Asp Burger
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Also, every time Dante says "I will complete the mission," I think of this.
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I've been stuck a day behind everyone else, not seeming to be able to watch two episodes in a sitting to get caught up, but I just wanted to say I hate these scenes with Finn and Jackie. I'm assuming it's going in the direction everyone has seen coming from the start, that he's Chase's father rather than his half brother. I liked those two as brothers. It was one of the best things about Finn. This plays as though someone just realized there's a 25-year age gap between the actors -- when it isn't how they read opposite each other or how they've been playing their scenes from the start (IMO) -- and went with the biggest "shocking soap twist" imaginable.
And, really, did anyone need or want another layer of complication for Finn? His back story was already overwritten, with all that stuff about the dead wife with the incurable disease, besides the entanglements he's actually played onscreen over four and a half years. Hayden is still out there somewhere, on pause.
I hope they hit abort on this somewhere along the way, but even if they do, the revelation that Jackie did a story on Finn when he was a first-year resident, and they had sex right before she married his father, is overly convoluted and alienating. Finn's been on the show for four years, Chase for two, Jackie was briefly an important character in the early '80s, and Finn's father has barely walked through. So I don't think any character involved is central or well established enough to get this kind of realignment -- the way, for example, Alexis was when we were asked to roll with her being the mother of Sam.
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On 10/19/2020 at 11:11 AM, lala2 said:
Dev doesn't bother me much at all. That's probably b/c I skipped his whole introduction to the show, and then he would disappear for long stretches of time. LOL! Apparently, he gets a lot of outside work from GH, which is good for him! The actor is a cutie, IMO. As I see it, he's just there to round out the teen set, and that's fine w/me. I would hate to see them take him down a "dark" path so I hope that's not in the plans. And not b/c I love the character; I just think that would be unnecessary.
For me, Dev is spicing up this teen drama a bit w/his antics so he serves a purpose there.
You can join me at the very small card table of Dev...tolerators. I don't mind him. The actor has room for improvement, but I find him more likable than the kid who played Oscar, so he's a modest upgrade.
When Diego -- Courtney's twentysomething foster child turned serial killer -- came up a few pages ago as a point of comparison for Dev, it made me like Dev even more. Diego was so bad in all of his phases, but I see the actor has stayed in the business and built up a lot of credits to the present day. Maybe he's improved.
I think they could help Ashton Arbab out by writing Dev with more depth and focus rather than always making him a foil, but this teen group does have pretty good chemistry. I just can't stand how Joss is always first among equals.
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3 hours ago, perkie1968 said:
I love how she pulls out her little baggie and is shocked, SHOCKED that it's empty. Because somehow, she didn't notice the last time she took some, that she emptied the bag. So stupid.
Sasha uses drugs like I manage ice-cube trays.
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9 minutes ago, TeeVee329 said:
it's a not-funny running joke this show has done so many times now, with Todd and AJ, with Julian and Ned. Like, come up with a new bit, Show.
Also, it fit the personalities of the earlier guys better. It seems off-brand for Dante (who's not really "snarky") in the best of times, let alone this traumatized, haunted Dante who just had an unpleasant surprise.
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Respect: That was the best scene I've ever seen between DZ and the ER Lulu. They stepped up.
What state is it that Nelle's body was found in? I know they've probably said it, but I think it needs to be more clearly emphasized.
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11 hours ago, ffwbe said:
It’s strange because they never had that problem with Morgan but they insist on writing Michael and Josslyn as super bland and never knowingly doing anything wrong.
At that point, they had enough Sonny offspring, stepchildren, and stolen children running around that they could spare one to play Fredo.
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I think he believed her about the sexual harassment, but he found out that the contract she had signed was iron-clad and then just pivoted to, "Well, there's nothing I can do. You're stuck. Maybe now you'll be smarter about what you sign." We were supposed to think about how, as fathers go, Ned is no Sonny, who , if he found out Linc had preyed on one of his children, would have had hate-sex with him on a grave.
Good point, though, that the story is all about the most recent thing.
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On 9/26/2020 at 9:41 PM, Melgaypet said:
I watched the Susan Moore story on YT awhile back, and Demi Moore was not terribly convincing as a hard-nosed reporter - at the time she was very young and not a great actor, to put it kindly - but Jackie was Murphy Brown compared to Girl Reporter.
Moore is who I always try to remember when I'm coming down hard on a soap newbie, especially a young person. I was not actually around for her GH run, but I had read for years that she was one of the worst in GH history. When I eventually saw clips...well, she was gorgeous, of course, but "raw" would be a nice way to put it re: her acting. Then, just a couple years later, she had become a real actress in films like About Last Night.
Another example is Tammy Blanchard, whom I found so gauche and screamy as Drew on Guiding Light, and she went straight from that to being a (deserving) primetime Emmy winner for the Judy Garland movie. Sometimes it's just a matter of a different work pace and directors who can focus a talent that's there, plus a little more maturity and comfort on a set.
