Episode Discussion II: The TFGH

[ouinason]

Franco was definitely a bit much in the beginning, but I don't think I would define it as stalkery.  I mean, he needed to take several steps back at certain points, but I never got the impression that he was menacing or anything, though the show did go to lengths at times to frame him in that way to amp up tension and red herring him as a suspect in serial murders... twice.  That bothered the shit out of me actually.  Like that creepy ass elevator scene where they played Liz as absolutely terrified of him for like half a minute and then it was fine.  That is terrible.

 

I do like Friz, but I find it sad that this relationship is the longest lasting one that she's had, and that this is her longest marriage as well.  Poor Liz couldn't catch a break for decades, and the one time she has it's been sort of an anxiety hammering ordeal for a good chunk of time.  I'm actually glad that they are basically back burner for a while because the minute they get front and center, people start dying.

[DanaMB]

Oh the good old’ days of Dante hating Sonny. 
 

And when our “hero” shot an unarmed cop. 

Edited June 29, 2020 by DanaMB

[perkie1968]

This episode originally aired in 2010.  It's Josslyn's christening day and Dante is undercover in Sonny's organization as Dominic....

 

The Jackes family, including Lady Jane, prepares for the christening.  Jax tells his mother what he's been up to regarding Sonny and Dante.  

Dante, discusses the case with Ronnie, who worries that Dante will warn Sonny the arrest is coming.  Dante's worried how it will affect Carly and the boys.  

Jason and Sonny discuss how Dominic managed to infiltrate the bizness and what they plan to do about it.  .Olivia stops by to warn the idiots not to cause a problem at the christening.  Carly shows up with a similar request.  

Lulu, looking fantastic in that purple dress, is worried about Dante and asks Lucky to attend the christening.  Other guests include Ethan, Robin, Patrick and Johnny.  

Liz apologizes to Luke about cheating on Lucky with Nikolas.  Lulu shows up, showing no love for Liz. Luke reprimands her.  

Sonny summons "Dominic" under some pretext, which Dante sees right through.    I ADORE Dante and DESPISE Sonny and I've seen these scenes a bunch of times, yet they still get me every time.  

NOTHING hotter than Dante pulling that badge out of his pocket and declaring:  "Michael Corinthos Jr, you are under arrest for the murder of Claudia Zachara Corinthos"  Of course it went completely into the crapper after that. 

Dante, honey, why did you go in there unarmed.  

Unintentionally funny line:  Olivia:  Sonny, you just shot your own son.  Followed by that 4567x6443=? look on Sonny's face.  

[rur]

In  spite of its obvious Godfather/christening ripoff, (and Carly wearing lame' to a christening) today's episode was a good episode, featuring a lot of the cast, including Luke being a decent father.

I will, though, never forgive the writers for eventually having Dante be "Dad, you shot me! Oh, well, bygones!" The memory of that action should have been a festering wound that remained throughout his time on the show. 

If the writers bring Dante back, my wish would be that they would reveal that all of Dante's mental issues stemmed from being shot by Sonny. And having Sonny's anguish lead to his downfall. 

[tvgoddess]

8 minutes ago, perkie1968 said:

Sonny summons "Dominic" under some pretext, which Dante sees right through.    I ADORE Dante and DESPISE Sonny and I've seen these scenes a bunch of times, yet they still get me every time.  

NOTHING hotter than Dante pulling that badge out of his pocket and declaring:  "Michael Corinthos Jr, you are under arrest for the murder of Claudia Zachara Corinthos"  Of course it went completely into the crapper after that. 

DZ was really great in this entire sequence. Not showing any fear, giving Sonny his utter loathing and contempt without letting it go ham, and his praise for the gunned down Lt. Poletti was just so moving.

On the other hand, not so moving but still cracked me up was Lulu's reactions to Liz. I'm Team Liz these days, but back then I wasn't. I'm not a fan of slut shaming as a general rule, but this was more of Lulu sticking up for a member of her family. 

Ah, my Jolivia! My OG older woman/younger guy pairing I loved so much.

Go to hell, Jason and Spinelli. Conspirators and complicit murderers.

Cheesy or ripoff as though it may be, I loved the music at the end.

