The age old question emerges again - does the end justify the means? Several of you have written to inform me that you think I am hard on Maxie, but easy on Liz even though they both told lies about their pregnancies. You ask me what the difference between the two is; both of them lied, so they should be judged equally right? Well, this delves into the gray area. Maxie lied to manipulate Lucky. She lied to keep him bound in relationship with her when he didn't want anything to do with her. She said she was pregnant when she wasn't, even going so far as to fall down a flight of stairs and fake a miscarriage and played the grieving mother to be. Her reasons were purely and totally self serving.
Liz, on the other hand, is pregnant and has withheld the truth about her baby's paternity as she is trying to protect Lucky and keep him from relapsing in his addiction to pills. And since we saw Lucky wrestling with temptation when he busted someone with Hydrocodone, perhaps you'll concede that Liz's concerns are justified. Here is my question to you, dear readers, do you really think Liz's lie and Maxie's lies are the same? One is meant to manipulate, one is meant to protect. One comes from a devious spirit; one comes from love and concern. Sure, both lies are lies, but the reasons for the lies make these two women polar opposites. Since Liz's motives are pure is she justified in lying? Nope. But I can feel sympathy for her, and I can imagine making such a choice.
Like Liz, I think I have at times felt responsible for other peoples' well being, even when that feeling was erroneous. Haven't we all struggled with such choices? We make sacrifices, and we fail to act on things we want to do because someone, somewhere will get hurt and we feel responsible for their pain. Jason is the father of Liz's baby, and she loves him. But if she tells the truth, she hurts Jason and Sam, she hurts Lucky, she hurts Lulu and Gram and all the people rooting for her and Lucky to reunite, she jeopardizes Lucky's recovery as he keeps saying "I am motivated to stay clean because of the baby..." All sorts of people are invested in this, so Liz feels responsible to EVERYONE. She decides she will be the one to bear the pain and let everyone else be happy.
Maxie, OTOH lied to get what she wanted and didn't care who she hurt. She's a selfish lying skank. And, by the way, just what sort of job interview was Maxie going to wearing her hoochie mama tank top in the dead of winter?
Speaking of lies and manipulation, right behind Maxie this week is Sonny, who decided to let Carly believe his freedom depended on her marrying him again even after an eye witness cleared him from any true legal jeopardy. This bugs me. If Sonny truly loved Carly at all, he would want her to be happy and he knows they cannot be happy together.
Jax and Carly deserve a happy ending and I pray they get it in spite of Sonny's latest tricks and wrangling. There are people, who are drawn together, like Carly and Sonny, but their relationship is unhealthy and the draw is merely bad habit at this point. They do love one another, and share two children, but they don't connect in any real way. They always self destruct when they are together. Their relationship is blatantly unequal. They are not partners, Sonny is dominant and Carly becomes a possession of his, not a friend, or soul mate, or cherished partner. Jax better leave Jerry in the jungle and come home and rescue his beloved before she gets sucked back into Sonny's Tractor Beam of dysfunction and violence.
But, Sonny and his mob pals weren't the only violent ones this week, A gun wielding Nanny McFreak, complete with her jagged tooth and wild eyes made one final appearance to terrorize Emily, but on the upside, she did tell Nikolas that the master manipulator, who could give Maxie lessons (Lesson # 1 - Never confess even when caught red-handed.) Grandmother Helena had baby Spencer and that he wasn't dead in the bottom of a ravine. Colleen is finally gone for good, much the same as Mary Bishop before her - it seems Prince Nikolas is a Crazy Lady Loser Magnet. (I still can't tell he's a prince just by looking at him.)
As the tales of manipulation continue, Tracy dug up something from Sam's past that Sam was so horrified about she quit her cushy Sucking Up To Edward job at ELQ. Apparently she went by the name Angela Monroe at some point and did something REALLY bad. But what? Jason already knows she was a con artist back in the day, and he was married to Courtney after he knew she was a stripper, so really - what shame could Angela Monroe have been that Jason couldn't handle. After all, Sam deals with the fact that Jason KILLS people for a living, so he kind of has to be open minded about other people's lives, don't ya think? Maybe she was a hooker, but Jason seems to like Bobbie okay, so I doubt that would faze him either. But, maybe The Jackal will erase all the evidence and we'll never know anyway. Sam's job resume must look like Ben Stiller's from Night at the Museum; she's had about 12 jobs for 2 days each. And she keeps getting hired. I guess there are perks to sleeping with the local mob enforcer, potential employers would be afraid NOT to hire you.
Ric has Alexis busted for her medical marijuana use, and is going to try to take Molly away from her while she's in chemo. What a weasel. I'm still mad that Ric never had to pay for locking Carly in a panic room for months. Past history aside, putting the mother of your child in jail while she is dying with lung cancer is a new low for Ric. And that's saying something as he has done a plethora of creepy things in the past.
And I breathed a big sigh of relief that Dillon has gone back to being Dillon and given up the charade of being ELQ Golden Boy. Good to have the Hair back, Scott. Bring on the film references, we pop culture geeks need a hero. Dillon and Lulu or should I call them Velma and Shaggy fired up the mystery mobile and tried to get Monica to confess, but no such luck. She stopped just short of saying "If it weren't for you nosy kids..."
What will happen tomorrow? Will Maxie drop the puppy back in the snow now that she can't use him to manipulate Lucky anymore? Will Jax get back from the jungle before Sonny injects Carly with his magically potent sperm and impregnates her again? Will the furniture store salespeople hide when they se Robin and Patrick coming back with the same darned couch again? Will Georgie sing Hot for Teacher on Sorority Karaoke Night? Will GH's version of 24 have the Boink Boink ticking clock sound? I LOVE THAT. Will the soap world ever see another Magnificent Dame like the late great Darlene Conley? (I'll miss you Sally Spectra!)
