There was devastating heartbreak, a shocking betrayal, a scandalous hook-up, and a welcome breakthrough. And that was just on Monday.
I have to admit that this week felt more like the climatic conclusion to sweeps week rather than just an ordinary week in the middle of ho-hum September. It was completely unexpected. This is why GH has once again become must-see TV for me. You never know when you are going to be treated to such outstanding performances and storytelling as we were this week. With the exception of one or two characters, I think that everyone had a scene this week that was Emmy worthy.
Let's start with Sonny who recently decided to stop taking his medication so he could properly grieve Connie by subjecting himself, and those around him, to unending emotional torture and misery.
I hated that Sonny went off the meds because I don't like him when he's like that. However, I understand that every once in a while, characters need to be shaken up, and this was a good opportunity to do so with Sonny. I thought that Maurice Benard did a fantastic job of showing Sonny careening towards destruction like a runaway train, especially during the party when he was in a particularly manic and randy mood.
I cracked up during the scene when Carly and Olivia were watching with matching expressions of revulsion as Sonny flirted with a young waitress. It was at that moment that both ladies in Sonny's life agreed that he had stopped taking his lithium.
For the first time in quite a while, I actually felt some genuine sympathy for Sonny as he desperately tried in vain to explain to a disbelieving Morgan that it was best for everyone, Morgan included, for the truth to come out.
Naturally, Morgan strongly disagreed with Sonny's epiphany and viewed it as Sonny choosing Michael over Morgan. Personally, I don't see it, because Morgan should have never asked Sonny to make that kind of a choice. It was selfish and unfair, but it was equally stupid of Sonny to agree to it. Morgan's pain over Sonny's betrayal didn't move me because Morgan's reasoning was so twisted and convoluted that it was downright nonsensical.
I recall the scenes that led to Morgan being sent away to military school. It wasn't an easy decision for Carly, but it was repeatedly stated that Morgan had been eager to go there and had loved the school. We were also told that Carly and Sonny visited him often. Finally, it was drummed into us that it was Morgan's choice to go abroad during vacations and holidays despite his parents' repeated requests for him to return home. It annoys me when they rewrite history, because it has ripple effects. You can't say that Carly is a good mother and then have her son accuse her of abandoning him.
Although I'm not Team Morgan, I have to say that I absolutely loved Brian Craig's performance as he blasted his parents and Michael. It was the first time that I caught a glimpse of Sonny in Morgan, and it made me wonder if Carly's words later that evening might have been a bit of foreshadowing. Morgan's erratic and irrational behavior could easily be seen as red flags for bipolar disorder.
Dan Kroll had Dr. David Brendel on Soap Central Live this week discussing how mental health, including bipolar disorder, is portrayed on soaps. It was quite fascinating and informative, so I urge everyone to take some time to listen to the show.
The most powerful scenes this week were the ones between Sonny and Carly, when Carly tried to make Sonny understand why taking the lithium was so important. She pointed out that one of Sonny's children -- *coughs* Morgan -- might end up having their own struggle with bipolar disorder, so Sonny needed to be a shining example that the disorder can be managed and that a person could live a fulfilling life with treatment. It was such a great message to put out there.
There were some readers who were concerned that GH was somehow advocating for people with bipolar disorder to stop taking their meds, but I never saw it that way. If anything, the show did a really good job of illustrating just how quickly a person's life and their relationships could unravel if they decided to stop seeking treatment.
Sonny paid a high price for not taking the lithium because he lost Morgan. Morgan shouted the infamous Corinthos family creed: You're dead to me! and then marched out of Sonny's life and straight into Cougar-Ava's waiting arms. I have no doubt that Ava has been secretly waiting for a chance to take Morgan to bed because she's been having eye-sex with him from the moment that he descended the staircase sans a shirt in her New York City penthouse all those months ago when Morgan first returned to our screens.
AMC had Erica Kane and Charlie Brent, OLTL had Dorian Lord and Joey Buchanan, and now GH has Ava Jerome and Morgan Corinthos.
