GH January 2021 Discussion

[AbcNbc247]

I heard that he was, but I haven't really seen that much of it. But overall, it does kind of show that putting so much emphasis on the mob really has hurt GH in the long run.

[full hearts]

Yes, he was. Benny & the other mobsters were so happy when Jason confirmed he was taking over for Sonny.  

 

 

 

[Faulkner]

The character of Cyrus just doesn’t work at all, both in the writing and sadly in the performance. GH has really undermined the show by centering every story around him.

[ranger1rg]

Agree completely. It’s an utter failure. Cyrus is a terrible character, made even worse by an actor who is woefully miscast. Just a mess. 

[carolineg]

 

Thanks!  I remember everyone saying how great Jason was as the boss and how he eliminated threats and violence and so on...and he immediately let Sonny have it back when Sonny reappeared.  No questions asked.  It was a weird period with Jason becoming Sonny-like and wearing suits all the time though.

So my assumption is Jason will be fine this time.  I guess he just prefers being the enforcer?  Idk, I lost track of Jason's motivations years ago.  Does Jason still have brain damage issues?  Like not being able to read maps which was a thing on the show in 1997 lol.  Can Jason read a map now?

[full hearts]

I think he can read a map now. lol I don't think Jason minded being the boss but he left the mob and the reason for Sonny's return was to take back the territory from Moreno. Jason at the time was out of the mob and was still being targeted. Hence, Sonny's return and taking over. Jason concluded that whether he was in the business or not he was going to be a target unless he moved to another country. The show referenced that not to long ago when Sonny/Jason talked about the breakup with Sam.

 

I actually liked that he wore suits, or dressed up a bit. If I recall he dressed up because he wanted to look the part, he was still wearing business attire when Sonny came back that next year. It wasn't until his visits and final return in 2002, that he adopted his wardrobe now. 

[carolineg]

 

I vaguely remember Jason and his bike shop and him leaving the mob.  I did not remember the reason for Sonny's return.  I thought it was because the threats were gone and Brenda was 'dead'.  I definitely tuned out after Brenda's mom drove her off a cliff.  I remember popping in to watch Sonny return, but for some reason I just remember him drunk and crying on an island over Brenda and I remember being super annoyed MB left for a year then returned 2 months after VM left.  Then I was further annoyed with all the Robin stuff that led to KMc's exit 

 

So who was in charge of the mob between Jason and Sonny's return lol?  I assume it doesn't matter, but now I am kind of curious to find MB's return on you tube.

[Faulkner]

Can they kill off Jordan? Cyrus can do one good thing in his tenure.

[StevieM]

I finally caught yesterday's episode on the internet.  And FV appears to have done something that is amazing to me, although I guess it shouldn't be.

 

It seems like a scene with Liz and Maxie wound up on the editing room floor.  Liz followed Maxie to the bathroom.  We never saw them speak, and instead we got boring Franco and Peter stuff, that I guess was more germane to the development of the story that they are pushing.  But the Liz and Maxie stuff would have been so much more interesting, given their history.  

 

I hope they find a way to show it to us, via flashbacks.  But my guess is that they won't.

[Dion]

I wasn't watching at the time but from reading SOC recaps it seems Jason got spooked by a car bombing that almost killed Robin (shades of Sonny and Lily). So he made a deal with Moreno to let Moreno take over his organization, provided that Moreno left Jason's men in place as insurance so that if anything happened to Jason, Jason's men would be still embedded and able to avenge him.

 

However, as @full hearts says, Jason was still targeted by Moreno's mob, though indirectly through Jason;s family and friends. Johnny, Jason's former bodyguard, had left the business and was trying to run a new restaurant but Moreno tried to force him into his protection racket in direct violation of his agreement with Jason; Moreno had Johnny beaten up when he resisted.

 

Now this next part is slightly off-track, but I think it's an important subplot to the story. At this time, Felicia was renting a room on Cortlandt Street, the bad part of town, in order to do research for a book she was writing. Alan, who was an addict and had been kicked out by Monica, was renting a room across the hall. Moreno found out about Felicia and planned to have Felicia drugged in order to obtain compromising photos with which to blackmail Mac, but this plan failed and it was Felicia and Alan's friend Tammy who was drugged. Alan's drug-dealer was killed and planted in the bed with Tammy; Alan found them and tried to get rid of the corpse, only to be discovered by Taggert. Alan was arrested for murder. Felicia eventually figured out what had really happened and that she was the intended victim of a blackmail scheme and detailed all of this to Jason. Alan was cleared and underwent a rapid detox.

