Making the Rounds at General Hospital – Fire!

It was a real cliffhanger Friday with an intensity that was long overdue. It's been a long time since we've had one that left me counting the hours until Monday.

Everyone knew when Carly got a hold of the paternity secret she would make life a living hell for all, but I really didn't suspect it would give her a case of selective amnesia. Yes, Carly, keeping a father away from his child is wrong. It was wrong when you did it with A.J. (a fact she's seemed to have forgotten). This is different thought. Jason and Liz made a choice together, for Jake's safety, and I think that those are hard things for her to swallow – self sacrifice and admitting just how much danger her own children are in.

Major kudos to Sonny for calling her out and for trying to get her to understand the decisions are Jason's and Liz's to make, not hers. I felt super-bad for Jax when she brushed off his attempts to work on their relationship because she had to solve Jason's problems. Jason may be Carly's BFF, but Jax is her husband. Between the trouble brewing on the home front and Jerry's life as a drug overlord coming to the surface, I would say it's almost time to cue Ingo Rademacher's vacation time. (Look for a brief three-day recast of Jax, I believe later this week. Gideon Emery stepped into the role oh-so-briefly to cover for Ingo.)

While Carly was causing havoc, Lucky was doing damage control. He visited Liz to reconfirm his position, saying he would continue to pretend to be Jake's father, for Jake's safety, and only he only hoped she and Jason continued to feel the same. He also played daddy to Cameron, backing up Liz with his own "playing with matches is bad" speech. (Like that wasn't the most obvious foreshadowing ever!)

Lucky then went on to have a heart to heart with Sam, comparing his addiction to pills to her need to lash out at others because of her pain. When Lucky said he wanted to put the past behind them and work forward from now, it would have been the perfect opportunity for Sam to come completely clean and tell him the secrets Liz now holds over her head. Of course, she didn't. I'm sure in the end it will be her final undoing with Lucky, which is sad. I'm actually becoming fonder of him as a partner for her.

Skye visited Luke in the hospital to let him know she was leaving town. As the two reminisced and Skye talked of her plans for the future, Luke wanderlust returned big time, tempered by Tracy's promise to make him follow his cardiac diet and exercise regime to the letter. It didn't take too much for him to convince Skye to sneak him out of the hospital, and he did it in true Spencer style – walking right out the front door in her chauffeur’s uniform. After one last goodbye on the docks, Robin Christopher left the show and Tony Geary started his regular vacation. Both will be severely missed. At least we know Geary will be back.

We've seen bits and pieces of this new character Joe lately. He eats at Kelly's a lot, even though his wife's pregnancy has left her very ill and his auto-repair business is feeling the economic squeeze of a blooming recession. Times have been tough, but an emergency repair to Sam's car put a little extra cash in his pocket recently. When he rushed his wife to General, only to be turned away by Miss Sneed for not having health insurance, I knew things were going to go bad. Sure enough, the couple returned a bit later. When Regina asked if he had straightened out his insurance mess, he revealed he was wearing a bomb-belt and insisted his wife be treated.

Meanwhile, Cameron decided he would play with matches, despite warnings from both Liz and Lucky. When he was caught, he ran from the house with Liz on his tail, both seemingly forgetting the door locks when slammed. As the fire roared inside the house, with baby Jake in his crib upstairs, Liz and Cameron were locked out on the porch. Will Liz be able to get back in the house to save Jake? Will Jason show up and play superman yet again? I guess we have to wait until Monday to find out.

A Look Ahead
As the writer strike looms on, spoilers are getting harder and harder to come by, or maybe in his determination to keep the identity of the text-message killer a secret, Guza put a full lockdown on information going out, but there are a few tidbits floating around.

Robin will collapse in close proximity to Patrick, almost a sure sign she's pregnant. The question is will the daddy be 'anonymous' or will this be the after-affect of the night she spent with Jr. Dr. Drake after Georgie's death. Rumor is Finola Hughes will bring the character of Anna back into town to help her daughter with the pregnancy. This viewer wonders if Anna will be picking things up where she left them with Dr. Drake Senior.

Looks like Kristen Wagner will be hanging around long enough to wrap up the current text-message killer storyline and to resolve why she was off saving the world with Frisco instead of in Port Charles raising her daughters.