Volume I, Issue v

January 1999

GH in Review by Amy McWilliams

View a section by clicking on the links below, or read the entire review by scrolling down. The review takes up 8 separate pages, but the navigation at the top and bottom of each remains consistent.

General Hospital

The Quartermaines

Carly/Jason/Robin

Mac and Felicia

The Spencers

Bobbie

Lucky and Elizabeth

Luke

The Cassadines

Jax

Sonny

Mac and Felicia

• The dealer tells Felicia that he put something in her drink and asks her to take a ride. She sees Alan in the hall and asks him to come along; the dealer leaves without her and she tells Alan what happened. He takes her home, where she tells Bobbie and Mac that she has a migraine. The dealer, meanwhile, calls Moreno and tells him that the plan had failed this time. Moreno tells him to try again--and to succeed. (12/1)
• A beaten Tammy goes to Alan's door, where Felicia finds her. Felicia takes her inside and Tammy tells her that she had refused to work for a pimp and this was the result. Felicia offers to help, telling Tammy that she's the police commissioner's wife, but Tammy doesn't want any police involvement because it'll just make things worse for her later. She does tell Felicia to inform Mac that Moreno is making things worse on the streets. Felicia leaves Tammy to hide in her room. Meanwhile, Moreno tells the dealer to drug Felicia and take compromising photos with her to use to blackmail Mac. Moreno nods to another man to follow. (12/4)
• Felicia meets with Tammy and tells her to stay on in the room as long as she wants. Felicia then calls Alan. Moreno's man follows the dealer into Felicia's building. Alan then shows up to find Tammy and the dead dealer in bed together. Tammy has been drugged and is unconscious. Alan says he'll protect her and drags the dealer down the hall towards his room, but Taggert catches him. Meanwhile, Mac worries when Felicia is late, but she only had a flat tire. She tells him that she is leaving Courtland Street. (12/7)
• Tammy goes to Luke's club and tells him about what's happened. They call Felicia, and Luke helps her realize that Moreno is after Mac. Tammy's involvement was a mistake, but Alan is now trying to cover for her. Tammy goes to see Alan. (12/9)
• After Felicia visits Jason and Tammy visits Alan, the women agree that they have to tell Mac everything they know. (12/10)
• Felicia tells Mac the whole story. He's upset that she kept these things from him, but she asks him to release Alan from jail. He's more upset when she tells him that she spoke with Jason about Moreno; she says that she's afraid their whole family could be targeted. Mac says that he won't back down. (12/14)
• Mac tells Dara to drop the charges against Alan and focus on Moreno. He instructs Taggert to put the pressure on Moreno to let him know that they won't shrink from a fight. Afterwards, Taggert asks Dara to The Outback for Friday night while Felicia tells Mac that she's worried. He promises her a good Christmas and a night out at The Outback. (12/17)
• At The Outback, Tony tells Felicia about Monica's recommendation. Felicia worries when Mac is late for the Chicago performance, and hugs him long and hard when he arrives. Mac tells Alan that the charges have been dropped against him. Felicia and Alan move away to talk about Tammy while Robin thanked Mac for giving Alan another chance. At that moment, somebody broke a windowpane and fired a gun into the room. Mac and Robin tumbled to the floor and lay still. (12/18)
• Felicia and Robin both realize that Mac is shot. Felicia calls for help while Robin looks in horror at the blood on her dress. Alan comes to Mac's side and takes charge of his care while V and Taggert discuss the situation. Taggert wants to question Robin, but V tells him that she can tell him what he wants to know. Robin and Felicia go with Mac to GH. Later, Bobbie comes out from surgery to tell Felicia and Robin how serious Mac's condition is. Taggert is still on a rampage and Dara makes him put on the brakes until morning. (12/21)
• Still at the hospital, Jax comes to comfort Robin and Felicia. He asks Robin to leave Jason for her own good. Later, Felicia and Maxie talk about Mac's condition, and receive a bit of comfort from Luke. Then Felicia goes to sit with him. She begs him to live. (12/22)
• Felicia sits with Mac, talking to him constantly and pleading with him to get better. Finally, he awakens, just in time for Christmas. (12/23)
• Taggert tells Dara that they have no leads. Meanwhile, Felicia, Robin, Maxie, and Georgie bring Christmas to Mac in the hospital room. (12/24)

It was as though the month of December was the month for cheap cliffhangers: Laura asking Stefan to come with her upstairs to see Nikolas while we knew he was in bed with Katherine and then their suddenly-changed minds come Monday, the blonde woman that was clearly Tammy in bed with the drug dealer when Alan arrived, Felicia's flat tire. Later, we had Alan calling for help again and it turning out to be Tammy instead of the expected drug dealer, as well as Katherine almost telling Nikolas the truth about Stefan.