[Stinger97]

The best part of these flashback episodes? 1. Getting to see the old opening sequence which, back in the day, many of us hated. But compared to the odd screensaver-esque opening credits we get nowadays, it's amazing. 2. Seeing old sets, like Carly's old house. I *hated* that set. The yellow color palette + black/white checkered foyer floor was...oof. 

Also, it's frightening how much ten years can age a person. Compared to his appearance at this year's Emmys, MB looked like a baby. 

Also also, I forgot how much I enjoyed JMB's Lulu. The character hasn't worked for me since Emme Rylan took over the role in 2013. 

Edited June 29, 2020 by Stinger97

[dubbel zout]

I totally forgot that Lulu was Joss's godmother. It's never mentioned.

LOL that Lucky mentions that large gatherings in Port Charles rarely go well. Things haven't changed, Lucky.

I hated Dante worrying how arresting Sonny was going to affect his (Sonny's) family. I can't muster up any sympathy for any Corinthos except Morgan (at this age, that is). Carly knew exactly who she was marrying, didn't care, and had kids anyway. Especially because she's the one who invited Sonny to the christening in the first place, and there's absolutely no reason he needs to be there.

[ulkis]

Luke was very Luke in this episode. I know a lot of people thought it was more of Liz skating, but he never would have given Liz a smackdown.

You're cute @rur. If Dante returns I'm sure they will double down on the asskissing. 

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

55 minutes ago, tvgoddess said:

I'm Team Liz these days, but back then I wasn't. I'm not a fan of slut shaming as a general rule, but this was more of Lulu sticking up for a member of her family. 

I've always been a fan of Elizabeth, but I swear, I laughed (and I don't think that was the intent) when Lucky confronted her and Nik (was he there?) when he said they were "rutting like farm animals."

I know, I KNOW! That's bad. It's awful, but I laugh. I don't know why. But the best part was the look of disgust on Lucky's face when he saw them--because that whole affair was disgusting to me, and Jonathan's expression conveyed it all.

Edited June 29, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule

[dubbel zout]

5 minutes ago, ulkis said:

Luke was very Luke in this episode. I know a lot of people thought it was more of Liz skating, but he never would have given Liz a smackdown.

That empathy was one thing I really liked about Luke. He might not like their actions, but he didn't hit people when they were down. (Maybe if their last name was Cassadine.) And he knows when to stay out of things, unlike the rest of Port Charles.

I liked that Lulu was somewhat put in her place when Luke said judgment was like a boomerang: You put it out there and eventually it comes back.

[ffwbe]

3 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

I totally forgot that Lulu was Joss's godmother. It's never mentioned.

From what I remember, Jax wanted Alexis to be godmother but got overruled even though Jason got to be godfather. That’s also back when they were still playing Lulu as a mini Carly. It wasn’t long after this that she hired BL to seduce Dante as revenge so she and Carly weren’t so close for very long. 

[absnow54]

2 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I've always been a fan of Elizabeth, but I swear, I laughed (and I don't think that was the intent) when Lucky confronted her and Nik (was he there?) when he said they were "rutting like farm animals."

Can we campaign to get this episode replayed, since they’re fine with playing episodes from this era?

[dubbel zout]

Ugh, I hated that. Nik and Elizabeth might have been together when Lucky spewed that hateful stuff, but it was clearly aimed at Elizabeth, and she bore the brunt of the anger from nearly everyone. I was no fan of the affair story, but as Luke pointed out, there were two people involved in the affair. TFGH and its misogyny that the woman is blamed the most.

[perkie1968]

As much as I hated Sonny shooting Dante, the next few episodes were really good.  With Lulu losing her shit on Sonny and then Lante becoming even closer while he was in the hospital (there are some serioulsy HAWT scenes between DZ and JMB).  I wish they were showing three or four more of the following episodes, rather than jumping to something else the rest of the week.  Tomorrow's episode is from a little bit further after this but then Wed episode jumps to 2014.  Were going to have repeats for at least another month, why not show several episodes in a row before having the time jump.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

47 minutes ago, perkie1968 said:

As much as I hated Sonny shooting Dante, the next few episodes were really good.  With Lulu losing her shit on Sonny and then Lante becoming even closer while he was in the hospital (there are some serioulsy HAWT scenes between DZ and JMB).  I wish they were showing three or four more of the following episodes, rather than jumping to something else the rest of the week.  Tomorrow's episode is from a little bit further after this but then Wed episode jumps to 2014.  Were going to have repeats for at least another month, why not show several episodes in a row before having the time jump.  

