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

Jax

• Jax offers V a job, which she refuses because of her job at L&B. Jerry shows up, at V's invitation, and she leaves the brothers alone. They literally fight it out, and at the end Jerry tells Jax that he had been selfish and that he wants to make up for the past. Jax isn't convinced, but the brothers are better off than before. Jerry tells Jax of his job for Stefan and gives Jax information on the Cassadine business. He wants Jax to work with him on a business move against the Cassadines. (12/8)
• Alexis comes to convince Jax to sell the sprocket supplier for the docks project to ELQ. They finally come to terms and he leaves for Singapore on the ELQ jet. (12/10)
• Jerry comes to the hospital and finds Jax comforting Felicia and Robin. Jax tells him that he helped to cause this by working for the mob. (12/22)
• V and Ned take Jax to the GH Christmas party, then Jax remembers Brenda on Christmas Eve. (12/24)

Jax: "I don't want 'someone.' You know who I want. I want you."
V: "Well, then I have one word for you--that's just too darn bad."

I'm glad that V turned Jax down, because that means Ned and Jax and V and Alexis will remain connected. The shot of him counting her "one word" off on his fingers and reaching five was extremely amusing as well. I was also happy to see her working to bring the brothers together. The situation reminds me of Elizabeth bringing Lucky together with his parents on the docks several weeks ago, as well as Luke's deciding that Lucky had had enough time alone after the revelation of the rape. Jerry has given Jax room to breathe, but now it's time to face up to each other and get past this. Sure it's for selfish reasons on Jerry's part; it's also good for Jax. This forcible reckoning, however, was more humorous than the Spencer scenes I've mentioned, though not less honest. The before and after shots of the room and the fight were hysterical.

V: "You're not one for double standards, I know. And if you'll consult your sense of humor for just a second, you'll have to admit that if it's ok for you to call me here under false pretenses, then it's ok for me to meet those pretenses and raise them a few."
Jax: "Jerry--out."
Jerry: "Why, when things went so well? A foot in the door was all I wanted, but I managed to get both in with all the attachments."

V: "I think the moral that we can all take away from this is that--two's company, three's a crowd."
Jax: "Sometimes two's a crowd. Gee, Jerry, that's a lot of cash. Let's be brothers and best pals again."
Jerry: "You don't need to insult me. I know I can't buy your affection and respect."
Jax: "Thank you."
Jerry: "So we just play a few hands of five-card draw, and I'll win them. If I lose, the money's yours--$750,000."
Jax: "So a brother's a prize to you? Like a pile of poker chips or a toaster that you win in a raffle?"
Jerry: "Or like a yacht--if they raffled them off. A yacht is what I would miss most of all, after you. But, then, I'm not going to have to miss you because I'm going to beat your pants off."
Jax: "You know, I think you'd better leave before I do something I regret."
Jerry: "Oh, please. I've been waiting for you to do something you'd regret since the day you were born. I could tell you what it feels like, but I think you need the experience. We'll wager 50,000 to start."
Jax: "I'm not going to do it, Jerry. I'm not."
Jerry: "You could start by putting my birthday on the table--i.e., that you remember it, that you get me both a card and a present, you make sure I get a cake, and, just like everybody else, you sing 'Happy Birthday' to me."
Jax: "The hell I will."
Jerry: "You don't learn. Violence never solves anything."

Jax: "Well, that was pointless."
Jerry: "The best things in life are free--and pointless. Feel better?"
Jax: "What do you take me for, Jerry, a cartoon character? A little manly popping each other around, a little slap on the back and a beer, and that's the solution to any conflict?"
Jerry: "Works for me."
Jax: "Go home, Jerry. Do you even have a home? And I'm not talking about that room you have at Bobbie Spencer's, either. I mean, what is the place that you think of as where--where do you belong, Jerry, and why don't you go there?"
Jerry: "Port Charles seemed like home at first because you were here."
Jax: "Oh, great. Here we go. Popeye and Bluto didn't work, so let's bring on the violins."
Jerry: "Go to hell, you arrogant --"
Jax: "You know what, Jerry? Jerry--you lied to me all my life. You trafficked with the scum of the earth. You took their blood money, and you filled my pockets with it, telling me, 'Oh, Jax, you're so brilliant, you're so wonderful, and there's never been a success like you.' Why do you think I had to do that--that insane thing at Monte Carlo? Because I needed to prove to myself that I could do something that you and dad couldn't fix. Or was I just a figment of your imagination?"
Jerry: "That you never told me. You never said it made you doubt yourself. That could be the hardest thing to take of all."
Jax: "Oh, I swear to god, if you start telling me how important it was for your existence that I be shiny and golden, I will pick you up by the scruff of your neck and I'll pitch you out that window."
Jerry: "You're right. The song--that's the song I was about to sing. And it's been my defense, more or less, all along. And it's a crock."

