Out with a bang and in with a roar

And that's a wrap. Hindsight might be 2020, but our columnist has her eyes firmly set on the future. Is Sonny alive? Could Julian's stop at Kim Nero's apartment have been groundwork for future turmoil? Has Carly gone too far this time? Let's see what 2021 might have in store for us!

It was a short week, but boy, did GH deliver. Sonny is missing, Cyrus is making his move, and Carly is being, well, Carly -- much to Jason's dismay.

I feel Jason's frustration with Carly. She rarely sees the big picture, she acts before she thinks, and she never consults anyone with a smidgen of common sense before putting one of her crazy schemes into motion. Kidnapping Mama Grey might give Jason temporary leverage over Cyrus, but it poked the bear. Talk about adding to Jason's troubles.

I have no doubt that Sonny is alive and that he'll eventually turn up. However, Sonny's ongoing silence doesn't bode well, because if Sonny were conscious and in his right mind, he'd have already contacted Jason. Not that Sonny's troubles will be over once he surfaces. He's going to have a lot to answer for, starting with what went down on the bridge prior to the collapse and how Julian ended up with a bullet in his chest.

At best, Sonny is guilty of manslaughter. It's not self-defense if you threaten someone with a gun, even if your intention is not to kill. Julian had every right to try to get the gun away from Sonny because Julian was acting in self-defense. Had Julian shot and killed Sonny, it would have been justified, but Sonny was the aggressor in the scenario. He had no legal authority to detain Julian with a gun, especially since Julian was already gravely injured from a gunshot wound that he sustained during his first run-in with Sonny and Jason.

To me, Sonny will always be guilty of murdering Julian, just like he murdered A.J.

Luckily for Sonny, Diane -- and the writers -- are in his corner. No one witnessed Julian's final moments, and it's unlikely that the police will recover the gun that fired the fatal shot. Even if they do, it's doubtful that they will be able to lift Sonny's fingerprints from a weapon that was submerged in water for an extended time. Additionally, Diane will argue that the hit man at the train station -- who had that very incriminating text message exchange with Cyrus -- established reasonable doubt. Another assassin could have taken Julian out.

What's done is done. Sending Sonny to jail for Julian's murder will not bring Julian back. I've accepted that Sonny will likely not be held responsible for Julian's death, but I am hoping that 2021 will finally be the year that people stop looking at Sonny as some kind of hero. He's not. Sonny is a mobster who kills people and breaks the law on a daily basis. The same goes for Jason. Just because they occasionally help the good people of Port Charles doesn't absolve them of wrongdoing.

Things might be different if Sonny and Jason had some kind of agreement with the police to maintain law and order in Port Charles, but they don't. Sonny isn't worried about Cyrus breaking the law; he opposes Cyrus' presence in town because it encroaches on Sonny's very lucrative criminal enterprise.

The big question I have from Julian's final hours is what his visit to Kim Nero's apartment was all about. I know that nothing in soaps is ever random. The writers wanted us to know that Kim had had a child, and not for a single minute do I believe that Julian is that boy's father. What would be the point of the revelation only to kill Julian off a few scenes later?

Kim might have told the nanny that "Charlie" was the father, but that doesn't make it so. Kim had slept with Franco under very questionable -- and controversial -- circumstances, which is exactly why I think Kim and her son are headed back to Port Charles sooner rather than later.

I can't imagine that the brain tumor is going to be the end of Franco, especially now that Liesl has assured him that she can help him. It's a bump in the road, but Franco will get past it, and he and Liz will resume their happy lives -- until Kim shows up with a baby in tow.

I look forward to Kim facing the music for her wicked actions.

What Kim did to Franco was despicable. To me, it was rape. Franco loved Liz, and he would never have slept with Kim had he been in control of his body. Kim took advantage of an extraordinary situation, and she did so for completely selfish reasons. She slept with "Drew" with the intention of getting pregnant, knowing that, genetically, the child would be Franco's. The fact that she named the baby "Andrew" strongly suggests that Franco is indeed the true father.

Regardless, Kim can't be certain who the father is without a DNA test.

