Paula's Soapbox

Never let it be said that Sonny Corinthos doesn't know how to throw a party. Moments after Claudia's birthday party got underway, Sonny made the announcement that Claudia was the one responsible for Michael's shooting. And as shocking as this was to hear, it doesn't compare to how shocked I was by Sonny's sudden perceptiveness. For someone who has been so utterly clueless for so long, Sonny certainly gained a lot of clarity in just a few short moments. Perhaps he had a little of whatever Lulu had a few days ago when she figured out that Dante is a cop. Honestly I don't care what it was that caused Sonny to finally see things so clearly, I am just glad that he was able to expose Jax in the process, and that Carly was around to hear it. It was about time she found out that Jax knew about Jerry's involvement in Michael's shooting, I just never expected Sonny to be the one to finally give her this information. Then again I never expected that Sonny would fig...

Thursday's General Hospital began in true, classic soap form, beginning with an old-fashioned cat fight between Olivia and Claudia. The so-called "cat fight" used to be a soap staple, but for some reason is rarely ever seen these days. If there was ever a need to bring one back, Claudia and Olivia's ongoing feud certainly called for one. Unfortunately before Olivia could get too many hits in, the police busted through the hotel room and promptly arrested her for assault, or attempted murder, depending on whether they believed Claudia's claims. Nevertheless, Mac quickly let Olivia go, while Claudia finished getting ready for her birthday party, unaware that it might be her last. Meanwhile, Jason replayed the CD implicating Claudia in Michael's shooting, so that Sonny could hear it again. Afterwards Sonny became eerily calm, so much so that it was difficult to tell whether he was in denial or plotting revenge. Jason assumed that he was in denial, or worse, that ...

It would appear that time is running out for Claudia, as the truth about her involvement in Michael's shooting finally comes to the surface. Unfortunately the one person who may be able to save her has been kidnapped by rival mobster, Joey Limbo, on orders from Anthony Zacchara. Anthony instructed Joey to lock Johnny away in a safe location so that Joey could go after Sonny and Jason without Johnny getting caught in the crossfire. Johnny almost managed to escape, but was quickly forced back into captivity, effectively preventing him from warning Claudia that her life was in danger. Meanwhile, an oblivious Claudia was preoccupied with the birthday party Sonny decided to throw her. Of course she managed to make a little time to threaten Olivia, convinced that she knew were Johnny was. Claudia even made plans to tell Sonny about Dante at the party, but something tells me that she may not get that chance. On the other hand, Sonny didn't appear to have much of a reaction to hearing ...

The truth about Dante's identity was finally revealed on Tuesday's General Hospital, well sort of. Lulu overheard Dante and Ronnie talking on the pier, at which point she discovered that Dante is an undercover cop. Fortunately for Dante, Lulu will likely never remember making this discovery because, as it turned out, Lulu had been drugged during a Crimson photo shoot. Apparently she had mistakenly picked up someone else's drink, which just happened to contain a questionable substance. Strangely enough, Lulu obtained several moments of clarity while in this altered state. The first being when she deduced that Dante is an undercover cop, and the second when she admitted that she has feelings for him. Only on a soap can someone actually gain intelligence after being drugged. And only on a soap does an undercover cop meet with his superior in public every other day without expecting to get caught. How many close calls does Dante have to have before Ronnie finally tells him to j...

On Tuesday, longtime fans of General Hospital witnessed the return of Jonathan Jackson as Lucky, the role he originated in 1993. Being a fan of both Jonathan Jackson and Greg Vaughan, the actor who eventually replaced Jackson when he exited the show, I had mixed feelings about this re-cast. Greg Vaughan fit the role of Lucky better than most replacement actors ever fit their respective roles. He became Lucky, and even die-hard Jonathan Jackson fans learned to not only accept him, but embrace him in that role. On the other hand, there are few things more satisfying to a soap fan than seeing a character's original portrayer return to the screen. It is like welcoming home an old friend or a family member that you haven't seen in years. And as a soap fan, a part of me was really excited to see Jackson back in the role he helped create, even if that meant Greg Vaughan had to leave. I have to say though, after watching Tuesday's General Hospital, I'm a little disappointed an...

