Daily Updates

From: Teresa Elaine Leslie <tleslie@emory.edu>
Subject: GH:  Update, Friday, May 29
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 10:56:25 -0400

Yep, it's late, and yep, it's long.

Today's Theme-- SINS OF THE FATHERS

This was a primo episode.  Excellent script by Patrick Mulcahey.
Excellent direction by Alan Pultz.  Top-of-the-line cast.  How can you go
wrong with Genie acting with JJ, Stephen acting with Nancy Lee? Delicious.
        I'll run this episode without rearranging the scenes, because it
was a beautifully constructed program, and I think the dramatic shape
was a real treat for those who watch "live."

Intro scenes:
        Alexis is on the parapet at Wyndermere, looking over the side,
past the police tape.  Stefan comes up behind her, startling her.
        Lucky and Liz are in front of Luke's Place, discussing their
intention to sneak in and get some food.  I notice that the door of Luke's
Place still has bullet holes in it, giving it a certain Lukish flair.
        Laura and the ever-adorable solemn-eyed Lesley Lu come home to an
empty house.  Laura calls out for Luke, then Lucky.
        When the first commercial break comes, we've seen all the
principal players for the day except the Qs, who will come in midway
through the next "act"-- a familiar GH pattern of holding back one of the
day's stories, perhaps to get viewers to "stay tuned" even if their fave
actor doesn't appear right away.

Setting the Stage, Reviewing:
        Laura is talking to Ruby on the phone, mentions that her mom "will
be here in a month or so."  YES!  Laura arranges to drop Lulu off with
Aunt Ruby so she can run errands.  Plans change, however, as Audrey shows
up at the door, spluttering about her granddaughter and the "intolerable
situation" and going to the police.  Laura is so far behind, she assumes
this is about Lucky and SARAH.  Audrey realizes laura is in the dark, and
wonders aloud what Luke has been telling her-- "What did he say when you
asked how Lucky was?"  Then she tells Laura that Lucky and Liz have run
away from home, and Laura grows even more confused as Audrey informs her
just how long Lucky has been "on the lam."  Laura asks Audrey to give her
the afternoon to get her bearings (It's gonna be a long afternoon, Laura)
and a chance to talk to her husband.

        Alexis and Stefan talk on the parapet.  She says she'll leave if
he doesn't want to see her, but he tells her she can stay.  He seems glad
to have someone familiar to talk to, and says he visits this spot
frequently himself.  "I find myself here every few hours now. [lovely word
choice-- as if it is an unconscious act to go there]  It's almost
comforting. [yea, stefan i feel the same way-- its comforting to see she's
gone, she's really gone. PLEASE GUZA]  Everywhere else in the house is so
empty of her.  I can still feel her here.  This is the last place she was.
[cool turn of phrase again-- so abrupt]  This is where she made her
escape."  He tells Alexis he knows how she felt about Kat, and that he
agrees now that they should never have been together, "but not because she
was a danger to me, but the other way 'round."

        In jarring contrast to the quiet, gloomy atmosphere at Wyndermere,
and Stefan's hushed, measured tones, we move to the Quartermaine living
room, where Ned, AJ, and Edward are having a loud argument over nothing
at all, typical Q shouting.  The best line?  Edward's "You're not agreeing
with me, AJ; you're parroting me."  Monica enters and snaps at them to
shut up.

Commercial break, then More Build-up to Pay-off Scenes:

The Qs spent the commercial quarrelling, and Monica yells that they never
change, even when Katherine, who used to live there, falls to her death in
the midst of her engagement ball [the updater fails to see the connection,
but loves to hear reminders that the Kat has croaked.]  Alan enters and
Monica snaps at him as well.  He snaps back. Standard Q dialogue ensues,
which they can all do in their sleep [and apparently they were, as a few
lines seemed to be a bit mangled.]  Edward:  "Could you two just get your
own little pied-a-terre to argue in?  It's a little awkward to be driven
from room to room while you two argue in my own house."  MOnica: "It's MY
house, and I'll drive you wherever the damn-well place I please."  Alan
whispers in her ear, "It's only your house because I gave it to you."
Alone, the couple continue their fight.  Monica tells Alan she knows about
his affair with Amy, and Alan's reaction is perfect-- he cracks up.

