Whatever happened to Christopher Cross anyway? He had two big albums (they were still on vinyl back in the day) and then...Poof. But not before giving us the oft played "Think of Laura" which ABC adopted as Laura's theme song and GH propelled into a smash hit for him. You think he would have volunteered to come to play it at their wedding. What else does he have to do? Maybe he's playing Branson or one of the showrooms at a low end casino.
Christopher Cross had it right, though. I think of Laura, too. I love Laura Spencer. And now, she's gone again, much too soon. I'm actually sad about it. I cried a lot last week while watching GH and wondered why in the hell I do this to myself? I have plenty reasons to cry in real life, so I don't really need the soaps giving me artificial reasons to grieve, do I? No, of course not, and yet - as the old Garth Brooks song said "I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end, the way it all would go, our lives are better left to chance. I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance."
I loved The Dance. This week, I tuned into Soap Net and saw The Dance again- Luke and Laura twirling around Wyndam's Department Store in a scene 25 years old, Laura in her borrowed ball gown, and Luke in borrowed top hat and tails. Have the soaps ever offered us anything sweeter and more romantic? (And Hutch was such a hottie!) Ah yes...Romance, Destiny, Fate, Soul Mates - the concepts I cling too with both hands - this is where I became a believer.
Whenever I lament to my Mom about what I want from men, from love, from life, the romantic notions I hold so dear, she always says "Tammy Lou, you watch too many Soap Operas. Life just isn't like that. Soap Opera love isn't realistic. Men aren't going to (fill in the blank) jump out of planes for you/ fight poisonous snakes for you/ ride the back of an elephant into a jungle to rescue you/ go to a shaman to get an evil curse removed from you..." - or whatever crazy crap I told her was happening on my soaps. Maybe not, but I still want that kind of love and I daydream about it, and I pray it exists. I want to own the kind of love that can bring you out of a 4 year coma still having a hint of lip gloss and shiny blonde hair and still being absolutely madly, deeply, truly, passionately in love.
Is this really the end of Luke and Laura? And, the bigger question, if it IS the end of them, do I give a crap about General Hospital anymore? I hate when I feel cheated by my entertainment. For instance, for the past 6 seasons I have invested myself in the star crossed lovers of Luke and Lorelei on Gilmore Girls. Then 3 episodes into the new season, Lorelei flew to Paris and married Christopher? Say what? Suddenly, I don't know why I am watching anymore. I feel the same about GH. If Luke and Laura are over for good, as they have lead us to believe, then is GH worth 5 hours a week of my life and another 2 or 3 writing this column?
Sidekicks come and go, but for me, they are the Main Attraction. What if Will and Grace dumped Will and Grace and just kept Jack and Karen? What if Seinfeld kept George, Kramer and Elaine and dumped Jerry? You just can't do that. We need our Luke and Laura, ABC. Are you listening???
Did you watch the old Luke and Laura episodes on Soap Net? Tony Geary and Genie Francis sparkle and shine and sizzle. They are captivating. I want to keep watching Luke and Laura until they are in their 80's, I want to follow the twists and turns their love will take. I want to watch them grow old together. This weekend was my 18th wedding anniversary, and my Mom said to me, "You and Jeff are just starting out! Your father and I were married 49 years when he died." And I started thinking about that concept - 49 years with someone. I can imagine Luke and Laura staying together for 49 years, heck they are already half way there. What's so special about them? They are twin flames, soul mates, meant to be, destined -whatever term suits your fancy. But what they can't be is over. No other couple on the show moves me or inspires me like they do. If they aren't coming back, EVER - I have to seriously rethink my decades old addiction to this soap.
Luke and Laura's first wedding drew 30 million viewers back in 1981. It's still the highest rated Daytime TV event, ever. Those two actors and the characters they play are Soap Royalty. They still have magic, amazing chemistry, boost the precious ratings, make the press take notice, so I can't come up with a single good reason why ABC won't do whatever is necessary to keep them both on board.
And, back to present day, Laura's return also gave her kids their best scenes in eons - her goodbye scenes with each child, were absolutely heart wrenching. Can you imagine what it must have meant for Nikolas to have his mother tell him that he had her heart that he was most like her? He struggles constantly with the part of him that is Cassadine, so to hear that his mother sees her heart in him had to bring him some measure comfort and peace. Tyler Christopher has always had the ability to exhibit such emotion and tenderness in his eye and facial expressions and he didn't disappoint in these beautiful and poignant scenes.
