Daily Updates

From: Teresa Elaine Leslie <tleslie@emory.edu>
Subject: GH:  UPDATE FRIDAY June 26
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 21:38:07 -0400

Yep, it's a week late, 'coz I wound up taking an unexpected trip to
Florida for the 4th.  And, yep, it's long, 'coz I am long-winded, esp.
when Stefan's involved.  So here's the update I wrote before I left:

        It's Friday, which means there are a few things you can count on--
Lucky and Liz will disuss the impact of her rape on her life, and Jax and
Brenda will have sex.  On this particular Friday, we also get an odd "Is
Sonny a real mobster or a Gummy Bear mobster?" debate on the docks, and
some FABULOUS Stefan/Laura/Nik scenes that had this updater in tears.

She's Back:  The episode begins with a "flashback" scene between Stefan
and Kat.  I must admit having Katherine appear on my screen unannounced
scared me out of a year's growth (ah, well, I could do without a year's
growth). It was startling, but not so bad now that I've had time to
reflect.  The scene-- the stone bench.  Katherine is in a white dress,
and by my count executes only one lip-pop.  Kat is talking to Stefan about
having a baby, and tells him, "I think a part of you believes you don't
deserve a family, or the happiness it would bring you."  She says
Stefan gives unconditional love, and what more could a child need?
"Freedom," he answers, "from the Cassadine legacy."  She insists that
Stefan promise her that if something were to happen, "and we were unable
to make a family," he'd have a family with someone else.  He does, and the
scene dissolves to Stefan sitting alone on the bench.

Who's that Knocking at My Door?-- There's a knock at the Wyndemere door,
and Nik, for a change NOT wearing a shirt two sizes too small, answers.
It's Laura and Lesley Lu, who have decided to surprise Nik with a visit.

Quiet Time:  At the boxcare, Lucky is writing and watching Liz, who is
painting.

My Brother's Keeper:  Jax is on the phone, checking out brother Jerry's
finances. Brenda shows up bearing take-out-- "I couldn't decide between
French and Chinese, so we have THAI."  She realizes something is amiss
(when he doesn't laugh at her joke, I guess) and he tells her of his
concerns for Jerry.

Speaking of Jerry:  Jerry is meeting a bad guy in a shadowy warehouse to
pick up an arsonist kit.  Oddly, the shadowy figure he meets is wearing a
business suit.  The shadowy bad guy shows Jerry the kit's contents:
"ignition, accelerant, and a timer."  Jerry wants the fire to start
slowly, giving him time "to move the various players into position."

An evening stroll:  Sonny, Robin, and Jason are walking on the docks.
They encounter a couple kissing on a bench, who turn out to be Dr. Joe
Scanlon, a doctor from PC and his girlfriend, Karen, also a PC doctor but
once a stripper at Sonny's club.  Sonny recognizes "Kari" and speaks to
her.

Having introduced WAY too many stories for one day, GH goes to
commercial break.  Afterwards, it's back to the docks:

Sonny and his friends, the revised version (in more ways that one, as
spoilers implied Jason would be much tougher in these scenes, drawing a
gun):  Joe is bristling.  He knows who Sonny is and he wants him far away
from Karen.  He lashes out at Sonny, asks Robin is she strips for him,
too.  That makes Sonny mad, and he tells Joe to back off.  Joe doesn't,
When he lunges at Sonny, Jason gets in the middle, literally.  Jason
reaches into his jacket to get his gun, or perhaps just to scratch his
chest, saying," Back off or your surgical career will be over real fast,
doctor."  Sonny feels Joe may be jumping to conclusions.  "it's her life.
How do you know that I wrecked it?

Risky Business:  Jax tells Brenda about the ways that Jerry takes risks.
Jax goes over the present situation and asks if Brenda has heard of
Carlos.  She associates the name with Sonny.

