Volume I, Issue vi

February 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

Carly/Jason/Robin

Carly/Jason/Robin cont.

Sonny

The Cassadines

The Cassadines cont.

Mac and Felicia

Justus

Jax

The Spencers

Bobbie

Lucky and Elizabeth

Laura

The Quartermaines

Conversations

Jason: "I know what you're saying--I know. But when he's crying, he's asking for help, and I'm the one he trusts to make things better for him. I promised I would be there, and I'm going to be."
Bobbie: "Even if it costs you Robin?"

Bobbie: "If Jason's first priority is Michael, you may have to find another solution besides getting his mother out of the way."
Robin: "You saying I'm the one that should get out of the way?"

It makes sense that Bobbie would be on Jason's side, even more than her own daughter's. Jason is facing the loss of a child that should never have been his, just as she had lost Lucas. She still can't bring herself to trust Carly (and for good reason) for the same reasons Carly keeps her distance from Bobbie. Bobbie can reach out to her daughter's son, however, without fear. And she can help him have the best father, biology aside. She's very prejudiced, and that's understandable. I was amazed, however, that she actually spoke out to Robin and told her that, for everybody's sake (even her own), Robin should consider leaving Jason. It was something that needed to be said, but Bobbie wasn't the one to say it. At the same time, hearing it come from Bobbie forced Robin to face the fact that there was somebody on Carly's side other than Jason, and that her mantra, "Carly's manipulating Jason," wasn't the bottom line. The shock of Bobbie's suggestion helped her start facing the hard, cold facts. Or at least they showed her what she was going to have to face. For now, she was still looking for another option--a way to hold onto Jason and the relationship they once had.

Likewise, in the earlier conversation, Bobbie was the first one to voice to Jason the choice he would have to make: Michael or Robin. Like Robin, he's been denying that this is an either/or proposition and struggling to find some way to make things work. He's made the choice in his heart; it's clear from the way he treats Michael and Robin both. He hasn't articulated it yet, not even to himself. Bobbie's words to both of them, however, signaled the beginning of the end. This wasn't just about them or their love anymore--not when Carly's mother even had voice in their relationship. Yet it was all about them. These outsiders are forcing them to see troubles, insecurities, weaknesses, and flaws that have been in their relationship for a long time (sounds like Luke and Laura, doesn't it?).

Robin

After Bobbie has gone, Robin remembers a scene from her past with Jason:

Robin: "I am so lucky. I am 19 years old and I am in love with someone who's perfect and wonderful."
Jason: "I don't even know what five years feels like. All I know, it's five times as long as I've been alive. From what I know. I mean, it seems--it seems like forever. It seems like you could want more than that. Till I look at you, till I think of you. You have to be alive, Robin. I don't, but you have to be. Because if you walk away from me today, I'd be all right just as long as I knew you were somewhere--happy or upset. Just somewhere. If you ask somebody who has never been to Canada and never will, would they mind if it was gone, and they'll say yeah. You see, because it has to be there. It's how they know where north is. It's how they find themselves on the map. That's what you are for me. So if you want a sure thing, there it is. No, the medications might not work. Yeah, I might get shot; I might get arrested. You might meet somebody else."
Robin: "No."
Jason: "Well, whatever happens--whatever happens, you know, if we're in the same room or not, or the same state, I will always love you. It's just that way."

Like her other memories of their past, she chose this one for a reason. Robin doesn't look back simply for a happier time, but to reassure herself--or perhaps to remind herself, regretfully--that Jason will be ok without her. He tells her, in this memory, that he loves her. He also tells her that he will be ok wherever and however she is. In the wake of Bobbie's words, Robin sees that what Bobbie suggests is indeed a possibility.

At this point, however, Sonny arrives home, and she runs into his arms. With him comes the hope that she won't have to act on the option she's just heard and seen.

