mbluecpa

Yesterday wasn’t a real plot-driven episode, but it was certainly nice to see such a large number of the cast interacting within a single episode. Add the handful of extras and this is probably more people than we’ve even seen at recent Nurses’ Balls. It did look like the performers were really enjoying themselves, which is always nice to watch. Agree with someone above that I’d liked to have seen Stella at the Savoy (“Tracy invited me!”). I haven’t laughed out loud at intentional GH humor in a while but Lois’ (paraphrasing) “oh god, tell me that’s not our stripper?!?!” did the trick. Forgive what may be ignorance, but does Laura know that the person Dex was going to off was Cyrus? When Joss and Kristina had their bitch-off, I flashed back to the Laura/Anna scene and I think Anna remained vague on the victim. Looks like we have a new restaurant set with the surf club?

That was some of the most cringeworthy stuff I’ve seen on GH in a while and it consumed a good chunk of the episode. I’m halfway serious in wondering if they’re going to retcon a joint replacement for Lucy and give her cobalt poisoning. I’m intrigued by Ava and her figuring out Sonny’s meds, but damn they’re moving that along at a breakneck pace - for now at least. But Monday’s highlight was definitely how awesome JE looked in her riding outfit. Let’s have Tracy and Stella open a bottle of wine and play some backgammon, shall we?

I’m pretty sure it’s Bizzy with the serious sunglasses; I recall there were a few comments on them in one of the other episode threads. At least it helps me tell them apart! I do like that the top two teams from this episode are the ones running generally competent, independent, and drama-free races. I was really surprised that the retired cops/grandparents and cousins picked the climbing task but both pairs seemed (assuming no major editing) to do pretty well with it. Kudos for one of the girlfriends enthusiastically saying “This is what The Amazing Race is all about. This looks fun as hell” when seeing the climbing task.

I’m glad it wasn’t just me: for the last ~2 weeks, I’ve looked forward to watching and had even stopped multitasking while watching. About 10 minutes in to yesterday, I was “eh, I’ll start cooking and leave it running.” The writers’ avoiding a year of twice-weekly bickering between Nina and Drew before their hate sex is welcome, though it surely does feel like pacing whiplash. And while the longer scenes generally work, two minutes at a time of Michael/Willow just feels like an eternity. Are we supposed to know or care who Pierce is? That whole thing felt like TPTB told the writers “we’re not hating on Nina enough, please add some gratuitous filler.” On the bright side, I’m glad they’re apparently setting up some Jason/Sonny conflict and thought that makeup did a good job with John’s beat-down.

Joining a few others in agree with this. After Joss walked into Bobbie’s and in fact before she said a word, I made sure to have the remote handy; I watched about the first 10 seconds of bitching and was done. As someone else noted above, the writers have really doubled down on the mini-me here - and now without Joss and Dex banging twice a week to give us some variety. 🙄 Tracy’s birthday cake just disappeared from one day to the next, so I’m hopeful they stick with the story begun with her visit to Terry. The writers have really started to expand Tracy’s “reach” out of the Q mansion and I’m hoping that continues. I thought Agent Cates’ line to Drew about him and Jason with Carly and Sam: “both of you were married to one and involved with the other” was gold.

A perfect description of today’s episode. I was coming in to say that I didn’t think there was much material plot movement (except maybe Sam’s and Kristina’s expressed distrust of Ava) but more exploring relationships between characters which I really enjoyed. That and the longer scenes make it feel like the performers have more of a chance to develop or show chemistry with their scene partners. When Finn asked Elizabeth how she felt about the Jason situation, was it the first time he’s allowed her to have a POV? And of course Stella and Tracy, chef’s kiss. After the prior HWs’ nearly unwatchable storm of conflict between Molly and Kristina, the two of them have had some similar recent scenes: airing the “dirty laundry” and acknowledging and moving on within the same scene or at least episode. The recent scenes with Diane and Alexis are in the same vein, though they’ve pretty much always had that vibe. Kudos to the writers for having Dr. Kramer acknowledge patient confidentiality, though a demerit for having Tracy have her wellness exam with an unseen Terry, an oncologist. Kirsten Storms looks terrific.

I don’t know if the missing medication was a one-day plot point or part of a long game, but either way shaking my head that a board member would be involved immediately on discovery. For the first time in a very long time, I’m genuinely wondering (in the positive sense) “where are they going with this?” in regard to multiple plot lines so to that extent the shift in writers is working for me.

