Sunday Surgery: Optics

 

I'm honestly lighting a candle before diving into this blog today. I was riding a bit high on the soapy Willow/Drew mess and Mac scenes.  Then Friday happened and I. JUST. CAN. NOT.  with this show. I was left angry and just frustrated. 

So, let's get into it!! 

The Q picnic started out innocently enough. A few kids (I guess they couldn't pop for them all), food and ...a political announcement? Yes! In this wonderful year of NO STRESS in the USA elections (ha ha) we get our own MINI election!! Drew announces he's running and that he's a Quartermaine. Everyone is happy and Monica even gives her endorsement from up in her sick bed. 

FIRST FIREWORK:   They kissed. It's been "building" for months with the hero worship on Willow's part. I have to be honest... they are NOT sexy. Or Flirty. Or anything. Usually I'm all anxious when cheaters lean in for that first kiss but this was like: Huh. Uncle's gonna kiss his niece. Meh. Poor Sasha has to see it. Poor Nina has to kiss Drew right after. Clueless Michael kisses Willow. Complete circle. Sasha then tells Cody the first chance she gets!! With Drew running for congress I guess there could be interesting fall out. 

SECOND FIREWORK:  "I'm your son"... Cody drops that little nugget while Mac's back is turned and he's watching the sky light up. WELP!! There it is!! With JJY gone, this was a long time coming. Mac's madder than a wet hen. Felicia can't figure out how the DNA didn't show for her. Sasha says she switched the hairs. Then Maxie and Fe work to get the boys together again. They are not having it right now. We know they will eventually be Dad and Son but not just yet.

Let me pause and take a shot before I start writing this mess of a story up, ok? Ava's the bad guy for dropping the audio tape about Natalia. Ava is also setting Sonny up for a breakdown by further messing with his meds. It was enough to have Valentin do it.. nah, let's put the final push on Ava. WHO'S DAUGHTER IS LIVING WITH HIM AT THE MOMENT. On top of all that, who seems to be in her orbit now? Jagger Cates. Why? Because they have nothing to do with him because this Pikeman story is a big old cluster fk, that's why.  Thank you Soap Gods for Maura West because without her, everything having to do with this would be unwatchable. 

Here's been the Pikeman story this summer so far:  Anna goes to Jason and frets. Jason tells people about this FBI thing. Anna says she's going to "get evidence herself" on Valentin. He comes to her place for wine. She goes to his place for dinner they drink wine. Snoops around. Finds a phone. Has zex with Val. Two weeks later, she goes to Jason and frets. Goes to Valentin's for dinner and drinks wine. They make out. Hasn't found phone yet.  
I mean COME THE ON!!!!! It's the summer and the same SCENES KEEP playing OVER AND OVER. Carly's going to visit Brennan again on Monday. She visited him once... then he stabs himself and she visits him in the hospital. DOES ANYTHING GET SOLVED? Hell no. This story is just layer upon layer of nothingness. It's sad because long long ago it had potential. Sonny running guns.. someone setting him up and taking over. Now? I don't even know WHAT it is. This has taken so long to flesh out and it's still a damn mess. So frustrating.  As someone said on Twitter, I should point out that this story has been through it with the writing changes. The strike hurt it the most but still. Let's get it wrapped.

Barcelona: Jake is going. Liz goes to share the good news with Jason. Jake's going to an arts school and she's so proud. Jason is too and offers to pay for his tuition. Liz finally agrees (good for her!).  The thing is: WHY is Hudson West leaving? He's a much needed character and now you're sending him to Spain? My ONLY thought is that Lucky will somehow get involved? Maybe he's in Barcelona and meets up with him and decides to go to Port Charles? Or Jake's in trouble? I don't know. I DO know that the Liason scenes were good and it's nice to see rational discussions going on. I don't know why Liz has 2 kids out of the picture. Aidan's story sure isn't being told either. *sigh* 