Sonny: "Jason still loves you. I mean, I'm telling you. He loves you more than anything."
Robin: "I know he does. I love him just as much, but, I don't know, it doesn't seem like that's enough anymore. You know how he is. You know that if he loves you, he gives you everything."
Sonny: "Yeah."
Robin: "I mean, sometimes you even have to stop yourself from taking too much."
Sonny: "Right."
Robin: "Well, Carly has never stopped herself from doing anything in her entire life."
Sonny: "Jason doesn't love Carly."
Robin: "No, but he loves Michael, and Carly is Michael's mother. Carly uses that. Whatever Carly wants becomes what the baby needs, and Jason just hands it over--his home, his time, his devotion."
Sonny: "Not himself."
Robin: "Not yet. But that's what she wants, Sonny. She knows that Jason will do anything for Michael, including choosing her eventually."
Sonny: "No, no, no, no. Jason knows exactly what that woman's about."
Robin: "But he doesn't care. The only thing he cares about is Michael."
Sonny: "You matter to him. Every time he's with me, all he talks about is how much he loves you, how much he--you know, he wants to keep you safe."
Robin: "I know. I don't doubt that he wants to keep me safe. But he's not with me. You know how he used to be with other people--kind of shy, quiet. That's how he is with me."
Sonny: "Hey, hey. He doesn't know how to fight with you. Robin, when Jason doesn't know something, when he doesn't I mean, I saw the way you tightened up when he said he was going to go see Michael. Now, if I saw it, he saw it."
Robin: "I know, but he didn't say anything. I guess I didn't either. It's just--I don't know. We just tiptoe around each other all the time now."
Sonny: "Do you trust him?"
Robin: "Yes. I know. I know that he would never lie to me. Big disappointment for Miss Carly."
Sonny: "Carly is the mother of Jason's child. That's a big bond you can't just break. But you can live with it, though. You can love him apart from her. Now, I'm going to tell you something--as far as I can help it, he will never break faith with you."
Robin: "Well, that's a little easier to believe now that you're back. You're the only one that can get through to him."

Love isn't enough. Robin's gotten that one nailed down through the years, though she would love to forget. Love wasn't enough to keep her parents or Stone with her; it wasn't enough for Brenda and Sonny, or Brenda and Jax. Love is not enough for her and Jason. She puts that off on Carly, however, refusing to blame herself or Jason. That's harsh, so I'll rephrase. What I mean is that she looks outside their insufficient love for the source of its insufficiency, unwilling to admit what she already knows--that there is nobody to blame and everybody to blame all at the same time. In this impossible situation, Jason has proven himself to be a person she never thought possible, and she's turned into somebody she doesn't even know. Time and circumstance have changed them. Love wasn't enough to prevent that, but even Carly isn't strong enough to cause it, if it's not already there.

Carly

Bobbie: "Actually, I am, Carly. Lucas has been on a waiting list for a pilot program at the juvenile diabetes center, and we just got the call. So we're going to be gone for a couple of weeks."
Carly: "Wow. Well, that sounds like a really great opportunity for Lucas."

Carly: "I swear, the poor kid's had more childcare from guys named Francis and Johnny than he's had from his own mother."
Jason: "Carly, you do all right."
Carly: "Yeah? Well, you do better."

After the scene from a few nights before this, I was surprised and pleased to see Carly choke down her objections and voice support for Lucas, rather than protest her mother's departure (and I loved the look on her face when she walked in on Bobbie and Jerry kissing). She turned to Jason again, for support. She doesn't hear him, however, when he tells her that she's ok. She doesn't believe it, even from him. I wonder sometimes if she'll ever be able to believe in herself.

A.J.: "Ok, here we go again, you with your steely-eyed stare. Next you'll threaten me with bodily harm unless I vacate the premises immediately. Look, aren't you bored with this routine yet? Huh? Let's mix it up a little bit, shall we? Why don't you ask me what I'm doing so I can tell you--"
Jason: "I can see what you're doing."
A.J.: "There's nothing hidden, no kidnapping mechanisms. Can't be activated in the middle of the night to abduct sleeping babies from their cribs."
Carly: "As a matter of fact, Michael has been upstairs the whole time. A.J. never asked to see him, and I wouldn't have let him if he had."
A.J.: "I deliberately waited until after Michael went to bed so that I wouldn't be accused of anything."
Jason: "Do you know what you're doing?"
A.J.: "Yes, as a matter of fact."
Jason: "Then you realize you're attaching that whole thing backwards."

