The Port Chuck “24”

            When I read about the 24 style GH that was coming up I was so ready for it!  I thought it was cool that they were going to copy 24.  I’m always up for something a little different.  I think of General Hospital like an old comfortable shoe.  Everyone enjoys wearing comfy shoes, right?  But, just because I like my old shoes doesn’t mean I don’t like whipping out my fancy high heels every once in awhile for something a little different.  So, like I said I was ready for something new.   

            So, I chose to get excited about this new sweeps ploy.  I was excited to see Mac in action.  I was excited to see the Quartermaines for once.  I was interested in seeing people have to interact that normally couldn’t stand to be in the same room with one another.  I was also really excited to hear the “Jason Baby Daddy” secret would finally come out.  I was also intrigued about the games the hostages would be playing and how they would get paired up.  We don’t know much about this Mr. Craig so who knows what he’s capable of?     

            So, can you guess where I’m going with this?  If you’ve guessed that this sweeps month is letting me down you’re right.  But, it’s not all bad.  Plus, it’s not over yet so maybe the whole thing will still shock me.   

            I think the problem is that I watch the real 24.  That show is so fast paced if you blink you’ve missed something important.  People on that show are constantly getting shot, killed, tortured, etc.  They throw these twists at you that you never see coming. So, the whole thing on GH got off to a great start.  Seeing Sam escape right before the hotel blew up left me hungry for more information as to what happened to everyone else.  That’s what the writers/producers wanted, right?  They want people to tune in for their ratings race.  Robin was shot out of nowhere.  It was completely unexpected except for the fact that I had already read it was going to happen.  It was a good beginning.  It seemed as though they were doing a great job trying out something new. 

            So, after the episode where Robin got shot things started to get boring for me.  Alan wasn’t allowed much to do before he got knocked in the head and tossed into another room.  There were multiple scenes of people interrogating Alcazar which only resulted in the same answers.  Skye didn’t seem to care about the hostages nearly as much as she did Lorenzo.  I realize that she probably feels like she’s the only one available to stand by him and help him but the whole storyline with those two just rings false.  This was the same woman who ran away from him.  Carly and Sonny had their yearly “I love you.  Take me back.” monologues.  There is the usual pregnant woman in peril.  There was also the usual surgery needing to be performed by inexperienced people.   

            So, TPTB had a great start.  They had me hooked.  But, the hours inside the hotel are beginning to drag.  The only exciting things that have happened were this:  Robin getting shot, Maxie getting locked up with Three and Robin having surgery.  Those things were dramatic.  They kept the pace going.  Three seems to be an interesting person…so far.  I’m game for anything that will stop Maxie from obsessing over Lucky and getting in Liz’s face on a daily basis.   

Robin getting shot was just crazy.  It was something that came out of nowhere.  The events directly after her getting shot were exciting because of the scenes with Patrick.  As a matter of fact, many of his scenes have me hitting the rewind button so that I could see them again.  First, there was Jason trying to reassure Patrick that Robin was probably okay.  Then, Jason had to turn around and tell Patrick that not only was she not okay but she was shot.  Then, we had Patrick and Noah together which is always a good thing.  Moving on to Skye we had the angry Patrick as he told her that he really didn’t care if Alcazar lived.   We then had the very tense surgery that Patrick didn’t want to be performing.  We had Patrick then pouring out his heart to Mac.  From there we had him helping Emily perform the surgery via phone.  Today, his frustration of not being able to help Robin and his anger at Pete had me cheering him on.  These are the things that have me tuning in.              

Sure, I love seeing Patrick all manly and emotional.  That’s a plus.  But, those scenes in which he was allowed to go bang on the door and yell at the bad guy made me laugh.  Those were a big negative.  In what world would the bad guy let somebody talk to him like that?  He should have shot somebody else or had somebody tortured just to teach him a lesson that he was in control.  That’s what they would have done on the real 24.  But, what does he do instead?  He allows Patrick to talk Emily through the surgery.  That’ll teach him to bang on the door again!  While we’re on the subject can we please stop having these surgeries that just HAVE to involve someone who doesn’t know how to operate?  Isn’t it exciting enough that she was shot and somebody has to do emergency surgery?  Just think if Patrick was stuck in the hotel with Robin and had to perform surgery on the love of his life.  You know, Patrick who claims he’s the best surgeon?  What would happen if he messed up and she ended up paralyzed or in a coma?  Now, that’s drama people!  In the very least, it’s not the same recycled stuff they’ve used before. 

