I’m up to December 07, 1998.

*OMG, poor Jenna has died! Such heartbreaking scenes.

India has moved into the Spaulding Mansion and runs into Alex and Beth having tea. Beth says it’s great having Alex back and asks her how long she’s staying in town, to which Alex says she’s unsure given that India and Vicky are trying to take over things. Alex tells them she feels obliged to host a celebration for Philip and Harley, but assures Beth that she wants her to be comfortable since she’s one of her dearest friends (I didn’t realize these two were so close).

Buzz/Jenna/Rick/Abby throw a surprise welcome home party for Phillip and Harley, who are now back from their honeymoon. Lucy and A-M sent them a gift, which was a nice touch. Abby tells Harley that she and Rick might start trying to have a baby, and Harley tells her that she and Phillip might wait for a bit. She mentions Daisy to Abby and says she hopes she would have been happy for her. Frank and Eleni show up and Frank privately tells Jenna and Buzz that Jeffrey is getting out of jail, which scares them.

Holly watches her video where she says she’s never going to stalk again, but she tells herself that Jenna messed up by losing the girls at Thanksgiving and she needs to learn a lesson. She starts looking through her nursery rhyme book for something fitting for Jenna and lands on Little Bo Peep, the rhyme about losing her sheep and not knowing where to find them (LOL). She goes to Jenna’s house, knowing she’s not home, and starts to leave the nursery rhyme note. Jenna leaves the welcome party early and walks in to see Holly. Jenna doesn’t think much of it because she’s just happy it’s not Jeffrey, buy Holly is clearly shocked that she almost got caught. Jenna eventually asks why she’s there and Holly cryptically reminds her how she should have watched the girls more closely. She starts to ramble about losing Meg and how she’s failed so miserably, and before she says more, Buzz walks in. Holly then tries to leave with her magazines and nursery rhyme, but Buzz takes them and asks what she’s hiding. She freaks out but he says he’s just joking, but her reaction confuses them. She leaves without her magazines and Jenna tells him that they were having a serious conversation beforehand and she’s just having a bad day. Buzz then tells Jenna he wants to take her away from SF forever to protect her. After a while, she agrees, cries, they kiss and say I love you to each other. Buzz leaves to give Frank the deed to the diner while Jenna starts packing. Holly comes back to retrieve her magazine and Jenna takes it and reads the Little Bo Beep nursery rhyme that was hidden inside and gets concerned. Jenna is putting the pieces together and realizes Holly is the Stalker! Holly creepily denies it and says she was a victim of the stalker too, so Jenna apologizes and says she’s just on edge because of Jeffrey.  But Holly starts to act weird again and talks about how people need to protect children and Jenna didn’t, which weirds Jenna out. Jenna says she needs to call Buzz, but Holly takes the phone out of her hands and says she’s not leaving. Holly accuses her of trying to call Buzz to help her, and then tells Jenna she knows too much now. Jenna calmly tries to tell Holly she needs help and that no one has been seriously hurt, so nothing bad will happen to her. Holly starts to agree and breaks down about losing Meg. But Holly then tells Jenna she knows about how she’s passing Jeffrey’s son off as Buzz’s son, and then Jeffrey arrives, overhearing that and claiming he must be a father! He gets upset about Jenna lying, so he grabs her and says he’s taking her and the two boys to start a new life.

