Episode Discussion II: The TFGH

[jsbt]

I still don't know WTF happened with Ryan Carnes.

[YaddaYadda]

27 minutes ago, Asp Burger said:

Don't rule out a biological maternal influence on Spencer, too. Let's put him behind the wheel and see if he mows down a pedestrian before crashing into a tree.

I keep forgetting about Skipper. She's always been such a non-entity. Her most impressive feat was swimming all the way to Bolivia.

Poor Spence never stood a chance. 

[dubbel zout]

6 minutes ago, TeeVee329 said:

Also, shut up Amy 2.0, you should have been put in jail for making us suffer through your Ask Man Landers plot.

PREACH.

3 minutes ago, jsbt said:

I still don't know WTF happened with Ryan Carnes.

His IMDB page isn't packed with new projects, but he has two in postproduction and one in pre-. The show didn't write for him much when he was available.

[TeeVee329]

The Ryan Carnes of it all aside, they recast, they had another dude to play Lucas, and he's still invisible.

In other news, I really liked seeing Gregory Chase slash Gregory Harrison, he brings a nice paternal energy.  That he went and apologized to Brook for snapping at her makes him more of a man than anyone else in town.

Edited April 4, 2022 by TeeVee329

[YaddaYadda]

6 minutes ago, jsbt said:

I still don't know WTF happened with Ryan Carnes.

I'm not sure that anyone knows. I'd read that he wasn't interested in signing a contract and that was the reason for the recast, but it's not like they're using the recast. I think we've seen the guy like 3 times in the last 2 years.

They're just not interested in the character.

[Melgaypet]

You'd think Nikolas would remember Katherine Bell (ugh) pulling a pregnancy scam on him when he was about Spencer's age. In fact, you'd think the uber-rich Cassadines would have an eye out for gold-diggers and their tricks, but nope.

ETA: Though Esme might not be a gold-digger, exactly (because we still have no idea what she really wants WTF), but fake pregnancy is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Melgaypet

[dubbel zout]

On the other hand, children born on the wrong side of the blanket are pretty par for the course in families like the Cassadines.

[GHScorpiosRule]

14 minutes ago, Melgaypet said:

ETA: Though Esme might not be a gold-digger, exactly (because we still have no idea what she really wants WTF), but fake pregnancy is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

She managed to manipulate both Spencer and Nik to move from Kelly's to stay at Wyndemere. Because oh, she's sooo scairt! How will she be safe with her on Mooby's radar/crosshairs?

All I want to do is punch her face when I see her. And this is coming from someone who just started watching again, and the only other time I saw her was when she torched Ava's car and showed up as Spencer's girlfriend.

[KittenPokerCheater]

2 hours ago, statsgirl said:

The Cassadine men have Swiss cheese for brains

This made ma laugh and laugh and laugh.  For a crazy rich family, they certainly accept a lot of stuff at face value.  I cannot wait until Esme is off the show (the character, not the actress, in case it needs clarifying).

Add me to the "what the...huh?" of KS's make-up today.  It was appalling, and she looked like a ghoul- I felt quite sorry for her,  Why FV and the producers didn't fix it is beyond me.  It doesn't do the show any favors to let one of their contract characters look so bad.  :(

Anna/Valentin cannot come back fast enough for me. 

[jsbt]

Stefan would never brook this nonsense in his house! It amazes me that Victor is allowing it unless he simply is too preoccupied with his weather machine scheme to give a shit.

[YaddaYadda]

31 minutes ago, Melgaypet said:

ETA: Though Esme might not be a gold-digger, exactly (because we still have no idea what she really wants WTF), but fake pregnancy is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

I don't think she knows whether she's pregnant or not. I think that part is real enough. But it's been days, so I think that she had time to plan her next move. She even purchased a baby book.

And she kind of is a golddigger, actually. She and Ryan talked about her having Cassadine money. So that whole song and dance about how she can access her trust fund only when she's 25 and how her allowance isn't enough to get her by was her playing the woe me, I'm poor card. 

I'd be shocked if she has any kind of a trust fund. I think she was just flying high when Spencer was funding their lifestyle across Europe and then in PC before he entered the poor house.

