How to get away with murder

Murder has become a fine art in Port Charles as the scales of justice and fate continually tip in favor of the sinner rather than the saint. Is that good for the show or will the tides turn and push viewers away? Justice might be blind, but our columnist is ready to dish about what she saw unfold in a week of twists, turns, and even a ghostly apparition.

Griffin was just full of surprises this week as it was revealed that not only is he a skilled, top-rated neurosurgeon, but he also managed to squeeze in a stint at Catholic seminary to become a priest. Oh, and he's also linked to Nathan, likely through Claudette. He certainly is a busy, busy bee.

I can barely keep up with my laundry, so I'm impressed.

First, though, I want to address what's going on with Julian. I'm not sure when, but at some point, it seems Julian lost his marbles because he not only decided to rejoin the mob to keep Ava from taking a dip in the harbor with the fishes, but he further embraced his lunacy by grabbing the dagger Helena had used to kill Alexis' mother and promptly hot-footed it to the pier where he viciously stabbed Carlos then kicked his old friend into the harbor to die.

Rule number one to committing the perfect murder -- make sure your victim is dead before leaving the scene of the crime.

Julian failed to do that, but he got lucky because despite Anna and Sonny's best efforts to get Carlos to confess, Carlos remained silent until the end and took his secrets to the grave.

I'm truly baffled -- and crushed beyond reason -- by this turn of events because not only am I a huge Julexis (Julian and Alexis) fan, but I loved Julian. He's delicious to look at, witty, charming, romantic, and completely and utterly devoted to Alexis and his family. He had it all and more because he walked away from the mob without paying with his life -- something that Sonny repeatedly tells his own family is impossible.

I have no idea why the writers would decide to ruin a perfectly great couple by completely undoing all the good they had done with Julian with a few malicious strokes of the pen. I can't imagine one of my favorite couples surviving this because I just don't see Alexis moving past the fact that Julian lied to her. It's that betrayal that will be the doom of them -- that and Julian's callous order to murder an innocent man who claimed that he'd witnessed Carlos kill Duke.

I loved Duke, and I hated that he was written off in an act of mob violence. Yes, Julian gave Carlos the order, but in the end, Carlos was the killer, and he actually enjoyed taking Duke's life and then later relished taunting Anna about it. For Julian, it was business and self-preservation because Duke had been out to kill Julian, but for Carlos, it was pleasure.

I understand that a lot of Anna's anger toward Julian is rooted in the past because she blames the Jeromes for the death of her child and for Duke languishing in a Turkish prison for two decades while everyone believed he was dead. I get Anna's pain and grief because I, too, hate that Duke was denied the privilege of knowing that he had a son or meeting Griffin. It's wrong, and I resent the people who made that decision just as much as Anna resents Julian for giving the order.

However, getting away with murder is par for the course in Port Charles. There is a long line of people who killed others and never spent a day in jail for the crime, either because they found a way to get off on a technicality, had good attorneys, or received a governor's pardon. I hate seeing Anna mired in heartache, fury, and revenge because life is too short, and she is a wonderful character who has incredible chemistry with quite a few gentlemen on the show.

I want to see Anna move on, get swept off her feet, and maybe become a surrogate mother to Griffin because the poor guy looks like he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders all the time.

Meanwhile, Paul made a critical mistake when he gave Carlos that pen because, if memory serves me correctly, that is the same pen that Tracy gave Paul as a gift when he first took over as district attorney. Tracy isn't one to pinch a penny, so the pen should be quite easy to link to Paul -- even if he wiped off his fingerprints before he gave it to Carlos.I have to give Carlos credit because that man proved to be quite resilient and loyal to the very end. I honestly expected him to name Julian as his killer the first chance he had and to give Anna the confession she wanted. I guess he changed his mind when Anna and Sonny yelled and tried to bully the truth out of him. I can't blame Carlos for not cooperating because I wouldn't have either.

I'm not sorry that Carlos is dead, and truth be told, I thought his death was long overdue. I would have applauded anyone for ending that miserable cur's life because I thought he was a sociopath and creepy. Even Carlos' love for Sabrina was unhealthy and bordered on obsession.

