The things we do for love

How far will you go in the name of love? Jason went to great lengths to protect Carly, as did Drew. Meanwhile, Nina is desperate to get Sonny back, and Blaze is falling for Kristina -- but will she sacrifice her own happiness to appease her mother? It's Two Scoops of love and sacrifices.

Men seem to keep falling on their swords for Carly, and I just can't figure out why. I don't blame Carly for their choices, but I do question why it keeps happening, because Carly tends to be a handful on her best day and a pain in the behind on her worst. I decided to ask my husband if he would go to jail for me. "This is about your soap, isn't it?" he asked as he barely refrained from rolling his eyes. "It is," I confirmed then quickly outlined both Drew and Jason's situations. "And she's not the mother of any of their children?" hubby said with surprise. And there you have it. Both Drew and Jason prioritized Carly over their own children, and she wasn't even their baby mama.

In Drew's case, he felt that Scout could do without him for a few months because she had done so in the past. Additionally, she would be able to visit him during his incarceration. It wasn't ideal, but he figured it was a small price to pay to get the SEC charges behind him and Carly. It wasn't until he got to court that he found out the judge had other ideas and tossed the plea deal, so I give Drew a bit of a pass because he had never intended to be away from Scout for years.

However, Jason is a different matter entirely. He not only knew that he would be away from his children for an extended period of time -- especially after the first year -- but that his kids would be grieving for him each and every day of his absence because they believed their father had perished in the tunnel collapse. He put Carly's freedom ahead of Jake and Danny's broken hearts, even though Diane had successfully defended both Sonny and Jason time and again for decades against similar charges.

Worse, Jason continues to put Carly first, even though he sees with his own eyes the damage that his choices have caused his sons. Jake is angry, and Danny is rebelling, yet Jason clings to his secrets as if he's somehow doing something heroic. He's not. Carly made her own choices, and as much as I like her, she needs to face the music for those choices if there is indeed evidence of RICO violations against her. It sucks, but that's the way the cookie crumbles when you rumble with mobsters. I suspect that Carly will agree when she finds out what Jason did, which is probably why he doesn't want her to know.

Personally, I have my doubts about John's evidence. A part of me thinks that he's been bluffing all along because he's shown himself to be deceptive when needed. John is on a mission to take down Pikeman, and I can't see him losing sleep over lying to a mob enforcer for two years because he trumped up charges that forced Jason's compliance. Very Special Agent Cates (credit goes to Jordan for that hilarious nickname) is crafty and bold, and he seems to have a knack for zeroing in on people's weaknesses. I still don't know for certain if he's good or bad, but he's definitely interesting.

I have several reasons for not wanting to see a Jarly romance, but my main reason is how much I detest the man that Jason becomes when he worships at the altar of Carly. He loses himself in her and acts more like a loyal lap dog rather than a life partner. As a result, he doesn't necessarily bring out the best in Carly because she knows that Jason will always be there to pick up the pieces and clean up her mess, no matter what she does -- much like he's done for the last two years. I want to see Jason evolve, to grow, and to finally put his two minor sons first, before it's too late and they are grown men. And with SORAS, that could be next week.

Carly needs someone who challenges her to be a better version of her jaded self, who holds her accountable and pushes back. Someone like John, who has sizzling chemistry with Carly. Would that make them Jorly?

I know that Liason is unlikely to happen, but I loved it when Jason stopped by Liz's house to talk to Jake. Liz immediately noticed a change in Jason, and she seemed to have an open mind about his reasons for staying away. She was quietly supportive and kind, which made that tragic expression that Jason's been schlepping around fade for just a little while. It was hard to hear, but I was riveted when Jake held his father's feet to the fire, because Jake didn't pull any punches. It was such a compelling and powerful performance, and I was thoroughly impressed. Hudson West did an amazing job, and while I enjoy all the kids on the show, he's my favorite. I love everything that he does.

Liz told Finn that she refused to settle for someone -- clearly referring to Jason -- who limited what they could share of themselves. No one should, which is why Jason's relationships have always failed. Liz is right; he's always done that. Carly is no exception. Even now, he's keeping a part of himself from her by not telling her about John's threats.

