What if you threw a party and no one came? I guess I was hoping this would be more like Purple Rain : Dearly Beloved We are Gathered Together--and a huge guitar riff comes out. Instead I got a banal, dull generic service usually reserved for secondary players. The Haunted Star looked like a nursing home.
Yes, I'm THAT crabby. Save yourself while you can.
Disclaimer: I do love this show. Remember that.
Where to begin? I don't even know how to frame the last 5 days. Tracy came to town 2 weeks ago. Luke's death was barely mentioned during that time. Everything should have been condensed. Make it an "event". Maybe Luke wasn't the best character ever written but he sure made a huge impact on GH. This dragged out way too long and was honestly disappointing on so many levels. So many missing from this photo. SO MANY Key players just not there. Yes, we have COVID. Yes, we limit people on set but you could have done 2 rooms; a wake, a reception with private memorial or something.
I don't understand why Lynn Herring was on the show the day everyone (including Maxie) found out about Luke and she was never told. Luke and Lucy's shenanigans were something I remember fondly. Kevin was working; Lucas was working; Lulu is in a coma, Lucky is in Africa, Ethan is going to the Amsterdam funeral, Liz didn't show, The Qs couldn't be bothered; Maxie, Mac...and none of the grandkids. I could go on and on. Tracy's short eulogy with nothing from Robert or Anna or Laura was just flat. Seriously? Nathan had more people speak for him. Don't tell me GH can't write memorials. Sean Donnelly's proved to be a great send off and fun.
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| Luke's Club (Not BLAND) |
Luke's memorial needed Jazz and The Blues. Booze flowing, hell maybe even dancing girls. LOL. He was larger than life. This was not that. Flashbacks? Nah.. who wants to pay Geary for anything, right? They actually could have had an entire show dedicated to flashbacks--the good, the bad and the rape. Such a study in soap history through the years. Missed opportunity for sure. Some people are saying it points to him still being alive. Whichever--it still should have been a grand affair. Since Epiphany and Marshall were going to do a jazz band, maybe it would have been a great time to have them play some Billie Holiday for the crowd.
THANK GOD FOR SCOTTY OF THE WEEK: Without Baldwin, I probably would have turned off the show Friday. Scotty came full circle...said "Son of a Bitch" again just like at the wedding. Fought off a Cassadine. He got a face full of Luke for his troubles but it was fitting.
BIG SCREEN OF THE WEEK: Yes, Helena "came back" for his memorial. It was via video that she taped in the event that she died before Luke did. She railed against him. Called him a "rhinestone". The whole thing had no real bite for me. Laura turned off the show. Tracy holding what is left of the Ice Princess would have been cool if it was done better. Or if Helena had shipped Laura a chunk. NOTE: Connie looked resplendent in her outfit that was the same one she had her portrait done with right before her death. Nice touch.
"WIDOW" OF THE WEEK: What to say about this without sounding like a total *itch. She wasn't a character I ever took seriously (see Barr and Struthers) and certainly didn't care when she showed her face. I don't even remember her being on in 2015. Is this the threat Brick was talking about? That Victor said is the "surprise"? Um. I was sort of hoping Wu was double-crossing Sonny. Speaking of, why would we need ANOTHER mob player at this juncture with the Great Wu in the wings?? Maybe Jen on for just one or two shows. I can only hope.
ICE ICE BABY OF THE WEEK: I think Tracy must have had a chunk of the Ice Princess in that box. The only part of this that intrigued me was that Spencer was all over it. HEH. GIVE ME THE JEWEL!!
ALSO RANS OF THE WEEK:
Yes, there was a fight in Charlie's where Sonny and Scotty teamed up against Victor. Bobbie was on for 2 minutes but ended up talking more about Carly's marriage than her history with her brother. Ava went into the room where Kiki's body was found to referee Nikolas and Spencer. Would have been way better for Nikolas to have a convo with Laura about his sad 'relationship' with Luke.
Peter was on. Hated it. They make me watch his scenes because MEK is in them. That's it.
Fire at Franco's studio. Who set it? Why did Liz get weird when she found her ring in the box? This is about the only thing I'm even remotely interested in. A mystery. But.. then again, GH.
WUBSHELL WEEK:
Luke's memorial happened. Helena showed up in a video. Jen Smith showed up in black.
Peter wanted Finn charged because he threw him down the stairs.
Victor got in a fight with Sonny and Scotty.
