In the port of good and evil

Drag bingo, honorary mob deputies, and a vanishing plane over the Arabian Sea made for quite an interesting week, but where is it all headed -- and will good prevail over evil? Should it? Our columnist certainly thinks so.

Yikes! Andre had a scary brush with death, but thankfully he pulled through. I would have been mightily pissed if the writers had killed him off because I love Andre. I know he's done some really terrible things in the name of science, but at his core, he's a good guy. He wants to cure Alzheimer's, not rule the world. Most importantly, Andre has seen the error of his ways, which was why he was in Ethiopia, hoping to make a difference through a mental health initiative.

Clearly, the assassin sent to fetch Andre from the airport was sent by Peter. Peter is determined to stop Andre at any cost, but why? What's the big deal about undoing what Shiloh did? I would think that Peter would want Andre to take back Drew's memories before Franco/Drew runs into Peter.

Am I missing something? Likely, because it appears that history is being rewritten to fit a new narrative. Peter is now being revealed to be Helena's partner in crime rather than his father's minion. A completely ludicrous premise because Faison would never have considered a child of his as an equal, much less a superior, especially one that he didn't even like. Additionally, if Peter was Helena's partner, then why did he have to worry about Faison? Faison was one of Helena's loyal flying monkeys, so he wouldn't have made a move against Peter without her permission.

We always knew that Peter had kept Jason hidden at the clinic because he'd intended to use Jason to take out Faison. That made sense when Peter feared his father, but it doesn't if Peter was his father's equal -- or higher up the food chain.

Folks, I'm going to be honest. I detest when writers tamper with history. I hate back-from-the-dead storylines -- except when the door was intentionally left open -- and long-lost identical twins, and I really despise being gaslighted by having things that I watched unfold revealed to be not true. It messes with the continuity of things, and it makes me distrust the writers. I'm okay with stories taking time to unfold and having lots of twists and turns as long as it follows a path, winding though it may be.

I like balance, but I also like for good to prevail. I've always been able to enjoy characters like Helena, Faison, Jerry Jacks, and yes, even Stavros Cassadine, because I could trust that they would not be victorious in the end. Good would always conquer evil. These days, that is not always true. How long has Brad been getting away with keeping Jonah from Michael?

While we're on the topic of annoying plot devices, I hate dream sequences like the one that Peter had when he decided to come clean to Maxie. I was all ready to applaud our scribes for doing the unexpected by having a character do the right thing by confessing. I was so happy that Peter had opted to tell Maxie the truth rather than helping Shiloh get out of jail, which we all know is going to blow up in Peter's face in spectacular fashion, only to realize that I'd been duped by the writers. It's frustrating because the Maxie that I know would be far more forgiving of Peter's past as an evildoer if Peter spoke up now instead of adding helping a demented cult leader flee justice to his list of sins. All Peter's actions prove now is that he has no faith in Maxie, and that is disappointing because she has not given him any reason to distrust her.

Until this nonsense, I saw Peter as an underdog. A guy who was determined to do better and not repeat the mistakes of his past. Everything about this feels contrived, so this is a rare instance where I'd be perfectly okay with the writers dropping things and moving on. There are far more interesting ways to give Peter and Maxie a storyline.

Hopefully, Shiloh takes Nelle up on her offer to reunite him with Wiley -- and Oscar's shares of ELQ. Not even Nelle could want Shiloh near her son, especially after she heard what Harmony/Lorraine had to say about Shiloh's history of drugging and sexually assaulting young women. I know that it doesn't mean that he's going to sexually abuse his own child, but it does illustrate that he doesn't care about innocence if it means getting what he wants. Look at what Shank was willing to do to Cameron.

I know that Nelle's only goal is to get out of jail, so I can only surmise that she's going to tell Shank the truth about Jonah to use as a bargaining chip for the ELQ shares. In exchange, Nelle no doubt expects Shiloh to spring her from jail. Knowing Nelle, she will make her way straight to the Quartermaine mansion's nursery -- that she is very familiar with -- to pluck Jonah right out of Michael's arms.

No doubt, Nelle relishes the idea of Michael enjoying a reunion with a son that he believed was dead only to suffer the loss once again when Nelle vanishes with Jonah.

That is the plan, I believe, but it better not unfold that way. I do not want Nelle to abscond with Jonah. That's a fate I don't wish on any child, including soap opera children. I know that Nelle wouldn't physically harm Jonah, but Jonah has been a pawn of her revenge long enough. It's time for Nelle to get some real karma. I don't just want good to win once in a while -- I want it to kick butt and take names.

Speaking of names, how long before Franco changes his?

For a brief second, I thought that Franco was going to ask Alexis to help him do just that -- and to secure a quickie divorce from Liz -- until I realized that he probably just wanted Alexis to help him get rid of that ankle monitor, since Scotty isn't in any hurry to get it done.

