GH and PC in Review: August by Amy McWilliams

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General Hospital

The Spencers

Lucky and Elizabeth

Bobbie

Port Charles

The Jacks

• Jax and Brenda talk about their wedding. Brenda doesn't know if she'll invite her mother. (9/1)
• Jerry tells Jax that Veronica really didn't remember him. Jax invites Veronica to the penthouse and she acts erratically. He later receives the news that Veronica has been in and out of mental institutions and hospitals. (9/1)
• Meanwhile, in the Grill, Jason runs into Brenda. She expresses her worries again, and he tells her that things will get better but doesn't mention his retirement. (9/1)
• While Jax hears the news of Veronica's fatal and debilitating mental condition from the doctor Jerry has brought back from overseas, Veronica and Brenda find common ground when they realize they both had the same special spot at Harlan's house. Veronica gives Brenda an embroidered shawl she had received as a present from a now-dead British rocker. (9/3)
• When Jax first tells her the news of her mother's condition, Brenda is relieved, somehow, to discover the explanation for Veronica's behavior and even promises to take care of her mother. Jax then has to tell her that the disease is hereditary, and that she has a fifty-percent chance of suffering from it herself. (9/4)
• Jax tries to convince Brenda to take the test to find out if she has the gene for the disease, but she's not sure she wants to know. She asks him to leave her if she does have it, but he won't agree. (9/7)
• Brenda visits Veronica and tells her that she knows about the illness. Veronica talks about the illness a bit, and then tries to convince Brenda not to have the test. Brenda's worried about children; she won't have children if she doesn't know whether she'll pass the gene on to them. They find a new understanding and Brenda embraces her mother for the first time. Later, Veronica leaves the hotel. (9/8)
• Brenda, with Jax's support, decides to have the blood test. They go to the hospital for the test together, and afterwards go home and make love. (9/9)
• Meanwhile, Jerry asks Mac to help him detain the doctor so he can get more information for Brenda. Mac refuses, appalled at Jerry even more than usual because of the news of the money laundering. (9/8)
• While Brenda tells Robin about the disease and the possible test results, Jax speaks with Jerry about marrying Brenda despite the illness. Jerry is against it, but Jax insists that Brenda is his life and decides to marry her immediately. (9/10)
• Brenda goes to visit her mother and finds out that she's checked out of the hotel. She goes after her. (9/10)
• Jax finds out that Brenda's gone to her mother. When he hears from Jerry that Veronica is suicidal, however, he orders the helicopter to go after her. (9/11)
• Meanwhile, Brenda asks her mother to return to Port Charles and let Brenda care for her. Veronica agrees, and they both seem hopeful. But as they drive back along the shore, Veronica says that she loves Brenda and wants the best for her, then plunges their car off the cliff and into the sea. Jax sees the crash from the helicopter. (9/11)

Brenda: "Honey, ok, listen--now, just tell me, do you like bouquets that are kind of huge and cascading, you know, like waterfalls, or do you like the single-stem, simple, elegant bouquets--like this?"
Jax: "The second one?"
Brenda: "Ya? Why?"
Jax: "Because you made it sound better. You know what? There is a third choice that hasn't been mentioned yet. What you can do is you can surround yourself by greenery as if that's your bouquet and then, as you walk down the aisle, it will appear as if you are the flower. And then I'll just tell everybody else that none of the other flowers wanted to compete."

Whatever criticisms I've had of Jax in the time he's been on, his sense of humor isn't among them. It's flaky and just a tad absurd, and it always makes me smile.

Jerry: "Ya, I know what I'm looking for. Checking out women's my specialty."

Jerry's no bore himself, by the way.

Jax: "We said we'd get through it together. I'm going to hold you to that."

Brenda: "See, at first I thought that she came here to try and hurt me for some strange reason. And now I know she just came to see me before it was too late."

