Vee

Oh lord! I'll take more of that nonsense so long as it gets that mutant child off the show.

As long as they find a place in there to reveal Charlotte was never Lulu's and it was all a gambit to attach himself to the Spencers for whatever reason, I'll take it.

That's how I feel, yes. I don't think he was necessarily miscast on paper - again, his most famous part is as a villain on AMC. But they wrote him as such a wuss from the start and have kept him in that vein for most of his run. JPS is capable of doing more with proper writing, what he is not capable of (IMO) is selling this bizarre, convoluted, ugly character as a romantic lead. And everything that's been done to try to put him over as one has been mortifying and hilarious to watch for me. But hey, his fanbase and Finola (and Frank) seem to love him. Either way if PM/EK have decided to finally write to his creepy strengths as an actor, good. Speaking of I'll be curious to see what @carolineg thinks of this twist. I think they'd be wise to wait on a recast, as they did with JJ. A year, 18 months. The industry is in heavy flux and if things go cold Chavez may be looking to pay the rent soon enough.

Oh, I've seen this twunk in a few things recently. Hopefully DAYS will squander him and GH can snap him up.

He has never lived up to that IMO, including his early days running around in a hoodie with a mustache and 'killing' Nikolas. But JPS' most famous soap role is a villain and he gives creepy in every scene to me, so they might as well finally lean in and give it their best. I don't find Dex as a cop to be such a huge reach. He did not set out initially to join the criminal underworld; he was career military before coming to Port Charles and taking the undercover job for Michael. Servicemen to police is a common pipeline and this show has had at least a dozen characters with more checkered pasts join the force. (Please do not take this as a defense of himbo simp Dex, who I would love to see take hot lead from Valentin tomorrow.) Fill me in. I know very little about the Pikeman saga, other than that every time I tried to tune back in people seemed to stand around saying "Pikeman" for years on end with no actual movement (much like the saga of Cyrus, the world's oldest and most infirm mobster with family trauma). I do know Valentin introduced the issue of Pikeman the PMC/weapons dealer to Sonny in the first place. And I think the subtle ways they tied up all the dumb stuff of the past few months in the story (Brennan showing up in town, "Stone") is very smart.

More Drew/Nina and more Tracy/Stella. I'm for it. Less so for more Eva LaRue with Sonny (which may not be anything leading to romance) or for Blaze as the probable Face of Deception, as I still find her bland. But she's better than Sasha. Glad to see Jake will read Jason to filth.

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.)