means more to her than he’ll ever know, but she can’t let him do it anymore. He says he didn’t go there to get her; he was there to sign Ned out. She says she got herself in the situation, and he says, because she was protecting Olivia. She says, it doesn’t matter. She’s the one who has to get herself out. He says, if she needs him, he’s there… He gets it. She’s independent. She says she’s always been independent. She just got to the point where she was depending on him for everything, and she has to take care of herself now. He says, all right. She doesn’t need his help. She says she’s glad they cleared that up, and he says, because at the moment, he’s got a lot going on. He leaves, and she sighs.

Austin says, Mason caught him. He’s all about himself. Who isn’t? He really wants a life for himself. He wants a life where he’s not constantly looking over his shoulder. He wants a life where Mason is never in his office, ever again. Mason says, sadly, it doesn’t work like that, and Betty says, as entertaining as this is, she’d better head to Windymere. She’s got to pick up little Avery and not be late. Ava can be fire when she wants to. Mason tells her, go. Please bring them something on Pikeman from Sonny for the boss. She says she doesn’t plan on leaving there empty handed, and Mason says, that’s his girl. She leaves, and Austin says, one down and one to go. Mason says, they’re not finished, and Austin asks why the boss wants info on Sonny and Pikeman anyway. Mason says, honestly, he has no idea. But Austin knows him; he’s not one to explain himself to anyone. But he wants it, and he’s going to get it. Well, we know the boss is a dude now. I could have sworn they alluded to it being a woman early on.

Dex follows Betty out of the hospital at a discreet distance.

Tomorrow, Curtis tells Portia, it’s too much, he can’t do it; Brook tells Nina that she has a right to be concerned; and Sonny tells Ava, it’s what you call cutting the snake off at the head.

⏰ Off the Soap Clock…

I love this. My dad raised me, and this sounds like something he would have done.

Dominic Zamprogna Goes ‘Taylor-Gating’ With His Daughters!

They seem like they’d be fun to hang out with.

Kirsten Storms Opens up About Her GH Gal Pals

🗽 A New York Minute…

What the new RHONY were up to this week. I’d be glad to take any castoffs from Jenna’s closet.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/rhony-recap-erin-and-jessels-tribeca-fight-is-an-instant-classic

💎 Buh-Bye Already…

I’ll bet it will be more than fine.

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Is Just Fine Without Lisa Rinna, Here’s Why

She should be dead to Bravo for whatever she’s wearing there.

Lisa Rinna ‘Dead to Bravo’ After Encouraging BravoCon Boycott, Claims Insider

🍸 Bizarro Rules…

Things are sometimes not what they seem to be, but on the surface, it’s Topsy Turvy World.

Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval Pose Together While Filming Pump Rules
Lala Kent Hugs Tom Sandoval on Beach in Shocking Pump Rules U-Turn

🛟 Life After Deck

Captain Lee! Kate! Kate’s baby! Kate’s attention starved dog! Guest cameos! Talking smack about reality shows! The only thing better than watching TV is watching other people watch TV, and it’s all here with my two favorite Deckies. I’m already hooked.

https://people.com/kate-chastain-captain-lee-rosbach-tease-bravo-couch-talk-exclusive-7642653

https://decider.com/2023/08/14/couch-talk-with-captain-lee-and-kate-interview-kate-chastain-traitors/

🐻 Calgon, Take Him Away…

True story. One time when we were at the Westchester County Fair, there was a bear act. They had a baby bear with them, and apparently, no one was keeping an eye on him. I looked over, and baby bear was making a break for the fence, beyond which was oncoming highway traffic. I jumped out of my seat and got to the fence before baby bear was too high for me to stop. He wouldn’t let go, but I was able to hold him there until the professionals got him. They let me pet him. He was bristly, but very cute.

https://people.com/bear-takes-bubble-bath-zoo-knoxville-video-7574570

💻 Blog Post Energy…

Stop in tomorrow for soap and nighttime tea. Until then, stay safe, stay not dressing to draw attention away from the wedding party if you’re a wedding guest, and stay not seeking the answer in revenge. It might feel like it’s going to take away the pain, but sometimes it really just magnifies the whole thing.

Aug11

August 10, 2023 – Ned Hits On Carly At the Highsider, Back When, Tribute, Changes, Runway Freedom, Deck Detestables, VanderPics, Historical Pets (!) & Hooray

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Maxie opens the door to Sam holding up a large carton of ice cream and a bottle of wine. Maxie asks if Sam is her fairy godmother, and Sam says, Maxie’s call came just in time. She just got the wine and ice cream out for herself because Dante’s still at work, Scout’s at the Q’s, and the boys – Maxie snatches the wine – are at a sleepover. So she’s in luck. Maxie says she’s excited to catch up with Sam. It’s been a long week. Sam asks where the kids are, and Maxie says, Bailey’s with grandma and grandpa, and… Georgie screams at James in the other room, and Maxie holds up the bottle. I dunno about you, but wine with ice cream? What happened to cheese? Unless it’s champagne ice cream, I don’t see it.

Portia sets out a platter of cheese (she knows what I’m talking about) when Marshall comes in. She says, you’re just in time to join us, and he says, us? She says, Trina decided to move back in, and he says, that’s great news. Portia says, she’s unpacking right now. She’ll go get her. She calls Trina to come say hi to her grandfather, and tells Marshall, it’s probably the loud music. She’ll go get her. She goes upstairs, as Marshall enjoys some cheese.

Finn asks Deanna to check for any changes with his patient in 941. If there are any, he wants to be informed immediately. Trina comes out of the elevator and runs over to Finn. She says she’s so glad he’s here. She needs his help.

As Curtis drowses, he recalls the shooting. He jerks awake, and checks his legs, but there’s no change. Elizabeth comes in and asks if he’s okay.

At Alexis’s place, Kristina watches TV, while wearing a beauty mask and eating popcorn. Alexis comes in, and Kristina jumps. She says, Alexis scared her to death, and Alexis says, Kristina scared her. What did she do to her face? Kristina shushes her, and she asks what Kristina is watching. Kristina says, To Catch a Killer.

Dante goes to see Anna, and she thanks him for coming. Someone outside watches.

Carly brings Olivia to the Highsider, and Olivia tells her, when Carly said she knew a place they could go, she really didn’t think Carly meant this. Carly says, they were talking about Bensonhurst and the good old days, and she thought of this place. It reminds her of Jake’s. Olivia says, this is the place where Joss was with Trina, and Carly read them the riot act… Carly says, yes, and she never wants Josslyn to know they were here. Capiche? Olivia says, capiche, and touches the table. She says, oh! and looks at her hand, telling Carly that she has to go wash it. Carly asks if she’s going to brave the ladies room, and Olivia says, it can’t be worse than this. She tells Carly to get them a couple of beers, and goes to the ladies room. Carly goes to the bar and asks for a couple of bottles of El Ray Sol, and the bartender says, nice. He figured she’d want a glass, but Carly says, he figured wrong. Ned comes along and says, and he figured her for some fun.

Anna thanks Dante for coming out so late, and asks if she can get him something, but he says he’s good. She asks if there’s been any progress with the shooting at the MetroCourt pool, and he says, they have more questions than answers, so if she calls that progress, they’ve made a lot of it. She says, so he can’t definitively rule anything out, and he says, that’s kind of the gist of it. That gun came from the WSB, so it looks like she’s the winner. They also can’t rule Sonny out as a target either, but that’s not why she called him. She says, no. She said she’d call him if she got any new information. It’s not anything solid, but it could be another avenue that may or may not be related. Has he heard of a company named Pikeman?

Alexis says she was under the impression that Kristina didn’t watch TV anymore, and Kristina says she doesn’t, but – she takes off the mask – she’s been streaming this docuseries; it’s so good. Her internet went out, so she decided to come here and see if Alexis’s worked. Alexis asks, what’s so great about this show that Kristina couldn’t wait for her internet to be turned back on? and Kristina says she was in the middle of the finale. She couldn’t be left hanging. Besides, it’s so much better to watch it on Alexis’s TV than on her phone or her computer. Alexis says she loves Kristina so much, and Kristina says she loves Alexis too. Alexis says, and she always wants Kristina to be welcome here anytime, but if Kristina really loves her, she’ll let Alexis know next time, so she doesn’t walk in and have a heart attack and die. Kristina says, that sounds very dramatic, but she’s only been here a half hour and she didn’t think Alexis would be out this late running around. Alexis asks if Kristina thought she’d be sitting in a rocking chair knitting an afghan, and Kristina says, it feels on brand. She hopes Alexis had fun, and Alexis says she had a lot of fun. Alexis heads upstairs, and Kristina asks what she was doing. Alexis says she was checking something off somebody else’s bucket list.

Maxie tells Sam that she’s sorry about this next part, and asks Georgie and James, come out here please. They stomp out, and Maxie tells them to say hi to Sam. Sam says, it’s good to see them both, and Maxie asks, what happened? James says, she started it, and Georgie says, he won’t stop touching her stuff. Maxie says she thought Grandpa Mac got both of them to agree to a truce, and James says, she broke it. Georgie says, he doesn’t even know what a truce is, but he says he does too. She says, he doesn’t, and Maxie tells Georgie, my room now. Georgie runs out, and Maxie says, hopefully, this doesn’t take too long. She follows Georgie, and James asks Sam, what’s a truce? She says, it’s when you agree to end a disagreement or an argument, and he says, wait. Is that ice cream?

Portia tells Marshall, it looks like Trina left a little note: Gotta go out for a little while. Be back soon. She got out of here pretty quietly. She hopes Trina didn’t run to see Spencer. He tells her not to do that to herself, and she says she knows. She’s grateful Trina’s back. and when Curtis gets out of rehab, they’ll all be under the same roof. He says he doesn’t think that’s such a great idea, and she asks if he doesn’t think Curtis should move back here. He says he absolutely does, but he also thinks he should move out. He was planning on doing that before Curtis was shot. She says, he was, but she was against it then, and she’s against it now. Curtis is going to need him now more than ever, and so will she and Trina. He says, all right, and she says she knows he’ll do anything to support his family, and Curtis and Trina deserve support from him. She guesses she’s not sure if she does.

Finn asks if this is about Trina’s dad, and she says, yes. He’s going to rehab tomorrow, and she needs to see him tonight to let him know she’ll always be there for him, and she loves him. He says he’d like to help her, but… She says she knows Curtis refused to let her see him since he found out he was paralyzed, and her mom tried to explain it to her. She thinks she understands. He’s a proud man. He’s a hero, and he doesn’t want her to see him like this, but he’s her father. Finn says he knows. He just doesn’t want to get her hopes up… She says, please. If Violet asked someone to get her in to see him, wouldn’t he want someone to help her?

Elizabeth says she sees Curtis is scheduled to go to rehab tomorrow. His occupational therapist says he’s in great shape. He says, never better, and she says, it’s not going to be easy, but he’s strong and he’s going to work hard, and he will adjust to his new situation. He tells her that she can just say it. He’s going to have to adjust to spending the rest of his life in a chair.

