You know, there wasn't much in these scenes I want to comment on. We've seen Sonny's grief before; we've seen him tell these stories. And Hannah was losing my interest very quickly by this point. Her scenes were of her 1) sticking up for Sonny against Taggert, 2) trying to find out about Sonny, or 3) listening to Sonny's stories.
I. Sonny Drives Hannah Home (4/19)
Sonny: "I'm an open book."
Hannah: "Yeah, of blank pages."
Hannah: "Never met the right person?"
Sonny: "A couple of times."
Hannah: "So you're not married, you're not divorced, you're too young to be a widower."
Sonny: "There's no age minimum."
Hannah: "Answer the question if you can."
Sonny: "Well, first, you got to get the egg's address. And if you can finesse that in less than an hour, then you invite the egg for a home-cooked meal."
Sonny: "Well, if I speak highly of Kelly's, then you'll pack up and move to the other side of town."
Hannah: "Yeah, that's great strategic reasoning, honey, but I can't afford the other side of town."
Sonny: "Well, you know, I'm sure I can work something out with Luke if you want."
Hannah: "Thanks."
Sonny: "Yeah."
Hannah: "Appreciate it, but I'll take care of it."
Sonny: "All right, any time. [telephone rings] Yeah. Are you sure it was Lucky?"
Hannah: "I'll be fine. Thanks for the ride."
Sonny: "All right, listen to me. No, no, wait. Find Jason. I'm on my way."
My favorite moment didn't translate in text. Hannah asked Sonny what he did for a living. He leaned close and whispered that he was a businessman. Cute.
Like Jason, the change in Sonny was visible when he got the news about Lucky. That was, perhaps, the most effective thing about the scenes that led up to the news. We knew, from the end of the previous Friday's episode, what had happened, and so when we saw each of these people, we knew what was coming. But each of the actors did a great job of showing the utter shift in emotion.
II. Sonny Blames Himself for Lucky's Death (4/22, 23)
Hannah: "If there's anything I can do for Luke or for you--"
Sonny: "It's all been done."
Jason: "You shouldn't be alone here."
Sonny: "Did I ever tell you Luke was the first friend I made here? He was smart, funny. We hit it off, you know? Then partly I was so jealous, I couldn't see straight. Even with the life he led, he managed to make and hold together a family--something I couldn't do. Something I thought just wasn't a possibility for guys like me. But there he was, a guy like me, and he had it all. He gave me hope. And I swore to myself and to Luke that I would be tireless and I would protect what he had."
Jason: "You and I did not kill Lucky Spencer. Are we partly to blame? I should've done something about Moreno before it came to this, Sonny, but I didn't. I couldn't. But you did protect Luke's family. When they needed to escape from here, they came to you and you made it happen. You offered the guards, you watched the house. You gave Lucky a job so he wouldn't get in trouble looking for money."
Sonny: "That night of the fire, did you see that girl's face?"
Sonny: "Nothing will happen to me."
Hannah: "And you know this how?"
Sonny: "Because it's my lot in life. I'm the untouched one. I'm always left standing."
Hannah: "You don't seem so untouched to me."
Sonny: "Few scratches here and there. Everybody should be so lucky. It's the innocents around me who drop like flies. My car, my building. And what do I do? I just keep washing the blood off my hands and dry-cleaning it out of my suits. The best advice I could give you--if you want to live long and prosper in Port Charles, stay the hell away from Sonny Corinthos."
III. Sonny and Hannah Continue to Talk (4/26)
Sonny: "So you say nobody's out to get you. What if somebody was?"
Hannah: "Who?"
Sonny: "I don't know. You got a crazy ex-boyfriend?"
Hannah: "Is there any other kind?"
Sonny: "Ok, you're standing at a bus stop. You see his car coming up the block. He's got a gun in his hand, and he's waving it. And you decide not to run. So he gets to the bus stop, and he starts firing--bam, bam, bam, bam. And the person standing next to you drops. Whose fault is it?"
Hannah: "My ex-boyfriend's."
Sonny: "But you knew it was coming."
Hannah: "But it wasn't my gun, and I didn't pull the trigger."
Sonny: "Oh, you can keep telling yourself that, but what if the person standing next to you was your best friend or your best friend's kid? What would you tell yourself then? When it was time to go to sleep at night, could you?"
Sonny: "It wasn't my plan to partner with Luke. It was a solution to a problem--a good solution, except he had a wife and kids."
Hannah: "He must not have been that worried about it."
Sonny: "He trusted me. I promised they wouldn't get hurt."
Hannah: "Are you a criminal? I mean, your friends are constantly needing guarantees that their families are going to be safe. You don't look like you have the smallpox or typhoid fever. Is your coffee business a front for something dangerous, illegal?"
