Oooh, that Nelle, she's not getting out of jail

As chilly October winds blow in, a decided smell of death accompanies it. First Shiloh, now a henchman, will Alexis fall next? Nelle's attempt to stir up trouble was foiled by justice -- for now, but how long before the dam bursts and evil breaks free?

Dear readers, it's been a rough couple of weeks for me. I'm an animal lover with several pets including a couple of rescue dogs. One of my dogs, my sidekick Hazel, was diagnosed with cancer, and the news hit me quite hard. Long story short, I took her for a second opinion, and even though she will have to undergo surgery next week, my second vet has given me reason to hope.

If you could take a minute to say a little prayer or send some positive vibes and well-wishes my Hazel's way on Thursday, 10/24, I would be eternally grateful. She's the one who watches GH with me and the one I bounce thoughts and ideas off of, so I'd be lost without her.

Now, time to talk about the week that was and the mess that is Kim.

Folks, I never really warmed to Kim Nero. Her romance with Julian felt more like a long casual hookup rather than a budding love affair, mainly because she had made it very clear going in that she was deeply in love with Drew Cain. It bothered me that she would still be in love with a man that she hadn't known or seen in nearly two decades. Don't get me wrong; I totally get why a single mother with a busy medical practice wouldn't have much of a dating life, but it went beyond that. According to Oscar, she was lonely, and she often locked herself in the bedroom, listening to the CD that Drew had made for her at the turn of the century.

Julian summed it up best when he told Franco that Kim had known Drew a long time ago, for a few months, back when they were both young and starting life. Could there have been more? Sure, but it ended before Kim and Drew could explore a true relationship.

Later, we found out that Kim had also discovered that Oscar had a brain tumor, which she decided to keep from her son in an effort to give him a normal life for as long as possible. In truth, I suspect that she was in a bit of denial, and she didn't want to face her son's mortality. It was her way of controlling the situation, and another clue that Kim's mental state has never really been the healthiest.

For me, the turning point with Kim was the night of Liz and Franco's wedding reception. I lost any and all compassion for Kim when she decided to drug and rape Drew. It doesn't matter that she didn't actually have sex with Drew. She would have if Julian hadn't walked in on her. She didn't stop herself; Julian stopped her. To me, that makes a big difference.

Kim promised Drew that she had gone into counseling, but I can't imagine that her therapist is very happy with Kim sleeping with a man who had his brains scrambled in a mad science experiment, especially when that man is married to someone that Kim claimed was her close friend. I know I'm not happy about it. Not at all. To me, Kim has become expendable. She has nothing to anchor her in town, not even FrankenDrew, and she has lost what little appeal she had by turning into a sexual predator, which is how I see her now.

The only saving grace in this disastrous storyline is William Lipton. He is like a ray of sparkling sunshine in an unrelenting abyss of darkness -- and the main reason that I'm rooting for Franco to find his way back to his family. I love Liz and Franco, but the reunion I want to see is the one between Franco and Cameron. That boy breaks my heart every time I hear him talk about what Franco means to him, and I honestly can't understand how Kim can appear so unmoved by what she's putting Cameron through.

Kim can kick rocks all the way out of town and fade to black for all I care.

Franco's visit with Kevin only reinforced my certainty that Franco is far closer than anyone -- with perhaps the exception of Kevin -- realizes. So much of their interaction reminded me of the early therapy sessions between Kevin and Franco, so I'm hopeful this farce of a storyline will end soon. Kim sees what she wants to see, but this version of Drew doesn't jibe with any version of Drew that we've seen.

A man who is willing to put his life on the line to save a piece of trash like Shiloh would not put himself ahead of a wife and her children desperate to get their husband and stepfather back. Drew Cain always put others ahead of himself, which is why he insisted on returning the money to Afghanistan and why he took a detour to find Andre. Drew wanted to make certain that FrankenDrew wouldn't leave town before undergoing the procedure. It never occurred to Drew that FrankenDrew might balk at doing it because Drew would never balk.

