2016 Nurses Ball: it's far too perilous

As the Nurses Ball was in full swing at Metro Court, an Angel of Death attempted to take the life of a beloved resident. Meanwhile, another life ended up on the rocks -- literally -- as a mystery unfolded at Castle Wyndemere. Times are perilous in Port Charles, but that's what makes it fun.

I have always loved the Nurses Ball because I'm always down for a great fashion show, and it's entertaining to watch the actors showcase some of their hidden talents -- like Matt Cohen's awesome break dancing moves and Donnell Turner's impressive nunchucks skills.

By far, my favorite performance was little Emma Drake and Ned Ashton/Eddie Maine singing their rendition of Elton John and Kiki Dee's Don't Go Breaking My Heart. It was an absolute treat, and Brooklyn Rae Silzer was beyond adorable. I became nostalgic as I watched them because I vividly recalled sitting in the car with my mom when I was a young girl and singing along with her as it played on the radio.

I also enjoyed Dillon and Kiki singing Shawn Mendes' Stitches, even though it was obvious that Hayley was lip-syncing. There was a similar issue with the song and dance number to Carol Douglas' Doctor's Orders, except instead of poor lip-syncing skills, Kirsten Storms simply didn't sing at all. However, overall, the two performances were among the better ones.

The worst number was the opening song and dance when the nurses welcomed everyone. I didn't like the techno music or the rap. It reminded me of someone attempting ballet in tap-shoes. The rhythm was off, and I honestly didn't understand half of the song.

Maybe it was me, but there also seemed to be fewer skits than in past years. I felt like Lucy announced a short break after each performance, and there was none of the hustle and bustle backstage as we've seen in past years. Hence, no one noticed that Bobbie had fainted until Lucas stumbled across her motionless body.

However, the writers redeemed themselves by giving us one last tango between Duke and Anna. It brought tears to my eyes because they truly are beautiful together, and I will miss what they had. That said, I'm so glad that Anna is finally going to move forward because angry and vengeful Anna was getting quite tiring. Robin was right -- Anna will only find peace by living the best life possible.

My soapy-senses tell me that Anna's life will soon include Andre because I noticed the way the two looked at each other -- more than once -- during the Nurses Ball. It's also obvious that Jordan still senses the chemistry between Andre and Anna because Jordan seemed to make a point of referring to Andre as her date and appeared to quickly put some distance between Andre and Anna.

It's shaping up to be an interesting little love triangle.

Moving on, I'm a little baffled by Tracy's insta-bond with Sabrina's son to the point where she appears to be ready to fight Sabrina for custody. Did I miss something? Tracy has only had the baby for less than a week, and she's not exactly a spring chicken. Edward (because I have no idea what Sabrina named her son) might be a perfectly behaved baby, but even with a nanny around to help, there will be a point when he will become more than a sweet cooing baby. Toddlers are little hellions who can run even the most fit person ragged. Besides, how could Tracy possibly think she can keep the baby when it was made perfectly clear that Tracy only had temporary custody of Edward until Sabrina could be found?

Granted, Sabrina is facing some legal issues at the moment, but Michael is firmly in Sabrina's corner and will help her in any way that he can up to and including moving Sabrina into his grandmother's mansion so she can be close to her son. Unless Tracy is prepared to move out, I can't see how she can keep Sabrina away from the baby.

I would think that Tracy would make nice with Sabrina and take a grandmotherly role in the baby's life like she did with Rocco. It's not like Sabrina would push Tracy away. Tracy became a close friend and motherly figure to Sabrina, so this strife seems completely pointless.

Tracy's actions might have been confusing, but Carly's made me downright furious. I actually wanted to climb through my television and help Ava kick Carly's butt.

I understand Carly's desire to help Sonny have a bigger role in Avery's life, but this all-or-nothing mentality is exactly why Ava took the stance she did. Well, that and Sonny's constant threats to kill Ava like the animal she was. However, that is exactly my point. Sonny and Carly are just as bad as they accuse Ava of being. Carly claims that she doesn't want Avery to be denied a relationship with her father and fears that Ava will fill Avery's head with lies, but that is exactly what Sonny and Carly want to do.

How do I know this? Sonny insisted that Carly is the best mother anyone could have, and Avery was lucky to have her. It's downright laughable because Carly is the woman who married not one but two mobsters and has put her children's lives at risk repeatedly because of it -- and even remarried the man who tried to kill her own daughter's father! I'm not suggesting that Ava is a better parent, but I am tired the tug-of-war between Sonny and Ava over Avery and of Carly constantly inserting herself into it.

Carly needs to take a page from Sam's book and respect that anything to do with Avery is between Sonny and Ava.