I appreciated this scene a lot. AJ's wooing of Carly wasn't any big thrill, though their verbal sparring is usually good for a few lines despite its repetition. The CDs and stereo system were a transparent play on her materialism, and Carly was perfectly happy to accept them. She and AJ both know what the other is up to, but they enjoy the game; I see that as a holdover from their summer as friends a couple of years ago. The great chemistry they had then has translated into what we see now. And I'm willing to bet that it'll morph into something else yet again. These two, it seems to me, are connected by more than a child, and they may yet surprise us.

That wasn't the reason I appreciated the scene. No, it was AJ's recognition that we've seen this played out too many times to count. Self-referential humor is always a favorite with me. Jason simply said that it wasn't his house, that Carly could see whom she wanted, and told him he was hooking up the stereo backwards. Crack me up. But Jason knows what Carly's about; she's even more transparent to him than she is to AJ or AJ is to her. His blind spot is AJ. There, he sees only a threat, and that may cause him trouble down the road.

Robin

Robin: "You want me to stay away from Jason. I don't see you staying clear of Jerry. Sometimes our hearts don't listen to reason, Jax."

Jax: "Listen to yourself, Robin. This is a man you've risked your life for. Are you saying that if Sonny doesn't order Jason to choose you, he won't?"
Robin: "No, I'm not saying that. Well, who's even listening to me? I mean, we're not even talking about my safety or my happiness, are we? You don't even care about me. You're just trying to get back at Sonny. Damn it! What has happened to me?"

Jax: "No, I'm just asking if you're seeing straight, that's all. You know, Brenda would be going berserk if she saw what you're putting up with. I mean, what kind of a man asks the woman he loves to tolerate these conditions? Is this respect? I watched Brenda being treated this way, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let that happen to you. I mean, what are you fighting for here, Robin? You claim that Jason loves you, but that doesn't seem to mean the same thing to him as it does to you because what I see is you putting him first, while he puts Michael and Carly and Sonny and his job all ahead of you. [missing in transcript] he wants, do what he says, go everywhere under guard. And you're doing it. And you've convinced yourself that this is the kind of life you want, but is it? Is this what you've always dreamed of? You're losing yourself, Robin. It's happening right before my eyes."

Robin: "I love Jason, you know? I have turned into this desperate person that I don't like at all, but I don't know what to do. You know, when you love someone--I mean, you of all people can't tell me just to walk away when things get rough."
Jax: "I didn't give up my life. I didn't give up what I call work. I never gave up anything for Brenda. I only got--even through the so-called rough times."

Robin: "I love him. And he loves me. I know that. I just don't know when that stopped being enough."
Felicia: "I've decided that living with somebody in a relationship is like one big negotiation. And you don't have to negotiate just with Jason, but you have to negotiate with Carly as well, because they have a baby together, and she will always be the third person in that negotiation. Are you going to be able to deal with that?"
Robin: "I hate how she's using him."
Felicia: "Two adults were in bed together, Robin. There's a little voice inside of you telling you what to do. And it's not your feelings. It's smaller and it comes from a deeper place. And you have to trust that."
Robin: "Are you saying I should let go?"
Felicia: "I'm saying that you have to stand still and listen to that voice. And if it tells you to keep fighting, then you have to keep fighting."
Robin: "What if it tells me something different?"
Felicia: "Well, you need to trust that, too."

Robin: "I miss my mom. She keeps popping up in my head. I keep wondering, you know, what would she say, what would she tell me to do? Usually I'm ok, you know? But at a crisis time like this, I just find myself yelling in the car, like, 'Why do I have to go through this alone,' you know? They should be here. I miss them."
Felicia: "What do you think Anna would have told you?"
Robin: "Oh, let's see. She would have said--'Robin, you meet this head-on. You lay down the law. You make your decision, and you force him to make a decision. And whatever decision he makes, stick to your guns. Don't slide your choice over because he didn't go your way.'"
Felicia: "You're right, you're right. That's exactly what she would have said. She was always willing to stick to her decisions. That's one thing you can say about your mother--she had backbone."