The scene in which Jax told Brenda about the disease was very well done. The first thought Brenda had was that of relief in the knowledge that there was a reason for her mother's behavior all these years. It wasn't her fault that her mother had left her. But even as she went on and on about her plans for her mother, it seemed that she feared what Jax was going to say next but was pretending that it wasn't coming--something about her manner (very well done by Vanessa Marcil).

Jax: "The way Veronica got the disease is that one of her parents carried the gene. Now, there's a chance that she didn't pass it to you. You hear me?"
Brenda: "How much of a chance? How much?"
Jax: "Fifty percent."

Brenda: "Jax, I've had all those symptoms. I called it a nervous breakdown and I tied it to Sonny, but that's not what it is at all. I'm just my mother's daughter."

Brenda: "I already know."
Jax: "No, you don't know. No. Look at me. Look at me. You don't know, Brenda. Hey. We'll go to GH tomorrow and we'll have them run those tests, ok? We'll find out for sure. I mean, look at all the things that have tried to get you, and nothing's gotten you yet. You survived bullets, cars, the jet crash. For god's sakes, the jet sank and you still got out. You're a survivor, Brenda. You hear me? You're a survivor."

The truth of her chances dawned on her and Brenda immediately jumped to the conclusion that she was ill. I hesitated a bit, thinking that the writers were going to explain all of Brenda's past behavior with this illness. I think that would have done the character a disservice--would have somehow lessened what Brenda has survived and gone through. She found strength after Sonny left her and she broke down. That experience was a real response to what she had gone through, and I didn't want it glossed over. I decided, though, as things went on, that this was a beautiful way to bring things to a head with Veronica.

In fact, the writing of Brenda's last days was incredible. It was really tight work, and every move was in character. Best of all was Brenda's progression from not wanting her mother at her wedding on the first day of the month through the pain of this realization and her turning the bad into something good by coming to terms with her mother and wanting them to be together. Everything was well written, well directed, and, most of all, well acted. This is, perhaps, the best work I've ever seen from both Ingo and Vanessa. The breakdown was good, but it was rather one-note, a scenery-chewing performance. And while I don't mind scenery-chewing, this more subtle performance does more for me. It was beautiful work all around, indeed.

Jax: "It hasn't been determined if you're ill or not. And even if you were or are or will be at some future point, I will never abandon you. We made a promise, remember? Nobody leaves, Brenda."
Brenda: "You made that promise to a woman who wasn't mentally ill, and I could be. Oh, my god. I could be."

Brenda: "You know what the truth is? The truth is that I can deal with losing my mind and my life. The thing that really scares me is losing you."

Jax: "I made a commitment to you, Brenda, that was unconditional. That means when something happens to you, it happens to us."
Brenda: "I'm trying to protect you from destroying your life."
Jax: "It's not your choice, especially when you don't even know whether you have the gene or not."
Brenda: "Ok. If I take the test and find out that I have the gene, promise me that you'll leave me."
Jax: "Absolutely not."
Brenda: "Jax, you've always been so good at giving me everything that I want. Don't deny me this one last thing."
Jax: "There is no reason for me to abandon you, Brenda."
Brenda: "Yes, there is."
Jax: "No."
Brenda: "There are things that I want from life even more than a future with you."
Jax: "Go on."
Brenda: "I want you to kayak all the way around Kauai like you always dreamed of. I want you to win the baccarat championship in Monte Carlo. I want you to be able to compete in triathlons and go mountain climbing and skiing and--and I want you to buy that island in Fiji that you've been looking at for so long. Most of all, I want you to have somebody with you who can share it all, someone who can give you children that you can watch being born. You can bring them up to be so healthy and smart and confident just like their daddy. I want you to grow old surrounded by a family that adores you. Jax, don't you understand? Knowing that you had all that will make anything that happens to me so much easier. Please. If I have this disease, you have to promise me that you'll leave me when I ask you to."
Jax: "No. I'll never leave you."