Right?! Given that Pentonville houses serial killers, mobsters, etc. and how it’s talked up as a really bad place, it slays me that it’s co-Ed and inmates pretty much walk around freely. Still not sure how I feel about the pending Sonny/Ava pairing. I think I’m here for it and not just because MW is one of my favs. I’d rather a friendship/confidante type thing but know the writers have to have their leading man in a romantic entanglement at all times. Hell, if they insist on keeping the show as General Mob, then have Sonny, Ava, and Selina team up to be the east coast triumvirate. But If they’re going to hook up, might as well go for full soapy camp and have them reenact Crypt Sex.

That’s where I think they’re headed, a la the “AJ” that Connie wrote after being shot. I noticed the immediate cut from the garden shed “Stone” scene to Jagger. That karaoke stuff was top-shelf cringey. I kept hoping Ava or Tracy would unsuspectingly walk into Charlie’s just for their non-verbal reaction. Yesterday’s theme was really caricature characters: threat-y Sonny, rage-y Drew, and Spinelli.

I had to chuckle when Curtis suggested that Trina lean on others for support: Portia, who disliked Spencer; Joss, who’d turn it around to herself, even before Dex’s disappearance; and himself, though to be fair he seems to be emerging from his funk. Mr. Mbluecpa often announces the arrival of Hatman in a scene with “be bop a do bop,” (don’t judge - we’ve gotta find something amusing in here) and I’ll be damned if Marshall didn’t break out into a brief scat in his scene with Stella. Great as usual to see JE, even if those scenes were pretty much unnecessary. Her wardrobe rivals that of Constance Towers.

I’ve only seen it a couple of times, but there’s a new gummy bears commercial featuring adults (football players this time) talking in “comical” exaggerated child-like voices. I’ll take the OG Jardiance ad over that one. Further down the irritating scale but still registering, the ad for laser-cut floor mats featuring the snotty used car appraiser has returned.

His wild gesturing in every scene - unavoidable in ffwd - is so OTT that I’m hoping that’s how he’s being written/directed. At the Savoy, the way that Brick/SAS said “my private line” when giving Jordan his card was so sleazy it made me cringe. And of course a Dex and Joss scene ends up with them screwing. I was probably looking for anything to latch on to, but semi-enjoyed the axe-throwing quartet scenes <ducking>.

I’m certainly glad it’s not just me with increasing frustration as of late. At this point, I’m hanging on in hopes that the new head writing team dramatically shifts the direction the show has taken. I find myself subconsciously ignoring a large chunk of the dialog and storylines lately and instead focusing on the sets (Sonny’s office/restaurant is falling apart btw), makeup/wardrobe, and the performers’ various acting tics. All in all, kind of a waste of ~38 minutes. A true rivalry between Nina and Carly might actually be a decent plot line but a one-sided snot-fest is far, far from that. In my moments of viewer lucidity yesterday, I did sense a few potential mini-anvils of a softening attitude toward Nina. And no, Carly, Drew is not “the owner” of Aurora. It’s public, which is what led to this debacle of an insider trading storyline in the first place. I did think GH and RS showed some great friend/parents of the engaged couple chemistry yesterday. It’s a shame they’ve written his character into a corner as I enjoy his scenes when anyone he’s paired with. ETA: Lois’ outfit and pointy blue nails were awesomely over-the-top yesterday. I get the feeling that RS has a lot of fun playing this character, which shows in her performance.

Maybe this will be UO, but I thought the Spencer obit/memories/funeral stuff consumed too much airtime. It might’ve worked 25 years ago, but with ~95% of viewers knowing the backstory with NAC (and thus his likely return) and just coming off a very well-done tribute to Bobbie/JZ it just didn’t work for me. On the other hand, I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by the writing for Gregory. I was the first to pre-roll my eyes when it was introduced, fearing these writers would botch it but they’ve impressed. Keeping him in Alexis’ orbit and bringing in Tracy (well, probably more having GH work with NLG and JE) has made for some well-crafted scenes all around. There were a couple of rage-filled Carlys-fest episodes while the site was down. It feels like the auto-script-generator is stuck on SEC and “let’s destroy Nina,” yielding scenes that I don’t find the least bit entertaining. Shallowly, kudos to wardrobe for the Spencer-related scenes. All black is an easy attire choices , sure, but they managed to also make some very stylish picks.

Definitely. If Wiki is to be believed, he’s 18 years older than Tanisha Harper, who is only 10 years older than Tajh Bellow. I felt like I needed a shower after that scene. OMG, I heard it as “get it up, get it up” and wondered what the hell was going on. I also thought I hear Sonny call Kristina “Kate” (as in KM) but that might’ve been K as a nickname (that I don’t think they’ve ever used). I am so uninvested in this lawsuit storyline, so glad to see they’re fast-tracking it.