Episode Discussion: TFGH

[statsgirl]

No, Kim specifically said that it was a glioblastoma.

Gord Downy of the Tragically Hip died of it last year.

Edited September 26, 2018 by statsgirl

[dubbel zout]

16 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

No, Kim specifically said that it was a glioblastoma.

Stage 4 glioblastoma, I believe. Oscar should be in bad shape, which makes Kim hiding it from him even worse.

[nilyank]

5 hours ago, LexieLily said:

 

Can someone remind Charlotte that she already has a younger brother named Rocco?

 

I can see how she is confused as Rocco should be older than Charlotte.

[LexieLily]

20 minutes ago, nilyank said:

I can see how she is confused as Rocco should be older than Charlotte.

Charlotte's revolving age will never not be stupid, but it was obnoxious that Nina didn't acknowledge to Charlotte that she had a brother. If the show isn't going to treat Charlotte as a Spencer and Lulu's daughter, by all means they can retcon this and make her someone else's kid.

Edited September 26, 2018 by LexieLily

[yowsah1]

7 hours ago, Hater said:

It's always stories centered around newbies because they're too afraid to do anything with long standing characters.

Doing stories centered around long standing characters means doing stories that might shake up the status quo, and the "writers" on this show are too lazy and unoriginal to ever do anything like that.

 

1 hour ago, LexieLily said:

Charlotte's revolving age will never not be stupid, but it was obnoxious that Nina didn't acknowledge to Charlotte that she had a brother. If the show isn't going to treat Charlotte as a Spencer and Lulu's daughter, by all means they can retcon this and make her someone else's kid.

I still think that Charlotte is going to turn out to be Nina's coma baby.

[Cheyanne11]

5 hours ago, HeatLifer said:

“I was right and I’m gonna gloat!!!!!!!” -Carly 1996-present.

 

Only the She-Beast would gloat about being "right" when it's tied to the fact she skipped town on her newborn kid.  STFU, Carly.

Quote

Who the fuck looks irritated by a cookie? Unless you’re diabetic and can’t have it. Stop, SBu. And whoever wrote that, it wasn’t funny in any sense.

He's like a robot, only even less life-like.

[LexieLily]

17 minutes ago, yowsah1 said:

I still think that Charlotte is going to turn out to be Nina's coma baby.

I can't wait for the retcon/rewrites on that one!

[Oracle42]

2 hours ago, yowsah1 said:

Doing stories centered around long standing characters means doing stories that might shake up the status quo, and the "writers" on this show are too lazy and unoriginal to ever do anything like that

They have done those stories and the long-standing characters were wildly out of character. There's Carly/Franco, Patrick/Sabrina, Patrick/Sam, Nik is a Murderer, Liz/Franco, Sam doesn't give a s*** that Jason is back from the dead until weeks later - twice, Dante cheating, Dante cheating with his wife's cousin, Luke/Bobbi weren't poor, Luke had Not!DID this whole time, everything about Maxie/Baby Georgie, Maxie is too dumb/naive to see through Eli, Maxie is unemployed & unambitious, Carly being fooled by Nelle, Jax allowing his daughter to live with Sonny full-time, etc.

Not a story, but worth mentioning - the idea that Jason doesn't care about his kids and has zero feels about losing 5 years with his family.

I think they don't do stories for long-standing characters because they still haven't bothered to get more than a surface-level (if that!) understanding of any of these characters or their history - and they got tired of being called out for it. And instead of learning character history we get a story about Nina and her coma baby, Oscar's brain cancer, Margaux's daddy, LWB/FS existing and Franco not being dead

Kevin/Ryan, which was at least potentially interesting, makes a bi-monthly appearance, and is about to be swallowed by Spencer.

And although it doesn't sound like it, I don't actually have a problem with new characters on soaps. I think soaps need new characters, but FV and his writers have been incredibly bad at casting and creating them.

Edited September 26, 2018 by Oracle42

[lolziceprincess]

10 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Maybe she's planning on giving it to him later after she's used it to bring down Sonny, or maybe she's not, I don't know.

