General Hospital blog - July, 2024
July 1st, 2024
Ava plays her recording of Natalia for Adrian, who couldn't be happier to throw it on the Invader's website (which he can now do without consulting anyone because Alexis just quit and Nina made him acting editor-in-chief). Things have been going much better for Deception since they brought Lois on board, and everyone's happy except Natalia, who still doesn't approve of Blaze's contract. Hopefully Blaze will fire her when she finds out why Maxie's phone keeps dinging with Deception-related news alerts. With her due date nearing, Kristina is struggling to accept that once she has the baby, her part in this will be over. Alexis praises her for what she's done for her sister and how much she's accomplishing with her youth center. Ava asks Trina to get intel on Sonny from Josslyn in case there's anything she can use against him in a custody case. Trina politely declines to participate, then tells Josslyn that Ava's becoming unhinged. Josslyn agrees with her that she should stay out of it and admits that she thinks Avery would be better off with Sonny. Ava tries to intimidate Sonny, warning that he can't afford the kind of damage she could do to him if he tried to take Avery from her. Drew plans to announce his candidacy and start campaigning on the Fourth of July, hoping his name change comes through by then. Jordan thinks he should start immediately, and she holds him to his promise to take things seriously, because his constituents need him. She pledges her support, as does Nina, who fully admits that she's Team Drew partly because of what it's doing for her relationship with Willow.
I was totally on board with Ava exposing Natalia, but if Adrian doesn't trim the recording to cut out the mention of Kristina and Blaze, Blaze is going to get outed, and I can't support that.
It doesn't matter if Adrian does or doesn't do something to keep Ava from being tied to the recording. Natalia's going to know she made it.
Ava, leave Trina alone! Don't make me come over there.
Speaking of which, Trina handled that absolutely perfectly. But it's Trina, so I shouldn't be surprised.
July 2nd, 2024
Natalia doesn't remember the conversation in the recording, which, as Blaze points out, must mean that she talks badly about gay people all the time. Blaze lays into her mother for her bigoted views and for potentially ruining her career before it can even take off. She doesn't think that she and Kristina can make things work now, but Kristina, who's getting slammed for dating someone in the closet, disagrees. Natalia tries to salvage Blaze's dealings with Deception, but since the company has a lot of gay customers and prides itself on its diverse fanbase, they don't want to have anything to do with a bigot. They also consider cutting ties with Blaze if she remained closeted because she's ashamed of being gay. Ava regrets her actions because of the backlash Blaze and Kristina are facing, and she doubles down on swearing Adrian to secrecy about where the recording came from. She even tells him to take it down, but he's thrilled with all the attention he and the paper are getting. It takes Natalia a while, but when she finally realizes that Ava made the recording, so goes straight to Sonny to rat her out. Alexis informs Adrian that he opened himself and the Invader up to a lawsuit – which she's itching to initiate – by going after a private citizen (Natalia) instead of just her public-figure daughter. She scares him enough that he willingly gives up Ava as the source of the recording. Diane uses the recording as a lesson for Sonny that saying bad things about Ava could come back to bite him in a custody suit.
I'm impressed that they devoted basically a full episode to one plotline, just in different ways. It looks like the same goes for tomorrow, except for Carly and Josslyn, which just makes so much sense, doesn't it?
So Adrian, who's gay-coded, doesn't have a problem with the fact that he outed someone?
In addition to being exposed as a bigot, Natalia has been exposed as a moron who doesn't understand how surrogacy works. Also, why would she go to Sonny with what she knew about the recording? That's ridiculous. Why didn't she track Ava down first?
Hopefully Blaze can spin this in her favor by saying, "Of course I was in the closet – I couldn't come out to a bigoted mother." And hopefully someone will stand up for her and point out that her personal life is her business, and no one has to come out if they don't want to, and also, attacking Kristina for dating someone in the closet is so dumb that I don't even want to devote any brain cells to it.
I don't know why Blaze thinks she can't have a music career as an openly gay singer. Has she not heard of Chappell Roan?
I was disgusted with Maxie for assuming that Blaze was in the closet because of shame, but it sounds like she was B.S.ing to Natalia, so I'll put that on hold. However, if they ditch her without talking to her first, they all suck.
Alexis could not have picked a better time to quit.
July 3rd, 2024
Maxie takes charge of Deception's crisis response, declaring that they'll make it clear that they don't support Natalia's view and that they respect Blaze's right to privacy and self-identification. Nina halts the next issue of Crimson for them, since it was supposed to feature a two-page spread of Blaze, and Maxie comes up with the idea to replace it with a message about how love can't be canceled. Nina gets Adrian to reveal Ava as the source of the recording by reminding him that he messed with Sonny's daughter, which could make him a mob target. She wants to fire Adrian on the spot, but Maxie convinces her that it's better to keep him on because he'll have to do whatever she wants or risk her maligning him as unethical. Kristina and Sasha, who's no stranger to having her personal life made public, give Blaze pep talks and advice on how to handle the current crisis. Nina apologizes to Blaze and Kristina on behalf of the Invader and informs them that Ava provided the recording. Alexis lets Ava know that she's in danger of being sued, and if she thought Alexis was mad about Ava's role in her disbarment, that's nowhere near as mad as she is about how this whole thing has affected Kristina. Ava seems unintimidated. Natalia seems to only regret the fact that the recording was made public and not anything she actually said in it. Sonny sees Ava as the worse villain here, and he can relate to doing or saying something you don't want your child to witness, so he pretty much brushes it all aside. Lucy urges Scott to drop Ava as a client and back out of helping her with the custody case (which Scott definitely wasn't supposed to tell Lucy about, what with attorney/client privilege and all, but whatever). Scott doesn't seem to think the case is going to go forward anyway, since Ava's recent actions are apparently worse than anything Sonny's done. Ava's best option is to hope that Sonny gets caught on video killing someone or has a public breakdown. That second one makes a light bulb turn on in Ava's head. Josslyn and Carly are filler, recapping Carly's FBI dilemma.