[jsbt]

Weren't Spencer and Esme in the same high-end prep school or something?

[GHScorpiosRule]

Just now, jsbt said:

Weren't Spencer and Esme in the same high-end prep school or something?

Yup.

[sacrebleu]

This has got to be an act for Esme's benefit. After everything, Nic would choose his son's girlfriend over Ava?!?;?

[jsbt]

I enjoy the actress and the character's scheming, but Stefan would've already pushed Esme off several cliffs or shot her at this juncture. He would never tolerate this mess. They've all gotten soft with him and Helena dead!

[Blackie]

2 minutes ago, sacrebleu said:

This has got to be an act for Esme's benefit. After everything, Nic would choose his son's girlfriend over Ava?!?;?

 

Well I thought Spencer was acting too, for the benefit of the police officer in the room (when he asked Trina why she did it). But it seems like father like son.

[jsbt]

5 minutes ago, Blackie said:

Well I thought Spencer was acting too, for the benefit of the police officer in the room (when he asked Trina why she did it). But it seems like father like son.

I think Nik is not too far from wanting her. IMO you can see it, and a show less dedicated to their heroic or quasi-heroic characters being saintly would play up the perceived age difference between Coloma's Nikolas and Ava - make her insecure about it, make him a domineering Cassadine, make them continue to fight over the kids, which in turn leads to his eye wandering more to this young girl who finally lures him into bed. That's a realistic, ugly thing that happens all the time, but the show rarely likes 'good guys' being ugly. Just dupes.

I think it's only a matter of time before Nikolas and Esme end up in bed, but I will lay money down that it will be some drugging situation where she makes them all think they fucked when she just knocked him out. That's boring story. Too few people on soaps have affairs anymore. Also boring, BTW, is Esme and Ryan doing all this just for him to try to get Ava back. Ryan should have bigger ambitions at this point. Like him getting in tight with the other, rival Cassadine (Victor). Did we ever find out why the Cassadines were so interested in Kevin to begin with in 1996?

Edited April 4, 2022 by jsbt

[Melgaypet]

7 minutes ago, jsbt said:

Did we ever find out why the Cassadines were so interested in Kevin to begin with in 1996?

I don't think we ever did. And there was something there, because that's how Alexis was introduced. She showed up as Kevin's lawyer and then we saw her at Wyndemere being welcomed by Stefan and Nikolas. I think maybe they intended Kevin's dad Victor to actually be Victor Cassadine? Though maybe I'm just guessing b/c of the name. Victor Collins had not yet appeared at that point.

[jsbt]

Just now, Melgaypet said:

I don't think we ever did. And there was something there, because that's how Alexis was introduced. She showed up as Kevin's lawyer and then we saw her at Wyndemere being welcomed by Stefan and Nikolas. I think maybe they intended Kevin's dad Victor to actually be Victor Cassadine? Though maybe I'm just guessing b/c of the name. Victor Collins had not yet appeared at that point.

I think that may have been it, but I honestly don't know. I think whatever it was was curtailed by Guza leaving to do the first year of Sunset Beach, and JL/Lynn Herring getting drafted onto Port Charles.

[nilyank]

46 minutes ago, jsbt said:

I enjoy the actress and the character's scheming, but Stefan would've already pushed Esme off several cliffs or shot her at this juncture. He would never tolerate this mess. They've all gotten soft with him and Helena dead!

Stefan would not have allowed Spencer to be jettison to European boarding school where he has easily escape and travel to Port Charles without any adults (most especially Nikolas) knowing. He wouldn't have allow that nonsense with Valentin, faking his death for three years and lying to Spencer about it, the codicil, Nikolas marrying Ava to get said codicil.

Nikolas has acted clueless in how to be good father to Spencer since he was a child. All he had to was remember how Stefan raised him.

[Semiglued]

50 minutes ago, jsbt said:

I enjoy the actress and the character's scheming, but Stefan would've already pushed Esme off several cliffs or shot her at this juncture. He would never tolerate this mess. They've all gotten soft with him and Helena dead!

