The wicked kiss of rejection

It was a short week with just three episodes, but lots happened starting with the long-awaited wedding of Nathan and Maxie, a shocking return from the dead -- again -- and a little insight into what made Valentin turn to the dark side. Grab your favorite beverage and charge up your device because it's time to dish about our favorite soap.

My favorite moment this week -- by far -- was Nathan and Maxie's wedding.

Everything was perfect, from the stunning dress and magical winter wonderland setting to the incredibly romantic gesture on Nathan's part when he decided to surprise his loving bride with her dream wedding.

Except, there's Claudette. But more on that later.

I have adored Nathan and Maxie since that night on New Year's Eve when she opened the door to her new tenant and told the sexy stranger about her Eat, Pray, Love journey. There was a brief time that Nathan annoyed me with his obsession that Silas had tried to kill Nina, but that vanished the instant that Nathan saw through Levi's smarmy, manipulative ways.

Like Maxie, I fell in love with Nathan when he rescued her from the diabolical clutches of that annoying Aussie who thankfully disappeared from our screens in short order.

I love imperfect and flawed characters that learn from their mistakes and grow. Both Nathan and Maxie have inspired each other to be a better person, which has allowed them to grow as a couple. That's one of the reasons that I've enjoyed their relationship through the years. They each strive to be the best that they can be and to continually work on their trust issues.

I can't stress this enough -- Nathan and Maxie truly bring out the best in each other, and that makes them both endearing and a couple I that I love to root for.

I loved the romance of the Nathan and Maxie's wedding, the hilarious arrival of Liesl who'd been indignant that her wedding invitation had been sent as a text message then later impressed that she'd be related to an Aztec princess. Mac and Maxie's tender words when they talked about their relationship made me tear up, and I fell in love with Mac all over again when he asked Maxie if he could have the honor of walking her down the aisle. My heart melted when Maxie confessed that regardless what she called Mac --Dad or Uncle Mac -- he'd always been someone she could count on.

It was everything a Naxie (Nathan and Maxie) fan could ask for except for that pesky dark cloud named Claudette that was hanging over the wedding like a portent of doom.

Not for a single solitary second do I believe that Claudette is dead.

It was shown that the Canadian police officer who told Nathan and Maxie about Claudette's "suicide" had reported to Valentin, which means that any information from the man is suspect at best.

As lovely as the Naxie wedding was, it likely won't stick. That won't be a big deal as long as Nathan can secure a quickie divorce when Claudette resurfaces and then run with Maxie to the nearest justice of the peace to legalize their marriage. However, if it drags out with Claudette showing up and refusing to sign the divorce papers, then I will be ticked because I'm tired of Naxie's countless wedding plans being a bust.

It's no longer amusing.

Meanwhile, Andre's good time at the wedding was cut short when Curtis showed up to let Jordan know that she could talk to Buzz, but they would need to leave at a moment's notice and go to an undisclosed location -- out of town and alone.

I don't doubt that Andre truly found it all suspicious, but I am also pretty confident that his primary objection had more to do with Jordan and Curtis working together than Jordan's safety. After all, Jordan isn't a rookie cop. She's the top cop in town and knows how to handle situations like these. If Andre can't trust the police commissioner to take care of herself in a dangerous situation, then Andre and Jordan have bigger problems than Jordan running off with Curtis.

I don't blame Andre for having concerns about Jordan and Curtis' relationship because it's as clear as the twinkle in Jordan and Curtis' eyes whenever they are around each other that things aren't quite as unfriendly between the ex-in-laws as they would like others to believe.

To be honest, I wouldn't be heartbroken if Jordan and Curtis were to happen because there's always been a spark between Andre and Anna that might be interesting to explore.

As for Jordan running off with Curtis to question a suspect, I get it. She must be dreadfully tired of everyone except the police solving crimes. It's about time a cop was present when a case was solved.

That brings me to the mystery of Valentin and why he became evil.

It turns out that Anna broke Valentin's itty-bitty brittle heart because she rebuffed him on her birthday at the WSB Training Academy decades earlier when they'd both been young and foolish.

In those days, Valentin had a bad stutter, cut his own hair with hedge clippers, and had some kind of disfigurement that made him squint his eyes and curl his right hand into a fist.

In other words, Valentin was Quasimodo to Anna's Esmeralda, and Anna wanted nothing to do with the awkward, unkempt, delusional Valentin, who also looked more like the academy's janitor than an agent in training.

Anna's rejection affected Valentin so profoundly that he turned to the dark side where he underwent plastic surgery to get better looking, found a good barber, and was trained to become a deadly mercenary. After two decades, he's finally ready to exact revenge against the woman who scorned him.

Now, I'm not really certain what Valentin hopes to do to Anna to make her pay for forcing him to turn his life around, lose the stutter, become a powerful man, and seduce a bevy of beautiful women, but pay she shall because he's a Cassadine, and that's what they do.

The whole story is too preposterous to take seriously. When I first realized what had happened, I had a vision of Valentin driving down the road with the radio on full blast as he sings along to Adele's "Hello" while fantasizing about Anna.

And that was the very moment that I lost all ability to take Valentin seriously.

It's equally difficult to take Alexis' sobriety seriously because it's clear that she's only doing it because she has to.

Sobriety seldom is successful if you don't want it for yourself, and I don't think Alexis wants it because she's still trying to punish herself for loving the wrong man.

Ava was right on the money when she said that Julian was simply Alexis' enabler and Alexis' sobriety would always be in jeopardy as long as Alexis' secrets remained buried and she was not held accountable for her actions.

I did laugh, though, when Ava claimed that she'd never driven drunk and run a man over with her car. While it's true that Ava wasn't drunk at the time, she had been text messaging when she ran over Jason and would have left him for dead if it hadn't been for Jordan's intervention.

