Be Careful What You Be Wishin’ For, A’IIIIIGHT?
By Robin Vaicius  

Everyone should remember, as if it were a Kennedy moment, where they were when they first laid eyes on Sonny.  Close your eyes, take a harrowing, deep breath, and time-warp yourself back to the moment when you first experienced the phenomenon of Sonny Corinthos.   

I had just moved from Boston to Cincinnati, and was stricken with dental woes, half passed out on Vicodin (a Courtney moment, for sure) on a futon in a half unpacked apartment.  

He moved in slow motion.  Not sure if it was the drugs, but I didn’t really give a damn.  His entire being commanded my attention.  His five o’clock shadow, his haunted face, the dark encompassing liquid pools of black onyx beckoning me from across the room, his dimples flashing, his jaw tensing, and his slow, calculated, yet still frightened movement toward Jason.   

It was the return of a soap god that I’d never even met.  The mob was back.  Hell if I knew what that meant.   

Reading the message boards, it has become abundantly clear that a great majority of fans wish for the mob storylines to either diminish or disappear.  I could type for hours on why I think that might be a premature assertion, but instead, I’d like to present a different thought.  Now that you’ve all gone back and remembered whether or not you were as smitten as I surely was, you can now fully move forth with the challenge I introduce to you. 

Make believe that Sonny is gone. 

Let’s pretend that Lily/Marcella summons Sonny into a car that is triggered with some mad crazy TNT.  He blows up into flaming, beautiful Latino embers drifting over the Port Chuck piers.  What would be your reaction?  Would you be pleased?  Would you mourn the loss of this GH fave, as if he were Stefan, Jax, or Helena?   

Imagine that Carly shacks up with Lorenzo because the pain is too much to bear.  Pretend that AJ gets custody of Michael.  Would it all be too bittersweet?  Think of all the characters that are intertwined with Sonny right now, whether directly or indirectly, and think of the fallout if the loss of the mob were to occur.  Even if Sonny were to just drift off into madness, so many different stories are affected.  Irregardless (according to my spellcheck, no such word but ehhhh…what the hell, right?), Sonny controls a major portion of GH, just as the Luke and Laura phenomenon commanded viewers decades ago.  Yet, the complete loss of the mob?  What would happen to Lorenzo, whose roots are immersed in organized crime?  What about Faith, who wouldn’t know what to do with herself if she had to insert color into her wardrobe?  What would happen to the pier?  The coffee house?  Jason????  (Off the cuff thought…with Johnny dead, who votes for Coleman to take his place???  Seeing where the bodyguards suck anyway, they might as well be eye-candy, right?  Can I get a hooooo-yeaaaaah???)…I digress…. 

Yep.  Now we move on to the penthouse crew.  Let’s say Sonny goes nuthouse.  Jason takes over?  Carly, armed with her bat, resumes her husband’s reign?  Courtney kicks everyone’s ass?  Think of how the mob can really get retarded.  Ric, claiming birthright, moves in and declares himself leader of the turf, all the while, attempting to convince Liz to be his Lady d’Crime?  I’m cringing with affliction.  So, let’s not be rid of it entirely. 

However, even lessening the mob scenes don’t seem to make much sense.  I read the bellowing opinions, the ones that say there’s too much airtime dedicated to “The Sonny Hour”, but I find myself sucked into the haunting scenes of Lily (who’d I’d never known before since I’m in my soap infancy).  I get vacuumed into Carly trying to save him or anyone (what woman has never tried to save a man?), Courtney attempting to keep the peace but failing miserably as she instead screws things up (every story needs a f*ckup who jumps off the big-ass yacht when her life isn’t even remotely in danger to kill her kid’s), and Jase calmly solving the situation despite his poor damaged brain (I want to title a song, “Heels in the Sand”).  No, sometimes it doesn’t make sense.  But it’s still amusing; however, even a better point…it’s entertaining.   

Imagine the payoff.  Think of the badass mob moments.  Think of Sonny being shot down outside the cop house trying to save Alexis, and SB’s Carly holding an unforgettable vigil by his bedside.  Goosebumps yet?  No?  Think of Carly wielding her bat on the Five Families (another Robinism…the Fab Five could sooo fix their wardrobes, because they are simply not mobbish enough for me), or Jason being shot as Carly is bumping her ass against Sonny’s penthouse wall.  Think of the moments that I don’t know about because it’s been beyond my virginal GH experience.  No?  Doesn’t work for you?  Think of the musical montage when Brenda returned….think of the glass Carly dropped, the rain falling, Sonny brooding….Brenda whips open the doors….. 

Bad writing?  Sometimes.  But not then.   

Let’s go further then.  Ready? 

Pretend Jason’s gone too.  This concept of Sonny and Jason having the loverboy relationship is true in some sense because they feed off of each other.  Just as Jason would be an empty shell without Sonny, the same goes for Corinthos having to deal with not only the loss of his executioner, but his best friend, his confidante, and in some ways, his true brother.   

The main point to think about?  What would you really do with the loss of the mob?  Would you be ecstatic, screaming “Ding Dong the Mob Is Gone”, or would you clamor the message boards for the return of Maurice Benard, and his alter ego, Sonny?  Would you in the end extend your effort to a “Bring Back Sonny” campaign? 

When Jason, AKA SB, took a sabbatical after kissing Liz just once (I felt cheated!  This Liason fan says, “Gimme some crazy Jason-Liz-against the wall-pulling the hair-sliding off the satin onto the carpet where her ass gets rug burns sex”), I wanted his bike to ride the hell back into town at every second GH aired.  But I would feel the same about Sonny if he were to suddenly vanish. 

The old adage goes, “Be careful what you wish for.”  Sonny would say, “Tenga cuidado.”  At the end of the day, if the mob were to ride outta town, methinks a whole lot of GH freaks would be writing letters to try to get him back.  But I’m OK with being wrong.  So let me know what you think…robincita0@lycos.com.   

Next time up, if the lovely Sage and incomparable Katrina will still have me…Nik and Em….and why it would’ve kicked mass ass if they’d hit uglies on that unromantic blanket in the blackout….

(We'll still have her... Katrina)