GH in Review: June is Bustin' out All Over
by Teresa Leslie

June in General:

June was a mixed bag on GH, not terrible, not great. There were two "events" that stood out from the day-to-day flow of the show: the Nurses' Ball and Luke and Laura's divorce. The ball is an annual event, and I love the continuity of celebrating it each year, even in years like this one when the ball itself is not particularly amazing. The divorce episode was outstanding, and I will deal with it in detail at the close of the review. Suffice it to say, this is the sort of thing that keeps folks hooked on soaps: strong use of show history, strong acting by veteran actors that we've been attached to for years, strong emotional appeal. It was the best part of the June GH.

The Nurses' Ball:

As always, the Nurses' Ball provided a nice change of pace for GH and a welcome excuse for seeing Lucy and Kevin. Since it did not in and of itself really move any of the stories forward (the bus/train wreck doesn't count, in my opinion), I'll just provide a few comments rather than a full-blown review of what happened. This is one long review, after all.

The Nurses' Ball preparations started popping up in the background on GH in early June--people would mention practicing their numbers, Lucy would show up at the hospital all aflutter to make arrangements, etc. Then the big day arrived. This year's twist: the Versailles Room flooded somehow and the show had to be moved at the last moment to the roof of GH. As Judy mentioned in an email discussion, it was a nice touch to have the fundraiser at the hospital and to remind people of the hard work that goes on every day in health care. Lucy lost most of her performers as the nurses and doctors were called downstairs to work in the emergency room after a huge train/bus accident, and used the fact to remind the audience (and therefore the television audience) that the doctors and nurses work to save lives every day, both in times of emergency and in the fight against diseases like AIDS.

Lucy was not able to do the many fabulous changes that usually are a hallmark of the Nurses' Ball, because most of her wardrobe was wrecked in the flood. Still, she looked fabulous in the two outfits she did wear. I knew there would be no big undressing of Lucy at the show's end this year because she was wearing a plunging halter top that clearly had no undergarments under the top. Sure enough, that tradition was broken, to her great relief. (I hear from more regular PC viewers that she did lose her clothes the next day at an appreciation lunch for the workers.)

Musical numbers were a mixed bag, as always. I wish Wally Kurth had been there to sing, or that Amber had done one last number. Ah, well. When the nurses had to leave before the opening number, Lucy got Edward and the guys to take their place, to hilarious effect. Liz got sick, so Nik, Gia, and Lucky performed "Up on the Roof" without her. Luke stepped in to help Felicia when Mac couldn't go on. Finally, Dara did an outstanding job of singing "Over the Rainbow" as the camera panned over AIDS quilt patches. Some people online commented that Stone's square was not shown this year, and I must confess I did not notice one way or the other.

The most moving musical number, however, took place not on the stage but downstairs in the ER. Emily was brought in with spinal injuries from the wreck (see below). At one point, Alan came into the room where she was lying and held her hand. She woke up, and weakly told her dad, "I'm sorry I missed your song." "Maybe next year," he told her. "How'd it go?" she wanted to know, and he confessed he didn't perform: "You think I'd sing without you?" Then he sang the song to her there and then: "Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around; No one's going to hurt you, no one's going to dare." It wass hokey, but effective, and I cried my eyes out. (by the way, he has the best voice of the whole crew.) While he was singing, we saw Monica and Bobbie looking at Em's x-ray and bursting into tears, then Skye watching her dad with Em through the window, then Zander sitting alone on a park bench. Nicely done.

I do think that having to "share" the Nurses' Ball with GH's sister soap, Port Charles, weakens the impact of the event. We only get to see a portion of the fun, unless we give in and watch both shows (and in many parts of the country, that isn't an option, as PC is not carried in all markets or is carried at some ungodly hour in the middle of the night). In addition to this dilution, there are the inevitable "huh?" moments when a viewer needs to have seen Port Charles to understand a scene on GH. For example, there was a brief scene with Scotty and Serena at the ball, in which he was talking about her having had enough excitement for one day. Mention was made of everyone being relieved that she was safe, and other comments made clear that something was going on with Serena. Those of us who do not watch PC had no way of knowing that Serena was involved (or maybe just thought to be involved, I'm not sure) in the big wreck. Apparently she was on the train or was scheduled to be on the train, or something. Since we didn't know that, it would have been better not to have seen her at all. Similarly, Lucy's remarks about having to step aside temporarily from her duties as mistress of ceremonies made little sense to those of us who never saw it happen and had no reason to know it was related to Serena.

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