Not only was it unrealistic that Mr. Craig allowed the surgery but then we have Ric repeatedly calling Mr. Craig after he told him to stop.  I think on the real 24 Mr. Craig would have probably shot somebody for that, too.             

I have mixed feelings about Mac stepping down from the negotiating and handing it over to Ric.  I was hoping for some more Mac time.  But, it might be a blessing in disguise because you know that something is going to go wrong and the person in charge will get blamed for it.  At least this way Ric will get blamed and not Mac.   Then on the other hand I was glad to see Ric go off on the mayor today.  At least Ric doesn’t care about getting the glory the way that guy does.  It’s nice to see Ric not all bad.  So, way to go mayor for being such a slimeball and making Ric appear more human!   

Moving on to Sam…Mr. Craig should have shot or tortured at least five people by now as payback for all of Sam’s back talk and attempts to take down his men.  I can’t believe that Maxie was giving Liz crap for trying to help Robin when Sam has basically put everyone’s lives in danger every 10 minutes!  First, she tripped the silent alarm which brought the police, locked the vault and made things worse.  It could be argued that if the police hadn’t shown there never would have been a hostage situation.  If anyone ever saw the show, The Nine before it got cancelled then you know how badly things can escalate once the police get involved.  Then, we have loads of back talk from this girl.  She pulls off his mask.  Finally, today she tried to attack Mr. Craig with her HIV coated knife.  Whew.  That gave me another reason to laugh today.  She clearly forgot about the bombs.  I’m really surprised that Sam makes it out of the hotel at all to warn the police about the explosives.  My money is on Jason.  I’ll bet he’s the reason why Silly Sam is able to escape.  I think Silly Sam fits a whole lot better than Sweet Sam.  So, here is another example of how things are dragging.  If TPTB want to make this show as suspenseful as the real 24 they wouldn’t have Mr. Craig taking Sam into the back to give her a talk.  What was that?  You tried to kill me so now I’m going to mock you and tell you that you’re selfish.  Is she supposed to be scared?  Oh, and he conveniently compares her to Liz.  Puh-lease.  If this was the real deal he would have smacked her around some.  That, I would REALLY enjoy!    

Mr. Craig is allowing too much sass from his hostages.  Sure, he had Sonny beat up.  But, Sonny gets beat up on a monthly basis.  That’s not anything out of the ordinary.  He made Sam dress like a bad guy.  Big deal.  Where is the scariness?  Other than Robin, Alan and Sonny this dude is all talk.  No wonder Silly Sam keeps trying to escape.  This guy is losing his grip and my interest by letting everybody try to escape and talk smack.  His games are pretty boring, too.  People keep passing his little tests.  Carly did the surgery.  Nicholas found all the supplies.  He plays musical hostages with everybody which isn’t all that exciting either.   

I think I understand why Robert isn’t around for all of this.  If he was around for all of this he would have snuck into the hotel twice as fast as Jason and Spinelli and taken all of the bad guys out with a karate chop to the neck!  Am I right?  So, they had to ship him out of town to keep the storyline going.  If Robert was around, instead of a 16 hour 24 it would have been a 30 minute 24.  That just wouldn’t work because they need a storyline to last the entire month of February Sweeps.  Now, that I understand I can be more forgiving that they decided to keep Robin’s father from being present when she was taken hostage, shot and operated on!   

On a final note, I think the writers made a real bad call by making Sam and Maxie buddies.  If they get Carly to join their friendship they can start the “I hate Elizabeth” club.  Seriously.  Those two women are my least favorite females on the show.  You pair the two of them together and I despise them even more.  Sam and Maxie need to paired with people who will actually help bring out their less selfish and whiny sides.  Right now their conversations will sounds like this:  “I hate Liz.  I love Lucky.  I hate Liz.  I love Jason.  I want to have Lucky’s baby.  I hate Liz.  I want to have Jason’s baby.  I hate Liz.”  Maxie should continue to talk with her sister and start talking to Robin.  Sam needs to start talking to…hmmm.  I guess Spinelli is all I have for her.  Does Sam have any female friends?  Oh, and will Maxie be thanking her new buddy for tripping the silent alarm and getting her stuck in the vault?  This new friendship may be over before it even starts.   

I haven’t given up hope on this 24 style GH.  There’s still hope.  Maybe the ending will be as exciting as the beginning. 

Heather