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Comments through December 19, 2003 Here’s a confession I bet you never expected to read. I haven’t been very involved or thrilled with GH during the past few weeks. Maybe because my own life has been so busy I’ve been hard pressed to find time to watch my show much less expend any precious emotional energy on it. Plus, it has seemed like a lot of same ol’, same ol’. Faith keeps performing crimes against Sonny, for which supposed tough guy Sonny never retaliates. Jason hasn’t grown in character or changed his jacket in ages. Carly and Courtney, Liz and Skye waffle and whimper while several beloved characters face death by lack of airtime or contract canceling. It’s been discouraging. On Friday, however, I was reminded why I keep watching. I had to stay up late and I was busy on the computer so I grabbed an old GH tape to stick in the VCR for background noise. Within minutes “Amazing Grace” began to play as Sonny walked into the church courtyard in the rain and Brenda strode to the church doors and opened them. As the song reached its crescendo, thunder boomed, Carly dropped her wine glass which shattered, Sonny reacted with shock at seeing Brenda, Brenda smiled and Roy shot Sonny. Wow! Scenes like that are why I hang on through lackluster periods filled with repetitive plots.
Oh yeah, I remember why I love General Hospital. Also on Friday, Katrina posted a couple pieces of encouraging news regarding John Ingle which offered hope that TPTB can be jolted out of their fan apathy. I’m repeating what she already wrote, but if ever there was a bandwagon worth jumping on, this is it so I want to reiterate what Katrina said. Some wonderful, imaginative folks began writing John Ingle to show their support and sending Mr. Frons lumps of coal to show their unhappiness at Mr. Ingle’s dismissal from his role as Edward Quartermaine, beloved curmudgeon and patriarch of the Q’s. (I so wish I could have been in on this campaign!) Though nothing has been confirmed, rumor has it that TPTB may be listening, proving that good old fashioned snail mail has an effect. Write those letters and postcards and send them to the actors at the studio to show your support. Tallies are kept of how many pieces of fan mail actors receive. (Actor’s Name) General Hospital, ABC Studios 4151 Prospect Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90027 You can write a paragraph or a page. Type it on your computer or use a big red crayon – just write if you want to make a difference. I try to send a note whenever I really like a scene or if I notice one of my favorites hasn’t been on screen (like Big Alice or Coleman). Unlike at EOS, I keep it brief and to the point. “I was glad to see you on (date). Hopefully, I’ll see more of (name of character) again soon. Loved the scene when (name of character and whatever he/she did that I liked). You get the picture. Now please, go find a pen and paper. Go ahead. I’ll wait…..
Better stuff it in an envelope now so it doesn’t sit on your desk. It’s OK, I’ve found a good book and I don’t mind waiting a little longer…
Good for you! My sympathies to the short-changed Journey fans, who waited more than a year for Jason and Courtney to hook up. They enjoyed one night of honeymoon bliss in France (ahem, I mean Wisconsin) before Carly and Sonny steamrolled over their lives with the Sonny’s-Haunted-Carly’s-Shot-Can’t-Find-Our-Love storyline. As Courtney and Jason seem to move farther away from each other my response is, “Huh?” Courtney can’t take MOB life after a month? And she’s so upset that she takes off her ring and moves back to Kelly’s. It doesn’t play that she’s been kidnapped more than once, run over, stalked, stripped, etc. but suddenly she can’t reconcile the rules of MOB life and Jason’s love. I notice that she doesn’t have a problem with Sonny, king of The Business or Carly who supports Sonny, the man who sanctions Jason and his duties. The break up hits me as awkward and contrived, designed to yank the strings of Journey fans. At least Courtney returned to her job at Kelly’s. It made me crazy that she didn’t have any purpose in life except babysitting.
