GH and PC in Review: August by Amy McWilliams

View a section by clicking on the links below, or read the entire review by scrolling down. The review takes up 7 separate pages, but the navigation at the top and bottom of each remains consistent.

General Hospital

The Spencers

Luke and Laura

Lucky and Elizabeth

Bobbie

Port Charles

The Jacks

• Brenda tells her mother that she wants nothing to do with her; that Veronica has no daughter. Later, she tells Jax that she doesn't know what to do. Veronica, meanwhile, tries to regroup by seducing a bellhop up to her room. (8/17)
• Brenda tells Robin about Veronica's arrival and of the confusion she felt because of it. Robin encouraged her to talk to her mother to find out the answers Brenda had always wanted. (8/20)
• Meanwhile, Jax tells Veronica that she'll have to earn Brenda's respect on her own merits, not with him as a supporter. (8/20)
• Veronica tries to do just that, but Brenda gives her the cold shoulder, telling her only a small amount about her life. When Brenda leaves, Veronica decides to track down Luther, whose showcase at Luke's that Friday Brenda had told her about. (8/20)
• Luther didn't show up at the showcase because he was sleeping with Veronica, leaving Brenda in a lurch. She managed to convince Ned to fill in. (8/21)
• Jerry leaves the L&B showcase early to take Bobbie to a fancy dinner. (8/21)
• Brenda suspects Jerry of the car bombing, but Jax is hesitant. They confront Jerry, though, who does have an alibi and who is angry that they would suspect him. (8/24)
• Brenda is furious when she hears what Veronica has done. After an exchange of drinks in faces, Veronica admits what she did and tells Brenda that she wanted attention. Brenda replies that she should never have come to town and asks her to leave. (8/26)
• Veronica comes on to Jerry, but he turns her down. She then starts acting really weird, talking about Harlan's spies. (8/26)
• Jerry meets Veronica and recognizes her from the night before. She denies ever having seen him. As Veronica and Brenda come to a truce and talk pleasantly, Jerry tells Jax about Veronica's strange behavior. (8/28)

Veronica: "Brenda, I didn't come here expecting anything from you--not affection or forgiveness. Certainly not a payoff, if that's what you're thinking. I saw a picture of you with Mr. Jacks. I read that you were engaged. I thought it might be interesting to find out who you are now, if I could, if you'd let me."

Veronica: "He's marvelous. When you're in the room, he can't take his eyes off you. I mean, with most men that handsome, they can't take their eyes off themselves. I'm so glad the truth is out. I wasn't sure if that's what I wanted, but now I'm so glad. Brenda, I know--I can see you don't believe me. You're skeptical of my motives. I want you to know that it doesn't offend me, that I--I mean, who could blame you?"
Brenda: "Well, I'm really--I'm so glad that you're not offended, Veronica. Oh, my god. Do you ever--do you ever look around in the world and notice how many mothers and daughters there are everywhere? I mean, out on the streets? Just everywhere. And I--I think not too many of those daughters have to ever stop and say to their mother, 'Why are you here?' You know why? Because that's what mothers are. I mean, that's what mothers are supposed to do, right? Mothers are supposed to be there! Oh, god. I'm sorry. I just--it's really hard for me to understand why--why you would leave me and why you would make me believe that you are dead and why you would leave me to be raised by people who didn't love me."

Veronica: "We don't want to do this in a hotel lobby. Look, let's go up to my..."
Brenda: "No, I--I don't think so. I guess if I would have had a mother, she probably would have taught me not to go places with strangers, right? Well, I had to learn that one on my own. You've been such a huge part of my life, you know? I mean, not you, but who I thought you were--this beautiful angel who suffered. I used to pretend that there were lessons that you taught me. And I used to pretend that I knew how you felt about me. I feel like I've--I feel like I've woken up on Mars. I can't believe that you're standing here in front of me. Look, I think of all the things that I could demand of you right now or all the different ways that I could possibly respond to you right now, that it would not be unreasonable of me--no. In fact, I think it would be really generous of me to ask you if you could possibly answer just one of my questions. Like--why'd you leave me? And please do not give me some long, sad sob story, because I will never feel sorry for you and you will never be able to say anything to me that will make me believe that you had good intentions. So please, Veronica, just tell me something that I can believe."

