The Decline and Fall of the Monty Empire
Week 13 (March 24-28, 1986)
Bryan, seeing Claudia and Lorena at Kelly's: "Hi. What are you doing here?"
Lorena: "Lookin' for a couple of sailors, Bryan. Get out of here, you're screwin' up our action."
I haven't yet finished my work week, so this weekend's post is going to be a little lazy, mostly stray observations rather than breaking things up by the stories.
-- Overall, this was a strong week. Yes, Laurelton took up most of the airtime, but the stories were intertwined pretty well. It's things like a hearing of the GH board over disciplining Patrick nearly resulting in Alan and Edward coming closer to the truth about Sean and Monica, or Ginny's tough love attitude with Mike being one of the reasons Tony says he's glad to not have kids at exactly the moment Tania's going to tell him she's pregnant. Only one story sticks out like a sore thumb.
-- Monday's episode included the unintentional comedy of what felt like Felicia talking-navigating-pushing Terry through the five stages of grief while Terry mourns Jennifer.
-- Anna's smart enough to play the long game, but I think she could have gloated a little about how if it wasn't for her grace in not revealing his pressure to wrap up the Brownstone-Laurelton, Mayor Morgan could have been humiliated.
-- Felicia begging Frisco to get married, and have a baby, and have a regular family made me wonder how Kristina Wagner would have done as Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
-- The Brownstone will probably never be as fascinating as it is now. As the week goes on, it's pretty much everyone against Patrick -- like I said, you'd think Bobbie would be more sympathetic considering she was falsely accused of murder the year before -- but to me it feels like there's two camps. We've got the splintered Laurelton four and the united Jones including Felicia. By virtue of her family ties, Bobbie should probably be another Laurelton splinter, but she and Jake seem slightly above the fray.
-- Jimmy Lee has decided that Celia walking out on him was really about greed. According to JL, Celia didn't want to share her renewed fortune. Seeing him in that compromising position with Pilar just gave Celia an excuse to split. It doesn't jibe with what we saw on screen, but then again, we were kept at a distance from Celia during her final episodes. Anyway, the point of Jimmy Lee's rationalization is so that there's still more weight to Monica's crisis over whether she can stay a Quartermaine.
-- In the long run, Lorena made the right choice with Derek, but I can't blame her for making ABSOLUTELY SURE that there was no more chance of hooking up with Jimmy Lee. The guy's so tan, he's almost the color of a raisin.
-- Different times: Alan coming into Monica's room without her consent and while she's half asleep, followed by her kicking him out, being played for comedy.
-- I'm quite positive that had Jack Wagner not left in 1987, there would have been a Frisco & Felicia kid that year or in 1988. This caused me to consider the ripple effect and wonder if in that timeline, B.J. still lives and Maxie doesn't exist. If the F&F kid's a boy, does Lucas still exist?
-- Thursday's episode has a nice, non-comedy use of Amy, sharing information about the parking situation at GH and acting as a sort of secretary for Anna.
-- I get that Jake's sticking up for his client, Patrick, but he hit below the belt with Anna on Thursday. Questioning her abilities as a mother and breadwinner is bad enough, but then things get even more personal.
Jake "And you haven't got a man in your bed. I don't believe I said that, but I'm not sorry. Because I care for you, Anna, and I hate to see you become what you're becoming."
Anna didn't say anything especially notable when she let Jake have it, but I'm glad she let him have it. Seriously, when this story is over, Anna deserves to tell a whole bunch of people to kiss her British bum.
-- Okay, here's the sore thumb moment. It's Bryan and Claudia's half-minute of marital bliss, then continued angst, all happening at the spa. It almost feels like filler after Jimmy Lee rebuffs Lorena, then Ginny gives an update on Mike. Claudia learns that Bryan went with Mike to a basketball game (Derek's also using the tough love approach), and she's happy ... until Debbie comes over and reveals she went with the guys. Apparently Debbie's going to hang around until at least the summer. I can't wait to see what other storylines she, Bryan, and Claudia will be dropped into.
-- Friday's episode ends with Anna's surprise arrest of Kevin. It turns out that Red Flynn happened to see Kevin and Jennifer arguing at the airport. I assume Lucy's going to get mentioned for the first time next week. Before that, GH teases Lucy's eventual storyline when a nurse suggests that her friend who went out with Patrick write a tell-all.
By
Franko ·
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