After her conversation with Bobbie, Robin had a series of talks with Jax, Felicia, and Sonny. In each case, she was able to say things to them that she wasn't able to say to Jason. She articulated her options and her feelings, and she realized more and more that the devil's advocate was right. With Jax, she tried to write off what he was saying as revenge against Sonny, or as his faulty comparison of her with Brenda. He answered each of her protestations, however, and she was left to see that she was the one making excuses. Later, Felicia took her side against Carly but insisted that she had to choose. As he choice drew closer, she was able to admit, in not so many words, that to choose to lose somebody was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do. She's lost so much, and her evocation of Anna showed that those previous losses are at the surface of her responses and emotions now. Those thoughts are painful, however, because they speak the harsh truth as well--that Robin and Jason are at an impasse. Worse than that, they're at the end.

Jason

Jason: "Something's changed between Robin and me. You know, I never--I never used to have to think of what to do or what to say, you know? Not with her. And now it's like I have to be so careful, like whatever I say is going to hurt her feelings or get her mad, and then she's just going to leave again. Go back to Europe. Sometimes I feel like I can't tell her anything, so that's it. I just stay quiet."
Sonny: "You quiet? That must be pretty quiet."

Jason: "I like Carly, ok? I don't love her. Now, when we were having sex, Sonny, I didn't understand that it would hurt Robin. Now I do."
Sonny: "And Robin knows that positively?"
Jason: "Yes, I've told her that. She never used to care that Carly and I were friends."
Sonny: "Yeah, because before, you hadn't fallen head over heels for Carly's kid. And you never used to shut Robin out. See, Robin's not the only one who's changed. I think you have, too."

Sonny: "Ok. You're thinking about your kid first, which is what a father should do. But being a father means sacrifices. It means, you know, giving up a little bit of who you are. But you got to know what you're giving up. You're going to lose Robin. And I'm telling you, you know, you may never, ever find another--another woman like that again. You just better know what you're doing before you walk away."

Meanwhile, Sonny was helping Jason see his options and the choice he would have to make. Yet Sonny isn't willing to encourage Jason to let go of Robin. He can't stand to lose her either, and that would become more clear in the days and weeks to come. Sonny also understands Jason-as-father, though, and he would never advocate Jason leaving his kid. So for Sonny, perhaps the choice was clear as well. Like Jason, he was unwilling or unable to speak it out loud, and I don't think that was only because he knows Jason has to come to the decision for himself.

Robin

Jason: "Yeah, well, I thought I'd bring Michael by and show you what a 1-year-old looks like, Sonny."
Sonny: "Hey, Michael. Remember me? Last time you came to visit, we took you to the beach, your dad and I. You checked out the scene. You didn't say a word. It kind of reminded me of your old man."

At this point, Robin came to the penthouse and we had a truly awkward scene. Jason barely said a word to her; she desperately struggled for conversation. There was this fantastic moment where Jason told Sonny (not Robin) that Michael loves the animals in the Africa book, so Carly thought they might get him a cat. Robin suggested that she and Jason could get him one, and Jason dismissed her with a mono-syllable. To anybody outside the situation, it would be clear that this relationship was over. Robin and Jason, however, were not yet able to admit that. Robin turned to Sonny for help.

Robin: "If only the baby was his. I hate that Carly has that hold over him. She could use that at any second to break Jason's heart. And she will as soon as she sees an advantage in it. I've tried warning Jason, I've tried blowing up at Carly, but nothing works. She has Jason exactly where she wants him, and she reels him in a little bit more every day."
Sonny: "First of all, I got to tell you something. Jason is onto Carly. Loving Michael hasn't made him dumb. Yeah, he goes to the brownstone for Michael. Yeah, Carly eats it up. But she's not the woman in his life. You are."
Robin: "For now."
Sonny: "Forever. Unless you figure out a way to make you guys split. Come on, how long do you think Michael's going to be into travel books at midnight? Not half as long as Jason will love you."
Robin: "When you say it, I believe it. Sonny, you're the only one that sees this thing clearly. You can make it stop."

