Episode Discussion II: The TFGH

[ffwbe]

Shawn and Alexis are good friends and Valentin and Alexis are close so I don’t buy either of them buying/selling the Invader without talking to Alexis first but I guess that makes for a better surprise.

I’ve never really loved Alexis running a newspaper so I’m kinda hoping having Nina at the helm is setting up things for Alexis to eventually leave and go back to being a lawyer. She constantly talks about how she misses it and getting reinstated to the bar is a real thing. She also got disbarred for one of the dumbest reasons that I don’t think would even get someone disbarred in real life while we have lawyers like Martin out here violating attorney/client privilege and Diane recommending one of her clients turns on another client to save herself yet all of those ethical breaches are ignored. 

[JMO]

I enjoyed Joss today, because whenever anyone wants to call out Sonny's abhorrent behavior and the people who want to rationalize it away ("he has a code"), I'm there for it.  Whether or not she goes in search of Dex, I hope Joss and Carly will have it out a time or two more.  Good work, Jax, to raise your daughter to have clearer vision than anyone else in Port Charles.

Not looking forward to watching Nina exact revenge for Drew's revenge for Nina's reporting a crime Carly actually committed.  But I do think it could be interesting to have Nina and Alexis in the same environment, and I look forward to these two excellent actresses having scenes together.

Jane Elliot is beautiful.  

[fishsanwitt]

I wish we could see more of Trina, especially with Ava.

[PatsyandEddie]

Loved Tracie’s outfit today.  So subtle and dignified. Classy. 

[ljr]

Did Carly forget Sonny was going to shoot dex? She said Sonny wouldn't have killed dex because of Joss?

I think Nina looked fabulous with her hair up

[Cheyanne11]

So is Joss just going to walk the Earth like Cain from Kung Fu until she finds Dex?

[ffwbe]

They keep saying that Alexis turned the Invader into a serious newspaper with a social justice bent but every time we see an article or hear about a story, it sounds just as sensationalistic and click baity as it always was. Saying Olivia Jerome was dead on arrival? Cmon, I laughed but there’s no way that was the title of a super serious, unbiased article, especially coming from an editor who is happy Olivia Jerome is dead. Im sure they’ll say Nina is turning it back into a biased tabloid soon enough but I think nothing much will change other than Drew and Carly being added to the list of people who get negative press. 

Edited February 20 by ffwbe

[Sake614]

1 hour ago, JMO said:

enjoyed Joss today, because whenever anyone wants to call out Sonny's abhorrent behavior and the people who want to rationalize it away ("he has a code"), I'm there for it.  Whether or not she goes in search of Dex, I hope Joss and Carly will have it out a time or two more.  Good work, Jax, to raise your daughter to have clearer vision than anyone else in Port Charles.

Except when she’s using his name to threaten people. Then his abhorrent behavior and what he stands for is perfectly fine with her. 

[Sake614]

I was fairly bored with todays show, but actually kinda liked the Carly/Joss scene. Carly explaining that Dex is free, away from Sonny, and asking isn’t that what Joss wanted? Of course Joss only cares that her first real, true love is gone, maybe forever. And as much s I despise the character, she’s only 20-21 years old so I can forgive her drama. Except that it was just a few days ago when she was telling Dex to leave town! 

I liked Nina’s blouse but the way she bounced in to Alexis’ office was like a giddy teenager, not a grown woman. Also didn’t appreciate Alexis wanting to know why Nina was fired, as though it has any bearing on her ability to be publisher. And Gregory can take several seats with his disdain for Nina. He doesn’t know either Carly or Drew, has no vested interest in what happened to them. His only connection is Alexis, and even that’s tenuous at best. As for Nina’s plan to ‘give the readers what they want’ by writing a story about Carly and Drew…newsflash: NO ONE CARES!

[Cheyanne11]

46 minutes ago, Sake614 said:

Also didn’t appreciate Alexis wanting to know why Nina was fired, as though it has any bearing on her ability to be publisher.

Not to mention, she knows exactly why.  I generally like Alexis but I cannot stand when she acts superior in a disingenous way.  As to the "respectability" of The Invader, lets not forget her basically doing Michael and Willow a favor and publishing that hit piece on Nina when they were in that court battle.  Her soapbox is wobbly, at best.

