JMO

I think it had to do with him carrying her over the threshhold. Must be some special Port Charles tradition that the bride should be carrying the bouquet at the time. Unless they planned that she should throw it to baby Amelia.

Maybe they could use the strike to pull a Days-of-Our-Lives and advance the storyline 6-12 months without actually playing it out. Willow would either be alive, or not. Carly/Sonny/Michael/Drew in prison, or not. The Greenland Gathering either sick or super-immune. Nicholas awake. In the interim, it would be lovely if they could choose a well-written story from the past and show it, start to finish. Although I'm afraid the difference in quality might be jarring.

So Victor wants to kill 80% of the population. Who is he going to call when he needs a plumber?

I wasn’t a fan of either of the Grant Putnam storylines, was more into the Blackie/Rick/Leslie and Rose/Jake stories. I think I enjoyed the Asian Quarter story more than the Aztec one, but they were both good. Don’t remember which came first.

Did I miss something, or did they pretty much tell us Ned was going to sing, and then give us 5 seconds of WK playing the guitar?

I love Jane Elliot. She is always so totally on point, whether Tracy is depriving her father of life-saving heart medication, or falling in love with the ne'er-do-well Luke Spencer, or having a rare moment of empathy that surprises even her. The actress manages to weave all of those aspects together seamlessly, remaining totally in character while allowing that character to bend, and twist, and still remain, uniquely, Tracy Quartermaine. I'm so glad she's back.

Decades ago, they used the cast differently. Back then, a lot of the cast portrayed doctors and nurses who, while occasionally ill or injured, primarily worked in their professions, and operated within their defined specialties. Patients were portrayed by guest actors, some of whom stuck around, and the hospital-based drama was about the success or failure of the work and the way the personal relationships of the staff impacted it and were impacted by it. Now, the main cast gets the medical problems and---especially of late---a guest actor is brought in to play doctor or nurse, or one of the main cast takes on a case completely outside their area of expertise. Kind of "General Hospital Lite", for me.

I kind of get it. I haven't been through cancer, as others have, but I spent my career in health care. We've had our share of formal and informal weddings, mostly when the end was in sight, and precisely because the end was in sight. Some, because it was so deeply desired, others for that and more practical, legal reasons. So I get that, if Willow thinks her last hope is gone, she'd want a wedding while she is still able to participate in one. Side note on this: I'm reading "Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted", and the point is made, for the under-26 year old protagonist, that marriage might remove her from her parent's (and thus, any) insurance, something I would never have considered. Not sure how old Willow is supposed to be, but I expect it would be a non-issue in her case, since her husband-to-be is filthy rich. Until the SEC gets him, that is.

Now I'm jealous of NAS, because he gets to hold Ace, who is the most un-colicky baby ever in the history of babies.

Re: Gregory and having ALS. I can't help but wonder if they'd planned an 'aid-in-dying' storyline for Britt, and were unwilling to give it up when the character left abruptly. Or maybe they're planning to bring on a brilliant geneticist who can cure Gregory (and would have been able to cure Britt of her Huntington's). Have they done 'aid-in-dying' before?

Just a shallow observation because, for me, it's become a distraction. What is it with the eye makeup and slathering on of eyeliner on nearly every female character, even in daytime? They all border on looking like they've got raccoon eyes. Is this a style now? (Which it may well be, because 'style' isn't exactly my middle name.) Re: Maxie's new hair. I can take it or leave it, as long as they remove some of the gobs of makeup from her face. KS is a beautiful woman, blonde or brunette, and I wish we could see her, and not her makeup. The only one I feel like I can really see at the moment is Willow.

I hope there have been some unavoidable behind-the-scenes reasons for the choices being made re: the timing and pacing of plots and the who, what, when, why, how and how long of the character interactions, because there have been so many missed opportunities. Hopefully they've got remedies in mind. Examples: Kevin's newfound niece has been assaulted and his stepson and great nephew (whom he helped deliver) have been kidnapped, yet neither we (nor Laura) have seen him nor heard anything about him since his bonding moment with Mac. Who is also among the missing since having accidentally arrested the person who no one will remember is actually his son by the time it gets to play out. Anna----the woman to whom Robert was married twice and who shares a daughter and grandchildren with him, along with a lifetime of WSB, PCPD and private eye work---is shot, and all we get is a brief grimace from him before he moves on to scenes with Diane. Then she wakes up (to put us out of the misery of Valentin's bad crying) within a mere 24 hours, thus defusing the drama of the situation. It would have been, but was not, a great opportunity to revisit the Robert/Anna/Robin history, which crossed paths with so many of the other characters. We also were cheated of reminders of the once deep friendships among Anna, Felicia and Bobbie. I would have even enjoyed a bedside visit from Finn, and an off-screen phone call with Robin. But they rushed through the crisis, and the dramatic potential fizzled. Hoping for a relapse. On the plus side, CS has been deliciously evil and yet deludedly virtuous (saving the world) as Victor, and NAS has found just the right tone in dealing with him. But the scene-stealer of the past week has been Ace, whose perfectly timed side-eye was worthy of his name.

