Dear readers, there is so much hot drama this week on GH, both on the show and apparently behind the scenes, as well.
I was torn about where to begin, but I have decided to start with Valentin, the fictional character that I'm a little bit in love with.
Brook Lynn finally confessed to Valentin that he is not "Bailey's" father, and his gut-wrenching reaction left me with tears streaming down my face. I know that Brook Lynn did a bad thing for a good reason, but Valentin doesn't know it, and he's just crushed. He's wrecked by knowing the baby girl he has poured his heart into for months does not belong to him. Oh, it's so hard to watch him cry!
He's also heartbroken because Valentin believed that he and Brook Lynn were kindred spirits. Now, he assumes that she used him for control of ELQ. While it began that way, it morphed into so much more. I agreed with Nina when she suggested months ago that Maxie should come clean to Valentin and that he would help them. But Maxie opted not to do that, and now, the secret they were trying to keep has blown up in their faces.
Valentin poured his heart into parenting and bonding with a baby that didn't belong to him. At that moment, James Patrick Stuart summoned every betrayal he had ever experienced and let it rush out through that wounded look in Valentin's eyes. It was a soul-crushing scene.
I would be remiss if I didn't equally praise Amanda Setton. Brook Lynn is hard to like sometimes. She is brash, selfish, and entitled. But this new version of Brook Lynn, the one who has been raising her former enemy's baby and engaging in cover-ups and lies daily to protect Maxie's secret? She's incredible, and Amanda broke my heart as Brook Lynn listened to Valentin toss harsh accusations at her. Yes, they were true. She lied to him, and at the start, it was for her own gain. But she knows what Valentin does not. This lie probably saved Bailey's life. She wants to tell Valentin the complete truth but doesn't dare. Brook Lynn truly admires and genuinely likes Valentin; she doesn't want him to hate her, but to absolve herself with the truth would endanger "Bailey"/Louise's life.
Enter Chase. From the end of Friday's episode, it appears that Chase put all the pieces of the mystery together and has taken it upon himself to help Brook Lynn and Maxie. Chase claimed that he was "Bailey's" father, and we all know that's not true. I think his run-in with Bobbie and her tale of Beechers Corner was the missing piece Chase needed to figure out what was going on. He knows that "Bailey" is Louise, and he decided to help by claiming to be "Bailey's" father. If Brook Lynn isn't already in love with Chase, she will be after this. Chase is such a good guy. If I were Willow, I'd have picked Chase, but that's just me.
All these lies may be for naught -- it seems that the catacombs under the Cassadine castle have collapsed with Peter and Jason in them.
Okay, I have a lot of questions. Can you dig underground tunnels on a tiny island? It seems architecturally unsound. Like, if you dig deep into the ground on an island, aren't you... in the ocean? Science is not my forte, by any means, I only took Earth Science in high school because I refused to dissect anything. In college, my boyfriend did my science and math homework, and I wrote his speeches and English papers. And we drank a lot. Is it any wonder I never graduated? Oh, well, it was the 80s, and I have fantastic stories.
But I digress...underground tunnels on Cassadine Island. Drew, Liesl, and Britt are seemingly clear of the collapse, and the random guard has run off into the night. Side question: how high would you go in the "I'll pay you double what he's paying you!" game if you are a person of means? I mean, if you were a random thug, and you could get a bidding war going for your shady services, this could be pretty lucrative. But since everyone bidding on you is a criminal of some sort, how do you know they will pay you double or pay you anything at all? There are no contracts, no HR department, no union, just someone yelling, "I'll pay you double what he's paying you!" and the thug runs off into the night with no actual money.
Back to the collapse. First off, the fact that Jason and Drew both took their eyes off Peter again after he has escaped like 42 times now makes me just want to slap the writers. Jason, Drew, Liesl, and Britt are not idiots. Yet none of them noticed Peter escaping again? And then he only ran to the other side of the tunnel to shoot at Jason and Drew? Ugh. I am tired of having to write about Peter escaping. If you want to keep Wes Ramsey, I get it. Fine. Give Peter a twin. Make him a new Quartermaine, like Austin Gatlin Holt. But please, just kill Peter August.
Under typical soap circumstances, I would assume it was a false alarm and that Jason and Peter were both going to be okay. But now? Not so much. Now I must dive into the backstage drama. Rumor has it that two beloved GH actors may be on their way out due to their non-compliance with the vaccine mandate.
I know people have strong opinions on this both ways, but I don't understand it for the life of me. Maybe it's because I am old. When I went to elementary school, we lined up in the cafeteria and got vaccinated. Measles, mumps, chickenpox, smallpox -- I honestly don't remember how many or what they were, but I do recall getting vaccinated in the school cafeteria as a child. And no one protested, and no one refused, and no one screamed about their rights. It was accepted that getting a vaccination prevented deadly diseases from spreading. Today, it seems that everything must be politicized, and common sense has evaporated. Some people seem to prefer conspiracy theories to facts, for reasons that evade me. As I said before, I'm not good at science, but I trust the scientists to be good at it!
Back to GH. If these rumors are true, Jason might be dead under all the rubble. If so, Britt will blame herself for involving Jason in her quest to find her mother, Drew will blame himself for not protecting his brother, and Liesl will call Peter a Schwein again and try to comfort Britt in her time of grief. Carly will also blame Britt and add Britt to the people she hates list with Nina.