Meanwhile, Buzz tells Frank about their plans at the diner and Frank is supportive, but Buzz then has a Nadine-syle premonition that something bad is about to happen! Buzz asks Selena to take over the diner now that he’s leaving, and she agrees. Buzz, who has the boys, calls Jenna and she begs him not to bring the boys over, but doesn’t give it away that Jeffrey is with her. Holly, who is now freaked out, goes home and contemplates her next move, but she finally decides to go to the diner and tell Buzz about Jeffrey. Buzz freaks out, hands Rocky and Coop to Holly and runs off to save Jenna. Holly declares she’s going to protect the kids at any cost and takes them home with her. Buzz arrives at the house, but Jenna and Jeffrey are gone. Jenna is driving her car with Jeffrey in tow and vows she’ll never go back to a life with Jeffrey nor let him hurt Buzz or the boys, so she purposefully speeds up and crashes the car!  Wow - Jenna killed herself and Jeffrey (12/07) in a blaze of glory! Jeffrey dies on impact, but Jenna is still alive and in pain. She calls Buzz on her cell and tells him there’s been an accident and to hurry up and find her. This phone call was so heartbreaking! Buzz arrives to the crash site and Jenna is still alive. He tells her the boys are just fine, and then Frank and the medics show up and they have to saw her out of the car. She’s dying and the final thing she tells Buzz is ‘thank you for loving me’. Jenna dies and Buzz screams out in sadness. I’m sad to see Jenna go, as I warmed up to her after her initial return storyline with Jeffrey. I really liked her with Buzz and she made Buzz so tolerable for me. I guess behind the scenes, the actress wanted to leave, so I’ll be curious to see what they do with Buzz and the boys going forward.

Holly is back home with the boys and Ken is there. He reveals that he found her taped confessions in the basement and knows she’s the Stalker, but tells her he understands why. Holly thinks Jenna will tell the police she’s the Stalker, so she assumes the cops are on their way to arrest her at any moment. The cops do arrive and she’s willing to be arrested, but they say they’re only there to take Rocky/Coop because there’s been an accident with Jenna, which shocks Holly.

Reva has a nightmare about the cursed coin and continues to be concerned about Cassie leaving town. She sees the daily newspaper with the headline that a missing body was taken out of the morgue and she runs to the police station.  Meanwhile, Alan visits Teri at the police station and pushes her to explain again why she showed up to Phillip/Harley’s wedding. She finally confesses that she made up the invite story, heard about the wedding and decided to go to NYC for it. Alan asks her why she would do that and she says she did it for him, because she knows how hard he took his failed wedding to Annie. Reva shows up looking for Frank but shows Teri and Alan the newspaper and says it’s not a coincidence that a body was taken from the morgue the night before Annie died. Reva thinks Annie could easily do something like this and tells them Annie faked her death and she’s still alive. They don’t believe it, but Reva tells Teri she will find Annie if it’s the last thing she does.

Alan goes home and tells Alex about the body and Reva’s suspicions. Alex says she’s worried about Alan, who seems to be retreating, and he needs to take back control of Spaulding. She’s worried about his growing obsession with Teri, his willingness to let Vicky run things, and ultimately she says she misses him. Reva barges in and says they need to find Annie, which annoys Alex. Alan tells her to stop, but Reva leaves more determined to find Annie. Meanwhile, Teri goes to Josh’s office and tells him to sit down and under her spell, she tells him to convince Reva that Annie is dead. She reminds him of their good times back in their carousel days, and she starts to seduce him and kisses him. He kisses back but then snaps out of it and says he doesn’t want to kiss her or sit down. He says he can’t stop thinking of Teri and it’s driving him crazy, that he still loves Reva, and he won’t do anything she wants him to do. Reva then comes by and Teri is able to get away and reminds Josh that she was never there. Josh then tells Reva to drop the Annie thing, but Reva says he’s acting weird and has for weeks. Josh says he knows he has but doesn’t know why and then leaves. A crying Reva makes a call to find information in Detroit about a George DeMarco (Teri’s brother).

Hart convinces Dinah to take her bandages off. She’s hesitant and scared at first, but after she takes them off, Peter walks in and asks why her face looks that way and she gets upset. Hart makes him apologize and Dinah says this is how everyone will view her from now on. Hart tries to console her and puts her bandages back on when Annie arrives. Hart leaves and Annie tells Dinah how the drug isn’t working well anymore and she doesn’t have much left, so she’s desperate.

