Unintended consequences

Who is pulling Mason's strings? Who was that faceless nurse chatting up Willow? Is the evidence in Victor's safe deposit box real or fake? Let's debate these and other topics in this week's Two Scoops

Dear readers, when Michael came up with his cockamamie scheme to take Sonny down, I think we all knew it would not turn out the way he planned. He was too angry and vindictive to think clearly. Michael didn't factor in all the hearts and moving pieces of the Corinthos family. When Michael confessed what he had done to Carly this week, she set him straight.

I know some of you think Laura Wright gets more than her fair share of airtime. And it's true, Carly does end up in the middle of many storylines. But when you see the fiery performances she gives, like this week's scene where she tells Michael they will all end up dead without Sonny in charge, you can't deny that Carly is good TV. Laura Wright can grab a scene and turn it into an Emmy-winning performance any day of the week. That scene was highly satisfying to me.

Carly said the things I have been yelling at my TV to Michael for months. Don't you know what will happen with Sonny in jail? The whole town will dissolve into a mob war. The players will want to eliminate the Corinthos family. Michael isn't just taking down Sonny; he's taking them all down. I am shocked that Michael thought Carly would even consider turning on Sonny. Doesn't he know his parents at all? They are bonded for life. I hope this situation brings them back together. Lulu can come out of her coma and come home to Dante; Sam, Drew, and Scout can be a family again; and Sonny can be with Carly, where he belongs. Some fans love Sonny and Nina together, but I don't understand. I get Mike from Nixon Falls liking Nina, but I don't get Sonny from Bensonhurst picking Nina.

I clapped when Carly was arguing with Joss and stomped that flash drive under her heel and crushed it. When Dex pocketed it, I worried. Is he really going to destroy it or keep it for someday when he needs leverage? I think he's sincere. I have come to genuinely like Dex. I think he is sincere in his feelings for Joss. Am I still mad that she cheated on Cam? Yes, but you know, I was in college once, too, and I dated boys right and left, so who am I to judge?

Carly's counteroffer that Dex continues to work for Sonny and informs Michael about Sonny's dealings to try to manage him is perfect. It keeps Dex in town and Michael and Carly in Sonny's orbit. But mostly, it keeps Sonny from acting on his worst impulses.

Meanwhile, Dex and Joss declared their love for one another and discussed the next steps. Dex came to the same conclusion. He told Joss that he wanted to continue working for Sonny. Why? Because it means staying in town and staying with Joss, but I think the truth is that Dex is starting to genuinely care for and respect Sonny.

Readers, I miss Jason Morgan. I miss him so much. If he were here, he could shut down all this nonsense. Like Austin's creepy cousin Mason. If Ava went to Jason and said, "Some guy is trying to blackmail me into getting dirt on Sonny." Jason would disappear Mason and help Ava hide Nikolas' body if he were, in fact, dead, which he is not. But without Jason, it's all chaos all the time. Ms. Wu runs shady poker games and blackmails Gladys; Valentin gets Sonny involved in a sleazy, illegal arms deal; and all these torturous months of the Nina relationship. Jason would have handled all of that for Sonny. I know Steve Burton is on another show right now, but I hope GH will bring him home to Port Charles when his time wraps up.

I was beyond thrilled when Ned overheard Nina and Martin talking and discovered Nina was the rat who turned Drew and Carly in to the SEC. When Ned taunted Nina, I cheered. When he threatened her, I gloated along with him. "Take that, you sneaky witch!" But when he got overzealous running around the pool to tattle to Drew and Tracy and ended up unconscious in the water, I said, "Womp womp" to myself because I couldn't believe I got sucked in. That was way too easy. How did I let myself fall for that false flag? Oh, Tamilu, you poor, innocent little soapy bunny, you should know better than that.

Of course, Tracy used her son's accident to implicate Drew, who was trying to blackmail her at the very moment Ned fell. Rather than swoop into mother mode and worry about Ned, she seized an opportunity to get rid of Drew. Drew should have known better than to try to pull a fast one on Tracy.

Portia's brother Zeke hit the town and immediately steamed up the screen with his sister's rival, Jordan. Of course, Jordan didn't know that Zeke was Portia's brother when she confided in him about kissing her ex, a.k.a. Zeke's new brother-in-law. Oops! I enjoyed the steamy scenes with Zeke and Jordan, and I am so happy Jordan finally has a love life.

Since Jordan was recast, she has done a lot of police work but very little living. I am happy to see her horizons expanded. I can't decide if Portia will flip when she discovers that Jordan is "dating" her brother or if she will be thrilled and support the relationship because it keeps Jordan away from Curtis.

I have pinned down what makes me hate soap characters -- their meddling in other people's lives. This goes back for decades. I hated the old Nurse Amy for gossiping and meddling in everyone's life. It's why I have despised Nina since Nixon Falls. But now, Portia will almost overtake Nina in the number one meddler spot. Portia wants to break up Spencer and Trina. She is seemingly not above manipulating Memory Loss Barbie (oops, Esme) to do it. When Esme mentioned that Spencer said he'd follow her anywhere, Portia's devious brain light flashed. She strongly suggested to Esme that leaving town might be for the best.

Hey, Portia. Did it dawn on you that your daughter, who is deeply in love with Spencer, might go with him? It sure dawned on me. I followed boys I loved into some crazy places in my younger days. Also, when Portia told Liz she wanted to have drinks with her best friend, I wondered when Liz dumped Terry, whom she has known since childhood? She didn't.

I like Portia as a doctor. But as a mom, she bugs me. Between lying to her kid and trying to manipulate her love life, I want her to settle down and focus on her troubled marriage. I am intrigued to learn how Curtis will respond the first time he sees Jordan macking on Zeke.