Do I have to paint a picture for you?:  Liz has painted a picture for
Lucky's "television."  He wants to know what she's avoiding by hanging out
at his place.  She admits she didn't want to go find out how she did on
the English final.  Lucky has checked out her posted score, and confirms
that she did awful.  She blames the distraction of wondering if her
teacher is also her rapist.

Pony Boy:  Nik is telling Lulu and Laura about his childhood riding
experiences, while his little sister munches on cookies.  He invites Lulu
to keep a pony on Spoon Island and go riding when she visits.  Laura
thinks that would be a fine idea.  It is this cozy family gathering that
Stefan finds as he enters the room.  He remains in the background,
initially unseen, frozen with-- longing?  anxiety?  remorse?  happiness?
[Stephen Nichols is great with wordless material like this.  Stefan's
breathing grows faster, his jaw muscles tense, his eyes dart from Nik to
Laura to Lulu]

Commercial break, then Laura senses Stefan's presence.  She is suddenly
tentative, afraid Stefan will disapprove.  Nik asks permission to take
Lulu down to the stables, leaving Stefan and Laura alone.
        Stefan tells Laura that Lesley Lu is a beautiful child, and asks
if her father knows they are there. Laura bristles that she doesn't need
Luke's permission for her children to see one another.  "In that case, you
and your daughter are always welcome here."

Are they Ratsafarians?:  Lucky and Liz are talking, having an odd replay
of a recent ratsa-gh debate.  Liz thinks everyone knows about the rape,
based on Emily and NIk's remarks at the NB.  Lucky says Emily was just
sticking up for "Prince Nikolas," 'coz she's not a cruel person, despite
how it sounded, and would never have made such a remark if she had known
about the rape.  He thinks Nik figured things out from seeing Liz at the
counseling session at the hospital [confirmed in a later episode by Nik,
btw], but isn't sure what to make of it.  "He HAS no friends.  THere's no
one he could tell who would be interested."  Liz is upset that she will
always be branded "the girl who was raped."  Lucky takes her hand and rubs
it consolingly.

Maybe Sonny Is WHAT?:  More Brenda and Jax.  He tells her he learned about
Jerry from Sonny, and she helpfully suggests that maybe Sonny is lying to
hurt Jax.  (Please talk less if you're going to say stupid things,
Brenda!)  Jax assures her Sonny was not lying.  He says Jerry has to repay
Carlos by getting rid of Jason.  There's a knock on the door, and of
course it's Jerry.

Speaking of Sonny:  Karen rehashes her past with Sonny, not laying all the
blame for her actions on him, as Joe had done.  "He gave me the drugs to
stay awake in class" and cut her off when she went too far, she says,
but he did try to get her to keep stripping after she wanted to quit.
Sonny whitewashes his role in her past, saying that he offered her the
only job he could.  It's an uneasy balancing act, imho, as he says that
he's not proud of what he did but he isn't apologizing, either.
        Jason interjects that Karen should not blame Sonny for her
choices. She counters, "He's done it to you, too."  She reminds Jasonof who
he used to be-- Jason Q, the boy she knew, and how odd she feels when she
hears talk of who he is now-- a man who carries a gun.  Whoever Jason is
now, she says, Sonny taught him to be.  He didn't wake up wanting to carry
a gun.  She says Sonny "helped" Jason the same way he "helped" her and
Stone, that Sonny "helped you become a criminal," and  says the difference
between her life and Jason's is "you don't have anyone to help pull you
out."
        While she and Jason face each other, Robin watches, uncomfortable.
Then Karen turns to Robin and asks how SHE can stay loyal to Sonny and
pretend he never did the things she knows he did to Karen and to
Brenda.

