Tracy said her goodbyes, left Port Charles, and accidentally bumped into Luke at a café. That's an ending I can live with. Serendipity. A great word, a great little rom-com, and a great restaurant in Las Vegas.
I have watched Jane Elliott dazzle since she started on General Hospital nearly four decades ago. Watching those flashbacks of old scenes this week made me think about my Mama. Back in the day, before VCRs and DVRs, you had to watch TV live, and if you missed it, you missed it. GH started at 3:00 p.m. My high school let out at 3:00 p.m. This was an urgent dilemma. I begged and pleaded with my Mama to watch the first half hour of GH for me until I got off the bus at 3:30 and made a mad dash down the street to watch the second half myself.
She relented and agreed, but begrudgingly. I was smitten with the Laura and Scotty (before Luke!), but Mom got sucked in by Tracy Quartermaine. My mother was the kindest human being I have ever met on the face of the earth. My mother was a Lila. But Tracy tickled her. Tracy could say and do things my mother would never have considered saying or doing ever in her life.
When she was recapping for me during commercial breaks, her eyes would light up, and she would say, "You will never believe what Tracy did today!"
I miss my Mama. And I will miss seeing our mutual friend Tracy Quartermaine.
GH did it right. All the people who mattered to Tracy gathered to say goodbye. We got closure on the many relationships Tracy is leaving behind. Her scenes with Monica, Ned, Lulu, and even Laura were especially touching and poignant. I like that since she wasn't killed off, there is a hope we might see her again someday, at least for a visit. And they let us believe she was riding off into the sunset with the love of her life and that Luke would get his Spanky Buns back. How can that not make you smile? Mind you, I'm greedy, and I would have liked one more scene between the two of them, but maybe that was all Tony was willing to do. He is retired, after all. Imagine if you retire and your company calls you and asks if you can come in and work a day a year after you leave... So, being there at all shows he is a good sport.
Jane Elliot has such fire inside her. You can see it in every scene she plays. In all these years, I can say Tracy never bored me. She drove me mad sometimes, but I never looked away, and I never yawned. When I look at the current cast, the person I see with that same kind of fire inside her that radiates through every performance is Michelle Stafford. She never phones in a scene. Never!
Now, the only people left from when I first started watching are Bobbie, Monica, and Laura. Leslie Charleson is 72. Jackie Zeman is 64. I think Genie Francis is still very young at 54. (Because she's close to my age.)
I can't see Monica sticking around town much longer. Alan is gone, Tracy is gone, most of her kids are gone -- are Jason and her grandkids enough to keep her in Port Charles? If I were Monica, I'd retire from GH and move to the beach in Florida. Let Dr. Obrecht take over the hospital again; that would be wunderbar. (Oh please, please, let her sing at the Nurses Ball this year.)
I am glad that Ned is changing his last name to Quartermaine. I like the idea of there still being an Edward Quartermaine in the house. And I think Olivia has the capacity to be a dispenser of wisdom to the town the way Lila was, just a little less elegant. But that's okay; she's salt-of-the-earth, real-people, and that's a great gift, too.
Bring back Brooke Lynn and some grandkids for Ned. Maybe some of the Ward kinfolk. Bring back some Quartermaine cousins like Jimmy Lee and Celia. Bring back Emily's twin, Rebecca. Maybe Nikolas Cassadine is alive and went to track down his soul mate's twin. We can fill up that house again in no time!
Bobbie has more family ties in Port Charles: Carly, Lucas, her grandkids, etc. Laura does, too -- kids and grandkids and even a love interest! These ladies are now the matriarchs of the show. They are set to be torchbearers for the next generation.
Because of the aforementioned fire in Nina, I hope that we can get away from Nina being painted as a jealous woman spying on her lovers. Michelle Stafford can play crazy like no one else, but I want her instead to play power. I want her to be the dumper, not the dumpee. I want Nina to leave Valentin as she sees him mooning over Anna and then see him crushed when he realizes Anna is using him. I want her to have the upper hand and to demand respect.
Assuming this is even Anna at all. There is hot speculation that the woman who is fawning over Valentin is instead Anna's twin, Alex. Which would explain why cancer-ridden Anna has so much vim and vigor. Does Alex have Anna tied up in Helena's recently uncovered lab? Who knows. Time will tell.
