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Episode Discussion: TFGH


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I don't understand why they didn't use the original opening, or at least the music that originally went with the 80's opening. That opening with the current music was odd.

Apparently, they no longer have the rights to the original music

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I want the actor who played young Luke to play a SORAS'D Cameron. He'd actually make a decent Morgan because that's Carly's son/Micheal's brother would look like. But he's too smart to be Morgan. Maybe a Dillon recast because he's very good and can act.

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(edited)

Ha! So ABC must have been bombarded by fans for breaking into the last 3 minutes. There was just a promo to see the end of today's show at 7online and on the GH Facebook page.

 

WABC-TV Channel 7 Eyewitness News

We apologize for interrupting the end of General Hospital this afternoon for breaking news. We're finding a way to get you the end of the episode. We hear you!

Edited by Sake614
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No, it was Bill's. Tim's body is also there, but it's sealed up.

 

 

 

Well now it would be mere particles since the basement absorbed that entire explosion according to Ron...

 

I actually was surprised at how good the teen kids were playing youngLuke and youngPat. The young lady I thought looked very much like the older actress, it was a rather uncanny resemblance I thought.

 

How nice might it have been to see them in roles acting opposite T.J. and Molly to help add more young, future PC residents that are old enough to not pack Lunchables and no longer need scheduled playdates.

 

 

The only thing I have to say is that LW did a good job playing a different character than Snarly.

 

 

 

Count me as one who didn't catch it was her at first playing "Mama Spencer". But it was nice seeing her play a character that didn't immediately set my teeth on edge. The way she played her even reminded me a bit of her "Cassie" days on GL.

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It's a little weird how Frank or anyone didn't tell them, hey this is a really important episode, try not to interrupt! They know that the NYC affiliate tends to interrupt when someone has a hangnail.

Edited by ulkis
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Bill never told anyone, even though all he got for his trouble was that crappy house? What even *is* any of this???

 

I wondered how Patricia was able to sign over the house to Bill Eckert, as I'm assuming it was in her father's name and the rest of the world thought he was alive.  Or was he declared dead at some point, due to his years long absence?

 

In other nitpicky news, I guess Luke and then Bobbie/Tracy/Pat teleported from PA (where Pat lived) back to Port Charles?

 

What got me was Lulu, whose focus has been on Luke so much she couldn't even wait for the local police or Dante yesterday, but can suddenly opt to stay in PA and not come back to PC with the others?  No doubt due to a plot point that will be revealed tomorrow, but within the current context it made no sense.

 

How can this show's casting department be so good at casting one shot characters, i.e. Young Luke and Patricia, that boat captain from a few months back, Franco's lawyer, but suck at filling contract roles, i.e. nuKiki, nuSloane?  It's beyond comprehension.

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How can this show's casting department be so good at casting one shot characters, i.e. Young Luke and Patricia, that boat captain from a few months back, Franco's lawyer, but suck at filling contract roles, i.e. nuKiki, nuSloane?  It's beyond comprehension.

 

I'm guessing because Frank probably doesn't put his oar in for the casting of dayplayers, especially female ones. That's just my own speculation though.

 

What got me was Lulu, whose focus has been on Luke so much she couldn't even wait for the local police or Dante yesterday, but can suddenly opt to stay in PA and not come back to PC with the others?  No doubt due to a plot point that will be revealed tomorrow, but within the current context it made no sense.

 

She has been on a decent amount lately. She probably hit her contract maximum. Up the tractor beam she goes!

Edited by ulkis
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I get why Tracy was there, but maybe it should just have been Luke, Bobbie, and Pat.

 

Relatedly, unless I missed it, Pat at no point asked about Valerie, right?

Edited by TeeVee329
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It's a little weird how Frank or anyone didn't tell them, hey this is a really important episode, try not to interrupt! They know that the NYC affiliate tends to interrupt when someone has a hangnail.

 

They'll literally interrupt with anything.

