The truth shall set you free

The road was quite bumpy for many in Port Charles as a marriage ended, a couple hit a snag in their relationship, and a few parents were forced to make some difficult choices for the sake of their children. The truth might set some free but not without a cost.

It was quite an interesting week, with Anna sensing something familiar about Griffin when she met him, Franco refusing to start a family with Nina yet gravitating toward Elizabeth and Jake, Nathan lying about a mysterious Claudette, and Sonny and Carly making the heart-wrenching, but exceedingly wise, decision to have Morgan committed to a psychiatric clinic to treat his bipolar disorder.

As much as I dislike Morgan, I was very much impressed with Bryan Craig's performances both this week and last week. My issue is -- and has been -- how the story was written, not the actor.

Morgan's anger and all that screaming made him so much more unlikeable to me, and therefore I had very little sympathy for his situation.

It seems criticizing Morgan's crisis touched a nerve with some readers who decided that I couldn't possibly know anyone -- let alone close family members -- who had bipolar disorder since I was unable to muster up some compassion for Morgan's plight.And therein lies the rub with this storyline.

Morgan -- and Sonny's -- situations are exaggerated for dramatic purposes because it's a soap opera. Not everyone who suffers from bipolar disorder exhibits the rage and hatred that Morgan and Sonny do when they are caught in the grips of the disease. Just because my family members didn't grab a gun and take off for the waterfront to confront arms dealers or scream at everyone who challenged them in any way doesn't mean that they didn't struggle with the disease or that I wasn't impacted by it.

Manic and depressive episodes are not the same for everyone, and I appreciated that the writers touched on this during Friday's show when Sonny pointed out that he's never been institutionalized during his struggle with the disease, while Carly argued that Sonny and Morgan's situations were different. I actually found Sonny and Carly's conversation about Morgan far more gripping because Carly addressed some of the things that had bothered me with the storyline -- namely that people who deal with this disease don't always follow the same pattern.

It's one of the reasons that the disease can be difficult to diagnose.

Plus, Morgan is a fictional character, and one I never truly warmed to since his return as "Captain Morgan," the perpetually pubescent idiot gambler.

That said, I love that his storyline has opened Carly's eyes and made her come to some painful and much-needed realizations about her choices.

It's like Morgan's situation ripped Carly's rose-colored glasses off and made her see -- again -- what the true cost of loving Sonny is. The first time she had the epiphany was back when Michael was shot in the head and lingered in a coma for a year.

This time, Carly recognizes that one of Morgan's many problems is his desperate desire to be a part of Sonny's criminal empire because Morgan truly is their son, and the lifestyle appeals to him on the same level that it does Sonny and Carly. She also finally understands that there is nothing they could do to keep Sonny's criminal lifestyle from touching their children's lives, regardless of how hard they try. It's too late for Michael and Morgan, but not Josslyn and Avery, which is why I suspect Sonny asked Carly if she intended to leave him.While Carly was scoring points, Sonny continued to frustrate me to no end. Sonny would never have agreed to commit Morgan on his own if Carly hadn't pushed for it, even after Sonny saw Morgan's emotions fly all over the place during the visit with Diane when she explained what Morgan's options were -- jail or sanitarium.

Sonny has a mindset that if he wills it, then it will just happen, even if it doesn't make a lick of sense. Case in point: Sonny's decision that Avery would not be going back home with Ava. I was both surprised and pleased that Ava agreed to let Sonny take their daughter home with him so Ava could focus on Kiki.

I don't mind if Sonny and Ava are enemies, but neither acts like a good parent when it comes to Avery. They both use that poor child as a weapon to hurt each other. In the end, the only one who will suffer for that is Avery.

I had high hopes that Sonny and Ava would come to an understanding, but as soon as Sonny had Avery settled in her crib, he announced that Avery was there to stay.

Excuse me, Sonny, but did you forget about that pesky little court order that could land you in jail if you don't adhere to it? I doubt the situation with Morgan is going to help score points for Sonny, since Morgan, who was mentally unstable, was able to get his hands on a gun that was supposed to be safely locked up.It's for that reason that I applaud the writers for making Morgan pay a price for his role in what happened. I don't blame Morgan for everything that went wrong, but he was instrumental in what happened to Kiki because he was the reason she was on the piers. A nice long stay at a clinic is a perfect solution. I just hope that when Morgan returns, we see a glimpse of the endearing little computer nerd with a surprisingly strong moral compass that he was before he was shipped off to military school.

Meanwhile, Ava finally has a chance to break free from the mob and be a better mother to Avery than she was to Kiki. Will she take it?

My gut tells me that Ava just can't help herself. She will end up getting sucked back into that world because she craves power and always puts herself first. Sonny and Ava truly are two peas in a pod. I applauded Paul for calling Ava out on trying to use Kiki's tragedy to manipulate him into giving her the flash drive of her confessing to Connie's murder.

