Daily Updates

From: cglass@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Cyndi Glass)
Subject: GH: Update, Monday March 17, 1997
Date: 20 Mar 1997 15:38:37 -0700

Update for Monday, March 17, 1997, in which we learn that somehow 36
hours since a pill can take a week and a half, while a long confession
to Jax can be spaced between two sentences of a Ned/Alexis conversation

LOD: I couldn't pick just one, because the dialogue writers seem to
have received a much-needed kick in the backside and are actually
doing their jobs now. Sonny, in particular, was full of great lines
today- I'll quote all the candidates later in the update, there are
simply too many to list here. But the one that made me laugh the
most was Mike's reaction to Sonny's toast.

PC GRILLE: Ned & Alexis joke about ordering a carafe of martinis and
getting drunk, and without missing a beat, each orders seltzer from the
waiter. Alexis feels chagrined over losing the case and Ned's earlier
assumption that she had thrown it (I still wonder, and this makes it even
more clear to me that Ned and I must be soulmates - I always know what
he's going to say before he says it & he always sees the same angles
I see, the poor baby). He says encouragingly, "You're a Cassadine - you'll
regroup." Horrible rinky dink piano music that they seem to have stolen
from 10 year old episodes of ATWT plays in the background. She tells him
it's been 15 years since she goofed up this big, and he laughs and says
he screws up at least once a decade. She asks "what'd you do for the 90's?"
He says that it's obvious, but then again there was his marriage to Katherine
Bell.

THE CHEMISTRYLESS COUPLE CONTINUES: Stefan is panicking in his limo and
trying to get Katherine to answer as he calls into the cell phone. Katherine
is lying on the floor and unable to reach the phone. "I've fallen, and I
need help!" she yells, cracking us up completely. Last week's writers would
have had her yell "I've fallen and I can't get up!" but these seem to have
some talent. Stefan orders the driver to drive to her building.

MEANWHILE, ACROSS THE HALL AT SONNY'S: Miranda surmises that she has
interrupted something (clue #1 for the poor dear, Mike's Friday toast of
"to Sonny and Brenda!!!" that she could have heard all the way down the
hall). Anyway, Sonny invites her in to share champagne, and he's gorgeous,
dressed in a white shirt, a little bit of nice stubble left, and obviously
feeling cocky as hell. He tells her they were just going to have a toast,
"And yes, it would be rude not to drink to my health." Miranda says that
Jax told her about what happened. Sonny asks if it was in person, and she
says he left a message. "Aw, poor baby," Sonny retorts with a wink. Mike
excuses himself. Miranda points out wistfully that Jax loves Brenda. "Lot
of good THAT will do him," Sonny says. She asks him why he's so smug, and
he laughs and says "It's great to be alive." I think she's supposed to be
feeling something here, but she comes off coy and irritating and smug.
I think she's supposed to be angry, but I'm not sure. She asks directly
what happened between Sonny and Brenda in the cave and asked if that toast
was for real.

THE PENTHOUSE: Brenda paces, in a very simple and plain electric blue
top. She looks like she has cried her eyes out for days. She says there
are a lot of things she needs to tell him, or she did in the Friday
cliffhanger, about what happened in the cave. Jax says she doesn't have
to. She says that she wants to be strong and honest, and honest with him.
He again offers to just hold her, and she pulls away and insists on telling
him. She's shaking, he notices, and tells her to sit down. He asks her if she
needs a pill. She shakes her head emphatically, saying, "I don't want another
pill...never." He thinks she might need them. "That's the problem, I DO need
them," she says. She is tearful and confesses her addiction to the pain pills.
*AD* She tells him how long it's been, why she's been taking them, how it's
gotten out of hand, that she used to take them when she knew Jax would be
seeing Miranda. She says that even Harry could tell, and Jax tells her
to forget what Harry said. Brenda says, no, Harry was right, and that the
whole time in the cave (well, not the WHOLE time, hehe, but Jax doesn't have
to know that, apparently) all she wanted was a pill. She enlightens us to
the fact that it has been exactly thirty-six hours since she had a pill.
It was before Harry kidnapped her, right? That happened...um...two weeks
ago, right? OK, whatever. Soap time is odd. Jax is trying to make her
feel better, and she says he is trying to make excuses for her and to stop
it. He tells her he believes her and not to be ashamed. She says she's glad
her father's not alive to see this. "You're a complicated soul, Brenda, and
it's not easy being you," Jax says. The pills are right there on a table,
and she tells him to get rid of them. He thinks she should get a doctor's
opinion, and she says no, obviously wishing he would just GET it for once,
and says "I am not in withdrawals. I had withdrawals in the cave. Now I
am just obsessed with it, and I can't stop thinking about having another
one." She tells him about Alan giving her another prescription for a lower
dose when she tried to tell him she was addicted and says, "so, now I'll
just take four instead of two? I know myself, and something is WRONG."
Finally he decides to take her word for it and asks if anyone else knows.
"Only Sonny," she admits. He looks displeased.