Now to my other soapy wishes, I want to see Brad go down in flames. I want him to get busted for faking Finn's drug tests and get fired from GH for good. How many shady lab things do you get to do and still work at the hospital?
Maybe Lucas will leave him. Maybe Brad can take over his dad's mob work in Port Charles, since he already has no conscience and has a love for shady activities. Maybe Rosalie is still available to be a mobster's fake wife.
Now a confession. When Amy (Risa Dorken) debuted, I thought, "What a waste of space." I hate the "town gossip" character in every show or movie I've ever seen. Amy was especially annoying. I hated the old Amy Vining character, too. Girls like that are the reason all of my most trusted friends are men.
But recently, they have expanded Amy's role. We now know she went to high school with Dillon and Maxie. We know she and Dillon were friends. We know Maxie bullied her. We know she has a little crush on both Dillon and Nathan. Suddenly, I care about her a little. I want to see where this storyline goes, and I want to see someone love her back. We need a new Spinelli type of guy in town, a really nice but slightly awkward guy in search of a girl like Amy. I know the girl can sing, so maybe she will wow some fine young man at the Nurses Ball.
I know Kirsten Storms is still on leave, but Maxie is reportedly coming back "soon-ish." Wouldn't it be delicious if Maxie returned to find the girl she bullied in high school was in the process of stealing her man in her absence? Oh, man, I would so dig that.
Things I am not digging: Jake suddenly drawing chimeras on his paper. What is it with GH and mythical beasts? Chupacabra anyone?
So before we even know what the scarecrow is all about, we have changed the mysterious drawings to a chimera.
Readers, I had to Google this. I went to college, but that was in the 80s, and I drank massive amounts of alcohol, so if I ever learned about this particular mythological creature, I don't recall. It seems to be an animal comprised of parts of different animals. Is this a metaphor for Jason? Is he Frankenstein? Is he part old Jason and part Stavros? Is he Jason at all? Maybe old Jason has been locked up, and Helena just implanted Jason's memories into some random dude.
We have no idea. Maybe Jake is just a weird kid like Napoleon Dynamite who likes to draw ligers.
Across town, Jason's friend Sonny has his own family problems. He signed all his assets over to Carly, and she has no intention of giving them back. In addition, Sonny accidentally slept with Carly's lawyer, and worst of all, Ava knows. I think we all know she will be using this tidbit to blackmail Sonny into giving her shared custody of Avery.
Michael is trying to play the peacemaker again, but Sonny went too far by getting Jax deported. Readers, I must say I am deeply disappointed by this development. I read earlier that Ingo Rademacher was back in L.A. and would be sticking around Port Charles for a while. Next thing I know, Jax has been indefinitely deported. I was really hoping for a CarJax (Carly/Jax) reunion that lasted more than twelve minutes.
Same goes for the big Julexis (Julian/Alexis) reunion. While I thoroughly enjoyed watching their roll in the hay, I am hoping all of the charges against Julian get dropped over ridiculous technicalities and circumstantial blah, blah, blah, so he can go home and reunite with Alexis for real.
I found it laughable that Jordan was being Judgy McJudgerton with Alexis after all the shenanigans she has pulled. Hey, Jordan, remember Shawn? How about Andre? How about the dude T.J. thought was his real dad? How about your on-and-off with Curtis? Do you really think that you have any right to question Alexis' romantic decisions? Um, not so much.
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Emo Phillips call Luke and ask for his hairstyle back? Will Jake draw a Pegasus and Wish Dragon on his scroll next? Will Valentin ever become suspicious of just how much Anna wants him to wear that watch? Will Olivia bake cannoli for the Nurses Ball? Will Richard Simmons come out of hiding to spar with Lucy? Will Maxie come home to find a messy apartment and get back on the plane to Portland? Will GH sneak in a reference to their Daytime Emmy wins? Will Jane Elliot go back to the convent to find Elvis? (If you don't get this one, Google it -- you won't regret it.) Will Roger Howarth leave GH because of the rumors that Netflix may revive One Life to Live and All My Children? Will I ever leave my house if all the soaps come back on Netflix?
Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.
Tamilu
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