Even Drew's desire to eschew the return of his memories through the memory mapping procedure was selfless because it was about cherishing the relationship that he had built with his son. He and Oscar had bonded, and to Drew, that bond was more important than anything that might have been in Drew's past.

Drew Cain was a selfless man who would readily sacrifice himself for others because he did it every day in Afghanistan until Helena and her flying monkeys swooped in.

I see so many of Franco's traits in FrankenDrew -- selfishness, manipulation, insecurity -- that I don't think it will be necessary for him to undergo Andre's procedure. I think Franco just needs to spend more time with Liz and Cameron rather than Kim. Which begs the question: why exactly is Kim allowed to visit Franco if Liz had him admitted? I would have barred her from Shadybrook and slapped her with a restraining order.

Also, can we please never ever again have FrankenDrew refer to Oscar as his son? In no way is a flash drive a father. Drew didn't know about Oscar when he left, and Oscar was dead when FrankenDrew opened his eyes. It's insulting to Drew and to Oscar, and it further illustrates just how delusional Kim is.

Remember, there but for the grace of Franco goes Cameron.

It's that very thing that makes this storyline so repugnant to watch because I can't stop wondering if Kim would be behaving the same way had Cameron woken up believing that he was Drew. A part of me fears that the answer is yes, she would be.

Now, Mr. Martin Gray, attorney extraordinaire. Is he good, is he bad, is he misunderstood? It's too soon to tell, but he already has one strike against him in my book for agreeing to represent Nelle at her parole hearing and for giving her tips on how to con the parole board into springing her, knowing that she has no business walking free.

Luckily, the parole board didn't buy into Nelle's saccharine tears and tales of woe about accepting responsibility for killing her first fianc and plotting to murder her second fianc after serving less than two years of her sentence. However, I couldn't help but wonder what the point of it all was? To pit Julian and Brad against each other? I thought Chloe Lanier had left the show, yet we see more of Nelle on a regular basis than we do most recurring characters.

Someone is stalking Julian by trying to drive down business at Charlie's Pub. Initially, he suspected Olivia, but Alexis assured him that he was wrong. Brad is also on the list of usual suspects, but Sonny joined the ranks, as well, when he stopped by to toss around a few barely veiled threats, and so the list grows.

It truly astounds me how Brad can have the temerity to act offended by Julian's refusal to commit murder to protect Wiley/Jonah. It's that very kind of thinking that puts Wiley/Jonah and Lucas in danger! That Brad thinks murder is a solution to anything only proves that he hasn't changed one iota. Brad isn't having panic attacks because he's afraid of being caught; he's having them because he can't keep up the pretense of being a decent human being.

That said, I don't think Brad is the person behind the flyers.

I think it's Neil. Okay, I hope it's Neil because that would make him interesting and finally give him something more to do than flirt with Alexis and listen to people randomly vent. What happened to Neil's passion for Russian royalty? And what led to his daughter ending up in a cult and dying? At one point, I thought he might even be the one arranging dates and breaking into homes, but that storyline appears to have been dropped right along with whatever they had been cooking up for Neil.

The writers need to do something with Neil or put Julian and Alexis back together. Julian has proven himself reformed -- enough. Sure, he's undermining Lucas' relationship with Brad, but that's a good thing because Julian knows what a piece of garbage Brad is. Lucas needs to be free of that toxic man, and he needs to learn the truth about Wiley/Jonah because it's the only way for Lucas to move forward and perhaps find true love with someone far more worthy than the lying snake in the grass that he's currently shackled to.

Okay, folks, who else is completely baffled by all the twists and turns for Sam this week? The FBI arrests Sam, but the PCPD processes the paperwork then she's sent to a state prison rather than a federal prison to await trial. She didn't even face a judge before she was sent to prison, which is stunning, given how long Shiloh traipsed around footloose and fancy free to wreak havoc on people, despite several arrests. I'm not a legal expert or anything, which means that it should have been obvious to pretty much everyone on the writing staff that none of this makes a lick of sense.

