Sonny one so true. I love you.
Dear readers, our favorite mobster is finally home! For months, we waited for Sonny to regain his memories. When he looked at Nina and growled, "My name is not Mike, it's SONNY!" I screamed, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" at my TV, and my husband came running into the room, as it probably sounded like the scene from When Harry Met Sally. I was THAT excited.
So, that part was brilliant and powerful. But then, Sonny took Jax's car and went home, and we tensed up with delight. We knew Jason and Carly had gone home to spend their wedding night together. We knew that they intended to act on their newly resurrected feelings of romance. We expected supreme soapiness. But then he arrived back home, and the audience collectively said, "Wait. What?"
It happened so quickly and so casually. Viewers who had begged for months for Sonny to come home seemed a little peeved that it all wrapped up so fast. The commentary from fans centers on the fact that...soaps are supposed to be soapier.
Sonny waltzed into his house, where the door was apparently unlocked. He obviously had no house keys on him. No guards were posted by the entrance to alert the newlyweds that Sonny had arrived.
Jason and Carly were just about to begin their wedding night. Sonny walked in before Shakira got to sing "Underneath Your Clothes." We anticipated that Sonny would walk in on the newlyweds doing the deed. That would have been the soapiest ending to this story, but the writers chose a kinder, more subtle finish instead. How do you feel about that? Do you think that was their original intent? I must wonder if they had a different ending planned but just gave up because the chorus of voices from the audience was, "We want Sonny!"
If Sonny had found Jason and Carly making sweet, sweet love on their wedding night, I doubt he would have said, "Good strategy!"
Carly clung to Sonny, the Corinthos family was reunited, and Jason quietly slipped out the door. So, that's it? Perhaps. But as Britt pointed out to Jason, one can't just turn their feelings off that quickly. But, hey, maybe Jason will use Britt as his rebound chick to get over his broken heart. I know there was a lot of buzz online about Jason and Carly's past. This is one time where I wish Carly had only been played by one person, so GH could have used those old flashback sex scenes of Sarah Joy Brown's Carly and Jason.
Newer viewers have no idea about their steamy past! I remember once ABC did a tribute show and showed scenes with all the different Carlys. We have had three truly unique Carlys -- Sarah Joy Brown, Tamara Braun, and Laura Wright. (And that one chick who only lasted a month or so whom I shall not name because I can't recall a single scene of hers.) But if you are a newer viewer, yes, Jason and Carly were involved in the past. To me, it tracked that those old feelings would reignite as they planned a marriage.
Sure, it was a business arrangement to start, but then, I imagine contemplating living your life with someone and asking, "Can I really survive in a loveless marriage?" had to be a question they both struggled with. And in those ponderings, they remembered how they once felt about each other, how they buried it, locked it away, and lived as best friends. And they chose to open those closed doors of their hearts and let all that old emotion resurface. It rang true to me, but I know some of you hated the thought. You felt like it negated Jason's time with Sam, Liz, and Courtney. I don't think so. I think we can love more than one person in our lives, and it doesn't negate the feelings we had for anyone in our past.
Laura Wright and Steve Burton did fantastic work, those nuanced facial expressions that showed their internal struggle. Wrestling with their conflicting feelings and wondering if they were disloyal to Sonny by allowing themselves to feel love again. The glance Carly gave Jason as she was in Sonny's arms and he was slinking out the door broke my heart.
Side note: while I am waxing poetic about Carly -- if you have not seen Maurice Benard's episode of State of Mind with Laura Wright, you should go there immediately after finishing this column and watch it. It was open, raw, honest, and beautiful. I laughed. I cried. I loved Laura Wright more than ever.
But back to the family reunion. Last week, I tweeted, "Okay, this is a serious question...why doesn't GH use Lexi Ainsworth more often? As we were reminded yesterday, she is a FANTASTIC actress and deserves more storylines." And when Soap Central's Dan J Kroll tweeted about it, I saw so many fans tweeting and posting about her scenes. The fact that GH has this powerhouse talent and only brings her out to play two or three times a year is craziness to me.
... and then Lexi Ainsworth breezes into a scene, breaks your heart, and makes you wonder why in the world she isn't on-screen more often. #GH pic.twitter.com/yl32abpxea
— Dan J Kroll (@DanJKroll) September 23, 2021
She emoted more and moved more of us to tears than any other character in this storyline. Her reaction to finding out her presumed dead father was alive was the only honest reaction. Everyone else was way too calm. It was like, "Oh, hey, look, Sonny's here." Like he had been away at boarding school for the year or something. But enter Kristina, and the floodgate of real-life emotions opened, and I found myself bawling. My own father is gone, and Lexi's performance struck me as being how I would respond if my Daddy suddenly walked into the house. And now I am crying again as I type this.
But I digress. Suppose I oversaw GH and had an actor available to me who can bring the kind of intensity and raw emotion to a scene that Lexi can. In that case, I would write for her every damn day.