Yesterday was the first time Sonny dipped his toe in the water of confessing to Carly how close he and Nina actually became while in Nixon Falls. When Carly finally understands that "Mike" was full-on in love with Nina, it will wreck her.
Sonny may be angry with Nina in his mind, but I think his heart still has feelings for her, despite himself, and I find myself looking forward to those accidental run-ins between Sonny and Nina. Maurice Benard and Cynthia Watros have a charming dynamic. Nina was all kinds of wrong to keep Sonny from his family, but she's not the first girl in Port Charles to do the same. Liz Webber was shacking up with Jake Doe after realizing he was Jason (at least for a while). Mary Bishop was shacking up with "Connor," who was actually Nikolas, but in her defense, she was crazy and thought he was her dead husband, if memory serves. Liz bounced back and is a respectable member of society again, and Nina will be forgiven, too.
What I really want right now is Nina to reconnect to Valentin, if nothing more than as friends. I think they need each other right now. Sure, I love Valentin with Anna, but I still have a soft spot for Valentin and Nina, too.
I also have a soft spot for the adorable pairing of Spencer and Trina, but I wonder if they will ever manage to connect due to the evil known as Esme. When I saw her put the doorjamb in the door at Ava's gallery, thinking she was locking Trina in the back room, I shuddered.
Readers, sometimes, when GH does product placements and full-on advertisements during the show, it irritates me to no end. But I thoroughly enjoyed the National Geographic Photo Ark tie-in, and it made me wish I could go to that exhibit. I'll probably buy the book. Those photos are breathtaking, and the entire project is fascinating to me. Joel Sartori's work is magnificent. I know ABC/Disney/National Geographic are all part of the same company, and I know it was an ad, and I just don't care this time. I loved it. But I'm still mad about the V-8 week.
Readers, was it just me, or did Ned and Ava have a little spark in those scenes where they discussed his underwriting the Photo Ark exhibit? Wally Kurth and Maura West had twinkles in their eyes in those scenes together, and I was digging it. I can't imagine under what circumstances those two could end up as a couple, but if I were a writer for GH and saw that sizzle, I'd be writing my ass off to make it make sense for them to be together.
Meanwhile, Olivia seems shocked that Ned bought her kid a book, and I wonder who it is she thinks she's been married to all this time? Sure, Ned can be ruthless in business, but he's a nice guy. He's a hero. Ned and Jenny. Ned and Lois. Ned and Alexis. (Okay, there was that one affair with his Aunt Monica, but in his defense, he didn't know they were related at the time.) He's made some errors in judgment from time to time, but he's never been a creep, and on a show where half the town is in the mob, that's saying something. Ned spent one night with his ex when Olivia left town with another man while his daughter was recovering from having her throat slit by a lunatic. She was unreachable. He assumed she was having an affair. And Olivia has made him pay for the better part of a year, never admitting her own errors in judgment and never admitting her attraction to Robert.
But when Leo runs away, suddenly Olivia has seen the light and is willing to listen to Ned and the rest of the family, who has been telling her for months that Leo needs to see a doctor. Better late than never, I suppose. I adore Lisa LoCicero; I think she's fantastic, so please don't read into my annoyance with the character she plays. She's doing a tremendous job acting out what they have written for her. It has just bothered me to watch Ned grovel for so long, see her kissing another man, and still be so tender with her when their son went missing. Again, Ned's a good guy, and he deserves better than what he is getting. Maybe a fling with Ava would do him good after Ava finds out Nikolas is still doing shady things with Uncle Victor.
Speaking of Uncle Victor, he is out and about, and Scott got locked in his cell. Who will spring Scott? Robert has left for Greece, Chase is claiming to be Brook Lynn's baby daddy, Jordan is in a coma somewhere, Valerie hasn't been seen in months, Dante was showering and searching for Leo, Mac is AWOL, and yes, I'm whining about the lack of cops in Port Charles again. The point is, no one in any position of authority is in the jailhouse, so I guess Scotty is stuck in Sing Sing for the foreseeable future.
Okay, readers, I am a little fearful that baby boy Corbin will not make it. This is sad, but if my guess is correct, it will spare us the scenes of Gladys' grandmothering skills and give Brando the ticket to get back into the mob. I hate to admit it, but I found myself softening to Gladys this week when she and Sasha were locked in the art gallery back room, and she was being kind and compassionate to Sasha. That's a new look on her, and I liked it.
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Willow take up boxing full-time and get Laila Ali to coach her? Will Curtis' dad have a good reason for pretending to be dead for 40 years? Will Ms. Wu get Brad out of jail in time for Thanksgiving? Will Laura be back in time to get Spencer a Christmas stocking? Will Phyllis keep giving Carly sound advice that she rejects to do precisely what she wants, anyway? Will I ever look at Austin and not wish he was Franco? Will Victor and Valentin do Ancestry DNA tests to see if other Cassadines are lurking about? Will Charlotte be super happy to discover she doesn't have to share Papa with a stupid sister anymore? Will Luke, Lucky, or Lulu make it home for Christmas this year?
Only tomorrow knows, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.
What are your thoughts on General Hospital? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