Every time Jason makes a cry face, I make one too. Sonny’s no help for their marriage because he told Jason, “You’re not going to want to hear this, but it would be easier if you just let her go.” This is funny advice from the ruler of dysfunction who says he couldn’t make it through life with his equally warped partner, Carly. That’s not meant as an insult to Sonny and Carly, Supercouple of self sabotaging love, their separate problems blend together perfectly. The point is, Sonny knows how hard he and Carly have fought for their love. Why would he tell Jason to chuck it?
What Sonny really meant to say was, “If I knew then, what I know now about how hard it is to make a marriage work…” News update: A huge storm is approaching Port Charles as was mentioned a couple times. Everyone hide their car keys so Courtney doesn’t have access to any vehicles. My mommy and family buttons were pushed when Carly held Morgan as she taught Michael to dance with Sonny smiling in the background. Happy family moments don’t happen often in the penthouse so I have to soak them up and make comments. Next week, Carly’s brain will hit an emotional glitch and her feelings for Lorenzo will resurface, so spoilers say.
On December 19, 2003 the Corinthos family experienced a happy moment. Quick, someone mark the date in the GH book of historical rare moments. Do you think the wardrobe folks who dress Michael know that real little boys do not dress like preppy college guys at his age? They definitely don’t wear sweaters unless their mothers or nannies force them.
My sons wouldn’t have worn these clothes unless I paid them. Oh wait, they DO pay him. Faith hit the bottom of the barrel of bad behavior this week as she ripped the heads off dolls. I had to laugh as she decapitated the toys and thought, “Umm, I’m callin’ Geoffrey the Giraffe.” I’m tellin’ on her because first, she’s rippin’ the heads off dolls (never appropriate behavior) and second, because the heads came off so easily. Those dolls were defective and shouldn’t be given to children anyway. It was nice of Faith to have the shipment delivered to Father Coates though and I loved that the queen of mean was sucking on a candy cane.
Faith mutters, “Give it up doll face. I know there’s a red plastic spy decoder ring in here somewhere.” What I want to know is how Faith can suck a candy cane at all when she received a fat lip fighting with Skye and then caught the bad side of Courtney’s fist a few days later. How come this woman gets hit in the face on a regular basis and never sports one bruise? Not that she doesn’t look good and deliver her evil lines with style, but the reality of what I see on screen falls short of what I should see. One note struck me funny – while Faith and Skye shrieked vituperative insults, Luke and Zander stood in the background trading comments. Don’t you wonder what they were saying? Were they scoring the fight or discussing what they ate for lunch?
Never mind where is the love? Where are the bruises from the violence perpetrated on Faith’s face? After Thursday’s episode I saw the previews and couldn’t wait for Friday. Want to know why? Because Faith wore a color other than black. I know things are out of whack when I’m excited over Faith’s clothing color.
Oh my, she does look luxuriously fine in white fur. Skye informed Luke that he wasn’t allowed to trash her life and Luke apologized. The fact that Skye stood up and demanded respect showed that she’s gaining respect for herself. Yay, for Skye! Luke, superb life trasher that he is, acknowledged that she was right and apologized. Not to be boringly repetitive, but have I mentioned that I love these two together? Romance or not, they light up my screen with fun dialogue and spontaneous action.
Skye demands respect and Luke offers some. Guy and Georgie could be an interesting couple. But since Guy is gay and developing a friendship between Guy and Georgie would mean addressing one of those pesky social issues, I doubt it’ll happen. Too bad.
Guy was fun for a day. Admittedly, I’ve never worked a job where I had access to the internet but I thought it funny that Georgie could jump on line at the hospital nurse’s station and sign up with Teen Speed Dating in full view of anyone walking by or exiting the elevator. The inappropriateness of a volunteer candy striper using the hospital computer system to find dates is just too big for me to address. I had to laugh instead. Why didn’t the scene happen at their computer at home?
Think she typed in her real name? I don’t like Sage which is appropriate since I don’t think I’m supposed to. Every parent’s nightmare (except maybe Tracey’s) comes alive in Sage. However, I do experience twinges of interest during the exchanges between Sage and Uncle Lorenzo. Sage seems to let her real wants become visible and Uncle Lorenzo shows a smidgeon of healthy caring. I’d like to see a real connection develop between uncle and niece.