When Lulu finally told Laura about her abortion, she got two things she needed; she found out she was a wanted child, and she got her mothers absolution, so perhaps now she can find peace within herself about her own choice and move forward. Not to mention Laura's big revelation that she in fact did NOT kill Rick Weber, which is supposedly the thing that pushed her into a mental breakdown in the first place? Lulu now has a mission to prove her mother's innocence, and to find out who really killed Rick and is responsible for her Mom's initial meltdown. Helena sounds like a likely suspect to me... Anyone else have a guess?
Lucky easily and quickly confessed his sins, as he is the child who spent the most time with his parents and he knows exactly who they are and knew his mother would love him no matter what. I think unconditional love is the greatest gift anyone can give - to know no matter how badly you mess up, no matter what bad choices or mistakes you make, the love is solid as a rock.
I don't know if Liz and Lucky have the staying power of Luke and Laura. Liz is holed up in her studio nursing Jason's latest gunshot wound. Question...Liz, who is constantly whining about not being able to pay her bills and working double shifts at the hospital to make ends meet is paying rent on the studio she NEVER paints in anymore for all these years? Hey Liz, don't be a bonehead. Ditch the second rent and maybe you can buy Cameron some toys for Christmas. But if you ARE going to keep the place, you could at least hang something on the walls and make it look a little homier...
Jason and Liz have a certain appeal to me. Sure, Liz is a hypocrite who kicked Lucky out as she didn't want Cameron around the dangers of a drug addicted Dad, but now she's hanging out with a hit man, so to all of you who have written, indeed I see the injustice here. But, in Liz's defense, Cameron has never seen Jason shoot anyone, although he has seen Lucky stoned.
But even though Lucky got hooked on pain meds and slept with that skank Maxie, I want Liz to forgive him anyway. He blew it, for sure, but I believe in second chances. Their love has withstood a lot already and I don't believe this is the end for Liz and Lucky. But the fact remains, Liz is pregnant with Jason's baby, and they are going to have a child together. Lucky will have to deal with that, just as Liz will have to deal with Maxie's pregnancy (Oh wait, she is FAKING) Jason and Liz are going to have to work together to parent their child. Jason doesn't know he's the father yet, as even though Liz confessed, Jason passed out right at the instant Liz said it (another convenient Soap Ploy) so he didn't hear it. When Jason asked her "Hey what were you saying to me when I passed out?", Liz keeps saying semi-rhyming things like "No, I didn't say "You're the Daddy", I said "Burger patty. I wanted a Big Mac SO bad!" But we all know he will find out.
Another moving scene this week was Lorenzo praying in the chapel. But, I have to know, was he actually asking God to help him avenge his son? Normally people pray for nice things as we forget God is all knowing and try to fool Him into thinking we're nice people, but not Lorenzo...He came right out and asked God to help him get revenge on his son's killer. God didn't answer.
Or maybe He did, as Sam is safely locked away in the PC jail where Jax and Sonny and anyone else who wanders in can come in and visit with her. I'm glad she's in there simply because she's not running all over town screeching at people and that's a relief. Ric framed her, and eventually that will come out, if poor 'White and Nerdy' (A Weird Al song, download it if you haven't heard it) a.k.a Spinelli can get to the cops before he gets gunned down, too.
Tracy is finally grasping the fact that she can have Luke's name but never his heart, and the rest of the Q's are settling in to eat their Thanksgiving pizza as Emily donated their feast to the hospital staff where Patrick and Robin are eating a buffet in the hospital corridor after performing emergency surgery on the holiday.
What will happen tomorrow dear readers? Will Robin develop another miracle drug that counteracts the last miracle drug so Laura can wake up again right around May Sweeps? Will Spinelli get high score on the Ms. Pacman Machine at the local 7/11? Will Kristina milk her emotional trauma and be SORAS'ED and steal Jax from Carly? Will Carly come up with anymore flimsy reasons to kiss Sonny? Will ABC keep paying Genie to appear as the back of Laura's head now that she's catatonic again? Will we all lose our will to watch GH if Laura is never coming back?
