A dangerous game of beat the buzzer

Disaster loomed on several fronts, but it's the shockwaves that will cause the most destruction. Will good triumph over evil, or will the price for justice be too steep?

Wow! Friday's episode reminded me of the good ol' days when we had nail-biting cliffhangers and stories that had you eagerly anticipating the next episode. I loved everything about the episode, including Michael and Chase's cockamamie plan to get Nelle to confess.

Please don't misunderstand -- I loved the plan right up until I realized that Michael wouldn't be faking his death by making it appear he died in a crash. Rather, he intended to terrorize a confession out of Nelle while running an errand in a car that Nelle believed was set to crash when it reached a specified distance.

Never mind that Nelle is a legit crazy woman who murdered her fianc� and is capable of all manner of mayhem -- as evidenced by her repeated attempts to grab the steering wheel away from Michael -- or that the entire ordeal could push her into labor, which I suspect might not be the best circumstance for a woman with only one kidney. No, what made the plan ludicrous and doomed to failure was the fact that no good has ever come from anyone driving in Port Charles. Ever. Especially at night.

They should ban all cars in Port Charles.

We don't know for certain if Michael crashed or not, but the odds are pretty high that he did because we heard the blare of an oncoming truck's horn and the squeal of the tires before the feed inside the car suddenly cut off, indicating some kind of impact. Also, and I can't stress this enough, no good has ever come of anyone climbing behind the wheel of a car in Port Charles. It bears repeating. Often.

At the very least, I expect Michael to skid off the road and injure Nelle because she's been pregnant forever, and this is a soap opera. Plus, Chloe Lanier is leaving the show soon, so this seems like the perfect setup for a climactic exit. Come Monday, I anticipate Nelle going into labor while Michael makes a last-ditch effort to get a full confession from her -- just in time to save Carly from another shocking treatment with dastardly Dr. Lasiris.

Let's face it, all Jason can do is buy Carly time.

Unless Carly is vindicated, she's going to remain a ward of the state and be returned to Ferncliff until she's been successfully treated and rehabilitated.

Therefore, it's unlikely that Nelle will die before Carly's name is cleared. I'm happy that the writers are forced to address the incident at the top of the stairs because it's been implied on a couple of occasions that Nelle had intentionally thrown herself down the stairs in order to accuse Carly of pushing her. It needs to be cleared up because there are some who feel that Nelle wouldn't go that far, especially since she only has one kidney. If Nelle were mentally stable, I would agree, but I don't think that Nelle is anywhere near mentally stable, which means her choices only make sense to her.

I could be wrong. I certainly was wrong about Dr. Lasiris because he most definitely is not Kevin's evil twin brother, Ryan Chamberlain. It turns out that Dr. Lasiris is just a rotten doctor who thinks electroshock therapy cures everything. The man is clearly as evil as Mary Pat because he didn't even attempt to evaluate Carly before he threw her down on the table, injected her with a powerful sedative, then shoved a bite guard into her mouth as he turned up the juice on his machine.

There was nothing ethical about what Dr. Lasiris did, so I hope Jason earns his keep and breaks the man's fingers. Lasiris should never be able to do to another patient what he did to Carly. Carly has done some terrible things in her lifetime, but she didn't deserve that fate.

Even though Dr. Lasiris wasn't revealed to be Ryan, we did get a glimpse of a patient in a straitjacket who looked exactly like Kevin's brother, and he whispered "SOS" to Carly as he passed her. That means he's the same patient who pleaded for help in Morse code in the room next to Carly's. I'm positive that it wasn't a drug-induced hallucination and that Ryan is alive.

Now, it remains to be seen if Kevin knew and if Ryan had somehow managed to switch places with his brother, as he'd done in the past. Kevin has been acting strange ever since he pickled Faison's brain.

Speaking of suspicions, I had a few queries about my belief that Valentin was behind Anna's abduction. Admittedly, we didn't hear him utter the words, "Kidnap Anna Devane," but I have good reason to conclude that Valentin was behind Anna's disappearance nonetheless.