This post was first submitted in June when Natalia Livingston returned to GH as Rebecca. The following is my opinion about how she should have returned to the show as Emily. I thought it was appropriate to re-post this considering that the actress is once again about to leave the show. When Natalia Livingston decided to leave General Hospital, prompting the demise of her character Emily Quartermaine, speculation immediately began about how the show might be able to bring her back someday. Earlier this year, Natalia fans got their wish when she returned to the show as a new character named Rebecca. However, it remains to be seen what, if any, connection Rebecca has to Emily. And while I love the fact that General Hospital was able to bring Natalia back, I wish they had written her return differently, especially since they had already brought Sarah Brown (ex-Carly Corinthos) back as Claudia Zacchara last year. When soaps re-introduce actors as new characters it becomes confusing and dist...

The morning after last week's elimination Antonio went to the women's suite and woke Brooke and Miranda up for an impromptu photo shoot. I guess the purpose of this challenge was to see how good the women looked first thing in the morning because Antonio didn't give them time to get dressed or put on any makeup beforehand. The women each took turns posing in front of the camera, with Antonio acting as the photographer. And at the end of the shoot it was determined that aspiring actress Miranda was much more comfortable in front of the camera than nurse Brooke...shocking! I am not sure what this was supposed to tell Antonio in terms of picking a mate, but then again most of the challenges throughout this show have done very little to reveal anyone's true character. After the shoot, Antonio told the women that they had 10 minutes to be ready to walk out the door. Apparently he wanted to see if they could handle his lifestyle by being ready to go at a moment's notice. ...

As the Claudia storyline comes to a close, viewers are being introduced to an unquestionably more mysterious one, with repeated glimpses of the "CO77X" graffiti. Viewers have seen this code-like tag in countless scenes this week. And it is usually accompanied by crime scene photos in a presumably abandoned office of some sort. The mystery surrounding "CO77X" only became more intriguing on Friday when it was seen among newspaper clippings depicting the arrest of Jason Morgan. This particular scene also contained multiple inscriptions of Jason's name written in chalk, as if to signify an obsession. This leads me to believe that someone may be fixated on putting Jason behind bars. And since I can pretty much guarantee that this does not involve Mac, this can only mean one thing, the introduction of James Franco's character. James Franco makes his daytime debut in less than a month, so it stands to reason that GH would already be laying the groundwork for his st...

On Friday's General Hospital Jason finally found the proof he had been looking for, that Claudia was indeed responsible for Michael's shooting. After it was discovered that an audio CD of a phone conversation between Devlin and Claudia contained too little information, Jason and Sam returned to GH to search for more clues. Upon arriving, they learned from Epiphany that the hospital was cleaning out the lost and found bin, which is of course, where the proof was hiding all along. I have to say this was the last place I thought Jason would find the CD that finally implicated Devlin, Jerry, and Claudia. This just seems too convenient, especially considering how long it has been since Michael's shooting. And the timing is too perfect too, the fact that Jason and Sam would just happen to be around when Epiphany told Robin and Patrick to check the lost and found for belongings. Considering that this storyline has been so lengthy it seems like a waste to rush its resolution. It is...

On Wednesday's General Hospital, Sonny and Claudia arrived in Puerto Rico as part of a "power move" to maintain lucrative business arrangements in spite of Anthony's takeover attempt during the carnival. Meanwhile Jason and Sam were back in Port Charles, still looking for evidence that could tie Claudia to Michael's shooting. They seem to be getting closer to finding that evidence too, as they search through Ian Devlin's patient files with Patrick and Robin. I just do not understand why it has taken everyone so long to realize that there could be clues to Michael's shooting at the hospital. Considering that Devlin was a doctor, I can think of no place more appropriate or more secure for hiding incriminating evidence. Elsewhere in Port Charles, Michael was continuing to struggle with confusion over his memories. And as he was confiding in Carly about the possibility of more than one person being involved in his shooting, Jax walked in and interrupted. Unfor...

On Monday's General Hospital Olivia finally tried to tell Sonny the truth about Dante. And of course Sonny thought she was just trying to complain about Claudia, which prompted Michael to interrupt and come to Claudia's defense. I have to say that this was the first day that one of Michael's outbursts actually annoyed me. He has already been having memories of Claudia admitting to being responsible for his shooting and I cannot believe that he would be so easily manipulated by her that he would completely disregard all of that. Perhaps Alexis and Olivia have been right all of these years in keeping their kids away from Sonny because it seems like his naiveté has transferred to Michael. Meanwhile, Claudia was in her hotel room trying to force Dante into sleeping with her by threatening Olivia. Surprisingly enough Dante turned her down and walked out of the room, making another sound argument for nurture over nature. Later on Olivia was summoned by Anthony so he could determi...

