My big fat Greek compound

Is there a magic carpet or supersonic jet transporting everyone in Port Charles to Monte Carlo and Greece? What sort of time travel wizardry is going on here? Let's discuss this and so much more in this week's Two Scoops

Dear readers, the supersonic jet known as the Concorde could cross the Atlantic Ocean and get from New York to Paris in about three hours. It required a massive amount of jet fuel, tickets for this flight topped $10,000, and it was retired over a decade ago. I can only believe the local entrepreneurs of Port Charles, New York, scooped up these babies for their own corporate jets because people keep ending up in Crete and on Cassadine Island in record time. Not to mention how fast Sam and Dante got to Monte Carlo.

The party in Greece is getting quite large now. Liesl, Valentin, the very undead Drew Cain, the also undead Victor Cassadine, Robert, Anna, Nurse Chloe, and some random Cassadine toadies, as well as soon-to-be Jason, Britt, Dante, and Sam, methinks.

But you must admit the timing is questionable, because I swear, I just saw Valentin at the Q mansion, and by happy hour the same day, he was having cocktails with Anna in Greece. I mean, that would be great if I could hop on a flight right now and be in Paris by lunch for some homemade quiche and French wine at the Caf de la Comedie at the Louvre. I just might spend 10k of my retirement savings to do it. But alas, the Concorde has retired.

Oh, that was a lovely Parisian daydream. But now back to Greece! In this menagerie of heroes, villains, and anti-heroes, no one knows who they can trust. Typically, Drew Cain is a very upstanding and trustworthy guy, but now that evil Peter has "activated" him, not so much.

Is Victor telling Valentin the truth? Is he indeed Valentin's father? Yeah, that sounds about right. That crazy vixen Helena probably slept with multiple Cassadine men. But did Victor only tell Valentin he was his daddy to manipulate him into helping him? Can Drew trust Valentin? Can Valentin trust Liesl? Will it take Obrecht, Valentin, Robert, Anna, and Victor all teaming up to bring down that wretched Peter? I didn't add Drew into the mix, as he is clearly being controlled by Peter right now, so he's of no help to anyone.

I have lost count of how many mind-controlled people we have had on GH -- Jason, Dante, Drew, Lucky, Luke -- who else? Note that none of the mind-controlled people are women. Did Peter program Drew to murder Anna? Also, we think that Dante has been cured of his mind control, but does Peter have an activation card for Dante, too? I would bet money on it right now if I were in Las Vegas.

Readers, I have a confession to make. I have been crushing on Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) since he first showed up in Port Charles in 1980. I changed the voice on my Siri to be male and Australian because Robert Scorpio made me fall in love with that accent when I was still a teenager. He's 75 years old now and still a dashing fellow. I was so happy to see him this week.

Why is it essential that he is on this caper? Sure, he wants to get Peter, but if my suspicions are correct, the mysterious other prisoners on Cassadine Island might include Holly Sutton and/or Hayden Barnes. I really want Robert to be there to rescue Holly. The only way this could get better is if Ethan Lovett showed up now, too. I still wish for Robert to be his real dad.

Back in Port Charles, the Scooby Gang set a trap for Spencer and Esme. Trina, Joss, and Cam hoped that Esme was the bad guy and that they could possibly rid Spencer of his demon seed girlfriend, but instead, their plan prompted Spencer to issue a mea culpa, even for things he'd had no hand in, like torching Ava's car. I swear I am starting to think Esme has some mind control trigger over Spencer.

Have you ever known an Esme? I have. I have known these wretched women who act very sweet and polite in public but, in reality, are venomous, manipulative backstabbers. I bet you know some, too. There was a girl I went to college with, and all the guys we went to college with loved her and thought she was an angel.

Meanwhile, all the girls I went to college with despised her because she was a mean girl who purposedly stirred up trouble wherever she went. The guys never saw it. They didn't believe it when we tried to tell them. Esme seems to have that quality, too. Joss, Trina, and even Harmony instantly saw through her, but Spence seems to think she is really on his side. I am a tiny bit afraid that Cameron is going to fall for her crocodile tears, too. Josslyn will try to talk sense into Cam, but he may believe that Esme is genuinely concerned for Spencer's well-being and is on his side. I really want Esme out of the way, though, because I am jonesing to see Trina and Spence truly fall in love. Sydney Mikayla and Nicholas Chavez have mad chemistry together.

