General Hospital Watching General Hospital

[TJames03]

Where was Audrey during the deal with Gail??

Lesley and Monica are comedy gold, btw....

 

[Daniel Avery]

The real answer, of course, is that Rachel Ames retired several years ago. The running joke about 'Gram' Audrey being an off-screen, beeping horn ("Boys, Gram's here to take you to school, hurry up!") isn't even being used any more to give the idea that Audrey is in Port Charles, just off-screen. Liz has Franco to be the convenient babysitter, and of course Cameron is now old enough not to need Audrey to pick him up from school or whatever. They may speak of Audrey occasionally (usually in situations involving the vets like Gail, Monica, etc.) but I think they're trying to make the viewers forget about her since Ames has turned down all recent requests for cameos. They moved Lee and Gail to Fort Lauderdale without really mentioning it on the air as it supposedly occurred...only announcing their move as part of the news that Lee had died earlier last year. I assume at some point Liz will mention in passing that Gram similarly moved to Florida or somewhere else since this is how they slowly nudge veterans out of a soap.

 

[TJames03]

Oh, I didn't know that Ames has turned down cameos. P/ss off, then, lady........

 

[Daniel Avery]

It's a shame that it takes a death to give us another Quartermaine-centric episode. No matter who's writing, it seems they just love killing off Qs and having them all gather to mourn/emote. Poor Monica has seen so many of her family members pass on that she must have a charge account at the florist shop. Though it was touching the first time they had "Edward and Lila" escort the latest Q casualty out of the show, I think this time it was a bit much; but I never can get enough of Monica being comforted by Drew. Those two are golden. Heck, even ol' Stoneface Jason even managed to show some love to his mother for once.

The kid playing Oscar even managed to hold his breath through all those 'crying over the corpse' scenes. More power to ya.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I hate that they got rid of Oscar. The kid was such a good actor for someone so young.

 

[Chris2]

Rachel Ames is going to be 90 this year. Who could blame her for not wanting to work anymore. And maybe she is physically or mentally not up to it.

 

[Cliff Barnes]

The show continues to be a boring and preachy disappointment as it has for a few years now. I miss when it was entertaining and soapy but clearly Disney and ABC like it like this.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I wonder if Kristina is really cured, or just acting?

 

[Daniel Avery]

I think it's a little of both, actually. She's so wishy-washy (bordering on spineless) that she just goes along with whatever people around her are saying/doing. If she managed to stay away from Shiloh and his bunch for a few months (preferably a productive job or maybe volunteer work overseas) then she might get it all out of her system. But you can reasonably predict Shiloh's going to pop up in her life within a day or two, and after a few manipulative sentences out of his mouth she would probably fall right back under his spell. Not because he is so smart, or she is so weak--but because both things are happening at the same time.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I notice they are kind of wishy-washy on Shiloh's crimes--Michael called it "sexual coercion" and Sonny called it "attempted sexual assault". They are incredibly reluctant to use the term "rape" which is what he actually does to women.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Maybe because in Sam's case, she has blurred the line. She (and Jason) dreamed up this ridiculous plan to have Shiloh A)drug, B)tattoo and C)have sex with her so they can then have him arrested. The only problem is that she went to him and insisted she wanted him to do B and C, and though she knew A would be part of the package, she did not object or refuse that part, either. In essence, she was submitting to the entire ugly scene, so what part of this would be a crime?

Dumb as a box of rocks, I say.

I think they will get as far as they can with dancing around the 'sex cult' details, then create a big "Who killed Shiloh?" plot to end it before they scratch the surface. They've already put at least seven characters into the potential suspect list--I even have three "most likely to have done it" characters and the guy isn't even dead yet.

 

[Ray&Donna]

Kelly Monaco seems hopelessly bored in every scene. I mean, even with Shiloh drugging her, she was like a limp rag in those scenes.

Perhaps Brad will do the deed since he is an easily-expendable character.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I agree with you about KM's lack of...vigor? in her acting. I think (but have no way of knowing) that she doesn't want to be paired onscreen with Steve Burton, and thinks that she can show her displeasure through a half-assed performance. That's a theory, but it would not explain why she seems nearly as zombie-like in her scenes with practically everyone else. One of the memorable times I have seen her 'come to life' onscreen was years ago when they paired her with Jason Thompson's Patrick. She even wore clothing that had colors! And if she really did want to extricate herself from JaSam then you would think she would have put forth more effort when Sam was still paired with Drew, claiming she intended to stay in her marriage with him when Jason first returned.

I realize now that if they decide to break up Nina/Valentin to pair her with Jax, their shipper name will be NinJax.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I agree about the Steve Burton thing. She really came alive when paired with Jason Thompson.