It really was. And I still get chills. Of course the synopsis also had Robin telling Nik to stay away from Elizabeth. But that didn’t happen!

I remember how Robin was dead to me in the aftermath of this, with all her sympathy for Mooby, and her trying to convince Dante not to press charges by bringing up Stone. To the point of showing him their prom picture.

How lightning didn’t strike Jaysus dead during the Christening, I’ll never know.

See? This is why I can never totally hate Luke. And that Fake!Dark!Luke was a retcon Carlivati pulled out of his ass because viewers figured out who he really was.

I thought one of the episodes was going to be Michael killing Claudia? Did they decide to use today’s episode instead?

Robin looked GORGEOUS.

What? I wanted to end on a positive note!

[sas616]

54 minutes ago, perkie1968 said:

As much as I hated Sonny shooting Dante, the next few episodes were really good.  With Lulu losing her shit on Sonny and then Lante becoming even closer while he was in the hospital (there are some serioulsy HAWT scenes between DZ and JMB).  I wish they were showing three or four more of the following episodes, rather than jumping to something else the rest of the week.  Tomorrow's episode is from a little bit further after this but then Wed episode jumps to 2014.  Were going to have repeats for at least another month, why not show several episodes in a row before having the time jump.  

 I want to see the follow up episode(s) to this one.  And I've thought the same thing.  Why not have a full week of consecutive episodes.   Or do a week of a specific storyline and show 5 (or even 10) of the significant episodes from the story.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

Oh and ALAN!!!!!🥰🥰😓

[perkie1968]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

 

How lightning didn’t strike Jaysus dead during the Christening, I’ll never know.

 

I wanted lightning to strike that pos Spinelli, who pretended to be Lulus friend to her face while actively helping the idiots plan Dantes murder.

[perkie1968]

1 hour ago, sas616 said:

 I want to see the follow up episode(s) to this one.  And I've thought the same thing.  Why not have a full week of consecutive episodes.   Or do a week of a specific storyline and show 5 (or even 10) of the significant episodes from the story.  

YouTube has it,. It's somewhere around the end of January 2010.   The Valentine's Day episode that year is Lante at the hospital and there is so much heat I actually thought something was going on between Dom and Julie in real life.  HAWT!  

[sas616]

29 minutes ago, perkie1968 said:

YouTube has it,. It's somewhere around the end of January 2010.   The Valentine's Day episode that year is Lante at the hospital and there is so much heat I actually thought something was going on between Dom and Julie in real life.  HAWT!  

T I've been obsessed the past month or so watching old ATWT episodes from the Douglas Marland days (now THAT was good soap), but I'll take a break and check them out.  

[TVbitch]

The show was so much better when it was not afraid to show Sonny/Jason for what they are. If this storyline was done today, it would probably be some other mobster finds out who Dante is and Sonny/Jason actually save him from getting shot or some bullshit like that, and then everybody lines up to kiss Sonny's ring, and Jordan thanks him, and Dante admits he was wrong for trying to go after a mob boss as moral and kind as Sonny.  

[MollyMelrose]

First in a series of videos showing the aftermath of Dante's shooting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0ZRljBNHic

[Ambrosefolly]

2 hours ago, TVbitch said:

The show was so much better when it was not afraid to show Sonny/Jason for what they are. If this storyline was done today, it would probably be some other mobster finds out who Dante is and Sonny/Jason actually save him from getting shot or some bullshit like that, and then everybody lines up to kiss Sonny's ring, and Jordan thanks him, and Dante admits he was wrong for trying to go after a mob boss as moral and kind as Sonny.  

Disagree. Back then the show was even more up Sonny and Jason's ass than now. It is that Guza was so delusional, that he thought he was presenting as Sonny being pushed to his limits or whatever and Olivia was as much to blame as Sonny for the shooting. However, the day to day writers were much stronger than now; it seems that RC/FV chased them out in favor of OLTL writers, despite them not giving a crap about history.