Stefan spent weeks playing a ridiculous video game with Lucky just to mess with him a little in his plot to screw with the Spencers, he would have several plots in place to figure out and then control Esme. Victor seemed willing to ship her off (and Spencer thanked him for it) but he should be sharper about this. Everyone has to be dumbed down so the writers don’t have to come up with complex storylines.  

[jsbt]

I can understand Victor maybe not caring too much because as Laura reiterated not long ago, he was always the hedonistic playboy of the family until more recent years. But he also got deep into the family supervillainy during Thaao Penghlis' last stint as well as, it seems, this one. Victor may consider Spencer's teenage foibles beneath his notice at this time, but Stefan knew how to multitask.

And I think Stefan would've just rid us of Valentin, period lol

Edited April 5, 2022 by jsbt

[racked]

1 hour ago, sacrebleu said:

This has got to be an act for Esme's benefit. After everything, Nic would choose his son's girlfriend over Ava?!?;?

I think he might just be that stupid. He fell so quickly for the damsel in distress act, Ava is probably too self sufficient, with too much of a functioning brain for him. He was completely willing to not have Spencer in his life when Spencer made him choose btwn him and Ava, but Esme is where he draws the line and is willing to lose Ava over her? 

Edited April 5, 2022 by racked

[YaddaYadda]

1 hour ago, nilyank said:

Stefan would not have allowed Spencer to be jettison to European boarding school where he has easily escape and travel to Port Charles without any adults (most especially Nikolas) knowing. He wouldn't have allow that nonsense with Valentin, faking his death for three years and lying to Spencer about it, the codicil, Nikolas marrying Ava to get said codicil.

Am I the only imagining Stefan grabbing his Nikolas and Spencer and banging their heads together?

14 minutes ago, racked said:

I think he might just be that stupid. He fell so quickly for the damsel in distress act, Ava is probably too self sufficient, with too much of a functioning brain for him. He was completely willing to not have Spencer in his life when Spencer made him choose btwn him and Ava, but Esme is where he draws the line and is willing to lose Ava over her? 

Ava is too much woman for Nikolas. 

[Melgaypet]

Everyone is right. Stefan would brook none of this foolishness.

[TeeVee329]

2 hours ago, jsbt said:

I think it's only a matter of time before Nikolas and Esme end up in bed, but I will lay money down that it will be some drugging situation where she makes them all think they fucked when she just knocked him out. That's boring story. Too few people on soaps have affairs anymore.

That's totally what's going to happen, a complete redux of what Nelle did to Sonny, even though a grieving, drunk Sonny would have totally slept with someone inappropriate.

[nilyank]

14 minutes ago, TeeVee329 said:

That's totally what's going to happen, a complete redux of what Nelle did to Sonny, even though a grieving, drunk Sonny would have totally slept with someone inappropriate.

Yeah, Nikolas done a bunch of inappropriate women:

• after finding out his wife Emily was raped by a man that Nikolas' face and she was taking too long to deal with her trauma, he sleeps with Courtney
• multiple times of sleeping with ghost-Emily while he had tumor
• Elizabeth while she was engaged to his beloved brother

[Ambrosefolly]

37 minutes ago, nilyank said:

Yeah, Nikolas done a bunch of inappropriate women:

• after finding out his wife Emily was raped by a man that Nikolas' face and she was taking too long to deal with her trauma, he sleeps with Courtney
• multiple times of sleeping with ghost-Emily while he had tumor
• Elizabeth while she was engaged to his beloved brother

You are forgetting his relationship with Katherine Bell and having an affair with cancer stricken Emily behind long suffering Zander's back. 

By the by, Spencer might inherit his evil from Skipper. Bitch and the Holy Hitman let Zander take the fall for her shooting a cop in the back, which ended up compounding into Zander committing suicided by cops. And no his son, Cam, doesn't know about it. That might be an interesting storyline and fall out with him and Spencer. 

[statsgirl]

7 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:

I'll look forward to the Leisl/Mrs. Wu scenes. I think those should be really something.

I would love to see that. Which means I probably won't get it.

How long ago was Britt travelling with Faison? Wouldn't the statue of limitations have taken care of that by now?

