Episode Discussion II: The TFGH

[PatsyandEddie]

I get the impression that the actors are enjoying what they are playing. Everyone seems more engaged with what they are portraying. 

[Grinaldi]

Really loved the beat of Jagger being excited to see Maxie. I am liking him more and more.

[jacourt]

I was impressed that he didn’t let Maxie go because of Mac. Hopefully cates keeps his backbone. 

[Auntie Velvet]

4 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:

I didn't care for the ode to cops dialogue from Jordan. 

Oh, God, I couldn't help wondering how the two Black leads felt about having to be the ones to voice that copaganda. 

Although I'm firmly Team Nina, I do think there's a long-standing tradition of publishers butting heads with editors, editors with reporters, etc. (And don't even get me started on copy editors.)

Yes, technically Nina is Alexis' boss, but if they can modulate their give-and-takes a bit more, these exchanges could be fun.

Edited March 8 by Auntie Velvet

[dubbel zout]

I really enjoyed Ava playing devil's advocate with Sonny regarding Jason's motivations.

It cracks me up how everyone keeps telling Danny how much like his dad he is, the dad who was rarely around and did very little parenting. Being a robot is not something to emulate.

"Maximista" as a password is pretty amateur.

The picture of Dante on Rocco's phone was not the most flattering.

[Cheyanne11]

33 minutes ago, jacourt said:

I was impressed that he didn’t let Maxie go because of Mac. Hopefully cates keeps his backbone. 

I liked that, especially because you could see Maxie thought that was how it was going to go. 

[Pingaponga]

21 hours ago, jsbt said:

I began suspecting Ava some time ago and soon my portents may yet bear fruit or humiliate me totally.

It sure is looking that way. So I guess we're just supposed to forget how freaked out she was by the notes about Austin and gun that appeared in her condo?

Edited March 8 by Pingaponga
Austin and Franco were different characters.

[Sake614]

It took me the better part of the day to figure out how Dante is Brook Lynn’s step brother.

[YaddaYadda]

13 minutes ago, Pingaponga said:

It sure is looking that way. So I guess we're just supposed to forget how freaked out she was by the notes about Franco and gun that appeared in her condo?

Austin. And I'm pretty sure the writers have just decided to abandon everything to do with the character. Is his death even being investigated anymore? And they seem to have dropped Cyrus's involvement with the mob over wherever Austin was from. It was a female mob boss, then it was Cyrus, then Austin was murdered and Mason was carted off to jail. I hope we're done with that horrible storyline.

[jsbt]

2 hours ago, JMO said:

I appreciate the longer scenes, and I imagine the actors find them more fun and  rewarding to play.  I liked the individual scenes with Rocco/Laura and Danny/Carly, and I thought that the little demonstration of closeness between the half brothers at the end was lovely.  I wonder if it is setting up strife between them, if Jason is presumed to be the person who shot Dante. 

Spoiler

Judging by spoilers, it likely is: I don't know if someone's posted it yet in the other thread, but LW has a new interview up discussing how Jason turns up wounded at Carly's door and the town becomes split on whether or not he shot Dante.

For my money, almost all the segments this week are smarter now. I haven't caught today yet but the Spixie, etc. stuff has been consistently good for over a week IMO which is deeply unsettling for me, a person who has been almost as checked out on Maxie as Kirsten Storms clearly had been for years. She's put in real work over the last week-plus and seems awake, engaged and feeling/looking better, and the scripts have been good. The stuff with her, Cody and Sasha yesterday was also smart, including Sasha's POV on women being handled/talked down to. I do not compliment any scenes featuring Sasha lightly, as I often willfully forget she exists when she is not physically on-camera. And Josh Kelly still has a facility for comedy: "Wait, so he conned you into letting him give you money? That bastard!"

There are things that need work production-wise, though. For example: They got Spinelli living in a studio maintenance closet/Korean Internet cafe. Go back to Maxie’s bro.

I have seen this look on Ava's face in Spinelli's lair many times before. Once Jason came into the picture she was shitting herself. I'm guessing she knows that if Jason is on the scene that whatever she is up to has gone sideways. My bet is this is cat and mouse: Neither Jason nor Ava knew the other was involved in whatever is going down here. Presumably Jason infiltrated this outfit, and if Ava is involved he did so without her direct knowledge or knowing she was part of it (if he knew he would've surfaced by now). And that's how it's stayed, except now Ava knows about him. So she has to try to turn the situation to her advantage, and sell Sonny on a line.