Sonny: "The answer is no and no."
Hannah: "Ok."
Sonny: "But I have a history, and it marks me."
Hannah: "Meaning how your wife died, the car bomb?"
Sonny: "That's part of it. Her name was lily."
Hannah: "Pretty name."
Sonny: "She wasn't the only one I took care of, you know. I mean, it was not like at a church. I mean, I took on the obligation. My fiancée was named Brenda, and I had a friend named stone, to name two. Both dead."
Hannah: "I'm sorry."
Sonny: "So am i. Doesn't do them any good, does it? I wasn't there when Brenda had a breakdown. I wasn't in the car when it went off the road. I wasn't the junkie who gave stone aids, but you know what? I promised that I would take care of them, and I failed. Lily was pregnant when she died. The child didn't have a name, but he had a father."
Hannah: "A father taking responsibility for his unborn child--that I understand. So, maybe I understand a little better of what you were trying to say. And I'm sorry for your loss."
Sonny: "Well, you know, it was long and far away, another life, you know what I mean?"
Hannah: "If you say so."
Sonny: "You doubt my truthfulness?"
Hannah: "You still feel it."
Sonny: "It's the only wife I ever had, you know. The memory's not about to fade."
Hannah: "Were you happy?"
Sonny: "Was I or was she?"
Hannah: "It's not the same question. Was she, then?"
Sonny: "Most of the time, yeah. You'd be surprised."
Hannah: "Do I look doubtful? I'm sure she loved you very much."
Sonny: "Never in the vow she took did it say she had to die for me."
Hannah: "Do you know who was trying to kill you? I mean, you said the bomb was intended for you."
Sonny: "If I wanted to say more, I would have."
Hannah: "Sorry."
Sonny: "So what else you want to know? You want to know about Brenda? I broke her heart and her mind. You want to know about Lucky? He also had a heart and a brain, and he's gone, and he shouldn't be. And that brings our evening's entertainment to a close."
Sonny: "The nights are still cool. You're not dressed for it."
Hannah: "Whereas you, you're always dressed for winter. You must run hot inside."
Sonny: "It's just metabolism, you know. I don't know."
The most interesting thing in this discussion was Sonny's description of his early days with Luke. It reminded me of his feelings about Jason now--that he had worked with somebody against his own better judgment because he liked having them as a partner, etc. And we had cut between this scene and the one where Luke was talking about their partnership too. Nice duet.
IV. Tammy Encourages Sonny to Go to Luke (4/27)
Tammy: "Have--have you seen Luke?"
Sonny: "I didn't go to the memorial service."
Tammy: "Yeah, well, you know, it was beautiful. It was also really hard. Go ahead and stop me if I'm interfering, Sonny, but I remember that you told me once that Luke was a friend of yours--for life. He could really use a friend right now."
Sonny: "Not this one."
Sonny: "Luke thinks the fire was meant for me or Jason. So does the commissioner."
Tammy: "Yeah, you know, he didn't seem real glad to see you when you walked in, did he?"
Sonny: "Everybody needs a little room."
Tammy: "Mm-hmm, that's true. But a friend, a friend from the heart, a friend for life--that counts for something. It means something. That's all I'm saying. Especially right now."
I think that even if Tammy knew everything that had gone on between Luke and Sonny recently, she would have still suggested that they meet. I get the feeling that she knew it would be good for both of them to face each other, whatever the circumstances.
V. Taggert Confronts Sonny (4/28)
Taggert: "You know, I don't know what you said to that girl, but I pray to god she didn't believe you."
Sonny: "You still going to take me downtown, lieutenant? Your fellow officers may be a little curious why you're wearing 80-proof cologne."
Taggert: "It's not over."
Sonny: "You toss a mean tray of drinks."
Hannah: "Just trying to even the score."
I have to admit that Hannah wielding that drink tray against Taggert cracked me up. Unfortunately, they replayed the scene the very next day, and the line from Taggert about the drink tray didn't make up for the repetition (though it was great fun).
VI. Hannah Asks Jason About Sonny, then Defends Sonny Against Taggert Again (4/29)
Hannah: "Ok, so let me get this straight--you've been a parking valet, a stevedore, a motorcycle mechanic, and now you're a coffee merchant. Are there any other careers you're hiding?"
Jason: "Not at the moment."
Hannah: "What about Sonny?"
I guess that Jason and Luke are so used to Brenda asking all manner of questions about Sonny that it doesn't dawn on them to suspect Hannah.
Jason: "Bald, shiny head, extremely bad attitude?"
Hannah: "That's the one."
Taggert: "Is that how you live with yourself? You tell yourself the damage you do is accidental?"
Sonny: "You know what? You can go ahead and play all these games you want, pursue your vendetta, jerk me around, but you will not exploit Lucky Spencer's death."