Ben goes to the diner for breakfast and Selena waits on him. Ben says she seems familiar, but they both go on their way. Meanwhile Blake confides in Meta about Ben’s childhood. They find a music box in the attic at the house and hidden inside are letters from Ross and Ben’s mom to her unborn child (Ben). Meta finds Ben at the diner and convinces him to see Blake, so he finally does. She shows him the letters, but he doesn’t want to read them, so she starts to read them to him. They’re sweet, loving letters but he is still angry that she gave him away. He then finds letters she wrote later in life, when he was in high school, saying how much she thinks about him every single day, and it finally gets to him. Ross shows up to see the boys, and Ben tells them they need to talk. He shows him the letters and said he killed their mother from a broken heart (for keeping her away from Ben). Ross tries to talk sense into him and asks that he finally let go of the hate from his past, which ends in what seems to be a truce.

India brings Ross some necessities and snacks for his penthouse. While Ross is in another room, the landlord shows up demanding money from India, given that her last check bounced. He says he’s done some research and learned she’s flat broke, which makes her mad. She demands that he not tell Ross about this. He leaves and Ross returns and India keeps up the ruse that she is rich.

Michelle convinces Jesse to apologize to Danny, so he does, but Danny doesn’t buy it. Jesse leaves and Danny then later leaves, and on his way out, kisses Michelle, leaving her shocked while he smirks on his way out. Ok, I already see the chemistry here between the new Michelle and Danny. Which makes me sad because I’m a huge Michelle/ Jesse fan, but the new recast and Jesse just seems different now for me, so I’m not as into it anymore.

Phillip and Harley are enjoying their morning and someone is watching them from outside. Phillip leaves for work and then a young girl shows up at the door. She says she waited for the man outside to leave, but she’s looking for a Harley. Harley says that’s her and the girl reveals she’s Susan, her daughter! This is Brittany Snow’s first day as Susan/Daisy - 12/03! She tells Harley that her mom got sick and died, so she’s been looking for Harley in SF now ever since. Harley asks about her dad and Susan says he doesn’t want her anymore and isn’t interested in being a father now that her mother is dead. She says she’s afraid of him and begs her not to call him. Phillip comes home and is introduced to Susan, who Harley accidentally calls Daisy, the name she gave her as a baby before adoption. Harley tells Phillip she’s excited to have her back and she can’t go back to her father, but Phillip says they need to hold off and talk to the father first and not get too excited.

Alan calls a Spaulding meeting with Alex, Phillip, Vanessa and Vicky (which annoys Vanessa having her there). Alan said it’s time he takes back control and turn the company around, and then introduces the newest member of Spaulding Enterprises - Beth! Vanessa is visibly upset and Phillip is shocked, but Phillip then says he thinks it’s a great idea and it doesn’t bother him. Beth says she’ll start from the bottom and work her way up. Vanessa tells Beth she’s only there to stay close to Phillip, which is pathetic, and then Alex tells them that Beth will be Vanessa’s assistant LOL. They both argue about it, but Alex insists because it’s just business.

Alex and Beth became close because of Alex's son LuJack.

Upthread, ppl posted that Jenna was let go. Speculation that it was because she spoke out about BTS stuff.

Theories on where they are going with Ben?

Edited Sunday at 04:32 PM1 day by Spoon

58 minutes ago, Spoon said:

Alex and Beth became close because of Alex's son LuJack.

Upthread, ppl posted that Jenna was let go. Speculation that it was because she spoke out about BTS stuff.

Theories on where they are going with Ben?

Ahh, that makes sense, because Beth and LuJack were together for a bit, right?

I was thinking it was a combination of both - they wanted to let her go because she was outspoken, but she wanted to go because she hated the way they treated Zaslow... is that right? The whole situation is so sad. :(

Hmmm... it seems like Ben/Blake/Ross are in a stable truce now after he realized his mother actually did love him. I don't think Ross/Blake get back together for a while, so I'm going to guess that Ben and Blake give it a try dating with no outside pressures or secrets that have to be hidden. I doubt they last, but I'm going to guess that's what happens in the near-term. I'd love to see him be more human to everyone now and maybe make a friend here and there (beyond just Beth, who is now in another storyline and nowhere near Ben these days).

