Lucky, Elizabeth, and Nikolas (cont.):

Lucky: "Can you believe that this was once my career plan?"
Sandy: "Tuning lonely axes?"
Lucky: "Playing for money in Greenwich Village."
Sandy: "You must be good."
Lucky: "My girlfriend thought so."
Sandy: "So, she changed her mind? Or did you and your girlfriend break up?"

Lucky: "Elizabeth and I don't see each other anymore."
Sandy: "Well, what went wrong? Did she meet somebody else?"
Lucky: "No. I don't think so."
Sandy: "Did you?"
Lucky: "There's no chance of that."
Sandy: "What's she like?"
Lucky: "She's bright, like the sun. And bright like intelligent, too. Sensitive, funny, beautiful. And she's an artist."
Sandy: "Any good?"
Lucky: "Awe-inspiring. I believe she could be famous."
Sandy: "Well, so far she sounds almost perfect. So, what went wrong? Why am I asking all these questions? It's none of my business."
Lucky: "We were basically too young to know anything."
Sandy: "And what have you learned since then? Sorry. Feel free to tape up my mouth."
Lucky: "It was a long time ago."
Sandy: "Junior high school? Camp?"
Lucky: "Last year."
Sandy: "Sugar, I got clothes in my closet I ain't ironed in that long."
Lucky: "Are--do you need me for anything, or can I split for the rest of the day?"
Sandy: "I don't think the place will fall down if you go. Get out of here."
Lucky: "I'll see you later."
Sandy: "Have fun."

Nikolas: "Hey, sooner or later Lucky is going to show up."
Elizabeth: "Tell me why again?"
Nikolas: "Ok. The girl at the diner said so. Lucky is focused on the future right now. You two planned your future right here."
Elizabeth: "We planned a lot of things that didn't happen."
Nikolas: "Not yet."

Elizabeth: "I mean, what if--what if he's changed? What if everything's just different?"
Nikolas: "He loves you."
Elizabeth: "I'm sorry. I feel like I'm making you say these things that I'm so desperate to hear. And it's not your job, and it's not fair. I know."
Nikolas: "No, I don't say things because you want to hear them. I believe them, and deep down so do you."

Nikolas: "You know, we need something to catch Lucky's eye. A pastel of Lulu. What do you think?"
Elizabeth: "Actually, I had another idea. You remember that dinner at Kelly's--you and Em, Lucky and me?"
Nikolas: "Mm-hmm. That was an incredible, amazing night."
Elizabeth: "Who would have guessed it'd been our last."
Nikolas: "It wasn't. We know that now."
Elizabeth: "That night started out so magical."
Nikolas: "Well, then, make it work magic for us now."

Nikolas: "If you had told me a couple years ago that I could miss my brother this much--"
Elizabeth: "You wouldn't have believed me. You had to figure it out on your own."
Nikolas: "Lucky was the intruder who stole my mother away, the son that she loved instead of me."
Elizabeth: "She loves both of you."
Nikolas: "Well, yeah, eventually I figured that out. But I still saw my brother as the enemy."
Elizabeth: "The two of you had a lot of baggage."
Nikolas: "All inherited--the worst kind."
Elizabeth: "But you got rid of it."
Nikolas: "Well, Lucky got rid of his first."
Elizabeth: "It took him a while."
Nikolas: "Yeah, he was worth the wait."
Elizabeth: "He still is."
Nikolas: "And you hang on to that thought."
Elizabeth: "I am."

Elizabeth: "You know those little glass globes with tiny little scenes in it, and they're filled with water, and when you shake it up the snow goes flying all around?"
Nikolas: "Yeah."
Elizabeth: "This night, in this group, just the four of us, is locked in a snow globe in my mind."
Nikolas: "A perfect moment, perfectly preserved."

Nikolas: "All right. There you go. This is a message to Lucky. 'Come back. It's time. We need you.'"
Elizabeth: "'We're waiting. It's safe. The coast is clear.'"
Nikolas: "He's headed this way right now."
Elizabeth: "When you say that, I so believe it."
Officer: "Excuse me, miss. May I see your permit? Without a permit, you'll have to leave."

Nikolas: "Yeah, but he didn't make us leave."
Elizabeth: "Yeah, well, because he thinks we're going to give up anyway. Maybe we should."

Elizabeth: "Oh, shoot, there goes my picture. You know what? Just leave it. I can do another one. I think it's jinxed anyway. Come on."

Man: "How many?"
Lucky: "One. With mustard, please."

We were now beginning to get the mixed signals: Lucky doesn't want to see Elizabeth, but he does go to the Village and he does have a pretzel. So we're left to wonder if he's scared, under orders, brainwashed (and at this point I was still holding out that it wasn't necessarily the case, and I still think that would have been a better plot choice), jealous, regretful, etc.

