Divorce, death, deliverance, and deportation

Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go right? In Port Charles, those days stretch out over weeks, months, and even decades.

Friday's episode was hands-down my favorite in quite some time. It was nostalgic, ironic, had a little bit of a cliffhanger going -- and it made me laugh.

The idea of Anthony Zacchara and Sonny as judging saints in the afterlife was hilarious, as were Diane and Scott litigating the fate of a person's soul. Poor Nathan was relegated to bailiff, so I hope he at least gets to go home to his angel, Maxie, at the end of the day, since he's not that lucky here on earth.

For most of the show, I was worried that Tracy's fate had been sealed, and she was dead for good. Diane did say Tracy had died of a cerebral hemorrhage, which was why Tracy had only two options: a reunion with her loved ones who had passed before her or being adopted by Skye Chandler-Quartermaine.

Tracy's horrified reaction to the latter was simply priceless.

I'm a sentimental sap, so flashbacks delight me. I loved seeing Alan, Lila, and the original Edward, David Lewis. The glimpses of John Ingle and Anna Lee's portrait throughout the past couple of weeks have also been a wonderful treat.

The scene when Edward faked a heart attack then begged Tracy to help him was a stark reminder of just how much I had loathed Tracy at one time. I was young then -- watching with my mom in the living room as I nibbled on a snack and curled up with the dog on the sofa. In those days, it was on at 3:00 p.m. on the East Coast, so I got off the bus just minutes before the show started.

I didn't much like Tracy in her early days on the show because she was a bad girl, sabotaging relationships, running people down, and flittering from one loser to another while doing everything in her power to get her grubby mitts on her father's vast fortune.

Tracy failed her father's twisted test when she refused to give Edward the life-saving medicine, but that didn't surprise me. For all their bickering, disinheriting, scamming, and refusing to save one another, Tracy and Edward were two peas in a pod.

As an adult, I now understand Tracy's demons, and I see that she chose men who were a lot like the worst parts of her father. Edward was a sweet-ish old man toward the end, but growing up, I saw the scheming, devious, and dastardly patriarch who ruled with an iron fist and cold heart and who was obsessed with having a male heir to follow in his footsteps.

I agree very much with Laura's assessment of Tracy. Tracy has changed quite a bit since Edward passed away. She's mellowed out, and she's more accepting, compassionate, and forgiving -- all traits she picked up from her dear, sweet mother, Lila. Tracy truly did become the best of both her parents, especially in recent years.

As a child, I disliked Tracy intensely, but as an adult, I grew to love her. Over the years, I've gotten to understand what makes her tick and why she did so many horrible things in her younger years.

I'm trying to avoid spoilers about how Tracy will be written off the show because I want this last storyline with her to be as much of a surprise as possible. My hope is that Luke will return to whisk her away. It would be nice to think of Luke and Tracy being somewhere in the world, living happily ever after and enjoying grand adventures.

I don't want this current storyline to be the catalyst for Tracy's departure, unless she goes far, far away from Samira.

My gut tells me there's more to Samira's story than meets the eye. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that a mother desperate to rescue her daughter from a human trafficking ring would quibble about where she got the money she needed to secure her daughter's freedom. It's odd that Samira refuses to accept anything less than the painting to save her daughter -- not even cash money.

If it were me, I would jump at the offer of Quartermaine money because it's clean, it cuts out having to fly back to Turkey to sell the painting to a buyer, and it wouldn't set off any alarms if someone who has absolutely no connection to Sidika were to make an offer for her. Samira's insistence that she be given the painting -- and only the painting -- is a great big red flag.

I'm also a tad bit confused why everyone is pushing Tracy to just hand over a twenty million-dollar painting as if it's nothing. I know the Quartermaines are filthy rich, but even by billionaire standards, twenty million isn't exactly chump change.

It amazes me that no one really checked out Samira's story. They simply took her at face value and from there decided that she deserved to have Tracy's valuable painting.

Meanwhile, Carly is on a quest to take everything from Sonny, even though -- as we learned this week -- she already has it. For reasons that I can't begin to fathom, this all slipped Sonny's mind until Diane reminded him that he'd signed over his entire estate, minus the money to set up a foundation in Morgan's name and trust funds for each of the children, to Carly when he decided to confess to having a hand in Morgan's death.

How do you forget that all your money is in your estranged wife's name?