Robin: "Please, Sonny. He'll listen to you. You can tell him."
Sonny: "What?"
Robin: "That he has to learn to separate himself from Michael."
Sonny: "I can't."
Robin: "I don't mean forever. I don't even mean separate, really. I just want him to understand that Carly is using Michael. She's not going to stop unless he shows her that it won't work. Jason has to leave Michael with Carly part-time, like he said he would. Michael will still be a part of Jason's life and mine, too. Nothing will change except the fact that Carly won't have any power over Jason anymore."
Sonny: "You know--I grew up knowing my dad walked out on me. Now, he's in my life now, but there are things between us that will never be made right. I can't--I can't ask Jason to be any less than the father he wants to be."
Robin: "Then I'm going to lose him. Sonny, you're the only one that can change this. He'll listen to you. If you tell him that joint custody will work, he'll believe you. Please, Sonny. I'm watching the man that I love slip away a little more every day. Please."
Sonny: "You don't need an interpreter. You need to tell Jason exactly what you just told me."

The echoes of Robin's past request--for Sonny to fire Jason--were all over this scene, and the parallel of this scene coming just before a breakup as well was really nice. This time, Sonny wouldn't oblige because of his feelings about Jason as Michael's father. He also knows that the only chance these two have of working things out is to talk, and that's a slim chance at best. This time, Sonny was the one talking of the love Jason has for her, and she was the one pointing out that it's not just about love--that love isn't enough--in a reversal of her position in the conversation with Jax. She's made progress throughout these conversations, but still needed Felicia's support before she could make her decision final.

Robin: "I can't find the courage to confront him about Carly. Instead, I find myself making these catty remarks. Then I hate myself as soon as I say them. I'm actually relieved Jason doesn't answer."
Felicia: "Hmm. Not much communication there, huh? Have you thought about what you would say if you could?"
Robin: "I'd try to explain. I'm not really jealous of Michael. I think it's beautiful the way he is with him. But Carly is turning that into a weakness. She's using her child to run Jason's life and to run him out of mine."
Felicia: "That sounds reasonable to me."
Robin: "I already know Jason's answer--Michael needs him."
Felicia: "As a mother, I can understand that answer."
Robin: "That's what Bobbie thinks, too. She said it--not in so many words, but I know she thinks it's better for everyone if I just give Jason up and get out of the way. Is that what you think, too?"
Felicia: "No. Not at all. But I do think you're in an intolerable position. And if Jason doesn't make a move, you have to."

I'm a long-time Robin lover who had to give up her habit many months ago, but that's not to say that I don't keep hoping. After all, I was watching the first day Robin turned around in Robert's living room and stole his heart, and mine. And I was watching the day when Robin was part of my very favorite GH moment, ever, when Anna and Robin were reunited in an alley at the end of the Asian Quarter story. So I was initially pleased when in the past week I saw scenes and interactions featuring, if not the old Robin, at least an intelligent attempt by the writers to reconnect today's Robin with her old self. The process reminded me that every cell in our bodies changes every seven years, so how likely is that, and that realization in turn made me think maybe I should give up and accept that Robin will never be Robin again.

I say this because every draw on the bank account of Robin's history has only served to make me sadder still, and it is sadness that made me disaffected with the character in the first place, not malice.

When Felicia, bless her for a rational woman and good friend, asked Robin what Anna might say, I was impressed that Robin was able to give a fairly good representation of what the ghostly advice might have been. It wasn't quite strong enough for my taste--my impression would lean toward language such as "Robin, darling (or 'dulling," as she always pronounced it), you must act, not react. Don't look to others to fix what is wrong with your life."--but it was character-perceptive and writer-smart. However, Anna Devane was a strong, passionate woman. She may have made sacrifices and grave mistakes in the name of love, but by heaven, she knew how to make straight what was crooked. She didn't need a man to fix her life, and I think she would have been appalled to see that her daughter has sunk so low emotionally that she cannot lift a finger, much less a frying pan, to save herself.

Infantalization is the process of making a baby out of a grown person. This past week, in conversations with three older and, presumably, wiser friends, Robin has spelled out several potentially--make that actually--disastrous indicators of where her life is going. It's not a pretty or a sweet-smelling place.

