Sunday Surgery: Hell On Wheels

 

Roses are red
Violets are Blue
Who's going in the lake Drew? 
OH! It's YOU!

I guess we did get a real "lake-hanger" on Friday at least! Cam Mathison has sat in that chair long enough. The lake will either revive him or send him into a coma.

 This week had more newbies, a St. Jaysus re-return and softball mentions.

Grab your best breakfast and let's GO GO! 

YES, WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS: Stephen A Smith got more airtime than just about anyone else so... here we are! Here's a summary: Sonny whines about Valentin, Brick is going to "take care of it". First he goes and interrupts Valentin who's playing BASKETBALL :eyeroll: because somehow Charlotte needs to practice. He gets all crime-lingo'd up and Brick is on his way. Brick then goes and sees Carly and is gross as ever with the double entendres. He gives Carly a zip drive with some info about big-bad Valentin and tells her to use it if she needs it. Here's a tip: get Olivia or Terry or anyone else on for a few days instead of this numbskull. Thanks. 

BIG WEEK FOR NINA: Not only did she get to push someone into the lake, she also got some nookie from Jack Brennan. Who's next? Jason? Anyway, they made the wub and the rest of the time was spent spinning wheels on that stupid black box. 

BRITT THE BAT-GIRL: To no one's surprise, Britt got her job back after Elizabeth (moving up in the world by getting a lab coat to wear) and Stella (also moving up to some management position we don't know about) decided hey! Let's give her another chance. Britt was grateful for about 3 minutes and then started in on the same old tired "Britch" she always pulls. The fact that Terry isn't even mentioned anymore is just unacceptable. I love Stella but this is not it. 

CARLY REACTS:  OMG Sloan captured this perfectly! WHAT DO YOU MEAN JASON DIDN'T COME SEE ME FIRST?? Pfffffft. We knew she'd freak out but that followed by Charlotte saying: Oh yea, HERE'S A SELFIE just sent me. Charlotte probably knows that Carly worships Jasona and can't wait to get her away from Dear Ol' Dad. Carly will probably need some Xanax before she sees him because it's going to be a whopper. 

NEWBOYS: So, in a sea of newbies, we got two more this week. They aren't on contract (yet) so I guess we won't see them as often as Joe or Tristan. (although they haven't been on a lot either) First up is producer Simon (that was lazy) who wears a bro-hoodie and has 1970's hair. SO many people think he's going to be "Spencer" redux. I refuse to go there right now. Yep. Not gonna talk about it. Quinn also turned up after a year of having 1-3 scenes EVER. Now, I like the actor. He has a fire that Kai is incapable of showing. The way he looked at Trina spelled danger. My idea? He's actually obsessed with Kai.  That would be soapy. 

TRINA'S PINTREST BOARD: Ok, so whoever made it is VERY organized and might have a touch of the OCD. The board was perfectly straight, the photos cropped to a "T" and all nicely laid out like a magazine spread. The question is: is the board Quinn's or Simon's? They were both shown before the board was and both seem hyper-focused on Trina. This was a really wonky way of introducing this story in my opinion. I would have liked to have had a weird vibe slow-burn leading up in a "YOU" type fashion. 

GREEN EYED CHAR: So, Charlotte is now into older guy Gio and showing her distaste for Emma every chance she gets. My biggest pet peeve with this is that don't seem to know what to do with Emma. This will drag her into a frivolous storyline and -- ugh. I'm not going to list all the things she should be doing but hanging out at the pool and smashing face with Gio is just tedious. 

BABY DESMOND:  Just wanted to put this in there. They named the baby Desmond Robinson and Stella was thrilled. Isaiah looked on angrily. 

ANNA'S ON IT:   There's a lot to unpack here so bear with me. Anna's shadowing Dante for 2 weeks before going back into her old job. She's digging for answers on the Cullum shooting and the broader 'conspiracy case" with Cullum/Britt and Cassius. After a few days of her digging, Dante goes to her and tells her the truth. Just like Mayor Laura, she GETS IT and welp, whatever needed to be done was done. BUT!! on the other subject, there's Peter telling her to keep digging into Britt because obviously, she's as bad as his father was. Chase is helping out as well and she seems to trust him as much as she did Nathan which we all know was a big mistake. 

SORA'D SCOUT: Kudos to this young lady for holding her own with Jane Elliot in her first scenes. She did fine! I'm not opposed to having her older and I'm looking forward to her character developing. 

WAILING WILLOW: Instead of getting some of her much needed drug on the black market, Willow decides to freak out because Brennan doesn't have the info on Drew. That pesky black box is missing. She does find out her mama slept with Brennan and she's not that happy about it. Then, Brennan calls her at the office and says: GIRLLLLL you'd better run and take your kids with you. Willow thinks she'll be found but he assures her the WSB will give them all new identities. Chase bumbles in because Dante asked him to fetch Willow for some questioning. Willow's getting ready to turn on those waterworks so Chase will save her. Hmm, now I would be interesting if he DID leave with her because it would throw a wrench into so much. BUT, ALAS! I don't think that will happen. 

JUST A LITTLE PUSH: Oh Nina, stop your crying!! Come on now, We've waited YEARS it seems for this guy to do SOMETHING. If going into the drink on your watch is the thing that finally ends this one way or another, so be it. Previews have Gio going for a swim so I guess he's going to fish Drew out. Bummer. 

SO LONG, FAREWELL: I saved this for last because it's just such a sore spot with everyone. I've checked all the socials and boy, are people pissed. I have no answers as to why the TPTB won't recast Maxie. She should have been recast months ago. I will have a whole blog on this subject coming up next week so I'll save you from a long rant here. The worst part of all of this? James leaving. He gave Cody a decent side-story and added a lot to the canvas when he was on. Some things are just baffling. 

WEEK IN A WUBSHELL: 

Everyone supported Scout's swim for Breast Cancer Charity. 

Maxie sold Michael her deception shares. Maybe he'll be on screen more

Rocco and Jason had a talk about their roles in the shooting. Jason sported a new black polo. 

The Black Box: Valentin has it, Brennan wants it and ... we shall see. 

Curtis isn't allowed to stay with Portia for the night but he can hang out other times

Michael talks to Jordan about getting her face fixed at his burn clinic in Switzerland

I think Justine and Sonny are in a fight but I don't remember, and I don't care

James and Fam are moving to Australia because Spinelli got a job there. 

Ric tells Lulu the shooting of Cullum is basically case-closed so Rocco should be in the clear

Dante and Chase try to make up over coffee in the PCPD lounge

SPOILER PHOTO:  Elizabeth and Dante get ready to Play Ball!! (photo credit: LucySoaps)

My thoughts on this week is that so much went on and in such short bursts, nothing jelled together nicely. While I appreciate the Drew saga (maybe) coming to an end, getting here was just long and painful. WAY too many newbies for my head to take in. Especially since I had forgotten about Quinn and then Simon shows up. I mean, you still need major work on Joe! Our summer faves like the kids and Olivia/Ned are just missing. Why they insist on keeping Liz' boys away is beyond me. Especially Aiden! He has a boyfriend and is a baker--what more could you want? The Curtis/Isaiah/Jordan/Portia baby Desmond thing will be just the same ol' same ol' as we've always had with a push-pull child. 

I do appreciate being able to watch the days I can and yes, I still think GH is the superior soap that's on right now. I'm just greedy and want more excitement that runs consistently through the storylines.

Thanks for reading. Thank you to editor Dave, Recapping Maven Sonya and the ever diligent photo-cappin Sloan. To all the peeps on BlueSky that keep me engaged--I appreciate it! 

CHEERS!! 

POPCORN.