The Quartermaines: (cont.)

Bobbie: "Oh, I didn't com to see Alan. I came to see Michael."
Monica: "Isn't he with you?"
Bobbie: "No. Why would he be?"

Bobbie: "Well, I guess I'd better get over to Sonny's."
Monica: "What are you going to do?"
Bobbie: "Convince Carly that she and Michael ought to move in the brownstone with me."
Monica: "I always thought it was a good idea. Now I think it's an even better one. Bobbie, I'm sorry this has turned out to be such a mess."
Bobbie: "Don't worry. We will find a way to fix it."

VIII. Monica and Alan Face a Strike (3/8)

Monica: "If you would care to review any decisions I made in your absence, I'd be happy to oblige."
Alan: "No, thank you. This day's been disturbing enough already."

Monica: "You know, the only reason you're second-guessing my performance as chief of staff is because I am angry with A.J., with a very good reason."
Alan: "That's ridiculous."
Monica: "Face it, Alan. After all the years of rejecting him, you aren't capable of criticizing anymore."
Alan: "I believe in supporting my children, Monica, not just through the good times."

Monica: "For the past decade, we have been forgiving A.J. on a regular basis. His drunkenness, his irresponsibility, even the accident with Jason. I can't do it anymore. He hired an arsonist to burn down that warehouse. He lost Michael. The blame goes to him, Alan. I won't pretend it doesn't."
Alan: "He needs our understanding, Monica. Being attacked by his mother is only going to make things worse."
Monica: "He has to know there are consequences for his behavior. Now, if showing him that makes me a bad mother, then that's just the chance I'm going to have to take."

Tony: "Trust me, A.J. should feel fortunate."
Alan: "Maybe so. But when Carly and Michael left that house last night, it sent our family into a tailspin."
Tony: "Well, I know this is going to be rough on Michael, but from my viewpoint, Sonny is exactly what Carly deserves."

IX. AJ Begins By Blaming Everyone Else (3/8)

A.J.: "Jason had stolen my son for a year. For more than a year, he pretended to be his father, and Michael was in danger, and how come I was the only one in this family to realize that? Jason's a professional criminal. I mess up one time, break the law once, and this entire family turns against me."
Lila: "I'm trying very hard not to judge what you did. But just once, I wish you hadn't made this about you and Jason."

A.J.: "You know, grandmother, I--I've never--I've never had anything that's truly mine. Money, jobs, friends--they were always tied up with who I was, my family name. But Michael is mine. He's my blood. And I love him. Everything that I have done was about getting and keeping custody of my son, not about getting the better of Jason."
Lila: "I'd like to believe you, A.J., but I don't."
A.J.: "Why not?"
Lila: "Every time you've had a chance to cooperate with Jason, you've refused, even when it would have benefited Michael."
A.J.: "I didn't trust him. I never will."
Lila: "Make all the excuses you want. But the blame for losing Michael will still lie with you."

Lila held the same giraffe toy as AJ came up to her.

Edward: "Let her go. You've upset her enough already."
A.J.: "You know what? You make this sound like it's all my fault."
Edward: "If there's another conclusion, I haven't heard it. You left yourself vulnerable, and the rest of us are paying the price."
A.J.: "You know what? I am through explaining myself. From now on, I'm going to put the blame exactly where it belongs."
Edward: "And where does it belong, A.J.? Does it belong with Carly or Jason? Or is it Sonny Corinthos now who is responsible for destroying your life?"
A.J.: "No. It's you!"

Edward: "Oh, that's right. You go ahead and you blame everyone else for your failures. You've done it your whole life. So why stop now?"
A.J.: "No, I wanted my son. Oh, I wanted my son, all right? I will never apologize for that."
Edward: "You wanted to get back at Jason or Ned or anyone else who has ever bested you. That's what was driving you--jealousy and revenge."
A.J.: "No. I love Michael. And you took advantage of that."
Edward: "No. I paved the way for you, and you still couldn't deliver the goods. Oh, son, you are such a disappointment."

Along with the foreshadowing of what would be AJ and Carly's most harmful fight, we saw AJ's increasing violence as he actually threw something past Edward in these scenes.