Even if this was her plan, it doesn’t make it any less despicable. Plus considering she berated Peter about keeping the drive from Drew and how it was identity theft and all that, she’s being a complete hypocrite by doing exactly what she threatened to arrest Peter for.

10 hours ago, statsgirl said:

So while Margaux may not be perfectly good (but then, neither is Farther Griffin), she's still a lot better than the mob group.

I respectfully disagree. What’s worse? A straight-up criminal or a criminal masquerading as an officer of the law? I think most people would agree that corrupt cops/public officials are the worst kind of criminals because they’re in a prime position to manipulate the system to their own agenda, which Margaux has done on several occasions.

[RedheadZombie]

On September 24, 2018 at 11:53 PM, LillyB said:

Snarly will never forgive Liz for bearing Jason a child, something that Carly never could do. Carly is very jealous about that.

Well, Carly certainly bore the only son that Jason cares about. 

Edited September 26, 2018 by RedheadZombie
Clarifying who she is.

[Asp Burger]

The thing about Stella is that we knew Jordan and Curtis for a while, and then they brought Stella on. All of her beef is offscreen prehistory. We were told it rather than shown it. So Vernee, who is a very strong actress, is in the position of having to carry all of that point of view against more established characters. If you buy into it at all (which doesn't mean hating Jordan or rooting against Curtis/Jordan, just seeing where Stella is coming from), it's because of the strength of her performance. I do, because of her emotional commitment. It makes me question how I would feel in Stella's position, whether I could be forgiving or even pleasant. I'd like to think so., but...

I see a lot of people here and on Facebook saying she needs to just get over it and accept things as they are, but I wonder, if exactly the same story had been told over a period of years on GH with some beloved older female character who had two on-canvas adult children (or nephews/nieces, whatever) -- say, Laura, or Monica, or Felicia -- if that would be a popular point of view.

I like Briana Nicole Henry's Jordan. I didn't dislike Vinessa Antoine's, but I think this one has better "conflict chemistry" with VWJ/Stella. Vinessa usually had a deer-in-the-headlights quality. Briana Nicole is a little fierier, even though the dialogue isn't much different. I also think BNH is more convincing in the criminal procedural stuff we've seen her doing with CSI: Croton. Or, I guess since it was 1982, Cold Case: Croton.  

Today I'm inclined to be nice to Garren Stitt. I do think he tries. He was actually pretty good in the sullen/angry parts of his outbursts. The "woeful" parts (like when he moans "Do I have caaaancer?") are shakier, but he's neither an experienced actor nor, I would assume, someone with much to draw on with terminal illness. No, he's not a young JJ, but he's not bad.  

Edited September 26, 2018 by Asp Burger

[dubbel zout]

2 hours ago, Asp Burger said:

I see a lot of people here and on Facebook saying she needs to just get over it and accept things as they are, but I wonder, if exactly the same story had been told over a period of years on GH with some beloved older female character who had two on-canvas adult children (or nephews/nieces, whatever) -- say, Laura, or Monica, or Felicia -- if that would be a popular point of view.

My beef is that whenever Stella and Jordan get together, nothing new happens. The therapy wasn't a disaster, as they both said. Their issues won't get fixed in one 50-minute session, and they both know it, but the work is painful, so they're bailing. Fine, whatever. Then stop trying to make peace over lunch or drinks. Ignore each other. Be civil when your paths cross.

[Sake614]

33 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

e civil when your paths cross.

That's just it. Stella has no desire to be civil toward Jordan. She can't even bring herself to be at the wedding for Curtis' sake. She doesn't have to be happy for them, but she could show just a tad less disgust.

[TeeVee329]

6 hours ago, lolziceprincess said:

I respectfully disagree. What’s worse? A straight-up criminal or a criminal masquerading as an officer of the law?

If we're talking Margaux versus Sonny in this fictional context, Sonny, who's been murdering and mobstering for decades, is 100% worse.  Get back to me when Margaux shoots someone in cold blood and snarls at said victim to die on his deathbed.

