Episode Discussion: TFGH

[dubbel zout]

47 minutes ago, nilyank said:

That was a sticking point for Carly that Frank adopted her and then later then didn't want her that he left her.

All the more reason for her to ignore his requests for money.

Is Frank dead? I don't remember Nelle saying.

[Perkie]

I could have sworn, when they were talking about it about a month ago, when Carly was doing Joss' family tree project, that Carly said he was her step father.  My bad.

But yeah, why would I give money to a dead beat that left 30 plus years ago, that I wouldn't even remember.  So dumb.  

[LexieLily]

2 hours ago, amaranta said:

I want real story for Laura and Kevin. I like them as a couple, dammit, and I want to see the relationship. Plus every other story line is "Vengeance!" and it's getting tiresome.

Laura's "kidnapping" went nowhere fast and no one but Kevin seemed all that concerned about her. I know it's probably too much to ask that Laura be able to disengage from Lulu and this Charlotte/Valentin/Cassadine nonsense, but Kevin has a daughter (doesn't he?) and an ex-wife. How do they feel about him dating again? Do something with them! I like them, too, and they are one of the few successful pairings GH has. No one has tried to kill anyone (or each other) and I feel like it would take something very out-of-the-ordinary to make either of them want to cheat on each other. Those two things at the very least put them at the top of the favorites list.

[dubbel zout]

17 minutes ago, Perkie said:

Carly said he was her step father

Her birth father was John Durant, so Frank Benson is/was her stepfather.

[Perkie]

Just now, dubbel zout said:

Her birth father was John Durant, so Frank Benson is/was her stepfather.

I thought she said Frank was her stepfather (not married to Virginia when she was adopted) but others are saying Frank was her adopted father since he was married to Virginia when she was adopted.  

[Melgaypet]

Whatever they're calling Frank now, Carly's original backstory was that she was adopted by Frank & Virginia Benson, and Frank abandoned them both when Carly was very young. So adoptive (deadbeat) father.

[Ambrosefolly]

1 hour ago, Perkie said:

I thought she said Frank was her stepfather (not married to Virginia when she was adopted) but others are saying Frank was her adopted father since he was married to Virginia when she was adopted.  

 

I think Frank was always part of the backstory, at least the adoptive father skipping out on Carly. If Virigina was living in a trailer park, she probably needed to be married to adopt a white newborn baby, considering the demand for them. So Carly blamed her teenage, nearly homeless, hooker mother for her bad life and decided to ruin her life, instead of directing her ire against the man that promised to raise her, but didn't. Considering how she fucked up the lives of people who were nice to her and enjoyed it (AJ, Tony, Lucas and Bobbie), Frank got off pretty easy to be denied Carly's gold digger money.

Now if Jack family had somehow come across the Benson family and offered a substantial amount of money for Nellie's healthy kidney and then reneged on the agreement and got away with because it is illegal to sell organs, then I could understand some of their anger. 

[TeeVee329]

3 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

Is Frank dead? I don't remember Nelle saying.

I think so?  She claimed both her parents died in a car accident when she first showed up.  And then, I believe, during some boring Michael/Nelle scenes, that he came upon her sad and mopey because it was the anniversary of their deaths?  That was the day Carly bad mouthed Frank and Nelle got all pissy.

Edited March 5, 2017 by TeeVee329

[peachmangosteen]

6 hours ago, Perkie said:

At some point, mom dies and Frank can't handle money so they become poor.

 

34 minutes ago, TeeVee329 said:

She claimed both her parents died in a car accident when she first showed up.  

These don't match up. So which is it? Or did the writers just forget what they wrote a couple months earlier? 

[TwistedandBored]

Sam holding her own daughter was amazing to watch. Seriously, I have waited for such a long time to witness this and Alexis being there made it even more heartwarming. 

[Greta]

God help me, I had the flu and watched an episode that got me sufficiently intrigued with the Anna and Valentin story that I actually youtubed some clips and, it pains me to admit, DVRed this week.  We had the possibility for Nelle Langston Quartermaine, told by her mother Nikki that Carly was the reason she and AJ never got back together and that they were poor (didn't even need to be retconned, could just be a story Nikki made up to justify some other bad choices she made), even leaving the possibility if TIIC were set on Michael/Nelle that AJ wasn't really her father, but she believed he was, and instead we got Nelle Benson?!  I'm about to up and die of not surprised that TFGH is still TFGH.  If Nelle was set on vengeance against Carly because the Metrocourt had bad lighting that ruined PC High senior Nelle's prom pictures, it still would have been a better story.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Greta

[TeeVee329]

I would wager good money that this was not the original plan, this Nelle as Frank Benson's daughter shit.  I think someone waded in insisting Nelle and Michael be paired and that limited the options on how to connect her to Carly.