In an interesting turn of events, the collision with the transport van led to Jason's memory returning with a little help from Robin, Sonny, Carly, Sam, and Helena in spirit form. Now the big question is -- did all of his memories return or just the memories of his life as Jason Morgan?

I'm happy for Sam because I spent weeks listening to her lament about how she's happy to have the love of her life back, but it's just not the same because Jason couldn't connect with all the stories she told him about their past.

I get it -- my sister suffered a head trauma as a teen and lost a large chunk of her memory. I completely empathized with Sam's plight because I know firsthand how frustrating it can be to rebuild a bond that was cruelly severed. It's difficult to talk about something that you vividly remember only to suddenly realize that the person you shared the experience with has no clue what you're talking about.

That said, while Sam's prayers were answered when Jason received a good ol' bonk on his thick noggin, I want Monica to experience the same good fortune. Monica deserves it just as much as Sam does. Plus, Monica has been waiting far longer for her son to remember his past than Sam has. I want Jason to remember his life as a Quartermaine because I want him to remember just how much he loved Alan, Edward, and even A.J.

This is an opportunity for Jason to finally be completely whole -- mind, body, and soul -- and to reconnect on a different level with the people who were important to him since the very beginning.

The writers have indicated that Jason will be a changed man, so it will be interesting to see just how different Jason will be.

I don't expect Jason to return to the young man he once was because his adult life took a completely different turn that changed him fundamentally. Plus, certain things like his skill as a killer are too ingrained for him to suddenly announce that he's going to pick up where he left off and return to medical school. He's older and a father with two sons, which means there is great potential for a good storyline if Jason recovers all of his memories and his relationships with people shift -- perhaps in unexpected ways.

Speaking of the unexpected, Carly suddenly decided that for the past 20 plus years, Alexis has secretly been pining for Sonny, the bad boy that got away before Alexis could domesticate him. Carly went so far as to suggest that Alexis' secret yearning for Sonny made Alexis gullible enough to believe Julian's lies because Alexis saw Julian as a chance for a do-over with Sonny.

After I finished laughing at Carly's nonsensical logic, I decided that she needs to believe that to help her sleep at night with a man who has no reservations about ending the life of a person he deems unfit to live.

Now, I don't dispute that Alexis had a thing for Sonny at one time because Kristina is living proof that both Sonny and Alexis were attracted to each other enough to hit the sheets, but was it love? Maybe, but it was a superficial love that couldn't come close to what she shared with Ned, Shawn, Jerry, and finally Julian. Even Ric ranked higher on the love scale than Sonny did.

The only person -- other than Olivia -- who spent years pining for Sonny was Carly. Brenda always flip-flopped between Sonny and Jax, so while I believe that Brenda will always love Sonny, she has always easily moved on with Jax.

I was amused that even Sonny found Carly's twisted logic laughable.

What wasn't laughable were the scenes that played out at the hospital as Carlos lay dying and Griffin tried to give him last rites.

My mother -- a devout Catholic and Lay Carmelite -- was so offended by the scenes that she turned off her television. I tried to explain that Sonny and Anna's behavior was for dramatic purposes, but she felt that the show had made a complete mockery of a sacred rite that is private between priest, parishioner, and God.

I couldn't argue that the scenes were frustrating to watch, but mainly because I couldn't understand why Griffin didn't have Anna and Sonny removed. I appreciate that Anna was desperate because she saw the opportunity to get a deathbed confession from Carlos as he was slipping away, but trying to deny him last rites was not going to get her the answers she wanted any more than Sonny growling at Carlos to confess had helped.

The person who should have been in there was Jordan, yet she inexplicably not only left the hospital but also didn't object to Anna and Sonny questioning a witness/victim as he took his last breath. Did sex with Andre scramble Jordan's brains?

It really is no wonder the police department rarely solves crimes and has an even worse record at building cases against the criminals they do arrest.

