General Hospital Watching General Hospital

[Daniel Avery]

To give you an idea of how disconnected I feel from the show these days, I have to ask a few questions about something I think I saw (or may not have seen) on that Thursday episode.

Carly brought in the mail at Casa Corinthos, and got upset because of a letter addressed to Morgan. I must not have paying too close attention because this part afterwards is what I'm not sure about. Apparently the letter was Morgan's last credit card bill (?) and Carly was surprised to see he'd charged money to one of those online gambling sites we saw him addicted to years ago, as well as purchases at a guitar store (??) and an airline ticket to Australia (!!), among other things. She started moaning about how he'd obviously fallen off the gambling wagon near the end since he was so depressed and all. Did they elaborate on this any more?

1. Morgan died on Halloween or so. Why would his CC bill arrive at the house on January 25th? Every credit card I know has monthly billing.
2. A guitar store??
3. The ticket to Australia sent up a red flag, mostly because I don't think Carly even acknowledged that part (as in intentionally burying a plot point). Is this their way of planting a seed of doubt that Morgan isn't really dead, just hiding out in Australia? Or did I just hear that part wrong?

I guess the worst part is that though I'm curious about this, I'm not curious enough to watch the Friday episode and have the questions (potentially) answered.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I missed Friday's episode, but the gist of this scene--filled with plot holes as it was--was that CarSon are the greatest couple in the history of the world, and no matter happens, or how many children expire or how many times Jason dies, they will always reconcile. But Carly left the mail there so Nelle would have to retrieve it (plot plot plot) and Sonny could mention something about the rage in her eyes. I don't think it's you--the show itself is disconnected. Why is there a murder mystery involving Tom Baker? Do the writers not know of any other plot to write at this point? Perhaps we will find out that, once again, Heather Webber has escaped her high-security detainment facility and stabbed and/or bonked someone over the head.

 

[TJames03]

Now that Nora from OLTL will be soon joining the show (same character) it should be interesting to see how she'll fit in.

 

[Daniel Avery]

It would have to be a job-related visit, something to do with her being an attorney, since (AFAIK) she has no familial ties to anyone currently in Port Charles. Obviously she has ties to the now-former characters who moved from OLTL to GH back in 2012, but of course no one talks about them. Alexis has always been one of two "go-to lawyers" in PC (Diane being the other), but since she's in no shape to be in a courtroom, perhaps they will bring Nora in on the recommendation of Alexis or Diane...despite Nora's rather miserable track record in Llanview courtrooms.

I think her appearance in PC would have to be work-related, otherwise they would have to explain why she is alone and not dragging along husband Bo Buchanan. If Ron Carlivati were still writing GH, he'd likely write them as separated/divorced, then re-introduce Frank Scanlon from Port Charles to be her love interest. This way, if they get married Nora can continue her tradition of rhyming married names. She'd be Nora Hanen Gannon Buchanan Scanlon.

 

[Ray&Donna]

The identity of Alexis's AA sponsor was a nice twist, if a bit of a SIXTH SENSE moment. Still not feeling Franco and Liz, though. Maybe if he'd get a haircut or something...

 

[TJames03]

So.....after being dead for over 26 years, Olivia Jerome has already been written out again??!

 

[Daniel Avery]

The show wants us to call her "Liv" instead of "Olivia," since we already have Olivia Falconeri on canvas. Not our problem, show--that's what you get for taking the lazy way out by bringing a dead character back rather than coming up with something more original. I'll call her whatever I want!

I can't believe we get yet another character showing up pining for dead Duke. After over a year of Anna's obsessive "Justice for Duke," followed by the amazing, disappearing Father-Doctor Munro popping up to mourn the dad he never knew...and now No-Livia mooning over the man...he's more popular dead than he was alive!

 

[Ray&Donna]

Nina officially went from minor annoyance last week to #1 on my Death List. Seriously, Stafford, there's no need to repeat the same word ten times for emphasis. And is she actually capable of running the "magazine" with Maxie?

Is Anna being poisoned or is she suffering from a brain tumor? Because I know firsthand how those headaches can mess you up.

 

[Don Howard]

In about seven months, GH will have outlasted As The World Turns.

 

[Daniel Avery]

It was often the case (and was mentioned in dialogue by several characters) that Maxie taught Nina everything she knows about fashion and, by extension, how to run the magazine. It is unfortunate that something quite serious is going on off-set with Kirsten Storms, and out of necessity they have written around Maxie. This latest twist, that Nina suddenly has enough know-how to run that magazine without Maxie, is most likely in service to Storms's off-screen problems. It's easy to write a scenario where Nina runs everything, but it's not as easy for viewers to buy it...esp. since Dillon is the only other employee that anybody sees!