In the scenes prior to Anna's abduction, Valentin was at Metro Court, desperately trying to plead his case to Nina. The subject of Anna came up, but Valentin quickly shut it down by assuring Nina that Anna didn't matter. After Nina left, Valentin placed a phone call to an associate to go over some instructions Valentin had given the person. Valentin said, "You need to follow them to the letter. I'm doing this for my wife. There's no margin for error."

The next scene showed Anna climbing into the back of a limo and the driver checking on a gun, complete with silencer, in the front seat.

Could Valentin's phone call and Anna's disappearance be completely unrelated? Sure, if it had happened in the real world. However, it's a soap opera, and on soap operas, things are seldom random.

I strongly believe that the two incidents are related. Luckily, we don't have to wait long to find out if they are, because at the close of Friday's show, Robert called Robin and discovered that Anna had never made it to Berkeley. At the same time, Finn received a text from someone posing as Anna asking him to fly to California right away.

Who lured Finn away and -- more importantly -- why?

I have no doubt that it wasn't Anna behind those text message that Finn has been receiving because I've watched Anna for over three decades, and there is no way that she would have stayed away from her son once she learned that he'd been kidnapped and rescued from a raging inferno. Look how tortured she was when she thought he might have Huntington's disease.

Anna might be in California, but she didn't send the text messages.

Meanwhile, Liesl is paying the piper for her role in Peter's abduction, and I cracked the jailhouse dress code.

If someone is thrown into the slammer in their street clothes, it's all for show, and they'll be heading home soon -- an episode or two. If they are given a Port Charles Jail shirt and khakis, it's a bit more serious, so they will be there for several episodes and likely receive a lambasting from a resident or two. Then there's the dreaded orange jumpsuit, which means Auf wiedersehen, adieu. You go directly to jail and do not pass Go. Such was the case on Friday when Liesl was sent to Pentonville to await trial.

I understand Liesl did a bad thing and needs time in the penalty box, but she had better be back because I've grown to love that crazy, mixed-up, singing Oma despite her affair with the dark side. Liesl keeps things interesting, and she has some pretty amazing relationships with several key people. Kathleen Gati is brilliant, so I hope the powers that be do everything possible to keep her around for a nice long time.

Besides, every soap opera needs a few troublemakers around to spice things up.

Peter is faring slightly better than Liesl because Finn refused to sign off on Peter's release until Anna could return to Port Charles. That didn't sit well with Robert, who is eager to cart Peter off to the Hague for some long overdue justice. I admit that it's hard for me to see Peter as evil because his actions since arriving in Port Charles have been those of a decent guy who made some poor choices. Plus, I can't ignore that Peter was raised by Faison and mentored by Valentin, so the poor kid never stood a chance.

What happened to Jason was awful, but the truth is, he lives in an ugly and dangerous world where things like that -- and worse -- can happen at any time. Jason has recovered from the ordeal, his life is back on track, and he's right where he belongs -- at Sonny's side. I don't think it's going to break Jason's heart if Peter cuts a deal in exchange for his freedom because Peter isn't just Anna's son, he's also Robin's brother. Robin will eventually want to reach out to her brother and get to know him.

The most moving scenes this week were during the gathering at Alexis' house when Kim, Jordan, Olivia, Ava, and Alexis shared their #MeToo moments with Kiki. Kiki was stunned that they each had a story, but truth be told, I wasn't. Most of the women I know have experienced sexual harassment and worse. Sadly, many have dealt with it multiple times throughout their lives.

One of the greatest supercouples of all time began with a violent rape one night after work in the campus disco. This was during the era of bodice-ripping romances when terms like domestic violence didn't exist. Back then, rape was often considered the fault of the woman for acting or dressing too promiscuously, and her sexual history was used against her in court if she dared to press charges against her rapist.

The scenes with the ladies were powerful because it offered a glimpse into just how prevalent sexual harassment is. It's everywhere, and if you have any doubts, then I encourage you to ask all the women in your life about their #MeToo moments. I promise, some will have firsthand accounts to share while others will be able to tell you about a friend's experience.

