Daily Updates

From: Teresa Elaine Leslie <tleslie@emory.edu>
Subject: GH:  Update for Friday, 2/27/98
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 21:04:55 -0500

        GH finished up sweeps month with a well-done episode, in which
several characters are looking toward the future (or lack thereof) and
being reminded that they must carry the past forward with them.  My
apologies for not getting this posted before Monday's episode aired.

Brenda Makes Future Plans:

        The show opens and closes with scenes related to Brenda's big
plans for Jax.  As the show begins, Robin greets Jax at the door of the
home she shares with Brenda, and settles him in to wait for the surprise
Brenda has planned; she has even retrieved his laptop and has it ready to
go, in case he want to work while he's waiting for Brenda to send a limo
to pick him up, rather than snack on the prosciutto and melon and sip
sparkling water Brenda has provided. Jax is uncomfortable, and confides to
Robin, only half-joking, that his darkest secret is, "I only like
surprises when I'm giving them."  He's also concerned about how Brenda is
paying for all this.
        We see Brenda preparing to shoot her new Genie Motors commercials,
and she is informed by the sponsor that he has decided to supplement the
commercials with a print campaign.  He's arranged for a photographer to
shoot it on the same set at the same time they're doing the commercials,
so Brenda will get two fees for one days work, which pleases her, and will
have to face a photographer, which doesn't.  The photographer shows up
right on cue, equally uncomfortable with the idea, since it's our old pal
Tom Baker, the photographer at whose shoot Brenda had her breakdown not
that long ago.
        While Brenda and Tom settle down to work, Jax gets a phone call
from someone asking him for a statement about Brenda's return to
modelling.  Tipped off, he appears at her shoot, in time to flash her that
gorgeous smile as she proves to herself that she can pose for photographs
without having a breakdown.  Jax is pleased that she's doing well: "You
made it, Brender, all the way."  "Only because you believed in me."  [the
last time I heard someone in that Genie hairdo in a similar exchange, it
was the Nurses' Ball, and Kat was crediting Stefan with her determination
to walk again]
        When next we see jax and Brenda, they are lounging on the floor of
her living room in front of a roaring fire, and she's plying him with
"French champagne."  Brenda nervously tells Jax the reason for all her
romantic gestures-- they are going to celebrate the fact that she "finally
got it right."  Brenda hands Jax a glass of champagne, [your updater
assume the references to the fabulous "clink-boom" episode are deliberate]
and tells him she has come to see that the times when she was happiest were the
times she was with him, and that she feels she has been led back to him.
Jax tries to interrupt a few times, but Brenda is determined to have her
say.  They kiss passionately-- tongues are seen, grossing out my
assistant- updater, the infamous twelve-year-old, WonderPony.  Then Brenda
hits jax with her final surprise.  With Jax looking extremely
apprehensive, she tells him that she is going to
give him the same ultimatum he gave her "one year, eight months, and 27
days" ago.  "Marry me now or you will never see me again."  This is the
cliffhanger ending of the episode, as Jax stares at her but does not
immediately respond.

Dealing with Rape:

        Bobbie comes to Luke's office looking for Lucky.  She seems to
have cooled off, since she and Luke manage to have a civil conversation in
which she displays a great deal of sympathy towards her big brother and
the difficult position in which he finds himself vis-a-vis his son.
Bobbie reports that Lizzie has agreed to see a doctor about the rape,
which will make it a police matter.  Luke hopes that Lucky will be
comforted by the idea that police detectives will be searching for the
rapist, since the boy really wants the person responsible to be punished.
Luke talks of his concern for Lucky, giving Bobbie an opportunity to
broach the painful subject of Laura's rape.  she is not confrontation,
just concerned, as she suggests that he consider whether this might be the
appropriate time to tell Lucky.  Luke's response:  "Have you lost your
mind?"  He argues that telling Lucky would serve no purpose.  "Why would I
hurt him like that?"  Bobbie argues that Lizzie's rape has brought the
issue home to roost.  "Ordinarily" she would agree with Luke that there's
no reason to tell Lucky, but Lucky's close relationship with a rape victim
changes the equation.  She fears Lucky could learn about Laura's rape from
someone else and that that would destroy the great trust he and Luke
share. Having said her piece, Bobbie leaves to meet Lizzie, whom she has
agreed to accompany to the doctor's office.
        We see Bobbie at her best, being incredibly supportive of a very
nervous Liz throughout a trip to Mercy Hospital for a physical
examination.  The female doctor (Lizzie is adamant about not being seen by
a male doctor) takes pictures of LIzzie's bruises, gives her a pelvic exam
while Bobbie literally holds Lizzie's hand, and counsels the girl about
getting retested for AIDS afer 6 months, and preferably again after one
year, even if the initial results come back negative.
        While Liz and Bobbie are at Mercy, Lucky has another talk with his
increasingly disturbed father.  "Rape never goes away," Lucky intones.  He
is angry that the rapist "took her spirit" and says that it would only
have been worse if it had been someone she knew, someone she trusted.  It
was hard for this updater to watch Luke struggle to conceal the effect
Lucky's words have on him.