5 hours ago, Melgaypet said:

ETA: Though Esme might not be a gold-digger, exactly (because we still have no idea what she really wants WTF), but fake pregnancy is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

As Ava stated. So why is she being so stupid as to say that if Esme stays, she's leaving?

4 hours ago, jsbt said:

Stefan would never brook this nonsense in his house! It amazes me that Victor is allowing it unless he simply is too preoccupied with his weather machine scheme to give a shit.

Victor sees it as a way to snare Cameron more fully. Support the kid either way.

[ByaNose]

First off, Elizabeth’s dream actually kind of scared me. That said, it’s so obvious that Biz has DID. Esme and her tennis sneakers were on display again. The other actresses must envy her comfy sneaks. I don’t like having to choose between Britt and Lady Wu. Since Steve Burton isn’t coming anytime soon Britt needs to find a guy and get busy. There aren’t many single or no single guys on the canvas though. I guess it’s time FV to search the soap Rolodex. Is anyone available?

[Grinaldi]

Wow, y'all weren't kidding about KS's makeup today. She was like painted for a silent movie. And it was so white it reflected every color in the room - the blue screen of the tablet, the green of those godawful centerpieces at the Metro Court. 

I love how Ava drops her g's when she's pissed. So today was a very fun day.

I'm still hoping it's Ryan/Esme messing with Liz. But after today I'm sure we're gonna find out Jeff abused her or something. Yuck.

Amy is super annoying. But I think that's as it should be. OG Amy was super annoying too. I kind of like the nod to the past.

How long was Britt with Faison? I didnt realize it was years

[jsbt]

The makeup and wardrobe depts have made Kirsten look like a homeless clown for a few years now. But she and Maxie both deserve a long rest off the canvas.

Jeff Webber was an ass, but turning him into a molester or whatever would be a huge waste of viable potential family drama with a long-term Jeff recast. And giving Liz DID (a story GH sucks at already) on top of her countless other breakdowns and mania puts her just behind Sharon Newman on Y&R for the heroine gone batshit crown. Liz doesn't need to be demeaned with a tacky abuse story any more than she already was with Jason, Nikolas, Drew and then marrying a literal serial killer. You know she's had a rough go of it when you look at Michael Easton #4 mooning over her and think, 'gosh, he's a nice guy and hasn't murdered any innocents, raped anyone or made corpse art, it's not so bad.'

19 minutes ago, Grinaldi said:

How long was Britt with Faison? I didnt realize it was years

Not long enough!

On a side note: Brando is another in Frank Valentini GH's proud tradition of attractive, utterly useless white people with no real reason to be on this show. But like Chase (yes, I said Chase, he's pretty useless too) before him, he is a comely fellow who I would like to see as naked as possible. Brando should be made Anna and/or Carly's tawdry boytoy (possibly to give Sonny a stroke) while still giving them that happily confused look for a couple months, then be written out. Sasha and Willow can re-merge into the Caucasoid gestalt entity they were created as and return to their home planet of the Valley. I don't know why Brando's mom is here either but she can keep getting coffee for awhile I guess.

Edited April 5, 2022 by jsbt

[Grinaldi]

I don't think you're wrong @jsbt about Maxie needing a rest. The character is unkillable because of the BJ story, but some time in Portland with Spin and Ellie would be a good idea.

(Which would free up Austin for Britt, both of whom I really like.)

But I strenuously object to a DID story. I have only seen 1 good one on soaps and the writers there took the time to explain what Victor had done to Viki and why she split. And they gave us Jean Randolph whom I love. But every other soap who has attempted it has failed, including OLTL. (I wasn't watching GL during Sonny/Sonita so maybe that was good. It was Michelle Forbes.)

Even if the abuser turns out to be someone other than Jeff I do not buy DID would not have cropped up before, particularly after her rape. 

I just have zero interest is a "Liz is Cuhraaazy" story. But that dream tells me it's what we're getting. And it wasn't about Franco since then Howarth would have just played it. Definitely not his voice.

In fact is it possible that shadowy dude is Neil's brother? Shape and depth of voice are similar enough. No idea on the connection but maybe he turns out to be her bad soccer coach or something.