Speaking of Alexis, Elizabeth decided to pay Sam a visit to let Sam know that Franco didn't kill Tom -- Alexis did. Naturally, Sam refused to believe that her mother had had anything to do with Tom's death until Elizabeth raised the possibility that Alexis had killed the rapist during an attack. Sam realized that even if there was a remote possibility that her mother had been a victim of Tom's lecherous intentions, then Alexis needed help.

I realize that Elizabeth was there to help Franco, but she also cares about Alexis and is genuinely worried, which is why I'm happy that she went to Sam rather than the cops about Franco's theory.

Despite the flashbacks, I don't think that Alexis killed Tom -- Alexis did. Naturally, Sam refused to believe that her mother had had anything to do with Tom's death until Elizabeth raised the possibility that Alexis had killed the rapist during an attack. Sam realized that even if there was a remote possibility that her mother had been a victim of Tom's lecherous intentions, then Alexis needed help.

I realize that Elizabeth was there to help Franco, but she also cares about Alexis and is genuinely worried, which is why I'm happy that she went to Sam rather than the cops about Franco's theory.

Despite the flashbacks, I don't think that Alexis killed Tom. I think someone else is responsible for Tom's grisly end, but at this point, it's any guess who it might have been.

One person who has an airtight alibi is Sonny because he's currently tethered to his house through an ankle monitor. Yet, despite having his every move monitored, he still managed to get himself into some trouble with Nelle. It's only a matter of time before that comes back to haunt him.

At the moment, I find Sonny to be the most exhausting character on the show. My jaw dropped when Jason and Sam told him that Julian hadn't planted the bomb in the car -- he'd been the target -- and Sonny still blamed Julian for Morgan's death because Julian had attracted a deadly enemy.

Perhaps I missed something, but doesn't Sonny have deadly enemies, too, or does he have some kind of universal truce with all mobsters?

More importantly, why can't Sonny accept that Morgan stole the car? No one made Morgan do it. In fact, someone tried to stop him.

I don't even blame Ava's tampering with Morgan's medications for the tragedy because the medications didn't make him oblivious to the difference between right and wrong. T.J. told Morgan that stealing the car was wrong and even offered to give Morgan a lift to wherever Morgan wanted to go, but Morgan attacked T.J. and stole the car anyway.

Morgan was not an innocent party in this, and it doesn't really matter who planted the bomb because Morgan is responsible for his own death, since he stole the car.

It turns out that the person who ordered the hit was none other than returned-from-the-dead Olivia Jerome, who is living up to her reputation of being as crazy as a loon and obsessed with Duke Lavery.

I'm not as familiar with Olivia's history as I am some of the other characters because I didn't watch the show as regularly during her time as I do now. Back in the Olivia and Julian Jerome days, I was in school and more interested in hanging out with friends than watching television.

However, I am curious to hear what Olivia's story is and how exactly she managed to survive what I understood had been a certain death.

I do recall seeing some of Olivia's antics, and I loved Tonja Walker as Alex Olanov on One Life to Live, so my interest is definitely piqued. Also, I'm desperate for something to explain Julian's sudden odd behavior when he tried to frame Alexis for Carlos' murder and held a knife to her throat. The return of his crazy sister is a step in the right direction.

By the way, I love Tonja Walker's energy on the show, and I can't wait for her and Maura West to share a scene. I'm certain that it will be a hoot.

Finally, Lulu told Charlotte that she was Charlotte's real mother. Valentin had warned Lulu not to say a word because it was too soon after learning about Claudette's death. However, I don't blame Lulu because Valentin is obviously stalling because he's grooming Nina to take over as Charlotte's mother despite Lulu being Charlotte's biological mother and taking steps to sue him for custody.

It's for that reason that I'm glad that Lulu said something. I like Nina, but she's wrong to try to keep Charlotte from Lulu. Lulu is a loving mother to Rocco and deserves to have a relationship with the child that was stolen from her.

I would think that Nina would empathize with Lulu's situation because Nina lost her own child because someone decided that Nina shouldn't be a mother.

I realize there are times when temporary recasts are unavoidable. Usually, I just grin and bear it when it happens because it's a necessary evil. However, temporarily casting Blake Berris as Spinelli was a refreshing surprise that worked quite well. He did a splendid job.

Why do Carly and Olivia rent out their five-star restaurant for private parties rather than their ballroom? It amazed me that they did it twice in recent days and on very short notice -- once for Sam's baby shower and again for Maxie's last-minute wedding.

Geez, Liz! How about giving us a little warning? I tried to read your column, which I THOUGHT was supposed to be a review of the PAST week, NOT previews of things (sure) to come, but there are way too many UNMARKED SPOILERS about upcoming events, and cast changes in it. I had to scroll through it with my eyes half shut. -- Scrimmage

I deeply apologize. We occasionally refer to trending articles on the site, but I promise that my comments about what would happen on the show were pure speculation. I admit that I got caught up in my excitement over Tonja Walker's return.

The current writers have no problem rewriting recent history to suit their silly plot points (Sabrina's baby or Paul as the serial killer for example), so I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem completely ignoring the fact that Anna had a twin sister while she was on AMC. -- DaffeySez

The writers are going to have an AMAZING explanation for why Julian put a knife to Alexis' throat for me to get on board with a Julexis reunion. If Julian had just said I'm going to kill you Alexis, I could see her forgiving him and moving on...but the fact that he brought her to an isolated area and put a knife to her throat was too much. -- lk

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts about the show. I love hearing from readers so please feel free to email me or leave a comment below.

Until next time, take care.Liz Masters

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