One of the sweetest moments in GH this week came after Friday's credits rolled. Jill Farren-Phelps' acceptance speech for GH's win as Best Daytime Drama was warm, selfless and moving. She mentioned the painful things many Americans are facing- she spoke to those who have lost everything to floods and natural disasters, people who have been affected by the war, people who are facing terminal illness, and offered words of encouragement. She spoke of GH characters that have faced trials with courage and faith, and encouraged her hurting viewers to do the same. I thought to myself - "I love that woman." [To read the full text of Phelps' speech and some other backstage goodies, click here.]
She could have done the usual self congratulatory speech, the "Wow aren't we amazing?" script - but she aimed higher. She saw the hurting people of America and said "Yeah, I'm here in my party clothes at an awards show, but I am thinking about YOU." And it was so unexpected and endearing. Thank you Ms. Farren-Phelps for allowing us a peak at your heart; it's a beautiful one.
Damian Spinelli has a beautiful heart too, for all the good it's done him. Leyla seemed to appreciate it briefly last week, but most of the girls he crushes on go for the bad boys and Spinelli is left behind looking on longingly. This week his new strategy of mimicking Jax worked fairly well until Maxie walked in and he lost his Australian accent and started tripping all over himself again. When he set orange soda aside for booze, he ended up slumped in a drunken stupor and Claudia (a.k.a Vixenella) swooped in for the save. She brought him back to Jason's penthouse, and Jason was peeved when he came home and found her there.
Just as Claudia was getting ready to leave, a guy in a Bee Keepers Suit came by and said they were under quarantine as the pizza guy was the carrier of some contagious disease. I think they are being Punked. Did this dude even have a badge or an I.D. of any kind? One of my friends owns a bee service and when I saw the dude at Jason's door; his get up looked like he had been out battling Yellow Jackets. We couldn't really see his face though, so I still think it might be Ashton Kucher.
At any rate, Spinelli, Jason, and Claudia are trapped in Jason's penthouse with the threat hanging over their heads that this mystery illness has side effects such as "Makes you babble incoherently and accidentally spill all your secrets." Um, didn't Claudia already have a case of that at Nikolas' house? There must be more than one strain of Secret Babbling diseases going around Port Charles.
I think there is also a contagious case of the Stupids going around as well, with side effects the Chief of Police hiring the head nurse of a hospital to babysit your grown pregnant Dr. niece to ensued she doesn't have her grown doctor boyfriend over. So, Epiphany is leaving the hospital patients in the care of student nurses Leyla and Nadine while she is out making sure Robin stays on her sofa? Dumb. It makes me sad that this is the only storyline they can come up with for the amazing John J York.
Sadly Alexis is likewise afflicted, but her side affects included sleeping with the man who poisoned her nephew and terrorized her daughter during the Metro Court Hostage Crisis.
I consider myself a very forgiving person, I am not a grudge holder by any means, but if someone had actually poisoned one of my family members or held one of my daughters at gunpoint, I would not ever, ever under any circumstances no matter which sexy accent they had, nor how many flowers they sent me, ever sleep with them. Period. Going back to John J York, why not let Alexis have a fling with Mac instead of crazy Jerry Jax?
Diane obviously picked the better bad boy; Max may have a gun to aid him in his Body Guard Duties, but he's not secretly a psychopath. Although Max did suffer from a mild case of the stupids which produced the side effect of allowing Diane to believe a 5 carat diamond ring that Sonny bought for Kate was meant for Diane. Diane said yes to a proposal Max never made just because the ring was so massive. We were then treated to the comic relief of Max and Diane both trying to find a way to get out of an engagement neither of them actually wanted. I say it almost every week, but Carolyn Hennesy is absolutely delightful. No matter who her partner is, Max, Alexis, Sonny, Jason - she just steals every scene. I don't know how the other actors in the scene with her keep a straight face.
Lucky and Sam avoided the stupid disease on their adventure south of the border and started concocting a plan to bust out of jail. And I do mean BUST out as Sam's plan was to use her ample cleavage to distract the prison guard while Lucky jumped him. But when the guard arrived at their cell, it turned out to be an old friend of Sam's who just opened the door and let them escape. They had a romantic night of camping, and Sam treasured her time alone with Lucky and wished they could stay longer so she could have Lucky's undivided attention.
Sam told Lucky about her conversation with Liz, and reported that they made progress. I think Lucky doubted the story and wanted to call her a liar, but since he was so close to her ample bosom he got distracted. When they got back to the bar, they found a note from Luke in the secret jewel hiding place saying "Hey Cowboy, Thanks for the funds." But they never saw a glimpse of him.
It was hard for Carly to keep from glimpsing Kate however; as Kate set up a photo shoot in the middle of the Metro Court Lobby without permission. Sometimes it's easy to dismiss Carly - she basically hates all women who get involved with Sonny and or Jason, but in Kate's case, she's right. Kate has an entitlement problem and assumes everyone will say yes to her, and so she doesn't ask. I used to like Kate's character but they have taken away the Connie Falconeri side of Kate, the part that made her human and vulnerable, and just made her a selfish diva who bulldozes over people.
This makes Kate a fine match for Sonny who also always assumes he should get his own way and treats people with total disrespect. Several of you wrote me this week to complain about Sonny calling Spinelli "Freak Boy" and I wholeheartedly agree. He's needlessly cruel to Spinelli who has saved his butt on several occasions. The rumor is that Spinelli is going to end up being Kate's illegitimate son, but whether or not that ever materializes remains a mystery. At any rate, it makes me very uncomfortable when Sonny calls Spinelli names and is verbally abusive to him. Spinelli has self esteem problems and Sonny knows it and just keeps kicking him in the gut. I don't like it. It makes me cringe.
Lulu's making me cringe, too. I keep hoping Luke or Scotty are out there looking for a new magic pill that will make Laura pop out of her catatonia long enough to teach Lulu not to be such a b*tch. I have started calling her The Shrieking Eel in my head, as every time she's in a scene with Maxie she is shrieking and it makes my head hurt. I am rooting for Claudia and Maxie's scheme to break up Lulu and Johnny. Then Lulu can go back to Logan who deserves more air time than pushing Anthony around in his wheel chair, and Lulu can talk in a normal tone of voice again.
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Nikolas and the Mayor start taking swings at one another over Emily's Clinic? Will we ever see Kristina again, or does Alexis have her locked in some Rapunzel Tower waiting for her hair to grow? Will Kate let Maxie take over Crimson since she knows which purses go with which outfits? Will Mac arrest Johnny for thinking about going on a date with Maxie? Will anyone remember to tell Georgie's Italian scholarship people that she died? Will Lucky have Sam come to the PCPD to teach a class on Snake Shooting?
