Folks, GH was on fire this week, and Thursday's episode was one of the finest in a very long time. I was riveted from the moment that Franco decided to head to 721 DeWitt Street, thanks to some phone tracking and a frustrated grandpa who took one for the team to keep Cameron out of trouble. Silly Shiloh underestimated the tenacity of a 21st Century parent with cheap technology at their disposal.
Actually, I had more choice words for Shiloh, but more on that later.
First, I want to rave a little about Roger Howarth and William Lipton, who were positively gripping in the horrific scenes that unfolded at the warehouse. I wavered between tears of despair for Cameron as it appeared that Shiloh fully intended to go through with his diabolical plan, and shouts of rage as Shiloh laughed at Cameron's desperate attempt to bargain for his life by warning Shiloh that Jason Morgan would hunt him down. What a powerful performance by William, and what an awful predicament for Cameron.
Coby Ryan McLaughlin deserves accolades, too, because he has fully embraced his character's dark side to the point where Shiloh seems almost giddy to be free of the shackles of charismatic cult leader. My all-consuming hatred for Shank is a testament to Coby's acting because I haven't despised a character this much since Manny Ruiz.
I don't know if it was the repeated blows to Shiloh's head and face over the past few weeks, the beatdown from Jason in the new seedy Midwood Motor Lodge on the outskirts of town, or Shiloh's desperation for money, but something definitely shifted. He's not even trying to pretend to be anything other than the scum-sucking lowlife that his is.
Thursday's entire episode could have transpired in that warehouse with just those four actors -- Time Winters (Arthur Cabot) included -- and that would have been absolutely fine with me. They each played their roles to perfection as the suspense mounted and Shiloh unspooled. I wanted to scream with frustration when the hour abruptly ended and I had to wait 24 hours for things to play out. Grrr.
Binge-watching seasons of series in one sitting on Netflix has spoiled me.
The desire to slug Shiloh each time he laid his filthy hands on Cameron was pretty overwhelming at times, which made me eternally grateful for my TV brick. I even found myself rooting for Cabot at one point when he objected to doing the memory transfer on Cameron, but then the diabolical doc injected Cameron with the drug, and Cabot was added to the list of people that I want to see suffer for their crimes.
Shank remains firmly at the very tippy-top.
I'm just happy that Cabot was able to convince Shiloh to go along with Franco's offer to switch places with Cameron. The look on Cameron's face when he realized that Franco was willing to sacrifice himself for his stepson broke me, and it took me a second or two to realize that Shiloh had balked at the offer. Proving just how twisted he truly is, Shiloh actually had to be persuaded to not scramble a kid's brain, which also gave tremendous weight to Cameron's accusation that Shiloh intended to kill all of them once he got what he needed. Cameron certainly had Shank's number, and I loved that he wasn't afraid to stand up to him.
Unfortunately, none of it was enough to save Franco from being drugged then having an octopus-like contraption suctioned to his head while Cabot downloaded the flash drive onto a laptop then presumably into Franco's brain. Easy-peasy. Heck, I'm not even sure why Shiloh needed Cabot to do the procedure.
That brings me to a theory that I floated a while back about Shiloh being the one who had turned Drew over to Helena Cassadine and company in 2012. The very fact that Shank knew to contact the mad scientist who once worked for the DVX on the program of memory transfer tells me that Shank already had connections at the DVX. I recall that Faison had said that he had stumbled across Drew quite by accident, which would make sense if Shank had turned to the DVX to get rid of Drew before Drew could report Shank to his superiors.
Shank is smart, but stealing fuel and selling it to insurgents on the black market sounds like a DVX operation, not something a disinherited party boy like Hank could put together in a faraway Middle Eastern country. It sounds more like something up Jerry Jacks's alley, so I won't be shocked if we find out down the road that Shank had merely been a cog in the wheel, not the mastermind behind the operation.
My heart broke for Franco as he explained to Shiloh why he was a better option for the memory transplant than Cameron. It was tragic because everything that Franco said was true. Sonny and Carly, and countless others, will be the first to throw a parade when they learn that Franco is no more, even though Franco had made some tremendous strides in recent years since moving in with Liz and the boys. I also understood Franco's desire to be rid of the memories that he continues to carry of the twisted murders that he committed. I don't blame him for wanting to forget, even if a tumor had driven him to do the things that he did.
But as we have learned with Drew; it's not just the bad memories that are lost. Franco is also sacrificing the good ones of his wife and stepchildren, his friendships, his father, and Kiki.
