JMO

If she survives the fall (where are those giant beach balls when you need them?), Kristina is going to become the new owner of the MetroCourt. Maybe Alexis will use her newly reclaimed law license to sue over those obviously flimsy upper-story windows. I guess it was a good surprise. Or was it the writers trying to avoid the responsibility of conveying the emotional complexity of a surrogacy-related child custody trial? I would have preferred the latter.

My favorite part of today's episode was the obvious Spinelli influence in James trying to say "Greetings and Salutations!"

Kristina should definitely be in birthing classes, and either Molly, TJ or both should be with her as her coach. This whole thing has been written as though Kristina is expected to just drop the baby off when she’s “done” with it.

I've been assuming it would turn out that Valentin has been undercover with Pikeman on behalf of the WSB, but had no thoughts about who the "big bad" would turn out to be. I'd only be interested in this entire thing if it turned out that Frisco had allowed himself to be removed as head of the WSB as part of the operation, and if that was what Mac had been helping him with. I think my imagination is already creating a scenario where the brothers Scorpio team up with Felicia and Anna, and I guess we could throw Dante in there, in taking down Pikeman and saving the WSB and the world. Too bad it will remain only in my head.

So Jagger is being sacrificed at the altar of Sonny, Jason and Carly. Great. I think what bothers me the most about the Anna story---besides everything---is the absence of relationship. She tolerates Jason because Robin loved him, but has no real relationship with him. She's not confided at all in Felicia or Mac and, as I will now shout, instead of merely say----THERE IS A ROBERT-SIZED HOLE IN THIS STORY!!!!. It's just not interesting, nor remotely emotionally engaging, to see Anna put herself through the wringer for no discernible reason beyond the distant and wimpy Valentin. For all of the worthwhile interaction she's had, Finola may as well be acting in a closet. There's no reason Anna couldn't have a confidant among her close circle of friends, and we are long past the time when it should have started. Molly and TJ. They tell themselves a story, get it wrong, get upset about it, and decide to blow things up. Take that baby, Kristina, and run!! I guess this is all for the purpose of bringing Rick Hearst back. I think I wasn't watching for the bulk of his time on the show, so I don't miss him. But I get that others do, and are happy about his return. I'm just annoyed that it will likely place yet more emphasis on Sonny.

I don't know anything about Perez Hilton except that I've heard the name before. So I have no idea how this show was supposed to work. But did I hear correctly that Brooklyn suggested that she, Blaze and Kristina go to Bobbie's for a milk shake afterward? If so, were we to believe that they were filming this show in Port Charles? Quite the little upstate New York city. The same city where Portia was when she just happened to read, after a worldwide literature search, about a study being done that could cure Curtis, only to find out that it was being conducted at General Hospital (the place where she works as co-chief of staff).

Ugh, this show. They manage to bring on a character with real potential, someone who has a history with other characters both on screen and off, and then they forget to give him a personality and end up treating him like a prop. As far as I'm concerned, this is just pure dereliction of duty by the writers. Tracy. I love Tracy, but I do not love her having essentially been relegated to a rotation among the other characters while she has no real storyline of her own. Granted, it's probably a treat for JE's scene partners (even MB looked briefly animated), but it needs to be going somewhere. The Tracy we used to know might have a residual sadness about Luke, but wouldn't be moping around on his birthday. She needs someone to verbally spar with, and someone with whom to reflect on the changes within. It could even be with Laura, or Lucky, or a newly awakened Lulu. Just somebody. Although I don't think they will beat her relationship with Gregory, whose death I think the writers will come to regret.

I do like Maxie, but I'm not sure I can see her with Michael, unless he comes with a new face and a new personality. Who knows? In talented hands, many things can happen. Speaking of Maxie----are we just going to forget that Mac was off helping Frisco with something? Shouldn't we be hearing about what that was? Shouldn't Maxie be wanting to hear more about her father, or at least expressing resentment about him? It wasn't necessary for them to drop Frisco's name in the first place, so I'm waiting for a denouement. Unless, of course, the writing crews can't agree on what it is.

Maybe that was really Anna's brain in the jar. Would explain a lot of things.

I actually liked the episode because I enjoy character-building scenes. But maybe it would be better to integrate them with scenes that advance at least one storyline into the same episode, so there would be something for everyone. I really liked the scenes between Laura and Dante. Unless I zoned out, which is entirely possible, I don't think they connected the dots between Dante observing Danny with his long absent father and Dante's newly increased angst over Rocco's emotional state about his long-absent mother. But it would have been nice. Tracy is going through a late life evolution, which is interesting to see unfold. But I think she needs a means of overtly reflecting on it. Stella is MIA, but I would settle for Tracy talking it out with an unseen heavenly Gregory while she sits on his memorial bench. Gio and I share opinions on "the city", pizza, Arthur Ave. and the Mets, so I'm liking him more already. Loved Tracy bemusedly telling him that he was supposed to be afraid of her, and he responding with a disarming grin. I'm liking both this relationship and the one with Cody. Trina is emotionally exactly where most people in her circumstance would be, and it was nice to see the supportive friendship between the two young women. I won't complain if Trina falls into friendship with Gio, and then we can see where it goes.