 

We're interrupting today's episode of General Hospital to let you know that today's episode of General Hospital is its special 52nd anniversary episode. First airing this very day in 1963, the show was only 30 minutes long at the time. Today's special episode -- which we will return you to shortly -- features current cast members reprising roles of the feature actors of the premiere episode.  It also will cap off a year-long storyline involving Tony Geary's Luke Spencer of the famous pairing Luke and Laura.  The episode of Luke and Laura getting married, which first aired on November 16, 1981 without interruption because Gloria Monty is the scariest bee*** you'd ever want to cross, remains to this day the highest rated episode of any daytime program.  We will now -- after this station identification -- return you to today's very special episode of General Hospital.  Just kidding.  We ran long. Up next, Eyewitness News at 4.  Hey, that's us!! 

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How can this show's casting department be so good at casting one shot characters, i.e. Young Luke and Patricia, that boat captain from a few months back, Franco's lawyer, but suck at filling contract roles, i.e. nuKiki, nuSloane?  It's beyond comprehension.

 

 

 

So much about this show has become incomprehensible to me.

 

It truly does baffle me as well. These actors have a spark, a fire, they have presence, they can cry on cue, and yet they get passed over for a Rosalie or Kiki 2.0 or either version of Sloane. It is madness, it is maddening even.

 

 

Relatedly, unless I missed it, Pat at no point asked about Valerie, right?

 

 

 

No, but I am not sure if she's aware she was in any danger, or if terrorLuke mentioned holding her hostage, etc.

Edited by CPP83
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It's a little weird how Frank or anyone didn't tell them, hey this is a really important episode, try not to interrupt!

 

What makes it funnier for me is that the network owns the NY affiliate. But channel 7 is notorious for interrupting for little to no reason. They'll interrupt to say they have breaking news that will be explained in the 4 o'clock broadcast.

 

I'm guessing because Frank probably doesn't put his oar in for the casting of dayplayers, especially female ones. That's just my own speculation though.

 

That's my thought, too. If it's not a name actor, Mark Teschner can do his thing, and I think he's usually quite good. But if it's a name, he probably has little to no input. Ditto if Frank and/or Ron have someone specific in mind, name or not (Ryan Paevy comes to mind).

Edited by dubbel zout
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How can this show's casting department be so good at casting one shot characters, i.e. Young Luke and Patricia, that boat captain from a few months back, Franco's lawyer, but suck at filling contract roles, i.e. nuKiki, nuSloane? It's beyond comprehension.

I think that was one of the reasons there was such a positive reaction to Valerie. She reads as competent -at least, so far - and the past few casting decisions (Nathan, Sloane, Kiki) have all been pretty subpar

Edited by Oracle42
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Oh COME ON. They even had to go back and retcon Luke and Bobbie's childhood backstory? Ugh, enough with soaps changing everything.

Look, I don't even care about Luke, although I am kind of learning to appreciate younger him with my early 80s episode watching online. But it was always his history that their mother died of illness right in front of her kids because she was too poor to get medical care, and their useless drunk father just walked out and left young Luke and Bobbie with the body. That incident formed Luke and Bobbie into jaded schemers afraid of poverty.

The original story was a hell of a lot more compelling than Ron's world of everything being violence and insanity.

I'll bet Guza is off somewhere cackling like mad and making out with a SBuJason Fat Head.

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I'll bet Guza is off somewhere cackling like mad and making out with a SBuJason Fat Head.

 

 

*Dies laughing* I can't breathe...this should have come with as warning if drinking, eating or breathing!

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I love Dee Wallace. For years; ever since I saw her in E.T. and the last time I saw her (actually more recently, but only because it's being aired on Cozi) was on a couple of episodes of Murder, She Wrote, from the late 80s/early 90s.  And she looks FABULOUS.

