GH: November 2024 Discussion Thread

[detroitpiston]

Today’s episode was really solid. I liked Jason and Carly playing role reversal with her chewing him out for acting reckless. Ric and Drew was a surprising team up but it works well and lead to some great Jason vs Ric scenes at the end of the show. Carly and Drew finally addressing their break up over her loyalty to Jason was good too, I can’t wait for her to find out about Drew sleeping with Nina and Willow.

I agree with @Vee that they allowed too much of Lucky and Aidan’s dynamic play out off screen so now he looks like a bum trying to once again run out on his family. This is a potentially good story with great actors being killed by poor guarantee management. That said I did like the material today with Lucky boxing with Sonny and debating staying in PC as well as Liz talking to Terry on how she’s fed up with his antics.

Did a Hulu binge yesterday so I got some thoughts on stuff that aired throughout the last week or so. First off I loved seeing Jason whoop Drew’s ass

Please register in order to view this content

much deserved and Ned’s reactions were hilarious.

Willow and Drew finally banging was outrageous and I do like how shameless they both are behaving. Drew embracing his inner Quartermaine has been a much needed shift I just wish Michael wasn’t being written as such a wuss having his daddies fight his battles while he mops around town distraught. Hopefully his call to Diane leads to more torturous behavior towards his wife and uncle.

Kristina is absolutely insufferable to me now and those scenes with her making Sam’s death about herself to Natalia and Alexis were gross. I did like her remembering Molly’s birthday tho.

They really gotta just cool it on Sonny and Natalia btw, its never happening. At this point just put him with Alexis.

Jack and Carly on the other hand is the best LW pairing I’ve seen in ages. He should have been a Jax recast but I kind of like Carly dealing with a new man that can observe and be jealous of her dynamics with fresh eyes

Isaiah has been a great cast addition and I’m glad he’ll be added to the hospital roster. His chem test with Molly was really good, this actor has worked well with every screen partner they’ve put him with.

I couldn’t believe they added two more young black male actors, BTG really has TPTB shook I think the sidekick had a bit more presence onscreen but I do like Kai and his chemistry with Trina so far. I wish somebody would work with Tabyana Ali on her unnatural line delivery though…she’s been on the show too long for that, it takes me out of scenes and at one point it seemed like it was rubbing off on Kai’s actor.

This whole Sasha paternity reveal and Sidwell kidnapping was incredibly hamfisted but its made me warm to the actress more so, mission accomplished I guess. Tristan Rogers has also sounded ready for retirement all year so I’m glad they put him and Holly together and ushered them off.

The show has been strong overall IMO but some episodes have been killed with the 40 second scene editing. The episode that had Sasha and Felicia talking about Holly and Alexis being comforted by Diane was the worst offender of this, good scenes that never were allowed to breathe. It must test better with audiences but I hate it, same with the pots and pans background music.

[Vee]

The problem with Willow and Drew is not that it finally happened (after far too much dithering post-Mulcahey), it's that in the moment that it did it made zero sense. As I said before: Willow recommits herself to her husband and takes Michael to bed while proclaiming her brief infatuation and couple kisses with Drew were a terrible mistake. The next day, Sam dies and Willow initiates sex with a grieving Drew in her baby's nursery. Huh??

Willow doesn't know Michael slept with Sasha and as far as she knows he's been totally forgiving. There was no rift, no impetus for her to 180 in less than 24-48 hours, and none of the writing since summer has built up any kind of intense enough sexual obsession between Willow and Drew that would make either of them completely flip and throw caution to the wind. She just comes off psychotic. So doing it this way, with her taking Michael and Drew to bed in rapid succession, feels like little more than a very mechanical, plot-driven timeline setup for yet another pregnancy/WTD story. Which is of course GH's M.O. - more babies, babies, babies to kill as many annual hours as possible and fill time. It worked with the surrogacy and they'll just keep doing it.

I don't care about Kai and Trina so far because the scenes feel very artificially forced, the same old 'antagonism to attraction' setup we've seen a thousand times. I think not putting her with either Gio or more importantly the rumored new Quartermaine character that may have been dumped smack of keeping her in a box with a C-player, where GH would prefer she stay. I have little faith these two will not end up the new Bryan and Claudia. But we'll see. As for Isaiah I honestly think he has the most chemistry with Lucas even though Van Hansis' performances so far are uh, variable at best. While Vaganos has given some good performances I don't really care about the latest Molly or Brennan and I never will; I think Molly needs a long break from the show and I don't care about this dayplayer they've foisted on Carly to give her something to do. But that's all my personal taste.

I think it was Shelly Altman who was recently quoted saying either the network or the show was very paranoid about writing anything re: little Aiden being gay a few years ago (and wouldn't even allow Julian to take on a white supremacist prison gang when he was incarcerated - a far cry from the very hokey but weirdly prescient One Pure People online Nazi storyline FV told at OLTL in the 2000s). And we know they allegedly cut scenes in the spring under Mulcahey where the teenage Aiden played by the previous actor would come out to Laura. I am pretty sure they're only going there at all now that they have an actor who is of age, to deflect any potential attacks from the usual hate groups. I think that caution and sanitized storytelling is only going to get far worse over the next four years.

[ranger1rg]

Completely agree with that, and it's especially bad on a show that pretends it's progressive on LGBTQ+ characters and stories. It's laughable.

Also agree with you about Van Hansis. "Variable at best" is the way to describe these performances. I might be less judgmental if he played a new character, I don't know. This just doesn't feel like Lucas to me.

[Vee]

Being deep in a revisit of GH in the mid-90s (specifically, '95) makes it that much more depressing.

I am not prepared to throw in the towel on VH yet because it seems clear Carnes is not coming back any time soon, but woof this has been all over the shop already. Not that the writing or direction helps at all.