I'm probably just grasping at straws there to avoid another retcon of a Webber man as a bad guy. Ew.

[Blackie]

9 hours ago, Ambrosefolly said:

Bitch and the Holy Hitman let Zander take the fall for her shooting a cop in the back, which ended up compounding into Zander committing suicided by cops. And no his son, Cam, doesn't know about it. That might be an interesting storyline and fall out with him and Spencer. 

 

Or some fallout with Cam and the Jason worshipping Joss

[jsbt]

6 hours ago, Grinaldi said:

But I strenuously object to a DID story. I have only seen 1 good one on soaps and the writers there took the time to explain what Victor had done to Viki and why she split. And they gave us Jean Randolph whom I love. But every other soap who has attempted it has failed, including OLTL. (I wasn't watching GL during Sonny/Sonita so maybe that was good. It was Michelle Forbes.)

We both do. As I said, GH sucks at DID and there are already far too many Liz crazy stories or stories that demean her in the last 15 years.

Austin and Britt would at least give me another area to ignore the show for a few mins, because I still dislike to deeply hate both of them.

Edited April 5, 2022 by jsbt

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 hours ago, Grinaldi said:

but some time in Portland with Spin and Ellie would be a good idea.

Maybe Ellie; Ellie and Jar-Jar Binks are no longer together; he chose the mob over their life together.

 

8 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Wouldn't the statue of limitations have taken care of that by now?

It's statute. Who knows with this FAKAKTA show. I mean Chase is STILL on suspension for nearly a year for what? popping someone? Well, I guess it's better than being sent to Staten Island for 10 years for popping a homophobic murdering dirty politician like Mike Logan* was.

I, unlike others here, don't find the actor who plays Brando attractive at all.

*Law & Order, Season Five Season Finale.

[jsbt]

I would ignore Spinelli dumping Ellie, perhaps the stupidest move he's made in a long history of stupid moves. I don't see why they broke them up when Bradford is recurring at best. Just reunite them and move on.

[Asp Burger]

I enjoy Amy, because I love Risa Dorken and I have from the start. I've always thought her screen presence was bright and sweet, and she's good casting for that kind of character, who's good-hearted but a busybody. It's just that Amy has never meant much to the show (beyond some Nathan filler while Maxie was away), so she gets crap writing. They don't feel they need to "protect" her so we'll take her seriously in a romantic pairing or worry for her safety if she's put in jeopardy. She's kept at the level of secondary hospital character: less screen time than Epiphany, more than Deanna. 

I did like this exchange: "You're new here." "I've been here four years." "Wow, four years? Time flies!" It was like an acknowledgement of the thinness of Terry's role on the show. She does always seem as though she arrived a couple months ago. I have to remind myself, oh right. She was there for all the Oscar stuff. Her first day was also the first day of the previous Cameron, who only had two air days. I think if you strung together every Terry scene since 2018, you could get through the reel in an hour. 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Asp Burger

[Cheyanne11]

7 hours ago, Grinaldi said:

The character is unkillable because of the BJ story, but some time in Portland with Spin and Ellie would be a good idea.

They're not in Portland anymore.  They're both in PC (Ellie took a job at Mercy and is still there, as far as we know) and Spin bops around being a mob flunky when it suits him. 

Really don't like where they're going with this Liz story and the implication her parents abused her or something.  I remember Jeff Weber and to do that sort of rewrite would be disgusting.

[GHScorpiosRule]

19 minutes ago, Cheyanne11 said:

I remember Jeff Weber and to do that sort of rewrite would be disgusting.

Agree! Didn't Show pull the same kind of crap with Rick Weber when they killed him off and sent Laura off into a catatonic state? Except Laura thought Rick was the murderer, when it was her, but Scotty took the blame or whatever?

I HATE FRANK so much. Decimating vets and beloved characters left and right.

[YaddaYadda]

22 minutes ago, Cheyanne11 said:

Really don't like where they're going with this Liz story and the implication her parents abused her or something.  I remember Jeff Weber and to do that sort of rewrite would be disgusting.