Taggert: "You spill that tray on me, I'm taking you in for assault."
Sonny: "And you do not come into my club and threaten my waitresses. Now, you leave now or I will call Scorpio and you will lose your badge."
Taggert: "Wow. I didn't realize you were so protective over your employees. It's too bad you weren't that protective of Lucky Spencer. You know, I respected that kid. He had guts and honesty. Where he screwed up was in making the mistake of trusting you and Morgan. Oh, yeah--the good criminals, doing the kid a favor, keeping him off the street. Yeah, that's some help--death by inferno. I wonder who died worse--the Spencer kid or your wife."
Hannah: "Excuse me. I'd like to get the proper spelling of your name so I can be accurate when I file a harassment complaint."
VII. Sonny and Hannah Get a Little Closer (4/29, 30)
Hannah: "I'm outside a blues club in upstate New York kissing a man I barely know, a man who goes around warning people he's dangerous."
Sonny: "I thought you liked that."
Hannah: "I am nowhere near ready to feel anything for you. I don't even know if I want to. Everything I know about you sends alarm bells clanging."
Sonny: "You don't look alarmed."
Hannah: "Do you get how inconsistent you are? One minute, you're telling me to walk away, the next minute, you're kissing me till I can't breathe. It's--it's confusing. And when I'm confused, I back off. And this is me backing off."
Sonny: "Ok, you know what? Maybe it's been a while. I'm out of practice. But weren't you the one who followed me to the pier, sit and listen while I tore myself open? Defended me to the cops, did everything you could so I would notice you? I noticed you."
Hannah: "I wanted you to kiss me. But it's too much, too soon. I'm sorry for the mixed signals."
Sonny: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's not that simple."
Sonny: "I didn't come out here to kiss you. I came out here because you were asking for trouble defending me, and I don't want you involved."
Hannah: "Cops don't intimidate me."
Sonny: "Yeah, I saw that for myself. Last thing you do is run. You fight first--like the mugger, with Taggert. So why are you running now?"
Hannah: "I told you."
Sonny: "What, I'm inconsistent? So are you. We started to dance, right? One pulls away, one follows. Now it's my turn. I want to follow. I can do that. I can give you all the time you need. And for the record, I'm not looking for any guarantees, and I'm not looking to make any."
Hannah: "Fair enough."
Sonny: "We understand each other."
Hannah: "I think so."
Jason: "I'll tell her to stay the hell away from you."
Sonny: "Don't bother. Hannah can make up her own mind about me."
And of course, Sonny's too busy playing the mating game to suspect Hannah either.
Here's some commentary from Terry's ratsa update on these scenes and the episode in general:
"This episode was pretty good for a Friday, but not even close to the great episodes we've seen lately. There were lots of stories going on simultaneously and some of them were more effective than others. It was good that they moved at different paces, so it wasn't too overwhelming or crowded. We had dialogue from 19 characters--my beef? Ned and Alexis weren't among them."
"Throughout the episode, we keep coming back to Sonny and Hannah locking lips in front of Luke's. They are an attractive pair, I'll grant you, and look great in the black clothes they both sport (okay, Hannah has no choice, she's in her waitress outfit) To show you how hung up on details I can get while updating, I noticed that Hannah is wearing matte lipstick, so that when they pull apart from time to time to talk, there is no distracting glare from her lips in the close-ups, which I appreciate."
"In their first scene, they kiss enthusiastically for some time. Then they break off for a moment, exchange a few remarks in which Hannah expresses misgivings about how fast their relationship is moving. Then she wraps her arms around Sonny's neck and moves in for another round of kissing."
"Later she comes up for air again and says, 'It's too fast,' to which Sonny replies, 'What's that, your heartbeat? Come here.' He rubs his lip while she talks, as she tells him this is too far too fast: 'One minute you tell me to walk away, the next minute, you're kissing me until I can't breathe. I'm confused and when I'm confused, I back off.' He points out that she wanted him to kiss her. Yes, she admits, but it's still not a good idea. She tries to walk away, but he stops her and starts rubbing the sides of her face seductively."
"He tells her he didn't come out with the intent of kissing her, but because he didn't want her to get into trouble with Taggert. 'Cops don't intimidate me,' she reminds him. She has finally had enough kissy-face and says she should return to work. He follows her inside and gives her the rest of the night off with pay. (Of course, real waitresses make the bulk of their money from tips, but Luke's pays darn generously, and with Sonny paying for her to get twice the going rate, I guess she doesn't need tips.)"
"Sonny and Jason are seen later in the back of the limo in the dark. [oh, get your mind out of the gutter, Sonny's hot for Hannah.] Sonny tells Jason about the run-in Hannah had with Taggert. Jason tells Sonny he made sure they were not being followed."