JMO

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.

Well, that was anticlimactic. I truly don't understand this show. There have been numerous plotlines dragging on endlessly, and then we finally get a nice, juicy hostage situation, involving two serial murderers, and it plays out in only two days, ending in part because one of the hostage-takers just decided she would stop holding the hostages. There was plenty of angst to be played in Mac worrying about Felicia, and plenty of room for Anna and Valentin to find out and wonder if they should risk revealing themselves to help her. Plenty of angst to be found in Kevin realizing that his brother has been and is a continuing danger. Plenty of reason to worry about the fate of poor Austin, who had to pop up from the floor just to remind everyone he was still there. Each of those things, if they made it to the screen at all, lasted only a few seconds. Instead, we have Alexis come out of nowhere to announce she knows who the Hook is, and we watch the police just calmly walk into the room on Spoon Island. It was bad for the viewers and especially bad for the actors, who came so close to finally having some material to work with. The only saving grace was Ava.

I ended up binging the season over the past week. Overall, I think they did a decent job of telling a relatively cohesive story and keeping up the tension and interest across ten episodes, although I suspect watching them all at once helped quite a bit. The performances delivered by the actors playing Voit and his wife were impressive, and I can see why they might want to bring Voit back next season. I do think the team was too small (and missing one notable genius), hence the need to bring Bailey, and then Will, along on the case. Hope they are able to remedy that next year without acting on the implied threat to somehow bring Will onto the team. No. Besides, the guy isn't healthy. I thought Emily was well written and portrayed this year, with just the right mix of empathy, rebellion and administrative prowess. Tara's troubled relationship was believable, if not particularly engaging for me. Poor Luke was affable and neglected. I enjoyed seeing more of JJ's home life and feel older just looking at teenaged Henry. Garcia was blech, especially pursuing a relationship with a man young enough to be her son. Ugh. Rossi was the focus of the season and JM was up to the challenge. He was stellar throughout, even if I found the premise of his despair to be overdone. Loved seeing the original profiler so deeply profiling his nemesis and captor, and prevailing in the end. As to his personal situation---since he was there so much for Reid when Reid struggled, I really missed not having Reid be able to return the favor. Will fanwank that it happened off screen. The final episode went off the rails for me after the capture of Voit, and I find myself disengaged to the point where I really don't care who is at the door. But I'm sure I'll watch again next season--even if I wait to binge again--because it really was fun to have another visit with these characters. But I really, really want Reid back.

Best things about today were seeing Robert, Anna, Felicia and Lucy all in the same scene, and in on the same scheme, and Robert's reminiscing about Laura fighting the Cassadines way back when.

For me, Cam and Spencer comprise the currently most compelling relationship on the show, and the actors portraying them are also the two most compelling. But there is so much missing here. The situations the characters find themselves in, and the astounding fact that Spencer is receiving advice from his uncle the mob boss (instead of his father, the impregnator/imprisoner or his great uncle, whose list of ignominies is too long to go into), while Cameron has no mature adult male figure at all to turn to (since Kevin is MIA, Finn estranged and Scott not really a mature adult) highlights for me the strange composition of the current cast of characters. The younger generation is small, and the kids are pretty much on their own, saved only on occasion by grandmother/mayor Laura. Their parents' generation is the largest on screen, generally messed up or self-absorbed, and with limited options for interaction outside a very small social circle. Their parents have some element of maturity (Robert, Anna, Felicia, Mac, Ned) but are too often on the shelf. And the senior generation---who would have been the Steve and Audrey Hardys, the Lila and Edward Quartermaines are completely gone from the canvas. Where is the dispenser of sage advice, or is that a thing of the past? Who can the young people turn to, save each other? Who demonstrates any capacity for personal growth? A character can flail, but if that's all they do for the entirety of their existence, they become increasingly less tolerable, and not at all interesting.

