It's Saturday, I have a TON of reports to do for work, so when better to obsess over a soap? ahaha. :)
So...back in the day, I was an AJ fan. Jason got all the glory and AJ got all the sheeze. I really liked Billy Warlock in the role, and although I missed SK, I embraced the recast. Guza and Co proceeded to turn the poor boy into..well:
A laughing stock
Drunken loser
A punching bag
Kind of a whimp
A guy that women married for money or fraud.
When they put AJ on a meat hook that was it for me. Instead of making him a worthy adversary for Jason he became a joke. Then, he died and went away.
BUT!!! A new regime came on and suddenly --just when Jason is gone, AJ emerges as if from a cocoon (see how I used fancy imagery there?) AND HE'S SEAN KANAN!! The first AJ... and hopefully now the AJ that could have been. Ruthless business man, having Alan's edge and lady-killer ways. He was sober for a bazillion years in treatment! yeah!!
So, AJ comes back, bonds with his SON Michael and starts to reclaim the Q enterprise. Hell,we even get the Q offices!!! He sees Liz!! Liz, who used to hate AJ-- they start something together. That lasted a hot minute.
And then...everything starts to go wrong. I'm going to be honest here-- I had to think awhile as to WHY AJ was so mad at Connie he went in to strangle her. Even went to wikipedia. I watch the show daily and it seems like so long ago and so insignificant I didn't even burn it in my brain!
SO...that happened Then the shooting and the "AJ" initials drawn in blood on Connie's white dress.
Then?
Nothing... it was like a "commercial break" that stretched over months and months.
YAWN
YAWN
Finally...AJ comes back and has a trial we really don't care a lot about at this point. He gets found not guilty and instead of celebrating like a true ruthless Quartermaine HE FEELS SHAME and drinks.
And drinks..and...remembers a little then we don't see him for weeks. The elevator doors opened and SK went on a vacation? What?
Finally:
He does remember--and has the key to the real killing and, instead of empowering him, it turns him into a further mess. He talks to a dead Connie. Who basically says not a hella lot.
NOW what? Does he get one over on Ava? Finally win a battle ONCE in his life? No...
he gets SHOT! by Sonny!
*sigh*
what a mess. AJ's the screw up that "made Sonny shoot him" by going after Ava.
By the way..when's the last time we saw the ELQ offices? (go ahead, take awhile) ... and Michael? Well, he's not turning into a junior business man, naw...he's "running" Sonny's Italian restaurant.
Well, no, actually.. instead of say, having Michael in the Q house and Morgan in the Corinthos' grasp.. Michael is stuck fighting with Kiki over FRANCO!
What the hell!? Come on.. there was so much potential. Such a waste. Why they didn't just let AJ flatline is beyond me. I'm sure he's being saved to carve up later on some platter to St. Jasus' memory or Sonny's lingering paranoid feud with him. NOTE: I need to see that moment when Sonny realizes "AJ" meant Ava Jerome. I NEED that Moment, and I'd better get it!!
GH's bloated cast is part of this problem. There's so much rotation that really important core stuff gets lost in the shuffle. And in the process, makes me not care. YAWN
Poor AJ. We hardly knew ye.
It still bugs me that Michael never found out that Sonny hung AJ on a meat-hook and left him to die. Michael needs to learn the truth about his "father".
ReplyDeleteThe treatment of AJ is symbolic of what has gone wrong with GH over the years..
ReplyDeleteI couldnt agree with you more.. I wish these writers can read your blog.. and for once listen to us.. if we who are not professionals can see this.. why cant they ?? WTH?
ReplyDeleteI agree that AJ is a loser, and I'm sorry that this time he survived. The cast is too large. I wish they wouldn't keep adding to it, especially with short-timers.