I also have a big issue with Kim keeping the child a secret. Did she learn nothing with Oscar? Oscar longed for his father most of his life, and once he had a chance to connect with Drew, Oscar loved getting to know him and having his father in his life. How can Kim deny her second son the same opportunity? It's downright heartless.

If Franco is the father, then he has a right to know about his son as much as his son has a right to know about him. Kim needs to stop lying. It's not like it would somehow hurt Franco and Liz's marriage. Liz knows that Drew, not Franco, slept with Kim.

Moving on, Jackie is back in town, and Finn is trying his hardest to not let the past put a damper on his future.

Folks, I like Jackie. She's an interesting character, and Kim Delany is a great actress. I can't wait to see what the writers have planned for her, but I'm really on the fence about her relationship with Finn. If Chase is indeed Finn's son (as I firmly believe he is), then that is going to complicate things -- but not enough to jeopardize Finn's relationship with Anna. The only thing that could hurt Finn and Anna at this point is if Finn or Anna is unfaithful. I don't see that happening.

Finn appears nervous around Jackie, but I don't have the impression that it stems from lust or unrequited love. To me, it appears that Finn is just conflicted about the past and making things right with his father. Should he tell his father the truth or let sleeping dogs lie?

I think Finn should be honest. It's not fair to anyone to keep this kind of secret, especially if there's a possibility that Finn is Chase's father. It's not like it will change the relationship that Chase shares with Gregory. Gregory will always be the man who loved and raised Chase. If Finn is indeed Chase's father, then Chase has a right to build on that relationship if he would like.

There's also Violet to consider. She's the one true innocent in all of this, and she's lost so much already with Hayden's disappearance. Violet should have an opportunity to get to know her big brother if Finn turns out to be Chase's father.

Speaking of Chase, as much as I like him, I want to throttle him.

I wasn't really a fan of Michael and Willow's marriage, but the more that Chase tries to weasel his way back into Willow's life, the more that I feel compelled to root for her to choose Michael rather than Chase.

Intentional or not, I feel like Chase is trying to have his cake and eat it, too. Worse, he's no longer putting Wiley first -- or, for that matter Willow. Instead, Chase is putting himself first, and only himself. As far as I'm concerned, Chase made his bed months ago when he decided to rip Willow's heart out by making her believe that he had slept with Sasha. Just because Nelle is no longer a threat to Wiley doesn't mean that Wiley is immune from being hurt if Michael and Willow should divorce.

Whether Chase acknowledges it or not, Wiley sees Willow as his mother because he's been encouraged to. She has become a part of his daily routine, and he's grown attached to her. Why should Wiley have that taken away from him? Mind you, this would be less than a year after having Lucas and Brad ripped out of his life.

I was a fan of Chillow (Chase and Willow) back in the day, but that ship has sailed for me. I might have felt different if Michael and Willow hadn't found happiness with each other and in their marriage, but they did. Why should they give that up and put Wiley through more upheaval for Chase's happiness?

In other couples news, Tracy is doing her best to try to keep Olivia from finding out that Ned had a drunken one-night stand with Alexis. At the same time, Alexis is finding escape from her troubles at the bottom of a bottle, which makes Tracy doubly nervous that Alexis will eventually drop a truth bomb on Olivia, who has a nasty tendency to be both pushy and preachy at the same time.

Tracy knows it's only a matter of time before Alexis blurts out the truth about the tryst because Alexis is in complete self-destruct mode. People like that tend to pull others down with them on their descent to rock bottom.

Can Ned and Olivia's marriage survive Ned's indiscretion? I think so, if Olivia is willing to forgive her husband -- and take responsibility for her own role in the communication breakdown that led to the misunderstanding. I'm not suggesting that Olivia is to blame for Ned cheating. He's a grown man responsible for his own choices. However, Olivia wasn't forthcoming about her own actions when she took off with Robert to search for Holly.

Olivia hasn't been unfaithful, but she hasn't been fully committed to her marriage, either. I think a part of Olivia has a crush on Robert. I don't blame her; he's handsome and charming and has a fascinating background, but Olivia is married to Ned. She needs to put distance between herself and Robert rather than trying to play matchmaker by setting him up with single friends.

