Series TV Latest News: Caralynn Lippo

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Monday, May 07, 2018

General Hospital Review: One Way or Another

How long will it be until someone figures out Peter August's big secret?

This week on General Hospital, the answer seemed to be "soon... like, really soon."

Over the course of these past few months, multiple groups have inched closer to tracking down Henrik Faison. At this point, even Valentin is actively warning Peter that his days of remaining hidden are numbered.

Peter is really better off coming clean, owning up to everything, and hoping for the best (aka, not getting murdered by Jason).

I'm getting antsy waiting for this all to blow up in Peter's face, because I think the fallout has the potential to be amazing soap. Not so much because of Peter himself, but because of everyone else involved.

When the truth about Peter's identity comes out, eventually Port Charles will find out that Griffin knew and kept it a secret. Valentin was even more directly involved in the cover-up.

And, of course, there's the matter of Anna being Henrik/Peter's mom.

I absolutely loved every single Robert/Anna scene this past week. The two have amazing chemistry that remains as strong as ever.

Robert's reaction to the news that Anna is Henrik's mom was perfect. He was shocked, but not judgmental. He immediately moved towards supporting her and helping her figure out the best course of action.

Unfortunately, Robert's involvement has landed him in hot water. The last we saw of him on Friday, he was on a plane and had just been drugged by Valentin.

That fake-out at the end of Wednesday – when Anna announced to Jason that "Henrik's mother is right here" – really got me.

It was such a classic soap end-of-the-episode fake-out. For a second, I really thought Anna was coming clean and telling Jason the truth. I got excited.

In reality, Anna was making the situation even more complicated, by setting in motion a plan in which she'd lie about lying about being Henrik's mom. Confusing, right? That's pretty much guaranteed to backfire on her.

Also, Anna is fooling herself if she really thinks she can stop Jason from killing Henrik if that's what he decides he wants to do.

This is Jason we're talking about. He's not big on mercy or forgiveness.

Speaking of people Jason is not willing to forgive...

Liz and Franco finally returned to our screens after quite a number of days absent.

Their scenes on Thursday were brief but very sweet.

Becky and Roger have great chemistry. It's just a shame they're stuck in this rut, all because the writers are doing backflips trying to explain away all of Franco's past misdeeds.

Franco's redemption has been, pardon my French, a clusterf*ck, but the writers are too deep in it now to do anything else. They've got to see this through, and I guess they're handling it as well as they can.

Franco has been keeping busy helping the kids with his art therapy and reaching out to Harvey's other victims to help them find closure. I'm intrigued to see what this Steven person wants and why he's asking to meet up.

There was also the Sonny/Ava debacle to contend with.

After Mike and Avery were found safe and sound at the end of the previous week, it was obvious that Ava would use the situation to her advantage, regardless of being cruel to an old man with Alzheimer's.

Listen. I'm no Sonny apologist here. It certainly irks me when the writers have characters virtually ignore his and Carly's many misdeeds. But objectively, what Ava did was awful.

Ava lost custody of Avery for legitimate reasons. This wasn't a situation where CarSon manipulated the system to claim Avery for their own. It was Ava's own fault.

Furthermore, Ava proved that she wasn't actually concerned about Avery's safety in this situation.

When she agreed to joint custody, that much became clear – because if she really believed that Avery living with Mike put her in danger, she'd have pushed to keep the two of them apart completely.

By agreeing to split custody, Ava confirmed that she was just looking out for her own interests.

Ava was also a total idiot when she lied to Griffin about the circumstances of the custody agreement.

Why on earth did Ava think Griffin wouldn't find out from Sonny or Carly what Ava had really done?

Their confrontation was fantastic, with really strong work from both Maura and Matt. Like I've said before, I don't particularly have strong feelings either way about this pairing – but they knocked it out of the park after Griffin called Ava out for her duplicity.

Interestingly, and kind of annoyingly, the argument went nowhere at all.

Ava was unapologetic, and Griffin just sort of... cooled down and let it go. It was weird, wasn't it? That scene had such a strong start and then just sort of fizzled out with an "OK, guess I'll see you at home later."

Finally, there was the matter of Nelle vs. the Corinthos family.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Chloe Lanier is great, and the writers are squandering her talent if they have her go too far off the deep end, past the point of no return.

In fact, Chloe recently won the Daytime Emmy for Best Younger Actress.

For that reason, I'm really hoping that Nelle stops her scheme to drive Carly crazy before it's too late and there are lasting consequences. Right now, they're sending her down the same road they sent Lisa Niles all those years ago.

Lisa Niles wasn't any great loss, but I'd actually be sad to see Nelle get killed off.

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A soap villain attempting to convince his or her enemy that they're crazy is a trope as old as time. It's still silly that Carly (or anyone) hasn't considered the fact that it could be Nelle, a known manipulator, messing with her.

But I can forgive it because of Laura Wright's performance.

Laura is really amazing. I love the way this storyline is resurfacing Carly's grief over losing Morgan in a very real and organic way. It's been over a year since his death, but it's still fresh for her, in the same way it would be fresh for a grieving mom in real life.

I'd be shocked if this storyline and its eventual (hopefully soon) resolution doesn't earn Laura an Emmy next year.

Other Thoughts:

I'm sorry, but I truly could not care less about Jordan and Curtis' potential engagement. I like Curtis just fine with everyone else, but those two have very little chemistry in my eyes.

