HIGHLIGHTS:

The Scoobies pick up where they left off last week debating Shaggy’s, er . . . Lucky’s new plan to free them from the DeadTed situation.  Basically the plan entails removing the copsicle from Nik’s freezer, transporting it from Wyndamere via the launch into Nik’s Jaguar to the next rave.  Master Criminal Juan will lift Zander’s keys off of him, while Gia is distracting Zander with her ulta-charming personality.  Lucky and Nik will transfer DeadTed into Zander’s car in the parking lot of the rave.  Juan puts the keys back in Zander’s pocket.  Then the Scoobies will dial up 9-1-1 and hope that one of the Keystone Cops is bright enough to figure out that Zander killed Ted, and not ask why Zander is hauling around a frozen long-dead cop in the trunk of his car.  In this day and age of scientific forensics I cannot believe this group of well-educated young people actually believes they are going to pull this off!  All it’s going to take to trace DeadTed back to them is one partial fingerprint, a clothing fiber or one highlighted hair falling out at the wrong time, which brings me to the first time I cheered for Liz this week.  Not only did she point out the gaping holes in this plan, she refused to participate in case someone needed to “raise bail money or notify next of kin”, then she told Gia to “Go to hell!”.  I’m working on a theory about the Scoobies that they are not so annoying in groups of 3 or less.  It seems that when they are separated my aggravation meter drops substantially.  Let’s examine, shall we?  At Kelly’s, Emily was missing but the rest were there.  On the annoyance meter (scale of 1-10), they rated about a 7.  It would have been much higher were it not for Liz telling Gia off repeatedly and the gang stating “NO!” in unison when Gia asked “Are you giving me permission to speak?”  Secondly, when Liz and Lucky were alone afterwards I became intrigued once again by the repercussions of his brainwashing when he yelled at Liz.  Annoyance level: 2, only because Lucky’s anger flared at Liz when she was just pointing out some truths and she actually looked scared when he lost it.  Third, Lucky and Emily discussing Lucky’s new found hatred for Jason and relating it back to Liz.  Annoyance level,  0:  I’ve always liked Lucky and Emily’s friendship.  She gets him to see things that when no one else can.  I loved that Lucky is jealous of Jason’s relationship with Liz and Emily was able to talk Lucky into telling Liz “Be with Me”, even through the silliness of the hand gestures.  Next, Lucky once again shows up at Kelly’s to tell Liz “Be with Me”, after convincing Liz to listen to him, he spews “You belong with Nikolas”.  After the buildup he gave Liz, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.  Annoyance level: 2.  I’m ready for this plot line to pick up.  Nik and Gia had several scenes alone and while they both annoy me to about level 5 each, when they are together my annoyance neither increases nor decreases.  I must conduct more research before trying to explain that.  I still hate Gia.  I think it may be that I’m rooting for a lesser of two evils when these two are left alone, thereby making Nik seem less annoying than he actually is.

Jason’s return has breathed new air into the shallow lungs of a few stories.  Lucky’s love for Liz seems to be breaking from under Helena’s spell.  After Liz rightfully blew him off at Kelly’s, she immediately found Jason riding his bike and took him up on the offer of a ride, just before Lucky could get there.  I think the Liz/Jason relationship will factor heavily into Lucky regaining his memories.  Jason could actually develop feelings for Liz.  She resembles Robin more than anyone is willing to admit.

Carly:  She’s trying desperately to convince herself that she wants Jason.  She wants to want Jason, but in reality she wants Sonny.  She’s afraid at this point that he’ll never forgive her and doesn’t want her. 

Sonny:  While glad to have his best friend back, he is somewhat wary of Jason’s relationship with Carly.  He’s not so sure Carly has given up on Jason.  By the end of the week, Sonny takes Alexis’ advice and tells Carly she’ll have to marry him to keep her from testifying against him, despite his objections to this scenario earlier in the week.  Jason’s presence changed Sonny’s mind, no doubt, because Sonny’s only other option was to send Carly and Michael to a non-extradition country with Jason.

It seems to me that Jason is just sitting back taking all this information in and getting a feel for the situation.  I think Jason realizes that Sonny and Carly are in love but neither will admit it.  Carly is still exhibiting signs of low self-esteem, wanting Jason to rescue her from this situation she helped create and asking him to take care of her and Michael.  I wish that she’d learn to stand on her own.  She, like many other women in PC, would benefit from a bout of true independence.