Edited September 26, 2018 by TeeVee329

[dubbel zout]

Everyone going up against Sonny has to be dirty in some way, so there's some tenuous reason he always wins. That's part and parcel of the show. It's not going to change.

[Benji]

I've criticized GS's acting, but he was better in the angry scenes with Kim and Drew and the crying breakdown in the elevator.

[lolziceprincess]

2 hours ago, TeeVee329 said:

If we're talking Margaux versus Sonny in this fictional context, Sonny, who's been murdering and mobstering for decades, is 100% worse.  Get back to me when Margaux shoots someone in cold blood and snarls at said victim to die on his deathbed.

Again, I respectfully disagree. I’ve already posted about moral ambiguity which is at the root of anything that has to do with the mob storylines. Context is important. Your point about shooting people in cold blood has merit but again the context is important. In recent memory, the people that Sonny or Jason have killed haven’t exactly been innocent themselves. And killing, based on context, may not always be outright immoral at least in my opinion. Margaux hiding behind the law to get revenge for her fathers death (and let’s be clear on that, she wants revenge not justice) isn’t that different from what a criminal does. Obviously our opinions differ on “who is worse” so let’s not get into that one.

And even with all that said, your opinion, my opinion. None of it matters. As other users have pointed out: Sonny will always win regardless of how some fans feel towards the character. The powers that be on the show clearly favor him.

So at this point, I’d like to agree to disagree and leave the conversation amicably.

[TeeVee329]

I'll just say, for the record, I don't like Margaux and I actually think Elizabeth Hendrickson was miscast/was only cast so they could put her with Billy Miller.  But for all the problematic characterization the show is heaping on her so viewers can side with Sonny, the crime she's accusing Sonny of committing...he, unless it's retconned again, 100% committed.

And with that, yes, let's agree to disagree.

[BlancheDevoreaux]

I'm over Stella being a bitch to Jordan all the time and I'm over Kristina flipping out on Alexis anytime Alexis points out Kristina can do more with her life. I swear, Alexis could offer to make Kristina a sandwich and Kristina would freak out about how her mom thinks Kristina isn't capable of putting together peanut butter and jelly. Hey Kris, stop making stupid choices and people won't call you out on your stupidity.

[Sake614]

5 minutes ago, BlancheDevoreaux said:

Kristina isn't capable of putting together peanut butter and jelly

Well let's be honest. She probably isn't lol!

[dubbel zout]

Kind of ironic (completely unintentional, I have no doubt) that Kristina is a dab hand at cocktails and Alexis won't ever be able to try them.

[Linny]

It's a shame that the angle of Alexis exploring her family history has seemingly been dropped, and now she's relegated to taking Kristina's shit. Alexis may have misgivings about some of Kristina's choices, but ultimately she's been nothing short of loving and understanding during Kristina's loooong meandering path into adulthood. Kristina owes her more gratitude and less snarky remarks.

I don't understand why Kim could take the time to give Joss a barebones explanation of the Oscar drama yet couldn't do the same for Julian. Something slightly more substantial than "we're in the middle of something" would have made him less worried, instead of completely in the dark.

"Hey, shove these two bookcases on either end of this wall and dump whatever books you can find on them." - -the set designers, probably. That was a really unsightly attempt at a high school library.

Doling out sage wisdom, skulking in the shadows, darkening Sam's doorstep, just another day in the life of Jason Morgan. I'm sure him ducking out of sight from Kim and Drew was meant to give them privacy, but given Jason's usual brand of social graces it came across like he was hiding in avoidance of conversation.

[Cheyanne11]

42 minutes ago, Linny said:

Doling out sage wisdom, skulking in the shadows, darkening Sam's doorstep, just another day in the life of Jason Morgan. I'm sure him ducking out of sight from Kim and Drew was meant to give them privacy, but given Jason's usual brand of social graces it came across like he was hiding in avoidance of conversation.

He was probably worried they'd offer him a cookie.

[ciarra]

1 hour ago, Linny said:

"Hey, shove these two bookcases on either end of this wall and dump whatever books you can find on them." - -the set designers, probably. That was a really unsightly attempt at a high school library.