And may I just say Zeke (played by newcomer Gavin Houston) is easy on the eyes, and I like him already. Not just because he's gorgeous, but he's also intelligent and a little wild. Sign me up. Finding out that he is representing Drew in the SEC case is a good sign that GH plans to keep him around for a while, since they are integrating him into the canvas. That is unless the writers' strike lingers on, and the actors join them, in which case we are in a world of soapy pain. GH has about another month of shows lined up; as I hear it, The Young and the Restless has even fewer. Here's hoping Hollywood can negotiate a settlement before we run out of stories.

Here's a story I am very intrigued by. Is the evidence that Spencer found in Victor's safe deposit box real or fake? Trina told Spencer to destroy it, and I am glad he didn't listen. What if it's real? And it may very well be. It's safely tucked in Victor's safe deposit box, and I hope Spencer remembers it someday when Esme's memory comes back or when we find out she was faking the whole time. When GH signed Avery Kristen Pohl (Esme) to a three-year contract, I anticipated some conniving Nelle or full-on crazy Lisa Niles storylines. Instead, they tamed our tiger into a forgetful kitten, and she doesn't have the same pizazz.

Maybe when Laura, Valentin, Kevin, and Yuri track down Nikolas in Chechnya and bring him home, it will jog Esme's memory, and the storyline will heat up. Last we saw Nikolas, he was with creepy Mason, but we still have no idea who Mason works for.

Our only clues are that she is female and supposedly evil. Could it be Olivia Jerome? Who was that drug dealer that Jessica Tuck played? An undead Faith Roscoe? A cloned Helena? Is Dr. Obrecht off the rails after losing Britt? The Balkan's vengeful ex-wife? The seemingly dimwitted Jennifer Smith? Loopy Heather Webber escaped again? It seems we would have heard. Undead Harmony, who started a new cult? Esme's AWOL nanny? I am wracking my brain for female villains of the past to come up with suspects. I would love to hear your thoughts on who is pulling Mason and Austin's strings?

But honestly, dear readers, every time these scenes with Austin and Mason are on, I ask myself, "Did the writers really kill Franco Baldwin for THIS?" Because it still baffles me.

Speaking of Franco, it also baffles me that some nameless, faceless nurse we have never seen before gave Willow an impassioned speech about letting Nina into her life. Why not Liz?? I understand we lost Bobbie and Epiphany, but why not have that speech come from Liz, who has been Willow's nurse all along? Or even Terry, Nurse Amy, or another known character? Having a stranger do it makes me feel like Nina paid an actress to go in and sing her praises to her dying daughter, which, frankly, wouldn't surprise me. Also, when the nurse said Willow's mom had been sitting outside day and night, I knew she couldn't mean Nina because Nina is always at bars with Ava. Or with Sonny, drinking martinis.

Remember earlier when I said Portia had almost taken Nina's spot as my most despised character? Nina chased Ned into the pool area at the Metro Court and casually watched as he cracked his head and fell into the pool. She will tell Ava, "I feel so guilty; Ned found out what I did, so I chased him with the fever of the press chasing Prince Harry, and then he slipped and cracked his head and nearly drowned trying to tell on me. I should have called 9-1-1 or tried to help, but I just stood there and watched him sink into the deep end." Okay, she will frame it better than that, but that's basically it. Ugh. I want Sonny to know it was her, SO badly. I want to see Maurice Benard pull out his Sonny puppet and have it yell at a Nina puppet and throw a puppet glass against the wall. And if you do not know what I am talking about, you must follow Maurice Benard on social media. And also Buddy the Goat!

I am so happy that Brook Lynn and Chase are back together. But I wonder if they will stay together once he realizes Granny Tracy is also pulling puppet strings to make Brook Lynn spy on Deception for her. Or, as Drew called it, corporate espionage. Here's hoping Chase doesn't have to arrest Brook Lynn again!

My favorite scenes of the week were two scenes between unlikely allies. The first is the scene with Laura and Valentin, the man she once despised and believed to be her son's killer. Now they are, dare I say it, friends. Valentin cares enough about Laura, Charlotte's grandma, to travel with her on a dangerous mission to protect her. Genie Francis and James Patrick Stewart were so tender on-screen together; they might have made a wonderful couple with that fantastic on-screen chemistry in another life. I really appreciated that scene.

The second one was Anna and Sonny. Finola Hughes and Maurice Benard play characters on opposite sides of the law and yet have respect for one another. When Sonny saw the headlines about Anna's crimes, he came not to taunt her but to check on her. Sonny remembered how it felt when headlines made his pain even worse after Lily and Morgan died. He had empathy for her soul and how hurt she must be. When she told him the worst part was knowing Emma would never be able to see her in the same light, my heart broke for her -- just a poignant and beautiful piece of acting from two pros.

Another favorite scene was when Liz heard that the board agreed to make her head nurse. I cried when she went over to the photo of her Grandpa Steve Hardy on the wall and beamed up at him.

Thank you, GH writers, for all those heartfelt scenes. That's why I watch it. It made me feel something.

What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Dex and Joss declare their love for one another after he's an official mobster and not just a poser? Will I order a Singapore Sling in the pool next week in Vegas to see what Tracy's drink tastes like? (The answer is yes.) Will Maxie buy a house and move out of that tiny apartment into a multi-bedroom home before Tracy bankrupts Deception with some patent lawsuit? Will Yuri hit it off with Laura and get the mayor's bodyguard job? (Here's hoping.) Will Joss use her dead brother's memory to taunt her mom again? Will Ned sue Nina and blame her for the messy pool area at the Metro Court by not having pool boys pick up piles of wet towels when he wakes up and get Carly's half of the hotel back for her?

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

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