Potpourri of thoughts: Can't help but wonder how this Willow/Michael/Nina/Carly/Sonny story would be going over with likeable characters. I might actually care. Is it just me, or does it seem to others that the writers can't commit to a story line, so they throw a bunch of things at the wall to see what sticks? Thinking of things like the Liz psychological trauma, Austin's skanky 'cousin', even the non-fallout to Liz and Finn for hiding undead Peter's body, Chase and Brooklyn, the obvious chemistry tests between them and other characters. None of the story attempts feel like a preamble to a bigger story, some wrap too quickly, and some never wrap at all. They all feel to me like, "Hey, here's a great storyline.....uh, never mind, let's try something else." So many missed opportunities to go in depth, so much apparent fear to do so. Please, writers: Every person, and thereby every character has faults, some even a fatal flaw. But they also have other qualities that make us root for them. Try very hard to find those qualities, and you will find the real drama in that character fighting against their shortcomings. Then, pick a storyline and commit to it. If you get stuck, think harder, and more creatively. You'll get there. That's what writing is about.

It would only be interesting if Reid showed up to save the day. Says the person who has only seen the CBS episode.

I'm old, which is why I've only posted on the 80s thread before this. But I'm also now retired, which means I am no longer a month or two behind in watching the show, even if I still FF some (a lot) of it. So, re: today's episode and the Willow issue---a) the old GH may have had paper records, but the new, sleek, nearly staff-less and patient-less GH must surely be entirely on an electronic, unpackable (and thereby un-accidentally readable) record by now; and b) Willow lunging at a donor after chemo didn't work seems to indicate that she doesn't understand chemo is required to prepare the recipient for a transplant. I realize this is a soap, and one that has even been centered around science fiction at times. But drama is so much more effective when it is real, and relatable, and it is more often than not found in the nitty gritty, and lost when reality is glossed over. Think about how touching it was to watch Britt give herself a birthday/farewell party when she knew she was decompensating. We can all relate to coming to terms with our mortality. But can we relate to holding someone hostage in a tower? Yes, I miss the stories of the 80s, but I see so much potential in the current storylines, if only they played out with just the slightest nod to reality.

The Washington Post ran a short article on the reboot. One of the comments called it, "Criminal Minds: Nursing Home". Have only partially watched (due to the HLN West Wing marathon), will have to actually pay attention to it later this week. First impression is that it is verrryyyyyy dark, which may make it a no-go for me.

Echoing Daniel on some of the preposterousness of the premise. I will be interested to see how they make the case that a serial killer couldn't still operate during a pandemic, nor how they managed to find each other to create a network. Maybe we need Reid to come back and notice that the likely point of nexus was actually the BAU, and its unsolved case files.

Sorry to hear about your job, Bookie, but I'm in awe of your attitude! Here's hoping it's just a short pause (because it sounds like your boss loves you!) or maybe an opportunity in disguise, leading to something new and exciting.

Anna, Robert, Felicia, Scott, Lucy and now Holly are all currently back on the canvas, and there have even been a couple of recent Bobbie sightings. With Anna now in trouble, wouldn't it be good to add to the 80s revisit by bringing back the attorney who got her off the last time? Well, technically, Robert solved the crime, but Jake gave him the time. #BringBackJake

Congrats on the new nephew, Idiotwaltz!

So, I came back to 80s GH because there was a post on a GH message board that asked which pairings we'd always wanted to happen---and I remembered there was someone I'd always wanted to see interact more with Anna, albeit probably not in a romance. Couldn't remember anything about the character but the shape of his face, but IMDB helped with that. It was Jake Meyer, who played a lawyer and was married to Bobbie (her most realistic pairing, in my opinion). Jake was a great character--fun, compassionate, a heroic defender of the underdog, possessor of great integrity (minus a completely inexplicable event with Lucy Coe), co-owner (and originator of the idea) of the Brownstone. He worked both with and against Robert, Anna, and Frisco and there was much mutual affection among them, and with Felicia, Tony and Tania. He also helped Bobbie deliver BJ. The actor, Sam Behrens is still with us, still acting and still looks like Jake. I would love to see him back to work with Finola Hughes as Anna. If it's only as friends, fine. If something were to develop?---well, maybe it's time she actually had a good guy again. #BringBackJake