[Bishop]

On 3/4/2017 at 0:38 PM, dubbel zout said:

I never said Sonny wasn't a victim, and I don't think anyone else has in this case, either. What I meant about him not being a defenseless kitten is that he had agency here: He could have told Carly about it. He had numerous natural openings to tell her, but didn't. That's entirely on him. And as Carly has said, the lying is what she's so furious about. So in that respect, he's no victim. He could have avoided this.

Ahh, gotcha.  I agree with you, but I can also see where Sonny was coming from because he thought he and Carly were over.  If he had told Carly in that moment that he and Nelle had slept together, it would have ended right there.  So I get his fear, but he should have told her about it in the last few weeks when he realized that Nelle was playing games and was deceitful.  Carly was right that by Sonny continuing the lies, he was setting up her and Michael to be blindsided - and they were.  Overall, I blame Nelle.  She assaulted Sonny and then lied to Carly and Michael as well.  She still has one final truth to reveal, and she hasn't yet - that being that she drugged Sonny and they never had sex.  

[ulkis]

9 hours ago, OhioSongbird said:

I liked Ethan.  Remind me why he left.......having a brain fart.

Helena wanted to kill him to spite Luke, Luke convinced her he might be Robert's son, and Ethan ran so Robert would chase after him (he was suicidal after they thought Robin died and Luke convinced him to go after so called new son Ethan.)

[ciarra]

Quote

She claimed both her parents died in a car accident when she first showed up.  

Aw, that's tragic.  I wonder if they had a favorite holiday, like Arbor Day, where Nelly could plant a tree and feel sad?  I thought it would be revealed as another lie, so they could make it look like Daddy pressured Nelle into the scam, thus making it not her fault so they could rehab her character.

Of all the things Nelle could be angry with Carly for is that her entitled little brat got her kidney, leaving her health at risk, preventing her from drinking alcohol, catching every little bug, etc.  While the black market organ donation wasn't Carly's fault, I could see Nelle being resentful. 

[TeeVee329]

I personally hate everything about the retcons surrounding Joss' kidney.  I get that they had to say something when they brought Jake back from the dead, but none of it makes sense.  If memory serves, they found out Joss had cancer and got the transplant from "Jake" the same day, there was no time to hunt the black market or seek out "relatives".

[dubbel zout]

And since Jax would presumably know how Carly felt about Frank, I can't believe he'd have contacted him earlier for some other reason, like telling him to stop asking her for money.

Or will they say that Jerry arranged all of this? 

[stlbf]

Frank and Virginia Benson adopted baby Caroline. Frank left when Caroline was around 4. Virginia raised Caroline on a single woman's salary. Caroline was an ungrateful brat. (which Carly has admitted to decades later) While Virginia couldn't afford to give her daughter everything under the sun that Caroline wanted. So she was resentful and angry. She ended up discovering that she was adopted.  She stole her supposed dead bff's identity to come to PC. All Carly knows about Frank was whatever Virginia said. Which was that Frank left town and never communicated with her or Carly again. But that is all we have been told about. Carly had Michael. Eventually Carly left town and came back. Virginia followed her. She got to see Michael and make peace with Carly.  And promptly dropped dead. Which actually did devastate Carly for a time.

The interesting thing would be to have Carly do what she just screamed at Nell about: look into the truth about Frank Benson and his leaving. Maybe Virginia did run him out of their lives. For good reasons or for selfish ones. More interesting than this crap.

Because Carly is the type of woman to just let personal slights go without seeking restitution, right? So I don't buy that Frank contacted Carly over the years and she has never mentioned it. Bullshit. Carly would've had Sonny and Jason pay Frank a visit to let him know her feelings on his continued  existence. 

Edited March 6, 2017 by stlbf

[Chairperson Meow]

13 hours ago, Perkie said:

Ok, so let me see if I have this right.....

