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I haven't written for "GH in Review" in a while, and have been 2
or 3 months behind on GH and PC for almost a year now. Partly this is due to inertia--once
you get behind on a 5-day-a-week show, it's hard to catch up. Mostly this is due
to my dissertation, which is not yet finished. The other editors have been gracious
enough to take on the reviews (when I begged with them to help me take a break!),
but I've missed weighing in each month. So while I work to catch up--and I am
gaining some ground--I thought I would share some quick takes on characters and
storylines.
The Quartermaines:
I didn't expect to like the newest Quartermaine, Skye, but I don't hate her.
As it is elsewhere, the writing for her is a bit repetitious, but there have been
some good scenes, here and there, that have kept me fairly neutral about Skye,
even if I'm not a big fan. I have enjoyed her with her father, and with AJ, and
with Emily. As for the rest of the family, I thought the writing for Emily's departure
was pretty silly, though the performances were moving despite the situation. I
love that Ned has come back to be gatekeeper, and, most importantly, I love his
scenes with AJ. I hated AJ in his "I'm a jerk and I don't care; I want to
date Hannah anyway" phase. Before that, I had truly liked him, just after
Billy Warlock took over the character and when AJ was having his summer of sobriety,
complete with a calendar on the fridge and a friendship with Carly living across
the hall with Tony. So I'm thrilled that Warlock--and AJ--have been given better
writing and some really good scenes. Now if they'd only give Monica something
to do other than harp about the children all the time.
Carly/Sonny/Angel:
Lord help a duck. Most of our readers will know that we're all big Carly supporters--or
we were. With Sarah Brown, even when Carly was in the wrong, or when the writing
was repetitive--regardless of whatever it was, we had Brown's convincing portrayal
to lean on. She gave Carly a heart, gave us something to sympathize with. Not
only has the recast of Carly been a disappointment, I suspect that nobody but
Brown (and she would have had her work cut out for her) could have kept me on
Carly's side with the writing in the current storyline. Carly has been downgraded
to a stalker, a woman who thinks that if she says "I love you" enough
times, she'll get what she wants. Carly has always built castles in the air, but
never has the writing been so simplistic. And never has any storyline made me
so bored with Sonny, who's one of my favorites. Meanwhile, the character of Angel
has been a waste of my time since day one. Sonny and Alexis have been one of the
two interesting things in this storyline; Mike and Bobbie are the other, and I
would love to see them get together over this. Mike hasn't had much to do in this
storyline, but I'd rather have him there than not, so I'm glad he's been around.
(Did we ever explain where Tammy went?)
Bobbie/Roy/Melissa:
Bobbie has been insufferable, for the most part, with her from-one-extreme-to-the-other
approach to relationships. I liked the breakup with Roy, with each of them realizing
that their impressions of the other were colored with the past, etc. But why,
oh why, did we have to put Roy then immediately into another relationship from
the past? I would have rather had Melissa come on as an all-new character without
the connections to Roy. We could have then skipped her horrid passive-aggressive
phase ("I don't love Roy, Bobbie") completely. I don't really care for
the writers popping her head into each and every storyline (Elizabeth's confidante,
Carly's confidante, Luke's unwanted confidante, etc.), but when they keep her
minding her own business, the wonderful acting of Jensen Buchanan helps me get
over my objections. I particularly enjoyed the scenes of Melissa's reaction to
the news that Sorel gave the order to have Leo killed, not to mention Roy standing
over him with a large cement block back at the recently exploded penthouse. I
do wish it hadn't been so easy for us to get past Bobbie and Roy as a couple,
but perhaps that will become more complicated again in episodes I have yet to
see. I did enjoy seeing them talk things out a bit more just after the explosion.
The Cassadines:
I read in a magazine recently that, with the story changes following the events
of September 11th, Robert Kelker-Kelly as Stavros wouldn't be needed anymore,
as there wouldn't be anything for him to do. That's a shame. I have enjoyed him,
especially once he stopped doing his director-suggested caveman impersonation
there in the first few days. Stavros is one of those delicious, campy villains
that I love so much on soap operas: just threatening enough to cause problems,
but no real danger. Of course, this storyline would have found Stavros and his
mother to be a true threat; Luke wouldn't have found the secret Cassadine password
in time to stop the destruction of the hospital in an explosion, rumor has it
(at least the part about the explosion; my image of Luke as he is now punching
keys and screaming at Laura through an intercom that he'll save the world again
is just my own little fantasy).