I'm not sure what to make of Morgan and Ava yet, because at the moment I'm too busy trying to remind myself that this is fictional, so no actual people are being harmed.
I have a son who is a little younger than Morgan, so the mother in me is disgusted on every single level by the idea that Ava would even consider sleeping with someone young enough to be her son. I'm not particularly bothered by the fact that he's married to her daughter because I never considered Morgan and Kiki's marriage to be real, since Kiki hadn't entered into it in good faith any more than Morgan had. My issue with Morgan and Ava right now is not his physical age, but rather his mental age. Morgan, right now, is a man-child. He has the body of a man but the IQ of a turnip and the impulse control of a two-year-old.
Ava reminds me of a cat that is playing with the mouse before she pounces and devours it. More than anything, I feel the overwhelming urge to scream, "Run," when I see Morgan lock lips with Ava.
I can't see this ending well for Morgan, regardless of how it plays out, because he's going to eventually find out that Ava had marked his father for death from the beginning and that Morgan had merely been a tool for her to get closer to her goal. As far as betrayals go, that one trumps all the others by a long shot.
Meanwhile, Michael and Kiki's love is rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the scorched and shattered lives of their loved ones. Isn't love grand? I like Michael, but it was a little hard to watch Kiki this week because everything conveniently worked out in her favor. She got exactly what she had wanted to begin with and then was handed a free pass on a silver platter when Morgan slept with her mother.
I appreciated that Kiki at least acknowledged that she had committed the greater sin by not loving Morgan as much as she had Michael, but what did that cost her? Morgan? She didn't want Morgan; she wanted Michael, and so the end of her marriage isn't a hardship. I don't like it when people get away with bad behavior, and right now, I think that is exactly what Kiki did.
I applauded Morgan this week when he informed Kiki that she didn't have the right to act the injured party whose husband had been seduced by her wicked mother. He reminded his fickle wife that Kiki had spent months lusting after her husband's brother, so she wasn't in any position to judge anyone. Kiki came off as spiteful and just as cruel as she accused her mother of being when she slapped Ava and then called her a slut.
I want so much to root for Michael and Kiki, but I just can't warm up to Kiki. She could have spared everyone a lot of heartbreak if she had just been honest from the beginning and not married her second choice.
I am beginning to suspect that the male actors on GH are contractually obligated to flaunt their pecs at least once a month. This week, it was Carlos' turn when he showed up in the ER with a laughable scratch that looked like he had grabbed a red Sharpie and then drawn a squiggly line, in an attempt to make it look like a trail of blood, on his shoulder.
It's clear that Carlos isn't one of those misunderstood bad guys. He's pretty much bad to the core. I will not be the least bit surprised if he goes stalker on Sabrina because he has that vibe about him.
As I watched Carlos this week, I kept trying to picture him dating a much younger and even more innocent Sabrina. I just couldn't see it. Carlos seems the jealous, possessive, and volatile pseudo-abusive type who would snap early in a relationship. No way did Sabrina date him for a long time and not realize it. I saw it during the first five minutes when he showed up at Patrick's house.
I also question Carlos falling deeply and hopelessly in love for meek goody two shoes Sabrina. It seems to me that Carlos would be attracted to a woman like Sam because of her sultry sex appeal and edge of danger. Plus, I can see his "machismo" mentality convincing him that he's man enough to tame a strong woman like Sam. In comparison, Sabrina would be as challenging as taming a bunny.
In other untamed heart news, Carly is currently lusting after Franco, which even she recognizes is a disaster in the making.
There is no denying that Roger and Laura have wonderful romantic chemistry and an undeniable visual appeal, but their characters are just a hot mess right now. The writers need to backburner a romantic relationship between Franco and Carly for the time being because the timing isn't right. The only way that Franco and Carly will work for me is if they become friends first. Good friends, not instant friends like they are now. It will give them a real foundation to build on. There's too much bad history between them to justify Carly suddenly developing romantic feelings for Franco.