That said, I cannot even with Aunt Stella's objection to the possible marriage. She is completely insufferable, except when she's supporting Mike's family through his Alzheimer's journey.

This whole thing with Finn and Chase is definitely helping me feel sympathy for Chase but it's also making me dislike Finn. I'm sure they'll resolve their differences soon enough, but for now, it's bringing out all the worst in Finn.

But speaking of Chase: I've noticed some of the GH fandom is jonesing for a Chase/Kiki pairing. Let's get them in a scene together asap and see how that goes!

Ava inadvertently used Nelle's disappearing ink pen when writing her donation check for the Nurse's Ball. It's interesting that Ava will potentially be Nelle's downfall.

Dr. Bensch is so, so sketchy. I'm glad that Griffin apparently is catching on to that fact. Hopefully he'll help Kiki extract herself from this terrible situation.

Are the writers planning to give Josslyn a personality outside of "mini-Carly" at any point? I hope so.

Elizabeth Hendrickson is joining GH as a new character! I'm really excited about this news. I loved her characters on All My Children and The Young and the Restless. I thought she had particularly great chemistry with Billy Miller back when he was on Y&R, so I hope they get a chance to work together again. Drew needs a distraction from Sam.

What did you think of General Hospital this week? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and be sure to join us again next time!

This post appear first on General Hospital Review: One Way or Another by Caralynn Lippo

Sunday, April 22, 2018

General Hospital Review: Lost and Found

The central story this week on General Hospital was the disappearance of Mike and Avery. They remained missing for the entire week, in a lengthy ordeal that wasn't what I expected.

The story was an emotional one, with ample opportunity for great performances from all of the major players involved.

Mike and Avery wandered off in the final moments of Friday's episode. They remained entirely off-screen until a full week later, when Dante had his epiphany about their whereabouts.

It was an effective choice to keep the audience in the dark as much as the characters on-screen. By not cutting back and forth to Mike and Avery at the horse stable, the writers managed to ratchet up the tension and the fear about whether the two were okay.

I didn't doubt for a second that Mike and Avery would be found alive.

There's too much left to tell in Mike's story, and killing off (or seriously harming) both of those vulnerable characters would've been a bit too dark for General Hospital.

The way it all unfolded was perfect, particularly as word first started to spread about the disappearance.

Maura West was an MVP this week. Ava's emotions ran the full gamut between desperation, frantic worry, anger, and even guilt that her own criminal past may have caused the disappearance.

Maurice Bernard and Laura Wright were, as usual, excellent too.

The pair have such fantastic chemistry; it truly felt like you were watching a real-life couple support one another through one of the most difficult experiences imaginable.

I loved the fact that Dante was the one to save the day by figuring out where Mike had taken Avery. It was even better that his long conversation with Mike at the police station a few weeks back is what led to the breakthrough.

Dominic Zamprogna is such an incredibly talented (and underused) actor. He's always quietly emotional, never over-the-top. That really worked in his favor during the scenes between Dante and Mike in the stable.

I've gotta say, those stable scenes were some of the best on this show in a long time. Both Max Gail and Dominic knocked it out of the park.

I'm always asking for the writers to give Dante meatier material – ideally separate from Lulu's journalism nonsense – and it seems like they're finally starting to deliver.

It was well worth the wait!

Now, it just remains to be seen what the fallout of this event will be.

Ava is on the warpath and intent on using this incident to regain custody of Avery. It's an obvious move for her character – it falls in line with what her goal has been all along and it also (sort of) makes rational sense.

I just feel so bad for Mike, because it's clear he really loves his granddaughter. And there'd certainly be ways for Carly and Sonny to ensure Avery is kept safe. But because this is a soap, Ava will absolutely unleash hell on earth to keep her daughter away from Mike.

Interwoven with Avery's disappearance were Carly's concerns about her mental health.

Griffin officially confirmed that there was nothing physically wrong with Carly's brain, as we already knew. He suggested that she see Dr. Collins, insinuating that the problem may have been emotional/mental instead.

Of course, Carly reacted angrily. There's nothing more frustrating than knowing something is real and true and having literally everyone else in the world doubt your sanity!

Finding Avery and Mike - General Hospital

Laura is always great in high-stakes, emotional territory like this, so I'm enjoying this storyline simply for the performances. However, logically, it just doesn't make a lot of sense.

As the weeks go by, I'm finding it harder and harder to suspend my disbelief. It makes no sense whatsoever that Carly (or anyone else!) wouldn't have considered that Nelle is messing with her.

Carly knows that Nelle hates her. Nelle conspired against the entire family not too long ago, so they know she's capable of going to great lengths to manipulate and destroy.

Why has no one even mentioned that Nelle might be behind this?!

This bizarre blind spot would make more sense if Nelle was at least "playing nice" with Carly. But she's not even doing that! She's acting bitchy as heck – totally like someone who would be playing mind games would act.

But no – Sonny is much more willing to believe that Carly is losing her mind.

Sure, it's happened before, but are they really not even going to consider the alternate scenario? This is a poorly plotted storyline, and I'm hoping it's over fast.

Actually, the only way this could be redeemed is with an epic twist.

In my dream version of GH, Nelle would drive Carly to the brink of insanity and then Morgan would actually show up, alive, unbeknownst to all of them (including Nelle).

That would be pretty crazy and soapy, wouldn't it?