22 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Ahh, that makes sense, because Beth and LuJack were together for a bit, right?

I was thinking it was a combination of both - they wanted to let her go because she was outspoken, but she wanted to go because she hated the way they treated Zaslow... is that right? The whole situation is so sad. :(

Lujack and Beth were the real deal, and he died in her arms. I always contend that Lujack was her true love and that she only went back to Phillip out of familiarity. Which is why I thought she was acting so unhinged during the 1997/1998 period because she was adrift.. not because she was actually in love with Phillip.

I would agree with your sentiment about Fiona. Jenna had been watered down quite a bit especially compared to her 1992-1993 stint when she was more like an India type than the soccer mom she was turned into by 1998.

Watching late December 1991 and I’m pretty stunned Nick/Mindy dragged on for over three more years. I thought I’d get it watching with Kimberly Simms since Nick/Mindy seemed to be going through the motions in 1995 and they acted like Nick lost a great love to the pursuit of Spaulding power, but Mindy/Mallet definitely had far more chemistry.

Alex just kicked AM out on Christmas and flat out told him he could never fill the hole a long lost son could for her when Nick still is in denial about his clear parentage. I never watched with LuJack so this all leaves me fairly cold. (Though reading the Beth/LuJack backstory here it’s interesting to me that Mindy immediately falls for a LuJack given the Mindy/Beth consistent overlap of partners. It’s sort of funny Beth’s name doesn’t come up at all with Nick even with Lillian bonding with him.)

Lillian just found the lump in her breast-will be interesting to see the Ed/Lillian affair and aftermath.

1 hour ago, alwaysAMC said:

I guess behind the scenes, the actress wanted to leave, so I’ll be curious to see what they do with Buzz and the boys going forward.

I'm not sure if it's true or just a rumor, but I remember hearing that leaving wasn't her choice, but a punishment for her speaking out about Michael Zaslow's firing.

Alex was fond of Beth from the moment they met, at the masquerade party that (re)introduced Alex to Springfield. Phillip and Beth announced their first engagement that night, and if for no other reason than Alex knew Alan disliked the girl, (or felt some kind of kinship due to the fact she'd been denied her happiness due to Brandon) Alex supported Phillip and Beth.

Phillip and Beth broke up soon after (because Mindy was pregnant), and she started dating Lujack, and helped Alex and Lujack connect as mother and son. Alex and Beth grew closer, and remained close after Lujack's death until Beth's presumed death.

Re: Jenna---I heartily disliked the woman, but remember crying when she died. And there's a moment later that is just ....*chef's kiss*. (I don't want to spoil it.)

27 minutes ago, GL95 said:

Watching late December 1991 and I’m pretty stunned Nick/Mindy dragged on for over three more years. I thought I’d get it watching with Kimberly Simms since Nick/Mindy seemed to be going through the motions in 1995 and they acted like Nick lost a great love to the pursuit of Spaulding power, but Mindy/Mallet definitely had far more chemistry.

Alex just kicked AM out on Christmas and flat out told him he could never fill the hole a long lost son could for her when Nick still is in denial about his clear parentage. I never watched with LuJack so this all leaves me fairly cold. (Though reading the Beth/LuJack backstory here it’s interesting to me that Mindy immediately falls for a LuJack given the Mindy/Beth consistent overlap of partners. It’s sort of funny Beth’s name doesn’t come up at all with Nick even with Lillian bonding with him.)

Lillian just found the lump in her breast-will be interesting to see the Ed/Lillian affair and aftermath.

ALEX KICKED A-M out on CHRISTMAS? Sigh---I love Bev's Alex, but there are times you just want to shake the woman.

