The blame game

Britt's lies were exposed, Liesl kidnapped Ben, Nina died, and A.J. named his shooter. The wheels of justice churned slowly, but the blame game was alive and well in Port Charles.

Did anyone else notice that with all of the finger-pointing and blaming going on this week -- and there was a lot -- the biggest sinners made the most excuses, while the innocent made none?

Folks, I've been waiting with bated breath for what seemed like forever for Britt's lies to be exposed. I, like many, theorized that she had stolen Dante and Lulu's frozen embryos eons ago when Britt strolled up on stage during the Nurses Ball stage and announced that she was pregnant with Patrick's baby.

Months later, it was revealed that yessirree, we were right. Britt and Liesl had conspired to trap Patrick with a baby, so they stole Dante and Lulu's frozen embryos to guarantee that Britt got pregnant right away. Falconeri Baby #1 didn't take, but Falconeri Baby #2 did, and nine months later, a little boy was born.

Before I go any further, I want to say that I will henceforth refuse to refer to Dante and Lulu's son as Ben, so I'm really hoping that Dante and Lulu change their son's name pronto. I don't care if it's Pee Wee Herman Falconeri, as long as his name is changed. There shouldn't be any connection between the baby and Britt whatsoever once he is happily reunited with his rightful parents, because Britt lost any compassionate rights that she might have had when she chose to lie to Dante and Lulu. Repeatedly.

I've seen some people on a few of the message boards suggest that Britt should be allowed to have visitation with the baby, but I say no way. A kidnapper, or in this case an embryonapper, shouldn't get visitation with their victim. Ever. What Britt did was criminal, and Ben was the ultimate victim because he had been completely innocent in all of this. He didn't deserve to be taken away from his parents who had desperately wanted him.

Back to the reveal. As I said, I was sooo looking forward to it. I was positively giddy with joy, knowing that this was not going to be dragged out. . Thank you so very much, Ron Carlivati for that. I have always adored you to pieces, and so I was ever so grateful that you decided to put Dante and Lulu out of their childless misery sooner rather than later once we learned what Britt and Liesl had done.

The build-up to Britt's downfall was sheer perfection. Britt couldn't have been happier if her fairy godmother had been dancing in the courtyard, merrily turning the castle's mice and pumpkins into horses and coaches while singing "Bippity-Boppity-Boo." Britt had a big shiny engagement ring, a handsome prince, a sparkly gold dress, and an adorable stolen baby. Life was good. Perfect. A true fairytale.

I suspect that was why Britt boldly wrote that letter -- that, let's face it, only a moron would have done -- and then foolishly lost track of it in the conference room. You'd think that someone who was the child of criminal masterminds would have known better, but whatever.

Cam, environmentalist and budding origami master, promptly recycled that scrap piece of paper into a heart-shaped beautiful disaster and took it with him to Wyndemere, where his mother later found it on the floor in a crumpled heap. Liz realized what it was and then shared it with Lulu. Granted, Liz's first instinct was to tell Nikolas, but I don't hold that against her.

I know what it's like to love someone and want to run to them with something big and important. Liz loves Nik, and they've been friends and confidants since they were young teens, so of course she wanted to tell him. However, she realized that Ric was right when he pointed out that Lulu should be the first to hear it, so off Liz went to tell Lulu and show her the letter. I can't tell you how excited I was when Lulu marched out of the bedroom and then stormed into the parlor like a Valkyrie brandishing her sword as Nikolas made his toast. The look on Britt's face was priceless when Lulu ordered Britt to hand over Lulu's son.

Not surprisingly, no one believed Lulu. They thought that she had gone off her rocker from losing too many babies in way too short of a time. I couldn't really blame them; Britt was seen pregnant, and there had been two reliable witnesses to the birth of Dante and Lulu's son, including Britt's enemy and Lulu's own brother. What sane person would ever envision a doctor stealing an embryo and implanting it into herself so she could pass the child off as another man's child?

Perhaps in Port Charles, the thought should cross a mind or two, but in real life, we'd be more apt to believe that Sasquatch was real.

I practically salivated as Britt realized that the gig was up, but to my utter shock and horror, Nikolas turned his sights on the messenger and fired off several deadly shots at Liz. It was brutal, ugly, and downright cruel as Nikolas dragged out every single one of Liz's ugly transgressions and lies and then subjected her to a verbal flogging that darn near left her in tatters. Even when Liz's eyes misted with tears of shock and hurt, Nik kept going like a shark on a feeding frenzy. When he ran out of insults and hateful things to say, he threw Liz out of his home as if she were yesterday's trash.