Stefan and Alexis talk on the gloomy balcony.  She tells him how sorry she
is about all that has happened.  "If I could turn back the clock...."
Stefan rages at this notion, cutting off the end of her sentence.  "And
where would we stop the calendar, Alexis, to make a better end for
Katherine? To before I met her?  Perhaps to the night I shot her?  This
time I could aim for her heart. She would suffer much, much less."

A great cut--from this line by Stefan to a shot of Luke, in his
sunglasses, sniffing flowers at a nurses' station in the hospital.  Luke
asks Audrey if she's heard from Elizabeth.  She lets him know she's seen
Laura.  Elizabeth steps out of the elevator, and Luke begs her to tell
Lucky he MUST talk to his son ASAP, that there's been a "family
emergency."  He takes off, now that he know's Lulu's mom's back in town.
Audrey thinks Liz is coming home, but her granddaughter lets her know
she's just checking in so Gram won't worry.

        Laura has made it to the club, looking for Luke.  A worker tells
her that hubby isn't around, and she settles in to wait for him.  Perfect
timing, of course, becuase Lucky strolls out of the kitchen with a bag of
groceries. Laura, relieved to find him where he "belongs," assumes Audrey
was mistaken.  Her face lights up when she sees her son, but he is clearly
less thrilled to see her.

COMMERCIAL BREAK-- which gives the audience time to get ready for this
mother and child reunion.  And it is a doozy.  I'm back to wanting to slap
Lucky, but I know it's all SWATCHy.

        Lucky uses putting the groceries on a bar stool as a way to avoid
his mother's embrace. Laura tells him Audrey had alarmed her, and that
she's glad everything's okay.  Lukcy immediately puts her on notice that
everything is NOT okay.  "Why are you here?  Somebody send up a flare?"
        Laura says it was time to come home, and asks about him.  "Why on
earth would Audrey Hardy tell me you had taken to the streets with her
granddaughter, the one you don't even like?"
        "Her name is Elizabeth, and I like her fine."
        Lucky realizes his parents have not spoken yet.  "So you haven't
had a chance to get together with Dad, have you?"  He is not surprised
that his father hasn't filled her in, but he taunts her with the fact that
he's been gone for weeks and she wasn't told.  He goes on and on, in a
really annoying "I don't give a damn" voice, as Laura's face registers all
sorts of emotions as she struggles to find her feet and process what is
going on.  We see flashes of anger, confusion, concern.  "But I guess
that's the secret of your success.  You don't really tell each other much
of anything.  Which is okay with me.  In fact, I'm glad Dad never told you
about Nikolas being shot."
        Poor Laura is really thrown by this bit of news.  "What?"  Lucky
is on a roll.  "Well," he continues, "because, when you came back, I
wanted it to be because of us, not him.  Seemed important at the time."
        Laura tries to find out about her first-born.  "Nikolas was shot?"
Lucky crosses his arms and continues, striving to sound casual. "Yeah,
yeah, right here, in the parking lot.  It was a drive-by thing.  You know.
Those things happen.  He got a bullet, right in the neck."
        Laura is shocked, and Lucky seems to enjoy her discomfort. "Oh my
God," she murmurs.  Throughout this scene, Lucky is all shrugged shoulders
and cocked head, studied nonchalance.  He continues. "Yeah, for a long
time he couldn't speak.  But I mean, this was before Christmas.  But he's
talking fine now.  I can vouch for that."
        "Before Christmas?"
        "Yeah, it's a pretty big thing to keep secret, I know.  We were
suprised that we were able to.  But to be fair to me and Dad, it's not as
big as the fact that Nikolas exists. I mean, you kept that a lot longer."
        Laura recovers enough to display some exasperation. "and you know
what, you're looking at me the same way you did then.  Why, Lucky?  What
are you so angry about?"
        "I used to want you to ask me that, so bad.  And I wanted you to
hear the answer.  But I don't any more."  He picks up his bag of groceries
and starts to go out.
        "Don't you walk out on me."  Laura is ticked.  "I am your mother.
Tell me," she demands, "What have I done that's so terrible?"
        Lucky tells her the great crime is "you married him."  Now Laura
is thoroughly confused. "Your father?"  She wants to know why Luke and
Lucky are at odds, and observes that "wishing we were never married is
like wishing you had never been born."  Lucky doesn't deny that.
        Lucky tells her it hurts to look at her.  He asks her to tel him
the truth about something, and she promises she will.  "If I were any
other man, would you be afraid to be alone with me in this room?  Or would
it be something else to you?  WOuld you find it... exciting?"
        Laura does not understand, but is disgusted anyway.  "My God,
Lucky.  What are you..."  Lucky moves to a more obvious line of attack.
"Okay, how about this?  What did you think, what flashed through your
head, when Dad told you he was gonna open another club? Did you say,
'fine, Luke darling,whatever you want' but think 'I'm never gonna set foot
in it, not after the Campus Disco?"
        The mention of the disco opens Laura's eyes, and she stares at
Lucky in disbelief.  He goes on, adding insult to injury, "Or I guess you
found it romantic.  Kind of like reliving your first date.  Like your very
own memorial to what he'd done to you."