Let me see the relationship growing as Sage shows a nicer side and Lorenzo learns to navigate the slippery ropes of teen age girls. Excuse me. Umm, Jax? Newsflash for you. The tiara’s not yours to give away! I couldn’t believe it on Monday when Sam went down to dive for treasure leaving Jax with the tiara which he promptly offered to Nickolas like it was a dime store ring. “Why don’t you keep it? I’m not sure what its worth but Sam found it while she was working for you. It was found right next to your freighter and it’d still be lying there if it hadn’t sunk. So, you could use it a lot more than we could right now. I’m sure Sam would agree.” I’m sure Sam wouldn’t. Good thing Cody, Sam’s dad, didn’t show up right then because Jax might have offered the tiara to him as a welcome to Port Charles gift.
“I insist, you have it.” “Oh no, please, you keep it.” Ric told Sonny, “If Faith dies, if she winds up disappearing, if she so much as stubs her toe, you are going to be the prime suspect. OK? I doubt you’re gonna get a second jury who will let you walk away clean. So do yourself a favor, try to find a way to peacefully coexist with Faith.” Oooh, did you feel Sonny’s shudder of fear? Neither did I. Several months have passed and I still don’t care what Ric wants, says or does except when he’s trying to get in Liz’s good graces. Groveling is good for him and if he keeps it up, maybe, eventually, I’ll begin to accept him again.
The bossy power hat doesn’t work for Ric, but the atoning for mistakes and trying to win back Liz hat, I can tolerate. A few sparkly spoilers caught my eye this week. Zander vows that Ric and Elizabeth will never raise his child. He is ticked that Emily supports the idea. (GHH2) Methinks that whatever Emily supports, Zander will do the opposite even though under the pain and anger we know he still loves her. But would this be the same Zander who just finished informing Liz about ten minutes ago that he doesn’t want to care about anybody?
Nikolas gives Emily a
HUGE ring, she in turn, gives him a HUGE house, Wyndemere; Ya gotta love a healthy trust fund! I spent my trust fund on a new computer. Oh, did I say trust fund? Really it was the crust fund (grocery money for the next year). I heard and saw the first V of migrating geese this week. Every year about this time the mournful honking birds fly overhead as they travel further south. It’s a little event, but I look forward to it each year. Because it usually occurs in frantic December, for me, it’s a reminder that no matter how stressed, pressed and crazy the weeks before Christmas tend to become, nature follows her own course at her own reliable pace. How many gifts, how many parties, how much food have no affect on Mother Nature, the geese are flying over. It’s reassuring and settling. Amid the Christmas specials, Christmas plays, church services, traditions rigidly upkept, the geese will fly over. And for a few seconds, I can stop and savor the crisp air, the miracle of birds flying thousands of miles in a certain formation, and the resonating sounds high above against a grey sky. The stressful part of Christmas, with its gifts, fads, obligations, celebrations, and most disturbing, its commercialism, will pass. But the meaning behind Christmas and nature will continue on their timeless course.
I know they’re seagulls! I couldn’t’ find geese against a gray sky. Maybe this is your first Christmas without a loved one or you’ve experienced a life altering event during the past year and your feelings don’t lend themselves to happiness and cheer. I can’t knock on your door and put my arm around you in friendship and support, but I can, through the magic of my computer, internet and Katrina’s wonderful EOS webpage, let you know I care and how grateful I feel towards those I’ve met through writing this column. Please know how appreciated you are. Whether your Christmas day is spent amongst friends and relatives or alone; whether you’re surrounded by children or adults, at home or visiting family, I wish you joy and peace. I especially appreciate the policemen, firemen, nurses, doctors, soldiers, etc. for whom Christmas day dawns and the world doesn’t stop so they drag themselves away from family and celebrations to perform their duties. Merry Christmas to all.
P.S. Phew! That’s the most serious I’ve been all year. I’ll try to be over it by next week.
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