We had a full week and I caught up on the 2 shows I missed. Watching them on Hulu is so different because the show is SO short and I don't have to see 8 commercials just for my local lawyers.
So here we go-go! Let's eat a turkey sandwich in honor of Lulu's first meal in 4 years.
LULU SAGA: She was finally discovered by Dante after talking to Rocco. Dante was in shock and I GET that but damn, those scenes played flat for me. Also, the lack of anyone calling the police, fire, ambulance and peace corps was jarring. "HERE! Have a SANDWICH'!! Dante hauls her over to Laura's instead of sounding the alarm and having everyone get to The Q House. Laura isn't home but Lucky is-- and they have a lovely, long chat about life and Sam and yada yada. Laura is FINALLY called and the reunion is sweet. Poor Lulu finds out her brother is in jail, has had a son who's mother died, her nephew Spencer is dead and her dad is also gone. Lucky and Laura got to tell her all these things and I was waiting for her to say: I need to go back to my coma, please. Hell, she doesn't even KNOW about her grandmother yet! Laura finally takes her to GH when she almost passes out but we don't see that aftermath because Lulu isn't on for the next 2 days. The upside to all this is Dante's angst over the kids and losing Sam and regaining Lulu. Also: Alexa Havins is just a perfect fit. I'm not sure I've taken to a recast so fast.
CAMP TOWN RACES: Over at The Horse House, Cody and Dante drink beer and talk about Lulu. 'Hey! That's the chick I picked up on the road from Beecher's Corners"!! The interesting part was when Brook Lyn came in and we found out she went to Camp Mary next to the boy camp and she and Dante had a fling. Between the odd looks they shared this summer and Lois' weirdness, you know Gio is their kid. Like I said, I'm sure Brook gave him up and doesn't even know who he is. This is a prime example of GH dragging out something for so long with little hints that we are all ready to say: Don't care!! REALLY DON'T CARE!! Plus, it's Gio so there's that. Given that Dante and Brook are in his DNA it seems he got NONE of their drama.
NOT GUILTY: I knew Ava would have to be found not guilty because hey, it wouldn't have been soapy for her to go to jail. There was a lot of courtroom angst but the best was Ric getting in Sonny's face and telling him he was a bad father. OH! Wait, no the absolute best was when Kristina was feeling angry at Molly for accepting the verdict and telling her "You were never ADELA'S MOTHER". Oh man, she's turning bitter and vengeance filled just like her daddy gets.
BREAKING UP : TJ and Molly had some heartbreaking scenes about their relationship ending. Like so many other couples, grief just derailed them in the end. Molly cleared her stuff out of the apartment in a morning, leaving TJ with bare walls and a sad chair and couch. Good Curtis and TJ scenes this week. Glad they are building on that more.
MAXIE FACTOR: I'm putting this in here because Maxie had the most authentic reaction to Lulu being awake. KS played it perfectly with a mixture of excitement and disbelief. She was so mad no one called her first. The downer? Having an absolute filler with her for that dreadful "Home and Heart" section about Lois' accent. I feel like they filmed that ages ago and just inserted it in whenever. Maxie should have been shown when Lulu went to GH or something. I don't get it.
"CAPER" GANG: *sigh* ... lord help me with this one. Brennan gets a new French associate because...?? Not even sure. Anna cooks up a plan to have Carly bug his office because "he likes her the best". Jason is massively pissed because Carly's IN DANGER!! Spinelli is hanging around for comic relief and in the end, they hear a snippet of Jack calling someone about Charlotte. Jason had offered to go get her and no questions asked. Anna was very strange in these scenes, especially with the whole Carly angle. Just...'off'. I just hope Charlotte gets home on a United Airline flight and whatever this is is over quick.
FILLER FODDER: The night of Lulu's escape lasted 6 soap days. It got to be laughable because so much was crammed in there, you had no idea if an hour or a week had passed. In one segment, Jason and Drew are talking at the boat house. Drew had just come in from night wake-boarding :eyeroll: and sporting a wet-suit. They argue about the kids and who comes stomping out of the woods? CARLY! It was bizarre. Why have that conv then? Why wasn't Drew just in the Q house after Jason had told the kids? Just.. another strange mash-up.
