Turtle

NO. MORE. LUKE. I seriously just cannot take whatever this is anymore. Was today supposed to be good? Interesting, poignant, or heart-wrenching? Because it absolutely was none of those things. It was a just a huge April Fool's Fuck You to all of us. The big payoff to all this is that Luke accidentally killed his mom and intentionally killed his dad? We spent over a year to find that out? I mean, it's awful, but for the Luke I've always known, that's not exactly earth-shattering or personality-splitting level news. Luke sure didn't give a shit when he killed his grandson, and I refuse to believe that it's been alter-Luke all these years that he's been such a horrible person. Bill never told anyone, even though all he got for his trouble was that crappy house? What even *is* any of this??? Sonny's hair polish looks no better on Luke than it does on Sonny. AG's acting is terrible and hammy; that "You did!" was laughable, but even more so the crying. I have no comment on the Hardy, Brewer, whatever crap. Most of the styling was good, though, and I liked Pat. Everything else was even worse than I expected / feared.

No, he's Acting! (TM Jon Lovitz)

If memory serves, Johnny's guys told Helena.

By my count, forever. It will continue, at the very least, long after we are all dead and buried. My theory is that they have no idea how to end the story, and AG keeps making more and more outlandish demands that they cave to and complicate this mess even more, and so whatever this is will continue until time immemorial.

I like this show, and I don't even know why. But this episode was tough to watch, mostly because (as someone mentioned above) it felt like a totally different show. So dark, literally and figuratively, and not nearly as whodunnit-ish as the previous episodes. I'm not saying it's been great drama or anything, bu I've enjoyed it for what it is. But tonight seemed like a completely different show, and I didn't really care for it. Going to stick with it because I'm hoping this was a one-off, and because I'm curious about Cornell. I've thought something was off about her from the start, but I also thought it could have just been because Juliette Lewis annoys the crap out of me and this seems to be some of her worst work. I honestly don't know who to suspect at this point. Or rather, I suspect everyone a little bit but no one a lot.

I'm such a broken record these days. I never cared about whatever was/ is going on with Luke, not even one iota. I certainly didn't care more as it dragged on and on and got more and more convoluted. If it is possible to negative care, that's where I've been and where I am. AG's "acting" has plunged me to the depths of negative care infinity. It's reached a point that any day Luke is on, I find it nearly impossible to enjoy any aspect of the show because it's all so uninterestingly terrible. Good god, I'd be willing to see more Sonny just to make this Luke shit stop, and I think you all know how I feel about Sonny. At least with Sonny, I feel *something* (blindingly hot rage); with Luke I'm just annoyed, bored, and apathetic. I can't even enjoy Julian, and that hurts me. Hurts me. So, Michael has been tripping his balls off for about five days now, after the booze and Morgan-pills? Poor thing, he must be exhausted and seriously strung out. Well, he is brain damaged - fetching coffee might have taken all day.

I found myself thinking that Franco and Nina were kind of amusing today. I immediately took my temperature and then gave myself a breathalyzer because clearly *something* is going on over here. After a little consideration, I realized that all this Luke shit is just so so terrible and uninteresting (and never fucking ending) that I've become that much more desperate for any sort of entertainment from this show. Speaking of Luke, does anyone remember when whatever this story is started? I am really struggling to remember a time in the last several years without Legion of Doom crap. I hate it so much. I was never interested in any of it, and all this compelling storytelling and riveting acting somehow has not helped at all.

I'm pretty sure y'all know that I usually have a *lot* to say, but this is two days in a row that I have nothing. It's so boring that I can't even find rage to spew. I'm hoping that something I care about happens next week. Until then, bottoms up!

I really need Luke/ TG to stop "emoting." That's all I got from today.

You know what I would love? If every week Rodney made a new best new friend, talked nonstop about how he reeled that person in and was controlling the whole game, and then that person got voted out. Every. Single. Week.

My goodness, tvgoddess. :)

Rodney's face after the vote was absolutely amazing. He was surprised, but also trying to figure out how it was possible and not understanding. Flipping his head back and forth like a chicken, it seemed like he was trying to count and figure out who voted for Joaquin, and literally could not do the math. "Okay, one, two, wait- look that way. Okay, one, two, look the other way, four, five.. But I had the master plan and was playing that kid Joaquin like a yo-yo (while making puppet master motions) and I am going to ride this thing to the end. Where was I? Right, three, six, eleventy-seven..." It was bold of Jeff, but those tribals frequently go on for hours, and former contestants have said no one ever changes their mind during tribal. Unless Keith is there, of course. I also thought she was trying to throw it, and then just finally gave up and won. It's possible, I think, because they probably didn't have time to show both teams plotting to throw it, and it ultimately didn't matter what the red tribe did. I just find it so hard to believe that Kelly not only sucked at the challenge so much, but also that she didn't understand that Mike was giving it to her! Not because I think she's smart, I just struggle to believe anyone is that dumb. But I suppose anything is possible. Note to Kelly: when your opponents whispers "I'm gonna give it to you", TWICE, and then says the answer out loud repeatedly, you should probably take advantage of that.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow to present ... Spinelli at his worst!! Grills her about her relationship with another man, physically blocks her from leaving repeatedly, tells her what's going to happen now, and the comes up with excuses for all his crap. Seriously hate him. I'm glad Maxie called him on some of it, but I wish she had just walked away. Everyone sure is in bed a lot lately. Or, in the living room for some. You know what I mean. I like Jake. And I don't mind Patrick. No idea why.