WHAT IN THE HELL IS HAPPENING?  WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I couldn't believe it was happening but IT WAS HAPPENING. Trina goes to Laura's house to return a stuffed animal of Ace's and she sits calmly with Laura and tells her she basically wants Justice for Heather. Meaning that the whole hip thing is ok-- and maybe Laura has a point. MAYBE LAURA HAS A POINT? This comes after she fking forgave Esme back in the day!!  By the way a few weeks ago Trina was furious with Laura and left her office angry. What happened? There certainly no transition scenes for this change of heart.  Oh, not to be outdone but CURTIS is also saying "well, I went to see her and you know what? She's not that bad now"!!! Um... hello. Why are these characters doing this? Who's told Sasha about it? Ava? Dr Obrect? WHO? WHY TRINA AND CURTIS? I'm going to let that sit there for a minute. I titled this "OPTICS" for a reason. 

I'm TEAM PORTIA 100% on this now. They are making her shrill by giving the same dialog and feeling every time. Making HER look like the unreasonable one. NOPE. She's RIGHT. And why the hell haven't Trina and her mother talked about this yet? Trina goes to Laura without talking to her mom first?  I was so angry on Friday. I honestly almost turned off the TV but wanted to see if something, anything worthy of my time happened at the end.  (PS...no, it did not) 

Let's bring Helena back and have her surprise Laura. She can tell her her hip is out and now she just bakes cookies all day. Laura would be cool with that, right? 

BEE IN MY BONNET: Where was Stella? Tracey's new BFF-- should have been at the party with her family but...nope. Also, where is SHE in this Heather story. It's those beats that are missed. 

WEEK IN A WUBSHELL:  

Kristina and Blaze are going to be interviewed about the whole tape thing (I think this is the Perez Hilton cameo) 

Drew announces he's a Quartermaine and he's running for congress 

Drew and Willow kiss, Sasha sees it

Drew and Willow think it's only a "one time thing" and then go kiss their partners

Carly tells Joss about Jason's true reason for joining the FBI 

Gio, Trina and Joss watch the fireworks and talk about ice cream trucks. 

Portia lays into Laura about looking into the Heather case 

Laura visits Heather

Laura decides to 'honor Heather's wishes" and not pursue getting her a new trial 

Trina and Curtis both voice their opinions about hey, maybe SHE DOES deserve another chance

Portia is furious

Ava goes to the pharmacist and tells him to give Sonny sugar-pills

Ava asks Laura to give her a character reference in the custody battle

Sonny asks Alexis to give him a character reference in the custody battle

Anna goes to Valentin's to get the satellite phone. 

NEWS AND NOTES:  Elephant in the room: Maurice Benard took to video to let fans know he was having a tough time with his anxiety  on set and needed time off. "If I took any more, they'd have a recast".  I remember when he was enthusiastic about the whole story and now it appears it took it's toll. You could tell by the last 2 weeks on screen he wasn't himself. I mentioned it a lot before this came out. SO... not sure what it means for story direction but there it is. If you'd like to see his whole video go to State of Mind on You Tube. 

This summer is just a big ol' dud. Sure we got some mess with Drillow but other than that? Yeah, Mac's home but it's going to solve itself now. Everything else is a dull merry-go-round of weirdness. This Pikeman thing is so stretched out. This is the big "Burton Returns" that had to be given front row over what Chris and Dan planned? Ugh, a summer show should be tight and focused. This is not that. 

Sorry so negative but this Friday just put me over the edge. People have been yelling about how Trina's been treated since the Esme fiasco. They are right. By the way no one mentioned that Esme was forgiven and then turned psycho again, remember? AND THAT JUST HAPPENED!! 

The one bright light? Maxie just being Maxie again. Talking to Cody, talking to Mac. Having Felicia around. Didn't see Spinelli this week but I can't have everything!! 

That's it. Hope you have a great day and do what you love. Next week is going to be a tough watch I can tell. The spoilers are super dull. We do get a Jake/Jason scene Monday so there's that. 

CHEERS!