Clearly, the goal was to get Sam into Pentonville for some Dawn of Day payback from Shiloh's devoted minions, but why not just set up Shiloh's death as a murder mystery with Sam as the framed prime suspect who was denied bail? Instead, Peter is rolling around under the bus, and viewers are left scratching their heads. Yet, despite all the shark jumping to get Sam there, I am curious to see how it all plays out.

There are a lot of people at Pentonville right now. Not just Ryan, Nelle, and Lorraine, but Cassandra was sent there as well, and Sasha may soon be joining the party. Will we get some resolution on more than one storyline? I really hope so.

Sadly, that means that Peter's days are numbered. Not only is Maxie jinxing herself left and right by insisting that some secrets are better left buried and assuring Peter that she sees him for who truly is, but Jason is on the case. Jason is Port Charles's Perry Mason without the law degree, suit, and ethics, but with all the crime-solving abilities. Not even Bryce Henderson's timely death is going to save Peter because Jason already knows that Peter is behind this. At this point, it's just a matter of proving it, and when that happens, Maxie's world is going to be turned upside down.

Maxie can drown herself in some humble pie and apologies for going off on Lulu the way that she did. I'm not saying Lulu's action were entirely selfless, but she did try to do the right thing. Yeah, it sucked and it hurt a lot of people, but that's on Valentin, not Lulu. She didn't force Valentin to lie and manipulate.

I like Wes Ramsey, and I had such high hopes for Peter, but I can't see him sticking around much longer. I suspect he will end up joining the ranks of past villains like Jerry Jacks, Stavros and Helena Cassadine, and his father, Cesar -- people who periodically return to terrorize the town with various mad plots designed to boost ratings. I'm okay with that. Our villains were purged with the deaths of Cesar, Helena, Victor, and even Madeline, so we could use some new evildoers. Frankly, Peter is more interesting as the bad guy than the good guy.

Good thing Anna has already accepted that Peter is Alex's son, not hers. Unfortunately for Anna, she's about to lose more than a son if she doesn't get home soon because Finn has figured out that Hayden lied about miscarrying their baby. Finn is certain that "Honeybun" is, in fact, a child, not a dog. With a little encouragement from Alexis, Finn has decided to confront Hayden.

I'm looking forward to Anna's return because it's going to be interesting to see how Hayden and a child will impact Finn's life with Anna. Will Anna feel threatened by the children that Hayden can give Finn? Will Hayden feel insecure next to a world-traveled super spy? Then there's Finn, who will feel the pull of the life that he had dreamed of with Hayden, compete with the life he's built with Anna. Granted, that life was put on hold for an extended time, but there had been extenuating circumstances because of the whole twin memory mapping experiments.

Back to those crazy Cassadines and their mad plots. Valentin's chickens nearly returned home to roost until Sasha fell on her sword for him. A huge mistake because Sasha is now looking at hard time for fraud, with no one in her corner except for Michael.

Meanwhile, Nina reconciled with Valentin because he wisely stuck to his "it wasn't me" guns, even though he had no clue that Sasha would give him an out. Nina deserves exactly what she gets from this point forward, and I feel absolutely zero sympathy for her. She is choosing to believe Valentin's lies because she's not ready to accept that she sucks at picking soul mates. If she truly wanted the truth, then she would demand that Sasha back up her claims, starting with the name of the accomplice who had tampered with the DNA tests and copies of all her bank records. We all know -- Nina included -- that the money trail would lead right back to Valentin.

So, who was spying on Laura and Ava at Metro Court Restaurant? Could it be Nikolas? Laura asked about the psychic, which made me wonder if it might be her, but why would a psychic hide in the stairwell, eavesdropping on Laura and Ava? It's possible that it was one of Laura's grandchildren, but none of them would have a reason to watch Laura from afar. My guess? It was Nikolas.