 

That said, what a snoozefest, not to mention an insult regarding the retconning of history, but what else can I expect from the current fuckwits who are running this show.  I noticed that Jason Thompson, was 'acting' like the wonderful late John Beradino, in that, he was talking like him. Urgh, what I mean is, he did a credible job, but it was like he was doing an impersonation of him, with the speech pattern.

 

Now why did I think that most of today's episode would be in the hospital? More fool me. Though I have to admit, I did enjoy seeing the original 70s opening, even if it had the current horrid music.

 

Not that I care, but this homage made Bill Eckert, the young one, such a sweet, sweet person; made me wonder for all of 10 seconds, what happened to make him the bitter, angry, whatever he was when he REALLY  and actually showed up in 1993. Let me think, oh wait, don't tell me. Probably the fact that he helped bury Tim in the house?

 

But I do agree with everyone, that the actors they got to play young Patricia and young Luke/Bill were really good.

 

Don't give two figgety fucks or any, really, about Luke's paaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiin.*

 

*Laura and Lucky should so fucking be a part of this story, even if it is retconned bullshit.

Edited by GHScorpiosRule
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I liked today's show. Had it not been for TG devouring the scenery, I might have even shed a small tear at the end. Like everyone else I also enjoyed young Patricia as well as present day Pat. See GH, what good happens when you hire for talent over name brands or looks? If you're going to hire newbies, I'd rather they be unknowns than Y&R/OLTL castoffs (or underwear and hair models) who have acquired bad habits and/or are obviously bored of the genre and just using it as a meal ticket.

Edited by BinkyMimo88
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Ron said something on Twitter about how their rights to the original music had expired.

 

Oh, I know. I read that upthread. Guess I should have added that I knew they longer had rights to the original music.  But thanks for letting me know.

 

Oh, and we also had a BREAKING NEWS INTERRUPTION, here in MD, except that the local affiliate (we still get the show at 2:00), minimized the screen, so you could still see it, while a second screen showed, along with the ticker, of an accident about 10 miles away from where I live.  Ran it for like, two minutes, before the screen was "maximized" again.

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Tony Geary interview with Michael Logan about today's episode/reveal, where he flat-out says that Fluke was originally going to be Bill Eckert and that Ron changed it because too many people had guessed:

 

http://www.tvinsider.com/article/1170/general-hospital-anthony-geary-luke-killer-secret/

 

Wasn't it originally the plan that Fluke would turn out to be Bill Eckert?

Yes. That was the case when I was first told the story by Ron and [executive producer] Frank Valentini on the phone. They didn't quite know how it was going to work out. At first, I was definitely playing two different people, and the assumption was that Fluke was Bill Eckert. But I think when the fans started to guess that outcome—Ron monitors all of the comments so closely—they decided there was a better way to go.

Edited by TeeVee329
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I really liked a lot of things about today's show, and I thought Patrick/Lucas/Liz as Steve/Phil/Jesse was great. Jesse was the original keeper of the GH bitchface, so having the current champion play her was a good call. And Patrick really had Steve Hardy's eyebrow pop and smell-the-fart acting down pat. I know we tend to view the past in a rosy glow, but John Beradino was a seriously terrible actor. I also liked that young Pat looked so much like Tamara Braun.

 

Even so, I agree with this:

 

Oh COME ON. They even had to go back and retcon Luke and Bobbie's childhood backstory? Ugh, enough with soaps changing everything.

Look, I don't even care about Luke, although I am kind of learning to appreciate younger him with my early 80s episode watching online. But it was always his history that their mother died of illness right in front of her kids because she was too poor to get medical care, and their useless drunk father just walked out and left young Luke and Bobbie with the body. That incident formed Luke and Bobbie into jaded schemers afraid of poverty.

The original story was a hell of a lot more compelling than Ron's world of everything being violence and insanity.