The most surprising twist this week was how quickly Sam turned on her father. I was a bit perplexed by her reaction and the excuse she used when she told Julian that her eyes had been opened to his true nature during the wedding-hostage crisis. According to Sam, it was then that she realized her father hadn't changed. I was confused because at the time, Julian wasn't even in the mob, and he certainly had nothing to do with the gunman showing up.

That honor fell on Morgan's shoulders for trying to prove his worth to Sonny by taking care of some the arms shipment for his father. Ava had been running the Jerome organization at the time -- with Paul has her puppet master. Julian had been as much a victim as everyone else in that church had been, with the exception of Sonny.

It also annoyed me that both Sam and Carly were incredibly judgmental of Alexis despite the fact that each would have done the same, if not more, to protect Jason and Sonny if their roles had been reversed.

Julian is no longer an innocent man, but he's no guiltier of criminal activity than Sonny, Jason, and Duke. It's infuriating to hear Carly, Sam, and Anna continually insist that Julian deserves to be in jail even though their men have committed similar crimes in the name of organized crime.

I also found my annoyance with Molly's self-righteous attitude growing. I get that she hates Julian for what happened to Ric, but she fails to remember that Sonny had been no better and had made repeated attempts to kill Ric over the years. Who is Molly to decide that Alexis is only in love with the idea of a man like Julian loving Alexis? Molly is still a child and can't see beyond her warped sense of right and wrong.

I say that because in Molly's world, Sonny is akin to Robin Hood -- except Sonny doesn't rob from the rich to give to the poor. He simply robs from anyone to make himself rich.

In the end, I do believe that Alexis will walk away from Julian because he lied to her and killed an innocent man by ordering Hammer to take care of the eyewitness against Carlos. The dagger might be identified as the murder weapon, but unless a camera captured the murder, there is no proof who wielded it. Julian will get away with Carlos' murder, unless he foolishly leaves his bloodstained clothes laying around for the police to find.

Really, Sonny? You sneak into jail to tell Carlos that he's a dead man walking then question why Carlos would be transferred to another jail?

Where is Heather? I thought they said she was locked up in a special wing they built for her at Shadybrook, but that waiting room looked an awful lot like the ones at Miscavige and Ferncliff.

How hard is it to keep track of where your kids are? Two weeks ago, Jason told Jake that Jake couldn't have a puppy because there wasn't any room at Audrey's house, yet on Friday, Liz was packing up and moving out of Wyndemere because she'd found a new house.

I often talk about the great messages and thoughts that readers share. This week, I wanted to include some of them in the column!

• I'm reaching my breaking point with this show. So Griffin can't visit Anna in jail because he isn't a family member, but Michael can have a private visit set up with a murder suspect? Say what you want about Julian as a mobster, but we all saw how affected he was by the idea that his "job" posed an incredible safety risk to his new found family and the hell he went through to break ties. Now he returns to that life? Not only is the mobster element of this show tired and not at all compelling, but no doubt this return to the mob business was instituted because someone didn't like the fact that Julian breaking from the mob makes Sonny and his insistence to remain in said business look pathetic. -- Stacy Logan

• I just want more on the Helena stuff...I love a good mystery. They give us the intro then leave it for weeks. -- Ronnie L. Griggs

• While I love Franco and Nina together I applaud a storyline where someone in the couple isn't gaga about having a baby. That is real life and it would benefit a lot more couples to discuss the issue before they got married. A little dark Franco is ok but we don't really need any more villains. -- Lisa Echerd

• Thank you for the reminder about pet adoption! I too have had rescue pups and was saddened by the way it was presented on GH. -- redboy70

• It looks like Sonny sent Max shopping at the local "Witnesses 'R Us" and he came up with THIS guy. "Hale Garrett?" Not only is he ANOTHER new character with a FirstLast name, but this one couldn't look more like dead meat if you gave him a pork chop necklace. -- Scrimmage

Now, I turn the spotlight on you, dear readers. Please, share your thoughts about the show in the comments section below. I love reading what everyone has to say.

Until next time, take care.Liz Masters

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