Also, Dominic Zamprogna is no slouch, either. His reunion scene with Sonny was charming. I liked hearing those two lunkheads finally say they love each other. Sure, they are on opposite sides of the law, but that doesn't mean they don't value one another.
Okay, now to some comic relief... Guys, come on. So, let me get this straight... The Five Families rejected Cyrus' bid while he was on the outside. Still, from prison, he convinced some of the Five Families to betray and murder Jason and Carly. A bomb was planted on their car, and somehow, via computer, Spinelli was able to reprogram the bomb and get it to blow up Mr. Buscemi and Mr. Novak's limo? How did the bomb get from one car to the other? Did Spinelli have a drone magically transport the bomb from Jason's limo and fly it across the parking lot and reattach it to Novak's car? Did Novak and Buscemi think it was odd that Madame Wu didn't want to ride with them? (By the way, I say again, more airtime for Madame Wu, please.) This all just made me laugh.
Next up, everyone in the family asking Sonny about his flannel shirt. I must wonder if the cast begged for those lines to razz Sonny about his Stetson and flannel.
And I can't leave out Jason and Carly giving Sonny a recap of the last nine months. I bet the GH writers came to Soap Central to read our daily recaps to remind them of what craziness they had written. When they told Sonny that Franco was dead, and he said, "No big loss," it made me laugh, but I must say to you, I still really miss Franco.
Back to the drama. When Sonny was standing at his gravesite, and Nina came up, all repentant, and tried to explain her motives, Sonny had none of it. He very softly said, "Yeah, yeah, I understand." Then his eyes turned cold as ice, and he said, "You stole my life from me." Followed by, "This is the gravesite where my family grieved because of you." He told Nina that he would never forget that her lies cost his family months of grief, that her lies almost caused him to lose the empire he had built, that it had put his family in danger. When she whimpered that she loved "Mike," he rightly informed her -- "That was Mike. Mike doesn't exist. He's a phantom."
Which of these versions of @GeneralHospital's Sonny do you like better? ?? #GH
— Soap Central (soapcentral.com) (@soapcentral) September 24, 2021
When I was in college, I was crushing on some boy, and he was a hot mess. He was drunk basically all the time, but he was charming and had talent and potential. I told one of my friends about him, and my friend said, "You're in love with someone who doesn't exist. You see his potential, but he may never reach that potential. Ask yourself if he never becomes the man you see in him and stays as he is right now, can you live with that man? This drunken frat boy -- what if he is always a drunken frat boy. Do you want to marry him as he is right now? Because there is no guarantee, he will ever change." That advice hit home. I took it. I broke up with said boy, and my friend was 100% right. The guy never lived up to his potential, he's still a cheating drunk, and I dodged a bullet.
Just thought I'd give you a personal anecdote to emphasize Sonny's take on Mike. Mike wasn't real. Mike was an invention of a name on a watch and a man with amnesia. Despite Nina's wish to live happily ever after with an amnesiac mobster-turned-bartender, it was never going to end well.
One thing will remain from Mike: Sonny will be loyal to Phyllis for the rest of time. I liked that Sonny was upset about the fact that if he had known he was a man of means, he could have saved Lenny and Phyllis from their worries, paid off their debts, and given them peace of mind. That was true to Sonny's heart statement. Sure, Sonny is a gangster, but we love him because he is loyal to those loyal to him. He is faithful and devoted to the people he loves, and Phyllis will never want for anything again.
I hope Sonny brings her to Port Charles to run Mob Pasta or Sonnybucks. I really want to keep Joyce Guy on canvas. I think she has the potential to integrate into Port Charles and become the new Lila -- she's a calm, loving, reasonable person who can bring comfort and sanity to the craziness of Port Charles. I can see Sonny listening to her when she advises him not to take revenge on Nina and just rejoice that he is back with his family. I really love her character and think she is needed in Port Charles.
Meanwhile, across town, Nina went to see Maxie to warn her about Peter. This scene did not ring true to me at all. Guys, seriously...Nina says something to the effect of, "Hey, Maxie, I know you've been terrified for months that your murderous ex was going to kidnap or kill you and steal your babies. Yeah, well, I knew where he was but didn't warn you because I fell in love with an amnesiac Sonny. So, I sent Aunt Liesl, your son's grandma, to go murder Peter for me."
Maxie had no visceral response at all. She shamed her a little, told her the fantasy life with "Mike" could never have worked, shamed her for a minute, and then forgave her instantly. Readers, I have seen Maxie go off on people for much less. She went off on Brook Lynn the other day to let the baby cry instead of picking her up to fall asleep. Maxie went off on people during the wedding planning for being late and making her worry for five minutes. But she let Nina off the hook with hardly any pushback, and that bugged me. Am I alone in this?