So much clinking. Only the crew at Crimson missed out.

I don't even know what to say about this show anymore except that I think it's trying to give me whiplash. I have always loved Anna, but never Valentin, and definitely not them as a couple. All of this Pikeman intrigue has been ridiculous and has bogged down the performances of all of the people it has touched. Poor Adam Harrington hasn't been able to use but one expression since he came on the show, and it doesn't look like that will change with the Ava story. What a waste. Give me back my Anna, and go out and find Robert while you're at it. I can't tell if Gio is being shown the door, but I think it will be sad if that's true. I actually like the actor, and the fact that he has an additional talent to bring to the screen. I'd thought he might be there for Trina, and I think their personalities would mesh well. Maybe they'll decide to bring him in as a 'professional' studio musician for Blaze, on her new record label. Nina saved the day for me, both yesterday and today. She really is sweet with Sonny, and I love the more mature, less dependent version of her. More, please. Maxie with the line of the day again, after Nina tells her that Sonny came to bury the hatchet: "In who?" (The grammarian in me is even now correcting it to 'In whom') Overall, here's what bothers me the most, and the source of my whiplash. It feels like the change in writing staff was handled such that the new writers decided to ditch any stories that weren't theirs, rather than digging in and finding ways to make them work. That may soothe a writer's ego, but it does nothing for the viewer's experience, and we're kind of necessary to the longevity of the show.

I started watching RHOC from its debut, out of curiosity about how other people live their lives. Back at the beginning, it was actually about that---just every day life, but different from mine. Now it's about an obsession with wealth and appearances that I find completely unrelatable and far less interesting, replete with contrived, usually mean-spirited, storylines and far too much reimbursement for these women to come to their senses and walk away. Having gotten that off my chest, I do still see some redeeming qualities in most of these women. Most. A side note---not all sentencing is intended as punishment. Community service is actually intended as an attempt at restoration and rehabilitation, in the form of giving back something to the community that was harmed, and/or finding self-worth in serving others. Shannon can do the latter with her church.

Sober Shannon is someone I might actually befriend in real life. She's funny, self-deprecating (when she's not competing) and sharp. I have frequently admired her ability to take a step back from a tense conversation, and especially when she is being baited, to set limits. I hope she will come to terms with her addiction in time to realize that it is costing her the chance of finding a genuine, deep, lasting romantic relationship, as well as her relationships with her daughters.

Re: Audrey---I think there was a phone call from Elizabeth to her grandmother on the occasion of her being named head nurse. If anyone has a photo of the GH Memorial Wall, that would probably be the definitive answer as to whether Audrey is supposed to be alive. I thought Cameron won a soccer scholarship to Stanford. He would still have other expenses, but his family is not footing the tuition. Other people in a family having money doesn't translate into everybody in the family having access to it, so I'm fine if they are depicting Elizabeth as handling her finances independently. And, yes, Jason should ante up, especially since he missed three years of child support payments. It feels like the writers are back to the more concrete method of storytelling, one story at a time, instead of the more nuanced weaving of a bunch of stories together. I'm a fan of nuance.

Sasha.

Maxie for lines of the day: "You're so sweet, you could be related to my mom. These days, who knows? Maybe you are." I sure hope they come up with something for Adam Harrington to do besides turn up in a doorway at the end of a critical conversation. How many times has that happened already?

Isn't Sasha supposed to be in recovery? Now that she's downed the wine, will she spiral and have to join Finn in rehab?

Glad the Cody/Mac story is moving forward. I understand Mac's anger, but he'll come around, especially since he'll have both Maxie and Felicia working on him. Glad for Maxie to be able to have an on-screen semi-sibling relationship, too. So, interesting breakdown of who handles what part of the Quartermaine household, and even more interesting that it came up at all. Sounds like another hint that the ownership of the estate may soon change. But Monica put Michael in charge of the money end "because he's a businessman"? What is Ned? Was this a transition episode? I'm wondering, because there were points where Laura, Elizabeth and Felicia seemed to uncharacteristically hesitate or stumble on their dialogue, and I wondered if there had been last-minute changes. And just now I'm remembering that I recently saw a State of Mind episode where MB talks about a recent flare of his illness that necessitated a two week absence from work. Maybe this was filmed during that time, and there might have been some last-minute improvising. They did mention Sonny in this episode without explaining his absence.

