I. Jason and Carly Plan to Take AJ Down (4/21, 22)
Carly: "Jason, he lit your warehouse on fire, tried to burn it down. Didn't get him custody of Michael, so now he burns something else down. Only this time he managed to kill my cousin. So now it's personal, man."
Though I appreciated Carly's reaction as a sign of her longing to be a Spencer, I raised an eyebrow at this. What, threatening to take Michael away wasn't personal enough? Ha!
Jason: "What is wrong with you? Huh? Don't you remember what we talked about--you running off and doing something crazy without thinking it through? That's ok when you're the only one involved, but you're not--again. This time we're going to do it my way."
Carly: "Ok. Which way is that?"
Jason: "But right now, I need you to stay on top of him, ok? You watch where he goes, who he calls, what kind of visitors stop by this house. If he is guilty, sooner or later he's going to leave a clue."
Carly: "And then what?"
Jason: "We send him to prison for the rest of his life."
Carly: "Jason, do you realize that if A.J. goes to jail for murder, I get sole custody of Michael right away."
Jason: "Hey, hey, hey. I don't want you thinking anything good has happened because Lucky died."
Carly: "That's not what I was saying."
Jason: "Why would you do that now?"
Carly: "Why? Because I want to start proving that A.J. killed Lucky."
Carly [to AJ]: "You know, I want to get on the phone with you, actually. I want him to hear from me what a despicable creature is trying to get custody of my son."
II. Carly and Jason Talk about the Memorial (4/26)
Jason: "I was waiting for you. Are you ok?"
Carly: "Whatever do you mean?"
Jason: "Oh. You don't look like you're ok."
Carly: "Oh, you won't believe what I just had to do at Bobbie's."
Jason: "What?"
Carly: "Nothing, really. I mean, I just had to sit there, but that was bad enough. Bobbie just told Lucas that his big, cool older cousin that took him to movies and gave him his baseball card collection was dead. I guess Lucky was one of those few men in Lucas' life that wasn't deranged and actually paid attention to hi and you think he cried? You know, this little kid, 8 years old--you'd think he would cry, right? I mean, I'm sitting there, and it's all I can do to not bawl my eyes out, and I didn't even know Lucky. But Lucas, he just--he was like--oh, my gosh, he was perfectly straight and perfectly still, and he nodded in all the right places. And then he said he was going to say a prayer for Lucky in heaven. His eyes got big and wet, and his little lips started to quiver, but he didn't cry. Someday I'm going to have to retire that idea that I have it worse than everybody else and always did. Starting with my--my idea about the world's worst childhood. What was wrong with my childhood? Nothing, you know? Nothing. Would you just remind me of that whenever I need it?"
Jason: "So, how was--how was the funeral?"
Carly: "It was pretty awful. I don't have much use for Luke. Laura doesn't seem to even know who I am. But I've never felt worse for anybody in my entire life. They had to basically get up and give their own son's eulogy because there was nobody else."
Jason: "Did--Luke say anything to you?"
Carly: "No. He just looked right through me."
Jason: "No, no. I mean about me."
Carly: "What do you mean, about you? Why would he say anything to me about you?"
Jason: "Because he blames me and Sonny."
Carly: "Jason, if he said that, that's just craziness. No, you have to--look, his son just died."
Jason: "Carly, Carly, he's not absolutely wrong."
Carly: "Yes, he is."
Jason: "No. You know, sometimes--sometimes it seems like having Michael and thinking of him first made more sense out of my life than anything else ever could. But sometimes I wonder if it keeps me from taking care of things how I used to."
Carly: "No. Stop, ok? You can't do that, Jason. You can't think like that. 'If it had been like this, if I had just done that thing differently, everything would be different.' You cannot do that. You need to do what you need to do now, in this minute, the best thing for now, this very second, and move forward. You can't look back. That's it, bottom line. I'm not the world's greatest parent, you know, and I know that. God knows. I got a chorus line of people around me every day to tell me that. But I'll tell you what--if--anything like that ever happened to Michael, I'd die. I don't think that I could go on. Thank you for not saying 'Of course you could, Carly. You're strong.'"
Jason: "I don't know if I could, either."
I liked this conversation so much: for what it said about Carly and Jason's feelings for Michael (that they would think of the possibility of losing him where AJ apparently wasn't) and for each other, for the way it foreshadowed Jason's understanding of Elizabeth's reactions much later, and for the way it explained Carly's thought patterns about her own mistakes.
I've related Terry's sons reactions to scenes in this episode elsewhere,but I think these are my favorite: "Oh, Jason and Carly are so sweet. Oh, look, he's worried about her. See, he loves Carly, he just doesn't know it yet. Why do people think Carly is a bad person? She's just behind in growing up. Oh, I love it, he's gonna hug her. She needs a hug, and he knows it." Just behind in growing up. That's fabulous. The same could be said for Jason. Oh, and Terry says, "He had no comment about Sonny and Hannah." Crack me up.
Jason: "I should go."
Carly: "Wait, Jason. What did you want to ask me? I mean, you said that you--you came to see me, so, for what? I mean, not just to look at me."
Jason: "Nothing. It's nothing."
Carly: "You just wanted to find out about the funeral?"
Jason: "Yeah, right."
Carly: "Or maybe you did come just to look at me."
Jason: "Good night, Carly."
Carly: "What if Michael wakes up?"
Jason: "You'll be all right. And if he does, just give him a kiss for me."
III. Carly Surprises Jason (4/29, 30)
Carly: "Surprise."
Jason: "Carly, don't."
Carly: "Why? Come on. I want to be with you. And I know you want to be with me."
Jason: "You want to hear the words? Ok. Sex with you would be good. But it's not going to happen. No matter how many times you show up in my room, the answer will still be no."
