On any given summer day, you wake up, throw on some shades and flip flops and go to the beach. You find a place to park and dig in the trunk for your sunscreen. You realize that it doesn't fit in your pocket and shrug, as it's kinda cloudy anyway. You walk out onto the sane and about 8 seconds later, you're sunburned from head to toe. Okay, so that was just a brief recap of my Saturday, but the point is - things you don't anticipate happen anyway, and sometimes very quickly. Liz was in the park with her kids, and in a flash, baby Jake was gone. What happened next was even more unexpected, Lucky blamed her for it. Imagine that the worst thing in the world that could possibly happen to you happens, and the person who is supposed to love you most makes it worse by throwing accusations at you.
Here's a news flash for Lucky; the victim of a crime is never to blame, no matter how careless they may have been prior to the crime. If you run out of your house in a hurry one day and forget to lock your door - it still isn't your fault if thieves come in and rob you. It's THEIR fault. If you go out on the town in a mini skirt, and someone rapes you, it's not your fault for dressing sexy; it's still the rapist who's the criminal. And with Liz even though she turned her back on a newborn baby, it's not her fault - the kidnapper committed the crime. Lucky's response was cruel and shameful. No wonder Liz would rather go see Jason in lock up for comfort. Of course if the PCPD had any security and she had to get a cavity search before going in, she may rethink it.
However, if you get drunk and act like a bonehead all over town, there's no one else to blame for that. Sam's drunken tirade to just about everyone is all her own pathetic doing. Her deplorable and selfish behavior is making me nauseous. When she nearly spat the words at Liz "I lost a baby and you lost a baby, now we're the SAME!" I realized how truly deluded Sam is. Liz and Sam are not the same by any stretch of the imagination. Liz works for a living. She is a responsible mother, wife and nurse. Her basic character is exemplary. While she had a one night fling with Jason, it came after she discovered that her husband cheated on her repeatedly with Maxie and was addicted to drugs. Sam on the other hand has made a lifetime of crime and con jobs and lies around Jason's house moping that she can't have a baby. Until recently of course when she stumbled into a TV career... Oh wait, she did work at the hotel for 4 seconds as a desk clerk right before the Hostage crisis. I used to root for Sam. I don't anymore. Did she take baby Jake? I don't know, but if she did, I hope he pees on her.
Do you ever get the sense that the writers have simply run out of ideas? Jax is going off to chase after Jerry again. Luke has run off with the back of Laura's head again. Jason's in jail again. Anyone in town, even those he barely knows like Amelia can wander into the interrogation room and visit him again. A kidnapped baby again. (Side note, we have not seen Spencer one single time since he was rescued from Nanny McFreak.) Someone (Tracy) gets committed to Shadybrook, again.
I sat down to write this column, laptop open, just staring off into space. Jeff asked me what was wrong and I said "I'm bored." I don't have anything new and clever to say about this week because it's the same ole, same ole. I'm uninspired because the writers are on auto pilot rehashing old plotlines and there isn't anything fresh to say about reruns. Could I do better? Maybe. I came up with about 2 dozen things that haven't been done on GH in my head in about 4 minutes. It doesn't take that much effort to create something new.
But we are a nation who willingly accepts (and pays for) Rocky Chapter 14's and Halloween Chapter 12's instead of rewarding fresh material.
Mind you, there are some nuggets of gold beneath the murky waters-
Rebecca Herbst is turning in stellar performances every day. Her angst over losing Jake, her self doubt, her fear, her pain, all of the emotions a mother would feel are right there on her face, visible and tangible enough for us to feel them, too. Bravo, Rebecca.
Bradford Anderson's Damian Spinelli is the freshest character on daytime in eons, and he brings it every day. His hysterical interactions with Sonny make them the newest GH Super Couple in my humble opinion.
Kate Howard (a.k.a Connie Falconeri) is the best new match for Sonny in a very long time. And as her snooty façade drops a little more each day and we see humanity slide in underneath her air of superiority, we begin to see what Sonny saw in her years ago. When Kate saw through Sonny's smiles and realized it had to be painful for him to watch Jax playing with his kids, we saw a tenderness we hadn't witnessed in her before.
Sonny's attorney Diane is a gem - her eye rolling "Oh God what are they getting me into NOW" demeanor is very entertaining, and she's a worthy adversary for Ric (glad to see Rick Hearst back in action, btw.)
Tracy and Ghost Alan are a constant source of comic relief and a treasure.
So I'm not ripping the show apart and saying it has no redeeming value, I just want to challenge the writers to come up with something we haven't seen before. I know these writers are able to conjure magic when they want to - look at the '24'-like shot in real time hotel hostage crisis storyline. That was inspired and riveting - I was on the edge of my seat for all 16 hours. But now, hey, it's summer and people are on vacation, so maybe they've decided to take a break as well.
What will happen tomorrow dear readers? Will Sam be seen in Baby's R Us buying more little boy outfits? Will Amelia knock Sonny's coffee off his desk and stain his suit when she makes her next Booty Call? Will Sam ask Lucky how to join the 12-Step group at GH so she can overcome her alcohol addiction? Will Nikolas drop his obsession with Jerry Jax long enough to comfort his brother over his nephew's kidnapping? Will Dillon and Georgie get a proper goodbye? Will Maxie sleep with Logan even if he doesn't get Lulu in bed just because she's a skank? Will Scotty Baldwin give up chasing a Laura around (whom he was married to for like 5 minutes 30 years ago) once he finds out he has a son? Will Michael kill anymore animals in Kate Howard's yard?
