Don't Ask, But Do Tell When You Have Your Lawyer In The Room
Due to my travel schedule, this week's recap covers Monday-Thursday this week. I will either update this post when I return on Tuesday or cover Friday's episode in next week's recap.
Drewfus didn’t see who shot him, but that doesn’t matter. He wants to accuse Michael. But he could also accuse Curtis, as he threatened. So now the victim is threatening the murder suspects.
As I predicted months ago, if they were to do a murder mystery storyline, it would be a “Who Shot Drew” storyline. Cameron Mathison isn’t going anywhere. And that’s great. You can’t lose a great villiain like him. I’m also glad he didn’t wake up paralyzed or with amnesia, or any one of the many soap tropes we have had to suffer through in the last several years. Now we can just concentrate on whether this will be a good “Whodunnit” or not. Kudos to GH for finally pulling the trigger on this one after missed opportunities with Shiloh, Peter August, Austin Gatlin-Holt and Jagger Cates and the botched attempts at murder mysteries with “The Angel of Mercy” killings of Paul Hornsby and “The Hook” with Heather Webber.
Brennan enlisted Nina to help persuade Charlotte to go see her dad. He suggests a quid pro quo that he will help her when Willow and Nina’s alibi falls apart. Nina then went to NuNuLuLu and convinced her to let Charlotte see Valentin. Nina then ended up at the hospital with NNLL, Dante, and Obrecht when Rocco ran into a tree chasing after Outback. This was the perfect setup for Britt to show up at General Hospital.
This just dawned on me this week. Both Rocco and Charlotte were surrogate kids. No wonder they’ve bonded.
I wish they’d show us the investigation into Judge Heran. You would think someone would figure out that Drew’s shooting and Judge Heran’s strangling on the same night may be related. But no. The cops are too busy giving the side eye to every suspect and acting completely inappropriately with their leading questions and pontificating while the suspect is in the room. Save those discussions for The Murder Board.
THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMM…
1.) NuNuLuLu said she was meeting Jack Brennan. Jack Brennan just wandered by Bobbie’s wondering if NuNu was there. Rocco confirmed it and he said he just needs a quick word with her. But aren’t they meeting already?
2.) Charlotte talks about how much independence she had when she was with Valentin, but weren’t they on the run? Wouldn’t it be dangerous for Charlotte to wander around the city unescorted?
3.) There was about 13 minutes left on the bomb timer when Jason and Britt ran out of the lab. You’re telling me that altercation in the hallway when one of the goons got shot took 13 minutes to happen?
4.) Drew is a congressman and was just shot. Why is there not a guard outside his hospital room door?
5.) Anna had a few questions “about the night Drew Cain was shot.” Wasn’t that last night?
6.) What happened to taping the questioning of a suspect by starting the tape and announcing what is happening, who is in the room, date and time? I thought that was standard procedure. Anna just cut to the chase.
7.) After questioning, Michael and Marco head to The Port Charles Grill (for a drink, perhaps?), but Michael opens the door and lets Marco stand in the doorway before dismissing him.
8.) Why are all police acting so weird when someone wants to have their lawyer present? Chase was suspicious of Curtis, Anna was suspicious of Alexis, and there was concern over Michael having counsel present. This is standard procedure, folks, not an admission of guilt.
9.) Does everyone stay in the same hotel room: Room 627?
10.) If Charlotte is grounded, why is she out with Rocco and Outback?
ESTABLISHING SHOTS: We got a whole bunch of the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, which stands in for General Hospital, this week. It’s a good reminder of the roots of this show (the now classic General Hospital opening that was used from 1975-1993). This opening was so much more exciting than the current PowerPoint version the show currently airs.
REACTIONS: Dante did a subtle double take when Michael said he enjoyed the company of an escort two nights in a row. He also brought up a good point to Anna after Michael left that if you can pay an escort to keep you company, you can also pay her to be your alibi.
COLD FUSION: The Geneva Convention comes into play as Vaughn uses it to taunt his captors.
RANDOM THINGS: Charlotte’s punishment includes taking care of Outback, cleaning the porches, mulching the flower bed and writing an apology to the camp director; the first person Drewfus accused was Michael; NuNuLuLu acknowledged why we didn’t see Charlotte much the last few months.
THINGS WE LEARNED THIS WEEK: Mac is heading up the murder investigation of Judge Heran while Anna is investigating Drewfus’ shooting; Curtis and Michael have each others’ back.
SOAP TROPES: Whenever they don’t want you to know who the mystery person is, or who the head of an organization is, they constantly refer to the person in pronouns: “HE would be upset if HE knew what you were up to. HE better not find out or HE will punish you!” But usually every other sentence on a soap, someone is using the person’s name, when a lot of the time it’s not needed. That’s the old soap trope thinking that new viewers will be confused if you don’t mention peoples’ names enough times, but I ask you, in 2025, how many “new” viewers are there?