That noted, I thought the setup to Alan's arrest was good. It incorporated Moreno, Mac and Felicia, the Quartermaines, Tammy, and Luke:

Tammy: "I hope to god you remember me. And if you don't, please try to pretend. I'm in an awful mess, and--no pressure--but I've got no place else to go."

Tammy: "Thanks."
Luke: "Have you ever even considered a safer line of work?"
Tammy: "It wasn't a customer."
Luke: "Well, it's none of my business really."
Tammy: "It was a pimp."
Luke: "A pimp? You broke down and got a pimp?"
Tammy: "I didn't. Which in some people's eyes is a problem."
Luke: "Oh, I see. It's just the normal recruitment program. That's what the bruises are from. Well, what do you want me to do, baby?"
Tammy: "Well, you haven't even heard my problem yet."
Luke: "It gets worse?"
Tammy: "I don't know if you noticed, Luke, but there have been some changes on this side of town."
Luke: "Yeah, courtesy of Moreno. I haven't talked to Jason Morgan, but I find the whole idea of his retirement hard to believe."
Tammy: "Yeah, well, I wouldn't call it a positive development."
Luke: "Obviously it's not."
Tammy: "I mean, basically, I don't care who's in charge as long as they leave me alone. But these guys who are running things lately--scary out there, Luke."
Luke: "Well, then what do you want me to do, babe? Reorganize the local syndicate?"
Tammy: "God, no. I've been around enough corpses for a while."
Luke: "Corpses?"
Tammy: "Couple of days ago, right after this happened, I went to crash with a friend. Only he wasn't home. But his neighbor was--a really nice lady across the hall."
Luke: "Oh, watch out for those nice ladies across the hall. She's probably working for Moreno."
Tammy: "No. She really wanted to help me, but she had to leave. So I was alone in the apartment, and there was a knock at the door. I went to open the door, and then everything just went black for a while. I woke up with a monster hangover--the kind you get from really serious drugs."
Luke: "The lady across the hall--she drugged you."
Tammy: "No. The friend that I went to crash with--the one who wasn't home--he's been arrested for offing somebody while I was in a drugged-out haze."
Luke: "Whoa."
Tammy: "Yeah. And the murder happened right across the hall from where I passed out, at the exact same time. There's got to be a connection."
Luke: "What about your friend? Tell me about him."
Tammy: "He wouldn't hurt anybody."
Luke: "Yeah, well, such a trusting soul as you."
Tammy: "I know this man, Luke. It's impossible."
Luke: "Does this harmless creature have a name?"
Tammy: "I call him Roy."
Luke: "That's sweet. What does the division of homicide call him?"
Tammy: "Alan Quartermaine."
Luke: "Al? Big Al is in jail for murder?"

Tammy: "Luke, Roy's a friend of yours, right?"
Luke: "Uh--"
Tammy: "I mean, I was hoping."
Luke: "You mean, Alan? Al--Alan Quartermaine?"
Tammy: "I met him here a while back."
Luke: "Who'd he off? A relative?"
Tammy: "Do you really buy him as a killer?"
Luke: "I think under the right circumstances, anybody can kill."
Tammy: "Look, I think I have a handle on Roy, ok? I've been spending a lot of time with him lately, and he's hardly in the mindset to kill anybody."
Luke: "Well, that brings us back to the little lady across the hall."
Tammy: "No. Her knee-jerk reaction when I showed up like this was to put in a call to the police."
Luke: "Was that before or after she read you as a lady who, shall we say, doesn't date men in blue?"
Tammy: "I made her swear not to get the cops involved."
Luke: "Oh, honey, you--your faith in your fellow man is amazing. Your heart is too big to be on the street, girl."
Tammy: "This is going to sound stranger than fiction."
Luke: "What, you saw a one-armed man fleeing the premises? Tammy, I think I know what you're going to say. You're afraid maybe you whacked the victim. Right? I mean, you said you were completely out of it. You'll get no judgments from me, baby."
Tammy: "Hey, look--if I killed somebody, I'd have to have a pretty good reason, and right now I can't think of one right off the top of my head. I think I would remember."
Luke: "Ok. All right. Who else was around?"
Tammy: "Like I said, I was alone in the apartment."
Luke: "Right. But this nice lady across the hall, where did she go to?"
Tammy: "She had to split. But she did call Roy before she left."
Luke: "Did you talk to Alan yourself? You didn't talk to him? How do you know that it was him on the phone? How do you know that it wasn't a fake? All right, baby. You're alone; there's a knock at the door. Take me back there."
Tammy: "I vaguely even remember going to the door. I don't even have a sense of who it was. I just--I just have this really murky picture of Alan hovering over me--"
Luke: "Roy."
Tammy: "Right--telling me that everything was going to be ok. Only he didn't say what everything meant, I don't think, and I don't think I asked. I could barely open my eyes, let alone talk."
Luke: "Ok. You know, it sounds like maybe chloroform. This Good Samaritan woman that so conveniently vanished--you think you'd recognize her if you saw her again?"
Tammy: "This is where it gets really out there, Luke. Police commissioner Scorpio--the Good Samaritan is his wife."
Luke: "What?"
Tammy: "You think I made it up? Look--she gave me her number, ok? What, do you think I fell for a line?"
Luke: "No, babe. No, no, no. I've known Felicia Scorpio for a long, long time. She has a natural instinct for disaster."
Tammy: "Then you believe me, right?"
Luke: "Yes, I do."
Tammy: "What would you do if you were me?"
Luke: "Hop a freighter to Costa Rica."
Tammy: "And leave Alan in jail?"
Luke: "Roy? No. Well--Alan, Roy. Listen, I think you should call Felicia. If she said she would keep the cops away from you, if she would keep you clear, I would take her at her word. She's ok. Yeah, do it, call her. You have no other option. Go ahead. Do it."
Tammy: "Ok."
Luke: "Ok."