Do you know who else bugs me? Esme. Avery Kristen Pohl is doing a bang-up job as a villain because I loathe her character and want to slap her every time I see her. I am not really a slapping people person. Mind you, and I feel like I need to verbalize this -- I do not despise Avery. She's lovely and a great young actress, and I think she's fantastic. But in past columns, when I said I disliked certain characters, people wrote me mean letters and told me to stop bullying an actor. Um, they want us to hate Esme. If I hate her, it means she's excellent at her craft.
Esme is conniving, selfish, and at least a little evil. She is the foil between Spencer and Trina (the magnificent Sydney Mikayla), who we know should be together. Esme is a little too interested in Ryan Chamberlain and is asking Kevin way too many questions. It leads me to wonder what her connection is to Ryan. Is she possibly his daughter? Is Kevin her uncle? Did she inherit the serial killer gene? Why is Ryan unnerved by her? I have so many questions.
Trina has cracked the case and figured out that Esme is working with Spencer to stalk Ava. Why was Esme so uneasy when she heard Sonny was alive? This all makes me very curious. Nicholas Chavez's Spencer has such a great blend of tenderness and entitlement. We can see the best and worst of Spencer in his portrayal. He's torn between getting revenge on his father for wronging him, and wanting his father to be happy. Esme is not torn, she likes terrorizing Ava, but Spencer is having second thoughts.
Ava didn't sign the divorce papers yet, and Nikolas is bolting across town to try to stop her from leaving the country. I would really love to see a tremendous romantic reunion between these two star-crossed lovers. But Ava already knows Sonny is alive and home and didn't unpack despite Sonny yelling "son of a bitch" when he found out the stalker got to Avery. If Uncle Sonny finds out his beloved nephew Spencer had a hand in scaring Avery, methinks their relationship won't be so chummy anymore.
Another comic relief moment was when Joss insinuated to Esme that her mob connections made it so that people who annoyed her might disappear. I do adore Eden McCoy. William Lipton is so perfect as Cam, too. In my opinion, these five young actors form the most robust teen scene since Liz, Lucky, Nik, and Emily were teens.
Now to Peter August. Remember when we thought he was dead? Ah, the good old days. But no, he's still alive, and two super-spy former WSB types like Anna and Valentin took their eyes off of him and allowed him to escape again. Come. On. Stop it!
He's shot. He just leaped off a cliff, so he must be dead, right? Yeah, no way. If we are lucky, maybe Peter hit his head when he jumped, got amnesia, forgot he is a psychopath, and got a job teaching Shakespeare at a community college, where he will stay until he has tenure.
Readers, it seems that Peter is the new Heather Webber who never gets caught and always gets away. Even though he had no pulse, was pronounced dead by two medical professionals, and was stuffed in a freezer, he resurrected. Maybe he will start painting BLTs like Heather did, if only we still had an art therapist.
Peter lacks the romance of his father. Faison was obsessed with Anna, but he wasn't as easy to hate. Faison had this quality where you were a little afraid of him and a little in love with him. I can tell you I am not a little in love with Peter. And I'm not even a little afraid of him. I just hate him. After the fire, after he was willing to torch the Tan-O with Nina and Phyllis tied inside, he is entirely irredeemable for me.
On the other hand, seeing Charlie's Pub this week made me long for Julian more than unusual, and even though he has done awful things, too -- they were not his idea. When he did horrible things, he was being compelled or blackmailed and felt he had no choice. His actions were terrible, but his heart wasn't pure evil. Peter, on the other hand, is evil to his core.
Now, a celebration! Let's all congratulate Wally Kurth on his 30th anniversary on GH! Congratulations on 30 years of Ned Quartermaine! (And sometimes Eddie Main.) Read more here: https://www.soapcentral.com/general-hospital/news/2021/0913-wally-kurth-marks-his-30-year-anniversary-at-general-hospital.php
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Esme demand kiwis tomorrow instead of blackberries? Will Britt and Scott get Liesl back in one piece from the treacherous lovesick Victor Cassadine, or has Liesl already slit his throat with her steak knife? Will Liz and Finn have a celebratory "We're not murderers, after all" camping trip without having to discuss dead bodies and parachuting Scottys? Will Gladys really give up on men, or will she go home with the next mobster who looks her way? Will Liesl team up with Drew to escape the Cassadine compound?
Will someone not read Jason and Carly's request to donate to Alzheimer's and instead send a toaster? Will Olivia ever consent to get Leo checked out, or will she stubbornly refuse to see he needs help? Will Michael and Willow ever do anything interesting? Will Jax and Sonny finally respect one another now that Jax realizes Sonny's presence keeps Port Charles safe, and Sonny appreciates Jax for telling him the truth and getting him home to his family? Will Sonny keep sleeping on the couch, or will he remember he hasn't had any good lovin' for nine months and find his way to Carly's bed?
Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.
Tamilu
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