Paula's Soapbox

I never thought I would say this, but I think I am finally on board with the Rebecca character on General Hospital. It is just too bad that her portrayer, Natalia Livingston, is set to leave the show in the not so distant future. The last few episodes of GH have given viewers a glimpse of what Rebecca could have been like in a storyline that didn't somehow revolve around Emily. And for the first time since Livingston's return to the show I have been able to see her as someone other than Emily. Granted, my sudden affection for Rebecca has everything to do with her disdain for Elizabeth, which is something we actually have in common. And needless to say it was great to see Rebecca finally give Elizabeth what she deserved, even if she held back a little more than I would have. However, I wish this storyline had come along a lot sooner because now I actually feel like Rebecca is someone I could root for, rather than just tolerate. And let's face it, her involvement in the Lucky...

I knew that it was only a matter of time before Lulu crossed the line and revealed Dante's secret. For weeks she has talked about his undercover assignment in the most inappropriate places as if she were hoping the wrong person would find out about it. And today someone finally overheard her. She told Dante that she had warned Johnny against trusting him, a statement that quickly provoked an argument. It was during this argument that Lulu blurted out everything Dante has worked so hard to keep hidden, including the fact that he is Olivia's son. Johnny, who had secretly overheard this argument, went to Olivia's where he confronted her about what he had heard. I have to say as annoyed as I am by Lulu, in fact I am dangerously close to hoping that Dante finds someone else, Olivia hasn't exactly been a walk in the park either. And today I was reminded of how ridiculous it has been for her to be so worried about Dante's safety when she has the power to ensure it. Months ...

While I am glad that Jason was able to convince Sonny to allow Michael to live with Carly and Jax, it may be too little too late. I am not sure if anything short of going to jail will cause a profound change in Michael's attitude and behavior. Obviously living with Sonny wasn't a good idea, despite Sonny's claims that he was helping Michael deal with everything that happened. I must have missed that episode because the only thing I have seen Sonny do is pat Michael on the back for a job well done. On the other hand I am not sure if Carly can do anything to help Michael either. As Sonny pointed out, even if they confess everything to the police, Michael will be a target of Anthony Zacchara. And as much as I hate to admit it Sonny is probably right. However, it is clear that Michael needs some sort of intervention because quite frankly this kid scares me a little. And I don't think he would hesitate to kill again should the opportunity arise. Meanwhile, Sonny's other...

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 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 Tuesday's General Hospital Lulu questioned Dante about the police badge he was hiding underneath his hand. And of course he was able to provide a plausible explanation and evade suspicion by telling her it was stolen. I must say that I am a little surprised that Lulu bought this lie considering how much she prides herself on being able to spot a con a mile away. One would think that since she is Luke's daughter she would not only be able to spot a con, but an undercover police officer as well. Perhaps her thinking is a little cloudy right now though because she is obviously drawn to Dante. This was made even clearer today when Ethan came to see if she would talk to Nikolas about his sudden need for vengeance. She and Dante had been playing cards and she agreed to go talk to Nikolas if Dante cut a high card. As it turned out Dante did cut the high card, but Lulu cut a higher one. Later it was revealed that Lulu had several cards tucked away, ensuring that she would get to sta...

On Monday's General Hospital it was revealed that Dante would not need a kidney transplant. This is quite shocking considering that I, along with many others, assumed his need for an organ would provide the perfect opportunity for Olivia to tell the truth about Sonny being his father. This is what I love about the way that GH has been written lately. Just when you think you have things figured out, you don't. Typically soap viewers are fairly savvy when it comes to figuring out what is going to happen on their favorite soap. They have watched for so many years that they have seen virtually every possible scenario play out in one form or another. So shocking an avid soap watcher proves almost impossible sometimes, especially when doing so within the parameters of character and storyline logistics. And so far at least General Hospital is doing this quite while, maintaining that critical balance between shock and storyline. Speaking of shock, viewers were finally able to see what ...

Friday's General Hospital showed a much quieter Port Charles than the one viewers have seen all week, providing a momentary break from the chaos. As for the citizens of Port Charles, they are oblivious to the fact that the carnival disaster was only the beginning of their problems, as was apparent throughout this episode. Fortunately for Edward, Robin informed Mac that he was not to blame for driving his car through the midway, injuring and killing dozens of people. What is so sad about all of this is that Edward is still left with the guilt even though he was as much of a victim as everyone else at the carnival. It is touching to see the way Rebecca is looking out for him now though. The only downside to this is the fact that I feel like we are seeing Emily again, not Rebecca. It is not that I was not a fan of Emily, but if the show wanted to bring back the Emily character they should have just brought her back instead of introducing viewers to Rebecca. That being said, it did pro...

After watching Thursday's General Hospital it is clear that the lives of those in Port Charles will never be the same. This show is taking so many twists and turns right now that literally anything can happen. And Thursday's episode provided the perfect example of this as one by one everyone's secrets were exposed. At the carnival, Claudia continued to look for Kristina, who had apparently lost consciousness when the ride fell apart. At one point she managed to regain consciousness in time to see someone in heels walking away from her, unaware that it was Claudia. Then Michael showed up to try to find her himself while Claudia went to the hospital to let everyone know that she still had not been found. Moments later Michael arrived with Kristina, whose only injury was a mild sprain. After she was examined she told Michael that she thought someone else had found her before he did, but they walked away. This piece of information may ultimately mean the difference between life...