Virginia was Carly's adopted mother.  Frank was not her adopted father, but a stepfather, so Virginia adopted Carly, then married Frank.  That lasted 3 years, because Frank left them when Carly was 3 years old.  Frank goes off, marries Nelle's mom and has Nelle.  Frank takes Carly's rattle with him (why?) and gives it to Nelle even though it's engraved with Carly's name.  

At some point, mom dies and Frank can't handle money so they become poor.  Frank tells Nelle that he's reached out to Carly on several occasions because now she's rich (?) but Carly turns him down.  Now, even if this were true, Nelle as an adult, should not have any qualms about it.  Why would Carly give money to a virtual stranger that she hasn't seen or known since she was 3?  Nelle was all, "you didn't give us any money".  Uhh was she supposed to?  

Then, someone comes looking for a kidney (i swear to dog, show better not make it Jax because I'll have to punch show in the throat.  No way will I beleive that Jax did this and let Liz think Jake was dead all these years).  Lo and behold Nelle matches Joss (total fluke) so Frank sells his kidney to (Jerry?  Helena?) then tells Nelle that evil Carly of the no money giving is the one who came asking for the kidney, and Nelle, again believes his lies.  Girl, you're father sold your kidney right from your teenaged body, why would you believe a word that came out of his mouth?

So because of Frank's lies, Nelle decides to vow vengence on Carly for not giving money and stealing her kidney, by "sleeping" with Sonny and supposedly breaking up CarSon's marriage.  

So, whatever happened to the letter that Nelle read multiple times (and that we saw multiple times via flashbacks that this show loves so much).  The letter was signed, "you owe me, Dad".  

Guh, what nonsense.  

Literally, the only way they could kinda make it um.. believable that Nelle donated/had her kidney stolen is if she and Michael are siblings.  Because seriously,  all these years later and home girl is mad at Carly?   Mad enough to fake bang Sonny on Bobbie' s behalf?   God.. They had Sonny murder AJ and Carly covered it up... use that drama instead of trying to be really lame.   Now we're going to have to sit through Michael and random girl have a boring love story that sucks.   And, who cares about Frank Benson?  

[NutmegsDad]

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 10:26 PM, perkie1968 said:

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 2:21 PM, NutmegsDad said:

 

 

AJ: What about Nelle being my daughter by Frank Benson 

Um, how does that work, exactly?  I mean the biology of it?! 

Yeah, I was alluding to the "Nelle and Michael are twins, and Frank Benson stole Nelle, just like Heather and any other soap trope" angle.

[Perkie]

14 hours ago, Ambrosefolly said:

Now if Jack family had somehow come across the Benson family and offered a substantial amount of money for Nellie's healthy kidney

This is another part that doesn't make sense.  Was Frank offering his daughter's kidney to the highest bidder on the black market somewhere and Jerry (I refuse to believe it was JAx) happened to come across it by coincidence?  Otherwise why would Jerry  think to go to Carly's adopted/abandoned father to see if he has a child and to see if said child is a match for Joss , then lo and behold she is.  

 

12 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

These don't match up. So which is it?

When Nelle first came to town and was explaining her story, she said her parents had sold her kidney then died in a car accident.  On Friday, she said Mom died and Frank lost all of the money, so her story changed over the months.  That's not necessarily a problem with the writing (although it TOTALLY is).  It would just be that Nelle lied in her original story.  Just like she said she was a teaching assistant from Atlanta when she's clearly a (fill in the blank as the writing sees fit) from Florida.  

Edited March 6, 2017 by Perkie

[NutmegsDad]

2 minutes ago, Perkie said:

12 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

These don't match up. So which is it?

When Nelle first came to town and was explaining her story, she said her parents had sold her kidney then died in a car accident.  On Friday, she said Mom died and Frank lost all of the money, so her story changed over the months.  

So they're CYAing the insta-recons with "Nelle is a lying liar who lies".

And we still don't know/Show don't care about "Jake".

[Cheyanne11]

1 hour ago, NutmegsDad said:

So they're CYAing the insta-recons with "Nelle is a lying liar who lies".

And we still don't know/Show don't care about "Jake".

I would've taken a story about what happened to Jake in Cassadine Island over this lame Nelle crap.  Short of "Helena kidnapped him because she needed inspiration to write children's books under a psuedonym* I'm sure it would've been better.  Thing is, the Nelle story has so much potential and it just got flushed down the toilet.

*Actually that sounds sort of good!

[dubbel zout]

7 hours ago, Chairperson Meow said:

Because seriously,  all these years later and home girl is mad at Carly?

