GH: November Discussion Thread

[Toups]

Oh wow, I just saw Claudia's death scene and I had to LOL. JFP overproduced that montage with that woman's vocals/singing thing. I mean that thing works well in a movie like Gladiator...but....this.was.hilarious. Though the actual montage and direction was pretty good. They should've gone with a standard dark/suspenceful music piece.

[Toups]

Welcome to Guza land.

[MarkH]

I think I'm surprised that Jason -- Jason! -- is so worried about Michael being "stone cold" about this death.

It's almost like he's desperately trying to avoid Michael becoming like him.

I find myself sad that Carly-Jax are breaking up in all of this...I kind of liked that couple.

I enjoyed the Jason-Lucky scene. I loved how JJ played two levels of that...that he showed a real character who'd be willing to skirt laws just beneath the surface of his cop. And, yes, I bought him as a grown up adult cop.

Jason and Lucky have such a complicated history...I can't say I fully read all that in the scene. But I did think that they played a comfortable familiarity in behind all the cop stuff.

As a very long term lapsed viewer, I am finding this week is drawing me in. Maybe that's partly because other stuff bores me this week.

[Toups]

Agreed. He has some of the worst dialogue in all of daytime. Just like brimike said, it makes me want to punch my tv!

[DRW50]

I think that was the actors, not the characters. There was never any familiarity or comfort with the characters when GV was in the role.

A lot of actors on GH have given up. It's money and safety to them. So if Steve Burton, who gives those painful/mournful stares through every scene, gets to look at someone and gets to flash back to a decade ago, when he still thought he might have a career outside of Jasus, he's going to enjoy it.

[JaneAusten]

MAybe being a lapsed viewer is best and you can see things those of us who have been tied to this show so closely are now blind to.

I don't care for the Michael character because that was the start of the downfall of this show being about anything other than the mob.

Carly/Jax I've been bored by them for a while but honestly they do make a decent not really dynamic pairing. But they kind of fit now

Jason and Lucky? I thought Steve Burton owned that scene for once. I like JJ but I just don't find him convincing as a cop but he's only been back for a few episodes. I just am really burnt out on all the "JJ is back type" like he's singlehandledly saving GH.

[JaneAusten]

If anything JJ's got more energy than the other actors on GH and might help but the rest have a moment here and there but are lazy. MB, SBu, IR, TC. And actors who give it there all all the time like RiH, Chad Brannon, are let go. Heck all the Q actors (Stuart Damon, Wally Kurth, Scott Clifton, Billy Warlock) have it their all each and every time. I still say the actresses are the strongest part of GH but I have to wonder what KeMo is doing these days and what they see in LLC. My appreciation for Sarah Brown went up 100 percent in her last 2 weeks. She rocked.

[DRW50]

What they see in LLC is her bosom. I was watching a clip of The City from when she was held hostage by the Masquerader, and she was wearing a tight top with a thin jacket, her breasts threatening to burst through the top. And that was subtle compared to her GH wardrobe.

Going by your list, I would say that those who actually make an effort are punished. I think Luza wants a specific idea put forth and those characters who don't fit that idea had better watch out. If they get too noticed, it's time to go. Meanwhile, the actors in the role Guza admires may end up phoning it in all the time both because of laziness and because that's what is required anyway. Like the Dynasty showrunners, who told some of the cast to be inexpressive and not try to interpret the writing.

[JaneAusten]

Wow not interpreting the writing? I never heard that. Could be who knows.

[MarkH]

You know, I'm the kind of viewer (except I'm not a woman under 49) that this JJ thing (and even the Claudia stunt) is supposed to bring back.

For me, a lot of what I'm seeing is quite fresh, and much more interesting than what is going on on my soap right now. And the underlying horror of this intergenerational transmission of violence--of Jason realizing that after a lifetime of trying to protect Michael, he has failed...it is working for me. (I'm also prone to do a lot of "filling in the blanks" in my head...so maybe I'm seeing more than is there).

I didn't think I'd watch the show for 2-3 days this week...but after last Friday, i kind of got sucked in...enough to keep looking.

[DRW50]

So basically you're saying that you feel sorry for Jason?

That's one of the reasons I get tired of these stories. For over ten years, viewers have been asked to feel sorry for violent killers who hurt everyone around them. Jason never protected Michael. He kept Michael in the mafia world when Michael was an infant, because he felt the Quartermaines were unworthy. Then he was happy to abdicate responsibility of Michael to Sonny so he could go have his various adventures with Courtney and Sam and then the endless angst and mournful starefests with Liz.

The most I remember him doing to try to help Michael was a boilerplate "guns are bad" speech, which, given the life they lead, is laughable.

It's the same old story with these characters. Pity the poor drug runners and murderers who are treated so cruelly by the world. They're the true victims. They can't help themselves.

One of the reasons I liked Wiseguy so much was they allowed us to feel sorry for the underworld figures, yet also see how corrupt and doomed they were, and how it was ultimately their own fault.

[JaneAusten]

Well I sort of get the multigenerational impact here but on the flip side I have seen bad things happen for years for the lifestyle these folks have chosen on GH with no direct change to their lives or real consequences. I really doubt this is going to be much different.

Sonny's pregnant wife was killed, Brenda was kidnapped, he shot Carly during childbirth and Jason, his father and sister both died as a result of his lifestyle. His wife lost a baby due to this, he allegedly can't be with his biological son because his life is so so dangerous. Yet in all of this Michael, who is supposedly the "real son" of Sonny, Jason, and Carly has been welcomed and engrained into their lives, has already killed(I don't buy the re-write of someone else killing AJ. Michael still smothered AJ with a pillow), has asked his dad to order hits against people, purchased a gun for revenge and shot Kate, and now has murdered Claudia.

Is this to show real consequences for their decisions finally? I don't think Michael is going to pay or end up an evil person. That would kind of defeat the idea of Michael becoming the next antihero on this show, following Jason.

[bellcurve]

I'm pretty sure Mo Benard makes it up as he goes.

[NorrthCafe]

Carl, you must be wrong because Sonny and Jason are the GOOD mobsters. They don't sell drugs or dabble in prostitution. They HELP prostitutes in trouble, remember? Somehow, in mystery mob land, they've grabbed power and the bad mobsters tremble in fear, despite the fact that Sonny is just a coffee merchant.

The writers were able to swing sympathy for the mob boys when it seemed as if they had no choice but to leave that lifestyle and that they would, for the sake of their families. The longer this goes on, the less sympathy they're able to conjure for the two and now they've ruined Michael (dubbed 'Mykill' by fans when he was believed to have killed his bio father, AJ, when he was just a small child).

The mob boys' storylines are starting to feel as if the writers are writing them with their pants down and rulers drawn! Women MUST betray the loves of their lives, the men who treat them with honor - to protect the mob boys. Children must hate their families, people who would allow them to grow up without a thirst for blood - to protect the mob boys. The PCPD must be stupid to the point of being unable to tie their own shoes without written instructions - to make the mob boys and their "heroic actions" necessary.

When you have to work that hard to make heroes of your 'heroes'... they ain't heroes.

[Juliajms]

And yet he still can't spit out his lines without all the stuttering. It's unreal how bad he's become. Not that I ever thought he was all that to start with.

I've always assumed they are gun runners. Nothing else makes sense, considering we know they are anti-drugs and we are supposed to think they are good because of that. You don't need an enforcer to import coffee.