By 
Careful What You Wish For
Nina asks Griffin to tell Anna to leave Valentin alone.
Nina’s beginning to let her insecurity show. She told Griffin that Anna is after her husband and asked him to get his mother figure to back-off. As Griffin points out, if she trusted Valentin then Anna wouldn’t be an issue. Alas, Nina can’t trust Valentin to be honest with her when it comes to his former love but if her marriage can’t hold up then she’ll lose Charlotte. After Griffin and Nina finished calling each out, she came home to find Valentin and Anna having an emotionally intimate moment. She told Valentin that she’ll never betray him but I have to wonder how much further she’ll let herself be pushed.
The scenes between Franco and Nina on Thursday felt random. As I had mentioned in my review last week, it’s jarring to suddenly revisit something when the beats haven’t been played. Franco and Nina broke up roughly a year ago and seemed to have forgotten the other one exists. So it felt weird for him to pay her a visit at her out-of-the-way residence and give her a present for the wedding he learned about offscreen. Their talk did serve a purpose in moving story forward but I wish they had bumped into each other around town instead. Or it may have also been cool if Franco had sat next to Valentin at a bar and struck up a conversation about marriage with him. Plus Roger Howarth and James Patrick Stewart in scenes together…I’m just saying.
While Nina and Franco’s conversation was a plot point for him to propose to Liz, it worked very well as character development for Nina. Nina has decided to put her goal of being a mother above everything else. She’s achieved her goal but at an expense. She’s lost her friendship with her talented assistant Maxie, straining her relationship with her beloved brother as a result, and is married to man she can’t trust. She hasn’t made very adult decisions. The end result is loneliness, being surrounded in fake relationships. She told Franco that she was happy but it was obvious she missed the kind of real relationship she had with him. It hurt that he now wants marriage and family but with someone else.
It’s Nobody’s Business But The Turks
Laura gives Kevin a kiss goodbye.
Tracy and Lucy are heading to Turkey to find a painting with a connection to Edward’s past. It’s the beginning of Tracy’s final story line. Here’s hoping it’s a farewell fitting for the Queen Quartermaine. Perhaps this will tie into Edward’s will. It still doesn’t set well with me that Tracy only got a jar of relish. I feel like there should be more to it than that.
Laura said farewell to her loved ones before setting out on her new adventure. I loved the hot dialog with Kevin. She left him wanting more for sure with her promise of a sexy homecoming. Luke and Laura may be the original super couple but they outgrew each other long ago. It’s great seeing Laura as a strong, independent woman now. And whoever decided to pair her with Kevin deserves a raise.
Laura also left Lulu behind to plot for custody of Charlotte on her own. I hope she does a better job than she has been doing. At least Laura was able to point her in Nelle’s direction. I actually enjoyed the scenes between Lulu and Nelle. Lulu was sly in her manipulation while Nelle was sympathetic to Lulu’s situation. It made both characters instantly more likable. Having Nelle interact with new people is helping the character after a disastrous introductory tale. I’m curious whether her new employment will pose a danger to her especially if she gets caught doing something the Cassadine’s would consider a betrayal. Lulu may put the young woman in harm’s way if she continues to use Nelle to get to Charlotte. Nelle might not mind that though if Lulu can help her get close to Michael.
Couples of the week: Franco and Liz, Julian and Alexis, Laura and Kevin, Ned and Olivia, Dante and Nathan, Nina and Griffin
Lines of the week: “When did you become the reasonable one?”-Liz “Dude, beauty and brains.”-Franco
“Are you sure that Sonny and you don’t have it in you to grow just a little bit more?”-Sam
“Is this really what his life means to you? A bottle of vodka?”-Ava
“And I’m the sucker in your estimation? I’d fall for anything, forego my son’s well-being because of the stars in my eyes?”-Liz
“I would do it all over again. I would do anything for you.”-Julian
“It’s Jake. Somethings wrong with him and I don’t know what to do.”-Jason
“Jason’s on the verge of war.”-Liz “Yeah but he pulled back because he loves Jake way more than he hates me.”-Franco
“This is me walking out the door and I’m not coming back.”-Carly
“Would you do me the great honor of marrying me?”-Ned
“You broke me. You know that. You looked right in my eyes. Oh. Just like ur doing right now. You said, all I see is in your eyes & your beautiful.”-Valentin
“What’s happening? What are you doing to my husband?”-Nina
“She didn’t seem to remember any of it.”-Valentin “That’s a pathetic lie.”-Nina “ I don’t think she was lying.”-Valentin
“Are you sure he wasn’t lying?”-Griffin
“The important thing is trying to find out what’s wrong with Jake.”-Sam
“You guys are getting divorced again?”-Michael
“Is Luke in prison again?”-Kevin
“You don’t play poker but I raised you.”-Franco
“This is going to sound strange but I need to know if there are any scarecrows on the island.”-Jason
“Call me a sucker for a really good cup of Turkish coffee and adventure.”-Laura “Well far be it from to keep a lady from her adventure.”-Kevin
“You want to know what the best part of adventure is? The homecoming.”-Laura
“Elizabeth, I’m asking you to marry me because I love you because I want to commit to you, to us, to the whole thing.”-Franco “You know I love you right?”-Liz
“It’s not an average Wizard of Oz scarecrow; it’s dark and threatening. There’s a legend it came alive one night and scared some local kids so.”-Valentin
“I realize that I didn’t say yes but I didn’t say no either.”-Liz
“I will be gallivanting around the globe with Tracy Quartermaine.”-Laura
“It’s just the wind.”-Alexis
Scene of the week: Laura tells Kevin she’s going to Turkey.
For a look at what’s ahead, check out our General Hospital Spoilers.
If Franco were anyone besides the man who terrorized Jason and Sam, sexually assaulted Sam, strapped her and Lulu to bombs, facilitated the rape of Michael in prison, kidnapped Liz’s son Aiden and is a sociopath, then yeah, Liz might have a leg to stand on with regards to Jake’s well being. But he was and did all of those things and he’s NOT Jake’s father. Franco needs to stand down and let Jake’s parents help the kid. You say that Jason isn’t Jake’s legal parent, where did you get this information? Because it appears Liz has designated him as such and there’s a custody agreement. BTW, Jason never threatened to take Jake away from Liz. He said that maybe they need to revisit the custody agreement. So either Liz wants Jason to be Jake’s father or she doesn’t. She can’t have it both ways. Jason has a legitimate problem with Franco. The show and the character of Liz needs to stop making Jason the bad guy in this story. Franco is an abhorrent character. He was never meant to be a permanent fixture on the show and should have remained dead. Personally, I wish they would change Jake’s paternity and put us all out of our misery. That way the female audience won’t be continually insulted by Franco getting in Sam’s face and acting like he’s the wounded party because Jason and Sam are mean to him. Boo, hoo.