Ooh, Maxie's a little devious. Maybe a lot devious.
Why didn't we see Brook and Tracy weigh in on the Deception stuff?
Remember how Alexis had the worst reaction out of everyone when Kristina came out? She's definitely making up for that now.
I can't believe Natalia hasn't gone to confront Ava yet. That's going to be fun.
Yeah, Natalia. Arrogance was your problem.
So Sonny's just okay with Natalia? Ew.
Scott thinks a judge would take custody of Avery away from Ava because Ava outed someone? Doubtful.
July 5th, 2024
Kristina tells Natalia all the reasons she's wrong about gay people, why she's a horrible mother, and how her excuses (she was raised in a different time, she didn't know she was being recorded, etc.) don't make what she said okay. Also, no matter how much she claims to love Blaze, what she said about her didn't show any love. Kristina, on the other hand, loves Blaze completely and is going to strive to give her everything she needs and can't get from her mother. Blaze decides that she needs to step down from Deception to let them distance themselves from her scandal. Brook and Maxie have already agreed that, while they'll push back making her the new face, they'll have her back no matter what. When Brook learns that Blaze has been dropped by her label, she doubles down on supporting her client. Dante tries to talk Sonny out of doing anything to Ava that will get him in legal trouble and/or harm his relationship with Avery. Sonny has tunnel vision where Ava's concerned, now that she's hurt two of his children, and he seems to think that if he doesn't act, she'll hurt Avery, too. Nina fills Drew in on the Blaze/Deception/Crimson debacle and tells him how she handled it, fearing that he'll be annoyed by the cost of delaying production. He's fine with losing money if it means showing their support, so he approves. Curtis praises Nina's PR strategy and suggests that she help Drew with his campaign. Speaking of his campaign, Jordan kind of jokingly (but kind of seriously) thinks that Scout could be a way for Drew to gain voters. Josslyn and Dex make out, but Gio and Trina interrupt, so we'll have to endure this dragging out a little longer, sigh. Gio and Trina connect over losing people they've loved and their appreciation of music.
I frigging love Kristina. Keep yelling at her, Krissy!
There has to be a label out there that will swoop in to sign Blaze. No way will everyone turn on her just because she didn't come out when everyone thought she should.
Morgan mention – drink! (These will likely increase over the rest of the month.)
How did Drew not know about the Blaze stuff before Nina told him? Isn't it all over social media?
July 8th, 2024
The Quartermaines combine their Fourth of July party with a Congratulations to Drew for Launching His Campaign party. Tracy's surprised but pleased by his name change and thinks that Alan would be proud. Drew tells Willow that he feels bad about ditching her right after getting her to come work with him, and then he...kind of hits on her? And then they each say they'll miss each other while he's in D.C., and then suddenly they're making out?? And Sasha sees them?? I don't know what's going on! Conversations with James (sigh) and Mac make Cody see more of what he'd be getting if he revealed that he's part of their family. During the fireworks, he comes right out and tells Mac that he's his son. While discussing Laura's responsibilities as mayor, Ned brings up the Heather situation, which Mac didn't know about. He brings down the whole conversation, and Portia seizes the opportunity to talk to Laura again about how advocating for Heather is a huge mistake. Nina shows up at the party, where Tracy expresses her disapproval and Willow smooths things over. Sasha notes that Nina and Drew have been getting along, and when Nina tells her that they've seen new sides of each other, Sasha puts together that they've been hooking up. She's not totally surprised, since she sensed vibes between them, but she guesses it won't continue. She thinks that Nina's lonely after the end of her marriage and warns that moving too fast could lead to her having her heart broken again. Sam is somewhat supportive of Drew's new direction in life, but she's also worried about how Scout will be affected, especially because Drew could end up moving to D.C. She's frustrated that she had children with two people who don't prioritize them. Dante basically says that he'll make up for that.
Me, watching the preview video for this week's episodes this morning: "Why are they making it look like Willow and Drew are going to hook up?" Me, watching today's episode: "...Is this on me for putting that out into the universe?"
Honestly, I'm kind of speechless. I can't remember the last time this show did that to me.
Good news, Sasha: You finally have something to do! Bad news: It's...this.
Next can Cody blurt out whatever secret he and Dante have been keeping for decades? Am I the only person who still cares about that?
Way to kill the party, Ned.
July 9th, 2024
Drew thinks that if he and Willow had met at a different time and/or under different circumstances, they could have had something. But they didn't and she's married to his nephew and they're going to blame this on alcohol and poor judgment and pretend they didn't kiss, which is definitely not ever going to happen ever again, ever. If only Sasha could scrub the memory from her brain. Mac is furious that Cody kept his paternity secret for so long and lied to everyone about it. He tells Felicia that things could have been great if the truth had come out, but now he can't trust Cody. In fact, he thinks that Cody could be running a con and had a reason for pretending to come clean now. Maxie is much more accepting of the news, and she thinks Cody will make a great addition to the family. She senses that he wants to flee town, but she convinces him to stick around. Portia makes some excellent points about why Laura shouldn't place too much faith in Heather and how Portia is justified in fearing for her daughter's life. Laura's upset about that, but Elizabeth thinks she's doing the right thing. While Portia's crusade is admirable, she may be growing obsessed, as evidenced by her declaration that Drew and the Quartermaines are enemies if they don't side with her. Curtis helps Michael and Nina make peace, since the three of them will be working together and he doesn't want to deal with their awkwardness. Now the only awkwardness is in Nina's gratitude toward Drew for getting her to a good place with Willow. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being essential plot development and 10 being the most filler that has ever been filler, Josslyn, Trina, and Gio are a 9.
Can we pretend that Drew and Willow made out because Leo mixed up another batch of that love potion?
It's okay, Sasha. I have PTSD about that kiss, too. Pass the wine.