I've been certain of Nikolas' return ever since Laura was warned that her son was in danger. Hayden and Jax's quest to find the codicil only reinforced that theory, so I'm more than ready for this to happen. I hated that Nikolas was killed off, and I've been waiting for the wrong to be righted ever since it was revealed that Nikolas' body was never recovered.

Could Nikolas already be back in Port Charles? Yes, I think so. It would make complete sense if Nikolas was lurking in the shadows, watching his mother and the woman who had betrayed him for some plastic surgery. He might also be the one stirring up some trouble for Ava's brother as payback for Ava not helping Spencer. It's definitely food for thought.

Nikolas is needed not just to give Spencer his father back, Laura her son, and Liz her best friend, but also to dethrone Valentin. It's time for Valentin to hit rock bottom and lose everything. I want Valentin to suffer the fate that he made Spencer and Nikolas suffer. I realize that Nikolas went pretty dark toward the end, but he's no worse than anyone else in town, and he's a far sight better than quite a few.

I also wouldn't mind if Valentin lost custody of Charlotte for a while. It grates on my nerves how Valentin (and Liesl) talk about how Charlotte loves Nina more than she loves Lulu. Not only is it vile to think like that, but it's incredibly unhealthy. Lulu is Charlotte's mother, and through no fault of Lulu's, they were denied a relationship for the first part of Charlotte's life. A true loving father would recognize the importance of a healthy parental relationship to a growing child and do everything to foster it.

Valentin has always used Charlotte as a means to keep Nina tethered to him, putting his needs above his own child's.

Finally, Kendra paid Kiefer's grave a visit, pretty much confirming every viewer's suspicion that she's Kiefer's sister. She vowed to avenge Kiefer's death as she slipped something into the new can of protein powder. At first, I thought that Kendra had intended to wreck Alexis' sobriety, but then I realized that Alexis would have realized if she was high after consuming a shake, especially if it kept happening. It wouldn't take Einstein to put things together after one or two shake benders.

It's far more likely that Kendra is slipping some kind of poison into that powder -- something that won't raise any questions and that would guarantee Alexis paid with her life.

That said, Alexis is a moron for consuming that powder. The first container clearly stated vanilla, but the powder made chocolate. This container will not even have a seal on it, which would raise some serious alarms with me. I don't care who gave it to me; I would want an unopened package for basic health reasons.

Did anyone else notice that Nina had her phone when she fled the church, suggesting that she had slipped it into the bodice of her wedding gown before walking down the aisle. That says quite a bit about her priorities and the importance of that marriage.

So, is Monica the new Audrey Hardy? You know, the grandma who always has the grandkids? Between running a hospital and babysitting Danny and Scout all the time, I'm surprised that she had time to visit Franco.

Ryan sure has pretty penmanship for a man who recently lost his dominant hand. Also, why would anyone give a serial killer a pen? Shouldn't he be typing out those obsessive missives on a computer or typewriter in the library?

The will reading was in March of 2016, over three years ago, and we are finally going to get back to that portrait Helena left for Nik in her will. I hope Laura and Kevin will resurrect their investigation into the key that Helena left Laura, which Helena said is the key to something Laura has loved and lost. Kevin better put on his cryptographer hat again because I think what Laura loved and lost is Nikolas, the real Nikolas, who has been gone for much longer than we realize. -- Daffy Sez

I'll bet that's the first time anybody has ever told Terry that she didn't know what it felt like to be trapped in the wrong body. The look on her face when he said that was hilarious. At least she had the class not to tell FroDrew what a gigantic ass he just made of himself with that remark. It's funny, but I never saw Drew Cain as the type who would feel sorry for himself, but FroDrew seems to enjoy throwing himself a pity party, whenever anybody not named Kim shows up. -- Scrimmage

It would make more sense to me if they had a lawyer find out there were problems with Nelle's trial and overthrow the conviction rather than be up for parole in just over a year. -- Mary Keely

I LOVE seeing Michael E Knight, and I don't care what role he's playing. Welcome back to daytime! -- Stacib23

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.