Lila: "Oh, let it b Edward. Stop playing tug-of-war with our great-grandson."
Edward: "Oh, I guess you're right. Well, I can--I can get over this minor defeat in a while, I guess, because as long as I have you, I'm always a winner."

X. Emily Tells Juan that Lucky Might Be Alive (3/8)

Emily: "I really wish you had a chance to meet him. He was--he is an amazing person."
Juan: "Yeah, that's what everyone says."

Emily: "You know, Lucky was my first friend that I made when I came to Port Charles, and he became my best friend, period. But what you and I have is completely different."
Juan: "I knew that."
Emily: "Ok. Just checking."

XI. AJ Learns that His Lawyer Can't Help Him Get His Son Back (3/10)

A.J.: "You know, I was never anything more than grandfather's tool--a way to get Michael and manipulating Ned and Jason."
Monica: "I thought you liked running E.L.Q."
A.J.: "I never ran it. Grandfather did. The only--the only good thing about losing Michael was it got grandfather off my back."
Monica: "Are you saying that you're not going to fight to get Michael back?"
A.J.: "Oh, no, I--I tried already. Yeah, I just met with my attorney and I was informed that I will--I'll never be able to get my son back."

From Terry's ratsa update: "Q living room: Monica, in a simple red shirt and tan pants, is talking to AJ. He laments having been Grandfather's tool to get back at Ned and to get Michael. AJ is sporting that spiky unkempt hairdo--ick--and a gray suit with a cream t-shirt. AJ says his attorney has informed him that he'll never get his son back."

Monica: "Of course you're going to fight for your son. Why would your lawyer say something like that?"
A.J.: "Because Sonny has enough proof to send me to prison if I sue for custody."
Monica: "You created this mess."
A.J.: "You're on Sonny's side?"
Monica: "No, of course not. It's just the moment that Carly lied to you, you became a victim and you're still sounding like a victim."
A.J.: "My son was taken from me."
Monica: "Because you hired someone to burn down Jason's warehouse."
A.J.: "What do you want me to do?"
Monica: "I want, A.J., for you to take responsibility for your actions."
A.J.: "And that's going to help me get back into my son's life?"
Monica: "Well, Bobbie could persuade Carly to let you see Michael if you--if you turn your life around."
A.J.: "I just lost my wife, my son, my job. What am I supposed to turn my life into?"
Monica: "Something worthwhile. If you would just stop feeling sorry for yourself."
A.J.: "You know, I was fighting with Carly the only way I knew how. I'm not going to ask Bobbie or Carly for anything, least of all permission to see my son. Excuse me."

Terry's update continues: "AJ and Monica fight--she wants him to take responsibility for his actions and stop feeling sorry for himself. She suggests Bobbie could be a go-between to persuade Carly to let him see Michael. He snarls that he won't beg Carly or Bobbie for permission to see his son."

"AJ is home after his visit to Carly, and picks up what appears to be a decanter of gin. He clutches it in both hands and sniffs deeply, savoring the smell. Nice work by Billy Warlock."

And I liked that it was the confirmation that Jason was behind this that finally led him to pick up the glass.

Judy: "I wish things were going to be more complicated with AJ...I wish, I wish I wish. I was enjoying him more too, as you all were. However, on Friday, I heard Guza's chainsaw buzzin' again. AJ's going to turn drunk and physically abusive (even though there's no history of physical abuse in him or his family), and cause Carly's miscarriage (these aren't spoilers, they're just speculations from rather obvious plot seeds). Yuck. As much as I'm enjoying Warlock's performances lately, I don't want to watch that. (Do you think Carly'll defend herself with a fireplace poker? And then Sonny and/or Jason'll ride to her rescue and cover up the assault/murder? Double yuck!)"

"Also, is there any doubt that L&L are getting back together again? They couldn't have made it more obvious on Friday if they added "ATTENTION! FUTURE
COUPLE AHEAD!" subtitles. BUZZZZZZ....."

Joan: "Well, I wouldn't say 'no' history. Alan got pretty violent with Monica once or twice, if shaking and shoving and nearly raping count. I think part of Alan's present disgust with abuse of women and rape, other than the normal, dates from self-loathing he felt at his own behavior. His killing of Ray over the abuse Rhonda took speaks to that."