Folks, Josslyn has been on fire lately. Her scene with Kristina at Bobbie's was delicious soapy goodness and exactly why I love my stories. Kristina having the audacity to tell Josslyn to stop talking smack about Sonny -- in Josslyn's mother's diner with Carly standing right there -- was bold even for Kristina, but Josslyn gave as good as she got. She had no problem pushing back and putting Kristina in her place. It was a spectacular sight to behold and put a huge smile on my face.

Everything that Josslyn said about Sonny being a thug, a killer, and a career criminal was spot on. Kristina is no child. She's been fully aware of what Sonny has been doing for years. Heck, she was married to Joe Scully's son, Trey Mitchell. It's ludicrous for her to act like Sonny is a god among men. She sounded like a loon preaching to Molly recently about Jason's evil ways when her own father was the man who has been giving Jason his marching orders for most of his life.

For so long, I was just frustrated by everything that Josslyn said and did. I'll admit that some of my ire with her stemmed from how she treated Cameron in the end. Sleeping with Dex before properly ending things with Cam was just not cool, and Cam deserved better than that. I also had issues with Josslyn's hypocrisy because, on one hand, she hated Sonny, and on the other, Dex could do no wrong. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when Joss suddenly called it quits when Dex confessed that he would have killed Cyrus if Sonny hadn't stopped him. She showed maturity and fortitude when she broke things off with Dex -- a man she loved -- because he'd crossed a hard line for her.

That brings me to Dex's redemption tour. I hate this storyline so much because in the real world, Dex would never be considered for a job in law enforcement. Not only is he a criminal who hasn't even paid for any of his crimes, but the man has no honor. He's a rat, a backstabber, and someone who blows with the wind. He doesn't keep his word, and he's willing to commit murder. Being a police officer doesn't change any of that, and it certainly doesn't inoculate him from his past sins. I really wish the writers had found another way to put Dex on the straight and narrow.

I never cared for Dex, and this certainly doesn't endear him to me. When he walked into Bobbie's -- clearly hoping to share his news with Josslyn -- I wanted to throw something at my television. It ticked me off that Curtis actually invoked Bobbie's name to pressure Josslyn into going over to talk to that sniveling little weasel. Dex acts like he's done something great, but he hasn't. He just caught a lucky break because Anna felt sorry for him.

The writing is on the wall because Josslyn wasn't offended by the idea of a criminal like Dex becoming a cop. Instead, she was concerned that it would make him even more of a target for Sonny. I give it a few weeks before Dex and Josslyn are back to burning up the sheets and bonding over their mutual hatred of Sonny. Josslyn could do so much better than Dex, especially since I don't really trust Dex not to have a change of heart about Sonny when he learns that Sonny's recent actions were the result of someone tampering with his meds. There was a reason that Dex felt drawn to Sonny's world in the first place. I think Dex might want to be a good guy, but he has dark urges. It's why he was so comfortable perched under Sonny's wing.

As we've learned with Valentin, Siberian tigers don't change their stripes.

Valentin running Pikeman and being in league with Jack Brennan is exactly who Valentin has always been. That just got lost behind the smokescreen that he carefully created. He's a Cassadine, the one man on earth that his evil mother Helena had feared above all others. That alone should have told us everything that we needed to know about his true nature. If not that, then his actions on Cassadine Island when he held a group of innocent people hostage and shot both Nikolas and Kevin. I will admit, I fell for the reformed Valentin, hook, line, and sinker, which is precisely why he makes such a brilliant soap villain.

All soaps need a good supervillain, even better if they manage to escape justice time and again. Helena was great at it. Heck, just look at Sonny. Each has managed to flourish in the underworld with relatively little time behind bars. Helena died in her bed on Cassadine Island, which I consider a win, given all the mayhem she caused over her lifetime.

Valentin has proven himself the perfect mix of charming and devious. He plays the long game and is capable of terrible, dastardly things, but he also has a troubled daughter who has shown a propensity for darkness herself, so he has incentive -- and the means -- to keep covering his tracks. Anna has been set up to be the perfect foil for him, too, because his love for her was the one thing that was real. It won't be easy for him to kill her, so he will have to outwit her if he hopes to remain a step ahead of his ex-lover and out of handcuffs.