Folks, I'm willing to accept the science of the memory transplant, and I actually loved that Franco stepped up to save Cameron. That was one of my favorite scenes of the year. I'm even willing to accept that Franco fully believes that he's Drew Cain without any smidgen of "flashes" that the real Drew Cain had experienced in recent months, but what I can't accept is Franco's unwillingness to acknowledge that he's not the real Drew Cain, even in the face of irrefutable proof.

I put myself in Franco's shoes, as no doubt many of you have. I imagined what it would be like if I woke up one day with all of Jennifer Aniston's memories then looked in the mirror and saw myself staring back. Once I regained consciousness from the dead faint, I'd probably want a whole lot of therapy -- especially if my husband and kids were standing there, fighting to get me back.

I might think and act like Jennifer, but my body and my soul would remain me, something that I would be reminded of every time I looked in the mirror or saw my reflection or reached for a movie script only to realize that no one is going to hire this Jennifer Aniston to star in their next movie. Memories don't make the person, because the truth is that most memories are imperfect. As time passes, details begin to fade. If the event was fleeting enough, the memory itself can disappear. Do you remember every detail of your life? I don't, nor would I want to because, like most, there are things that aren't worth remembering and some that are best forgotten.

I understand Franco's horror at what his former self was capable of, but it's not like there wasn't an underlying reason for those actions. As clich as the brain tumor defense is, it was the reason that Franco killed. Franco was a different man after the tumor was removed, so if FranDrew is going to judge Franco's life, then he should at least judge all of it, not just the worst of it.

I'm beyond annoyed that FranDrew acts as if the real Drew Cain doesn't exist. Not only does Drew Cain exist, but he was Oscar's father. It's so incredibly disrespectful to Oscar's memory for FranDrew to act like he actually had anything to do with the conception of Kim's child.

Oscar was absolutely nothing to FranDrew because Drew Cain didn't even know about Oscar prior to 2012, so there was no emotional connection established. This idea that FranDrew suddenly feels it is complete malarkey because Oscar is literally another man's child. Oscar and the real Drew Cain shared DNA, a real father-son relationship, and it was through Drew that Oscar had a sister. Does FranDrew also feel a connection to Scout? Yeah, I doubt it, too.

That brings me to the real Drew Cain, who went through exactly the same thing back when Patient 6 darkened his doorstep. Sure, much like Franco, Drew initially refused to accept that he wasn't Jason Morgan because he had all of Jason's memories, but when Drew was faced with concrete evidence in the form of fingerprints and Andre's explanation of how Drew came to believe that he was Jason, Drew accepted the truth. He didn't walk around barking at everyone to keep calling him Jason, and he certainly didn't use Jason's past with Sam to manipulate her into staying with him. Drew had far more on the line with Sam than FranDrew has with Kim.

It really bothers me how FranDrew uses Oscar's memory to play Kim like a maestro, but for all the wrong reasons. FranDrew's objective is to wear Kim down because he hopes to rekindle their past -- except that it's not their past. It's Kim and another man's past.

When Drew found out that he was not Jason, he forged a new path. He struggled a bit because he had lost Sam, but he accepted that he was not the real Jason Morgan. Franco isn't doing that. He's clinging to another man's life while acting like Franco's life doesn't matter.

Was Drew Cain really that much of a jerk in his past life? What in the world did Kim see in him? Where is Drew's honor and integrity? Where is the man who was determined to report Shiloh to his commanding officer because of an illicit operation?

The man that Kim had described would have put the greater good ahead of his own needs. He would have done everything in his power to right the wrong that had been done -- not just to Franco, but to Liz and her children. He would have accepted that Franco was currently a vessel for Drew's memories because an enemy from Drew's past had been prepared to subject a teenage boy to a mad science experiment. I also believe that the real Drew Cain would never have used a woman's grief, especially one that he loved, to manipulate her.

Granted, there's no way to know if the procedure can be reversed, but I believe that the real Drew would have done everything in his power to return Franco to his loved ones.

I also question this "love of a lifetime" that Kim and Drew shared during their brief interlude in 2002. If they had spent ten years pining for each other, why didn't they try to reconnect? I know that Drew wrote to Kim for two years and that he was on some top-secret mission for eons, but are we to seriously believe that he never Googled her? That he didn't check for social media accounts, look at LinkedIn, or go to one of the million websites that offer you all kinds of personal information about people for a special low introductory rate?

No, instead, Drew spent eight more years, longing for the woman that he didn't even bother to keep tabs on, while sharing all the details of his summer of love with his SEAL buddies. That might make sense in 1912, but not in 2012.

Kim's situation is far more believable. I can totally accept that a single mother with a growing medical practice didn't have time or much interest in a social life or stalking exes on the Internet.

I'm rooting for Franco to emerge from this in some way. Even if his memories don't return, I want the new path that he forges to lead back to Liz. I like them together, and I hate that Cameron has been put into this situation. I don't blame Cameron for any of this, but he certainly carries the burden of what happened to Franco because he knows that Franco's only motivation in trading places had been to save his stepson.