Meanwhile, over in Switzerland, two separate groups worked to track down information about Henrik.

Though it was initially Anna and Jason working together, that all fell apart when Sam and Robert individually showed up. Jason, Sam, and Spinelli wound up going undercover to hack into Henrik/Peter's bank, while Robert, Anna, and Emma went to a bunch of boarding schools to find information about Henrik's past.

On the Sam/Jason front, this was a perfect trip down memory lane for shippers.

But, uh, did anyone else think it was weird and sort of bad that Sam left her kids at the drop of a hat to go off adventuring with Jason?

It sort of encapsulated the exact reason Sam shouldn't be with Jason.

If I were Drew, I'd be real mad that I agreed Sam could take our infant daughter all the way across the world – only for her to instantly toss the baby at Grandma Alexis in order to go play private investigator.

I get that Sam and Jason are reliving their glory days and reconnecting and all that, but it's kind of annoying and cringeworthy how the writers have retconned the past five years.

Now, it's all "Sam never felt fulfilled after Real Jason died! Even when he came back and she was loving life, she was secretly not, because reasons."

Honestly, that's a bunch of bunk. We all saw what happened, and that wasn't the case at all.

Sam really, truly loved her life with Drew for a long time. There wasn't a hint that she missed anything about her "glory days." It seemed like she grew up and simply developed other priorities in life.

Of course, I'm not completely made of stone. The trio all dressing up and playing characters to infiltrate the bank was pretty fun.

Plus, they seem to have gotten a good look at a photo of Henrik! Does that mean they know he's Peter now?

On the Robert/Anna/Emma side of things, I loved how the writers had Emma be an expert kid spy.

It was very cute and perfectly in keeping with the precocious little girl she's always been.

On a practical note, they didn't actually get much information about Henrik, other than that he has brown eyes, loved theater, and may have gone by the name Henri Francois as a student.

The actual takeaway? Robert totally knows that Anna has a personal stake in this case. I'd bet that by early next week, she confesses that Henrik is her son.

That'll be a hell of a scene, and I'm looking forward to it already.

Curtis and Nina are also closing in on information about Peter back in Port Charles.

I like how the writers have several different sets of characters racing to find out the truth. It's just a matter of time before Peter's cover is blown.

The only question is how Maxie will deal with it. And whether Nina will ever be able to forgive Valentin! (Speaking of which... Where has he been?)

Another big part of the week is something that I officially no longer care about at all: Franco's childhood trauma.

That sounds terrible, doesn't it? Well, yeah, it probably is. But I still don't care. Sorry, not sorry.

I'm not denying that this could be a great, powerful story. It's just... not turning out that way. It is, quite frankly, a slog to get through.

The writers just seem to be devising ways for people to talk about how great Franco is and how he was never really bad after all.

But that's not how you redeem a villain! The best villain redemption stories (in soaps and beyond) don't rewrite the villain's past. They reckon with it, they come to terms with it, and they slowly but surely give the character complexity and development as they transition them to antihero and, eventually, hero.

Think Damon on The Vampire Diaries. Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. On the soap front, EJ on Days of Our Lives was a significantly better villain redemption than this!

Roger Howarth has been great, of course, and has turned in plenty of powerful moments. Just this week, his imagined confrontation with Betsy was great.

However, Becky Herbst is drastically underused, being relegated to Franco's perpetual cheerleader. It's been ages since she's had a great story of her own. So lame.

This story could be good, but for now, it just seems like a waste of time – and an excuse to prop up Franco's character (at the expense of Liz) yet again.

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Other thoughts:

So... did Nelle use invisible ink on that Noodle Buddha menu she left for Carly? Do they still make invisible ink? Guess Nelle's going old school on this psychological torture.

On another Nelle note, what is she planning with Griffin's test results? If she's willing to backstab even Ava, that's a bad sign. Even villains should be loyal to at least one person.

I'm not a Jason hater or anything, but do we really need to have Anna repeatedly telling people that he is "the best asset"? Ugh. The most annoying thing about Jason isn't Jason himself – it's how much the writers have everyone deify him constantly!

I've been speculating that Hayley Erin (Kiki) would be on her way out due to her casting in the Pretty Little Liars spin-off for a few weeks now. Looks like the actress recently commented on those rumors, saying she has "no plans to leave" and hopes "it will all work out." Given that both ABC and Freeform are Disney-owned, maybe she could juggle both!

Thanks to Lucy, I'm starting to get hyped for the Nurse's Ball, which I'm guessing will be sometime within the next month or so (based on the timing of prior years).

Dr. Bensch is the worst. THE ABSOLUTE WORST. James DePaiva is doing a flawless job at playing a complete dick.

I'm still not sold on Chase, but the writers are doing a good job of gradually interweaving him into the cast – with Mike's dementia journey and with Finn.

What did you think of General Hospital this week? Hit the comments to share your thoughts, and don't forget to drop back in again next time!

This post appear first on General Hospital Review: Lost and Found by Caralynn Lippo

Monday, April 16, 2018

General Hospital Review: An Unexpected Visitor

Friends, I'm immensely relieved to report that, finally, Franco's ordeal is over. Or mostly is, at least.

Following last Friday's cliffhanger, the Franco/Jim Harvey confrontation was resolved within the first two episodes of this week.