"But the DNA test..." Have you guys forgotten where you live?
If Michael and Nina need something to bond over, I have an idea of something they can both be mad about...
Yes, Laura's right about Heather and the justice system and blah, blah, blah, but now that she's gotten
Okay, Portia's going overboard now. Calling the Quartermaines enemies when she doesn't even know where they stand on the Heather situation?
How gross that Elizabeth is like, "Yeah, Franco's victims' families never accepted that he wasn't responsible for his actions, either." As if it's a character flaw that they couldn't get past the fact that he raped and murdered their loved ones.
July 10th, 2024
Sonny tries to gauge where things stand with Carly, since she's keeping Donna from visiting him and could easily tank his attempt to get custody of Avery. Carly still thinks he's unstable, but there's no way she'll do anything to help Ava win custody. Sonny doesn't help things by continuing to believe that Jason and John are conspiring against him. Carly thinks that Jason should tell him what's really going on, but Jason disagrees, since Sonny could go after John, which definitely won't end well. Scott again cautions Ava against trying to take custody from Sonny, but it's Ava, so of course she's not going to listen. She still likes the idea of making Sonny have a public breakdown, so she blackmails the pharmacist who's been filling his prescription with a lower dose into giving him placebos. Sasha starts her day in the worst possible way, having to try to maintain a normal conversation with both Drew and Willow. Things are super-awkward, but the kissers think that once time passes, they'll get better, especially if they never talk about what happened again. A conversation with Cody about family makes Willow even more determined to hold on to her family and not let one silly little kiss ruin everything. Sasha's about to tell Cody what she saw the night before when he announces that he revealed his paternity to Mac. He's tempted to leave town, even though Maxie talked him into staying, but Sasha dangles the prospect of a relationship in front of him and reconvinces him to stay. Maxie and Felicia discuss whether Cody's pulling a con and how the DNA test Felicia secretly did could have been wrong. Sasha clears that up when she admits that she knew about Cody's paternity and never said anything. Maxie and Felicia are forgiving, since she was just giving Cody time to come clean. Now the three women want to figure out how to get Mac and Cody to reconcile, since they're sure that the two of them will benefit from having a relationship. Michael can tell that something's off with Willow, but his mind goes to her health rather than, you know, infidelity. Drew tells him that she seems fine, so Michael drops it, because why wouldn't he trust the word of his uncle who has never steered him wrong before?
I didn't think we could get a more awkward combination today than Sasha, Willow, and Drew, but Sonny, Carly, and Jason proved me wrong.
If Sonny's big strike for Ava is that she's staying at the hotel, shouldn't she just...find a place to live?
If I lived on the same property as 20 other people, I would definitely not be talking about my secrets without making sure no one else was around.
Don't say too many nice things to Willow, Cody – she might kiss you.
LOL at Maxie's "you know what? I'm impressed" face when Sasha confessed to replacing Cody's DNA sample.
July 11th, 2024
Maxie and Felicia divide and conquer with Mac and Cody, with Maxie trying to get Mac to give Cody another chance while Felicia urges Cody not to give up on Mac. Mac won't budge, but Cody is open to believing Felicia's promise that Mac will come around. The women then use a supposedly missing phone to get Cody over to Maxie's house while Mac is there. Ava plays on John's hatred of Sonny to gain him as an ally. He tells her that she probably won't have to worry about him being around Avery because if John does his job right, Sonny will end up in prison. Heather doesn't want Laura to get her case reopened because she's worried that her homicidal urges will return and she'll kill again. Laura seems to accept this and looks like she's going to drop the whole thing, but I can't imagine that'll happen after all this talk about it. Portia wants to get Laura recalled and replace her with Jordan. Jordan doesn't seem to think that Laura's actions are deserving of that sort of act, even though a lot of people in Port Charles are upset about them. Portia thinks that Jordan would be singing a much different tune if T.J. were the reason Heather killed five people. Brook is trying to arrange a big interview for Blaze so she can address her fans' concerns and give her side of the situation. Blaze is completely on board, but Brook adds that she wants Kristina to participate as well. Blaze is less eager about that, since she doesn't want to drag Kristina into the spotlight any more than she's already been dragged there. Kristina, however, wants to help in any way she can. Sonny wants Alexis' support in case the judge in the custody fight wants to hear her opinion on his parenting. Alexis says she'll testify that he's a good parent, but if she's asked about his job, she won't lie. Brook and Chase are mostly filler, but they're cute, so I'll allow it.
I assume that Maxie and Felicia didn't spend too much time on their big get-Mac-and-Cody-in-the-same-place-at-the-same-time plan.
If Sonny does get fully custody of Avery, what does he plan to tell her to explain why she can never see her mother again?
Ava is such a pathological liar that I don't think she even realizes she's lying anymore.
I can't believe Molly and T.J. aren't camped out at Kristina's door, worrying about how this latest crisis is affecting the baby.
July 12th, 2024
Laura has decided to honor Heather's wishes and stop looking into getting her case reopened. Trina admits that she's curious about how much responsibility Heather has for her crimes and doesn't want Heather to spend the rest of her life in prison if that's not what's just. Anna heads back to Valentin's determined to get her hands on his satellite phone. She doesn't get enough time to herself in his house, so she has to resign herself to another evening of pretending that she's considering getting back together with him. Sasha struggles to be around Michael knowing what she does, and knowing that he has no idea about it. She tells Cody everything, and he advises her to keep quiet and forget what she saw, because Drew and Willow's kiss becoming common knowledge would only lead to disaster. Maxie and Felicia are disappointed that Mac isn't jumping at the chance to get to know the only child he has. Mac can't get past his suspicions that Cody has ulterior motives, and he has no intention of rushing to get past his anger just to develop a relationship with someone he doesn't trust. Trina arranges a nice dinner for Portia and Curtis so they can celebrate how far he's come on the first anniversary of his shooting. Unfortunately, Heather comes up in conversation, which kind of ruins the mood. Curtis tells Portia that he went to see her and that her behavior is totally different than it was before. Portia doesn't care, but at least she's reasonable enough not to hold it against Curtis that he doesn't totally agree with her on all things Heather. Jake got into art school in Barcelona, and Elizabeth is happy to share the good news with Jason. He offers to pay for everything, which she agrees to as long as Jake's okay with it. She thinks that Jason is doing great at delivering on his promise to make up for lost time.