Luke: "Felicia, hi."
Felicia: "Hi. Thank God you called. I've been pulling my hair out. So what happened when I left?"
Tammy: "Well, I'm not clear on that."
Luke: "Apparently, it involved a corpse."
Felicia: "Well, I know that. When did Alan get there? Did he come with the drug dealer or later?"
Tammy: "Dealer?"
Felicia: "The dead guy. That's Alan's drug dealer, according to Mac. He died from a blow to the head. Were you Alan's alibi?"
Tammy: "Oh, no way did Roy kill that guy."
Felicia: "Oh, great. This is like trying to put together a puzzle with half the pieces missing."
Luke: "No, no. Your--you got all your pieces."
Tammy: "How do you figure that?"
Luke: "Well, piece number one, you got a new regime on the docks. You got Moreno flexing his muscle. Piece number two, you got a dead drug dealer. That's just a minor sacrifice in the battle for control. This is a setup, ladies."
Tammy: "Oh, here we go again."
Felicia: "Why would Alan be set up?"
Luke: "No, it wasn't Alan. Alan just fell into a trap for a much larger piece of game."
Tammy: "Oh. Yeah, right, like a lowly hooker, for instance?"
Luke: "Oh, honey, you ain't lowly."
Felicia: "Then who?"
Luke: "Picture this--you're a crime lord in a new territory. You're flexing your muscle, as I say. Your only competition is out of the picture. Who do you go after? Law enforcement. You got a police commissioner on your tail. And you got a lovely wife of the police commissioner who likes to frequent Courtland Street. She is lovely--"
Felicia: "Oh, god, no."
Luke: "Oh, yeah."
Felicia: "Tammy was in my office."
Luke: "Well, the next time you want office space, rent it at the ELQ building."
Felicia: "They set me up to get to Mac."
Luke: "It looks that way."

I include all of this simply because it was so fun. The rhythm, the delivery, the back and forth about Alan/Roy--all of it was great fun, and it only served to remind me that we rarely get to see Geary's comic timing anymore. These scenes brought balance to Luke that hasn't been there in a long time because of the dark story he's involved in right now, but also because he was focusing on something outside of his family. Perhaps the absence of outside contact is explained by the dictates of story, or perhaps by vacation time or scheduling, but I miss Luke having a finger in every pie in town, and I hoped (beyond hope, probably), that he would have a further part in this storyline.

The friendship between Tammy and Felicia is wonderful as well, and I hope we have more of that. This turn of events has so much potential for integration, yet at the time I write this I have yet to see anything between the Scorpios and Quartermaines about it, or anything more with Tammy and Felicia or Luke. It's too bad that when we do get scenes between characters of different storylines, it feels like a crossover! They lay the groundwork in scenes like this; they just need to capitalize on it.

Mac: "It's bad, isn't it?"
Felicia: "It's pretty bad. Someone tried to frame me for murder."

Mac: "I'll do what I can. But Alan was dragging a dead body around. That almost always makes for a bad first impression."

Taggert: "How the hell do you get so much information out of a source that never opens his damn mouth?"

Mac: "Felicia, this is our first Christmas as a family, and I want the whole nine yards--the tinsel, the tree, the eggnog."
Felicia: "That may have to come out of a carton."
Mac: "Mmm. Just like mom's."

