Sunday Surgery: Father's Day

 

WELP! Another week where quite a bit happened and quite a bit was just off-kilter. Sometimes you just have to take a pain-killer and carry on. My face is Alexis up there! 

I decided on Father's Day for a title because Greg is gone and Kristina "lost" Sonny after his rage-beating of Dex. It's not even June yet! 

You know my week was jumbled due to my attempt at cutting the TV stream but ABC live HAS to be on a service and I finally just said the hell with it and signed up. I tell you what tho, watching it on Hulu was a joy. SO short and I didn't get all bored  after the 9 commercials we have to watch in between. 

It's a marathon this week--sorry...grab some caffeine and let's go! You will note my text color editor was not working so enjoy the red/black extravaganza! 

FIGHT! FIGHT!!  Dex is at GH getting patched up and Kristina is blubbering in the restroom. She calls Blaze to be with her. The whole Kristina falling apart at Sonny's "brutality" is just such a reach. If you've read any social media you know that there are numerous clips of her talking about and talking to Sonny about all this. She was going to have a "Mob Princess" Show at one point. I suppose it was to sever Sonny's last decent tie and have her be in crisis. I guess? So, after a bunch of scenes in the park after the wedding and Michael seeing Krissy, she calls Dex and says go ahead, press charges. Michael and JOSS (????) asked him not to because of Kristina's baby. What did he decide to do? More on that down below (but I bet you know the answer).

CARSON MOMENT: *sigh* I guess we needed this, especially for what is to come later when Carly visits Sonny and Ava is there. She's trying to hold him together but he's too far gone. Now, you can say I'm out of bounds but DIDN'T CARLY JUST TALK ABOUT HIS MEDS??? Wasn't she going to talk to Stella about meeting with him? (No one even mentions Phyllis anymore!) Wouldn't Carly have been all over this? You can't force someone to go to the hospital but dang. She didn't even bring it up!

DANTE, THE COP:  Well, Dom was superb in these scenes with Sonny. I'm surprised he didn't wake up his whole household. The fact that he's struggling with Sonny's place in the mob and his being a policeman made it even more poignant. He washes his hands of Sonny and shows him the door. It also begs the question: Doesn't he think something might be off with his mental health? 

WHAT IS ANNA DOING: Didn't we see Anna give Molly a folder about prosecuting Sonny not too long ago? With the Cyrus stuff in there and the gun running? NOW she tells Dex not to press charges because.. they need to wait to get Sonny on other stuff. "He'd only do 18 months in jail anyway".  Um, if you add all the other things together, won't it make a stronger case? Whatever. We all know Sonny's going to get off all of this once the medication issue is sorted out. Anna's switch backs on Sonny is infuriating. We need Robert to give her some damn perspective.

GREGORY AND THE INFINATE SADNESS:  Well, THAT was a surprise! They did do one thing right: Kept this gem of an exit a complete secret. I honestly think Monday's show with his flashbacks was supposed to be on Friday. That said, it was done well and the aftermath where Finn finds him? Perfection. The way Greg Harrison laid there and the make up? Dang... looked so real. Finn was distraught and then when Violet got back from school it was heartbreaking. Little JL can sure act. Of course Finn had to turn to the booze and drink that Tire Track that the Curellos had given everyone for a thank you. We will get to that part next. 

BOURBON STRIKES AGAIN:  Finn calls his brother at the airport. Another set of good scenes with Brook and Chase. In the meantime, the liquor calls and Finn goes and takes a swig. Or two. Elizabeth finally arrives and in a great acting scene, she smells the bourbon, looks at Finn and just lets everyone know she KNOWS. Finn gets defensive and angry, won't let Elizabeth take Violet out of the situation. She leaves but calls Chase to get over there asap. Chase talks Finn down and also gets rid of the temptation. All seems good--for now. 

GREGORY AFTERMATH:  So here we go. THIS shows the haphazard writing that's going on. The death of Gregory was poignant. Most of the scenes went off really well....then we get to the Q Mansion. Brook and Ned had a tender moment. Chase and Ned went to find Tracey in the stalls because she was riding. Next thing you know, Chase comes in the foyer, Ned is in the kitchen with Lois and we aren't sure if they even told Tracey. Ned says something like "My mother doesn't show emotion" and Lois seemed to suggest she was told but??? We didn't see it. Then Gio suddenly pops up and is moving in. Um.. that couldn't have waited a day?? Weird. The absence of Olivia was also striking. 

THE TELLING OF TRACEY:  Lord in heaven but CODY told her. CODY. Now, Jane can make anything work and I'm glad we got to see her reaction. Shouldn't it have been Brook OR Chase OR Ned or or or?? Tracey then went on an on how Cody reminded her of how she imagined a young Gregory. I'm.. I mean... Um, OK? Having him tell her that news just diminished the whole scene for me. 

