Lee’s Two Cents

Lee’s two cents - one positive, one negative


General Hospital: Don’t Drink The Water! (But please do.)

Ron Carlivati took a while to get into the right rhythm and groove at General Hospital. Sure, the show was infinitely easier to watch than the trainwreck that was Garin Wolf’s tenure and more entertaining than longtime Head Writer Bob Guza’s never-ending mob epic, but overall the show lacked a consistent tone or direction. All of that changed, though, with the return of fan fave villain Jerry Jacks and new baddie Joe Scully, Jr. Jerry’s plot to poison the water of Port Charles and demand a ton of money for the antidote made for absolutely fantastic viewing. Weaving in old stories, such as the Dead Man’s Hand cards, and involving the entire cast, the month-long umbrella story reminded us exactly why we fell in love with GH in the first place. It was full of thrilling action and adventure (I won’t forget the climactic confrontation between Jerry and Sonny on the docks any time soon), romance (Dante and Lulu’s strong devotion and love for one another, Alexis and Shawn’s epic kiss following her rescue, the growing triangle between Jason, Sam and Liz), humor (Todd rounding up the “1 Percenters”) and riveting emotional moments (Edward’s selfless act of giving little Emma the only available antidote proved to be a powerful moment for fans of John Ingle, who unfortunately isn’t looking very healthy). In the end, the story was not only a throwback to the swashbuckling adventure of GH’s past, but a sign that this creative team knows what they’re doing and that for the first time in years, General HOspital is in very good hands.


Days of Our Lives: Listen To Your Mother, Sonny

Sonny was upset with his mother for not approving of his burgeoning relationship with Will, but I wanted to hug the woman. I get that Will and Sonny are being positioned as the next gay soap supercouple, but Adrienne really has a point. Sonny is a happy, well-adjusted guy with a nice family and good looks on his side; why settle for some constantly embattled, irrationally angry guy who is still not quite okay with being gay? Sometimes we look beyond the baggage to see a wonderful person worth fighting for, but so far, Will has only proven to be selfish and absolutely dysfunctional. Sonny should go with his heart, yes, but he should also be practical. There’s a reason Sami hasn’t been able to nail down one guy, and Will has definitely shown many of her negative, self-destructive traits. Run while you can, Sonny. You’ll only regret this in the future....

"Not Barbara Jean's heart..." Oh wait. Same story, different decade.

Isn't it a shame that what is arguably the best story in soap history has been copied and butchered so many times that if it aired today, it would lose all its luster and relevance? That's unfortunately what's happened on General Hospital, where the story of BJ dying in a bus crash and Bobbie and Tony giving her heart to a gravely ill Maxie. Since then, the story has been repeated ad infinitum - on the same show, no less - and the latest attempt to capture the greatness of the heart-wrenching saga of the early 90s has proven to be the worst yet.

After Elizabeth's son Jake ran out into the street and got hit by a drunken, driving Luke, she and her two baby-daddies Lucky and Jason made the decision to donate the little boy's kidney to Carly and Jax's daughter Josslyn, who suddenly had cancer. Organic storytelling at its best, no? What made the story so insulting was how entitled Carly seemed to feel towards Jake's kidney, and how she made it all about herself when Elizabeth was reluctant. The one stunning, powerful moment in the story came when Jason asked Elizabeth to give Jake's kidney to Josslyn and she slapped him, reaming him out for abandoning her and Jake and accusing Jason of wanting to use Jake for "spare parts." If the entire story had been charged with that anger, that visceral tragedy, we may have had a classic story on our hands. Instead, we had yet another reminder that Carly is more important and entitled to whatever she wants than anyone else on the show. And where in all of this were Bobbie and Monica?

I know I'm being excessively negative about this story, but I really thought it was in bad taste and skipped over all the beats that could have played out for weeks and months. Instead of a nuanced, poignant story of loss and healing we got a speeding plot-driven mess filled with histrionics. Thumbs down, GH...
-Lee