SONNY'S PLACE: Sonny tells Miranda that Mike feels like a father to
Brenda. 'Yeah, a very improper father at times," Mike laughs. Miranda
smirks and coos "All this good cheer is making me rather queasy." Sonny
stares her down and says, speaking for 99% of the viewing audience, "Will
you give me a break?!" He says "I'm a happy man, so shoot me." Miranda
reminds him that Jax saved his life. "I guess I could cut him a little
slack, but, knowing me, I won't," Sonny says. She says that he and
Brenda were obviously bonding in the depths of despair, and he says,
grinning at her, "Hope you made hay while the sun was shinin'!" She
could never do that, she asserts, and he laughs "You get the noble award,
wear it in good health." "Damn you!" she whimpers loudly, and he tilts
his head and thinks about this for all of one second. "All right. I'll
have to worry about that later," he says. He says he will wait. What for,
she wants to know. What's coming to me to come to me, he says. He politely
suggests that she leave, and she moves toward the door, and then they hear
a loud thump. He shoos her back and calls Mike, going to the door.

KATH's PLACE: The loud thumping continues, and Katherine continues to
bleat out the same tired lines over and over "I'm in here!" "Help me!"
etc. Stefan kicks the door in. He cradles her in his arms on the floor
and asks if she's hurt. She tells him what happened. Just then, Sonny,
Mike and Miranda come in to see what the hell all the noise is, catching
Stefan, of course, holding her. *AD* They all fuss over her and get her
into her wheelchair, Miranda studiously trying to avoid Stefan. Stefan
asks where the bedroom is to make it clear that he doesn't know. Miranda
fixes her footrest. There are a couple of lines involving the word "encore"
that make it clear that someone forgot a line and they taped it anyway.
Stefan says he feels responsible, and Sonny almost laughs aloud. Miranda
is nervous. Katherine says she saw the story in the paper in the cave
and that Sonny was lucky. "Pretty darn lucky," he says, grinning. "And
how did Brenda fare in all this?" Katherine asks him, keeping her eye on
Miranda. "Pretty darn lucky too," he says, continuing to grin.

THE PENTHOUSE: Jax says it's fine that she told Sonny first, he's not
angry, they're together again, forever. Brenda says it's about her getting
herself together. She doubts herself and wishes she could be like him.
He tells her to stop being so hard on herself. She tells him to open his
eyes and see who she really is, and he says he loves who she is, and that
he wants to fly her off to New Orleans and get married. She says the only
place she wants to go is to bed. He promises her she will get over her
addiction and feel better and they will get married. Brenda says no. He
doesn't get it and says "Hawaii, then?" She says she loves him and wishes
he could take her problems away, but that "with the way things are right
now, I just can't marry you." *AD* Jax asks why not. He looks very nice,
by the way, in grey. She says it wouldn't be the right thing to do when
all she can think about is that she wants another pill, and that grey
misty feeling that she gets. She says she knows that he will do all these
wonderful over the top things for her to try to mask her problem and that
she doesn't want that. She says that she knows he would make another perfect
wedding day for her and begins to cry and says "I would think back on our
wedding day and I'd remember how perfect and beautiful everything was and
I would know how ugly and undeserving I felt. You can't fix that." He says
he understands and respects her feelings, and then he picks up the phone
and pretends to call and cancel the whole month of private hotel stay,
and some doves, etc. She laughs at this, and he says he can be a geek to
a good end. She says he's sweet and that she loves him. He says that
he doesn't care if she's perfect on the inside because he's not and he
doesn't expect it of her. She says he deserves better.

SONNY'S PLACE: Sonny and Mike gossip about Katherine and Stefan. Sonny
imitates Stefan. Then he says maybe Mike ought to leave, before they
ruin the first good father/son moment they ever had, and Mike offers
to be his bodyguard. Sonny says he needs to make a phone call, and Mike
laughs as he walks off to the kitchen and says "Say hi to Luke for me."
Sonny calls Luke & tells him about seeing Stefan at Kath's.

PC GRILLE: Ned and Alexis, without seeming to have paused, continue
their conversation right where it left off half an hour ago. "You were
married to Katherine Bell?" she asks. He says yes, for about 10 minutes,
a long ten minutes. They banter and flirt and Ned says "don't hire her."
He tells Alexis about his marriage to Lois and then to Katherine. "Bigamy!
A bold and incisive gesture," Alexis comments, her eyes sparkling. He tells
her how he got away with it, with "a lot of geographic juggling." He
tells her he was blackmailed into marriage by Katherine. She reminds him
that Brooklyn is not all that far away, and Ned says he still needs to cut
himself loose from his family, and Alexis opines that she doesn't think
he can, judging from her own experience being part of a "power family."
He says every day she's with Lois' family she's not being corrupted by
his, and Alexis says that genetics always come out, that one day she'll
demand $10 a pound pasta. Ned says "Heaven help her if she does." I miss
Gloria Cerullo (pout).