[Soapsuds]

Why did they recast Aidan only to show him a mere two times. They could've just kept the previous actor.

JJ is being wasted on the show. Why did they bring him back?

[Taoboi]

11-8

 

Jason to the rescue!!! lol. But we were overdue an explosion so cool. 

 

Meanwhile, NLG continue to give a masterclass on grief. I haven't found a false note at all in Alexis dealing with Sam's death at all. And these scenes with Olivia...the first time they have been seriously interacting since the Ned Slept with Alexis storyline? It just had such gravitas. 

 

I also liked the BLQ/Dante scenes. Awwww Dante. And I was right there with BLQ when she found out Sam and Dante was engaged. And then the plot point of where the lovely blended family that I've grown to love would live. I liked that Alexis and he are tabled it for now, and everyone will be staying at the Q mansion. LOVE there are so many people on the grounds again. 

 

Tracy and Cody scheming??? YES, PLEASE. Or Tracy scheming period. This show is long overdue a scheme team that isn't a bunch of psychos.

 

Did I mention Jason to the rescue? lol.

 

Overall, I would say it was a good if uneven week. It's like if the New/Old Writers had their way, the Robert/Holly/Sasha storyline would be A story. But it's the continued aftermath of Sam's death and how it ripples out that made it into B story. And the Michael/Willow/Drew mess was easily the C plot.

[ranger1rg]

From the Jonathan Jackson we know, he cannot be happy about this storyline. I can't imagine anyone being happy to return to writing like this.

[Taoboi]

That block filming...

[Taoboi]

11-11

 

Well, it's nice to get a Holly vs Anna catfight before Holly runs out of town again. lol. That said...NO to Jason/Anna. If they don't quit...

 

And what the frak was that opening? Perhaps I'm now getting too used to the swooping camerawork on the past week of Y&R now that Ed Scott is back, but that car crash was abrupt. No built-up whatsoever. And honestly, I had forgotten about Natalia. And ugh at Kristina. So...propping.

 

I did love the scenes between Mac/Robert and Sasha/Felicia though. Holly might have been the best things as of late to happen for Mac because it's giving him some story since he has lessen since the Cody reveal. And Felicia talking sense into Sasha was beautiful. Given all the talk about how the writers wrote Felicia out, hearing her express regret and not being able to be around when Georgie died was well-done.

 

Ugh at Drew/Willow. Drew is coming across as a creeper now. And dare I say it...obsessed? Hehe at Michael seeing them. 

[DRW50]

I'd be surprised if Jackson returned expecting anything of quality. Money talks. 

No soap genuinely cares about lgbtq characters. It's just lip service. The show only even made a statement against racism because of racist trolling, and proceeded to even further marginalize the actress who was targeted.

I don't even know what Lucas should feel like. The character has never had any real voice beyond Ryan Carnes being a likeable, low-key presence. There was no reason to bring him back beyond said lip service.

[Vee]

I think there's always (currently, anyway) a reason to have Lucas around. He is a core Spencer and a surgeon who can play well in good story. I don't think he should be relegated to the dustbin just because these shows are so often cowardly. The problem for me is story and in this case atm the actor. The material is not great but Van is ropey too, and in my admittedly limited experience with him from the past I suspect he is highly dependent on material. A lot of which at ATWT was bad as well.

If they wanted to put him with Isaiah I'd be for it - they're both attractive and Isaiah isn't a sniveling toad like what Brad has basically always been despite some better days before his regression to form. But I have no faith in them doing much substantive with him besides maybe counseling Aiden. Still, I would rather have Lucas around than not. Dog days don't have to last forever, for any of us.

[BetterForgotten]

Regardless of material, Hansis was always a pretty sh!t actor that overplayed everything at all times to me. 

[DRW50]

I don't think the show should bother with gay characters unless they are going to treat them as genuine presences, but even beyond that, I feel like the Spencers are pretty much done, unless they heavily invest in Lucky, Liz, and her kids (which doesn't seem likely). Carly, Michael and Carly Jr. are black holes and Lucas has limited ties to them. And the Jerome side of Lucas is all gone now. I don't know what his future is. I know I've already said that enough as it is though.

Edited November 16, 2024 by DRW50

[Vee]

I mean, I think they are pretty well positioned to reinvent heavily in the Spencers with all of them but Luke now back. The issue is execution. But I think we can hardly call them done when they're all right here. Whether they should do it is a matter of personal taste. I think they can and should, but I also have little faith in this team executing well on what should be a layup with a series of popular individual characters and couples all from the same family. They've already bungled a lot of the Lucky stuff, though his return should deal with his flakiness.

It's true Carly is totally adrift and so is Joss, but I really don't care about either of them right now. They (particularly Carly) can float around at best and not be in any real danger until something presents itself. But I couldn't care less about Brennan, and I am more inclined to write Joss out for a little break than Dex the cop tbh. He could always hang around a little while and be a pleasant enough stud for some women to sleep with at this point, then he can vanish and you can bring Joss back as a schemer. It doesn't have to be too profound. Carly should be totally overhauled (and probably recast, but I digress) but that is a problem for another day.

Edited November 16, 2024 by Vee

[DRW50]

I would agree, but then Sam was in the same boat (I actually think there were more viable paths for Sam than for the Carly of recent years). Admittedly Kelly was not in the same position backstage Laura is in, due to many factors, but I think the show finally writing her out just shines more of a light on how spent characters like Carly, Jason and Sonny feel. It's just that the show also doesn't make any effort to bring in new characters viewers should invest in.

They had a good thing going with Liz's sons, mostly played by decent actors and tied to the past, present, and future, but that was all squandered and now we're left with a 30 year old Aidan.