Strike while the iron is hot

Sonny has a deadly confrontation with Ava, Olivia Jerome found a way to keep a tighter rein on Julian, and the nurses took action when their jobs were put on the line. Sometimes it's critical to strike while the iron is hot -- or you lose your advantage.

First, thank you to my partner-in-scoops, Tamilu, who graciously covered for me last week when I had to undergo surgery. Luckily, everything worked out, so I'm on the mend and recovering nicely at home despite being confined to the bed and sofa for another week or two. Still, it's great to be out of the hospital.

Not that my hospital stay was horrid. I'm sure most moms will understand when I say that it felt a bit like a spa retreat -- only with stitches and "happy juice." I was lucky to have been placed in the new wing of the hospital, in a private room with a big screen television and a futon that my daughter slept on, so I had all the comforts of home without the cleaning and finding of lost items. I was also blessed with a great group of nurses and aides who catered to my every need, made me as comfortable as possible, and even indulged me in talk about soap operas.

It turns out that a few of the nurses were GH fans.

We talked about everything from our moms letting us stay home from school to watch Luke and Laura's wedding to what is going on with Olivia and who Nelle is.

It's pretty clear that Michael is smitten with Nelle, but none of us is quite sure how to feel about it. It's not just that each of our theories links Nelle to Michael in a familial way; it's also his adolescent pursuit of her that's awkward to watch. There's nothing suave or sophisticated about his moonstruck expressions and how he tells his mom that he'd love to date Nelle if she wasn't already casually involved with an older man.

Michael reminds me of my dog Max when we first rescued him. He was just over a year old and could sniff out a female from a mile away. Like Michael, Max would prance around and do everything possible to get out of the yard -- head held high and tail curved like a scorpion's aimed directly at his prey.

Nothing would stop Max -- even the threat of fast cars on a dangerous road -- until I got him neutered.

I'm not suggesting that they neuter Michael, but the writers should make an effort to remember that Michael is a man in his mid twenties who runs a multi-billion-dollar empire, sits on the board of a hospital, and works with various charities. He's not in his teens.

Unfortunately, Michael lives where female companionship is pretty slim, since he's related to nearly half the women in town, and his dad has fathered children with the rest.

The only women Michael's age are Nelle and Kiki.

However, I am surprised that Carly would encourage a relationship between Michael and someone who works for her because Carly tends to be very territorial with her children, and things could get quite complicated if the romance should hit the rocks.

I realize that Nelle is a special case because she donated a kidney to save Josslyn's life, but Carly should be seriously alarmed by anyone who gets Carly the way that Nelle does because, let's face it -- Carly is her own special brand of bat-crazy. If Nelle gets how Carly's mind works and can even anticipate Carly's needs before Carly does, then that should terrify Carly.

I think that's the real reason that Bobbie is suspicious of Nelle. She knows that Nelle's been studying Carly, and a person only does that if they have a specific agenda. On a soap opera, those agendas are rarely good.

If you'd asked me a couple of months ago about a relationship between Michael and Nelle, I would have been all for it. Nelle was a tad bit boring, but I like the actress, and I was willing to keep an open mind about her backstory. I knew she was connected to Carly, and it probably wouldn't be good because these connections seldom are when they start out as secrets, but I was okay with that because I had hoped for something interesting.

Unfortunately, the writers dragged their feet so long with everything -- the relationship with Michael and Nelle's connection to Carly -- that one day I realized that I no longer liked Nelle.

In this, the nurses and I were unanimous, but none of us could really pinpoint when we stopped liking Nelle.

The shift was subtle. And to be clear, for me it has nothing to do with Nelle's desire to take Carly down. If anyone deserves a little karma in that area, it's Carly. However, one day I was watching Nelle stroking that silly little baby rattle like Gollum covets that darn precious ring of his, and it hit me that her story no longer interested me. I'd grown bored and didn't care why she had Carly's baby rattle. At that point, Nelle went from sympathetic to annoying.

In the beginning, it was a promising storyline because it was obvious that Nelle had a personal connection to Carly that went beyond the kidney that was donated to Josslyn. Additionally, Jax obviously knew something about all of it that added another layer to the intrigue.

I should have been riveted when Carly was talking about her adoptive parents, Frank and Virginia Benson, because it was clear that Nelle was connected to Frank in some way. If I had to guess, I would say Nelle is Frank's daughter, and Nelle resents that Carly grew up to live a life that most only dream of.

However, rather than being sucked into a story that might have pulled at my heartstrings and explain why Nelle is out to destroy Carly's marriage, it all fell flat because it was incredibly predicable. At this point, there's little mystery as to where this is headed. Perhaps the revelation might have been more exciting if the writers had dedicated the episode to an explosive reveal that lets you in on the secret and the plan, but they didn't.