Trina, you're going to want to keep it to yourself that you don't want Heather kept behind bars if she's not responsible for her actions. I mean, unless you want to be yelled at by your mom.
"Do Willow and Drew seem like the type of people to sneak behind Michael's back?" No! That's why this whole thing makes no sense!
I'm actually Team Mac here. He gets to be mad that Cody lied. Maxie and Felicia need to back off for now.
So Jake and Jason hung out off-screen, and now they're just sending Jake away? Ugh. So many missed opportunities.
July 15th, 2024
Willow is so distraught over her kiss with Drew that she confides in the one person she thinks is right for this kind of conversation; her mother. Nina almost manages to keep a poker face when she hears that the guy she's been hooking up with kissed her daughter, and she reassures Willow that she's not a bad person. She convinces Willow that the kiss doesn't have to run her marriage, and that she definitely doesn't need to tell Michael about it. Then Nina summons Drew to her office and slaps him. Anna snags Valentin's satellite phone without him having any idea. A surprise visit from Charlotte, who has realized that Victor messed with her and that she's lucky to have what she has, makes Anna decide that she can't use what's on the phone to send Valentin to prison, or at least not yet. Jason offers Jake money for school, making it clear that there are no strings attached and he's not attempting to buy Jake's affection. He kind of implies that if someone had offered him money when he was younger, he wouldn't have become a mobster (or did I misinterpret that?). Jake understands what he's getting at and accepts the offer. Carly goes back to see Brennan, who thinks she has two options for dealing with the FBI: 1) Go public with what they're doing and hope to get them in trouble for government overreach, or 2) find a way to make the evidence against her disappear. Carly's torn, since Jason and Donna are both factors, but she decides she'd rather do nothing than risk being sent to prison. Drew is almost disturbingly unbothered by talking to Michael, even when topics of conversation include Willow and how she basically idolizes Drew. Poor, naïve Michael remains clueless.
I don't know that Nina would take the risk of getting Willow busted, but what if Nina has Adrian publish that Drew kissed a married woman and effectively loses him the election?
I need people to stop implying that the fireworks made Drew and Willow act the way they did. I also need them to stop implying that if Drew hadn't gone to get Obrecht, Willow would have died. As if Curtis or Anna or someone else wouldn't have brought her back.
Willow, don't take advice from Nina, especially when it's related to telling the truth.
If Anna keeps making excuses for not busting Valentin, Jason is going to spontaneously combust.
I wonder if they brought Charlotte back and tied up that loose end with her and Anna because they're going to write Valentin out and will mostly have to write her out in the process. That would be a reasonable way to end all this – Valentin flees town before Anna has to make a decision about turning him in.
I canNOT beLIEVE how dumb Carly is being.
July 16th, 2024
Anna can't bring herself to send Valentin to prison if it means Charlotte has no one left in her life. She wants to tip Valentin off and give him a head start to flee the country before they give the satellite phone to John. Jason refuses to put Charlotte above his own children, but Anna wears him down, getting him to agree to give her two hours before he says anything to John. She goes straight to Valentin and announces that he has to leave the country because the FBI is after him. He's still so clueless about the way she played him that he invites her to come along. Meanwhile, John, whose boss isn't happy with how long things are taking, shows up at Jason's door an hour and a half before his two hours are up, demanding everything Jason knows. Now that things are going so great with Nina, Willow wants Sonny to fix things with Michael. Because Willow's the sweetest person on the planet and no one can say no to her, Sonny says he'll think about forgiving his son. Then he goes to Nina and asks for her support when he faces Ava in court. Ava continues to reel John in as an ally, and he continues to believe that she's just a poor victim who never really got involved in mob stuff and doesn't deserve to face possibly losing custody of her only living child. Drew is so charming that even though Nina greets him with violence, she walks away agreeing to play nice from now on and even have the Invader endorse him. Natalia finally goes to confront Ava, and it doesn't take long for Sonny to become the topic of discussion. Ava thinks that Sonny will turn on Natalia for what she did to Kristina, but Natalia reveals that he's holding everything against Ava. Lois got Gio an opportunity to play for Broadway musicals, but he'd rather stick with his new life in Port Charles. Josslyn and Dex are filler.
Yep, that's exactly what I thought Anna would do. She'd better get John's agreement in writing, notorized, that Jason is off the hook before she gives him anything.
Willow: "I decided to let go of the anger." Cut to Nina slapping Drew. That was fantastic.
I fully don't care, but if Michael wants to make amends with Sonny, supporting him through this custody mess would be a good place to start.
Every time Drew or Willow says they won't kiss again, the odds of them kissing again go up by 10 percent.
Kiki mention – drink!
Whyyyyyyyyy is Gio getting so much screentime??