 

The original story makes so much more sense in terms of what Luke and Bobbie did next. If they had lived a hand-to-mouth existence their entire lives and really had no choice but to go live in Ruby's brothel, then Bobbie becoming a teenage prostitute and Luke becoming a low-level mob guy is at least understandable. But in the retcon, they're solidly working class, their mom looks like a (slightly battered) Donna Reed who overcooks the roast beef, and Luke plays baseball, just like any other kid. Why would they go to live with their monster father's hooker sister instead of oh, I don't know, the Eckerts? I'm guessing they'll offer some kind of explanation in the next couple of episodes, but it's going to be dumb, I can feel it.

 

Not to mention that none of this explains why Luke has been bankrolling Julian, wants to destroy Sonny, wants to take over ELQ, teamed up with Helena, tried to bone Kiki. I think it's pretty obvious that Fluke was supposed be someone else, Bill Eckert or Damian Smith or someone, but then ... and just as I typed that TeeVee329 posted the link to the Geary interview. Jesus, Ron, so what if the audience guessed? That doesn't mean you just pull some nonsense out of your butt and call it an anniversary show.

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Tony Geary interview with Michael Logan, where he flat-out says that Fluke was originally going to be Bill Eckert and that Ron changed it because too many people had guessed:

 

http://www.tvinsider.com/article/1170/general-hospital-anthony-geary-luke-killer-secret/

 

 

"Better way to go"....? Better???

 

Oh yeah, so much better...GTFO with that Tony. Just because Ron gave you freedom to come up with a billion different accents doesn't make it "better". 

 

And of course Ron wants to have the "last say" because god forbid the fans have functioning brains and are able to see right through his weak and pathetically lazy ass ideas.

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"Ron monitors all of the comments so closely."

 

He always has. He probably followed us here, he was at TWOP.

 

We knew it was Bill over a year ago, Ron! You ain't slick. Bill Eckert pushed Marty down the stairs and killed ol' Aunt Melinda!

 

That also explains why, originally, they'd evidently been casting about for an actor to appear as an adult Sly, and had considered returns for Jenny and Julia Barrett and so on. This was mid-last year, IIRC. Everything about the first year of this dumb story ties back to Eckert. They dropped all that when Ron threw a fit. Sometimes it's worth more to tell a coherent fucking story as opposed to just trying to pull one over on an audience you resent. They drop so much planned stuff on this show on the fly for too many reasons, but stick to the bigger, dumber ideas forever.

Edited by jsbt
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That was a fantastic episode.  Kudos to all the actors:  Tony Geary, Laura Wright, Dee Wallace, and the two young kids playing Luke and Patricia (especially Patricia). I was actually expecting today's episode to juts be a retelling of the first episode of GH and a few minor scenes with Luke as a kid.  Instead, it was entirely devoted to the Fluke reveal, and I loved all of it.

 

Tony was great as Tim Spencer AND as Luke Spencer, and Fluke is Tim Spencer.  After seeing that SOB as he was in the 60s, it is clear to me that Luke had transformed into his father - who did curse him that Luke was just like him right before Luke killed him.  Laura Wright was also wonderful, and she must have loved to dress and be a completely different character from Carly.  It was great.  Lastly, Dee Wallace was wonderful for a woman who has never done a soap before.  I loved her as Patricia, and I wouldn't mind her sticking around.  I think Patricia left in order to protect Luke's memory.  My guess is that she was afraid her presence might spark Luke to remember what he did, and so she left.  

 

Today was a great anniversary episode and easily next year's Emmy reel episode for best soap.

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They drop so much planned stuff on this show on the fly for too many reasons, but stick to the bigger, dumber ideas forever.

 

I'm torn. I super agree with this in principle, but once they revealed it as Bill, what then? But I suppose you could say the same thing for this story now, especially with no Laura or Lucky.

 

I'll be interested what bullshit they pull out of their ass as to why Luke wanted after Sonny's territory. That is definitely something that makes sense only if it were Bill.

 

What gets me, did Ron really think people wouldn't guess it was Bill? Did he really think people wouldn't figure it out? huh? and certainly some people still didn't think it was Bill anyway!

