The Decline and Fall of the Monty Empire

Week Four (Jan. 20-24, 1986)

Lila: "Don't you trust your own flesh and blood?"

Edward: "Never. Because he is my own flesh and blood."

Laurelton, the mystery stuff: What Anna, Frisco, and Sam accomplish, tracking down Ralph Russell, Bobbie's kidnapper and manager of the Purity Water plant, takes a backseat to how they accomplish it. I can tolerate the week's worth of episodes it takes to get us to Russell's last stand at the bus station. During this time, not only does Anna meet Sam (on Monday), but we also see Frisco effectively getting information out of people (the woman recovering from a stroke and getting speech therapy from Tania, then Tania & Tony themselves). I also liked Buzz reminding Anna that she is making progress with the Brownstone case, even if the scene still feels like it's between besties rather than a potential couple. I'm giving a demerit, however, to the filler scene where Sam mistakes an innocent blond man for Russell, who's wearing a wig to try evading capture. Then again, he's not that innocent. He's a married man receptive to the idea of Sam trying to pick him up. Anyway, Russell fires his gun, Anna fires back, and it looks like Russell could spill the beans about Earl Moody's death.

Laurelton, the relationship stuff: Terry ends the week having declared a truce with Patrick, who is also friendly again with Kevin. On Tuesday, Patrick apologizes to Terry for "the role I played that night in Laurelton," and later in the episode, she tells Anna that the night she was named Miss Purity was also the night she had her first liquor. On Friday, Terry reveals that both Russell and Ted have been in her nightmares. I wonder if viewers at the time thought either or both of the men had drugged and/or raped her. This week also included more information about Miss Purity -- it wasn't an annual award. Jennifer's image was on Purity Water bottles when the company was founded. After that, Terry's mother's image was on the bottles, then Terry herself. Speaking of Purity Water, Jennifer's second priority (after trying to get Russell the hell out of Port Charles) is preparing to keep Patrick from assuming the privileges of being majority stockholder. He's quite clearing going to boot her out as board president. Again, it's dime store Falcon Crest stuff.

Mike's paternity: Mike, Ginny, and Rick all were getting on my nerves in this batch. What stinks is that it felt like we had a natural place to resolve their conflict. On Wednesday, Rick Jr. chokes on a safety pin, resulting in the Webbers and Derek all ending up at the hospital. For the second straight week, Mike draws blood:

Ginny: "Things have been a ... little crazy since you left."

Mike: "Yeah, well, I can tell. Look how you almost killed my baby brother."

I suspect it won't last, but I'm still loving Derek & Lorena as the biggest adults in the situation. Rick ends the week mad at both Derek and Ginny. Ginny ends the week mad at Rick, thinking he's rejecting Mike. I don't blame Ginny for being so exhausted-pissed-frustrated when Rick asks about who's watching Rick Jr.

"I'm! ... the baby is fine. Amy is with the baby. I suppose, of course, you think I left him alone, right?" -- If Judith Chapman was going up on her lines, then she did a really nice job of covering it.

Judith had the most challenging work of the week, but I'm going to give my acting crown to Jack Wagner for Frisco telling Mike about his father, and how he waited too long to resolve their differences.

Frisco & Sam: Oh, brother, now Ruby thinks they're going to hook up. And she is not having it. Frisco doesn't help matters on Friday, when he suggests posing with Sam as newlyweds while they keep an eye on Russell. Felicia's coming back soon, which means we can eventually resolve this non-story. On Thursday, Sam notes that if she and Frisco were on TV, they'd have slept together by now. Thursday also has a comedy scene of Frisco & Sam in a full GH elevator. She steps on his feet, they talk about their partnership, and he says he trusts her "Every inch of the way." (Shouldn't the punchline be "Every step of the way"?)

Sean vs. the Quartermaines: The rollercoaster is still ascending, but we do get some amusing and slightly interesting family stuff. Edward and Alan are certain that Jimmy Lee's sharing more information about the Brazil situation in his letters to Celia than he is in his letters to them. As for Celia, she fills in for Felicia as Sean's secretary, keeping an eye on her and Jimmy Lee's 10% of Donely Shipping. On Friday, Celia gets saucy with Monica, resulting in a "You're in my gatehouse" moment.

Other thoughts:

-- If I took a shot every time Jennifer & Ted go down those stairs at the Brownstone ... Patrick even comments on it, sarcastically noting that they're always around to hear the good news.