KATHERINE'S APARTMENT: Stefan gripes about the nurse. Katherine is sick
of it, and embarrassed, and just wants him to leave. Stefan asks if Miranda
can stay. Nurse returns, and Stefan is hateful to her, demands her name.
She sticks up for herself until she hears him called "Mr. Cassadine," and
then she is cowed. "That's a nurse?" Stefan asks. "My life is hell," Kath
replies. She says she doesn't want a replacement, and he says he will fix
the door and finally gets out of there. Katherine and Miranda discuss him.
"He looked crazy about you," Miranda says. Katherine notes that Miranda
didn't speak to him at all.

SONNY'S PLACE: Mike is back with re-iced champagne and wants to continue their
toast. Sonny says "Toasting to Sonny and Brenda doesn't work unless she's
with me. And by the way, keep your big fat yap closed." Mike doesn't think
Miranda caught on. Sonny knows she did and is pleased. Mike pours champagne
and says "Here's to my son. May no one else kill him before I do." Sonny
looks up at him and says "And here's to Mike. You've done some nasty,
mean things, but you never laid a finger on me, and you never beat a woman,
that I know of. Could've been worse." They drink up. Mike looks at Sonny
and says "Well, that's about the lowest toast I ever heard." "I meant every
word," Sonny says. They decide not to ruin the moment, and Mike leaves,
talking about going on a good pub crawl. "Say hi to the gutters when you
fall in," Sonny says. "I'll try my best to find some nice young lassie to
break my fall," Mike says softly. I love love love what they've done with
these two characters. What a payoff. They can tease now. They know the caring
is there. Mike's look at Sonny just before he left made me want to cry.

PENTHOUSE: Brenda is going on and on about Jax's hands and how they
pulled her out of the cave and carried her out of the rain, and other
heavyhanded symbolism that none of us needs to hear. "I love them. They're
so strong." He tells her to use his strength, and she repeats that she can't,
she needs to do it on her own, needs to learn how to solve her problems
herself and how to stop getting in trouble. He suggests that the way to
do that is to do what she wants to do, that he's not going anywhere. "The
more you say, the more you make me want to cry," she says, and she's so
tired of crying. "You have me, and I'll always be there for you," he says.

KATHERINE'S PLACE: Kath blabs on and on about Stefan, and only my updating
duties keep me from FF'ing. Still, I couldn't find anything noteworthy to
write down, nor can I remember any of it.

PC GRILLE: Ned and Alexis are teasing each other about their families, and
Ned asks her to share some deep dark Cassadine secret, teasingly. Stefan
watches them from the door. She tells him a charming story about young
Stefan and how he threw her over the side of a yacht once into shark
infested waters and told her she wasn't allowed to be afraid. What a
prince. Stefan comes over then and interrupts them. Ned leaves, appearing
to have thoroughly enjoyed himself. Stefan sits down with Alexis and
she immediately asks what happened. "Sonny Corinthos discovered me at
Katherine Bell's apartment," he says, pointing out that it may have been,
um, misconstrued. Alexis gives him her best "I told you so" look. Stefan
says there was a woman there named Miranda Jameson, and he wants Alexis to
find out who she is.

PENTHOUSE: they unplug the phone & fax and everything, and she hugs him.
He says that no one will bother her now until she's ready. She says
that when he's holding her she feels like everything might actually
be okay. She apologizes for not wanting to get married. He says don't
worry, everything is forgiven, just like that, and grins at her and
snaps his fingers. "I'm not used to being forgiven for my mistakes," she
says, evidently deciding though that he wouldn't be so forgiving if he
knew that she slept with Sonny down in the cave.

SONNY'S PLACE: Alone with his thoughts, Sonny drinks his champagne and
remembers kissing Brenda and what she said: "I love you. It's the only
thing in my life I've ever really known, and I don't even know if it's
right or wrong, but it's real. I love you." He holds the glass up in
a silent toast, and drinks.

*The end*

Note to anyone who might be reading - I am in need of Michael
Des Barres tv appearances. Please email me if you have episodes
of the following shows that you could copy just his parts from:
Cagney & Lacey, Ellen, Father Dowling ("Exotic Dancer Mystery,
Jan 11, 1990), Hat Squad, Insiders, JJ Starbuck, LA Law ("Silence
is Golden" 4-14-94), Lois & Clark ("Wall of Sound" 9-25-94), O'Hara,
Sliders, Flipside (pilot), Free Spirit (pilot), New WKRP In Cincinnati
(was Jack Allen, morning DJ *a lead role) in most if not all 91/92)
--
CEO FGCO SONNY & BRENDA (Intense Connection); CEO MHGC AJ (Obnoxity);
FGCO KEVIN & LUCY (Strength); MHGC STEFAN (Senseless Games); FGC's: BRENDA
(Warm Heart), SONNY (Brooding), MIKE (Comfy Black Couch), LUCY (Lovely Velvet
Turtleneck), BOBBIE (Spencer Survival Genes), LUKE (Cocky Wit).