Nina, Maxie and Sasha were horrible cows the other day, talking about Ava. What did she ever do to Maxie anyway? Nina inducing labor and stealing Avery is far worse than what was done to her by Abby Cunningham.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I'm only guessing that Maxie would 'take Nina's side' in the Nina/Ava feud without any motivation other than being Nina's friend/sister-in-law. When it comes right down to it, none of the ladies ought to be dragging each other, since they're currently wrapping themselves in the whole "empowering and supporting their fellow women" stuff at the magazine. Perhaps the hypocrisy is intentional (like with Carly acting all superior to Nelle back in the day) but I'm guessing not.

NuNina is set to show up next week, so expect them to use this as an excuse to (possibly) re-set the relationships of that whole circle of characters. I would have been all over NinJax had Michelle Stafford remained on the show, but now I'll have to wait and see if Jax would be better suited to Ava (AJax?). A triangle would be inevitable, and Carly would be all jealous and trying to interfere, since she believes no one is entitled to her exes. Oh, and no amount of re-directs or recasts will ever make me okay with Maxie/Peter.
If they're so invested in making Willow/Chase happen, and Sasha can't possibly be long-term, then I say we pair Maxie with Michael.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I'm only guessing that Maxie would 'take Nina's side' in the Nina/Ava feud without any motivation other than being Nina's friend/sister-in-law. When it comes right down to it, none of the ladies ought to be dragging each other, since they're currently wrapping themselves in the whole "empowering and supporting their fellow women" stuff at the magazine. Perhaps the hypocrisy is intentional (like with Carly acting all superior to Nelle back in the day) but I'm guessing not.

NuNina is set to show up next week, so expect them to use this as an excuse to (possibly) re-set the relationships of that whole circle of characters. I would have been all over NinJax had Michelle Stafford remained on the show, but now I'll have to wait and see if Jax would be better suited to Ava (AJax?). A triangle would be inevitable, and Carly would be all jealous and trying to interfere, since she believes no one is entitled to her exes. Oh, and no amount of re-directs or recasts will ever make me okay with Maxie/Peter.
If they're so invested in making Willow/Chase happen, and Sasha can't possibly be long-term, then I say we pair Maxie with Michael.

They seem pretty intent on sacrificing Maxie's character to advance Peter, and it's not pleasant to watch. I actually think Michael is too mature for Maxie, though his taste in women, past and present, seems to suggest otherwise. The Sasha secret obviously has to come out sooner or later if they're going to split Nina and Valentin.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I have to wonder if the producers are afraid to thrust Maxie into a front-burner story, given KS's unpredictable and disruptive "leaves of absence" for various off-screen issues. I don't fault her for looking out for her own well-being, of course, but the producers likely worry that if they map out a major storyline for her, some temp might end up getting to play it.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I wonder if her leaves of absence had anything to do with Ryan Paevey's departure? It seemed like his story got pushed to the side when Maxie was off-canvas. The "Man Landers" debacle, for starters.

I forgot to record the show with the DVR, so I am missing it this week while on vacation, so I am missing the beats in Willow's story play out.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Willow's story (with all its side-stories) really is the best thing they've got going these days. When they do the paternity test on Wiley and it reveals Shiloh isn't the father, she ought to lie through her teeth and say she slept with another guy shortly after having sex with Shiloh...because it was so unsatisfying that she needed to see what it was like to have sex with a real man who lasted longer than ten seconds. This is the first time in ages where I do not feel a newcomer (in this case, Katelyn MacMullen) isn't "eating the show," despite her Willow being on so much and being at the center of a major story. I guess the "soft" introduction made the difference. Compared to how Peter August was crammed down our throats last year, this is a definite improvement.

It might be a total coincidence, but the man they're claiming to have been Willow's father had the last name Miller. I was left wondering if perhaps he is related to (like the brother of) Diane Miller? Since it looks like Shiloh killed the guy, it would give Diane the chance to join in this "let's get Shiloh" story even more than she already is involved.

Elsewhere in PC: Several months ago, Dante returned from his undercover work having been brainwashed by Raj and his gun/drug-running mob. Dante realized he'd been brainwashed to kill someone, most likely Sonny and/or unnamed WSB agents. So the WSB ship him off to "DeProgramming Camp". Two weeks ago, a young pick-pocketer Dante and Sonny met in Turkey during the whole Raj story inexplicably showed up on Sonny's doorstep. The kid, Dev, claims he bought a fake passport and snuck into the US, hoping to find Sonny and get help to become an American citizen. So of course Sonny just opens his home to the kid and has no fear whatsoever that something might be amiss with the whole story. If Raj could capture and brainwash Dante to kill people--people Dante knew and loved--then don't you think it might be possible that Dev's arrival is just the Second Wave of Raj's efforts to get someone into Port Charles to kill people? And are we to believe that some kid who picks pockets on the streets of Istanbul could suddenly come into enough money to buy a fake passport and a plane ticket to the US...and know exactly where Sonny lives in the US? He couldn't possibly have had help in getting past immigration and TSA and into Sonny's home, do ya think? Sonny is a moron.

 

[Ray&Donna]

Ha ha! I think Dev is intended to be Josslyn's next boyfriend, despite his outlandish introduction.