[ciarra]

Does Joss know why Dex left?  As in, he was working for Michael and Carly and Sonny saw that as betrayal? 

I just want Joss to share some of that Sonny hate with the two who started it.   But then she'd just say that Michael was the one who brought Dex into her life. 

Edited February 20 by ciarra

[Artsda]

I like this Joss.  Not only did she call out Sonny's behavior of holding everyone to truth and honor and code. Meanwhile he can do whatever wants, she also called out Carly for always letting him get away with it.

About time she put some blame on her. 

[30 Helens]

I would be grateful that the Hatman schizophrenia story is getting tied up and filed away, except I’m afraid this is just setting up a new story about what ailment he REALLY had and how it’s about to return, causing angst and misery for all involved— especially us.

I don’t know where Joss is headed on her search and rescue mission, but I hope she gets lost and can’t find her way back.

[Sake614]

With our luck Jason will find Dex and bring him home to Joss 😝

[ffwbe]

I don’t think Joss knows enough about Dex and his life before Port Charles to effectively search for him but Dex also comes off like a dim bulb so she could probably just call Spinelli and ask him to track his phone’s location. The man went back to his apartment to hide from Sonny so he’s clearly not firing on all cylinders when it comes to hiding. 

[mbluecpa]

I had to chuckle when Curtis suggested that Trina lean on others for support: Portia, who disliked Spencer; Joss, who’d turn it around to herself, even before Dex’s disappearance; and himself, though to be fair he seems to be emerging from his funk.

Mr. Mbluecpa often announces the arrival of Hatman in a scene with “be bop a do bop,” (don’t judge - we’ve gotta find something amusing in here) and I’ll be damned if Marshall didn’t break out into a brief scat in his scene with Stella.

Great as usual to see JE, even if those scenes were pretty much unnecessary. Her wardrobe rivals that of Constance Towers. 

[jsbt]

I'm not lucky enough for this to actually be Dex's exit from the show.

When they started going on a while ago about Hat Man experiencing 'psychosis' I was hoping he would have an actual psychotic break and start rampaging across town slaughtering people. Still with that single flash-frozen expression he's had on his face for several years.

I've said it elsewhere, but I'd love to know where Founding Father Gregory intends to sleep in Finn's tiny-ass apartment. Knowing Violet she'll roll him into the fireplace and watch him burn as FV sends Camera 1 in for an adoring close-up on her beaming lisp.

Edited February 20 by jsbt

[DanaK]

11 hours ago, ciarra said:

Does Joss know why Dex left?  As in, he was working for Michael and Carly and Sonny saw that as betrayal? 

I believe so though I’m not positive she knew everything

[ffwbe]

I feel like Gregory’s time is running out soon. He’s been on practically all month and more than a few of them have come off like they are burning his minimums. I bet he dies or ends up hospitalized at this wedding. That would be just depressing enough for this show. 

[MarciNJ]

On 2/16/2024 at 11:39 AM, tessabq said:

There's something about Cameron Mathison that, eventually, I want to punch every character he portrays. It happened with Ryan on All My Children and now on GH. Granted, a lot of it has to do with the writing, but credit must given to the lack of nuance in his acting.

I saw him on Name That Tune a few weeks ago; I was prepared to like him IRL, but nope, I wanted to punch him on that show as well.  (along with Jane Krakowski)

[dubbel zout]

14 hours ago, JMO said:

I enjoyed Joss today, because whenever anyone wants to call out Sonny's abhorrent behavior and the people who want to rationalize it away ("he has a code"), I'm there for it. 

I'd enjoy it more if Joss weren't such a giant hypocrite about it. She was fine with Sonny's abhorrent behavior when it worked in her favor; now that it affects her adversely, suddenly Sonny is the worst. Ugh. 

I can't applaud her indignation here.

[ffwbe]

I think both Michael and Joss think they take up way more space in Sonny’s life than they actually do. Sonny loves Michael but not any more than his other kids and Michael clearly thinks he’s higher on the totem pole- hence why he Michael thinks Sonny had no one when he was mad at Sonny even though we saw countless scenes of him with Dante, Kristina, Donna, and Avery.

