Liesl might be a diabolical madwoman, but she sure does know how to kick it up a notch and give a very lively and entertaining performance. Kathleen Gati knocked it out of the ballpark this week with her cabaret-themed opening song. I loved it from the second that I heard the sound of thunder rumble as the lights suddenly dimed to the very end when Liesl stood on stage sporting a huge satisfied grin and waiting for the applause that never came.
Liesl's opening performance was by far the best musical number of the Nurses Ball so far.
Don't get me wrong, with the exception of Luke's creepy rendition of "I Am What I Am," I enjoyed all of the performances, and I love the selection of music this year, but Liesl's cabaret song and dance was a lot better than the tired old number that the nurses performed last year. I hope that next time, Lucy pays a little more attention to a criminal mastermind who volunteers to participate in a show.
The scene that left me with shivers skittering down my spine was the one when Liesl picked up the nightmare-inducing Mr. Marbles and then made it clear that no one puts her in a corner. It truly gave me the heebie-jeebies when Mr. Marbles slowly shook his head no.
I like Liesl, so it doesn't bother me in the least that she crashed the Nurses Ball to take over the opening number. She's a fun character who often makes me smile, so I really don't care how they keep her on-screen, as long as she sticks around. However, she can't keep doing horrible things that demand that justice be served. So far, Liesl has been lucky enough to work out deals with the authorities to avoid prison time for her crimes. It's not a perfect solution, but at least everyone knows what Liesl is capable of and the awful things that she's done.
Ava, on the other hand, keeps getting away with her unforgiveable crimes by lying and blackmailing, which I don't find the least bit cool; not when it comes to crimes that hurt innocent people. I love the character -- she's proven to be a far more ruthless and crafty criminal than the men -- but she's being painted into a corner with too many enemies circling. I can't root for Ava these days because every other word out of her mouth is a lie, and she is constantly doing despicable things. Nearly killing Olivia, murdering Connie, framing A.J., sending A.J. on a drinking bender, trying to murder A.J., getting Sonny to do her dirty work, and finally sleeping with her lover's father are just a few of the things that she's done that I want her to pay for.
I loved A.J. and hated how he was wronged and continues to be wronged by so many. I want his name to be cleared, and the only way for that to happen is for Ava's lies to come to light. Julian tried to expose one of her secrets -- that she had shot Olivia -- but in typical Ava fashion, she quickly figured out Shawn's weakness and then promptly exploited it by threatening to tell the police that Sonny had shot A.J.
Ava is heartless and self-serving, which is why she wouldn't have had any qualms about pulling the trigger on Julian when their situations suddenly became reversed. The difference was that she wasn't being blackmailed -- it was a choice and one she made easily until Shawn showed up to remind her that Sonny needed Julian alive because Danny might one day need more life-saving bone marrow from Grandpa Julian.
I was pleased that Julian initially balked at killing Ava because it showed me that Julian does have a conscience and that there is hope for him. I get why he decided to make a move against Ava because ultimately Ava knew that there would be consequences for feeding information to the enemy. Either way, Ava was going to die because that's what Luke had wanted, so Julian decided to spare himself in the massacre.
Dear readers, as the weeks pass, I'm more convinced than ever that this pale-faced, creepy, despicable, cocaine-snorting, greedy, vengeance-seeking murderer passing himself off as Luke is not Luke. The real Luke, I'm certain, remains imprisoned at Miscavige or is languishing in some faraway prison, waiting for someone to realize that there is an imposter afoot in Port Charles.
I also think that it's time for Tracy to step down as CEO of ELQ. People all around her are warning her that Luke is up to no good and that he's not to be trusted, yet she stubbornly ignores them and gives Luke a corner office with full access to ELQ's funds. She's proven to be both gullible and reckless. Case in point, marrying Luke at the Nurses Ball when her son was begging her not to just mere seconds before she said, "I do."
I suspect that somehow Ron Moss's character is going to have some connection to Luke's odd behavior. Could he be the man behind the "mask?" I don't know, but I just get a vibe that the Luke currently on our screens is not the real Luke. That scene when Luke seemed to be talking to someone who had passed spoke volumes, especially when Luke assured the person that the objective was to make Sonny pay. I can't think of anyone that Luke had been close to who had died or had been deeply hurt by Sonny to warrant this kind of revenge.