Jason's Future, If He Has One

        The bulk of Friday's show dealt with jason's preparations for his
meeting about the unions and the dock project, and the fact that he might
not come out of it alive.  First, Justus arrives at the penthouse with the
updated will Jason has requested he prepare, one that includes a generous
monthly allowance for Carly and leaves everything else in trust for
Michael.  Justus tries to talk Jason out of attending the meeting, but
Jason insists, "I'm in charge or I'm not, and if I'm not, I'm dead."
Justus talks about how much he missed his father, who died when he was
young, and begs Jason not to put Michael in the same situation.  Jason
feels he has no choice, that if he tries to run, he will be killed, since
he hasn't had time to plan a clean getaway like Sonny did.  Justus wants
to go to the meeting, to speak on Jason's behalf.  Jason counters that if
he needs Justus to speak for him, then Sam's criticisms that he isn't ready
for the job will be proved correct, and that if Justus isn't at the
meeting, he won't be in danger should Jason fall.  Rinaldo and Johnny
are called in to serve as witnesses as Jason signs his new will.
        Jason's next scene was so moving that I am transcribing the whole
thing.  It was a monologue delivered in a soft, steady voice to baby
Michael, who lay quietly in Jason's arms:
        "Maybe I might die tonight.  Now if that happens, I won't be coming
home any more.  I won't hold you, or talk to you, or even watch you try to
roll over.  And let me tell you something, you're getting really close,
any day now.
        Dead-- it's like going away.  It's the one thing a person can't
come back from.  [updater's note-- obviously Jason has forgotten just how
many people in Port Charles have indeed come back]  But that doesn't mean
I left you or chose my job over loving you, because there were things that
were decided before you were born that make me have to go tonight.  In
this business, you have to face things.  You can't say, 'it's not what I
want,' or 'I changed my mind,' or 'I have a kid now.'
        Anyway, I might not die tonight.  I'm pretty sure I won't.  But I
tell you everything and I always tell you when I'm coming home and tonight
I can't.  I'm leaving you and Carly a lot of money, but in case she
decides to tell AJ the truth or take you to the QUartermaines, never
believe they own you, Michael.  You belong to yourself.
        You know, when Carly said she was giving you to me, I almost said,
'you can't give one person to another person.'  I know now what she meant.
Your'e the greatest gift I ever got, not because you belong to me but
becuase I had the chance to know you at all."

        As if on cue, Carly enters, having returned from a trip to gather
fabric samples.  She is nervous about jason's meeting, but tries not to
show it, making light conversation about how good he looks in his suit,
teasing him that it's about time he started letting her help him spend his
fortune on himself for a change.
        "You like being rich, don't you?"  Jason asks, and Carly answers,
"Yes, I like being rich, and safe, and all the other stuff I get from you,
but I especially like not having to lie to anybody." [updater note-- I
think she meant to say "having somebody I don't have to lie to," but maybe
not]  Jason tells her she doesn't have to lie to him because she knows she
can't get away with it, but also because she doesn't need to, since all
she has to do to get something is to ask.  Carly answers, with affection
in her voice, "Did it ever occur to you that I don't lie to you because I
trust you?"  Jason answers, "I trust you, too.  Sort of."  He prepares for
his meeting, and Carly looks on, worried.  As he prepares to leave, she
says, "I'll see you," in a tone that says "I'd better see you, don't you
dare die on me."  He takes one last look at Michael and goes out.
        Next, Jason visits Mike at Luke's office, where Mike helps himself
to one of Luke's cigars.  jason asks Mike to watch over Michael if Jason
doesn't come back from his meeting.  Mike gets angry at the prospect of
losing Jason.  "I lost one son this year.  He told me he loved me and then
he disappeared.  I won't lose both of you."  He cares too much for Jason,
because, he tells Jason, you "gave me a place in your heart that Sonny
never would."  Jason explains that he has to do what he has to do, because
it's about business.  Mike counters that it's about life, about Jason's
son.  jason is concerned about Michael's future, and tells Mike that "you
have to teach him he can be whatever he wants to be.'  He doesn't want the
Qs to teach Michael that he's someone they "own."  He also has one more
request of Mike; if he dies, Mike is to tell Robin Jason loves her.
        SPeaking of Robin, she shows up at the penthouse while Jason is at
his meeting, where Sam tells him he's going to be replaced.  While Jason is
fighting for his position, and his life, Carly is fighting for the family
she feels she has built with Jason, as Robin announces that she plans to
tell AJ that he is Michael's biological father.
        The gloves come off with that statement, and Carly's Spencer genes
kick in, resulting in a marvelous cat fight that sounds almost as if it
were lifted from recent debates on ratsa.  Robin says that she'll come
back when Jason is home, to discuss the matter with both Carly and Jason
together.  Carly grows angrier when Robin says that Jason is not Michael's
father.  "Michael is Jason's name in every way that matters."  Robins
claims that is why she is insisting on getting involved-- she knows how
much Jason loves Michael, and how devastated he will be when Carly
inevitably takes Michael away, when she tires of life with Jason or gets a
better offer.  Carly counters that she would never take Michael away.
"you're such a liar," spits Robin.
        Carly explodes.  "The voice of heaven has spoken," she begins,
dripping sarcasm.  "Sweet Robin Scorpio.  It's ironic-- my son was
christened at a church you think was named for you.  And now you show up
here and you're going to tell me and Jason how to raise our kid?  I don't
care what you say or what you do, Jason, Michael, and I are a family, and
there is no way I'm gonna let you break us up."

Submitted by:
Terry
Ratsa-GH Bookie at Large; One-half of the Friday update tag team