 

Oh, what can I expect from the man who thinks houses (let alone ones that were already condemned) are fine to walk around in if the basement blows up. 

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I mean, would it still be a silly evil twin story? Sure, but I would've gotten to see Sly again, which I'd have enjoyed. And I think they had originally intended to more properly contrast Bill's darkness with the better man Luke was and used to be, and possibly use that to rehab the character a bit in the ways Ron has always tried to do. Then his ego and his grudge against the audience got in the way and here we are. This is just a weird muddle of nonsense thought up on the fly, possibly helped by some great guest performances. I don't need for Luke Spencer to have DID.

Edited by jsbt
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 I don't need for Luke Spencer to have DID.

 

I certainly don't need the coming months of Tracy, Lulu, et. al excusing all of his behavior in the coming weeks, a la Viki's constant babying of Jessica on OLTL.  "So what if he tried to blow you up, Michael, he's siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccccckkkkkkkkkkkkk."

 

I'm also tickled the word DID still hasn't been uttered.  Oh Ron.

Edited by TeeVee329
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Another thing that stood out in the interview, Elizabeth Korte wrote today's script. She is the only long term GH scriptwriter still left.

 

If Valentini weren't petty, he'd go and hire back at least one or two of the old dialogue writers they fired. 

 

I guess we're just lucky Scott Sickles didn't write this episode and insert some reference to Luke watching Adam West on tv or something.

Edited by ulkis
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Yeah, they should have kept it the Luke is really Bill story. Because for the life of me, I can't figure out how Bill could possibly be Luke's identical cousin-- if they are related through Luke's mother, and Luke is the spitting image of his father??

 

I wish there had been more scenes at General Hospitals on the show's anniversary. I actually loved the way they styled the hospital cast members. 

 

And shouldn't we all be grateful that the anniversary episode wasn't about Sonny? 

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And shouldn't we all be grateful that the anniversary episode wasn't about Sonny? 

 

I can't tell if you're sarcastic or not, but actually, yeah, I am, heh.

 

I have some issues with today's episode - but it was miiiiiiiles better than last year, although I enjoyed the three Carlys. But it was basically a Sonny and Carly love fest to make it seem not that bad that Sonny killed someone.

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The actress who played young Patricia was really good. She reminded me a lot of Joie Lenz when she played young Reva during the clone storyline. Lenz was so good in her week or so stint they hired to her to play Michelle Bauer after Rebecca Budig. Anyway, the flashback story was well done. Everopne has already mentioned that young Luke & Patricia were the true standouts and they truly were. I think Laura Weight did a good job playing the soft spoken Mama. LW started out playing a young heroine like that on Loving when she played Aly. She's capable of playing soft but she (or the writers) ramp it up playing when she plays Carly. All in all, not a bad reveal but probably not the original story which got extended too long due to TG health issue. Now, I'm off to see if RC Is having a Twitter war with anyone.

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I'm not even going to try to say that Ron is writing good story, because, well, no.  But, I don't have a problem with the story today contradicting the story we had established in prior years for what happened to Luke's parents.  If Patricia and Bill covered up the real events (including Tim's death), everyone protected Bobbie from what was going on, and Luke had blocked it out, then I can buy that, all this time, Bobbie and Luke have believed that their mother died when her appendix ruptured and then Tim got drunk and took off.  

 

I agree that the people playing Patricia and Luke in the flashbacks were great, as was LW.  Bonus, I could pretend it was Carly taking a bat to the skull for just one beautiful moment.  

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Doesn't the fact that Carlivati changed the story because we all figured it out AND the fact that Geary says so just compound the problem?  Now we get a campier, nonsensical story and the satisfaction of saying that we saw it coming a mile away. Though, truth be told, I'm with Orcale42 on this:

 

What the...? I don't...
This isn't the Sixth Sense! Who cares if everybody guessed the ending!!
Tell a coherent story.