20 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:The more likely thing to happen is that she will slobber all over Lulu and what a great journalist she is.
This is what I see coming, unfortunately. "I've read your work. You're good! That piece you wrote about cafeteria lunches? Every journalist I know was talking about it."
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If Molly had walked into the hospital and seen Alexis walking around with an amputation of the whole arm at the shoulder level, I don't think Haley Pullos could have overplayed Molly's shock and alarm more than she did over a cast. Dial. It. Down. I really appreciate the people on this show who are always in the right zone, because there are distinct camps of "too much" and "too little" (ahem, KeMo) and I'm sure there's pressure to be pulled into one or the other.
The osteoporosis scenes did feel especially PSA-y. Alexis even had dialogue like (paraphrasing) "I never thought this could happen to me!" It was a good point a page or so ago about how it's always the female characters who get these stories. Not that I'm rooting for Robert Scorpio to get a prostate-cancer scare so we can have Finn talking about the results of his PSA (the other kind of PSA, I mean) and the importance of routine screenings over the age of whatever. Maybe they're going by what they imagine to be the target audience.
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The actor who plays Brando graduated from high school in 2004 and from college in 2009. (There's a lot of "local pride" stuff about him on the internet; he's from SC,) So there's that. I've been mentally putting Brando in his mid-thirties. I think what we're supposed to assume is that, in this false version of Dev's parentage the Corinthos clan is selling to the rest of Port Charles, Brando got a girl pregnant while still in his teens. So, older than TJ and Molly, younger than Sam and Jason, and enough in the middle that he can mix with either set.
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All the Sonny angst and Sonny wistfulness by Mike's bedside are definitely making me forget that Sonny neither saw nor mentioned the character between 2011 and 2018, and it took a distress call to jump-start the relationship then. If Mike were off in New York quietly following the Yankees and not ill, Sonny would probably be ignoring him until he died of old age.
Yeah, I know. The character was off-canvas, there was no actor to play him, and if I were a Sonny fan, I could fanwank that they were staying in touch and we just weren't hearing about it. But the way the onset of the dementia was played when Gail took over, it really seemed they had become near-strangers. This kind of thing does happen in families, but the writers have Sonny regretting the wrong things, in my opinion. He keeps talking about how obstinate he was over Mike's failings when Mike was trying to repair the relationship, like, 20 years ago when the Ron Hale version was working at Kelly's and going out with Tammy, instead of their absence from each other's lives for most of this decade. He didn't even know the Rita woman that Mike was living with.
Now, I fear we're in for "a town mourns," not only Sonny but numerous other characters talking about the hole that Mike leaves in their lives, as if he were a beloved Port Charles patriarch.
All that said, hats off to Max Gail for his often-touching performance over the last two and a half years. It's likely he has friends around the same age (he's 77) who have gone through this and died now, or are in various earlier stages of it. I feel he honored them, and all Alzheimer's sufferers, with the truthfulness and bravery of his portrayal. I'd say I'll miss him, but I'm sure there will be flashbacks and ghost visions until the New Year at least.
11 hours ago, lala2 said:I only watched the clip of Courtney w/Mike on YT. I thought that was nice. The actress doesn't appear to have aged a day
ALW always did have nice skin and hair, and she did look good. As for the character, "dead" is my favorite version of her.
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Remember when Nikolas was "dead" and we had Ava bringing him up from time to time as the person she didn't have enough time with, the person who "understood" her, et cetera? I thought that that was a weird choice at the time, because she had mostly interacted with the temp recast when the character was on borrowed time. But that was the story they went with. Then when they brought Nikolas back on a permanent basis, they made Ava a big part of his story from the start, so I was expecting follow-through on it. It seems now equally strange that they're hostile and antagonistic and even using the word "hate," and there's so little in the way of other layers. She has a better rapport with Sonny these days.
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10 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:
Yes, I’ll forever be bitter at the destruction of Elizabeth and Lucky. Even when Jonathan returned for that brief visit when he found Jake, the connection and chemistry was still there with those two.
Totally. I'll forever be bitter that the Gooze had Becky, Jonathan, and Tyler all at the same time (three of the fantastic four from the late-'90s youth set), and he gave them the nasty story he gave them. Then don't even remind me of the Siobhan era.
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1 hour ago, ouinason said:
Friz is no worse than Liz marrying Ric when she was pregnant with Cameron after the panic room and nearly killing her.
Ric was appreciably worse, in my opinion. One thing they've successfully sold to me is that Franco is all about Liz, loves her and her sons. Ric was always as Sonny-fixated as Jason, and thus was contaminated in the way of all Sonny satellites. Even when he was at his most anti-Sonny, it was clear enough who the center of his universe was.