I was surprised at how cheap the elevator looked in the Maxie/LWB trapped scene.  The rails looked like plywood painted silver, in an attempt to make them look metal.  They must have had plywood left over from Madeline's casket. 

[statsgirl]

How does Jason know what instinct a parent has with his child?  He has to be pushed to spend any time with his own.  They just write him any way they want to slot him into the current Jason the Savior storyline (Nice teleporting from the docks to Sam's.)

Is this the start of a Julian/Kim/Drew triangle. Because Drew's over-protectiveness of Kim is ridiculous.  It's up to Kim to deal with her relationship to Julian.  And as @Linney said, why couldn't Kim take a couple of minutes from wringing her hands to call Julian back after he kept calling after she stood him up?

Can they keep Daisy the concert girl? She's a better actor with more energy than 80% of the current cast.

10 hours ago, Asp Burger said:

 It makes me question how I would feel in Stella's position, whether I could be forgiving or even pleasant. I'd like to think so., but...

I see a lot of people here and on Facebook saying she needs to just get over it and accept things as they are, but I wonder, if exactly the same story had been told over a period of years on GH with some beloved older female character who had two on-canvas adult children (or nephews/nieces, whatever) -- say, Laura, or Monica, or Felicia -- if that would be a popular point of view.

For me, it's based on 2 killer arguments Jordan made:  that Stella is trapped in the time of raising Curtis and Tommy because she hasn't done much with her life in the last 20 years; and that as a social worker who is trained to bring together families in conflict, she's unable to move beyond hers.  Stella had no answer to either of those, and it was Stella who refused to go back to family therapy.

2 hours ago, lolziceprincess said:

Again, I respectfully disagree. I’ve already posted about moral ambiguity which is at the root of anything that has to do with the mob storylines. Context is important.

I agree that Margaux is morally ambiguous in terms of keeping the flashdrive of memories.   However she didn't become a DA to get revenge on her father's death.  Until the body in Charley's was identified, all she knew is that her father had had mob connections and that he had disappeared when she was 2.  Becoming a DA to put away mob criminals  don't see as morally ambiguous.

Based on the last few episodes (much less the last few decades), there is no ambiguity about Sonny's morals.  Becoming a mobster was a job he went into with his eyes open and fully accepting of the intimidation and murder of others even innocents bystanders that went with it. He makes no apologies for what he does.

And with that, I'll step out of the discussion too.

1 hour ago, dubbel zout said:

Kind of ironic (completely unintentional, I have no doubt) that Kristina is a dab hand at cocktails and Alexis won't ever be able to try them.

Maybe the Shirley Temples.

[YaddaYadda]

25 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Is this the start of a Julian/Kim/Drew triangle. Because Drew's over-protectiveness of Kim is ridiculous.  It's up to Kim to deal with her relationship to Julian.  And as @Linney said, why couldn't Kim take a couple of minutes from wringing her hands to call Julian back after he kept calling after she stood him up?

Do you know what's the worst part about Kim ignoring Julian's calls? What if he had seen Oscar and saw how distraught he was and had been trying to reach her to let her know? 

[dubbel zout]

5 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

Do you know what's the worst part about Kim ignoring Julian's calls? What if he had seen Oscar and saw how distraught he was and had been trying to reach her to let her know? 

Julian would then be blamed for Oscar being missing, of course. It's bad enough Drew is treating him like some stalker just because Kim treated him badly. He deserves to know more than "it's something with Oscar."

And of course it's Jason who talks Oscar down. Ugh. Why couldn't it have been Terry? Or even Cam?

And color me shocked Oscar's predicament was enough to rouse Jason's paternal feelings toward at least one of his kids.

37 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Can they keep Daisy the concert girl?

Is she someone people know IRL? I didn't recognize the name on the postcard, but I'm an olds.

[TVbitch]

Help me out! I missed the last couple minutes due to Trumpage. What happened after Drew/Kim found Oscar at the dock? Did Jason also solve global warming and accomplish peace in the Middle East? 

Daisy huh. Dang. I was hoping they would pair Christina with Valerie.