In a rather amusing twist, Mac made Jason his acting deputy because Mac needs Jason's help to find out what happened to Andre, and now to Drew. Yup, Mac's first order of business as chief of detectives was to make a mob enforcer his Barney Fife. Epiphany didn't even bat an eye at the absurdity of that move because, in Port Charles, the bad guys are good, and aliens come from as far away as a planet called Lumina.

Jason is hot on the case, which means that Peter's goose is well on its way to being cooked. Luckily for Peter, Jason first has to figure out what happened to his twin. Talk about a door being left wide open for a return! I'm thrilled about this because Drew needs to get back to Port Charles, if for no other reason than to remind everyone that they can't pretend that Franco is him. It's weird, and it needs to stop.

Across town, Sonny is keeping busy growing his family. He decided that Carly doesn't have enough on her plate with the impending birth of a child with spina bifida, worrying about a daughter grieving the death of her first love, and a broken foot during the third -- and most uncomfortable -- trimester of pregnancy, so he generously added more by suggesting that they adopt a minor who was in the country illegally with forged documents. What a thoughtful and considerate husband.

Proof that Carly has grown as a person is that she didn't get up and slap Sonny before marching back to her mansion down the road. It's what I would have done.

What did Sonny think would happen with Gladys? The woman agreed to be complicit to a federal offense -- or twenty -- in exchange for a huge payoff. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that a person like that would be back for more when the money ran out. Sonny can't risk making a move against Gladys because that would bring unwanted scrutiny to both him and Dev, so she pretty much has Sonny in a corner, and she knows that. Sonny might as well have given her the keys to Greystone.

I really don't understand Sonny and Carly. They are facing an uncertain future with their unborn child, and they are doing nothing to prepare their loved ones. I appreciate that they don't want to share what's going on with the world, but don't their children at least deserve to know the truth? Some of them still live at home. I'm stunned that they would talk to the kids about adopting Dev but not let them know that their new sibling is going to be facing some serious challenges.

When my husband and I learned that our daughter suffered from severe asthma, the first thing that we did was learn CPR. We also educated ourselves on what to do when she had an attack, how to spot the warning signs, and when it was time to head to the emergency room.

The truth is, Sonny and Carly won't know the extent of their child's disabilities until their child is born. They can do every prenatal test in the world, but the birth itself can bring its own set of complications -- and miracles -- that could impact the child's prognosis. It's time for them to start leaning on their family because everyone is going to need time and emotional support to be ready to give the baby the best life possible.

Finally, Alexis and Neil had their first date. It was completely unconventional, fun, and sweet, and they even shared a kiss, but for me, it lacked the intense passion that Julian and Alexis had shared. I suppose that's the point; Neil is different than the other men that Alexis has dated, with the exception of Ned. Ned was a great guy, which I guess is why it ultimately didn't work out. Will this relationship follow suit, or is Neil the real deal?

I'm trying to keep an open mind, but that's hard to do when I see Julian and Kim crumbling before my eyes.

My favorite part of the date was when Alexis proudly proclaimed herself "Queen of Bingo!" The stunning host (Manila Luzon) in sparkling pink gown quickly warned, "Stay in your lane," which was not only hilarious but a clever nod to RuPaul's Drag Race.

I love that Felicia is having fun at the bar, and I look forward to seeing what else she has up her sleeve for the patrons of the Floating Rib.

Liesl is full of surprises. A few weeks ago, we learned that she's a formula race car driver. This week, we learned that she likes to put on her own white jacket that looks exactly like a lab coat then roam the halls of GH until Monica sends security to chase Liesl out. Liesl's goal is to wear Monica down until she stops kicking her out. I laughed so hard, I ended up with hiccups.

Worst way to jinx a sale is to start measuring for curtains before you sign on the dotted line. Just saying, Olivia!

Did anyone else notice the strange floorplan in Andre's hospital room when Peter slipped into the bathroom to avoid being caught when Andre's alarms went off? Evidently, the bathroom has a handy-dandy second door that leads into a different hallway for clean getaways. Something tells me that a Cassadine had a hand in that nifty detail.

Liesl Obrecht's "911 Fashion Emergency," and her schoolgirl crush on Jax, is a great illustration of the amazing range of her portrayer, the incredible Kathleen Gati, and it shows just how far she's come since her character was introduced back in 2012. -- Scrimmage

You know many viewers through the years have expressed the feeling that Jason and Carly should have been the "romantic couple" not Sonny or Jax, but it is very rare that we see a deep but platonic friendship between two people, no matter the gender which makes Carly & Jason's friendship a refreshing change from the usual. -- Dreyne Smythe

The fact is that Drew and NuDrew don't have any right to dispose of that $1.5M. That money was stolen from the allied forces in Afghanistan by Shiloh and Tex when they sold allied fuel to the insurgents. That money should have been turned in to the Navy not flown around the world to "give back" to the people of Afghanistan who it never belonged to in the first place. -- Daffey Sez

THANK YOU for so succinctly spelling out why the whole "Peter thinks he needs to stop Drew" plot line is bogus. And stupid. And insulting to viewers. That isn't ancient history there that you're re-writing, writers, it's like, last year. -- peteena

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

Take care and happy viewing,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.