4 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

It was a female mob boss, then it was Cyrus, then Austin was murdered and Mason was carted off to jail. I hope we're done with that horrible storyline.

I still suspect the retcon will be that Ava sent the notes/weapon to herself to ingratiate herself to Sonny further as a damsel in distress. Which is classic Ava and fine by me. I truly hope it turns out she also wasted Austin. Again, she's killed for less but Howarth #3 also had it coming.

Edited March 8 by jsbt

[hypnotoad]

It's a wonder Sonny isn't struck lightning the moment he steps foot into a church or chapel.

Anna heard about Sonny and Karen and still boo hoo's with him over Dante? Make it stop already. A mob boss is not a good guy and is not a man of the people.

You know what would be refreshing? If characters didn't act like people coming back from the 'dead' was impossible or shocking. I mean come on at this point how many Port Chuck citizens have done this?!?

I am team Jagger all the way. Those scenes with Sonny were gold.

[Mirabelle]

Channeling Henry II: 

"Will no one rid this show of Spinelli?"

[Artsda]

Sam actually showed some emotion today. 

Lol at Jagger and Maxie today. His turn of her try to get the cuffs off was funny and saying he'd call Felicia. 

Good for Ava for pointing out that the island was done by someone inside and Stone Cold from Spinelli. 

Lulu hope she'd come out of her coma line. Maybe she'll come soon. 

Spinelli really used a password of a loved one?  So weak. I would have expected a 26 alpha numeric.  

Jagger and Jason Quartermaine were in triangle with Karen lol. Jagger calling him Jason Morgan was weird.  Will be interesting to see Jagger's reaction to him. 

[ciarra]

41 minutes ago, Artsda said:

Spinelli really used a password of a loved one? 

Well, he doesn't own a dog.

[Grinaldi]

Why were Jordan and Portia randomly talking about Nathan? Portia didn't even go here when he died. Give that to Nina or Maxie.

[Bringonthedrama]

14 hours ago, JMO said:

 I liked the individual scenes with Rocco/Laura and Danny/Carly, and I thought that the little demonstration of closeness between the half brothers at the end was lovely.  I wonder if it is setting up strife between them, if Jason is presumed to be the person who shot Dante.  If so, I hope the young men are up to playing it, because it could be quite poignant.  And their relationship would be a good one to carry into GH's future.

So Laura finally got a scene with her daughter's kid not named Charlotte? Awesome! I really enjoy GF's scenes with the young actors who play her grandkids.  Danny and Rocco are not half brothers. They would be stepbrothers if Dante and Sam got married. Rocco is Charlotte's half brother because they have the same mother, Lulu. Danny and Jake are half brothers because they have the same father, Jason. So it takes SB returning to the show for Danny and Jake to actually be given scenes together, nice. Has Rocco ever been in scenes that weren't a group of the kids for a holiday? He never even appeared on screen when Lulu went comatose and got sent off to the facility. 

[ljr]

How long before Sonny marries ava? It sure looks like they are falling for each other.

Edited March 8 by ljr

[dubbel zout]

12 hours ago, jsbt said:

The stuff with her, Cody and Sasha yesterday was also smart, including Sasha's POV on women being handled/talked down to.

For me that was undercut when Sasha immediately went back to pushing Maxie to give Spin another chance. But I did like that Sasha knew what Maxie was talking about, while Cody was his usual clueless doofus self. A lot of men really don't get it.

12 hours ago, jsbt said:

And Josh Kelly still has a facility for comedy: "Wait, so he conned you into letting him give you money? That bastard!"

That was funny, even if it was also fundamentally annoying. Way to miss the point, Cody. (But see above.)

1 hour ago, Bringonthedrama said:

Has Rocco ever been in scenes that weren't a group of the kids for a holiday?

He's been SORASed only relatively recently, so we haven't seen much of Rocco alone until now. Which is fine by me. I don't want to see younger kids struggle with their scenes. The Wiley twins are painful enough to watch, and the stuff they give him is innocuous.