Maxie comes back in, sees James, and says, James got Sam to give him ice cream. He says, just a little, and she says, Georgie’s sleeping in her room tonight. He thanks her and runs off, and she says, don’t eat all of that. She tells Sam, they’ve got to move out, like really soon. They’re driving each other crazy, and by that, she means they’re driving her crazy. Sam says she thought Lucy was helping Maxie find a bigger place, and Maxie says, she is, but every place she likes, she gets outbid. It’s a tough market right now. Tomorrow she’s seeing two places she would never have considered a month ago, but when James and Georgie are going after each other all day and all night, it affects Bailey and she starts crying. And by the end of the day, Maxie is the one who’s crying. Sam says she thinks she actually has a solution for Maxie.

The bartender gives Carly the beers, and Ned asks if one of those is for him. She says, it’s for a friend, and he says he can be a friend; a very good friend. She says she bets; a friend who would betray her. He asks why anyone in their right mind would betray a beautiful woman like her, and she says, someone did. He says, let me at him. He’ll defend her dignity to the death. Maybe they should go somewhere a little less noisy and further discuss this dilemma of hers. Olivia comes back and says she sees Carly has met Eddie. Carly says she did, and Ned asks what Olivia is doing here. She says, this used to be her kind of place. She figured she’d come in and check it out. Ned says, great. He’s sure one of these guys would love to show her a good time. Meanwhile, he and her friend Cary… They both say, Carly, and he says, Carly, beautiful name. Meanwhile, he and Carly are discussing the downside of betrayal (like there’s an upside) and getting to know each other. He and Olivia have already met. Olivia says, right. If he could just give her one second. She motions Carly over, and says she might be stating the obvious here, but is it possible her husband is trying to pick up her best friend? Carly says she doesn’t think so, and Ned says, hey Carly, it’s getting lonely over here.

Kristina says, Alexis isn’t going to believe… Alexis says, don’t tell her, and Kristina asks if she’s watching it. Alexis says her TV accidentally turned on and she’s on episode three. Kristina says, she’s not going to believe what happens…  but Alexis says, Kristina’s not going to ruin this for her. Kristina says she’s amazed Alexis actually watched some guilty television, and Alexis says, if Kristina is amazed at that, she’s going to be amazed at what she did tonight. Kristina says, tell her, and Alexis asks if Kristina is going to make fun of her. Kristina says, probably, and Alexis says, okay. She threw hatchets at a bullseye, a target. Kristina says, that’s the place Sam went with Dante. She said she loved that. Alexis says, it was really exhilarating. She thinks it’s just human nature that something so basic is so satisfying. Kristina asks who she went with, and Alexis says, a friend. She gets up to get something to drink, and asks if Kristina wants anything. She moves Kristina’s bag, and sees some books on top of it. Kristina says, it’s from Sam, and Alexis reads, Business and Finance Management. Is this her light beach reading? Kristina says she thinks Sam was honestly shocked that she didn’t throw them at her.

Dante asks if Pikeman is a company in Port Charles, but Anna says, no. They’re security defense contractors, and according to Robert, they have ties to the WSB. He asks if Pikeman is selling them weapons, and she says, perhaps. The most interesting thing is, there’s like this kind of revolving door situation, where Pikeman recruits former WSB agents as operatives. He says, that’s kind of par for the course with those guys. Is she sure about this? She says, at first, she was skeptical, until she spoke with someone who was with the WSB who was recruited by Pikeman and worked for them. He asks, who was that? and she says, Valentin.

Dante asks if Valentin is still working for Pikeman, but Anna says, no. This was years ago when he first left the WSB. He asks what Valentin was doing for them, and she says, logistics. He laughs and says, that sounds like a euphemism for something. She says, he was a contractor, and he worked for them on a project-by-project basis. He said they didn’t allow him to get near the inner workings of the company. Dante asks why they recruited Valentin, and she says, they told him it was because he had prior WSB experience. Dante asks, where is Valentin tonight?

Carly tells Olivia that she’s sorry, and Ned sings into a beer bottle; Carly, the night is young and… What rhymes with Carly? He sings, gnarly, and Olivia says, he’s definitely hitting on Carly. Carly says, he’s definitely Eddie Maine, and Olivia asks if Carly doubted her. Carly says, no, but now she’s certain. Ned Quartermaine would never do that. They see Ned talking to another blonde, and Olivia says she guesses she should feel lucky Ned’s hitting on Carly instead of some floozy. She tells Carly to go, and Carly says she’s going to try and find out what he wants, and pull him back in Olivia’s direction. Olivia says, hurry up before he decides what he wants is that, and Carly tells the blonde, that’s her spot. Ned says he likes her style. Didn’t want to give up Eddie, did she? Carly says, nope. Just trying to figure him out. Mason goes up to Olivia and says she looks lonely… and hot. She rolls her eyes.

Alexis says she’s surprised Kristina didn’t throw the books at Sam. Sam gave her that nice pretty blouse and Kristina threw it at her. Kristina says, it was pink. They all know how she feels about pink. She’s not throwing books at her sister. Alexis says, but she came over to watch this show, so she’s wondering why Kristina brought the books. Kristina says she thought… Alexis says, she was going to burn the books in the fireplace, wasn’t she?

Maxie says, Dante and Lulu’s house? and Sam says, it’s empty. And it’s been empty since he and Rocco moved in with them. Dante doesn’t want to sell it, so she was just thinking… Maxie says, Lulu’s house? and Sam says, maybe she didn’t actually think this through, but Maxie said she needed a bigger space, and Maxie says, it makes sense. Sam says she knows Maxie misses Lulu, and Maxie says she does. She doesn’t get to see her enough, but when she does visit Lulu, she talks to her. She tells Lulu about her kids, everything that’s been going on. It’s been almost three years… She’s sorry. She knows Sam doesn’t want to talk about this. Sam says, it’s okay. Maxie can talk to her about Lulu. Rocco talks to her about Lulu all the time, and Dante just took Charlotte to visit her. She is a part of their lives. Maxie says she knows Dante and Rocco had to move on with their lives. She’s really happy it was with Sam, and knows Lulu would be happy too. Sam thanks her, and says, that means a lot, especially coming from Maxie, but maybe it’s just a bad idea. Maxie says, maybe… She doesn’t know. It’s not good for a house to be empty for too long. Sam says, it’s true, and Maxie asks if she thinks Dante would be okay with her living there. Sam says she thinks if Dante decided to rent the house, there’s no one else in the world he’d rather rent it to than Maxie.

Marshall says he doesn’t care whether Portia thinks she deserves his support or not; she’s got it. Portia says she knows she’s made mistakes… and he says, let him finish. Portia is his daughter-in-law and the mother of his grandchild. That alone is enough, but does she know who else she is? She’s the one who made him realize he doesn’t have the genes for schizophrenia, and that changed his life. She says she did that for him as a doctor, and she’s glad she could, but as his daughter-in-law and Trina’s mother, she just can’t help feeling it’s her fault that Curtis could end up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Elizabeth says, Trina is here late, and Trina says, it was important for her to come. Elizabeth says she understands. She knows Cameron’s been in touch with Trina. Trina says, he has. He’s been so supportive. All of her friends have. Elizabeth must be really proud of him, already playing on the varsity soccer team. Elizabeth says she is, and asks if there’s anything she can do to help Trina. Trina says, no, not yet. Dr. Finn is working on something for her. Her phone dings, she looks at it, and smiles.

Finn goes to Curtis’s room, and says he heard Curtis is heading to rehab tomorrow. Curtis says, that’s what he’s told. Finn is visiting kind of late. He hasn’t gotten any infectious diseases since he’s been here, so he’s guessing Finn isn’t here for any medical reason. Finn says, when you’re a doctor, it’s kind of hard to avoid that God complex. You want to be able to cure everyone. Curtis says, but you can’t, and Finn says, no, but it’s the humbling part. He can’t cure Curtis, but he can do something he thinks will help. He opens the door, and Trina walks in.

Carly says, Olivia told her that Eddie/Ned is staying with the Quartermaines, and he says, for a few days. Before that, he was staying at his friend’s, Sonny Corinthos. Does she know him? She says, everyone who lives around here knows him, and Ned says, he’s a good guy. He just felt like he was crowding Sonny. He’s got this gorgeous fiancé, Nina. She says, now he’s with the Quartermaines, right? They’re nice people. He says, they mean well. Leo is a sweet kid. He really likes Leo, and actually thinks Leo likes him too. She says, he probably does, and he says, Olivia’s got it in her head that he’s her husband. Can she imagine him living with that overbearing, wound up… She steps on his foot, and he says, ow! She says, sorry. She thought she saw a roach. So, since the Quartermaines are good people, why isn’t he trying to get to know them? He says, because they all want him to be someone he’s not, and she says, so why doesn’t he help them understand who he is, and maybe they’ll learn to accept him? He tells her that she says that like she thinks they would, and she says she actually knows someone who went through something similar, and they learned to love him.

Olivia tells Mason to get his hands off of her, and he says, come on. She knows she wants the attention. He touches her again, and she says, what she wants is for him to keep his hands off of her, or she promises she will make him sorry. He says he’d like to be sorry with her, and moves closer, but she shoves him back, saying, get away from me.

Kristina asks why she’d want to burn the books her sister gave her, and Alexis says, sorry. The books were here and the fireplace is there… Kristina says, and my spiteful daughter is going to burn the books my other daughter gave her, and Alexis says she knows the two of them haven’t been getting along well since Kristina showed Sam her plans, and Sam got kind of… Kristina says, obnoxious and skeptical? and Alexis says, to be fair, Kristina never enjoyed any of the gifts Sam gave her. Except for the motorcycle jacket, but that’s not really a gift. Kristina says she has every intention of returning that to Sam someday when the timing is right. Sam’s never given her anything like this before. Alexis says, that’s because she’s trying to apologize to Kristina. Sam knows she hurt Kristina’s feelings when she got down on her for not having a permit or a business plan. Kristina says, Sam did hurt her feelings. She was also right.

Maxie says, Sam threatened to throw Gladys in the pool? and Sam says she’d throw anyone in the pool if they talked to Scout that way. She doesn’t trust that woman. Maxie says she ran into Gladys when she went to visit Sasha. Gladys told her the doctor was with Sasha and she couldn’t see her. She ended up being relieved. Sam asks, why? and Maxie says, Brook did see her, and she said Sasha was really out of it. She said Sasha was yelling and screaming, and Maxie doesn’t want to see her like that. Sam says, when she saw Sasha, and what everyone else said, she was pretty in control. Maxie says, the last time Sasha was on Home & Heart, someone put the sound of a baby crying in her earpiece and she didn’t break. Sam says, then what happened? Maxie worked with her. If she’s using on a regular basis, Maxie would know, right? Maxie says, definitely, and Sam says, then she stabs Cody out of nowhere. Maxie says, drop it, and looks behind her to see James sneaking the carton of ice cream off the end table.

