Sweet little white lies

They say that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. That may be true, but what about the sweet little white lies we tell ourselves along the way?

Friday's episode closed with an unexpected shake, rattle, and roll thanks to an earthquake -- or was there more to it?

I can't help but wonder if perhaps Julian's untimely sewage issue and Jim's sudden interest in what lies beneath Charles Street rather than above it might be connected. It's entirely possible in a world where a great big diamond powered a machine that could freeze the world and where one in five local residents have returned from the dead at least once.

I love a good disaster storyline, so I'm predisposed to like this one. I enjoy the action, the nail-biting suspense, and seeing people put their differences aside to work together. It's exciting and, if done right, can have a nice payoff.

As the episode drew to a close on Friday, Oscar and Josslyn had inexplicably sneaked off to a freezer, rather than, say, a supply closet or pantry, to make out, suggesting that come Monday, the teens will find themselves trapped and battling hypothermia as the clock ticks down to save them. My guess is that Drew and Kim will band together to save the kids, and perhaps spark a memory or two of Drew's life before his abduction.

Across town, Sam and Jason will undoubtedly find themselves in a similar situation when the dust settles and they race to check on the kids who were asleep on the second floor prior to the earthquake.

Folks, I have a confession to make. I'm a wee bit frustrated with Sam and the way she looks at Jason with doe eyes while pretending that everything is okay and his heart isn't breaking every time he looks her. It's cruel, and it gives the impression that Sam wants to have her cake and eat it too.

I know that's not the case, but it's hard to argue that when Sam leaves Drew sitting in the car while she climbs into bed with Danny and Jason for a bedtime story, and when she says things like, "Drew is still there [at the dance], so if you want to say goodnight to Danny before I take him home..."

I realize that Sam doesn't want to feel like the bad guy because she fell in love with another man and built a life with him, but I think she's making the situation worse by not keeping her contact with Jason to a minimum. It's fine to encourage him to have a relationship with Danny, but she doesn't have to be a part of that. It sends mixed signals, and it doesn't allow Jason to move on with his life.

It's also playing with fire because, as much as I believe Sam is in love with Drew, I also believe she's not exactly out of love with Jason. However, Sam made her choice and forfeited any right to explore her feelings for Jason when she married Drew. If she needed time to sort things out, then she should have taken it before insisting that she knew what she wanted. I doubt anyone, including Drew, would have begrudged her that.

By the way, no one should ever ask Drew and Sam to chaperone anything for teens again. Ever. They couldn't keep their hands -- or lips -- off of each other. My kids would have been mortified if their father and I had carried on like that in front of them, let alone their friends. I don't blame Kim for deciding to hang out and keep an eye on things. Also, why in the world would Drew let that kid who threw the paint on Josslyn go? The kid clearly has issues and should be held accountable for his behavior because that wasn't an isolated incident. Remember Oscar's black eye?

I also get the feeling that Kim is not telling Drew everything. I just can't decide if it's because she thinks it's best for everyone to let sleeping dogs lie or if she's hiding something. I do believe that Kim is a good person, but good people can do bad things, especially in the name of love.

That is the case with Franco.

It appears that Franco did indeed push Drew down the basement stairs all those years ago, but Franco's motives for the deed remain murky. I don't think it was out of malice, mainly because that doesn't jibe with how Franco had remembered Drew when he thought Drew was his "imaginary" friend. Franco loved Drew, and the two were as close as any brothers could be, so it doesn't make sense for Franco to lock Drew in a trunk and to viciously shove him down the basement stairs, especially with a menacing figure like Jim Harvey in the picture.

It seems far more plausible that Jim was abusive to the boys and that Franco was trying to protect his brother from Jim's twisted ways. That is why Jim was so keen on keeping Franco's "secret." Jim almost had Franco, but he told one lie too many by trying to exploit Franco's worst fear and painting Franco a bad-seed. It might have been believable from anyone else's lips, but Franco knows that Jim is a shifty character. The more sincere a liar sounds, the less likely it's the truth, and that was the case with Jim when he accused Franco of trying to murder Drew and being born bad.

As this story unfolds, Drew appears to be having an awakening of sorts about Franco. I welcome it as much as I dread it because I like Franco, but I also fear that a relationship between Drew and Franco could create a rift between Drew and Sam.

I think it's obvious that it's no longer a matter of if Drew will regain his memories, but rather when. When that happens, there's a very strong possibility that he will remember the love that he once had for the boy he knew as his brother. I can't see that going over well with Sam, especially if Drew is unable to turn his back on Franco.

I don't know what kind of horror Jim visited upon Bobby and Andy, but I get the feeling that it forged an unbreakable bond between the brothers that even now is pushing its way through both Franco and Drew's respective barriers.

While Franco was trying to get answers about his past from Jim, Elizabeth was at the church, getting ready for the wedding. I'm not sure if Liz is going to be furious or grateful that Franco didn't show because having your wedding ceremony end with an earthquake isn't exactly a good omen. At least Franco spared Liz that particular plight.

Can Liz and Franco's relationship survive this? Probably. Liz is a compassionate and understanding person. She has every right to be angry, but she'll understand that he never meant to hurt her. However, Franco lied and kept secrets from Liz. Again.

That is the real problem, and I don't know if Liz is going to be able to look past that and give him another chance. I'm sure that Franco will apologize and promise that things will be different, but how will Liz know that's true when every other time he has lied to her?

Meanwhile, Ava can't win for losing. Not in Kiki's eyes.

