Poor Drew. I realized this week, as I watched everything unfold, that Drew is the Jan Brady of his family -- caught between a wildly popular older (I made that up) brother, Jason, and a zany younger (also completely made up) brother, Franco. I have no idea what order they were born in, but Drew strikes me as the middle child.
Of course, everyone pretty much knew that this was how it was going to unfold, because how can you have Steve Burton on the show, playing someone other than a role he played for two decades?
I jokingly suggested that it would serve people like Carly, Sonny, and Diane right if it turned out that Patient 6 was Drew, but I knew it wouldn't happen, because where is the drama in that? If Patient 6 had been revealed to be Drew, everyone would have apologized to Jason and gone back to their lives. Sonny and Carly might have taken Drew under their wing as a replacement for the Jason they lost in 2012, but that's about it. Boring.
However, Sam finding out that the man she married, the man she believed to be her beloved soul mate who, against all odds, returned to her and made all her dreams come true, was not him after all is exactly the kind of juicy stuff that fuels a good soapy storyline for weeks and months to come. A happily ever after ending is fine for a romance novel, but not so much for a soap opera because the drama is in watching the characters deal with the adversity of living in a world where everything that can go wrong will most certainly go wrong.
Now, Sam must decide if she fell in love with the man or the memory. I think she fell in love with the man because it's been clear since she met Patient 6 that she knew he was Jason. I also think what she told Nina at Floating Rib was the truth -- she already has all the answers that she needs about her husband and about Jason.
I think that Sam loves Drew and the life they've built because he gives her what Jason has never been able to. It was quite telling when Jason told Sonny and Carly at the police station after the truth was revealed that he knew if he made it home to them that everything would be okay. Not Sam -- Sonny and Carly. Sadly, Sam has always known that about Jason, and it was something she had struggled with throughout their relationship.
For Jason, Sonny and Carly were always first. He has unwavering loyalty to them, and nothing will ever come between them. Jason loved Sam, and he was as committed to her as he could be, but it was Sam who always made the sacrifices. They were soul mates because Sam molded herself into the perfect woman for Jason, and she would have lived happily ever after with Jason if he hadn't been shot and presumed killed.
However, during the years that Jason was gone, Sam grew as a person and as a mother. Her priorities are different because she lived her worst nightmare, and it nearly destroyed her. Drew can give Sam the kind of life that she wants because he puts her first, not others, and he's not interested in a dangerous lifestyle. Sam wants the kind of life where she doesn't have to worry about her husband being killed in a mob war or shot and kidnapped because of his skills as a deadly assassin. The ride-or-die Sam didn't experience the murder of her husband or face a future as a single mother with a baby who nearly died from cancer.
Those things change you in fundamental ways, and that's why I think her love for Drew is, in many ways, much stronger than what she had with Jason. Sam is a different person, while Jason is exactly who he used to be because, for him, only a few months, not years, have passed. The life that she has with Drew is the life that fits who she is, and she's happy. Sam is genuinely happy, and that is the one indisputable fact. Until Jason returned, Sam believed that her life was perfect in every single way, so why wouldn't she want to continue living it with the man who helped her create that life?
Unfortunately, Drew and Sam are going to be in for another surprise when Josslyn runs the DNA test to confirm that Drew is Oscar's father. It's not Oscar that I suspect will be the problem but rather his mother, Kim.
By the way, I love seeing Tamara Braun back. I wasn't a Carly fan during the Tamara Braun days because Carly was a piece of work back then, but I did enjoy Tamara's performances. Nothing has changed except that I like Kim so far.
I'm not sure what Kim is protecting Oscar from, but my gut tells me that it's more about her broken heart than Drew being a terrible person. I base that on the way she ran over to Jason and lovingly held his face before he pulled her hands away and told her that she had the wrong guy. There was love and wonder in that gaze before confusion set in.
It will be interesting to find out what Kim's story is, and why she didn't want to tell her son about Drew.
Meanwhile, Julian is a free man -- and persona non grata pretty much everywhere he goes. Alexis threatened to slap him with a restraining order if she kept bumping into him in public places like a popular rib place and hospital, Ava had to give him the boot because her new boyfriend has an issue playing nice with the man who ordered his father's murder, and of course Julian's kids despise him and want nothing do with him.