Honestly, I'm rooting for Ava because Sonny had proven himself to be a horrible father. He went way too far by writing off and threatening Alexis because she stood by her husband instead giving in to Sonny's demands and running to the police station to rat Julian out. I hope Kristina reads Sonny the riot act when she finds out how he treated her mother, and I hope she puts some distance between Sonny and herself for a while to teach him a lesson.

Folks, I have no idea what to make of Elizabeth and Franco. I love Liz and freely admit that she is my absolute favorite character. There are others that I love, but Liz will always have a special place in my heart.

It wasn't always that way. At first, I despised Liz. I thought she was an obnoxious brat who reminded me a lot of my own sister, but that changed over the years as I grew up, Liz grew up, and I saw her heart get broken time and again, starting with her parents who have never once reached out to or visited her since she ran away as a young teen to live with her grandmother Audrey. I can't imagine ever doing that to my children because the impact of such apathy is profoundly damaging.

That's not to say that I excuse Liz when she does bad things. I don't. She's done some mighty terrible things, especially in the name of love. However, so has everyone else in Port Charles. No one is in a position to judge another person's choices in that town. Ultimately, the heart wants what it wants, and you are drawn to the people who show you kindness and support even when you do stupid things.

A part of me agrees with Jason and wants Liz to stay far away from Franco, but then I see the chemistry between Liz and Franco and the way he behaves when he's around her. He's gentle, understanding, and compassionate toward her without all the craziness that Nina seemed to draw out of him. He also genuinely cares about Jake, contrary to what Jason might think.

I appreciate Jason's concerns, and I totally get why Sam will never like Franco, but in the end, neither Jason nor Sam has any right to object to who Liz associates with and welcomes into her children's lives. Jason and Sam can express their reservations about Franco and certainly keep a close eye on things, but they need to give Liz space to make her own decisions and trust that she will do what is best for her children.

After all, Liz doesn't have a problem with Sam being around Jake or her children even though Sam both stood by as a woman kidnapped an infant Jake from the park and hired armed thugs to terrorize Liz and the boys. Liz trusted Jason and gave Sam a second chance to prove herself trustworthy to be around Jake.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hold these things against Sam -- not anymore -- but Sam is to Liz as Franco is to Jason.

Sam has proven herself to be a good person because she had the chance to do so. That is why I think Jason and Sam -- as well as others -- should give Franco the opportunity to do the same.

Jason has a right to be cautious about Franco because Jason loves his son. I don't begrudge Jason for wanting Liz to be careful, but in the end, he needs to stop acting like Liz is a naughty sister-wife. Jason needs to remember that he has zero rights when it comes to Jake, except those that Liz grants him, because Jason was never listed on Jake's birth certificate as the father, and to my knowledge, Jason never took legal steps to claim Jake as his son. Jake's last name is Webber, not Morgan or Quartermaine. That was established when Lucy introduced Jake during the Nurses Ball, and Franco, not Jason, ran to Jake's aid when Jake suffered a major case of stage fright.

Franco has done horrific things in the past, but it was the result of a brain tumor. Since then, Franco might have done some questionable things, but as far as I know, he hasn't reverted to his serial killer ways. I realize that he recently visited Heather and confided that he'd been having some dark thoughts again and his artistic talent had returned, but the important thing was that he that he didn't act on those dark thoughts.

Pushing Jason's buttons whenever Jason starts snarling at Franco is not a crime.

Luckily for Liz, Jason is going to be too busy trying to clear his name to focus too much on her personal life.

Not for a second do I think Jason threw Nikolas out the window, but I am happy that it appears that way because it finally gives Jason and Sam a real storyline. I just hope it's the catalyst for Sam and Nikolas to make things right between them. I preferred it when the two cousins were close.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Tyler Christopher would be taking a short break and the character would be recast until his return. I'm not sure what is going on with Tyler, but I wish him well and hope that he returns to us soon.

The recast suggests that Nikolas is alive, which means there's a possibility that he staged things to make it appear that something nefarious happened. If Nikolas were dead or missing, there wouldn't be a need for a recast.

Curtis made an excellent point when he told everyone that no one could have possibly survived a fall from the bedroom window to the bottom of the jagged cliffs. I know people have survived falls from the castle's parapet -- one person I think was actually impaled -- but those cliffs are another matter entirely.

Seeing Nikolas on the rocks was eerily reminiscent of Stefan's death.It there was foul play at work, then I'm certain that neither Hayden nor Jason is responsible. Hayden was with Curtis when it happened, since they arrived after the fact. And even though Jason was the first on the scene, we did hear a loud thud before Jason went to investigate, which suggests that the scuffle was already underway.

