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 5 separate pages, but the navigation at the top and bottom of each remains consistent.

General Hospital

The Spencers

Lucky and Elizabeth

Bobbie

Port Charles

Taggert/Dara/Justus

• Taggert plays the tape of Justus's confession for Dara and tells her how he got it. She asks him for 48 hours before he gives it to Mac. (9/1)
• Justus visits Monica and almost learns that she has gone to the police. (9/2)
• Dara accuses Taggert of telling Mac before the 48 hours was up. He denies it, and realizes that she'll warn Justus. (9/2)
• Dara warns Justus and he tells her the story of his murder of Damien Smith. She's sympathetic and asks him to leave town to avoid the fallout. (9/2)
• Planning to do just that, Justus visits Laura to try to make amends. They talk about Mary Mae. Laura doesn't say that she forgives him, but she does understand that he's been punishing himself. (9/3)
• Justus then visits Edward and apologizes for blaming him for the bad choices he'd made since the murder. Edward asks him to come back to the family, but Justus refuses. (9/3)
• Dara returns to Taggert's flat and they make love again. She then asks him to burn the taped confession, and he pulls away from her. (9/3)
• Dara tries to convince Taggert that she didn't sleep with him to get him to do her this favor--that she doesn't still love Justus. He doesn't believe her. She meets Justus on the docks and they say good-bye. When Justus gets home, Taggert is there with an ultimatum. Justus must turn over incriminating evidence on Jason or Taggert will give the tape to Mac. Instead, Justus brings out a copy of the file on the Jacks family. (9/4)
• Taggert hesitates, but takes the deal for the prospect of busting such a huge laundering operation. He returns to his apartment and shuts the door in Dara's face. (9/7)
• Taggert gives the file on the Jax family to Mac. (9/8)
• Mac informs the FBI. (9/9)
• Justus confronts Jason. He's angry that Jason didn't inform him of the major change that was being made. Jason tells him that Moreno would offer him a job if he wants it. He realizes that Jason is just like the Qs on that score and that he's on his own. (9/9)

Justus: "Well, what I've come to say has been said. There's no point in asking for forgiveness when I can't forgive myself. All I ask is..."
Laura: "What?"
Justus: "Just remember what it was like when were friends. We were good friends. We were, Laura."
Laura: "I know. Justus? It sounds like you're going away."
Justus: "I went away a long time ago."

Edward: "Justus, since we have had this conversation here today, don't you think that there is some way that you and I can be a part of each other's lives again?"
Justus: "You know, I almost wish that could happen."

I wish I had something smart to say about this storyline, but I don't. It bored me senseless, seeming repetitive and of no value to anything else on the canvas. The scenes with Justus and Laura and Edward were not what they should have been. Never for a minute did I believe this Justus would leave town for good or otherwise. Laura couldn't even forgive him, and I thought she had already, back when she came back from the dead at the beginning of 1997 and learned of his guilt the first time. Finally, while Edward moved me with his plea for his grandson to come home, that didn't do anything for me either.

The Dara and Taggert stuff is falling flat for me because it seems an amazing stretch to make Dara a major character. Despite her ties to Mac and the rest, she has always been a supporting role, and now it seems that the only reason she's been promoted to more of a part is because she happens to be somebody Justus used to date. The chemistry is all over Real Andrews, but Dara adds nothing to it. I would rather see him with Alexis or...and oh, this may just be inspired...Carly. He could decide to get back at Jason and could need a way in. Carly could have left Jason for some reason or another (you know it's coming). The two of them could hook up just for a little while. Oooo, how hot would that be? Love it.

At any rate, this plotline just seemed to go in circles for me, all the while taking up time. I wish the integration of this stuff and the Quartermaines would have gone over better, but they only deal with one Q at a time, most times, and the tension has never been convincing. Too much repetition; too little too late. Ah, well. We've seen little of it in the following weeks, so maybe its time has passed.

Mac and Felicia

• Felicia begins writing her novel, realizing that noise helps her get past her writing block. She reads the first page to Mac, who is turned on by her sexy prose. (9/3)

Mac: "Felicia, your big daddy is home and he can't wait to see you. Felicia?"

Mac: "So do I, Felicia. I don't want anything like that hanging in my living room."
Felicia: "Our living room."
Mac: "Any living room with which I'm associated."

Felicia: "Writing this novel is very important to me."
Mac: "Everything you do is very important to you."

Felicia: "You have nothing to worry about. I am a very high-energy person."
Mac: "Prove it."
Felicia: "After you hang this."

