Jax and Chloe, Ned and Alexis

The Quartermaines

Sonny and Carly

Roy and Hannah

The Scorpios

The Cassadines

The Spencers

Elizabeth Webber

The Cassadines:

• Stefan phones Laura and Nikolas. He wants to see them to tell them that Lucky is alive, though he doesn't tell them the reason for the meeting. He tells Alexis that he has Lucky at the country house, and that he's being checked out by doctors. Alexis still doubts his motives and his plan to present Lucky to Laura with all the trappings, rather than simply telling her that her son is alive. Stefan insists that Helena must be in custody, and that he must know the details about Lucky's condition, before he will tell Laura. Alexis goes to the club to see Roy and runs into Luke; Stefan prepares to leave. Before he can get to the Spencer house, however, he learns that Helena has taken Lucky back. He doesn't realize that Luke is back in town with the news as well, and is ahead of him at the Spencer house, telling Laura that their son was alive and that he has seen him. (3/2)
• After his men try to find Lucky and fail, Stefan goes to the Spencer house anyway, and finds only Laura there. She accuses him of lying to her and slaps him. (3/3)
• Meanwhile, Helena phones Luke at the club and hands the phone to Lucky. He listens to his father's voice, but doesn't say anything. (3/3)
• Helena hangs up the phone when Lucky won't speak. She tells him that she has plans for him. (3/6)
• After his confrontation with Laura, Stefan sees Nikolas. Nikolas accuses his uncle of staging Lucky's death. (3/6)
• Stefan tries to convince Nikolas that he is trying to help Lucky, and that Helena is to blame. Nikolas doesn't know what to believe, but he threatens to leave the family. He goes to Elizabeth and tells her that Lucky is alive. Alexis stays, and she agrees to help Stefan find Lucky and prove his innocence. (3/7)
• When Helena tells him that they're going to visit a place that was important to his parents, she asks Lucky where he would want to go if he could choose; Lucky tells Helena that he wants to go back to Port Charles. (3/8)
• Helena, however, follows her plans to take Lucky on a tour of his parents' past. While Stefan faces Mac and Luke at the PCPD and Luke and Laura prepare to search for their son, Helena takes Lucky to the yacht Mikkos once owned as the Titan, and Luke and Laura later owned as the Haunted Star. (3/9)
• Helena continues Lucky's lessons about his parents' past on board the yacht. After dinner, she leaves him alone for a minute and, with a gleam in his eye, he leaves the room. When she returns, Helena believes he's run away, but Lucky is found simply standing on the deck, looking up at the stars. She rewards him for his loyalty. (3/14)
• Nikolas checks in with Elizabeth at L&B and tells her he's going to try to get answers from Helena. He agrees to Emily's request to listen to Juan sing, but Juan doesn't agree. (3/14)
• Stefan, meanwhile, meets with Alexis. He asks her to cover for him with the police while he goes out of town against Mac's orders to search for Lucky. He insists that he won't lose Laura now. He goes to tell her that he's leaving to search, but when she isn't home, he goes to Nikolas. He's hurt when he learns from Nikolas that Laura is with Luke, searching for Lucky. He goes to Helena's yacht on his own and learns that a couple had been there before him. (3/14)
• Helena's lessons continue while she checks in on Port Charles, while Mac arrives at Wyndemere to question Stefan about Lucky's kidnapping. Luckily for Alexis, Stefan shows up in time to answer Mac's questions. (3/16)
• Stefan goes to Luke and Laura on the Haunted Star and insists that they need his help. Luke locks him in a closet and Laura won't let him out, despite his attempts to persuade her. (3/20)
• Meanwhile, Helena pays Mrs. Lansbury for information about Stefan's location. (3/20)
• Stefan thinks about Laura, but finally manages to get himself out of the storage closet. (3/21)
• Meanwhile, Helena's plane takes off from Port Charles and she announces that she and Lucky are headed to their next stop. (3/21)
• Helena's lessons continue on the Cassadine Island. (3/22)
• Andreas tries to get information about Stefan out of Mrs. Lansbury, but she'll only talk to Helena. (3/23)
• Helena and Lucky talk about his childhood and his parents. She then invites him to a game of chess there in Mikkos's study, and when he wins, he gets to choose whether they stay or leave. (3/24)
• Meanwhile, Taggert keeps Stefan from going after Helena. (3/24)
• Helena and Lucky leave just as Luke and Laura arrive on Cassadine Island. (3/27)
• Meanwhile, Mac charges Stefan with Lucky's kidnapping, but then lets him go. (3/27)
• Arriving on the island to find that Luke and Felicia were trapped together, Stefan tells Laura that he'll let them out if she'll agree to go with him to search for her son. When she refuses, he leaves. (3/29)
• Nikolas talks with Liz about the possibility that Lucky will come home. (3/29)
• In Texas, Lucky and Helena visit the Spencers' old home. Lucky finds the place where his father carved their initials in a rock, and carves one of his own. He then tosses a matchbook for them to find, and when Helena objects, he tells her that the point is for them to follow. (3/31)

I. Stefan Plans to Announce the News (3/2)

Alexis: "Luke and Laura must be ecstatic."
Stefan: "I'm sure they will be."
Alexis: "What do you mean, 'will be'?"
Stefan: "I haven't told them yet."

