Making the Rounds at General Hospital – Love and Romance Are in the Air

It was all about love, and romance this past week on GH as Carly and Sonny remarried, Lucky found out the truth about Maxie's pregnancy and turned to Liz for comfort and support. Patrick asked Robin to move in while Nikolas and Emily grew closer as they searched for Spencer. In contrast, Ric stepped up his custody efforts.

Even though a witness stepped up who could prove Sonny shot Lorenzo in self-defense, Sonny made sure his wedding to Carly went forward. She resisted hard, wanting to remain loyal to Jax and knowing in her heart her and Sonny are just plain bad for each other. Those two reasons, however, were not enough to keep her from protecting the father of her children from jail time and the wedding went through.

Sonny continued to try and make it something romantic, something real, and the harder he pushed the harder she fought. The private ceremony at Sonny's house was moved to the courthouse on her insistence. When Carly found out about the reception at Sonny's she implored Max to create a diversion so she could escape town with her children.

Carly protests too much! If she didn't care somewhere deep down for Sonny, she would be able to follow through with her "business transaction" in a level headed way instead of being ruled by her heart. She claims to want to stay true to Jax because she truly loves him, but she has been questioning that love since he left back when Spencer's paternity was called into question. I hope this time around these characters really explore the undeniable chemistry between them and, for better or worse, come to terms with it.

Liz and Epiphany's detective work paid off, and Liz came up with the hard evidence to prove that Maxie lied about her pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage. She confronted Maxie and was about to inform Lucky when Maxie stepped up and admitted her whole scheme. Her late honesty didn't soften the blow whatsoever for Lucky and Liz hung around to pick up the pieces, comforting him and providing support so he wouldn't turn back to the drugs. She agreed to an extravagant dinner with Lucky (yet to be shown) even though she continued to contemplate coming clean with her own little secret and telling both Jason and Lucky that Jason is the baby's father.

I've truly become board to tears with this storyline and love triangle (or foursome if we include Sam). Should Liz pick Jason or Lucky? Um, does Liz not notice that Jason isn't free for her to choose? She should come clean about her baby's paternity, however, her secret is really no different than Maxie's and if she's going to start casting stones, it's time to come clean about her own lies.

Robin apparently did the unthinkable by ordering a couch for Patrick's apartment and having it delivered without ever telling him about it. She continually kicked herself for becoming an overbearing and controlling girlfriend, while Patrick had his usual feelings of being trapped. He sent the couch back, and then after a heartfelt discussion about his feelings with Robin, had it – and an apartment full of furniture – delivered again. Still feeling guilty over her presumptuous deed, Robin feared a break-up was inevitable. Instead, Friday's episode closed with Patrick giving her keys to the apartment and asking her to move in.

I've made no secret about how much I like this pairing, and watching the two of them struggle to connect and move forward with a relationship when they are each so guarded from past pain has been the main reason for me to tune in as of late. Moving in together should be just the right ingredient to turn up the heat with Patrick and Robin.

Emily and Nikolas learned that Spencer hadn't been in the car when it went over the cliff when Colleen showed up at the hotel room and held Emily at gunpoint. Nikolas was able to save Emily, and with the knowledge that his son was with his grandmother, they headed to Greece, only to later get news Helena and the baby had been seen boarding a plane to St. Petersburg, Florida. While criss-crossing the world by private jet, Nikolas thanked Emily for standing by him and supporting him as they rekindled their love and tightened the bond between them.

The progress of Emily and Nikolas' relationship seems to be the main reason for this storyline, and it's playing out well. Delivered as a bit of diversion from the main stories and a filler, it is still been fun to watch. Things should step up in this story, I would think, when Nikolas tracks down Helena.

In sharp contrast, Ric continued his custody battle with Alexis. Happening upon her treating the nausea from her chemotherapy with marijuana, he then ordered a private eye to get photographic proof. Once he had it in his hand, he arranged a meeting with the judge and set police officers to her house with a search warrant. Alexis was arrested for possession at the end of Friday's episode.

This custody hearing should be down and dirty and expose some real ugliness. Ric is a jerk and Alexis is controlling, but the interesting element to this whole story has been the medicinal use of marijuana. A common complaint when it comes to this show, I wish they would be giving the issue a more detailed examination, pointing out pros and cons. Instead, Alexis gets nauseous following a treatment, uses it, feels better, and fears being arrested, which of course is exactly what happened. It was used to give Ric the upper hand and not really discuss the controversial medical treatment.

Warning! Spoilers Ahead!

(Spoilers are drawn from a number of websites, dedicated to keeping the fans who just have to know, in the loop. The list includes Soap Zone, General Hospital Happenings Two, Soap Central, and Scoops and Spoilers.)

• The biggest news coming out of the spoiler sites is the unique approach GH is taking to February sweeps. On January 26 an explosion will rock the Metro Court, and the effects are said to touch every major character on the show. Immediately following the explosion, the writers will turn the clock back 16 hours and for the next 16 episodes, there will be a real-time, hour by hour, telling of the events that led up to the explosion (a la 24).

  How exactly this plays out is yet to be seen, but I, for one, wonder if there will actually be enough story to justify this extreme magnification of events. The set-up for the story is already in motion as the explosion is said to be from the mysterious "shipment" Lorenzo has coming for Mr. Craig.

• Robin will be shot during the Metro Court explosion. We are also being promised a baby storyline for Patrick and Robin in the future, a one that will deal with those who are HIV positive becoming parents.
• Anthony Geary (Luke) and Ingo Rademacher (Jax) return from vacation the end of this month. Kin Shriner will also return the week of January 29. It is rumored he negotiated (same as Genie Francis) that he would reprise the role of Scotty under the condition the character is not killed off.