"I thought about adding a Carly/AJ section to my piece on soap battery, but I'm not really sure I agree that the wind is blowing in that direction. Besides, I've always respected the powers that be for not redeeming Carly through rape; if they go that route now, while she is soap-pregnant, I may puke. Carly has been battered before, and memorably, but not by a rapist or significant other. And the coupling that produced L'il Sonnygal was certainly violent, but consensual. Out of control, but mutually agreed upon."

[Editor's Note: You can find Joan's piece on soap battery in the April 2000 issue of the GHR on the Past Issues page.]

"You know, everything does point to a miscarriage (will Sarah Brown stand for another 6 months of faux maternity? Can Sonny ever be happy?) but I have my doubts. I think the powers that be want us to see Sonny and Carly in a kind of upside down Robert/Holly scenario, where the pregnancy draws them together until they both reach a point where they can separate and discover they don't wanna."

"Ordinarily I would say 'old stuff,' but based on the ottoman scene, I'm willing to let things ride. I was very pleased, for instance, to see that Carly is beginning to tell Sonny the truth at first, not as a last resort. Her admission that AJ's behavior was provoked is telling."

"But it's not just this scene that points to a Luke and Laura reunion, you know. Luke's behavior on the docks with Felicia was 100% Luke doing a renunciation scene with his would-be love. He was behaving like a husband awakening from a dream. How I loved those two scenes at the house he hates: Laura and Lesley discussing her skills at adventuring, and the remedy should 'someone else' want to come along; and the exchange over who can carry the Magic Carpetbag (wasn't the sidekick in 'Around the World in 80 Days' called Passepartout? That's French for 'Holds Everything,' as I recall)."

Amy: "Your speculations make sense, Judy. It's rather like Tony Jones, after all. And since Tony's on the upswing (which I do rather like, after all of this time--reconstruction after deconstruction is beginning, even if it's being done with a chainsaw), hey, we need somebody else going down the tubes. *G* And I'm willing to bet (hey, I did bet, in the ratsa pool about the kid's birthday) that Carly will miscarry as well."

Joan: "Well, I know you are grieving for AJ, Judy, but I have to tell you he is more interesting to me now, on his knees, than he ever was strutting around like a bantam rooster. I absolutely hated AJ (and Billy Warlock) for his smirk and his swagger and his mean-spiritedness. How that's he's vulnerable he doesn't have much time to be insufferable."

Amy: "Agreed. There's a nice quote from Warlock on how he understands AJ in the latest Soap Opera Weekly. How he knew, part of him, that he was set for a fall, or balanced precariously, but how he wanted to believe that he had everything he wanted. And how he felt like the family was looking at him knowing that he would fall, etc."

"As for Luke and Laura, Judy, I still have hopes there that it will be a little more complicated. As it is, Laura can continue to believe that Lucky's death was the thing that ended their relationship (Guza has said that she believes they could have worked things out if Lucky hadn't died), and that his return reunited them. She'd better not get off the hook that easily, blaming the Cassadines for her failed marriage. It's their own damn fault, after all. And I was glad to see some of that coming through in their discussion of what went wrong in their marriage. It wasn't about the Cassadines, it was about them."

"And Joan, I loved your history lesson about Alan; I didn't realize that he has so many issues in common with Luke! And I think they've been setting up the progression towards physical abuse fairly well."

XII. AJ Falls Off the Family's Wagon (3/13)

As the scene opened, AJ sets down his glass, then quickly and angrily throws back its contents, refills the glass, and downs the alcohol again.

Alan: "Father, this is no time for a fight."
A.J.: "That's what this family does best, dad. Drunk or sober."

A.J.: "You heard him. I was born to be a screwup."

Monica: "Emily, please--"
Emily: "We just go up to bed and pretend like nothing ever happened."
A.J.: "Oh, but, Emily, pretending is one of our great family traditions."

Emily: "You did this on purpose, didn't you, A.J.? You got drunk because you wanted to hurt us like you hurt yourself. I hate you for doing that."

Edward: "Are you happy now? You've broken your grandmother's heart and your sister's. Anyone else's life you'd like to destroy? Oh, that's right. Have another drink so you can drive drunk and slam someone else's head into a tree."
A.J.: "How about yours this time, grandfather?"