I felt exhausted, shaken, and a little like slinking into a corner to lick my wounds after watching those scenes. Tyler Christopher was absolutely phenomenal, and if he's looking for an Emmy reel submission, those scenes are it.

As a Liz fan, my heart bled for her because she's paid ten times over for her wrongs. She has lost a child in the most heartbreaking way, she has lost loves, she spent years as a social pariah, and lived a celibate life for years. She has never, ever gotten away with her crimes like some people on the show -- that's right, Sonny, I'm referring to you.

I got through the scenes between Nik and Liz, my Niz-loving heart a little broken, knowing that it was going to be so much worse for Britt.

But that is not what happened. After Ric rescued his damsel in distress -- and Nik got in a hilarious parting shot -- Nik seemed exhausted and his fury expended. His confrontation with Britt, which, by the way, was done in private, unlike Liz's, was far less intense. Yes, he yelled, but he also cried and held Britt and even appeared to waver at one point when he told Britt how much he had loved and trusted her. Nik asked for the ring back, told her it was over, and then escorted her to the door, yet the following morning, there was Britt, skulking in the corner, looking like a wounded puppy.

I get that Britt was there because her mother had taken Dante and Lulu's son, but still, if I were Nik, I wouldn't have wanted to be in the same room with her. I would have demanded that she be held in the dungeon or, barring that, another room.

I will admit that I'm disappointed in Nik. I think that he was far harder on Liz than he was on Britt, but thankfully Ron Carlivati made it a little bit better on Friday when Nik admitted to Sam that Nik had been completely unfair and wrong to treat Liz like that. In fact, the whole scene went a long way in helping me to forgive Nikolas because it was nice to see him spend time with his cousin. I loved that Sam encouraged Nik to talk to Liz and even assured him that Liz would understand and forgive him.

It seems to me that Carly, Liz, and Sam support each other far more and with infinitely more kindness without Jason around to muck things up.

The most satisfying scene in the whole Britt debacle was at the police station, where it seems that anyone can willy-nilly enter the interrogation room unchallenged. I loved how Lulu held Britt completely accountable for what Britt had done and perfectly articulated what I had been saying for months. Lulu was right; Britt doesn't have the excuse of being mentally ill. What Britt did was selfish, evil, and delusional.

Britt isn't sorry. She takes responsibility but then mitigates her choices by insisting that Liesl had persuaded Britt to go along with the crazy plan. Lulu made an excellent point. There came a time when Britt knew that motherhood would never happen for Lulu, and still Britt kept silent because, ultimately, Britt only cared about what Britt wanted.

That is the reason that I hope and pray that Nikolas never forgives Britt. Britt was willing to let Lulu suffer for the sake of Britt's own happiness. Britt takes very little blame for what she's done, whereas Liesl is now taking all of the blame.

Liesl realizes that she was indeed a stinking, rotten mother who made her daughter's life completely miserable. Therefore, Liesl has decided to spirit little Baby Falconeri to Liz's house and was considerate enough to wait for Cam and Aiden to go to school before barging in with a gun and throwing Lulu's son into Liz's arms.

Liesl is never one to remain idle for long, so she went to work on getting her daughter out of jail once Lulu tipped Liesl off to Britt's predicament. Any guesses on who Liesl called? I think perhaps it was Victor, her only true ally, since Helena and Stavros are chillin' at Scarsdale, NY, at the clinic. Wouldn't it be a hoot if Ric ended up representing Britt? Talk about awkward.

I confess, there was a small part of me that kind of rooted for Liz to give Ric a second chance. It's so easy to forget how many absolutely insane things Ric did over the years to Liz, because he truly does love Liz and sounds so completely rational when he talks to her about his feelings for her and the past. He has a unique gift for distracting Liz -- and me as a viewer -- from his special brand of crazy.

I believe that Ric wants to be a better man, and I believe that he has tried, but has he changed? That remains to be seen because Ric talks a really good game, and then suddenly he's shoving a pregnant woman into a panic room.

I love Rick Hearst because he knows how to achieve the perfect balance of charming, reformed bad boy with diabolical plotter and hater of all things Sonny. That is why I feared and was later relieved to learn that Ric was not Julian's secret partner in crime. It gives me hope that Ric is a good guy, but the trust isn't there yet.

Ron threw a brilliant twist into the Julian Jerome vs. Sonny Corinthos war and made the mystery partner Luke! I desperately searched my embarrassingly vast GH memory bank to figure out what could have pissed Luke off enough to want to take Sonny down, especially since Luke's daughter was married to Sonny's eldest progeny. Frankly, I came up empty. Oh, they've had their ups and downs, but nothing that would warrant this kind of hatred for Sonny on Luke's part. Plus, where would Luke get the money to buy Barrett Enterprises? Then there was the odd way that Luke has been acting lately, especially around Kiki.