As expected, the showdown between Franco and Jim confirmed what we'd all long expected: Jim was a sexual predator, and he'd abused Franco as a kid.

Obviously, this is a heartbreaking and awful reveal. However, I still think the writers dragged it out far past the point of interest. It felt like this story was never going to end after a while.

That said, once it did end, it ended really well.

I mentioned in last week's review that I foresaw Franco killing Harvey, condemning us all to a drawn out murder trial in which Franco would inevitably be let off the hook when the dead man's past crimes were revealed.

Amazingly, we were spared all that.

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Instead of Franco offing Jim, Drew did the honors, in defense of his former foster brother.

Roger Howarth is extremely talented – there's no denying that. His performance during the confrontation sequence at his art studio and with Kevin afterwards was stunning, raw, and emotional.

Even if you don't care for Franco, I can't imagine you didn't feel for the guy, even a little.

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I was pleasantly surprised at the way the confrontation unfolded. Rather than killing him immediately, Franco had the wherewithal to force Jim to pen a full confession, getting the child abuser to list the other kids he had preyed upon.

That was smart and selfless, as it would undoubtedly help Jim's other victims heal.

The writers also managed to write Jim's death as an inevitability by having him overpower Franco and attempt to kill him. Drew intervening by shooting Jim was a clear case of defense.

Hilariously, Drew was cleared of the crime so quickly I don't even recall seeing it happen on screen.

Of course, the story isn't exactly over just because Jim is dead. It seems that, understandably, Franco will be working through his trauma with Kevin. For however long it is until Kevin – like Laura and Scott – is given the boot. (Writers: Please do not get rid of Kevin!)

It's understandable that Franco would fear his own abuse might have made him more likely to abuse kids. But I can't say I didn't groan a little bit when Franco declined Liz's offer to go home.

I don't mind Franco as a character, and I don't particularly mind Friz. I thought, in the early stages, they had great, angsty build-up. But now, they're completely flat, and this story they're involved in is entirely unengaging.

I'm not sure where Franco and Friz can go from here. But the writers better work to revive them, stat.

Elsewhere, Anna and Jason embarked on a European adventure – with Emma! – to track down information about Henrik.

Despite Anna acting twitchy as hell, Jason still has no idea that Henrik is secretly Anna's son. I'm actually really looking forward to the eventual Peter-is-Henrik reveal and the ramifications that will be seen all over the canvas.

Finola Hughes is amazing always, so I'm excited to see the moment of recognition when she comes face to face with Peter and realizes he is her son.

I'm anticipating it will be something very dramatic, where someone (probably Jason) will be primed and ready to kill Peter and Anna steps between, declaring the truth about their connection.

Adding Robert Scorpio to the mix is a great move.

The chemistry between Tristan Rogers and Finola is a easy and flawless as ever. I laughed out loud at the moment when Anna opened the door to see Robert there, only to immediately slam it in his face before reopening. That was too funny.

Every time Robert referred to Anna as "Granny" with Emma was also golden.

Kelly Monaco was offscreen completely this week, as Sam left town with the kids to clear her head. Naturally, it was just a matter of time before she bumped into Jason.

Lo and behold, that's exactly what happened in the closing moments of Friday's episode.

That run-in was admittedly quite silly – why did Sam choose to go to Switzerland with the kids, of all places?! – but it may have been worth it just for the look on Jason's face.

Don't tell me that little surprised-but-happy smile isn't adorable. Just don't try it!

In other Jason-adjacent news, Carly continued to deal with the ramifications of Nelle's manufactured "haunting."

Nelle is a total nutter, but I've gotta admit she's doing a pretty solid job with torturing Carly.

As I mentioned last time, it's a bit mystifying that no one has put two and two together and thought about who might want to mess with Carly. But I'm willing to suspend disbelief because it's giving Carly cause for some solid introspection and a trip down memory lane.

Obviously, Nelle is using Carly's history of mental instability against her, just as Carly did with Nelle. It would be understandable for Carly and her family to think that she's just losing her mind again, as she did twice before in the instances she recounted to Griffin.

But now, Griffin received test results back showing no sign of a potential traumatic brain injury that could be causing Carly's hallucinations. Plus Carly now has tangible proof: the menu that Nelle scrawled on the back of.

Unless everyone somehow thinks Carly wrote the note to herself.

If I had to guess, I would say that Nelle's plan will start to unspool as she herself goes further and further off the rails and messes up. Already, she's getting distracted by Michael showing attention to pretty much any other female in her vicinity.

First, it was Kiki. Then, it was Francesca. Now... Maxie? Say what now?

I'm not really sure why the writers are suddenly chem-testing Michael all around town. But that was definitely a chem-test between the two of them at the birthing class, wasn't it?

I'm a little ooked out by the idea of "Mixie," largely because Michael was an 11 year old redheaded boy when I first started watching the show and Maxie was a grown woman having an affair with Lucky.

But I can't deny that Chad Duell and Kirsten Storms have natural, easy chemistry. And with Michael's SORAS-ed age, Maxie is only about six years older than him.

Listening to the two laughing together when Michael echoed the labor breathing was very cute and it felt organic. I also loved how sassy Maxie got when she basically told Nelle to shove off. And was it just me or were both Michael and Maxie disappointed when Nina showed up and was able to step in as Maxie's birthing partner?

Hmmmm...

