Ricochet

You know – I’ve never been much of a Carly fan.  Long-time readers know that the moment she dumped AJ into a laundry cart and poured vodka over his poor, sober, drugged soul, I was Done. With. Her.  I had no use for such a heartless, selfish character.

Yet more and more when I sit down to write about what resonates with me on GH these days, Carly is the one who floats to the top of my mind.  I’ve been fascinated with how the character has grown (yes – in itty bitty tiny baby steps, but still).  She is no longer the insecure, lost child of adoption, unable to see further than her own needs and wants.  It took a long time, a stint in Shadybrook, and the love a man who actually loves her more than himself to get her to that point, but she seems to have gotten there.  She’s still insecure, but until Michael was shot, she was no longer lost.  She had finally gotten to a place where she felt loved without being judged and most of all – she had grown up.

The hardest thing about growing up though, is facing the mistakes you’ve made along the way.  We’ve all done that – we’ve all had that moment when we honestly looked back and said to ourselves, “Self – you know – maybe sleeping with my bio-mom’s husband wasn’t the best thing to do.  I should have just confronted Bobbie straight on, rather than destroying her life.  After all – it’s not like my life with Virginia was horrible – I was loved.  Not rich, but still loved.  And you know – even if Bobbie *had* kept me, I still wouldn’t have been rich.  Not to mention who knows how Uncle Luke would have screwed me up – I mean, just *look* at Lucky and Lulu.  Maybe Bobbie made the right decision, and I was *wrong.*  I know, I know self – it’s hard to believe – but maybe…just maybe…I made the wrong decision then.” 

Most of us don’t have to face those truths while sitting at the bedside of our shot-in-the-head son.  Carly has.  I have to say, everything she has said and done has been right on the money.  She has every right to be mad at Sonny.  She has every right to be mad at Kate.  They were living in a dream world and refused to acknowledge the danger they were in.  After all, Sonny has spent the last 10 years literally dodging bullets.  This time, however, when he dodged that bullet, his son caught it instead.  I still cannot get over the fact that Sonny dived for Kate – KATE! – rather than Michael.  Oh, how I wish AJ were still alive.  Can you just imagine the scenes between those two? 

Contrary to popular opinion, I have no problem whatsoever with Carly’s denial of the seriousness of Michael’s condition.  Oh, you can call it delusional – I just see a mom – a mom who is doing her best to will her son back to her.  It’s what we do.  I am a tad disappointed that she is not feeling torn between her need to be with Michael and the needs of Morgan, but considering we have a man head writing this show, this doesn’t surprise me.  Most men have no concept of that feeling.  But other than that, I think they’ve done a marvelous job during this storyline.  I’m sure the shooting of a child isn’t the most popular thing out there – but sometimes horrific situations bring out the best material.  This may not be BJ’s heart caliber story – but it is certainly closer than anything else we’ve seen lately.  This is the heart and soul of a soap.  Not the shooting.  But the resulting story that comes from it. 

I just hope they don’t have everyone hugging each other and singing Kum Ba Ya next week.  This type of tragedy should have long lasting consequences.  It shouldn’t be something that is brushed off in a few weeks.  If they really are trying to strive for BJ’s heart-like quality, then they need to remember the fallout from BJ’s death lasted long past sweeps.  Now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure the fallout technically lasted all the way until after Carly came to town with destruction on her mind.  Does anyone else think Tony would have been so easy to seduce if he still weren’t aching from the death of BJ? 

Let’s see Michael’s shooting have some long-lasting effects – on Carly, on Sonny, on Jason.  Let’s see Claudia and Johnny rocked by what happened, and their part in it.  Let’s see this one ricochet rocket through their actions 10 years down the road.  Let’s see it ricochet through the rest of Port Charles for years to come.  As it should.

Bring it ON.