Yes, Luke was a prisoner at Miscavige, but the association with Julian started long before that. Additionally, Julian didn't seem all that surprised by the way the decidedly un-Luke Luke behaved in the stables. That made me wonder if it was really happenstance that Luke ended up at Miscavige. I never quite bought the idea that Heather had persuaded the orderlies at the institute to help her come and go with promises of an endless supply of free BLTs from Kelly's. It seemed far more likely that someone had been helping her.

Now, I'm wondering if perhaps the Luke rescued from Miscavige isn't really Luke at all, but an enemy from Sonny's past. Sonny is right. The vendetta against Sonny is personal.

My peeps who Tweet think it might be Damian Smith, which I agree makes complete sense and would be a brilliant twist. Damian was ex-mobster Frank Smith's son and was thought to have died in a fire when he set the Ward house ablaze. More importantly, Damian was a bad guy to the core.

Unfortunately for Spencer, he overheard the revealing conversation between Julian and Luke, so I'm hoping that Julian will ultimately do the right thing and save the day by keeping Spencer safe and "unmasking" imposter Luke.

That will have to wait, though, because Julian is busy making up for lost time with Alexis at the lake house. Alexis finally dropped her defenses and went for it with Julian. About time. I was doubly happy because Alexis was honest with Julian when she admitted that she had asked him to the party for ulterior motives. Julian and Alexis are smoking hot, and I want their relationship to be solid, not the up-and-down mess that Nik just went through with Britt. That is going to require a measure of honesty from both Julian and Alexis, and so far, they are right on track.

I'm 100% Team Julian/Ric because right now they are far better than Sonny and Shawn. I'm cutting Shawn some slack at the moment because he's reeling from the arrival of T.J.'s mom, Jordan, and Shawn is blindly loyal to Sonny. However, Sonny is another matter entirely.

First, let me say that I love Maurice Benard. He is doing a job, and he's doing it wonderfully.

However, I loathe Sonny these days. There is nothing appealing about him, from the way he shot A.J. in cold blood to the lies he tells Michael every time he sees him, the arrogant way he presumes to know everything, and the heartless way he continues to hound A.J. even as A.J. lingers between life and death.

I'm done with Sonny. Listening to him justify shooting A.J., knowing what I know and how wrong Sonny is, has become too much. I want Sonny to suffer, and since it's more likely to rain diamonds than for Sonny to go to jail, I want that punishment to be delivered by Michael's hand. I want Michael to turn his back on Sonny -- Carly, too, if she opts to keep Sonny's secret -- in every way possible, including by legally changing his name to Quartermaine. Then I want Michael to take over ELQ and fully embrace his Quartermaine heritage.

In short, I want Michael to put Sonny through the emotional torture that Sonny put A.J. through.

I applauded Monica for saying everything to Sonny that I have wanted to say for years. Those scenes rocked, and what made them even sweeter was the fact that Sonny couldn't deny a single thing that Monica said. I can't wait for the day that Sonny realizes that he murdered an innocent man. And sadly, it looks like that is going to be A.J.'s fate because Sean Kanan is headed back to B&B, and the show ended on Friday with A.J. suffering a terrible seizure.

Unless Monica has another trick of up sleeve and sends A.J. off to the Crichton-Clark clinic, it's unlikely that A.J. is ever going to return.

Carly, I've grown to like you. Okay, that's probably too strong of a word -- I tolerate her. However, it was not cool when she had the gall to call A.J. out about using Michael to make up for a lifetime of screw-ups. I don't deny that there was some truth to that, but that is not why A.J. wanted to have Michael in his life. Furthermore, Carly is hardly in any position to judge anyone, least of all A.J., because I recall her using Michael as a meal ticket and a pawn to manipulate both Sonny and Jason in the early years.

Carly loved Michael, I don't dispute that, but she wasn't above using him.

The truth is that A.J. loved Michael too. He was his son. Carly and Sonny never accepted or understood that because they were too focused on what they had wanted, and justified everything that they did, even pushing A.J. over the brink a time or two to get what they wanted. However, A.J. was like any other parent; he loved his child, and he wanted to be a part of his life, so he never gave up trying.

No one's hands were clean in the mess for custody of Michael, which is why Michael put all of that ugliness behind him and gave A.J. a chance to prove himself. A.J. finally had the opportunity to have a relationship with his son and embraced it in every way that he could, including naming Michael his health proxy. Sonny and Carly act like A.J. did something awful and selfish by doing that, but I disagree.

