Dear readers, my column should be done by now, but I am, in fact, just starting to write. Why? Because the romance of the Royal Wedding was far too great a lure to my old heart. I kept saying "I'll only watch 15 more minutes, and then I will pause it and start writing. I did that repeatedly for like two hours. But in my defense, Meghan was on GH before, so I can pretend it was research for my column, right?
The highlight of the Nurses Ball for me so far was James Patrick Stuart's rendition of "The Book of Love" -- he has such an incredible voice, I think they should start working that into the show. I want to see him sitting at Wyndemere, serenading Charlotte and Nina on a random Wednesday night. Michelle Stafford was absolutely radiant in those scenes where she watched him sing. Either A) she genuinely adores him and wasn't acting at all, or B) she has perfected the craft of stage adoration acting and should be teaching a master class on it to lesser actors. Either way, the love in her eyes as he sang was just as moving as his performance.
I love them. Valentin and Nina are my favorite couple on the GH landscape right now. But with one punch to the face from Robert Scorpio, I fear their relationship may be doomed. Why? Because Nina will find out everything Valentin has been up to -- that he is in cahoots with Peter August (a.k.a. Henrik Faison), which means he is tied to the death of her beloved brother Nathan.
Nina is fierce. Nina is loyal. If she discovers that anything Valentin did contributed to the situation that took "Jay" from her, I think she will be hard pressed to ever forgive him. And that makes me really sad. Just like Julexis before them, the writers sometimes work painstakingly to make us adore a couple -- and then put an obstacle in their path that breaks them up in such a way that it is nearly impossible for them to convincingly reunite.
Mind you, I am great at suspending my disbelief for the sake of happy endings. If Alexis rebounds with Julian after the implosion of her rebound relationship with Finn, I'm all for it.
But those reunions take time, so I fear that I am going to have to see Nina and Valentin sad and estranged for months, and I don't like that. Sometimes my soap predictions are wrong, and I hope this is one of those times. Maybe they can go on the run together under assumed names like Lloyd and Lucy...
Side note...As much as I love Nina and Valentin as fictional characters on GH, I love that their portrayers double as actual human beings out in the universe. If you aren't following them on social media, you should be.
Back to Port Charles...the Nurses Ball is one of my favorite events of the year on GH. Because we see the cast in familiar roles day in and day out, we forget sometimes that they are multi-talented actors, singers, and dancers -- they are funny, they can do magic (sort of) -- but thank goodness we didn't have to see the ventriloquist stylings of Mac and Mr. Marbles.
I thoroughly enjoy the annual treat of seeing our daytime favorites shine. Josslyn and Oscar singing "I Never Knew," Detective Chase singing "Feel It Still," Ned and Olivia taking on "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding, and the incredible nurses of GH singing what should be our unofficial national anthem, "Everyday People," were all wonderful moments. I love to see our GH friends shine like diamonds.
But not everyone was at the Nurses Ball. Carly, for one, was in jail. Why? Because a pregnant person was at the Quartermaine house near the staircase -- despite my repeated warnings over the years! Or was it because Nelle is an evil, scheming witch? Well, it'd be hard to convince me that Nelle planned to fall down the stairs. She didn't know Carly would follow her up there, did she? I'm thinking it's just an accident that she took advantage of, but because she is so psycho, I won't argue with those of you who believe it was a master plan.
I laughed about Penguin-gate for two days. Who told Nelle that Morgan liked penguins? Who told Nelle about Morgan's baby blanket? This all falls apart for me because we have to believe that Nelle had deep knowledge and insight into Morgan's life and of all of his belongings since infanthood to make this plan work. Was she grilling Michael about what blanket Morgan had? Did she ask Carly if Morgan liked penguins? If she did ask Michael about these things, wouldn't he say, "Hmm, Nelle did ask me if Morgan had a mint green crocheted blanket in his room, that's curious..." I can spot Nelle the cologne because she stumbled onto that one because Ava apparently had Morgan's cologne in her medicine cabinet for two years, and Nelle just happened to be there the day Ava finally cleaned her bathroom...
The part of this storyline I am most looking forward to is Jason finding the baby blanket at Ava's house and going Stone Cold on her. (By the way, the podcast of Stone Cold and the Jackal [Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson] is delightful, and you should subscribe.) Back when Jason was in the clinic and Ava helped him escape, I thought they might continue a friendship on the other side, but no, that blew up the instant he got home and found Ava was culpable in Morgan's death. If he discovers that she is helping Nelle torment and ultimately jail Carly, God help her.