It's almost as if the writers themselves aren't sure where exactly they are going with this story yet.

That brings me to the creepy factor of the storyline if Nelle turns out to be Frank's daughter. If that is the case, then that would make Nelle and Carly sisters. True, they wouldn't be biological sisters, but they would be adoptive sisters, and there's something icky about the idea of Michael dating his mother's adoptive sister.

Meanwhile, the fox figured out how to be put in charge of the henhouse when Olivia Jerome finagled her way into becoming Alexis' new A.A. sponsor.

Naturally, Julian was aghast when he found out, but his hands are tied because exposing Olivia opens up a whole can of ugly worms -- not to mention an assassin's bullet to the head. He kept mum to Alexis about "Liv" and cautiously let his maniacal sister counsel his fragile ex-wife to stay sober.

Part of that journey meant that Alexis had to tell Kristina and Molly the truth about the drinking. With Sam's support, Alexis called a meeting with her daughters. Kristina showed up with bottles of booze, ready to celebrate Alexis being reinstated as an attorney, which raises the question if Kristina herself might have a drinking problem. It would certainly explain her reaction to her mother's confession when Alexis opened up about what's been really going on with her.

Alexis revealed that she never tried to get her law license reinstated because she needed time to rehabilitate. Alexis then broke the news that she was an alcoholic and owned up to all the ways she hid her drinking and pushed her children away. Not surprisingly, Molly was the picture of support. Also not surprisingly, Kristina was not.

Kristina made it all about herself and threw hateful accusations around before stomping out.

I have the hardest time trying to understand how Kristina can be supportive and compassionate when everything pointed to Sonny planting a bomb that killed her brother, but when she had to be there for her mother, Kristina whipped open the closet to dust off a few ugly skeletons and then trounced off without a second thought to the wreckage she'd left in her wake.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Kristina and Alexis work out everything that happened with Parker? I thought Kristina moved in with Alexis because she and Alexis had made peace.

Equally baffling is how neither Alexis nor Sam has ever seen a single picture of Julian's wicked sister Olivia. Not at his apartment or during the investigations they'd each conducted, and not in his countless criminal files they'd perused over the years.

Regardless, no one has recognized Olivia Jerome -- yet. As Friday's show drew to a close, Anna was standing at the hospital's elevator while Olivia asked to see Dr. Kelly Lee.

That immediately begged the question -- why. Why does Olivia want to see Kelly Lee? I pray that Olivia doesn't have some cockamamie way to have Duke's child.

The idea gives me the shudders. I'm tired of children being cooked up in Petri dishes without their parents' consent or knowledge and then being given life through surrogates.

Lulu and Valentin's story is more than enough.

I don't have any doubt that Nina loves Charlotte, but Nina's reasons for keeping Lulu out of Charlotte's life and for passive-aggressively condoning Charlotte's dislike of Lulu is all about Nina's desire to be a mother. It was for Nina's sake, not the child's.

Lulu has just as much right to be a part of Charlotte's life as Valentin does, and I'm disgusted by Valentin's attitude. If his story is to be believed -- and I don't for a minute believe it -- she's just as much of a victim as he is, but the only difference is that Charlotte grew up knowing him and being allowed to have a relationship with him.

As the story drags out, I care less about Valentin's rights and more about Lulu's, despite her mistakes and tactless actions. Valentin is the one who justifies keeping a child away from her parent for no other reason than spite and selfishness.

Across town, Sonny did his best impersonation of Mikhail Baryshnikov by listening to Jason and Curtis' surveillance tapes then leaping to the conclusion that Ava planted the bomb. Without missing a beat, Sonny ditched his ankle monitor and hunted Ava down. Ava nearly confessed to messing with Morgan's medications, but Sonny was only interested in hearing what he had to say and cut her off as he hurled insults and threats at her. Jason showed up in the knick of time and carefully explained that the charges against Sonny had been dropped -- thanks to Buzz -- and that Jason was nearly certain that Julian hadn't been referring to Ava when he'd complained about his bossy sister.

After Sonny skedaddled home, Dante showed up, and Jason promptly turned over the recording of Julian talking about Julian's sister to Dante. Without even listening to the recording, which I'm certain has some serious legal issues, Dante arrested Ava.

It's one of the things that annoys me about the writing. I get that Dante doesn't want to arrest his father, but at least don't show him abusing the law when it comes to the other criminals, especially his father's enemies. I find it difficult to respect Dante as a police officer because he enforces the law at his convenience.