Have just rewatched some of the iconic scenes from the 90s----BJ's death, Robin telling Mac about her diagnosis, Stone's death. Those scenes are nearly 30 years old, and still people know exactly what you mean when you reference them. Do you think, thirty years hence, there will be people remembering "that time when Sonny took out his rival" or "when Jason (or Franco or Drew or whoever) realized he had someone else's memories" or "when Carly sabotaged ______ (insert name)"? Back in the 80s and 90s, GH was more cutting edge than most highly touted adult programs are now---and more effective, because the stories evolved over time, with characters we felt we knew, and cared about. They were brave enough to allow a character to die and remain dead, thus bringing true emotional impact. I have been only loosely attached to GH (heavy on the FF button) for a long time now, because there is nothing to hold me. Can't even imagine how a new viewer would even become engaged. The attempts to remain societally current are usually heavy-handed, and presented as exposition (eg, 'we're having a fundraiser to support thus and such') instead of actually exploring the issues in question by having the characters directly affected by them. Instead, we get scene after scene of privileged characters interacting around a rooftop pool in a high end hotel. Sheesh.

You'll have to keep us informed, Annber. You always did provide excellently detailed reviews.

Disappointed at no MGG. Would have been fun to have something to look forward to, and to enjoy speculating. Reid-less episodes of the original series told me what to expect. On the plus side, it leaves money in my pocket.

Just recently rediscovered 80s GH and am greatly enjoying the characters, the storylines and the settings. Some of the long term characters (eg Laura, Scott, Bobbie, Anna, Robert) hadn’t been through quite as many crazy things back then so they were more believable. Settings were also believable (human activity, ringing phones and overhead pages at GH—-it’s so sterile and dead inside now that it looks like it’s about to close—-are extras really that prohibitively expensive?). People interacted via natural employment situations and living arrangements (the Brownstone idea was genius). And, most importantly, there was deep character development that allowed even minor plot devices to be inserted into the storyline, with each character reacting naturally to the situation, rather than completely plot-driven stories. That’s what kept it interesting even when it was about the process of becoming a nurse, or a doctor, or a cop. Or a spy. (Although the spy adventures marked the beginning of an end for me. I found both Anna and Robert far more interesting in their police roles.). The characters came from different social and economic backgrounds, seemed to like each other, and were able to have clashes and disagreements that could be reconciled, without requiring malice or revenge. Many managed to be honorable without being boring, sometimes with a fatal flaw, but both of those aspects served to make them relatable. And it’s kind of interesting to be reminded of when we were all so much less available to one another, when a landline could be ‘busy’, when you had to search out a pay phone in an emergency. And when certain things could only be researched on ‘Robert’s computer’, hidden in his secret computer room. How far we have come.

Congratulations on the new nephew coming, Idiotwaltz, and thanks for the laugh on the serial killer name list! I'm sure he will bring new honor to whichever name they choose. I feel for your SIL in making her decision about getting boosted, especially if her physician is discouraging her. If it helps to know, there have been multiple large studies now that show that there is no increased risk of miscarriage over baseline with the Covid vaccine. At least one study even showed the risk to be lower with the vaccine. At least she's had the first two doses. Though, if omicron is skyrocketing in that area, a booster will give her the best chance of avoiding it. It will also provide antibodies to the babe afterward.

What did you think of it? I liked it more than I expected to.

i would agree with you 100% if the JJ/Reid thing hadn't happened. Even though it's never bothered me to have Reid play the role of the tragic hero (and thereby I would be okay with his status remaining unresolved at the end), I think they're going to have to do something about the place this revelation has left him. Since I don't see them throwing away JJ's marriage, I think they'll have to either find someone for Reid or imply that he's headed in that direction. Before the last episode, I'd thought it was a toss up, whether we would ever know him to find love. Serial killers, yes. But love?