Sonny and Carly: (cont.)

Carly: "Oh, god, I can't believe it's finally over, you know? After all the threats, all the ultimatums--oh--all the fights that we had? We just walked out. Michael and I just walked out. Thank you, Sonny."
Sonny: "You're welcome--not that you left me much choice."

Carly: "What--excuse me. Are you out of your mind? First you're going to tell me where I'm going to stay, and then you're going to tell me that you're not willing to discuss it with me? Sonny, Michael and I are not your property, ok? You don't decide where we stay."
Sonny: "First rule--we don't--we don't fight in front of the kid."
Carly: "He's fine, and nobody's fighting. I am simply pointing out that Michael and I want to go home to Bobbie's house."
Sonny: "Michael, how you doing, buddy? You see that pony right there? That's a nice pony. What do you think? Don't even listen to what mommy and I are talking about because you're doing fine right now. You know what I mean? Because you're looking at ponies, and you're fine, and that's the way you're going to stay, ok? Good boy."

Carly had her hands on Michael as if still protecting him from the Quartermaines--as if she couldn't believe that AJ wasn't still a threat. We moved to a close up on her as Sonny told her they'd be staying with him. The sense was that she was realizing that she was going from one prison to another, but while others online leveled that criticism, and while it wasn't clear at first what Sonny was doing, I never once felt like this was a fully comparable situation to the one Carly had at the Qs. Maybe I'm biased, but I never felt like Carly really didn't want to be there, just that she was staking out a position from the beginning to test the waters and figure out what Sonny was after.

Sonny: "Thanks, Johnny."
Johnny: "No problem. Welcome home."
Carly: "This is not his home, Johnny."

Sonny: "I'm not going to visit my kid or Michael, either. My children will live with me. So will you. I gave my word."
Carly: "What do you mean, you gave your word?"
Sonny: "I told Jason that I would take care of both of you."
Carly: "Before he left."
Sonny: "Today."
Carly: "What do you mean, today? Is he here?"
Sonny: "I talked to him on the phone. He called me to tell me that he found the guy who burned down our warehouse, and he's in prison, but he's willing to testify that A.J. paid him to do it. He also said he wanted me to use the information to get you away from the Quartermaines."
Carly: "Well, thought I'd finally done something to make him turn his back on me, but I should've known better. He'd never do that. So why couldn't you just say that? Why couldn't you just say, "This is for Jason"? Why do you have to make everything so complicated, Sonny? When's he coming home?"
Sonny: "He's not."
Carly: "Why?"
Sonny: "Because--because you're carrying my child."

Carly: "You told Jason that I was pregnant."
Sonny: "He had a right to know."
Carly: "How could you hurt him like that? Why wouldn't you let me tell him?"
Sonny: "Jason didn't call you."
Carly: "No, he didn't call me, Sonny, but I could have told him when he came home, after he had seen Michael, after he had forgiven me. You know, we could've all been a family again."
Sonny: "It wasn't going to be like that."
Carly: "Yeah, it wasn't going to be like that because Mr. Sonny Corinthos has to have his child, even though you know that Jason would be a much better father than you will ever be. But you got to hold on to what belongs to you."
Sonny: "Is this how you justify the crap you pull? By convincing yourself things that never happened are the truth? Ok, when Jason left, he told me you guys weren't going to be together. You were only good as friends."
Carly: "He was hurt."
Sonny: "He--he also said that getting you and Michael free of the Quartermaines was the last thing he was going to do for you. He wasn't coming back."
Carly: "You made sure of that, didn't you?"
Sonny: "I told the truth. If he--if he--if he said he wanted to be with you, I'd have gotten out of the way."
Carly: "Oh, god."
Sonny: "Jason is the only person on this earth that I would trust to raise my kid, and he feels the same way about me. He wants me to take care of you and Michael, and that's what I'm going to do."
Carly: "Whether I like it or not, huh?"
Sonny: "I don't give a damn--"
Carly: "I don't want to be here!"
Sonny: "I don't give a damn what you want right now. I'm not letting you bounce Michael or my kid from one place to another for the rest of his life. You're both going to live here in my home."
So make yourself comfortable."
Carly: "Make myself comfortable? You don't even like me."
Sonny: "I wish I'd have thought of that before I slept with you."
Carly: "It's not good for a child to grow up in a home with two people who can't stand each other."
Sonny: "Well, we're adults, so we have to figure out a way to do this."
Carly: "No, I'm not figuring out anything! I don't want to stay here, and you cannot make me!"
Sonny: "Keep it down! Keep your voice down!"
Carly: "You can't make me stay."
Sonny: "Well, you know what? A.J. didn't think I could make him give up Michael, either. All right, let me--just listen to me, all right? I want--I want you to be comfortable. More importantly, I want the kids to be happy. I mean, you keep telling me, you know, you want to be a good mother. Well, come on. Prove it. Make it work for both of them."
Carly: "You're selfish. Uncaring. Unfeeling. You're a jerk."
Sonny: "You should've thought of that before you slept with me."