It's also frustrating how Sonny is touted as a ruthless criminal mastermind who runs an extensive crime syndicate by outwitting and foiling his foes left and right, all the while keeping the streets safe for all innocents and giving to the poor like Robin Hood. However, then he's suddenly shown to be rash, stubborn, easily manipulated, and selfish to the point of narcissistic. He went after Ava, completely disregarding all the heartache he'd caused and the regret he'd harbored for the mistakes he'd made the night Morgan died.

Seeing Sonny ready to kill Ava in cold blood showed me that Sonny has learned a sum total of nothing from Morgan's death.

Neither has Carly, because she seems perfectly okay with Sonny killing people when they hurt the ones she loves. What if a bullet intended for Ava went astray and shot Josslyn in the heart instead? Would Carly still feel the righteous need to avenge Morgan's death?

It would be like GH's version of Groundhog Day, except instead of talking about Morgan's senseless death, Sonny and Carly would argue about Josslyn's senseless death, beg forgiveness, promise to change, make up, and endanger another child until they either ran out of children or one of them ended up dead.

Nothing changes with Sonny and Carly, which is why my whole interest in this story has waned. Carly will find out about Nelle and forgive Sonny -- even when, as I believe, it's revealed that Nelle never slept with Sonny -- because Carly always forgives Sonny. Always.

At the hospital, trouble is brewing with Hayden and the nurses. Hayden realized the only thing that can save the hospital from financial ruin is to lay off a large chunk of the staff -- mainly nurses. The nurses decided to make a preemptive move and went on strike, which would force the hospital to work out a union contact settlement.

I pray that one of the concessions made during the negotiations is the termination of Amy Driscoll.

This little development has put Liz and Hayden at odds, but I fear the sisters have far bigger problems to deal with because Finn is battling an addiction to the highly addictive medication with which he used to treat his disease. Why only Brad has figured out that Finn couldn't and didn't kick the party drug's euphoric effects is beyond me. I'm not a drug expert, but even I would have had concerns.

Liz's situation is only slightly better because she and Franco finally have things on track, but for how long? Franco is happy, but he did have a brush with his dark side during the whole Tom debacle. I don't think Franco has a brain tumor; I do believe that he has some kind of psychological issue going on. It could stem from his guilt over the crimes he committed in the past, or it could have something to do with him being Heather's son.

Sadly, I don't think Franco will be able to make his relationship with Liz work until he gets real help from someone like Kevin or Andre.

My favorite moment this week was when Andre ended things with Jordan.

Before anyone fires off hate mails and tweets, please let me explain.

I liked the breakup because Andre and Jordan acted the way normal people should when they are in that situation. They were respectful, sensible, and mature. I get what Andre was saying when he told Jordan that it shouldn't be that hard to make things work and that he'd never get past knowing that she'd had a heated make-out session with Curtis in Baltimore.

I think Jordan likes the idea of what she could have had with Andre, but it's Curtis she wants. Maybe if Curtis weren't in the picture, Jordan and Andre could have made it work, but that's not how it is. Curtis is around, and there's a zing between him and Jordan that is lacking between her and Andre.

The scene showed two people being decent and truly honest with each other. That's pretty rare on soap operas, especially when there's a love triangle brewing.

Why didn't Curtis immediately check in with Jason to let him know that Ava had been at the gallery all day, so she couldn't have been the woman that Julian had met with earlier?

Why is Charlotte never in school, and more importantly, why couldn't Valentin take his daughter when the nanny had to have time off? As far as I can tell, Valentin does all of his nefarious work over the phone.

Thank you, keen readers! I thought Seth's house looked familiar, and several of you pointed out that it was the old Spencer house set that was used during the flashbacks when Pat told Luke about the night their parents died.

I see a new white knight Cassadine in the near future...yes...V-Man! I see him coming to Anna's rescue when Barmy Liv goes on the attack after her enemy, Anna. -- lovethosedimples

Would love to see the show try a Griffin-Liz romance, but first things first. The writers need to decide if Griff is a priest or get him released from his vows. Then and only then can they write a romantic interest for him without offending many Catholic viewers who still don't like to see priests involved in romantic relationships. -- Toni Leskovar

I've been over Nina's obsession with being a mother for awhile, ever since they had her trying to buy a baby on the black market...it just plays into a tired old trope that females can't possibly be complete without being mothers. While I do think Nina cares about Charlotte, I think Nina cares more about having Charlotte as her pretend child than she cares about Charlotte's best interest. I think it would be great for Charlotte to get to know her extended Spencer family. -- 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

What are your thoughts on General Hospital? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.