Jax: "If you become ill, Brenda, I will use all the money and resources I have to find a cure. And if I can't, I will stay by your side no matter what happens. That's the agreement, ok? For better or worse, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both may live. Now you."
Brenda: "For better or worse, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall live."
Jax: "Nobody leaves."
Brenda: "Nobody leaves."

The next stage was for Brenda to decide that she needed to set Jax free. The beauty of this was, of course, that this was what Sonny had done to her. I wanted some little mention of that from her, once she realized that she couldn't send Jax away and once she accepted that being together and staying committed for better or worse was the thing to do. For this, however annoying that little mantra of theirs is, is what seems different to me between Brenda and Jax and Brenda and Sonny. With Sonny, she was always afraid he would leave--that she would do something to drive him away temporarily or permanently. She can trust Jax when he says this, as he can trust her. I was reminded, somehow, of Laura and Luke saying their vows in that little coffee shop in Beecher's Corners before coming home. Then the wedding was just delayed, but this time we were being told that there would never be a wedding. We got to hear the vows, though, and that was a nice touch.

Jax: "God, I'm not blaming Veronica. I just want somebody--I just need someone to hate right now, someone to fight. I'm not scared of the disease, V. I'm scared that if Brenda knows she has the gene or if she finds out she has this gene, she'll know she can't run from it and she'll run from me instead."

I do so like Jax and V. Not necessarily as lovers, though I certainly wouldn't object to that down the road. No, I don't wish for V a man whose heart is forever lost to somebody else, whether she's dead or not. But their friendship is fabulous, and I hoped that we would get more of them as this continued. I wasn't disappointed.

Veronica: "Brenda, do you? Do you understand that only--that happiness is all that counts? That illness and disease and disaster--it makes no sense to make allowances for any of those. They are their own collection agency. They're going to tell you when payment is due. Only happiness needs to have room made for it, prepared for, like children. I thought that--I thought that I would take the gamble that that flip of the coin would go in your favor. Does that sound appalling of me?"

Veronica: "Listen, the last thing I need for you is for me to be your mother, the invalid."
Brenda: "Oh. I don't think you have to worry about that. I think it'll be easier for us now. We can deal with this together. We're not alone anymore."
Veronica: "You never were. And I'm--I'm just a visitor."
Brenda: "You're what's always been missing in my life, and now you're not. I got to go. I don't know how long this test will take."

More than the above, I liked the scene between Brenda and Veronica in which Brenda told her mom that she already knew about the illness (something else she had to do on her own, Veronica noted). Veronica didn't want her to take the test; she just wanted her to live her life regardless. There's some appeal to that, but clearly Brenda needs to know the truth. It was the statement above, that Veronica had children despite the disease and hoped for the best, that made the contrast between mother and daughter most clear. I was glad that it was Brenda's understanding of her mother that led her to the decision to take the test, at least in part. That seemed right. I was also glad, though, that Brenda didn't blame her mother. She knows that doing so would be wishing she had never been born, and I was glad to see that even in these circumstances, she's glad of her life. It is nice to see her reconcile with her mother--come to terms and make peace with her--after all we know of her past. If this character did have to end, I prefer this ending to a romantic departure into the sunset, actually, if it gives us such development and such a since of closure and growth for the character. In her last days, Brenda saw clearly and had hope and confidence, and that is beautiful.

Jax: "It's luck, pure and simple luck. I mean, things just always seem to work out in my favor."
Brenda: "You really believe that, don't you?"
Jax: "Ya. The proof is all around us. And you know what? Luck is contagious. Luck is contagious. So as long as we're together, my good fortune is going to be yours as well."
Brenda: "You mean the test?"
Jax: "The test and everything else that comes our way."
Brenda: "I hope that's true."
Jax: "It is. I mean, it was luck that brought you into my life. It looked out for you when you were in danger, and it brought you back to me after sonny Corinthos left you in ruins. I'm the luckiest man on earth, Brenda, and that's not going to change now. You and I will always be together--loving, happy, and most of all, healthy. That's what's meant to be, and that's what's going to happen."
Brenda: "I love you."