Carly: "Tell me why."
Jason: "You know why, Carly. The reasons haven't changed."
Carly: "Yeah, they have changed, Jason. There's no robin anymore. Or what, did she convince you that sex was bad? Like she convinced you that everything else you were good at and you loved to do was wrong?"
Jason: "Robin has nothing to do with this. And, no, I don't think sex is bad. There are a lot of women I could sleep with, but not you."
Carly: "Thanks, Jase."
Jason: "What, are you mad at me now?"
Carly: "Well, well, shouldn't I be?"
Jason: "What, you want to hit me like you did when we were sleeping together? Call me a robot and say I got nothing inside of me? Have you ever hated me more than when we were having sex, Carly? Huh? Because it's the only time I couldn't stand you."
Carly: "Yeah, well, things were different then, Jason."
Jason: "Yeah, things were different then. There was no Michael. You and I weren't friends. Didn't matter to me if you walked out of my room at Jake's. I never saw you again. Carly, it matters now. We're part of each other's lives and Michael's life. I'm not going to lose that."
Carly: "Then why did you kiss me?"
Jason: "Carly, you kissed me."
Carly: "Oh, ok."
Jason: "I didn't push you away hard enough because I didn't want to hurt you. I'm so sorry if I made you think I wanted this."
Jan: "But it's not going to happen. Get dressed."
Carly: "You do realize it's not a lot of fun psyching myself up to seduce you and getting humiliated for my trouble."
Jason: "Then why do it?"
Carly: "Because I'm, you know, not stuck in the past like you are. You know why it didn't work out between us the first time?"
Jason: "There was nothing to work. We had sex. That's all. We didn't even know each other's names."
Carly: "We didn't at first, Jason, but we learned. And then I found out about robin."
Jason: "And then you tried to blackmail me."
Carly: "Oh, so you just don't trust me. That's what this is about."
Jason: "I--I trust the way things are now. Look, Carly, when you and I first met, there was nothing to lose. As long as it felt good, we did it. And when I didn't want to do it anymore, I told you sure, you got mad, and you went to dr. Jones, but so what? Everyone involved was a grownup. Now there's Michael, and he's caught in the middle. And I'm not going to let you use him as a weapon against me because you think having sex changes all the rules."
Carly: "You know why I'm not mad? Because I did this. I mean, I'm the one who convinced you that we couldn't have a friendship while we were sleeping together. And you would rather have me as a friend."
Jason: "Mm-hmm."
Carly: "I would rather have both. So I just think I should prove to you that--"
Jason: "Don't prove anything. Just accept this."
Carly: "If you were anybody else--anybody else, Jason--I would say, "yes, sure, I fully understand." I would lie. But I don't lie to you. And I don't plan to show up here on a regular basis and embarrass myself, ok? Sneaking into your room once a year is my limit, really. But I am right about this. I just know how good you are for me. And I'll tell you something that you're not going to believe--I'm really good for you, too."
Jason: "Go home."
Carly: "I am home. I don't live at the Quartermaines'. I'm stuck there temporarily."
Jason: "I have someplace to be."
Carly: "Is it dangerous? Hey, don't do that. Don't do that no-answer stare-at-me thing. It scares me, ok? You just call me on my cell phone whenever whatever it is is over so I don't worry about you all night, ok?"
Jason: "I'll drop you off at the campus, and you can catch a cab."
Carly: "Ok, that's fine. No, I just want to point out that instead of me being bored to tears at the Quartermaines' and you getting shot at, this evening could have ended up being a whole lot nicer for both of us."
Terry: "I still love Jason and Carly. I could have smacked him for saying he didn't stop the kiss more quickly because he didn't want to hurt her feelings. As Joan said this afternoon, 'Yeah, and I had to stick my tongue down your throat to be polite.' He responded, goldarn it. But I did like the way they talk to one another, keep one another honest, and how she backed off but did not concede the point. 'Go home.' 'I am home.' Love it."
Amy: "I like them together, as I've always said, and I am looking forward to this mess with the engagement--seems like most people on the 'net have turned their back on this storyline completely, and while it does have its balance problems, I still kinda like it. And I think Jason's in denial about his feelings for Carly."
From Terry's ratsa update, a description of these scenes and the surrounding ones with AJ:
"AJ is dressed to the nines, standing in the Q mansion living room. Alan invites him to join the family at a play, but he begs off, saying he's planning a surprise for Carly."
"Carly? She's in her black bra, in Jason's bedroom, running her hands over his naked chest, saying, 'I know you want me as much as I want you, so tell me you don't and I'll go.' He is fresh from the shower, dressed only in a towel. He turns her down. 'Sex with you would be good,' he admits, 'but it's not going to happen.' Why, she wants to know. Because, he reasons, there's too much at stake to go back to that sort of relationship."
"When we return to the pair later, Jason is fully-clothed saved for his shoes, so one must assume Carly got to watch him dress. She has put her shirt back on and is checking her makeup in a compact, sitting cross-legged on his bed. She is not ready to drop the subject of reviving their sex life. She is matter-of-fact, not whiny or angry."
"As he talks, he stands up from the chair where he has been pulling on his shoes, and walks over to stand by the bed where Carly is seated. She stands to face him before answering."
"And, later in the scene: 'If you were anybody else, anybody else, Jase,' she answers quickly, shaking her head but smiling, 'I'd say 'yes, I fully understand.' I would lie. But I don't lie to you.' He acknowledges this remark with a wry smile and a raised eyebrow. She continues. 'And I don't plan to show up here on a regular basis to embarrass myself. Sneaking into your room once a year is my limit, really.' His smile expands, and he laughs silently. 'But.... I am right about this. I just know how good you are for me. And I'm going to tell you something you're not going to believe--I'm good for you, too.'"