-- This has just not been a good month for Port Charles as a city. The flu is working its way through General Hospital, the police department, and Mike's school. And if that's not enough, Robin's school (which might be the same as Mike's) has an early dismissal due to the heat going out.

-- "... I miss you, baby. Love, Jimmy Lee." Just to clarify, that was Celia re-reading the end of her letter. That wasn't Edward reading Celia's letter. If it was, it would have scored Line of the Week.

-- Stella shows up on Friday to continue the running gag of Edward hating herring. Jessie's still MIA. Audrey's back on Thursday to team up with Buzz. They have Yank & Jade go on rounds together so that the young adults might stop being distracted by one another.

-- Oh, and Bryan & Claudia have apparently resolved their differences.

I forgot to mention that the lore surrounding Purity Water reminds me of this classic SNL commercial parody.

My God, the Laurelton "mystery" still sounds like the most boring storyline ever. That [!@#$%^&*] wouldn't have flown even on "Scooby-Doo," lol.

Edited Saturday at 04:26 AM3 days by Khan

Thanks @Franko

Dreary as Laurelton is, I think I would still watch over the last days of Rick and Ginny. Judith Chapman is a very charismatic performer, but I can only take her in limited doses, and I have never liked anything I've seen of Chris Robinson as Rick (seeing him wear a sleazy chain in the episode where Laura vanished only cemented my disdain).

At the time Bryan/Claudia and the Asian Quarter characters were likely seen as tokens, yet barely anything has improved since then.

I wonder if Bryan and Claudia will even have an exit.

It would be very funny if someone who just started the show also read your summaries and thought - Quartermaine stories and Anna stories...not much has changed! I guess this is a reminder that not as much has changed as you would think if you've been with the trenches with the show for eons.

Edited Saturday at 10:00 AM2 days by DRW50

9 hours ago, Khan said:

My God, the Laurelton "mystery" still sounds like the most boring storyline ever. That [!@#$%^&*] wouldn't have flown even on "Scooby-Doo," lol.

It's quite tedious, justifiable only in that we're watching Anna, Frisco, and Sam improve at their jobs.

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Dreary as Laurelton is, I think I would still watch over the last days of Rick and Ginny. Judith Chapman is a very charismatic performer, but I can only take her in limited doses, and I have never liked anything I've seen of Chris Robinson as Rick (seeing him wear a sleazy chain in the episode where Laura vanished only cemented my disdain).

This is one of those instances where I wish I had no idea what to expect. I'm not looking forward to Rick and Ginny's eventualy custody battle with Derek and Lorena.

5 hours ago, Franko said:

It's quite tedious, justifiable only in that we're watching Anna, Frisco, and Sam improve at their jobs.

IDK which poster on SON (or maybe another board?) said it eons ago, but they hit the nail on its' head: for weeks on end, scenes would consist of Terry wailing like a banshee, Bobbie coming in and asking what the hell was wrong and Terry saying she can't talk about it. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Edited Saturday at 07:46 PM2 days by Khan

9 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks @Franko

Dreary as Laurelton is, I think I would still watch over the last days of Rick and Ginny. Judith Chapman is a very charismatic performer, but I can only take her in limited doses, and I have never liked anything I've seen of Chris Robinson as Rick (seeing him wear a sleazy chain in the episode where Laura vanished only cemented my disdain).

I've been watching circa-1980 GH on youtube recently and I don't know if it's because the 2002 retcon is in my head, but something seems a little off with Rick Webber for me. I don't know if its the performance of Chris Robinson but him being retconned into being a creepy dude does not really feel so crazy.

Was Robinson popular at the time on GH? Or was it more Lesley, Monica and Alan that brought him into a good impression?

4 hours ago, soapfave06 said:

Was Robinson popular at the time on GH? Or was it more Lesley, Monica and Alan that brought him into a good impression?

He was popular, but not so much that anyone picketed GH and wrote letters when he was let go, which did happen with Lesley.

I know his two leading ladies had their issues with him, but I never had a problem with Robinson as Rick onscreen. I think he gave exactly what the role asked for. I can see how others might find him stiff. It was a mistake putting him with Judith Chapman, lol.

Luke "dies."

Anne Jeffreys - YouTube

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Luke "dies."

I wonder if this was during the period when GH was still being taped at Sunset Gower Studios, rather than at the Prospect Studios. IIRC, both DAYS and GH were taped at Sunset Gower at one point, although I'm not entirely sure why the latter show relocated there.