Ouch. But I'm not against it. Here's hoping we can get a bulk discount on all these t-shirts. I hate that Maxie is able to be manipulated by Spinelli's bullshit, and I wish that over the last year or two and not having him constantly in her orbit would have helped her to see who he is more clearly. But sadly, I think Maxie has this underlying lack of self esteem, because she does have a habit of screwing shit up acting impulsively and then having it all blow up in her face, and so when someone starts telling her there's something wrong with her, it hits her in the soft underbelly and she believes what they say. So when Spinelli called her shallow, she believed it. When Spinelli tells her that she loves him because they have this "connection" and that it's wrong to be with Nathan, she starts to accept it as true. It's sickening, and I wish she would get therapy or at least have Lulu or Mac or someone sit her down and point it out to her. Why in the hell has Dante been nice to Spinelli? He disliked him almost as much as Sonny did. Come on, show, stop trying to make Spinelli happen.

I was thinking about this earlier, and it kind of makes sense. Jake has no idea who he is, and presumably that includes not knowing what he believes in or what his morals and values are, and that he has no life experiences to pull from when trying to decide what to do. I think it would be really difficult to made decisions or to trust your decisions in that circumstance. It's probably a lot less stressful to do what other people suggest, because he has no idea what's best. As he lives through more experiences and is exposed to more things, he should start feeling more confidant in making decisions. *Should*. Guys, don't talk about who her accomplice is! Ron will be pissed that we guessed his "secret" and then change the story to something unpredictable, and predictably awful. Remember what happened when we all figured out that fake Luke was Bill? Don't jinx us again!!

I called it - they used Spyder Fynder to find a way to drug Michael! Although, since they had Kiki do it, we missed out on the comedy gold that would have been Morgan trying to figure out what terms to look up. Even Michael called Morgan dumb today, it's become that obvious to everyone. But speaking of Kiki, I really need that actress to step it up a bit. But wait- why was Kiki Spydering it if Morgan had already planted whatever? Michaels is going to have a terrible accident, isn't he? I'm just so pissed that we don't get to have Michael playing daddy for longer. This was too brief and it pisses me off. Nathan was remarkably mature and insightful today. He was remarkably close to permanently damaging his man-parts in that photo. Liz didn't really bother me. One, this lady showed up at her house, after dinner time and right after Liz got all fired up for sexy times. That'll make anyone a little bitchy. Her questions were reasonable ones to ask, ones I was thinking had to be asked, and it seemed like Jake was shocked and stunned and not really thinking clearly enough to ask right away. Plus, I've never really cared about Liz one way or the other so it's hard to get worked up over her.

TV Anonymous, so much about this show makes no sense that I can't spend too much time thinking about it. A person could get hurt.

Excellent points, Boundary. But Nina was stationed overseas, in enemy territory, with a very supportive boss. As you said, there will be a lot more people involved in dealing with Martha; Gaad won't be able to protect her the way Arkady was able to somewhat protect Nina. Ideally for Martha's sake, she would be able to frame someone else for the pen, tell Clark that she needs to keep a low profile for a while but will get him more info when the heat dies down, and then actually keep that low profile in the office until it blows over. Shitty to do to a coworker, but might work for Martha. If she can manage to not raise any more suspicion at the FBI, the KGB might still see her as an asset, and so she lives. Or she could borrow one of Clark's disguises and disappear to Canada.

This board has now deleted two of my posts even though I've been doing everything the same way I always do. So annoying. Slovak, that's good to hear - I was feeling very inferior! I used to watch the last 15 minutes because when we got home from school, mom wouldn't do anything until GH was over. So I know some stuff about mid to late 80s, but not everything. I didn't start watching regularly until around '93, so I missed a lot of it, and never cared enough about Luke to re-watch or read about it. I do remember Anna and Robin coming on screen, Lucky making his way back to Port Charles on his own, a little of the Ice Princes stuff, Sean Donnelly - but I have no idea when that stuff happened in relation to each other.

I'm so back and forth on this. Generally, transexual people feel that they were born in to the wrong body from a very young age; as in, a transexual man always felt like he was a man, but was born anatomically a woman. So, is it really a lie to not volunteer that you were born with different genitalia than what you currently have? Maya most likely always felt like she was a woman, and now her outside matches her inside, to put it simply. How is it betrayal, especially if it's never come up in their relationship? She didn't lie; she is a woman. I don't see it as her fooling him; she's being who she is. If they had been talking about having children together, she absolutely should have told him that wasn't possible, but otherwise, I just don't know. Different scale, I know, but am I required to tell a man that I was born with an extra toe or vestigial tail that was surgically removed? Have I betrayed him if I don't? Is presenting myself as a person who naturally doesn't have a tail a lie? It's confusing. On the other hand, I can understand Rick or others having a freak-out moment upon finding out, because it's not something any of us deal with on a regular basis, and I can see how it would be shocking. I guess I'm saying I don't think it *should* be a huge deal, or worthy of spazzing out over, or a reason for anyone to be ashamed or disgusted. But I know it is, again because it's different than what we know. I hope that despite the initial shock Rick and others are going to have, we also see some honest discussions about it, both with and about Maya, and all that transsexualism entails. And I hope that this storyline doesn't turn Maya in to a Very Special Person who everyone gives a pass to. She's horrible, and should be held accountable for that.

