I'm continuing my GL watch journey and getting more detailed in my 'watch journal', because I want my future self to enjoy the details later in life when I want to revisit this era of GL I'm not sure if y'all read these anymore because I know this era isn't a favorite for most, but I'll keep posting just in case! They are more recap-style with my opinions/reactions sprinkled throughout.
I’m up to June 16, 1997 (and what a month!).
Something I’ve noticed this year is that both Reva/Josh and Vanessa/Matt have distinct music used in their scenes. Whenever there is closeness and love in the scenes, their music starts and it’s definitely part of each couple’s identity now.
The new Roger has really taken me out of it, which isn’t the actor’s fault, but it’s just not Roger and now I don’t really care about him or the Amanda/Roger storyline, sadly. You can tell they’ve put this storyline on the back burner too, for now.
Abby is in Rick’s class now at the hospital, so they’re able to interact. They grow to be friendly again, as Abby excels in her class.
Well, Alan lied on the stand in favor of Annie, so the judge ruled that Reva will stand trial for murder in 10 days. Rusty takes Marah and Shane to Oklahoma so they aren’t around for everything, which leads to a very tearful goodbye with Marah and Shane (although a couple weeks later, Marah yet again runs away and figures out how to take a bus cross state lines all the way back to Springfield LOL). Meanwhile, Alan is falling for Annie and they spend more time together. But impulsively, Annie hits Alan with a vase while panicking at Fran’s office. Reva arrives and they get Alan to the hospital, all while Reva is trying to press Alan into telling the truth, as Annie continues to panic. Alan privately forgives Annie and tells her he will take charge now and she will fall in line with him.
Reva’s trial starts on June 3. The judge is an old grumpy, no-BS man and guess who the actor is - Uncle Frank from Home Alone LOL! Griffin uses some magic trick to make a point about perception in his opening, which was dumb and upset the judge. Rick’s testimony was damning towards Reva, except Annie screwed herself over by getting rid of the fetus, because an autopsy couldn’t be completed and there is no way they can fully blame the fall on the death of the baby. Ross destroys Abby’s testimony, sadly. I felt bad for Abby because she was so nervous and only wanted to help Reva, but Ross really sunk her. Rick comforts her afterwards, which was sweet, and they end up kissing.
Reva starts to believe Annie’s baby was already dead before the fall, so she’s starting to figure out the truth. Josh tells Annie the hospital found the baby’s remains (which we see Annie actually swapped the label on another baby container so they were all mixed up). Annie panics and calls a clinic to ask if an autopsy would reveal whether a baby that’s already dead be shown in the results. Josh overhears, so he’s now figured out the truth and vows to get revenge on Annie.
Blake struggles with whether she tells the truth about her antics with Annie, with Holly pushing her to tell the truth and Roger pushing her not to, which puts Holly and Roger at odds. Blake doesn’t want to upset Ross and ruin his first case as DA, and also doesn’t want the truth to come out that she helped Annie steal files and tap Ross’s phone. So it’ll be up to Blake’s decision this entire trial, I think. Plus she really can’t screw this up again - this is her shot at redemption with Ross. If she doesn’t say anything, she’ll be such a weakling in my eyes after 1) throwing Roger under the bus at the Lonatrat trial and then 2) failing to tell Ross so many times about her hookup with Rick and the twins. Especially now that Ross and Blake just had sex and he’s asking now to move back in with the family. She’s going to mess this up, I can just feel it haha. Meanwhile, Roger pulls Holly into a kiss, which upsets Fletcher.
Whelp, the next morning after Blake and Ross finally have sex and reunite, Ross is really digging into Reva while she’s on the stand, and in an emotional moment, Blake stands up in front of everyone and screams “No, Reva is not lying, Annie is!”. Great soap opera haha, but Blake really should have told Ross much sooner, as always. Annie looks like she’s going to kill Blake. Blake takes the stand, tells the entire truth and of course Ross questioning her gets really personal and messy.
Ohh, Marah is at the courthouse and Annie freaks out and pressures Marah into telling her what Josh was saying to her. Reva sees it and pushes Annie away and they almost get into a fist fight as Fran walks in ready to take the stand! Annie has slowly spiraled for months, but she’s peak crazy right now. Fran tells the truth on the stand and Annie continues to call everyone liars. Come to find out, Alan paid Fran to tell the truth, so his scheming continues and I’m assuming this is his way to separate Annie and Josh so he can have her now.
Vanessa, as Tess, tells Matt online about her illness and how she wanted to save her husband from heartache. Matt, as Robert, tells her that’s basically awful and not the right way of going about it. They eventually ‘make up’ and continue talking. Vanessa gets the strength to take a few steps and really gets excited about her progress. She decides to call Matt’s house, he answers and she chickens out and hangs up! Then they have a ‘date’, both are drinking wine and Matt is sitting there shirtless, he takes her virtual dancing, and they start revealing more about each other’s looks. Vanessa starts to freak out because she thinks she’s now cheating on Matt in real life because they’re starting to venture into cyber sex land, and she says Matt’s name, which the computer microphone picks up and allows Matt to see she used the name Matt. He is startled and cries out for Vanessa! He starts putting all the pieces together and thinks it might be Vanessa. He tells Dinah his theory and she thinks he’s crazy, but then starts to believe him, while Hart tries to bring them back to reality. Matt then tells Nola his theory, but Nola tells him Vanessa was really sick and even if she didn’t die in the car wreck, she’d be dead by now, which infuriates him.
Meanwhile, Vanessa is more determined than ever to recover and plans to go back home to her family. These scenes are really good, and it doesn’t hurt that Matt is shirtless throughout haha. Oh no, then Vanessa calls Roger asking about Matt, and he tells her that Matt generally seems to be interested in a lady that he’s fallen for (Tess), which devastates Vanessa. She then tells Michael she has nothing to live for.
Maureen is back! Michelle shows up at the door of the lady who she thinks has Maureen’s heart, and before she knocks, she has a vision of Maureen hugging her! Come to find out, this lady doesn’t have Maureen’s heart, so Michelle is devastated. She then sees Maureen again comforting and talking to Michelle from a distance.
Harley comes back and surprises everyone at Buzz’s birthday party. Her claws are already out with Jenna. Philip keeps pushing her on where Mallet is, which she seems to evade. As Buzz leaves his party at the diner, he’s run down by Jeffrey. More of the same with this storyline: Jeffrey threatens Jenna, Buzz finds a way to find her, Buzz/Jenna hide and make out, Jeffrey catches Jenna, Jenna tells Buzz she can’t be with him… rinse and repeat.
So the previews... I wonder who the older lady is that shows up at Leslie's house? That looks fun. Otherwise, seems like Naomi and Jacob assume June is the mother, like we assumed. That's starting to fall a bit flat for me, but I guess we'll see how the kids react once they know. Maybe this is what brings Smitty/Martin back together.