If Mixie does develop, I can't imagine that Peter will be too happy about that. Although he denied to Valentin that he's fallen for Maxie, I think we can also safely assume that Peter is kidding himself.

Nina also brought up the idea that Maxie might be attracted to Peter, but Maxie shot that down much more believably than Peter did. I do honestly believe that Maxie isn't going to get into any romantic relationship anytime soon – I doubt anything will happen until at least after that baby is born.

Obviously, Peter has other concerns as well. For instance, Curtis and Nina are closing in on his big secret, thanks to Curtis finding a suspicious lack of information about Peter's whereabouts prior to Port Charles.

Similarly, Lulu is zeroing in on Henrik's identity... or at least trying to.

Like I've said before, I personally don't care much for Lulu. If anything, this storyline where Peter and Valentin are giving her the runaround in her search for Henrik is kind of amusing to me.

Finally, there was the matter of Mike.

As I mentioned previously, I don't care for the writers turning this powerful Alzheimer's storyline into yet another mob thing for Sonny.

Why are we rehashing the same sort of story we've seen dozens of times before when the writers could focus and make this a really powerful, emotionally honest portrayal of a terrible, life-destroying disease?

I could care less about the field where Sonny buried some body 30 years ago. But they're harping on it so much I doubt it's going away anytime soon.

I'm far more interested in what's happening with Mike, and what's happening with Mike is... not great.

After a very sweet sequence in the park with Avery and the nanny – overlaid with Sonny's conversation with Stella about Mike's condition – Mike and the toddler completely vanished.

Honestly, that nanny was pretty dumb to step away and leave Avery with Mike even for a minute to go get pretzels.

She had the wherewithal to realize she should ask Carly for permission to take Mike to the park... so why didn't she figure out that leaving the man with a little kid wasn't the best idea?

Hopefully, nothing too terrible happens to the two of them before they're found. I can't imagine what kind of hell Ava will unleash on Sonny and Carly if anything happens to Avery during a time when Ava was technically supposed to have had her.

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Other thoughts:

This is at least a week old news, but I'm really feeling Ava's new haircut/color. It looks so much better and fresher on her.

In other Ava news: AVA, STOP SNOOPING! Griffin is going to be so mad at her when he finds out.

I'm expected to believe that Jason, a grown-ass man, has no idea what his clothing size is? Carly has bought him every article of clothing throughout his adult life? Sure. OK.

Max Gail continues to kill me a little bit week after week. His performance as Mike is so heartwrenching. I broke the moment he referred to Avery as Courtney.

Josslyn is officially getting very annoying about the whole reunite-Michael-and-Nelle thing. I get that she's a teen, but this is a bit much.

Are Brad and Lucas somehow going to wind up with Nelle's baby? Can't imagine how that would happen, but why else would Brad suddenly be around so much and paling around with Nelle?

Alexis and Finn referring to their date as "Mildred" was funny, but I much prefer these two as friends, not romantic partners.

What did you think of General Hospital this week? Hit the comments to share your thoughts, and don't forget to drop back in again next time!

This post appear first on General Hospital Review: An Unexpected Visitor by Caralynn Lippo

Monday, April 09, 2018

General Hospital Review: Franco vs. Jim Harvey

With soap operas, you can't expect every week to be a winner. After all, shows like General Hospital air five times a week, without any breaks or hiatuses. It's not going to be 52 straight weeks of non-stop action and excitement!

That said, this week in Port Charles was particularly boring. Largely a snooze-fest, in my opinion.

Of course, certain storylines did have major, important developments.

For one, Griffin finally opted to do exactly what I said he shouldn't do in my last review of General Hospital.

The former priest confronted Peter about his true identity, brushing aside the whole ethical, legal, and moral implications of having run a DNA test without the patient's consent.

The Griffin/Peter confrontation was actually one of the few moments of the week I truly enjoyed.

Both actors are very talented, and Wes Ramsey is successfully selling the idea that Peter truly isn't just a carbon copy of Faison.

Peter begged Griffin to keep his secret, arguing that Jason (or someone else) would surely kill him if they knew he was Faison's son. He swore that he was not a danger to anyone.

But is he?

At this point, he certainly doesn't seem to be, and he's a far more interesting, complicated character if the writers stick with that version of him. His bond with Maxie isn't creepy (not yet anyway), and so far, there aren't any shades of him recreating Faison's sick obsession with Anna.

But I'm reserving the right to be skeptical about this. Peter might still do a 180 and end up being a irreparably damaged psychopath after all.

Regardless, he seems to have successfully convinced Griffin to keep the secret. For now, Griffin believes that Peter isn't out to hurt anyone and that he's actually seeking to make amends for his part in Faison's many crimes.

I'm sure this will all blow up in both of their faces very soon, though, given how many individual people are onto Peter's secret.

Nina tasked her pal Curtis (I love this friendship and I'm so glad it's coming back!) with investigating Peter.

Jason and Spinelli are en route to track down Henrik's identity.

Lulu the Pulitzer-prize winning journalist (lol) is doing her own investigating, starting with reading The Severed Branch for clues.

One of those three, if not all, will put two and two together.

To add yet another wrinkle, Ava's moment of character development got shot to shit when she gave into temptation and looked at the DNA test results.

I feel so silly having praised her growth and maturity last week. She literally waited like a day to snoop. Ugh, Ava.

The other major development this week was on the Franco/Jim Harvey front. Several important things happened, all in the span of Friday's episode.