It seems, then, that the writers/producers have messed this up on several levels.
Firstly, they missed the memo that says that campy villains don't ever get to
win one of the big battles. Secondly, and most importantly to me, they've missed
the boat on Stavros. Instead of taking this as a chance to bring the family together,
to show Alexis and Stefan dealing with Stavros's return, to explore the possibilities
with Helena's reactions to her son's return and his to her (only teased at in
their repetitive, if amusing, banter), Nikolas has been the only Cassadine with
any real story in this story. He has been amazingly interesting to watch. I could
only wish that, instead of bringing on a new Cassadine (Kristina, though I have
to admit I have not seen her arrival yet, so I have no judgment on her yet), they
had used Stavros as the catalyst to play with the family dynamics already on canvas.
That could be done regardless of a plot to take over the world. In fact, the plot
to take over the world I generally ignored; the plot to take down the Spencers
was the one that really mattered, to me and to the storyline. Would that they
had chosen to find some focus.
The Spencers:
Just as the best thing about Rex Stanton's campy, villainous turn on Port
Charles was the development of the characters--ditto for the Vampire story
and its fabulous material for Kevin--the best thing about the latest chapter in
the Spencer/Cassadine war has been the interactions between characters. When we
get them, that is. As I said above, Nikolas has won the prize for best material
here; never a big fan of his, I have enjoyed his scenes more than any others--especially
his teaming up with Luke, despite Laura's protests. Luke and Laura--and Scotty--come
in a close second.
But even though I enjoy particular scenes from these three, the writing hasn't
been stellar. Just as I felt with Stefan back in 1996 and following, I've never
believed that Scotty really had a chance. When Laura sent him out of her room
on their trip to L.A., it was as though the writers were saying, "don't worry,
we won't actually let her sleep with him." Just because your "final"
destination in this arc of the story is to put Luke and Laura back together (just
as I always believed Guza's intention was, even if it was an arc that would take
several years) doesn't mean that she can't actually have a viable relationship
with somebody else along the way. Meanwhile, Luke and Felicia's relationship,
which was, in its beginning, fascinating and moving, has become filler, and she's
looking a lot like Carly in the "if I want it bad enough, he'll love me"
category. And where the hell is Mac? He's the other point of this geometric shape,
and he's been left out of the development almost completely since the beginning.
Finally, though I loved the scene where Lucky injected Luke, Lucky has become
one of the characters I just don't really like. I don't hate him as I now hate
Elizabeth, though. She reached an all-time low with her "I don't care about
Gia, Nikolas; you have to save Lucky" scene and its follow-up, the "I
know I said I'd do anything, but I can't let Lucky think badly of me for a second"
scene. Add to that the "I wish I were in a Brontë novel" scene
with her sending him good thoughts across the cosmos, and the earlier "I
know your aunt might have just exploded Nikolas, but you shouldn't be mean to
Lucky" scene, and you've pretty much sunk her boat with me. She seems merely
selfish and catty where she is supposed, I think, to seem dedicated and desperate.
And why on earth has nobody else figured out that Nikolas is up to something?
Laura figured it out; Elizabeth figured it out. While I can understand that Gia
would be too hurt to see past this (if I try really hard) and Lucky is too whacked
right not to figure anything out, why on earth can't Stefan and Alexis put two
and two together and actually get four instead of five?
So there's the quick run down. I split about 50/50 on the new characters, and
I don't know why we had to send Chloe away only to bring on all these other women
about the same age as her. For the most part, I enjoy particular scenes in the
midst of repetition on one side and huge, explosive events on the other. I miss
the character-building scenes that have gone away in the face of big action, huge
revelations, and surprising arrivals. I'm not complaining too much because the
Cassadines and Spencers are front and center, but even they could stand a good
rewrite (and how long has this brainwashing story been spinning out, anyway?).
I'm thankful the hospital won't be exploding in the near future, but I wonder
how anybody ever thought that was a good idea. Bottom line? I'm ready for a change,
and I don't mean more new characters, a new set, or new opening credits.
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