Are they going down that route? Mind you, I don't really pay a ton of attention to what's been going on with her because they've been dragging the hell out of the storyline, but I was more under the impression that this had to do with some serious abandonment issues that she's never come to terms with and that are now creeping up. 

[dubbel zout]

15 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:

She even purchased a baby book.

That was partly to troll Ava. I loved that.

13 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:

Am I the only imagining Stefan grabbing his Nikolas and Spencer and banging their heads together?

No. I wish Laura or anyone would do that. Those two are acting like infants.

[statsgirl]

8 hours ago, Grinaldi said:

I wasn't watching GL during Sonny/Sonita so maybe that was good. It was Michelle Forbes.

I hated it so much that I stopped watching the show during it.

31 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

I was  under the impression that this had to do with some serious abandonment issues that she's never come to terms with and that are now creeping up. 

This is more accptable but I still don't want to see it. Liz has suffered enough the last years.

[Ambrosefolly]

2 hours ago, Blackie said:

 

Or some fallout with Cam and the Jason worshipping Joss

I want Carly to be seen as the disloyal bitch she is. Zander helped her (I wasn't watching at the time) he taught her how to drive and helped imprison AJ so he could sign away his right to Michael, and like with Drew, she immediately threw him over when Jason returned on his stupid motorcycle. I want Cam to publicly call Carly for her disloyalty and Carly to have reasoning be so weak she can't mount a defense. Maybe open Drew's eyes a bit: she did to Zander and she did it to him.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ambrosefolly

[jsbt]

21 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

Are they going down that route? Mind you, I don't really pay a ton of attention to what's been going on with her because they've been dragging the hell out of the storyline, but I was more under the impression that this had to do with some serious abandonment issues that she's never come to terms with and that are now creeping up. 

The thing is that something like DID (insofar as it even exists, which I believe is debatable by modern medical standards) supposedly almost always arises from sexual abuse or trauma. This was the cornerstone of OLTL retconning Viki's DID in 1995, which was IMO the right thing to do after years of playing it for camp or in less responsible or more superficial ways re: its origins. And virtually any and all DID stories since that story, on any show, have accordingly gone the same route. Most of those stories are terrible and exploitative (including OLTL's own later revisits), but that's a separate issue. I blame Frank and Ron for bringing it to GH at all and in such a shitty story with Kate/Connie.

So if GH is doing DID for Liz - which I'm not totally convinced they are - it most likely comes from an abuse background unless they're really winging this. Which would make it even lousier, tbh: GH wanting to do a completely unnecessary and tasteless DID story for a character who really doesn't need more mental health issues or trauma, but being unwilling to commit to the actual core issue so it's like, 'oh, she's sad her parents abandoned her and stuff.' But again, I'd rather see zero DID at all.

I had no idea Ellie actually is back living in Port Charles again.

[racked]

53 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

That was partly to troll Ava. I loved that.

No. I wish Laura or anyone would do that. Those two are acting like infants.

Laura seems bizarrely Team Esme right now. Everyone is being dumbed down, because they all saw through her just a few weeks ago. 
 

I understand why Ava left despite knowing Esme is faking and conning the idiot Cassadine men. I wouldn’t be able to be around Nikolas after that display yesterday either. 

[Cheyanne11]

Are we going to get some ~flashback today of Esme breaking into the GH lab and stealing some pregnant woman's urine?

[jsbt]

39 minutes ago, racked said:

Laura seems bizarrely Team Esme right now. Everyone is being dumbed down, because they all saw through her just a few weeks ago. 

Laura dealt with Bobbie at Bobbie's apex (look it up on YT, Bobbie was not fucking around). She should see Esme from a few miles away.

[Cheyanne11]

12 minutes ago, jsbt said:

Laura dealt with Bobbie at Bobbie's apex (look it up on YT, Bobbie was not fucking around). She should see Esme from a few miles away.

And didn't Bobbie fake a pregnancy to get Scotty back?  Laura should be side-eying Esme hard.

[YaddaYadda]

14 minutes ago, jsbt said:

Laura dealt with Bobbie at Bobbie's apex (look it up on YT, Bobbie was not fucking around). She should see Esme from a few miles away.

You should send those links to FV and his writers.