Now on to the Eddie Maine concert.  You’ll never hear me complain strictly about an Eddie Maine concert (hey, I’ve seen Kurth & Taylor perform live 4 times and will be seeing another concert soon), except when Juan is involved.  I hate the tooth-achingly, sweetie-sweet boy bands and their singular counterparts, Juan included.  Shaun Cassidy was the last pop-sensation that I found adorable and those were the days when I thought lyrics like “da-do-run-run” were poetic.  Juan is not that good, the song is lame and I feel sorry for “the Idle Rich” when they have to back him up, especially since I find it hard to believe that they know the music to that song!  Nor do I believe that “Eddie Maine” fans are also Juan Santiago fans.  They are not exactly the same type music.  Enough of that….the new song by Eddie Maine and the Idle Rich (actually it’s the newest Kurth & Taylor song) “I Won’t Surrender” sounded great and really rocked. While I’d prefer to see MyNed running ELQ (with Eddie Maine as a bonus sideline career) or heading up the Cassadine Empire alongside Alexis while she mourns her brother, I’m taking the position that any story here is better than no story.  In a chat last week with Wally, he pretty much squashed my hopes for the “Alexis has a stalker” rumor, because he’s heard nothing about it and TPTB are using Ned and Alexis as balance to the other “dramatic” stories.  Ned and Alexis aren’t even going to mention Chloe’s disappearance because that might take the fun out of their scenes and ::::gasp::::: give them some drama.   

LOWLIGHTS:

Bobbie and Roy fastening one another’s pants.  Please, give me a break!  Fortunately, two of my wishes are coming true.  Roy is unlatching himself from Bobbie AND at the same time going in search of Luke! Come on home Luke-baby, I miss you!

Jax’s exit to chase after “Brenda”.  I tried to feel sorry for Chloe, I even WANTED to feel sorry for Chloe, but after an entire year I still have no emotional investment in this character.  They almost had me when Jax closed the door and she said “then, please come back to me,“ but then she stepped out of the moment and called Tony.  So close, but it’s like asking me to feel sorry for Barbie when Ken leaves her to “play house” with Skipper.  TPTB blew it with this entire story.  I’m supposed to believe that Chloe and Jax had this great love, but the mere sighting of CloneBrenda two years after Brenda’s death sent him into spasms.  Now to put this in other terms, imagine if you will this story had been played out with Ned and Alexis.  Let’s say Lois died (that alone would make me happy, but that’s a personal bias), and Ned suddenly spotted her on an island getaway with Alexis, then Alexis sent him off to find her.  None of the dialogue would change except, of course, the names.  I would have felt Alexis’ pain.  I’m invested in Ned’s character, Alexis’ character and the relationship of Ned and Alexis.

Hannah/Taggert/AJ.  This entire story is lame.  I need something more to go on here than two minutes of Hannah and Taggert playing tonsil hockey every week and AJ stumbling in to interrupt.  Let me see some motivations here please!  Why am I supposed to care about anyone in this story other than AJ?  I know nothing of Taggert except that he’s a cop and picked a bad mentor.  All we know of Hannah is that she’s neither dedicated to her job or her current man of the moment.  She couldn’t decide between being an FBI agent or loving Sonny and now she can’t seem to stay away from AJ when she’s sleeping with Taggert. 

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS AND 
SHALLOW OBSERVATIONS

1.       NuZander is a weasel and is far more likely to be intimidated by Sorel rather than OldZander, but I find it hard to believe that “the ladies” would find NuZander attractive enough to seek him out at a rave.

2.       Stefan’s plan to make Chloe think Helena kidnapped them both is BRILLIANT.  I never saw it coming.  Oh Dark Prince you astound me with your evil ways!  Before he could make Chloe use her “gift” to his benefit, he had to make her believe she was helping him.  An added bonus to this story, if he keeps it up, is when he does return to Port Charles the anger felt by Nikolas and Alexis will be mistakenly directed toward Helena.  Stefan will not only get the goods on Helena, he will garner sympathy from the two people in Port Charles WHO SHOULD BE MOURNING HIM RIGHT NOW, but aren’t.  I actually find myself looking forward to this story, despite the Chloe-factor.

3.       Jax:  Buh-bye, see ya’ in hell brother! 

4.       Only two more Luke free days!  GH improves 10 fold when Luke is on; however, that number is cut in half on Wednesday when the Flea returns.

5.       I’m still loving Alan and Monica and can’t wait to see what Jason has to say about the possibility of a new Q!

6.       Alexis gets the FASHION DON’T AWARD this week for the Eddie Maine concert disguise.  I cannot and will not believe that Alexis had those jeans and that hideous jacket, not to mention that hat in her closet. She would have been less conspicuous if she had arrived in her “Alexis” attire and…oh yea, refrained from counting Ned’s teeth in plain sight of the press!

7.       MyNed gets the FASHION DO AWARD this week for the same Eddie Maine concert.  He looked spectacular!  I love the leather pants and I’ve said before one of the 10 commandments of the Soap Opera Bible should be that “Wally shall sport the leather pants at regular intervals” to keep this view happy!  High praise this week for MyNed.  NOW SHAVE!  (Christian Taylor looked pretty good himself!).  Gia gets honorable mention in this category for her concert attire.  Loved it!

8.       Memo to Lucky: SHAVE!

9.       Juan needs to hit the road with his daddy.

10.   Jason is the ONE person the Scoobies should tell about DeadTed!