Amy: "I have to say, though I've been pleased with Jacob Young as Lucky for the most part, in Wednesday's episode when Lucky was talking to the bar owners, the delivery left a bit to be desired. Every line was said in that way with the same tone, and in the same manner as the stuff with Helena."

Judy: "I still like NuLucky, despite the days of repetition and nothing happening. The actor's doing great, I think."

Amy: "Having watched for a lot of days now to see him do the same thing, I have to say that I enjoyed him with Helena--the little smiles, etc. But now his delivery is always just the same, and very flat. That worked for much of the 'what has Hel done to him' scenes, but it was there even in the re-created flashbacks. I don't remember thinking him flat in the scenes with the diner girl, but he's certainly flat in the scenes with the people at the place where he's staying, and in these 'flashbacks.' I think the best thing I've seen him do since those very early scenes with Hel is the stuff with Mike."

"But that makes it sound like I hold Young responsible for my boredom with the Lucky stuff. No, I'm just bored with the writing. What is with the fact that, having seen Lucky, Luke and Laura go off screen for ages? What is with the really repetitive Liz and Nikolas stuff? Again, I keep thinking, 'They're holding out for sweeps,' and that's a bad sign."

"Lucky 'died' last Spring, right? And we knew he was alive. So the anticipation has been going on for a year. And when he showed up alive, we had no real payoff scene. We had the scene with L&L at the Triple L, which was great (but surrounded by crappy Felicia stuff), but since then we're back to waiting. The pacing isn't good, and it's making me irritated."

"The only thing going right now is anticipation, and we've had that since what, late January when we first saw Helena visit Lucky's hand and taunt Stefan with the picture he wouldn't look at? The pacing is really slow, and the payoffs almost non-existent and always limited in some way. I can't put my finger on it, but it's just not working."

"I have enjoyed some of the L&L stuff along the way. But the Elizabeth stuff is just utterly boring. That said, I have enjoyed the bit players we've had along the way--the waitress at the triple L, and even more the couple who run the bar Lucky's working at. Sandy, I believe her name is, is fantastic. That part of this is reminiscent of the old L&L days, where we might go three rounds of trying to get the Ice Princess for Alexandria, and each round might look really similar, and we would have the same conversations over and over, but the bit players and conversations and anticipation along the way were working."

Joan: "The trouble is, we see people we care about (and some we don't care about) worried over, yet full of hope about, someone we see actively avoiding them. It diminishes Lucky in our eyes, something that wasn't the case when he was Helena's traveling companion."

"In the meantime, I have to endure Elizabeth's smug certainty that Lucky is just sitting around Greenwich Village (which I never realized was so tiny!) waiting for her to intuit his whereabouts."

"But you're right. If nothing else, the search for Lucky has unearthed a host of appealing minor characters in a natural manner notably lacking in other storylines. Beside Sandy and DinerDoll, we've had the ship-selling Charleston guy. I could have seen a bit more of him."

On the Next Day:

Man: "Oh, she was here a couple of days ago."
Lucky: "Elizabeth?"
Man: "Yeah, looking for you. She and a dark-haired guy."

Man: "You're not doing him any favors by dogging him, but you might drive him underground and force him to hide from you. Look, if this Lucky wants to reconnect, sounds like he's capable of managing that. Good night."

Nikolas: "Lucky loves you, Elizabeth. The first thing he is going to want is to see you. How could he not?"

Elizabeth: "You know, Nikolas, what if that kid is right? What if Lucky feels like he's being hunted? That's how he felt when he left home. Then we slept in the store, under the docks, in the boxcar. He didn't want anybody looking for him. He didn't want to be found. He needed space to find his own way back. Maybe we should just go home."

Elizabeth: "Ever since I let myself believe that Lucky's alive, all I can think about is seeing him. But that's what I need. And I've been telling myself that he hasn't called because it's not safe or he's trying to protect me. But really, Nikolas, we have no idea what he's been through this past year. Maybe he just needs more time."
Nikolas: "Yeah. I can't believe we're taking advice from a tattoo kid in the middle of the night."

At the end, having seen Nikolas and Elizabeth together, Lucky threw away the drawing of Kelly's. But as he did so, he walked by one of those concrete park chessboards.

VIII. Home Alone (4/28)

Nikolas: "You sure you want to be on the docks alone?"
Elizabeth: "Maybe I'll find some clarity."
Nikolas: "This was your place, wasn't it, you and Lucky?"
Elizabeth: "Yeah. We fell in love out here. Well, at least Lucky did. I knew I loved him from the first moment I saw him. Ruby wouldn't let me smoke inside of Kelly's, so I went outside and--"
Nikolas: "Man, that's right. You know, I forgot you used to smoke."
Elizabeth: "Not real bright, huh? Anyway, I lit up, and then I heard this voice--"that'll stunt your growth." and there was Lucky standing in the shadows. And then he stepped into the light, and I just knew. Of course, I made some sarcastic remark, but I knew."
Nikolas: "And that's all she wrote."