July 17th, 2024
Anna claims that she would run away with Valentin if things were different, even though, you know, he committed a bunch of crimes and spent years lying to her and all that stuff. Long story short, she's not going anywhere. John wants Jason to give him dirt on Sonny, and when Jason won't, John grumbles that he's loyal to someone who tried to have him killed. Jason refuses to believe that and mainly just stalls John to give Anna more time. John thinks Jason should turn on Sonny partly because he's trying to take Avery away from Ava, but Jason advises John not to listen to anything she says. John practically throws a tantrum over how Sonny ruins people's lives, and John is trying to save one of his kids. Jason decides enough is enough and gives him the satellite phone. He stalled long enough, though, and by the time John gets to Valentin's house, he and Charlotte are long gone. Lois tells Carly all of Gio's backstory, and how Sonny has been so supportive and helpful over the years. Carly's like, "Interesting that Gio is so important to him and yet I'd never heard of him prior to two months ago." Natalia asks Sonny to put up investment money so she can start a brand-new label and attempt to salvage Blaze's career. Sonny agrees, but only if Brook is in charge. Gio worries that he made a mistake turning down the arrangements Lois made for him. Josslyn convinces him that he's allowed to make mistakes and decide for himself what he wants. Sonny and Nina smooth things over, agreeing that they were wrong for each other and want to put their animosity behind them. Nina later tells Maxie that she's accepted that not only did she try to make Sonny someone he wasn't, she also tried to become a different person to be with him.
Interesting that Valentin didn't bother to lie to Anna that he didn't commit any crimes. He also didn't ask how she busted him.
It's almost funny how many things John is wrong about.
I don't know about anyone else but I'm suspicious of Lois' story about Gio's parents. Something about her delivery made it seem like it wasn't all true.
Also: "I just don't understand why Sonny never mentioned Gio to me." I know, right?
Why now, of all times, for Sonny and Nina to get past their issues?
Natalia was not "collateral damage"! Arrrrrrrgh!
Maxie: "What did [Sonny] want?" Nina: "To bury the hatchet." Maxie: "In who?" Hee hee.
July 18th, 2024
Sonny and Natalia present Brook with their idea to build a new label just for Blaze. Brook is on board with it but only if Natalia cedes all control. Natalia's hesitant, but she's realized that her daughter deserves to make decisions for herself, so she agrees. Nina makes Adrian apologize to Blaze and Kristina, and though he sounds sincere, Kristina has no plans to forgive him. She and Blaze ask Nina to help them with media training, as Brook is arranging an interview with Perez Hilton and they don't want to make anything worse. Tracy doesn't sleep as well as she used to now that she's nicer (I don't know), so she goes to hang out with Cody for a while. After talking about how she's like Edward, she likes to make lists, and other stuff that's not really important, Cody tells her that Mac is his father, but he screwed up any chances of them building a relationship. Carly wants to look ahead to the future now that she and Jason are about to be free of the FBI's oversight. Jason's not quite sure how to build a new life now, though he knows what not to do, based on what he did the last time he came back from the "dead." Chase and Dex spend some time together, mostly talking about Gregory and whether he was supportive of Chase's decision to become a cop. He was, just like he was supportive and encouraging when Chase had trouble with some baseball teammates as a kid. Dex can't relate, as his family never showed any interest in him, but that meant he never had anyone's expectations to try to live up to.
I so enjoy Brook's open disdain for Natalia.
Brace yourself because I'm going to say something nice about Nina: The way she treats Adrian now delights me.
Out of everyone in town, Blaze and Kristina want media training from Nina? I would have gone to Sasha.
Ugh, I don't want to have to watch Perez Hilton.
Carly and Jason are really jinxing things here.
Chase's mention of baseball reminds me that we'll probably start hearing about softball soon. I'm surprised we haven't already.
July 19th, 2024
James sneaks out of his house after bedtime and goes to the Quartermaines' stables because Mac told him he won't be able to take riding lessons with Cody anymore. Maxie tries to explain to him that something's going on that he can't know about, but they're going to get it sorted out, and also, Mac doesn't get to make that decision. Cody and James both worry about being shut out of each other's lives, and Sasha warns Cody not to overreact like Mac is. As for Maxie, she tells Spinelli that even though she and Cody aren't related by blood, she sees him as a sibling and doesn't want to lose another one of those. Laura and Dante run into each other at Lulu's facility and discuss how hard it is for Rocco to not be able to have his mom around. Dante isn't sure that continuing their visits is what's best for his son, but he also doesn't want to seem like he's unsupportive of however Rocco wants to connect with Lulu. Trina's turtledove brings her both sadness and anger, and she feels like she's not progressing in her grief the right way. Josslyn reassures her and promises to listen any time she wants to talk about Spencer. Jason wants to smooth things over with Sonny so Sonny will believe his warnings that the FBI is targeting him. Carly's just glad to have Jason there to help her deal with Sonny's...Sonnyness, and also because Carly can't go a day without needing her best friend for something. Gio is starting to win Tracy over, because he's wonderful and everyone loves him, and wow, Tracy really has become nicer.
Mac, dude, you can't tell James stuff that you don't get any say in.
Georgie is so incredibly her mother's daughter.
Enough! James!
With Charlotte on the run with Valentin, does that mean she won't get to see Lulu again? That's sad.
Kind of odd that Dante went to see Lulu without Rocco.
July 22nd, 2024
Sonny asks Michael to help out with his custody battle, and though Michael would obviously love to keep Ava away from Avery, he thinks that certain circumstances of his childhood would come back to bite his father. Diane tries to mediate as Michael and Sonny get angrier with each other, eventually blowing up when Michael questions Sonny's mental state. Diane warns that if Sonny doesn't pull himself together, she won't be able to do anything for him. Scott and Ava brainstorm people who might testify on her behalf, but their list of Laura, Trina, and John is pretty sad. Also, Ava implies that she's going to hook up with John, and Scott tells her to just wait until after the custody battle is over. Ava has a couple of other ideas for how to make Sonny look bad: Bring up how Carly is keeping Donna from him, take advantage of his medication-free state, and simply put him on the stand and poke at him until he shows his true colors. John interrupts Jason's day with Danny to put him back to work, since Valentin's escape means John has nothing to show for all the work he hasn't done over the past five-and-a-half months. He orders Jason to spill everything he knows about Sonny's organization, which Jason has no intention of doing. In that case, John is sending him away for a new assignment, and if he doesn't go, Carly will be on her way to Pentonville. Jason keeps pushing back, causing John to become increasingly unhinged and make it clear that he's motivated by revenge more than anything else. Despite Perez Hilton's refusal to accept Blaze and Kristina's approved questions for their interview or agree to leave certain topics off the table, the two of them decide to move forward with the interview. Brook gives them better media prep than Nina did and gives them advice on how to maintain control of the interview without seemingly having any. Carly confronts Anna, thinking that she's working with the FBI against Jason. She's also the first person to realize that – duh – John's targeting Sonny for personal reasons, not professional ones. Anna can't do a whole lot here, so Carly decides that she and Jason will sort things out themselves. The FBI have contacted Laura, looking for Valentin and Charlotte, so she turns to Anna for information on what's going on with them. Anna plays innocent, of course.
