GH in Review: November Sweeps
by Turner Arrington

Sweeps have come and gone again, and despite the promises of grand changes, we're still flowing along at glacial speed. Oh, there was plenty of plot (indeed, there was perhaps too much plot), but our character arcs all pretty much ended up right back where they started. But given the major shift in tone, and a major rewrite, GH has left us in a much stronger position than before.

Spencer/Cassadine War

Naturally, the "event" of the month was the grand Spencer/Cassadine finale. It was huge, drawing in both the usual players (Luke, Laura, etc), and those we might not expect (supporting roles from Mac, Felicia, even Skye). It's become well-known by now that the story was blunted to the point of this abrupt ending after the September 11th attacks, so the rushed climax and the somewhat muddled action is forgivable, to a point. And certainly, much of it was suitably dramatic. But is still seemed to consist mostly of people being captured by Helena/Stavros/hench-goons, Helena and Stavros tossing off bon mots, the people being locked up, and Laura begging Helena and Stavros for everyone's lives. And the maze. There was a little too much maze. But still, Stavros got his, Helena got hers, and Our Heroes were victorious.

Even if no one has explained exactly how you hire a contractor to build a bottomless pit.

Spencer/Cassadine Luv

With the cumbersome plot out of the way, it left plenty of time for the various couples involved to be introspective. Almost to the point of navel-gazing. Nikolas and Gia got engaged with the blessing of Stephan, Flo, and Taggert. Lucky and Elizabeth's soul-searching was one-sided (but then again, when isn't it?) thanks to Becky Herbst's maternity leave. Roy and Melissa even managed to sneak in a moment to themselves. So that just leaves…

Luke and Laura

Many hands were wrung about the state of Luke and Laura's relationship. None of this was unexpected, and the twentieth anniversary memories were wonderful, as they always are. To the satisfaction of many, Felicia finally realized what the audience knew all along. But Scott was hurt, again, by Laura's choosing Luke (as a moth to a flame is our poor Scotty), and even though we're supposed to want Luke and Laura back together forever, it would nice if we hadn't seen it all coming back when they got divorced in the first place.

The Q's

With the addition of Janine into the mix, the Quartermaines are back to scheming, which is what they do best. But with Skye being the one at the center of the schemes, counter-schemes, and counter-counter-schemes, it's hard to completely care. And with Monica being written as a shrill harpy, it's not sitting well at all. However, any November that includes a more or less traditional Quartermaine Thanksgiving can be chalked up as a success.

Jax & Carly & Sonny & Alexis

While Skye having her finger in this storyline pie too (can't she just pick one and stick with it) brought down the average overall, with Sonny and Alexis's sure-fire chemistry, and with Tamara Braun slowly coming into her own, this was the closest to a pure success GH got. The budding something between Sonny and Alexis is the story here, and something that will come more to the fore in December. But with the presence of Kristina as a guardian angel, and again, with the back and forth between Sonny and Carly, this can't go anywhere but up.

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