Jason is the only person who believes that Carly is being framed and that she is not imagining all the crazy things happening to her. Everyone needs a Jason in their life. I need a Jason in my life. Oh Lord, hear my prayer. Jason is steadfast in his support for Carly. Her husband, Sonny, thinks she is having a nervous breakdown and refuses to even consider the fact she might be telling the truth. It's going to be her loyal friend Jason that will save her. Never take your friendships for granted. Cling to your loyal friends with your life.
Jason is slightly distracted right now because he is also working on the mystery of "Who is Henrik Faison?" which Sam helped unravel on Friday. Did you see the sad look on Drew's face when he saw Sam and Jason together? Heartbreaking! But they are legitimately working to solve a mystery! Being the good detective she is, Sam put together Peter's comment of being disgusted by people who smoke and the fact that he had a lighter with Faison's initials on it and immediately called Jason. Jason saw the lighter and uttered the words "Henrik Faison is Peter August".
Everyone is looking for him, but Peter is a bit preoccupied with Maxie, whose water just broke. It's likely that he will have to deliver the baby, who will be his nephew, of course, but the baby is premature. Will Maxie and Nathan's baby survive? If this baby dies, I will be so, so furious. Seriously, don't even read my next column if that happens because it will be filled with expletives.
Maxie has refused to forgive her best friend, Lulu, so the odds of her forgiving Peter when she finds out he is Faison's son and orchestrated Lulu's article to draw Faison out of hiding are slim. And again, a damned shame, since I like the connection they have.
This story is intertwined into so many lives in Port Charles, hardly anyone will be unaffected by the impact. Jason wants to know why Henrik kept him alive in the Russian clinic. Drew wants the USB drive with his memories. Anna wants to get to know her son and hear his side of the story.
Valentin wants...what? I have yet to determine what his angle is in this. Was it out of love for Anna that he watched over her son all these years? Does he have nefarious intentions and want to hurt Anna? I don't know and am waiting to find out; I just beg the writers for the souls of Valentin Cassadine and Henrik Faison -- let them be redeemable. Don't take them so far over the line that we can never love them again, because I really want to love them...
You know who I don't love? Creepy Dr. Bensch. Just when we think he's doing something nice by letting Kiki attend the ball, we find out it's just another mind game and a way to get into her space by sidling up to her at the ball. GH is doing a fantastic job of portraying the thing nearly every woman I know has experienced in our lifetime -- someone with power over you hitting on you and getting away with it. It's sickening to watch, and I keep waiting for the day Griffin sees it happening and uses his formerly holy hands to beat the crap out of Dr. Bensch. Which is probably when Kiki and Griffin will become a couple, as I'm predicting that pairing, too. It's only fair. Ava stole Morgan from Kiki, so now, switcheroo.
There was some happy romantic news this week. In an unexpected moment, Curtis did an awkward magic show at the Nurses Ball, which culminated in a beautiful real proposal -- and Jordan said yes!
Aunt Stella was watching but didn't jump up and ruin the occasion as I feared. Her date, Mike Corbin, seems to have a steadying influence over her. I loved that Mike wanted to attend the ball and that Stella agreed to go with him. I have said this every week since he arrived in Port Charles, but Max Gail is knocking this Alzheimer's storyline out of the park every week. I hope he gets a stack of Emmys. I liked him and Stella being there together, and I would be happy to have more scenes of them together. It shows he's still in there, and he is still capable of real relationships -- in spite of his disease and in spite of what we know is coming.
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Sonny and Jason dig more holes around town to find buried money clips? Will Oscar calling Drew "Dad" ever get old? (Nope.) Will Michael ever stop being so gullible about love and date a nice girl who doesn't lie to him? Will Finn's confession to Anna be badly timed because she'll have to go on a mission with Robert and leave him lonely again? Will ABC ever stop trying to convince me to watch The Spew? (I will never forgive them for bumping All My Children.) Will Patrick Drake ever be seen with his wife and kid again? (Come on, CBS, lend us Jason Thompson for a week.)
Will Lesley Charleson recover soon so we can see an old-school Monica/Carly fight? (Thanks for filling in, Patty McCormack -- a solid performance this week.) Will Spinelli being in town come in handy once Maxie kicks Peter to the curb and needs someone to lean on? (I hope so. #Spixie) Will we be treated to more wonderful musical numbers next week thanks to Olay? (For real, though, thanks Olay for sponsoring this year. I legit went on Amazon and put some in my cart.) Will we ever find out why Lucy is leading a llama around by a leash?
Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.
Tamilu
What are your thoughts on General Hospital? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