Here was that smile again--not the nervous kind, but the kind where Sonny knows he holds all the cards. He gave it on the line about buying a crib. I also noticed his use of the phrase, "my children." That line would come through again and again in the weeks to follow, and I expect that some would take offense. But Carly never objected, and I think that she was relieved that Sonny would treat Michael as his own child, since she was scared that her new baby would be treated as a black sheep by the Qs, if she had stayed there. It was a phrase that meant family, and Carly has never turned her back on that possibility.

Meanwhile, Sonny had to work hard to keep himself calm. The only time he let himself yell was to tell her to keep her voice down. She wouldn't look at him while he threatened her, and I wondered if she was comparing him to AJ for a moment, weighing her options. I wondered if she would tell him he was acting like AJ, but she didn't, and I wondered if that was a calculation, if she knew that would be going too far. It was clear that she felt powerless, but I think that she was still trying to figure Sonny out, so that she would know what action to take, what words to say. She was scared, and reeling from the fact that Sonny had told Jason. But I could see the wheels spinning in her head even in her quietest moments.

That was the hardest part to watch: she had a hope that Jason was responsible for her getting out of the Qs, and then that he was coming home, but Sonny made it clear that wasn't going to happen. Even as she worked out the odds, as it were, for this new situation, she was holding onto the thought that Jason would come for her. Yes, this was going to be interesting. Carly's instinct to try to make a family where there was almost no hope of one would have to choose between the family she'd always imagined with Jason and the family she was offered with Sonny.

The irony, of course, is that Carly was coming home, but it was slightly off. Wrong guy, wrong penthouse.

Terry: "Carly and Sonny continue to fascinate. But why isn't he thinking of moving her across the hall? Seems logical to me. Who's in Jason's place now? I forget."

Arda: "I agree. If he just wants to keep an eye on them, why can't they live across the hall?"

Amy: "Nobody's at Jason's. I'm assuming he has a reason that he'll spell out more clearly, but I'm guessing it's because he doesn't want to give a judge any reason to grant Carly sole custody--wants to be able to say that he's been there since the beginning."

"I just watched him take back everything bad he ever said to her *G*, and while I think that part of it is concern over the pregnant lady standing in the hall, and part of it is that he doesn't trust her as far as he can throw her, and he wants to keep an eye on them, I think that putting them in his house means, in part, that he's doing his penance for sleeping with her and doing what he thinks a father should do."

Terry: "He is a control freak, isn't he? I could maybe see the living together if baby Corinthos were here, but the blessed event is six months away. And I noticed him saying 'my children' a couple of times--does he think that because he promised Jason he'd take care of Michael, that Michael is his now? I love the way Carly keeps resisting and speaking her mind."

VI. The Taming of the Shrews Begins (3/8)

Carly was in a blue robe, and I have a note to myself that it was not the same one she wore at the Quartermaines. That one first appeared as she got ready for her wedding to AJ.