Ever since Nikolas found out that Rebecca came to Port Charles to con money out of him and the Quartermaines, he has become a much darker version of himself. And even though he claimed that he forgave Rebecca it was obvious that he was only using this "forgiveness" as a way of getting her close enough to hurt her. And this week he revealed just how he planned to do that...by making her over to look exactly like Emily. His first act of revenge was to give Rebecca a dress identical to one that Emily wore. He then suggested that she let her hair return to its natural color, Emily's hair color. At first Rebecca was suspicious of this suggestion, but she seemed to brush it off fairly easily. Later on Lucky and Elizabeth were at the pier getting ready to go to the carnival with Rebecca, Nikolas, and Spencer when Elizabeth noticed Rebecca's dress. She and Lucky exchanged comments about it, noting that it was exactly like one of Emily's. Lucky then complimented Rebecca on...

Thursday's GH was all about secrets and lies as Jax found out about Dante, Kate revealed the truth about her suspicious activity with Crimson , and Elizabeth and Nikolas vowed to never act on their feelings again. A distraught Kate went to Jax and informed him that she had taken money from Trevor Lansing to help bail out the magazine and that the nature of this exchange amounted to money laundering. She also revealed that for months Giselle, her competition, had known about this exchange and was blackmailing her and had recently threatened to expose her secret. Later on, when Jax was out of the room, Kate confided in Olivia about this potential catastrophe. As the two were talking the subject turned to Dante, and Olivia's need to tell the truth about Sonny being his father. And of course the door was open while they were having this conversation so when Jax came back he overheard everything from outside the room. The only thing he is probably not aware of is the fact that Dante...

At the end of Tuesday's GH Jerry headed back to the abandoned church where he had left Jason to die; and by the beginning of Wednesday's episode he had already discovered that Jason had fled. He then went back to the room where he had left Sam, only to find it empty as Jason and Sam were hiding in a crawl space. I am not sure how they knew Jerry was coming or how Sam was able to hide Jason quickly enough to prevent them from getting caught since none of that was played out for the viewers. I hate it when soaps do this. They spend months and months airing pointless scenes that really have nothing to do with anything then when you actually want details they skim over them, but I digress. After Jerry left the room Jason became disoriented and thought he was back in Hawaii with Sam as he struggled from the side effects of an experimental drug, elements from a previous JaSam storyline. Sam played along as she continued to give Jason water and he eventually said those three little wo...

As soon as Lucky explained to Rebecca that he told Nikolas the truth about her out of "sibling loyalty" I knew those words would come back to haunt him. And after Tuesday's episode of GH it looks like that might come sooner than later. Things heated up rather quickly for Nikolas and Elizabeth after she gave him a much needed dose of reality concerning his behavior since Emily's death. Little did they know Lucky had just arrived at Wyndemere to check on Nikolas. I wonder how Lucky is going to feel about sibling loyalty after he discovers what Nikolas and Elizabeth have been doing behind his back. Again, as I have said in other posts, I find it very strange that neither Elizabeth or Nikolas have thought about how their actions might affect Lucky, not to mention the kids. Meanwhile the search continues for Dante's love interest. After meeting Lulu at Jake's a few weeks ago he must have decided that she was too much trouble because he ended up leaving that same ba...

If you thought Nikolas was a wreck when Emily died, that was nothing compared to the way he reacted after learning the truth about Rebecca. Nikolas turned cold as he confronted Rebecca about her original intentions to con him and the Quartermaines out of their fortune. And after he kicked her out of his house it was as if he had lost Emily all over again as he proceeded to destroy every object in sight. After Rebecca left Nikolas's she headed over to the Quartermaines' where she confessed her plans to take money from them. Monica and Edward were surprisingly understanding, although Edward reminded her that she still owed him ten thousand dollars. Later on Emily found Lucky at Jake's bar where she slapped him across the face for telling Nikolas the truth about her. Meanwhile Elizabeth was at Wyndemere pulling Nikolas off the balcony and trying to calm him down. I am having a difficult time figuring out where this storyline is going. It seems as though Nikolas may be turning ...

I am not sure I like or understand the direction of the writing for GH's Lucky and Elizabeth. This is a couple that presumably reconciled months ago, yet we have seen very few scenes where the two of them have been together. I am also not sure I like or understand how they are being written as individuals. I was always under the impression that Lucky was basically a decent guy but lately every time he is on screen he comes across as kind of a jerk. I first noticed this when he openly laughed at Spinelli just before his performance at Jake's. This just seemed unnecessary to me and totally out of character. Lucky's unusual behavior continued this week when he and Ethan made the impromptu decision to beat up Dante because he was talking to Lulu, laughing and giving each other high fives the entire time as if they were high school bullies. Never mind the fact that Lucky is a police officer and could face serious consequences if he were charged with assault. I guess he momentari...