Curtis says he really doesn’t appreciate the ambush, and Finn says, God complex, remember? If medicine doesn’t work, go with what does. He tells Trina, hang in there, kid, and leaves, closing the door. Curtis says, it’s late and she should just… She says she knows he doesn’t want her here, but she had to see him before he goes to rehab tomorrow to let him know how sorry she is.

Anna tells Dante, there was a watermain break over at ELQ and it was quite close to the mainframe computer, so Valentin went over to check on everything and make sure no critical information was lost. He asks if Valentin knows she’s talking to him, and she says, no. He says, Pikeman is a shady sounding company. He’s surprised Valentin would even admit to her that he worked for them. She says, he didn’t at first. He doesn’t like to talk about his past. She thinks he told her because he’s concerned about her safety. Dante asks if she thinks Pikeman had something to do with the attempt on her life.

Mason has Olivia’s arm, and she says, she told him to get his hands off of her. Ned spins Mason around and says, he heard the lady. Mason says, get lost, old man (which is amusing since they look around the same age). This is what she wants. Ned asks if this is what Olivia wants, and Olivia tells Mason, no, you idiot. Ned tells him, back off now, and Mason says, or what? Ned punches him in the face and knocks him down, but Mason pops back up and shoves Ned’s face onto the bar. The bar fight begins with the patrons cheering them on. Honestly, I’ve been in some seedy places – certainly seedier than this – and I have never once seen a bar fight.

Anna asks if Dante has heard about the power shake up over at the WSB, and he says he heard some rumblings. She says, when Frisco refused to authorize the drone strike in Greenland out of concern for their safety, he was relieved of duty. Dante says he did hear Frisco had been replaced, and she says, it’s just been a domino effect since then. The new director got rid of anyone who was ever associated with her or Robert. He asks if she met the new director when she was in London being debriefed, but she says, no. I have this brainwave that maybe the new director is also Mason’s boss, and she says, at first she didn’t think anything of it. Then as it turns out, the agent who was debriefing her was droning on and on about procedure, and something caught her eye. Right behind him was his briefcase, and sticking out of the top of the briefcase was a portfolio. On the corner of the portfolio was the Pikeman logo.

Marshall says, there is no way Portia is responsible for a stray bullet, but she says, he doesn’t understand. All the years of lying, everything she did, how she handled everything, led to that moment. If she’d just been honest – she starts to cry – she, Curtis, and Trina could have been together. They could have been a family. If she’d just told the truth when she came to Port Charles… Marshall gets up and says, no, but she says, he doesn’t understand. Curtis came there to see her. He came to make things right with her; things she made wrong. It’s because of her. He says, it’s good to take responsibility for your mistakes, but she’s got to move on. Focusing on the what ifs and the what might have been is no way to live your life. They’ve got to move forward. She says she just doesn’t know if it’s too late for them, and he takes her hands, saying, Curtis is going to need her. He’ll need her to move forward. He’s going to need his daughter. He’s going to need his wife. But whenever that puts too much of a strain on her, he’s going to be right here. He’s going to be right here to help her with whatever she needs. It’s going to be all right. He holds her as she cries.

Curtis asks what in the world Trina has to be sorry for, and she says, when she found out he kissed Jordan, she got all high and mighty about it. He says, she was just being protective, but she says she didn’t have to pull away from him. She loves her mom and wants her to be happy, and she knows how much her mom loves Curtis. She just prays they’ll be able to work things out, but if they do or if they don’t, he’ll still be her father. He says, yes, he will, and she says, they were just beginning to figure this out, when she pulled away from him. She was just being so stupid and selfish, and she doesn’t want to be that person for him or herself anymore.

James sleeps with his head in Maxie’s lap, and she tells Sam, isn’t it so nice? Hopefully, it lasts past 5 am. Sam says, he’s awake that early? and Maxie says, sometimes it lasts until 5:30. Sam says she’ll be out of Maxie’s hair soon. She just called Dante, and he’ll be here in like, twenty minutes. Maxie says, it’s too soon. It was so good to see Sam and spend time with her, an actual adult. Sam says, the jury’s still out on that one, and they laugh. Maxie asks, how’s Molly doing? and Sam says, she’s actually back to normal. Maxie says, and Kristina? and Sam says, not so much back to normal. Maxie says, Sam sounds like that’s a good thing, and Sam says, because it is. She loves both of her sisters so much, but Kristina has been a handful sometimes. Maxie says, and now? and Sam says, now she’s actually pulling her life together. Maxie says, Sam actually sounds proud of her, and Sam says, because she is. They clink glasses.

Alexis tells Kristina that she just said Sam was right. She heard it. Kristina can’t take it back. Kristina says she can admit when she’s wrong, but Alexis says, not usually when it comes to one of her sisters. Kristina says, Sam was right. She had some strong points in the beginning, and Kristina didn’t want to hear them because they were coming out of Sam’s mouth. But Sam told her that she really could have benefitted from logistics (call Valentin!) and planning, and not just focusing on the end result. Alexis says, and the books? and Kristina says, the books have been very helpful. But more than that, she appreciates it. It makes her feel like Sam cares about her. Alexis says, she does. Sam loves her. Kristina says, and she loves Sam… and Molly, and Alexis says, and she loves Kirstina, Sam, and Molly. Although they do argue a lot, which she thinks is healthy. So now what? Kristina says she’s gathered a lot of valuable information on logistics and set-up. It feels good. This project feels really important and she’s going to finish it. She cuddles with Alexis, who says, that’s her good little baby girl.

Curtis says, Trina has never been selfish and she’s far from stupid, but Trina says she pulled away from him. He says he pushed her away, and he realizes he shouldn’t have done that. She says she understands, and he says, then she’s far ahead of him. He still hasn’t figured out how he’s going to handle being… What’s it going to mean? He keeps thinking about how it was in Greenland. She says, scary, and he says, yeah, but he was able to protect his daughter, to rescue her, and to be the father she needs. She says, he’s still the father she needs and always will be. She has no doubt about that. Does he remember the first words he said when he woke up after surgery? He says, I need my daughter, and she says she’s here and she’s not going anywhere. They hug.

Deanna gives Finn the phone, and says, it’s about his patient. he says, yes?… See what nurse is available and Page Dr. Everett. He’ll be right there. He jets, and Elizabeth watches him going down the hall.

Dante tells Anna, so what they’re saying here is that Pikeman is in bed with the WSB on one of their investigations, and she says, they know what they’re capable of. At least what they were capable of. And now with these new people in charge, all bets are off. Dante says, or that logo thing she noticed was just a coincidence, and she says, think about it. If the Bureau has access to a private entity like Pikeman, what’s to stop them from using it to further their own political agenda? He asks if the WSB doesn’t want deniability. Why would they give Pikeman a gun they knew could be traced? It gets risky – she says, of course (🍷) – getting involved with a private security contracting company like Pikeman, even for someone as cold as the WSB. She says, the WSB has always worked with risk, since the beginning of their existence… because it pays off. He says he sees this theory is gaining a lot of traction with her, but she says, there’s a lot of holes. He says, that’s why she called him. He’ll go to the PCPD and check in with some contacts, and see if he can get any more information on Pikeman, and try to connect them to her and Sonny. He’ll let her know what he comes up with. He’ll keep it on the downlow. She thanks him, and he thanks her for keeping him in the loop. It feels good. She should keep doing it. She says she promises, and walks him to the door. He leaves, and someone is still watching.

Mason slugs Ned, who falls to the floor, and he tells Olivia, to the victor. You and me, honey. He grabs her, and she tries to throw him off, telling him to get his hands off her. The bartender slides a big bottle over to Carly, who takes it and cracks Mason over the head. He drops to the floor. Very gracefully, I might add. Olivia runs over to Ned, and Ned sits up. He sees Mason, and asks if he got him.

Tomorrow, Chase asks if Ned would like to make a call; Olivia’s not admitting she did anything wrong; Nina says, Sonny is gone; and Sonny asks Carly why she has a problem.

🧼 Because Todd…

He was only supposed to be on for a few episodes, and now look.

Five Things That Happened On August 6 In Soap History

💫 To a Fallen Star…

I’m still in shock over her death. Hell, I’m not over Sonja Eddy and Jacklyn Zeman.

Stars Pay Tribute To Andrea Evans

🗽 Not Loving It…

I have no problem with Housewives change, although I can agree with the rest of their reasons. What they’re leaving out though, is the heavy cloud of social media floating over the show. If I want that, I’ll get it online.

Everything That Fans Don’t Like About Real Housewives of New York Season 14

👗 Letting Their Fashion Flags Fly…

This week, the designers were given the freedom to do whatever they wanted. Obviously, the fewer the contestants, the harder it is for the judges, and all of the creations were breathtaking. Of the two lowest scores, one surprised the hell out of me, and the other I had to agree took my breath away for the wrong reasons. It was busy AF, with a feathered jacket. Oddly enough, when the jacket was removed, it looked beautiful.

‘Project Runway’ 20 episode 10 recap: In ‘Freedom,’ the designers were blessed (or cursed?) with unlimited options [LIVE BLOG]

⚓️ Most Hated On Deck…

I didn’t see Down Under, and I’m sure they were worse, but I couldn’t stand Chef Leon. Come to think of it, Ashley was no prize either.

Former Below Deck Crew Members We Never Want to See Again

And while we’re on the subject.

https://ew.com/tv/below-deck-down-under-luke-laura-fired-inappropriate-behavior/

🍸 Throwing Back the Rules…

It’s funny how people don’t change much. Unless with the help of a plastic surgeon.

Unrecognizable Throwback Photos of the Vanderpump Rules Cast

🐻 Furry Companions In History…

Very cool!

https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/famous-pets-0017655

🛶 Floating My Boat…

Join me tomorrow for soap and a wealth of tea, talking points, and music befitting the day. Until then, stay safe, stay willing to step in when you see injustice, and stay not focusing on the what ifs and the what might have been. It’s no way to live your life.

Aug9

August 8, 2023 – Valentin Tells Anna About Pikeman, Coming Back, NYC Morsels, Amusing Pets (!) & Rainbow

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Valentin says, that’s not the usual greeting he gets when he walks in the door. How would he know who shot at Anna? Anna says, they’ll get to that. Can he tell her first of all what that message meant? He says, maybe he’s still a little jet-lagged, but what message are they talking about? She says, the one he had her deliver to Sonny.

Martin goes into Cyrus’s room and asks how big brother is feeling today. He knows they’re shipping Cyrus back to Pentenville, and can’t imagine he’s very happy about that. Cyrus says, just tell him that Martin did as he asked, and Martin says he did exactly as Cyrus asked; transfer all of his accounts to the rehabilitation institute. Cyrus says, excellent. With the help of God and that money, many lives will be saved. Martin says, what about Cyrus’s life? Far be it for him to second-guess Cyrus’s generosity, but it appears he’s penniless. Is he sure he made the right decision? Cyrus says, for the love of money is the root of all evil (I appreciate him quoting that correctly), and Martin says, play it his way. He doesn’t have to understand Cyrus’s benevolence, but he can’t shake the feeling that somehow, some way, there’s something in it for him. Cyrus says he did his part. Let’s leave it at that; the rest is in God’s hands. Austin looks in through the window.