Elizabeth: "I know this sounds crazy, but I feel like if I think about Lucky hard enough, I'll conjure him up or make him appear."
Nikolas: "If anyone can do that, it's you."

Lucky: "You want me to kiss you?"
Elizabeth: "I'd completely understand if you don't want to, I mean, if the thought totally grosses you out."
Lucky: "Whoa. That's not it at all. I'm just surprised."
Elizabeth: "You know, let's just forget it. I had no right to put you on the spot like that."
Lucky: "Will you hold on a minute? Will you give a guy a chance?"
Elizabeth: "It's just that I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I realize the only way I can get my life back is to take it back by doing the one thing that scares me the most. And if I survive, then maybe I'll be ok. Do you know what I mean?"
Lucky: "I think so."
Elizabeth: "Lucky, you're the only guy in the world I can trust right now. So I figured if I could start with you, you know, and I don't completely freak out, then I know there's hope I can have a relationship someday."
Lucky: "Let me just make sure I got this right. You want me to kiss you as an experiment so you can kiss someone you really want to kiss?"
Elizabeth: "It doesn't sound right when you say it like that."
Lucky: "Look, I can think of a lot of worse things to do. But if you're sure?"
Elizabeth: "I am."
Lucky: "You know, this is going to be a lot trickier than I thought."
Elizabeth: "You know, if you'd rather not, I--"
Lucky: "No. You know, we can do this."
Lucky: "What's wrong?"
Elizabeth: "I got to go."
Lucky: "Elizabeth--"

Amy: "As I was watching yet another re-made-with-Young Lucky scene from Friday's episode, I figured out why I don't like those scenes. It's not that I hold the original scenes sacred because of Jackson, it's because of all of the, 'I'll bet Lucky looks different' lines that preceded his coming--I just updated those scenes with Laura and Elizabeth, and there's a line in there from Luke too. It seems to me they can't have it both ways; either Lucky looks different after a year away, or he looks just the same in Elizabeth's memory."

Joan: "Conk! Conk! Conk! That is the sound of the nail being hit upon its head. Give Amy a cupie doll, or as my late mother Genya used to say, 'throw you a fish.' This is the elusive niggle for me, too."

Arda: "Excellent point Amy. It's actually more distracting to see that re-made-with-Young scenes than if they'd shown original flashbacks with Jackson. The audience is surely aware that Lucky is being played by a new actor, and yes, since the powers that be covered themselves with the 'Lucky might look different' stuff, there's no need to show re-made scenes."

"And I'm still wondering why they couldn't show flashbacks from the Ice Princess caper."

Amy: "You know, I wondered that too. And then I thought of all the times--especially when we were back in flashback hell a year or more ago--that Luke never ever has flashbacks in his scenes, and I wondered if that was a Geary choice. Perhaps he thinks, and rightly so, that the characters' retellings are good enough. People have flashbacks about Luke, but Luke never has flashbacks--there may be one or two. But typically, we see the new-material-in-flashback, like the Greek stuff with Laura or the Spencer's plan to stage Laura's death. Or we see fantasy, like his imagining Katherine Bell coming to visit him, etc. But rarely, rarely do we see a real flashback. Wasn't there one when he was crying at Kelly's after Lucky's death?"

"At any rate, it means that we miss out on some I would like to see. But then again, maybe he just doesn't want to see his hair that way anymore. *G*"

Elizabeth: "So, was there a fire? Was it all romantic just like you wanted?"
Emily: "No, that's just it. It didn't--not really, you know? Juan started to unbutton my blouse."
Elizabeth: "Oh, my gosh."

Emily: "Sonny and Carly walked in."
Elizabeth: "No, they did not."
Emily: "Yeah, they did."

Emily: "Yes. The slut of the universe is, like, trying to explain this to me."
Elizabeth: "Wait I'm trying to picture Carly giving you a lecture on safe sex."
Emily: "Carly, can you say 'condom'?"
Elizabeth: "How about 'birth control pill'?"
Emily: "Can you say 'no'?"

IX. Lucky Reports In (4/28)

Lucky: "So, what's up with sending Andreas to drag me over here?"

Helena: "Lucky, I don't mean for you to feel like you're on trial."
Lucky: "I'm not on trial. Don't worry about it."
Helena: "But I thought we both understood that it's essential that I know where you are at all times."
Lucky: "Why? I know what I'm supposed to do, and I've been doing it. Anything other than that is nobody's business but my own."