THE STELLA FACTOR: Tracey went to see Stella to talk about paying any bills of Gregory's and to also get his papers together at the college to be archived. I mention this because Stella and Tracey's friendship is a bright light in the new writing universe. 

LOIS AND NEDLY:  Awww, Rena and Wally talking about the past. It was so surreal and yet so touching. We know their history and here they are, how many years later filling in the gaps of time. Good stuff and acted to perfection. 

THE HEARING: I swear I heard they were in Manhattan then I heard Albany but frankly, I don't care. The stunt casting of Laine Davies probably means a lot to the people that watched them on Santa Barbara but I only see him as Zander's father. To let you know how I felt about all this my favorite part was when Diane had a portable steamer to lend Alexis. Yep. That was it. For all the legal mumbo jumbo of Alexis' losing her law license and this whole story, it was basically to introduce another angry Byrne brother and out Ava as her accuser. (More on that later). Just give her the dang thing back and be done with it. I don't need to hear days of arguments of why. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF AVA:  You could feel the shift from the piling on Nina to the absolute mind-boggling destruction of one of the best characters on this show. Ava has made SO much growth over the years. Maura has teased out every emotion, storyline and word that's been printed for her. We were to a point where Ava was actually showing compassion and empathy (most of the time) while keeping her delightful edge. The whole story arc with Trina is lovely. Her trying to soften Sonny's hate towards her has been an epic climb. Now what? She's some shrew that's intentionally not telling about a mentally ill man's medication to... gain power? Get some kind of revenge for Julian? WHAT? Why did we go through that whole stupid Nicholas/Esme/Austin stuff to just end up here? If this was a "plan" and it's taken years for Ava to get to this point, we've seen NONE of it. Meaning it wasn't a plan, it wasn't being crafted and woven into the storylines, it just came out of no where. The whole Ava is Alexis' accuser is just off the freaking rails. I wish you could have seen my face when that was announced. THE HELL? WHAT? She basically hated Julian by the time he died. She barely blinked when she found out he was gone. NOW she was talking revenge on Alexis of all people? Good lord in heaven save me.  I'm saying it again: I HATE this. HATE. Ava should have saved Sonny from this after finding out about the dosage in a few weeks. She found out too soon and now she's complicit in all of this. 

JUST SOME NOTES: 

The fact that Dex and Joss went to Bobbie's for pancakes after GH, then wandered in the park (in wedding clothes) drinking coffee and THEN Joss talked to Michael over coffee in the Coffee Corner just sent me.  They should have had one scene in Bobbie's where Michael comes in. Problem solved. 

The next morning at the Q house should have been fairly bustling. It was just Ned/Lois. Weird. 

The wedding had to be on a Thursday or a Sunday because it was back to work and back to school the NEXT day.  You think Violet would have been way to hyped up to go. 

Not sure Book Lyn could have piled more clothes on for her honeymoon scene if she tried. 

I will miss Greg Harrison who should have been Jeff Webber from the jump. 

ROBERT needs to be in SO many scenes at this point and...nothin'

Elizabeth should have confided in her childhood BFF Terry, not Portia imo

IF VALENTIN IS INDEED RUNNING "Pikeman" HE NEEDS TO BE ON more than 2x a month. 

WEEK IN A WUBSHELL:

Gregory breathes his last breath while watching flashbacks of his life

Finn mourns and drinks to soothe the pain

Violet is torn up and doesn't believe her grandpa is really gone

Chase and Brook don't go to Italy; Chase helps Finn realize he can't go back to using 

Cody tells Tracey about Greg; Tracey talks to Stella about helping behind the scenes

Liz finds Finn drinking and eventually tells Portia 

Anna knows Brennan shanked himself

Kristina cries about Sonny's role in Dex's beating, just can't even believe it. 

Michael and Joss try to talk Dex into not pressing charges against Sonny

Anna talks to Dex and he decides not to press charges

Looks like Joss and Dex are back together

Gio moves into the Q mansion with Monica's permission

Ava consoles Sonny after he cuts off his entire family and goads him on

That's it.. I know it's more than enough at this point!! I think you catch my drift: It's evident that the production and writing are in a bit of a turmoil at this point and where things are headed I have no clue. With Patrick gone and EK writing solo, the upcoming weeks will be very telling. It's almost like I'm waiting for an explosion to go off on a random Tuesday.   

Again, Greg Harrison will be missed. We also are blessed with some of the best acting on TV right now. Everyone else needs to get it together!