On Sunday's My Antonio, each of the three remaining women got a date with Antonio without having to win any challenges. Brooke's date came first and she got to spend almost an entire day with Antonio out on the ocean. And because Tully was still in the hospital recovering from her horseback riding injuries, Miranda's date came later that night. Brooke's date involved snorkeling and surfing with lots of smooches in between, while Miranda had to earn the kisses she received by playing a taste testing game. Antonio blindfolded her and gave her different pieces of food to taste and every time she correctly guessed what she was tasting he gave her a kiss. Miranda thought this was one of the best dates she had ever been on, but I just keep thinking that if this had been a date with a "regular" guy, she would have thought he was either really cheap or just using her for market research. I mean as far as dates go, they don't come any cheaper than this one. It took...

On Friday's General Hospital, Helena started playing more mind games, proving that she is not as frail as she let on in Greece. She informed Elizabeth that she knew about her affair with Nikolas and implied that she would tell Lucky. She even dropped hints of the affair to Luke, who all but ignored them. This did not stop Elizabeth from panicking and contacting Nikolas to tell him that Helena knew about them. Meanwhile, Helena summoned Lucky and implied that she had information that would be valuable to him. Obviously Helena is not going to spill any secrets just yet. She likes to manipulate people too much and enjoys watching them panic. In that respect she is like a female Jerry Jax, using secretive information in order to get what she wants out of people. What is so funny is that everyone seems to know how evil she is, yet Nikolas and Elizabeth seemed shocked that she knew about their affair. Is it so far beyond the realm of possibilities to think that Helena had spy equipment s...

On Thursday's General Hospital Ronnie informed Dante that his undercover investigation would continue as planned because a senator had authorized it. Obviously when Olivia found out about this she was furious and immediately confronted Jax, knowing that he was the only one powerful enough to call in that kind of favor. Unfortunately Carly walked in during the middle of this confrontation, which I am sure will only serve as a reminder to everyone to keep their secrets for 6 more weeks. I am a little confused about something though. Carly was released from the hospital literally minutes before she walked in on Jax and Olivia, yet her reason for being at the Metro Court in the first place was because her doctor called her in for more tests. Dr. Lee must not be a very compotent doctor if she cannot remember to order all the appropriate tests before her patients leave the hospital. Moreover, if Carly had almost gone into premature labor the night before, one would think that she would b...

On Tuesday's General Hospital Carly went into premature labor after eating a bag of fries from Jake's, so Coleman and Johnny had to drive her to the hospital. Meanwhile Jax was talking to Olivia about Dante's reassignment orders. Obviously Olivia was relieved at the prospect of Dante leaving town and getting away from Sonny, but Jax was more than a little disappointed. He even argued with Olivia about how important it was for Dante to continue his undercover work and gather evidence against Sonny, as if Olivia had any control over that. Once Jax realized that there was no point in arguing with Olivia he took matters into his own hands and contacted a senator in an apparent attempt to keep Dante on the job. This just makes me that much happier that Carly is finally having her baby. Now maybe she will start to see Jax for who he really is and kick him to the curb. Then that will leave Jax free to date the only other person in town who is more hypocritical and self-righteous t...

On Sunday's My Antonio, the women went horseback riding with mama Sabato as a test to see how well they could get along with her. However, before everyone could even get up on their horses Christi had another breakdown, which was apparently brought on by memories of a childhood horseback riding accident. Tully tried to talk her through it, but got injured in the process of climbing off her own horse. However she was determined finish the challenge, probably realizing that everyone would think she was faking her injury if she left. Later on, the women took a break from horseback riding to have lunch. Mama Sabato took this as an opportunity to ask each of the women why they thought they were right for Antonio. Soon, she and Tully began discussing their history, where mama Sabato tried explaining to her why it was wrong for a 28 year old woman to elope with an 18 year old man. Apparently even after all these years this is something that Tully still does not understand because all she ...

On Friday's General Hospital Claudia continued to try to seduce Dante. When he resisted her advances she told him that she knew his true identity and that if he didn't want Sonny to know he had to do everything she said, whenever she said. Fortunately for Dante, Ronnie decided to act like a cop for perhaps the first time in his career and sent some officers in the hotel room to arrest him. Later on, Ronnie told Dante that he was off the case. Of course Dante protested, even insisting that he would resign from the force if he had to and collect evidence against Sonny as a citizen. As hard as I try I cannot imagine a world where a private citizen could collect evidence against the head of a mob organization and expect to have that evidence be admissible in court. A while after Dante's "arrest", Claudia walked into the Metro Court lobby, still buttoning up her shirt. Unfortunately for her, Sonny was in the lobby talking to Carly and saw this display. Of course these ...