Spencer needs Cam to stay and be his conscience. Seriously, he has the potential to be a really interesting character, but not if he throws his last remnant of integrity away at the age of 19. If he does that---and it seems like he might already have done so---he becomes just another throw-away Cassadine thug, and that would be a pity. I don't know that there's a way to salvage the situation, at this point. There hasn't been enough exploration of exactly why Spencer cares so much about what happens to his little brother. Too little (?any) articulation of how his own childhood influenced his thinking. Not enough sense made of his insistence upon keeping the child away from Esme, now that we know she's not the Hook. (We do know that, don't we?) All we know, at this point, is that it looks like Spencer has decided it is better for the baby to be raised in the Cassadine circle of evil, versus the Chamberlain circle of evil, and the only person who could say that to his face has just left town.

Nice tribute, and I was relieved when we finally got some flashbacks at the end, because I couldn't remember why some of the characters felt a need to be at the memorial. I was about to dream up a scenario where Cam and Emma ran into each other at the airport and made plans to get together in CA. But then I saw Cam in previews, and realized they'll have to run into each other in Port Charles first. Also saw the interview that tells me we'll see Cam return in the summer, which was very welcome news, but also made me wonder about why we had such a relatively elaborate farewell. I'd definitely be up for a little Cam/Esme or even Cam/Esme/Emma storyline to while away the summer months. Spencer and Esme have a few months to totally muck things up before Cam gets back to set them straight. I could be enticed by Emma moving in with her grandfather for a while. TR plays 'crotchety' well. Might be good fun.

It would be wonderful if those encouraging words from Cameron to Esme were filmed to serve as flashback material for an eventual return of the character, and the actor. Even if the character doesn't return, I have a feeling we'll be seeing those scenes again. "You can have a life here." Something about the whole premise of the Epiphany-goes-to-medical-school storyline has bothered me from the beginning. Nursing is a calling. It's not just a step on the road to a "higher calling". It's entirely different, and necessary, and noble. The character of Epiphany demonstrated that calling, and I thought it was odd to have her suddenly see it as 'not enough'. For me, the only salvation for the storyline would have been for Dr. Epiphany to keep missing her RN duties and relationships with patients, but that might be too subtle for a soap. Having said all that, I will miss the character, and am glad they seem to be writing such that the other characters can mourn her. Lastly, regardless of the size of Baby Ace (who I think might have more interestingly been named after his deceased grandfather), I am a little jealous of AP. There is nothing quite like the feeling of an infant sleeping against your chest.

Kevin and Mac disappeared after one of the best scenes we've been offered in a very long time. I'm going to fanwank that they're off somewhere having a re-bonding experience. Goodbye, Cam. I will miss you. You were the brains of your family, and of your circle of friends. I felt the IQ of Port Charles drop precipitously today. Glad the character, and the actor, were shown the respect of a formal farewell. I wish WL well in pursuing what he loves. Hope he decides he loves acting, too. I've always liked Diane's friendship with Alexis, and still do. But I don't like her with Robert. Maybe she's too harsh for him? I don't know. But I think he has too much history with too many other on-screen characters to be relegated to sharing his scenes with Diane. Put him with Felicia, or Anna, or Mac. In that vein, I wish the show would face the reality that JPS is too unavailable for Valentin to be in a relationship with Anna, because that completely stifles one of my favorite long-term characters. Free Anna, and let her work openly with Robert and Felicia.

Newly streaming and have started to revisit the shows of my youth. So glad I remembered to look for this one! It was a perfect little show with a relatable Everywoman, a swashbuckling spy/hero, and slowly building romance, augmented by doses of comedy, dramatic tension, car chases and explosions---something for everyone, in every episode. The leads played their roles impeccably, and even the child actors were good. The characters grew in appropriate ways within a reasonable timeline---Amanda gaining confidence and skill, and not afraid to show her intelligence; Lee, learning how to open up and lean on someone else; and their relationship, moving from improbable to inevitable, from companionship, through affection to mature love. And what great chemistry!!!

Interesting. The show definitely needs a pick-me-up. Maybe that would come from having the 'right' characters on screen, where the stories would virtually write themselves. Definitely Jax (the only tolerable iteration of Carly, in my book) who needs to become nosy about the relationship Joss has with Dex, and spar once again with Sonny; Lucky, who might bring something for Laura to do and provide Liz with the real memory storyline she's been craving; and Lulu, whose friendship with Maxi was organic enough to be believable, and who could also provide Laura (and Lucky) with some opportunities. All of them would provide plenty of material for Kevin. Lulu would need a new love interest (not Cody, please), because Dante and Sam have become zzzzzzzz material. The current cast of characters---not the actors, mind you, but the characters---have too little potential to offer to the writers.