I'm still sticking to my theory that the Soleitos are somehow behind this.
Luckily for Sonny, Carly found A.J.'s cell phone before Anna did. I blame Anna, though. She was the one who foolishly shared the information with Carly, so it's on Anna that Carly and Franco beat her to the hospital and got their hands on A.J.'s phone before Anna did. However, if I were Anna, I would have put an APB out on Carly and Franco for taking that cell phone and then leaving town with it. I understand that Carly did it in part to protect Sonny, but that doesn't mean that what Carly did was okay.
By the way, where is Josslyn? Does she now live with Jax and just visit Carly? I'm curious because Carly didn't seem to have any problem skipping town without more than a moment's notice.
Naturally, the recording that A.J. made during his confrontation with Ava ended up with lots of patches of static covering up all the pertinent information that would have exposed Ava's most closely guarded secret about Connie's murder. Ava remains safe for the moment, but I have a feeling that Carly intends to pay an old friend a visit -- who just so happens to be a genius with computers. Any guesses on who that might be?
Admittedly, it's not difficult to figure out who Carly plans to see because Bradford Anderson is due to return to Port Charles soon.
As Carly and Franco close in on the truth, Ava continues to work desperately to cover her tracks. Her latest effort was to blackmail Shawn, which seems to be the in thing to do these days. Not only is Jordan threatening to tell T.J. a story that undoubtedly suggests that Shawn didn't kill Thomas Sr. in a friendly-fire incident, but now Ava has decided to throw Sonny under the bus for A.J.'s murder if Shawn tells Sonny that Ava shot Olivia. The flaw in Ava's plan? Ava wouldn't live long enough to tell the police that Sonny shot A.J. once Sonny found out that Ava nearly killed Olivia.
Back to Jordan. I'm still not a fan because she looks very guilty of being a drug trafficker. Of course, since it's obvious, chances are she will turn out to be an undercover agent helping to bust up the drug ring. However, that doesn't change the fact that she was a drug trafficker in the past and that she spent time in jail it. More importantly, she allowed her son to believe that he was too much trouble for his mother to handle rather than have the courage to fess up the truth about going to jail. She's a very shady lady at the moment, so I can't trust or like her.
In other happenings, Patrick and Sabrina's baby is still hanging on, but Sabrina was able to take a break from sitting vigil at her son's side when she learned about Carlos' confession. Naturally, Sabrina didn't believe a word of it because Carlos had sworn to her on the life of her unborn son that he hadn't killed A.J. Sabrina knows that Carlos is lying about the murder and wants to know why, so she decided to pay Carlos a visit in jail. However, Carlos remained determined to protect Sabrina and the baby because he's convinced that Ava was responsible for the car accident that resulted in Sabrina's son's premature birth.
Well folks, it's happened. The devil is serving snow cones in Hades today because I have suddenly begun to like Nathan. A lot.
It started when Nathan stopped accusing Silas of trying to murder Nina "Silaaas" every three seconds. The warm tingly feeling blossomed when Nathan was forced to arrest his mother for murder. I felt terrible for him but respected him immensely for doing the right thing. I realized that Nathan was a genuine good guy because he didn't try to make excuses for what Madeline had done. He was completely horrified -- as any normal person would be -- at the lengths to which she would go to keep Nina from having Silas' child.
I actually began to like and root for Nathan when he saw through Levi's act and accused Levi of being a controlling manipulator. Friday's show sealed the deal for me because of the way that Nathan smiled at Maxie when she showed up at the ball. It made my heart melt. The moment was perfect until Levi slithered up in his flip-flops and tried to stake his claim on Maxie by kissing her cheek and then schmoozing with her family. I laughed when Levi became insecure during the Magic Milo and the Magic Wands performance because I'm certain that Levi already senses that Nathan is real competition for Maxie's heart.
Is anyone else tired of hearing Sonny tell people that having sex with Ava had been a mistake and meaningless? I'm with Dante on this one; saying that is even more insulting to Olivia than cheating on her. Sonny was willing to risk his relationship with Olivia over something that was cheap and meaningless? That doesn't say much for his feelings toward Olivia.
I will admit that there was a time -- long, long ago -- when I shipped Solivia, but that was way before Olivia turned into a mob moll who continually made excuses for every horrible thing that Sonny did. And I do mean everything. I think that is when the worm turned for me. I dislike the woman that Olivia became once she hooked up with Sonny.