 

Just before Christmas 1998, Jason went to visit Sonny (who was drunk and grieving over Brenda) in Puerto Rico. While there, Jason got word that Moreno had targeted The Outback on the night of a performance by the band Chicago (nothing specifically to do with Chicago of course, just an interesting tidbit), that resulted in Mac being shot. Jason failed to persuade Sonny to go back to Port Charles, so sent Mike to look after him over the New Years period. Eventually Sonny was persuaded to return and he started building a new organization to rival Moreno's. Sonny had Jason cut ties with him for a while so Jason would be in a stronger position to fight for custody of Michael (as AJ had just learned the truth from Robin). Jason eventually returned to being Sonny's right-hand man.

 

Later that year, Moreno was assassinated by his henchman Sorel on the same night that they had ambushed Jason (and the same night Sonny and Carly had "hate sex"). This led to nearly two years of Sonny vs Sorel. After Sorel was murdered, Sonny pretty much took over the territory, though one of Sorel's men, Rosco attempted to make a name for himself and became a rival of Sonny's. Rosco was eventually killed and his widow Faith took up his mantle, while Sonny also faced new threats from first Luis Alcazar and of course later his brother, Lorenzo.

 

**I think I got a bit too carried away detailing the history of the mob in Port Charles

 

TLDR: Jason gave mob to Moreno in return for Moreno not targeting him, Moreno reneged, Jason got Sonny to return, Sonny built new organization while Jason preoccupied with Michael battles, Sorel killed Moreno, Sorel murdered, Sonny wins the mob.

Edited January 9, 2021 by Dion

[carolineg]

 

No, thanks for that.  It's very detailed.  Sorel and Moreno are names I know, but I think they are the same person lol except one had the annoying daughter that wore only white then only black.  All I really remember from that time was drunk Sonny on the island with a hooker he treated poorly (and Mike's presence), Jason's Carly/Michael obsession (some things never change), Robin moaning about losing Jason before they broke up, Sonny being ridiculous with Jax (implying it was his fault that Brenda died), and Hannah showing up with practically a neon sign over her head saying "Brenda replacement #1". Oh I remember Juan showing up too assuming Sonny was his father because apparently he was an idiot and didn't realize his birthday was no where near the time Lily and Sonny were married, but whatever.  In my head, I really just assumed Jason was still in charge then just gave it back to Sonny.

You make it seem more coherent and exciting than I am sure it was because I don't really remember anything about the mob stuff until Alcazar shows up and I thought his mob stuff was just a front because he was jealous of Sonny/Jax due to the fact he was in love with everyone's favorite special flower Brenda.  

I tried watching a little bit on you tube and I was like OMG boring until Carson's hate sex.  I can't believe once upon a time I was into Carson.  I forgot the tidbit that Sonny slept with Carly to prove what a slut she was to Jason.  WTF, that's the strangest logic I have ever heard as an excuse to get laid.  Oh Sonny lol lol

[Dion]

The names (and actors change) but the basic characterization stays the same!

 

It was Sorel who had the annoying daughter. I think she was the one who ended up killing him.

 

 

Yes, I find that summaries will often make a storyline seem more coherent and exciting. I think it's because the day to day factor is removed; you don't have to watch something uninteresting play out over months, it's just neatly packaged into a concise summary lol.

[carolineg]

 

As someone who loved Jason and Sonny in the 90's and still have some affection to both of them this day, I have always found the intricacies of the mob extremely dull.   The only mob villains I can clearly remember are the Zacharras, Alcazar, Faith, Rivera, and Frank Smith.  That's a lot, but it only covers 25% off the threats over the years.  It's basically the same story played over and over.  

 

Also, Angel was the daughter's name or also known as Brenda replacement #2 with a built in past with Jax to make it more "interesting"

[Taoboi]

I know unpopular opinion, but I liked Angel. But I felt they built her up nicely from what I remember. But yes...Brenda Replacement. And that was so weird how she was the one to kill him.

 

And then I felt her and TB Carly had great hate chemistry.

 

But...I don't remember...what was her history with Jax.

He was.

 

It's been a minute since I've seen it, but I remember that everyone preferred how Jason ran the organization over Sonny. Wasn't there even a bit of tension between them when Sonny finally came back? 

[carolineg]

 

I think I inherently disliked the actress because she was on 90210 and Brandon cheated on Kelly with her.  Not that I cared much about Brandon/Kelly, but she was an annoying character.  

I believe she and Jax had a previous relationship before she was introduced.  They had an affair but I am unclear if it was before he came to PC or when he briefly left.  But I remember he hires her to look for Brenda because apparently even at that time people thought Brenda was still alive?   Idek.  I think Angel just randomly left town or was escaping the police and Sonny helped her randomly leave town.

I liked Hannah more than Angel.  And I hated both, but I thought at least Hannah had some possibilities with Taggert or AJ.  Her ridiculous likeness to Vanessa at the time probably did her in more than her acting or character.

 

ETA:  Totally forgot the whole reason Jax left was because he saw Brenda alive when Vanessa made that awesome 10 second cameo in 2000 so he totally had reason to believe she was still alive and kicking it with Alcazar although the boyfriend's name was something else at the time.

Edited January 9, 2021 by carolineg