[perkie1968]

This is the Lante follow up after the shooting.  the expression on DZ;s face when Lulu takes off her coat at 8.22......

 

 

And then they set up the alarms at the very end,,,..

 

 

Abd then the expression on JMBs face when he rubs his hand down her cleavage at 9:50......

 

 

[BlancheDevoreaux]

Dante and JMB's Lulu were so great together. I hate what head happened with those characters. I have nothing against Emme Rylan, but she just isn't Lulu to me and she and DZ couldn't hold a candle to JMB and DZ.

[dubbel zout]

8 hours ago, Ambrosefolly said:

Olivia was as much to blame as Sonny for the shooting.

I can’t disagree more. Sonny was the only one with a gun there. Dante was a grown man who knew the risks of going undercover. Mommy spilling the beans wasn’t going to help things.

[Ambrosefolly]

37 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

I can’t disagree more. Sonny was the only one with a gun there. Dante was a grown man who knew the risks of going undercover. Mommy spilling the beans wasn’t going to help things.

I said that Guza was delusional when he wrote the story line. Guza was the one that thought that Sonny was someone pushed to his limits and Sonny's own shitty actions were other people's fault. No, I don't think Olivia was to blame. Did she handle things well, no, but she reasonably assumed that Sonny wouldn't go around shooting people, especially a fucking cop that he was openly interacting with. It was the other writers that see how crazy Sonny's behavior is. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

I can’t disagree more. Sonny was the only one with a gun there. Dante was a grown man who knew the risks of going undercover. Mommy spilling the beans wasn’t going to help things.

1 minute ago, Ambrosefolly said:

I said that Guza was delusional when he wrote the story line. Guza was the one that thought that Sonny was someone pushed to his limits and Sonny's own shitty actions were other people's fault. No, I don't think Olivia was to blame. Did she handle things well, no, but she reasonably assumed that Sonny wouldn't go around shooting people, especially a fucking cop that he was openly interacting with. It was the other writers that see how crazy Sonny's behavior is. 

But you did state that Olivia was to blame in your original post:

9 hours ago, Ambrosefolly said:

Olivia was as much to blame as Sonny for the shooting.

And she wasn't to blame. Not telling Mooby about Dante was one of the best things Olivia ever did, because she knew what path that asshat was headed toward. And Dante was undercover; he wasn't openly interacting with Mooby as a cop with a wannabe mobster. He was pretending to be a criminal.

[Ambrosefolly]

3 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

But you did state that Olivia was to blame in your original post:

And she wasn't to blame. Not telling Mooby about Dante was one of the best things Olivia ever did, because she knew what path that asshat was headed toward. And Dante was undercover; he wasn't openly interacting with Mooby as a cop with a wannabe mobster. He was pretending to be a criminal.

Then I was wasn't clear. My exact sentence was:

Quote

It is that Guza was so delusional, that he thought he was presenting as Sonny being pushed to his limits or whatever and Olivia was as much to blame as Sonny for the shooting.

The "and" was to include what is under Guza's delusional thinking, not that "I" thought that Olivia was to blame. 

[nilyank]

Dante made the mistake in not calling backup when Sonny demanded that he leave the baptism. He suspected something was off but did not to protect himself. He wouldn’t have time to get a bullet proof vest but he would have enough time to call his partner on his way over to Sonny’s.

Meanwhile I always thought it was stupid to make Dante an undercover NYPD cop instead of an FBI agent. Why would the NYPD send just one of their own cops to Upstate New York for months on end without involving the FBI and the local police commissioner. Instead they had him checking in with another NYPD cop and private citizen Jax.

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 hours ago, perkie1968 said:

This is the Lante follow up after the shooting.  the expression on DZ;s face when Lulu takes off her coat at 8.22......

 

 

And then they set up the alarms at the very end,,,..

 

 

Abd then the expression on JMBs face when he rubs his hand down her cleavage at 9:50......

 

 

Man, I miss this Angry Dante who wanted NOTHING to do with Mooby. And this Lulu, who swore she'd never forgive him and finally saw him for who he was; and shut up, Olivia. Why should Dante feel sorry for him? That petulant manbaby made his own choices.