[dubbel zout]

They hugged it out and went home; Jason was so moved (he was lurking behind a wall or something) that he went to the penthouse to see Sam.

[sunnyface]

Quote

Stage 4 glioblastoma

There is no way that Oscar would be alive after two months - let alone two years - with a fast growing malignant tumor in his head.  The standard treatment is removing the tumor and the survival rate depends a good deal on how much of the tumor is removed from the brain.  The return rate of the glioblastoma(s) is near 100%.

Edited September 27, 2018 by sunnyface

[yowsah1]

21 hours ago, Oracle42 said:

And although it doesn't sound like it, I don't actually have a problem with new characters on soaps. I think soaps need new characters, but FV and his writers have been incredibly bad at casting and creating them.

I was reading SOD the other day and it struck me that, when reading story teasers for shows I hadn't seen in years, like DOOL, I still had a good idea of which featured character was related to another and how, because the new characters taking the lead on those shows were ones that had been introduced as children and had grown up to take their place at the center of the show.  Sami's son Will, Jennifer's daughter Abigail, and so on and so forth.  On GH the new characters aren't connected to any "core" characters in any meaningful way.  It's what happens when you methodically eliminate every major family except one from the canvas.

 

11 hours ago, TeeVee329 said:

If we're talking Margaux versus Sonny in this fictional context, Sonny, who's been murdering and mobstering for decades, is 100% worse.  Get back to me when Margaux shoots someone in cold blood and snarls at said victim to die on his deathbed.

And when the show has the child of victim abjectly apologize to her for the horrible sin of being angry she murdered his parent.

 

5 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Can they keep Daisy the concert girl? She's a better actor with more energy than 80% of the current cast.

They always are until they get added to the permanent cast.  Then their performance goes to shit after three weeks.  (Seriously, I remember reading these exact type of comments when Chloe Lanier did her one-off stint in the Luke flashback story).

[ciarra]

Jason's expression when he goes to put his hand on Oscar's shoulder to comfort him is the same expression I have when confronted with a full litter box. 

[ouinason]

I can't stop laughing at the fact that the previews for tomorrow are all of these like Turning Point conversations and then Sam and Jason staring at each other

[Sake614]

Re Charlotte not talking/thinking about Rocco...he doesn't live with her. She was telling Nina that the house is big and lonely. And that she wishes Nina and Valentin had a baby so she would have someone to play with. Rocco doesn't exactly come over for play dates at Windemere.

[NutmegsDad]

11 hours ago, yowsah1 said:

I was reading SOD the other day and it struck me that, when reading story teasers for shows I hadn't seen in years, like DOOL, I still had a good idea of which featured character was related to another and how, because the new characters taking the lead on those shows were ones that had been introduced as children and had grown up to take their place at the center of the show.  Sami's son Will, Jennifer's daughter Abigail, and so on and so forth.  On GH the new characters aren't connected to any "core" characters in any meaningful way.  It's what happens when you methodically eliminate every major family except one from the canvas.

 

And when the show has the child of victim abjectly apologize to her for the horrible sin of being angry she murdered his parent.

 

They always are until they get added to the permanent cast.  Then their performance goes to shit after three weeks.  (Seriously, I remember reading these exact type of comments when Chloe Lanier did her one-off stint in the Luke flashback story).

And, when they were wrapping up the storylines with Nelle, CL was back to being en fuego with her performance. 

[TeeVee329]

Previews...Lucy and Mac yay!  But ew, the Ryan/Kevin is like the only thing I care about, keep LWB/FS out of it please!

[dubbel zout]

In case anyone was wondering, today's ep is preempted by the Kavanaugh hearings.

[NutmegsDad]

42 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

In case anyone was wondering, today's ep is preempted by the Kavanaugh hearings.

I was wondering why they replaced Diane.

And how this would affect Sonny.

[statsgirl]

8 hours ago, Sake614 said:

Re Charlotte not talking/thinking about Rocco...he doesn't live with her. She was telling Nina that the house is big and lonely. And that she wishes Nina and Valentin had a baby so she would have someone to play with. Rocco doesn't exactly come over for play dates at Windemere.

