This week's Muse Column is provided by:
Sherry Mercurio
I'm slightly interested. That about sums up my recent viewing
experience. I have been pleasantly surprised by a few things,
one example is that it didn't take forty years for everyone to find out who
Courtney and Janine are, and I think that a few of the storylines are
actually moving along pretty well for a change. Then again I did have
to save several weeks of tapes and view (or sort of view - I really
appreciate my FF button!) them all at once due to some scheduling
difficulties, so it may not have felt like things were moving along when you
had to watch it day by day. I'm still a few days behind so bare with
me while I give a quick opinion on a few recent things - and if any of my
complaints have been resolved in the last couple of days then I stand
corrected!
Stefan - Poor Stefan. If you blinked you missed the
reason he left, the good-byes, and the actual leaving. The whole thing
stunk! I'm guessing that since SN hasn't been all that quiet about his
displeasure with his lack of story, Stefan was probably lucky they didn't
just have him go use the bathroom and then never mention him again. I
will miss Stefan a lot, and even more upsetting is that Days is probably
going to snap him right up so there may not be a return for many years, if
ever..........and like we are supposed to believe that Stefan would move to
anywhere and not come home to visit. Soaps are like that, one minute
someone is fabulously wealthy and jetting all over the world at the drop of
a hat: "Oh, my business manager in Monte Carlo dropped his hat - gotta
fly over for a few days to supervise the estate and the holdings and the
transactions and the negotiations - oh, and to help him out with the hat
fiasco" to: " I'm moving to Milan and I can not come back
here under any circumstances. You may make my excuses on holidays and
at funerals because you won't be seeing my face for years to come."
I would really rather have the person kidnapped or presumed dead then to
have these stupid excuses and reasoning. It's kind of insulting.
It's one thing when it's Angel - we can believe she can leave and not come
back - she had no reason to be there in the first place. But when it's
a character with family ties, I mean who really believes that any parent (or
acting parent), especially in that family, would think that it makes sense
to leave Nikolas running everything on his own right now ? Ludicrous.
Nikolas/Gia/All their new wealth and prestige/Stavros' memory
- Personally, the wealth and prestige stuff is pretty boring to me.
first off, Nik has been the "heir apparent" for some time now, so
I'm thinking that he would have already been invited to all these marvelous
parties. And I am not really buying that Nikolas has all of the sudden
become a hard, jaded businessman overnight. They could have at least
shown him trying to run things as himself before he started being a jerk to
everyone around him. I do buy the confusion about his father though.
I think that someone should have suggested counseling to Nikolas awhile ago
- it's not exactly normal to have your father be a Popsicle and then there's
the fact that Nik had a hand in Stavros's demise. Paging Dr. Collins,
STAT. I'm mildly interested in where they are going with that whole
thing, though I'm not convinced they are really going anywhere with it.
It could very well be a time filler. I thought I had something to say
about Gia too but I don't think I really do, she's fairly inconsequential
lately.
Lucky/Liz - I think (and this may not be very popular,
surprise, surprise!) that JY and RH both have more chemistry with several
other people than they do with each other. Liz has been much easier to
take lately, sadly it's since she got her little nose cut off by her "unwedding".
Speaking of the wedding - I thought all of that was handled quite well.
She made a gorgeous bride, and she did a perfect job of slowly realizing the
real situation and then reacting to it. It was rather refreshing that
she didn't flee the state but instead did what I would think most people in
that situation would, she went back upstairs. And she didn't refuse to
speak to Lucky, thereby making us wait two weeks for the confrontation and
explanations. I thoroughly enjoyed (I mean enjoy, like they were well
written and well acted, not enjoy, like I was laughing and rejoicing at
there pain or anything - I'm not that bad!) most of those scenes.
Kudos to Rebecca Herbst for some great acting. It's also refreshing to
see a less....well.......for lack of a better word - bitchy - Liz.
I used to enjoy her character before she became such a know-it-all snot and
I'm finding myself not minding her again. Though I do mind Lucky and
Liz together, maybe someday I'll be interested again, but for right now I
think it's so over and done with that I haven't bothered watching much of
their "get to know you again" stuff. I find my eyes glazing
over, we already did the getting to know you again routine when Lucky came
back from playing chess, give it up already. I think Liz and Zander
could have chemistry (then again I'm beginning to think Zander has chemistry
with just about anything that moves.....) or maybe we should see how she and
AJ mix - she could take another trip to the wild side and let AJ rescue her
this time. Or he could hire her for something - I don't think she has
a job anymore, how does she pay for her room since Chloe died? As for
Lucky, lets do a reverse SORAS and make him four again so he can play with
Mikey and we can develop a new lasting friendship for future generations to
appreciate. I know I would appreciate a Lucky break.....