Brenda: "Wow. I can't drop you as easily as you dropped me. But I want you to know that my only interest in you is a lifetime of unanswered questions."
Veronica: "Such as?
Brenda: "You know, Veronica, I missed a period this month. And I was really scared. I was scared that I wouldn't know how to be a good mother. And now that I've met you, I know that I would have been fine because I'm nothing like you. I would never--and Jax is just nothing like daddy, thank God."
Veronica: "Have you seen a doctor?
Brenda: "That's none of your business. I'm not your daughter."

That said, I like her strong. And while her breakdown and recovery was overly rushed, in my opinion, at least we've had an attempt to get back to the self-assured woman with attitude that she was in the early days.

It's sad to me that her finest hour would come as she's being written off the show. But I was glad to see it. Glad to see a storyline that was not about gifts and promises of ultimate happiness and squealing and lovemaking. Brenda has always had more potential than that. I wanted to see her in business, in conflicts that had nothing to do with dating; I wanted to see her deal with herself and not herself-with-or-after Sonny. For me, this confrontation with her mother was a way to do that--at least a way to begin to do that. And the scenes in the days that followed would give me a Brenda that I could begin to be interested in, could begin to root for, and could begin to care about.

This initial scene between mother and daughter was played well by both actresses. I was fond of Veronica from the minute I saw her, and she never let me down. We were immediately show that there was more to anything this woman said or did than first met the eye, and so it was interesting to see her spin her calm, placating tale of wanting to know her daughter.

More interesting was watching Brenda see all of her illusions of her mother go up in one big explosion. She struggled, it seemed to me, between wanting desperately to know the answers on the one hand and, on the other, to walk away cold, not needing her mother for anything.

Brenda: "I used to pretend that she tried to fight her way back to me before she died, but that my father, big dragons or something, were too strong and kept her away. That's the mother I grew up with--my angel. Oh, it's just so unfair, isn't it? I mean, all I ever wanted in the world was to have my mother back. But not this woman."

At first, it looked like she was going to be angry with Jax for keeping this from her, for protecting her yet again. But she later thanked him for at least letting her face this knowing that the Veronica wasn't lying about whom she was. I liked that she wasn't taking her anger and frustration out on him. That shows me not co-dependence, but maturity.

Veronica: "I need a minute."
Jax: "What do you want?"
Veronica: "I make a practice of knowing my enemies. Saves so much time in the long run. You're my daughter's fiancée and I have the right to ask you--are you in favor of my reconciling with Brenda or are you against it?"
Jax: "And what if it's the latter?"
Veronica: "Then I guess we're at war."

Jax: "Well, I can see how that would be an attractive alternative for you, casting me as the bad guy. Must be a lot less painful than looking in the mirror and facing a few hard facts, namely that if Brenda seems a little distant, it probably has more to do with you allowing her to believe that you were dead for all these years."

While the progress towards the inevitable bad turn at the showcase between Brenda and her mother did nothing for me, particularly, the continued banter between Jax and Veronica I found truly entertaining. The actress, whose name slips my mind now (and has since I began writing this review), was tremendous (I've seen her also on Star Trek: The Next Generation and The X-Files, and liked her both times), and it was, perhaps, more to her credit that I found this addition to Brenda's life so convincing. Ingo and Vanessa did fabulous work as well, but while, as I said, the build up to the showcase and the fight afterwards were predictable--with Brenda softening, growing irate, and softening again towards the mother she's always wanted presented in a form she initially detests--the circling of Jax and Veronica, while potentially repetitive, managed to keep me highly entertained.

Veronica: "My Luther is your Luther? That never occurred to me."
Brenda: "This is so perfect. Not only are you a slut, you're a liar."