Knock-knock-knockin' on Halloween's door

As ghosts and goblins prepare to Trick-or-Treat, a few real-life dastardly dudes and vixens are stirring up a little trouble of their own in Port Charles.

Well, folks, it turns out that Ms. Sasha Gilmore was too good to be true. Oh, she's definitely Nina's daughter, but she's not exactly the picture-perfect young lady that her first impression leads one to believe. For starters, Sasha is eager to kick up her heels and stir up trouble. She also appreciates a nice firm posterior, even if she has no business looking in that direction, and she likes the flexibility that working as a temp affords her.

Suddenly, the mature, well-educated, and reserved young lady who first appeared on our screens is replaced by a lecherous party girl who has no interest in working or respecting boundaries. It doesn't take a soap aficionado to see where this storyline is headed; Sasha is going to try to seduce Griffin -- and make Kiki regret inviting her newfound sibling into her life.

But will Griffin succumb to Sasha's charms? Very likely. I say this for two reasons. First, Griffin has a long history of being drawn to women that he shouldn't be, like a married parishioner, a town pariah, and now the daughter of his ex-lover. Second, Griffin and Kiki are a rebound relationship that started for all the wrong reasons. When the foundation is weak, things fall apart easily.

Plus, not to overstate the obvious, it's a soap opera. On soap operas, long-lost half-sisters always seduce the boyfriend/husband/significant other.

I'm not sure how I feel about Sasha. I do like that she's not perfect, but it remains to be seen if she just makes poor choices or if she acts out of malice. What I do know is that I don't want Nina to be reunited with her daughter only for that daughter to turn out to be another Nelle. Troubled, I understand. Clearly, the woman who raised Sasha wasn't honest with her, which would certainly mess a person up, especially if there's no way to get answers to important questions because the one who lied is dead.

Helping Sasha make peace with that, and perhaps getting her life on track, might prove to be a great bonding experience that Nina and Sasha need to form their own mother/daughter relationship. But I want that to be the focus of the story, not Nina suffering more disappointment and heartache because Sasha is rotten to the core. Sasha is Silas' daughter, too, so not all the branches on her family tree are twisted and gnarled.

Luckily, Nina's heart aches a bit less these days, thanks to Valentin's refusal to give up on her. His plan to earn forgiveness by giving Nina what her heart desired most appears to have worked. Not only are Nina's defenses crumbling, but Sasha has become his cheerleader.

I'm happy that I was wrong. I was certain that Nina would never forgive Valentin for not telling her about his talk with Madeline and for enlisting Curtis' help to find Sasha without breathing a word of it to Nina. Nina was mad when she learned that Valentin had kept a secret from her again, but it didn't matter because he had found her daughter. Plus, he did do the right thing by going straight to Nina once the first DNA results were in rather than waiting for the second tests.

My hope is that once Valentin and Nina get back on track, the issue of Nikolas can finally be settled. It needs to be. If Nikolas is alive, at least let the audience know so that Valentin's name can officially be cleared with the viewers. I hate the shadow of Nikolas' murder hanging over Valentin's head, because as long as it does, there will always be a part of me that sees him as unworthy of Nina's devotion.

I loved Nikolas, and I remember the shooting. Nikolas acted in self-defense, not the other way around. Every time I hear Valentin make that assertion, I get as livid as Laura does.

Speaking of Laura, she has teamed up with Carly to tackle mental health. I can't think of two more qualified people to deal with this issue. Laura spent years in various facilities around the world in a catatonic state triggered by a traumatic event, and Carly suffered a couple of breakdowns that resulted in inpatient treatment. I like the idea of them working together to reform things at Ferncliff, even though I know the purpose of their mission is to put them on the path to find Kevin.

It's a nice twist to have the damsel riding to the knight's rescue. Go, Laura!

At this point, it's become a race against the clock because I can't see Ryan holding it together much longer before he uses his knife for more than peeling apples. I gather that is his intention, since he hasn't left town. If Ryan had truly wanted to be free, that's exactly what he would have done when he escaped from Ferncliff. He could kill anywhere, but he seems determined to do it in Port Charles, which means that he wants to be caught. Ryan is homicidal, not stupid, so he has to know that the longer he lingers in Port Charles, the higher the risk of being found out, especially now that his twin's wife is back in town and growing more and more suspicious by the minute because of her newlywed husband's lack of passion.

Eventually, someone is going to figure out that Kevin's patients are getting worse, not better. Franco is already suspicious of "Kevin's" approach to Ava's rage and impulse issues.

I adore Franco, and I love that he wants to be a father figure to Aiden. That's more than I can say for Aiden's real father, who last saw Aiden in person when Lucky brought Jake home to Elizabeth. It's downright tragic.

I have no idea where this story is headed. Is Aiden being bullied? Probably, and it seems more than likely that it's tied to his love for things like the Princess Kalinda of Everwood pencils that he wanted for school. Why else would Cam react the way that he did unless there was more to the story?

I'm not sure how I feel about that. Aiden is a young boy and a storyline like that is pretty heavy to put on the shoulders of a young actor. Additionally, we already have a big story going on with the older kids on the show.

Folks, I hate to say this, but it's really hard to muster up any sympathy for Oscar when he's acting like a complete jerk. I realize that he's dealing with stuff that no kid his age should, but his behavior only underscores why he shouldn't be left to his own devices.

