And Baby Makes Three? 

The story’s been out there for years, quietly hiding, waiting for Guza and Pratt to figure out what to do with it. They may have come up with the best opportunity yet to make something of Kristina’s true parentage in the name of Ric Lansing.  Yeah him – panic room Ric.   Will we finally get a pay off?  Looks like its heading in that direction.

Am I dreaming? Is my wish being granted?  Is the story I’ve been anticipating for, let’s see how long - one year, two, or is it three finally being brought to light – kicking and screaming no doubt but to light anyways?  The big reveal, to Sonny that is, practically everyone else knows already - Sonny is Kristina’s father.

As much as I hate to admit it the timing and set up is perfect. Michael critically ill in the hospital, Sonny distracted with worry as a father should be. Carly continuing to lord it over Alexis, cruelly taunting her with threats of spilling the beans (which of course she has no intentions what so ever of doing, why give up that kind of leverage) while dastardly Ric will upstage everyone, manipulating Alexis to his own gain, whatever that may be, and getting even with the brother he hated, loved and hates again in one fell swoop. Talk about economies of scale.  Drag in  Ned and the Quartermaine's to impact the story set up, what with their constant disregard for the law of course, tampering with DNA tests, no matter how noble a cause is still against the law I believe, or at the very least constitutes fraud.

Opens the field for Ric to include them in his blackmail and manipulations too.  Keeps all the main players intact, supplies a clever little diversion from the constant fab four conflicts yet still keeps Sonny the focus (come on, can you have a story on GH with out that holy grail of a concept)  while providing plausible story for Alexis again.  Not bad.

For some of you who may be new viewers to GH (no laughing) but mostly for those of you who just can’t remember anymore since it was so long ago (hey, I had to wrack my brain too) here’s a quick run down, a look back if you will, into how this whole mess began.  Sonny hires Alexis to be his attorney. Sonny and Carly break up (as usual).  Alexis as much as she hates Sonny’s business continues to work for him, helping him in and out of jail. Alexis feeling lonely and vulnerable starts to fall in love with The Godfather of Soaps and ends up having a one-night stand (no female on GH basically escapes this fate but for a short while it really worked).  Sonny realizing the situation isn’t right breaks it off in a matter of speaking and tells Alexis that they should stick to business only. Alexis finds out she’s pregnant, panics, enter Ned to the rescue.  Boom, Bam thank you M’am, another Corinthos offspring is born.

Alexis did think about telling Sonny the truth, for about 20 seconds that is, but  the realities of a mobster’s life made it an easy decision to keep the truth hidden and keep her child safe from danger. In a moment of pure humanity, stuck in an elevator with Carly fearing the end of her life is imminent Alexis admits the truth Carly always knew deep in the recesses of her jealous little mind.

Personally when this story was ongoing I hoped Alexis and Sonny would hook up more permanently, for the sheer possibilities of storyline if nothing else.  Imagine Alexis the lawyer and Sonny the mobster controlling the town of Port Charles. Brains and brawn. Who out-maneuvers who. Who’s more stoic, more unfeeling, puts up a bigger wall.  Long term – probably not.  Sonny and Carly are destined to be together, on and off, forever – they’ve been set up that way, their history is forged.  They may spend years apart but its clear GH considers them as close to soul mates as it gets in modern drama and eventually all soul mates find their way back.  But short term, Alexis and Sonny could have had more mileage than they did.

Enter Ric Lansing, Sonny’s long lost brother, with a major chip on his shoulder that bears the name Corrinthos. My question here however is where are we going with this one, what does Ric have to gain from the knowledge and why should we care.  Ric is desperate to prove he’s the better man, desperate to break his brother, desperate to put him into the ultimate symbol of “loser” in Ric’s world – jail.  

It’s a sweet irony isn’t it, the brother you never knew you had reveal the truth about a child you never knew you had.  Thing is, wouldn’t Ric’s smugness be better served if he kept that knowledge to himself, then he’d really have something to feel holier than thou over.  Of course it would. Obviously Ric will use the knowledge to manipulate and blackmail Alexis at this point, and Alexis only into helping him bring Sonny down.  And then and only then, when Ric is as proud of himself as he can be that he broke the “great” Sonny Corrinthos will he put the final nail in the coffin.  Ric who had it in for his brother from the moment he knew about Sonny, who once held out an olive branch with no acceptance. Bad guy, crazy guy, panic room man turned over a new leaf and is on the side of the law.  Fantasy?  All of it.  It all comes down to Alexis being blackmailed by Ric for revenge – a purer motive in all of soap land you won’t find. And one thing’s for sure - Sonny will eventually find out, why else bother going through all the conflict if there’s no payoff at the end, and there will be a payoff eventually. The  interest will lie in how this develops – who exactly will come closer to telling Sonny – Ric or Alexis, who will push whom farther and to what lengths will Guza and Pratt allow these characters to go. 

I know Ric Hearst and Nancy Lee Grahn will handle anything the scribes throw at them, which in Grahn’s case lately is not much and in Hearst’s case lately, well, not much either except the same note over and over again, “I’m going to put you away Sonny”. Compounded by Rebecca Hearst’s maternity leave, which was the most abrupt ending of a relationship over transparent nonsense I’ve ever seen, Hearst has been kind of left to flap in the breeze too.  These are two of the most talented, seasoned professionals on daytime who play animosity and hurt, fiery protectiveness of their very souls while laying them bare anyways so well.  Together, as adversaries with more than a cursory case between them they’ll be formidable onscreen.  For the most part, GH always portrayed Alexis as a successful strong, independent woman – success being the operative word in her professional life, if not exactly in her personal life.  With basically nothing to do all year, Grahn’s restlessness, or perhaps disappointment in her character’s growth and development (exactly, what development, what growth) has been pretty hard to miss – having her back as the real Alexis, super attorney by day, messed up middle-aged (shhh, not supposed to acknowledge that reality) woman by night rather than simply seeing her run in and out of scenes carrying a legal pad or spouting platitudes to Emily will be satisfying indeed. 

The consequences of Sonny finding out Kristina is his will be explosive and far reaching and a storyline that has the potential to last a very long time with the right build up (which it has in my opinion) and execution (remains to be seen but its off to a good start).   He’ll find out Carly knew which will serve as further justification to vilify and belittle her.  He’ll see it as the ultimate betrayal won’t he, considering his favorite words are family, loyalty and trust with little or no chance open for reconciliation (if it hadn’t already happened) or future for them as a family (if it had).  Will Sonny try to get custody of Kristina? The character would have no choice, of course he’ll burst out guns blazing for custody of his daughter but with the pairing of Alexis and Ric this is going to be the battle of the decade. Mr. Ward, prepare for war, if not exactly justice.

Guza and Pratt, sharpen those pencils – no, don’t poke each other’s eyes out with them, craft a storyline worthy of the situation and the actors involved. The premise is already a-typical, for a typical soap plot – the addition of so many outside factors and so many other characters having vested interests in whether Sonny finds out or not makes this version lots less ordinary. 
 







 "until next time, watch where you stick that thermometer "


Nurse Cratchet

 
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Email me @ NurseCratchet@soaptownusa.com


 


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