Now I gotta find the scenes of Dante being rushed to the hospital.

[GHScorpiosRule]

26 minutes ago, nilyank said:

Why would the NYPD send just one of their own cops to Upstate New York for months on end without involving the FBI and the local police commissioner. Instead they had him checking in with another NYPD cop and private citizen Jax.

Because as Jax said yesterday, he called in some favors to make sure Dante would be the one, instead of trying to call in a favor at the FBI? They already tried the FBI route with Hannah, and then turning that other Fed, who was her handler/partner into a dirty Fed. Who knows?

But it's a soap! Plus it's the TFGH, so what can you do?

[perkie1968]

2 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Now I gotta find the scenes of Dante being rushed to the hospital.

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Thanks @perkie1968!

The few clips I found just skipped over crucial scenes!

UGH. And it's allllllllll about Moooooooooby! How he wouldn'ta shot Dante if he'd KNOWNNNNNN he was his son! Yeah, riiiiiight.

How Olivia didn't just punch him in the face as he yelled at her about Betraaaaaaaaayallllllll, I'll never understand! Or REFUSE to let him into Dante's room. UGH.

Oooh! I did love Luke's line to SheBeast to look at her own history of marriages and different fathers for her children before she goes off judging Elizabeth. Not that it shut her up. I HATE that they get along. I want the threatening Luke who threatened the original SheBeast when he learned about her.

Yeah, I'm petty. So what?

I did love Lulu TEARING into not only Jaysus, but ESPECIALLY into Mooby at the hospital.

 

[perkie1968]

Today's  episode originally aired in 2010 a couple of months after yesterday's episode.  Michael has been sent to jail for killing Claudia. Everyone and their mob moll are blaming Dante.   Jason has had himself sent to prison to protect Michael.  Kristina is recovering from Keifer's abuse.  

Piece of crap Spinelli and Hypocrite Carly want to set up Dante to look like a crooked cop.  Carly has convinced Brook Lynn to seduce Dante so that Lulu can see what a terrible person that he is.  I forget, did Carly offer BL some money for this or was it just about BLs feelings for Dante?  

Dante wants to see Michael but Jason's not allowing it.  

.Sonny's willing to go to therapy with Kristina.    Sonny tells Alexis that he's not abusive to women and somehow lightning doesn't strike him dead.  In therapy Kristina accuses Sonny of abusing Claudia.  This does not sit well with the mysoginistic one.  

Luke and Tracy are locked up in prison somewhere and I have no memory of why.  Lucky worries though Ethan tries to reassure him.  

Olivia and Brook Lynn are cooking a meal for Dante and Lulu feels badly for her lack of skills. 

Liz talks to Steve and Lisa about investing in some new drug protocol.  

Carter pays Michael a visit in his cell.  

Sonny stops by Carly's to ask her if he ever abused her.  Is the Pope catholic?

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 minute ago, perkie1968 said:

Carly has convinced Brook Lynn to seduce Dante so that Lulu can see what a terrible person that he is.  I forget, did Carly offer BL some money for this or was it just about BLs feelings for Dante?  

Money. Because Great Grampa Edward wouldn't give her the money she wanted for her career. I can't recall if Ned and Tracy also nixed helping her. What I hated about Brook Lynn's return was all of a sudden she had this uber strong Bensonhurst/Brooklynish accent that she didn't have a few years before. And all the anachronistic (or maybe it's the opposite?) speak, with calling the refrigerator the "ice box" like they did in the 20s , 30s, and 40s.

[perkie1968]

17 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

And it's allllllllll about Moooooooooby! How he wouldn'ta shot Dante if he'd KNOWNNNNNN he was his son! Yeah, riiiiiight.

This drives me bonkers every time I watch those scenes.  Who cares that he was unarmed.  Who cares that he was a cop.  who cares that it was in the middle of your living room, where anyone of your underage children could have walked in.  Nope.  It's all about how he didn't know.  

 

19 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I did love Lulu TEARING into not only Jaysus, but ESPECIALLY into Mooby at the hospital

I loved her line to Jason that she was going to go to the police with the info that she had on them.  Too bad that never came about.  And her going off on Sonny at the hospital where it took both Robin and Nikolas to pull her off.  