Carly getting jealous over Franco having a "groupie" spend the night and Franco mooning over Carly like a lovesick puppy feels forced and fake. No way do I believe that Carly would even consider trusting Franco, given that he was the guy who put a violent rapist directly into her son's path. Yes, Franco did it, thinking that he was protecting Michael, but it doesn't matter. If that had happened to my son, it would take a lot more than a tumor, a few tears, and a request for forgiveness.
I would have to see a significant and consistent change for the better to even consider letting that person into my life, much less his victim's life
I think that the writers should consider a triangle with Carly, Julian/Derek, and Alexis with the endgame of Julian/Alexis. This way, Carly will stay busy having fun catfights with Alexis, while Franco proves to Carly and the viewing audience that he deserves a second chance.
The writers also need to dust the mothballs off of Liz and send her over to Wyndemere pronto to rescue the prince from the evil witch's -- I mean Britch's -- clutches.
I don't care if little Ben's "Grossmutter" was mean to Britt growing up. Britt is a pathological liar and a manipulator. She can't help it. It's like blinking for her. Even now, she is keeping a father from his child and using that child to bag herself a prince. Clearly, A.J. is going to rot in jail, because only the truly guilty are set free in Port Charles, so I want Liz to get a happily ever after with Nikolas..
Britt hasn't earned the right yet. I haven't seen any indication that she's changed for the better because, right now, it just appears that she's traded one obsession for another and is resorting to the same underhanded tactics to get what she wants.
By the way, my father is German, and I lived in Germany for several years, so Liesl referring to herself as Grossmutter wasn't something that most German grandparents would do. Many prefer the less formal and more endearing titles of Oma and Opa (grandfather) than Grossmutter and Grossvater, which are seldom used.
I know that Liesl has been shown to be exceedingly stern and proper with Britt because Liesl considers Britt to be a huge disappointment, but Liesl had a completely different reaction to the baby when she found out that Britt was pregnant with Cesar's precious grandson, so I fully expected Liesl to introduce herself as Oma to her grandson.
We closed out a fantastic week of twists and turns with an annual visit from the undead. Our favorite villainess, Helena Cassadine, popped in for an appearance on Cassadine Island to mess with Luke's head. It was positively delicious. My favorite line of the week was when Helena purred to Luke, "I picked out a nice warm spot by the fire just for the two of us." I suspect that even the Devil would scoot over to make room for Helena.
It dawned on me on Friday that the compound on Cassadine Island reminded me of the hotel in The Shinning. Except, instead of snow, hedge mazes, and little Danny Torrance riding around on his Big Wheel, muttering "Redrum," there's sand, Greek statues, and Stavros skulking about the corridors moaning "Laauuuuurrrraaaaa."
Could Stavros be the man who entered the high-security room in the Cassadine dungeon at the close of Friday's show, or was it Jerry Jacks or someone else from Luke's legion of enemies? I can't wait until Monday to find out!
A few things that tickled my fancy
Silas denies to Sam that he was kissing Ava
Sam: "I bet you were trying to take a DNA sample and you ran out of cotton swabs, so you used your tongue instead, right?"
Franco opens the door without a shirt on Diane: "Oh...I, ah, didn't realize you kept yourself so healthy."
Tracy learns that Lulu and Dante asked Spinelli to be Connie's godfather
Tracy: "Spinelli? You can't trust your daughter's spiritual well-being to that boob. By the time he's done with her, she's going to be worshiping at the altar of Spiderman."
Brad is eager to give Felix a special present, but Felix refuses to accept it
Brad: "Come on, don't you even want to know what I got you?"
Felix: "Is it crabs?"
Luke breathlessly answers his phone after he knocks out a Cassadine henchman
Luke: "Spencer's House of Pain."
Thank you for taking the time to read this week's column. I love to read your thoughts, too, so click here to send me an email, or scroll down the page to leave comments.
Until next time, dear readers, take care.
Liz Masters