Sasha wakes up and sees the door to her room open. Cody walks in, and she says his name.

Finn asks if Elizabeth knows where he may find the head nurse, and she wonders if she can ask what this is about. He says, it’s a bit personal… embarrassing really, but she has a kind face. He supposes he can tell her. She says, go on, and he says he wanted to thank her. He was having this crisis of confusion. He has feelings for a co-worker and thought she didn’t feel the same way about him, which is understandable, so he was thinking of leaving GH to avoid running into her every day… literally. He’s quite clumsy. She says she’s guessing he had second thoughts about this, and he says he has. He won’t be seeking a position at another hospital. Gregory comes out of the elevator, and Elizabeth says she thinks she can speak for the head nurse. She’s quite happy he’s going to stay. He says, really? He realized that GH has something he won’t find anywhere else in the world. He notices Gregory and says, hey. What brings him by?

Tracy finds Olivia in the nook, and asks, where is he? Olivia asks, who? and Tracy says her son, the wandering warbler, of course (🍷). Olivia says, since she no longer shares a bed with him, she really wouldn’t know, but she assumes Eddie is still asleep since he was out all night club hopping again. Tracy says, enough is enough. They have to do something now. Olivia asks what she means, and Tracy says, it’s time to have Ned committed.

Gregory says he didn’t mean to interrupt, and tells Elizabeth and Finn to carry on with their conversation. Just pretend he was never here. Finn says, it’s okay. He was just telling Elizabeth how he decided to stay at GH. Gregory says he had no idea Finn was planning to leave. He hopes everything is okay. Finn says, more than okay. He thought he might be better off at another hospital, but then he realized what he’d be giving up. Elizabeth says, GH’s most brilliant doctor, and what would they all do without his scintillating bedside manner? Finn says, this from a woman who once referred to him as a curmudgeon, and Elizabeth tells him that she didn’t say that. Everybody else calls him that, but not her. She finds him very charming. She leaves, and Gregory says, Finn is smiling. Finn says, he can’t help it. She said he was charming.

Olivia says, when Tracy uses the word committed… Tracy says, to a mental ward. Ned needs help; analysis under a doctor’s supervision. Olivia asks if she really thinks that’s the way to go, and Ned almost walks in, but hangs back, listening. Olivia says, what is she going to do, throw him in a padded cell with a straitjacket? but Tracy says, this is not One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. She’s trying to save her son, and a psychiatrist can tell if he’s faking or if he really believes he’s Eddie Maine. Olivia asks if she really thinks this is the way to go, and Tracy says, yes, she does. He can’t keep staying out all night and partying. He’s going to crash and burn, and she’s trying to stop it before it happens. The best thing Olivia can do for him is put him in a psychiatric facility. Ned continues to listen, and Olivia says, whatever Ned is calling himself these days, she’s still his wife. So legally, she’s the only one who could have him committed. Tracy says, fine. Have at it. Do the honors. Just do it soon, because this has gone on way too long, and they have to put an end to it. Ned looks concerned, as we all would be.

Sasha says, it’s good to see Cody, and he slams the door shut. She asks if he’s okay, and he says, how can he be okay when she tried to murder him? She plunged a knife in his side, or doesn’t she remember that? She says she never meant to… He yells that she knew exactly what she was doing. And all he’s ever done is try to help her. What the hell was he thinking? He goes to the door, and she says, wait. He turns around, and he’s Cyrus, who says, she’s nothing but a strung-out junkie. No one can help her now. She’s going to die in a back alley with a needle in her arm. She says, he’s not real. He’s not here. Leave her alone. He holds out a bag of white powder and says, come on. You know you want it. Here it is. Go on. Take it. She tells him to leave her alone, and he says, she needs him. he backs her up against the wall and says, no one else wants her. Come back to him. She starts to cry and slides down the wall.

Brook messes around on the keyboard, and Cody asks what she’s doing. She says, knitting, and he says, very funny. He’s been looking for her all day. She’s been ignoring his calls and texts. She says she’s sorry. She left her phone upstairs. What’s up? He says he needs her help with Sasha. He’s really worried about her and has to help her, but the only way to do that is get into Ferncliff. She says, good luck with that, and he says, that’s where she comes in.

Martin says, Cyrus is going to leave everything in God’s hands, and Cyrus says, I trust in our Benevolent Creator. Martin says, obviously. Enough to pad that foundation’s bank account, that’s for sure. Cyrus says, in discovering the truth about life, you discover how meaningless money really is, and Martin asks if Cyrus is sure the heart attack didn’t damage his… memory for one thing. Although he did manage to put together those forms and give Martin access to his money, so… Cyrus says he remembers the kind of man he was, and he knows the road to forgiveness is long and treacherous. Martin hopes Cyrus remembers the kind of man his brother is. He’s always been a bit of a cynic. Cyrus says, yes, and he prays one day they can remedy that frailty together, and Martin says, until they do, does Cyrus mind if he proffers an opinion? As his attorney, it appears Cyrus is penniless. As his brother, Martin strongly has his doubts. Cyrus says, Martin saw all his accounts. He devested and gave everything away. Martin says, that’s right. In his experience, men like Cyrus… excuse him. Men like Cyrus used to be seldom stash everything in a place where it can so easily be found. Cyrus asks if Martin is accusing him of holding back, and Martin says he’s strongly suggesting it’s a possibility. Cyrus says, oh ye of little faith, and Martin says, come on. Please. Just back away from the Good Book long enough to look his baby brother in the face and give him an honest answer. Cyrus says, Martin gave away every dime he had, and Martin says he guesses he’ll just have to take Cyrus’s word for it then. Cyrus says, as God is his witness he’ll never go hungry again.

Anna says, Valentin called him from Chechnya and asked him to deliver a message to Sonny. He asked her to take it to Sonny in person, which she did, but their connection was so bad. She wanted to get some more information from him because she has a lot of questions. He says, such as? and she says, here’s the thing. Sonny is being very kind to her recently, which is nice, but it doesn’t change the fact he’s running a criminal enterprise. So it makes her wonder why Valentin is sending cryptic messages to him, but more important, what did that message mean? Because Sonny seemed to understand what he was referring to; she’d like to also. He says he’s sorry. He had no intention of involving her in any of this, but he was helping Laura in Russia and didn’t have choice. She says, she understands that. His priority was helping Laura find Nikolas, and she thinks that’s probably why she just went ahead and did what he asked without questioning it. He says he appreciates that and thanks her, and she says, but the timing is really interesting, right? Because she was delivering that message to Sonny at the MetroCourt pool, and two minutes later, she was shot at. There’s got to be some kind of connection. Is he keeping something from her?

Martin tells Cyrus, good luck. Is there anything else Cyrus needs him to do? Cyrus says, he’s done enough, and thanks him. Martin says he worries about Cyrus going back to that place. He’d hate to have to tell mother that something happened to him there. Cyrus says, somehow, he doesn’t think she would care, but he made peace with that a long time ago. Martin says, she always asks about him. He’s got to go see a client. Cyrus says, about a horse? and Martin laughs. He tells Cyrus to take care of himself and leaves.

In the hallway, Martin sees Austin and wonders if he can ask him a quick question. His brother is being transferred back to Pentenville today, and he’s concerned about it being so soon after the heart attack. Is Austin sure it’s not risky? Austin says, all of his test results are back and things look good. He doesn’t know Mr. Renault very well, but he seems like a pretty tough cookie. His phone dings, and he tells Martin that he wouldn’t worry. He’s sure everything is fine. Martin thanks him and continues on. Austin sees a text from Mason: Your office. Now.

Delusion Cyrus says, Sasha is just a violent psychopath. She cries, and Cyrus turns into Cody, who says, she’s going to be locked away for the rest of her miserable, pathetic life. Then you’re going to rot in hell for what you did to me, you crazy bitch. She says, no! She never meant to hurt him. He has to believe her. She thought he was someone else. She thought he was Cyrus; she stabbed Cyrus. He says, look at him. Look at what she did to him. She sees the knife sticking out of his bloody side, and scream/cries.

Real Cody says, Sasha does not belong in Ferncliff, and Brook tells him that he keeps saying that, but… He says, something isn’t right here. He can feel it. He just has to figure out what it is. She says, and he thinks getting into Ferncliff will give him the answer? and he says he does, but he can’t get in. He already tried once and almost got caught. She tells him, when he says it like that, it sounds like something shady is going on, and he says he may have told them that he was Dante Falconari. She says, he impersonated a cop? Is he crazy? He already doesn’t have a great relationship with the PCPD. He says, but he does have a great relationship with Dante, and she says, then why doesn’t Cody just ask Dante to get him into Ferncliff? He says, because that shyster Gladys has to give permission for any visitors. She doesn’t want him anywhere near that place. The last thing she wants is for him talking to Sasha, but she does like Brook. She’s his only hope. Will Brook call her please?

Olivia tells Tracy, absolutely not. She will not have her husband committed. Tracy says, he won’t be her husband again unless she has him committed. The best thing she can do for him is get him help. Ned continues to listen, and Olivia says, but how does Tracy know that committing him is going to help? They could load him full of drugs. They could give him electroshock therapy. It’s still legal to give someone a lobotomy. Tracy says, Olivia’s seen too many movies. It’s only a matter of time before he puts himself in a dangerous situation, or worse than that, he runs off with a groupie and we can’t find him. Olivia says, Ned would never do that, and Tracy says, right. Ned would never do that, but Eddie Maine would. They have to get him treatment. Olivia needs her husband, she needs her son, Leo needs his father. Please… Olivia says, no. She’s not going to do it. Not now, not ever. She doesn’t care if he calls himself Eddie Maine for the rest of his life. Tracy storms off.

Valentin tells Anna, okay. Initially, he was supposed to be an intermediary between a third party and Sonny Corinthos. They asked him to reach out to Sonny on their behalf, and he did. As soon as they came to a preliminary agreement, he assumed that was the end of his involvement. She says, until he asked her to give Sonny a message concerning who he should and shouldn’t trust while doing business with this third party. He says, that was information he was compelled Sonny should have, and she asks how he obtained this information he was compelled to share. He says he’s not sure he’s comfortable with this line of questioning, and she says, he sounds like a lawyer. Come on. He’s not talking to a client; he’s talking to her, the person he claims to love. Can he just tell her what’s going on? Like, why is he involved with Sonny, and who is the third party? He says, a defense contractor, and she asks, what’s the name of the company? He says, Pikeman.