[Ambrosefolly]

43 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Money. Because Great Grampa Edward wouldn't give her the money she wanted for her career. I can't recall if Ned and Tracy also nixed helping her. What I hated about Brook Lynn's return was all of a sudden she had this uber strong Bensonhurst/Brooklynish accent that she didn't have a few years before. And all the anachronistic (or maybe it's the opposite?) speak, with calling the refrigerator the "ice box" like they did in the 20s , 30s, and 40s.

Edward Q did offer the money for Brook Lynn, including room and board at the mansion, but he had the insane idea she go back to college, and by god, she won't be controlled like that! She'd rather drug a close friend and convince his girlfriend that he is cheating. It is a huge betrayal but would give her more time with her music. It isn't like she could learn anything useful, like read a contract.

[dubbel zout]

1 hour ago, perkie1968 said:

Sonny's willing to go to therapy with Kristina.    Sonny tells Alexis that he's not abusive to women and somehow lightning doesn't strike him dead.  In therapy Kristina accuses Sonny of abusing Claudia.  This does not sit well with the mysoginistic one.  

Do they ever dig into the fact that Sonny doesn't seem to think there's verbal abuse as well as physical? Or does he know he's a verbal abuser and doesn't want to admit it? Probably both, given how Sonny has to be placated. I like that Kristina brought that up in therapy, and Sonny proved the point by a) getting mad about it, b) refusing to see it, and c) stomping out like the baby he is.

[Cheyanne11]

2 hours ago, perkie1968 said:

Piece of crap Spinelli and Hypocrite Carly want to set up Dante to look like a crooked cop. 

Carly is an awful human being, but Spinelli truly is garbage.  He actually decides someone's life is OK to ruin simply because Carly or Jason tells him so.  And we've had to hear for two friggin' decades now about what a cyber-genius he is--from him.  Talk about tiresome.

Sonny today...man, Kristina was speaking hard truths to him and all he could do was deny and try to bully/manipulate her into thinking he's a good guy.  Go to hell, Sonny.

[gp1999]

Who was the cop that Sonny put a hit on that Dante wanted to avenge? Did they ever show it onscreen or was it just randomly inserted to justify Dante's hatred?

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Thanks @perkie1968!

The few clips I found just skipped over crucial scenes!

UGH. And it's allllllllll about Moooooooooby! How he wouldn'ta shot Dante if he'd KNOWNNNNNN he was his son! Yeah, riiiiiight.

How Olivia didn't just punch him in the face as he yelled at her about Betraaaaaaaaayallllllll, I'll never understand! Or REFUSE to let him into Dante's room. UGH.

Oooh! I did love Luke's line to SheBeast to look at her own history of marriages and different fathers for her children before she goes off judging Elizabeth. Not that it shut her up. I HATE that they get along. I want the threatening Luke who threatened the original SheBeast when he learned about her.

Yeah, I'm petty. So what?

I did love Lulu TEARING into not only Jaysus, but ESPECIALLY into Mooby at the hospital.

 

But the difference is that Carly didn't need a DNA test for every one of her children. Only the father of Michael was in question whether if Tony or AJ was the father.

[nilyank]

5 minutes ago, gp1999 said:

Who was the cop that Sonny put a hit on that Dante wanted to avenge? Did they ever show it onscreen or was it just randomly inserted to justify Dante's hatred?

 

It was part of Dante's backstory about the cop that made a difference in his life before he was killed and according to Dante the number suspect was Sonny. Sonny had no idea who this cop was and we never saw this Lt.  Polleti on our screens.

[teenj12]

"My dad abused his wife, Claudia."

God, Kristina held nothing back lol. I liked the therapy scenes for addressing that abuse comes in more than one form. Didn't enjoy Sonny storming out like a toddler having a tantrum. But man, I really miss this Kristina, who could call Sonny out on his crap.

Edited June 30, 2020 by teenj12

[Asp Burger]

2 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

Do they ever dig into the fact that Sonny doesn't seem to think there's verbal abuse as well as physical? Or does he know he's a verbal abuser and doesn't want to admit it? Probably both, given how Sonny has to be placated.