Truthfully, I think Joss does as well and her ignoring him was genuinely affecting him. However, everything they’ve shown onscreen is that while he probably cares about her, she’s firmly placed in the category of Carly’s kid and not his. That’s why Joss had that breakdown when he didn’t invite her to his wedding. We all know Joss didn’t want to go but I think some part of her expected him to beg her to attend and she would be able to turn him down and hurt his feelings. 

[30 Helens]

3 hours ago, ffwbe said:

I don’t think Joss knows enough about Dex and his life before Port Charles to effectively search for him but Dex also comes off like a dim bulb so she could probably just call Spinelli and ask him to track his phone’s location. The man went back to his apartment to hide from Sonny so he’s clearly not firing on all cylinders when it comes to hiding. 

When it comes to anything. This is a person who was driven all the way to the Pine Barrens (in the back seat, if I’m not mistaken), marched into the woods and confronted before getting a tiny inkling that he was the reason for the trip. 

[Ambrosefolly]

2 hours ago, ffwbe said:

I think both Michael and Joss think they take up way more space in Sonny’s life than they actually do. Sonny loves Michael but not any more than his other kids and Michael clearly thinks he’s higher on the totem pole- hence why he Michael thinks Sonny had no one when he was mad at Sonny even though we saw countless scenes of him with Dante, Kristina, Donna, and Avery.

 

Disagree about Michael. Yes, now Sonny has many other kids, but Michael is still his favorite for the same reason he treasured Jason so much. As one poster eons ago said about the both of them, Sonny values them above all others because he successfully stole them completely from the Qs. He can't say that about any of his other kids. That is why Michael is such a spoiled brat despite being a grown man; he or his family demand everything be laid down for him, and normally he gets what he wants. That is why I liked Nelle, so much; she is one of the few that called him out on this. 

[ciarra]

2 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

When it comes to anything. This is a person who was driven all the way to the Pine Barrens (in the back seat, if I’m not mistaken), marched into the woods and confronted before getting a tiny inkling that he was the reason for the trip. 

Dex:  I thought we were going for ice cream.

[LexieLily]

I'm not even a Sonny/Nina 'shipper (except for the part where it made Carly and Michael's head explode and still gets under their skin years later) but WTF is this where they never had a single conversation post-SEC fallout and now he's filing for divorce?

[jsbt]

4 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

I'm not even a Sonny/Nina 'shipper (except for the part where it made Carly and Michael's head explode and still gets under their skin years later) but WTF is this where they never had a single conversation post-SEC fallout and now he's filing for divorce?

It's funny as shit and makes me wonder WTF happened BTS.

Equally deranged: Sonny pissing and moaning about Michael's 'betrayal' with Dex for like an hour when nothing even happened to him and challenging Michael on still being his father. You killed A.J.! LOL it's too much, and I don't even care about Dex, Michael or Nina. Even wilder is the clear positioning to have Sonny and Ava (who, I must reiterate, slaughtered Connie in cold blood and let her bleed out in Sonny's arms) hook up again. Just wild! Ghostwriters can't come soon enough.

Edited February 20 by jsbt

[LexieLily]

Diane had an entire The Reason You Suck speech to Nina about how she's an heiress and thus will always land on her feet with the type of soft landing that only money can provide. How can TPTB write all of that out and not immediately assign it to Carly?

And they're changing the narrative to Nina having taken advantage of the "strain between Sonny and Carly" when Sonny came back to Port Charles to break them up. Uh, no, Carly, Michael/Joss couldn't stand it that Amnesiac! Sonny didn't hate Nina the way they did and that mattered more to them than Sonny being alive. 

[ffwbe]

Nina gets in her own way a lot of the time but I’ve always thought she deserved better than Sonny. He stood by and was mute while she was constantly harassed by his inner circle and every time they did something to hurt her, he told her immediately she had to let it go to keep the peace while treating anything she did in retaliation as unforgivable. Honestly I was over them as a couple the minute he agrees to attend Michael and Willow’s wedding knowing that Nina couldn’t be there. The gloating that Carly/Michael/Joss did was accurate because when push came to shove, he would put them ahead of Nina and her feelings. In the end, it’s all about him and making sure he had everyone he wanted in his life even if she had to be torn down constantly. 