Carly: "You going to monitor my food habits now?"
Sonny: "I'm offering you--to make you breakfast. Do you--do you have a problem with that?"
Carly: "Well, you're not my keeper."
Sonny: "Ok. You want to pout, go ahead and pout, but can you get done with your pouting by the time Michael gets back, because you got to remember the rule."
Carly: "What's the rule?"
Sonny: "We don't fight in front of the kids."
Carly: "Well, then, we shouldn't be living together because we don't get along."
Sonny: "You want cheese in that omelet?"

Sonny: "The food service industry does not interest me."

Sonny glared at Carly as she cut her omelet loudly. Somewhere I read, perhaps in a quote from Guza, that this was going to be a The Taming of the Shrew kind of story. And while Carly is, certainly, testing her boundaries, I think this is more accurately "The Taming of the Shrews," plural. There would be a balance, a compromise, in their behavior as they came to some kind of peace.

Carly: "Why don't you calm down? I'm just saying, you know, I could help you. I used to help Jason all the time."
Sonny: "Well, you know what? I don't think Jason is a subject that we want to discuss at this moment. What about you?"
Carly: "Why is that?"
Sonny: "Hmm?"
Carly: "You feel embarrassed? I mean, are you still feeling guilty about betraying him again and everything?"
Sonny: "What is that supposed to mean?"
Carly: "You know."
Sonny: "No, I don't know."
Carly: "Well, the reason that Jason found the guy that A.J. paid to burn down your warehouse--it's because he wanted to help me. And you took that information and used it to get what you want, once again, so--"
Sonny: "Jason asked me to take care of you and Michael, and I will."
Carly: "Fine. Ok? But, Sonny, we don't have to live with you for you to take care of us. And as a matter of fact, I think we'd be a lot better off at the brownstone, you know, because Michael wouldn't need a guard and we wouldn't fight all the time."
Sonny: "Michael had a guard most of the time he lived with Jason. It never bothered you. This was your home. I'm giving it back to you. Why can't you enjoy it?"
Carly: "Why?"
Sonny: "Yeah."
Carly: "Because it was my home with Jason."
Sonny: "We both know why Jason is gone and why you're here right now. We made the situation, Carly. We have to learn to live with it."

Carly: "Bye, dear."
Sonny: "Uh-huh."

This last line was accompanied by a wave and a blown kiss. Crack me up. It was a different variation of the mixed marrieds greeting each other "Hello, wife," "Hello, husband"--an awareness that the endearment isn't exactly accurate, a conscious irony. This one was simply calculated for a different effect.

VII. A Visit from Mama (3/8)

Johnny: "You told me to keep her happy."
Sonny: "Well, I--I didn't tell you to do errands with her."

Sonny: "Santa's toy bag explode in my living room?"
Carly: "Children are messy, you know? I would have thought that you'd realized that by now."
Sonny: "Michael didn't do this. You did."

I loved Johnny's part in all of these scenes. Here, after the bit about the errands, Sonny came in and surveyed the room, then turned to Carly, then Johnny, as if he was somehow responsible.

Carly: "Welcome to paradise."

Sonny: "Carly has accepted my offer to move in with me."
Bobbie: "You have to be kidding."
Sonny: "What?"
Carly: "I said the same thing, but, you know, big, bad Sonny just won't listen to anyone."

Bobbie: "This is about the new baby, isn't it? Are you afraid that Carly will deny you access?"
Sonny: "Well, you know, I mean, the thought did occur."

Carly: "Wait a minute. Do I not get a say in this?"
Bobbie: "No, at the moment, you don't."

Bobbie: "I don't understand. If you mistrust her so much, why have her live here with you?"
Sonny: "Before we can be parents, we have to learn to cooperate with each other. That's why she's here, and that's why she's staying."

Bobbie: "What about Michael?"
Sonny: "Well, he's going to have his old room--decorated by his mother. Leticia's here, and Edward Quartermaine isn't."
Carly: "Yeah, but you are."