I did notice that Sam made it sound as if she and Jason had arrived together, but I don't blame Sam for wanting to provide Jason with an alibi because Hayden made an excellent point about Jason's violent history with Nikolas -- and then there's the lawsuit Nikolas filed against Jason, which froze all of ELQ's assets. That's a huge motive to kill someone. The only snag in Sam's plan is the fact that a person needs to use the launch to get to Spoon Island, which means that there's evidence that Jason arrived before Sam.

If Nikolas was a victim of violence, I really hope that he sees his recovery as a second chance to turn his life around. It's long past time for the good prince to return. I miss that Nikolas.

I'm so happy that Lucas and Brad will get a second chance because there were rumors swirling that Lucas would meet his end when he encountered the killer. I was worried when I watched Lucas face the Angel of Death, but thankfully, Griffin and Finn were on hand to save the day.

I'm pretty certain that Finn is not the person behind the recent murder spree because it's way too obvious, and Lucas wouldn't have questioned Finn giving Bobbie an injection, since Finn had been the one to admit Bobbie to the hospital for tests and observation.

It's possible that Franco could have injected Lucas with the deadly serum -- I don't recall seeing Franco after Liz left the ball -- but again, that seems too obvious. Plus, it's been made clear that Roger isn't going anywhere. However, network executives don't exactly have a great track record with truth, since they also assured us that All My Children and One Life to Live weren't going anywhere, and we can see how that turned out.

I think the Angel of Death is an expendable character, like that random person who always beams down with the Star Trek crew to unexplored planets and gets killed by its hostile inhabitants.

The killer could be anyone, including good old Heather, who always manages to escape. That would certainly explain why Lucas was concerned when he saw the person standing next to his mother's bed.

On the heels of the news about Tyler, came word that Kirsten Storms will also be taking a short leave of absence, and Molly Burnett will be temporarily stepping in as Maxie.

I'm not a huge fan of temporary recasts because they can be distracting if there's a big storyline going on. I always find myself thinking about how the scenes might have played out if the contract actor had been doing the scenes rather than the temporary recast. In this case, there's also the issue that Kirsten is leaving just as Bree Williamson is poised to join the cast as Claudette.

I adored Bree as Jessica Buchanan on One Life to Live, and I'm excited that she's joining the cast, so it's going to be really hard for me not to root for her over Maxie-with-a-different-face as the drama begins to unfold without Kirsten.

However, Kirsten has to do what she needs to do for herself and her daughter, so I wish her all the best and pray for a speedy return.

I was amused that they left Bobbie in her old nurses' uniform after they admitted her to the hospital. Was that a hint for her to get to work when she felt better?

If Lucy was scrambling to find acts -- even going so far as to invite someone from the audience to participate -- then why not let Liesl do a skit? I would have loved to have seen Kathleen Gati sing a medley from The Sound of Music. Edelweiss is one of my favorite songs, and I'm certain she would have done a beautiful job.

The funniest scene of the week was when Finn saw Liesl at the nurses' station in scrubs. I laughed my head off at the way he jumped when she glared at him and asked if she looked like a nurse to him.

I often talk about the great messages and thoughts that readers share. This week, I wanted to include some of them in the column!

• Anna's ranting has reached a new level of annoyance. Not everyone is religious but you should respect another person's beliefs. That 'pointless ritual' she referred to is very important to many people and who knows what she might want if she were lying on her deathbed. She's made Duke into a martyr when he was mobster just the same. -- Lisa Echerd

• This is what happens when a show called "General Hospital" glamorizes criminals who kill people for a living, instead of focusing on doctors and nurses who are dedicated to SAVING lives. THOSE are the characters who SHOULD be admired and portrayed in a sympathetic manner, not the ones who are pathologically violent, and only care about themselves. Until the show returns to its roots as a HOSPITAL drama, and not a show about cool, sexy gangsters with dimples and abs who commit cold-blooded murder with impunity, it will continue to get bogged down by its own moral ambiguity which prevents any kind of satisfactory resolution to these crime-oriented storylines. -- Scrimmage

• When did Alexis become such a delicate lil snowflake? She is supposed to be a Cassadine. She was a lawyer for the mob. All her children have mobster fathers, her daughter is married to a hit man. Sam even slept with both her sisters' fathers. Alexis has her own history with violence and murder. She knew Julian had a mob history, big deal he had a mobster (Duke) killed that was going to kill him and killed to cover his tracks. Alexis should have been the one to suggest it. He didn't do anything Sonny or any other mobster wouldn't do. -- Jennifer Lampman

• Jason -- I am hoping he will merge all his history and truly become a combination character. I want him to have all the elements of his past life merged into one. -- moniemone1980

Now, I turn the spotlight on you, dear readers. Please, share your thoughts about the show in the comments section below. I love reading what everyone has to say.

Until next time, take care.Liz Masters

What are your thoughts on General Hospital? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.