I wonder the same thing, especially since they made a retrospective change to her recent history, from attributing her absence to her attendance at medical conferences to, as per Tracy, saying she's not been well for a long time. Revisionist history usually leads to a new plot point. My preference would be to have Monica retire, so she (and LC) can be physically present for the attributes and praise. LC wouldn't have to do much but listen and say a few words at the end. Eventually the character would die, but it doesn't have to be right away. Of course, when Monica does pass away, the house will have to go to someone, and I would be interested to see how that played out. I also wondered if Monica's new chronic illness was mentioned to add to the burden of Gregory's loss and Tracy now learning that another old friend has advanced stage cancer. Makes me wonder where they're taking Tracy.

Haven't seen anything of this season, though I still plan to binge it if I can get a free week of Paramount. What can I say, I'm a hopeless CM fan. From the comments here and on FB, it sounds like the take-home message is not to mess with the format that won you so many loyal viewers over the years. Focusing on a single case for a full (short) season allows time for filler material, but doesn't promote character growth; being 'gritty' (ie, smoking, cursing and getting high) is too reminiscent of middle school; piling on the 'enemies' of the BAU detracts from their primary identity as the nemesis of serial killers. I used to be annoyed with MGG for not returning to the show, because I thought it indicated a lack of gratitude for how he achieved his following. Now I think he's a genius.

Unless she's made a brand of unrequited love between a man and a woman, I can't imagine Blaze's fans would have a problem with her being gay. And considering that everyone who comes out has at least a moment of trepidation about their family's response, I can't imagine that Natalia being homophobic would do anything but make Blaze more of a sympathetic figure. The Deception dilemma, on the other hand, is interesting to me. Are they concerned about losing homophobic clients? Clients intolerant of the spokesmodel's privacy? Or are they truly intending to be protective of Blaze by keeping her out of the public eye until she's more settled emotionally? I wish they'd just gone ahead with their advertising campaign as it was. They either have a quality product, or they don't. And Blaze is still beautiful.

I would be up for a sweet summer romance between Trina and Gio, and I appreciate that they have the arts in common. Nothing heavy, just something that lets Trina see that it can be very nice when your boyfriend is not a brooding scion of a wicked empire. Speaking of the arts, I'm actually more worried about what will happen to the gallery than I am about what will happen to Ava. It's one of the rare facets of culture to grace Port Charles, and I would hate to see it lost. Although it would be nice if anyone actually visited it for anything besides intrigue. I'm trying to keep a mental list of unfinished storylines, but I'm sure I've already forgotten some. Right now, I've got: who killed Austin and why; will Sonny ever be prosecuted for nearly killing Cyrus; where is Cyrus, anyway?; did Liz ever get to say goodbye to Finn? (I may just have forgotten); how did Jason get out of that cave, and how did the FBI get him in the first place (I may have zoned out). Where is Robert, during the Anna story? Ned, after the death of his daughter's father-in-law? Jagger? Has anyone seen Jagger? Or is that storyline so hopelessly muddled that we'll never see him again? Sometimes, when I complain like this, it seems to conjure the missing. Hoping for that now.

It sure feels like another rush to the exit with MW. I really like the actress, but I don't know where the character could possibly go from here. With Nicholas off screen in prison (as opposed to still starring from Pentonville), her only unburned bridge is with Avery. Even a villain needs a sympathetic foil. I get Sonny not lashing out at Natalia. She's been honest with him right along about her struggle to accept her daughter, and she has framed it as that, and not as a rejection. I see how he relates their situations as being parallel, with each of their daughters becoming disillusioned with their parents, and the fallout for the parents. Go, Maxie! Just don't become too scheming. Blackmailing the editor of the local paper is not actually a good thing. I'm not sure whose writing we're seeing right now, but I appreciate that they are making some connections between the past and the present, as in the aforementioned parallels between the situations of Sonny and Natalia, and Sasha's past history in the scandal spotlight. I hadn't made either of those leaps myself, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Have to give credit where it's due. Even given how predictable it was that Kristina would struggle about being merely a surrogate, NLG and especially KM were stellar in those scenes, and KM was heartbreaking. Re: Blaze---I have been so unengaged in her story that I had to look up the actress' name (and initials), but JGL impressed me today. The scenes at both Deception and the apartment were beautifully done. Nothing about either of these storylines has gained my much of my attention before, but they managed to rivet me yesterday and today. Timely (even if they missed June), topical and extremely well executed. Even all of the dialogue was spot on. And I hadn't even seen it coming that Ava could find a way to hurt two of the people she hates, Sonny and Alexis, with one evil act. So soapy.