Charlotte lives at Lulu's part of the time.  She goes to family birthday parties with Rocco.  Bad continuity.

1 hour ago, NutmegsDad said:

And how this would affect Sonny.

There was an angry white man yelling that his family was destroyed by these lies and he shouldn't be investigated.  I'm sure Sonny empathized.

[LexieLily]

1 hour ago, statsgirl said:

Charlotte lives at Lulu's part of the time.  She goes to family birthday parties with Rocco.  Bad continuity.

It also says so much about Nina (and Valentin) that she never corrected Charlotte, brought up Rocco, or encouraged Charlotte that the Falconeri residence was also her home. 

[dubbel zout]

She hasn't said it was someplace Charlotte just visited, either.

Edited September 27, 2018 by dubbel zout
clarifying which she is she

[Bringonthedrama]

I know Ryan went on the Internet to look things up about Kevin's life.  He seems to know that Kevin and Lucy are friendly, but Kevin is now married to Laura, that Felicia and Mac are married, etc. But does he realize how much time has passed? He seemed to be surprised/taken aback when Lucy mentioned James/Felicia being a grandmother.  He remembers Maxie from when she was a child, and she's standing there by their table talking to him - clearly old enough to be a parent.

[ciarra]

"Chase, we just told our kid he's dying of brain cancer and he ran away.  He's seriously at risk!"

"Okay, I'll get right on it."  <goes to Anna's place>

I'm not a Julian fan, but he need to cut his losses with Kim and find someone else. 

[ulkis]

Was, "Yes, Laura, right" supposed to be a pun on Laura Wright?

[statsgirl]

Didn't you just get warm fuzzies as Sam told Jason how lucky Oscar was to have him to talk to because he's so empathic?  And how much Monica will need him now?  I know I did.

Can Ryan please kill Kiki this visit?  She's young and blonde like Felicia was, and far too smug and full of herself.  Also, nice move, Lucy, blaming Laura being away for so long for "Kevin" behaving strangely.

[yowsah1]

On 9/27/2018 at 5:38 PM, statsgirl said:

There was an angry white man yelling that his family was destroyed by these lies and he shouldn't be investigated.  I'm sure Sonny empathized.

It's probably a good thing there was no barware in the hearing room.

[LexieLily]

49 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Can Ryan please kill Kiki this visit?  She's young and blonde like Felicia was, and far too smug and full of herself.  Also, nice move, Lucy, blaming Laura being away for so long for "Kevin" behaving strangely.

Shut up, Lucy. She better not be trying to move in on Kevin.

[dubbel zout]

Franco's face when Ryan thought Ava was Felicia was hilarious. But ugh, more whining from Ava. 

LOL at Lulu throwing around "deep background" and "FOIA request" as if she has any idea what they mean, how they're used, and how she gets them. 

Griffin said he was stripped of the sacraments (or whatever the term is) because the archdiocese thought he was giving pastoral care (ditto) after he wasn't a priest anymore. That sounds somewhat reasonable to me (save for not being able to go to confession). Is it?

Sam telling Jason she knew deep down that Danny would be okay after his leukemia sounds like bullshit to me. Maybe Sam felt some security once they knew Julian's blood could help, but before that? I don't think so.

[statsgirl]

2 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

Griffin said he was stripped of the sacraments (or whatever the term is) because the archdiocese thought he was giving pastoral care (ditto) after he wasn't a priest anymore. That sounds somewhat reasonable to me (save for not being able to go to confession). Is it?

I think it depends on what they mean by "pastoral care".  Was he giving them communion and doing other things that only priests do?  Then yes, the archdiocese was right.

Was he counseling people based on the knowledge and understanding that he had acquired as a priest?  That's much harder to turn off.  You can't unlearn what you've learned about people.  If Sonny or someone else comes to him for advice, or a patient asks him for advice or wants to talk to him to unburden about a traumatic event, well the Church doesn't have the monopoly on that kind of counseling.

[dubbel zout]

Yeah, I thought most of it was just to show how big bad Ava has ruined poor Griffin's life. We never saw him give last rites or anything of that sort.