On Thursday's General Hospital Sam took Kristina to the clinic to get birth control pills. I won't even attempt to count how many things are wrong with that sentence. However, I do want to point out how disconcerting it was to hear Kristina drop hint after hint that Kiefer was pressuring her into having sex and Sam only telling her that she should wait until she is ready. Kristina already had the birth control in hand so obviously she is planning on doing this whether she is ready or not. Sam should have made a point to tell Kristina that if Kiefer was the right one for her he would not be pressuring her into doing something she was not ready to do. Moreover Sam should not be the one having this conversation with Kristina in the first place, Alexis should. Of course it is kind of difficult to be a mom to your own kids when you are busy trying to play mom to someone else's. While Sam and Kristina were at the clinic, Alexis found Michael on the waterfront and took the opportu...

On Wednesday's General Hospital, Johnny continued to try to intimidate Claudia into telling him what she did to make Olivia break up with him. And of course Claudia played the victim and pretended not to know what he was talking about. She even won a little sympathy from Dante who told Johnny to back off at the exact moment Johnny began alluding to her involvement in Michael's shooting. Perhaps if Dante talked less and listened more he would be a little better at his job. He could learn a lot by simply observing and reading between the lines. Then Ronnie would not be asking him to wear a wire to gather information, something that will undoubtedly put him in greater danger. When Johnny finally realized that Claudia was not going to admit any wrongdoing, he went to Olivia's to make one last attempt at convincing her tell him what Claudia had done. Johnny's efforts proved futile once again, as Olivia insisted that she was breaking up with him because she was in love with S...

I am beginning to have serious doubts about Dante's abilities as a detective. In fact I am beginning to think that the only reason he was ever promoted to detective is because his superior, Ronnie, is actually a criminal and knew Dante would never suspect criminal activity. Not only has Dante not been able to figure out that his boss is obviously a crook, but he blindly accepted orders from him to blame the leak in the Corinthos organization on an innocent person. I understand that Ronnie alluded to the fact that Olivia could be in danger if Dante did not do this, but does Dante not find it the least bit suspicious that Ronnie is so careless when it comes to protecting his identity? Moreover, when Ronnie told him to blame the leak on someone else, Dante should have known how Sonny would want to handle that situation. Instead, Dante actually looked shocked that Sonny ordered him to kill Tommy, the person "responsible" for the leak. One would think that since Dante is inves...

In light of all the continuing complaints about Y&R's storylines, I have decided re-post this blog topic to open up a discussion for my readers about why they are continuing to watch Y&R or why they are not. You can write anything you like as long as you are respectful of everyone else's opinion.

On Sunday's My Antonio, Antonio became worried that Tully would leave so he took her out on a shoe shopping date without her even having to win a challenge. This makes me think that Antonio has already made his choice and that he is just biding his time with the other women until the end of the show. In fact, I think he made his decision the moment he agreed to let Tully stay in Hawaii. Then again, this is a "reality" show and I find it really hard to believe that Tully's appearance was a surprise to anyone, let alone Antonio. Regardless of whether Tully's presence on the show was planned or not, she and Antonio seem to be growing a lot closer. Antonio even surprised her with a present on their date, a necklace with a foot-shaped charm attached to it. Yes, here we go again with Antonio's foot obsession. I think this show could have ended weeks ago if Antonio had just instructed the women to take off their shoes. Then he could have picked out which pair of feet...

When the Kiefer/Kristina storyline began on GH, I praised the show for shedding some light on the subject of teenagers caught in abusive relationships because as a society this is something that is rarely ever talked about. Unfortunately these types of relationships are much more common than anyone would want to admit and talking about them is the only way that teenagers are ever going to learn how to protect themselves. I still feel like it was a smart and gutsy move for GH to be willing to tell this story, but I am a little concerned at how this storyline now seems to be unfolding. I am worried that not enough attention is being paid to the emotional and mental side of abusive relationships because Kiefer's worst outbursts seem to occur when Kristina refuses to sleep with him. Then the issue becomes more about Kristina not being ready to have sex, but deciding to do it anyway because she is being pressured by her boyfriend. I have no doubt that an abusive boyfriend would try to p...