Credit: ABC screenshot
This week officially marked the beginning of General Hospital being written by temp writers. And even though we made some progress in several storylines, there seemed to be a lot of filler conversations rehashing what’s been happening over the past several weeks to months. That does happen from time to time, but it should be interesting to see how the soap progresses moving forward through the continued writers’ strike. Friday’s show really picked up steam though and brought several surprises.
Gladys the Gaslighter
It feels like it’s no longer a question of how awful Gladys is, but how much lower she can sink. As if getting Sasha sent to Ferncliff wasn’t bad enough, now she and Dr. Montague are gaslighting her into thinking she was never getting better. At least Sasha is finally onto the doctor but hasn’t put the pieces together that Gladys is also involved in her predicament. And naturally, before she could alert anyone, the doctor drugged her.
Fortunately, Cody finally opened up to Dante about his involvement with Gladys and Selina and his suspicions that Gladys has been using the guardianship to fund her gambling habit. Thank the stars, as maybe there is hope for Sasha! Between Cody, Dante, Sam and now Maxie, who also feels something is off, hopefully, we won’t have to endure months of Sasha locked away and drugged up. Sasha has been through the wringer, so watching her being tortured even further is not just heartbreaking, it’s infuriating. Sasha has basically become a punching bag in Sonny’s gym at this point. While watching Sasha scream for help, and Gladys leading Maxie off so she couldn’t hear her, I could actually feel my blood pressure rising!
The show could, should they choose, easily free Sasha and send her off on a mental retreat after what she’s been through. That would be a nicer way to explain the actresses’ off-screen maternity leave. And while that’s not as dramatic as her current situation, Sasha deserves some happiness. I only hope when Gladys is exposed she ends up in Ferncliff!
It’s About Dang Time!
Since the beginning of Ava’s Nikolas and Mason drama, viewers have been wondering why Ava didn’t immediately go to Sonny. He has no love for Nikolas, so it’s not like we knew he’d turn on Ava. They’ve made a lot of progress in getting to a good place between them in parenting Avery. So it was no shock to us viewers that when she finally spilled the beans to him, Sonny was more than happy to help her and deal with Mason. Plus, Mason’s threatening their daughter, so why wouldn’t Sonny step up and help?
It’s unclear how much freedom the temporary writers have over the storylines, but this is one many viewers would be happy to see fast-tracked. Like many storylines as of late, they’ve dragged this one out for what feels like an eternity. It really feels like with Ava bringing Sonny on board that this story has finally turned a corner. Not only is it time to reveal who is behind Mason and the Gatlin Gang, but find out the fate of Nikolas. The one problem I see happening is now that it’s Ava and Sonny against Mason and his family, Austin seems to have been written into yet another “what do we do with this character” corner.
Laura and Lulu Are Back… Well, Sort Of…
It’s been a few weeks since they left, but Laura and Valentin were back on our screens and safe, well as safe as they can be, in Chechnya. However while exploring the old Cassadine villa there, which seemed to be the set that was Jax and Carly’s old house just repainted, they discovered it had been sold and the new occupants had no idea where Nikolas was. Of course, we all know this is all a wild goose chase and Nikolas is in Pautauk. With them back on our screens, and Anna in the preview for Monday’s show, hopefully, this means Laura and her family are coming home and back together. Laura is the heart of the show, and she and her children and grandchildren need to be a bigger focus.
And speaking of Laura’s children, Lulu was back! Well, somewhat. It’s felt like ages since anyone has mentioned Lulu and am even longer time since someone mentioned visiting her. So imagine the surprise when on Friday, Dante took Charlotte to visit her. But why not Rocco too? Hey, I won’t nitpick too much, at least we got a visit with Lulu, even if it was just a bed and some blankets. But the real surprise was Dante mentioned Lulu had been relocated from the specialty burn hospital to General Hospital. Yes, Lulu is back in Port Charles. As I said it’s been a long time since Lulu has been mentioned, so this really feels like we are getting closer to Lulu waking up, which Charlotte pleaded with her mom to do. And no your eyes weren’t playing tricks, that was not the most recent actress to play Charlotte, but the original.
Other Storyline Thoughts
Just as we get to know the new actress to take over the role of Molly, who reportedly is permanent, they write in that Molly had an “accident.” Immediately many fans thought, “Oh no they didn’t!” take inspiration from Haley Pullos’ real-life problems to sideline NuMolly. It turned out Molly just tripped, but she is in a foot boot, leading one to wonder if the actress may have actually injured herself. It wouldn’t be the first time a real-life whoopsie had to be written in. And as I said last week, this is a great time to pause this surrogacy storyline as we acclimate to the new actresses. It feels like that is what is happening too, with the shift now moving towards Kristina working on opening her youth center.
Michael and Willow do have an adorable family, but it’s not enough to make them interesting. And while Nina did everything she could to be pleasant during her visit, Michael just had to be snarky and couldn’t wait to rush her out the door, even though Willow invited Nina there. So imagine my shock when Nina took matters into her own hands to politely tell Michael his attitude sucks, which is written all over his perpetual stink face. Kristina was a lot more blunt and just said, “Bro, why you always got to be such a bastard to Nina?” Now I get it, Michael has every reason to dislike Nina, but he also should respect Willow’s wishes. Also, perhaps Willow needs to have a talk with Carly and make the same request she asked of Nina, drop the vendetta.
Curtis reacted predictably to the news of his paralysis, by angrily pushing Portia away. As Dr. Portia noted, it’s not uncommon for patients to initially react this way. Fortunately, it appears we won’t have to endure angry Curtis for long, as Finn got through to him with his woo-woo new age spiel as Curtis put it. That actually got a chuckle out of me!
Chase and Brook Lynn’s skinny dipping dare was total filler, but unlike say Finn and Liz’s date, it was fun and entertaining. I’m liking that they are loosening Chase up when it comes to being a strictly by-the-rules guy.
As if we already hadn’t suspected that Esme was hot for Spencer, she all but spelled it out at the end of Friday’s episode by whining that Trina was more important to Spencer than she and Ace were. ‘Sprina’ better watch their backs as Esme 2.0 is coming for them.
I had suggested a while back when Carly started to fall on hard times she should start working at Kelly’s, but I thought more along the lines of a waitress. Still, it was nice to see her taking over the family business from Bobbie, who is in Amsterdam dealing with Luke’s finances. Obviously, they are biding time to figure out how to write Jacklyn Zeman’s death, and I’m okay with waiting. This is a show I want the actual writers penning, not the temps. And getting back to Carly, I loved the eye-roll and Clueless-inspired “Whatever” she gave Ava and Sonny TWICE when she realized they were up to something but didn’t care what.
Finally, I saved the best for last, well maybe second best after the Lulu surprise. Yuri was back! What a nice treat to see him, and the acknowledgment that he and Terry have been together for a year now. Now if we could only get more of them on our screens.
That’s my thoughts for this week, and as always, add yours in the comments!