Hypocrisy is alive and thriving in Port Chuck.
I realize that Griffin has an issue with Julian because of Duke, but Ava also killed an innocent woman, and he doesn't seem to have a problem with that. As for Alexis, she is just lying to herself, and Julian can see it. It's written all over Alexis' face every time she looks at Julian and in every nervous twitch when he gets just a tad too close -- she's deeply and irrevocably in love with him.
It's just a matter of time before Alexis' defenses crumble and she takes Julian back. Everything that Molly said about Kristina and Parker applies to Alexis and Julian. It's possible that as flawed as Julian is, and he is, he genuinely loves Alexis. And if that's the case, then Alexis has the right to choose happiness even if no one else supports them.
I love Molly, but she needs to focus on her own life and allow her mother to make her own choices. Each of Alexis' daughters do what they please, so why can't Alexis?
I found myself smiling during Anna, Finn, and Valentin's scenes. Over the past few weeks, I've noticed a subtle shift in Valentin. I see flashes of his sense of humor, and he's been surprising me in the most pleasant of ways. First, when he came clean to Nina about what's going on with Cassandra, and then when he was honest with Anna about why he wanted to help her put an end to Cassandra's drug-dealing ways.
I'm never going to forget that Valentin shot Nikolas, but since I firmly believe that Nikolas is alive, I'm willing to set that aside for now because Valentin's charm, humor, and desire to be a better person for Nina are winning me over. Slowly, but surely.
I also like the spark of life that I see in Finn. It's like he has a real purpose these days, and it's fun seeing him keep Anna off-balance. I definitely see a spark between the characters and don't mind in the least if the writers explore it.
Lulu is embarking on a new career as a journalist, and something tells me that she's going to be landing in the middle of some really big stories in the coming months. That said, I hope that her first order of business is finding out that Nelle is the one who sold the Man Landers story to a tabloid.
It's not that I have any desire to see Nelle punished for exposing the truth about Man Landers, but rather, I want Michael to be aware of what Nelle did because he sounded awfully forgiving toward Nelle when he was talking to Sonny about her on Thanksgiving.
Nelle is not through with Michael, so I want him to stay on his toes because we still don't know what really happened to Nelle's ex-fiancé during the fatal kayaking trip. Nelle lies, even when she doesn't have to, so there's no reason for me to believe her version of events.
Was Dr. Z seriously going to give Ava an injection that induces twilight sleep without having an anesthesiologist present? That's the point when Ava should have run.
Are we truly expected to believe that Carly doesn't know about an app that can track her child's movement when she leaves the house and that she didn't have Brick download it on her daughter's phone so she can keep tabs on Josslyn?
The way that everyone is being so cold to New Jason b/c Old Jason is back irks me. It's obvious that New Jason really believes he is Jason and over the years, he has been a friend/supporter to many of the people in PC, so the way everyone is just quick to cast him aside seems unnecessarily cruel. I would expect everyone to feel more torn-b/c they love New Jason, but they also connect with Old Jason in a different way. The way Robin just left was weird...even if New Jason is Drew, her and New Jason still shared a lot together and didn't he save her from a bomb at the hospital? -- lk
I would love to see Michael hold on to his Quartermaine roots, but not at the helm of ELQ. If the family meant that much to him, he would not have forgiven Sonny for murdering his father, no matter what the reason. -- Kelly Ann
Puerto Rican disaster relief! The Opioid Epidemic! The problems of the VA medical system! Tabloid Journalism, and the rush to judgment! It CAN'T be a coincidence that GH is suddenly incorporating current events, and relevant topics into so many of its storylines. I have to say, I like the way they're doing it, without being TOO heavy-handed. What a difference from just a year or so ago when the closest this show came to dealing with a "controversial social issue" was Olivia's beef with the Mayor over breastfeeding in public. I thought that argument had been settled sometime in the LAST century! -- Scrimmage
Dear readers, thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts each week. It means the world to me, and I'm grateful to have such wonderful people to share my opinions with. As always, I love hearing from readers, so please feel free to email me or leave a comment below.
I hope everyone has a safe and joyful holiday filled with family, friends, and love.
Until next time, take care.
Liz Masters
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