dubbel zout

I'd argue that Drew forgets Scout exists until someone reminds him, but I let my dislike of Drew color everything he does.

I don't understand the creative choice for making Lucky a deadbeat dad. There was no story to be told—Lucky was just off dealing with "the darkness" or whatever crap they tried to sell us. He's offscreen; they didn't have to write a story for him, just let us know he and the boys regularly talked and saw one another. That's not hard at all. Drew is more of a deadbeat dad than Lucky ever was, and he's onscreen! With Jason back we'll probably get a few weeks of him attempting to parent his kids, but his return story will soon take precedence, and he and Drew will be neck-and-neck for Worst Father Who Actually Lives in Port Charles. With Drew on his way out, the crown will be Jason's in no time.

Nah, Joss brought Dex back to PC because it makes it easier for them to fuck.

He is? I thought he was still in California, which is where he went when RH left the show.

Too bad Carly didn't squeeze the life out of Jason when she was hugging him. I was pleasantly surprised Carly didn't give us that stupid line about knowing he couldn't have been truly dead because she didn't feel it in her bones. I hate that trope. Olivia texted Sam Dante's room number at the beginning of the show, and then in the chapel Liv told Sonny that Sam texted her Dante's room number. Hello, continuity? That dreamy smile she had when Nina found her in the chapel was so disappointing. Ava knows Sonny is complete POS. Why does she want to have anything to do with him that isn't her playing him? Gah. Ava might be playing Nina, though. Someone has finally learned. I thought Carly did a good job with her reaction to hearing Jason was alive from Anna and Wagger. She didn't oversell her anger at Anna telling her or her disbelief at seeing the photo of Jason. That was some subtle stuff, not something I usually think Carly is capable of. A little over a year, I think? And she probably just realized the horror show of who her parents are and that's why she's so upset. I had a nice moment of schadenfreude that no one called the dolts to tell them that Dante was out of surgery and is stable in the ICU. Ha!

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Frank LOVES his lisping precocious child actors, which is how we got stuck with Nicholas Bechtel for way too long, and why we're now suffering with the Violet and Wiley twin actors. My dream for kids, if they must exist (and too many of them shouldn't, but that's another rant): They can come home from the hospital, be cute infants and toddlers for a while, and then go for a nap and come back down as early/middle teens who want to be on set and can say their lines without it sounding as if someone is feeding them through an earpiece.

For me that was undercut when Sasha immediately went back to pushing Maxie to give Spin another chance. But I did like that Sasha knew what Maxie was talking about, while Cody was his usual clueless doofus self. A lot of men really don't get it. That was funny, even if it was also fundamentally annoying. Way to miss the point, Cody. (But see above.) He's been SORASed only relatively recently, so we haven't seen much of Rocco alone until now. Which is fine by me. I don't want to see younger kids struggle with their scenes. The Wiley twins are painful enough to watch, and the stuff they give him is innocuous.

I really enjoyed Ava playing devil's advocate with Sonny regarding Jason's motivations. It cracks me up how everyone keeps telling Danny how much like his dad he is, the dad who was rarely around and did very little parenting. Being a robot is not something to emulate. "Maximista" as a password is pretty amateur. The picture of Dante on Rocco's phone was not the most flattering.

Is it really such a surprise? She's always played the game.

"New phone. Who dis?"

We've had this job conflict crap already between Lucy and Tracy; I don't need a redux with Nina and Alexis. Maybe people need to let Maxie live her own life for a change, rather than the one they want her to live. Ugh. Of course we now have to watch Sonny's pity party over Dante getting shot. And praying, UGH. What I wouldn't give for Cyrus to be in the rafters and tell Sonny in the Voice of God: "You are going to hell, Sonny Corinthos. Stop trying to get me to forgive you."

Or like when gunmen bust into some event. Everyone acts as if it's the first time it's ever happened. I really want someone to roll their eyes and mutter under their breath: "For fuck's sake. I'm so sick of this!" It's so silly no one acknowledges that it happens a lot in Port Charles.

Other people have railed at Sonny for what he did to Karen—rightly so, and Sonny needs to hear the as often as possible—but the folks who whitewash his thuggish behavior because of Stone are pretty bad. Good for Wagger for giving it to Anna as much as he gave it to Sonny. Ava's reaction is exactly what I think it should be: Maybe she's a little appalled, but she knows she's done things that are at least as bad, and it behooves her to support Sonny right now for whatever her purposes are.