SISTERS - Ok, someone should check into our current writers
and Ms. EP's family situation, because someone has an issue with
their.......SISTER. GH has added more sisters this (last, whatever)
year then the Catholic Church did. So let's run them down (not
literally, well not in all cases anyway!) starting with Kristina.
I have been tolerating her fairly well although I found her purpose much
more evident in the beginning. I think they bring on these new people
to get a bang for their buck for about five minutes and then realize they
don't really know what to do with them (I know, I know - you don't have to
be brilliant to see that, sometimes it just takes me awhile to catch on
ok?). I don't dislike Kristina and I think JRN is a decent enough
actress and I was even interested in seeing Ned try something (someone) new
but I am not finding myself enjoying them together much. There just
isn't enough spark to offset the "ick" factor of dating someone
your sister has slept with. Not to mention what that makes your sister
feel like, not to mention you are just getting to know her. Way to
many problems and not worth the bother. So my jury is out on whether
she will stick around long, I'm not asking her to leave yet or anything
(hey, it could be up to me - you never know, I have sent in my
resume.......) but they need to take her in another direction ASAP.
Courtney: I'm enjoying her, she stays, more later.
Skye: Hmm, this is a tough one. I like the
character about half the time. I really like RC and I think she is an
outstanding actress but I think there are some huge, beginning to border on
insurmountable, problems with the character. For one, someone please
explain to me why on earth she has such a huge vendetta against Sonny?
The huge vendetta that makes sense would be against just about anyone in her
own family, particularly Edward. They are playing that as a secondary
situation which just doesn't make sense. And while I'm happy that her
introduction has given AJ storyline, I have some reservations about their
relationship too. She's too smart to be used by AJ like she is being
used and I don't think they have really established why these two became so
immediately joined at the hip. They don't even know each other and
they are like two rabid dogs backed into a corner, going after everyone in
sight. And to make it worse they are occasionally showing that Skye
isn't stupid, and she has moments of clarity where she tells AJ he's wrong
to be using children, animals and old people to get what he wants and then
she ends it with "but I love you and you're my brother so I will back
you up" - please! If they grew up together I might buy their
loyalty but it isn't ringing true for me at all. She has never even
laid eyes on Mikey - she could pass him on the street and not know him and
she has never even looked into getting someone else's impartial view of the
AJ/Mikey situation. Doesn't she wonder why Lila and Emily both get to
see Mikey when they want and seem to understand the circumstances and accept
them? She's smarter than they are allowing her to be and they are
dangerously close to making her just a whiney, simpering, pain in the rear.
Give her some depth, at least explore why she's willing to put herself and
what she wants on the line for a brother she hardly knows. Maybe
there's a good reason, or a psychologically interesting reason at least, but
we sure don't know it yet.
Sarah: Need a new person like we need another good deed
for Melissa, but setting that aside, it's way to soon to tell for sure but I
doubt a new person can make Liz and Lucky any more boring and it looks like
Nik and Gia could use a transfusion too. I'll give her time.
Alexis/Sonny/Courtney/Mike - I'm lumping them together
because they are currently the only storyline I'm actually enjoying.
Let's start with the negatives: Alexis. I have no problem with
Alexis having feelings for Sonny - my personal opinion is you would have to
be a rock not to have some interest in Sonny at his best, good looks, money,
power (though not over his bodyguards but hey....can't have everything)
charm, etc. Sonny at his worst is another story entirely. But
the problem for me is that they are making Alexis do things like telling
Courtney about Sonny's past - please! She has her own past issues and
is a very private person - there is no way she would have just blurted that
out to Courtney, she had no business doing that. Though I have to
admit I was glad she did because it kept the story moving along, but the
writers could have thought of a better way to handle that. It was out
of character for her. She has been a little too needy and I also don't
think that she would actually be showing Carly that she is jealous of her.
Alexis might feel jealousy but she would keep it completely to herself.
The scenes where she accused Carly of trying to keep Sonny by inventing
problems, etc. were just all wrong.
Now on the up side, I loved Alexis at the gym - it was the most
trite scene, I mean you knew what was going to happen yet it was still
hilarious. NLG is a marvel - I will say right now, if they lose her I
may be done with this show. I also am loving watching Sonny deal with
his new problems. He looks completely baffled almost all of the time.