Stefan: "If Lucky has been harmed in any way, his mother has a right to know."
Alexis: "His mother thinks he's dead."

Alexis: "It's not enough that you rescue Laura's son. You have to capture the villain and put her away, and then you get a status report on Lucky's condition? What's next--you going to slay a dragon and bring back the Holy Grail?"
Stefan: "I've already accomplished the most difficult part."
Alexis: "No. The ultimate task is still ahead of you--making Laura realize that you are her personal savior."
Stefan: "I love Laura. I always have. And, yes, I want to bring her son back to her, but I also want her to have a life free of Helena. Helena will never stand between me and Laura again."

Alexis was in a long grey coat over matching pants; I love that outfit.

This is the scene that left me a little confused. Stefan headed over to Laura's, making sure Nikolas would be there, and he was going to tell them about Lucky. But we had just had this scene, where he wasn't going to tell, and I didn't follow the quick jump to his changed mind. So did Alexis convince him? Or did he simply think about his own motives? What?

Stefan: "I will explain it when I get there. Meet me at your mother's. I'm leaving now. All right."
Man: "We lost the boy."
Stefan: "Lucky ran away?"
Man: "Your mother took him away."

On the next day, Stefan would storm off quickly after the man finished his report, losing his cool, but going on to his meeting. I was reminded of all the hurrying Sonny was doing over on the other side of town.

II. Helena Grants Lucky a Phone Call (3/3, 3/6)

Helena: "Well, I hope you weren't too distressed by Stefan's temporary custody. But now you're back where you belong and we can proceed as scheduled. My--the strong, silent type, just like your father."

Since when has Luke ever been silent? *G*

Helena: "Now, you've been away for a long time. Memories must be everywhere. Would it help if you heard a familiar voice?"
Luke: [telephone rings] "Yeah, Spencer here. Hello? Hello? Speak up. Can't hear you. Hello?"

Amy: "Whatever the reasons Lucky might not talk, I loved this scene because of its bookending with a scene back last spring. Then, Lucky was handed Faison's phone and was screaming at Elizabeth, trying to get her to hear him on the other end, when she couldn't. This time, the line was open, and he didn't choose to speak. I thought that was a very effective contrast, whatever it's hinting at."

And on the next day:

Helena: "Didn't you want to speak to your father?"

Helena: "On second thought, I believe you're right. It's better if you don't speak to your father just yet. Why get Luke all excited for nothing?"

Helena: "Oh. We have other places to visit, Lucky. Oh, Port Charles will always be there if you decide you want to return someday."
Lucky: "Will I get the choice?"
Helena: "That remains to be seen."

Helena: "I had Andreas include a chessboard in our luggage. Would you like to play a game?"
Lucky: "I'd rather just look out to the view. I'm not used to being able to see where I'm going."
Helena: "You and I are going to see a great deal together, Lucky. I've--I've designed quite a little tour especially for you."

I was really amused by the décor of the limo. Helena had red velvet curtains over the back window that looked positively like a coffin. Crack me up! Lucky frequently turned to look out the side window, which I bet was tinted a very dark black.

III. Nikolas Confronts Stefan (3/6, 3/7)

Alexis: "If you suddenly produce Lucky, the authorities are going to take it as confirmation of your guilt--that you have been holding him all along."
Stefan: "The boy will tell them otherwise. Laura was wrong not to believe me. I am going to prove that I didn't kidnap Lucky Spencer."
Nikolas: "But you did, didn't you?"
Stefan: "Nikolas--"
Nikolas: "You kidnapped my brother and made us all believe that he was dead."

Amy: "I have no trouble at all with Luke believing Stefan kidnapped Lucky, or at least entertaining the option, despite what he knows about Helena and Faison. I don't even mind the possibility crossing Laura's mind, or even that she would jump to that conclusion too, in the midst of her emotional upheaval, if she can see her way clear of it later. (It does, after all, mean that she can blame Stefan, and not herself, for being the reason Helena would take her kid from her.) But I don't like this one, even in theory. The only conflict we've had with Stefan and Nikolas so far is over Elizabeth and over his L&B job. So why, why, why would Nikolas decide that Stefan might have kidnapped Lucky? Because Luke tells him? I doubt it. Laura?"

Joan: "I don't see the problem, because Nik has been suspecting Stefan's motives ever since the flip-flop revelations about his birth. The layers of deception surrounding Katherine's death have laid the groundwork adequately, I believe. More, this is another case where Nik gets information from Luke and accepts it almost at once. Whatever their conflicts, they have a history of sharing fraught moments and weathering them with trust. I love that."

