GH Rundown Weekly Blog

Your new mission, which you must accept. (ABC)

The GH Rant from January 12 – 16:

It seemed like everyone in Port Charles was scheming this week. The bad guys schemed as usual. The good guys took some hits, but are scheming to get back on top. Finally two good guys turned out to be scheming with the bad guys. This week’s story-lines also reminded me of past storytelling from NBC’s soaps. Let’s get into all that happened on “General Hospital.”

Jinkies! The case of the missing ballot box.
With the holidays well behind us I was not expecting such a fluffy filler episode like the election episode on Tuesday. That headache inducing “who stole the ballot box and why” story-line could have neatly been condensed into ten minutes of a regular episode. Not only was the episode infuriating, but the revelation to the audience that Sloane worked with Lomax to throw the election and take Anna’s job killed what could have been for Anna and Sloane. Anna’s down, but she’s not out, and I for one can’t wait for her to nail both Sloane and Lomax.

Welcome to the dark side, we have cookies.
The election episode not only revealed Sloane to be a villain, but he and Lomax are in cahoots with Prince Nikolas, who helped them steal the election. Say it isn’t so! The only good Cassadine has fallen to the dark side. On one hand the character of Nikolas suddenly got a lot more interesting. On the other hand, I am not sure I believe this sudden switch in morality. Nikolas has always wanted nothing more than to protect Spencer, so one has to wonder if that is what he is still doing. Could Nikolas be playing Helena in order to find out her true plan and bust her? Or has Nikolas actually fallen? Vote in Soaps.com’s General Hospital Poll: Nikolas turning to the dark side?

Jailhouse scheming.
In last week’s GH Rundown Blog Hollie blogged that the Julian and Sonny partnership was something she never saw coming. I concur, and like Hollie I’m really enjoying it. How long it will last remains to be seen though, as Sonny likely won’t forgive and forget that Julian let his friend Luke be locked up for so long. Still, it would be great to see their team-up last longer than just while they are behind bars. If and when they are ever released imagine the possibilities of the two families working together rather than against each other. Oh who are we kidding? As soon as their common enemy is vanquished these two will turn on each other.

Forever undercover Jordan.
Jordan’s predicament is getting worse by the minute what with Anna out as commissioner. Jordan is in serious trouble and we know Fluke won’t hesitate to go after her kid to teach her a lesson, as he did it with Julian. It wouldn’t be a shock if at this point Jordan went rogue and actually joined the mob for real. Shawn and Duke will do a better job protecting her and TJ than the PCPD would, that’s for sure.

Playing it smart.
Kudos to Maxie this week for making a smart and grown up decision about her and Nathan’s relationship. Maxie and Nathan are so amazing together, yet Maxie has a history of bad choices and screwing things up. It was nice to see her suggest they take things slow and that Nathan move out for the time being. That of course means Nathan has to actually get out of her bed long enough to pack and move out. If Nathan moves out, hopefully he doesn't get an imaginary apartment that we never see. Otherwise how else will we see him walking around in just a towel for half an episode? On second thought, maybe Maxie made a very bad decision!

Soldier boy.
Helena’s conditioning of Jake/Jason is starting to get confusing. Jake is having so many flashes of Helena’s orders that it’s hard to discern whether he’s troubled by fragmented memories or if he’s in soldier mode still and simply remembering his orders. The whole storyline is also giving me flashbacks of the John/Roman/The Pawn storyline from “Days of our Lives.” It's a wonder that Helena hasn’t made a call to Stefano at this point. The pawn storyline went on for years, decades actually. Here is hoping it doesn’t take Jake that long to get his memories back.

Adventure buddies with benefits.
Everyone under the sun seems to be calling Sam out on her obsession over Jake being her misplaced anger over Jason’s death and Faison’s escape. The hilarious part is that Sam is correct, though watching her angrily go after Jake has quickly become tiresome. Patrick fortunately has distracted her for the time being with his bedside manner. Just as they were set to go to funky town, Jake breaks in to kill Sam. Come on! Will fans of this couple ever get to see them seal the deal? It's starting to look like they are jinxed and the writers are going to keep them forever friends only.

Dr. Lucas at your service.
It was great to see Lucas being utilized again and in a more serious fashion. Having him return to his medical career is just the medicine that the actual General Hospital needs. His putting Michael in his place was great too, as someone needs to let Michael know his huffing and puffing is no longer attractive. With Michael offering Lucas the job running his new clinic it looks like the show will finally make good use of Lucas' character.

Fluke and shades of Passions.
A lot of clues as to Fluke’s identity continued to be dropped this week, though who he really is still remains a mystery. The Bill Eckert connection was discussed last week, but his anger over the fact that the Spencer house was left to Bill makes it seem like Fluke is not Bill back from the dead. Fluke talked to both Luke and Bobbie about the house as if it was their house. The long missing sister Patricia has also come into the picture, someone who Bobbie and the real Luke hardly ever talk about. It's as if she was a dark secret of the family. I’m getting flashbacks of Vincent from “Passions” with this story-line. For those who didn't watch the soap, Vincent was the believed dead child of Eve and Julian on the show who turned out to be a crazed hermaphrodite (now called intersexed) serial killer. Could Fluke actually be Patricia, who was never actually their sister to begin with? That’s what I’m thinking.

Things that make you go Hmmmmm.

Where the heck is Robin? Is Helena hiding her in the caverns under Spoon Island?

How is it that everyone in Port Charles conveniently learns Rosalie's secret in order to blackmail her when they need help? Her secret must not be very secret, so the show should just spill it to the audience.

Best lines of the week:

Fluke to Luke, "You’re trembling like a virgin at a nudist rodeo."

Sonny to Julian, "What is this, the league of psychopaths?"

Rosalie on Helena, "Great, more crazy, awesome!"

That's it for this week. These are just my opinions and we encourage you to share yours as well in the comments. Soaps.com is taking suggestions for a new name for this weekly blog, currently called GH Rundown. Have an idea? Let us know in the comments as well!

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All screen shots courtesy of ABC.

- Dustin Cushman