As for Alexis, my heart just breaks watching her. I don't know what rock bottom will look like for her, but I hope that it happens soon because it makes me sad watching her spiral the way that she is. The truth is, excessive drinking takes a toll on a person's body. Prolonged use can affect a person's blood pressure, damage the liver, stomach, pancreas, esophagus, and even brain. Alexis is a cancer survivor, so she's even more vulnerable to the physical effects of alcoholism.

Is that where this story is headed? It certainly would make for a compelling story -- and perhaps serves as an opportunity to reach out to struggling viewers by offering helplines and PSAs. I always prefer that stories like these be handled with sensitivity and respect rather than just a plot twist to drive up drama and ratings.

I love Alexis, so I'm ready to see her get some closure with Neil's death and perhaps find a new path in life. I suspect part of the reason that Alexis is so rudderless these days is because she no longer has her career to fall back on. It was the one thing that had always given Alexis a purpose in life.

Finally, it's hard to muster up any pity for Jordan. I know that she wasn't acting out of malice when she kept Curtis in the dark about Taggert or when she tried to protect Molly by urging her to accept that T.J. had ended things, but I also see where Curtis is coming from. The truth is that Jordan tends to be selective with what she shares with Curtis. She's quick to trust Curtis when it benefits her, but she guards the secrets that might reflect badly on her.

Faking Taggert's death was not part of a police investigation. It was all done under the table, with Jordan calling in favors to get the deed done. In the end, Jordan trusted Epiphany to keep silent more than she trusted Curtis. That's got to sting.

As for Molly, I'm happy that she finally came clean to T.J. about Brando. T.J. loves Molly, and the two have been through so much. A moment of weakness will not be the end of them. They are so much stronger than that. I just hope he doesn't hold his mother to a higher standard than he does Molly.

Jordan shouldn't have been as cruel as she was with Molly, but that's between Jordan and Molly. T.J. needs to understand that Jordan was in a no-win situation because she knew what Cyrus was capable of. It's why she and Taggert resorted to framing the drug lord to get him off the streets, and, later, it's why they faked Taggert's death. The more Molly kept searching for T.J., the more danger she put herself in. Jordan is responsible for hurting Molly, but how Molly reacted to that hurt is on Molly and only Molly. Molly made the choice to take Brando home and sleep with him. No one twisted her arm.

I think Jordan is going to need her son to lean on in the coming days because her marriage to Curtis is doomed. My gut tells me that the writers intend to explore Portia and Curtis' relationship, especially since there's a very real possibility that they share a child. Given Trina's passionate nature and unwavering love for Taggert -- and her utter disdain for Curtis -- I can't imagine learning that Curtis might be her father would go over well with Trina.

It's the perfect recipe for a good soapy drama.

I better never hear Carly suggest that she's an innocent bystander in Sonny's world of organized crime. She lost that right when she orchestrated the kidnapping of an innocent family member of a rival to use as a pawn in a mob war. Carly is Sonny's partner in crime.

Scott and Liesl need to be a couple. Not only would that put Liesl in line to be Franco's stepmother, but she would keep Scott on his toes. Plus, Liesl could benefit from having a lawyer boyfriend.

I just wanted to say how happy I am that (Tad) Martin Grey is Laura's half-brother. That will keep him on the canvas as long as he wants to be, being related to a legacy character. -- Melissa H. Hanbey

I can't be the only one who had a bitter laugh when Sonny was offering Julian redemption. I am not saying that Julian did not NEED redeeming. But it was coming from a murdering mobster. -- usingffalot

I loved it when Duke told Julian that this was the end of the line, and that there'd be no more "reinventing himself," like he did when he came back as Media Mogul Derrick Wells, who later revealed himself to be back-from-the-dead Zombie gangster, Julian Jerome, and after that didn't work out, he became "Charlie," the hard working owner of a popular local gastropub featuring avocado toast. No more masks, disguises, OR toast for Ick. He IS toast! -- Scrimmage

I love hearing from readers, so please feel free to leave a comment below or email me. 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.