This is as close as he got, when Carly said yes, he was abusive, and produced the receipts with "faithless whore," "worthless," etc.:  

"I want you to hear my side. I have a temper, a bad temper, and you've seen the worst of it, and I have yelled at you, screamed at you, called you names. I'll even take it a step further--I might have grabbed you at some point, but you by no means were innocent. You lied to me, you cheated on me, right? And you even set me up with the Feds. [...] I'm just saying, it takes two to tango. We were equals, and you weren't the helpless type. How many times did you deliberately do something, knowing it was going to hurt me and set me off? [...] You deliberately provoked me, and then you gave as good as you got. [...] I never saw you cowering on the floor, sobbing, beaten. Because that's what I see as abuse. That's what my mother and I went through for years." 

So he makes it all about the specifics of his relationship with a woman, instead of identifying his own pattern, and everything's in the shadow of his idealized mother figure who suffered "real" abuse. If he can tell himself he's better than Deke, he can live with himself. It was an interesting story, psychologically, but they were only going to go so far with it.

[Cheyanne11]

1 hour ago, Asp Burger said:

So he makes it all about the specifics of his relationship with a woman, instead of identifying his own pattern, and everything's in the shadow of his idealized mother figure who suffered "real" abuse. If he can tell himself he's better than Deke, he can live with himself.

The only way it's abuse for Sonny is if the woman is lying on the floor with a black eye and sobbing.  If one of those three isn't met, it's not abuse per him.  Such an asshole.

[pinkandsparkly13]

Today reminded me of why I quit watching the show around this time. I was so sick of the Corinthos clan getting away with everything, and thinking they had to get away with it. But God forbid anyone betray them. They would have to pay with their life or going to prison. 

Spinelli was such a loser, referring to everyone by their stupid nicknames and himself as the Jackal. 

Since when did Brook Lynn get that accent? Lol  

[dubbel zout]

So he makes it all about the specifics of his relationship with a woman, instead of identifying his own pattern, and everything's in the shadow of his idealized mother figure who suffered "real" abuse. If he can tell himself he's better than Deke, he can live with himself. It was an interesting story, psychologically, but they were only going to go so far with it.

And somehow it's always about Sonny even when it's not about Sonny. That's a neat trick.

9 hours ago, pinkandsparkly13 said:

Since when did Brook Lynn get that accent? Lol  

With that actor, I think. And she'd been spending time with Lois in Bensonhurst, so it's not that odd she picked up the accent, though she laid it on a bit thick. (As did Lois, but she had the excuse of growing up there; Brook Lynn only had a few years.)

[BlancheDevoreaux]

I'm hoping that tptb aren't this obtuse and have shown the selected episodes because they are planning to make some changes. The past few weeks have shown just how boring Jason and Sam are by having them be the least interesting part is they episode that was supposed to highlight them. Same with Carly and Sonny in their episodesbut change "boring" to "dysfunctional". And the episodes that are supposed to focus on Sonny as a father have, thus far, had him shooting one son and highlighting how his abusive nature contributed to his daughter staying in an abusive relationship. The people selecting these episodes are aware how they are painting our heros, right? When the show returns we will see Sonny taken down ave Jason and Sam no longer together, right? Please?

[GHScorpiosRule]

55 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

With that actor, I think. And she'd been spending time with Lois in Bensonhurst, so it's not that odd she picked up the accent, though she laid it on a bit thick. (As did Lois, but she had the excuse of growing up there; Brook Lynn only had a few years.)

Except I don't recall Brook Lynn having that accent the first time she appeared as a teenager. You know, music career...that whole Sage debacle, idiot Diego trying to get revenge on a cousin he never knew. And she'd been with Lois all those years. But then, all of a sudden, she's got one, and it fed into the stereotype of being ITALIAN! That irked me.

Seeing Garret's Michael again only emphasized how miscast Duell is for the role. In Garret, you saw the spawn that SheBeast and Mooby raised and how he would turn out. Yet he could still portray vulnerability. But, I guess they wanted more Eeyore for the rape story line.

And of COURSE the therapist was some mute, who didn't address Mooby's delusions. Just let him accuse her of "brainwashing" Kristina and "filling her head with lies" bullshit.

[dubbel zout]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

And of COURSE the therapist was some mute

I believe she was also black. It's not diversity when the person has no lines, Show!