Austin goes to his office, but doesn’t see Mason. He goes out into the hall, then goes back in, and Mason is in his office. He asks, what’s with the hiding? and Mason asks if he’s heard from Betty or Corinthos’s Pikeman connection? Austin says, this is Mason’s game, not his. Mason put all these pieces into play. You handle Betty. Although he hopes Mason handles Betty better than he handled Gordon. Mason says, Austin thinks he shot Gordon? He wouldn’t waste his time. Austin says, Mason didn’t like that guy and owed him money. Wait until the PCPD puts those pieces together. It’s motivation for wanting somebody gone, doesn’t he think? Mason says, if it was him, he wouldn’t be the one worried about the cops sniffing around. How long is it going to be before they find out Austin had a fight with Gordon outside the restaurant? It seemed pretty fancy and there were cameras everywhere.

Anna asks if Valentin has any idea how dangerous Pikeman is, and he says, years ago before Charlotte was born, he had dealings with them. He handled logistics, but he wasn’t working for Pikeman. He was working for an independent contractor, and they consulted on a few projects. She asks why he’s never told her about this before, and he says he’s done business with a lot of companies he’s never told her about before. She asks if that’s supposed to make her feel better, and he says he hates her thinking that he’s intentionally keeping secrets from her. Pikeman came to him because they know him and like his work. They know he has an acquaintance with Sonny, and it didn’t seem like an unreasonable request, so he did it. He thought that was going to be the end of it. She says, he’s not the only person who could make an introduction to Sonny. There has to be a reason they chose him. He says, it’s not easy to get a meeting with Sonny Corinthos. They asked him to be an intermediary, and he agreed. She asks why he would do that. What was he thinking?

Ned tells Olivia that he heard everything she and Tracy said, and thanks her for standing up for him. That woman is a bully. Olivia says, that woman usually gets her way, but not this time. He has nothing to worry about. She’s the only one who can have him legally committed and she has no intention of doing that, but she does want him to get help. Just not on Tracy’s terms. He says he appreciates her help, but the bottom line is, he’s not Ned. So no matter what they try to do – therapy, hypnosis, analysis – nothing is going to change him into someone he’s not. There is no Ned. He doesn’t exist. She says, yes, he does, and there’s a ton of evidence to prove it. There’s birth certificates and passports and driver’s licenses… He says, those are pieces of paper. He knows who he is. She says, he can’t argue with fingerprints. Whatever he may believe, he is Ned Quartermaine. He is her husband. He’s Brook’s father; he’s Leo’s father. And they love him, and they need him back. He says he’s sorry. Ned’s not coming back. He’s gone. She just has to accept that and move on. He won’t pretend to be someone he’s not. He needs to sing. He needs his music. That’s who he is, and without it, he’s nothing. She says, what if there was a way that he could have his music and be part of this family too? He says he doesn’t follow, and she says, his daughter Brook is a spectacular songwriter; use her. Why don’t the two of them make music together?

Gregory says, it looks like things are going well between Finn and Elizabeth, and Finn says, the signs point to yes. Gregory looks puzzled, and Finn says, the kid’s thing… The Magic Eight Ball. You shook it up and asked a question… Never mind. The outlook’s good; at least it’s a maybe. Gregory says he’s happy for Finn, and Finn thanks him, but says, Gregory never told him why he came over here. Gregory says he’s doing some research. He’s doing an op-ed in The Invader on memory care facilities. Finn says he’s sorry, but he has a patient he’s got to see. They’ll talk about that trip to Disneyworld. He leaves, and Tracy comes out of the elevator. She asks what Gregory is doing here. Actually, she was worried about him at the MetroCourt. He says he doesn’t know what she’s talking about, and she says, when they had dinner. He couldn’t pick up his credit card. Was something wrong?

Cody waits just inside a door at Ferncliff, while Brook goes to the desk. She asks what the nurse’s name is, and Janice shows Brook her ID. Brook says, Janice. That’s a nice name. She always liked the name Jan. The Brady Bunch was her favorite show. Does she remember Jan? She was always so jealous of her sister, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. Did anyone ever call her Jan? Janice asks how she can help Brook, and Brook says she’s actually here to visit her friend Sasha Gilmore. They work together at Deception, the cosmetics company. She’s sure Janice has heard of it. She should try their Perfectly Peach lipstick; it would look great with her coloring. Janice says she doesn’t wear lipstick and she hates peach, the color and the fruit. Just hand her a driver’s license and she’ll check to see if Brook is on the list of approved visitors. Brook gives her the license, and Jancie says, her name looks familiar. Does she know Brook from somewhere? Brook says she doesn’t think so, and Janice asks if she’s the BLQ who works with Blaze and Chase.

Anna says, Valentin had to know any dealings with Pikeman weren’t going to be above board. This is a defense contractor wanting to do business with the Corinthos organization, which screams illegal activities. He says, of course (🍷) he knew it would be questionable, but he didn’t care. She asks, why? Please help her understand. He doesn’t need the money. He says, it wasn’t about the money. He was hoping they could provide him with something more valuable than that. She says, what? and he says, when Pikeman first reached out to him, Victor had just framed Anna for Lucy’s so-called murder. He was blackmailing Holly Sutton; he was holding her son hostage. He seemed unstoppable, and Valentin was trying to find a way to stop him. She says, so he thought Pikeman could help him bring down Victor, and he says, yes. He thought there was a chance. She asks, why? and he says, because they’re connected to the WSB.

Gregory says, just because they had one dinner together doesn’t give Tracy the right to be calling around, prying into his private life. She says she wasn’t prying. She was asking a friend out of concern for him. He says, concern? She made a call asking if he had a medical problem. And since when are she and Alexis friends? His impression was that Alexis doesn’t include her in that category.

Finn comes out of the elevator as Elizabeth is walking by, and he says he has mold for her, handing her a box. She says she didn’t really like flowers anyway, and he says, it’s not really for her; it’s for Jake. He’s doing that science project for summer school and called Finn to ask for help. It’s about how mold grows into penicillin, so he grew some samples in his lab. There are some really good spores in here. She says she’s never seen someone so excited about fungus, and thanks him, taking the box. They hear Tracy say, this has absolutely nothing to do with Alexis, and Gregory saying, the more he gets to know her, the more he understands why Alexis… Elizabeth wonders why he did to deserve the wrath of Tracy.

Brook tells Janice that she was Chase’s manager, so he knows her, and Janice says she’s his biggest fan. The second a new song is released, she downloads it. She recorded his performance at the Nurses Ball and must have watched it a dozen times. Brook says, it’s her lucky day, because Chase and Blaze recorded a new duet. It doesn’t come out for months, but she can give Janice a sneak peek. Does she want to hear it? Janice says, that would be great, and Brook hands her earbuds, then scrolls on her phone. Janice listens and looks like she’s in heaven, while Brook motions to Cody and he slips down the hall.

Austin tells Mason, it wasn’t a fight. It was a heated discussion. Mason says, still. It doesn’t look good for Austin. Austin says, it had nothing to do with him. Gordon said Mason owed him money, and he told Gordon that he should talk to Mason. Something about another job he did for Mason. Does Mason want to explain what that’s all about? Mason says, Austin doesn’t need to know, and Austin says, he’s right. Get the hell out of his office. Mason says, where are Austin’s manners? He should be careful when he disrespects family. You never know when they’re going to turn on you. He walks out, leaving the door open.

Tracy asks Gregory what Alexis said that makes him think she’s not her biggest fan, and Elizabeth tells Finn that she’s sorry. He says, for what? and she says she knows Tracy is his friend, but sometimes she can come on a bit strong, doesn’t he think? He says, sometimes? Tracy is definitely an acquired taste, but she’s a good person. And he knows it’s hard to believe, but she has a soft side. She says, he’s right. It is hard to believe. He says, she’s also a ferocious backgammon player, and loves the competition just like his dad loves a good argument. It looks like he’s holding his own… kind of.

Tracy says she’s not going to stand here and defend her relationship with Alexis. It’s none of Gregory’s business. He says, just like his health is none of her business, and she says she can’t keep arguing with him about this. She has to speak to a doctor. He says, so she’s the one who needs medical help, but she says, it’s not for her. It’s for… It’s for her son. He needs to be committed.

Olivia brings Ned into another room, and says, that’s Brook’s keyboard. It’s where she writes most of her music. She’s sure Brook would love to have a writing partner. They could be Lennon and McCartney. He says he doesn’t know. He’s always done his own thing and doesn’t see himself as a duo. Olivia says, she wouldn’t be singing. She’d be helping him write songs and producing. He says, so she doesn’t sing? and Olivia says, she used to. It’s a long story. But it beats busking on a streetcorner, right? He says he needs more than this. He needs to be on a stage. He needs an audience. She says, he’s got one, and sits down.

Anna asks when this connection between Pikeman and the WSB started, and Valentin says he doesn’t know how far back it goes. He was with the WSB when Pikeman recruited him, as were a lot of current and former WSB agents who now find themselves working for Pikeman. It seemed to be some kind of revolving door. Any agent who left the Bureau could find a position at Pikeman. She says, so he worked for them years ago. She’s presuming at the time, Victor was head of the Bureau, and he says, yeah. Why?

Janice tells Brook that she’s all set. She’ll have an orderly take Brook to Sasha’s room.

Cody slips into Sasha’s room and sees her sitting against the wall. He says her name, but she doesn’t look at him. He closes the door and goes over to her. He says, it’s me, Cody, and she looks at him blankly.

Ned plays the keyboard as Olivia listens, and he flashes back to hearing Tracy say that he can’t keep staying out all night and partying. He’s going to crash and burn. She’s trying to stop that before it happens, and the best thing Olivia can do for him is put him in a psychiatric facility. He sings, and Olivia applauds at the end of the song. He says his throat’s really dry. Does she think she can get him something to drink? She suggests iced tea and leaves to get it.

Gregory says, committed? Why on earth would Tracy do that to her son? She says, Gregory saw him at Rice Plaza. He was delusional. He’s abandoned his wife, his children, and his business. What kind of mother would she be if she didn’t get him help? Gregory says, he’s not her responsibility; he’s an adult. She says, he’s an adult who believes he’s someone else. He says, she can’t lock him up because he doesn’t conform to who she wants him to be, and she says, this is not about her wanting him to be the perfect son. It’s about her trying to get him to see that he is her son, Ned Quartermaine. He says, she has no business giving away his agency. He has every right to live his life as he chooses. She can’t make decisions for him and deprive him of his liberty and independence. Doesn’t his freedom mean anything to her, because it should. Who cares what name he calls himself? The important thing is, he’s living his truth without anyone else interfering. If he hasn’t asked for help, he doesn’t need it. She says she didn’t ask for a lecture, but he says he’s just trying to help her see it from Ned’s point of view. She asks if he doesn’t mean Eddie. She’s sure he’s really trying to help her, but she knows what she has to do. She walks off, and Gregory goes over to Finn and Elizabeth. He says he doesn’t know how Finn puts up with that woman. If they’ll excuse him, he has some research to do. He leaves, and Elizabeth says, that was uncomfortable. He says, yeah, it was.

BTW, just call me Lady Gaga from now on. I’m living my truth.