Just read through that article complaining about Carly, and I agree with the author that the problem is largely with the writing---although I do think that SJB and TB were better at playing some of Carly’s vulnerabilities, to the point of actually generating a little sympathy for the character. Young Carly suffered from feelings of abandonment and resentment, and that made for some compelling scenes. I am hard-pressed to identify the motivations of middle-aged Carly. I am similarly hard-pressed to think about who she can organically interact with, outside her family, as she’s been largely written only with them. At least the MetroCourt gave her some opportunities to be involved with other characters, but that’s gone, now. Maybe they really should put her at Kelly’s. Although I love Kelly’s and don’t want to introduce any negative connotations. More fundamentally, I think the show suffers because it is now so extremely rare for a character to demonstrate any growth. Sure, they go through things and suffer or triumph, but the next time a new plot point comes around, they revert right back to whatever personality profile was originally written for them. They don’t even mature, they just get older. Case in point, they had to tell us that Sonny was different after Nixon Falls, when they could and should have shown us. I sure don’t see it, because they didn’t write it. He’s still a mob boss. He’s still involved with violence. He just lies to a different woman. And his hair is intermittently more and less gray. The changes I would like to see take place in the spaces in between, in the nuances that fall into the extra beat in every scene, and not just in the storylines. With those extra beats gone, so are the nuances, and for me, the interest in the characters.

Maybe this show is better at rehabilitating characters than I thought. Having recently rewatched much of the late '80s, which included the introduction and early years of Lucy Coe, I was reminded of how much I despised her character at the time, and I completely understand why Bobbie did, too. In retrospect, I'm surprised they've had any relationship at all over the years, and I'm not surprised that Bobbie's venom persists to the present. I would offer some details, but I don't know what is considered spoiler material, if it happened 35 years ago. Anyway, that was then, and this is now. For me, Lucy began her rehabilitation with her relationship with Kevin, who seemed uniquely able to bring forth some real empathy and goodness from her. That resulted in their joint friendship with Felicia and Mac, and eventually brought her some legitimacy as a relatively upstanding citizen of Port Charles. If you only met her when she returned to the canvas a few years ago, it's understandable that she would be a sympathetic character. But back then? Not so much.

Like so many others, I am not a fan of Liz/Carly interactions. They just feel so predatory to me, and I don't know why. I also don't know why they are happening. Now that their children are no longer a couple, and with Jason out of the picture, I hope they will revert to being passing acquaintances once again. I understand why people don't like Bobbie. She has always been her own worst enemy and, unlike what happens with Carly, her faults have nearly always come back to haunt her (for example....Carly), and made her pay a price. I have some fondness for the character because I remember her from when she was her best self, during the days of the Brownstone. Back then, she was a sympathetic role model and too-young-matriarch to a whole passel of young people, including Felicia. I miss those days.

Re: Elias--it looked to me as though his anger had a tendency to turn quickly to rage, and he used his killings and killings-by-proxy as sublimation for any anger he had toward those close to him (his family, his neighbor). As to Tyler and Garcia---For me, it wasn't the length of time they'd known each other. Instead, I was distracted by the obvious fact that she is old enough to be his mother, and given her outfits and behavior, I wondered if she realized that.

Thank you, vets. It's hard to believe the show has been wasting Jon Lindstrom's talents playing Ryan all this time when it's Kevin who has so much depth and history to draw upon. Kudos to KW, JY, GF and especially JL for this day. It was especially noticeable that nearly every other conversation on this show is superficial, and written solely for the purpose of plot advancement. I know the plot has to move forward, but sometimes it's best to spend a few extra beats building the kinds of relationships and character history that the vets were able to play today. Not looking forward to Sonny reminiscing about his favorite shootout. I guess I can tolerate Cody if it means we get to keep Mac and Felicia in focus. Hope we'll do the same for Laura and Kevin.

For quite a while now, my favorite relationship on the show has been the one between Cameron and Spencer. They've supported one another, challenged one another, stepped in and stepped up for one another. I don't think the writers realize how powerful a functional male friendship can be on a soap. Most of those we see now tend to be calculating and superficial. I would love to see the kinds of relationships we saw with Mac and Kevin, Frisco and Robert, Luke and Robert. Or the brotherly interaction (also a la Cam and Spencer) of the Scorpio and Jones boys. As it's obvious Spencer will have much focus in the near future, he's going to need more in his sphere than some dysfunctional adult relatives, a girlfriend, and another dysfunctional ex. So, if William Lipton is just going away for the short term, and will be back during his summer break, fine. If he's gone for good---and I'd be sad to see him go---then yes, we need a recast. And if we get one then, please, writers, don't ruin the character.

Fair is fair. I complained the other day about how anticlimactic the end of the Ryan et.al. story had been. But it turned out that the actual denouement—and the best acting— was yet to follow. Kudos to all of the vets who told the Ryan story over a period of decades. I still remember how charming Ryan the pediatrician was, and how Felicia had come to depend on him, only to have to fear for her life. It was frightening to the viewer to have this affable, respected character suddenly become the embodiment of evil. JL was excellent then, in the time since, and especially this week. Looking forward to Kevin working through his residual feelings with Laura. KW and JY were spot on, and it was entirely fitting for it to be Mac who killed Ryan. The writers did a good job of honoring the show’s history with this one. Also loved Laura’s recognizing how much Esme needed a trusted adult in the moment, and GF’s face radiating the joy of witnessing a healthy birth. There are some promising performances coming from the younger set, but I think the show is wise to continue to use its vets in integral storylines.