I'm happy that Paul didn't give the flash drive to Ava because her penance for killing Connie and playing a key role in A.J.'s murder should be her having to live with the constant threat of going to jail for the rest of her life, since actually going to jail wouldn't work for the show.

It also occurred to me why I have reservations about Paul. Remember when he asked Ava to take the proceeds from their transactions with the arms dealers and invest in art? If Paul were truly a good guy who had been working with the Justice Department to shut down an arms syndicate, then he wouldn't have hidden those profits -- he would have turned them over.

I feel sorry for Dillon because he truly did draw the short straw when it comes to parents. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Tracy and consider her one of the show's icons, but she's a lousy mother. I understand that Tracy wants to protect Dillon from any possible bad news about her health, but that can never happen because whatever is ailing her is not going to suddenly go away -- unless it's one of Helena's curses, in which case Tracy will have to find her true love and have him take her to the Garden of Aphrodite for a little make-out session to get an instant cure.

Luckily for Tracy, the previews show that Monica is on the case. I'm also certain that Dillon has called in reinforcements, since Ned is set to return for a visit this month.

Meanwhile, I've developed a new theory about Griffin. At first I thought he might be related to Stone Cates in some way because of his talk with Sonny and the strong resemblance that Griffin has to Stone -- and it might still play out that way -- but something in the way that Griffin looked at Anna when they met and Anna's sense that she'd met him before suggested there's a far more personal link between the two.

Could Griffin be the son that Anna and Duke lost all those years ago when Olivia Jerome decided to kill Duke by rigging an elevator to crash? I don't recall how far along Anna was, but it would only take the stroke of an imaginative pen to change Anna's miscarriage/stillbirth to a premature birth.

I really hope that is the route the writers decide to go because I want Anna to have some family in town. It would also provide Griffin with a strong link to Port Charles and might be exactly what Anna needs to move past her grief from losing Duke.

Ideally, Anna will move forward with Andre because I saw some serious sparks between the two in the chapel when she and Andre talked about her determination to seek justice for Duke, even if she had to go to jail. I'm certain that Andre is attracted to Anna because I noticed how quickly he released her hands when he realized he'd reached for them during their talk.

A long-lost child and new love are exactly what Anna needs to give her life meaning again.

Speaking of babies, Maxie made an excellent point to Nina about getting a second opinion because Britt was completely untrustworthy. However, I'm conflicted about the idea of Nina having a child because I don't think she's emotionally ready for one. There's also the matter of Franco gravitating toward Elizabeth and Jake lately, which might spell trouble for Franco and Nina's relationship.

I have no interest in seeing a romance between Franco and Liz -- I'm still Team Griffin/Liz -- but I do like the friendship between Franco and Jake.

Jason was right when he told Sam that Sam, Jason, and Elizabeth would always be connected to each other through Danny and Jake, so they had to find a way to accept each other and start learning to get along. However, I had a big issue with Jason inviting Sam to the hospital when Jake was released to go home because Jake still has a big problem with Sam. The accident didn't change anything -- it only put everything on hold. Jake desperately needs therapy, so it was a mistake for Jason to keep bringing Sam into Jake's orbit.

Finally, Dante and Lulu received their finalized divorce decree in the mail. Their marriage is officially over, which I believe is for the best. It bothered me this week when Dante talked to Nathan about Dante and Lulu's trust issues by putting Lulu's trip with Dillon on the same level as Dante's affair with Valerie. Dante simply doesn't get it -- what he did was so much worse and far more damaging to the marriage than what Lulu did.

It was the pain from that deep betrayal that led Lulu to make a series of poor choices that nearly cost Valerie her life. Dante needs to understand if he and Lulu have any hope of working things out.

The award for passive-aggressive moves this week goes to Felicia, who cracked me up when she surprised Nathan with a stuffed poodle named Claudette II.

Eww! I noticed that Jason slept on the sofa with his nasty boots on. I don't care if it was a hotel sofa, Sam was barefoot, and he should have taken off the boots out of respect for her and anyone else who sits on the sofa in the future.

Franco talks to an unconscious Kiki about GriffinFranco: "When he was operating on you, did you see Dr. Munro? And I'm just asking 'cause his face, honestly, it's like looking at the sun."

A nurse resents Franco asking her to bend the rules for him so he can visit with KikiNurse: "Franco, you work here. You know the rules. Don't make me get Mrs. Johnson -- she carries a Taser."

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. Now, I turn the spotlight on you, dear readers. Please feel free to share your thoughts about the show, what transpired, and what your hopes are moving forward by commenting below. I love reading what everyone has to say -- and maybe next time I'll even share some of what you are saying right here in the column

Until next time, take care.Liz Masters

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