Janice says, before Brook sees Miss Gilmore, she might want to prepare herself. Brook asks what she means, and Janice says, her friend is in a fragile state. She’s emotional and volatile. So Brook will need a medical professional with her during the visit. Ronald will stay in the room with her. Brook asks if that’s really necessary, and Janice says, yes. Dr. Montague left a note in her chart saying, all visits must be supervised. It’s for her own safety, as well as the patient’s. Ronald tells Brook, right this way please, and she follows him.

Cyrus is cuffed to a wheelchair and brought out of his room. Austin comes by, and looks at Cyrus, who smiles as he’s wheeled into the elevator. He continues to smile as the doors close.

Olivia brings in the iced tea, but the room is empty. She calls for Ned, then Eddie, but nothing.

Anna says, Valentin used to work for the WSB. He put together a deal with Pikeman and Sonny. Then he asked her, also a former agent, to deliver a message to Sonny. Then a couple of minutes later, shots are fired, either for Sonny or her, and the rifle used happened to be at one point in the custody of the Bureau. He asks if she thinks Pikeman and the WSB are behind the shooting, and she says she thinks the connection is stunningly obvious. She was the target, and she refuses to be a sitting duck, so if he’s got anything else he’s forgotten to tell her, now would be a really good time to do so, before they take another shot. Because honestly, the next time they might not miss. He says he’s told her everything he knows about Pikeman and their connection to the WSB. It kills him to think he put her in danger, because he never would have sent her to Sonny with that message if he’d known. She starts to walk out, and he asks where she’s going. She says, there’s a missing piece and she’s going to find out what that is.

Cody tells Sasha, it’s him; it’s Cody. Everything is going to be okay now. He’s going to try and get her out of here, okay? He touches her shoulder, and she says, no. Don’t touch her. She starts to scream at him to get away from her and leave her alone. She screams, get out! and Ronald runs in, followed by Brook. Ronald pulls Cody away from Sasha and tells him to get out right now. He’s calling security. Sasha continues to scream and cry, and Cody leaves, closing the door. Outside the room, Brook looks at Cody, terrified.

Tomorrow, Portia tells Trina, that’s the best news she’s had in a long time; Sonny asks if Nina is going to talk to someone; Marshall tells Curtis that he thinks it’s a good time to leave town; and Alexis tells Gregory, she’s so mad.

⚖️ Willing Walt’s Weturn…

They need to just give him a contract already.

Walt Willey Returns to GENERAL HOSPITAL!

🗽 Tidbits Of the City…

They probably deserve each other.

Unfortunately, Page Six links won’t get any bigger.

https://pagesix.com/2023/08/07/rhony-newbie-brynn-whitfield-confirms-shes-dming-shep-rose/

If it’s one of Oprah’s favorite things, it must be good, right?

‘RHONY’ Star Ubah Hassan Is a Model and Owns a Spicy Hot Sauce Company: See Her Career Highlights

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a44751955/real-housewives-of-new-york-ubah-hassan/

Old New York.

https://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/carole-radziwills-ex-adam-kenworthy-is-a-dad-see-her-reaction

🐡 Always Leave ‘Em Laughing…

No matter how bad the day is, a pet can always make you smile.

https://bestlifeonline.com/funniest-celebrity-pet-moments/

☔️ Not So Hot Fun In the Summertime…

Return tomorrow for soap and making fun of the OC. Until then, stay safe, stay swimming at a beach with a lifeguard on it, and stay living your truth. Hopefully without abandoning your family.

Aug8

August 7, 2023 – Anna Knows Who Shot Her, A Real Ace, Wish List, Goodbye Hello, New York Minute, Beverly Hills Leaks, Tips On Deck, Walking Again, Odd Pets (!) & Beach

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What I Watched Today

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

General Hospital

Scout comes out of the pool and thanks Sam for bringing her to her swim lesson. She says she misses daddy, and Sam says she does too. Scout says, they can miss him together, when Gladys comes in and says, that breaks her heart. Sam says she bets it does.

Cody walks into the nail salon, where Diane is relaxing, and says, her assistant told him where to find her. Diane says, that’s the last personal information her assistant is giving out, and Cody asks if she isn’t Sasha’s lawyer. She says, this isn’t the time or the place… and he says he’s here to let her know that he won’t be pressing charges and he won’t be cooperating with the PCPD if they decide to go after Sasha.

A woman tells Sasha good morning and says she hopes Sasha slept better last night. Sasha says she can’t remember the woman’s name, and the woman says she’s Mandy. How is Sasha feeling this morning? Sasha says, confused, a little scared to be here, and Mandy says, that’s not unusual. Sasha says she feels like she’s missing something important, like she’s lost a chunk of time, and Mandy suggests she get Sasha some water and maybe some breakfast. I wonder once again why Sasha has a room that has what looks like a refrigerated case from a deli in it, and Sasha says she thinks what would help is if she could talk to her guardian, her mother-in-law. Mandy says she’ll see what she can do, Sasha thanks her, and she leaves.

On the phone at the MetroCourt, Nina says she’s calling about their venue for her wedding. Sonny hands her a pen, and Brick gets Sonny’s attention. Nina says, no. They haven’t actually picked out a date, but they were thinking Valentine’s Day. Sonny meets Brick in a private area and thanks Brick for meeting him. Brick says, always. It’s good to see him. Sonny asks if Brick has anything good for him, and Brick says he always has something. They’ll see how good it is.

Nina thanks them and says she’ll be in touch, when Olivia goes behind the bar. Nina says, planning this wedding is going to drive her crazy, and Olivia says, really? Nina says she’s so sorry. She knows Olivia is dealing with so much more with Ned. She’s sure he’s going to come out of this. Olivia says, he’s not out of it now. Her husband is running around all over town, out all night, and she has no idea where he is or what he’s doing. Nina says, but when things like this happen… Olivia says, things like this? Like when her husband thinks he’s Eddie Maine? Nina says, Ned loves her, and Olivia says, Sonny loved Carly, and now he’s marrying Nina.

Gladys says she remembers Scout. She was shopping for dresses at Logan’s. Scout says, Gladys is the lady in the coat she didn’t want her to touch it, and Gladys says, kid, it was couture. Sam suggests she take a picture of Scout by the pool to show her daddy, and Gladys says, it must be hard. How’s she doing with her daddy in the slammer? Sam suggests Scout grab a chair and snack, and she’ll meet her at the chair in a minute. Gladys gets a call from Ferncliff State Facility, but she ignores in, putting her phone back in her bag.

There’s a knock at Laura’s apartment, and after hesitating a moment, Spencer opens the door to Valentin. Valentin asks if he can come in, and Spencer asks why he’s alone. Where’s his grandmother and Doc? Valentin says, they’re still looking for Spencer’s father. Esme stands in the doorway with Ace.

Anna goes into Robert’s office, and asks where he stands with WSB. He says, top o’ the mornin’ to her too, and she says, good morning. Where does he stand with the WSB? He says, since he became DA, he’s had very little contact with them. Anyone who was there during his years has either been fired, put out to pasture, or transferred. She asks if he doesn’t think it’s suspicious, and he says he thinks anything to do with Bureau is suspicious, particularly arresting her for treason. She says, that’s over now, and he says, is it?

Olivia says she didn’t mean for it to come out like that, but it must have occurred to Nina that her situation with Sonny thinking he was Mike might cross Olivia’s mind, given her current situation with Ned. Nina says, and Olivia still resents the fact she didn’t tell anyone, but Olivia says, that’s in the past, but the whole situation with Ned is shoving it back into her face. Nina says, it’s a little different with Ned. He’s here in Port Charles with his family. Olivia says, but he doesn’t realize they’re his family. She honestly thought that this was going to be over quickly; that she’d stick around and talk to him and be with him. But the look in Ned’s eyes… It’s like he’s not even there. Nina tells her, just keep trying. She’ll get through to him. Olivia says she thought she’d gotten through to him. He asked her to make him breakfast, and he actually asked her to tell him a little bit about her past, so she did. Nina says, sounds like progress, but Olivia says, it wasn’t Ned; it was Eddie. Ned already knows all of the things she told him. Eddie… Nina says, just take one step at a time, and Olivia says, he was out again all night last night. She didn’t even bother to check to see if he came home in the morning. For all she knows, he’s out there falling in love with some other woman, just like Sonny fell in love with Nina.

Brick says, they’ll start with the little fish, and puts a photo on the table. He says he’s sure Sonny recognizes them, and Sonny says, Ava’s favorite nanny, Betty Rutherford. Brick says, 26, no criminal record. She actually worked as a nanny briefly. Sonny says he’s not surprised about briefly, and Brick says, she also worked as a receptionist for a trucking company. Would Sonny like to venture a guess as to where it was? Sonny says, Pautuck, and Brick says, bingo.

Sam grabs Glady’s arm, and hustles her over to the side, asking, what is wrong with her? Gladys says, her dad is in prison. She’s got to learn the world is not always a safe place. Sam says she’ll decide what her daughter needs to learn and when, and if Gladys says one more word to Scout, she’ll throw Gladys’s ass in that pool so fast, she won’t even know what happened. Gladys says, okay. Maybe she got carried away. Maybe being here is bringing back the horrible memory of Sasha stabbing Cody. The look in her eyes… She wanted to kill him. Sam says she doesn’t believe it for a minute. What really happened that day? Gladys says, after she stabbed him? but Sam says, no, before. Who drove her to do something like that?

Sasha asks if Mandy got in touch with Gladys, and Mandy says she called the number Sasha’s mother-in-law left on her admission form, but unfortunately, she got voicemail. Sasha asks if she left a message, and Mandy says she did. She told Gladys that Sasha is asking for her. Sasha thanks her, when Dr. Montague comes to the door. Mandy asks if there’s anyone else Sasha would like her to call, and Sasha says, yes. Cody Bell.

Cody asks if Diane heard anything he just said, and she says, loud and clear. He says, Sasha shouldn’t be in Ferncliff, and he won’t do or say anything to keep her there, and Diane says, at the risk of sacrificing the one hour she has to herself today, she’ll engage, but he’d better settle. He says he’s sorry for barging in. Please don’t fire her assistant. Sasha needs help as soon as possible. Diane asks if he doesn’t think she’s going to get that help in Ferncliff, and he says, something is wrong with everything that’s going on with her. The look in her eyes when she… Diane says, allegedly stabbed him, and he says, yes. That wasn’t Sasha; at least not the Sasha he knows. Something else is going on, and he’s really worried about her safety. She asks what he means. He has to give her something specific. He says, and he will, as soon as she gets him into Ferncliff to see Sasha.

Spencer ask how things went in Chechnya, and as Esme listens, Valentin says, they found the Cassadine house. There was a new owner, and no sign of Nikolas anywhere. Spencer says, and Valentin just left them there? but Valentin says, no. They left Chechnya for Prague, and that’s when Doc and Laura decided they wanted to continue the search on their own. Spencer asks, where? and Valentin says, Cassadine Island, but there was no trace of Nikolas there either. Esme comes out and says, maybe they can’t find him because he’s dead.