Alexis isn't someone he can push around or make to feel inferior like he
could with Carly. When he told Alexis she betrayed him, etc. she
calmly told him why she thought he was wrong. Nobody else he has been
with could actually handle all of his emotion with calm and logic. It
throws him and you can see it. Mike telling Sonny off (Finally!) was
priceless and well done. MB showing Sonny's emotion after Mike walked
out was perfect - he's still a hurt little boy who knows he's wrong about a
lot of things. I have found this whole "Sonny getting his due
from every angle" very enjoyable. Unlike what they are doing to
Skye - Sonny is deeply flawed, flat out wrong and often hurtful but we know
why and whether you like it or not he stays true to his character which
makes it hard to hate him for it. I watch him act like an idiot,
throwing stuff around in front of children for pete's sake, and I think -
he's being a big, fat baby! But I know that he knows
he's wrong. On the other hand, I have no clue what Skye is really
thinking because she is all over the map in both actions and motivation, but
I digress. The point is that someone telling Sonny to "grow up
and communicate like an adult" is long overdue, but well worth the
wait. Would I want to live with someone like Sonny - no way, but
visiting is another thing entirely ;) - that's where I think Alexis's mind
is at right now. The poor woman deserves a break......her beloved
sister is dating Ned and blabbing her mouth all over the place - who
wouldn't need a distraction from that?
Zander/Carly/Jax - Liking Carly and Zander surprisingly well.
They have chemistry and if I just shut out the idea of someone going from
Sonny to a young (though easy on the eyes), basically unemployed going
nowhere kid - well, I guess that's the point, I can actually buy it most of
the time which is pretty interesting. She has been much easier to
watch lately and I like them together. But then I have NO interest in
seeing Sonny and Carly back together so it's easier for me to accept her
with just about anybody else. I'm not sure he's exactly father type
material, so long term I'm not sure about that whole thing but it's a nice
diversion. I'm also equally intrigued with Carly and Jax. I find
them so much more interesting together than I do Skye and Jax. Jax
looks bemused and enchanted (yes, I read a few too many romance novels waaay
back when I had time to kill) by her every time they are together. I
would like to see that go somewhere too, and call me shallow, but Sonny to
Jax is a much easier jump to make then Sonny to Zander.
A few random thoughts:
Why don't they use an ELQ set? It seems a little weird that
they have all their meetings in the family living room, convenient? yes, but
not all that professional - and who takes the minutes for these meetings
anyway?
Why doesn't Sonny get some help explaining AJ to Courtney by
calling on Jason or Emily to give her a heads up. If he explained to
either of them the circumstances and what he knows AJ is doing, I would
think they would jump at the chance and they should have some credibility
since they are his siblings. Or even Mike would have some pull with
her right now, he should care more about keeping her away from AJ then he
does about not speaking to Mike. Oh, and AJ did admit to arson in
writing somewhere didn't he? Then again maybe trying too hard would
only make it worse, but I am not seeing a way out for Sonny on this one.
Roscoe sure seems more up to the task then Sorel did, doesn't he?
It's about time they put a real threat in there - I hope he will be sticking
around. Sonny needs an opponent - I'm not calling for a bloodbath or
anything but I think if you are going to have a mobster you need to make him
do a little biznezz - ya know?
In closing, I had an interesting thought (like I said, sometimes it
takes me awhile) the other day. I was watching my GH tapes and I found
myself thinking that nothing surprising seems to be happening, nothing is
shocking me or making me really need to see the next day. Then (here's
the duh part) I realized that a lot of that is probably because I am a
spoiler lover. I keep up pretty well with the spoilers and rumors that
are flying around everyday. I always know what's coming. There
was a time when I didn't and when I think back I think maybe it was more fun
to watch back then. I am seriously mulling over the idea of going
spoiler free for awhile and seeing if it's the better way to go. It's
risky right now because with the current regime there is the possibility
that I will get hit with a surprise one day that will do me in, like it's
the last minute of the last scene on a Friday and all the Q's board a plane
and fly away into the sunset while John Denver's voice wafts across the
clouds - the last line being: "don't know when I'll be back
again...". Sometimes that buffer time between hearing a rumor and
actually seeing it happen is very beneficial. But on the other hand,
with this current regime, going spoiler free may just add some much needed
excitement once in awhile. I have to admit, it's like an addiction of
sorts and it's not going to be easy to do! I'm giving it some more
thought and just thought I'd mention it in case any other bored spoiler
junkies hadn't thought of it as a way to add some zest to their viewing
experience. Maybe we can form a support group to help get us
through........anyone know if there is a pill for this particular ailment??