24 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Alex was fond of Beth from the moment they met, at the masquerade party that (re)introduced Alex to Springfield. Phillip and Beth announced their first engagement that night, and if for no other reason than Alex knew Alan disliked the girl, (or felt some kind of kinship due to the fact she'd been denied her happiness due to Brandon) Alex supported Phillip and Beth.

Phillip and Beth broke up soon after (because Mindy was pregnant), and she started dating Lujack, and helped Alex and Lujack connect as mother and son. Alex and Beth grew closer, and remained close after Lujack's death until Beth's presumed death.

Re: Jenna---I heartily disliked the woman, but remember crying when she died. And there's a moment later that is just ....*chef's kiss*. (I don't want to spoil it.)

Ohhh, I can't wait for this bolded part! Does it happen soon after or quite a long time after? You know, I didn't really enjoy Jenna's return storyline, which was my first introduction to the character. It felt a bit siloed, went on too long, and I didn't really enjoy Jeffrey. But, the one thing I did love about Jenna was how she made Buzz tolerable, and once Jeffrey was gone, and Jenna was more of a supporting character, I really started enjoying her and their relationship. The death scenes really got to me too, it was very heartbreaking. I knew she was eventually going to die through spoilers, but didn't know when or how... and had zero idea that Holly was sort of in the middle of it, so that was interesting to me.

Thanks to you too for the background on Alex/Beth and then Beth/LuJack, etc!

Edited Sunday at 07:14 PM1 day by alwaysAMC

6 minutes ago, P.J. said:

ALEX KICKED A-M out on CHRISTMAS? Sigh---I love Bev's Alex, but there are times you just want to shake the woman.

I was being slightly hyperbolic but not by much. AM comes over with a pile of Foundation phone records because Nick wants them for the Jean Weatherill murder investigation, and also thinks he’s coming for Christmas. He’s surprised the mansion is decorated to the nines and he’s a bit touched and says this all wasn’t necessary and she tells AM it’s not for him but for Nick and makes sure he has the records Nick wants. AM is concerned this could hurt both him and the company and Alex doesn’t care, she just wants to please Nick. Nick shows up only for the records not to bond (on Christmas like what are you doing to this woman Nick) and AM says maybe he should go and Alex is like “Yep sounds good.”

He then goes home and Blake has come over and is drunk and he realizes he needs to be clear they’re not going anywhere even though Blake’s obsessed with him. (He’s pretty kind about it.). He then takes off to chase his own obsessive love of Eleni that’s clearly doomed. Just sad all around with the obsessive love.

I do like some of the complexity with the AM motives because he definitely is very threatened by Nick by both what it means as far as his place in the family and the company, but his concern for Alex is genuine as well (along with his hurt of being tossed aside).

1 hour ago, alwaysAMC said:

Ahh, that makes sense, because Beth and LuJack were together for a bit, right?

Oh, they were more than together for a bit.

There were THE couple on GL for almost two years. They built up the character of Lujack like you would not believe, spending crazy amounts of money making a music video featuring him doing a Bruce Springsteen cover.

Then, because Vincent Irizarry, the actor playing Lujack, wanted to leave--COMPLETELY understandable, pretty much every young actor does so after their first taste of soap success (as Grant Aleksander did)--they killed off the character onscreen because they were so annoyed at him.

INCREDIBLY stupid move, both because of how popular the character was, and how they built up the whole story about Alex searching for her son the minute she hit Springfield. Then they tried to replace Lujack with a character named Simon and replicate Lujack's romance with Beth by introducing a girl named Jessie (Beth's cousin). One of many reasons 1986 was an awful year for GL.

Alex ADORED Beth, both when she was with Phillip and with her son. She was like the anti-Alan, loving Beth regardless of her humble background. (Yet she despised Harley, go figure). She didn't even seem to mind when Beth pivoted rather quickly back to Phillip after Lujack died. She was that determined to have her as an in-law, LOL.