"I'd Give up Forever to Touch You, 'Cause I Know that You Feel Me
Somehow": Laura is nervous, waiting alone with Stefan for her children to
return.  L: "Thank you for the invitation to visit.  I didn't realize I
was welcome here."  S: "Neither did I.  Perhaps we shouldn't examine it
too closely."
        They discuss how much Lulu and Nik care for one another.  Stefan
remarks that Lulu bears a striking resemblence to Nikolas at her age.
This touches Laura, while reminding her that she wasn't there to see how
Nik looked at that age.  Stefan goes to a cabinet and withdraws a
photograph of a yong Nik, which he hands to Laura.
        laura is moved by the picture, which she holds with almost a
caress.  Regret and love are written on her face.  "Is this at the cove?"
she whispers.  Laura gazes at the photograph, fighting back tears, as
Stefan answers, arms folded across his chest.  The tinkling Lasha/Stefan
music [Christofori's Dream?] begins to play in the background.  "Yes, it
was one of his favorite spots.  We'd go there and look out over the sea
and I'd promise him that some day he'd leave the island."
        Laura looks up sharply at that statement, tears flowing down her
cheeks.  "Why?" she asks.
        Stefan hesitates, slightly flustered, trying to control the emtion
in his voice as he answers. Laura's eyes are fixed on his face.  The
music grows louder.  "Because it was important to you," he says, gazing
into her eyes.  Then he looks down, his eyes darting from side to side, as
if it is too much for him to meet her eyes as he continues, "I wanted to
give our son" pause, then, lifting his eyes to meet hers again,
"everything you wanted for him."  They look at one another, for want of
another word, meaningfully.  It is a beautifully framed shot.  Their heads
are very close, their eyes are locked, neither one seems to even be
breathing.

There's a commercial break, during which I feel the need to go into the
kitchen and splash cold water on my face.  It's the RealStefan Swoon.

"You're the closest thing to heaven that I'll ever be":  Stefan and Lasha
move closer, and ALMOST kiss.  Laura leans in, for the record, just as
much as Stefan.  They do NOT, for the record, actually kiss, nor do I
think they would have, interruption or no.  Regardless, the door opens,
cusing them to jump back guiltily. It's Nik and Lulu back from the
stables.  Laura chatters nervously, but Nik doesn't seem to notice.  Nik
thanks them for visiting, and as Laura starts to leave, Stefan holds out
the photograph of Nik.  "Perhaps you'd like this."
        Laura's face crumples, and she tearfully accepts the gift.  "I'd
love that.  Thank you."  Much has been written about Genie's ability to
cry-- she is legendery for this skill and rightly so.  But what I've
noticed in recent years is her equally amazing ability to invest those two
little words with so much emition.  "Thank you."  She has thanked Stefan
many times, for taking care of Nik, for keeping her secrets, and now for
the picture.  SHe puts so much into that phrase.
        Laura gathers Lulu up and leaves, and we see that Stefan, his fist
with the magnificent Cassadine ring to his mouth, is fighting back tears
of his own as they leave.  He composes himself, running his hand over his
mouth and beard, as Nik closes the door behind Laura and turns to face
him.

"And I don't want to go home right now":  Next we see Lucky and Liz, and
Liz is saying, "Sometimes it's good to cry; it relieves the pressure.  I'm
sorry you had to watch."  That line is a GREAT transition from the tears
of the last scene.  Lucky is supportive.  Liz doesn't want him to fight
with his brother because of her. "Nikolas is NOT my brother.  He is my
mother's other son, and I hated him long before you came long."  Liz frets
that she needs to move to the next step, whatever that may be, the one
that lets her get past the rape.