For one, Drew learned the truth from Betsy, as she told him what really happened during the staircase incident when "Bobby" and "Andy" were kids.

Annoyingly, the writers are still withholding the details from the audience, as the sound was cut while Betsy was speaking – personally, I find that super obnoxious and not at all necessary this far into the story.

Of course, at this point I think we can all infer that Jim molested and terrorized Franco as a kid and threatened to do the same to Drew. But Franco protected Drew, at the expense of his own safety.

One thing I love about how this storyline is unfolding is the way it's changing the dynamic between Franco and Drew.

Everyone in town loathing Franco (except Liz and her kids) has been getting old for a while. It'll be interesting to see what effect the resolution of this story has on Drew and Franco's relationship in the present.

I can totally see them becoming friends after this, or at least Drew perceptibly softening towards his former enemy.

That, I think, will also be another wedge driven between Drew and Sam, who (like Jason) will surely never forgive Franco for his part in terrorizing her. I can't imagine Sam will take Drew defending (or softening towards) Franco too well.

The entire sequence where Jim tried to kidnap Liz and Jake was pretty dumb, frankly.

On a purely technical note, it was very poorly choreographed and the pacing was off. It was really a cringeworthy scene.

And logically, why on earth was Jim lurking around the hospital and leering in the doorframe of Betsy's hospital room when he knows he's a fugitive from the law?

So, so dumb.

Anyway, it doesn't really matter how or why it happened, because the end result was that Franco and Jim are long gone and the circumstances are unknown.

Did Jim overpower and kidnap Franco? Or was it Franco who got the jump on Jim, taking his tormenter away to kill him just like he promised Kevin he would?

In any case, I'm guessing Franco will wind up killing Jim. I'm not super in the mood for another murder trial on General Hospital, but we'll probably get one here, as it will force Franco to confront what really happened to him at Jim's hands once and for all in order for him to avoid jailtime.

Fingers preemptively crossed that bit doesn't drag on forever too.

There wasn't too much of a focus on Mike's Alzheimer's storyline this week, but of what we got, there was both good and bad.

The good: The scene where Michael and Sonny encouraged Mike to record his stories so that Avery and Michael's unborn child with Nelle could someday hear them and get to know him in some way.

The bad: This weird "twist" in the storyline that is somehow making it all about Sonny's mob history.

I liked this storyline for several reasons, and one major reason was that it was finally something for Sonny to do that had nothing to do with the mob.

Now, the writers are confusingly dropping in things about how Mike may or may not have witnessed Sonny's early mob activities and therefore may or may not have told others about it?

As of now, I don't care about this aspect of the story that they seem to be introducing. It was better when the writers were focusing on the realism and the emotional aspects of what is happening to Mike and its impact on his family.

Now that they're trying to (apparently) make it more soap-y and "dramatic," it's sort of lessening the impact.

Also, I generally consider myself a pretty smart person, but was anyone else super confused when Sonny was trying to describe to Jason what the issue was?

Kiki and Dr. Bensch finally had their confrontation after he forced a kiss upon her, and it was extremely, realistically uncomfortable and well written.

Bensch played the "I thought you were sending me signals!" card, like the mega-creep he is.

Kiki was (rightly) skeptical and owned the fact that she hadn't been giving him any indication she was interested in anything but a professional relationship.

Kiki's first inclination was to drop out of the shadow program, but Bensch seemingly successfully talked her out of it.

Unfortunately, it looks like that may backfire on her – Bensch saved the voicemail from Kiki asking to meet up and had a creepy look on his face while playing it back after their meeting.

It certainly seemed that Bensch plans to use that voicemail to further manipulate Kiki, possibly into either keeping the secret of what he did or convincing her to enter a sexual relationship with him.

What a horrible situation. But again, realistic.

Finally, there was an update with crazy Nelle stepping up her crazy antics – specifically, convincing Carly that her house is being haunted by Morgan's spirit. Or that Morgan is still alive.

Either way, Nelle is trying to drive her enemy mad.

It's starting to seem a little bit silly that Carly hasn't put two and two together to figure out who has motive to torment her. I'm sure she will fairly soon, so Nelle's plan is destined to sputter out.

But just how much longer are we going to have to deal with Nelle sneaking around, thinking she's being all clever? Long enough for that baby to be born so Nelle can safely die, I guess.

The one bright spot was Carly's emotional conversation with Bobbie about losing BJ.

The way the show continues to mention and honor BJ's death is really wonderful.

I love that there have been so many opportunities recently for Bobbie to use her experience with unimaginable grief to support others. Last week, it was Maxie. This week, it's Carly.

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Other thoughts:

Brief as it was, the farewell scene between Sam and Drew at the Aurora office before Sam left town was great. So much pain, so many unresolved feelings, so much chemistry. Pure, soapy goodness.

On the Sam love triangle note, I continue to find it frustrating how Jason continuously craps on Sam and Drew's relationship to people (first Drew, now Carly). Sam's "not herself" with Drew? I don't agree. In my view, she's a more grown-up version of herself. All of this is actually starting to turn me off to the idea of a Jasam reunion. Jason sorta just needs to shut up and get back to his usual state of quietly pining instead of being so damn bitchy.

Finn was so mean to Chase! I don't understand the animosity there, when Chase is far younger than his brother and genuinely seemed to want to build a relationship with Finn. I'm sure we'll learn what the doctor's issue with Chase is, but for now it's kind of sad.