It was interesting to see Jax's reasons for going to Monte Carlo. I had assumed that it was to prove he could make a fortune without his family's dirty money and that he was proving to himself that he still had what it takes to play the game--and that the luck Brenda brought him was still with him. The line, "I needed to prove to myself that I could do something that you and dad couldn't fix," reads two different ways, however, and both are telling. First, he wanted to do something his dad and Jerry couldn't do--fix something they couldn't fix--to prove that he could do things on his own or that he was better than they were, perhaps. But notice that I've had to change the wording in those paraphrases. The second reading is that he wanted to do something that was unfixable. Perhaps part of him wanted to lose, because that would prove that he was not golden, was neither a project for his family to complete nor a problem for them to solve. That's a bit darker, and I like that the favor of that was in Jax's actions after this revelation. It gives him an edge he's been sorely missing, and makes him, quite frankly, more interesting to me.

That said, I'd note that I didn't see Jax from his first appearance on the show; that's fallen into the gaps in my videotape viewing of past episodes. When I started watching, he was already past trying to seduce Lois away from Ned, and he and Brenda had already married on the yacht. I have only known him as Jax&Brenda, or JaxwithoutBrenda. While this is the latter still, we're seeing more of the business side and--most importantly--the family side. What was uninteresting to me about Jax was not only his one-note-ness about Brenda, but also the lack of family. We saw John and Lady Jane less and less as he continued on the canvas, and I think Jerry was a smart move. It gives Jax potential integration with other characters, gives us the irony of organized crime in his own family, and gives us the wonderful scenes of the two brothers that has brought so much to Jax. I actually like Jerry more than Jax, and perhaps that's partly because he came with a family ready-made, while I came to Jax when he had no visible family.

Jerry: "I used you. You were the ultimate rationalization, an excuse to end all excuses. I did what I damn well pleased. No shortcut was too questionable, no revenue source too tainted, no associate too unappetizing because I could always tell myself, 'It's for a good cause. It's for Jax." The very definition of a good cause--my baby brother. You shed an ennobling light on many a witless and boozy conversation with some character or other whose face was crisscrossed with knife scars. But in my defense--yeah, it was convenient and it was a crock, but I did believe it."
Jax: "I'm not a cause, Jerry. I'm your brother. The only way you can fail me is to not be who you always said you were."
Jerry: "Ok. I like the easy way in life. And I tell a lot of lies, usually about money. And I don't have so much of that anymore, so maybe that's not a problem. You throw those little tidbits in a blender with who I always said I was, that's pretty much the whole picture. I know I screwed up. But I never didn't love you."

As for Jerry, I love that more and more he's volunteering the truth to those that he loves. He started growing as a character from the minute he came on the scene, and I love watching him. He hasn't changed drastically, but he's been fleshed out and he's learning to be vulnerable, I think. We've been told he's lived a life of physical danger, but now he has emotional danger as well--the danger of opening up to that he cares about.

At this point I was just laughing out loud. But I was also thrilled that the Jacks brothers had set their sights on the Cassadine Empire. With the secret of Nikolas's paternity due to come out, as well as the new connection between Jax and Alexis (who's also connected to Luke), I looked forward to a great ride with some great character combinations.

The laughing out loud continued with the scenes between Alexis and Jax bartering over the sprocket company. The road runner impression was the highlight, but I've left the full transcription below:

Alexis: "It's not good to be so needy this early in our relationship. Next time count to 10."
Jax: "Well, then, to save face, I have no choice but to leave for Singapore on business."
Alexis: "Singapore's a long way. I insist you take a plane. In fact, I know a shortcut to the airport that will cut out a half-hour in heavy traffic."
Jax: "I see. And what will I do with this half-hour you're going to save me?"
Alexis: "Discover the wonder and the glory that is me. That is 'I'?"