A Conversion?: Robin and Karen continue to preach at one another.  Robin
says Sonny is good because he watched Stone die, and that had to change a
person.  "I don't say he's perfect, I don't even say he's right.  But I
love him, and I am not going to apologize for  that.  He shouldn't
have seduced you.  But it's over, and it's been over for a long time, and
maybe it's time for you to let it go."
        Karen says she thought she had let it go, until tonight, but
disagrees with Robin's diagnosis that Sonny has changed.  "Sonny has not
changed, or he would not have done what he's done to Jason."  Jason steps
in again, says he's made his own choices.  "Don't speak for me.  I chose
to what what I wanted to do.  Sonny is not in charge of my life, and he
wasn't in charge of yours, either."
        Joe decides this is enough, and tries to get Karen to leave.  She
wants a final word with Sonny. She admits she was responsible for her
own choices.  Still, she says, "I never understood how you could be so
good and so terrible at the same time."  Sonny apologizes, sort of. "The
only conscience I have was given to me by other people, " he explains. "My
mom gave me some, RObin and Stone..."
        Karen is apparently moved by that, and makes an abrupt shift I
don't quite buy.  She seems to be saying they need to start frsh, so she
"introduces" herself all over again.  "I'm a doctor now.  This is Joe, my
boyfriend.  I can be with him..." [did we REALLY need that line?}  She
wishes Sonny luck, they part with smiles, although Joe stilll seems upset.
Sonny is quiet after having confronted his past.

Eat, Drink, Man, Woman:  Jerry, Jax, and Brenda eat the Thai food.  Jax
tries to give Jerry a chance to confess to his mob involvement, but he
avoids taking it.  Brenda leaves the room, then sits on the steps
listening as Jax tells Jerry he had a conversation with Sonny about
business.  "You've never dealt with the Organization?" he asks his big
brother.  "Fools and desperate men get involved with the Organization.
I'm neither."
        Instead of confessing, he tells Jax he won't be able to shoot Jax
as he had earlier promised he would if he saw Jax falling in love with
Brenda, because Jax has truly fallen and is a happy man, which is all he
ever wanted for his little brother. All together now-- AWWWW.

Other Sonny Memories:  Sonny is pensive.  Robin tells him how much she'll
miss him when he goes.  He points out that they are standing where he met
Brenda.  "She was carrying a suitcase."  He shakes his head. "Wow."

Speaking of Brenda:  We see Brenda with Jax, who is upset about JErry's
lies.  "I loved him all my life, "Jax says, "I can't imagine not being
able to count on him."  Brenda tells him he can't fix it tonight, so he
should let it go.  She puts him on the couch and practices "visualization"
on him so he can relax, and they wind up "doing it" on the couch, as
usual.

Think of Laura:  Nik and Stefan discuss Laura.  Nik assumes that Stefan
plans to warn him to be wary of his mother, that she will hurt him yet
again.  He's surprised that Stefan does not feel that way at all.  "I have
never doubted your mother's capacity for love, Nikolas.  I have only
questioned where she chose to bestow it."  He puts his arms on Nik's
shoulders, as he continues, "Perhaps I too am naive, but I think that
Laura came her tonight because she is your mother and she loves you."  He
leaves the room.

The rest of the show is a well-done musical montage, set to "Iris" by the
Goo-Goo Dolls.  The beautiful moody lyric works very well.  "I'd give up
forever to touch you, cause I know that you feel me somehow."  We start
with a shot of Lucky and Liz side by side, being quiet together.  He's
reading, she's drawing.  "You're the closest thing to heaven that I'll
ever be, and I don't want to go home right now."
        "And all I can taste is this moment, and all I can breathe is your
life."  We see Laura on PC docks, having made the crossing from Spoon
Island.  As Lulu skips happily, Laura looks back at Wyndemere, as the
singer gets to, "Cause sooner or later it's over, I just don't want to
miss you tonight."
        Stefan walks up to the stone bench, looks out toward where Laura
is, over the lyric, "And I don't want the world to see me, because I don't
think that they'd understand.  WHen everything's made to be broken, I just
want you to know who I am."
        "and you can't fight the tears that ain't coming, or the moment of
truth in your lies."  We get a shot of Jason and Robin hugging on the
dock, while Sonny looks out into the distance, sadly.  Close shot of
Sonny, at the lyric, "When everything seems like the movies, yeah you
bleed just to know you're alive."
        "And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that
they'd understand."  Jax and Brenda are making out on the couch.  Jerry
is working on his bomb.  "Everything's made to be broken. I just want you
to know how I am."  The last line repeats over and over.  Yum.

Producer: Behar
Writer: Korte
Updater:  Terry