That's a classic soap trope, but the writers went about it so sloppily. There are way too many holes in the story that they either didn't think or don't care about. You can't make Frank the reason when he haven't heard boo about him for years. At least Stanvil him six months earlier so there's some foundation.

2 hours ago, Perkie said:

It would just be that Nelle lied in her original story. 

Which makes sense—when you're going to scheme, you're not going to tell the truth—except it took way too long for any connection between Nelle and the Bensons to be made.

[TeeVee329]

2 hours ago, Perkie said:

When Nelle first came to town and was explaining her story, she said her parents had sold her kidney then died in a car accident.  On Friday, she said Mom died and Frank lost all of the money, so her story changed over the months.  That's not necessarily a problem with the writing (although it TOTALLY is).  It would just be that Nelle lied in her original story.  Just like she said she was a teaching assistant from Atlanta when she's clearly a (fill in the blank as the writing sees fit) from Florida.  

But she was actually living in Atlanta at some point, right?  Isn't that where Felicia went and talked to the friend who "confirmed" the Sonny affair?

I agree with dubbel zout that it makes sense that Nelle would craft an alter ego when she first showed up in town - the fake last name, the different story about the parents, etc. - to throw suspicion off herself.

We've all put more thought into this than the writers have, which just goes to show what a mess this story/reveal was.

Edited March 6, 2017 by TeeVee329

[tvfanatic13]

I watch on Hulu so I don't see the previews. Is that where Robin is kidnapped? Or did I miss it at the end of the episode?

[TeeVee329]

At the very end of the episode, Robin runs into Olivia J.  The previews show Olivia has her tied up somewhere.

Edited March 6, 2017 by TeeVee329

[TeeVee329]

The ENDGAME lab!!!  Olivia J.'s looking FOR THE ENDGAME LAB!!!

Also, NORA!!!

[LexieLily]

Even walking hand-in-hand with Liz in a basement Franco is creepy, jeez. Why has Liz never been fired for constantly telling other people patient's medical business? Franco has no right or need to know how Sam and Baby Scout are doing. (Neither does Liz, honestly). Where does Franco get off telling Jake's mother what she can and can't discuss with her own child? Though given that Liz had such a nonplussed reaction to the news of the curse and keeps insisting that Jake is fine, she deserves what she gets.

Nina has the mentality of an emo teenager. She's mad at Valentin over Anna so she "might not even go' to the custody hearing. (It might do Valentin more good if she wasn't there.) Based on the spoilers for this week, she's going to do something to defect to Team Lulu, isn't she?

Nina is obsessed with Charlotte. Singing to her over the phone was painful.

Wasn't Duke cremated? Bringing Duke back to life out of an urn full of ashes is slightly above Robin's skill set, OJ. A lock of hair and a vial of his DNA (WTF) won't help.

Enough with the anvils that Griffin is Anna's child! We get it, TPTB.

[ulkis]

27 minutes ago, TeeVee329 said:

The ENDGAME lab!!!  Olivia J.'s looking FOR THE ENDGAME LAB!!!

I can't tell if you're excited or mad lol.

[TeeVee329]

I'm excited lol!  One, because that was my spec last week.  And two, while it's all super stupid, that's kinda the flavor of stupid I enjoy in soaps.

[dubbel zout]

A rather coy introduction of Nora, and if Diane knows she was Llanview's WOTY, wouldn't she have seen a picture of her? 

Why was Dante in a suit and tie? 

31 minutes ago, TeeVee329 said:

The ENDGAME lab!!!  Olivia J.'s looking FOR THE ENDGAME LAB!!!

Why she's doing it is nutty, but I don't mind this callback to History!, for a change.

[Linny]

Liv, wearing a sparkly jacket while flitting around with her blueprints, spouting bullshit about life and death, is exactly the kind of crazy I'm here for. And the fact that she carries Duke's hair in a vial in her bra is delightfully outrageous. She's so clearly insane and yet I can't help but pity her, and that's largely because TW is hitting every note perfectly. 

Nina irritated me today. She's mad at Valentin so she doesn't go home to see Charlotte or want to go to the custody hearing? Grow the hell up. Being a mom and a wife means working through the hard times, not pouting until you get your way. 

Franco working as a parking garage attendant is perfect for his greasy hobo image. Love that Julian didn't make any noise until Franco and Liz started making out. He didn't want to hear that shit.