Bobbie: "You're comfortable. You have people around to help. Honey, it's not a bad deal."
Carly: "You know what? I should have known. I should have known that you would check out when the going gets tough."
Bobbie: "Oh, could we please not go there again?"
Carly: "Well, mother, I'm your daughter, and my son and I are being held captive by a lunatic, and you think that's ok."

Bobbie: "Carly, I didn't create this situation. You did. Now, I am here for you and I will try to help, but I am not going to let you make it my job to try to solve this for you."

Sonny: "Bobbie, I know you came here out of love for your family, and I just want you to know anytime you want to come back, door's open."
Bobbie: "Thank you. You tell Michael I stopped by to e him."
Carly: "If I think of it."
Bobbie: [to Sonny] "I sure hope you know what you're doing."

Sonny: "Carly, if I had my choice, I wouldn't be on the same planet with you, but I don't, and neither do you. We're stuck with each other. Get used to it."

Bobbie and Sonny were in dark outfits, while Carly was in shades of rose. I enjoyed Carly's response to her mom's dealing with Sonny, but I took Bobbie's acquiescence to the situation as a sign that she trusted that this was not like Carly being at the Quartermaines. I was kind of surprised at her reaction, but I decided I liked it. Carly had again made a situation for herself, and Bobbie was letting her deal with it, once she was convinced she understood Sonny's motivations.

Terry: "Compared to Carly standing up to Sonny, Bobbie has the gumption of a wet noodle. More 'nod and giggle when people talk about Carly' right in front of her daughter. No wonder Carly gives her attitude. By the way, I loved that shade of green on Jackie Zeman, and think that jacket over the low-cut top look was quite flattering."

"More fashion notes--what was with Liz's hair? Ick. Didn't like Carly's shirt, with the sleeves so different from the bodice. I have been loving the gowns Lila has been wearing. She looks fabulous. (Just saw Anna Lee in a biography segment on Maureen O'Hara last night, by the way.) I noticed that Felicia's shirt with the big block of red and other color blocks reminded me, visually, of the squarish red jacket that Laura was wearing on the same days. Why the heck, though, did they put Laura in such an unflattering and boring outfit and such messy and boring hair the week they have her in major, major scenes? Bad choice. But I noticed that when Laura was angry with Stefan, her cheeks grew dark red. How does Genie do that? She's awesome. As for the men, John J. York looks scrumptious, as do A and Tony and Stephen. What eye candy for the adult woman we've been getting lately."

Amy: "Was this the day Liz was in that black fur, with loads of eye makeup and really straight hair? If not, what was with Liz's hair that day? I guess they were trying to make her look older in contrast to Juan and Emily. Pttttth. She looked bad. As for Genie's flushes, probably natural--her alabaster skin, etc. I have never flushed in my life, not really. My sister can at the drop of a hat."

Arda: "I didn't like that straight hair on her. Terry is talking about Liz's hair when several chunks of hair were pulled up and twisted and pinned down (I'm sort of guessing at the process). I noticed the hairstyle, which led me to think that I shouldn't be noticing the hair since Liz is presumable in shock over finding out Lucky might be alive. So in her shocked state she had the time/energy/focus to come up with a complicated hairstyle? For the same reason, Laura's hastily pulled up hair didn't bother me as she's presumable too distraught to worry about her hair."

Amy: "Scary that I can have the same thoughts about things in the episodes about a week behind these. *G* Liz's hair went from kinky and braided one day to perfectly straight the next. She looked like a Winona Ryder (in Beetlejuice!) wannabe, and that's bad."

"As for the men, praise God. I'm so tired of young people. And I'm very irritated with Entertainment Weekly, who rated fan websites and listed Michael Douglas as 'the aging Michael Douglas.' On what planet?!?! The man is in his mid-50s. Kirk Douglas may be aging, but Michael? Pshaw."

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