Whatever they've been putting in the water in the General Hospital writers' room, I hope they've got enough of it to last for years to come. After puttering along aimlessly for what felt like forever, that motley crew has finally managed to string together two — two! — whole weeks of shows that have not only been consistently entertaining and packed with solid acting, but built on a foundation of genuinely involving drama that has left me actively interested in seeing what comes next.
Needless to say, this will be the least critical Critical Diagnosis in a long time. Let's dive in.
Everything in This House Is Yours
The first big item on the show's agenda last week was addressing the fallout from Gio discovering — and announcing to the world — that Brook Lynn and Dante are his parents. We've been taught in recent years that this show can and will fumble even the easiest layup, but these scenes were handled masterfully — none more so than the ones in which Tracy discovered Gio is her great-grandson. Voice quivering with emotion, she stopped him from storming out of the Quartermaine mansion, explaining that he's part of a long legacy and pleading with him not to push his new family away. If you haven't watched Tuesday's episode and you're any kind of fan of this show, you really need to do yourself a favor and tune in. Jane Elliot was perfect, of course, and her tenderness brought out the best stuff I've seen so far from Giovanni Mazza. Braedyn Bruner, meanwhile, put on a masterclass in how to elevate a scene simply by standing and watching your acting partners cook. The range of emotions reflected on her face amplified the stakes more effectively than any dialogue.
Again: Go watch for yourself. The whole thing is a perfect example of how powerful daytime drama can be when it's done right.
While Gio struggled with what to do next, his newfound parents had their own processing to do. Brook Lynn was mentally and physically reeling when we found her at the start of the week, fighting to catch her breath before turning on Lois and erupting with a torrent of righteous rage. Dante found them mid-argument, and although he was demonstrably angry with both of them, he was more hurt by Brook Lynn's long-running lie of omission than anything else. When Brook Lynn got a text from Tracy telling her that Gio was at the mansion and she needed to come quickly, Dante went with her — and they both left Lois, who wanted to come, but was told in no uncertain terms that Brook Lynn wanted her to stay away from all of them. (It was a warning Lois failed to heed, because she showed up at the Quartermaines' the next morning and got a double-barreled blast from Brook Lynn — albeit one that was interrupted when Gloria walked in and told her that if she wanted to fight anybody, she should fight her. More on that next week.)
Clearly, Lois has entered her Apology Tour era — and she didn't even have to make any tour stops, because everyone came to her. After Brook Lynn and Dante left, she was confronted by Ned, who took a Dante-like stance: clearly upset but not nasty about it, he asked her why she prevented him from helping his daughter through her pregnancy. The answer, at least in part, came down to family ties — Lois, probably rightly, didn't trust the Quartermaines to let Brook Lynn make her own choices where a Q heir was concerned. Justified as Lois' fears may have been, they weren't enough for Ned, who left in quiet disgust as Olivia arrived.
Olivia was not quiet. She rarely is, of course, but if there was a weak link in last week's chain, it was probably the time we spent watching Olivia and Lois yell about who was really the worst for hiding a baby from his father.
Lois finally received a measure of comfort courtesy of Sonny, who understood that when Lois asked him to pay for Gio's musical education, she was offering him a relationship with the grandson he didn't know he had. "I wish it had been different," he admitted, "but I appreciate what you were trying to do." Holding her while she cried, he offered us a glimpse of who Sonny can be if the writers ever have the guts to finally sever him from the mob once and for all.
All of these scenes paved the way to a long-awaited reckoning for Lulu, who spent the immediate aftermath of the Ball with Cody. Although Cody played a very small part in what went down, he was wracked with guilt and doubt — emotions that Lulu absolutely did not share. She shrugged off each of his concerns, continually insisting that no matter how badly anybody got hurt, it was worth it because Dante finally knew the truth. Unsurprisingly, Dante doesn't share her point of view, which he made loudly apparent when he showed up at her house to confront her.
These scenes were satisfying to watch on several levels, starting with Dominic Zamprogna's ever-impressive ability to express through a whole gamut of emotions before he even opens his mouth. They were also somewhat unsatisfying, because Lulu is being written as such a self-righteous asshole that there isn't anything Alexa Havins can really do with the character anymore. Unmoved by her claims that she did it all for him, Dante insinuated that she really did it not only to get back at Brook Lynn, but to rekindle their love; insulted by the accusation, Lulu claimed she didn't want him back, now or ever. They parted ways after agreeing to limit their involvement with each other to co-parenting Rocco.