Trina and her guy, Kai were also a bit of filler. He's the QB that's going to the Eastern Division Conference and she's trying to get her art project done. This is such an isolated story and it's so dry that there's just nothing to root for. I get no sparks, no joy or anything organic off of them. I still say she should have discovered and art forgery and found the zexy semi-dangerous artist to have an affair with!
WEEK IN A WUBSHELL:
Laura and Anna haul Cyrus in and detain him. I wonder if this is the last we'll see of 'ol Cy?
Molly and TJ split up. Molly goes to live with Alexis
Ava is found not guilty
Jason and Drew argue over living arrangements
Lulu reunites with Rocco, Dante, Lucky , Kevin and her mother. Gets an earful about the life she's missed
Anna, Jason, Carly and Spinelli work on getting Charlotte back to PC
Cody, Dante and Brook discuss Camp Days
Lois gets her accent back
Brad gets to go to a Miami conference where Lucas will be presenting
GH is so big and so crammed with stories that right now, nothing is feeling exciting because we are bouncing all over the place. Where's Diane with that other Will? Why are people on and then suddenly missing? We have a ton of things just running together: Drew and Willow's affair, Sasha's pregnancy, Curtis' CEO thing at Aurora, the GIO factor, Lulu's medical up-keep and reintroduction. Liz' involvement with the Sam medicine and it goes and on. Now it looks like the custody case with Sonny and Ava is heating up again. We also have a Trina story taking place off-campus without much meat to it. Charlotte needs to be found and oh yeah, let's sell some more Deception products!! I was a bit miffed because I know that was inserted for holiday shopping. ABC ran an ad during the show for you to buy your own stuff!! Look, if you're going to try to do this at least have Maxie run a 'blog' or IG account that's fun and behind the scenes of the company. Use social media-- people would flock there.
All in all, the show can be SO Great and has SO many amazing actors but it gets lost in the fodder. Nothing is tightened up and attention to fluidity is just missing. I'm still waiting for the Cates thing to be solved. We know that won't happen because Sonny's not going to get caught. They really should have followed up with the Sasha PG test and also Brennan's phone call but alas, didn't happen.
We also didn't get a Thanksgiving episode. I know they can be repetitive but dang! You have Lulu walking around and 70 people living at the Q house! Talk about self-made drama!! Sasha trying to cook while getting nauseous and Willow getting suspicious. The entire Willow/Drew thing could have come out too! I mean, days of messy stuff.
Next Week Spoiler with Ava
OK! Rants over. I do love this show damn it, I just want the stories to fit together like a soapy quilt. Is that too much to ask? Next week is Christmas time in the Square. Gio will probably play his violin for everyone. Can't wait!
CHEERS!!
Excellent SS, as always. You're right -- the show has some good pieces and a great cast overall, but it doesn't gel.
ReplyDeleteBased on the comments on this blog, I think I'm in the minority but I love the Kristina and Molly stuff. I think it is true to their characters and could set up stories for years to come. Have Kristina gradually morph into a mob princess and Molly swear allegiance to the law.
This week, I liked the stuff with Lulu and everyone, Maxie's reaction, Ava's courtroom drama, Stella and Brad, and TJ and Curtis, and TJ and Lucas. A lot of the other stuff fell flat. As much as I like Lois, why is she on "GH?" She's been back for awhile and serves no purpose and has no real story.
So, is ABC/Disney just going to let Sonny get away with killing an FBI agent with no consequences? Did Anna forget about her investigation? Personally, I would be just fine if Sonny went off to prison for a few years.
In fact, I wish they would jettison a few characters and give Trina, Curtis and the Qs a proper story.
I like the Molly / Kristina stuff too. They are such different characters and their conflict seems true to life. The actresses are great. I don't necessarily want them to be mortal enemies, but their complicated relationship has been one of the highlights. Having Ric/Sonny and Ric/Alexis dynamics in the background enhances the sisters' conflict story too.
DeleteI feel like the Cates story being dropped is product of writer changes and cast changes and just feeling like they had to switch directions. I don't know for sure if that timing is right to think that but that is what it feels like. I would rather have them just drop it than come up with some convoluted story to keep Sonny out of jail.