        This draining scene is followed immediately by another, between
Stefan and Alexis, in which Stefan gives a moving soliloqy about where
kat fit into his life.  The staging is gorgeous, with Stefan facing
forward at a slight angle, so the camera can linger on his beautiful
troubled face, with Alexis standing behind him and to the side, so that
her reactions can be seen over his shoulder.  This takes place on a set
that is dark and gloomy, save for a small window over the door behind
them, which glows reddish orange, and is shaped rather  like the sun to
which Stefan refers in his speech:
        "Did I ever really love Katherine?  I don't know if I'm capable of
giving an honest answer to that."  Alexis tries to reassure him, but he
cuts her off.  "I know I tried to love her.  I know that I wanted her
desperately.  But my reasons were selfish.  I was in a prison... of my own
making, and I wanted her to free me."  Pause.  "I am weak, you know.  Not
the way Helena always accused me of being... My weakness is to fall prey
to the belief that with the right woman, with the right help, the curse I
have borne all my life will be lifted and I will be able to live like
other men,  I will be able to have happiness... love... children.  That
was my thought, that was my deepest wish, when Katherine came to me....
bright.... as the sun. But that light was lost...was put out, put out by
my darkness."
        Alexis tells him not to blame himself, that Kat's death was an
accident.  Stefan is angered.  Incredulously-- "Are you really so
dull-witted that you believe that?"  Then, almost wearily, speaking more
slowly, "I suppose I will have to retaliate"  He grows more animated, his
head raises as he goes on, "But when does it end?  When Spencer and I are
dead and buried?  That is a vain hope.  The next generation is already on
its way to taking up the gauntlet."  On cue, Nikolas joins them.  Alexis
makes excuses to go, and is stopped in her tracks by Stefan recalling her
from exile:  "Alexis, don't go."

        But there's MORE before the commercial break, a shift back to the
battling Qs, and a scene in which Monica utters the LOD of all Monica
Lines of the Day, in my opinion.  When we left the couple, Alan was
laughing at his wife's suggestion that he was sleeping with Amy V.  "Come
on, MOnica, I could do better than Amy Vinings." (Amen, Alan)  Monica's
beeper goes off.  As Alan raises his glass, there's a glimmer of hope that
the call was from the CLue Shop, as Monica seems close to buying one.  But
not for long.  She does, however, get off that great line.  She is
asking Alan about his once-injured hand, and
talking about how much pain and suffering was caused by his concerns about
it, his attempts to heal it, etc., and for what?  "I just think it's a
shame to see such an important hand have nothing more to do than lift a
glass of scotch every day at 5:45 and feel Amy Vinings up behind the
Nurses' Station."   UPdater lost it on that one.  Monica stomps out of the
room and Alan swallows yet another handful of pills.