Anna says, they can’t talk to Frisco because he left the Bureau, and Robert says, and the person who’s replaced him thinks the way to clean up the Bureau image is to fire everyone. She says, by disgracing, then distancing themselves from so many former agents, and he says, tis the way of bureaucracy, my dear. She says, by erasing the past. Just convince everyone it was all bad, and it makes the new regime seem so  much better. At least that was the impression she got when she was in London after the whole Greenland fiasco. He says, the late, not lamented Victor, and she says, it was just so weird. Like the entire process was orchestrated in a manner she just didn’t recognize. It all felt so alien to her, and she’s been debriefed more times than she can count. He says, this is the only reason she came charging in here? but she says, no, it’s not. There’s another reason. What does he know about Pikeman?

Valentin says, good morning to Esme and Ace, and remarks that Ace is getting bigger. She asks if he thinks Ace’s father could be dead, but he says he’s seen no evidence Nikolas is dead. Spencer says, there’s no indication he’s alive either, and Valentin says, that is true also. Spencer says, he’s just hiding the way he did when he had them convinced Valentin had killed him. He spent three years grieving that man. Esme says, they don’t know… and Spencer asks if she didn’t just say this is what he does. He makes a mess of his life, then he runs away from it. He certainly made a mess this time, getting his son’s girlfriend pregnant. Valentin asks if Spencer thinks he’d abandon Ace, and Spencer says, Nikolas abandoned him. That’s who their father is; he’s a coward. His grandmother’s off searching for him. She’d be better off coming home, not wasting time. Nikolas is better off gone from him and his brother.

Montague says, in the future, would Mandy please consult him before making calls for Miss Gilmore? and Mandy says, of course (🍷). He says, hello to Sasha, and Mandy says she thought she could help Sasha get more comfortable by removing her restraints. To my surprise, he says he thinks that’s a good idea, and they remove the straps from her wrists. Sasha thanks them, and he asks if that’s better. She says it is, and thanks Mandy, who says she’ll be back later. Sasha says she hopes Mandy’s not in trouble for calling her mother-in-law, and Montague says, of course (🍷) not, but he’s curious. Why did she ask to speak to Cody Bell? She says, Cody is her friend. He’s helped her before. He says, under the circumstances, she didn’t think that would be awkward? and she says, because she’s in this place? He says, because she tried to kill him.

Diane says she appreciates Cody’s desire to help Sasha, but even if she thought this was a good idea, she has no power to authorize a visit to Ferncliff; only her guardian can do that. He says he’ll find another way, because Gladys wouldn’t lift a finger for him, and he wouldn’t trust her if she did.

Gladys says, how dare Sam accuse her of doing something to hurt her daughter-in-law, but Sam says, whoa. She didn’t accuse Gladys of anything. Unless of course (🍷) Gladys thinks there’s a reason she should. Glady’s says, of course (🍷) not, but after Sam grilled her about her relationship with Selina Wu, it was crystal clear Sam is out to get her. Sam says, what’s clear to her, and Sasha’s friends, is she was perfectly fine, and handled a very difficult situation at Home & Heart without a problem. What doesn’t make sense is what happened after. Gladys says, maybe it would make more sense if Sam paid attention to her friend Sasha and less to snooping around about her.

Brick lays down another photo, and tells Sonny, Dr. Austin Gatlin-Holt, 48, no criminal record; graduate of New York State University, Buffalo, and Great northern Medical School. He came to Port Charles soon after delivering Maxie Jones’s baby. Out in the woods no less. They had a brief relationship. He’s currently dating who? Sonny says, Ava, and Brick says, the latest of the Quartermaines on his father’s side. Sonny says, Edward’s bastard son Jimmy Lee Holt was his father, and Brick says, they can move on to this guy. He puts another photo in front of Sonny, and Sonny says he met him, then he got whacked.

Nina and Olivia sit down with coffee, and Nina says, from what she knows of Eddie, he doesn’t seem like the type who would go out and fall in love with someone. Olivia says, maybe he’ll cut a swathe of one-night stands through Port Charles. Don’t think that hasn’t crossed her mind. Nina says, if she and Sonny are causing Olivia to overthink things, they can keep a low profile, but Olivia says, this is her problem, not Nina’s problem. She has to deal with it, and she will. Leo actually likes Eddie. Then he asks her where his father is, and she doesn’t know what to tell him… and it breaks her heart. Nina says, maybe Olivia should go home. She can take care of things here. Olivia says, Brook is taking Leo to class and taking him to the stables. Tracy can drive someone else crazy today. She came here so she can get her mind off all things Quartermaine and Eddie Maine, and she thinks she’s found the perfect thing to focus on to get her mind off of it. Nina says, the books? but Olivia says she’s going to plan Nina’s wedding.

Sam asks why Gladys is so paranoid. She thinks if she did some real snooping, she’d find some big trouble. Gladys says, all she’s doing is trying to take care of Sasha. Sasha is family to her. Sam says, right, and Gladys says she saw the look on Sam’s face at the hospital when Sasha wanted her guardianship rescinded. She thought it was a good idea. Sam says she certainly did, and Gladys asks if Sam can’t see that her loving concern is exactly what Sasha needed. She saw what ended up happening. Sam says, according to witness testimony, Sasha had no idea what happened, and Gladys says, that’s exactly her point. Sam and all the rest of Sasha’s so-called friends thought she was fine. She was the only one who saw the truth. She’s the one who wanted to take care of Sasha. Her friends couldn’t see it because some people manage to hide their feelings and hide what’s going on. Sam says she thinks Gladys is right about one thing. Some people are really good at hiding things. Sasha isn’t one of them. Gladys says, that’s because Sam doesn’t know Sasha the way she does. And she never will. Gladys leaves, and Sam looks over at Scout, who waves.

Sasha says she told Montague, she doesn’t remember stabbing Cody, but he says she did stab him. In front of a lot of people. She very nearly killed him. She says she guesses she needed help, and he agrees. He brings a chair over and suggests they start with what she does remember. She says, everything was going well. Some days were more difficult than others, like when someone tried to upset her on Home & Heart. But she handled it, and she was proud of herself for being able to handle it. He says, it’s clear now that she wasn’t dealing with it, and she says, but she was. She thinks it started happening after she took those pills he prescribed her. She took them for a few days and started to feel groggy and paranoid, and she started hallucinating and hearing voices. He says, the pills he gave her aren’t what caused her hallucinations or violent behaviors, but she says she was fine before she started taking them. He takes a plastic bag with a bottle in it out of his pocket, and says, they found these in her purse. It’s what caused her to try and kill Cody Bell.

Nina asks if Olivia is sure she’s thinking clearly. Isn’t this going to be too painful for her? Olivia says she loves Sonny. They have an amazing son, a spectacular grandson. She wants him to be happy, and Nina makes him happy. Nina says, what about Carly? and Olivia says, Carly’s her best friend; that ain’t gonna change. And deep down, she thinks Carly wants Sonny to be happy too… even if they aren’t on the best terms right now. Carly still believes Ned turned her and Drew in, and got Drew sent to prison.

Brick says, Gordon Stevens, 52. Sonny met him? Sonny says, briefly. Took him for an ex-con. Brick says, good eye. Five years in Pentenville for grand larceny. No wife, no kids, no family. Worked for a trucking company in… Sonny says, Pautuck, and Brick says, and finally, we have this guy. He sets down a photo and says, Mason Gatlin.

Valentin says he’s sorry he couldn’t bring better news for all three of them. He asks if Ace remembers him, then asks if he can hold him. Spencer nods, and Esme gives Ace to Valentin, who says, they spent a lot of time in Greenland, didn’t they? Good for Spencer. Not every brother would step up the way he has. Spencer says, it’s not Ace’s fault their father’s a coward, and Valentin says, he’s doing a good job. Look at Ace. After Greenland, he’s still a happy and well young man. Spencer says, Esme’s taken a lot of the responsibility. She’s determined to make sure Ace has everything he wants. She’s a good mother. Esme thanks him, and says, although she can’t quite figure out how to give him a bath without drenching herself. Valentin says she’ll figure it out, and tells Ace that he’s credit to his brother and mother. Spencer and Esme smile.

Robert says, Pikeman’s an independent defense contractor; been around forever. But then again, she should know that. So what is she really asking him? She remembers a Bureau agent saying he wants to ask her about the Greenland incident. Before she arrived in London, he went over several reports about Greenland, and he has a few questions. She says, of course (🍷). Whatever he needs. He asks, what possessed her to go rogue, run interference, and ignore the very specific mandate Agent Hursley gave her? and she says, with all due respect to Agent Hursley… He says, she provided him with no respect whatsoever, and she says she has to be honest with him. He didn’t seem to grasp the fact people’s lives were at stake and that there were extenuating circumstances. He says, there always is, particularly with her. It says here that after her arrival, she sought out Valentin Cassadine. She notices he has a file on Pikeman, and he says, as she’s well aware, the Bureau has been keeping track of him for several years, and there appears to be a discrepancy in her reporting on pages 6 and 12. Robert says, earth to Anna. Why is she talking about Pikeman? She says she’s sure it’s nothing. He’s been very helpful. She leaves, and he says he didn’t do anything.

Nina says, Carly blames Ned for what happened to Drew? and Olivia says, Carly came to the hospital when Ned was in ICU. They didn’t know if he was going to make it. She was a complete wreck and bit Carly’s head off, but it seemed like she still believed Ned did it. Olivia knows he didn’t. Before this thing went down, Ned swore to her that it wasn’t him and she believes him. Somebody else turned in Carly and Drew. Nina says, Olivia hasn’t spoken to Carly since? and Olivia says, no, but you know what? They’re going to get through it. She and Carly have been through a lot worse. Nina says, if Olivia is sure about this, she and Sonny would be honored to have her help plan their wedding. She’s called a couple of venues… Olivia says, whoa, whoa, whoa (WOTD). She’s going to stop Nina right there.

Brick tells Sonny, again, no criminal record. Austin’s cousin on his mother’s side. A trucker; works for the family business. Sonny says, the same business Betty and Gordon worked for? and Brick says, Sonny is doing his job for him now. Sonny asks if Brick thinks he’s the bigger fish, and Brick says, so far. The company was bought two years ago through a very well hidden LLC. No record of his occupation since. Sonny says, what about now?

Valentin promises Ace that he and Ace’s cousin Charlotte are not going to be strangers, and Esme takes Ace to the bedroom. Spencer says he hasn’t had a chance to thank Valentin for Greenland, but Valentin says, Spencer doesn’t have to thank him. Spencer says, if Valentin hadn’t shown up, Uncle Victor was going to use that pathogen on him and Trina. He wouldn’t have been able to face losing her. Valentin says, they all did what they had to do, but Spencer says he’s trying to thank Valentin and tell Valentin that he was wrong about him. Valentin says, no, he wasn’t. Valentin’s father is dead. Nikolas is gone. They have a rare opportunity to reinvent their family. Spencer says, Valentin thinks so? and Valentin says, Spencer, Ace, Alexis, her daughters, they’re good people. Spencer says he’s not sure he deserves to be included in that, but he’ll keep his nose clean if Valentin will. They shake hands.