Michael's right about the reasons it would be a mistake to have him testify on Sonny's behalf, and I'd like to add the fact that he tried to take Avery away from Sonny when she was a baby.
Morgan mention – drink!
Of course it's no surprise that Ava's going to try to use Sonny's placebos against him, but everyone's going to suspect that she's responsible, which is going to tank her.
Yes, Scott, please put John on the stand. Then Diane can make him talk about how Sonny took care of Stone.
Anna, it's time for you to call John's supervisor and say, "Your boy is overstepping. Get him under control."
July 23rd, 2024
John wants Ava to help him kill two birds with one stone: bring charges against Sonny that send him to prison and keep him away from Avery. Ava claims she fears for her safety if she were to rat on him, but obviously she would love putting Sonny behind bars. The two of them kiss, which is just so weird and, honestly, is a bad look for both of them. Jason tells Anna that John is sending him away, so he'd like her to clean up the mess she made by helping Valentin. Anna thinks that Jason and Carly should accept that they may have to endure the consequences of their actions, but she also vows to do everything she can to get Jason out from under the FBI's thumb. Then she calls John's boss and tells him that John is out of control and needs to be reined in. John complains to her about that, so she threatens to bury him if he doesn't back off of Jason. Carly warns Sonny that John is gunning for him. Sonny is still more concerned about the custody fight than anything John might throw his way, and Carly gives him a bit of a come-to-Jesus talk, pointing out that other than family and employees, he has no one who will fight on his side. He asks her to help him fix things with Michael, but she's sick of coming to his rescue and tells him he'll have to handle that himself. Knowing that it would be a horrible idea for him to testify on Sonny's behalf, Michael asks Kristina to be the Corinthos kid who steps up. Kristina doesn't think that's a better idea, since she might have to admit that she saw Sonny beating Dex. Michael wants to be a forgiving person, but he also wants to teach his kids that they should hold people accountable for their actions. Ned offers Tracy his support on Luke's birthday, admitting that he came around on their relationship because they were so happy together. Also, there's some stuff with Sonny and Tracy reminiscing together, but whatever.
Anna, you obstructed justice and helped a man evade federal custody. Don't lecture Jason on his bad decisions. Also, something tells me that John isn't going to be intimidated by your "stop being mean to Jason or I'll be mean to you" threat.
If I were Jason and knew that I was getting sent away because Anna just had to help Valentin, I would be screaming right now.
John, you stupid, stupid man.
Putting Kristina on the stand would be dangerous because the second Scott said something negative about her, Sonny would rip his face off.
Obviously Sonny needs to ask Willow to help him communicate with Michael.
July 24th, 2024
Carly wants to turn herself in and stop letting John use her as a weapon against Jason. For the millionth time, Jason tells her that she can't because of Donna. He thinks that it's easier for him to leave again because his kids are used to him being gone. Carly reluctantly lets him go, promising not to turn herself in to John. Jason calls Danny from the bus station to break the news that he has to leave, which goes over much worse than he thought it would. John isn't the slightest bit worried about Anna's threats to expose any criminal or unethical acts he's committed and destroy his career. While she knows that he's going to extremes to carry out a personal vendetta, he knows that she's been way too lenient with Sonny, so he figures if either of them is going to lose their job and go to prison, it's her. Kristina and Blaze do their interview with Perez Hilton, which goes better than they expected and allows them to tell their side of things without having to apologize for anything. They also mention that Natalia's a victim, since her privacy was violated, and that Ava's the only person who should feel ashamed. Ava is so desperate for allies that she asks Nina and Willow to testify against Sonny. Willow graciously says she's staying out of the custody mess, while Nina practically laughs in Ava's face. She thinks Ava's lucky that Sonny's only trying to take Avery from her, considering what she did to Kristina. Ava tries to make her jealous about how close Sonny and Natalia have become, but it doesn't work.
I know Jason's departure is only temporary, but I'm mad that we didn't get to see him say goodbye to Jake.
I imagine that Jason's bag contains only shampoo, a toothbrush, and nine black T-shirts.
"Wow, I sound like a pretty crappy FBI agent." We finally agree on something!
Time for Brook to rat out John for questioning Danny without an adult present.
Oh, Natalia's privacy was violated, too? Boo fricking hoo. You don't need to have sympathy for her, Blaze.
July 25th, 2024
Carly evicts John from the hotel, and when he challenges her, she reveals that she knows that he's been using her to control Jason. She blurts out that she also knows about the RICO charges that could be filed against her, then eggs him on to pull the trigger and file them already. John's like, "Don't mind if I do" and arrests her, accusing her of running a criminal enterprise. Sonny, Anna, and Diane are all present and figure that the charges won't stick. Carly's mind is still on Jason, and she sends Josslyn (and Gio, because of course) to the bus station to keep him from leaving town. Danny shows up at the bus station to try to get Jason to tell him more about why he's leaving town. Jason makes it clear that he's not going voluntarily and that he'll do everything he can to get back as soon as possible. Danny has already learned that Jason always means what he says, so he believes Jason's promise that this won't be the last time they see each other. Just as Jason is about to get on his bus, Josslyn arrives and tells him that Carly's been arrested. Since Kristina didn't clarify in her interview that the baby isn't hers, Molly and T.J. think that means she wants to keep it. Molly's ready to use the legal system to ensure that her sister can't take what's hers, even though, you know, Kristina has no intention of doing that, and Molly would know that if she would just talk to her sister. Guys, I'm exhausted. John thinks that sending Jason away will destabilize Sonny, which...sigh. This guy. He and Ava do a little more kissing and flirting before he goes off to get some scotch so they can drink together. Ava's surprised at herself for going down this path, but not necessarily in a bad way. Anna goes to Pentonville to see Brennan, but he's no longer there and all traces of his time there have been erased. Diane breaks the news to Sonny that Ava has been granted visitation with Avery ahead of the custody trial. Sonny's annoyed about that, of course, but Diane advises him to cooperate so he doesn't look like he's trying to keep Avery from her mother (AKA the exact thing he wants to do). Drew continues looming in the background of Michael and Willow's relationship, while Michael continues failing to notice that they're awkward around each other. Sasha and Violet are filler.
