GH: May 2025 Discussion Thread

[Jdee43]

Lois's return has been a bust. So disappointing that the writers have never written for her. As with Tracy, the pool of GH vets is so thin, there's no one to pair her with. Doubtful they would go to the trouble of properly recasting a legacy character and then sticking  him with Lois; they're obviously not that invested. If she wants to be on this show, it'll be as a noisy grandma who stays in the background. 

[carolineg]

I agree.  Rena doesn't seem to mind the lighter workload and seems happy though.

Strangely, a lot of the veteran cast are without viable love interests-Sonny, Nina, Lois, Jason, Tracy, Alexis, Carly (Brennan doesn't count).  The show lacks serious interest in romance.

Edited 14 hours ago by carolineg

[DRW50]

He also lost the woman he was going to marry, under very sudden circumstances.

They are probably surprised Rena has wanted to stay. I think Lois works OK in her current capacity, if they allowed her to have more of a point of view, a bit more life of her own, and not just the reason for Gio's paternity being hidden. The character always felt very thin to me and on paper this dynamic with Tracy, Brook Lyn, Gio, visits from Gloria could be better for her than how overly centered she was on the canvas the first time around. But as of now she could be better used. 

Somehow the show that was revived due to supercouples seems completely alien to romance. The older cast has this hardest but even with tiers who are younger or middle-aged, they've really dragged their feet about Liz and Lucky, they have contorted themselves in trying to figure out how to pair a man with Joss, Kai and Trina barely get focus...and others I struggle to remember. They also blew up Sasha/Cody so now I guess we're meant to be waiting to see if she finds true love with Jason?

The show is so hesitant and when you are this hesitant it means you are incapable of writing romance.

Edited 14 hours ago by DRW50

[Chris B]

I had hoped they'd pair her with Michael Knight. They had a nice chemistry and he's been one of the better random castings on GH.

When it comes to Gio, I found the scenes with Dante to be overdone. It's obvious they're trying to set up conflict for the reveal but I don't think that was needed. It actually made me less excited for the reveal and killed any interest I had in Dante and Gio forming a bond.

[carolineg]

I always thought Lois was such a unique character and considered her supporting her first run.  She was in a lot of different places on the canvas, but I don't think she had more focus than Brenda or Robin at her peak.

With Ned basically out of the picture Lois doesn't quite have enough ties on the canvas to make her relevant and the show has done very little to give her new relationships and friendships.  She's stuck in the Q mansion most of the time.

Oh, I agree it's a problem across the board for GH.  The only stable couples on the show are Brook Lynn/Chase and Portia/Curtis.  Unseen Olivia/Ned and Kevin/Laura are happily married I suppose.   Eventually I am sure Liz/Lucky and Dante/Lulu will get their romance, but is there any other couple that's even rootable?  

I can't recall an era when Jason, Carly, and Sonny were all at such loose romantic ends at the same time.   Which is fine.  However no other romance besides Willow/Drew is being focused on.

[Contessa Donatella]

Agree to disagree as to Lois's return. Moving from the specific to the general, IMO, successful: Tracy, Lois, Lulu so far & Lucas so far. Questionable: Lucky. But I do not believe that having a romantic partner at all times is the be all & end all of things. 

Reminder about how we got from there to here with Rena: Everything was a part of the great unknown, whether they'd like her or vice versa, so they by intent signed a 30 episode deal. Before they even got to the end of those 30 episodes they knew they really liked each other a lot & so they with mutual satisfaction (we think) agreed upon a handshake open-ended deal, which as far as anyone knows is how it still stands. What is good about that? Neither side has YET wanted it to end. What's bad about that? Maybe it is a little weird. 

Now, it seems to me that Lois is not going to have time for anything or anyone at all EXCEPT the fallout over the GIO reveal for the upcoming future days & weeks & I do think she is going to take the brunt of a LOT of people's anger. In a way that has begun this week with Tracy being SO UGLY to her. 

About Jason & romance. They're not writing any. If I understand what he's said from that podcast they never had any intention with either Anna or Sasha. Also, if they had wanted to write either of those, he would've been against it, although he realizes it's not up to him. (Finola has expressed same at fan events, etc.) (Others who have similarly stated their "preferences": Sonny does not want to be with Carly. Carly does not want to be with Sonny. So, these preferences Jason, Anna, Sonny, Carly, they all work out & none of them is having the show want those pairings either, so, again, works out. 