A.J. was a healthy adult, in the prime of his life, and single. He made Michael his health proxy and power of attorney because Michael was an adult, young, and his closest living relative. I seriously doubt that A.J. had ever envisioned that Michael would be in a position of making life-or-death decisions for A.J. within months of signing the paperwork. Like most people, A.J. probably anticipated living a long and healthy life, so he made his son the proxy in expectation that Monica and Tracy would no longer be around if A.J. needed someone to make medical decisions for him.

Kiki has suddenly become the voice of reason by reminding Michael that the shooter is to blame for A.J.'s condition, not anyone else, especially Michael, who elected to go the surgical route instead of following Monica's advice to try the medicine. I blame Sonny for that, too, because Sonny put Michael in that situation by pulling the trigger.

Romantic scene of the week goes to Julian and Alexis again. Can we please have more love in the afternoon with these two?

Creepiest scene was once again A.J.'s eyes suddenly snapping open as Carly stood in the room. It makes me jump every time he does that.

Best decision of the week goes to Lucas for breaking up with Brad when Lucas found out that Brad had had a hand in Lulu's heartbreak. Do we know yet if Nathan is straight or gay?

Finally, would someone please look for Olivia's backbone and send it to her? I cringed during her conversation with Sonny when he was all about wanting to go to the hospital to be with the son who needed him (his words, not mine) rather than turning over every rock, looking for his missing grandson who had been snatched by an international lunatic in league with the likes of Jerry Jacks, Helena Cassadine, and Cesar Faison.

I would have been livid if I had been in Olivia's shoes, and I would have clocked Sonny in the face if he had told me that it was more important to be with Michael than search for their grandbaby. Instead, Olivia sniffled, told him that it was okay, and promised to call him with an update.

The true criminal mastermind remains Ava Jerome because that woman is holding more secrets than a priest at confession. If I were Carlos, I would be worried because all he is to Ava is a loose end.

I don't think that Ava gave Nina the overdose, though. She's certainly capable of it, but there's something off with Madeline. Perhaps it's because I don't believe Madeline's claim that Nina is actually dead.

A few things that tickled my fancy

Nikolas adds one more insult as Ric escorts Liz out of WyndemereNikolas: [Chuckles] "Once again, Ric to the rescue! [Mimics trumpet fanfare] Hey, don't pass any panic rooms on your way home. See? You're with him?! Yeah, you judge me!"

Liesl pushes Brad from the infamous Wyndemere parapetDr. Obrecht: "But with so many mishaps, I wonder why no one has blocked access to the parapet. Hmm. Then again, it has its uses."Brad: [ Groans ]Dr. Obrecht: [ Sighs ] "Stop whining."Brad: [ Grunts ] "You tried to kill me."Dr. Obrecht: "Don't be ridiculous."Brad: "No. No, y-you pushed me after that story about that woman who died."Dr. Obrecht: "I knew the hay would cushion your fall."Brad: "How could you know that?!"Dr. Obrecht: "The probability was good."Brad: [ Coughs ]

Sonny complains because Alexis failed to prove that Ric and Julian were in cahootsSonny: "What the hell's wrong with you? You were supposed to be working with -- with Julian, not accusing Ric."Alexis: "I was looking for Julian, and I heard Ric talking to someone. How am I supposed to know he was buddying up to Cameron?"Sonny: "You don't know the difference between a conversation with a child and a conversation with a gangster?"Alexis: "In my experience, it's often very similar. In any case, he wasn't meeting with Julian."

Sam whips out her trusty gun when she realizes that Silas' apartment has been broken intoSilas: "Whoa! Where did that come from?"Sam: "My garter holster."Silas: "What? Right. Yeah, of course. 'Cause you're always packing heat at an engagement party."Sam: "Wyndemere tends to get out of hand sometimes. Yeah."

Silas speaks to the 9-1-1 operator and then returns to the topic of Sam's gunSilas: "We had sex in the stables."Sam: "I know. You want to talk about that now?"Silas: "I'm just saying you weren't carrying that then."Sam: "I was. You were...distracted by...other things."Silas: "You're good, but you're not that good that I would miss you packing a jammy."

Silas clears Nathan of breaking into the apartmentSilas: "I think I know who did this, and it wasn't this guy."Sam: "Then who was it?"Silas: "My mother-in-law, the nightmare in stilettos."

Madeline and Sam trade barbsMadeline: "I was protecting my child."Sam: "No, you were protecting your money."Madeline: "How would someone whose fashion sense evolves out of the corner car wash know anything about family or money?"

Until next time, dear readers, take care. Liz Masters

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