GH: May 2024 Discussion Thread

[dc11786]

I still find the show oddly engaging. I watched Wednesday and Thursday, both of which were pretty strong in my opinion. It helped that a good amount of the story carried over from one episode to the other. 

The bulk of the work in Gregory's death story works for me. I think it helps that I didn't start watching until a few months ago so I don't have years of built up animosity (probably deservingly so) that impacts my ability to enjoy the story. In the past, Mulcahey has also spoken about some of his own issues with his father (I believe in reference to Buzz Cooper on Guiding Light) so a lot of the emphasis and detail in this story doesn't surprise me. I think a lot of the work on character dynamics these past few months really pays off well in this story. I think it is becoming clear that the Alexis / Tracy heat which I assumed would be present in a legal story over euthanasia will instead go into the battle over authority over Gregory's literary legacy. I can already anticipate the posts about how boring some will find it. If done right, I think it will provide a good chance to play the conflict between those involved. How will Chase handle the decision regarding his new grandmother-in-law's desire to want that role? How will Tracy and Alexis rectify their places in Gregory's heart at the end of his life? If Finn and Alexis do become romantic, how will this impact Chase's decision given the history between Finn and Chase's mother, Jackie? I'd also have had Tracy retain Fergus Bryne as her legal representation to play a potential Tracy/Fergus pairing (though I hate all the contract/non-contract pairings) as well as to explore the inheritance piece that they have hinted at with Fergus. I would bring Jackie back for several months for this story, but I recognize this is a show with a bloated canvas. I imagine this will be one of the first stories dropped when Mulcahey is out the door if it hasn't been wrapped up by that point. 

Drew's political story works well for me. Willow as the cheerleader continues the build of the Willow / Drew connection which will more than likely lead to an affair if the story is allowed to continue. I hope that this is used to turn Michael into a heel as I think has been suggested before. Michael's stance regarding Drew's political career is logical, and I imagine it will only continue to create resentment when Drew changes his name to Quartermaine for the campaign. Now, I am wondering if it won't be Michael who will out Willow's role in the helping Jason in order to create a minor scandal to remove her from both the Tomorrow Institute and from Drew's orbit only for him to open a new hole when Ava decides to set up Willow as the one behind the med change leading to a medicated Sonny thinking that Michael, Willow, and Carly might out to get him. 

Ava's confrontations with Josslyn and Alexis were both great. Maura West just seems to be having tons of fun making everyone's lives miserable. I am curious if this will continue to play out as I think with Ava manipulating Josslyn into causing Kristina to suffer some medical complications with the pregnancy in part because of the Dex - Sonny conflict. I also found Ava going after Nina and Nina giving as good as she got pretty fun. 

The Sonny-Dex fallout stuff is particularly strong. I thought Dante's stance with Dex was smart. Kristina pointed out what I think I said last week about not seeing her father commit acts (and maybe that's a rewrite but that's what I had assumed). Also, Dante reframing his shooting for Kristina, who acted like she believed (wanted to believe) the line that Sonny accidentally shot him was a nice beat. The conflict with Molly over what to do with her knowledge of this incident (will she call Kristina to the stand in the Cyrus case to show that Sonny has a history of violence) is intriguing to me.  

Spinelli and Maxie's dilemma makes for fine C-story material, but the odd decision to pair contract actors with non-contract romantic partners is incredibly odd. 

As much as I enjoy things, the lack of story flowing from episode to episode does make the show hard to reach the point of must see versus just being a good one off. 

[John]

Yeah I think GH is shooting itself in the foot by letting PM go and letting EK be sole HW

If they want her as HW, get a co-HW who is strong. They had wrong but let him walk/go

[DeliaIrisFan]

I am finally caught up on the past week-plus, after falling a bit behind on account of the demoralizing BTS news and holiday weekend. 

I agree with those who've said that killing off Gregory at this point, the day after his biggest health concern was that he wouldn't be able to finish officiating a wedding, was a copout.  If Gregory was not a beloved enough character to headline a long-term ALS story, then someone should have thought of that before they started.  (I find it hard to believe the previous regime and/or FV wanted to go all-in and Mulcahey took the easy way out, but if that's actually happened then that's not okay either.)  Unless they were going to do an equally realistic and dramatic euthanasia story.

Whether a story about a 100% terminal illness with a known trajectory makes sense dramatically on a daily soap opera is another question.  I would argue that it does, or at least it could.  The suspense wouldn't have been about what was going to happen to Gregory physically - instead, his worsening symptoms and knowing he's going to die soon ish could have raised the stakes for any and all other drama.  The story wouldn't even have had to center around Michael Easton, if they are or were writing him out - Finn could have gone off to rehab and Gregory could have moved in with the Quartermaines, along with Brook Lynn and Chase now that he's a Q-in-law.  Caring for a parent with disabilities could have been an added stressor for whatever newlywed drama the show has planned for them.  And we could have seen an actual relationship with Tracy play out, and what that might look like as his physical condition deteriorated.

Meanwhile, the Lane Davies stuff did not work for me at all (never watched SB).  I am not a lawyer but I can't believe that was how a bar association hearing would play out?  In fact, I just caught a Golden Girls rerun in which LD played a lawyer in a courtroom scene that was supposed to be a farce (this was a later-season episode) and the tone seemed pretty similar, except the directing and jokes on GG were way better, and there were comic geniuses on hand to play off his ridiculous character.

Was "Fergus" supposed to be there as a family member of the "victim"?  He was seated at what looked like the prosecution/plaintiff table and they kept referring to him as "opposing counsel."  At times, Alexis seemed to be acting as though his family connection was a bombshell revelation, but if that would have made for an improper conflict of interest, why was he allowed to stay?  I also had assumed the dead brother whose hearing Alexis perjured herself at was the character LD previously played (they kept saying she was disbarred in 2020 and I was trying to figure out how LD had lasted so long) and they were supposed to be twins.  I now realize that wasn't the case, so why not make him an unrelated character who could spar with Alexis in a more realistic way, like one of the judges?

That whole interlude—more than anything to do with the awkward pacing, poor editing, and unwieldy number of characters nobody knows what to do—is the one thing I've seen on GH that makes me seriously question whether PM was ever best suited to be a head writer.  He's presumably the only one involved who would have cared to do any of this, so it's easy to say this reflects his unadulterated vision.  But you know what, Mulcahey has proven he has enough writing talent that I would have rather he'd been given the time and the breathing room to prove himself one way or the other.

Because otherwise, I've still been enjoying the material.  I don't care about Sonny at this point, let alone Jason, but the reactions of the characters in their orbit work for me by and large.  (Most of) Sonny's adult kids are genuinely interesting.  The wedding was fun, even if I'm not invested in the couple.  Ned and Lois were awesome (I wish it had been Ned to tell Tracy about Gregory, like they had foreshadowed).  Watros and West are getting powerful material, and even Mathison is charming and engaging. 

Was any of that leading anywhere?  We'll never know, but now for sure it won't lead anywhere.  You'd think after decades of micromanaging and/or playing musical chairs with writers, someone with power in this industry would finally remember that the promise of payoff used to be what kept audiences tuning in, and any backstage disruption is going to set a show back months if not more.

Edited June 2, 2024 by DeliaIrisFan