JMO

Poor Gio. I thought GM was excellent, from the point where he overheard, through his heartbreaking words to Emma, "They need me to play. I have to play, because that's the gift I got from my mother. Because I'm a violinist. My mother taught me everything" through to his breaking down shouting on stage. I actually gasped when he broke his beloved violin. Just well done, and yes, soapy. Lulu is an idiot. It's one thing to tell Dante in private, another entirely to issue an ultimatum to Lois, and even to be angry with her. No granting grace for anything, nor having empathy for having to make a difficult decision in a difficult time. Wondering if Lulu's meddling will get between her and Dante. On a lighter but more eye-rolling note----the act with Chase and his boys was excruciating. But DZ seemed pretty committed to it. Will Gio move in with his Uncle Sonny the mobster? I doubt he wants to live with the Qs now.

Alexis should have had the same conversation, absent the blackmail that wouldn't exist, with Kristina the day she found out. No, it's not a mother's job to protect/shelter her dysfunctional child. It's her job to help her child see the dysfunction and seek professional help. That entire story is a mess. Part of me is disappointed with Lulu for pushing the issue with Lois, but on the other hand, it's probably the best way to find out if Gio has ever even suspected being adopted. I missed seeing Lucas in the opening act. The act made me miss the nurses of yesteryear--Bobbie, Epiphany, Felix and even longer ago, Jessie, Audrey, Amy. Above all, I'm unhappy that the writers deprived us of hearing Tracy sing (or recite) "One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you" while staring daggers at Drew.

Lulu strongly suspects that the kid is Gio, but she doesn't know for sure, mostly because she's doing all of the wrong things to find out. If she waits too long to tell Dante, she may well have stumbled upon the truth. But until Lulu is sure, it would have to be up to Dante to decide if he wants to know, if he wants to pursue knowing the identity, and then if he wants to make contact. And, of course, they would also have to decide whether to tell Brook Lynn what they know. Pretty sure Dante would insist, but Lulu may be petty enough not to want to. It's hard to talk about these things in the abstract, because we all know who it is and how intertwined he already is in their lives. If it was an unknown person somewhere out there in the world, our conversations would probably be very different.

Ah, the Nurses Ball red carpet, carried live by PCTV and watched only by us, and a lone traveler coming to stir things up. I enjoy the dress up party of the year, even if I don't particularly enjoy the acts. (Just saw the 2020 virtual ball for the first time, and the acts were better than I expected---not great, but better. Guessing the episode was part of the full year I deleted from the DVR unwatched.) Loved Tracy grabbing the mic from Drew, didn't love her arrest. It made Mac look dumb, both in the timing and in choosing Tracy's granddaughter's husband as the person to make the arrest. Mostly I didn't love it because I wanted to hear JE sing! Willow's arrival was over the top, and drove home the ridiculousness of her relationship with Drew. Glad Alexis told Kristina that she, Rick and Ava all know. So, will they keep the secret in order for Molly not to know that Kristina nearly accidentally killed her father? Or will they tell the secret, and let Molly be angry with her father for the blackmail? I hope Kristina has enough of a reaction that Alexis decides to go forward with having her committed. Re: Lulu and Dante---considering their relationship, the fact of his having a son is too big a secret to keep. How many wives, accidentally (through social media, or gossip at a reunion, for example) finding out that their husband has a child, would not tell him? Then Dante gets to decide if he wants to pursue it or not. And I think she should keep her speculation on the identity of the son to herself unless Dante asks. I think Cody and Molly are the most likely to have a good time. He really can be charming and fun, and Molly can use some of each.

Re: Lulu. Yes, she's too impulsive to do any of this the right way, which is how she came across the information in the first place. But, since she did find it, I am 100% in agreement with her that she has to tell Dante what she knows. Not what she suspects, but what she knows. We're to believe that they still love each other and are in love with one another. That kind of relationship demands honesty. It's a bit of an inverse to Brook Lynn and Chase's situation, where honesty is making them stronger. For them to require Lulu to be dishonest in her own relationship is wrong.

The scenes with Willow drove the point home for me today---Isaiah has chemistry with everyone, but still none but wet-rag Jordan to call his own. He's too good a character and actor to be relegated to that. He interacts with a lot of people (except his good friend Lucky), but has no real relationships. Do we need a new character, or is there someone on the campus currently that can drive a storyline with him? Feeling like we could use an infusion of IQ points into the PC water supply.

Just want to throw out that there was a third person making the decision about whether Gio should know that he'd been adopted----his adoptive mother. Ultimately, the decision was hers for the duration of her life, and if she didn't want him to know, it would have made it more difficult for Lois and Gloria to decide to go against her wishes, after the fact. Not impossible, but difficult.