The thing is, I think he really did believe it, which is what made this whole month so amazing. The faith Jax has in himself and in the world seems unshakable, and it centers on Brenda. He says these things to comfort her, but also because the alternative is so unthinkable to him. The set up for the storyline he would face after her departure was great.

Jerry: "I don't have to tell you what I think of Brenda."
Jax: "Then don't."
Jerry: "She deserves you. That's the highest compliment I can pay her."
Jax: "She deserves whatever she desires, Jerry, and I'm damn lucky it happens to be me."
Jerry: "Sure. And if you have a future with Brenda, it'll be paradise in port Charles, no question about it. The question is, do you have a future?"

Jax: "You know, people who know Brenda think that -- that I'm her life, that I'm her world. Well, I've got news for them and you. Brenda's my world. Wherever she's going, I will be there with her, and that's final."

I liked this conversation between Jerry and Jax. Jerry wants the best for his brother, and he fears what will happen if Brenda has the disease. Unlike Jax, Jerry doesn't understand the level of commitment Jax has--doesn't, perhaps, understand the concept of not cutting one's losses. I hope that Bobbie's the one to teach him that lesson, personally, but that's for another section of the review.

Robin: "You'd be surprised the kind of strength that you can find when someone you love is in pain. That whole year while stone was dying, it hurt like hell. But there was no other place in the world for me. Jax loves you so much. Maybe what he needs to give you is the very thing that you're afraid to accept."

As much as I complain about Robin these days, she does get it. She's perhaps the only person who has the experience to say for sure what going through something like this is like, and it was moving to me to get the sense that she would go through it all over again and that she would support Jax's decision to go through it with Brenda.

Mike: "At least she's trying, Brenda. I mean, otherwise she wouldn't be here. I have never met your mother, but I know that much."
Brenda: "It's not like you and Sonny."
Mike: "No. Of course not. I mean, when something goes wrong between a parent and child, that--that pain is unique. I mean, that all comes from the missed chances by a particular child and the mistakes made by a specific parent. And if she wants any chance to be a parent, she better do it right now while she still has a chance."
Brenda: "I think that's exactly what happened."
Mike: "She hurt you by coming back, and I'm sure that she's sorry. But she doesn't know how to make it all better, and she probably--she probably feels that maybe she should just go away. But deep down inside of her, she still believes that you need her."
Brenda: "Is that why you never left Sonny?"
Mike: "I--I did enough leaving when he was a kid. No, I -- I owed it to him to stay, even when he claimed that he didn't want me."
Brenda: "Veronica's not as strong as you."
Mike: "Then maybe you need to tell her that it's not too late--I mean, unless it is."
Brenda: "I don't think it is. I think it may be just in time. Thanks, Mike."
Mike: "You're more than welcome."
Brenda: "Can I tell you a secret? I wish that you were my father-in-law. I mean--I don't mean that I want to marry Sonny. I love Jax. But I wish we were going to be family."
Mike: "Well, you know something funny? As far as I'm concerned, we are."

Oh, how I love Mike. I know Brenda was waiting to tell him about the disease when she knew the test results, but I almost wish that she had told him herself what she was going through. As it was, I think that Brenda understood more what Sonny and Mike had gone through in the past even as she reminded him that this wasn't exactly the same. I'm glad that these two have remained friends...family, actually. Mike is simply wonderful, and I want more of him, as always--and especially if he gets such lovely scenes. I never grow tired of hearing this dialogue about his past with Sonny from him, but I do want them to do more with him. I was very glad we had this last scene with him and Brenda before her death.

Jax: "Oh, what Brenda and I have was a long time coming. I can't lose her now."
Robin: "You won't. Illness is not the end of a life. It's just a different way of living. And you still have what matters most between two people--time."