I was glad to see Mac pass over lecture mode so quickly into action. What he learned from his years of fighting with Robin, perhaps, was that he could lecture all he wanted to, but he also had to take action to protect his family. Sometimes that backfires on him; this time it did in a big way. His shooting was another of Guza's big moments, but, like most of his big moments, it worked. I hoped that they'd keep the momentum this time, as well as the integration this might afford. The PCPD, Alan (and, by extension, the Qs), Luke with Tammy and Felicia, etc. I also hoped that this would be a moment that made things crystal clear for Robin. We didn't get either payoff to the extent that I wanted, but things continued to look up in the month of December, and Guza's anniversary shooting, as it were, turned out pretty well with the scenes that were to come the next week.

Robin: "Don't touch me, V."
V: "I'm not going to hurt you."
Robin: "I said, do not touch me, ok? I'm HIV positive. If you touch me--just--"
V: "Ok, ok, ok--"
Robin: "Just leave me alone, please."

Felicia: "Thank you. Thank you, thank you. If Mac makes it through alive, it's going to be all because of you. I'll never forget what you did for our family--never, as long as I live."

Forget the big party scenes. Forget the fact that there was another shooting at a Port Charles restaurant. The scenes following the shooting were some of the best this month, precisely because of the smaller moments and the integration they provided. Robin's horror at seeing so much blood on her--so much that she couldn't tell if any of it was hers--and the revelation that she might have given Mac HIV channeled into her response to V's ministrations were amazingly done, while the look on Monica's face as Felicia thanked Alan for Mac's life was beautiful.

Felicia: "I should've insisted on seeing Mac before the surgery so that I could tell him I was fine and that I wasn't hit, and at you love him and the girls love him and that I love him."
Robin: "Felicia, he knows that. That's probably what's pulling him through all this."
Felicia: "I just wish I could've told him that the girls are with v. She's been great, you know. She's like our own little, private security force. In fact, we were just talking about what we were going to get her for Christmas the other day. We were going to make a great, big day out of it. We were going to go Christmas shopping and take the girls to see Santa Claus and go look at all the beautiful Christmas windows. Instead, we're just sitting here, waiting to hear if he's going to live or die. When I'd ask him what he wanted for Christmas, you know what he told me? He already had it--this family. We can't lose him."
Robin: "We won't. Felicia, we won't. You just have to believe that, ok?"
Felicia: "I just wish I'd never heard that name Moreno."
Robin: "A man who's in power because Jason retired. And who asked him to do at? Me."
Felicia: "Don't you blame yourself. Jason did the right thing. And as for Moreno, Mac made him angry and I did my part, but we're not to blame, either. It's that horrible man and all those people that work for him."

Felicia was wonderful; Kristina Wagner proved again what a wonderful actress she can be when given good material. Felicia is strong, and she doesn't cry often. When she does, it's quite moving, and her responses to Mac's shooting had me in tears all along. Yet even in times of trial, her common sense and practicality carry her through. Her answer to Robin's belief that she was to blame for all of this was honest and right on the money.

Felicia: "Feels like it's been hours already."
Robin: "Maybe we should take a break--I don't know--go to the cafeteria or something."
Felicia: "I don't want to leave."
Robin: "I don't, either."
Felicia: "We'll just sit here and wait."
Luke: "I'm no good at waiting, either."
Felicia: "Luke."
Luke: "Look, for what it's worth, my money's on Mac. I'm--I'm at Ruby's if there's anything that you need. You can get me there."
Felicia: "Actually, there is."
Luke: "Just say it."
Felicia: "If you hear anything that links Moreno to Mac's shooting, would you please tell the police?"
Luke: "Sure. No problem. That's easy."
Felicia: "Thanks."
Luke: "Well, if you think of anything harder, don't hesitate. You both be careful."

The scenes with Felicia and Luke might seem an unlikely pairing, but they're actually beautiful history, from Georgie's birth under the table at Luke's Club. His response to her plight--waiting for word in a hospital lounge--reminds us of both of their time spent waiting to hear if their daughter would live or die (Joan noted that she was in a sweater similar to the one she wore when she found out that Maxie had been given BJ's heart. I wouldn't have noticed it, but she's absolutely right, ponytail (I believe) and all). The fact that their encounters are unexpected just proves that integration is lacking from the show these days; if I repeat myself on that one it's because it's my greatest regret right now. At the same time, these scenes--combined with Lucky, Jerry, Jax, and Bobbie--gave me hope that we could have such connections again--and not just in party scenes or the occasional shooting.

