Yes, Jonathan Jackson, I do remember you. And I'm happy you're home. No disrespect to the wonderful Greg Vaughan, but in my heart Jonathan Jackson will always be the "real" Lucky.
Many years ago, my nephew got married in upstate New York and my husband, my daughter Sarah and I were driving from Ohio to his wedding. In what could only be described as a "Miracle on 34th Street" moment, I yelled "STOP THE CAR" to my husband, because I spotted...not Santa's cane, but a sign in the distance that said "Triple L Diner."
It was THE Triple L Diner, the one where Luke and Laura danced behind the counter and a very young Jonathan Jackson was introduced as Lucky Spencer. We went in. I got autographed photos of Luke and Laura they kept behind the counter for über nerds like me who wandered in off the street. It was a stellar day. Oh, and the wedding was nice, too. In case you have never seen the Triple L Diner or little Lucky, allow me to introduce you to him through the embedded video.
If you were around back when Jonathan Jackson started playing Lucky as an adorable little boy, and watched him grow into a man on the show, and remember all those powerful and precious scenes from the past -- the ones Jackson won Emmys for, then you're in his camp.
If you started watching after he left, then you're partial to Greg Vaughn. I understand that we all have our loyalties, but I urge those of you who aren't already in love with Jonathan Jackson to keep an open mind.
He'll wow you, I promise. There is something alive behind his eyes, a fire, and a passion that lights up every scene. Did you see Tony Geary's eyes twinkling in their first scenes together? Ah, as David Wilcox says "I got a weakness for strong chemistry." When Luke called the "real" Cowboy, "Cowboy", my eyes got misty.
I hope that the writers will make use of Liz and Lucky's rich history to bring Liz to her senses. Since they now have access to hundreds of hours of Liz and Lucky's past in video, I think Liz should start having a lot of flashbacks to remind her why she should be with Lucky. I would love to see those old scenes of the two of them falling in love, and it would help bring newer viewers into the loop about Liz and Lucky's beginnings.
Liz stopped before making love to Lucky because she had a little fantasy about Nikolas. Geez, Liz, if every woman stopped in the middle of sex every time she had a fantasy about another man no one would be having sex except Angelina Jolie and Katie Holmes.
Some of the lines were hilarious, like "Best conversation we've had in years." "I feel Lucky tonight...did I just say that?" etc. The writers obviously had a blast with the tongue in cheek lines and helped us all chuckle at the absurdity of the situation.
Tyler Christopher was the original Nikolas, left the show and came back after an interim Nikolas, too - so perhaps he can help Jonathan through this transition as his pseudo brother.
Lucky and Liz were especially lucky that they didn't get invited to the whack birthday party for Claudia. First off, why did Sonny choose the Metro Court? He could have had a karaoke birthday party at Jake's and sung "You Give Love a Bad Name." to Claudia. But, I guess he was going for elegance and Coleman's joint didn't fit the bill. Such a pity the Floating Rib went out of business.
The party started out in Sonny's mind as a genuine celebration, but disintegrated into something dark as soon as Jason played the CD with proof of Claudia's guilt in Michael's shooting.
Sonny was so cool and calculated in his revenge. He swept the room with his eyes and earnestly showered praise on all of his loyal friends and family members. But the instant his eyes turned to Claudia, they went cold. Maurice Benard and Sarah Joy Brown were brilliant this week in the scenes we have been anticipating for months.
We knew Claudia would eventually get caught, and we knew it would be good TV, but the writers went above and beyond by placing the big reveal in a party setting so the entire town watched as it unfolded. When Sonny spat out the fact that Jerry Jacks was involved and added that Jax had known and covered for him- as the camera panned to Carly's shocked and sad eyes, we knew more good scenes were coming down the road.
Sonny's kids watched, too - but the spectacle of Sonny's rage was a new experience for Kristina and her tears and horror over her father's behavior were heartbreaking. In an earlier scene, when Michael admitted to her he remembered Claudia's bedside confession, Kristina naively assumed if Michael told Sonny he would just call the police.
We the audience and Michael chuckled at the notion together. Kristina had no idea who her father really was until she heard him call Claudia a "faithless bitch" and "a lying whore," and announced that "Claudia has lied to us all for the last time."
It rocked her little world. Sadly the only people she can turn to for advice are "Mr. Booty Call" Kiefer, her neurotic and clueless mother, her brain damaged brother Michael, or her increasingly annoying little sister Molly. I think Kristina will have to ignore Alexis' warnings and cling to her big sister Sam.
Carly's womb is cursed. Every time she gets pregnant, something dreadful happens. She has fallen down multiple flights of stairs, contracted rare conditions and is currently in the midst of her third pregnant kidnapping. When she was pregnant with Morgan, both Rick and Lorenzo kidnapped her during the same pregnancy. Claudia kidnapped her this week, and to top it off, that encounter ended up in yet another car crash. My real question is - why did Carly go to Claudia when Claudia called her over? Jason had a gun pointed at Claudia's head. Oh yeah, witnesses...jail... what was I thinking.