 

You know having the satisfaction of being right and watching it play out had always been a satisfying thrill for me when watching daytime decades ago. When did it become the rule that this was to be avoided at all cost?

 

[Tracy] managed to keep her character smart through the dumbest of actions but, thanks to this reveal

No. Actually she didn't.  She's a little less dumb, but she was still dumb all the same.

Edited by Francie
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(edited)

 

And of course Ron wants to have the "last say" because god forbid the fans have functioning brains and are able to see right through his weak and pathetically lazy ass ideas.

 

Bill Eckert was a much better idea than this DID/psychotic break nonsense and infinitely better than that ridiculously obscure Peter Harrell revisit.  Honestly, GH is over 50 years old and the fans that aren't familiar with all of the history can read up on just about anything on tons of different web sites.

Of course fans guessed it was Bill - so what? 

 

The original story makes so much more sense in terms of what Luke and Bobbie did next. If they had lived a hand-to-mouth existence their entire lives and really had no choice but to go live in Ruby's brothel, then Bobbie becoming a teenage prostitute and Luke becoming a low-level mob guy is at least understandable. But in the retcon, they're solidly working class, their mom looks like a (slightly battered) Donna Reed who overcooks the roast beef, and Luke plays baseball, just like any other kid. Why would they go to live with their monster father's hooker sister instead of oh, I don't know, the Eckerts

 

It also makes Bobbi's life so much worse.Knowing that Bobbi went from that kid to a 14 year old prostitute makes me resent Luke and his bullshit psychotic break even more. 

Edited by Oracle42
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Doesn't the fact that Carlivati changed the story because we all figured it out AND the fact that Geary says so just compound the problem?  Now we get a campier, nonsensical story and the satisfaction of saying that we saw it coming a mile away.

 

My response to any question that equates to, can Ron really be this dumb, will be "only the basement exploded".

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That was a fantastic episode.  Kudos to all the actors:  Tony Geary, Laura Wright, Dee Wallace, and the two young kids playing Luke and Patricia (especially Patricia). I was actually expecting today's episode to juts be a retelling of the first episode of GH and a few minor scenes with Luke as a kid.  Instead, it was entirely devoted to the Fluke reveal, and I loved all of it.

 

Tony was great as Tim Spencer AND as Luke Spencer, and Fluke is Tim Spencer.  After seeing that SOB as he was in the 60s, it is clear to me that Luke had transformed into his father - who did curse him that Luke was just like him right before Luke killed him.  Laura Wright was also wonderful, and she must have loved to dress and be a completely different character from Carly.  It was great.  Lastly, Dee Wallace was wonderful for a woman who has never done a soap before.  I loved her as Patricia, and I wouldn't mind her sticking around.  I think Patricia left in order to protect Luke's memory.  My guess is that she was afraid her presence might spark Luke to remember what he did, and so she left.  

 

Today was a great anniversary episode and easily next year's Emmy reel episode for best soap.

Today was a bad April fools joke. Ron only fooled himself. Now Luke has killed three people...All in his family and none with regret.. TG needs to retire .Just do it !Tony . On this show you are ether nuts or in the mob and a murderer..LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON . APRIL FOOLS

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Ron doesn't know how to tell a good story, imho. He doesn't even follow the very first rule of story telling: make it matter.

 

Nothing has happened, to me, that has mattered or will matter in the coming future.

 

For over a year I watched terrorLuke carry on like a loon, someone totally different and evil to the core and now Ron decides to wrap things up by having him guilty of taking the lives of both his parents in the same night and  somehow that made Luke, after a coupe of decades to think about it, decide that he needed to take over Sonny's docks, ELQ, grope Kiki's lady business, blow up his kids, blow up other peoples kids, and generally go around being an asshole that no one barely blinked at before the truth was "revealed".

 

Bullshit, that's all I see this as. Total and utter bullshit and further manipulations by Ron to try and cover up his oh so many shortcomings by trying to tug at viewers' heartstrings.

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