Ava agreed to drop the charges against Mike and accept Sonny's check for the broken piece of art, but she wanted something in exchange -- an overnight visit with Avery. Kiki was outraged and accused her mother of being the same old vile person that Ava used to be, but I was on Ava's side on this one. Why isn't Kiki furious at Sonny for putting Ava in a position where Ava is forced to resort to blackmail just to get a few precious hours with her daughter?

Sonny is just as much of a danger to Avery as Ava is. More so, because Ava is no longer in the mob, and neither is her brother. I can list all the ways that Sonny's children have been harmed through the years because of his lifestyle, but I think the most compelling argument is Michael's relationship with A.J. because, despite all the things that A.J. did and all the effort that Sonny and Carly made to keep A.J. out of Michael's life, Michael still wanted and had a relationship with A.J.

The same will be true for Avery and Ava.

I felt bad for Ava because not only did Kiki give her grief about finagling time with Avery, but Griffin left Ava hanging when she blurted out that she was in love with him. Ouch. I get that Griffin is new to the scary world of dating and romance and that he's never been in love before, but I think he's overanalyzing things. He's trying to lead with his head not his heart because he's afraid of getting hurt, but it's a losing battle because you can't avoid getting hurt, even if you are in a great relationship.

People argue, and sometimes they say things in the heat of the moment that sting.

In the end, love is a lot like faith. You either feel it or you don't.

Rita thought she loved Mike, but when Carly broke the news to her about Mike's illness, she realized that perhaps love was overstating things.

I honestly don't blame Rita for walking away. She is a recovering addict, and I know firsthand the toll that a disease like Alzheimer's takes on a family. My husband's grandmother began to show signs of it a few years after her husband died. It was incredibly difficult to watch the disease's progression, especially when sundown syndrome set in and her moments of lucidity became shorter and shorter until finally she had faded away entirely.

The stress of caring for someone with Alzheimer's can be unbearable and break even the strongest of people, not just someone who struggles with addiction.

Now, on to Nelle, whom I'm convinced did indeed kill her fianc during that kayaking trip. I can see Nelle vindictively removing the plug from Zach's kayak then watching him drown because she was angry. Maybe he started having second thoughts about marrying her or maybe she never loved him to begin with and was only in it for the money? Anything is possible with Nelle.

The girl is unhinged, and pregnancy is only making Nelle more delusional. She is on the fast track to becoming the new Heather Webber, which means that there is a very strong likelihood that she is not going to carry the baby to term, and if she does, it won't survive birth. Enter Maxie, who will no doubt give birth just in time for Nelle to steal the baby and pass it off as her own.

It's like watching a train careening down the tracks, knowing that it's going to go off the rails when it hits the bend and end in a horrible crash, but you can't tear your eyes away from the impending disaster.

Will Nelle be hurt in the earthquake, lose the baby, and fake the rest of her pregnancy? I guess we'll find out on Monday.

Finally, Andre is back in town, and he's offered to team up with Anna and help her find the child that she gave up for adoption. Valentin hoped to throw her off the scent by claiming that she had given birth to a girl, which I think was a boneheaded move. The minute that Anna finds out that she had a boy rather than a girl, she's going to know that Valentin lied, which means she'll know he had a hand in her son's fate.

Things will not end well for Valentin.

There was a time that I rooted for Anna and Andre because I liked their chemistry, but then the writers went in another direction. I liked the way that Finn pushed and challenged Anna, and I loved that Finn was shown to have some game beneath his nerdy exterior as well as a sense of humor. I have no idea who I want Anna to end up with -- Finn or Andre -- but I do know that I don't want Finn anywhere near Alexis' bed again. Finn and Alexis are fine as friends, but their one-night stand should remain just that.

Alexis is meant to be with Julian, which I hope she will realize before things between Julian and Kim heat up.

Why would Monica agree to watch the kids for Sam and Drew while they chaperoned the dance, only to send Sam a text message in the middle of the dance, asking Sam to pick up the kids?

Perhaps I'm a little overly sensitive, but I think that GH should have cut the scene of the boy throwing a paint-filled balloon at Josslyn during the dance. For one awful, horrifying moment, I thought he was going to open fire on the kids. I was relieved that he didn't, but I wished the thought hadn't even been a possibility.

Did anyone else find it odd that neither Dante nor Jason posted a man by the phone booth just to make certain that the calls weren't from someone who posed a threat to Carly? Sure, it could have been random, but the fact that it was made from the location where Morgan died should have raised red flags and warranted at least a stakeout.

While I liked Ron Hale as Mike, I do appreciate the heart that Max Gail is bringing to this story and the way in which he is portraying an older, frailer Mike battling with changes he feels but can't understand or acknowledge. I also appreciate seeing MB's Sonny in a human-interest story -- and a story in which Sonny is out of his rather one-note blustering, strutting peacock mode. Mo can do these humanizing stories and I welcome the much-needed change of pace. -- Caitie Rose

I really hope that Nelle does not try to put the blame on the phone to Carly on Ava. I cannot help but wonder if she is going to "discover" the recordings at Ava's gallery in an attempt to ingratiate herself with Carly. Nelle is so up and down, I never know where she is going with her plots. -- Kelly Ann

I'm trying to hold out hope for Valentin and Nina, but that "collateral damage" line -- damn -- and the next scene he's so beautifully comforting her. He obviously loves her, but he's also obviously a total dick. I fear this is going to end very badly. -- MG Eberhart

I am so sick of Lulu playing the injured party and talking about giving up her "career" that began 3 weeks (?) ago. Sure, Nathan was on board but she pushed it for her own interests. The scene where Dante tells her it is partially her fault is looming -- maybe that's why Valerie is back -- kidding -- I hope. -- Savannah loves GH

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

Take care and happy viewing,Liz Masters

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