Despite the lack of any evidence showing it, I tell myself that Mac is still really involved in Maxie's day to day life, supporting her (not just financially) and being a good example for her. He mostly felt about Spinelli the way I do, and in the show in my head, she's going to have a heart to heart with him (without Felicia, because just no), and he's going to set her straight. And I love the way you said "She definitely has good intentions, and her heart is way more often than not in the right place" - that's exactly how I feel about Maxie. Good intentions, good heart, terrible ability to think through consequences or to know when to stop digging herself farther in to the hole.

First, cleo, you're really starting to watch from way back! Are you watching current episodes too, or working to catch up from the 80s? Either way , WELCOME! Second, SlovakPrincess and others, how in the world do you remember all these details from so long ago? I'm super impressed. As I mentioned the other day, I can't even keep track of who is related to whom on the current cast! ETA: I also always figured the dead baby Jake story was because TG wanted a dark storyline for Luke, and having Jake die was a good choice because of the Jason / Sam baby storyline. But I really think TG was the force behind them coming up with that kind of story. And lord, the aftermath of his "intervention" and denial was only about 10% better than the split personality shit we've been subjected to for the last indeterminable amount of time (that feels like 73 years).

But killing her right after the bug was found would catch the interest of the FBI for sure, and although he was careful, there's no guarantee that they couldn't find Phillip with a lot of digging. Having her keep working there is also dangerous for Phillip lest she be detected. I think the best choice is to keep a really close eye on her, stay with her more often, and in a few months have her have an accident. No way Martha can live forever because there's no way to know she won't break at some point, but killing her immediately would raise too much suspicion. I've never taken a lie detector test, but there's a reason they're not allowed as evidence in court - they're notoriously unreliable, and I'm pretty sure that was known in the 80s. It just measures changes in heartbeat, breathing, etc. If Martha was a nervous wreck altogether about taking the polygraph, it would be very difficult for them to get anything other than an inconclusive result. And although she has at times seemed cool under pressure, I've always thought she was really nervous and stressed about not just the spying but also about basically everything in her life. She's just a nervous Nelly (apologies to any Nellys out there). It's possible that her pulse, etc. would be all over the place even on the "What's your name?" questions, and so her lies wouldn't be noticeably different from her truths. Who knows. I do love thinking about and discussing it, though.

I do think that Maxie's desire to not have her daughter raised in the same family dynamics Maxie was raised in plays in to this Spinelli thing, but I think her weird co-dependency with Spinelli plays a larger part. Spinelli always emotionally controlled her; when they were together, her self esteem rose and fell based on what he said about and to her. How often did he say he was disappointed in her, and have her beg for forgiveness, and then start praising her with all of his ridiculous nicknames, only to once again say how disappointed he was and how he thought she was better than whatever she had done, and the cycle continued. Before him and without him, I always saw Maxie as confident, and with him, that completely disappeared. That's why I really hate the idea of them being together at all (well, part of why - I also really hate Spinelli, so I don't want to see him on screen at all). Nathan isn't perfect but he does seem to let Maxie be who she is, without trying to control her. This Spinelli BS is a great example - instead of a guilt trip or pressuring her, he asked her straight out if she had feelings for Spinelli and then told her she needed to figure it out. No showing up claiming he nowhere else to go, no telling her how she feels about him that she's just to stupid to realize, no droopy dog face. Team Nathan all the way. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://theconservativetreehouse.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/droopy-dog-3.gif&imgrefurl=http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2011/09/12/droopy-dog-endorses-flip-flopper/&h=230&w=145&tbnid=Su0k-2sdHMsYwM:&zoom=1&docid=Rl0k7g_sdhsaRM&ei=eGwPVdniCfLfsATIqIHQAQ&tbm=isch&client=safari&ved=0CD0QMygLMAs (I obviously have no idea how to add a picture I found on the internet, even though I know how to add videos.)

This made sense to me, because if Gwen and her mother were close, it wouldn't be that unusual for Gwen to share some of that with her mom - it didn't sound like she gave down and dirty details but instead shared the troubles she was having, including affairs. And given Gwen's condition and the stress and heartbreak and pressure of it all, I can understand why the mom wouldn't have sharing that info as a top priority, or even be thinking about it, at least until her husband pushed her to spill. And she did promise to keep it keep it confidential, and so probably struggled with sharing it all, especially with Barb who is being mostly terrible about everything. Your point about it maybe helping Barb is very interesting, and I think it's possible that it may help Barb to stop with the frantic blaming (especially race-blaming), but I get the sense that it's pretty hard to get through to Barb in any way. And just about this, but about everything.