@alwaysAMC Re: Jenna. I loved the big umbrella plot in 1992/93 where Roger used Jenna to take over Spaulding and booted them out of the company. I still remember the "evil" music they played at their wedding 😆. Roger had a female henchman at the time and the big climax involved a teddy bear being tossed around and Lucy catching it.

Edited Sunday at 07:39 PM1 day by Spoon

1 hour ago, alwaysAMC said:

Ohhh, I can't wait for this bolded part! Does it happen soon after or quite a long time after?

It's fairly soon after, and I think you would've mentioned it if you'd seen it. :)

1 hour ago, GL95 said:

He then goes home and Blake has come over and is drunk and he realizes he needs to be clear they’re not going anywhere even though Blake’s obsessed with him. (He’s pretty kind about it.). He then takes off to chase his own obsessive love of Eleni that’s clearly doomed. Just sad all around with the obsessive love.

I do like some of the complexity with the AM motives because he definitely is very threatened by Nick by both what it means as far as his place in the family and the company, but his concern for Alex is genuine as well (along with his hurt of being tossed aside).

Oh, got it. But it's still awful that she basically ignores him at Christmas. It's no wonder Alan-Michael always feels like the red-headed stepchild, when Alan and Alex always worshipped the ground Phillip walked on, or to whatever their latest obsession was (with Alan, it's his women, with Alex it was Nick.) And Rick Hearst always sold it beautifully.

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

Alex ADORED Beth, both when she was with Phillip and with her son. She was like the anti-Alan, loving Beth regardless of her humble background. (Yet she despised Harley, go figure). She didn't even seem to mind when Beth pivoted rather quickly back to Phillip after Lujack died. She was that determined to have her as an in-law, LOL.

Well, Alex despised Harley because she was a schemer who married Alan Michael so they could access his trust fund. She lightened up on Harley when she realized she really did love AM. Of course by then, he was having an affair with Blake, but I digress.

Edited Sunday at 08:41 PM1 day by P.J.

1 hour ago, DeeVee said:

Oh, they were more than together for a bit.

There were THE couple on GL for almost two years. They built up the character of Lujack like you would not believe, spending crazy amounts of money making a music video featuring him doing a Bruce Springsteen cover.

Then, because Vincent Irizarry, the actor playing Lujack, wanted to leave--COMPLETELY understandable, pretty much every young actor does so after their first taste of soap success (as Grant Aleksander did)--they killed off the character onscreen because they were so annoyed at him.

INCREDIBLY stupid move, both because of how popular the character was, and how they built up the whole story about Alex searching for her son the minute she hit Springfield. Then they tried to replace Lujack with a character named Simon and replicate Lujack's romance with Beth by introducing a girl named Jessie (Beth's cousin). One of many reasons 1986 was an awful year for GL.

Alex ADORED Beth, both when she was with Phillip and with her son. She was like the anti-Alan, loving Beth regardless of her humble background. (Yet she despised Harley, go figure). She didn't even seem to mind when Beth pivoted rather quickly back to Phillip after Lujack died. She was that determined to have her as an in-law, LOL.

I love your passion here! :) And thank you for the details! Definitely makes sense why Alex/Beth are close here in late 1998.

1 hour ago, Spoon said:

@alwaysAMC Re: Jenna. I loved the big umbrella plot in 1992/93 where Roger used Jenna to take over Spaulding and booted them out of the company. I still remember the "evil" music they played at their wedding 😆. Roger had a female henchman at the time and the big climax involved a teddy bear being tossed around and Lucy catching it.

You know I love a good umbrella story, can't wait to see it!

11 minutes ago, P.J. said:

It's fairly soon after, and I think you would've mentioned it if you'd seen it. :)

So I've been watching more episode this morning because I wanted to see how they honored Jenna... is it her spirit getting closure with everyone? Because I'm really enjoying those moments. Some are very sweet and some are very emotional and sad. I really liked what they did here, just to give her the ability to say goodbye to everyone special to her.