[YaddaYadda]

1 hour ago, Bringonthedrama said:

Has Rocco ever been in scenes that weren't a group of the kids for a holiday? He never even appeared on screen when Lulu went comatose and got sent off to the facility. 

The last time Rocco appeared on screen was Thanksgiving after he and Dante moved into the penthouse.

[Auntie Velvet]

Even though they're a fictional and off screen character, spare a thought this week for whoever Jason Morgan's estate attorney is. They're probably still busy untangling the secret twin mess from the last time he un-unalived himself.

[Cheyanne11]

13 hours ago, Mirabelle said:

Channeling Henry II: 

"Will no one rid this show of Spinelli?"

There aren't enough likes to give this post. And now they're reuniting him with Maxie?  Why do the writers hate Kirsten Storms?  Watching her in a romantic relationship with a 45-yr-old overgrown adolescent is painful. 

[ciarra]

1 hour ago, YaddaYadda said:

The last time Rocco appeared on screen was Thanksgiving after he and Dante moved into the penthouse

The boy kids need name tags, so I know who they are.  "Hi, my name is...".

Sadly, the only kid I can pick out on this show is Violet, and sometimes Avery.

[ffwbe]

Kids on soaps don’t interest me much but if they do feature them, I’d prefer they stick to the teens and skip the scenes with the younger kids/babies. At least the teens can have POV beyond look how cute I am. 

[jsbt]

I welcome soap kids when they have a POV, can act and aren't too cutesy or obnoxious, or when the dialogue isn't just 'Daddy, when are you getting back together with Mommy?' It's been very difficult checking all those boxes on GH over the last decade-plus. Violet the Unspeakable, mutant test tube project Charlotte, Maxie and Sam's anonymous small children and Wiley the paste-eater don't really cut it for me.

[YaddaYadda]

50 minutes ago, ffwbe said:

At least the teens can have POV beyond look how cute I am. 

Or I'm so precocious and play matchmaker and parent trap. I always use my daddy's credit card to buy things I have no business buying.

[Auntie Velvet]

I have liked the actor(s) portraying Avery since they were babies and visiting Ava in jail. Just unbelievable concentration. Avery is still interesting to watch.

Donna is a little on the bubble between being undeniably present, but a little pageant-y. Violet could probably be bearable if it weren't for the writing. Why is she still Shirley Temple almost five years later?

 I can't even picture Scout, to be honest.   

[jsbt]

I don't acknowledge any of the above children most of the time tbh. None should exist. Violet OTOH must be destroyed.

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 hours ago, Auntie Velvet said:

Even though they're a fictional and off screen character, spare a thought this week for whoever Jason Morgan's estate attorney is. They're probably still busy untangling the secret twin mess from the last time he un-unalived himself.

Wouldn’t that be Diane? She seemed to have been his attorney in ALL matters!

[ffwbe]

9 minutes ago, Auntie Velvet said:

I can't even picture Scout, to be honest.

I don’t think the current actress playing Scout is bad but the character is a nonentity. She basically pops up every few months, usually when Drew remembers that he has a kid, and has like 1-2 lines and then either disappears or sits in the background. While I don’t mind that she doesn’t get heavy focus, it also means that she could also not be in the episode altogether and it wouldn’t make much of a difference. 

[dubbel zout]

Frank LOVES his lisping precocious child actors, which is how we got stuck with Nicholas Bechtel for way too long, and why we're now suffering with the Violet and Wiley twin actors.

My dream for kids, if they must exist (and too many of them shouldn't, but that's another rant): They can come home from the hospital, be cute infants and toddlers for a while, and then go for a nap and come back down as early/middle teens who want to be on set and can say their lines without it sounding as if someone is feeding them through an earpiece. 

[ciarra]

All those months that Maxie cried over Bailey Lu, and Brook Lynn cried over giving her back, then she is never seen again. 

[dubbel zout]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

[ffwbe]

I’m calling it now. Everyone is going to be suspicious of Jason and he’ll  only have Carly 100% in his corner because she’s the one who truly knows him. They’ll completely ignore the fact that Jason has been treated like a god for decades and hardly any of them have ever thought anything negative of him. 