About these writers & romantic couples, they spent a year blowing up every couple that existed. Now a few months has gone by & they have YET to create even one new couple. The only thing that has come close is Lucky & Liz. 

Edit to ADD: Ric & Ava, I forgot. 

Edit to ADD: I also forgot that the show *supposedly* wanted a classic triangle between Lulu, Dante & Sam before KeMo's firing & this was revealed as a spoiler back then at a  regular Monday night Suds & Square Media podcast. Certainly an easy idea at one point to hear as a fan. If not for firing, it would've written itself, right?

(Trying to give these no-romance writers the benefit of the doubt.)

Edited 10 hours ago by Contessa Donatella

[DRW50]

I am probably veering more toward the classic thread, but I felt like her original run had her more as a moral voice for the Quartermaines than was needed (I thought her connections with Sonny and Brenda made more sense). 

Sonny, Carly and Jason are all suffering the consequences of being too prominent for too long. They are above any relationships due being unable to form human connections. I do still wonder just what their original plans were for Jason this time, if they even had any.

[John]

Dante jumps to conclusions

Remember when Dillion went with the Spencer's to help Lucky in 2015

Dante assumed an affair andslept with Valerie then called lulu a wĥore 

Only after explaining did Dante apologize

[Contessa Donatella]

Agree to disagree. I think both Jason & Carly do human connecting pretty much all the time. Sonny is different.

And I think Jason's return is pretty clear. It was, and is, about Jason's capacity for self-sacrifice & his capacity to dedicate himself to a thing or person or whatever in a very singular, possibly even extreme way. Steve has tried to make the point to fans that Jason would have possibly done this for other people, not just for Carly. If I try to follow that to some conclusion, I ask myself who? Danny? Yes. Jake? Yes. Sonny? Yes. Sam? I'm not sure. Liz? I think so,  probably. Monica? Definitely.  Any other Q? No. Spinelli? Strong maybe. 

What do you think?  One thing that helps me think about it is the speech he gave when he talked about getting the new ink. (tatooed arm)

Valerie Cooper? Or Spencer?

[carolineg]

I do get your point about the Q's stuff with Lois back in the day.  I will say there were a lot more Quartermaines and a lot more stupid, corrupted plotting in the 90's.  I think the show went out of their way to make Lois seem almost naive, unprepared for such an insane family

The whole idea that Lois had to move far away from Ned and PC to raise Brook Lynn was a bit flimsy for me as well.  I mean, no judgement, but BLQ still got knocked up as a teenager lol. 

I appreciated Lois was also hard on Sonny back then.  Lois could clearly see his flaws even if she loved him.

Yeah, Sonny, Carly and Jason don't really deserve human connections with anyone but themselves lol.  I always have wondered if the show did want to re-pair Jason/Sam and whatever happened with Kelly happened.  

Edited 11 hours ago by carolineg

[Vee]

It seems obvious based on the initial material that Korte was going to take another foolish run at Jason and Carly a la 2021 and hoped Mulcahey being back would make it work, as he wrote such famous material for Steve, Sarah, etc. I think a couple good dialogue scenes came out of them together very early on, but there was never any denying that Steve and Laura have never had and will never have any romantic chemistry, plus the audience doesn't want it.

So they pivoted to her with that useless dayplayer (Brennan) and now here they all are, spinning their wheels doing nothing of value on the show. I do think PM had planned to do much more with Jason's sons and that rivalry/friction, but once he was gone so was Jake. I've rarely seen any of the core mob 3 feel so totally extraneous and directionless on the canvas. Not that I mind. Anything that makes Jason easier to get rid of works for me.

Edited 10 hours ago by Vee

[Liberty City]

Credits for Wednesday, May 7, 2025:

Created by: Frank & Doris Hursley
Executive producer: Frank Valentini
Head writers: Chris Van Etten, Elizabeth Korte
Writers: Suzanne Flynn, Scott Sickles, Cathy Lepard
Director: Denise Van Cleave

[ranger1rg]

That's how I feel. Beats could have been played for the past couple months wherein Dante and Gio interacted and had a difference of opinion -- or something. I don't know. I do know that this crushing rant that blames everything on Gio is absurd.

-- Reading over all the comments here about characters and couples, it's kind of amazing that we have any show left considering the number of times actors and writers and execs were given influence to make major character and story decisions. Too many cooks in the kitchen.

[Taoboi]

hahaha at the Brennan shade.

 

But even I saw this and have to agree. What's really sad is that some of the person on that list could easily have a love interest that is on the canvas. They just need to be written for. 

[John]

Spencer