I have no doubt that Franco's fate will be to wake up as Drew because it's already been foretold by two psychics. Naturally, Franco being Drew will cause problems because Drew was not in love with Liz when he was abducted in 2012. He didn't even know her then. Shiloh's flashback a few weeks ago, while he was sitting in the Floating Rib, hinted that Drew had had strong feelings for Kim. I even recall Shank wondering aloud if Kim had any idea how important she had been to Drew. It strongly suggests that Franco will wake up very much in love with Kim, not Liz.
Will Drew's unorthodox return to Kim change her plans about leaving town? I'm almost certain that it will, mainly because I haven't heard that Tamara Braun or William DeVry is leaving the show. Not even a whisper.
Billy Miller is the one who is leaving, which begs the question -- why didn't he get his own memories back? Instead, we are left with some kind of weird recast of Drew in the form of Roger Howarth, who is also Franco. It's like musical Drews, without the tunes, and a random ball thrown in for no good reason.
I'm rooting for Franco to return because the sacrifice that he made for Cameron will haunt that kid forever if he doesn't. Not too long ago, Laura mentioned how all the father figures in Cameron's life, including Lucky, had let Cameron down. Franco was the first who hadn't, and not only has Franco stepped up to the plate from the start, but he proved himself a real dad, putting his life on the line for his son.
I want Cameron to get his dad back now that he's finally found him.
As for Shiloh, he needs to die. I don't want him to go to Pentonville. I want some soap opera justice. I don't care if he jumps into the harbor in a desperate attempt to escape and gets eaten by a shark, just let him die. With Wiley dead, there is nothing to tie him to Port Charles.
Even Shank's obsession with Sam seems to have run its course.
Folks, I like Sam, but I do not like Sam with Jason because her intelligence seems to greatly diminish. Once again, Sam is a victim of her own foolish choices. It's so hard to feel bad for her when she consistently exhibits such reckless behavior like running over to Shank's motel room to search for the flash drive without backup or protection of any kind. Sam knows how dangerous Shank -- and his followers -- are. At the very least, she should have had some mace or even a set of keys at the ready for gouging. Anything would have been better than going in blind without any form of defense.
Also, if you are locked in a freezer with limited air, the very last thing that you should be doing is screaming your fool head off and sucking up precious oxygen. I realize that the whole situation was a setup for Jason to save Sam, but did they have to make Sam look so stupid?
And who exactly is watching Sam's kids while she and Jason are on their mission to take down Shiloh? If I'd had a brush with death, I'd want my kids curled up in my hospital bed with me. Soap writers always do the parents such a disservice by not even mentioning the kids.
All it takes is a line, like "Thanks, Jason, for bringing the kids by earlier, but I want to get home so Monica can have some time off to run the hospital." Obviously, I jest, but you get the point.
Across town, Lulu has decided that she is not going to divorce Dante. She wants to remain married because she promised to love Dante in health and in sickness. Lulu told Maxie that if Dante wants to go through with the divorce, she won't fight him, but basically, she's willing to continue to live in limbo indefinitely.
That's all fine and good for Lulu, but not for me. I want to see Lulu live a full life. Unless Dominic Zamprogna is returning or the writers are planning on recasting the role, it is an absolute waste of a perfectly good character to have her pining for someone who is never going to darken her doorstep again.
Also, it's not healthy. Lulu has to think about her son and what is best for him. What is best for Rocco is for his mother to be happy, which I don't think Lulu can be, living half a life. She's a wife without a husband, a lover without a partner, and a soul without a mate.
This isn't like a husband who is deployed overseas. There won't be any cards or letters, emails or video calls, not even text messages. Lulu, Rocco, and Charlotte will not have any contact with Dante, and they probably won't even know where he is. Worse, this could drag on indefinitely for years. What kind of life is that? Lulu and Rocco need to move forward, not remain frozen in time, waiting for something that might never happen.
I have to believe that there was a reason that Dustin Phillips was introduced, and it wasn't for a couple of scenes, so I'm not ready to give up. I just wish that Lulu had more backbone. What's the expression? If you love someone, set them free. It's time for Lulu to set Dante free.
Speaking of setting things free, how long until Liesl's conscience gets the better of her, and she tells Michael the truth about Jonah? Fingers crossed, it's only a matter of days, not weeks. I'm ready for Michael to have his son and for Lucas to be free of Brad. I'm sure Felix will be more than happy to help Lucas pick up the pieces once Brad is carted off to jail for kidnapping. And it would be kidnapping, since Nelle and Brad switched babies with the intention of thwarting Michael from taking legal custody of his son. Nelle was a fugitive when she gave birth, so at the very least, the baby was a ward of the state at that point.