V: "Hey, why don't we go string some popcorn--try not to eat it all."
Maxie: "Ok. But if it's ok with you, mom, I'd like to hang the stockings. I'll put the big one in the middle for Mac because it's our first Christmas since we married him."

Maxie was adorable. I'm not at all a sucker for children, but the bear, reminiscent of her own illness (Frisco Bear!) and her "we" in the above sentence charmed me.

Robin: "Guess I'm just used to having my uncle Mac there. Never realized how much I needed him."

It was one line. I hoped for more. I hoped that this would help her see outside of her relationship with Jason, or be part of the decision she would make in the next month. She never articulated as much (at least in the episodes I've seen when I'm writing this), except here in this one line.

Robin: "This is such a nightmare. I was finally letting myself believe that Jason was out of that world, and now it's back. It's like there's no way out."
Jax: "Well, there is one way. You can walk away. But you have to walk away clean. You can't take anything with you."

Jax does see Brenda in Robin's situation and at times he conflates the two more completely than necessary. But he loves Robin, and he knows what she could face if she stays where she is. This was foreshadowing to a larger discussion between the two of them in the next month.

Felicia: "Mac, you have to breathe. I know it sounds easy, but it's probably the hardest thing you'll ever have to do. Because, you see, if you keep breathing, it's going to get easier, and then you're going to wake up. And we want you here--Maxie and Georgie and Robin and me."
Felicia: "Maxie sent her bear to watch over you, just like you watched over her when she was sick. Do you remember how brave she was? We just marveled at that. I wonder if you know just how much they love you, how much it means to them to be able to depend on you, to go to bed at night and feel safe and to wake up and to have you there. I know it sounds selfish, but I don't want to lose that security for them, especially now. It's Christmastime. It's--it's Christmas, Mac. You can't leave us now--not like this. You can't leave Robin. You can't leave me. You're more than just a husband to me. You're my home. We belong together. Took forever to get us together, but we did--and I don't want to lose that now. So you have to keep breathing. You've got to keep breathing. I love you. I love you so much."

Felicia: "Oh, boy, where was I? Oh, yes, I remember. You know what? I don't think there is one poinsettia left in the state of New York. The mayor, the DA, a lot of your detectives, and I don't know how many beat cops--Amy said all the nurses did this morning was sign for poinsettias. But you can't have them in here. So I told her just to take them to rooms that didn't have any flowers and say that they were from Santa. You're Santa. You're the one that everybody's waiting for. Don't make us have Christmas without Santa Claus, Mac."

Felicia: "There's red ribbons on the front porch. And what is that shiny stuff that you put on Christmas trees? Oh, I can't remember. But it's draped all the way up the banister. I suspect that we're going to be picking it out of our food between now and Christmas."
Felicia: "I don't really care about Christmas decorations. V's been great. She's been keeping the girls busy. She's a den mother in the making. She's cheerful and she's dependable and she's honest. And I can stay here with you because only you really know how bratty and how lazy and how awful I can be."
Felicia: "Mac? You heard me? Are you just dreaming? Mac, can you hear me talking to you?"
Mac: "Do you ever stop?"
Felicia: "Oh! Oh, god!"
Don't ever do that again to me. You scared me to death. Never mind. You can do anything you want. Just don't go away, and then we'll be just fine. Oh."

We had both Monica and Felicia, this month, speaking monologues to their unconscious husbands, begging them to wake up and live. While the timing on this one, with Mac's waking up just in time for Christmas, might have been a cheap ploy for smiles-through-tears on the holiday, somehow it worked. These were funny, touching beautiful scenes, well played by both. But if this family has another hospital crisis, I'm going to have to buy stock in Kleenex.

Mac: "What's with you people? Did you really think I was going to croak? I finally got everything just the way I want it. I'm running the city. And I've got the most incredibly beautiful wife with built-in beautiful kids. And I finally got you a decent, hard-working guy. You were really worried?"
Robin: "What do you think?"
Mac: "As in you're sorry for every fight you ever picked with me?"
Robin: "At least that worried."
Mac: "Well, now you know how it feels."
Robin: "You've been dying to say that, haven't you? For years. You saved my life, you know."
Mac: "That's what uncles are for. It's required."
Robin: "Uncles are nice, but you--you're so much more to me than that. You're--you're so--you're so cool."
Mac: "Well, if I'm so cool, how come I didn't finish my Christmas shopping?"

And, finally, before the family celebration in Mac's hospital room, we had this reconciliation. These two have fought the same fight over and over, and I'm glad that they've finally made some kind of peace with it. Mac's humor--and John York's delivery of same--goes unappreciated, I think, but I always enjoy it.