Yep, this one got me right in the gut.  It was a sucker punch, too, because I really did not expect it to hit as hard as it did.  I am not particularly a fan of Alexis.  "I used to love her," as the song says, "but it's all over now."  Somewhere around the time that she fled her own wedding in an 18-wheeler, waves of net blowing in the breeze behind her, I lost my 'Lexis luvvvv. 

It was not a Nedly protection mechanism.  It was some shift in the biorhythms between myself and the Ned-Alexis phenomenon.  I loved the way the couple came together, bonding over their role as "gatekeeper" for their two enormously dysfunctional families.  I even tolerated the "Eddie's Angel" debacle with good humor.   I have to testify here to unburden my soul.  I was a Lois fan (the Rena Sofer version, not the Lesli Kaye version, goddess bless her) and I did not really think I could get excited about him being with anyone else.  As it turned out, after Alexis, I didn't.  The gun sex and the dock sex with Faith Roscoe was plenty for me.  I was done with Ned.  I loved Brook Lynn and the only Ned scene I enjoyed after the NotWedding was when he and his daughter sang the duet.  So yeah, Ned was done for me.

I did not really get an Alexis buzz after the NotWedding.  The split personality thing was painfully bad (admittedly, I did a "guilt by association" blame on Alexis for having such a horribly insufferable sister).  The Dobson story was humorous, but quickly got old with the only good parts being Big Alice and Edward's interaction with the cross-dressing butler.  I became numb to the romance with Ric, the birth after the train wreck... None of it moved me.  Done with Alexis.  NEXT!!

Sam has bored me silly since she first was introduced on the show.  The Dead Man's Hand, the whole Sonny-Jax-Sonny merry-go-round (in one day without washing between as far as we saw - Sam could save the world, cure heart disease, find a pill that causes instant and profound weight loss and personally locate Osama Bin Laden and all we would remember about her is that she slept with both Sonny and Jax in one day without douching while a hotel burned around her), the romance with Jason, the loss of the baby...  I realized it should be affecting me in some way, but I found myself more sad for Jason than for Sam.  I was bawling my eyes out just seeing Steve Burton's silhouette against the hospital screen, planting a gentle kiss on the forehead of a fake baby (or a rolled up newspaper or whatever they used) while "Angel" by Sara MacLachlan played in the background.  When it came to Jason telling Sam about her baby not surviving the c-section, I was unmoved.  Not really any Sam love going around for me, so I tossed her into the bag reserved for temporarily discarded characters.

Since then, we have seen very few scenes with Sam where she was not crying or hysterically shrieking.  Between Danny dying and Manny harassing her and learning she was adopted, there has been little rest for Kelly Monaco's poor, tortured eyeballs. 

Then came today.

I, for one, was grateful that the scene of Jason convincing Alexis that Sam is her daughter did not drag on forever.  In fact, I would have been completely satisfied if that whole part had occurred off screen so that after Jason gave Alexis a meaningful look and we cut to Monday's episode, the next scene was Sam waking up to find Alexis, red-eyed and chin atremble, at her bedside.  In lieu of that, I was very happy with the progression today.

When Sam opened her eyes and said, "Mom," my waterworks started gushing. 

The scenes were brilliantly acted, brilliantly written and that's why I continue to love GH through the tough times.  There are those to debate that GH deserves the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series.  In my opinion, scenes like these are why they do.

Finally, after literally years of lame-ass sweeps weeks, this one has been golden.  Luke, Robert and Holly who?  (Yes, I love them, but wow, today was a powerhouse).