On Friz: I think the actors work well together, and I like both of them, but I've never really been a fan. The pairing brings out this eager-to-please puppy-dog side of RoHo that I don't think is his strongest suit. I know Friz is supposed to be the "root-for" couple in this quad story, but I really do prefer Franco with Ava, and Liz with this Nikolas.
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7 hours ago, UYI said:
As for her career not doing as well in recent years, though--in addition to typical Hollywood ageism and sexism, she did get escorted off the stage during a speech she made at an event in 2011 where she appeared to be drunk (slurring her words, etc.), which couldn't have helped her at the time. Hopefully she's okay now.
I didn't know about that, but I do remember that almost a decade prior to that (2002), she had a much-publicized DUI incident. She was swerving all over the twisty roads of Malibu for about five miles, and the police arrested her when she got home. Then she dug her hole a little deeper by being belligerent and mocking during the arrest. She got dropped from one of the CSI shows very soon thereafter. I hope she's put all that behind her too.
What's funny, and makes that stand out in my mind, is that one of the TWoP writers/recappers did an interview around that time with Leslie Hope, who played Jack's wife on the first season of 24. He mentioned it in passing but got the wrong Delaney; he said it was Dana Delaney. So Leslie Hope was all, "Dana Delaney got a DUI? She's one of my best friends!"
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Nelle will probably find an amnesiac Morgan, start a relationship with him, and teach him to hate Sonny, Carly, and Michael, setting the stage for a Morgan/Nelle double comeback in some sweeps month. Bonus points if Julian is killed off in the interim so there's no impediment to their coming back married.
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I know that Amanda Setton has her fans, but I'm liking the temporary Brook Lynn a little more. She's doing a pretty good job with these silent scenes.
Oh, the comedy of everyone pouring into the girl's room to either check on her or unload. When Sasha showed up all, "You can't talk, so I have something to say: Chase is actually a really great guy!" I thought, on Brook Lynn's behalf, "Huh?" Like the quality of Chase's character would even be on Brook Lynn's list at the moment, let alone near the top.
Now, here's a way to use history: If they're going to drag out Brook Lynn's inability to speak, they could have her reconnect meaningfully with Nikolas. It doesn't even have to be a romance. He went through the same thing way back in his early years in Port Charles (shot in the throat by someone aiming at Jason). Robin helped him through it and they became good platonic friends. So he could pay it forward. Bonus: He actually has history with Brook Lynn, even though they were played by different people at the time.
I'd rather see that than some insta-pairing of Brook Lynn with Chase. But they won't do it. Nikolas's only story has to be this very slow-moving quad with Ava, Franco, and Liz. I will admit I like watching that more than I should, but it's just because I like the actors in it. I just wish something would, you know, happen.
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8 hours ago, ByaNose said:
Laura Wright has amazing hair. Also, I don’t know why Kelly Monaco felt the need to enhance herself. She looked fine before. Now, she’s all out there.
I never really "get" lip jobs. I guess maybe someone has had a good one and it was so subtle that I didn't notice. If you notice, it's usually bad. Lips do get thinner as a person ages, and it really seems to bother actresses. For example, I thought Barbara Hershey was so naturally beautiful in Hannah and Her Sisters and Tin Men, and then I remember suddenly she became Lips Inc. around the time of Scorsese's Jesus movie. And it was all you could see! Completely unbalanced her features.
They're talking so much about Alexis's damn sprained wrist that I'm wondering if now her cancer is back and it's metastatic to bone. The woman is Job-like.
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Too much of people loudly talking about their schemes and being overheard lately.
I like that Lisa LoCicero has gotten such a long run out of a character whose front-burner time peaked early, and I'd have a soft spot for anyone who sticks around in good times and lean times and gives her all to whatever she has to do, whether it's squabbling with Lulu or feuding with the Quartermaine cook. But in these recent episodes, it's been a little too apparent that LLC hasn't had anything to get worked up about for a long time. She's doing the acting equivalent of a starving person sitting down to a meal. "I get meaty scenes with my husband! I get to get emotional!" Everything is cranked up to 10. Less would be more, even with hot-blooded Olivia from Bensonhurst.
I think it's fine that Willow's favorite movie is an animated film, but you just know, with the way she was describing it and her overall personality, it's no WALL-E or Spirited Away. It's more likely to be The Strawberry Shortcake Movie or My Little Pony: Equestria Girls. However, when she was describing that it had stupid humor, I had fun imagining it was the sex- and profanity-filled Fritz the Cat. In fact, in my version, that's what she and Michael were going to watch until I see onscreen contradiction.
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Risa Dorken has been noticeably slimmer (than in the "Man Landers" era) for a while, but she hasn't been on GH much in that period. The progression is very apparent if you skim her social media pictures over the last year.