I'm proud of GH for tackling this issue in such a real yet careful and respectful manner. Keep up the great work!

I was also pleased with the scene between Oscar and Cam when Cam helped Oscar out by giving him tips on how to get through to Josslyn when she's mad and being stubborn. Cam was being a genuinely nice guy, and it was refreshing to see two young men on a soap opera treat each other decently. Usually, they're vying for the same girl and thumping their chests.

Honestly, Oscar could use a friend like Cam to talk to because he looked downright terrified when Josslyn was shrieking at him to have sex with her. I couldn't blame the poor boy for declining the offer of quickly deflowering her before Sonny returned home. Talk about being under the gun.

Oscar was right, Josslyn was out of control. I hope when things settle down and she has the opportunity to look back on everything with a clearer mind, she will appreciate what a wonderful guy Oscar is for respecting her enough to not take advantage of the situation.

Elsewhere, it's a boy for Lucas and Brad.

A few readers wondered if the baby that Lucas and Brad are adopting might be Hayden and Finn's child, but the math doesn't add up unless Hayden has some elephant DNA in her. We last saw Hayden in early September 2017. At that time, she was several months pregnant and showing, which means that Hayden and Finn's baby would be several months old by now and unlikely to pass as a newborn.

However, the arrival of Wiley Cooper-Jones rules out Nelle as the person behind the adoption. For a while, it looked like she might have been scamming Lucas and Brad, but clearly that's not the case, since the baby was delivered, and Nelle is nowhere to be seen. I'm not sure if the writers shifted direction with the storyline because Chloe opted to exit the show or if this had been the plan all along, but I'm happy that Lucas and Brad have their son. Adoption is a wonderful thing, and it should be encouraged whenever possible.

That said, I'm a bit disappointed that Lucas and Brad didn't name their son Anthony "Tony" Cooper-Jones to honor the man who raised Lucas.

Finally, thank you to everyone for the heartfelt well wishes extended to my father. We had a bit of a scare at the beginning of the week when he was rushed to the hospital with pneumonia, but he's on the mend and expected to be back home by Monday. He was touched by all the kind words, which meant the world to me. Soap opera fans are truly the best, and I'm proud to be a part of this wonderful community. I can't thank everyone enough. Bless all of you.

I love the way people in Port Charles discuss super-secret stuff in public places like the park or in the middle of a squad room. I'm looking at you, Chase, Michael, and Jordan. A blackmailer could make a fortune hanging around the streets of Port Charles.

Why hasn't anyone thought to track down the homeless man that Nelle paid to claim that he saw a young man fitting Morgan's description making the phone calls from the bottom of the cliff where Morgan died? The man could at least confirm that Nelle had been responsible for those initial phone calls that Carly received.

Please explain to me why Jason needed Franco's help sneaking into Ferncliff if he was able to stroll in with a humongous loaded gun? I would think that would be harder to get past security than a good disguise

.

Remember when Michael, Kristina, Morgan (off screen at the time) and Molly were all aged at the same time? As siblings and cousins, it all made sense. Cameron, Josslyn, Spencer, and Jake should be aged at the same time for the same exact reason; it makes more sense continuity wise! -- Sally Chin

What a WIMP!! I don't care HOW hungry and weak he [Peter] is, when you're about to be burned alive in a fire, you get off your stinking ass, and RUN!! There's nothing wrong with his legs, other than the fact that he hasn't used them in the last month or so. It's ridiculous to think that his survival instincts and adrenaline wouldn't have kicked in, as soon as Liesl torched the place. -- Scrimmage

I like that the show has more balance now and I really like the Mike storyline (I have family members who are going through this).... I could do without the Croton stuff, mainly because it shows me that the show doesn't trust the viewers to follow a Sonny story unless there's a 'crime' aspect to it. And as much Sonny eats up this show, in this regard with Mike, his story has become compelling. -- Andrew

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

Take care and happy viewing,Liz Masters

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