I think, instead, Esme is on the side of Spencer's bank account. She likes ordering servants around and having people bring her berries. Now that Spencer is poor, we will see how long Esme is content living in a room above Kelly's when Spencer has to get a J.O.B. and work amongst the townies to survive. If only Spencer hadn't included Avery in his shenanigans, Uncle Sonny might have given him a job at Mob Pasta.

I'm mad at Nikolas because he told his son that he is dead to him. Hey, Nikolas, you set all of this in motion when you pretended to be dead for three years. I was so delighted that Nik and Ava reunited and especially happy she called him on his hypocrisy. As she noted, Spencer grew up watching all of Nikolas' plots and schemes, so to disown his son for emulating what he was taught by example is a bit harsh.

Ava and Nikolas are one of my favorite couples right now because there is no subterfuge. When Ava was with Griffin, she had to try to live up to his idea of who she could be. When Nikolas was with Emily, she was a perfect princess, and he had to push that Cassadine side of him down. But with Nik and Ava, they can be fully themselves, the good and the bad intermingling. Ava can talk to Nikolas about his past sins, but she won't reject him because he is imperfect. The same is true in reverse. They hold each other accountable without pretending they are anything other than the complicated and flawed people they are.

Speaking of Ava's sins, one theory floating around is that Esme is Kate Howard's daughter, and the reason Esme was so keen on helping Spencer terrorize Ava is that she has her own reasons for hating the woman who killed her mother. That would also explain her desire to meet and involve Sonny in her game. Is it possible that she might be Sonny's daughter? If so, that would make Spencer her first cousin. First, ew, but not out of the realm of possibility for a soapy psycho.

One of the most poignant scenes this week was the journal scene. When Nina walked into Kelly's and ran into Joss, we knew there would be fireworks, but instead of resorting to a typical soapy catfight, the writers dug in and gave us something extraordinarily compelling. Eden McCoy is a powerhouse performer. Joss gave Nina a roadmap to all the ways she hurt Sonny's family with her lies. As Joss ripped up her journal, page by page, and forced Nina to face what the actual cost of her lies had been to Sonny's loved ones, we saw the color go out of Nina's face. The lies Nina told herself for months about Sonny being better off in Nixon Falls and Sonny's family moving on just fine without him were shattered in every page Josslyn tore out of her journal. Fantastic writing and incredible acting by both Eden McCoy and Cynthia Watros.

We may not be seeing the Tan-O anymore, but I am delighted that we got to see Phyllis this week. She dropped by with "Mike's" clothes -- his flannel and his Stetson, and Carly got a good chuckle out of it. But truthfully, Phyllis wanted to meet Sonny, the real man behind Mike's face. Phyllis knew that Mike would need a friend to unpack all the conflicting emotions and memories and the confusion he was facing after living another life for nearly a year. I love Phyllis' nurturing side and her soft heart toward broken people. I share that gift, and it's both a blessing and a curse to have the gift of mercy.

With the fate of the Tan-O in question, I hope that Sonny invites Phyllis to stay and lets her run Sonny-bucks or Mob Pasta or something. With Lenny gone and no family to speak of in Nixon Falls, Phyllis belongs in Port Charles. As messed up as they both are, Nina and Sonny were the people who walked through Lenny's cancer with her and who both loved Lenny as much as Phyllis did. Besides, I just want Joyce Guy on the canvas. Port Charles needs a mama bear, and Phyllis fills the bill.

Despite Nina lying to the entire town from January to October, she has gotten an incredible amount of grace. The one that really shocked me was Britt. The Britch has lost her bite. Mind you, I adore the kinder, gentler Britt, but I didn't think she would so casually absolve Nina for luring her mother into such a dangerous plot.

In like manner, I get the impression that Willow and Michael will cave in and let Grandma Nina see Wiley. Wait. What? Aren't these the same two people who were going to cut her out of Wiley's life for telling Wiley that Nelle was his real mommy? I mean, that one was true. But now that Nina kept Wiley from Grandpa Sonny for nearly a year, they are debating whether it's in Wiley's best interest to keep seeing her. I think Nina has only seen Wiley about four times, and if Nina disappeared tomorrow, he would never remember her. Besides setting up reasons for Carly and Nina to fight, I can't imagine why the writers would have Michael and Willow so easily cave. After all, it took Jax's blackmail to get Nina a visit before. Someone help me understand this.