Speaking of Chase, was that a chemtest scene between him and Maxie that I spotted? Sure seemed like it. The writers can go ahead and keep that; I'm still on the far more angsty and complicated Maxie/Peter train (unless Peter is later revealed to be an obsessive psychopath, anyway).

While the Franco/Jim storyline is dragging for me, Roger Howarth and Jon Lindstrom gave great performances during Franco's hypnosis scene.

What did you think of General Hospital this week? Hit the comments to share your thoughts, and don't forget to drop back in again next time!

This post appear first on General Hospital Review: Franco vs. Jim Harvey by Caralynn Lippo

Sunday, April 08, 2018

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Sunday, April 01, 2018

Trust Season 1 Episode 2 Review: Lone Star

General Hospital Review: Fifty-Five Years of Port Charles

Port Charles celebrated on Friday as General Hospital reached an incredible milestone – 55 years on the air!

While the final episode of the week was undoubtedly the best of the bunch, I'll try my best to be fair and discuss storylines that developed the other four days. Because, y'know, some stuff did happen outside of the nostalgia-filled one-night-only reopening of Luke's.

The Jason/Sam/Drew storyline followed up last week's incredible Dream confrontation with an equally fantastic (though less emotionally wrought) Jasam moment.

I could honestly care less about the actual Jason/Drew confrontation, which managed to make both of the men involved in this love triangle deeply unlikeable.

Can anyone explain why Jason is suddenly vehemently anti-Drew and thankful that Sam was staying away from him?

Drew has literally done nothing wrong to Jason, other than dislike his twin brother's blatant love for his wife (which, y'know, is fair). Jason's venomous reaction to Drew makes very little sense.

I can't say I was rooting for either man during their fight on the pier.

Jason and Drew Face Off — General Hospital

However, the PCPD scenes for this trio were fantastic.

Kelly Monaco has been absolutely killing it for the past few weeks (and generally throughout this storyline). Sam's quiet but emotional reaction after bailing Drew out of jail (with him refusing to even acknowledge her presence) was so heartbreaking.

The Jason/Sam conversation in the PCPD was also a lovely sequence, with great performances from both Steve and Kelly. He's pretty much the soap opera king of acting with his eyes.

Drew may not be willing to interact with Sam yet because of his feelings of hurt, anger, and betrayal, but Jason has no issue talking with her honestly and frankly.

Based solely on how they're each treating her during this storyline, I think Jason has a leg up on Drew – he's being overly understanding and chill about the whole thing, to the point where it's slightly comical. "Sure, Sam, take all the time you need. I'll just be hangin' out over here, pining!"

Jasam shippers have also gotten spoiled recently with a wealth of amazing flashbacks. The latest was a flashback to their first meeting in the PCPD.

Look at these babies!

It's hard to deny this kind of history and chemistry, but I'm still pretty torn about whether I want Sam to wind up with Drew, Jason, or neither of them.

In any case, it seems like Kelly is taking off for a mini-vacation, as the writers have decided to have Sam leave town with her kids in order to get some clarity on her romantic situation.

Guess we'll be hitting the pause button and waiting a while longer for resolution to this love triangle.

Speaking of emotional moments involving Jason...

How fantastic was the scene between Carly and Jason about Morgan's death? I had tears in my eyes listening to Carly talk about how she still has hope she'll find Morgan in his room at her other house.

Is there a better crier in the soap biz than Laura Wright? I doubt it.

Since Jason is on the case, I doubt Nelle's plan to either make Carly think Morgan is alive or drive her crazy is going to work. But I do love how the writers haven't had all of the characters simply forget about Morgan.

It's realistic and powerful how Morgan is constantly on his relatives' minds, even a year after his death. In the real world, families don't move on that quickly or completely from loss.

But since this is a soap, I wouldn't be surprised if Morgan does end up being resurrected within the next year or so, if not sooner. Of course, he'll almost definitely have to be recast, since Bryan Craig was recently cast in Grand Hotel.

Several other storylines reached major turning points this week.

On a positive note, Kim and Julian finally hooked up!

Julian and Kim Hook Up — General Hospital

I've mentioned before that I appreciate this couple simply because they're both on the same page: they want a casual friends-with-benefits situation, and each is fully aware that the other is in love with another person. You rarely see this kind of genuinely uncomplicated romantic arrangement on a soap.

It certainly doesn't hurt that their chemistry is amazing. That hook-up was pretty hot, although we didn't get to see much of it. (Boo!)

On a decidedly less sexy note, Dr. Bensch finally confirmed all of our worst fears by making an aggressive move on Kiki.

I hated seeing this, because it felt so uncomfortably realistic. The writers did a good job of building Bensch's interest in Kiki from seeming mostly innocent to definitively predatory.

The kiss clearly shook Kiki to her core, but I'm thankful, at least, that it didn't go farther than that. Kiki was taken aback but managed to shut Bensch down immediately and call him disgusting.

Also realistically, Bensch acted like he didn't understand why Kiki was so upset and truly didn't think he did anything wrong. That's what's so terrifying about predators; so many of them don't even realize that what they're doing is harmful and wrong.

I'm hoping that turning Bensch down won't have negative ramifications for Kiki's medical career. But if the writers continue to be realistic in their depiction of the situation, it almost certainly will.