Liesl's attack of conscience can be directly tied to Nina because Nina has stood by her aunt through thick and thin. That's something that I don't think Liesl has ever had in her life, not even from Britt. That's not a dig at Britt. In Britt's shoes, I wouldn't have been very loyal to Liesl either. Liesl was a horrid mother, and Faison was just plain evil.
That's also not to say that Nathan's death didn't play a role. It did. Liesl's transformation started when she realized that Nathan was her son. It continued when she learned that she was going to be a grandmother, but all that progress was nearly destroyed when Faison killed Nathan. It was James's birth, Nina's unwavering support, and Maxie's love that got her through that nightmare, and it's what continues to shape the woman that she's becoming.
All of that has had an impact, and it's why Brad's lie about Wiley doesn't sit well with Liesl. It's also why she's continuously troubled by Sasha. Liesl sees that Nina is happy and that Sasha does genuinely care about Nina, but Liesl knows Valentin well enough to not trust the situation despite the DNA test results.
I feel bad for Nina because her whole life is built on lies, and two of the people that she trusts most are wielding the swords of her destruction. The more that I get to know Sasha, the less that I feel she had malicious intentions when this all started. It seems more and more clear that she just got swept up in something stupid, and now she's caught in Valentin's web as tightly as Nina is. The question is, will Sasha survive?
Did Cassandra inject the grapefruit with the virus to send a warning, or did she have more deadly intentions? I'm not sure who Cassandra is working with, but the delivery of a flu virus in a syringe suggests that it's an organization, not just some random contact. Cassandra was known to have tentacles on the dark web because of her line of work, but she did make a point of saying that her cover had been blown. That tells me that she was trying to keep a low profile, so surfing the dark web for a deadly flu is not the way to go. Nor is hanging out on Sonny's island, which Cassandra had to have known once she saw Corinthos plastered all over the casinos, hotels, restaurants, and cabanas.
Despite Cassandra's odd choice of hiding places, she clearly intended to send a message with that tainted grapefruit because she could have easily disappeared without arousing any suspicion. How long before Finn figures out that the "flu" was a designer drug and people start connecting the dots to Cassandra, who was likely captured on several security cameras during her stay on Sonny's island? It tells me that Cassandra wants to send Sonny -- and Valentin -- a message that she can strike at any time without warning, so don't cross her.
There's also a possibility that Cassandra infected Sasha with something that will require a "cure" that only Cassandra has, in which case, we will soon see Cassandra again when she surfaces to put the next phase of her blackmail scheme into motion.
Until then, there are other mysteries to unravel.
Laura has decided to take Ava up on the suggestion to get to know Chelsea better. I squealed with delight because I'm desperate for someone to confirm that my dark prince is alive and that Tyler Christopher is in the wings, waiting to return. I want his first reunion to be with his mother, so I'm all for Chelsea putting Laura on the path to finding Nikolas.
Hopefully, Valentin's days as the reigning prince will soon be over.
Finally, I have a correction to make. I was reminded by several kind readers that Cameron and Spencer were in love with Emma Scorpio-Drake, and Josslyn was in love with Spencer, so Cameron and Josslyn pretended to date to make Spencer and Emma jealous. At the same time, I was also reminded why I forgot all about the trials and tribulations of young love.
I love kids, but pre-teen romance is just not my thing. Sorry. I'm also sorry for the error.
Just think, Franco and Cameron could have been spared their ordeals if Jason had just taken that flash drive when he knocked out Shiloh in the motel room. It. Was. Right. There!
Why does Jax have a file on Cassandra Pierce if he doesn't have the first clue who she is? What exactly is in that file?
I can't understand why Molly has student loans when her parents are successful attorneys from wealthy families and her uncle and cousin are millionaires. I also have a vague recollection of Sonny promising to pay T.J.'s tuition when Shawn was sent to jail. Regardless, their debt must be minimal, since Port Charles University is hardly an Ivy League school.
Yeah, I have to roll my eyes at the incongruities. If it weren't for Spencer, there'd be no Joss because Carly & Jax bonded during his custody battle with Nik after Courtney's death. -- Bianca Jackson
These teen adventures are just one of the many boring story lines cluttering the show right now. I wish they would give more time to the few interesting stories like the Drew/Shiloh back story. -- JDF
How typical is it of Carly to dump the responsibility for Dev onto Jason's lap? Dev is SONNY'S "project," for cryin' out loud! Jason didn't have anything to do with bringing him into this country, and now he's got to BABYSIT him?? -- Scrimmage
Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. I love hearing from readers, so please feel free to drop me a line or leave a comment below.
Take care and happy viewing,
Liz Masters
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