I literally gasped with delight at today's big news: Ric is coming back!
I have a feeling that Carly and Diane can just do nothing and let John somehow tank his case on his own. Odds are good it'll happen.
Josslyn getting shoehorned into a plotline finally paid off. Gio...not so much.
Seriously, not a single mention of Jake?
I kind of want Ava to record one of Molly and T.J.'s conversations so Kristina can hear how her sister talks about her.
John thinking that Sonny will care about Jason being sent away just shows that he hasn't been paying attention. But we already knew that.
Heh, I'm imagining Ava looking at her watch back in her room, like, "How long does it take to get a bottle of scotch?"
July 26th, 2024
Carly finally tells Sonny the truth about Jason's turn as an FBI informant and what the agency has on her. Sonny's furious with John's machinations and practically vows to kill him. Despite having her own problems to focus on, Carly frantically summons Dante and sends him after his father before he can murder an FBI agent. John tells Jason what I think we can all agree has been his dream scenario all along: He can save both himself and Carly by flipping on Sonny. Michael wants McConkey to launch an investigation into John, so he reluctantly asks Nina for help getting in touch with him. Nina knows that anything more than bringing the situation to McConkey's attention could be considered illegal, so she's hesitant to help, especially since Carly's the one who would benefit. Michael wins her over by promising that if Carly goes free, he'll tell Willow that Nina deserves all the credit. Molly presents Kristina with paperwork that would terminate her parental rights, and even though Kristina had already agreed to sign it after the baby was born, she balks at doing it early. Molly blasts her for making it seem like the baby's hers during her interview, which Kristina never gave a second thought because it had nothing to do with the issue the interview was about. She brings up her concerns about Molly and T.J.'s relationship, and Molly insults her for her spotty dating track record, saying that Kristina isn't equipped to take care of a baby because she can't take care of herself. Kristina sticks to her guns and refuses to sign the paperwork without giving it more thought. On top of being wiped from all of Pentonville's records, Brennan has also been removed from the PCPD's files. Anna tells Dante that someone's going to a lot of trouble to make him a ghost, and she suspects that the FBI is behind it because they need Brennan for something. Jason wants to fall on his sword for Carly, but Diane tells him that that would just land both of them in prison. Her plan for Carly's defense is to convince the jury that Carly made a desperate move to protect her family from rival mobsters. Jason wants to throw in a bonus of tarnishing John's reputation, and he figures the best source of info for that is someone who owes him a big favor. Kristina has a conversation with Natalia that's ten times more civil than the one she had with Molly, even though she still resents how Natalia feels about her.
I want to conk Carly and Jason's heads together like coconuts. Stop trying to save each other!
It's official – they ruined Molly. How disgusting that she used Kristina's dating history against her and insulted Blaze for not coming out. Now I want Kristina to keep the baby just because Molly and T.J. are so obnoxious.
Molly practically had a panic attack when she found out that Kristina saw Sonny beating Dex, but she can stand there and scream at her for ten minutes and not worry that she's causing stress. How is this good for the baby?
"You cannot be that naïve." Well, yesterday you said she was, so which is it?
The funny thing is that if Michael did go to Drew for help, Drew would jump at the chance to do something because it would make him feel better about kissing Michael's wife.
Wait, so Erica Kane from All My Children is a real person in this universe, but Kelly Ripa, former star of the same soap, is also a real person? Am I overthinking this? (Yes. The answer to that is always yes.)
July 29th, 2024
Jason knows better than to believe John's claim that flipping on Sonny will ensure his and Carly's freedom, since it's not like he held up his end of their last deal. He doesn't hide how furious he is that John took advantage of his memory loss to use him as a pawn in his revenge scheme. He's no happier that Carly did exactly the opposite of one of the last things he told her to do (stay chill), and he advises her to be a model defendant when she goes to her arraignment. Dante checks on Sonny, at Carly's request, and possibly keeps him from going after John just by showing up at his office. Dante wants to take his issues with John to Anna, but Sonny doubts that she'll do anything that will benefit him. Carly asks Michael to fix things with Sonny so he can be there for Donna if Carly goes to prison. Michael starts down that road by stopping Sonny from taking a swing at John at the courthouse. John has just continued his...whatever the opposite of a charm offensive is with Molly, who won't turn over Sonny's cases to him just because he asks for them. John starts yelling about Karen and Stone and accusing Molly of bias, which gets Sonny to step in, even though Molly was handling herself just fine. Michael has to physically hold Sonny back when John basically admits that his plans all revolve around taking Sonny down. Kristina tells Alexis about her fight with Molly and decides that she should file the petition to keep the baby. She still thinks that's the best way to ensure Molly gets parental rights, but she admits that she's starting to believe that the baby would be better off with her if Molly and T.J. aren't in the right place to parent together. Alexis tries her hardest to stay neutral, but it's pretty clear that she thinks Kristina's going too far. Molly and T.J. are fully convinced that Kristina plans to keep the baby, which means that things on the legal front might escalate. Fortunately, Molly thinks that the best thing to do right now is nothing, in hopes that Kristina will remember the promise she made months ago and everything will turn out the way they planned. Ava tells John about the situation with Sonny's medication, something he thinks could really work in her favor in the custody battle. Dante learns from T.J. that Brennan's time at GH has also been erased. T.J. remembers it, though, mostly because Portia went off on John when he tried to get Brennan discharged before he was medically cleared.