The "Henrik Faison" storyline also reached a turning point this week, as one person found out Peter's secret and others seemed to be getting closer to it.

Nina, in her eagerness to protect Maxie, has been suspicious of Peter's motives and his closeness to her widowed sister-in-law. Now that she's overheard Peter having a mysterious conversation and seen him with a copy of The Severed Branch, I'm guessing she'll become intent on discovering his secret.

And I don't think Valentin will be able to redirect his wife. The thing I'm most looking forward to about Nina discovering Peter's true identity is her realization that Valentin knew all along.

Michelle Stafford is always great in extremely emotional scenes. I'm already tingling with anticipation at the idea of seeing her confront her husband about his deception – and his indirect role in Nathan's death.

It's going to be deliciously soapy melodrama; I know it.

But as close as Nina is coming to the truth, there's one person several steps ahead of her: Griffin.

Discovering Peter's Secret — General Hospital

Soap opera DNA tests are usually pretty fast, but the writers went to the opposite end of the spectrum for this one. It felt like the results took forever to be delivered!

Knowing Griffin as we do, I'm guessing we're going to have to deal with weeks of his torment as he decides whether he should tell Anna and others about Peter's true identity.

Hopefully he doesn't do something stupid, like warning Peter first that he knows his secret. I'm guessing Peter is willing to do anything to protect himself, including something dastardly to the dashing doctor.

I'm not sure if Maxie and Peter have had enough time to develop a bond strong enough to rationally withstand the truth. I feel like they'd need at least several months of bonding in order to make it even a remote possibility that their friendship could eventually survive the bombshell of Peter's true identity.

Because of that, they'll probably have Griffin hold onto the secret for a while longer. Long enough for a few more definitely appropriate boss-employee sleepovers.

Nothing awkward or weird about that. No, sir!

On a serious note, I wish the writers had slowed down the development of the Maxie/Peter friendship a bit. His support of her is so over-the-top at points that it verges on being comical.

That moment where he's practically shouting at her that she's a hero for getting up and going to work everyday is sweet in theory but slightly cringeworthy in practice.

Finally, there was Friday's one-night-only reopening of Luke's.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the writers integrated the 55th anniversary of the series with the actual ongoing storylines. It made perfect sense to reopen Luke's for one night and reminisce about the past at this juncture – it didn't feel shoehorned in at all, given the Corinthos family's desire to help Mike with his dementia.

There was so much to love about this episode. The writers managed to even delve way back to the beginning of the series, with moments like Steve and Audrey's first meeting.

The characters also managed to pay tribute to some of the most famously heartbreaking storylines in the show's 5+ decades, including Stone's death and Maxie getting BJ's heart.

Bobbie and Felicia Flashback — General Hospital

Purely superficial side-note: How handsome was '90s-era Sonny? So handsome!

Carly and Jason remembering Michael's birth and Jason flashing back to his first time holding Michael was such a sweet moment as well.

Jason Remembers Michael's Birth — General Hospital

I loved seeing legacy characters like Luke, who was such an important part of the show for so long. I'll admit I was hoping that Tony Geary would somehow pop up for a quick surprise cameo, but I guess his retirement really is firm and final.

I only wish they'd managed to work in a flashback to Luke and Laura's romance, since that was such a major and iconic storyline.

Bobbie Remembers Luke — General Hospital

While Scott didn't feature much in the flashbacks, the writers thankfully gave him a moment to flashback to his relationship with his own dad, Lee.

I completely forgot how handsome Scott was back in the day!

That moment becomes bittersweet with Kin Shriner's recent announcement that he's leaving General Hospital after decades of on-and-off appearances.

All in all, the anniversary episode was a fitting and wonderful testament to the show's decades on the air. Happy 55 years, General Hospital – and here's to 55 more!

Other Thoughts:

So much for Andre redeeming himself by helping Mike. Guess that's a non-starter.

On a purely superficial note, Maxie's hair looked amazing this week. I may or may not have taken a screenshot of her to my stylist for a new blonde look for summer.

Making Sam Alexis' daughter was one of the best twists this show has ever done. The mother-daughter relationship they've developed over the years is fantastic. The scene where Alexis comforted Sam about her break-up with Drew was so tender and wonderful, largely thanks to Kelly and Nancy's excellent and natural chemistry.

Ned convening various important people of Port Charles (including Lulu as the, um, town journalist, inexplicably) was an interesting development. But I can't say I'm particularly interested in this "rebranding Port Charles" storyline. It feels almost meta, in a bad way, like we're watching the writers desperately try to lure in younger viewers.

How is it possible that the writers have brought Betsy back to Port Charles and they still are drawing out Franco's childhood secret? Please, just finish this and put us all out of our misery. Please!

I'm impressed that Ava managed to resist looking at Griffin's test results for Peter. Now that's some character growth. Good job, Ava!

I was glad to see Spinelli but not so glad that his entire appearance revolved around championing Lulu to Maxie.

Anna better chill out about Henrik because she's starting to act very suspiciously. Her conversation with Jason was borderline hysterical, as she insisted that they ought to give Henrik the benefit of the doubt. Not very subtle for a super-spy.

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What did you think of General Hospital this week? Hit the comments to share your thoughts, and don't forget to drop back in again next time!

This post appear first on General Hospital Review: Fifty-Five Years of Port Charles by Caralynn Lippo

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