ReplyDeleteWell said! I really don't care if AJ lives or not , but I NEED THAT MOMENT WHEN MICHAEL REALIZES IT WAS SONNY AND THAT AVA KILLED CONNIE. If this turns Michael against Sonny forever it would be all worth it. And PLEASE don't let them bring back Jason!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHmmm I feel like this is a Sunday Sugary! ROFL! But yes you are right!!! And I loved Billy Warlock in the role. Even though AJ became short I didn't care! So Karen, I hope you watched yesterday's GH! :)
ReplyDeleteWell I care about AJ and I don't think he's a loser. If the show wants to get rid of a few characters, I have a list to give them and AJ isn't on it.
ReplyDeleteThe AJ shooting should have been February sweeps instead of the dreadful Robin exit. AJ's shooting involves so many characters: Ava, Julian, Carlos, Sonny, Ric, Duke, Michael, Shawn, Anna, Morgan, Carly, Monica, even Liz for a few minutes. More will be involved soon. That's real sweeps material instead of Silas and Sam investigation about Nina... When Michael finds out the truth about Sonny shooting an unarmed innocent man, the consequences will be huge. Sonny has no excuse for what he did. I hope Michael will change his name to Quartermaine.
I've enjoyed AJ for what he is: the "black sheep" Quartermaine son. His 'loser' status isn't anything new. It started when he was aged in the 80s and they built up his alcohol problems. That's when they began the whole "resentment of Jason" angle. Yes he makes the wrong decisions, and yes he legitimately tries to change. But in the end he won't because its so engrained into his persona that it'll never stick. I'll admit, they succeeded with giving him some nobility during the latest reintroduction. I genuinely felt as though he wanted to change and make the family and Michael proud of him. But story dictation aside, he is ultimately a flawed character and its easy to have him "fail."
ReplyDeleteI don't agree about how long it took for the trial though. There were a lot of story elements (good or ill) that needed to be dealt with. And let's face it: if the trial had started the next week after his arrest we'd be reading snide comments about how "the legal system moves FAST."
I do agree that the cast is too large. Too many characters are non-contract and just brought on in bits and pieces, and there are too many balls in the air for the writers to juggle successfully. In the end, though, EVERY character is someone's favorite. If they got rid of (example) Molly because of apathy with the teen storyline, there'd be those saying "you can't do that!" Likewise if they just dropped Sabrina; there'd be the online comments about "well they got rid of her fast, didn't even give any closure to..."
I loved Billy Warlock in the role and it even looked like he was going to finally win a few steps in life--but no, they had his new wife go to bed with Jason and AJ was a loser again. Sonny and Carly were forever demonizing him and that used to make me argue with the TV screen. Guza seemed to hate him as much as Sonny did.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't anyone remember how Alan used to pick on AJ, call him a stupid loser and criticize nearly everything he did and constantly compare him to 'good', smart Jason. No kid can take that much put down without getting screwed up. So he drank. Everyone got the better of AJ, including slut Carly, who hid his fatherhood from him as long as she could. And then Sonny hung him on that meathook and poured booze down his throat to force him to sign away all rights to Michael.
I SO wanted AJ to win a few wins. It looked like it could happen, that he had returned sober and determined to make something of himself and I would have loved to see that. I was so pleased he was seeing Liz (the girl needs story and romance!) and now--we get an AJ who is a lush again, being stupid in business, convincing himself he killed.
Please, writers, give AJ a chance to prove himself a few times. Yes, he is flawed, and yes, he will likely have his failures, but let him rise and have people who love him give him some of his self-love back.
Sean is doing a good job and needs good story!
I never liked Billy W. as AJ - he was too smirky. I love that we can see old photos of SK and SB. I really hope AJ pulls through and finally gets a break. He is a good actor and deserves to be a contract player.
ReplyDeleteLindaV
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ReplyDeleteAJ did tell Michael of the meathook incident.
ReplyDeleteGerald Hopkins was the 1st adult AJ, not SK.
Cosmo, you are right. Sorry I forgot the very 1st AJ!
ReplyDelete