1. Robin is counting on Sonny to make things better for her. She has told others, and finally asked him outright, to tell Jason something, or to stop Carly from doing something else. She's saying that she has no power of action herself. In fact, she credits Michael with being more powerful than she is.
2. She refuses to confront Jason, and offers as her excuse that she already knows what he will say. Not only is it cowardly, but the refusal to have a real dialog with Jason is abdicating the power she does have, the power to reason from a position of love. She might as well stick her fingers in her ears and go la-la-la, or hide behind her hands.
3. Robin blames Carly for everything, but the person Robin is really angry with, and the one person she will not let herself blame, is Jason. Ignoring the fact that she is furious with Jason is sapping Robin's strength, something Felicia understands and is skillfully leading her to acknowledge. For now, though, running around town kvetching about Carly is avoiding her grown-up responsibility to be proactive, not reactive. Carly has no real power over Robin except what she herself gives to Carly. Everything else is baby talk.

This is offered in remembrance of the child and young woman I loved. Robin, you are old enough, and smart enough, and have been through enough to act as a mature woman would in this difficult situation. Be your mother's daughter today, before you descend totally into second childhood 60 years too soon."

The Breakup

Finally, Robin spoke to Jason. By this time, we knew what the outcome would be. Her actions were too little, too late--for Robin and Jason and, perhaps, for the character of Robin.

Jason: "I did this. Not Carly, not Michael, not some outside thing like HIV or a car bomb. I put us here. Robin, I love you so much. But it's not a good pain. It's not the ache that comes when your heart's too full. It's--it's this sick feeling because I know everything I say and every choice I make, it's going to hurt you. And I would rather die than hurt you, and it's all I do anymore."
Robin: "It's not you."
Jason: "It is. When you left for Paris, I said you should go because I didn't--I didn't want to watch you die in a parking lot. I didn't want you--I didn't want to watch you have to pretend to be happy when you weren't happy. How close have you come to dying because of me? How many times? I can see it in your eyes, Robin. You're sad--even when you're smiling. You know, on the bridge at the start, you were crying. And I made you smile. That was the first thing that ever felt good to me. You smiled because of me. And now I'm the one making you cry. I hurt you more than anyone, Robin."
Robin: "I love you. I know that you didn't want to hurt me."
Jason: "But I have."
Robin: "You have."
Robin: "Do you remember when we used to try to fix things together? When we would try to talk through whatever was wrong without you shutting down on me or me running off to Europe? Do you think we could try that again? Have enough faith in each other to decide together what we're going to do?"
Jason: "I'll always have faith in you."

Robin: "If you could have anything, what would you want?"
Jason: "I don't understand."
Robin: "If there was some magic way to arrange your life--if you could have anything, anything you want--would you want Carly gone? You and me and Michael together? You and me in Paris? What?"
Jason: "There is no magic."
Robin: "I still need you to tell me."
Jason: "You would be with me forever. You would go to school and be a doctor and grow old. Michael would grow up safe and happy, and I would never have to leave or hurt him. Carly and I would stay together until Michael didn't need us that way, and I would see you all the time, and I wouldn't hurt anybody. I told you there's no--there's no magic."
Robin: "You can't see a future without Carly."
Jason: "No."
Robin: "Because she's Michael's mother."
Jason: "Yes."
Robin: "She won."
Jason: "Robin, it wasn't--this wasn't a fight."
Robin: "It was to me. I can't wait for you. It will be like dating a married man, sharing a part of your heart that wasn't with your family. We've tried that. It doesn't work. I need us to have a life together, and--and you can't give me that."
Jason: "I'm so sorry."
Robin: "Don't be. We loved each other. We tried the best that we could."
Jason: "I don't know what I could have done different."
Robin: "Nothing. That's what's so hard. You're always so perfectly true to yourself, to what you know in your heart. Michael needs you. Michael needs his mother. I remember when you first brought him home from the hospital. He was so tiny, so fragile. I remember the way that you held him. He was so helpless. You were the only thing that he had in the whole, entire world. I don't even think you realized it then, but you had pledged your soul never to fail him."
Jason: "That's it exactly."
Robin: "And there's no way that you can--you can be with me and not fail him."
Jason: "I can't--I can't see it right now."
Robin: "It hurt so bad to leave you last time, I didn't think that I could do it again. But I have to."
Jason: "I know. I know."
Robin: "You gave me this--"
Jason: "No, no. No, don't."
Robin: "Take it, please."
Jason: "Don't--you kept stone's."
Robin: "Stone died. I can't wear a ring to remind me of the life that we could have had. I can't hold on to something that'll never happen."
Robin: "I'll always remember your face the time when you gave me this. I'll always remember everything that you gave me. You made me love my life."
Jason: "You made me want to live."
Robin: "Can you do something for me?"
Jason: "Anything."
Robin: "Can you go? I know I'm the one leaving, but I don't think that I'm strong enough yet."
Jason: "Yeah."
Jason: "Icing on the cake. That night in Montauk, you said it meant better than the best. [missing in transcript]t you are to me. Actually, it's every day that I had with you. Oh, man."
Robin: "Better than the best."