The funniest part to me was that people kept calling hotel security on their cell phones and getting voice mail! I think it's clear that there is no security at the Metro Court. After the big Jerry Jax hostage crisis, it's a wonder they have any guests at all. Once news gets out about the latest debacle, I would expect they will get quite a few cancellations.
One of the funniest lines this week (and there were many) was Mayor Floyd saying "Obviously it was a mistake for me to attend a gangster's party,"
The scenes with Sarah Joy Brown and Laura Wright were poignant. Readers, you might hate me for this, but as evil and treacherous as Claudia can be, I actually felt sympathy for her character as she laid out her story to Carly. Claudia was sincere, she didn't want Michael to get shot and she repeatedly wrestled with her guilt over the incident.
Of course Carly couldn't keep her mouth shut and blurted out "I hope to God you burn in hell for it," which probably wasn't the best way to calm down the maniac who just took you hostage. Claudia hoped Carly would understand her dilemma, but Carly is just as self absorbed as Claudia, so no such luck.
When Sarah Joy Brown came back to GH, I had no hope that I would ever be able to see her as anyone but Carly. She proved me wrong in about four seconds. Claudia came to life and Ms. Brown played her with such ferocity and conviction that I believed in the character from the get go. The beauty of Claudia as a villainess was that she was layered. She was selfish and cold, but we knew how she got to be that way. Sometimes we would find flashes of humanity in her, and I always sort of rooted that she could be redeemed. Seriously, if crazy Anthony was your Dad, would you be normal?
While I hate to see Sarah leave GH, I also watch B and B. Thus I will be able to witness her new incarnation as a new character and I am sure she will knock that one out of the park, too. Several of you have asked me if Claudia going to die as a result of the car crash, or at the end of a gun? I don't know the answer, and for once, I am avoiding the spoilers.
We know Anthony already had a hit out on her, which is why Johnny got chained to a wall and had to be rescued by Kristina and Morgan. Seriously, where are the Nannies that Alexis and Carly pay that their kids are off alone wandering around warehouses at the docks unattended?
Claudia's crimes were revealed before she had the chance to out Dante and Olivia, so they live to lie another day, but I don't think their secret can be contained much longer. Especially when Dante does things like going all cop-like on the crowd and asking them not to discuss what they saw with anyone. That statement prompted Luke to ask "Who died and made you Chief of Police, kid?" Dante, dude, could you be any more obvious?
Oh wait, yes, he could be more obvious, openly discussing his official status with Big Mouth Ronnie on the docks for Date Rape Drug Lulu to overhear. We should have done shots every time he slurred the word "Officer" at him and we could have been hammered by the end of the show.
I will go on record right now and say I LOVE Dante and Lulu together. Oops, I meant Dominic and Lulu. Will Lulu be able to forgive Dominic when she discovers he is Dante? Eventually, but I predict she will give him a lot of grief before she succumbs to his obvious charms. Their scenes together are charming, they sparkle together, so I am hoping that they prevail as a couple.
I would like to nominate two people for the Police Academy, Sam and Jason. Why? They can actually solve crimes! Are you telling me that Mac and the other clueless detectives at the PCPD never thought to search Ian Devlin's locker at the hospital? Ian was involved not just in Sonny's shooting, but in a big drug ring as well. You would assume the police would have scoured Ian's life looking for clues about who else was involved in his shady schemes. But alas, only Jason and Sam thought that searching Devlin's locker might be a good idea.
I guess the best reason not to nominate Jason to the Police Academy came from The Jackal when he told Jason "Wrong in the world of Stone Cold is a very flexible concept." The PCPD made me hopeful with the arrival of new Detective Williams. He kind of made me want to get arrested.
Robin and Patrick wrestled with guilt over helping Jason find evidence on Claudia, knowing it would end in her demise. When Robin told Patrick he "sounded just like Sonny." I thought about Ed Rooney's secretary in Ferris Buehler saying "Oh Ed, you sounded just like Dirty Harry!"
The Spencer/Cassadine war is about to move into another generation as Ethan becomes more and more furious about Nikolas using Rebecca. While Luke cautioned him "You might want to take your heart off your sleeve Romeo before someone has it for breakfast." Ethan didn't listen. Once Lucky discovers that Nikolas had his way with his bride to be, I can see Ethan and Lucky teaming up for a good old fashioned smack down of the Prince.
Readers, I want to offer a special thanks to Liz for covering for me last week while I was on vacation. I was a little jealous of her because so much good stuff happened that I didn't get to write about!
What will happen tomorrow dear readers? Will Molly and Morgan randomly show up with a hydraulic jack to get Claudia and Carly's crashed car out of the mud? Will Sam realize it's getting chilly in upstate New York and she should put on something heavier than a tank top? Will Nikolas finance an art show for Liz to sell all the hideous art work in her studio so he won't have to look at it anymore when he sneaks over there to bang her? Will Maxie pick a hairstyle before Christmas? Will Carly's baby be the size of a KFC chicken breast since her baby bump is still so tiny?