[Daisy]

35 minutes ago, ffwbe said:

Honestly I was over them as a couple the minute he agrees to attend Michael and Willow’s wedding knowing that Nina couldn’t be there.

albeit to be fair... Nina insisted that he go without her. and I think she was fine with it. (but i do get your point). Sonny never really defended her in ways that mattered.

36 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

Carly, Michael/Joss couldn't stand it that Amnesiac! Sonny didn't hate Nina the way they did and that mattered more to them than Sonny being alive. 

honestly like the story was right there. Sonny was just happy to be alive and have a second chance. Carly and her coven were mad that he just didn't go "insta Suit Wearing, Gangster Killing Sonny".  i remember (I REMEMBER, SHOW) when Carly and Sonny had a fight, and Sonny flat out said "do you want me to kill Nina?" and Carly had this look on her face as she said "No, that's not what I'm saying." and Michael kept bleating out "you didn't take care of Nina." like. flat out own the fact that you wanted her murdered.
 

so what was Nina served?

[perkie1968]

27 minutes ago, Daisy said:

o what was Nina served?

Divorce papers.  And a LOT of gloating from Diane.  

[dubbel zout]

28 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

WTF is this where they never had a single conversation post-SEC fallout and now he's filing for divorce?

This feels very in character to me. Sonny always reacts without reflection when it comes to "betrayal." 

Hey, Portia, when your husband hangs out with mobsters, there's a chance he might become collateral damage along the way. She's so annoying.

The retrograde, sexist idea that a man can be "stolen" by some irresistible siren really needs to end. 

Again, when did Diane and Robert become a couple?

[perkie1968]

1 hour ago, LexieLily said:

WTF is this where they never had a single conversation post-SEC fallout

She ran into him at the hospital when he wanted Dex to kill Cyrus but then went and called it off.  She wanted to talk but he blew her off.  She also showed up at the penthouse about a week ago to see Ava and when he came home, he blew her off again.  

1 minute ago, dubbel zout said:

Again, when did Diane and Robert become a couple?

A month or so ago.  They had sex, then broke up when he wanted to charge Sonny for nearly killng Cyrus and then they had a conversation about keeping work and personal seperate and are back together.  

[Daisy]

8 minutes ago, perkie1968 said:

Divorce papers.  And a LOT of gloating from Diane.  

i see. 
that's when i would have taken my pen, written

NINA REEVES 

in the flourishest flourish that ever flourished and then flounced off.

[ffwbe]

I think that Sonny’s trash but this is what he always does. He has one convo blowing up at the woman and then he’s done. I can’t recall him ever wanting to work through relationship issues. He ices them out which usually leads to some big scene where they’re begging for forgiveness through a locked door, making some public scene, or getting served.

If he forgives the woman and reunites with them, it’s only way down the line, usually well after one or both of them have moved onto someone else. Even when he’s at fault, he barely cares or tries to work through things, i.e when he cheated on Olivia with Ava or when Carly caught him in bed with Sam. 

[jsbt]

3 minutes ago, ffwbe said:

I think that Sonny’s trash but this is what he always does. He has one convo blowing up at the woman and then he’s done. I can’t recall him ever wanting to work through relationship issues. He ices them out which usually leads to some big scene where they’re begging for forgiveness through a locked door, making some public scene, or getting served.

The one time he didn't in relatively recent memory was Brenda, at the altar on their wedding day, when he told her 'your father lied to you' and she was worth it, and her secret with Dante didn't matter. That was great, and those scenes and their inevitable break-up not long after was some of the last great writing on the show and the last really excellent work Maurice did IMO. And I say that as someone who was not a big fan of Sonny and Brenda as a kid in the '90s. That being said, Sonny did share a lot more scenes and come a lot closer with the various Carlys during their many spats and break-ups than he has with Nina in recent weeks.