Jason immediately takes full responsibility, leaving none for Carly or Robin. And for her part, Robin finally admitted that Jason hurt her--not Carly, but Jason. She still holds out hope that Jason will choose her over Carly, but the fact remains that Carly is Michael's mother. Robin may be able to envision a world without Carly, but it wasn't simply Jason's brain damage that didn't allow him to see that possibility. He knows that Michael needs Carly, whether Carly believes that or not. Robin can't stay, though. She can't live as the other woman in her own home, even if there's no sex involved between Michael's parents. What was great about these scenes was that the decision was somehow out of their hands. Both of them made good choices; Jason chose Michael, and Robin herself. What was bad about this scene was that it let them both believe that circumstances alone were tearing them apart. They had yet to face down the problems with their relationship, and that would be the true break-up.

Jason left her there in the penthouse, and when Sonny came home he took one look at her and emraced her.

Robin: "He's moving in with Carly. I can't wait for him. I mean, the longer I stay, the more we'll hurt each other."
Sonny: "Is that what you told him?"
Robin: "That's what he told me. He's right."
Sonny: "That doesn't mean he stopped loving you."
Robin: "I love him, too. It's just not enough anymore, you know? I have to let him go."
Sonny: "Well, maybe it's better this way--you know, tell the truth, and you walk away still loving each other instead of hiding behind a lie."
Robin: "Carly is going to hurt him. She's going to take Michael away sooner or later. I wanted to protect him from that like he always protected me."
Sonny: "Nothing is ever going to hurt Jason more than losing you."

There's some vicious ironic foreshadowing for ya.

Carly: "I don't know. I mean, hey, if I'd never said you were Michael's father, this never would have happened."
Jason: "I will never be sorry I'm Michael's father."
Carly: "I'll find a way to make this up to you. No matter what it takes or how long, I'll make this ok for you. I promise."

You could argue that Carly really wasn't sorry, that she was passive agressively getting Jason to tell her everything was ok. You could, but I wouldn't. Yes, she's glad Robin's gone, and yes she's building castles in the air already. But she knows that this has hurt Jason--that what she wants most of all he's had to pay for. And I truly believe that she does recognize the consequences, at least to him, of her actions. She feels for him, and wants to make it up to him.

A.J.: "So, what, Robin's just out of luck?"
Carly: "Looks that way, doesn't it? Well, it's her own fault. You know, if she wasn't always giving Jason ultimatums and trying to make him do everything her way, exactly her way--you know, it's, like, this time it just didn't work."

She takes no blame for what Robin's feeling, however. Whatever credit I give Carly in the above lines, I'll just as soon believe that she means what she says here. The thing is, she's really rather right. She's not in the right, nor does she have the right, but she's right.

Emily: "How can you be thinking about me on my birthday? How's that possible, Jason? I want to run after Robin right now and drag her back here. This has to be the worst thing that ever happened."
Jason: "Just to me."

Oh, how I'm sick of Emily. When she came to visit Jason, it was as though he had to encourage and support her, instead of the other way around. Jason wasn't going to have time to grieve, not with the word spreading so fast. His presents for Emily amused me, especially when she noted that they were wrapped and he said Mike did it. Ha!