Helena: "How did you feel seeing Elizabeth and Nikolas together?"
Lucky: "They looked nice together."
Helena: "Nikolas loves you very much."
Lucky: "I know. That's why he's taking care of Elizabeth. I'm grateful to him for that."
Helena: "I know you worry about Elizabeth."
Lucky: "Yes."
Helena: "But you know she's in good hands."
Lucky: "My brother will take care of her."
Helena: "How would you like to play a game of chess?"
Lucky: "I'd like that."

Helena's in sparkly black, while Lucky's in a jean jacket. The line, "I know what I'm supposed to do," is a clue to what's going on, but I liked more the clues with the chess set. This time, they sit down to chess, and Nikolas arrives. Lucky leaves, and later, Nikolas leans on the chess table. So close, but he doesn't realize what's going on. The bad thing is, for months and months most people won't realize that anything is going on and won't start looking for the clues. Stefan and Alexis have hit on mind control, as have Luke and Laura (though Laura has seemed to dismiss it). The teens haven't even thought of the possibility yet, and I'm writing this in August.

After his meeting with Helena, Lucky came back to the docks where Elizabeth was remembering the moment that he said he wanted to kiss her. She senses him (she has before, but didn't realize she was right), turns, and they come face to face. Neither one of them smiles.

Once again, Terry's update on the day's scenes:

"Liz and Nik are on the Port Charles docks, back from NYC. She vants to be a-lone on the docks, where she and Lucky fell in love. She describes to Nikolas her first meeting with Lucky. It's an effective retelling, with no flashback attached. (For more rant, see below) Liz's hair is back to normal, and she's attired in typical teenager clothing--red jeans, a blue sweater, and a multicolored shirt that exposes a tiny bit of tummy."

"Lucky is on Helena's yacht, where he asks her why she had Andreas drag him in. she tells him she wants an explanation for his 'unscheduled' trip to NYC. He's wearing a jeans jacket, she's in a severe and elegant black dress that shimmers when she moves."

"Nik and Liz are still talking about Lucky. Nik leaves. Liz sits on a bench and goes into a flashback of the scene when she asked Lucky, a while after her rape, to kiss her as an experiment. It has been re-shot with Jacob Young--a bad move, in my opinion. (For more on why I feel that way, read my "small things" column in the May issue of the GHReview, coming out on or around May 5--www.ghreview.com.) It's distracting, at least to me, as I kept comparing the two performances instead of reminiscing about the beginnings of the LL2 romance."

"Helena reminds Lucky she needs to know where he is at all times. He gets testy. "Why? I know what I'm supposed to do and I've been doing it. [Hmmm, ver-y interesting. What does that mean?] Anything other than that is nobody's business but my own.'"

"Liz has moved from the bench, and is sitting on the side of the dock idly flipping something into the water. I am fascinated--is it pennies? crumbs for the ducks? what on earth has she been carrying around? Em joins her, and asks about her trip. She fills Em in and talks about her disappointment."

"Helena is reminding Lucky to keep her posted, but she acts like a grandmother or a teacher, not at all menacing or evil. Lucky tells her he is reluctant to approach Elizabeth yet, and that he saw her with Nikolas."

"Helena asks Lucky his reaction to seeing Liz and Nik together. He tells her they look nice. He knows that Nik loves him very much, and that's why he's taking such good care of Elizabeth. One wonders if this wholebusiness is supposed to invite some sort of comparison to Stefan, Stavros, and Laura. We all know how well Stefan took care of his brother's love interest. Helena invites Lucky to play chess but Andreas appears at the door to announce that Nik has just come on board."

"Em reassures Liz things will work out with Lucky. Then she fills her friend in on her own news--she and Juan almost did the nasty earlier in the evening. She tells Liz about Sonny and Carly walking in on them, and the girls giggle about the subsequent safe sex lectures. Em is particularly annoying as they make fun of 'the slut of the universe' talking to her about sex."

"Cut to Helena gazing at the box. Nik shows up. 'What the HELL are you doing with my brother?' Ah-oh, now he owes hannah money for using her trademark."

"Liz tells Em she wants to be by herself. [I think she just doesn't want to hear more about Juan and the removal of Em's blouse.] She of course cannot let the episode go by without wailing, 'What if he doesn't love me any more?' Em assures her that he does. I decide that all characters should be issued T-shirts that read, 'Yes, Elizabeth, Lucky still loves you.' Then Emily heads home."

"Alone, Liz pulls out her subway token necklace and slips back into the kiss attempt flashback. (Why not a token flashback?) This time through I notice that it looks like the back of Jackson's head in some of the shots of Liz (darker hair, smaller head) so I wonder if they just spliced Young's part into the footage from before wherever possible and used the old Liz stuff except when they were both in the shot clearly. Liz heads up the stairs. Suddenly, she stops, turns, and sees Lucky on the dock. 'Oh. My. God. Lucky.' He's staring up at her, frozen in place."

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