Amy: "But we've seen almost nothing of Stefan and Nikolas together since the parentage thing. So while I'm happy that it didn't go over as smoothly as it seemed to at the time, I don't yet see the groundwork between then and now--now being, for me, somewhere around February 23rd. But hearing you describe it, I see how it can play more convincingly."

"And certainly I would love some meaty stuff between Nikolas and Stefan. But since Nikolas apologized for falling for Kat's lies and then had that completely un-bumpy revelation about Stavros being his father (some irritation about being the prince again, anger at Alexis, but no real fallout for him and Laura or Stefan), I wasn't prepared for him to turn on Stefan like this. Yes, they have this in their history, but I think the recast gets in my way of pulling all of those past conflicts into the here and now."

On the next day:

Nikolas: "No matter how much you hate Luke, how could you do this to me or Laura or my sister? How could a man who claims to love me let me believe that my brother was dead, burned alive?"

Stefan: "I didn't even know Lucky was alive until a few weeks ago. And from that moment on, I have done nothing but try to rescue him."
Nikolas: "Do you really expect me to believe that?"
Stefan: "Yes, I do. You know me better than anyone. And after everything I have done for your mother, she has chosen not to believe me. I expect much more from you."

Nikolas: "Why didn't you tell me or Laura?"
Stefan: "I was trying to protect Laura."
Nikolas: "Of course. How did I know that that was going to be the reason?"

Nikolas: "And what about me? Why didn't you tell me?"
Stefan: "For the same reasons, and so you wouldn't have to lie to your mother. I'm not the villain here, Nikolas, and I fully intend to bring Lucky home."

Nikolas: "Didn't you learn anything from Katherine's murder? You don't build a case against Helena and then call in the police."

Nikolas: "My brother is alive. You know what I wish for, just once? That you can tell me a truth that's not based on hindsight. You made a mistake. You abandoned this family and you didn't stay away. I'm going to."

Nikolas: "Do you realize how ashamed I am of us?"
Stefan: "Haven't you heard a word Alexis and I have said to you?"
Nikolas: "Every one. And I even think that some of it may be true. But the bottom line is my brother lost a year of his life because of this family. My grandmother Lesley has lost more than that, my mother has suffered, and god only knows what's in store for my little sister. I don't want any part of it. You can do whatever you want with the family fortune. You can spend it, you can manage it, you can give it away, for all I care. When I'm of age, the whole damn thing's going to charity, anyway. The Cassadine legacy ends here."

Stefan and Nikolas were both in brown, while Alexis was in cream.

I loved the line about Laura choosing not to believe. Stefan sees this as Laura choosing Luke over him; she would talk, just after this, about not knowing whom to believe. But she had indeed made a choice, and that would become more evident from her as the month wore on.

I noticed that, while Stefan had kept his voice down with Laura, perhaps out of the knowledge that she wouldn't listen no matter what he said, perhaps out of an unwillingness to seem vulnerable before her or to show her any of his real emotions, Stefan was quite willing to raise his voice to Nikolas. This was family, not a woman who had betrayed him before. This was blood; this was the heir. Having (possibly) lost Laura, to lose Nikolas as well was not something he would let happen. I loved that he was left with Alexis again, the bastard daughter whom he has exiled in the past. But I also think it was partly because he didn't mind if Nikolas saw how upset he was. Nikolas might walk out, but he would not be able to say that Stefan was emotionless about all of this.

The other possibility for Stefan's differing displays of emotions was one I wrote about at the time I watched the episode:

Amy: "Stefan seemed to take all of his frustration at Laura out on Nikolas in this scene. And I think he's determined to prove Laura wrong about him, whether he thinks they can have a life together or not. That doesn't, for me, mean he's over her. He's been angry at her betrayal before--back in 1996, when he was beginning to fight to have her back in his life!"

Stefan: "He meant that."
Alexis: "He's angry. Can you blame him? I don't. You're going to have to let that go right now because the key is Lucky and, once he's back, he will clear you of any criminal charges. Then Laura will be happy, Nikolas will be happy, everyone will be happy. You need to concentrate on getting Lucky back, and the sooner the better."

Stefan: "Nikolas has been jaded by Luke Spencer's distorted version of what happened with Lucky. Once he realizes this, he will continue to assume leadership of the family, as he should. In the meantime, we need to prove that Helena kidnapped Lucky. I'll need your help."
Alexis: "You know I'll help."
Stefan: "Thank you."
Alexis: "You're welcome."

We cut from Alexis agreeing to help Stefan to Ned at the Quartermaine house, reporting in as Edward ordered. But Ned would turn Edward down. Would their respective families be offering that couple some real conflict? Alexis gets to say "yes," while Ned has to say "no"?

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