The city of brotherly love?

I am rarely caught off-guard by the shenanigans of Daytime Drama. But this week, the GH writers caught me unawares.

Dear readers, I have watched soaps for decades, so I usually see it coming. When I say "it," I mean "everything." I am rarely caught off-guard by the shenanigans of Daytime Drama. But this week, the GH writers caught me unawares.

Dante has been wavering for weeks about where his loyalties lie. The one thing he made clear was that he wanted Sonny's innocent kids, especially his brother, Michael, to be kept out of this chaos. Dante was intent on protecting Michael even when threatened with obstruction of justice and other crimes. He found Michael's hiding place once and left him there. He found him again and instead of turning him in, took him to Lulu's place. (Big mistake!) But not once did we get the impression that he would throw his brother under the bus!

When Dante burst into the courtroom and blurted out that Michael killed Claudia. I gasped. Pure shock, ladies and gentlemen. Many of you gasped, too, judging from the letters in my overflowing mailbox expressing shock and dismay.

With that one choice, Dante has basically alienated everyone in his life, and Lulu along with him just for standing by her man. Their friends and family alike are furious with their actions. Sonny hasn't muttered "You're dead to me" to Dante yet, but I bet that it's coming. Carly is on the outs with Lulu; Maxie is hiding out of town to avoid Lulu; Johnnie is annoyed that Sonny is going to walk; Luke will be furious that Lulu aided Dante in hiding Michael; Morgan, Molly, and Kristina are going to reject Dante; and Jason openly despises Dante. It's going to get very cold ugly for our beloved couple.

If you missed Friday's edition of Soap Central Live radio, you missed the adorable Julie Berman and Dominic Zamprogna dishing about this storyline and other "sweet" topics. Dominic assured us that Dante really believes he did the right thing. His intentions were good, but as the saying goes, that only leads to hell, and I fear that's what is ahead for Lulu and Dante.

Will all this angst tear them apart? Heck no! To celebrate that everyone in town hates them (okay I just made that part up) Dante and Lulu will finally consummate their relationship on May 5th. I can promise you in advance it's going to be steamy because Julie Berman told Dan on Friday's show that she made her dad promise not to watch that day. To me that translates into "Muy caliente!"

The pressures Lulu and Dante get from the outside will draw them closer together because they won't have anyone else to turn to for support and comfort. That pleases me greatly because I adore them together. As was also discussed on Friday's show, instead of throwing Lulu and Dante immediately into bed together the way of most soap romances do, they let this relationship unfold at a slower pace, the way a real couple comes together. In doing so, the audience has had time to get attached to the coupling and root for them. We're invested in their romance so anything that keeps them together is a good development.

Something tells me Claire Walsh is also going to hate Dante. She went so far as to enlist the help of mob prince Johnny Zacharra to tamper with the jury to win her big case. Claire crossed lines she can't uncross and is still going to lose this case. Something tells me that Johnny will be back to collect the favor at a later date. Maybe he'll make Claire free his crazy father, Anthony!

I've already given up calling Michael "NuMichael" because, let's face facts: the deal is done and Drew Garrett isn't coming back. Chad Duell is in a tough spot because a lot of viewers hate him simply because he's not Drew Garrett. That's really not fair to Chad. He's just an actor who took a job he was offered just like any of us would. I mean, really, if ABC called me tomorrow and said, "We're going to fire Laura Wright and we want YOU to play Carly!" would I say no? Of course I wouldn't!

Chad Duell is simply doing the job he was hired to do to get a paycheck just like the rest of us. Whether or not we are pleased with the turn of events that led him to get that job is irrelevant. I hope everyone will give him a chance to get comfortable in the role. The good thing is... he doesn't suck! It may take awhile for us to get used to him, but at least he's turning in decent work while we are trying to wrap our minds around seeing a new face being called "Michael." And just about the time we adjust to a new Michael, they're going to trade out Morgans on us too. I am sad about that recast, too, because I really like Aaron Revfem and think he's a great little actor with good chemistry with the entire cast.

But I digress...back to Michael. Things aren't going to go smoothly for our troubled teen from here; Michael is in for serious trouble. Dante believed it would be an open-and-shut case of self-defense if he turned Michael in. He assumed that he could protect his little brother and that Michael would just get a slap on the wrist. Not so. I saw preview photos of Michael behind bars in a prison jumpsuit, so my assumption is he's not going to walk away from this unscathed. If Michael goes to prison, something tells me it will be a really long time before Sonny and his eldest son reconcile. Not to mention the wrath of Carly.

Poor Judge Carroll sat through that whole ridiculous trial for naught, as did the jury. What will become of Alice, Lisa, and the rest of the jury and all their hours of sequestration and deliberation? Will their service have been in vain? Probably so. Coleman, it seems, was the smart one to find a way to escape.

I am happy the trial and jury scenes has given the hilarious Bergen Williams (Big Alice) some more screen time. As you may or may not know, Bergen is a cancer survivor who beat cancer with a low-fat vegan diet instead of chemotherapy! To me, that proves that Bergen is just as tough as Big Alice. And as I stated last week, Lisa is growing on me during this trial and jury process. But when she starts coming on to Patrick again, I'll most likely go back to hating her.

If the court accepts the fact that Michael is indeed the real culprit, not only did the jury waste it's time, but Carly's going to jail for perjury, too. So many repercussions.

Readers, I have mixed emotions on the Liz/Shirley storyline. I like that a dying woman is having a positive impact on Liz, it's a very uplifting tale. However, if Shirley doesn't have a miraculous recovery and go into remission, I fear Liz will have a setback and end up back in Shadybrook. And, reality check: do nurses really check out terminal cancer patients for a day in the park with their kids? It's a lovely idea, but it seems to me there'd be some liability issues...

In another liability issue, it seems to me that a brainy girl like Alexis would know better than to mention to her mobster ex-lover that Warren Bauer was trying to put her in jail for life. I laughed when Alexis had a meltdown and acted shocked when Sonny offered to kill Warren Bauer. She honestly didn't see that coming?

GH is sending mixed messages about the truth. People keep saying "If only Michael had told the truth when he killed Claudia in self-defense, none of these bad things would have happened." (Point FOR truth.) But Alexis DID tell the truth about being the hit-and-run driver when Kiefer died, and the truth isn't working out so well for her. (Point AGAINST truth.) Moral of the story? When in doubt, Lie.

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Kristina and Sonny had some beautiful father/daughter bonding moments this week. It's sad that it took Kristina running Sonny's pregnant wife down with a car and getting the crap beat out of her for Sonny to step up and act like her Daddy. Kristina asked him point-blank if he thought the reason she allowed herself to be abused was tied to her messed-up relationship with Sonny, and he didn't even flinch. Sonny is so tender with Kristina, it's wonderful to watch those two connect in scenes together.

What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Granny Helena tell Spencer more creepy Addams-Family-like stories of his family heritage? Will Maya bring a peanut butter sandwich to Michael in the boathouse only to find he's in jail? Will Patrick and Nikolas arrange some more Daddy and Baby play-dates at the park? Will Skye shove her cleavage into Luke's eye every time Tracy enters the room? Will Ronnie find Franco's graffiti in Josslyn's bedroom when he conducts his big search? Will Judge Carroll retire after this trial and start dating the cheery but dying Shirley? Will Coleman give Sonny free beers for life for messing up his jury lock?

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