GH: May 2024 Discussion Thread

[Khan]

I thought the same thing this morning.  Not that it's a joke, per se, but that it's ironic how almost everyone on this show is changing professions except the two people who need to change their professions the most.

If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that EK/PM were, in fact, making some kind of statement there, but that's being too cynical, lol.

Edited May 6, 2024 by Khan

[BetterForgotten]

Honestly, other than moving a few pieces around and a change in the day to day writing, I do wonder how much control PM/EK really have in the writing. 

I know PM didn’t put up with interference/mandates from past jobs. But I also need to consider he’s older now, and may need health insurance or something, lol. The show feels like, for the most part, that everyone is happy with the status quo and whatever changes are being made feels more like window dressing rather than trying to correct systemic issues that have plagued the show for a long  time. I am desperately waiting for a big burst of new energy that still has yet to come 2 months into this regime. It almost feels like TPTB decided PM/EK would just provide more gloss over the typical material they continue to dish out, and expected just that. 

I know that old adage of giving things more time, but 2 months in, and I still feel something about this show is as half baked as ever with this regime. I am struggling to find what the true vision is here - and to @Khan’s point, part of that definitely lies with FV as the EP. 

 

 

 

[carolineg]

At the risk of sounding like a HUGE Sonny defender, can he just quit?  I know Brenda made it sound nice and pretty, but does he have a successor if he retires?  Jason is currently out, so is it Brick lol?   I am sure he has enough money and all that, but could Sonny actually say 

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 and move on without consequence?  

I also have no idea what the "mob life" actually entails so I am just asking basically. 

[Vee]

That's because it still definitely is. I had a feeling from the beginning when he was hired that there was no turnaround time for a new long-form bible; I think they expect people to just jump on without clearing any new stories or characters ahead of time. There's a lot of improvement I see day to day which I often enjoy watching, and an admirable new ethos re: the mob, but there's a very slow pace to the plot or changing anything too much and I wonder what or who is behind that. I wouldn't be shocked if FV is handicapping it, but it could well be ABC becoming overinvolved again - or both. And the FV guarantees/taping process make the pacing issues that much more difficult. I think they started strong in March with the Jason story, Ava scheming and the Pikeman reveal but right now everything feels stuck in second gear, waiting for FV to let key characters and storylines take up more airtime.

The newest and freshest thing for me remains Drew and Nina and hell, even the Heather redemption stuff which is controversial for people at best lol. I hope they are allowed to actually end the Pikeman story in grand fashion this sweeps. But I'm not holding my breath. In short I think it's not enough time to truly judge things, but I also think there is plenty to analyze and yes, critique.

[Taoboi]

5-1

 

A tale as old as time when people are doing scandalous things...the near miss. Oops. Lol. The Nina/Drew mess continues to be fascinating to watch. 

 

Continuing my bias, I enjoyed the set-up with whatever is going on with Aidan. But I will take Liz anyway I can get her. And dare I hope to have a story with her that is not romantic or with Finn? 

 

I'm not sure how I feel about how they are writing Lucy. Yes, Lucy is self-absorbed to the point of being over the top. BUT Lucy was already a clever BUSINESSWOMAN. So all this mess with Home and Hearth and Maxie/Scotty trying to talk her off the ledge is really starting to bug me. Not that Lucy would not be this way. She would. But, they don't have to attack her self-esteem so much. 

 

I like that TJ and Molly are really starting to disagree over Kristina. Because for too long they really have been (mostly) in sync. And a happy couple CAN be a boring one. That said...TJ (even if he looked great in those jeans. WOOF) is coming across as a bit of jerk. 

 

LOVE the Alexis/Natalia scene. It is just nice to see Alexis as cute to how articulate as she can be. And some of her word choices just grabbed me dialogue wise. 

 

So...'Vanna' is never ever getting back together, huh? lol. I had to laugh at Val's attempt to romance Anna knowing that Anna's intelligence is currently WORKING.

 

 

I just don't see Sonny bowing out without what usually happens...which is a power vacuum where some rival tries to take him out to be sure he doesn't want his power back. 

 

Or in my wildest dreams (before the surrogacy) Kristina stepping in.

 

 

[DRW50]

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There are probably more clips (I'm not sure) but I didn't want to clog the thread.

Memories of first watching a decade ago is probably overhyping them, but I think Monty's era, at least in that period, was able to have a certain rawness in those moments to make the docks seem dangerous, whereas later on I just felt like they turned a fog machine on and put a few crates in the background.

Edited May 7, 2024 by DRW50

[Vee]

That location shoot and its lighting were not Eva LaRue's friend. Jeeee-zus.

Edited May 7, 2024 by Vee

[Bright Eyes]

Sue me, but I don't mind Natalia at all. Maybe I just like Eva LaRue, but I'm hoping now that Ava was seething and sharpening her fangs at her interloping presence that she'll inform Natalia of who Sonny really is, a criminal, and that'll be the catalyst in her making real moves against Blaze/Kristina. As for the mention of a brother ... a potentially sexy latino newcomer ... I'm sensing he's the one that could be brought in for Trina.

And no he isn't shredded, but I still think Chad Duell looked like a snack. I wouldn't have kicked him out of bed. 

[Vee]

I am fine with dadbod dudes IRL - they can be hot. But it's the whole personality of Michael, the years of bad story, etc. that make the larger overall package unappealing to me.

And I don't mind Natalia in theory, but in practice all she is doing is wandering around complaining, propping up her mediocre daughter (though Blaze was a bit better today) and now the classic dreaded chemistry test with Sonny. I'm open to the brother, open to better story, but I want to watch her make trouble and add drama and action, otherwise I don't need her here.