While all this was going on, Gio took off with Emma, who led him to Jason's bridge of pain and listened to him vent for a while before pointing out that it was the middle of the night and she was in an evening gown. Refusing to let him go off alone — "where you go, I go" — she took him to the Peter August Memorial Cabin, where they slept in separate beds. The next morning, she was still prepared to keep running with him, and at first, it looked like that's what he wanted to do, but eventually, he realized he needed to face his new family and figure out how he really felt about them.
There was more good stuff — Olivia lamenting the fact that she held Gio as a baby and didn't know he was her grandson, and Tracy chuckling that she wasn't psychic yet; Ned giving Brook Lynn grace; Tracy realizing with horror that now she has blood ties to Sonny — but the bottom line for me here is that we are once again being reminded that in soaps, even the most stupidly constructed story can gain orders of emotional magnitude when the actors deliver and the writing draws on the show's history. Retconning a secret love child for Dante and Brook Lynn wasn't something anyone was asking for, and the drawn-out leadup to the reveal was often agonizingly dull, but when we talk about this storyline years from now, we won't be thinking about that; we'll only be thinking about how the payoff made us feel.
One last note: Bruner and Mazza are brewing lightning in a bottle right now. The writers are clearly interested in seeing where Gio and Emma's connection leads, and so am I, which is not something I would ever have imagined myself saying a few weeks ago.
Dark Michael
I'm sure Chad Duell is a nice man, but my lack of patience for his Michael has been well-documented here, and Rory Gibson's arrival in the role has only served to highlight the fact that watching his predecessor try to act like a big boy CEO and loverman always felt like watching two kids in a trench coat trying to smuggle their way into a rated R movie. We've only had a few minutes of Gibson's Michael, but the differences are already stark — in a very good way.
This Michael made an immediate impression by coolly striding into the Nurses Ball, picking up Wiley, and walking out without so much as a look back at Willow and Drew — who were, of course, blocked by Jason when they tried to follow him. Instead, they went to the PCPD, where they tried making the absurd argument that Jason kidnapped Amelia when he took her from her babysitter at Drew's place and moved her to Carly's house. Mac, clearly more than a bit befuddled by all this nonsense, went to Carly's place, where he abruptly disappeared; later, we learned he'd "checked in on" the kids before being handed a court order granting Michael temporary custody.
After getting the bad news from Mac, Drew and Willow drove to Carly's, where he waited in the car while she pleaded with Michael to let her see the kids. That request was coolly denied, but Michael did say he'd be open to a shared custody agreement if she broke things off with Drew — a demand she briefly contemplated before Drew used his oily wiles to convince her that Michael can't be trusted. Declaring her marriage over, she removed her rings and said she'd send them to Michael the next morning, at which point Drew insisted that they hang onto Lila's engagement ring — partly because he, as a Quartermaine, has just as much right to it as anyone, but also because they might be able to "give it to Amelia one day." (Sorry, Scout! No ill-gotten ring for you.)
Willow is dead to a lot of people in Port Charles right now, but she's still got Nina in her corner, which is both good and bad — good because Nina's as crafty as they come, and bad because that means one conversation with Maxie at the Brown Dog was all it took for Nina to put two and two together, bribe a bartender, and figure out that Michael is the father of Sasha's baby.
This information puts Nina in a good old-fashioned soap pickle. She can use it to screw up Michael's plans to take Wiley and Amelia away from Willow… but if she does, then she also screws Sasha, which is something she really doesn't want to do. That point might be moot, given that Nina has already shared this information with Ava, and Ava has no such qualms keeping her from telling Ric what she knows; for the moment, though, Nina's painful conundrum is giving Cynthia Watros more material to play up a juicy conflict like only she can. In fact, Nina is already justifying withholding the truth, telling herself (and Ava) that it might be for the best if Willow doesn't get full custody, because that means Drew won't be able to play the hero, and therefore Willow will theoretically be less likely to move to D.C. with him.
We have a court hearing on the docket for next week, so it seems pretty likely that all this is about to come to a head one way or the other. Rumor has it that Sasha will go into labor on the stand, which is corny as hell, but would also add another layer of froth to the show's currently savory brew. Alternately, Nina could always just go to Michael with what she knows, and blackmail him into having a sudden change of heart… at least until the truth about her own gross affair with Drew inevitably comes to light.
That's it for the big stuff. Time for your bullets!
- Trina and Kai had their first big sex scene, which desperately tried to mimic her first time with Spencer
- Ric visited Elizabeth while telling Ava he had a meeting in Beechers Corners
- Alexis told Lucky and Kristina that her best chances of beating Ric and Ava's blackmail are either to find Ric's car or turn them against each other
- Laura told Alexis that a bunch of money is missing from the Cassadine trust
- Drew vowed to dig up dirt on Michael
- Curtis vowed to find Jacinda and use her to hurt Drew
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