Robin: "But in this case, I mean, why wait? You're going to get married anyway, right?"
Jax: "Right. You know, when you're right, you're right. I'm going to go find Brenda. Hey, don't make any plans for tomorrow morning, ok?"

Brenda's voice: "And, Jax, don't worry, ok? I'm good, and I'll be back before you have time to miss me. I love you."

It was a typical soap set up. Jax decides to marry Brenda the next day, we have the near miss, the message that turns out to be her final words. It could very well have been typical all around. But it wasn't. The build in energy and desperation up until the final scenes on Friday the 11th was amazingly effective--and I'm not a huge fan of this couple. The fact that GH made me feel so much in this two-week stint stands, for me, as incredible testimony to the power of this show on the whole, despite its weaknesses.

Veronica: "You shouldn't have come. You have to let me go."
Brenda: "I can't. I don't know if I'll ever be able to."

Veronica: "You'll hate me. Oh. Why couldn't I have left well enough alone? I wanted you to like me."
Brenda: "I do like you. I think you're very strong and tenacious and--well, you love beautiful things, like this shawl. And I love this shawl and the ocean and music. If you hadn't have come, I would've never known those things. You're like me. I love knowing that. I'm not sorry you came at all."
Veronica: "You will be."

Brenda: "I know you're scared. I know you don't know how much time you have left. And you don't even know what kind of time it'll be, but--do you know that I--I was in a jet crash and we crashed into the water, and I still got out. I mean, I could've died, but I didn't, and none of us know whether we have one day or 60 years left. Spend it with me. I'm your family."
Veronica: "I don't know what to say."
Brenda: "Just say what you feel. Just--just say that you've always wanted a family."

Brenda: "I've learned to have hope. You know, I was thinking about this on the drive here. For really selfish reasons, I need you in port Charles."
Veronica: "Why?"
Brenda: "Because if it turns out that I have this disease in my DNA, I need you to be there for me. I mean, you can be a really beautiful example of beauty and resilience."
Veronica: "I've been called a lot of things in my life, my darling, but never a role model for courage. Besides, you have everything you need with Jax."
Brenda: "No, I don't. You're wrong. I've always needed my mother."
Veronica: "It would be so easy for me to agree to everything that you're offering. But I'm afraid."
Brenda: "I'm afraid, too. Maybe we won't be afraid on the same day. I think that second chances are a gift and that you should grab them anytime you can."
Veronica: "I agree."
Brenda: "Do you think you could come with me?"

Veronica: "You would do all this for me?"
Brenda: "Yes, mom, I would. There's no other way."

Brenda: "Wow. Wonder what that's about."
Veronica: "A sea rescue, maybe. The tide was going out when we left and the water's choppy. I doubt anyone could survive."
Brenda: "It's amazing what people can survive. You should live every moment as if it's your last. That's Jax's and my policy."
Veronica: "Why waste those precious moments with a burden like me?"
Brenda: "Would you stop thinking like that?"
Veronica: "I know things you don't. All that beauty and resilience--it's reduced to something that's pathetic and hardly recognizable, dragging the people you love behind you through the raving pain."
Brenda: "Well, what's the alternative? To just run and hide and be all alone? I mean, is that sparing anyone?"
Veronica: "You're a wonderful daughter. Do you have any idea how much I love you?"
Brenda: "I think I'm just learning."
Veronica: "Good."

I'm tempted just to leave that fairly lengthy transcript as it is. These scenes were fantastic, and you could see Brenda come to a place of peace and assurance and at the same time see Veronica accept the forgiveness her daughter offered. I think that it was Brenda's forgiveness that allowed Veronica to do what she did. In a misguided attempt to do something good for her daughter for once, Veronica decided to spare her both the experience of watching her mother die a horrible death and dying the same death herself. It was an act of love, and that's what made it so amazingly effective. I can't say too many times how remarkable the performances were from these two actresses. And my amazement at the beauty of the work was to continue the next week as we started to see the aftermath and the fallout in the Jacks family.