NOW cue the commercial
        We come back to find Alan dozing in a chair.  Emily tells him she
needs a ride to Jason's house, since Reg is supposed to take her and he's
nowhere to be found.  Alan volunteers to stand in, which is not a good
thing.  Cruising on booze and pills, he follows Em out to the car.

        Then we move to still more of Lucky's ambush of Laura.  Laura is
not happy about the blindsiding:  "I don't deserve this.  I don't deserve
to be ambushed."  Lucky presses on.  "Oh, I know.  You were a tease.  Dad
was a drunk.  And he thought he was going to die."  Sarcasm drips from his
lips, causing Updater to want to reach into the screen and strangle the
little creep.  (great work, JJ)  Laura can't believe he is attaching so
much importance to what she refers to as, "one incident, before you were
even born.  YOu want to judge me and my marriage based on that?  You want
to sum up my entire history with your father in one ugly, loaded word?"
        Lucky observes that she can't even use the word, the word she used
when talking to the police back then.  "You didn't tell THEM it was
complicated, or okay with you, or love at first sight.  So when did this
become the official version?"  She tells Lukcy that it is HER life, and
her right to decide what happened, and who needs to know.  She lashes out
at Lucky, telling him she is the one who lived it.  "Does naming it really
make you understand?"  He tells her about having seen rape up close,
through Elizabeth's eyes.  He talks about the way rape changed Liz.  He
seems to ignore the fact that 20 years have passed since Laura's rape, as
he implies that his mom never went through the stages of fear and grieving
and anger through which he has watched Liz travel.  She looks upset, and
may have even attempted to comfort him about his friend, but he throws
another dagger in her heart before she can show any compassion: "that's
the part you just seem to have skipped over.  Maybe you need to be
kidnapped or raped to feel important to someone."
        "STOP THAT.   I am your mother." She goes on, angrily, about
having loved him since before he was born.  I think this speech of Laura's
was significant not only for making the point that she has a life apart
from Lucky and a right to privacy, even within her family, but also for
showing that this whole business is intertwined for her, as for Lucky,
with her other son, Nikolas.  She reminds Lucky that hers is the face in
his earliest memories, that she is the one who fed him, cared for him,
sung him to sleep, and therefore, "You will never be linked to another
human being like that."  Excellent point. "Nor will I."  Interesting
point, which I get.  Lulu has similar memories, to be sure, but there is
something about the FIRST time you go through such experiences, the first
time you build such a connection.  Lucky got that, not Nikolas.
        Laura has only one thing to say about the night she was raped, and
her relationship with Luke.  "Your father loved me, ALWAYS.  And
circumstances collided that night in a way they never had before and never
have since.  And your father and I rose above it." [No doubt channelling
Katherine Hepburn here:  Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are all put on
this earth to rise above.]  She is bothered that he is taking "one hour
out of a lifetime" and creating monsters in place of his parents.  Lukcy
finally has had his say, and leaves him mother standing alone.  She
snatches up her jacket and rushes out of the club herself.

Commercial break, leading to the short closing beats:

Alan and Emily are in the car, and she is droning on and on and on about a
substitute teacher.  Alan and I drift off to sleep, and Alan drives into a
tree.  No one is badly hurt, although Emily's neck hurts.  Alan suggests
that since nothing is broken or bleeding, they should avoid the hospital,
where "they would just send us home."  Yeah, right, Alan.  Alan offers
Emily some pills for the pain in her neck.  She looks troubled.

The Cassadines are joined on the parapet by Mac and Taggert, who makes a
few sarcastic remarks, as always.  Stefan describes him to a T for
Nikolas, as "a sociopath who fancies himself a wit."  Mac then places
Stefan under arrest for "the murder of Katherine Bell."

Final scene-  Luke comes home, calls out for Laura, picks up a stuffed
animal Lulu has dropped (that gal has the hardest time keeping up with her
toys).  Laura enters a few beats later, slamming the door with a vengence
and confronting her husband.  "How DARE you!"

The End

Terry, the other half of the Friday update team