I think that the real reason that Sonny slept with Ava was in part to punish himself for betraying Michael and because deep down inside, he doesn't really love Olivia.
Finally, Nikolas is hesitant to make a move for Elizabeth even though she very clearly declared her love for him on the eve of his engagement party just a couple of weeks earlier. Everyone can see that Nikolas wants her, including his own son, but instead of fighting for the woman he loves, Nikolas is standing by while Ric swoops in and romances Liz away from Nikolas. I want to reach through my television screen and shake some much-needed sense into Nikolas' thick skull. If he loses Liz, it will be his own fault.
Even though it won't break my heart if Liz ends up with Ric, I've decided that I want Liz with Nikolas. Not only will the castle be filled with the pitter-patter of little feet, but I think it would be good for Spencer to learn to have siblings around and share.
As much as I enjoy Spencer, even I can concede that his fixation on Emma isn't healthy or normal. He's also turning into a scheming brat, which is not the kind of son that I expected Nikolas to raise. Helena, yes, but not Nikolas. Nikolas is better than that.
A couple that was surprisingly enjoyable to watch these past couple of weeks was Kiki and Morgan. Not as a romantic pairing but as friends. I have to say that the one good thing to come out of Ava shattering Morgan's heart is that it matured him. Sure, he ratted her out to Julian, but that was just deserts, which she fully deserved.
The sign of Morgan's maturity was when he put Michael ahead of himself after Kiki pointed out that Michael needed Sonny's support right now, so it wouldn't help Michael to learn about Sonny's betrayal with Ava. Morgan agreed that Kiki was right and decided to move in with Carly, which should be pretty easy given that Carly is off on an adventure with Franco.
Best dressed: Liz in that sexy red backless dress. You go, girl!
Best red carpet fall: Sam, who had a Jennifer Lawrence moment and took a tumble. Kudos to Silas for being such a sweet gentleman and not only helping her up, but assuring her that it hadn't been a big deal and that she didn't have anything to feel embarrassed about.
Best bods: Magic Milo and the Magic Wands
Most entertaining/fun moment: Kiki's "Raise your Glass" performance with a little help from Felix, Lucas, and Liz.
Most nostalgic moment: Eddie Maine's appearance to sing "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Nights)"
Things that tickled my fancy
Like me, Franco notices that A.J.'s recording is missing some important information
Franco: "All the good parts are inaudible."
Carly: "You think someone tampered with it?"
Franco: "Yeah, that's what happened. Somebody tampered with the phone while it was in the hospital 'lost and found.'"
Carly: "Okay, I'm just trying to figure out how it got all messed up."
Franco: "Who knows? Maybe Ava's got a force field around her, like a security system that scrambles anyone that -- that talks within 50 feet of her."
Carly: "Sounds like her personality."
Sonny tries to explain that his tryst with Ava just happened
Olivia: "It happened?"
Sonny: "Yes."
Olivia: "Like an accident? Like -- oh, oh -- you took a turn too fast and fell on top of her? What kind of freaking idiot do you think I am?"
Mac desperately tries to get Mr. Marbles included in the 2014 Nurses Ball
Emma: "Why is he even called Mr. Marbles?"
Mac: [Normal voice] "Oh, it is a funny story."
[As Mr. Marbles]: "But it's funnier when I tell it, okay? Here, this is what I --"
Anna: "I'm warning you. I'm armed."
Felicia: [Chuckles]
Mac: "Hey, Kevin, Duke -- my bros, my posse. You're Mr. Marbles' men, right?"
Duke: "No, to be honest with you, Mr. Marbles gives me the willies. After last year's scene-stealing show, I had a whole spate of night terrors. It's just, like, not good. It wasn't good."
Anna: "It was bad. Bad, bad."
Maxie tries to convince Nathan that she's not interested in going to the Nurses Ball
Maxie: "Anyway, I-I'm just happy that Levi and I finally get to spend a romantic night at home alone together. He's even going to make his famous raw kale dish. He's out buying the kale right now, so if you don't mind..."
Nathan: "Well, have fun with your leafy greens. And the kale."
Felix and Lucas excuse themselves to get ready for another musical number
Brad: "They are performing -- together -- again? When did they turn into Siegfried and Roy?"
Until next time, dear readers, take care.
Liz Masters
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