Similarly, Ryan Paevey's Nathan is virtually non-existent these days because so much of his screen-time was spent with Storms. He's even off filming movies and such since he is given so little to do. Nathan/Maxie are (were?) one of GH's most popular couples, but were given a blink-and-you-missed-it wedding (again, likely because Storms isn't able to carry a heavy work load) with a few heavy hints dropped in that lead many to believe Paevey and/or Storms might be on their way out (esp. Paevey).

 

[Ray&Donna]

Kirsten Storms did seem to have some unspecified personal issues on the short-lived "reality" show, DIRTY SOAP, and not just her in her relationship with Farah Fath. She looked really gaunt when she returned to the show after her absence last year; I just chalked it up to her marital woes. I think with Nathan and Maxie an "inherited" couple with Carlivati, the women currently in charge are really pushing for Valentin and Nina, even though every viewer with two good eyes can see that he's about as honest as a mascara commercial.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Back in the Dirty Soap year, she was said to be suffering from endometriosis. I just think something much more is going on BTS with her than "stress from a divorce". If it were a recurrence of endometriosis, there would be no need to lie about it, but her on-screen appearance gives me the idea something is physically (not just stress-related) wrong with her and she's trying to keep it out of the press. It's her business, of course, and our lives are not impacted one way or the other by knowing or not knowing what is going on. I'm just sorry to see that the show, in writing around this, is negatively impacting the characters around Maxie (as well as Maxie herself, of course).

 

[Ray&Donna]

Amusingly, less Maxie has meant more Felicia, though unfortunately in Nelle-land.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I was trying to explain Dr. Finn's illness/addiction/whatever to my mother yesterday, who is only an occasional viewer--and I realized that there was no linear story going on there. I had to give up.

Interesting how when Ava fell off the footbridge, it meant certain death. Sam falls off and just kind of rolls down the hill.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dr. Finn is actually free of the disease he (and Hayden) had, and his current drama is because he's still hooked on the addictive medication he had been taking to help with the pain from the disease, right?

I loved how they used Robin to remind people that Julian has two sisters...complete with a flashback to Robin when she was Emma's age.

 

[Ray&Donna]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dr. Finn is actually free of the disease he (and Hayden) had, and his current drama is because he's still hooked on the addictive medication he had been taking to help with the pain from the disease, right?

Yes, they confirmed it on Friday. Apparently someone heard my complaining.

I loved how they used Robin to remind people that Julian has two sisters...complete with a flashback to Robin when she was Emma's age.

I always enjoy flashbacks, but I find myself fascinated at how easily a presumed-dead woman can just flit around Port Chuck. I guess when you're a soap character, myopia and the walking dead are a fact of life.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I'm sure OJ (I prefer OJ to "Liv") has been keeping a scorecard of people she can or cannot reveal herself to, people who knew her back in the day and those who didn't. Folks like Anna, Felicia, Scott, Laura, Monica, etc. would freak out, whereas anyone who arrived post 1990 or so would not know her, I guess.

It would be a nice twist if OJ was yet another of Dr. Obrecht's patients from her days in the European Clinic For the Not-Quite-Dead, like AJ Quartermaine was. Dr. O could provide some much-needed "how is that woman still alive?" back-story.

 

[Ray&Donna]

LOL. I noted that in yesterday's scenes, the actress who played Nelle was starting to get pushed past her skillset. When she talked about being a "bad" person, it sounded amateurish. I'm glad there's at least been some sort of story movement this week, though.

 

[Daniel Avery]

The timing/pacing of this whole Nelle story has been terrible. We saw virtually NO movement for months. At times I wondered if they had thought better of the plotline and were trying to abandon it while keeping the actress. Then all of a sudden they decide to reveal all and have everything blow up at once. What is most curious to me, though is why they allowed it to blow up one week after Sweeps. Stuff like this is typically written to hit the fan during a Sweeps period.

The girl is obviously quite stupid despite supposedly being so smart. Did she think Sonny, infamous killer/mobster/punk, would just roll over and let her manipulate/blow up his life this way without any sort of retribution? Carly certainly is no slouch in the revenge department, either, but even she would stop at the sort of "cement-shoes" solution that Sonny uses so regularly over so much less betrayal.

 

[Ray&Donna]

Part of me enjoys seeing CarSon getting some kind of comeuppance, but the other part of me intuits that in order to deceive them, to say nothing of Michael, requires a pretty major dumbing down of characters. It's probably the same thing as the Paul Hornsby and Olivia Jerome stories--write the story, then make up a fall guy at the last minute. None of Nelle's anger or origin story adds any logic to the success of kidney transplant; why should someone unrelated to Carly in any biological way be a perfect match, outside of a one-in-a-million chance? I guess I am expecting too much from a team of writers that throws logic out the window any time it suits them.