Scotty got a literal eyeful of Luke
Someone burned down Franco's studio
Joss and Cam wanted sex in Jax's old house--Brook Lynn hit him in the head with a vase
Sonny is sad, mad...crazed over not being with Carly
Carly and Sam drink beers and talk about NINA. NINA NINA.
Ice Princess may be back
Oh yeah, Marshall had an episode at dinner. High Blood pressure.
Epiphany challenged a doctor's diagnosis
Men went in and out of the gym.
NEWS: I want to mention Rebecca Buding and her PPD story. If you don't follow her on IG, you should because she chronicles the difficulty she had following her daughter's birth. This could be the biggest reason she's not returned to the show. Michael Easton directed her in a short film "About A Girl" in 2020. I must have missed this in the midst of COVID because I don't remember hearing about it at all. That link is to Michael Fairman's site where he did a nice piece about the film. Follow Becky on IG @rbjobud .
SPOILERS: Kristina is on screen again in scenes with Sonny, Laura and Tracy think Luke was murdered, the cabin story finally gets going and Liz is baffled by recent events.
So, I said on Twitter I needed a break from the show. I'm too pissy about the CarSon thing, not happy Sonny's off his meds instead of dealing with his life post Nixon Falls. Jane will be leaving again soon, don't care about Peter and the baby anymore. I'm hoping the cabin/Esme story goes well...but? Other than that, the Liz/Ring/FrancoFire story MIGHT be a goodie. MIGHT. My biggest suspects are Drew or Liz having a DID episode. Drew is still controlled by Peter? Liz would have a good story if it was split-personality. Those are my ideas.
Sometimes I need to step away for a bit and reset.
With that said, I may see you tomorrow and I may not! Perhaps I'll tune in Monday and gage my reaction.
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| FIN |
Thanks Karen. I'm with you. They are ruining this show. Luke's "funeral" was so horrible. Yes, just a little touch like Piffy and Marshall playing jazz tunes would have added so much since Luke loved jazz. The writers don't know this because they don't do their homework. Curtis didn't need to be there "for Laura" she had her son and grandson. They could have ditched Curtis and had Lucy who was a good friend with Luke. Jennifer Smith?????? Just because the actress is convenient???? NO. I do agree that they did a great job with Sean Donnelly's memorial and I LOVED that his RL daughter was in the middle. I don't want a Stuart Damon memorial now as they will just ruin him for me. I will memorialize him on Youtube and in my head. I agree with every "crabby" thing you said Karen. I feel like we have been watching maybe the same amount of time roughly Karen thereabouts. The show was only worse once during the Guza years and I did stop watching for a long time. I am unfortunately at that sad point again. I am going to have a new job soon hopefully, so when I go back to work I probably won't be watching again unless it gets better. I love that picture with a young Jonathon Jackson. I don't think he'd ever come back but that could have made things wonderful. I know there are budgets and ABC wants to save money etc etc. (hence no food in scenes) but don't kill someone that is a legend off unless you are going to do it right.
ReplyDeleteMy MIL watched with me while she was here on the holiday. She is 77. The show was so bad I don't think even she got addicted :(
OK, end of my rant of the moment.
Thank you for taking your time Karen to do this blog even though it was a terribly lousy week (months actually)
Nobody unplugs Helena, not even Queen Genie. I was so disgusted. I understand why you might take a break, but I hope you don't! And like you said, thank goodness for Scott! Thanks as always for the SS.
ReplyDeletekaren ur 100% RIGHT!
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
DeleteI can't agree that months have been bad. Yes, this Luke memorial was lackluster BUT we've had a lot of really cool stuff happening and Karen herself has been elated. I say let's just see where these various planted seeds grow. The Laura/Spencer/Victor morals triangle could be juicy. Liz and her wandering ring could be cool. Who knows? Jennifer Smith... still a great nod to those golden years of GH. The kids in the cabin might be delicious... one can only hope there's an '80s slasher on the loose. Ha! I think the Luke passing is just a catalyst for some good stuff. Could it have been done better? Absolutely. Is his death real? Who the heck knows. Doors are always left open on soaps. I hope it gives some legacy characters some good story and someone, please, tell wardrobe they can dress full figured women in much more flattering ways! Sorry to end on a superficial note but goodness!