It cracked me up that the previews showed Olivia asking Sonny if he had anything to do with Dante getting shot. Of course he did, Liv. Don't be an idiot. Yes! The physical resemblance was rather striking, though the show has always been very good at that sort of casting in general. I feel like MB at this point in his career isn't all that interested in being creatively challenged. He's sort of like SBu in that respect: Say the lines and get the paycheck, though I think MB tries to put more effort into things, as ineffective as that effort can be.

This happens on the show way too often. They get a good actor to be a bad guy and then have no idea what to do with him after the initial story, so things drag on. (Though Papa Z and his hand puppets were infinitely more entertaining than Cyrus and his Man of God shtick, genuine or not.) I miss the days when "story-dictated exit" was a regular occurrence. Heather is also long past her freshness date. All she does is escape from custody and shriek at people about how they done Esmé wrong and Ace shall be hers. Zzzzz. Too bad this won't change how anyone sees Sonny. Geez, it took forever for the paramedics to arrive. Good thing Jason knew how to keep Dante alive, heh.

If Jason never got grief for being a deadbeat dad when he was living in Port Charles, I can't see him getting any (or much) just because he was presumed dead. He's always been very hands-off as a father, and I think he'd have been just as happy if the kids had never been born.

They always have Jason whine about it, which I find so tiresome. Oh, poor baby has to throw on a tie for a couple of hours because he's going to an event where his stupid black T-shirt isn't appropriate. Ugh.

As if. We'll be lucky if Danny is even peeved. Ugh. Maybe Aidan can shoulder that burden, despite the entire town telling him he's wrong and Jason must be forgiven, since he's the town savior.

Same; I think if it were fake, we'd have had some indication of that by now. (That doesn't mean the new regime won't change that.) It continues to amuse me that Cyrus is still amazed Portia wants nothing to do with him. Dude, not everyone is going to forgive you as easily as Laura did—and even Laura isn't entirely sure about you. It's also getting a bit old to see him try to make peace with Portia and she threatens a restraining order. We get it.

Ugh, Heather. Her usefulness is long past, IMO. Color me surprised that Jason's return was immediately revealed, instead of us having to endure the "suspense" of someone creeping around Port Charles unseen for days. Well, it sure didn't take long for John to become totally stupid when it comes to Sonny. I'm certainly not outraged on Sonny's behalf, but this sort of thing doesn't do anyone any favors. John looks incompetent, and Sonny's posturing is, as always, laughable. Portia can shove her "everyone is entitled to proper medical care." Where was that when you decided to wake up Oz from his coma so he could testify against Esmé? Did anyone else find the sound a little off? I thought some of the women's voices—FH, GF, and AS in particular—sounded higher than usual.

Just so no one gets the wrong idea, my dislike of MW/Ava has nothing to do with her appearance.

I don't think that's what Shaw wanted from Riley there. Racism is a daily occurrence for too many people. Shaw was saying that while he didn't agree with how the guy dealt with it, he certainly understood his frustration and anger at how he and his wife had been treated at the hospital. ETA: I have no doubt Riley meant well and was trying to be genuinely supportive. But sometimes that means you need to keep quiet. I can't imagine there is anything is Riley's past that comes close to being racially profiled and then basically blamed for it by your own department. That's a fundamental betrayal that's hard to shake off.

How does Shaw meet him partway? Riley would never be mistaken for a perp by other cops simply because of the color of his skin. Riley should have simply said he was sorry that happened to Shaw and left it at that. Some experiences are never going to be understood by outsiders. This I definitely agree with. Also, I think it shouldn't have come as a surprise to Shaw that Price would ask him to testify, and that he knew Shaw would be reluctant so had the subpoena ready. But the show always seems to have at least one "gotcha" moment connected to the trial side of things, even if the "gotcha" is stupid and entirely predictable. Same. I thought it was needlessly awful.

This is exactly how I feel about Maura West and Ava. MW knows exactly what she's doing, and I enjoy watching a pro at work. But I don't like Ava and never really have. Part of the problem is the writing for her has been all over the place (and we got stuck with that godawful Denise Denucci character for a while), but most of it is that MW/Ava just don't strike any sort of chord with me.