I think Watros and Mo have some chemistry and I loved CW on GL and in other things, but I've never been a fan of Nina. She has always been a nutjob and Cynthia appropriately plays that always close to the surface IMO because it is in the tradition of her GL work. My fanwank on the Sonny and Nina situation is that it has been a romantic fantasy of sorts, where he gets to play out a facsimile of what could've happened had he done what Brenda asked of him over a decade ago - turned his back on the mob, lived another life with a beautiful socialite from a different world, gone somewhere else, etc. - but the bloom is off the rose, he can't sustain the fantasy and Nina Reeves isn't Brenda Barrett. She's a stand-in. So he's done. That's how I intellectualize the lousy writing and pacing on whatever has gone on here lol.

[perkie1968]

11 minutes ago, Daisy said:

in the flourishest flourish that ever flourished and then flounced off.

Valentin told her not to sign, that it would get Sonny's attention.  

[ffwbe]

Tbh, I think Sonny is done and Carly’s already souring on Drew so I think she’ll dump him soon. They will both be single by the time Jason returns and we’ll get an onslaught of Sonny/Carly/Jason scenes because the show probably thinks that’ll bring back lapsed viewers from 20 years ago. 

[DanaMB]

I seriously hate Diane. 

[jsbt]

Girl, me too. For years.

[dubbel zout]

I like Diane when she's Alexis's friend, but otherwise she's pretty unbearable.

[Daisy]

47 minutes ago, perkie1968 said:

Valentin told her not to sign, that it would get Sonny's attention.  

oh Val. it's okay. Nina doesn't need his attention. 

[TVbitch]

Dante tells Sonny he needs to "get the traitor" in his criminal enterprise, but forgive Michael. ...He maybe officially dead to me. 

Why is Jordon trying to lure Curtis back into the investigation when they have determined the shooting had nothing to do with Curtis. It's not like he is some savant investigator for fucks sake.  

I pray the new writers don't keep having Cyrus call Laura "sister." At least he doesn't call her "baby sister," so I guess small mercies. 

[ffwbe]

Does Dante remember he was once the “traitor” working undercover to take down Sonny? Him being this in bed with the mob drives me absolutely insane. Anna as well to a lesser extent. I can’t imagine a 90s era Mac or Taggart assisting Sonny with a mob war. 

Edited February 20 by ffwbe

[YaddaYadda]

Diane is a miserable character and she has made Robert unwatchable. Carly and Sonny don't need to have all these mouth pieces and characters going to war with other characters on their behalf. They're fully functioning adults and the writing is always skewed toward them anyway. She has made Robert unwatchable. He now gets the FF treatment when they are in scenes together.

Speaking of characters who don't need defending. Michael doesn't need Dante to go to bat for him. Fuck Michael. He's a turd and wouldn't even give Dante the same courtesy.

I don't know how BK was directed to play her scenes with Jordan and Curtis, but I thought she acted very insecure having Jordan there. 

The scenes with Cyrus were pretty good, I thought.

 

[Tenshinhan]

Better not bring back Ms. Wu just to kill her off.

 

[ffwbe]

They’ve already whitewashed Michael trying to take down Sonny. Not only did Sonny barely react to that part of the news when he first heard it, all he mentioned today was Michael hiring Dex to protect him so I think from now on, they aren’t going to talk about the revenge plot or allow that to be common knowledge. 

[ciarra]

1 hour ago, DanaMB said:

I seriously hate Diane. 

Bring back The Hook.

[Sake614]

36 minutes ago, ffwbe said:

all he mentioned today was Michael hiring Dex to protect him

He absolutely first told Dante that Michael hired Dex to take him down. That’s why he’s so angry about it. It was Dante who kept harping on how Michael was just trying to protect Sonny. 

32 minutes ago, ciarra said:

Bring back The Hook.

Only if she has better aim this time. She already hooked diane but it didn’t work 😝

[ffwbe]

7 minutes ago, Sake614 said:

He absolutely first told Dante that Michael hired Dex to take him down. That’s why he’s so angry about it. It was Dante who kept harping on how Michael was just trying to protect Sonny. 

Well that’s something and I’ll take it back. I think it’s still getting glossed over entirely too much by the fact that Michael later hired Dex to protect Sonny. It feels like they only added that in so they could focus on that part when the truth came out to try to shield things. Dex was already planning to continue to work for Sonny before Michael ask him to so he was essentially collecting a second paycheck for no reason.