She looks great, but she's been dealing with mental health issues this year too (newly diagnosed bipolar), so I hope she's doing well. She talked to Soaps in Depth about being involuntarily hospitalized twice in February and adjusting to medications.
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On 8/14/2020 at 11:44 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:
If it was anybody else saying that to Nik, I'd probably agree. But with Bratz Doll screeching at him--especially since I don't know when/or saw her forgive him for not letting her know he was alive, since pre-pandemic she still wasn't speaking to him. And then yesterday, she was all oh, Nikolas! I have a huuuuuge favor to ask you! So, bygones then?
All I could think about was what a single-minded terror Girl Reporter was with her own vendettas. It doesn't seem that long ago that she was conspiring with her gangster friend Johnny to set Valerie up as a corrupt cop as retribution for the Valerie/Dante infidelity, and then whatever whatever with the burning cabin. She was being even more impervious to reason in that period than Nikolas is now. And while she's had a lot of the facts on her side in her custody wars with Valentin, I can't say she's always put Charlotte's needs/wants first over "winning."
But a big problem is that I'm tired of Emme Rylan's acting repertoire. She makes it hard to like the character.
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I would be very happy with a Taggert-not-dead reveal, and I've kind of suspected that was coming for a long time. It just seemed a pointless downer to bring him back after 17 years, connect him to newer characters, and have him killed off by the mobster du jour. While GH can be a pointless downer, it didn't add up. Plus, they still talk about him a lot.
Not to jump the gun too much, but if he is still alive, I hope the phase of Trina being furious with him for making her mourn passes quickly. I like Trina, but a little of her hostile side goes a long way. Plus, we've already had a heaping helping of that story from Nikolas's friends and relatives.
Oh, to be young and foolish again. I remember my first soap not-death. A character I really liked was killed, and they showed a body in the morgue and everything. It was a good fake-out! But I also was not wise to the ways of the genre yet. I remember being sad the whole day after that, and I didn't even know if I wanted to keep watching the show, I hung in there because there were other characters I liked, and then a couple months down the line, I got the sweet twist that the character was in hiding.
I'm still really liking the chemistry between Liz and MC's Nik. I'm not necessarily shipping them for romance, but I think they do a good job of selling a longstanding connection, and her being torn between wanting to accept him back in her life and still being angry.
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14 hours ago, Winston Wolfe said:
With too much time on my hand the other day, I found myself thinking what an interesting character Sam was a zillion years ago (Dead Man's Hand S/L). Con artist and grifter, savvy enough to beat Luke at a grand scam. Then she got gently passed around, from to Jax, to Sonny, to Lucky (IIRC) and then to St. Jaysus, where she became the perpetual Damsel-in-Distress. Not even making her Alexis' daughter could salvage the character. This soap does come up with great characters from time-to-time, it just can't figure out what to do with them.
I always found Sam chaotic in those first few years, as if a stone tablet had come down from the mountaintop that Kelly Monaco must happen on one of the remaining ABC soaps. If various personalities and character connections had to be tried to make it so, it would go on as long as it took. All that was certain was that she would be on perpetual front-burner status while they kept throwing things against the wall. The height of the desperation was the introduction of the mentally handicapped brother.
I never really got over my resentment, but I will say that when I felt the character was flailing, which went on for a long time, Monaco was bringing a higher energy level.
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Episode Discussion II: The TFGH
in General Hospital
· Edited by Asp Burger
The previous time GH did a whimsical 1920s episode, about 18 years ago, Nancy Lee Grahn also got assigned the role of a temperance advocate. Anyone else remember that? It was in the era of the Tamara Braun Carly, and we were getting a flashback to the youth of Faith's grandmother (who was played at that age by Braun) and her relationship with a Sonny equivalent. It was very Pratt/Guza, in that Carly got to be the sexy heroine at the center, and Alexis had little walk-on bits as a tiresome killjoy/scold.
I thought this episode vacillated between kind of cute and awful. Most of the women weren't very convincing in the period, Kelly Thiebaud being the worst offender. Maura West gave the best performance, and Becky Herbst looked right. Too much of a Laura Wright showcase.
I did like that past-life-Portia said, "Bogus! Yes!" It's a word that a modern young person would use but that would register with someone of that time. But when she referred to "people of color," that struck me as anachronistic.
When Josslyn said, re: 1920, that voting really made a difference then, I kind of smirked given the way that election turned out. The machine-backed provincial nonentity Harding won by a landslide, and his administration was one of the most corrupt in history. Men and women alike had to take the shame for that.
I rarely love this kind of detour episode; I don't think GH does them well. I remember the legendarily awful 7th Heaven episode about the importance of voting, which ran the year of the Bush/Kerry election, although they didn't use names. All the political arguments among the family members and their friends referred to "our President" and "the other guy." As usual with the later years of that show, nothing anyone said sounded like the way human beings talk. But that had more laughs in it.