[ffwbe]

Yeah… Ava isn’t playing Sonny. She’s pathetic 

[Lobsel Vith]

On 3/5/2024 at 5:59 PM, KittenPokerCheater said:

Did Sonny sleep with Karen when she was underage too??

 

I think there is a word for that when a grown man in his 30s plies an underage girl with drugs to get her addicted and uses her for sex.

[Bringonthedrama]

4 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:

The last time Rocco appeared on screen was Thanksgiving after he and Dante moved into the penthouse.

Yes, this is my point. We never got to see Rocco's reaction to his mother's near death injury and coma, or see him actually have relationships with his father, grandparents, Danny and Scout, or step-mother figure, Sam. I don't need to see a lot, but it's really hard to get invested now in his pain/reactions when he's only been in one or two "fun" group scenes with the other kids. Same goes for Danny. (As opposed to when tweens/teens Lucky, Emily and Robin were on the show. The audience saw their real connections with other characters develop over time.) 

Suddenly there are multiple conversations going on about how Danny is "so much like Jason" and the conversation with his mother about bonding with a friend over missing absentee dads when we've never seen him spend time with Jason to have built a relationship. The only feelings we ever saw was the time the tween actor who played Danny complained to Sam that Dad was always going off somewhere/never home. 

As for today, of course Jason goes right to Carly, he apologizes for taking so long to get back, and they're both crying. It's been a long time since SB shed real tears on screen. Doesn't seem like he's thinking about his sons or either of their mothers. Shocker.

I give alll the kudos to Kate Mansi, the new Kristina. She played the comforting sister to Sam, the loving daughter to Sonny, and the scared but strong sister to unconscious Dante, beautifully.  Her scenes were lovely! Of course she shows more emotion than Sam, who shows zero emotion over Dante. I guess she already spent all of her emotion and energy on Jason during the many times he's been shot or otherwise injured.

I guess Carly's angry reaction to John/Jagger and Anna was a mixture of her automatic protection instinct with Jason and assuming Jason being shot has something to do with Sonny and also Dante's gunshot wound.  

 

Edited March 8 by Bringonthedrama

[ciarra]

17 minutes ago, Lobsel Vith said:

I think there is a word for that when a grown man in his 30s plies an underage girl with drugs to get her addicted and uses her for sex.

Yes, but he founded the General Hospital Stone Cates AIDS wing.  And he donates to the Church.

[YaddaYadda]

I found it hilarious that Anna and Jagger showed up at Carly's with a warrant.

Also, color me shocked that Carly and Drew are still a couple.

Has it been only 2 years since Jason was buried under the pile of rocks? Somehow it feels longer than that and not long enough all at once.

And what kind of angry cries were those from Amelia? My 3 month old doesn't cry like that and if he ever does, I might seek out an exorcist. How old is unnecessary baby anyway?

Nina/Ava scenes were painful to watch. I don't need another round of women fighting over Sonny. And Nina, have some self-respect. If Sonny is able to replace you that fast, then he's not worth your time or your tears or anything really.

And I have no idea why Ava wants to even go there. Girl, don't go there. Sonny is a bottomless pit of trash.

Edited March 8 by YaddaYadda

[MarciNJ]

19 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

"Maximista" as a password is pretty amateur.

seriously!  No numbers or characters?  

[GHScorpiosRule]

33 minutes ago, Bringonthedrama said:

As for today, of course Jason goes right to Carly, he apologizes for taking so long to get back, and they're both crying. It's been a long time since SB shed real tears on screen. Doesn't seem like he's thinking about his sons or either of their mothers. Shocker

Of course he does. And true to form, enter the screaming harpy when Jagger and Anna show up.

I cheered when after she refused to let them search, Jagger said he didn’t need her permission-he had a warrant. BOOM!🤣🤣🤣🤣

But those tears from Jason? WHY?!! I have a very bad feeling about that. I only watched to see if he would explain why he was alive and didn’t tell her. But resuming the fast forward button going forward.

 

[MarciNJ]

2 hours ago, jsbt said:

Violet OTOH must be destroyed.

This is how I feel about Wiley.  (and, who names their kid after a coyote?)

[dubbel zout]

Too bad Carly didn't squeeze the life out of Jason when she was hugging him.