Let's start with the fact that Oscar getting emancipated means that he will lose his parents' insurance. Not a big deal for most young kids, but certainly a very big deal for a kid who has an aggressive malignant brain tumor. At some point, even if Oscar opts not to seek any kind of experimental treatment, he's going to need medical intervention. I don't know if or what kind of insurance benefits Julian offers, but I imagine that Kim's is much better.

Granted, Oscar's grandmother runs the hospital, but someone will have to absorb the cost of treatment, which will be significant. Insurance would go a long way to reduce that cost.

Beyond that, Oscar's new living arrangements are sketchy at best. I can't imagine any judge thinking that Oscar is better off living in a flop house with strange little Daisy and working as a busboy because Oscar's health is going to decline far sooner than later. What then? How is he going to support himself? Care for himself?

I also have a big issue with Oscar's hypocrisy.

Oscar is doing to Josslyn what was done to him. He's lying and keeping secrets because he hopes to spare her more pain when she learns the truth about his cancer. Yet, when his parents lied and kept secrets to spare Oscar as much pain as possible, that was somehow an unforgiveable sin.

Oscar's vindictiveness is also a big surprise -- and major turnoff. I had no idea that the kid has a mean streak a mile wide. For instance, when Alexis agreed to represent him, Oscar couldn't wait to inform his parents, even though Alexis advised against it. Oscar claimed that he refused to lie like his parents had. However, the smug grin and the way he snidely informed Kim and Drew that he intended to divorce them suggested that the real reason for his announcement was to inflict as much pain on his parents as possible.

Oscar enjoyed himself, and that was not cool with me.

Oscar's insistence that Josslyn move on -- but not with Cam -- is one more reason that Oscar is losing me. Oscar doesn't get to break someone's heart then dictate how it heals. That's Josslyn's choice.

I feel bad that I don't have more empathy for a dying boy, which makes me angry at the writers, because if I, someone who likes Oscar, feels that way, I can't imagine what someone who doesn't like the character feels. That's not how a story like this should go. It should draw fans in, not drive them away.

I have no idea what's up with Daisy, but something about her seems off. She popped up out of nowhere and suddenly was offering Oscar a place to live and inviting Kristina to a bonfire. I couldn't decide if she had a crush on Kristina and was trying to impress her or if Daisy was part of a cult sent out to recruit lost souls. I'm not sure I want to find out.

Meanwhile, Spinelli popped into town to join Sam for an undercover operation gathering information and evidence against Margaux's father, Vincent Marino. Their first stop was to Jeanette Marino's house, where they posed as insurance adjusters.

Sam was excited to be working with Spinelli, but he was disappointed that Jason couldn't join them. Seriously?

I find it annoying how people are constantly trying to push Jason and Sam together, like they need help in that area. It's doubly frustrating when it's people who don't appreciate anyone meddling in their lives -- I'm looking right at you, drunk Kristina!

The thing is, Jason and Sam are not only adults, but they've been down this road at least a dozen times, so they are perfectly capable of navigating the terrain. They don't need help from outsiders, especially since both have freely acknowledged that they are still very much in love with each other. All they need is time to do things their way.

If people in my life were as invested in my relationship with my husband as people on the show are with Jason and Sam, my husband and I would move and not leave a forwarding address.

After Sam and Spinelli gained entry into Jeanette's home, they managed to distract Margaux's mother enough for Sam to pick a lock on a desk and find a stack of love letters that Joe Scully had written to Jeanette. My first thought was, who keeps incriminating evidence for decades? Why wouldn't Jeanette have tossed the letters or hidden them in a far safer location, like a safety deposit box, especially after Joe Scully died?

Could Joe be Margaux's father? It's possible, since Margaux was only two when Vincent died. Sonny only revealed that Joe and Jeanette had been lovers, not how long the affair had been going on.

Something doesn't add up because Jeanette's story made sense on the surface, but those letters suggest that there is far more to the story than Joe being a jealous lover who wanted a rival out of the way. That's why I think it's a paternity secret.

Finally, I can't wait for the Halloween episode on Wednesday. I love seeing the costumes -- GH always does a phenomenal job -- so I'm hoping for lots of frightfully spooky stuff. With Ryan on the loose, it seems the perfect opportunity for him to strike. Will he? And if so, who will be his victim?

Sam has two children, a toddler and a son in elementary school, but her home is absolutely spotless and completely devoid of a single toy, sippy cup, or sign that a child -- much less two -- lives there. It's odd.

Kristina has a terrible worth ethic, which I suspect is the real reason that she's stuck in a rut. She not only ignored Daisy at the end of the bar while chatting with Sonny, but she actually stole a bottle of booze on her way out the door!

I like the Ryan/Kevin story, mostly because I love Jon Lindstrom, so I am delighted to see him with material that is worthy of him as an actor. His dry, not-campy, yet slightly unhinged portrayal of Ryan is a tour de force. -- Trudy

There are people who take great pleasure in someone else's misfortune, something called Schadenfreude, and Carly is their Queen. It's not very attractive. Carly was practically vibrating with anticipation at the thought of being able to convince the jury that Nelle's a monster, and then seeing her locked up forever because of HER testimony. There's nothing Carly enjoys more than destroying someone's life. -- Scrimmage

Margaux tells Drew that she can remember all these things about her father. Did she not say earlier that she was only around two years old when he disappeared? I think that would severely cramp her memory. On a different note, Sonny recognizes the picture of Marino's wife and says Scully was having an affair with her. So maybe Margaux is Scully's daughter? -- JDF

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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