Diane might be able to get Carly exonerated by putting John on the stand and getting him to admit to his vendetta against Sonny.
Speaking of which, he now has two witnesses who can verify that this whole thing is personal for him. He's no better at holding his temper than Sonny is.
Molly, if you keep talking to John like that, you're gonna win me back.
I'm still Team Kristina here, because Molly and T.J. are utterly ridiculous, but her logic is starting to fall apart. Isn't Molly going to adopt the baby right after it's born? That means that if she and T.J. break up in the future, her rights will be protected. Also, she seems to have forgotten that Blaze said she doesn't want a family right now, so if she thinks she and Blaze are going to raise this baby together, she's very wrong.
Alexis, it's not too late to lock Molly and Kristina in a room together until they both act like rational people again. (Leave T.J. out of it. He just stirs things up.)
July 30th, 2024
Michael, Josslyn, Jason, and Sonny show up in court to support Carly, who vows to take John with her if she goes down. Diane kicks things off with a motion to dismiss the charges, since she hasn't been given access to the evidence against Carly or told the name of the person who made the recording. To everyone's shock, the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case has no objection to the motion. It turns out that the recording has disappeared, which means the FBI has no case. John objects so much that the judge threatens to hold him in contempt. Long story short, the charges are dropped, and now John can't put pressure on Carly or Jason anymore. They figure that Spinelli destroyed the recording, but he's just told Maxie that that's beyond his capabilities. Sonny ruins the celebratory mood at the courthouse by whining that Carly and Jason didn't tell him what was going on until it was too late for him to do anything to help. He vows again to take care of John, and no one stops him, probably because they're tired of trying to keep him from self-destructing. Anna goes to D.C. to try to get answers from the WSB about what happened to Brennan. She only gets answers to one question – where is he? – but it's a big one: He's there, since he's now running the D.C. office. Anna puts together that when the WSB wanted to sever ties with Pikeman, Brennan let himself get arrested because he knew he was in no danger of being sent to prison. She wonders what leverage he has on John and mentions that John's using Carly as a weapon, but Brennan claims to have no knowledge of any of that. Alexis questions Molly over her decision to go the aggressive route with Kristina. Molly thinks she's justified and won't give Kristina the benefit of the doubt that maybe she's not trying to keep the baby she agreed to carry for her sister. Alexis advises Molly to back off and actually talk to Kristina before things can get worse. Wiley has literally one friend and one family member at his birthday party because the Corinthos part of his family is with Carly and the Quartermaine part just couldn't be bothered to show up, I guess. That makes it easy for Nina to pop in and spend some quality time with him and Willow.
Well, that was anti-climactic. I'd say the most likely explanation is that Brennan got rid of the evidence. Maybe Carly's visits to him paid off in an unexpected way.
I know I request murder mysteries all the time, and I will never apologize for it. Let's have one starring John.
LOL at Diane spinning Carly's rant against John as her volunarily turning herself in.
What a pathetic turnout for Wiley's birthday party. Then again, it looks like Willow held it in the middle of a workday, which was a big mistake.
July 31st, 2024
Molly and Kristina miraculously have a calm, mature conversation, in which Molly apologizes for taking things too far and withdraws her request for Kristina to sign the paperwork that terminates her parental rights. For her part, Kristina acknowledges that her remarks in the interview could be misinterpreted. Just as the two of them make up, Kristina gets served with a subpoena to appear at Avery's custody trial, as Ava's witness. Molly reluctantly tells her that there's no way for her to get out of it, but Kristina seems to think she can convince Ava to withdraw the request. Jason is finally able to tell Sonny everything about his dealings with John and the FBI, but Sonny still plays the victim, since Jason could have let him know what was going on. Never mind that Jason was willing to face prison time rather than rat him out. Dante tries to talk Sonny out of doing anything to John, which, of course, is like talking to a brick wall right now. Dante just gets more and more frustrated until he tells Sonny that he's nearing the limits of what he can handle where Sonny's concerned. Brick is still on Sonny's side, and he provides John's location to Sonny, who just wants pictures of him and Ava together, at least for now. John accuses Anna of deleting the evidence in Carly's case, something she dismisses as way above her abilities and authority. Carly thanks Spinelli for doing it, but he also denies it. Jason thinks Anna was behind it, as a way to thank him for helping her help Valentin get away. She suspects that Brennan was responsible, though she doesn't know why he would do Carly such a big favor. Ava has decided that putting Kristina on the stand at the custody trial is the best way to win, since she'll have to testify that Sonny assaulted Dex. Plus, having her interrogated might push Sonny over the edge. John tells her that he provoked Sonny to violence and will testify about it. Wiley's party finally livens up a little when some of the Corinthos contingent shows up post-court. Donna has no idea that her mother was facing prison time, and Carly wants to keep it that way. She apologizes to Josslyn for letting her impulsiveness get the better of her, as if Josslyn isn't used to that. Michael laments to Willow that Sonny has been spiraling, and he's worried that that's just how his father is now. Maxie's so impressed that Spinelli hacked the FBI that she gives him the green light to keep breaking the law,
Wow, Molly and Kristina actually listened to me and communicated with each other! How long till T.J. screws it all up?
For once, I have to compliment the week's previews. They made it look like Kristina was getting served with papers related to Molly and T.J.'s custody case.
Ava's strategy hinges on Kristina? I'm sure that'll go exactly the way she wants.
Why isn't Avery at Wiley's party? And where are the dozen other kids who basically live at the Quartermaines'?