I never really watched OLTL so I don't know much about Nora, but the actress is good and I enjoyed her challenging Diane.

Poor Griffin is like a housefly who inadvertently flew into a spider's web. 

[TeeVee329]

11 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

Enough with the anvils that Griffin is Anna's child! We get it, TPTB.

I'm still skeptical they're going to do that.  If someone had somehow pulled the Erica Kane Unabortion on Duke and Anna's baby, wouldn't it have been Olivia J.?  But she didn't know about Griffin.

Edited March 6, 2017 by TeeVee329

[ulkis]

Quote

I'm excited lol!  One, because that was my spec last week.  And two, while it's all super stupid, that's kinda the flavor of stupid I enjoy in soaps.

:Jason Morgan headshake: :p

However this at least does give me the opportunity to link to this, for those of you who don't know the story the lab refers to or would like a refresher:

http://web.archive.org/web/20041207204630/http://www.generalshmospital.com/endgame1.htm

Edited March 6, 2017 by ulkis

[TeeVee329]

2 minutes ago, Linny said:

Franco working as a parking garage attendant is perfect for his greasy hobo image.

And what is with the parking garage suddenly becoming a major set?

I might have missed it because I was laughing/pumping my first in victory re: my ENDGAME lab spec being true, but while Robin explained why what Helena did with Stavros was different, was there talk about Robin's experiences in bringing Jason/Hells/Stavros back to life?

[dubbel zout]

12 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

Why has Liz never been fired for constantly telling other people patient's medical business?

She said Sam and the baby were doing fine, as far as she knows. That's hardly intrusive information.

3 minutes ago, Linny said:

TW is hitting every note perfectly. 

KMcC's expressions are also perfect for the crazy Olivia is slinging.

[TeeVee329]

Previews...OMG, she took his shirt off before tying him up and ranting crazily in his face!

[LexieLily]

6 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

She said Sam and the baby were doing fine, as far as she knows. That's hardly intrusive information.

But Franco has no business knowing anything about Sam, that's my point. Why is he so concerned about the care of the woman he sexually assaulted? Sam's not his friend, she'll never be his friend. Leave her be.

[backhometome]

Quote

She said Sam and the baby were doing fine, as far as she knows. That's hardly intrusive information.

To the patients sexual assaulter, yes it is. Its none of his business.

This OJ stuff just got worse. Robins facial expressions was the only highlight.

Liez continues to show she doesn't care about DNAJ issues. She hears something disturbing he said and she hand waves it away. 

[dubbel zout]

The show won't stop having Franco butt into Sam's business, so at least they're having Liz give a vague answer.

22 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

Why was Dante in a suit and tie? 

Answering my own question: He's going to court. Mystery solved.

Edited March 6, 2017 by dubbel zout
better verb choice

[Oracle42]

Quote

Griffin is Anna's child

Yeah, that's a big no. That's some DOOL nonsense. Ethan actually fit into the Holly/Robert timeline and her family definitely would have taken that kid, sold him off and lied about his existence. This is just...no.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Oracle42

[Cheyanne11]

10 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

But Franco has no business knowing anything about Sam, that's my point. Why is he so concerned about the care of the woman he sexually assaulted? Sam's not his friend, she'll never be his friend. Leave her be.

Given Franco was in the ER when Sam came in, it would seem weird to me if he didn't ask a generic "how is she?" question when Elizabeth came home.  

[HeatLifer]

Dante sticking up for Robin was love. DOBIN 2018. 

[ulkis]

2 minutes ago, HeatLifer said:

Dante sticking up for Robin was love. DOBIN 2018. 

That's too close to that elf from Harry Potter I detest. How about Robte or something?

[tricknasty]

OMG! Shirtless Griffin on the verge of tears. I volunteer to give him a hug and make it all better

[TeeVee329]

Also, not for nothing, all this "how to bring people back from the dead" talk plus Anna's involvement would have made this the perfect opportunity for David Hayward to pop into town.  Alas.

[Oracle42]

I know this is going to end up stupid but I am unreasonably excited by the idea of something happening - bonus points if it's actually soapy

[HeatLifer]

8 minutes ago, TeeVee329 said:

Also, not for nothing, all this "how to bring people back from the dead" talk plus Anna's involvement would have made this the perfect opportunity for David Hayward to pop into town.  Alas.

Am I in the minority in wanting this camp to end?

[tvgoddess]

This all sounds so, so boring.