DeleteWhat makes it so sad is that they had time to write this and that is what they came up with. Not that I want to see it, but notice that he who was taken out by a rock slide hasn't gotten a memorial and there wasn't a mention of one. The consistency and follow up is ridiculous. Pretending to follow through weeks later just doesn't work. Notice how Bobbie mentioned Lucas is still getting over Wiley and then nothing. I can only hope if they do give Liz DID, that they actually write for her and don't throw her in Ferncliff and forget about her. The way they write for her my hopes are low. GH needs to do better, they have the past scripts and shows there is no reason for lack of continuity or how to do a story that was previously done well.
ReplyDeleteThis is what "google" says about DID below. I guess Liz's trauma would be her rape as a teenager????? I just don't feel like GH could do this story line with Liz justice. When they did the story line on OLTL with Vicky it was discovered her Dad was sexually abusing her as a child. IDK. I don't have faith in GH to write a good story anymore :(
ReplyDelete"What causes dissociative identity disorder (DID)?
DID is usually the result of sexual or physical abuse during childhood. Sometimes it develops in response to a natural disaster or other traumatic events like combat. The disorder is a way for someone to distance or detach themselves from trauma."
Thanks for another great SS!
ReplyDeleteIt is sad. They can do so much better proven by some of the creative ideas I read on this blog. It's like they just don't give a f#@*.
About Liz...IMO they want us to think DID. I think it's Jake. Probably wrong.
I wonder if AG saw the lame attempt at a memorial. Luke's time on GH deserved much better. Dead or not.
Wow, I never knew this happened. Short clip with Genie Francis. Just after 45 seconds what she says. OMG what they did to her before she quit.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSExNZsIhtw
wow is right her treatment was disgusting. why would anyone think Tony was GH? back than I watched for Genie. now I still watch for most of the women on GH. love liz, britt, esme, maxie and brooklynn and of course Laura.
DeleteMe too. I watch for the women. Genie is still my absolute fave. Wanted to be her when I was a teenager.
DeleteKaren, YOU are the bright spot in GH now - your tweets keep me going and the recaps! I have a problem with Liz if she has DID - WHAT about her boys?????? THEY need a parent......is Finn going to move in and take care of them?
ReplyDeleteIt will be a long time before I can get past the disaster of Luke's service ------ people missing - the NEWS would have covered it ----- turning off Helena was ridiculous ---- it was too much Sonny and Carly......scream
I DO want Nina to see Sonny in his mob boss or off meds mood - he is NOT MIke -
No service for Jason---------or Julian for that matter ------ but Luke gets one....and we ALL know Spence is going take the Ice Princess..
I am bored bored - Karen is the ONLY thing getting me through this disaster----and all of ya'll comments!
Hear hear. This blog keeps me going. Thank you so much Karen.
DeleteAlso completely agree with all you said mufasa
DeleteI hope they didn't make a big deal about Luke's funeral because he's not actually dead. Otherwise, not the way to say goodbye to a legendary character.
ReplyDeleteGH has been stinko lately. From Sonny/Carly/Nina to Sasha/Brando to Peter/Maxie/Brook Lynn...it's just painful to watch. I either fast forward through the episodes or just do not watch them and catch up here.
ReplyDeleteKaren- you are THE greatest. Thank you. Always.
ReplyDeleteThe Scotty scenes were worth it. I was grateful to see him back. The "I caught the bouquet" line is classic.
I really hope Liz is not heading for a DID storyline. Unless someone is setting her up to think this is the case. That would work for me. (Ironically, that was Lukes last story line. I hated it)
As for Luke, I actually hope the death is fake, and he shows up (off screen) at the end of the latest Cassadine story line, giving Laura information she needs as SHE takes Victor down.
Yes, I want Laura to take Victor down. She is the one who needs to do it for all the torture they have put her through all these years. I do agree. Laura and Laura alone.
DeleteI forgot that for me the funniest line -sarcastic I am being- was NINA saying to Britt “Brad kept Sonny away from his grandson for a year - he can’t forgive that.”
ReplyDeleteSHE did the same thing and and Wiley is HER grandson. Are writers just drunk when they write these words?
When did Nina say that out of curiosity? Recently? I must have missed that. Hypocrite much? Lol
Deletewhen Britt asked her to ask Sonny for help with Brad - I just screamed out loud when I heard it - HYPOCRITE - do you hear your words?
DeleteDon't even know how Nina can show her face in town!
ReplyDeleteIts a soap.. same way Carly and Bobbie are close even after Carly slept with Tony.
DeleteThe way the Quartermaine's can even look at Carly after saying Sonny was Michael's father
And the way Liz thought Drew was Jason and kept him from Sam
The way Sam set Jake up to be "pretend" kidnapped in the park
We could go on and on.