Nina's in for quite a shock when she finds out what her good pal Valentin has been up to, but not as surprised as she will be by her hound dog husband who has locked lips with Ava and is now making eyes at Natalia. Sonny is on the prowl, likely one of the side effects of his meds being tampered with. It won't be long before he has someone warming his bed, and Nina is not going to like that one bit.

My hope is that it will be Ava because the fireworks between Nina and Ava will be explosive. But Natalia is definitely in the running, and that could have some ramifications for Blaze because Nina takes no prisoners when she's on the warpath.

I love Eva LaRue, but I haven't gotten a good bead on Natalia. Obviously, there's something else going on that is driving her inability to accept that her daughter is gay. She seems to genuinely love Blaze and want the best for her, and I have the impression that she's fully accepting of Kristina's sexuality. I don't think she's homophobic, but there do seem to be some preconceived prejudices at work here.

Unfortunately, I see trouble ahead for Blaze and Kristina's romance. I can't see Kristina being content to sit on the sidelines of Blaze's life -- a little secret that no one can know about -- while Blaze rides her star to fame. She shouldn't have to, especially when she's going to be facing a lot of emotional turmoil with the birth of a baby that she's already falling in love with that she will then have to hand over to its father and her sister.

I was really hoping that Blaze would help make that transition easier for Kristina, but that is not how soaps work, is it?

My friend Vanessa made such a good point about Gregory's determination to keep his medical visits private. Gregory lives with Finn, and Finn will soon be his caretaker. I was my husband's caretaker when he fell ill, and I recall how important it was for me to know what was going on with his treatment because part of my responsibility was being my husband's advocate. Gregory is doing himself -- and his children -- a huge disservice by shutting them out from his treatment. It's selfish.

I'm delighted that Anna will no longer give Sonny a pass when it comes to his criminal activity, but why doesn't she seemed equally concerned about the RICO charges that John has on Carly?

Who else can see Sasha and Cody running away together, buying a farm, naming it Deception Acres, and living out their days, happily mucking stalls and giving local kids horseback riding lessons? Also, I've never had shepherd's pie, but all that talk of it made me curious, so I looked online and found a delicious recipe that I'm going to try this weekend.

Terry's suggestion that Tracy might be suffering from depression resonated so much with me. Last year during my wellness checkup, my doctor made a similar suggestion when I complained about having insomnia and some other issues that I thought were unrelated. Like Tracy, I initially dismissed the idea of depression, but my doctor made some recommendations that I ended up following. I soon realized that my doctor was right, and I'm so grateful that he recognized what I didn't. I love these types of moments on GH.

Ava has always been so interesting because she seems like she is on the right side of things and then suddenly she is back on the dark side. I feel it actually makes her a more interesting character. I think she feeds off men when they are at a low and uses them for her needs. Sonny is clearly spiraling, has no one around to protect him, and she sees him ripe for the picking. She has always been an opportunist. The only thing I love about this is that Ava will now take on Nina and I think Ava has what it takes to bring Nina to her knees. And you know Nina will turn to Val who will use her as well to get to Sonny. I do hope that Ava doesn't do too much damage to Sonny as I have actually enjoyed how they have come to a truce for the sake of Avery. I enjoy a morally gray Ava who is still redeemable. -- LittleHollywoodMT

Those scenes with Kristina were excruciating. This was Molly's job. Yet, Kristina who knows nothing about the law is telling Molly what her job is. We get it that Kristina is a Sonny mouthpiece. We didn't need to hear it over and over again with Molly and then with Joss. This version of Kristina doesn't work on GH. -- Terry

Josslyn has been one of the more oddly written characters since Esme leaked her and Cam's sex tape. When she's not having sex with Dex, she's choosing these weirdly hypocritical hills to die on then spends most scenes bludgeoning some poor soul with her whining. In the latest example, Dex is "not the person she thought he was" for *almost* killing someone on Sonny's orders last week but she spends this entire week defending Jason whose literal existence has been "killing people for Sonny" for the last quarter of a decade. -- Suge Benjamin

What are your thoughts about what's happening on General Hospital? I love hearing from everyone and reading your thoughts, so drop me a comment in the Comments section below. You can also join us over on the message boards for even more conversation.

Take care and happy viewing,Liz Masters

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