AJ heard his family entering at one point and sat in the chair behind the door so they wouldn't see him immediately. It was as though he was already taunting them or playing with them, as he would continue to do. It seemed to me like he was pushing them away and insisting that they leave him alone while at the same time doing everything he could to keep their attention. I had compared AJ to the other fathers in question these days: Alan, Sonny, Luke, Mike, etc. All were losing or gaining children; family was very much in question. But at this point I compared AJ to the reactions of the other children as well: Lucky, Maxie and Georgie.

Edward handed AJ the decanter at one point, and AJ set it down to speak to Lila. He bowed his head at the bar as she left the room, turning to face off with Edward as he suggested that he run his grandfather's head into a tree this time.

A.J.: "Emily needs you, too, dad. You know, it's not too late for her."

Edward: "I never said that you didn't have the right stuff. You're every bit as smart as Ned, and you're as ruthless as Jason is. But you lack the one thing that could make you the next C.E.O. of E.L.Q., and that's guts. You--you come out fine. But for some damn reason, you just don't have the staying power to make it to the finish line."
A.J.: "Thank you, gramps. You're the best. Come on, give me a hug. Big hug."

A.J.: "No word of warning from one addict to another."
Alan: "Do your worst, A.J. I'm not leaving."

Emily: "You know what? Let him drink himself to death. I really don't care because he's tearing this family apart and I hate him."
Monica: "Oh. No, sweetie, you don't hate him. You're mad at him because you do care."
Emily: "It's not like I just care about Jason, either. I mean, I really care about A.J. It's just that he makes it so hard."
Monica: "Yeah, I know."
Emily: "I mean, I try so hard to--to show him that I care, but maybe I'm just not trying hard enough. You know, maybe--maybe if I tried harder, that he'd stop drinking or something."
Monica: "No. Hey, Em, he is drinking because he has a disease, and you can't fight that for him."
Emily: "I know. It's just he's family and I want to help."
Monica: "I know. So do I. But I think the best thing you can do right now is take care of yourself. And if you have guilt feelings, then you just get rid of them as fast as you can. What A.J. did had nothing to do with you. You've got to believe that."

Emily: "I used to do drugs, Juan."

Juan: "Why didn't you tell me this?"
Emily: "Because it's over."
Juan: "It's not because you don't trust me?"
Emily: "No. See, A.J. was, like--he was the person that got me to stop doing drugs, you know? He was like a hero to me."
Juan: "Now he's letting you down."
Emily: "He's throwing his life away. I don't want to do that."
Juan: "Are you afraid you're going to slip, too?"
Emily: "Would you think any less of me?"
Juan: "I'm scared of singing, right? Do you think any less of me?"
Emily: "That's completely different."
Juan: "No, scared is scared. And maybe I can help you the same way you help me. And we'll both be ok. Right?"
Emily: "Ok."

Juan and Emily stayed outside the house to say goodbye, but later Juan came up to her room to check on her after AJ's scene downstairs. He hesitates at the window, but she waves him in and takes his jacket for him. It was as though they were both falling back on the basic civilities in the face of such a family mess. At the end, they sat with their foreheads together. And I have to admit, in these scenes, I actually didn't roll my eyes once at this, my least favorite couple.

Alan: "Oh, I'm an addict, all right. Nobody knows that better than you. You have seen me at my worst."
A.J.: "I'm just returning the favor."
Alan: "And I know the hell that you're in. It's like falling into a pit with a scream going on inside your head that nobody else can hear except you."
A.J.: "Yeah, that pretty much says it all. Except there's--there's absolutely nothing worth coming up for."
Alan: "Look, you didn't have a drink for two years until tonight. That takes guts."
A.J.: "You turned out to be a pretty good dad, you know that?"
Alan: "Well, it's about time. For most of your life, I stepped all over you and demanded the impossible."
A.J.: "You were just doing what your dad did to you."
Alan: "And for some reason, you backed me last year. You believed that I could be clean and sober again, and I am. You can be, too."
A.J.: "You know, dad, I used to think that I would never drink again if only you'd believe in me. I was wrong."

AJ took a drink after this last line. Although I knew Alan was enabling AJ, to a certain extent, I have to say his approach was working for me much more than Monica's was. She appeared shrewish, focused on Jason rather than AJ. And Alan, after all of these years, was erring on the side of too much support where AJ was concerned.

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