Paula's Soapbox

Like many General Hospital fans, I watch the show everyday in a blissful state of denial, never acknowledging the fact that Sonny and Jason are criminals. I find it easy to denounce Mac when he is urging Maxie to stay away from Spinelli, and I cheer for Diane whenever she keeps someone from the Corinthos organization from going to prison. However, as I watched the events of the week unfold, knowing that they were inevitably going to lead to Dante's shooting, my rose-colored glasses came off and I quickly snapped back to reality. I found myself repulsed watching Jason standing in the church during Josslyn's christening, knowing that he had just signed Dante's death certificate without giving it a second thought. I was even repulsed by Spinelli, whose detective work set everything into motion. Moreover, I was sickened by his cavalier attitude regarding Dante's imminent demise, and the fact that he never showed an ounce of remorse or regret until Maxie told him that Lulu h...

If the scenes between Lucky and Liz were meant to give viewers a sense that Liz was getting everything she deserved, then the scenes between Lulu and Liz were meant to evoke sympathy for Port Charles's latest femme fatale. Between Lulu, Ethan, the onlookers at the hospital, Liz's wounded expression, and her injured hand, General Hospital produced the soap opera equivalent of bullying Tiny Tim in the school yard. Ethan even began to feel sorry for Liz, as he urged Lulu to leave her alone and later offered her a ride home. I knew that this show was going to expect viewers to feel sorry for Liz sooner or later, I was just hoping it would be later...much later. Let's not forget that Liz has been the one walking around town the last few months with a smug look on her face, as she practically dared Rebecca to tell Lucky about her affair. And now that everything has finally come crashing down around her everyone is expected to pity her. This really should come as no surprise since...

Now that Lucky has finally let Nikolas and Liz know that he is aware they have been sleeping together, I can almost understand why General Hospital decided to postpone this confrontation...almost. It was definitely a great soap moment in that revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-cold kind of way, but I have to wonder what it says about Lucky that he had to spend several days drinking before he could ever confront Liz. This is just another reason why I continue to be annoyed by the fact that Lucky's reaction was not immediate, but I digress. The Confrontation Part 1 [no copyright infringement intended] Sober or not, Lucky finally said everything to Liz that I had been hoping someone would say to her for weeks. Unfortunately, as Luke pointed out, Lucky will likely regret every word he let flow out of his mouth, which will allow for the possibility of Liz becoming a sympathetic character again. And even though this will undoubtedly happen at some point, I cannot say that I am ready for it to...

It seems like I have been anticipating Lucky's discovery of Liz's affair for years. I have long awaited this revelation hoping that it would prompt some sort of resolution in which Lucky finally stopped making excuses for Liz and immediately called off their engagement. Once Lucky witnessed Liz's torrid affair for himself, this not only seemed possible but probable. Instead there was no confrontation, Lucky's only immediate reaction was to smash inanimate objects placed around his house before calling Laura to get her input on the Cassadine heritage. I certainly hope this conversation doesn't mean Lucky blames Nikolas for an affair that is only partially his fault. Lucky appeared to be angry at Liz as well, but since he didn't confront her about the affair it was difficult to interpret whether or not he actually blamed her for it. It seems odd that he could see her only moments after catching her with Nikolas and not say a word to her about what she did. I would...

When it was announced that James Franco would be joining General Hospital for a brief acting stint, my hope was that his presence would generate renewed interest in the show. And while he may have achieved this feat on some scale, his character Franco and the storyline attached to him seems to possess a polarizing quality that sparks either love or hate, with little room in between. For the most part I was intrigued by Franco's character and this storyline. In fact on certain days it was the only interesting part of General Hospital amid the sleep-inducing love triangles involving Robin, Patrick, Lisa, Lucky, Liz, and Nikolas. Overall though I would have to say that the Franco storyline failed to live up to my expectations. There were many disappointments along the way, not the least of which was the revelation that CO77X was only a booking number with no profound meaning. Perhaps the biggest disappointment though, and in my opinion a great oversight, was the fact that Franco had n...

In the midst of all the chaos surrounding Franco's latest antics, more on that later, I could not help noticing Lucky and Maxie's reactions to the safety of his hostages. Neither one of them seemed at all concerned with Sam's well being. When Maxie thought someone might have died in an explosion her initial reaction was to hope that it wasn't Lulu. This made it seem like Lulu was the only one she was concerned about even though she and Sam were friends long before she and Lulu ever started speaking to each other. It seems rather strange to me that Maxie wouldn't at least be as equally concerned about Sam as she was Lulu. Still, I can kind of overlook a little insensitivity from Maxie, primarily because she has a tendency to be that way a lot, but also because Lulu has become like a sister to her since Georgie's death. In addition, Maxie feels guilty about letting herself be used by Franco, not to mention the fact that if that had never happened she would have li...

After months of allowing herself to be deceived and manipulated by Nicole and Stefano so that she could keep her baby's adoption intact, only to find out that said baby wasn't hers because her baby had died, one would think that Mia would have enough drama to last a lifetime. Instead it seems that she has picked up a few bad habits from Nicole because she has turned to manipulating Gabi in order to stake her claim on Chad, someone she didn't seem to want a few weeks ago. As if the Mia character wasn't irritating enough already, this newly calculative Mia is actually making me feel sorry for Gabi, which only makes her that much more irritating. I was stunned that she used Nicole's hearing as an opportunity to drive a wedge between Chad and Gabi, the same hearing that they were discussing her baby's death and the kidnapping of Will's baby sister. In doing this she not only undermined Will's importance in her life, but Sydney and Grace's as well...and p...

From the moment Lucky began eavesdropping on Liz and Nikolas's conversation I knew that he would somehow miss the part where Liz admitted to having an affair. I assumed this would be for the same mysterious reason that everyone in Port Charles seems to miss important fragments of conversation on a daily basis, not because he couldn't bring himself to listen any longer. I would like to think that this was because on some level he knows that Liz has been cheating on him and he just wasn't ready to hear that fact out loud, but that seems unlikely considering how easily Liz seems to fool every guy she has ever been with. She possesses a certain vulnerability that makes it difficult for many people to see her as anything other than a victim, which makes men feel like they have to protect her. In this way she has become comparable to one of those high school girls that keeps getting boyfriends despite her reputation for ruining their lives. In addition she manages to retain femal...

Ever since Michael killed Claudia his behavior has been reprehensible and I have often wondered if this was the result of guilt or if he was simply using Claudia's murder as an opportunity to be more like Sonny. My suspicion was that after Michael killed Claudia he immediately felt out of touch with the rest of society so he gravitated toward the only life he thought he could possibly fit in, the life his father built. And while I think there will always be a part of Michael that idolizes Sonny, killing Claudia meant crossing a line that, for Michael, seemed to cement his fate into a life of crime. I think that Michael always assumed he would follow in Sonny's footsteps at some point, given the fact that almost every male role model he has ever had has been connected to the mob in one way or another. And theoretically I think he always believed he could handle this lifestyle, even convincing himself and those around him, upon killing Claudia, that this is what he wanted. Howeve...