[Liberty City]

Same!

[allmc2008]

I hope that the pill tamper story is a red-hearing. To me, it seems like it motivated people like Anna and Laura to see what Sonny really is but what they are mostly highlighting is the years of corruption up to that point. I imagine it will play like a 'get out of jail free card' but then PM/EK will pull one over and make it so that it's clear it wasn't. I predict a who-done-it, of course. But I feel that it will arrive AFTER the pill reveal. The attitude will start to shift to 'oh, well, Sonny's pill were tampered with so let's forgive him'. But the person who does it (Kristina would be fun if she lost the baby because of all this. Or the person she's carrying the baby for) will be motivated IN RESPONSE to peoples attitudes changing. The person will be sick to death of Sonny always coming out on top. That complicates my Kristina theory, though. But if it is her, and he lives, he'd know that he will have to change his ways.

 

I'm also sensing a Godfather III inspired scenario. In this case, he wins the case and someone shoots at him, she gets killed, not him, (at the courtroom), and looses the baby.

 

In my fantasy he goes new age and opens up one of those hippy stores that sell Tye-dye shirts, dream catchers, and Bob Marley merchandise. He can get his hair braided. When he's stressed, he'll just smoke some pot. He'll slowly turn into Chong of Cheech and Chong fame. Fall in love with someone similar (played by Dorothy Lyman) and the two of them move away to open up an Alpaca farm.

[Taoboi]

Yeah, I've been waiting to see the clear dad bod he's been sporting under that suit...since everything else is in place and nice.

 

Was not at all disappointed. Another actor who looks even MORE attractive with a little more meat on their bones. 

I'm not against that either. lol. 

[carolineg]

Chad Duell isn't my type or anything and he did gain some weight.  I hate Michael and everything,  but I still think he's attractive.   I hate his actual character not his looks

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[Khan]

Mobsters can and do "retire" from the organization.  (They never call it "the mob" or "the Mafia").  And in Sonny's case, you could make the argument that he SHOULD retire, due to his mental health posing a challenge to the stability of his organization.  And you also could make the argument that he needs to be...eliminated for the very same reason.  But, my point is, even when mobsters retire from running their outfits, they're never truly out of them.  Many crime families have pension plans and 401k's for their retirees, which means the retirees still profit from the extorting of others.

What does the "mob life" entail?  You name it: drugs, prostitution, bookmaking, racketeering and yes, even infiltrating unions.  Wherever mobsters see an angle they can exploit financially, they will; and they will say, in so many words, "You will use my men, my merchandise, my equipment, etc., to move what I tell you to move; and for every dollar you make, my organization gets x percentage.  And if you don't pay up...?  Well.  You've got a lovely business here.  I sure would hate to see something bad happen to it."  (Sound familiar?  It should, because not too long ago, we had someone in our WH make a very similar threat.)

Remember Johnny Friendly in "On the Waterfront"?  He used the longshoremen's labor union to control the docks.  The men who handed out daily work assignments to the dockworkers had to use Friendly's men each day, "or else."  That practice placed Friendly in the crosshairs of the Waterfront Crime Commission, which meant that any of his men who chose to testify against him would face certain death.  It's witnessing one such death - and realizing the part he played in setting it up - that makes Terry Malloy (Brando) realize for the first time that the man he's been enforcing for is a "cheap, lousy, dirty, stinkin' mug!" (By the way, Friendly, by way of Terry's brother and his own right-hand man, also made Terry lose a pivotal boxing match years before, which is where the famous "I coulda been a contender" speech to Charley Malloy comes from).

So, don't laugh too hard whenever you hear about Sonny, Jason and their "coffee importing/exporting business."  They could very well be importing and exporting coffee.  It's the methods they employ to import and export the stuff, while bullying and intimidating their competitors in order to have the advantage in their market, that makes them sociopaths and criminals.

Two other, important points: 1) Theoretically, each "family" controls a neighborhood or section of a city or town, so "mob wars" are essentially turf wars, where one "family," sensing vulnerability in a rival organization, uses threats, intimidation and especially physical violence to seize control of the other family's territory; and 2) mob killings are Never. Personal.  Even GH can get that wrong sometimes.  When mobsters kill, or order someone to be killed, it's strictly business.  So, for example, if your spouse is beating the holy hell out of you, you're not gonna go to the local family and put out a hit on them, because that's not what they are in business for.  Even if your spouse works for the organization, the most they will do is talk to them and tell 'em to "knock it off," because if their spouse gets bold enough, they're gonna talk to the cops, and the cops are gonna start poking their noses where they don't belong. 

As a matter of fact, there's a very famous story about a woman (whose name I'm blanking on atm) who helped bring down one such "family" after they refused to help her go after the hoods who attacked and raped her one evening in a store basement.

 

Wow!  Thanks, @DRW50, for finding it for me! 

Natalia could hire someone to "stalk" Blaze in order to increase her visibility (and drive a wedge between her daughter and Kristina).  In turn, that could be the catalyst for Kristina's losing the baby, as Blaze's stalker gets carried away and ends up putting Kristina in serious, mortal jeopardy.

Edited May 7, 2024 by Khan

[Vee]

I do think he's attractive! People used to mock me for how down bad I was for him in the 2010s lol. Again, I'm all for dadbods and normal physiques IRL. It's just that the whole character is such a schlub that it's just one more thing that makes me tired of him, like this is our spent leading man.