The Catfight

Carly: "Just shut up, all right? You have no idea how I feel about my son. And you have no right to talk about it like you do."
Robin: "Hmm. In theory, maybe. But not in real life. Just delivering him was so tiring for you that you had to take that long vacation. And when you came back and you saw that the miracle had happened, that Jason had fallen in love with your son, of course you wanted Michael back--with a passion, right? Sure, why not? You'd hit the jackpot. I'm sorry to break it to you, honey, but Jason will never be in love with you. I'm not sorry to hurt your feelings, if that's even possible, but sorry for the misery that you're going to cause when you finally realize that you and Jason will never be together. That day will be the day that you take Michael away from Jason, and that will break his heart."
Carly: "I would never do that."
Robin: "I will never let you."
Carly: "Look, why don't you go huff and puff and blow somebody else's house down, honey, because Jason, Michael, and I are strong, we are solid, we are a family. You can't hurt me, and there is really nothing more that you can do for Jason."
Robin: "I can do what I've always done for him."
Carly: "Which would be what?"
Robin: "Love him."

The good thing about Robin and Carly's fights has always been that they both speak the truth about each other in some weird, absolutely-wrong-at-the-same-time way. This fight sucked. Carly got all the best lines and, despite her attitude, had Robin's number sixteen ways to Sunday. Robin, on the other hand, seemed petty and sarcastic, making accusations that she's never made before and striking out because Carly's words hit just a bit too close to home. It wasn't an even fight, because Carly believes completely in what she's saying, wrong or right, but Robin is on shaky ground. In the end, the only thing that fazed Carly was the thought of what Robin might do. Robin, on the other hand, was only pouring salt in her own wound by going to see the woman who would remain in Jason's life.

This fight was unequal as well because of its purpose. It was meant to show Carly as unyeilding and unsympathetic, but fighting for her son and sticking up for her friend. So she looks a little bitchy in the process. Tell me something I didn't already know. Carly lost no ground in this fight; she simply said the things she's been saying forever. But this was the way to set up Robin's revelation to AJ. I understood that, and could even believe that she would go to Carly after the break-up with Jason to say her final words. I could see where that meeting would either drive her to tell the truth, seeing that she had run out of all options for protecting Jason, or that she was using this encounter as a test of sorts to shore up her courage to do what she had already decided to do. Motivations aren't my problem. My problem was that in setting up the plot device, they had to put this scene after the break-up to maintain the sweetness of the scene that had gone before. In doing so, they proved some of Robin's worst qualities all over again.

My problem with this scene was Robin's reason for being there. 1) She went to Carly apparently to ask her to try joint custody, after Jason told her explicitly that this wasn't what he chose to do. This means that she doesn't give Jason enough credit for being able to chose what he wants. 2) She still accuses Carly of manipulating Jason. Of course Carly manpulates Jason and uses Michael, and of course Robin has no way of knowing that underneath everything else that Carly loves her son and is trying the best way she knows how to take care of him. But Robin clearly doesn't believe Jason when he says that he knows Carly's manipulating him but he doesn't care because Michael can't manipulate him (I wanted that line really badly) and Michael needs him. She doesn't give him credit there either. 3) That she would threaten Carly, that she would tell AJ, and that she would do so out of a combination of spite, desperation, determination to do the right thing for herself and for Michael makes perfect sense. But that she tells Carly she's doing it out of love for Jason? I don't fault or deny the motive, but it still shows that she's doing for Jason where she thinks he can't do for himself. She's teaching him by example, she doesn't believe he can either make this decision or survive losing Michael down the road when Carly surprises him.

But I get ahead of myself. On to the moment of truth:

The Truth

I was utterly amazed. Instead of making her decision and standing strong, facing up to her consequences in the face of AJ's certain anger, she approached the issue from the side, emphasizing AJ's shared experience with Carly and actually saying that Jason had no choice. That is the mantra of too many people on this show, and I believe (though I may be wrong; somebody said this line came in a Spencer/Cassadine scene) that it was Jason himself who said something like "I didn't have a choice" simply means that you had no other choice you liked better. Whoever said it, they were right. Robin defends Jason to AJ as she tells AJ that Jason has taken his son from him. Not a good choice. And she doesn't even mention that she has chosen to keep the secret for Jason for a year. Even in what should be her strongest moment, the point at which she exerts her moral and ethical decision, we're left to assume that she did it without thinking of the consequences to Jason, AJ, Michael, and others at all--that she did it only for revenge against Carly. That's a shame.