Alexis: "Do you not ache?"
Jax: "Ache?"
Alexis: "At the sheer industrial-strength beauty."
Jax: "Oh."
Alexis: "The unparalleled gorgeousness."
Jax: "Well, yes."
Alexis: "At the pristine, sanitary glamour."
Jax: "Oh, I could kiss it."
Alexis: "You could eat off it."
Jax: "Wouldn't hesitate."
Alexis: "But it's too much."
Jax: "It is?"
Alexis: "It's haunting."
Jax: "Why?"
Alexis: "Where are all the people?"
Jax: "Elsewhere."
Alexis: "It's lonely and deserted."
Jax: "Well, now that you mention it."
Alexis: "Could be the day they dropped the bomb."
Jax: "Gruesome thought."
Alexis: "And this beautiful, matchless, pristine port will stay that way for another 18 months--for want of a sprocket."
Jax: "For the want of my sprockets--Acme Sprockets."
Alexis: "Oh, please, that name. That makes you Wile E. Coyote."
Jax: "Well, that must make you the roadrunner, then."
Alexis: "Who always triumphs."
Jax: "Then make that sound. Go on, make the sound. I mean, I wouldn't even consider parting with Acme Sprockets until I hear it."
Alexis: "Oh."
Jax: "Go on."
Alexis: "Beep-beep."
Jax: "Well, you see, in real life, roadrunners don't make that sound."
Alexis: "There are roadrunners in real life?"
Jax: "Oh, yes. But when coyotes find them sleeping by the side of the road, they don't push boulders on them with the aid of ingenious devices from the acme ingenious device company--which, by the way, I do not own. No, in real life, the coyote eats them."
Alexis: "I see. Don't eat me."
Jax: "Well, I'm a coyote. I make no promises. So, Ned sent you to negotiate, huh?"
Alexis: "You don't like him."
Jax: "Ned? My good friend Ned, who always has my best interest at heart?"
Alexis: "I'm a dispassionate observer."
Jax: "That's not what I hear."
Alexis: "I'm an innocent observer. I'm a sprocket virgin."
Jax: "There's not many of those left."
Alexis: "I have no idea what a sprocket is."
Jax: "Do you ride a bicycle?"
Alexis: "Not if I can find a man in a Ferrari to drive me instead. What I do understand is that those big cranes that unload the ships, they were designed for sprockets built to certain specifications. And it would take 18 months to find another manufacturer to retool a manufacturing line to produce them. And do you know how much money this beautiful, empty port loses every day it can't unload ships?"
Jax: "You're appealing to my civic pride."
Alexis: "Is that not good?"
Jax: "Well, in general, after a man has been arrested, stripped of everything he owns and coerced into ruining his own reputation--well, you should wait at least six months before calling up on him to act like an upstanding citizen."
Alexis: "I'll remember that."
Jax: "That's what I paid for Acme Sprockets. How's your basic arithmetic?"
Alexis: "Strong. Could be stronger."
Jax: "Then I'll keep it simple. Multiply by four. That's where the bidding starts."

Alexis: "I forgot my calculator. There. I've been authorized to offer you that much. A third in cash. Can you divide by three in your head? Of course, giving you our final offer first completely undercuts all of the suspense, but you do have a plane to catch."
Jax: "Well, that's too bad that's your final offer. Because we could be uncorking champagne as we speak if your offer had been, for instance, all in cash."
Alexis: "There isn't that much cash. They'd have to make more."
Jax: "Transferred to my Swiss bank account by the close of business today in Zurich."
Alexis: "It's past close of business today in Zurich."
Jax: "Oh, right you are."
Alexis: "10:00 a.m. tomorrow."
Jax: "But now I've missed my flight. Your airport shortcut is no use to me. So I'm going to have to take my jet--did I say 'my' jet? I meant the ELQ jet."
Alexis: "That I cannot do."
Jax: "Well, then think of this 18 months as an opportunity. You can have two children in 18 months."
Alexis: "The use of the jet for 24 hours."
Jax: "30 days."
Alexis: "You pay for maintenance and refueling."
Jax: "Deal. But I'm not going to pay for the cleaning."
Alexis: "You weren't the Sultan of Sprockets for long, but they were certainly very good to you."
Jax: "Born lucky. That's what I always told Brenda."
Alexis: "I will contact the hangar and tell them--something."
Jax: "A pleasure."
Alexis: "Likewise. I'll let myself out."
Jax: "Stay with me, Brenda. You're what I have instead of luck now."

While at the first I was afraid that we were going to have too many flashbacks, I'm quite happy with the way they're playing out Jax's grief at this point. The little mentions of Brenda, the moments where we can see him think of her, and the scenes they've chosen to play since those first several days have all been really good choices. This loss defines Jax in a new way, and this grief seems also true to life.

Jerry: "Yeah, I used to know men like Moreno. But tell me--does that make me one of the shooters?"
Luke: "That's a good question. How is the commissioner?"

I was interested in the fact that Jax pointed out Jerry's tangential blame for Mac's shooting because of his past involvement with the mob, and that Jax asked him if he had anything to do with this. He meant it figuratively--at least primarily--but Luke meant it quite literally. They've backed off any potential blowup between Luke and Jerry over Jerry's employment with Stefan, and I'm rather disappointed with that. Hopefully we'll see more interactions with them as the both set their sights on the Cassadines.