DREAMING: Drew flashes back to his threatening Portia with the lab results when questioned by Dante over what was in his safe; Michael (in a new flashback) is soaking wet when he gets into his car.
LESSONS LEARNED: Scout learned about restraining orders; The bald-headed goon learned about the prison time he’ll be serving if he’s caught; Jason learned that Joss is a WSB agent; Britt is not going with the operation to a new location.
PLOT WHISPERING: Nathan is the head of the organization and he’s brainwashed into being a bad guy.
WHERE WERE YOU THE NIGHT DREW GOT SHOT?:
8:40 pm - Curtis left the police station with Aunty Stella according to the Station Sargeant.
8:45 pm - Michael arrives at The Port Charles Grill; Curtis drops off Aunty Stella at home, but then leaves again.
9:00 pm - Alexis pulled into her driveway; Curtis visits Alexis.
9:15 pm - Chase saw Drew at the hospital; Curtis left Alexis’ house and went to The Savoy, but no one saw him because he entered through the back door and went straight to his office; According to Jacinda, that is the time she and Michael left The Port Charles Grill and came back to The Metro Court.
9:20 pm - Kristina and Ava Jerome came by Alexis’ house.
9:36 to 9:47 pm - Drew was on the phone with his DC office.
9:48-10:19 pm Drew is shot.
10:20 pm - The rain stopped.
10:28 pm - Tracy called 911 from Drew’s house.
10:30 pm - Willow came back to the hospital.
10:30 pm - Approximate time Michael left The Port Charles Grill and went “right home” afterwards (what he told the police); According to Jacinda, this is the time Michael left The Metro Court after being with her.
10:50 pm - Jordan and Curtis meet at The Brown Dog, where Curtis says he stayed until after Midnight.
11:20 pm - Approximate time Kristina and Ava left Alexis’ house.
11:20 pm - Dante comes by Alexis’ house.
After Midnight - Curtis returns home.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
“Are you sure you can handle this? - Britt, referring to Jason getting the ankle monitor off of her.
“If I can’t, we’ll both find out at the same time.” - Jason
“I’m not comfortable with you having a sense of humor right now!” - Britt
“I see the lightbulb going off over your horns.” - Alexis to Ava, who is thinking of how to deal with Elizabeth and Willow.
“Is Willow here?” - Drew’s first words upon waking up.
“So much for women helping women!” - Jacinda when Portia refuses to give her money.
“Jason, that was very brave. Can you get off me now?” - Britt to Jason, who is lying on top of her after the explosion.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” - Britt to Jason after he’s saved her, yet again.
“What’s that? - Jason
“I really don’t like your tattoos.” - Britt
STAR OF THE WEEK: The Murder Board in Anna’s office. But where is the string?
MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!: The whole Portia-Isaiah affair just has me puzzled. She wanted to fight for her marriage, but gave Curtis an ultimatum, then immediately did the dirty deed with Isaiah in her office. Then we see her somehow get into his hotel room (or is he in an apartment? We don’t know because they haven’t invested in Isaiah!) and slide into his bed, now she’s telling him it can never happen again, but if it was just the two of them, she would have liked to see where it would go. I also wasn’t too comfortable with Isaiah stroking her hand with his finger when they shake hands and commit to being friends, nor his sexy swagger as he walks out the door, checking out Portia’s booty on the way. Now Curtis is asking Portia to “pretend” their marriage is solid, after letting her know he is the #1 suspect, but she is not on the P.C.P.D.’s radar.
SUSPECT TRACKER: Alexis got put up and taken down on the Murder Board; Curtis was put up instead; Curtis jumps to the top of the suspect list after questioning from Anna; Carly goes to the police station and admits to threatening to kill Drew but says she didn’t do it. Her alibi is Jack Brennan. Anna doubts her because she knows Jack Brennan is a skillful liar; Meanwhile, Drew doesn’t seem to particularly care who DID shoot him as he’s determined to frame Michael.
FASHION: Britt sported the latest in ankle bracelet monitoring bombs; Liesl showed up in the dreaded Persimmon.
OH, THE IRONY!: Drew asks Kai to go to his house and get the contents of his safe and bring it to him.
THINGS I WAS GLAD ABOUT: Marco is representing Michael; the writers remembered that Nina was once close to Charlotte.
SURPRISE!: Cody had Scout at the stables; Valentin is back and so is Charlotte, looking like a young Scarlet Johansson
FUN FACTS: Ric’s password code is now 666-666, courtesy of Kristina changing it.
So, what was your opinion of this week in Port Charles (September 8-11*)?
*Friday’s episode will either be incorporated into this post next week or I’ll cover it at the end of next week since I can’t update this post on the Substack app. Thank you, modern technology!
Thank you for this great recap of the week. I am disappointed that the writers didn’t end Drew though
So one always spills one's parents' illegal secrets and discusses their being blackmailed in public with the Police Commissioner's granddaughter?