3 minutes ago, Bringonthedrama said:

of course Jason goes right to Carly, he apologizes for taking so long to get back, and they're both crying

I was pleasantly surprised Carly didn't give us that stupid line about knowing he couldn't have been truly dead because she didn't feel it in her bones. I hate that trope.

Olivia texted Sam Dante's room number at the beginning of the show, and then in the chapel Liv told Sonny that Sam texted her Dante's room number. Hello, continuity?

22 minutes ago, ffwbe said:

Yeah… Ava isn’t playing Sonny. She’s pathetic

That dreamy smile she had when Nina found her in the chapel was so disappointing. Ava knows Sonny is complete POS. Why does she want to have anything to do with him that isn't her playing him? Gah. Ava might be playing Nina, though.

19 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

I found it hilarious that Anna and Jagger showed up at Carly's with a warrant.

Someone has finally learned. I thought Carly did a good job with her reaction to hearing Jason was alive from Anna and Wagger. She didn't oversell her anger at Anna telling her or her disbelief at seeing the photo of Jason. That was some subtle stuff, not something I usually think Carly is capable of.

25 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

And what kind of angry cries were those from Amelia? My 3 month old doesn't cry like that and if he ever does, I might seek out an exorcist. How old is unnecessary baby anyway?

A little over a year, I think? And she probably just realized the horror show of who her parents are and that's why she's so upset.

I had a nice moment of schadenfreude that no one called the dolts to tell them that Dante was out of surgery and is stable in the ICU. Ha!

[ffwbe]

4 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

That dreamy smile she had when Nina found her in the chapel was so disappointing. Ava knows Sonny is complete POS. Why does she want to have anything to do with him that isn't her playing him? Gah. Ava might be playing Nina, though.

I like Ava but she’s someone who should remain single. She rarely has the upper hand in relationship and almost all of the guys she’s been with are toxic or problematic. Morgan, her daughter’s barely legal ex, was probably her best relationship before she cheated on him which is really saying something. 

[ciarra]

46 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

And what kind of angry cries were those from Amelia? My 3 month old doesn't cry like that and if he ever does, I might seek out an exorcist. How old is unnecessary baby anyway?

I thought that about Ace on the baby monitor the other day.  WTH?  Didn't sound like a one year old.

I've also lost track of feverish Ace.  Laura's focus is hanging around GH, waiting for Dante news, then rushing to the Q's to comfort Rocco. 

At least Laura has it better than poor Pilar, who is stuck with Carly's kid, who is "sleeping over".  As if the nanny doesn't have enough to do during daylight hours.

[TVbitch]

Nothing turns Sonny on more than having some female comfort and absolve him after he's gotten (or nearly gotten) a loved one killed. Good thing Ava is just "helping Nina get her husband back." 🙄

Just make Jason and Carly end game and get it over with. At least SBu was able to squeeze out a single manly man tear for her and I will get the joy of watching Drew and Sonny's heads explode. 

Who do we want for John? I'm gonna say Liz or Alexis. Maybe Nina is on the list too, but she might be one toe over the drama line for him.  

[Auntie Velvet]

4 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Wouldn’t that be Diane? She seemed to have been his attorney in ALL matters!

I was actually trying to remember if Ric was on OK terms with Sonny's organization when last we saw him. We know he's still in town, quietly lawyerin'.

[driver18]

Elizabeth. Is. In. A. Relationship. A healthy, happy, stable relationship for the first time in her life.

[Auntie Velvet]

I was idly trying to guess which "lucky" character would get to be Jason's next moll, based on current SLs.

At first itt seemed like Liz, because she and Finn just reaffirmed their relationship, sort of out of nowhere. Yet similar things happened recently with Carly/Drew and Sam/Dante. But then I realized -- they'll probably give him charged moments with all of his past loves, and see which fanbase goes supernova the fastest. 

[dubbel zout]

13 minutes ago, Auntie Velvet said:

We know [Ric]'s still in town, quietly lawyerin'.

He is? I thought he was still in California, which is where he went when RH left the show.

[Daisy]

12 minutes ago, driver18 said:

Elizabeth. Is. In. A. Relationship. A healthy, happy, stable relationship for the first time in her life.

 

wasn't she in a happy, healthy stable relationship with lucky and franco?