Readers, I love Roger Howarth. I have loved him since OLTL. Yeah, I know Todd was a rapist, but so was Luke, but it was 80s soap logic, and they just wrote redemption stories for them and let them off the hook. But I digress.

When they brought Roger back to GH as Franco, I was skeptical. But I grew to love him, and I was deeply invested in Liz and Franco. He had morphed from a serial killer to a hero. A brain tumor made him do the bad stuff, so we could feel okay about forgiving him. He was a great stepdad, a loving and loyal husband, and an art therapist who helped troubled kids work out their issues through art. And then he got killed off for reasons I still don't understand.

Couldn't we have Franco and bring back another actor to play Austin? How about Billy Miller? Since Drew was recast with Cameron Matheson, pull a Sarah Joy Brown or a Tamara Braun and just use an old actor in a new role and leave Franco and Liz alone.

But that isn't what happened. Franco died, Roger became Austin, and as much as I adore Roger and think everything he does is gold, I am not in love with Austin yet. He appears to be a decent fellow. Dr. Gatlin-Holt seems genuinely concerned about Leo. Austin is kind to Maxie, and yet... I miss Franco more than I like Austin. I am still scratching my head over that choice by the writers.

Why is this so hot and heavy on my mind? Because one day this week when ABC decided there might potentially be breaking news (There never was in my time zone.), they opted to air a repeat episode of GH. The opening scene was Franco and Liz walking through GH, holding hands, and it just made me mad all over again that Franco is dead. I know they are trying to couple up Liz and Finn, but -- I'm just waiting for Hayden to show up and come home to Finn, Violet, and Roxie. Hayden may also be the mystery prisoner in Greece. Who knows?

Also, with the preemptions... I don't think there is any reason currently to show a repeat episode ever. If an episode is interrupted, the network can just air it as usual because Hulu offers same-day episodes the evening that they air. If a live episode is interrupted, you can stream it by 8:00 p.m. the same night. Episodes are also on YouTube, ABC.com, and other streaming platforms. Here's the link for ABC: https://abc.com/shows/general-hospital. You can go here and watch any episode of the past two weeks. An informal poll, how many of you have a way you can stream GH? Your cable company's on-demand service, ABC.com, Hulu, YouTube, etc. How many of you say that live TV is the only way you can watch? I am curious to hear from you on this.

But back to Austin. This week, he made Maxie realize she and Brook Lynn are genuinely friends now, but he also terrified her by remembering that Brook Lynn told Maxie that she is the bravest person Brook Lynn knows, a conversation that happened when they thought Austin was unconscious. What else might he remember from that fateful night?

Do you know which scene I am most looking forward to next week? The one where Carly offers "radical honesty" to Britt. Could it be Carly will confess that she lied about the state of Carly and Jason's marriage? Will Carly go as far as telling Britt she can have Jason back? And if she does, will Britt take her up on it, or Britch-slap her and tell her to go to hell? Either option is plausible. I do think that before Liesl gets back home, Britt and Jason are going to take the supersonic jet from Port Charles to Crete to try to rescue Mutter.

What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Valentin and his new Daddy Victor bond enough to murder Peter together? Will Brook Lynn confess her dark secret to Chase and ask for his help protecting "Bailey"? Will Laura come home and let Spencer and Esme shack up with her and Kevin? Will Ned get help from Brook Lynn to convince Olivia to let Leo get tested for autism?

Will Sonny secretly try on "Mike's" cowboy hat and check himself out in the mirror? Will anyone go looking for Kristina? (After her powerhouse grief scenes, she has vanished again.) Will Curtis explain how he can forgive Nina's heinous and selfish lies about Sonny but not Jordan's lies about Taggert? Will Peter have an entire deck of cards to trigger all the sleeper agents? Will Dallas explain where she bought enough exploded plane parts to fake a jet crash? Will anyone ever hire Nurse Chloe as a private nurse again?

Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.Tamilu

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