These two are adorable!! Yet all we get of them is the occasional cute scene of Felicia writing--and while they're really cute, I want more for these two. They used to have storylines, and you can't convince me that the problem is simply that Kevin has moved over to PC. They deserve to be more than supporting players, and they deserve better than to end up in another Tess fiasco of a storyline. Let Felicia become friends with V as well as Bobbie--or give us more of her and Laura and the echo in their situations (Laura's present, Felicia's past); let Mac and Taggert have some more scenes; let the two of them face something together that takes them more than a single conversation to work through. Let them do something and live up to their potential. They are the lightness in the show right now (what with Jerry's arrest and subsequent dour face), and we need that balance.

Jason

• Robin is thrilled that they will be safe after Jason leaves the mob, but Jason is more practical. He empties Justus's safe. (9/4)
• As Robin and Jason discuss life after the mob, he receives a letter that indicates Carly may be released soon. Robin asks him to share custody with Carly, but he says he won't make Michael be without him--and he wouldn't be without Michael. (9/7)
• Taggert tells Monica that her family's off the hook. She tells Jason, who's skeptical. (9/9)

Robin: "You really miss her, don't you?"
Jason: "Uh--she's ok to spend time with, if you don't mind hearing about who she's mad at and how she wants to redecorate everything. But she is, you know--she's Michael's mother."

Robin: "Jason, Carly doesn't like me. And the feeling is mutual. There is no way that the three of us could live under the same roof."
Jason: "I can't leave Michael."

Jason: "I promised Michael I would be his father--not three or four days a week, robin. All the time."

Jason: "You know, Michael, I got a letter about Carly today. She should be coming home pretty soon. Some things are going to change when Carly gets back. I'm not sure exactly how they're going to be different, but--ya--whatever happens, I'll still be your father. Ok? Ya. I will be, as long as you need me, Michael, just like I promised."

Robin's delusion continues to amaze me, but this storyline is looking up because Jason seems to be realizing that things aren't well. Robin, on the other hand, is realizing that Carly is coming home, and soon...and she better be prepared. She's trying, however, to make preemptive strikes--decisions for the four of them--and is quickly realizing that Jason's priority is Michael, equal to or more than her. It's what she fears, and yet she can't act without alienating Jason. So she makes suggestions that he disregards and comes more and more to the thought that she wants her and Jason and Michael together without Carly. I'd be interested in seeing how far she'd go to get that, but Robin's always been a moral person (even though she's coming to believe her own lie of omission where the Qs and Michael are concerned), and I don't think she'd go for a long, spiteful battle with Carly--for the sake of Jason and of Michael.

The Quartermaines

• Edward asks Katherine to move into the East wing. She later agrees, after visiting Mac. She tells Mac that her fall was an accident. Mac warns her about Helena, but she assures him she'll be ok. He says that he's convinced somebody loosened the parapet. (9/9)
• Edward tells the family that Katherine is moving in, and they are less than thrilled. (9/10)

Katherine: "I know my way."
Reginald: "Actually, you know, I'd rather escort you. There are some valuable antiques, might fit in your purse."

Katherine: "Again, thank you for your kindness. I never expected to have a home here again, for more reasons than I can say."
Monica: "Oh, I can reel off a few."

Edward: "Thank you, Monica, for opening your doors to her."
Monica: "Well, Edward, I had no choice. You, on the other hand, better start packing your bags at the speed of sound because you are out of here."

Edward: "My god, Monica, can't you just show Katherine a little charity? The woman just came back from the dead."
Monica: "So did the bride of Frankenstein. What are we, a welcome wagon? Can you imagine seeing her every morning gorging herself in croissants and picking up any information she can get? She thrives on gossip. She'll sell it to anybody."
Edward: "That was the old Katherine."
Monica: "Well, how do we know she won't have an attack of nostalgia?"
Edward: "Besides, we don't have anything to hide anymore. AJ's sober, and Alan has weaned himself away from his narcotics addiction. And look--if she is here, then she will be safe from that hideous Helena and her oily offspring, Stefan.
Monica: "And how do you know they won't follow her here? Soon as you can say 'Euro-trash,' we'll have wall-to-wall Cassadines."

I don't care how much I enjoyed Reginald. It's just not worth it to have Katherine back in the Quartermaine house. I might like it better if Edward seemed to have a scheme, but he doesn't. And that woman is sooooooooooooo annoying!!!!!! I hate her; did I mention that? Monica was a hoot, but, as Joan would say, "Ned would have been there."

Monica: "I'm sorry. Listen, I can't speak for the others, but I'm only watching you with admiration. You are fighting the toughest battle of your life with the toughest opponent, and that's you. And you're winning. And I have missed you so much."

Alan: "This is Dr. Quartermaine. No, I haven't run out of pain pills. I'm looking for a different kind of prescription--an upper, in a manner of speaking."

The Alan storyline dragged on, meanwhile, and we had what seemed like the same scene again with Monica telling him how proud she was of him. The new twist this time was that she wanted to have sex and Alan couldn't manage...so he moved on to a different kind of pills. By this time, it almost seems like a farce--or would, if Alan didn't look so awful.