The relationship between Lucas and Liz has become my favorite on the show. I am proud of Liz for having matured into a woman who is willing to be vulnerable enough to enter into a relationship but wise enough, and centered enough, not to let it define her. On the other hand, I detest that they've brought Lucky back to much fanfare, only to have him hover at the edges, barely speaking with his family of origin, lying to Liz as a tool in the Kristina story, and never letting the Liz/Lucky with/without Aiden relationships deepen. I also detest that Dante only got a day of sanity between bouts of irrationally blaming Gio for something for which Gio is not responsible. The relationship between Brook Lynn and Chase has been the winner in this adoption story. They are open, honest, supportive and both vulnerable and strong. Never thought I would think that, let alone say it. Lulu is too trusting of her spidey senses. Yes, we know that she has correctly identified Gio as Dante's child, but she doesn't have enough information to reach that conclusion herself. And she shouldn't be accusing Brook Lynn of lying, again without enough info. I did think it was worth Cody sharing his point of view, but Lulu should have seen it as what it is, a single perspective. I have friends on both sides of the adoption issue, both those who were adopted and those who adopted their own. There are all sorts of permutations of who knew what, when, who received the info well and who didn't, which includes the adoptive parents, the adoptees, and the half-siblings who may or may not have known about their older, adopted sibling. It's messy, some of it is sad, and some of it is wonderful. Just like everything else in life. Alexis and Lucky don't seem any smarter than Kristina at the moment. Wise up, people.

Hated to be reminded of Lucky's deception of Elizabeth today. Hated that I'd forgotten about it because I hadn't seen Lucky in forever. What a waste of a legacy character's return.

Catching up on the last two episodes. Thankful that Dante has recovered his sanity, loved the relationship between Rocco and Danny, and the fact that they, and everyone else, consider themselves brothers, despite being the rare duo in PC who share no genes. It's kind of a testament to Sam and her ability to create family. I appreciated Tracy working to navigate that fine line between the two young women she loves. I actually enjoyed Lulu in the episode, which was driven more by her being faithful in her relationships (to Rocco and Tracy) and not by her agenda. Detective Chase seems to be a man of many talents. Wonder who taught him the tango. And kudos to FH, whose Anna first danced the tango with Duke some 40 or so years ago. Way to stay in shape! So, Joss knows why Emma wanted the job, but doesn't quite know why Brennan wants her to have it. Will she pursue Brennan's agenda while getting info for Emma? Will the two goals be in conflict? I can see it being a decent summer storyline for the younger set.

Dante needs counseling. He's angry with Danny for putting Rocco at risk; he's angry with Jason for not being a more hands-on parent to Danny; he's angry that Jason didn't get angry enough with Danny, and didn't punish Danny enough, or at all, as though exacting retribution would somehow be better than having actually gotten the kid to see and own the error of his ways. Mostly, I think Dante is frustrated. He's been in a quasi-parental role with Danny both through his time living with Sam, and now at the Qs, he can see the kid is a risk-taker, and yet he's felt no permission to act fully as a parent. I won't be surprised if this incident becomes the excuse for Dante to leave the Qs and for Rocco to move in full time with Lulu. I thought both Sasha's and Jason's talks with Danny were good, even as I rolled my eyes at who was giving the poor kid advice. Nice to see you, Liz. Where's Lucky? Don't like that they have Tracy cozying up to Sidwell. She's smarter than that.

Just awful. I would a thousand times rather have a character-driven show than a plot-driven show, and I especially dislike being given a character assassination to move a plot point. The writers owe Dante a big apology. If they hadn't telegraphed and then revealed Gio's parentage, maybe Dante could have had his rant and we could all have attributed it to displaced emotion over the loss of Sam. I'm kind of hoping they'll still do that. But we all know it's plot driven, and poor DZ had trouble selling it. Also---if late 20s Dante was around Gio enough to be annoyed about how Lois and Gloria were raising him after he was orphaned, why do they have such a superficial relationship? And while I'm thinking of it---have we had any scenes of Gio talking with Rocco and/or Danny about his own experience of losing a parent at an age just a few years younger than they are? I just don't remember. I like the friendship being formed between Emma and Joss. Surprisingly, it's making me like each of them a little better.

Fatal alcohol poisoning among adolescents is, thankfully, rare. But poisoning that requires medical evaluation is not all that uncommon. There are certain performers whose concerts are notorious for their fans' drinking, and the ED staff all look at their schedules when the concert dates are announced, to see who will have the misfortune of dealing with drunken adolescents (and angry parents) and adults. Sounds like they'll need to start doing the same in PC for college beach nights.

Admittedly, movement is the best thing. But for risky spinal surgery, it shouldn't come until your imported specialist surgeon has cleared you, and not until you're surrounded by medical personnel beyond the co-chief-of-staff. I've seen videos of people on ECMO walking the hallways, especially with Covid. It's amazing, and they need a full entourage to pull it off, but it can be critical.

Dante is usually the calm, collected, logical one in any given situation. I mean, to a fault. I've spent enough days yelling at him on screen to show some emotion. So I'm going to need more than a passing "I can't lose you, too" to explain why he went after Gio as he did today. Other than writer-driven plot manipulation, that is. I expected him to have cooled down for his not-so-private talk with Gio, and was surprised when he hadn't. No way this is Gio's fault or responsibility, and everyone seems to know it, except Dante. I suspect Lois' statement is a teaser, and I don't expect there to be a revelation any time soon. Still rooting for Tracy to figure the whole thing out. I didn't mind Carly's talk with Danny, and hope that we'll see Danny talk with Dante, and with Rocco. I don't really care if we see Jason talk with Danny. The whole Kristina/Alexis/Ava/Rick thing is ridiculous, and yes, I'm annoyed that JJ is relegated to playing these scenes. ETA---If I was the surgeon who did the highly risky surgery on a young athlete's spine, I would have the heads of everyone who thought it was a good Idea for him to stand up and take a step within hours of my closing the incision.