"Trina and her guy, Kai were also a bit of filler. He's the QB that's going to the Eastern Division Conference and she's trying to get her art project done. This is such an isolated story and it's so dry that there's just nothing to root for. I get no sparks, no joy or anything organic off of them."
ReplyDeleteYeah I'm not interested in them at all. I see no chemistry. They are so boring. I want Trina and Gio together! That one scene of them having fun and dancing was great. They have chemistry. So Trio for the win! :)"
"I still say she should have discovered and art forgery and found the zexy semi-dangerous artist to have an affair with!"
Ooooo. Sounds sexy! :D
"Look, if you're going to try to do this at least have Maxie run a 'blog' or IG account that's fun and behind the scenes of the company. Use social media-- people would flock there."
YES!!! THAT! The writers should have thought of this on their own!
"We also didn't get a Thanksgiving episode. I know they can be repetitive but dang! You have Lulu walking around and 70 people living at the Q house! Talk about self-made drama!! Sasha trying to cook while getting nauseous and Willow getting suspicious. The entire Willow/Drew thing could have come out too! I mean, days of messy stuff."
Yeah this stinks that we don't have a Thanksgiving episode!!!! WHY?!!?! There is no reason not to! They can celebrate Lulu and Thanksgiving!!!! So many scenes we could have had with 70 + people!!!
Great and on point SS! I also thought Dante’s reaction to Lulu was so blah. He should have had some emotion there but had none. A few tears maybe? And is Val ever coming back? Is JPS totally off the show? And I look forward to more Ric and Ava. Gio looks nothing like Dante and Brook Lynn. I hope some of the fractured storylines resurface this week.
ReplyDeleteLindaV
Thanks for another great SS!
ReplyDeleteI too love watching GH. They make it difficult sometimes but the talented actors do make up for that.
Some days are really good and the others are just blah. Major lack of consistency.
Another return is a fail. Guess it runs in the family. But the recast is a big success. AH is a perfect Lulu.
They arrest Cyrus for maybe doing something wrong?
NLG posted on FB yesterday about how important soaps are right now as the perfect distraction. No matter how high the highs or how low the lows...I totally agree with her.
Enjoy your Sunday!
Failed stories, but I am surprised that I like the new Lulu. Never thought I would after loving Julie Marie Berman so much. Do like Ava and Ric too
ReplyDeleteGuess that's all I have today
Thanks for all your time and energy Karen!!!!!
I would love to have a behind the scenes look at what was written / filmed when over the last couple of months. It seems with writer and cast changes that a lot of stuff got jumbled and aired out of order. For example, it feels like maybe they could have shot Cody picking up Lulu before they then had him visit coma Lulu. Laura being MIA for the first few days of Lulu's return could mean it was filmed while Genie was off and Lucky being MIA when Sam died could have meant that was filmed before JJ was fully back. I think the Cates story falls into this category and feel like that is just done because the show went a different way and honestly, I would rather they drop it then force a dumb story. Just guesses, but that's what it feels like.
ReplyDeleteLulu's return was silly, but I'm ok with it because Alexa seems great and I would rather we just get on with it than spend weeks watching her get home or remember things or whatever. I'm hoping now that we are through Sam's departure and Lulu/Lucky's returns that things will settle in a bit.
Lately, I've been watching some and fast forward through other stuff. I am enjoying the stuff related to the aftermath of Sam's death, Ava's trail and the battle between Molly and Kristina, Lucky and Lulu's return - again, how they returned wasn't great, but now that they're here I'm hoping they settle in. I don't mind the whole looking for Charlotte thing because I actually really like Anna and Jason together - it doesn't need to be romantic, but Finola and Steve have great chemistry and I like seeing them work together. The rest is hit and miss. And I am hoping the slow walk on Gio is to keep options open - they've dropped some nuggets he is Brooklynn's but if they decide to drop it, no harm done.
I would like Alexis to know that Liz is being investigated and be a part of that story a bit. I also think there should be some scenes with her and Lulu. And please for the love of God give Rena Sofer an actual story.
I think you are right. They film things so out of order these days, that whatever they are putting back together they don't edit and it turns out disjointed and horrible
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