Vee

I'll believe Valentin's gone when we get the notice. If they actually cut JPS loose things really have changed. Frank has angled a ton of stories around this guy’s primetime outs off contract and thinks JPS hung the moon and is some major get. OTOH PM/EK may feel Valentin works as a pure villain for the Cassadine fold, and that's a valid idea. Anything that ends the soppy sob stories about poor misunderstood Hunchback Billy Joel (who came on the show trying to murder Nikolas and unveiling Lulu's test tube rape baby) is good by me. I think there's a distinct possibility she is already in on it. Her behavior is still far too suspect. And yes, I think she could kill at any time. It remains to be seen what new stories will appear following this mob arc but it is nice to see a soap can actually be good again. Not perfect, of course, but it's improved by leaps and bounds for me over the last month.

I wasn't expecting him back for long, if he turns up at all. I think they'll wait to recast though and they should.

I thought that kid might have it in those scenes with Laura a couple weeks ago. It's nice to see more of him. If it is true that both Valentin and Ava are working Sonny that's pretty awesome.

I believe Valentin was the person who first told Sonny all about Pikeman too - because he did business with them. I did laugh at the writing dismissing the dumb "Stone" clue as a feint by Valentin to freak Sonny out, and apparently calling out the idiocy of this dumb Brennan dude hanging around chemistry testing with Carly during the strike episodes when he is supposedly the head of this evil PMC. No, I don't care that he's mid hot and has chemistry with some of the ladies. I don't care about this latest random dayplayer. Don't tell me about his nine fans on social media. Yes, that means you.

Can my prayers be answered about Valentin? I am glad they're confirming Valentin has been fúcking with Sonny's meds, as I suspected someone had done. I had a very hard time buying Sonny at his worst would turn on Jason as quickly as he has without that tampering. I still do think Ava may be in on all this. Valentin makes sense as the Big Bad. Despite the show's endless attempts to put him over as a weepy antihero and the wimpiest Cassadine on Earth, he came on as a creepy scumbag and has stayed one to me.

Well, Dante. 😌

Dogging the very storied new writing team on IG is not a good look for future employment in a very small pond.

Hudson West (Jake) can be consistently very good and has been since he was a child, but I think he's also sometimes dependent on scene partners. The kid playing Danny is extremely green and the smiling bystander known as Aiden should not be on camera. I thought HW did alright, but I don't think it was anyone's best hour.

I agree, Steve's done well. I've been surprised but pleased with this entire return arc so far. And again, the possibility that there are no clear romance options on the table for either Jason or Carly, together or separate, is curious and makes me wonder if PM/EK intend to dig deeper into each again first. I don't mind Danny being the brash one with an inflated sense of his father and that world. It makes sense to me that Jason and Sam would end up with the worst possible version of their past selves based on their years of glorifying the mob and each other, even though Sam grew up. And yes, I would give Sonny at least 6-9 months off. But Mo would never sit for that nor would the network.

He was ex-military long before Michael embedded him with Sonny, so I get it. I still don't want him around long lol.

How does drafting Dex make Anna incompetent? She told Dex there's less likelihood Sonny will want to take out a cop, and she's right. Are you watching the show or just posting tweets?

He deserves this. He has been an joyful muckraker about Biden for years.

Believe it, or don't. Nothing you can do about it. What does it have to do with cleaning up or not cleaning up stories? It's not my favorite idea but it is an entirely new development. I still don't think Dex is long for the canvas and/or the world.

That's what we've been talking about for a couple pages.

A very valid point.

RTD is very candid here about the state of the BBC. Depressing but relevant. I hope the pendulum will swing back for the institution in time. @DRW50

That I totally get. I do think there should be more quirky businesses in soaps though. Just like the challenge of depicting, say, actors, filmmakers or industry people on daytime always intrigues me even when it so often ends up a lead balloon - Dillon Quartermaine on GH was an avid film buff and later became a director but you can't very well have him hang around Port Charles in perpetuity if he's having a brilliant career, unless he is doing some sort of homegrown Richard Linklater/Robert Rodriguez sort of thing.

Yeah, the hair is a really bad choice.

Adam Harrington is doing a very solid job with improved scripts but I still can't past the visual disconnect. If they'd cast Paul Anthony Stewart (a '90s soap hunk almost as big as Sabato), Jordi V. or any number of other non-blonde soap hunks with a little mileage on them I'd be more accepting. In fact PAS could clean up on this show. But I think he's largely retired from daytime for theater and/or other pursuits with his husband. I am starting to wonder if PM's team is leaving both Carly and Jason solo and uninvolved with anyone for a time, to try to suss them out. That would be very interesting to me because it would indicate a clear intent to reevaluate both characters, both of whom Mulcahey (and Korte) were instrumental in defining with the original actors - especially Carly. (That does not mean I think Sarah is ever taking the role back because I definitely don't and will never get that lucky, but PM was among her biggest fans of all time and it wouldn't shock me if it had crossed his mind. I don't think it could ever get past the network, nor am I sure if Sarah is in a place right now where she'd be open to it.)

Stafford's Nina was basically an off-brand even nuttier version of the early crazy Phyllis. There was no there there, her first couple years in particular were wildly unpopular and the character should not have continued long-term; even today with the talented Cynthia Watros it struggles to have any purpose. Nina only lasted because the executive regime at GH refused to give up on star names from CBS.

My vague and possibly incorrect understanding was that the show cut several relatively recent writers of color over the last year or two, but had at least a couple more left after including Peace. This presumably leaves just Gibson for now. I am with @BetterForgotten re: this being standard procedure when building a new writers' room, which I think is necessary particularly to build one not trained to FV's house style so we'll see what happens. But I think most of us agree they need to add more POC.

Grand opening grand closing: And of course, Semafor frets:

Thanks for that. I saw some of Lisa's crazy villain stint awhile back, it seems so weird. (Didn't she mind control Charles and kill Casey?)

@dc11786 the Jagger/Karen/Jason triangle got heavily referenced on today's GH, FYI.

(I always thought the ice cream business was a fun idea. 🤷‍♂️)