Robert asks if Mr. Bell sorted Diane out, and she says, he did indeed, but she did not engage. Okay. She engaged a little bit, but only after he made his intentions perfectly clear. He is not going to press charges against her client Sasha Gilmore, and he steadfastly refuses to cooperate with any police investigation into the matter. He says, she stabbed him, and Diane says, allegedly. He says, it was in front of witnesses, but she says, he’s not going to press charges; he’s not going to cooperate. Robert has no case, so she requests all charges against Sasha Gilmore be dropped immediately. He says he’ll talk to the ADA, but she didn’t come all this way to tell him that. She says she didn’t, and holds up a ticket. She came to invite him to the Port Charles auto show – she hands it to him – this weekend. He says he loves car shows. It’s a date. She says, no, it’s not a date. It is simply two colleagues going to look at cars. He needs a new one desperately. He says he loves his car; he’s had it forever. She says, that’s precisely her point. It’s not good to hold on to things forever. He could get stranded by the side of the road. That’s what happens when you try to hold on to things forever; you get stranded by the side of the road again and again and again. Whereas a new model is very dependable and can also be exciting. Of course (🍷) you never know until you try.

Anna makes a chart with names, and remembers the debriefing agent saying, shortly after arrival, she sought out Valentin Cassadine. She thinks about seeing the Pikeman file, and draws a line between the WSB and Pikeman. She flashes back to telling Robert that they can’t talk to Frisco because he left the Bureau, and Robert saying, and the person who replaced him thinks the way to clean up the Bureau’s imagine is to fire everyone. She draws a line between Sonny and Pikeman, and flashes back to Sonny saying he’s working with a high-profile security firm lately. Has she heard of Pikeman? She remembers the agent saying that she sought out Valentin Cassadine, and draws lines from each pair of names – WSB-Robert, WSB-Pikeman, Sonny-Pikeman, and Valentin-WSB – to the middle, where she writes, VALENTIN. She flashes back to telling Sonny that he’s not to speak to anyone new. If his contact person is to change, do not proceed until he’s spoken to his original contact person. Does that make sense? He says it does. She draws a circle around Valentin’s name.

On the phone, Sam tells someone her name and says she was hoping to visit her friend Sasha today. The Ferncliff desk nurse says, only approved visitors are allowed to see Miss Gilmore, and Sam says, approved? The nurse says, she’d need to have the approval of Miss Gilmore’s guardian Gladys Corbin. Sam hangs up.

Nina says, if Olivia’s changed her mind about the wedding, she completely understands, but Olivia says she hasn’t changed her mind about the wedding. What is this crazy talk about other venues? There’s only one venue and she and Nina own it. Nina says, doesn’t she think people are going to… Olivia says, going to what? They’re going to read about the preparations on every website known to man? They’re going to be dying to have their wedding here? They’re going to bring in all kinds of business? Come on. Nina can’t possibly be selfish enough to deny the MetroCourt all that free publicity. Not to mention the fact that she’ll have a beautiful, spectacular wedding. Nina says, as co-owner of the MetroCourt, she guesses that makes sense, and Olivia says, if she has the wedding someplace else, people are going to wonder why. There will be cancelations all over the place. It can’t happen. Nina says, okay, and Olivia asks, so when’s the date? Nina says, they haven’t picked an exact date, but they were thinking Valentine’s Day, and Olivia says, ooh la la, romantic. It’s a great idea. Several months away… She could plan Harry and Meghan’s wedding in less time. Nina puts her hand on Olivia’s and says, thank you.

Brick says, this bastard is blackmailing him? and Sonny says, Ava. Brick says, because of the connection to his cousin? Why don’t they just take all three of them out and be done with it? Sonny says, they can’t. He has Nikolas Cassadine’s body. Brick says, so he didn’t run. He’s dead. Sonny lowers his voice, and says, Ava killed him, but she says it was an accident, and Brick says, wait a minute. Sonny’s saying they have her ex-husband’s body? Sonny says he’s got to protect her because she’s the mother of his child, so they can’t do anything until they get the body back. Looking like he has a headache, Brick says, hands off, and Sonny says, he lives until they get that body back.

Esme comes back out with Ace, and says, Valentin’s gone? and Spencer says, yep. She says she wanted him to see Ace’s new outfit. Oh well, next time. She tells Ace that Valentin liked him. He didn’t seem so bad. Spencer says, he’s not, and she thanks him for saying she’s a good mother. He says, she is, and she says, it’s just nice to hear. Although it’s not hard to be a good mother to this guy. Sometimes she thinks she couldn’t love him more, and every day she does. Maybe it’s because he gets cuter every day. Spencer says, that’s true. Ace is a very good-looking kid brother. She says, why don’t they take some pictures? and Spencer says, sure. They take pictures of Esme and Ace, Spencer and Ace, Ace alone, and the three of them. They look at the photos afterward, and Spencer says he thinks he’ll send this one to grandmother. Actually, he should probably send all these to grandma. She’d love to see Ace. Esme laughs and pushes Spencer’s hair out of his eyes.

Sasha looks at the bottle and says, these aren’t hers. She hasn’t been using. Someone must have planted them in her purse. He says, but she knows exactly what these are, doesn’t she? and she says she stopped taking them. He says, her bloodwork says otherwise. She’s been taking these for months. She says, no. She went to rehab. She beat her addiction. He says, she must know how common relapses are. There’s nothing to be ashamed about. She says she didn’t take them, and he says, if he’s going to help her, he needs to deal with the facts he has, and she needs to accept them too. They need to get those drugs out of her system, and this will do just that. He takes out a syringe, and puts it in her IV tube.

Cody goes to the desk at Ferncliff, and tells the Nurse Janice that he’s here to see Sasha Gilmore. She asks what his name is. She has to make sure he’s on the list of approved visitors. He says he’s sure he’s on the list. Sasha was married to his late cousin Brando Corbin. He’s Dante Falconari. Mandy joins them, and says, Sasha talked about her husband Brando, and Cody says, his death was a blow to all of them, but particularly for Sasha, obviously. That’s why his family is worried about her. Can he please see her?

As they walk into the restaurant, Brick says, Sonny takes good care of his exes, that’s for sure. He made sure to protect Carly’s new beau in prison. Now Ava. What’s next? Nina says, hey, Brick, and he says, what’s up, gorgeous? Olivia joins them, and he says, and another gorgeous. Olivia laughs, and Nina asks if everything is all right. Brick says, it will be, and Sonny asks why it looks like they’ve been up to something. Nina says, Olivia graciously agreed to help them plan their wedding, here at the MetroCourt, and Sonny says, really? That means a lot to him. Brick says, Sonny leads a charmed life, and Sonny smiles.

Janice asks to see Cody’s driver’s license, calling him Mr. Falconari, and he checks his pockets. He says he must have left it in the car, but she says she’s sorry. No one gets in to see Miss Gilmore without the consent of her guardian. If he wants to run to his car and get it, visiting hours are until 7 pm. He says he parked pretty far away, and Mandy says, he’s family, a cousin-in-law. Janice says, it wouldn’t matter if he was her brother. Miss Gilmore’s guardian was very specific. Cody says he bets she was, and Mandy asks if it isn’t time for Janice’s break. She can cover the front desk. Janice says she didn’t ask Mandy to do that. She’s sure Mandy has patients to check on. Mandy says, always do, and leaves. Cody says he’s sure Janice can understand how concerned they are about Sasha. He just needs a few minutes. She says she thinks she made it pretty clear what he needs. She’s sorry, but she has to follow the rules. The only way he’s getting in here is if he has an ID or he’s a patient. He tells her, have a nice day, and she says she intends to. He leaves, and I think I see an idea lightbulb over his head. Will he be checking in soon?

Scout asks, what’s wrong? but Sam says, there’s nothing wrong. Scout says, she has that look on her face. The look she gives when Scout is in  trouble. Did she do something bad? Sam hugs her and says, she didn’t do anything wrong. Someone else did.

At the salon, Gladys tells the nail technician that the color’s not too young for her (like a nail tech would suggest that), when her phone rings. She asks if everything is okay, and Montague says he has everything under control. She says, how’s her daughter-in-law? and he says he can assure her, she’s doing just fine.

Sasha lies on her bed and says, please. She doesn’t want to be here. She wants to go home.

Diane says, Robert suddenly doesn’t seem too enthused at the prospect. That’s okay. She’ll take Alexis. He says, Alexis doesn’t appreciate cars, and Diane says, but Alexis appreciates spending time with her, snatching the ticket out of his hand. She says, adios, and leaves.

Anna says, Valentin linked to Sonny – she draws another line – Sonny connected to Pikeman. What’s Valentin’s link… Valentin walks in, and asks, what’s going on? She says she thinks she knows who shot her. And she thinks he knows who too.

Tomorrow, Brook tells Cody, it looks like something shady is going on; Anna asks if Valentin is keeping something from her; and Tracy says, it’s time to have Ned committed.

👶 Pair Of Aces…

It seems like it would be a lot of fun. And she doesn’t have to change their diapers.

Avery Kristen Pohl Reveals What It’s Like Working With Baby Ace on GH

🥀 Possibilities For a Funeral…

I was actually hoping for some kind of date as to when Bobbie’s death might be announced, but nope. It’s just speculation as to who might show up when it happens. It would be amazing to see them all.

General Hospital Says Goodbye to Bobbie: The Former Faves Who Have to Be on Hand

🧼 In Other Soap News…

And he’s out.

https://www.avclub.com/days-of-our-lives-fires-a-very-angry-albert-alarr-after-1850710795

An Aussie import is in.

https://www.soapsindepth.com/posts/abc/australian-soap-neighbours-premieres-in-america

🗽 Wazzup New York…

The latest on the ladies (and I use the term loosely) in Manhattan.

RHONY Recap: Brynn Cries as She Opens Up About Her Childhood Trauma, Plus Jessel Calls the Ladies “Cackling Hags,” and Addresses Intimacy Issues With Her Husband

💎 Polishing Up the Diamond…

My only question is, what the blip is that doodad in Camille’s Instagram post?

Everything That’s Leaked About Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 13

💵 Hey Big Spender…

You’ve come a long way, yachties.

Biggest Tips From Below Deck Charter Guests

⚰️ Extension Of the Dead…

George, too, will never die. But in the best way.

https://ew.com/movies/george-romero-zombies-walk-again-twilight-of-the-dead/

🦘 Odd But Cute…

More animals to adore and want, but did they have to put Hugh Hefner’s picture up instead of, oh, I don’t know, one of his pets? Also, note to self: Do not let Charlie Sheen pet sit.

https://list25.com/25-oddest-celebrity-pets/

🏸 Summer’s Last Stand…

If you liked today, come back tomorrow for more soap and tea. Until then, stay safe, stay being resilient, but not a pushover, and stay not trying to hold on to things forever, or you might get stranded by the side of the road.