More importantly, why didn't Diane immediately have things put back in Sonny's name after it was revealed that Sonny's hit man hadn't planted the bomb? Her job is to protect her client's interests, not necessarily his wife's, which is why Diane is representing Sonny in the divorce rather than Carly.

It probably doesn't matter, since the writing on the wall seems to suggest that Sonny and Carly will eventually end up back together.

Carly's refusal to fly to Australia with Jax spoke volumes. Her excuses were silly because the best way to punish Sonny for having Jax deported is to leave Sonny in the dust. Sonny wanted his rival out of the way and to punish Carly for sleeping with Jax. She would have stolen Sonny's thunder -- and royally pissed him off in the process -- if she'd hopped in Jax's private jet and flown to the land Down Under for a fun little fling with the man Sonny hates most in the world next to Julian.

Instead, Carly opted to stay and fight Sonny in court because she is done with him. Finished. Fertig. Finito.

If Carly had truly wanted to move on with her life, she wouldn't be interested in making Sonny suffer. She would simply move on. It's not like she hasn't had plenty of practice in that area. She's divorced Sonny so many times, I'm surprised they don't have their own special wing at the courthouse.

I completely disagree with Michael about what is fueling the War of the Corinthoses.

I don't think Sonny and Carly are getting nasty with each other because they are grieving. This type of behavior is par for the course for them and has been for decades. They thrive on drama and dysfunction. Carly summed it up perfectly when she warned Michael to stay away from Nelle because Nelle was just like her -- not able to recognize love unless she tests it.

Sonny and Carly are testing each other's love.

This week, we were given another clue about Jake's time on Cassadine Island. It turns out the number he scribbled on the timeline -- 0705 -- was a date, but it was written the European way rather than American way, so the day appears first, followed by the month. May 7th is Jake's birthday, but what that has to do with Helena's machinations remains a mystery.

It looks like the gang will soon be taking a trip to Cassadine Island. Will they find proof that Nikolas is alive? I sure hope so.

Finally, Anna is spinning a web and slowly luring Valentin into it. He tried to return the watch she'd given him, but Anna turned up the charm and plied him with Champagne until he was lying to his wife and gazing deep into Anna's eyes as she fastened the watch back on his wrist.

However, something seems off with Anna. I can't quite put my finger on it, but she's different somehow.

I wasn't all that surprised that Anna missed her phlebotomy appointment, because she's the type of person who gets wrapped up in something to the point of obsession. I also wasn't all that shocked that she lied to Griffin.

But why did Anna schedule an appointment at another facility? With another doctor?

I don't buy the excuse Anna gave to Griffin about wanting privacy, because she made the appointment after he left. Also, there's something called HIPAA that prohibits Anna's doctor from discussing anything with anyone unless she requests it. If Anna doesn't want Griffin to know her business, all she had to do was pick up the phone and tell her doctor to stop discussing her case with Griffin.

Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but Anna hasn't been the same since she returned from her little trip to find out about her past with Valentin.

Why is everyone suddenly sending tests out to an independent lab? Could it be they finally realized that any test done at GH is sketchy at best?

I thought it was laughable when Diane told Sonny that he would have to leave the country if he should access his offshore accounts. Shouldn't a powerful crime boss like Sonny know how to properly launder money?

I find it a bit offensive to have an ICE agent running around deporting people at the bidding of a mobster and threatening citizens with arrest. It's frustrating that criminals continue to be glorified on the show, while law enforcement is depicted as corrupt and/or inept.

Finn's addiction storyline continues to be one of the most unrealistic, unintentionally funny, and borderline irresponsible depictions of drug dependency and abuse we've ever seen on this show. -- Scrimmage

I was just wondering who paid for all of that testing Dante ordered on the medicine bottle found at the robbery, what relevance did it have to the case, so how did Dante justify the costs of DNA testing on a bottle of pills that had very little to do with the robbery, not to mention sharing that info with Sonny. -- Ric Hochulski

Cam should be much older than all of them, and it's only an issue for me because Cameron's birth was actually connected to Morgan's plot wise. Carly was pregnant with Morgan when Ric kidnapped her and held her hostage with the intent of killing her and taking the baby; when he was exposed, Liz left Ric. She turned to Zander for comfort and they had a one-nighter which resulted in Cameron. Yet Morgan was at least ten years older than Cameron, and the child Carly had years later after she had divorced Sonny and married Jax is older than Cameron. Go figure. -- Panic Moon

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts about the show. I love hearing from readers, so please feel free to email me or leave a comment below.

Until next time, take care.Liz Masters

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